Umbrian Torta al Testo/Umbrian Flatbread

Umbria is a region of central Italy, and its the only region having neither a coastline nor a border with other countries. Wiki says that Umbria is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, culinary delights, artistic legacy and influence on culture.Umbrian cuisine have its origins from its Etruscan roots and they are simple, relying very heavily on the seasonal ingredients that can be found easily in their own soil. Hence their cuisine is highly prepared with mushrooms, wild asparagus and many other fresh vegetables including the highly prized truffles that grow throughout the region.Bread varieties change from region to region across Italy, but also vary greatly across a specific region. Umbrian cuisine is about good flavor, freshness, and simplicity. It’s rich soil provides its residents an unlimited number of amazing seasonal ingredients which are simply prepared to highlight the true flavor of each dish.Umbria is birthplace to the ancient art of butchery, and home to the treasured black truffle. Hence Umbrian cuisine is unique to the region, and authentic to it’s origins.

Crescentine/Crescentina Modenese/Tigella

Crescentina/Crescente or Tigella, this Italian bread is known with all these names, this Italian flatbread is a small round shaped bread which belongs to Modena area of Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy. Typically, crescentine is baked in between tiles called Tigelle, a latin word which means cover. Now the name Tigella came to the bread as they are baked in those designed tiles. In ancient times, after being wrapped with two chestnut or walnut leaves, the raw dough was covered with a round disk made of fired clay (the tigella) and then cooked in the wood fireplace. The disks, made out of high temperature resistant clay, were engraved to decorate the sides of the bread. The most common shape was the six spikes star. A disk was put on top of another alternating tigelle with raw dough and chestnut leaves which gave flavour to the “crescentina”. They were then cooked next to the fire in quite high piles. These tiny flabreads are made with flour, water, yeast and salt and eaten with any sorts of spread. Emilia-Romagna is known for its Balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma.

Sugo Al Pomodoro / Italian Tomato Sauce

Sugo al pomodoro, is a simple, easy and delicious classic Italian sauce which is prepared with simple ingredients. This sauce is prepared with onions, tomatoes with basil leaves,  and this combination makes an excellent sauce to enjoy with pastas or else for layering your lasagna and why not to top a pizza crust. Yes this sauce is quite versatile and can be freezed very much for further use. Dont know why, this time i couldnt stop myself to post three classic tomato based Italian sauces for this week's blogging marathon. However anything cooked with tomatoes is our family favourite especially Italian sauces. Needless to say i have some ardent fans of pasta dishes at home, obviously all three sauces i have posted for this week's blogging marathon was a super duper hit among my family members.

Ragù di Carne/Italian Meat Sauce

Italian sauces are quite interesting to prepare ourselves at home. Actually i started learning Italian sauce through few of my friends, however you can still learn many more sauces from the virtual world of blogging. I love to make my own dose of Authentic Italian dishes at home as i can find easily all ingredients from a nearby Italian store. Most of the Italian sauces are cooked with tomatoes, though my family members are ardent fan of Bolognaise sauce, i have been looking for a chance to cook an another meaty sauce from traditional Italian cuisine. As much as like always, i searched for an interesting and different meat based Italian sauce and i crossed this interesting Ragù di carne.

Sugo Alla Puttanesca/Puttanesca Sauce

Sugo alla puttanesca is one of the traditional sauce recipe which is quite an easy, delicious recipe to put all together. Puttanesca sauce recipe may varies depending upon the regions, Neapolitan version of puttanesca is prepared without anchovies. Sugo alla puttanesca aka Puttanesca sauce is a little salty sauce with wonderful flavor. This sauce is prepared with capers, olives and anchovies with garlic. Traditionally this sauce is served along with Spaghetti, yes Spaghetti alla puttanesca is one of the famous pasta dish though this sauce is also paired with penne, linguine and vermicelli.

Eggless Scali Bread

Scali Bread is an Italian style of bread which is long and somewhat flat loaf which is braided as much as like Challah. This bread have a soft crumb with a chewy brown crust. This bread is  made predominantly in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It was originally made by the Scali family of Boston, and is now a regional specialty. This Boston's Italian-American Community bread aka this eggless braided bread is called a Scala if its a single loaf while the multiple loaves are called Scali. This bread is definitely a prefect bread for making sandwich with any sort of filling. No Italian meal in Boston is complete without a piece of this Scali bread.

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

After two no pasta/noodle free Lasagna , i couldnt resist to prepare my kids favourite lasagna with lasagna pasta. Actually am running this week's blogging marathon with Lasagna for Veggie lover, obviously vegetarians will enjoy thoroughly this vegetarian version of lasagna. My today's post is loaded with mushroom and spinach. I used buttom mushrooms and fresh spinach for the filling with white sauce  and cheese. Easy to make, this lasagna makes an excellent meal as this ultimate dish is definitely a satisfying dish for anyone. Whoever like Lasagna will definitely enjoy this mushroom and spinach loaded lasagna.

