Tortellini and Cod
I had it in my mind to make pasta when I got home, today. Victor had the same idea - except his idea was even better than mine!
Victor cooks a lot on Saturday. It's his day of domesticity - laundry, vacuuming, that sort of thing - and more often than not, a great dinner. I love it! It is great pulling into the driveway on my last day of work for the week and seeing Victor in the kitchen. Really great!
Tonight was no exception... I saw him through the window and I knew something good was afloat.
We had some Alaskan cod in the freezer and Victor simmered it in a jar of his homemade sauce. Simplicity. And totally delicious. Nice-sized chunks of cod gave the sauce a delicate hint of seafood and fresh pecorino romano and basil on top brought it right over the top. I hate to keep harping on it, but it really is so easy to cook decent meals at home on a regular basis. You just have to do it. And the more you do it the better you become and the better you become the easier it is... Really. It's like canning 14 quarts of sauce at one time... Yes, it takes a bit of time to do it, but the payoff is fresh sauce without crap in it.
I'm getting a bit nervous, though... I think we're down to only 2 quarts of sauce left. It was my hope that we could get through until our (in my dreams) bumper-crop of tomatoes was here and we could make a vat using fresh tomatoes. Methinks we may have to make a batch using the last of the San Marzano tomatoes downstairs in the very near future. Oh well. The things we have to suffer through...
Tomorrow is my day in the kitchen. I'm planning on making a vat of Peach Sriracha BBQ Sauce. I have the peaches, the onions, the red peppers, the tomatoes, and the sriracha... I've been kinda formulating a recipe in my head for the past few days. We'll see how it comes about tomorrow. It's supposed to rain for the next 36 or so hours, so making a few gallons of BBQ sauce sounds like a fun thing to do.
And in the meantime... my tummy is smiling and I am one happy and content guy...
Pane al Pistacchio
One of my go-to books for Italian breads is Carol Field's The Italian Baker. I have had her book for probably 30 years and it's still one of the best books out there for making rustic Italian breads. The recipes are all easily adaptable and if you make bread on any sort of regular basis, you can easily play with them and get outstanding results every time.
Today, I took her Walnut Bread and turned it into a Pistachio Bread.
I love baking bread on hot, humid days. The weather is perfect for proofing bread outdoors - Mother Nature's Perfect Proofing Box. Since I've been day-dreaming about Sicily, I thought a loaf of bread with pistachios was in order. Sicily has some excellent pistachios - grown mostly in the volcanic soil around Mount Etna. They don't export many, but I can pretend my California nuts are their Sicilian cousins...
The recipe is pretty straightforward. There are no starters - biga - in this bread, so you can get it done start-to-finish in just a couple of hours.
A couple of things to note... When chopping the nuts, I used a food processor and made them fairly fine, but made sure there were still some chunks. Also, after the first rise, you take the dough out of the bowl and form it into a ring without punching it down or kneading it. The dough is also just a tad sticky. Resist the urge to add more flour.
The end result is outstanding!
This is the dough right out of the mixer, ready for the first rise. Note the chunks of pistachio.
It's then formed into a ring on a cornmeal-sprinkled bread peel and left to rise, again, until doubled.
And here it is right out of the oven.
Half of this is going into the freezer.
It's actually quite a quick recipe. Most of the time is waiting for it to rise - and on nice, hot, humid days, it does it quite quickly.
Pistachio Bread
adapted from Carol Field's The Italian Baker
- 2 cups roasted, unsalted pistachios
- 2 1/2 tsp or 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup cane syrup or honey
- 1 1/3 cups warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Chop them to coarse crumb in a food processor.Stir the yeast and cane syrup or honey into water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until foamy.
Combine the flour, salt and pistachios and stir into the yeast mixture. Mix until the dough looks brownish and coarse. Knead for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be soft, moist and fairly dense, but easy to work, although not elastic.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover tightly and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. WITHOUT PUNCHING IT DOWN OR KNEADING IT, shape it gently into a log and join the end to make a ring.
Place on a cornmeal-dusted bread peel. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Pre-heat the oven with baking stone to 400° F. Slide bread onto stone and bake for 10 minutes; reduce the heat to 350° F and bake 40 minutes longer.
If you don't have a peel and baking stone, you can place the loaf on a cornmeal-dusted sheet pan, let it rise, and then place the pan in the oven to bake.
But I really do recommend getting a peel and stone. They're not that expensive and they really do make for a better loaf of bread!
