Marie, Author at Proud Italian Cook

Kale Made Three Ways

September 8, 2011 by Marie 27 Comments

Three flavors that I adore together are caramelized onions, kale and butternut squash, there’s something about the sweetness of the onions, the slightly bitterness of the greens and the buttery squash, it just creates the perfect balance! I was inspired to make this pie after I had a slice for lunch from my local Whole Foods deli. They added pancetta but honestly you don’t need it, I think my version with out it was better, plus I added the caramelized onions which made it irresistible!

Our garden soil must be good for kale because it keeps growing and growing so I’m constantly thinking of ways to use it. I recently started freezing it and it’s actually nice to be able to reach in the bag and take out just what I need.

After I give it a good wash and snip off the stems I rough chop the leaves and place them into boiling water for a quick 3 minutes, drain and let it cool down on a baking sheet then pack it in a freezer bag for future use.

For my version of the Kale and Butternut Squash Pie I roasted the squash ahead of time and I slow cooked the onions and leeks for around 40 minutes until golden brown and sweet, don’t rush them, low and slow, and be generous with the grated parmesan cheese!

I used this recipe which is close to the Whole Foods version I had, it also helped me figure out the phyllo part, which btw, was very easy and forgiving.

All that goodness contained in crispy phyllo dough makes the perfect dinner or lunch!

I had leftover ingredients from the pie so I made this Kale and Butternut Squash Soup, light and not too heavy, perfect for the cool autumn weather we’re recently experiencing.

Ingredients were: kale, butternut squash, caramelized onions and leeks, garlic, cherry tomatoes, a can of chickpeas or beans cooked in a vegetable broth, if you have cheese rinds throw them in all the better! In no time you’ll have a comforting bowl of good for you soup!

I’ve made this Kale Pizza several times already, this is a favorite of my husband and BIL and they request it often, again it’s just those flavor combinations that go so well together. No butternut squash here just kale, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes and fontina cheese.

Baked on top of a crispy pizza crust. Two big burly guys didn’t even miss the meat!

Now for the winner of the signed copy of Cucina Povera!

The winner is… Barbara F.
Barb congrats! Please email me with your address to prouditaliancook@hotmail.com

27 Comments Filed Under: Greens, Pizza, Soups and Stews, Vegetables Tagged: butternut squash, caramelized onions, kale, kale pizza, kale soup

Cooking Class with Pamela Sheldon Johns author of "Cucina Povera"

September 5, 2011 by Marie 59 Comments

Last week on a beautiful September evening my friends and I headed into the city to attend a private cooking class with Pamela Sheldon Johns, well known cooking instructor and author of 16 cookbooks. We couldn’t ask for better weather, the sky was bright blue and the views of the city were absolutely gorgeous from the 52nd floor condo we were in.

It was a small intimate group of ten lively women and Pamela made us all feel welcome the minute we arrived, popping open bottles of Prosecco as we were getting to know each other.

Our menu for the night was coming straight out of Pamela’s new cookbook, Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking. Simple and delicious food born from hard times when nothing was ever wasted and leftovers were recreated over again.

In the beginning of the book you’ll read a collection of stories from neighbors and locals that Pamela interviewed throughout her 20 years living in Tuscany, those who have experienced first hand the “poor kitchen” before, during, and just after World War II. The book has more than 60 dishes that bring to life the Cucina Povera philosophy focusing on making great food out of very little using simple quality ingredients.

Our first appetizer was Pinzimonio, quite simply, vegetables dipped in seasoned olive oil fresh pressed straight from Pamela’s Tuscan farm.

Next up was Frittura Mista di Verdure, fried flowers and vegetables. A batter is made from flour, eggs and prosecco, the vegetables are then dipped and fried, sort of like tempura, light and crispy. The favorite among all was the fried sage leaves!

Another favorite was Pan’ Santo or holy bread, a crostini topped with sauteed mixed greens “anointed” with olive oil.

Ribollita, a classic Tuscan vegetable-bread soup made with beans, greens, an assortment of vegetables, herbs and day old bread. Ribollita was a dish were the leftovers got extended and recreated into other dishes, for instance, day 1, it was a vegetable soup, day 2, a bread soup, day 3, a baked bread soup, and finally on day 4, it became a recooked vegetable stew.

This is a hearty dish especially when the bread is layered in between, it will fill your stomach in no time, a little goes along way!

Other dishes Pamela made were Stewed Beef braised with a hearty red wine served over Polenta, Roasted Tomatoes with Beans and Onions, and for dessert, warm Baked Apples. This is humble comfort food at it’s finest!

As night fell the city glowed with all the lights, from our balcony we could even see the fireworks coming from Navy Pier. Beautiful, but a little scary if you don’t like heights! ( I stayed close to the door).

Thank you Pamela for a very memorable night. I felt like I was invited over to a friends house for dinner.

The next day I was invited to a blogger event for Cucina Povera taken place at the beautiful and huge Whole Foods in Schaumburg, Il. What a great space they have for cooking demos and classes.

Of course Pamela was again behind the stove cooking up her Farmyard Crostini, a big pot of Farro Soup and a Panzanella Salad with Baked Figs for dessert. I need to stop eating for a week… I’ll start tomarrow!

Cucina Povera will be released on Sept 13, but I have a signed copy ready to be shipped out to one of my readers, just leave a comment on my blog from now until Thursday midnight and I will announce the winner on Friday, Sept 9th.

Buon Appetito!

59 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Chicago skyline, Cucina Povera, Pamela Sheldon Johns, ribollita, Tuscan peasant cooking, Whole Foods

Easy Labor Day Weekend Ideas

August 29, 2011 by Marie 55 Comments

Couscous salad topped with grilled veggies, serve with grilled pita and you’ll have the perfect lunch,

or serve it as a side with any roast you might be putting on the grill.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing a platter filled with grilled veggies drizzled with olive oil and balsamic glaze!

A perfect side dish with any grilled meats.

Or slabs of grilled sweet onions with dollops of warm gorgonzola.

For an extremely fresh salad that you can’t stop eating, try this Zucchini Carpaccio

Salad. Paper thin slices of fresh zucchini tossed with baby arugula, shredded Parmigiano Reggiano, garlic, lemon zest and olive oil. Topped with toasted walnuts.

For a quick dessert take advantage of all the beautiful apricots that are still available.

Stuff them with sweetened mascarpone and plop a blackberry on top, drizzle with honey or agave and stick them under your broiler. Garnish with pistachio’s.

Keep it simple and savor every last bit of all the beautiful summer produce.

Buon Appetito!

55 Comments Filed Under: Fruit, Grains, Seasonal, Vegetables Tagged: apricots with mascarpone, gorgonzola, grilled onions, grilled veggie couscous, Grilled Veggies, zucchini carpaccio

Grilled Pork Loin with Tuscan Herbs

August 22, 2011 by Marie 26 Comments

We often cook a pork roast on the grill, I’ve made so many different versions of it but my favorite way is to slice it open and stuff it with herbs. I have to admit I never have been good at opening one up properly, I would usually have one side thicker than the other. It wasn’t until I saw this video that it finally clicked and I got it! Please go and check it out, it’s so easy to do and the end result will be a perfect spiral of herbs.

Speaking of herbs, I was inspired to make my own tuscan herb mix after recently reading Judy’s post on porchetta, she spoke about how the butchers at the Central Market in San Lorenzo Tuscany each have their own personal herbal mix that they use for their porchetta usually consisting of a blend of sage, rosemary and salt with some adding in black pepper and fennel. She had a link on her blog which showed her version, and as I was reading it she also linked to David Lebovitz who made his own version as well.

This is a terrific way to use up all your herbs, I happen to have a ton of sage growing and I never know what to do with it, I almost feel guilty just letting it go. I can’t explain how good this mix is I can’t wait to make more my stash is getting low and now I’ve become obsessed with it!

There’s no real recipe here, it’s impossible to be exact, but I took Davids advice using 3 parts sage to one part rosemary, 8 cloves of garlic and 1 tablespoon of salt, I also added lots of black pepper and crushed fennel seeds to mine. The hardest part is picking all the leaves off the rosemary and sage branches, it’s time consuming but I did it while I was watching TV and the time went by fast, after that it was a piece of cake! I placed everything into my food processor and pulsed it a few times being careful not to liquefy the mix, then spread it out on a large baking sheet to dry for 3 days.

All the flavors intensify, its the perfect complement to grilled or roasted meats and vegetables.

Figs always go well with pork so I decided to make a very quick Fig and Rosemary Spread using 1lb of dried mission figs** 2tbl of fresh chopped rosemary** zest of 1 orange**1 cup of orange juice**1tbl honey**1/2 cup water**salt and pepper. Place everything in a covered saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil then simmer about 30 minutes until thick. Strain and reserve liquid, if needed add additional water to the fig liquid to total 3/4 cup. Put fig mixture into a food processor and process until smooth. Store the fig spread in an airtight container, refrigerated. Recipe from Savory Baking

So if you find yourself with leftover pork roast, change it up and make this panini! Crusty bread layered with herby pork, fig, spicy arugula and roasted red pepper, crispy and warm, oozing with fontina cheese! Need I say more??

Thank you for all the wonderful comments and emails I received for my blogiversay, I really appreciated each and every one!

26 Comments Filed Under: Grilled Foods, Meats, Sandwiches, Summer Tagged: fig and rosemary spread, grilled pork roast, pork and fig panini, tuscan herbs

Proud Italian Cook is 4 Today!

August 15, 2011 by Marie 152 Comments

Today, August 15Th is the Italian holiday called Ferragosto and the day I started my blog, it’s very fitting since it’s a holiday that revolves around family, friends and food. It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 years already? It seems like only yesterday that I wrote my first post! I still feel exactly the same way about basil today.

When I reflect back on these past 4 years all I can say is that I’m grateful, grateful that I started this little blog and that I’m part of such a supportive community of people who share a little bit of themselves everyday and who inspire the heck out of me!

If you were to ask me which posts are some of my favorites I would have to say the ones that involve my family and friends, like the time my son ran his first marathon, or the post about my daughter, daughter-in-law and niece walking in The Chicago 3-Day for breast cancer, our picnics at Ravinia, the birth of my granddaughter, making ravioli together and Timpano. Foodie trips with my friends like this and this have become popular, I get quite a few emails requesting I do more.

I must say though that the most emails I’ve ever gotten on a post so far was the one I did about neckbones, silly me I didn’t think anyone would even be interested in it other than my own family so I didn’t even post the recipe! but to this day I’m still getting heartfelt emails from readers thanking me for writing that post and bringing back memories they had that were tied to that humble meal, apparently there’s a lot of fellow neckbone eaters out there! According to my stats, this has been one of my most popular posts, along with this.

