basil

With just a few ingredients and some inspiration collected by browsing a cooking magazine, really tasty recipes with a great visual effect are born. Small raw veggie finger food with seasonal vegetables, enriched with fresh basil pesto. Perfect for an outdoor dinner on a warm summer evening.

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Beauty as food feeds us, but on other levels. When our eyes meet something beautiful that express harmony, we experience pleasant sensations and our inner state changes …. With Gusto Vegetariano one of our purpose is to express beauty, as well as create healthy and tasty recipes. For me, personally, the creative phase of a dish begins when I’m inspired by something that has a beautiful “form” (I always browse magazines and cookbooks full of beautiful photographs) … Yes, when I create a new plate I start from getting inspirations from beautiful pictures or beautiful things in nature wich I’d like to reproduce in the kitchen. Then, according to the present season, I think about which vegetables I can combine to get a balanced and healthy dish. Finally I put together all the ingredients creating something similar to that “form” that inspired me in the first phase. So I did for this salad: inspired by a picture of a summer recipe, where the predominant colors were green and yellow, I combined raw and cooked vegetables to get this beautiful “summer” effect ☺

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Melon is really one of my favorite fruits. In summer my body feels more the need to eat foods rich of water. The colorful salad I’m sharing with you today can be a creative idea to combine this fruit with seasonal vegetables and basil, more fragrant than ever, in this time of year. Enjoy your meal 😉

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Aubergine parmigiana is an explosion of flavors and scents, but in this “mono” version can also satisfy sight in a really enjoyable way. This recipe can also be presented in simpler ways, but sometimes a cook wants to amaze; with a little bit more of attentions and time you can really get great results. We still greet this summer together, with these aubergines that we will find on the market benches for other few days. Then we will let us inspired from all autumnal fruits and vegetables that the land is gradually giving to us.

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Have you ever tried the different taste of a just gathered vegetable and one that has been in refrigerating rooms for many days? Well… if not, you can make an experience now, with this very simply recipe, that can be a really tasty side dish: the only rule to respect is to search for seasonal and km 0 vegetbales. If they are just gathered, they will have a better taste and also a simply preparation like this, will be always appreciated.

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Avocado is a great fruit: I use it for sweet mousse and to prepare salads or sauces. I live in Italy so I’ve tried those imported from other countries, but some years ago, I’ve discovered that there are many avocado plantations in Sicily. I’ve tried them and they are great. Now, I prefer to wait for their natural ripening and harvest instead of buying them in a supermarket in every moment of the year. Today I share with you this nice recipe: a revisited gazpacho with avocado and beetroot; I hope you like it 😉

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Panzanella is a typical dish of Central Italy. It’s a simple recipe with summer ingredients. There are several versions, depending on the region of origin. I encourage you to try this variant in glass, that is very elegant to serve as appetizer. I hope you like it: I preferred not to dank bread, but leave it crispy … Anyway, you can choose to add it at the end, to create a contrast note between the different consistencies, or mix it together with the vegetables, to soften with their seasoning. Be inspired, and create your favorite version. 🙂

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When the days get very hot during the summer, I usually cook in the coolest hours, dishes that I can serve cold for lunch or dinner. Today I suggest you this nice match, which I decided to call “Tao” rice, consisting of two varieties of rice: the semi-whole Balilla and the Black Venere. Adding coloured raw vegetables and tofu will be a delicious dish to enjoy in this time of the year.
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If I say “Caprese”, everybody knows what I’m talking about: mozzarella, tomato and basil. But today there are so many ways to revisit this famous dish. With this recipe I propose you to use glasses to create the same combination with a new, tasty and nice form. You will be able to serve it also in smaller portions; blending mozzarella and cutting tomatoes, infact, give you the possibility to better organize doses for each portion as any single situation needs.

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The summer is approaching and zucchini too… and we will have them for several months yet. During this time I would like to share with you different recipes. When a vegetable remains for a long time on the market benches or in our home vegetable garden, we need to use our creativity to cook it in different ways. Today here is a zucchini parmigiana with basil pesto.

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