Escarole and Sausage over Crispy-Cheesy Bread
I was perusing a few of the websites I have linked to this, this morning, and came upon a recipe I immediately knew we were having for dinner, tonight on Rustico Cooking.
I actually don't remember how I came upon their website but I immediately bookmarked it because the food looked so intriguing. The recipes seemed simple but with complex flavors. And today, I decided to jump in!
I have a huge bookmark section on the computer devoted to food - what a surprise, eh?!? - and as I was saying earlier, if I just cooked the recipes I already have I'd never have to buy another cook book in my life. This has made me revisit not only my blog links, but the bookmarks, as well. I have been in a huge rut as far as cooking goes. It's time to break out and get creative, again.
This was a great start. Naturally, I switched things around a bit, used different cheeses, but the recipe is basic and pretty much calls for your own interpretation. The bread is important. Use something fairly light that will toast well and give a nice crunch without being too heavy or overwhelming.
And something Victor and I both noted is this would be outstanding with a fried egg on top.
Next time...
Escarole and Sausage over Crispy-Cheesy Bread
adapted from Rustico Cooking
Sausage and Escarole:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 lb hot Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
- 1 lb - a large head - escarole, chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Place the olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic, and chili flakes in a wide pan with a tight-fitting lid. Warm gently over medium heat until it becomes aromatic - a minute or so.
Add the sausage and cook stirring often and breaking it up, until the sausage is nicely browned. Add the chopped escarole, season with the salt and pepper, and cover.
Cook about 10 minutes, stirring once in a while, or until the escarole cooks down. The liquid is essential to this dish, so keep the lid on. Set aside while making bread.
Crispy-Cheesy Bread:
- 4 cups cubed Italian focaccia or other light-textured bread
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 lb low moisture Mozzarella, shredded
- 2 oz Ricotta Salada, shredded
- 2 oz Pecorino Romano, shredded
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Spread bread cubes onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and add a pinch of salt & pepper, if desired. Place in 400° oven for 5 minutes. Remove.
Move bread cubes to center of pan, keeping them fairly close together and in one layer.
Sprinkle cheeses on top. Return to oven and bake about 5 more minutes - until cheese is melted and bread is slightly more toasted.
To Assemble:
Reheat sausage and escarole.
Place about 1/4 of the cheesy bread on each of 2 plates. Top with 1/4 of the sausage and escarole. Add a second layer of each.
Drizzle any remaining juices from the escarole on top of the plates and enjoy!
As we were oohing and awing and deciding what else would be fun - like that fried egg - Victor's mom just looked at us as if we were crazy. She had ziti and mild Italian sausage. Her adventurous eating days are behind her.
Ours are just starting up, again, after a bit of a hiatus.
Sunday Dinner
Spring has finally sprung.
Sunny, 80°, chirping birds, and a dog running through the sprinkler... It doesn't get much better. Except for dinner, that is.
Even though summer means tomatoes, the sunny skies meant a bit of a tomato salad. Victor got our tomato plants into the ground, today - along with 8 pepper plants - so... in a few months we'll be making these with our home-grown.
In the meantime, it's store-bought. I don't buy a lot of store-bought tomatoes. They're usually pretty flat-tasting. But now and again I'll find a couple that seem okay. I know... picky, picky, picky... What can I say?!?
These were actually okay. Combined with fresh mozzarella and basil, and dressed with our stash of Sicilian olive oil and aged balsamic, they passed muster.
For dinner, Victor made focaccia and baked ravioli.
He doctored up a jar of his homemade sauce with a pound of ground beef and made a really meaty ragu. he took jumbo ravioli out of the freezer and placed them in the dish, covered them with sauce, and baked them for about 40 minutes.
Excellent!
And then the focaccia.
Victor makes a basic focaccia with a recipe he originally found in Better Homes and Gardens. He plays with it when he's of a mind, but the basic works just fine.
Better Homes and Gardens Dough
Ingredients
- 2-3/4 to 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil or olive oil
Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1-1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a damp towel (make sure the towel does not touch the dough). Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).
3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16×12-inch rectangle. Place in a greased 16x12x1-inch baking pan. Let rise 20 minutes.
4. Top with toppings of choice and bake at 375° about 25 minutes.
He brushed it with some thinned sauce and baked it off. Simple perfection.
Zeppoles
One of the fun things about being married to an Italian is the recipes with the funny names. One of the fun things about having friends who are Italian is even more recipes with funny names - and links to websites with even more.
