Proud Italian Cook

SILHOUETTE PASTA

November 9, 2008 by Marie 60 Comments

Fresh herbs can be rolled into sheets of pasta for a very “sophisticated” effect. Because the pasta needs to be very thin it’s best if you use a pasta machine. It’s a great look for a special occasion, or if you just want to WOW your guests. It’s a little time consuming, but it looks very fancy, and something out of the ordinary!

You can pretty much use any kind of herb you want, here I used the last of my garden parsley, which happened to be in perfect condition. And that’s a key point, you want all your herbs to be pristine and unblemished.

Some other herb choices would be, sage, mint, green or purple basil.

Just use a basic egg pasta recipe, or better yet, a family favorite.Take your dough and roll it out in your machine until you have a very thin sheet, the next thing you want to do is take a brush dipped in cool water, and moisten the whole area.

Now scatter your herbs in regular intervals.

Top with another sheet of dough, and now take the sandwiched sheets through your pasta machine a couple more times, till it’s almost transparent.

After that, your pasta is ready to be boiled and sauced.

I chose to serve this with some melted butter, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, but this also looks and tastes wonderful in a clear soup broth.

A biscuit, or cookie cutter could be used for different shapes, just let your imagination go wild!

Buon Appetito!

SOOTHING SOUPS!

November 7, 2008 by Marie 42 Comments

To me, nothing soothes falling temperature better than a nice warm bowl of soup! Here in Chicagoland we had an amazing streak of warm weather for November. I think on Election day it even got into the 70’s! But now that streak is gone, and we might even be getting some flurries tonight. So since it feels more like fall here again, I thought I’d share some soups I made recently.

All these soups are super quick to make because I used box stocks, and canned beans. I love the convenience of the stocks, and always keep quite a few in my pantry. Gone are the days of the high sodium ones! Although nothing beats a good homemade stock, in a pinch you can have a good quality meal using these, and no one would know that you didn’t simmer it for hours!

Minestrone is a soup where any vegetable of your choice would be good. I always like to start out with my ” soffritto” of garlic, onions, carrots, and celery sauteed in olive oil. Add the herbs of your choice, and then, every thing else. My ingredients here were… 1 1/2 cans of cannellini beans… 1/2 can of chickpeas, all being rinsed and drained…1 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes… 4 0r 5 diced zucchini… 1 diced potato… baby spinach or chard…2 boxes of chicken stock, or veggie, (each box is 1 quart)… 1 cup or more, of parmesan cheese… dried thyme and a little rosemary, salt and pepper to taste, along with a little frozen pesto I had. When everything is all cooked together, in the end I would add your cooked pasta. Here I used ditalini.

Always finish off with a drizzle of olive oil and more grated cheese, a dollop of pesto or fresh basil!

Here you can use some leftover cooked ham, pancetta, or in this case I purchased a cooked ham steak, one that was good quality and not salty. Same “soffritto” as above… dried rosemary, basil, and thyme… 1 small can of fire roasted, or diced tomatoes… 2 boxes of stock… 2 to 3 cans of beans… I used great northern white beans, but navy would be good also… As it simmers the beans thicken the soup. Garnish with grated cheese and basil.

A 12 0z. bag of frozen artichoke hearts were used here, tossed in a pot with garlic and onion…

Seasoned with, salt, pepper and a little basil… Toss in about a box and a half of stock, or a quart and a half… Simmer till tender and soft. Pour everything into your food processor and puree it all till it’s nice and smooth. You can strain it if you want, I didn’t, but I like the texture, and besides it’s quicker!

Garnish with a dollop of pesto, and a reserved artichoke heart.

Have a great weekend, and Buon Appetito!

42 Comments Filed Under: Soups and Stews Tagged: artichoke soup, boxed stocks, cold weather soups, minestrone white bean and ham

AUTUMN SIDES

November 2, 2008 by Marie 48 Comments

These are two very easy sides to make, because your oven does all the work! The hardest thing would probably be cutting up the vegetables! Preparing your veggies with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and then roasting them at 400F gives a nice carmelization to them all. And if your lucky to have a “convection roast” setting on your stove, that’s even better.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Hazelnuts, all tossed with Brown Butter and Sage. I saw this combination in a magazine and loved it ever since! I think it was shown with whole pecans, which would be equally delicious!

Brown butter and sage, is simply made by melting some butter on medium heat, tossing in some fresh sage, heat until the white milk solids turn brown, and sage is crispy.

Balsamic Glazed Roasted Acorn Squash

Taking balsamic vinegar and simmering it down until it becomes a dark, sweet rich syrup, and then pouring a generous drizzle over your squash, makes it irresistibly good!!!