That's Italian!

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the fine folks at La Cucina Italiana Magazine.  October 2008 and June 2009, to be exact.

La Cucina Italiana is the only food magazine we're currently subscribing to.  I love the flavors of Italian food and between working in several Italian restaurants in my youth and living with an Italian for the past 16 years, it's one cuisine that I'm really comfortable making my own.

Like tonight's dinner.

There were two distinct recipes I wanted to make tonight - a baked risotto and an eggplant dish.  I've been looking at the risotto dish since last June.  Since we just got the black barley, I thought I'd play with the recipe a bit and make it with it.

To make a long story longer...  I burnt the barley.  To a crisp.

I had cooked it on the stovetop like risotto for close to an hour.  It was absorbing the broth but just not getting tender enough.  Finally, I added more broth, put a lid on the pan, turned the heat way low, and went to try and salvage a website I had destroyed for a dear friend of mine.  (Even longer story.)  I didn't hear the timer go off in 15 minutes and about 45 minutes later got up with a panic and...

Thank gawd for Calphalon .

So...  I remade it with arborio rice because I wanted to eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

It rocked!

Risotto al Forno

Ingredients

  • 4 large porcini mushrooms (about 7 ounces)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter plus more for ramekins
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4 -inch dice
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4 -inch dice
  • 1/2 small zucchini, cut into 1 ⁄4 -inch dice
  • 1 medium tomato, cored and cut into 1/4 -inch dice
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint
  • 1 small shallot, finely chopped
  • 1 cup Arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, heated to a simmer
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: 4 (4-ounce) ramekins

Instructions

Trim mushrooms and cut stems from caps. Separately cut caps into 1/4-inch-thick slices and stems into 1/4-inch dice. In a large skillet melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. In a single layer, add mushroom caps and cook until softened, about 1 1/2  minutes per side; transfer to a plate and season with salt and pepper.

Add 2 tablespoons oil to skillet and return to medium-high heat. Add mushroom stems, celery, carrot and zucchini. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Add tomato and cook until any liquid from tomato has evaporated, 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove from heat and toss with parsley, sage, mint and pinch salt and pepper.

Heat oven to 400º.

In a large saucepan, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add shallot and cook until lightly golden then add rice, stir to coat with oil and cook for 1 minute more. Add wine and stir, scraping the bottom of the pot to release any bits. Cook until wine is mostly evaporated, then add 1 cup broth and reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring, until broth is mostly absorbed, 5 to 7 minutes. In 1/2 cupfuls, add remaining broth, stirring until each addition is mostly absorbed before adding the next, until rice is tender yet still slightly firm to the bite (you may have broth left over). Remove from heat and stir in cheese and remaining tablespoon butter.

Generously butter ramekins. Line bottoms with a single layer of mushroom tops (chop any leftover tops and add to vegetable mixture). Put 1/4 cup risotto into each ramekin, then press risotto into the bottom and up the sides of the ramekins to create cavities. Fill each cavity with 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable mixture, then top with remaining risotto, packing tightly. Place remaining vegetable mixture in a small baking dish. Place ramekins and baking dish with vegetables on a baking sheet; bake for 15 minutes.

Remove risotto and vegetables from oven. Run a paring knife around edges of ramekins. Invert risotto onto serving plates and sprinkle with pepper. Serve warm with vegetables.

I more-or-less followed the instructions, except I used a portobello mushroom instead of porcini, didn't add the mint, and added more diced portobello mushrooms to the vegetable mixture.  Oh... and I used beef broth not vegetable broth.

The eggplant dish did not have a lot to do with the recipe - other than they both contained a few of the same ingredients.

Melanzane, Toma e Pomodori

Ingredients

  • 2 medium eggplants (about 1½ pounds)
  • Salt
  • 1 1/3 pounds tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying
  • ¼ cup whole almonds, finely chopped
  • 14 whole basil leaves
  • ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ¾ pound semi-firm goat cheese, such as drunken goat

Instructions

Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Cut eggplant into ¼-inch-thick rounds and arrange in 1 layer on prepared pan. Lightly salt rounds, cover with a second sheet of parchment paper, and top with heavy pots to weigh down. Let sit at room temperature until liquid is released, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add tomatoes and cook for 20 seconds. Drain and immediately run under cold water for 5 seconds. Peel, seed and dice tomatoes; place in a medium bowl.