Our friend Judy turned us on to a site called Everybody Loves Italian and Victor has been having a blast reliving a lot of the recipes of his youth. Victor laughs and says he has the only Italian mother who didn't cook. There's a reason, though... She was number 10 of 11 kids and her older sisters did it all. The cookies and whatnot came from Aunt Tessie or Aunt Emma. You don't reinvent the wheel in an Italian family. The one who knows how to make something the best is the one who makes it. And if that something happens to be a signature dish, you really don't make it when they're around for fear of possibly showing them up. A Big Mistake.
Whether Zeppoles were in the family repertoire is questionable, but Aunt Emma, especially, used to make several different sweet and savory fritter-type items, so these could be a variation on one of her themes. Or not. it doesn't really matter, though, because he just made them and they are fantastic! They evoked a childhood memory and that's what's important. Well... that, and the fact that they're freakin' delicious. They're also easy to make, so... No excuses. Head into the kitchen and make some, now!
This recipe is adapted from Everybody Loves Italian.
Zeppoles
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest and juice of 1 medium lemon
- neutral oil for frying
- powdered sugar for dusting
Heat oil 2" deep to 375° in a pan wide enough to fry several zeppole without crowding.
Mix two eggs into mixing bowl. Add all dry ingredients and follow with ricotta, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Quickly mix until combined. Batter will be thick.
Using a 1 tbsp scoop or spoon, carefully drop into the hot oil, being careful not to let them touch. Turn them for even browning and cook about 3 minutes or until cooked through.
Drain on paper towels.
When still warm but cool enough to handle. sieve powdered sugar over them and consume!
They really did come out great. Very light and airy, not very sweet, and with a nice lemon hint. We figure there are lots of things we can do with these, from cinnamon in the batter to different liqueurs.
Methinks we shall have some fun with these!
Victor's Pasta Sauce
I am one happy guy, tonight - I have 14 quarts of homemade pasta sauce canned, labelled, and sitting on the shelf just waiting to be eaten!
A year or so ago we got a pressure canner to start making more things at home. Victor has made sauce a couple of times, but we've been out for weeks, now... I've been going through withdrawal. Having homemade sauce on the shelf is one of the most fabulous luxuries in life. Really. It's always delicious, dinner can be on the table in minutes, and we know when it was made and what went into it.
What a concept, eh?!?
He started out with a case of Cento San Marzano tomatoes, a few pounds of pork, garlic, onions, basil, cheese...
All into the pot to simmer, slowly, for a few hours...
As soon as it reached its peak perfection, it went into jars...
I picked up a different jar this time around. I still have a slew of mason jars downstairs, but thought it time for something different.
They went right into the canner...
I really do like this so much better than doing the water bath - especially for quarts. It also takes about half the time, start-to-finish.
The jars sit on the counter and continue to boil inside for a good 20 minutes before finally starting to cool down. It's cool to watch.
But it's even more fun to eat!
14 quarts and at least 2 other meals from one pot.
It's been a successful day in the kitchen!
Victor's Pasta Sauce
- 2 – 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
- 1 – Sm can tomato paste
- 1-2 cloves of garlic (or to taste if you like more) chopped fine
- Olive oil
- Dried Italian seasonings
- Hot red pepper flakes (a tsp or more or less to taste)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Red wine (always cook with a decent wine, never “cooking” wine) about a cup or cup and a half
- Meat – such as Italian sausage or some nice beef or pork ribs or pork chops
Ok…I ALWAYS make my sauce with meat, so start with a deep, heavy pot and add about 3-4 TBS of olive oil. On high heat, once the oil is hot, start frying the sausage or pork, Let the meat get good and caramelized although you don’t have to cook it all the way through because you’ll add it back to the sauce to finish. Once the meat is browned take it out of the pot, put it on a plate and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium and sauté the tomato paste for a couple of minutes until it begins to “melt”. Add the chopped garlic and sauté with the tomato paste for just a minute (no longer or it will burn). Then add about a cup of the red wine and deglaze the pan with it, scrapping up all the good bits that stuck to the bottom when cooking the meat.
When the wine reduces by about ½ start adding the canned tomatoes. Add one can of hot water for every can of tomatoes you use.
Now start adding the dried Italian seasonings. I eyeball it but I would guess a good 2 TBS is fine. Add about another ½ cup of red wine, with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir everything into the sauce. It will be very thin at this point.
Add back the cooked meat. Now this is important….at the bottom of the plate you let the meat rest on will be some of the oil and juices that seeped out. Pour that back into the pot. It has a lot of flavor in it.
