A simple tomato olive salad made with a medley of fresh heirloom tomatoes, capers, black olives, garlic and fresh onion chives. All the classic Italian flavors of a long simmered puttanesca sauce but in a fresh, quick and easy summer salad. Tomato Olive Salad Nothing screams hot summer days like a fresh heirloom tomato salad. And how can one not get romantic about a classic tomato cucumber basil salad or tomatoes and onion dressed with a simple vinegar and oil dressing?! ...
Appetizers
Our collection of easy appetizer recipes we love and enjoy often. Hope you'll also find something here that tickles your taste buds. ~ Florentina
Tomato Basil Salad Recipe
Get goosebumps when you bite into this aromatic Tomato Basil Salad. Fresh heirloom tomatoes and shallots combine with a tart chive vinaigrette for the perfect lunch or side. Add the various basil leaves and blossoms for a simple, yet elegant, salad. Tomato Basil Salad This is the perfect summary dish because these basil blossoms just scream the perfect warm weather herb.There’s just something about their flavor that pairs with the summer air so flawlessly. Not to mention, the chives make ...
Best Chimichurri Sauce Recipe + Video
Seriously the Best Chimichurri Sauce Recipe of all times. Italian, Argentinian and Mexican variations included + Video tutorial. This easy and bold olive oil parsley sauce that originated in Argentina can take your meal from good to amazing with a just a drizzle. The best sauce to drizzle over your fries, potatoes, flank steak, burgers, crispy chicken wings, shrimp or fish. It can also be used as a marinade and makes a fabulous dipping sauce for focaccia, garlic knots or crusty bread. ...
Smoked Salmon Crostini Recipe
Smoked Salmon Crostini, the Ultimate Italian Style Breakfast ! Smoked salmon crostini are the Italian version of bagels and lox, simply put. Not the same thing, just a spin on it, and If you like bagels and lox at all, you will absolutely love my smoked salmon crostini. Salmon is salmon, but here lies the major difference: Lox is actually brined salmon fillet, while smoked salmon is a cured smoked salmon fillet. Two different things. If you have trouble finding it at the store,you can ...
Shrimp Bruschetta & Crostini Recipe
Shrimp Bruschetta Anyone ? You know what I’m really good at ? What I master like a boss ? Rubbing a piece of shrimp bruschetta with a garlic clove until disintegrated. I am the self proclaimed queen of bruschetta, crostini and grilled cheese panini. I’m good at other things too, but the bruschetta game kids, I dominate it. You name it, I make it happen ! Okay, so it’s not rocket science, but still, you need to achieve that perfect balance of crunchy and soft. Garlic and sweetness, it’s gotta ...
Mushroom Bruschetta Appetizer Recipe
Mushroom Bruschetta, a true rustic Italian appetizer of garlic bread topped with wild mushrooms cooked in white wine! This wild mushroom bruschetta appetizer was first mentioned when I wrote the about Florentina page, here on Ciao Florentina. That’s where I first talked about my grandpa who would plop me on the back seat of his old rusty bike after the rain, and we would go search for wild mushrooms. So we could make this exact mushroom bruschetta. I call it an appetizer, but for us it was the ...
Burrata Bruschetta Recipe
Heavenly Burrata Bruschetta with Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes on Crusty Italian Garlic Bread ! Burrata Bruschetta Recipe The rustic grilled piece of garlic bread that would be my last meal on Planet Earth, If I was asked that question. Unless I said that about some other meal on here, in which case I take that one back; unless of course I said the rustic chicken stew over creamy polenta..I probably did, didn’t I…? So let me just add this burrata bruschetta to that to make it a meal. Okay, ...
Apricot Glazed Chicken Recipe + iPinium Grill Plate Giveaway
Who's in for some 6 minute sticky apricot glazed chicken ?! Yes kids I said 6 minutes and no smoke in the house. I am really stoked about this one, and I partnered up with iPinium -family own business from Sweden to bring you this incredibly fast and delicious weeknight meal, chicken tenderloin grilled in the oven on the revolutionary iPinium grill plate. Why revolutionary you might ask ? Well for starters, it is a non stick double-sided pan that is environmentally friendly, the coating is PFOA ...
Chicken Avocado Toast Recipe
Chicken Avocado Toast Recipe The avocado toast is not 2000 and late, not this chicken avocado toast anyway. Believe me when I say this: the chicken avocado toast is here to stay kids. Are you a breakfast eater or a breakfast skipper ? Do you find yourself reaching for the cereal box against your will in the mornings ? Or do you have a little plan going on in your brain as you drift away into sleep the night before dreaming of perfectly crisp and creamy cast iron eggs ..? I do that a ...
Burrata Roasted Tomato Salad Recipe
I’ve made so many roasted tomato salads in my life, but this one served over pouches of fresh burrata cheese and drizzled with a zesty scallion dressing takes the cake. Make sure to use the very thin and mild scallions, or substitute with a large bunch of onion chives. I used a mix of heirloom cherry tomatoes but it can be done with the larger variety, sliced or cut into wedges. They will take longer to roast and collapse, but equally delicious. Mandatory to wipe our plates clean with ...