Pasta Free & Gluten Free Potato Lasagna

Potatoes, mash them, fry them, make them as chips, or else drop them in gravies or curries, we can have it as much as can. Potatoes and chocolates are our family favourite, obviously when i picked Lasagna for veggie lovers as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i planned immediately a gluten free potato lasagna for this week's theme. Potato lovers will definitely go crazy if they see this ultimate pasta free potato lasagna. An excellent meal to enjoy for your lunch as well as for your dinner. Though potatoes are easy to cook with, this lasagna takes very less time as well than you can imagine. Coming to this potato lasagna, i went for white sauce aka bechamel sauce, ricotta cheese with Swiss cheese and parmesan cheese for making this ultimate dish.

Gluten Free Eggplant Lasagna with Minced Soya/Aubergine Lasagna

My today's post calls for an easy version of Eggplant Lasagna which is completely gluten free but not vegan as i cant imagine Lasagna without cheese. Am happy to say that i prepared this fantastic Eggplant Lasagna with an interesting filling with minced soya and tomato sauce. You may wonder why am talking about Lasagna, yes my theme for this week's blogging marathon is Lasagna for Veggie Lover. Obviously my today's post is definitely a no noodle lasagna and trust me this lasagna is very flavourful and a prefect dish to whip up if you are following a gluten free diet or a low carb diet. You dont even miss the noodles here and this gluten free eggplant lasagna will definitely please anyone's hungry tummy. A prefect dish to relish either for your dinner or for your lunch with your favourite meat or salad.

Eggplant Involtini with Walnuts

Involtini is an Italian word which means stuffed and rolled. My today' post is a delicious eggplant based Italian dish which is called Eggplant Involtini. Usually eggplant slices are stuffed with cheese and ham or any other meat makes this dish, but mine is a vegetarian version. Stuffed with mashed potato, cheese and roughly chopped almonds, this ultimate Eggplant involtini makes a super filling lunch or dinner to enjoy with your favourite salad or with some toasted bread slices. Eggplant is a wonderful vegetable which is quite an alternative to meat in most of the Italian dishes as this vegetable have somewat meaty texture. And this dish is going to this month's Shhh Cooking Secretly event started by me, which is now hosted by Mayuri Patel.

Panettone/Mini Panettone with Chocolate chips - Italian Christmas Bread

Panettone is a sweet Italian bread loaf which have its origin from Milan, which is usually prepared during Christmas and New year in Italy. This bread is very much known in most other countries of the world and this bread is one of the symbols of Milan city. Recent times, this bread have their important place in many christmas table. This bread is prepared usually in a cylindical base mould and panettone weigh usually 1 kg. Traditionally, this bread dough calls for a long process, the proofing process take several days which gives an incredible fluffy character to this bread. And this bread contains candied orange, citron, lemon zest and loads of raisins which are added directly to the bread dough instead of soaking.My today's version is one of the easiest and simple version of panettone which turns extremely prefect as much as like the traditional panettone.

Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas/Cheesy Chickpeas Mash

Do you love chickpeas ashummus very much? or Are you tired of eating the usual hummus?, then its time to give a try to this Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas. Tuscan mashed chickpeas calls for easy ingredients. Its quite a fabulous appetizer to enjoy with some potato chips or tortilla chips before a meal or else to serve as a starter while you have friends around you. An excellent crowd pleaser and definitely a kid's friendly dish as well. You can serve this mashed chickpeas as main course even along with a salad or else with a soup with some grilled meats. A complete and nutritious meal to enjoy without any guilt. Totally gluten free, this mashed chickpeas tastes super delicious, aromatic and quite cheesy as parmesan cheese is added. If you love mashed potatoes, am sure you will go crazy if you taste this mashed chickpeas.

Chickpeas Pesto Thin Crust Pizza

Pizza is every kid's favourite, and i have rarely seen kids saying 'no' to this fantastic Italian bake. Loaded with cheese, pizza makes everyone happy at home and my kids are ardent fan of this cheesy dish. Earlier i never baked pizza at home and then later i realized that making pizza at home wasnt a tough job.Once i started baking bread at home, i tried making pizza at home and every time i make pizza, it was a big hit at home. Now i dont run behind the store bought ones, pizza dough can be prepared a day before and they are conserved very well in fridge.Homemade pizzas are always the best and you can mix and match the ingredients according to your wish with vegetables and cheese available in your fridge.Coming to my today's post, this pizza calls for pesto which can be prepared simply at home with less efforts.