Bring the sauce back to a boil then turn the heat down low and let it simmer for at least 1 and a half hours, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes to keep it from burning. It should reduce by about a third or a little less and get thicker. The meat will absorb the sauce and get very tender.
When I make meatballs, I don’t fry them, I bake them on a sheet pan. When I do, I add them to the simmering sauce when they’re done so they also absorb the flavor.
I usually make the sauce early in the day and after it’s done, just let it sit on the stove until dinner then I re-heat it. This should make enough sauce for a couple of dinners or good sized lasagna.
Beef & Mushroom Risotto
This was going to be Butternut Squash Risotto. At least, that's what I was thinking earlier, today. As with many recipe ideas I have, it morphed into something completely different.
It was also a combination of things I had and time we're going to have this weekend, since I'm going to be working both Saturday and Sunday. I had mushrooms and a small piece of thinly-sliced beef that was just taking up room in the freezer and that lovely butternut squash will make a great soup that Victor can pull together, tomorrow.
Two meals taken care of and we can figure out Sunday, later.
We really didn't worry about meals and meal-times before we moved Nonna in with us, but we've had to get more regimented about time and ingredients. Oh well... It comes with the territory.
Risotto is still one of the easiest things a person can make.
Beef and Mushroom Risotto
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
- 3/4 lb beef, cut into small thin strips
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups hot beef broth
- 1 cup shredded pecorini romano cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Saute beef in a bit of butter and olive oil. Add onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until vegetables are limp. Add rice and cook about 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring often, until it is absorbed.
Begin to add broth by the ladle, stirring continually. Continue adding ladles of broth as the last one is absorbed, until rice is just tender.
At this point, stir in cheese.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.
Voila! It's done!
The basic recipe is there - just switch out the meat, the type of broth, the vegetables... Make it with whatever and however.
It's guaranteed to be good!
Fun Food with Old Friends
We had dear friends stop by for an all-too-brief overnight visit.
The fun thing about overnight visits is being able to just sit and talk without having to look at a clock. Not that any of us really drink very much, but nor is there need for a designated driver. It's just sit back and relax.
I had to work, so Victor got the meal together. Bruschetta for starters with wine, and then tomato salad - with the last of the tomatoes from our garden - and lasagne.
Neither Ann nor Julie are large-portion eaters, so Victor actually scaled back his lasagne to a manageable size. A remarkable feat, considering how we usually do things.
We started off with a simple bruschetta.
Toasted baguettes with roasted red pepper, basil, and shredded cheese started the evening - along with wine, of course.
And then we sat down to a tomato salad.
Simple tomatoes with olive oil hand-carried from Sicily. Basil, salt, and pepper. You don't need anything else.
And then... The Lasagne.
The dish was layered with sauce, pasta, cheeses – mozzarella, provolone, asiago, parmesan, romano, and ricotta – pasta, sauce, sausage, more cheese more pasta, more sauce… Stunning in its simplicity, yet screaming with flavor. He does good lasagne.
Trying to keep with the small-portion mind-set, I did dessert crespelles. A crespelle is an Italian version of a crêpe. Made slightly different, yet, definitely the same concept. I decided to do an Italian take on a Crêpe Suzette - using an Arancello liqueur we brought back from Sicily.
I made the crespelle, and then, into a skillet, I added a pat of butter and then a couple shots of the arancello. I cooked it down a bit then added the juice of two oranges, boiled that down, a bit, then about a quarter-cup of heavy cream and some thin strips of orange zest.
I placed each crespelle into the pan, covered it with the sauce and folded then into quarters. Onto the plate with a bit more sauce on top. It came out a bit like an orange creamsicle.
Early morning pumpkin rolls and they were in the car and on their way.
Way too short of a visit - not even 18 hours - but we had a grand time, nonetheless.
And promises to have a longer visit really soon!
Crespelle con funghi e carne macinata di manzo
That sounds a lot fancier than hamburger and mushrooms in crepes, but, that's essentially what we had. Crespella is what we - and the French - call a crêpe. The same concept, anyway. The flour-to-egg ratio is a bit different, but the end result is the same - a thin pancake filled with yummy stuff.
I've been thinking about crespella for a few days, now, and finally decided today was the perfect time to whip them up. I was off, I had gone to physical therapy early, and I had grocery-shopped yesterday. I pretty much had a free day...
Now... crêpes or crestella take no time at all to make. Maybe 90 seconds a piece. maybe. It's probably less, but I've never bothered to time it. It helps to have a nice crêpe pan, but a small skillet works in a pinch.
