Blog - Proud Italian Cook

Winter Citrus Salad Guaranteed to Brighten Your Day

January 4, 2019 by Marie 2 Comments

Start the new year off right with this bright, winter citrus salad. It’s a welcome change from all the holiday and comfort foods we’ve been indulging in. Winter citrus is definitely a bright spot I look forward to when it finally arrives.

Not only is it refreshing but it perks up our taste buds and it’s also loaded with vitamins. For this salad I strictly used cara cara oranges, they’re my favorite and I always buy a bunch when I see them. I would have used a blood orange in this salad as well but it seems they’re hard to find in my neck of the woods this year.

You can use any citrus of your choice to make this salad, the brighter the color the better!

This salad is composed on a platter and is easy to assemble but first you need to slice up your citrus really pretty, removing as much of the pith as possible for a lovely presentation.

I use a serrated knife and cut off the top and bottom of the orange so it can stand flat. Then proceed to take off the peel by slicing from the top to the bottom following the curve of the fruit.

Take off only the peel and the white pith, as much as you can see leaving the flesh naked, then turn the fruit on it’s side and carefully slice crosswise.

There are no exact measurements here, your aim is to fill and arrange your platter with all the ingredients dispersed all around starting off with fresh arugula as the base. This salad is all about color!

Then thinly sliced fennel and radish rounds, the slices of citrus, small sized rings of red onion, nicoise olives, toasted hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds and some fennel fronds for garnish.

The vinaigrette is made with equal parts olive oil, fresh squeezed orange juice, a tablespoon or two of white balsamic vinegar, a dollop of dijon to thicken it up a bit and salt and pepper.

Whisk it up and spoon it all over the salad right before you serve it.

There’s a bounty of citrus all around so now is the time to make good use of it!

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2 Comments Filed Under: Fruit, Salads, Winter Tagged: cara cara oranges, citrus, citrus salad, fennel, winter salad

Seared Scallops Infused with Flavored Butter and Herbs

December 27, 2018 by Marie 5 Comments

Are you planning on dining in instead of facing the crowds this New Years Eve? Have you been searching for a special dish to serve for an intimate dinner party or a romantic dinner for two? Well look no more this is it!

Sweet and delicate, melt in your mouth seared scallops topped with a flavored butter that’s infused with the zest of lemon, shallot, garlic and a hint of spicy chili.

The recipe itself is fairly simple to pull together, it’s basically all about the infused butter that will anoint the seared scallops with so much flavor, but equally as important are the steps you take to properly cook the scallops. It’s critical to avoid over cooking them, if you do they’ll become tasteless and rubbery and that would be such a waste!

In this recipe you’ll be using the large sea scallops, the smaller bay scallops are not what you want to be using here at all.

This could be the perfect first course with one scallop presented dramatically on baking sea shells, (Amazon). If you’re doing this for a main course you can use pretty gratin dishes.

As far as servings go, for a main I would say 4-5 per person because you’ll be having some sides with it. Scallops pair wonderfully with any green veggie and if you want some starch I like to serve maybe some couscous, garlic mashed potatoes or creamy polenta.

Grab a bottle of champagne, make this “fancy” dish and ring in the New Year at home!

Wishing you all a very healthy and happy 2019, thank you for all your support throughout the year I appreciate each and everyone of you, you’re the best! xo

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5.0 from 3 reviews

Seared Scallops Infused with Flavored Butter and Herbs

You will definitely have extra infused butter leftover but it will be perfect for other things and it stays good for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

1 dozen large sea scallops, side mussel removed and patted completely dry
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 small garlic cloves grated on a microplane
1 fresh red chili, veins and seeds removed and finely diced ( if you like it hotter add more)
1 large shallot, finely diced
zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
parsley for garnish, finely chopped

Instructions

Heat you oven to 400F.
Mix by hand in a bowl the softened butter with the garlic, zest, chili and shallot, taste for salt and pepper addition and set aside. Butter can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.
Heat up a good non stick skillet on medium high heat until its screeching hot, making sure it's big enough so scallops have room and don't touch at all, you might have to do them in batches if your skillet isn't big enough to give them room.
While skillet is heating up salt and pepper each side of the scallops.
When you think the skillet is hot enough drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of the pan, when it starts to slightly smoke add the scallops and press them down gently on one side.
Don't touch them or move them until you see a deep crust forming, then peek and check them out using tongs.
When you see a deep crust take them out and place them crust side up in your gratin dish or baking shells.
Add a good dollop of the infused butter on top, place them into the oven just so the butter melts down.
Take them out, let rest a second, garnish with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.

5 Comments Filed Under: Seafood Tagged: compound butter, fancy dinner, flavored butter, new years eve, scallops, seafood, seared scallops

Lasagna Party Rolls with Red and White Sauce

December 19, 2018 by Marie 17 Comments

I recently made these lasagna rolls for a holiday party that we hosted, I first thought of making a couple of trays of lasagna but I opted for this instead, individual lasagna rolls. Assembly can be made the day before and kept in the fridge overnight so all your prep, the mess in the kitchen is done ahead and the day of the party all you have to do is stick it into the oven.