I could go on and on why I love blogging but really I just simply want to say thank you, thank you to all my loyal readers those who have stuck by me since the beginning, actual friends who I’ve come to know so well. Thank you to all those new to my blog, to my many subscribers, Facebook friends, and those who take the time to write me a personal email, I truly appreciate each and every one of your comments! A special thanks goes out to my husband Tony for always being my number one fan as well as my family and friends.

I don’t know whats in store for the next year, but I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and enjoying it every step of the way!

152 Comments Filed Under: Summer Tagged: 4 year blogiversary

Sugar Sweet Cherry Tomatoes

August 8, 2011 by Marie 28 Comments

I heart cherry tomatoes, especially with the different combinations of color. The possibilities are endless on what you can do with them. Like little jewels to accessorize your food!

Fortunately for me, now is the time that I’m guaranteed a big bowl full every time I step into my garden!

I’ve been stuffing them with creamy goat cheese, one bite wonders busting with flavor! Warning… Be careful they’re like eating candy you can’t stop!

I constantly roast them on sheet pans, bathing the tiny tomatoes in olive oil and shaved garlic, then I tuck them away in my fridge for later use.

Like when I toss them into my scrambled eggs for breakfast along with lots of green onions and serve it on top of crusty Italian bread toast. Simple, but out of this world!

When you roast them the juice seeps from the tomatoes into the garlicky oil and it becomes the perfect sauce for your pasta, add shaved Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. It’s as close to perfection as you’re going to get!

Thanks again to my friend Linda for sending me the seeds to grow these adorable round zucchini, after I roasted them I stuffed my pasta into it’s perfect edible bowl!

Buon Appetito!

28 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Eggs, Seasonal, Vegetables Tagged: 8 ball zucchini, Appetizers, cherry tomatoes, roasted cherry tomatoes, round zucchini, tomatoes and eggs

Summer in the City!

August 4, 2011 by Marie 12 Comments

Recently we had family visiting us from Florida, we decided to spend the day in the city acting like tourists. We walked up and down Michigan Ave. ending at Millennium Park. The sky’s were blue and the weather was perfect, we lucked out with no extreme heat that day!

Along the way we even saw Marilyn, all 26ft. of her in her most famous pose.
Very awesome!

Visited the Observatory in the John Hancock building. I might be partial but I have to say Chicago is such a beautiful city!

Looking down the Chicago River and gazing up at Trump Chicago

Al Fresco dining was everywhere

Horse drawn carriage rides

People watching and taking in the sights

There’s always some kind of running event going on in the city of Chicago but Girls on the Run was special to me this year because my granddaughter and her best friend participated in their first 5K.

Here they are warming up before the run.

Girls on the Run is a life changing experience for girls ages 8 to 13, their goal is to encourage positive, emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. Here’s the metal she received.

You didn’t think I’d leave without showing you some of the food we’ve been partaking in now did you? Not in one day of course.

Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

12 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Chicago, Girls on the Run, Mag Mile, Marilyn Monroe sculpture, Michigan Ave

Harvest Time! Our First Meal from the Garden

July 27, 2011 by Marie 33 Comments

All the heat and rain we’ve been having this summer is doing wonders for our garden! Every day we’re out there picking something new. Kale and swiss chard are growing by leaps and bounds, tomatoes turning red, zucchini, romaine, eggplant, fresh herbs, it’s a beautiful thing!

We picked all of this and more over the weekend, we had so much kale that I decided to clean, cut and blanch it for a few minutes, drained it, and after it cooled down stuck it in the freezer. The kale keeps growing all summer long and into the fall, so if you have any good kale recipes, I’m all ears!

See that cute little round zucchini? That’s the first time we ever grew them, my friend Linda sent me the seeds after I admired the crop from her garden last year. I have another one almost ready to pick and then I’m going to stuff them both.

So I decided to make use of our first bounty and created a salad using romaine, zucchini, fresh basil and our sweet little cherry tomatoes all from the garden tossed together with a little leftover pasta and diced fresh mozzarella dressed in a light vinaigrette.

For the eggplant I kept them whole and in tact cutting slices and fanning them out, drizzling all over with olive oil, salt and pepper and then roasting in a 400F. oven until tender, after which I brushed each section with basil pesto and tucked slices of fresh mozzarella and juicy tomatoes inside placing them back into the oven just until the cheese melts. Oh so good!

Dinner is served!

Buon Appetito!

33 Comments Filed Under: Salads, Seasonal, Vegetables Tagged: harvest time, stuffed eggplant, summer garden, zucchini salad

Paccheri Pasta and Some Party Ideas

July 15, 2011 by Marie 27 Comments

This is the perfect side dish to all your grilling, individual little bundles of cooked Paccheri pasta stuffed with roasted vegetables, cheese and sun dried tomatoes. Tastes best when served at room temperature with a fresh herb, lemon, olive oil and parmesan dressing drizzled all over the top, great to bring to a party or picnic!
Equally as good is the caprese version using sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil all tucked inside with an olive oil and balsamic glaze drizzled all over the top!

Paccheri pasta are large hollow tubes shaped similar to rigatoni only bigger and wider.

I roasted planks of zucchini and eggplant and then tucked in some asiago cheese and a sun dried tomato for mine.

Just cook the pasta according to the package, let it cool, then stuff them with whatever inspires you!

I had some leftover cooked pasta so I decided to stuff the remaining ones using a zip lock bag filled with spinach, ricotta, lots of grated cheese and an egg. Fill them and stand them straight up, side by side until you fill the pan, adding sauce on top and in between.

I have several mini spring form pans which I love to use and often do for an individual take on this dish.

Olive oil and brush with sauce the bottom and sides of your mini spring form pan, I have a 4″ pan. I’m sure you could use a larger one if you wanted to, but I think the smaller ones are cuter and they come out looking like a little flower!

And here’s something for dessert that will surely have your guests talking! Vodka infused whipped cream! It comes in many different flavors, we had the chocolate and vanilla. It works just like traditional whipped cream, but only for grown ups!

My daughter brought this over on the fourth of July, it was quite a hit!

Extremely good with strawberries or grilled fruits of any kind, top off your cup of coffee with it, or squirt some on a piece of pie. Use your imagination and enjoy!

Buon Appetito!

27 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Party Foods Tagged: fruit desserts, party foods, side dish, small bites, stuffed pasta, veggie side dish, vodka whipped cream

Seafood Boil

July 8, 2011 by Marie 18 Comments

We have family visiting us from Florida right now but I wanted to quick show you this fabulous dinner they made for us the other night, a scrumptious Seafood Boil!

Here’s all the ingredients, I did nothing but steam the artichokes ahead of time, they took over my whole kitchen and it was great!

Basically you get the biggest pot you could find, add water to it and spice up the water with whole heads of garlic, salt, peppercorns, Old Bay, white wine, lemons, red pepper flakes and onions, being very generous with the amounts! Add your longer cooked vegetables first and then the seafood last, as each component cooks it creates a more intense flavor to the brothy water.

The end result is that every single thing you pick up and eat will be heavily flavored with all those wonderful ingredients, so good! We also had some drawn butter, extra lemons and a remoulade sauce for dipping which took it well over the top!

We ate this in my screened in sun room with all the windows open on a beautiful breezy day, we took our time, talked, and savored every bite! Thank you Jennie and John!

I wonder what we’ll be eating tomarrow?

18 Comments Filed Under: Seafood Tagged: artichoke, king crab, mussels, seafood boil, tiger shrimp

Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Grilled Veggie Couscous, and a Fresh Salad from my Garden

June 29, 2011 by Marie 32 Comments

With the long weekend ahead of us and the Fourth of July right around the corner you might consider this as one of your meals, Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Chicken. Placing an herby, cheesy and citrusy mixture of creamy ricotta underneath the skin turns a simple chicken into something quite amazing!

I get all my chicken from Whole Foods, I know where they come from and I love how clean and fresh they look and the friendly butcher behind the counter is always happy to do anything I ask so I don’t even have to get my hands messy! Lately every chicken I buy I’ve been asking him to cut the back out for me, better known as spatchcocked or butterflied. I just love how even and fast it cooks up being cut that way.

For this particular recipe you’re going to be loosening the skin all around which will make it easier for you to place your ricotta mixture underneath. Just wiggle your fingers carefully under the skin along the top and bottom of the breast, thighs and tops of the legs.

For the ricotta filling mix up 1lb of ricotta with fresh herbs of your choice, I used basil and parsley along with grated parmesan or romano cheese, salt, pepper, lemon zest and chopped sundried tomatoes. In a small pan, saute 1 clove of minced garlic and either sliced green onions or the lighter part of a leek, when soft, toss and stir into the ricotta mixture.

Lift up the skin and stuff your bird wiggling the ricotta mixture down to cover all areas. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil on top. Roast in a 450F oven for 30 minutes with tin foil over the breast part, then remove foil and turn oven down to 400F and continue cooking until internal temperature reaches 180F. Let it rest before cutting into it. (You could grill this but make sure you don’t lose your ricotta mixture.)

While the chicken is cooking in the oven you can be outside grilling up some vegetables for this delicious side dish of Grilled Vegetable Couscous, better yet get it done earlier in the day so you can be sipping your favorite drink instead!

Cook your couscous according to the package, I like the large Israeli couscous, toast it first in olive oil then add water, it’s usually equal amounts. I had 1 1/3 cups of couscous and the same amount of water. When it cools down to room temperature add your grilled veggies, I used red, yellow, orange and green peppers, Vadalia onions, portobello mushrooms and fresh corn. Add lots of chopped basil, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper to taste.

I’m excited to share my first romaine salad of the year that my green thumb husband grew for us, he has it growing in pots as well as in the ground.

He won’t let me cut the leaves off for fear I might destroy the plant, he’s very particular. Look how proud he is!

The leaves were so tender and fresh even the core was delicious, simply dressed with my very best olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice and light shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano, simply the best!

Have a great weekend and Buon Appetito!

32 Comments Filed Under: Grains, Poultry, Side Dishes Tagged: garden romaine, grilled veggie couscous, ricotta stuffed chicken

A Chicago Culinary Adventure with Bertolli

June 24, 2011 by Marie 24 Comments

This past Saturday I was invited along with other Chicago based bloggers to spend the day experiencing authentic Italy in Chicago through the eyes of Bertolli. I was told to prepare my palate for a truly delectable day, and it certainly was!

