Today's Souvenir is...

copyright 2008, Maria Liberati

Take a clay pot, a pound of speckled beans (borlotti beans), 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 200 grams of fresh short pasta, can of plum tomateos, pinch of salt, 1 celery stick with leaves and you have a great pasta and fagioli meal.. Add a glass of Chianti and you have an even better meal. My clay pots are my favorite pots to cook with, but I usually take them out only in winter to make hearty bean soups or stews,etc. They are made in Italy from clay produced in Italy. They are somewhat cumbersome, and, of course, you do have to be extra careful not to drop the pot or the lid. I would never even attempt to take them on my flight back to the US-they would probably never make it back in one piece..
But if you want to experience a true pasta and fagioli soup -there is nothing like making one in these specially made clay pots.
Besides taking in the sparkling sunshine today on my stroll around town to get the beans and celery at our little farm store in 'centro'- most of the beginning of my day was spent on making the bean soup -a recipe that will also be in one of the upcoming books.
And that is my souvenir and my special memory to share with you for today, sunshine in a small mountain town and speckled bean soup with fresh pasta, and a glass of chianti...

don't forget to read all about more foods at my other blogs at:
http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2
http://mliberati.diaryland.com/
http://www.marialiberati.com/
and our new site all about coffee at http://www.yourcoffeeguide.info/

More recipes in the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking, order your copy online or get a free chapter at http://www.marialiberati.com/

Today's Lunch is..

In ‘il mio laboratorio’ as we now call our cucina... filled with ingredients for testing of recipes for my upcoming books. For today’s lunch we had a choice of 4 different variations on the lentil soup that I and (my culinary assistant-Alessandra) prepared. The hearty recipe which is really more of a traditional one here in the mountains of Abruzzo this time of year- is what became our lunch..Alfonso and I enjoyed our heaping bowls with a glass of locally produced Montepulciano D’Abruzzo. Read about this heavenly juice here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montepulciano_d

Here is the chosen recipe..enjoy

2 cups of dry lentils soaked overnight in 4 cups of water
2 tblsps of extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 slice of fresh onion
1 small can of peeled tomatoes with juice or 1 lb of fresh plum tomatoes, peeled,seeded,cleaned
2 whole carrots
1 whole celery stick
Pinch of salt

4 slices of crusty bread broiled with drizzled olive oil, Sapori D’Italia spice blend on top

Saute olive oil, garlic and onion in soup pot and when just about golden add in tomatoes, lentils with water soaked in, whole carrots and celery. Cover and stir every so often. Cook until liquid just about evaporates and lentils are tender. If lentils have not finished cooking and liquid evaporates add in some water..

Arrange 2 slices of crostini bread in each soup dish, pour soup over bread and enjoy. You can even drizzle a little olive oil on top..

And if you want to know how healthy this dish is for you (too healthy for such a delicious dish) find out here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lentil
http://www.foodsubs.com/Lentils.html
www.health.com/health/article/0,23414,1149140,00.html
italianfood.about.com/od/aboutingredients/a/aa012200.html


Buon Pranzo , enjoy your lunch..
Ciao for now, for more recipes go to http://www.marialiberati.com/
Get a free excerpt from the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com
Order your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati at http://www.marialiberati.com/ and receive $5 off retail price and free shipping..