Italian Cookery with tomatoes,

"For Quintino": He asked for some ITALIAN food/drinks,

*

Imagine that you sit here on a table, made up well" with a candle and some breath and make yourself comfortable, pretend there is a burning candle, take a glass of water or a glass of Italian LAMBRUSCO red wine.........and there you goooooo.....

*

WITH Italian cookery , you need for sure TOMATOES!!!! So look at the photo under:The little tomatoes are called "cherry tomatoes" The above bigger ones "the regular tomato's" are shaped oval or round and they must be a little more fleshy and SWEET!

Brushetta,
*
Italians are used to a pre- meal, the easy and Quick PRE-meal is called "brushetta", Very easy to make because you need only the following ingredients:

*Bread, regular tomatoes, olive oil, salt, basil, oregano,

*(add a little fruit to it 'when you like that', such as pineapple or apple)

*and for on the side some green/black olives.

*

Preparation:

It depends for how many persons, but count per person 1 BIG slice of white bread, toast the slices of bread in a toaster or in a (dry) pan on a low fire until they are crispy and brown coloured.

In the meanwhile prepare the tomatoes by cutting them very fine, stirr them in a pan add some olive oil and basil and make it slightly warm (do not cook!), (for people who like it,you can add some garlic) when the tomatoes are warm, add them on top of the bread, serve warm with a glass of wine. ( or a glass of water or beer)

*

_______________________________

CHERRY TOMATOES from the Sicilian Kitchen,

STUFFED WITH RICE.

INGREDIENTS (FOR 4 PERSONS)

*1kg of ripe cherry tomatoes,

*200gr of rice,

*200 gr of bechamel sauce (see sauces)

*50 gr of grated parmesan (Italian hard cheese)

*1 sprig of basil,

*olive oil, salt.

________________________________

PREPERATION

*

* WASH the cherry tomatoes, dry them, scoop out the middle, and put the pulp into a small bowl.*COOK the rice in plenty of salted water,*DRAIN when it is just done and mix in the becamel and the grated parmesan,*FILL the cherry tomatoes with the mixture obtained,*PLACE the pulp in a dish with a little oil, salt, and some chopped basil leaves. Put the tomatoes into the dish and cook the oven at 180 C for 30 minutes.*REMOVE the dish from the oven and place a cheese slice on top of each tomato,*RETURN to the oven for 5 minutes and serve hot.

*

Bon apetite! Cheers!!!!

Eet smakelijk & Proost!

*

And ...... let me know if you like the above pre-meals.