Our initial meet up was to be at L’Appetito, a cozy Italian deli located on the lower level of the John Hancock building off of Michigan Ave. Our gracious hosts from the Zocalo Group were there to welcome us all. L’ Appetito was the first authentic Italian deli on the gold coast and still remains twenty four years later.

The weather was beautiful and the deli was bustling with people inside and out enjoying all their favorite Italian eats like gelato, cappuccino, espresso, fresh baked pastries, cookies, sandwiches, subs and much more!

As we dipped our biscotti and savored each bite of authentic Italian cookies we enjoyed hearing how this family business got started and how much it has evolved through out the years.

You could imagine our excitement when these beauties were brought to our table, Affogato, a classic Italian dessert consisting of creamy vanilla gelato being “drowned” in warm espresso, a match made in heaven! If you haven’t tried Affogato yet, you must! It’s the perfect summertime dessert! I was so impressed with their gelato, very authentic taste and texture and their exclusive use of Illy brand coffee. Check out a previous post I did on Affogato here.

Our next stop was at Chicago French Market to visit Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine. Waiting for us was an Italian cheese tasting, custom made especially for our event.

Our taste buds were heightened as we sampled, ***Montasio Vino Rosso, a cows milk cheese covered with Cabernet and Merlot. *** Podda*** Taleggio*** a wonderful Gorgonzola DOP Piccante, somewhat spicy, loved it! and the king of all cheeses, *** Parmigiano Reggiano.

After the tasting we had time to walk around the French Market which is actually a year-round indoor marketplace filled with local artisans and purveyors.

Next stop on our journey was to Old Town Oil, located on Wells St. where we had the opportunity to taste specialty olive oils and balsamic vinegars from around the world.

Each one unique in it’s own special way, grassy, fruity, spicy, full bodied. Tasting olive oil is similar to a wine tasting. I especially loved their Tuscan Herb, I pictured it drizzled over grilled vegetables, it has a wonderful infused herby flavor!

It was fun sampling all the balsamic vinegars, aged, white and specialty, Some of my favorite flavors were, fig, tangerine, pomegranate, raspberry, honey and ginger, Sicilian lemon, white peach and jalapeno. I never knew there were so many different flavored vinegars!

We still a little time left before dinner so we all walked over to The Spice House, where I was introduced to my new favorite ingredient, tomato powder. Rich tasting and very tomato-ey I can’t wait to add it into pasta dough.

The last stop on our journey was dinner at Coco Pazzo, on Hubbard St. Coco Pazzo was the first Chicago restaurant to focus solely on the Tuscan region of Italy. The minute you walk in you’re welcomed by the beautiful loft style setting.

But my focus was all on the antipasto table which caught my eye immediately, a colorful display of all my favorite vegetables, meats and cheeses, all cooked to perfection!

Owner, Jack Weiss graciously spent time at our table welcoming us and telling us his story of how Coco Pazzo came to be. Manager Roberto explained the type of wine we would be having with each course from their award winning all Italian wine list, and the talented Executive Chef, Chris Macchia explained the custom pasta menu he created for us.

We started out our meal with amazing antipasto platters along with slices of warm homemade foccacia bread, I would have been happy stopping right there!

Then came the pasta, Mezzelune Gorgonzola, handmade half moon pasta, gorgonzolla filled, asparagus sauce. Tagliolini Neri, black squid ink pasta, rock shrimp, zucchini, tomato, chilles and basil. Pappadelle al Coniglio, homemade wide flat noodles, braised rabbit, white wine, aromatic vegetables, thyme.

I never had rabbit before so I was a little hesitant, but it looked so good I just went for it, and guess what? I loved it!

We finished our meal with a sampling of four different desserts, each one better than the other and a hot steamy cup of espresso!

A big thanks for all the goodies we got to take home throughout the day, and a giant thanks to all the Zucalo gals that took such good care of us, and of course, Bertolli!

24 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: affogato, Bertolli, Chicago culinary scene, Coco Pazzo, Illy Coffee, L'Appetito, Old Town Oil, Pastoral Cheese

Foodie Field Trip to Freddy’s

June 14, 2011 by Marie 36 Comments

There’s a little Italian gem that is near and dear to my heart, it’s located on a corner in a very unpretentious neighborhood, the name of that gem is called Freddy’s Pizza, but don’t let the name fool you, this is so much more than a pizza place, Freddy’s is a landmark!
We’ve been going to Freddy’s for years, ever since my kids were little, and today with families of their own they still continue to go, it’s that kind of place, once you go, you’re hooked for good!

Last week my girlfriends and I went to Freddy’s for lunch, we arrived right before they opened , got a little table in their screened in area and managed to order our lunch before the constant flood of patrons started forming a line. This is a small place, the aisles are tight but nobody cares because you’re here for the food, Italian ice and gelato, and it’s so worth the wait!

Owner Joe Quercia who emigrated from Naples, Italy and his wonderful wife Ann Marie treat you like family when you walk in, no matter how busy they are they never seem to get flustered and always take the time to walk around asking how everything is, always making you feel welcome.

The aisles are filled with imported pastas, oils, giardinara, eggplant salad and various other Italian goodies, ( too many to mention). Farther down the small aisle you’ll hit the deli section filled with imported cheese and meats, fresh mozzarella, homemade sopressata and the most delicious Italian sausage. Warm crusty bread and foccacia is brought out before you and smells are so enticing you just can’t resist! Have I mentioned the pepperoni bread? Oh my, when you see it you can’t hesitate for a second, because it will be gone!

A slight turn from the deli and you start seeing all the fresh homemade Italian specialties lined up, platter after platter of beautifully presented food. This is old world cooking made with loving hands and the taste confirms it all!

Lemon chicken, eggplant, meatballs, sausage and peppers, Italian beef, prosciutto sandwiches on focaccia, to name a few.

Antipasto everywhere, seafood salad, fried artichokes, roman style artichokes, garlicky rapini, ( Outstanding, I get some every time) arancini, salami salad, caprese, garbanzo bean, I could go on and on!

As you walk along the counter it’s almost impossible to make choices because everything looks so amazing!

Thin crust, thick crust, Neapolitan style pizza with every different combination you can think of coming out of the oven piping hot!

Homemade ravioli, gnocchi, and various other pastas bathing in the most delectable sauce.

In the mood for risotto? No problem, it’s there for you in all it’s creamy glory!

That prosciutto just melts in your mouth!

We have a system when we go there, someone holds the table and a couple of us go up and start ordering, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, old favorites and something new, it dosen’t matter what you get, it’s all good!.
We bring it back to the table and savor every bite.

No fine china here, heavy duty paper plates with plastic forks and spoons, this was our glutinous table we could barely fit all the plates on. I’m still dreaming about those green olives, so creamy and buttery, I made sure they were all gone before we left.

After we’re done eating we go back in for dessert, gelato and Italian ice is a must!

When we’re done with dessert it’s time to shop for goodies to bring home. A loaf or two of pepperoni bread will always go home with me along with a couple pounds of sausage.

Their Italian ice, what can I say, I crave it on a hot summer day, let’s just say we’ve made many trips out there just for that over the years. Their gelato is amazing, no wonder it has been voted “Best gelato in all of Chicago” by Chicago Magazine!

One lick and you’re transported to Italy!

So when you go you absolutely have to try both the Italian ice and the gelato, it’s a must!

Here’s my friends loaded down with goodies to take home.

I did some shopping too!

I told you I love the pepperoni bread!

In close, if you live in the Chicagoland area and have never been to Freddy’s plan to go ASAP, you’ll thank me later!

Freddy’s Pizza

1600 South 61st. Ave.

Cicero (2 blocks West of Austin Blvd)

M-Sat 10 – 7

Closed Sundays

Cash Only!

36 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Chicago's best gelato, Cicero, food made with passion, Freddy's Pizza, Italian ice, pepperoni bread

The Thrill of the Grill!

June 8, 2011 by Marie 53 Comments

I made this fish yesterday, it was 98 degrees out and my oven wasn’t going on. It’s so quick to put together, it cooks up fast and the taste? Well, you’ll just have to try it, all I can say is that you won’t be disappointed!

I take a shallow baking sheet and wrap the top and bottom with tin foil. Drizzle olive oil on the bottom, and add thinly sliced garlic on the top. Place your fish fillets over the sliced garlic, I used tilapia.

Season your fish with salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of paprika for color. Toss in some fresh herbs, I used parsley and basil. Add sliced cherry tomatoes, and kalamata olives and a small handful of capers. Scatter a few lemon slices around and add some of the juice. Finish off by drizzling olive oil all over.

Place the pan on a hot grill and close the lid. The smell is intoxicating as the garlic starts cooking and infuses the fish. When your fish is firm to the touch, it’s done! This is great for a crowd, you can even use shrimp and a 1/2 sheet pan for more space. For my 4 fillets I just used a 1/4 sheet pan.

The flavors all blend together leaving an exceptional taste!

Straight from the farmers market, fresh asparagus and sweet knobby onions. ( that’s what I call them.) You got to have some veggies on the side!

When I see pretty artichokes I can’t resist them, I love them grilled and I often make them throughout the summer, a great way to start out your meal!

Basically I trim and quarter my artichokes and slowly boil them until tender. I let them cool completely down, then I pull out the choke and prickly leaves. Place the quartered artichokes in a bowl, drizzle olive oil all over, place grated romano cheese between the leaves along with salt, pepper, finely chopped garlic and fresh parsley. Place them on a hot grill turning them over until the cheese gets crusty and garlic cooks, it just takes a few minutes.

So good!

53 Comments Filed Under: Fish, Seasonal, Vegetables Tagged: grilled artichokes, grilled tilapia, one pan meal

NRA SHOW 2011

June 5, 2011 by Marie 22 Comments

Recently I attended the 92ND Annual National Restaurant Association show at McCormick Place, Chicago. Oh what a fun time it was, sensory overload in the best kind of way! Celebrity chefs cooking up close and personal, chit chatting with the audience while the room filled with the smells of their signature dishes. The day I arrived at the culinary showcase arena, Chef Kevin Sbraga, winner of Top Chef DC Season 7, was demonstrating how he smokes olive oil, a trend that’s really taking off, (more about that later) and right after that, Chef Rick Tramonto, a well known Chicago chef and cookbook author, started cooking up some good old fashioned Italian comfort food.