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add almonds and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Pour mixture over tomatoes. Tear 2 basil leaves, add to tomato mixture and stir to combine; set aside.

Heat oven to 350°.

Remove parchment paper from eggplant rounds and pat rounds dry with paper towels. Place flour in a shallow bowl. Fill a large skillet with ½ inch oil. Heat over medium-high heat. Working in batches, lightly coat both sides of eggplant with flour. Fry until golden on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.

In an 8-x-12-inch baking dish, layer eggplant, tomato mixture and cheese, stacking layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with a layer of cheese. Bake until heated through, about 25 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with remaining basil leaves.

Okay...  I browned the almonds and then added tomatoes to the pan and made a thick concoction to place in the bottom of two well-buttered 12oz oven-proof straight-sided bowls.

I followed the instructions for the eggplant, draining, flouring, and frying.

I browned about 4 ounces of ground beef with a pinch of garlic and fresh herbs.  I had hard-cooked a dozen eggs to have around the house and sliced two of them.

Cooked about 4 ounces of fava beans and made a quick sauce of 1 plum tomato, a splash of olive oil, garlic, and Italian seasoning.

And 4 ounces of fresh mozzarella.

And then I layered it all...

The tomato and almonds, then fried eggplant, ground beef, a spoonful of sauce, mozzarella, fava beans, sliced eggs, more eggplant, and the rest of the sauce.

I covered it with parchment paper, then with foil, and both it and the risotto went into the oven at 350° for 45 minutes.

And the June 2010 issue just arrived today.

Stay tuned.


Birthday Weekend Part Deux

What a fun day today has been!  Victor spent the day outside - at the garden store, planting tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and all those bulbs he got from Holland...  General fun yard stuff.  I spent the day being Cinderella, doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen floor, cooking dinner...

It was a bit of role reversal.  Usually I work Saturday and Victor does the laundry, cleans the house... does the basic chores.  It's not that I don't do housework, but, for example, we had our vacuum cleaner for two years and one day I decided to do a bit of cleaning.  I had to ask him how to turn it on!  What can I say?!?

So...  laundry properly sorted, washed, dried, and put away (I actually do know how to do all of these things.  Really.) I started on dinner.  Chicken Cannelloni.

Back in the Dark Ages when I worked at Pirro's in San Francisco, we had a great cannelloni on the menu.  I decided to take that old concept and update it a bit.

Chicken Cannelloni

Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup finely grated Romano or Parmesan

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat. Whisk in flour and cook about 2 minutes.Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat then whisk in salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat and whisk in cheese.

Filling

  • 2 chicken breasts, minced in a food processor
  • 10 sun-dried tomatoes, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups finely grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 lb ricotta
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp sage
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 6 "no-cook" lasagne sheets

Cook lasagne noodles in a wide pan a few at a time.  Place in a bowl of ice water to cool and stop cooking.

Cook minced chicken breasts in a pat of butter, breaking it up as much as possible.  Cool.

Mix chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, ricotta, egg, sage, and pepper.  Set aside.

To assemble

Cut lasagne sheets in half to make 2 squares from each.

Butter 9x13 casserole dish and cover bottom with 1/3 of the cream sauce.

Place filling in a row along top side of square and roll.  Place seam-side down in dish.  Repeat with remaining pasta.

Cover with remaining 2/3 sauce.  Cover with foil and bake at 350° for about an hour.

I served them with a side of arugula sauteed in a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper.

The cannelloni we made at Pirro's had a much finer-consistency filling.  It really was all ground together and served in our all-purpose red sauce.  This had a bit more texture, a few less ingredients, and served with a classic white cheese sauce.  While I have some fond memories of that cannelloni, I liked this one better.  We both cleaned our plates.