This is so much easier to serve your guests, no cutting involved and each roll is a perfect little package that’s easy to grab and go on a buffet table.

The lasagna rolls are filled with three different cheeses mixed with fresh spinach that has been wilted down, squeezed of all liquid then chopped and added in. The rolls are placed on a bed of bechamel and topped with homemade marinara.

I have to give credit to Giada for adding the bechamel sauce, yes it’s an extra step but it really makes the rolls taste extra special, definitely party worthy!

I used those full size catering pans, ( I get mine from Costco) they’re really sturdy and hold up very well when taking them in and out of the oven. I was able to fit 27 rolls in one pan which basically is two, 1 lb. boxes of lasagna noodles.

I always drain my ricotta overnight in a strainer, over a bowl and covered in my fridge, you’d be surprised how much liquid drains out. Draining the fresh ricotta is an important step because you don’t want a watery mixture spread onto the lasagna noodles.

Have your marinara sauce made ahead of time as well as your bechamel, I always have homemade marinara in my freezer so I just defrosted mine a couple of days ahead. In this case I also had some frozen, leftover bechamel I had made before so I defrosted it and added a little more milk to thin it out when I warmed it up, and it was perfectly fine.

So for a big party you can prep many of the components way ahead of time before actually assembling the rolls, I would never make all of the components in one day!

One other important note to remember, undercook your pasta, the pasta will finish cooking in the oven anyway, also when you take them out of the water place them single layer on a tray so they won’t stick together and pat each noodle dry before you start the actual rolling process.

Each time you pick up a roll you’ll be scooping up that rich white sauce that’s on the bottom which mingles so well with the marinara on top.

I hope you consider these for your next party when needing a delicious pasta dish that’s easy to serve and eat for your guests.

These lasagna rolls were a hit at my party and I’m sure they’ll be a hit at yours!

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5.0 from 5 reviews

Lasagna Party Rolls with Red and White Sauce

Author: Marie

Ingredients

2 boxes of lasagna noodles, with curly edges, around 15 noodles in each box, I used Barilla brand
RICOTTA MIXTURE
3 lb. fresh, good quality ricotta, drained overnight.
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups pecorino or parmigiano grated cheese
1 cup grated fontina cheese and extra for topping each roll
2 small grated garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of bechamel
1½ cups of chopped spinach, I used fresh spinach, (I like the taste better than frozen,) that I wilted down then squeezed of all liquid before chopping
salt and pepper to taste
BECHAMEL SAUCE
5 tablespoons butter
¼ cup, flour
4 cups, whole milk
⅓ cup grated pecorino or parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
MARINARA SAUCE
I had a few quarts because you want extra when your serving your rolls. I would say just make a pot of sauce ahead of time and you'll be fine, if you have some leftover it's a good thing.
parsley or basil for garnish

Instructions

Prepare your BECHAMEL by melting butter then adding the flour and whisking vigorously so no lumps occur, pour in the milk and keep whisking until nice and smooth, as it gets hotter and starts to bubble around the edges it should thicken up and coat the back of a spoon, then shut off the heat and add the grated cheese then taste for seasoning of salt and pepper.
If using a large, full size catering pan like I suggest you might need to make more because you need to have it cover the whole bottom of the pan.
Your favorite homemade MARINARA sauce should be made ahead of time.
Place your RICOTTA in a very large bowl, add the garlic, grated cheese, fontina, the 3 tablespoons of bechamel and before you add the beaten eggs taste for seasoning adding salt and pepper.
Mix in the beaten eggs making sure it's all incorporated.
Then wilt, drain, squeeze and chop your SPINACH and gently fold it into the well mixed ricotta mixture making sure it's evenly dispersed.
Cook your LASAGNA NOODLES in salted boiling water with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the water to prevent the noodles from sticking together. I cooked mine for 8 minutes.
Drain pasta immediately and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process, place them single layer and pat them dry.
ASSEMBLY
Spread bechamel white sauce on the bottom of the catering pan all over from corner to corner.
One by one take a lasagna noodle and spread abut 3 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture from top to bottom, then roll up and place seam side down into the pan on top of the white sauce.
Repeat until the pan is full ( I fit 27 in a large catering pan, 3 rows of nine each).
Top each roll with marinara down the middle, leaving the curly part of the noodle un-sauced.
Sprinkle each with grated cheese and a quick drizzle of olive oil all over.
Cover with heavy duty foil.
At this point you can refrigerate and bake them off the next day which I recommend for party prepping.
The next day when you're ready to bake, take them out of the fridge an hour or so ahead of time to get pan to room temp then place the covered rolls into a 400 degree oven for around 20 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and take off the foil, add a little more sauce on top if need be and a tablespoon or so of fontina cheese on top of each roll.
Return to the oven, uncovered until the cheese melts and curly edges get a little golden brown.
Let them rest for 5 minutes and garnish with chopped parsley or basil.
Have extra marinara warmed up for serving if need be.