Rick Bayless, Marcus Samuelsson, Wylie Dufrense, Gayle Gand and many others were a part of this years show.
The visuals were a food lovers dream, sort of like Disneyworld for foodies! Walls and walls of the latest gadgets, top quality knives of every kind, beautiful platters and plates in all different colors, shapes and designs.
Food companies from all over represented their very best, I was surprised to see how many Italian products were featured, breads, olives, oils, vinegars, pastas, gelato, coffee, espresso, desserts, cheese everywhere you turned, meats, believe me I could go on and on!
Did I tell you there were samples everywhere! Smiling faces ready to pitch their products, and eager for you to taste. I told you it was fun!
High end pastas in wonderful shapes coming straight from Italy.
Entrepreneurs of all sorts looking for distributors.
Dietz and Watson always had a huge crowd around them as the fumes of their gourmet chicken sausages filled the air!
Innovative technology was the focus on equipment to run any type of restaurant or food service business.
I want one of these on my kitchen counter!

And this pizza oven in my back yard!

Vendor after vendor representing all the top brands in cookware, bakeware and specialty pots and pans. Waffle and crepe makers filling the air with sweet smells! Panini grills, meatball machines, honestly I haven’t even scratched the surface!

Are you ready for some dessert now? How about some Chicago based Eli’s Cheesecake.

A little chocolate never hurt anyone!

Or maybe you prefer gelato?

I had a great time navigating all the isles and looking at all the beautiful displays of food. Thank goodness I wore comfortable shoes! I came home with lots of goodies too.

I have to give a shout out to two of my favorite products, Flamous Falafel Chips, they come in original and spicy, all I can say is… FIND THEM!

So addictingly good!

My ultimate favorite food product of the show was this smoked olive oil from a company called, The Smoked Olive. A Napa Valley couple created this award winning olive oil using their own innovative process to infuse extra virgin olive oil with wood smoked flavor without exposing it to light or heat. There business has taken off in a direction they never could have imagined, they knew they were on to something good when celebrity chefs starting endorsing them and international companies started calling.
When I tasted the samples, I immediately fell in love with the flavor, it’s so unique, imagine using it with scallops or any type of seafood for that matter, it enhances meats and all sorts of veggies, a little pricey but worth every luxurious drop! There are 3 different versions
do check them out when you get a chance.

The NRA show unfortunately is not open to the public.

22 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Flamous Falafel Chips, McCormick Place, National Restaurant Association, The Smoked Olive

Pizza on the Grill

May 27, 2011 by Marie 40 Comments

Want something fun to cook on your grill this Memorial Day weekend? If you haven’t tried grilling pizza yet, forgive me, but what are you waiting for? The texture you get from the dough cooking on the grill is incredible! Light, crispy and crunchy!

Start with good quality dough, either homemade or storebought. Let it come to room temperature before you even attempt to roll it out. I like to cut my dough ball in half, it’s much easier to manage on the grill.

Make sure your grill is super clean and all that former BBQ sauce has been burned off and scraped clean. Get the grill nice and hot, coasting on medium high. Your dough is going to cook up so fast, so don’t walk away, it can burn!

Fresh, lighter ingredients work best for grilled pizza, have everything ready to go because things go really fast! For this pizza I used veggies that I grilled the day before, eggplant, zucchini, red and yellow peppers with fresh mozzarella for my cheese, all on top of a light tomato sauce base.

In the past I’ve made many margherita pizza’s, you can’t go wrong with that, or just melt your favorite cheese on the dough and when its done add some prosciutto and arugula, actually that’s one of my absolute favorites!

Think caramelized onions, pancetta with blue cheese, feta or goat, cherry tomatoes tossed with fresh basil and olive oil spread all over creamy bubbly cheese. Another favorite of mine is shrimp with pesto, I could just ramble on and on for an hour about all the good combinations you can make! Chicken is good too, alright, alright I’ll stop!

No matter how hard I try my pizza never comes out round, I roll it out round but when I plop it on the grill it morphs into another shape, who cares, it’s all about the taste!

And believe me it tastes phenomenal! Pour yourself some wine or grab a beer, ice tea or lemonade and enjoy casual dining at it’s finest!

Here’s what you do:

Heat your clean grill up to a medium high heat, I like to oil my grill grates a little too.** While the grill is heating up, roll your room temperature dough out and brush the top with olive oil** Place dough, oiled side down on grill, don’t move it, it will start to bubble up and cook, use tongs and check the bottom side it should look crispy with nice grill marks, once cooked it will be easy to flip** Pull it off, lower your heat and add all your toppings on the cooked side.** Place pizza back on the grill and when the cheese is all melted and bubbly and the underside is cooked it’s done.

Happy Grilling!

40 Comments Filed Under: Pizza, Summer Tagged: Grilled pizza, Memorial Day BBQ, vegetable grilled pizza

My Idea of Fast Food

May 23, 2011 by Marie 30 Comments

Whenever I need to make a quick dinner, my go to meal is always something made with pasta. Having my pantry stocked with a variety of pasta shapes, we never ever get bored! There’s always fresh vegetables handy here and using just a few other basic Italian staples you can get something fresh, fabulous and fast on the table in less than 30 minutes!

My pasta of choice for this meal was Tripoline which looks like the long curly edges of lasagne. Put a pot of water on for the pasta and while that’s heating up, take a saute pan and drizzle the bottom with olive oil then add in 4 or 5 cloves of chopped garlic. When the garlic gets golden brown toss in a pint or more of cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half and seasoned with salt and pepper, cook gently until softened.

Drain the pasta ( I used a 1/2 lb.) and stir it into the skillet. Add a handful of arugula or two, and 1/2 cup of cubed and drained fresh mozzarella, asiago is good too! Toss until the leaves wilt and the cheese melts slightly. Add some reserved pasta water if needed, more olive oil and a generous handful of grated romano or parmesan cheese.

The combination of flavors blend so well together it might not make it to the table!

Just saying!

No doubt you’ll have some arugula leftover, don’t waste it, toss it into a bowl and make this incredible salad of arugula, shaved fennel, toasted walnuts with a simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, all topped off with thin shavings of Grana Padano.

This is so good, I promise you’ll want to make it over and over again!

Buon Appetito!

30 Comments Filed Under: Pasta Tagged: arugula salad, pasta with arugula and cherry tomatoes

Small Plates, Long Conversations at Quartino, Chicago

May 16, 2011 by Marie 28 Comments

May is a great time to visit Chicago
usually the weather is perfect, the flowers are in bloom and spring is in the air!

A wonderful time to go sightseeing or just meet up with friends for lunch.

Last week I had the opportunity to meet a blogger friend of mine from Brooklyn, Pat from the blog, Millie Fiori Favoriti. We’ve been communicating for years but never actually met in person, of course lunch was on the agenda! My dear friend Mary-Alice and I met up with Pat at her hotel and we began our walk to Quartino for lunch.

Located on the corner of State and Ontario
Quartino is known for their Italian tapas, featuring modest sized plates of handmade pastas, seasonal prepared specialties, house cured salumi, artisinal cheese and an array of Neopolitan pizzas.

From the minute you walk in you’re warmly welcomed by the waitstaff.

They also have nice outdoor seating a great place to people watch, but on the day we were there it was close to 90 degrees so we opted for inside air conditioning.

I just love the casual atmosphere there, never did we feel rushed through our lunch, we lingered for a good couple of hours and talked and talked.

It was a pleasure to meet Pat, shes just as genuine in person as she is on her blog!

I have to give a big shout out to our friendly waiter Josh, he was extremely attentive to us
and when he heard I had a food blog he quickly told the manager who came out to meet us.

I’ve eaten here before with family and we have never been disappointed, the menu is fantastic the drinks divine and the prices are unbelievable!

For Pat’s visit we decided to order the Salumeria Tasting where you get to pick and choose from your favorite salumi, cheese, and a few different appetizers. We choose prosciutto, spicy sopressata, asiago and gorgonzola cheese, roasted peppers, marinated artichokes, eggplant caponata and an assortment of olives and bread. The perfect platter to munch on!

Our pizza of choice was Funghi, portobello with fresh tomato.

There’s always room for dessert! How about some hot chocolate cake with vanilla gelato?

Our waiter Josh highly recommended we also try the apple fritters with gelato, all were so good!

As a bonus we got to meet the talented chef who oversees the kitchen at Quartino, Executive Chef John Coletta, not only does he have an impresive bio, but he’s also a cookbook author.

If you’re in Chicago and you’re looking for great food, friendly service and a relaxing atmosphere to hang out with good friends consider dining at Quartino!

28 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Chef John Coletta, Chicago eats, Quartino

Chocolate Ricotta Tart

May 7, 2011 by Marie 26 Comments

First of all I’d like to wish all the mothers out there a very Happy Mother’s Day! To celebrate I thought I’d share something sweet with you today. This is a tart made with rich dark chocolate, ricotta, rum, grated orange rind and walnuts, it’s absolutely wonderful! Just put on a pot of coffee or your favorite espresso and you’re all set!

I was fortunate to be the winner of this awesome bar of rich dark Jacques Torres chocolate over by my friend Pat’s blog, Mille Fiori Favoriti. Pat has lived in New York City her entire life. If you want to visit NYC I highly recommend you check out her blog, she’ll make you want to pack your bags ASAP!

Jacques Torres known as “Mr Chocolate” is ranked as one of the top pastry chefs of the world, so I knew I was in for a real treat! The second I opened up the bar and unraveled the paper the smell was so intoxicating! Oh, and there’s a reason why it’s called a Big Daddy Bar, this thing was huge!

I saw this poster in a chocolate shop and thought it was very appropriate for this post.

Here’s the recipe!

The filling consists of, 4 1/2 oz of semisweet dark chocolate, broken into pieces, 1 cup ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp dark rum, finely grated rind of half an orange, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts.

If you’re adventurous you can make your own double pie crust or just buy a good quality one like I did.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of hot water. Mix together the ricotta, confectioners sugar, grated orange rind, rum, vanilla and walnuts, mixing evenly. Roll out dough to fit into a 9″ tart pan with removable bottom. Spoon the ricotta mixture evenly into the pastry, it will be thick, don’t worry. Roll the remaining dough and cut into strips to form a lattice top. Place on a baking sheet in a preheated 350F oven for 35-40 minutes, until firm and golden.
ENJOY!

Recipe adapted from Frame by Frame Italian

26 Comments Filed Under: Desserts Tagged: chocolate ricotta, Jacques Torres chocolate, ricotta tart

Springtime Farro Salad

May 2, 2011 by Marie 34 Comments

Farro is an ancient grain that has become quite popular these days, it has a rich nutty flavor with just the right amount of chewiness with great health benefits as a bonus! It’s easy to prepare with no fuss at all, just cook up some vegetables to add to it and it becomes the perfect main or side dish!

I made this salad over the weekend to serve alongside some grilled meats but it was just as good eaten all by itself for lunch the next day. Bursting with color, it makes you think of spring doesn’t it?