Cheese & Herbed Sundried Tomato Focaccia

Focaccia, this flat Italian bread is definitely our family favourite since ever i tried at home. You can make fantastic sandwiches with this focaccia bread though this bread can be served as an accompaniment along with a bowl of soup or salads. I brought some Sicilian sun dried tomatoes all the way from Sicily after our summer vacation, as i have seen that Sicilian cant live without this fantastic sundried beauties. Back home i was waiting to make an easy bread with it, immediately i gathered all the ingredients to bake this fantastic Italian focaccia with those flavourful sun dried tomatoes. Trust me, this focaccia bread was our moist favourite, this bread came out extremely aromatic and absolutely spongy with loads of cheese and herbs.

Pizza Swirl Bread

Pizza, this word itself make my family drool, especially my kids. Fortunately i learned to tame the yeast obviously i do my own pizza crust and go with the toppings of our own choie. Whenever we feel like having this cheesy food, i dont hesitate a second to bake some delicious Pizzas. Needless to say my blog baby have a couple of pizza related dishes though my today's post is also going to be a pizza bread. Yes Pizza Swirl bread, trust me this bread rocks, with simple ingredients and with an easy pizza dough, this swirl bread tastes simply awesome. If you are planning to make this incredible bread, dont forget to make the pizza dough in huge quantity.This post is going to be a part of a monthly baking event, i have been a part of this group since ever its started. Somehow i try to bake studiously for this baking event, as the bakes given for every month to the members of this group will be very interesting one to bake without any fail.

Vegetarian Piadina - An Italian Street Food

Piadina or Piada is a kind of flat bread prepared in Romagna Region. This flat bread is prepared usually with flour, lard or olive oil,salt and with water. Though traditionally this flat bread is cooked in terracotta dish, nowadays this bread is cooked in flat pans or in electric griddles.Do you know that this Piadina have been listed to the Traditional regional food products of Italy of Romagna Region. How wonderful na, by the way coming to my today's Piadina, i opted for a vegetarian version eventhough the traditional version goes for meat and cheese.You can have Piadina either with spicy filling or else with sweet filling like nutella,honey etc. The modern versions of serving Piadina doesnt have limit and many version of Piadinas exists now.

Flourless Low Carb Eggplant Pesto Pizza

Actually my today's recipe is completely gluten free, yes no flour is used and thickly sliced eggplant pieces serves as the base of this low carb pizza. As i told earlier, we guys are trying to reduce our carb in our daily menu and trying to replace it with low carb dishes. Seriously Low carb dishes will definitely satisfy your tastebuds. Yes dieting never asks you to starve, just replace your usual highly rich dishes with vegetables and fruits to fill your hungry tummy. You can dish out all your favourite high caloric dishes simply with vegetables and trust me you wont ever miss those highly carb rich dishes.

Low Carb Zucchini - Cheese Frittata

Frittata is a flat omelette which is quite popular in Italy. You can dish out this Italian omelette with variety of vegetables along with cheese and this dish makes an excellent meal either for brunch or else simply for dinner. Am running second week of blogging marathon with an interesting theme and its called 'New Year Challenge'. Obviously if its new year,either we plan for some resolution or take a resolution. Eventhough i dont have any resolutions, my elder son decided to lose few kilos to keep himself fit. Since he dont want to give up his resolution, he also joined fitness club. As a mom i seriously want to motivate him and started making Low carb - gluten free recipes just to keep ourselves fit and happy. Recent resolution for the whole family is to take some low carb dishes atleast thrice a week, yes this is our new year challenge.

Plum Tomato & Black Olive Sauce

We love canned black olives stuffed with bellpepper or else with anchovy fish, but i rarely add olives in my cooking apart from using black olives as toppings in pizza. When i picked pizza in different sauce as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i really want to dish out something with black olives. After googling, i decided to go with my favourite plum tomatoes along with black olives  to serve with my pastas. Trust me, this mildly tangy sauce makes an excellent pair to enjoy with spaghetti and everyone at home enjoyed thoroughly this delicious sauce.

Vegan Parsley Almond Pesto

Pesto, who will say no to this beautiful Italian sauce. Pesto sauces are versatile, you can have it with pastas or simply as dip with bread or else to spice up any dish. Parsley pesto was in my to do list since a long as i usually get them from stores. Dunno y i couldnt make this parsley pesto earlier, but finally one fine day i couldnt resist myself to get some bunch of super fresh parsley leaves just to make this parsley pesto. I used almonds instead of usual pine nuts, pine nuts are bit expensive here when compared to almonds.