By Maria Filice • January 27, 2010 
This is a quick and easy side dish using three ingredients. I love peas, so versatile and a great leftover to prepare the next day. Oh yes, I loved The Princess and the Pea but always questioned the pea……
Ingredients:
1 lb. of frozen peas
2 onions (finely chopped).
1 clove of garlic (sliced)
½ lb. of mushrooms (sliced) – I used button mushrooms but use whatever you like!
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Salt and black pepper (to taste)
In a medium pan, medium heat, sauté olive oil, butter, garlic, onions for 3-5 minutes. Add mushrooms and peas. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Saute for 5-7 minutes.
This side dish is delicious with roasted sausage but perfect with other meats!
As mentioned, if you have left over peas, I would serve it the next day with fresh pasta.
Tip: in a medium pan, medium heat, add 1 tbsp. of tomoto paste, 1 tbsp. of butter, 1/2 cup of water and add the left over peas. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Prepare your favorite pasta and add the peas. Add a few red chili flakes and fresh parmigiano cheese! Delicious! You just prepared a tasty meal in less than 15 minutes!
By Maria Filice • January 25, 2010 
What a day……..rainy days and Mondays always call for soup… I just had an espresso and now thinking about lunch (it’s part of my DNA). Since my two interns were coming into the office today, I thought it would be nice to have a nice bowl of soup for lunch.
I thought I would recycle last night’s escarole soup. OK..let’s get creative…….In my freezer, I had a package of chicken breasts (bone in). In my refrigerator, I made eye contact with left over baby carrots from last week’s party. The only vegetable in my refrigerator and ps, I was not motivated to run to the market in the rain…..
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (bone in)
3 cups of baby carrots
4 cloves whole garlic
Sea salt, black pepper (to taste)
Fill medium pot with cold water, medium heat. Add all ingredients: chicken breasts, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Cover enough water to the ingredients. Cook for two hours.
Let me oven roast some crostini with parmigiano and curred black olives:
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
6-8 sliced Italian bread
Extra virgin olive oil (drizzle over the bread)
Parmigiano grated cheese (1 cup)
Curred black olives (1/2 cup) (optional)
Red chili flakes (optional)
Set oven at 400 degrees.
In a pan, lay the Italian bread and drizzle with olive oil, grated parmiagano cheese and curred black olives. Bake in the oven for approx. 10 minutes, until the bread has a nice golden crust.
In a soup terrine, add chicken breasts (cubed), left over escarole soup and fresh chicken broth.
For plating, add two pieces of the crostini in each dish before adding the fragrant soup! It was delicious!
By Maria Filice • January 25, 2010  Cooked everything in one pot!
 Dinner is served!
Today I was busy reviewing final details before my book goes to the printer. A little stressed and at 6pm. tonight, I took a quick break for dinner. No planning, just a few ingredients calling my name…..An example of how I prepare meals:
I opened the refrigerator and saw a bag of escarole that I forgot about calling my name. “Maria, I don’t have much time”. In my vegetable drawer, two red banana peppers (left over from last week). In my pantry, I saw a little spaghetti left over from a previous package (3 oz ).
Ingredients:
1 bag of escarole (5 cups)
2 cloves of garlic (sliced)
Drizzle of olive oil (3 tbsp)
2 red banana peppers (sliced, remove seeds)
1 cube of vegetable boullion
3 cups of boiling water
3 oz of spaghetti (cut it in small pieces)
Sea salt, black pepper (to taste)
red chili peppers (optional)
Grated Parmigiano cheese (optional)
In a medium pot, heat medium, drizzle a little olive oil. Saute the garlic and red banana peppers for two minutes. Add a pinch of sea salt, black pepper and red chili flakes (optional).
Add escarole, ½ cup of water and top with lid for three minutes, stir occassionally.
Add three cups of hot water to the same pot
Add 1 vegetable boullion cube
Add the cut up spaghetti, stir occasionally. Cook the pasta according to the package directions (approx. 8-10 minutes).
Serve immediately and top with parmigiano cheese.
It was delicious! Also, cooking everything in one pot was easy clean up! I now have leftovers that I can have during the week or freeze for another time.
Back to work!
By Maria Filice • January 21, 2010 I hosted a pre-conference dinner on Friday night. Since I prepared for a group of 30 guests, I will be posting the recipes for you in the next week (in a smaller serving size). As mentioned in a previous blog, writing down the measurements will be the challenge. Bear with me, it will be worth it. Wanted to share some of the photos:
 Antipasto “Sopreso” (which means surprise)
 Steamed Asparagus with fresh lemon
 Potatoes with Fresh Parsley “Flakes”
 Oven Poached Salmon with Mustard (baret of cucumbers-lemons-limes)
 Green Bean Salad with Wine Vinegar (I used my Uncle Mike’s home made vinegar)
 Padella of Peas, Sweet Onions and Mushrooms served with Roasted Sausage
recipes will be forthcoming.
Maria
By Maria Filice • January 21, 2010 Hi Everybody,
Help support my book launch!
Please join us and tell your friends about my Breaking Bread in L’Aquila Facebook page.
More to come,
maria !
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