CATERING

1. Assorted Appetizers Platter
   Parmesan rounds, rosemary/thyme straws, lettuce/green onions fritters, savory biscotti, marinated olives.
2. Bite-size Calzone (half moons)
   They come in various fillings:
   mozzarella, tomatoes, olives sautéed greens, provolone and ricotta, curried meat, diced potatoes and raisins.
3. Mini pizza
   Bite-size pizzette with various toppings (capers, anchovies, pepperoni, pickled vegetables, olives, etc.
4. Bruschetta
   Home-made crusty bread, such as ciabatta, topped with diced tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, shaved Romano, chick-peas puréed with garlic and olive oil, topped with sautéed spicy wild greens.
5. Crostini ripieni
   Various tasty fillings (bell pepper and tuna fish, gorgonzola, walnuts and cream cheese, etc) in a hollowed, sliced baguette.
6. Focacce, all olio di oliva
   Flat breads with various toppings or fillings, dressed with fine olive oil.
   Also bite-size (focaccine):
   Onion, thinly sliced onion topping
   Olive/nut, sliced and added to the dough
   Fresh herbs, chopped added to the dough
   Stuffed with sautéed spicy wild greens, or roasted bell peppers, or grilled vegetables
   Ethnic focaccia:
   Scacciata Siciliana(with provolone, olives, ham and onion)
   Pizza di indivia Napoletana (with sautéed endive, capers, olives, anchovies, raisins)
   Focaccia al formaggio di Recco (with soft cheese, arugula and fresh tomatoes).
7. Farinata
   A traditional Genovese snack... It is a thin and tasty "crepe" made of garbanzo bean flour and olive oil. It is broiled until golden-crisp and then served hot, either plain, sprinkled with black pepper, or topped with green onions or rosemary. Buono!
   
8. Calzone rustico e pizza rustica
   stuffed with ricotta, prosciutto, ham, Romano. Delicious!
9. Eggplant pizza
   Grilled thick eggplant slices with tomato, herbs, mozzarella and olives.
10. Leek and prosciutto bread
    A yeast bread shaped in a kugelhopf mold, flavored with leeks, prosciutto and mozzarella chunks.
    
11. Savory biscotti
    Pine nut/dried tomato/sage bread sticks. Good to nibble on!
12. Grilled mixed vegetables
    Eggplants, zucchini, etc... dressed with fresh herbs and garlic
    .
13. Caponata alla Siciliana
    Eggplants, bell peppers, celery, onions, black olives, capers, pine nuts and a spicy/sweet/sour sauce. Served on crusty bread or with pita wedges.
14. Stuffed vegetables
    Onions, bell peppers, small eggplants,tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, stuffed with a mixture of chopped vegetables, fresh herbs, eggs, and parmesan.
    
15. Variety of bite-size frittata
    Vegetables sautéed with fresh herbs, mixed with parmesan and bound with eggs.
16. Polpettone di fagiolini
    Mashed potato, green beans, fresh herbs, eggs, parmesan, topped with bread crumbs, and baked until golden-crisp.
17. Sartú di patate
    Mashed potatoes layered with tiny meat balls, mozzarella, eggs, and baked until golden-crisp. A Southern Italian recipe.
18. Strudel di Verdure (Vegetable strudel)
    A mixture of green vegetables dressed with parmesan and fresh herbs, rolled up in thin dough and baked until crisp. Served with a goat cheese/herbed sauce.
19. Panzanella
    bread salad with tomatoes, cucumber, herbs, etc.
20. Pinzimonio
    Platter of assorted vegetables with Italian-style dips.
21. Pickled eggplant salad
    Spicy, marinated eggplants, served on baguette.