And then I made fresh Blackberry Ice Cream.

It's in the freezer right now.....


Lasagnette

The cover recipe of the June 2009 La Cucina Italiana was a dish called lasagnette di farina di farro con pomodori, burrata e pesto.  In English, little lasagnas of farro flour with tomato, burrata and pesto.  Definitely a mouthful in any language.

I kept looking at the cover, looking at the picture, looking at the recipe, and just knew that I wasn't going to go looking for farro flour to make pasta.  Wasn't going to happen.

But I just loved the picture and the concept sounded fun.  It looked really good.

I decided to improvise.

First thing I did was forget about making the pasta.  I bought some no-cook lasagna sheets and cooked them. (I'm a rebel.)  Immediately after getting them out of the boiling water, I put them into iced water.

I then made a really quick chunky tomato sauce.  I minced some onion and a garlic clove and sauteed them in olive oil.  Added a 6oz can of tomato paste and fried it a bit to freshen it and add a bit of flavor.  To that, I added about a half-cup of red wine.  Then a can of diced tomatoes in juice and some Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

I cooked it all for a few minutes and set it aside.

In a skillet, I sauteed a minced shallot in olive oil and then added 2 chopped portobello mushrooms.  I cooked it all down really well, and then added a pound of ground veal.  I cooked it all really well, added a cup of mushroom broth and reduced it all down.  Set aside.

In yet another skillet (I dirtied a lot of pans for this) I sauteed some very thinly-sliced zucchini in a dab of butter, garlic, salt and pepper.  Set aside.

The assembly:

I cut the rectangular sheets in half to form squares.  I laid half of them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

I topped each with the veal and mushroom mixture and then the second square of pasta.

Atop the second square, I placed a bit of the chunky sauce, the zucchini, and thick slices of burrata.

Into a 350° oven it went for about 10 minutes.  (Just enough time to get counters cleaned and a place ready to plate everything up!)

On the plate:

I put some of the chunky sauce on the plate, placed the lasagnette on top, and grated some Italian cheese on top of it all.

Served with a fresh loaf of beer bread made with a Belgian beer, garlic, and more of the Italian cheese.

It was excellent!

Here is my inspiration.  There is just no end of things one can do with this...

Lasagnette di farina di farro con pomodori, burrata e pesto

4 servings
Ingredients

PASTA

* 3/4 cup farro flour plus more for dusting
* 1 large egg
* 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil plus more for pasta water, baking sheet and lasagnette
* Fine sea salt

PESTO

* 2  cups packed fresh basil leaves plus more for garnish
* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2  tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese plus more for lasagnette
* 2 walnut halves
* 1 teaspoon pine nuts
* 1 garlic clove, peeled
* 1 tablespoon club soda
* Fine sea salt
* Freshly ground black pepper

TOMATO SAUCE

* Coarse sea salt
* 4 vine-ripened tomatoes
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
* 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
* 1 garlic clove, peeled
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon tomato paste, preferably double concentrated
* 8 fresh basil leaves

ASSEMBLY

* 8 ounces burrata cheese or fresh water-packed mozzarella,cut into 1-inch pieces (see note)
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

FOR PASTA: In a small bowl, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg, oil and pinch salt to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolk and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then transfer dough to a lightly dusted work surface and knead until dough forms a complete mass. Knead, dusting work surface with flour as necessary, for 2 minutes more. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

FOR PESTO: Fill a small bowl with ice water. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil; add basil leaves for 15 to 20 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer leaves to ice water. Let sit 1 minute, then drain and squeeze water from leaves.

In a blender, purée basil leaves, oil, cheese, walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, club soda and generous pinch salt and pepper until smooth. Transfer pesto to a small bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent discoloration. Chill for 1 hour.

FOR TOMATO SAUCE: Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop tomatoes into water and boil 20 seconds; drain, peel, seed and cut into 1-inch pieces.