We've had this pan - it's Calphalon - for 20 years. Victor may have had it longer. I think it was part of the dowry. It is the best damned crespelle pan this side of Rome.
Crespelle
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 to 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Crack the eggs over the flour and whisk them in. Add salt and whisk in water until smooth.
Heat your pan until hot and brush with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into the pan and swirl to completely coat. Cook until pale golden and crespelle is dry on top. Place on plate and continue until all the batter has been used.
Fill with your favorite sweet or savory filling.
I do not flip my crespelle or crêpes. I really see no reason to if you cook them until the top is dry.
The filling was a throw-together of ground beef, mushrooms, and onions. I added some beef broth and thickened it with flour.
No-brainer simple.
We came up with a great dessert idea using them and will be trying it out on our house guests in a couple of weeks.
What fun!
Butternut Squash Risotto
It's officially Fall - I've made our first Butternut Squash Risotto of the season.
This is something I'll make a couple of times over the next few months. I may not write about them all, but I'll be making it. It really is the epitome of the fall season. Roasted squash, rice, sage, garlic... a definite comfort-food and perfect for the changing weather. Not that the weather is changing, much... It's gorgeous weather out there.
Risotto really is one of the easiest things in the world to make. It has a reputation of being difficult or time-consuming. It's neither. You can do it!
Butternut Squash Risotto
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli, vialone nano)
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups hot chicken broth
- 1 tsp sage
- salt and pepper
Coat cubed squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on sheet-pan in 425° oven for about 25 minutes. Set aside.
Saute onion in a bit of olive oil and butter in a risotto-style pan. Add garlic and 1 cup rice and continue sauteing until rice is slightly translucent.
Add 1 cup white wine and stir until most of wine is absorbed. Begin adding broth 1 cup at a time, stirring until most has been absorbed before adding the next two.
Add roasted butternut squash and stir in.
Add the final cup and stir and cook until the rice is tender.
Stir in parmesan cheese and sage and taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper, if necessary.
No-brainer cooking at its finest. Active cooking is about 20 minutes.
Give it a try. Your stomach will thank you for it!
Stuffed Peppers
This has not been a stellar year for our backyard garden, but the few things we have gotten have been really good. The tomatoes have been rich and sweet and the peppers have just bounded with flavor - from the sweet bells to the fiery reds - they have been awesome.
And tonight's cubanelle's were no exception.
I had sent Victor a text this morning saying I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for dinner, tonight. He texted back saying he would take care of it - and then said he would also have dinner ready when I got home. My clever ruse worked!
We had 4 cubanelle's that were growing bigger by the day - and with the luck we've been having, he decided they were going to be dinner tonight.
And what a treat!
He stuffed them with a spicy ground beef and rice mixture and then baked them in a bit of fresh tomato sauce. When they came out of the oven, he drizzled them with our special reserve Sicilian olive oil.
My stomach was smiling all through dinner - and it's still smiling as I write this. There is something that is just so satisfying about eating things fresh from your own garden. Our yard just isn't set up for growing a lot of things - too many trees and not enough sun - but the few things we have grown have really been a treat.
I doubt I'll be canning anything this year, but we'll definitely enjoy the things we get.
We'll see what tomorrow brings...
Ricotta Ravioli with Asparagus Cream
What do lemon and ricotta ravioli and asparagus have in common? A love of cream, for one... Something I have in common with them, as well!
I've always liked ricotta and Victor makes really good ricotta, but it was being in Sicily and having a huge lunch at a ricotta farm that really sealed the deal. There was just something about being there and seeing it done, seeing the cows where the milk comes from... not to mention I was in love with every bit of food I ate while we were there.
So... when I saw ricotta ravioli with Sicilian lemon, I knew I had to go for it. I mean... these had my name written all over then.
I thought long and hard about the sauce. I wanted something rich to compliment the ravioli, but I also wanted it simple enough not to compete with the delicate lemon and ricotta flavor. Asparagus and heavy cream became the obvious choice.
I normally like thicker asparagus, but I had a pound of really thin pencil asparagus, so I went for it. I sliced them into about 1 1/2" pieces and sauteed them in olive oil with a half-cup of chopped red onion. I added a pint of heavy cream and a pinch of salt and pepper and let it all simmer and thicken.
Into the sauce went 2 packages of cooked ravioli.
Perfection.
No, it is probably not the most health-conscious thing I have made, but it was damned good - and something I'll definitely make, again!