22. Torte di Verdura (vegetable torta) are a specialty from Genoa. All are filled with vegetables sautéed with fresh herbs in olive oil then mixed with ricotta and fresh Parmesan cheese.
    The mixture is then baked inside a bottom and a top crust made from several layers of thin dough or just the bottom crust "open face" style.
    These are some of the possibilities:

• Torta di bietole (Swiss chard)
• Torta di cipolle o porri (onion or leek)
• Torta di asparagi (asparagus)
• Torta di carciofi (artichoke)
• Torta di melanzane (eggplant)
• Torta di cardi (cardoons)
• Torta di fagiolini (green beans)
• Torta di spinaci (spinach)
• Torta di funghi spinaci (mushrooms/spinach)
• Torta di zucchini
  

23. Lasagne al forno
    Layers of homemade fresh noodles (white or spinach):
    Meatless - fresh tomato sauce, herbs, béchamelle, Parmesan.
    Alla Portofino - with pesto, instead of tomato sauce
    Green lasagna with vegetables - spinach noodles, ricotta, tomato sauce, grilled eggplants, and mozzarella
    Alla Napoletana - with tomato sauce, miniature meatballs, béchamelle,
    mozzarella, and Parmesan.
24. Cannelloni al forno (baked cannelloni)
    Homemade noodles or crepes, stuffed with:
    Spinach/ricotta/herbs, topping: sauce/tomato sauce.
    Ground meat/ricotta/herbs, topping: as above.
    
25. Rotolo al forno (baked stuffed roll)
    A layer of home made noodles filled with vegetables (asparagus, spinach, or zucchini), ricotta rolled up, sliced and dressed with melted butter, sage, and Parmesan or tomato sauce and baked.
    
26. Gnocchi di semolino alla Romana
    Round dumplings made with semolina flour, topped with melted butter, sage, and Parmesan or with vegetables (spinach. zucchini), and baked.
    
27. Rabatoni (green gnocchi)
    Ricotta /green vegetables/ fresh herbs 2” long dumpling. Dressed with butter/sage/Parmesan and baked. A recipe from Piemonte.
28. Parmigiana di melanzane
    Grilled eggplants layered with tomato sauce, fresh herbs and
    mozzarella.
29. Polenta
    Classic cornmeal dish, available in two styles:
    Plain, topped with melted butter or tomato sauce.
    With cooked-in vegetables (carrots, beans, peas, zucchini), served with tomato sauce.
    Maritata, con uccelletti scappati, with cooked-in beans, served with skewered meats in a tasty white wine sauce.
30. Risotto-filled eggplants
    Eggplants stuffed with saffron/shrimp/chicken risotto, baked.
31. Risotto timbale
    A dome or box made of risotto containing various stuffings:
    a tasty mixture of of sautéed meats in a white wine sauce.
    noodles dressed with tomato/eggplant sauce, romano.
    noodles dressed with meatballs/tomato sauce/peas.
32. Minestrone alla Genovese
    A soup made of a variety of fresh vegetables, diced and slowly cooked with basil, garlic olive oil. Served with short noodles and dressed with pesto and Parmesan.
33. Pasta e fagioli
    A thick soup made with cranberry beans slowly cooked with fresh herbs and othesavory ingredients. Served with fresh short noodles. Also available in the version with spelt.
    

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* Second Courses or Main Dishes *

34. Cotechino in gabbia
    A special Italian sausage, enveloped in a "cage" of spinach and bread dough, baked, and served with stewed lentils and/or stewed cabbage, and mostarda in the Piemontese style. It is a delicious, tasty in-season dish that is traditional at Christmas and New Year.
35. Chicken rolls with watercress
    Chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese/watercress/herbs, flavored with white wine, baked and served with sautéed fresh tomato and basil.
36. Arrosto bicolore (two-color roast in pastry wreath)
    Savory, decorated short pastry wreath filled with herbed tomato-red and spinach-green lean ground beef, baked until golden.
37. Cima alla Genovese (stuffed breast of veal)
    A traditional Genoese dish: a thin layer of meat stuffed with vegetables, pine nuts, eggs, and fresh herbs, boiled in broth. Served sliced over a bed of lettuce.
38. Arrosto freddo di vitello
    Veal stuffed with roasted bell peppers, capers, herbs, rolled up and baked. Served cold on a bed of lettuce.
39. Fagioli e salsiccia all’uccelletto
    White beans and Italian sausage stewed in a tasty tomato sauce with herbs in the Tuscan way. Served on bruschetta.
40. Vitello tonnato
    Veal thinly sliced and served cold with tuna fish/capers/olive sauce. Very traditional in Italy and very, very good.
    
41. Tagliata di manzo alla pizzaiola
    Hot beef carpaccio, thinly sliced served on a bed of arugula, black eye peas, topped with pizzaiola sauce.
42. Caciucco
    A tasty fish stew flavored with saffron and tomatoes in the Tuscan style. Served layered with polenta (very attractive and tasty).