Heat oil, butter, onion, garlic and generous pinch salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Add tomato, tomato paste, basil leaves and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer and cook until sauce is thickened, about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning.

FOR ASSEMBLY: Cut pasta dough into 2 pieces; rewrap one. Flatten dough so that it will fit through the rollers of a hand-cranked pasta machine. Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.

Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until sheet is about 16 x 5 inches (if dough feels wet, dust with flour). Cut pasta into 4 (4-inch) squares; discard scraps. Lay squares 1/2 inch apart on a dry baking sheet and cover with a clean dish towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

Heat oven to 450°.

Fill a medium bowl with ice water. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add 1 teaspoon oil and 4 pasta squares; cook for 2 to 3 minutes after water returns to boil. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pasta to ice water, then to a large plate. Repeat with remaining squares.

Pat pasta dry. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush with oil. Put 4 pasta squares onto baking sheet. Dollop half of tomato sauce onto squares. Dot with half of burrata. Dollop 1 teaspoon pesto on top of each square, then sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano and pinch salt and pepper. Top with remaining pasta squares.

Drizzle lasagnette with melted butter and a touch of oil (you will have leftover ingredients) and bake until edges are lightly golden, about 7 minutes. Transfer to serving plates. Top with remaining tomato sauce, burrata and a drizzle of pesto (reserve leftover pesto for another use); garnish with basil leaves. Serve immediately.

June 2009


Tomatoes Fresh (Frozen) from the Garden

Back in September, I froze the last of our homegrown tomatoes.  We had a great crop last year and had more than we could quickly use.  I put about a dozen of them on sheet pans and put them right in the freezer.  When they were solid, I vacuum-packed them.  I was looking forward to fresh sauce in the middle of winter.

With a couple of feet of snow still on the ground, I think this classifies as "the middle of winter."  I pulled them out of the freezer last night and in my nicest voice I asked Victor if he wanted to make fresh sauce today while I was toiling away at work.  My pathetic look worked.   I came home to a simmering pot of outrageously perfect marinara.  And it tasted fresh from the garden.

We never bother to peel tomatoes when we're going to use them in sauce, but since these had been frozen, the peel slipped right off.  An added bonus.

He cooked up some rigatoni and browned a couple of sausages and pork chops.   Those he simmered in tonight's dinner.  The rest of the sauce went into the 'fridge for another day.

Fresh tomato sauce - and the tomatoes didn't have to travel - unripe and hard as a rock -  half-way around the world.


Vellutata di asparagi

Over time I have let just about all of my cooking magazines lapse.  The same dozen recipes kept coming back month after month with little variation.  And more and more recipes seem to be relying on processed, packaged or boxed ingredients.  We all know how much I love that stuff.  Riiiiiiight.......

A noticeable exception has been La Cucina Italiana.  It's a fun read, and although I don't make a lot of the recipes, they always inspire me and get me thinking outside the box.  Like the April issue that just arrived.

Thumbing through the magazine - actually, sitting on the couch getting rid of the blow-in cards - I saw a picture of a soup.  An Asparagus Soup.  With a fried egg floating in the center.  It was so unexpected.  It looked wonderful. I kept going back to it. I  knew I was immediately going to make it.  Or, at least a variation of it.  I was truly  mesmerized.

The magazine arrived yesterday.  Tonight I did my variation.

2 things about the magazine recipe; the soup itself seemed just a bit bland, and I thought a poached egg would work better than a fried egg.  As I said - they inspire me, I don't necessarily make things the way they do.

So here's what I did:

Asparagus Soup with Poached Eggs

  • 1 large leek, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into uniform pieces (reserve a few tips for garnish)
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup creme fraiche
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 4 eggs, poached

Saute leek and garlic in butter until soft.  Add asparagus, then broth, water, and nonfat milk.  Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer until asparagus is tender.

Add lemon juice, salt and pepper.  (Soup will probably look like it is curdling.  Don't worry.  It's okay!)

Use an immersion blender and puree soup.  If you don't have an immersion blender - go buy one - they're cheap.  Or, puree in a blender - but do be careful.  Hot liquids and blenders cause explosions.

