Immune Boosting Mushrooms

These past few days it's been getting pretty chilly and apparently it will be even worse next week, so I intend to keep my immune system strong by eating as many immune boosting foods as possible. 

Mushrooms are immune boosting thanks to the polysaccharides (sugars) beta glucans they contain and they are also a source of both vitamin D and B.

Garlic is a natural antibiotic and also helps detoxification.

Parsley helps with bone health as it contains vitamin K (it also helps with blood clotting, so should you be on warfarin, do not suddenly start eating more or fewer vitamin k foods. Ask your practitioner for advice.)

This recipe is very quick and I grew up with it. my mom used to make it all the time and I absolutely love it and have it very often especially in winter.

You can have it as a side, or you can add some cooked quinoa and spinach to have a delicious and light main meal.

Here's what you need:

4 Flat mushrooms or a pack of chestnut ones.

2 garlic cloves chopped teeny tiny

a handful of roughly chopped fresh parsley.

2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Just take the mushrooms' stalk out and scoop the gills out too. I quickly clean the outside with a wet paper towel, slice them and they are ready to go. 

Add the garlic to a pan with oil on medium heat, when the garlic starts to brown add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and mix it up. Just let it go for about 5 min mixing every now and then, if at any point they seem to become dry just add a little water. After 5 min add the parsley, stir and leave it for another 2 minutes.

They should now be dark, soft, smell amazing and ready to eat!

xxx

Foodolina

Mediterranean roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes

My parents are visiting this weekend and I'm so happy because honestly, this long winter, interminable cold winds and showers were really starting to get me down and I was really missing home. Yup, I could not see hope for spring or summer weather over here and that's when I start thinking about long queues in the sun outside ice cream parlours in Milan (where my family is) or Rome ( where my oldest friends are), old men sitting at tables outside bars playing cards, drinking coffee while watching the world go by and lots of Vespas whizzing by. Anyway, my point being my parents are here and I'm oh so happy. Yesterday we walked around town all day so when we got home around 7 we were pretty tired to start cooking so we bought some olives, grilled artichokes and eggplants, olive bread and ripe tomatoes and had a little Italian home picnic instead. Plus... I quickly made something that my mom adores but can't have as often in Italy.. Roasted sweet potato and butternut squash. I'm not sure why sweet potatoes are not imported as much over there but hey, it is true as Italians we do already have some pretty awesome tasty vegetables. Even so, I would always find time for sweet potatoes as they are probably my favourite root vegetable!
And my mom adores it too. Probably more than I do as she doesn't get to eat it as often so it's a real treat for her..
So what follows is my quick recipe for roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes with Italian dried herbs, ready in 30 min, just the time for you to get changed when you come home from work, lay the table, have some bits and pieces as antipasto like we did or prepare any other quick main that would go well with this side dish.
Now, I know it would be so much better to have a proper whole butternut squash, cut it in half, roast it etc.. But I'm not going to lie to you, after a long day I really cannot be asked. Maybe on a Sunday when I'm relaxed and have all the time in the world, but after a busy weekday including working and studying I buy a bag of ready chopped butternut squash and sweet potatoes so I can just dress them and pop them in the oven. Yes I do. So if sometimes you're a bit lazy like I am but still want yummy food quickly then read on, otherwise.. Look away now.x

RECIPE (for 2 hungry people or 4 small sides)

1 Pack Chopped Butternut Squash and sweet Potato ( or just butternut squash and then you can peel and chop 1 big sweet potato)

1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1tbsp Mediterranean dried herbs ( mine is my grandma's mix, she never remembers what's in it, bless her, but I think a mix of oregano, thyme, rosemary should do the trick.)

Just pop the chopped squash and potatoes on a bowl, add oil and herbs and
season with salt and pepper.
Mix it up, put on a baking tray and in the oven at gas mark 6 for 30 min BUT take the tray out and mix everything up after 15 min before putting them back in again for the remaining time.

Take out of the oven and serve!x

Pane e Pomodoro (Bread and Tomatoes)

Ok, here we go.First post on this blog which  I'm still trying to figure out so you'll probably see it changing colour or other features in the next few days..Me and technology never got along really well.
But I'm starting anyway, with the simplest, quickest and most comforting meal ever. 
Pane e Pomodoro. I could eat this every day all day for the rest of my life and never get bored of it. Maybe it's because every time i bite into it I can instantly see the house in Puglia where i spent many summers as a child, sitting under the grapevine looking over our vegetable garden filled with rows of bright red tomatoes and big bushes of rosemary that you could smell from a mile away..The heat, the crickets, the white plastic table where I used to play cards with my grandpa who taught me all the best tricks. He introduced me to pane e pomodoro, actually in Puglia we used to eat Friselle which is a kind of bagel made with durum wheat flour, cut in half and baked. Friselle are crunchy so grandpa used to put them briefly under the water so they'd soften up, then we'd get some cherry tomatoes, cut them in half and squeeze the juice on the Frisella,then drizzle some olive oil, a pinch of salt and voila'!!!
A delicious quick mid afternoon snack..Sometimes i would actually have it as lunch because when the heat got really intense I never  felt like a full on meal. So here it is, very simple and satisfying.

Hope you'll enjoy it as much as i do. 

RECIPE
2 Slices of bread (or more depending on how hungry you are!)
7-8 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt

Just squeeze the juices of the cherry tomatoes on the bread and if you want,leave the tomatoes on as well, i prefer just the juice but it's really a personal thing.
Drizzle your oil and finish with a sprinkling of salt.

PS: please don't use the sliced packaged bread that you use for toast in the morning as it'll get all soggy and messy, try and get a nice loaf to slice or even a nice wholegrain baguette. In Italy we have pane pugliese which is a typical kind of bread from puglia. I had some nice sliced bread from a bakery called Poilane here in London but i know that's not always available in supermarkets so just get a nice tasty loaf and start eating!