Cooking the farro is super easy, cover the grain with water, add a little salt, bring it to a boil then cover and simmer for about 20 – 25 minutes, drain, then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool down.

I roasted red, yellow and green peppers, red onion, asparagus, minced garlic, zucchini, artichokes hearts and peas, all in a 425F oven tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper until tender but not mushy. You can use any vegetables you want just make sure to cut them into bite size pieces.

When everything cools down toss the farro with the vegetables into a large bowl and add chopped fresh parsley and basil, a couple of sliced scallions, if you have some lemon olive oil drizzle some of that all over or make your own by whisking fresh lemon juice with olive oil, add salt, pepper and a generous amount of freshly grated Grana Padana cheese. I like to toss and taste to see how everything is flavored adding a little more of this and a little more of that!

Happy Spring!

34 Comments Filed Under: Grains, Salads, Vegetables Tagged: farro, roasted veggies, salad

The Mighty Asparagus!

April 25, 2011 by Marie 22 Comments

Even though the weather here hasn’t been so great I know it’s really spring because asparagus is everywhere, I can’t get enough of the stuff and I’m always looking for new ways to make it, so today I’m giving you two recipes that I’ve recently been addicted to. The one above is the perfect appetizer or side dish, I actually brought this to our Easter brunch. Think prosciutto smeared with goat cheese then place a basil leaf, asparagus, roasted red pepper, shredded carrots and a quick drizzle of balsamic glaze, now roll it up! Oh my, the flavors are amazing, it’s sort of like an Italian Style Sushi!
Inspired by Food Jimoto

You can roast or grill your asparagus, I roasted mine, tossed it in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 400F until al dente.

Here’s the ingredients you’ll need, some of which can be used for the next recipe as well. Prosciutto, goat cheese, shredded carrots, fresh basil, roasted red pepper strips,(not seen here, they were roasting in the oven when I took the photo) and balsamic glaze, the glaze is a key ingredient, it’s thick and so flavorful and it stays inside the roll very nicely. You can make your own glaze by reducing down some balsamic vinegar or you can buy some, I got mine at Whole Foods, you can drink the stuff it’s so good! (not really, but I love it!) I always keep a bottle in my fridge, I use it all the time, just a little goes a very long way.

I tried cutting the prosciutto lengthwise at first but I didn’t like the way it held the asparagus in, it wasn’t tight enough within the roll so I cut it in half as you see above and that worked out perfect. If you don’t like goat cheese, maybe some mascarpone? or even cream cheese. You can use 1 or 2 asparagus depending on their size and your preference.

I used one large red pepper cut into small strips and roasted them, That one pepper was enough for a huge pan that I made.

A quick drizzle of olive oil on the tips and they were all ready to go, place them on a beautiful platter and people will be drawn to them, I promise.

Put your balsamic glaze in a squeezy bottle and you can get all fancy with it, swirrels, drops, zig zags, you’ll look like a professional!

Now on to recipe number two, this is so good you’ll want to make this salad over and over again! Take some of that prosciutto you have and crisp it up in your oven, these are going to be prosciutto chips that will garnish and be added to the salad for crunchy and oh so flavorful goodness! Place 4 – 6 slices on a piece of parchment keeping them flat by weighing them down with another baking sheet on top, Cook until crisp at 400F for around 10 -15 minutes, keep checking it.

This Asparagus Salad was inspired by a chef at a farmers market, the components are:

** 1 Pound of grilled or roasted asparagus halved lengthwise

** A spicy green like arugula or frisee ( I couldn’t find either that day, so I used a mix that had both)

** 2 radish that are thinly sliced

** 4 oz. of Chevre goats cheese

** 3 Tablespoons of toasted and chopped hazelnuts

** Salt and pepper

Lemon Vinaigrette:

** 2 Tbl fresh lemon juice

** 6 Tbl good olive oil

** Salt and pepper

** Prosciutto chips

In a bowl add your Chevre cheese, 1 Tbl of the vinaigrette and toss gently all your asparagus until well coated. Add your greens and hazelnuts, radishes and more vinaigrette to taste, toss it all gently until coated. Garnish with the prosciutto chips on top. This should serve 4 or 2 very happy people!

Enjoy and Buon Appetito!

22 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Salads, Vegetables Tagged: asparagus, prosciutto, proscuitto wrapped asparagus, special salads

Baked Rigatoni

April 15, 2011 by Marie 40 Comments

My neighbors just welcomed a new baby boy into their home. Poor thing, shes been having serious back issues so the other day I walked over and brought some dinner for them. I decided to make a pan of baked rigatoni, because lets be honest there aren’t many things as comforting as a pan of baked pasta, are there? It takes less time than making a lasagne, without any sacrifice of flavor. I made this version meatless with 3 different cheese, mozzarella, ricotta with spinach and grated romano cheese, I’ve also made a meat version many many times in my life adding tiny meatballs between the layers, a big hit for a party because it all can be put together a day ahead of time and then heated right before serving. A big pan of baked rigatoni would also be a great addition to your Easter dinner, because you always need to have a little pasta, no?

I love the large ridged rigatoni it holds the sauce perfectly and visually it looks so good. The box says to cook the pasta for 14 minutes but you’ll want to under cook it since it will be baking in the oven. I cooked the one pound box for 10 minutes then drained the water and tossed the rigatoni into a bowl and gave it a quick drizzle of olive oil with a couple of ladles of marinara. Be sure to have enough marinara made because you don’t want the pasta to dry out in the baking process. If you’re buying your marinara in a jar I would buy two, but please try and make your own if you don’t normally do so, it’s such a difference!

I make my marinara very quickly using 6-8 cloves of chopped garlic sauteed in about 1/4 cup of olive oil, sometimes I add a small onion, sometimes I don’t, to that I add two 28oz cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes that have been squished beforehand, and my favorite ingredient of all time, fresh basil, lots of it! Let it simmer for 20 minutes or so.

I buttered the inside of a 13 x 9 disposable pan, ( since I was giving this dish away) spread homemade marinara sauce on the bottom and then 1/3 of the rigatoni, then with a make shift piping bag I added dollops of ricotta all around the layer of pasta as well as good sprinkling of shredded mozzarella, next added the grated romano cheese all over. Repeat 2 more times starting all over with the sauce again.

The ricotta mixture was made by folding a good handful of chopped spinach (squeezed and drained of all liquid) into a pound of fresh ricotta along with one egg, a healthy dose of grated cheese, salt and pepper.

I like to keep my baked rigatoni a little lighter by not covering the top with a layer of mozzarella, I think there’s plenty inside, but that’s just my preference.

Ready for the oven, lay a piece of foil on top and bake around 25 minutes at 360F, last 15 minutes remove the foil.

I found this bottle of wine, Rigatoni Red, I sure hope it was good because I strictly bought it for the label which I just loved, it was the perfect compliment to my dish don’t you think?

Have a great weekend, and Buon appetito!

40 Comments Filed Under: Party Foods, Pasta Tagged: baked rigatoni, comfort food

Cauliflower "Steaks"

April 8, 2011 by Marie 62 Comments

This is an amazing first course or side dish. Roasted slabs of cauliflower topped off with a tomato olive type salsa. I read about this technique in an older issue of Bon Appetit. Taking a whole head of cauliflower, peel off the outer leaves, standing it on its core end and cutting slabs from it’s thickest part, a good half inch or a more keeping everything intact resembling a little tree. I decided to roast my “steaks” so I drizzled each side with olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of romano or parmesan cheese of course!

Bake in a 400F oven until tender and golden on each side gently flipping each “steak” over with a spatula. Don’t worry about the stem and core being attached you’re going to eat it all!

The end result gives you the perfect surface for a topping of your choice, think about it for a minute, the possibilities are endless! I might even stick a fried egg on top for some “steak” and eggs next time!

The topping I made had quartered grape tomatoes, sliced green and kalamata olives, finely diced red onion, fresh basil, parsley and olive oil, if I had a jar of artichokes I would have chopped a few in there and maybe even a couple sun dried tomatoes.

It was the perfect compliment to the creamy roasted slabs of cauliflower, and a definite WOW factor! I hope you give it a try.

Buon Appetito!

62 Comments Filed Under: Side Dishes, Vegetables Tagged: cauiflower steaks, cauliflower, roasted cauliflower

Big Flavors, Small Bites

April 4, 2011 by Marie 20 Comments

Have you seen these sweet mini peppers in the stores? Colorful and bright, I couldn’t resist picking up a bag, they sat in my fridge for a couple of days while I was deciding what to do with them, I knew I wanted to keep them whole, I couldn’t bare to chop them up, so after searching the web I decided to stuff them.

This is the perfect appetizer or side dish with no fuss to put together and they look gorgeous on a platter! I roasted mine in a 400F. oven tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, until tender and slightly golden.

Next, I sliced them open on one side to make a pocket and stuffed them with a mixture of herbed goat cheese and mascarpone, put them back in the oven for a few seconds just to get the cheese warm and then drizzled a flavored lemon olive oil and herb dressing over the top. The sweetness of the peppers balances perfectly with the tangy creaminess from the cheese and the dressing just highlights the whole dish!

Really the possibilities are endless as to what you can stuff them with, think of all the different cheese you can use, mozzarella, fontina, gorgonzola, feta, asiago, I could go on and on!

While my oven was still hot I decided to roast these tiny zucchini I found at Whole Foods as well as some onion and tomato slices, just as I did with the peppers above I drizzled my flavored lemon olive oil and herb dressing all over the top. This is the perfect side dish to accompany any meat of your choice, oh and they taste phenominal!

The dressing I used for both the peppers and zucchini were a mixture of minced fresh parsley and basil, a pinch of salt and black pepper all whisked together with lemon flavored olive oil, or as a substitute you can certainly use fresh lemon with olive oil.

This last dish has to be one of my favorite flavor combinations of late, ask my husband, I’ve been making it almost every other day, roasted asparagus, salty feta, and sweet roasted grape tomatoes, but what takes this over the top and I truly mean it, is this wonderful lemon olive oil from Olio2go, I covet this stuff! It enhances food to another level and worth every single penny in my opinion! Straight from the bottle drizzle over the warm roasted asparagus or any roasted vegetable, grilled chicken or fish, outstanding in salads. I can’t get enough of it, and a little goes a long way, it’s packed with flavor as the pulp of the lemons are actually pressed with the olives, a match made in heaven!

As stated above, you can certainly substitute fresh lemon with olive oil whisked together if you so desire. Hey, some people get excited over new shoes, me, I go for the olive oil!