Mix in creme fraiche and check for seasoning.  Keep warm while poaching eggs.

Ladle soup into bowls and add poached egg.  Garnish with a few reserved asparagus spears, if desired.

This was just a totally unexpected treat.  I didn't add any other herbs or spices because I wanted the asparagus flavor to come through.

I also made especially runny eggs because I figured they would continue cooking in the hot soup.  It was a good call.  Had I cooked them to a more normal doneness, they really would have been overcooked by the time we sat down.  I wanted the yolk to still be runny - not a golf ball.

It really worked well and I can see this with a lot of different soups.  More experimenting to come!


Gnocchi à la Victor

It's another night of Victor in the kitchen.  See the smile on my face!

I picked up a pack of gnocchi a while back and it's been staring at us both whenever we open the cupboard.  Today, Victor decided the time was right to end the staring.

There are times when you want a gazillion complex flavors assaulting your taste buds simultaneously.  There are times when you want a couple of simple ingredients to speak for themselves.  Victor chose the latter tonight.

Chopped red and green bell peppers and a couple cloves of garlic fried in olive oil, a bit of tomato paste, Greek oregano, fresh basil, a few red pepper flakes, and fresh parmesan cheese.  That was the sauce.  Into it, he stirred the cooked gnocchi, with a bit more cheese on top.

A few slices of fresh-baked bread (from the grocery store, today!) and dinner was served.

Simplicity.

###

Rumor has it we're getting another snow storm tomorrow.  Another big snow storm.  I love it!

We had more than 2 feet of snow Friday and Saturday.  The weather service is calling for 18" or more to fall starting tomorrow afternoon.  I'm psyched!  I loathe and despise these 2" annoyance snowfalls.  All they do is make life miserable for a few hours.  When snow starts getting measured in feet, the world has to stop for a while.  It's a good thing to stop and regroup.   Spend some time in the kitchen with the family.  Maybe cook a nice stew or something.

Which is exactly what I plan to do.

There's a chicken in a pot on the stove right now that is going to become Chicken Pot Pie tomorrow.  There will be leftovers for a hot lunch on Wednesday and we have enough stuff in the house that we won't have to venture out until it all melts!

Victor had a business trip out to California Wednesday morning.  American Airlines just called and canceled his flight.  It seems they are planning on a big storm, too.

All the more reason to turn on the oven and start baking!

I'm enjoying this.

A lot.


Picture Perfect Pizza

I have to laugh at the pizza commercial that says their frozen pizza is as good as delivery pizza.

Uh.  Right.

I made hand-spun pizza for years.  I made a hellava lot of pizzas for delivery.  Not one of them was half as good as having that pie delivered to your table right out of the oven.  It's great marketing that can convince someone that a mediocre product is as good as a mediocre product - and get them to buy it.

I've had a few frozen pizzas in my time that were reasonably good - for a frozen pizza - but nothing compares to a fresh-made and fresh-baked pizza.

In case you hadn't heard, it's snowing back here today.  A perfect excuse to turn on the oven and bake a fresh pizza.

This was a team effort.  Victor made the dough and the sauce, I put it together and baked it.  We work well in the kitchen together.

We have a couple of pizza dough recipes we use.  Today was BH&G New Cook Book. (Well...  it was new in 1981 when Victor got it...)

Pizza Dough

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
  • 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • olive oil for bowl

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.

Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.

Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

The pizza sauce was simply a can of tomato sauce, a splash of red wine, garlic, Greek oregano, salt, and pepper.

I topped it with cheese and homemade Italian sausage.

It was the exact size of the pizza stone.  Luck or skill?  If you voted luck, you would be right.

Pizza for lunch was just what the weatherman ordered, since it's been snowing now for about 20 hours non-stop - with more to come.

A good dinner tonight and another loaf of fresh bread tomorrow.

I love this weather!


Sunday Dinner

Homemade meatballs, sausages, and pork loin,  rigatoni, cheese, homemade Pane Siciliano, pepperoni bread, and Apple Cake.