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* Desserts *

43. Chocolate-nut cake
    Filled with walnuts, glazed with chocolate.
44. Pandolce Genovese
    A traditional flat fruit cake, sold in every pastry shop in Genoa made with pine nuts, raisins, fennel seeds, and a scent of orange flower water.
    
45. Crostate
    Pies made with a flaky short pastry crust in the following styles:
    Crosta di amaretti - 2 layers of marsala-soaked almond amaretti with a top crust.
    Crosta di frutta - with fruit preserves/fresh fruit with a latticed top.
    Pastiera - Orange water flavored ricotta and wheat berries with a latticed top.
46. Bunet del Monferrato
    A traditional chocolate pudding from Piemonte, flavored with amaretti and coffee. Served with whipped cream.
47. Tiramisu
    Layers of coffee-soaked savoiardi (lady’s fingers), flavored with coffee, liqueur, and a mascarpone-based custard.
48. Torta dolce verde (sweet green torta)
    Orange/spice-flavored spinach/Swiss chard torta .
49. Bugie (“lies”)
    Knotted cookies made of lemon-scented short pastry.
50. Almond amaretti
    Home-made soft almond macaroons in the Piemontese style.
51. Assorted Italian cookies
    Baci di dama, passulate baked on lemon leaves, hazelnut biscotti, orange rolled biscotti, etc...
    
52. Poached fruit
    Pears, peaches, or apricots in wine served with zabaglione or with bunet di cioccolato.
53. Torta dolce di zucca
    Italian squash/almond/amaretti cake served with caramel sauce.
54. Torta di limone
    Delicious moist lemon (orange, or pineapple) cake served with warm fresh fruit salad.

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* Examples of dinner menus *

A) A traditional Southern Italian meal
Sweet and sour onion
Pasta and eggplant timbale
Roast pork loin Sicilian way
Stuffed mushrooms
Baked drunken figs with sauce and ice cream.

B) Flavors of the Rivieras
A mixture of fritters and antipasti
Lasagne Portofino - baked home-made lasagne with pesto
Torta di funghi a funghetto
Stuffed squash blossoms
Condiggion - a salad mixture (with everything in it, in the Genovese style)
Chestnut crepes with stewed fruit and ice cream.

C) A real couscous dinner with all the trimmings
Home-made from scratch couscous with lamb/chicken or fish (the Sicilian way) stew.
Served with cucumber salad, eggplant dip, bell pepper stew, herbed lentils and garbanzo beans salad, tomato/feta, green fava bean/mint fritters.

D) Nelly’s Brazilian feast
Moquequa de peixe - a fish stew from Bahia - with tropical flavor
Bobò de camaroes - shrimps with coconut sauce
Rice and black beans, Brazilian style
Farofa de carne seca - cassava flour sautéed with dried meat
Various salads
Bolo de abacaxi (pineapple cake).

E) An antipasto and dessert table
Mini pizza, Bruschetta with 2 toppings
Focaccia all’olio di oliva
Strudel di verdure
Pickled eggplant salad, Pinzimonio
Assorted Italian cookies
Poached fruit with zabaglione.

F) A spring menu
Savory fritters with herbs
Focaccia stuffed with sautéed spicy bitter greens
Rabatoni (herb and ricotta gnocchi)
Fresh green pasta with asparagus and Parmesan
Pistachio biscotti with fruit salad.

G) A fall feast
Torta di zucca (savory pumpkin torta)
Stuffed vegetables
Chestnut flour fresh pasta with pesto sauce
Cardoni au gratin
Persimmon pie.

H) An "al fresco" dinner
Pizzelle di melanzane
Focaccia with chopped fresh tomato
Rice timbale stuffed with eggplant pasta
Orange/endive salad
Agghiotta di pesce spada
Macedonia di frutta fresca con gelato.

I) Winter red
Arance sanguinelle (blood oranges), beets, and red onion salad
Winter pizzette
Risotto al Chianti (red wine)
Italian sausage in-a-crust (cotechino in gabbia) with lentils
Grilled red radicchio
A southern dessert with wheat berries, pomegranate, red wine, chocolate, and syrup.