Have a great week, and Buon Appetito!

20 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers Tagged: asparagus.roasted vegetables, mini sweet peppers, Olio Verde, olio2go

Weekend Eats

March 25, 2011 by Marie 26 Comments

A Creamy Berry Puff Pancake is the perfect thing to make for that lazy weekend breakfast, why go out when you can pull this together in no time while you’re still all comfy and cozy in your slippers!

Put the coffee on, relax and read the Sunday paper while it’s baking in the oven, it only takes

20 – 25 minutes.

The batter takes 5 minutes to whisk up, it consists of ,** 1 cup of flour** 1 cup of milk** 4 beaten eggs** a pinch of salt** 1 teaspoon of vanilla** 1 tablespoon of sugar**

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in an 8 inch oven proof skillet, next pour 1 cup of the batter in, swirl it around and place it in a preheated 450F oven for 20 – 25 minutes.

You’ll be able to make two 8 inch pans like I did, using 1 cup of batter in each or one large pan using all the batter plus the 2 tablespoons of butter. I would think at least a 12 inch skillet size would work, although I never tried it. I have a 14 inch and I figured that was too big.

The sides puffed up perfectly just like they’re suppose to, creating the perfect vessel to fill!

I filled mine with berries and sweetened ricotta as the base, the ricotta was mixed with,

** orange zest and powdered sugar** **less than a cup of ricotta** ** 2 0r 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar**, taste it to your liking.

Slice it into generous wedges and drizzle with warm maple syrup for the perfect ending!

Recipe adapted from food.com

If you prefer brunch, make yourself this Pasta Frittata, you’ll be amazed at the different variations you can create with just, **a handfull of leftover pasta** some eggs** a dollop of ricotta cheese** grated cheese** and fresh herbs**

After my frittata’s start to “set” on top of the stove (where the egg mixture stops moving), I like to finish them off under the broiler, but don’t walk away, keep watching it, believe me it could burn in a matter of seconds! Just get it nice and golden brown.

I like to serve this with an arugula salad tossed with an olive oil, lemon and parmesan dressing. So good!

If you want to add a little meat to your morning breakfast try this Baked Sausage and Eggs.

I like to serve this in individual gratin dishes for a nice presentation.

** Preheat your oven to 375F. ** Use 1 link of Italian sausage per serving, casings removed and browned before baking** Butter or brush olive oil into your gratin dish** Crack 2 eggs plus 1 egg white into each individual dish** Sprinkle your favorite dried seasonings over top along with grated parmesan cheese, I used fennel and oregano for mine** Scatter with halved cherry tomatoes** Bake until eggs set, ovens will vary**

Relax and enjoy your weekend!

Buon Appetito

26 Comments Filed Under: Eggs, Fruit Tagged: baked eggs, Italian fennel sausage, pasta frittata, puff pancake, ricotta, weekend breakfast

Ricotta Stuffed Meatballs

March 19, 2011 by Marie 57 Comments

I got the inspiration to make this the other night while I was flipping channels on my remote, I came across a show on Food Network it was either “Unique Eats” or “The Best Thing I Ever Ate“, I can’t tell you which one it was but the girl was just raving about these Ricotta Stuffed Meatballs that she ate at some restaurant.

What caught my attention was the brilliant way in which the Chef stuffed them, he did it by freezing balls of ricotta, placing them inside the meat and them forming the rest of the meat all around it.

I couldn’t wait to try out his method, it sounded so easy!

Martha once had someone on her show who baked the meatballs first then took a apple corer and cut through the center of the meatball after which he took a pastry bag filled with ricotta and squeezed it into the hole, sounds like a lot of work to me plus you’re wasting some of the meatball, and besides I wanted my ricotta cooked.

There was no recipe, I just winged it, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to do.
Mix up your ricotta in a separate bowl, I added romano cheese, salt, pepper, chopped basil and parsley to mine, no egg.
The size of your meatballs will determine the size of your ricotta balls, I made a few giant meatballs, like one per person size and I also made regular sized ones, so I rolled my ricotta accordingly, placed the balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the freezer they went for about an hour.

While you’re waiting mix up your meat, I usually always add, garlic, onion, egg, grated cheese, moist bread, salt, pepper and fresh chopped parsley to mine.

When the ricotta balls are frozen and ready to go, take some meat in the palm of your hand, place the ball of ricotta inside, then cover it with more meat to form a ball, that’s it!

Although it’s hard to see the perspective in this photo, these were the giant meatballs I made, one was enough per person to fill you up.
I served these big ones with a salad and roasted cauliflower for our dinner.

I also rolled up a tray of regular sized meatballs, I was curious to see if it would work and the ricotta would stay tucked inside after they cooked, and It did perfectly!

Bake them in a hot oven 400F – 425F
until done, of course that it will all depend on the size you make your meatballs.

Let them cool down a bit before you try to stick your fork inside
otherwise the ricotta will just run out. Trust me, I know!

Spoon some freshly made marinara over the top, dowse it with grated cheese
now grab your fork!

I’m telling you my dear friends, this…was …

good!!

Buon Appetito!

57 Comments Filed Under: Meats Tagged: Food Network, meatballs, ricotta, stuffed meatballs

Artisinal Pasta Tools, and a Day of Pasta Making with Friends

March 9, 2011 by Marie 51 Comments

I’ve been yearning for a corzetti stamp for a long time, practically begging relatives of mine to search out one for me on their recent trip to Italy, which by the way they never could find. Little did I know back then that I could have gotten one right here in this country, specifically from California!

Fast forward about a month later when Terry Mirri, the owner of a company named,

Fatto in America – Artisanal Pasta Tools, contacted me to try out two of his handcrafted artisinal pasta tools, a corzetti stamp and a garganelli board. Their mission is for home chefs to explore food preparation with tools rarely seen by the American consumer. After receiving them and actually seeing the fine craftsmanship that went into each design, the beautiful woods they used, I was in awe!

Corzetti are a highly decorative pasta, but at the same time it’s also functional because the embossed pattern helps to hold oily sauces such as different types of pestos.

Just one look at this garganelli board and you will be amazed to see all the work that was put into making this. Fifty six individually cut slats of wood anchored in place with natural jute, all done by hand, oh, and you can also make gnocchi on this too!

Garganelli pasta are thin ridged tubes that are shaped by wrapping ( 2 inch) squares of egg pasta diagonally around a wooden dowel, then rolling it over the slats, ( or combs) to give it it’s signature ridges.
Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to start making pasta with both of these beautiful tools!

But because it’s really not fun to make pasta all by yourself I asked my three good friends, Jean, Joanne and Mary-Alice to join me. Joanne (middle) graciously offered her beautiful newly remodeled kitchen for all of us to work in.

We arrived early in the morning with our aprons and ingredients in hand to the smell of monkey bread baking in the oven, a delicious egg and sausage breakfast ring loaded with all sorts of veggies and cheese, fresh fruit and coffee brewing, not a bad way to start the day off, hey?

After our fulfilling breakfast it was time to get started, we made all the dough first, the eggs were cracked, the flour measured and with a little tweaking with the measurements, into the food processor it went, as each recipe was completed we wrapped the dough in plastic and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Time to crank out the pasta sheets! Just look at the texture of the dough, nice and smooth. Nice job girls!

I couldn’t wait to try this, here’s what you do, you cut out the circles with one end of the stamp, ( like a cookie cutter) then you flip the stamp over and place the circle of dough over the embossed side, then take the other section which has the knob handle on it, stamp down over the circle. The underside of the handle, which you can’t see in the picture also has the imprint, so when completed both sides will have the beautiful design on it.

Look how easy the dough peels off! Perfection! On a side note I did a comparison with a corzetti stamp that was purchased from a popular online kitchenware site but it was very inferior to Terry Mirri’s product, the wood was rough, the circles didn’t cut right, I could barely peel the pasta off the stamp, and as for the design factor, you couldn’t even see it!

I can’t say enough about Terry’s products, the craftsmanship is unbelievable, heirloom quality which can be handed down throughout generations! Check out his other products too, he carries polenta and cavarola boards, and a handmade storage box to house your pasta machine.

Aren’t they beautiful? This is not something you would make everyday but on holidays or a very special occasion, it will be the object of conversation!

We made multiple trays of these, but waited until we got home to freeze them and place into freezer bags.

Making the garganelli was easy once we all got the hang of it, here’s what you do,**cut dough into squares**position squares with point slightly over jute rail**wet far tip with water** place spindle over square**flip the tops of pasta over spindle**push and roll over the slats with your palm**slide garganelli off.

After our trays of garganelli were finished we left them single layered so as not to squish the cylinder and waited until we got home to freeze and bag them up.

We had many scraps leftover from cutting out the corzetti so we became very resourceful and started making spaghetti and fettuccine and even a few pasta sheets.

Pasta was every where, on tables and counters, we had a sea of pasta from one end to the other!

Here we are admiring the fruits of our labor, so much fun, can’t wait to do it again girls!

I cooked up my corzetti a few days later and used a garlic, olive oil, basil, parsley and parmesan sauce which I gently spooned over the cooked pasta and sprinkled toasted walnuts all over. Delicate, light and oh so good!

Imagine bringing a huge platter of these out to your table, your guests will be wowed! Look how pretty the design turned out.

Although there are many different sauces you could use for the garganelli I opted for a nice marinara, it was wonderful!

What a labor of love pasta making is but worth all the effort especially when you do it with family and good friends!

Buon Appetito!

51 Comments Filed Under: Fresh Pasta Tagged: artisinal pasta tools, corzetti stamp, Fatto in America, garganelli board, gnocchi board, Homemade pasta, Terry Mirri

Foodie Field Trip

March 2, 2011 by Marie 33 Comments

I meet with my girlfriends once a week, sometimes we meet for coffee early in the morning, sometimes we go to lunch at our favorite restaurants and often we just cook for each other at our homes.

Sometimes we hop in the car and go into the city just to eat a famous sub sandwich or go to get an Italian ice with some pizza.

I could go on and on about our little excursions like the time we went hunting down fig paste and this particular eggplant salad that we’re obsessed with, but I need to get to the point of this post!

Our recent “field trip” was to a fabulous place called Caputo’s Cheese Market, if you blink you would drive right by it! Located in an industrial area with high fencing all around you barely see the sign as you enter through the gate, the building looks like a warehouse until the door swings open and you’re bombarded by every type of pasta you can think of, tomatoes, canned and jarred all over the place and every kind of staple you would want for an Italian pantry.
Here’s the layout, they have three specific rooms, the main floor is where the staples are, then on the upper level you’ll find the bakery and deli room, salads of every kind, you can even eat lunch there on the tables they have set up. Pizza, panini or any kind of sandwich you want, order your favorite salads and grab a cannoli for dessert!