We ate well, today!

We called Victor's mom, brother, and sister-in-law to come over for Sunday Dinner.  It's a time for family to sit around the table for a few hours and eat.  And talk.  And eat.  And eat.  What a great tradition!  We did the Irish version at my house  when I was growing up.  Different food, same concept.  It really is a great tradition.

Today, it was cold, wet, and raining outside, so a big pot of sauce on the stove and a couple of loaves of bread and a cake in the ovens was the perfect way to get the day rolling!

Victor started off by making sauce.  No two Italians make their sauce the same way.  In fact, he doesn't even make it exactly the same way every time.  Into the tomato sauce goes the browned meatballs and browned pork and sausage, red wine, garlic, all the basics.  Suffice to say, it is always fabulous.

And while the sauce was simmering on the stove, I made bread.  Pane Siciliano.

Last night I pulled out my beat-up old copy of  The Italian Baker by Carol Field.  I had planned on making her Pane Pugliese and it needs a biga, or starter.  It's  one of my most favorite breads.  I was pulling the ingredients together when I turned the page and saw a recipe for Pane Siciliano.  Something new.  I actually had the semolina flour (shock!) and decided to give it a try.

Pane Siciliano

Makes 2 loaves

  • 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp malt syrup
  • 1 cup water, room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups durum flour or semolina for pasta
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 to 3 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup sesame seeds

By hand:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a large mixing bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.  Whisk in the oil, malt, and 1 cup of water.  Mix the flours and salt and whisk in 1 cup at a time into the yeast mixture.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Knead on a floured surface 8 to 10 minutes, occasionally slamming the dough down vigorously to develop the gluten.

By mixer:

Stir the yeast into the 1 1/4 cups warm water in a large mixer bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the oil and malt with the paddle; then add the flours and salt and mix until smooth.  Change to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until; the dough is firm, compact, and elastic with lots of body, 4 to 5 minutes.  Finish kneading by hand on a lightly floured surface.

First rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.  The dough should be springy and blistered, but still soft and velvety.

Shaping and second rise. Punch the dough down, knead it briefly, and let it rest for 5 minutes.  Flatten it with your forearm into a square.  Rollit into a long, narrow rope, about 20 to 22 inches long.  The dough should be so elastic that it could almost be swung and stretched like a jump rope.  Cut the dough in half and shape each into a loaf.  (The book shows 3 classic shapes and illustrations; Mafalda, Occhi di Santa Lucia, and the baked Corona.  I made the Santa Lucia.)

Place the loaves on floured parchment paper, peels sprinkled with corn meal, or oiled baking sheets.  Brush the entire surface of each loaf with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds; pat the seeds very gently into the dough.  Cover with plastic wrap, and then a kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Baking. Thirty minutes before baking heat the oven with baking stones to 425°.  Sprinkle the stones with cornmeal just before sliding the loaves onto them.  Bake 10 minutes, spraying 3 times with water.  Reduce the heat to 400° and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer.  Cool on racks.

The final bread came out excellent, but I had to play with the dough a bit.

First off, it was way too dry.  I know that there are a bazillion and one factors involved in making bread; the moisture content of the flour, the weather and humidity, yadda yadda yadda, but I had to add almost a half-cup of water to the dough.  I finally worked it into a close approximation to what was described "firm, compact, and elastic with lots of body" but it never really had the elasticity I think it should have had from the description.  Same with the forming of the dough.  It rolled out well, but didn't have the "so elastic that it could almost be swung and stretched like a jump rope" texture.  It had some, but not what was being described.

Nonetheless, it came out great!  It had that rich semolina flavor and fine texture.

Marie brought over Pepperoni Bread, so we had that as an appetizer along with some salame, provolone, garlic crackers...

It was pretty good!

We sat down to a big salad, the pane, the meats, and a bowl of rigatoni.

Enough food for a small army.

Just what Sunday Dinner is supposed to be.

And then it was coffee and Apple Cake.

