Proud Italian Cook

Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Tapenade

May 7, 2009 by Marie 30 Comments

This is a great little appetizer to have while your leisurely waiting for something to cook on the grill this weekend. It can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and kept in the frig, in fact it tastes even better that way because all the flavors blend together perfectly.

This is not your typical recipe for tapenade, this is rustic and chunky minus the olives and
capers. Don’t get me wrong, you can certainly add those things if you want, but for me, I just like the taste of eggplant to shine through.

Ingredients are simple, eggplant, onion, red pepper, and basil. I roasted mine in the oven but you can also grill them too.

Heat your oven to 425F, take 2 nice size eggplants and cut around the skin in a zebra pattern, taking some off and leaving some on. Cut into 3/4 in. disks. Chop 1/2 of a large onion and 2 red peppers the same size.

Drizzle both sides with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast till tender on the inside, and slightly crispy on the outside. Cool and cut into big chunks.

Place everything in a bowl, add 1 finely chopped clove of garlic, and a dressing of emulsified fresh lemon and olive oil, keep tasting to your desired amount, adding more or less. Lastly, add some freshly torn basil leaves and toss in some toasted pine nuts.

Make sure you toast up some good crusty bread so you can smear the tapenade on top, and be sure to open up a nice cold bottle of your favorite wine. Aaaah, this is living!!!

Have a great weekend and Buon Appetito!!

30 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers Tagged: appetizer, eggplant appetizer, tapenade

Sunday Brunch!

May 4, 2009 by Marie 47 Comments

If your not a brunch person you will be after you see Gale Gand’s new cookbook, “Gale Gand’s Brunch”. The other day I had about a half hour to kill before an appointment so I walked into Barnes and Noble bookstore and was immediately drawn to the cover of her new book. One look at the cover and I knew I was going to make this for brunch on Sunday!

Baked eggs, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and pesto all wrapped up in a pretty little package of smokey ham. I quickly scribbled down the recipe on the back of a receipt I had in my purse.

This was so simple to make and the flavors blended perfectly together, it’s great for a Sunday morning, or a nice brunch party. I don’t have the recipe word for word but basically you take a muffin tin and butter it, purchase the biggest piece of ham you can find at the deli, fold it in half, and half again and fan it out into the tin.

Place a dollop of pesto on the bottom, gently crack and egg on top, one egg worked for me better, but Gale used two. Tuck a couple of cubes of fresh mozzarella on the side and a cherry tomato. Bake in a 375F oven for about 20 minutes, but mine actually took about a half hour.

When cooked through remove from muffin tin, place in a bowl and put another dollop of pesto on top! I’m telling you this is so good, give it a try! We loved it so much, and can’t wait to make it again! I need to get this book, she also has a great breakfast torta I’m dying to try!

Buon appetito!

47 Comments Filed Under: Eggs Tagged: baked eggs, sunday brunch

Shrimp… Simple, Quick, and a little Fancy

April 28, 2009 by Marie 45 Comments

I always keep a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer, I like it for the convenience when I don’t have time to run out and get fresh, it’s easy to defrost, and it makes for a very quick dinner, and besides for a minimal amount of money I can get a few meals out of one bag. I think I paid $11.00 dollars for a 2 pound bag of jumbo cleaned and deveined ready to cook shrimp, you can’t beat that! Here’s a couple of my favorite ways to prepare it.

Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomato sauce
1.Roast your tomatoes at 400F till all of the juices burst out, remove from oven. I used those Campari tomatoes on the vine, cut in half drizzled with olive oil, S&P.
2.While tomatoes are roasting saute some shaved garlic in olive oil and toss your shrimp in there, remove when they’re almost done.
3. Toss in some white wine, reduce a little and scrape all the tomatoes and every bit of the juices into the pan,
4. Add back your shrimp, toss in some chopped basil, and blend it all with your favorite pasta, bucatini works well with this.

Shrimp Aragonate

This is baked stuffed shrimp, with tons of flavor, this is a great dish for a party too. You can make a huge pan of these, or just a few, to go along with a steak as a surf and turf.

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Oil a large baking pan.

2.In a medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, fresh or panko, fresh parsley, and crushed garlic (don’t be shy). Stir in olive oil to moisten the crumbs.

3.Arrange the shrimp single layer, curling each shrimp into a circle. Spoon a little of the bread crumb mixture onto each shrimp. Drizzle a little more olive oil on before baking.

4.Bake until the crumbs are browned and the shrimp are cooked through when cut in the thickest part, about ten minutes.

4.Serve hot or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.

Recipe adapted from, “Entertaining with the Soprano’s”

Its been so nice to see and smell spring flowers popping up all over, here’s some I have popping up around my house. I just love the smell of hyacinths!