I just love their olives, my favorite are the massive green olives stuffed with gorgonzola! Every time I open my fridge and see them, I want to pop one in my mouth, they’re so good!

Their sausage is made fresh daily, excellent quality with that old world flavor, and they’re not afraid to use fennel!

The cheese room is overwhelming, every where you turn there’s a different cheese, local and imported from everywhere, the prices are so reasonable one could get carried away, (cough, cough!)

Any of my Chicagoland readers who do not know about this hidden gem, it is worth the ride, go for lunch and spend the afternoon shopping! They have 2 locations, I’ve only been to the one in Melrose Pk. Here’s the link.

Like I said we could have eaten there for lunch, but on that particular day we planned to go to

Danny’s Cafe a neighborhood restaurant which happens to be right up the street from Caputo’s Cheese Market!

What you’ll find at Danny’s Cafe is great food in a casual neighborhood atmosphere with generous portions, I mean come on, how many restaurants do you know that actually serve neckbones?

We went there on a Tuesday, otherwise we would have ordered their platter of neckbones which people go crazy over!

Instead we ordered the fried smelts for our appetizer, this was a small order in which 4 people could easily eat from it.

The feta, tomato, asparagus and olive salad was the perfect complement to my favorite sandwich!

My favorite sandwich is, pepper and egg with crumbled sausage, big enough for 2 to share! Not pictured is the hot giardiniera I spooned all over the top, unbelievably good!

I’m stuffed just looking at all this food!

Buon Appetito!

33 Comments Filed Under: Chicago Tagged: Caputo's Cheese Market, Danny's Cafe, melrose park, neckbones, pepper and egg sandwich

Spicy Tomato Garlic Crab Legs

February 24, 2011 by Marie 21 Comments

It’s so nice to have a son who works in the food industry because often I’m on the receiving end of so many nice foodie gifts.

Like the other day when he called me and said ” Mom, I’m stopping by on my way home, I’m dropping something off.” I opened the door and in he walks with this huge box that he just plopped on my counter and said, ” This will be a nice blog post for you!”.

Inside the box were leg sections of rock crab, also known as peeky toe crab. Rock crab may not be as famous as dungeness but believe me they are just as tasty, a little more difficult to get to that sweet meat out but definitely worth the effort!

Most of the meat is in the legs any way and as you can see we had no shortage in the leg department, I could have fed my whole neighborhood, instead I sent my daughter home with a huge bag, she left with a huge smile.

The day that I made them they were still slightly frozen so I got out the biggest pot I could find boiled up some water and stuck them in for 5 minutes, when I scooped them out they were perfectly warmed throughout.

We enjoyed this as our Sunday dinner with a little garlic bread, talking, cracking crab and dipping it into our favorite sauces. Our dipping sauces were of course warm butter with lemon, also a remoulade sauce that I picked up from Whole Foods, which was very good and because I like things spicy with an Italian flair, I made a spicy tomato garlic sauce which I’m giving you the recipe for below.

Thanks Tony, it was crab-o-licious!

Spicy Tomato Garlic Sauce

1 head of roasted garlic, squeezed and mashed

1 heaping tablespoon of Sambal Oelek ( ground fresh chili paste) optional

1 cup of white wine

4 tablespoons of butter

3 cups of fresh diced tomatoes, or you can use canned

fresh chopped parsley

Heat the butter in a pan, add the roasted garlic, deglaze with wine, let it cook down a bit, add the chili paste or red pepper flakes if you so desire, the tomatoes and fresh chopped parsley.

I like to spoon mine all over and dip as I go!

Have a great weekend and Buon Appetito!

21 Comments Filed Under: Seafood Tagged: peekytoe crab, rock crab

Cooking with Quality Products

February 17, 2011 by Marie 32 Comments

Recently I received an email from Olio2go, a company whose mission is to seek out the best quality products from all over Italy asking me if I’d like to review some of their artisanal products, after checking out their link of course I said yes!

One of the three products I received was Olio Verde Novello coming from Castelvetrano, Italy on the Island of Sicily, this olive oil was freshly pressed this passed October, and boy can you taste that freshness! It’s rich, fruity and slightly pungent all at the same time with hints of artichoke and lemon, I swear I could drink this stuff, oh and I love the shape of the bottle!

Did you know that high quality extra virgin olive oil is very stable when heated and it has a high smoking point? I didn’t!

The pappardelle comes from Pastificio Vicidomini, in Castel San Giorgio, near Naples, from a family owned business that has been making high quality pasta since 1812, now 6 generations strong this pasta is made with certified organic semolina and mountain water. There must be something to that mountain water because the flavor and the texture was superb!

The pretty jar of crispy asparagus comes from Villa Cappelli in Puglia perfect for an appetizer or placed into a salad.

For the pappardelle I decided to let the pasta shine through by tossing it with roasted shards of butternut squash. I call it shards because that’s what they ended up looking like after I shredded and roasted them up on my baking sheet.

I actually loved how all the jagged pieces looked when tossed among this amazing quality pasta.
I used a basil brown butter sauce and plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper to finish it off.

When I read that Olio Verde had hints of lemon and artichoke, I went out and bought 4 of the prettiest artichokes I could find, I trimmed them, cut them into quarters, scooped out the chokes, cooked them until tender, and then after they were cooled down I placed them into a pool of this liquid gold along with fresh parsley, lemon juice as well as the zest, red pepper and chopped garlic. One word… DIVINE!

I’m sorry but I just couldn’t get enough of this olive oil so I went ahead and made a savory baked ricotta, perfect when smeared on top crostini. Ricotta is such a blank canvas, it takes on flavors so well, so when it was finished baking I poured a generous drizzle of it right over the top which made every bite sublime!
.

I had 1 1/2 cups of ricotta sitting in my fridge so with that I mixed in 1 egg, 1/2 cup of grated romano cheese, 5 small cherry tomatoes cut lengthwise, a couple of tablespoons of fresh chopped basil, 1 small minced garlic, zest of 1/2 a lemon, salt, pepper and 3 chopped olives.

Oil a shallow gratin dish, or a ramekin if you want to un-mold it, spread the mixture into the dish and bake 375F for around 20 minutes or until nicely golden on top.

Of course if you don’t have these particular products on hand you can make any of these recipes using your own favorite pastas and olive oils, but if your looking for an extra special treat, check out Olio2go!

Buon Appetito!

32 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Pasta, Vegetables Tagged: butternut squash ribbons, marinated artichokes, Olio Verde, olio2go, pappardelle, Pastificio Vicidomini, savory baked ricotta, Villa Cappelli

Barese Sausage and Munchies!

February 10, 2011 by Marie 26 Comments

Barese sausage is quite different from your typical Italian sausage which is normally made with fennel. Barese sausages are finger thin, sort of like the shape and size of a breakfast sausage. These sausages are similar to an area in southern Italy around Bari on the Adriatic coast.

Lucky for me I only have to drive about 35 minutes to get to a wonderful Italian market that makes them fresh on a daily basis!

The ingredients in Barese sausage vary but usually they consist of the meat being either pork or lamb or a mixture of both. Herbs, such as parsley or basil, some garlic, parmesan or romano cheese and some type of tomato product either paste, plum or sun-dried.

I have a friend who was born in Bari and years ago he taught me his simple method for cooking them up on top of the stove.

Place the sausage in a skillet with white wine, enough to almost cover them. With your burner on medium high keep turning them often until they reach an ugly gray color and the wine cooks out. I like to poke some holes on each sausage with a tooth pick so the wine really gets in and flavors them even more.

After the wine pretty much dissipates, remove the sausage, drizzle in some olive oil and place them back into the pan and brown them up to a nice deep golden color, that’s it! A very simple method, but oh so flavorful!

If you can locate some Barese sausage in your area, I highly recommend you give it a try!

They’re perfect as part of an antipasto platter because of their size, in fact I served them on Super Bowl Sunday along with my Balsamic Glazed Peppers with Eggplant, Olives, Marinated Asparagus, Salami, aged Asiago and Provolone cheese, and this addicting Cauliflower Pesto,( Thanks Stacey!) and of course let’s not forget the stack of crispy Crostini!

For Stacey’s addicting Cauliflower Pesto here’s the recipe. My family loves roasted cauliflower with romano cheese so I eliminated the raisins and capers and added 1/2 cup of grated romano to mine. Slather this on a crostini and you will be forever hooked!

Another addicting little treat are these Balsamic Glazed Peppers with Eggplant! Equally as good slathered on a crispy crostini or placed into your favorite sandwich. Wait until you find out how easy they are to make, providing you have a bottle of good quality balsamic glaze sitting in your fridge. Two brands I personally like are Colavita and Blaze if you don’t have any please seek some out, it’s so nice to have a go to bottle to quickly flavor things up, it’s also great drizzled over cheese. Of course you can always make your own in a pan by reducing balsamic vinegar down until it becomes a thick rich syrup consistency.

Here’s what you do;

Slice thin strips of yellow, green and red peppers, also peel and slice your eggplant into strips. Toss them all with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in a hot 425F oven turning them often until they become tender with a nice deep color. Half way through the roasting process start pouring on the glaze and keep checking and tossing. Start out small but add as much glaze as you like according to your own taste. When they cool down place in a bowl and add chopped parsley and 1 crushed garlic clove, be sure to drizzle in more olive oil! Toss and enjoy!

Buon Appetito Everyone!

26 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Meats Tagged: antipasti, balsamic glaze, Barese sausage, Blaze, Colavita, Italian appetizers, roasted peppers

Zucchini Lasagne

February 3, 2011 by Marie 46 Comments

I know it’s winter, believe me we’re still recovering from The Blizzard of 2011, and now it’s freezing out but I’ve had a craving for zucchini, maybe it’s because I’m longing for warm weather again but until those days arrive Whole Foods happened to have some beautiful organic zucchini that was on sale the other day, so I guess this lasagne was meant to be!

I have a little problem though, I always buy entirely too much produce for just two people to consume so I’m always on the lookout for ways to use it all up and in this case Zucchini Lasagne solved my problem!

This lasagne is filled with zucchini, layers of ricotta, mozzarella, romano and parmesan cheese, a generous dose of roasted garlic bechamel and a simple basil marinara, a nice piece of this with a wonderful Italian salad will satisfy all your senses!

I sliced all my zucchini about 1/4 of an inch thick then salt and peppered both sides and sauteed each piece in a little bit of olive oil to acquire a nice golden color.