Victor got the recipe from his cousin Nancy, years ago.  It is really really good and I love it when he makes it!

Apple Cake

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup oil
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 5 large apples

Preheat oven to 350°.  Peel and cut apples into small chunks.  Add 4 tsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon and stir together.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and set aside.

Beat together eggs, OJ & vanilla.  Add oil, mix in flour mixture.

In a well-greased tube pan, pour alternate layers of batter and apples.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.

Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until cake tests done.

Cool before slicing.

Another great thing about this cake is it works well as a morning coffee cake as well as an evening dessert.

I see a great breakfast in my future!


Manicotti

Sometimes ya just know when something is going to work.  This was one of those times.

I made a goodly amount of ragu last night knowing I wanted to make manicotti this week.  This week ended up being tonight.

I took about 2 cups of the ragu and added about 3/4 cup ricotta and 1 egg and mixed it well.

I cooked the manicotti noodles and then stuffed them using a pastry bag.  For grins and giggles, I put a small mozzarella ball into the middle of each one and filled from both ends.

I made a light white sauce with parmesan cheese and used it for the sauce. (2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp flour, 2 cups milk, pinch salt, pinch pepper, maybe an ounce of grated parmesan.)

The manicotti went into a buttered casserole with a little sauce on the bottom and more on top, covered with foil, and baked at 350° for about 40 minutes.

Garlic bread and peas finished it off.

It was another plate-licker.


Sausage and Veal Ragu

There are times to be humble and there are times to just jump up and say "I Did Good".  Tonight's dinner is definitely of the latter!  I did good!

I had a pound of veal stew meat that I bought a while back with no particular recipe in mind.  Today, I pulled it out of the freezer, deciding that the weather outside called for a stew of sorts.

Feeling a bit uninspired, I started going through old magazines (I've tossed most of them over the years but still have a few too many lying about...) and found a recipe for a pasta dish with a sausage and veal ragu.  It wasn't the 'stew' I was looking for, but it was perfect for the weather.

Naturally, I didn't follow the recipe but used it as a base to make my own. I also used my homemade Italian Sausage.

And it worked.  Really well.

Sausage and Veal Ragu

  • 1 cup water
  • 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  • 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 lb Italian sausages, casings removed
  • 1 lb veal stew meat, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1/2 cup brandy
  • 1 qt mushroom broth
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes in juice
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • pasta
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Soak mushrooms in 1 cup boiling water about 15 minutes. Strain soaking liquid through coffee filter into bowl. Coarsely chop mushrooms. Set liquid and mushrooms aside.

Sauté onion, carrots, mushrooms, and garlic until vegetables are tender but not brown.

Add sausage, breaking it up, and cook until brown; about 5 minutes.

Add veal and sauté until brown; about 5 minutes.

Add wine. Increase heat to high and boil until wine is almost evaporated, about 10 minutes.

Add brandy and continue reducing.

Add 2 cups mushroom broth; boil 15 or so minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add reserved mushroom liquid. Continue boiling until liquid is almost absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Mix in tomatoes with juices, bay leaves, sage, and porcini mushrooms.  Bring to boil again and reduce until thick - about 20 minutes.

Add remaining 2 cups mushroom broth and simmer uncovered until sauce is very thick, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with papardelle or fettuccine.

I cooked up some fettuccine and served it all with the remainder of last nights bread.  Victor licked his bowl clean.

I don't often make dishes that require constant reductions like this.  This was easily 2 1/2 hours of boiling and simmering - but the flavors concentrated and intensified over and over and over.  I could have just stood at the stove with a spoon.

I made a big batch because I am going to rework the leftovers into a stuffed manicotti dish either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Can't wait!


The Feast of the Seven Fishes

It's festa dei sette pesci - Feast of the Seven Fishes. It's an Italian-American (and more Southern Italian and Sicilian than northern) tradition where the family serves seven different seafood dishes on Christmas Eve.

There's a lot of speculation as to where the feast originated, but it's definitely more America-Italian that Italy-Italian where the feast is not something celebrated natioanlly.

