Proud Italian Cook

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!