Lasagne is all about the layering, as far as I’m concerned, the deeper the pan the better! I was able to get four nice layers from mine, the key is to let your lasagne rest for about 30 minutes before you cut into it to insure the perfect slice.

I’m normally not a fan of the no boil pasta noodles but I had a box of Barilla so I though I’d give it another try, this time I soaked my noodles in warm water and that seemed to make a big difference, I think I saw Lydia doing that on her cooking show once, so between the soaking and saucing up of the noodles really good, (dare I say) we couldn’t tell the difference! I may just be a semi-convert now!

I alternated between the marinara and the bechamel sauce spooning some onto each layer, into my basic bechamel consisting of butter, flour and milk I squeezed a bit of roasted garlic and a nice handful of parmesan cheese. After spraying my baking dish with olive oil the layers went like this;

Pasta noodles

Bechamel

Ricotta cheese mixture ( ricotta, basil, egg and romano cheese)
Fresh and shredded mozzarella cheese

Grated romano or parmesan cheese

Marinara sauce

Zucchini slices
Repeat!

End with pasta on top and a generous amount of marinara to cover. P.S. If you’re carb conscious just eliminate the pasta all together!

Bake in a 375F oven uncovered for around 45 minutes. Don’t forget to let it stand for a while before you cut into it!

Buon Appetito!

46 Comments Filed Under: Pasta, Vegetables Tagged: Barilla pasta, vegetable dish, zucchini lasagna

Pears for Dessert, 3 Ways!

January 26, 2011 by Marie 27 Comments

Here’s a few simple desserts using fresh pears which I happen to have an abundance of!
Marsala Baked Pears, doesn’t that sound good to you? Believe me when I tell you, it was!

The flavor is out of this world because what happens here is while the pears are baking their continually soaking up butter and Marsala to the point where they become beautifully caramelized, when finished and still warm they become the perfect companion to ice cream,
whipped cream, or luscious mascarpone! You can garnish with something crunchy like nuts or crumbled biscotti, need I say more?

Not really a recipe, here’s what you do;

Peel and slice pears lengthwise, place them in a baking dish, pour in sweet Marsala wine half way up the side of the pears, place dabs of butter all around and sprinkle wine with sugar or you can even use honey just to sweeten everything up a bit. Place in a 350F oven for around a good hour basting them often, you’ll know their done when the liquid becomes caramelized.

Pear and Ricotta Tart, This is a standard recipe I use whenever I want to bake a fruit of any sort with ricotta. I use a 9″ tart pan with a removable bottom then place a good pre made pie dough into the bottom, ( I told you it was simple!) of course you can make your own if you like. To insure the dough being crusty and cooked on the bottom I like to blind bake the dough for a five minutes in a 425F oven by placing a piece of parchment paper on top and then adding some beans or pie weights, then remove, take off the weights and reduce oven to 375F.

For the filling;

1lb ricotta cheese

6 0r 7 ripe pear halves, sliced lengthwise and cored

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

Fresh orange zest or 1 heaping tablespoon of apricot preserves

Pinch of cinnamon

Mix everything together in a bowl until well blended, (except the pears of course). Place filling into pie shell and position pears all around. ( optional, sprinkle and swirl more cinnamon on top) Bake at 375F for around 30 minutes. While still warm brush apricot preserves on top of pears. Let it cool down while you put on a pot of espresso!

And last but not least, Chocolate Ricotta Filled Pears. Turning creamy white ricotta into chocolate is so quick using cocoa powder and then pairing it with orange is a match made in heaven! I can’t wait to try this with strawberries, because we all know how good chocolate and strawberries are!

Poach 3 whole peeled pears in 3 cups of water and 1/4 cup of orange juice, cook around 10 minutes in a covered pan , when pears are tender remove and cool down.When cooled, slice them lengthwise and remove cores.

Ricotta Filling:

1 cup ricotta

1/3 cup of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mini chocolate chips, ( as many as you like)

Combine everything into a bowl then spoon the mixture into the center of the pears. Garnish with orange zest and more chocolate chips.

Recipe adapted from BHG

Note: For a real quickie, use purchased bottled pears, I tried it, it’s good too!

Buon Appetito!

27 Comments Filed Under: Desserts, Fruit Tagged: chocolate ricotta, fruit desserts, marsala wine, pears, ricotta tart

Comfort Food

January 21, 2011 by Marie 41 Comments

It’s cold here today! Chicago is in the single digits and that requires some comfort food and I can’t think of a more fitting dish than Chicken with Fennel and Olives, and to make it even more comforting it’s served on top of Creamy Warm Polenta.

This is a simple rustic dish, nothing fancy, cooked in one pan and packed with flavor, I guarantee it will make you all warm and cozy inside.

I used chicken thighs but you can use whatever chicken parts you like.

Here’s the recipe.

Chicken with Fennel and Olives

6 chicken thighs

1 fennel bulb, sliced

1 onion, sliced

8 cloves of chopped garlic

1 14 oz can of cherry tomatoes ( or diced)

Jumbo green pitted olives

Parsley, thyme, oregano and basil

White wine
In a large oven proof skillet brown up your chicken which has been seasoned with salt and pepper until it has a nice deep golden color, remove and drain the fat. Drizzle in some olive oil and saute the garlic, onion and fennel and then deglaze with a healthy splash of white wine. Add in your herbs, salt and pepper then place the chicken back in. Spread your olives all around then place the pan in a preheated 375F oven for around 45 minutes uncovered.

Creamy Polenta

1 1/2 cups of half and half, cream or milk

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth

3/4 cup of polenta, I used the instant kind

1 tablespoon butter

Grated parmesan ( a nice size handful) and chopped basil

In a deep sauce pan heat your milk and broth until boiling then whisk in the polenta until it starts to bubble and splatter, be careful! Take it off the stove add in butter, cheese, snipped basil, salt and pepper to taste. Tastes best when served immediately, if it thickens up just add more liquid to loosen it up.

Enjoy your weekend, we’ll be home Sunday rooting for the Bears! Go Bears!

41 Comments Filed Under: Poultry Tagged: chicken with fennel and olives, comfort food, creamy polenta

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta"

January 17, 2011 by Marie 27 Comments

This is a simple and healthy meal I served to my spaghetti loving husband the other day, it’s packed with flavor and so good for you. A nice Italian salad on the side, maybe some warm crusty bread and you have dinner on the table in no time.

Once you roast your spaghetti squash this dish comes together in minutes, in fact I roasted mine the day before and had it for dinner the next day.

I cut my squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and then place cut side down on parchment paper in a preheated 350F oven for 40-45 minutes depending on size. I test mine by piercing the skin with the tip of a knife, when it goes through easy, it’s done!

I used just a few ingredients; garlic** red onion slices** red pepper** fresh spinach** grated parmesan or romano cheese** fresh basil and parsley.

Saute garlic, onions and red pepper, at the time I made this I had a few of those sweet red thin skinned long peppers so I just cut them into rings and used them.

Next you need to shred all those glorious strands from your squash, a fork works perfectly, it’s amazing how much I got from just one squash, enough to feed us twice, talk about “budget friendly!”

Combine your squash with your veggie mix right into the saute pan, on medium heat add in some fresh torn spinach leaves, your grated cheese, the fresh herbs, more olive oil, salt and pepper, tossing as you go along and tasting for just the right amount of everything to your liking.

I’m sorry but I never have an exact recipe for things like this.

Taste as you go, that’s my motto and I’m sticking to it!

Buon Appetito!

27 Comments Filed Under: Vegetables Tagged: spaghetti squash pasta, winter squash

Anelletti and Corzetti Pasta

January 11, 2011 by Marie 35 Comments

I received an awesome book for review a while back called, The Geometry of Pasta, (Quirk Books) I’m embarrassed to say how long ago it was. This a book I wouldn’t normally gravitate to because it has no pictures, the cover is black and white and I convinced myself I wouldn’t like it, but once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down, I read it from beginning to end in one afternoon.

The book in great detail covers every shape of pasta you can think of, fresh, dry, stuffed you name it, plus all the history behind each shape, where and how they originated, how they’re used, plus recipes all throughout. If you’re a pasta freak like me I would highly recommend this book.

I love using different shapes of pasta in my cooking, I get bored with the same old thing all the time so when I saw a recipe for Anelletti Al Forno I knew I was going to try it. Little loops of pasta baked together in a sauce filled with cheese, peas and crumbled Italian sausage, placed in a ring mold or in my case a springform pan. You might even want to call this grown up spaghettiO’s!

This is the perfect dish to bring to a party or to put out on a buffet, it doesn’t have to be steaming hot, great at room temperature and it has a nice presentation. This is also great for a picnic but unfortunately that’s not happening here for a while, but I will keep it in mind for the summer.
It doesn’t take long to put this dish together either, after you make a quick marinara sauce or quicker yet purchase a really good one, then you cook your pasta until it’s very al dente.

Then it’s time to mix up your filling and place it into a buttered springform pan dusted with toasted breadcrumbs.

The nice thing is you can do a meat or a vegetarian version. The first one I ever made was with out meat using ricotta, fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan and asiago cheese.

Here’s what I used for the filling;

Totally adapted from The Geometry of Pasta

Marinara sauce, around 3 cups or so made with basil and garlic

3/4 lb of cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, casings removed

1 lb of anelletti cooked very al dente

1 cup of frozen peas

4 oz of diced fontinella cheese or provolone

1/2 cup of grated pecorino

1 egg

Basil, parsley, salt and pepper

Get a big bowl and add everything inside together if you have some leftover put it in a ramekin or a smaller mold.

Butter a springform pan, I used a 10 inch and dusted it with toasted breadcrumbs. Pour in the pasta mixture pressing down with the back of a spoon. Top with more grated cheese and then bake at 425F between 35 and 45 minutes. The important thing is to let it cool for at least a good hour or so, then unmold, it could then be cut into wedges or scooped out, whichever you prefer.

I recently received a bag of corzetti pasta as a gift and was waiting for a special occasion to make it. Corzetti ( spelled a couple of different ways) are large coins of pasta cut into discs and embossed on both sides using a hand carved stamp originating from Liguria. The stamps are hard to find here but I’m confident I will get my hands on one soon.

If you want to see a beautiful post on homemade hand stamped corzetti please check out my friend Elaine’s post here. I’m in awe of this pasta with it’s understated elegance!

The brand I received as a gift was absolutely delicious, I used Elaine’s sauce and it was quite a hit on our holiday table!

Buon Appetito!

35 Comments Filed Under: Pasta Tagged: anelletti al forno, corzetti, croxetti, Quirk Books, The Geometry of Pasta