Once upon a time, Christmas Eve was a meatless day, so, in true Italian fashion, it became a meatless day with style! But regardless of origin, it's a great tradition and one that I really enjoy. And our Seven Fish were right up there!

It started with Shrimp with both spicy and mild cocktail sauces and a Crab and Whitefish dip...

and went to Linguini with Clams...

to Fried Tilapia...

Baked Cod with Almonds, and...

Mussels with Marinara.

All of this was prepared by my brother-in-law, Tom, who really wasn't feeling all that great. He did better on half-power than most of the planet could do at 110%.

We ate well. Very well.


Playing Catsup. er... Catch-up...

We've been playing with cookies so much, I haven't made time to talk about all the fun things we've been eating besides cookies-cakes-and-candies.  And there's been plenty.  So much, in fact, that I've gained back five pounds.  Victor, on the other hand, has actually managed to drop a couple more. (Note to self:  Stop eating at work!)

I'm not going to worry about it or go crazy.  It's Christmas.  I'll be back on track after the first.  In the meantime, I shall enjoy life!

As we were getting ready to deliver cookies yesterday, our neighbor up the street rang the bell.  She asked if we wanted some lemons.  Her niece sends them up from her Florida garden and they just can't use them fast enough.  Fresh-picked lemons?!?  You bet!  They're beauties!  I have to think of something fun with them tomorrow...

Victor's workload slows this time of year while mine goes crazy - so he's cooked dinner the past couple of nights.

Last night was a chicken picatta with baked mashed potatoes with cheese and fried shallots.  Heavenly!

Very simple.  He cooked and mashed the potatoes, mixed in a bit of parmesan cheese and topped it with the fried shallots.  Into the oven for about 15 minutes.

The chicken was equally easy.  Egg-dipped and then floured chicken breast, fried in a  bit of olive oil.  When it was browned, he added white wine, lemon juice, and capers.  Delish!

Tonight, he made pizza!

This was a fun one because after he made the dough and it was rising, we lost our electricity!  Huge snowstorms, windstorms, monsoon rains... nothing.  Lights stay blazing.  Not a blip.  Perfectly clear day?!?  Electricity goes out.  Figures.

Fortunately, it was only out for about 90 minutes.  Dinner was saved!

The dough is from Lidia's Italian American Kitchen.

L’Impasto per la Pizza

All sorts of people put all sorts of things into pizza dough. I want to give the recipe to you straight, as I had it in Naples--water, flour, yeast, and salt. This makes a soft but elastic dough that is easy to work with. Don' be afraid to stretch the dough when you're shaping it into pizza crusts: for something that feels so soft, it really is quite tough.

Yield: Makes enough dough for four 12-inch Margherita pizzas, two 8-inch square Sicilian pizzas, or fifteen 4-inch calzones

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, and more as needed
  • 1½ teaspoons salt
  • Olive oil

Directions

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a medium bowl and let stand until dissolved.

Toss the flour and salt together and stir into the dissolved yeast, using a wooden spoon or your fingers, until you have a stiff dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn the dough to coat all sides with oil, and cover with a damp cloth. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in volume, about 1½ hours.

Punch down the dough and, if necessary, divide into the number of portions called for in the recipe. Place the dough balls on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly against the dough. Refrigerate until the dough is roughly doubled in bulk. This can take from 12 to 24 hours. Punch down the dough and continue with the recipe.

I made hand-spun pizza for years and this is as close to the dough we used to make at Pirro's that I've ever seen.  Flour water salt yeast oil.  It's perfect.  And it really is tough in that you can really spin it!

Victor opted for the square pizza tonight.  He made the sauce with tomato sauce, tomato paste, a splash of red wine, garlic, and Italian herbs.  He topped it with slices of prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella and salami.  We had a couple of Cento Hot Pepper Shooters on the side.

Delish, again!

One more meal tomorrow and then we head north for Christmas.  Christmas Eve is the Seven Fish.

I'm psyched.