Strawberry and Mascarpone Sundaes

Happy Easter!Easter is the most important and oldest holidays of the Christian Church. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and falls between March 21st and april 25th, on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the northern spring equinox.
In my family,  we really never followed the Italian tradition of "Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi" - Christmas with family, Easter with friends. It was always a family hoiday - and still is. I have lived far away from family now for over 28 years and so Easter was spent with our children. This year for the first time in many, many years, my husband and I spent Easter alone. So I kept dinner pretty simple.

But this morning I decided that I couldn't really fudge on the dessert so I invented this quick, easy, delicious dessert! I didn't sugar the strawberries for Franco's "sundae", I sugared lightly sugared them for mine. It really is quite simple to make, and if I do say so myself, scrumptious!!

Ingredients for two Sundaes:

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese (cream cheese will do if you can't find mascarpone)

3 tablespoons of Limoncello (I used homemade Limoncello!)

the grated rind and juice of 1/2 a lemon

6-8 large strawberries, washed.

Lemon zest curls or grated lemon rind

Slice the strawberries, leaving two whole with their stems attached for garnish

Place the mascarpone, Limoncello, lemon rind and lemon juice in a small bowl and beat with a fork until well mixed, It will not be fluffy.

Now in a sundae dish, layer the sliced strawberries and mascarpone mix. I lightly sugared the layers of strawberries for mine. 

Top with a whole strawberry and garnish with lemon zest curls

Enjoy!

Gnocchi with Black Tuscan Kale (Cavolo Nero)

 I am always looking for new ways to serve "cavolo nero" - a leafy vegetable that is very popular in Tuscany, it is in the kale family.Right now, it is in season and very reasonable - I get about 2 lbs for $1.50. It is very good  for you.  Today, I decided to try fixing it with gnocchi -  it came delicious! 

I jut boiled it in a small amount of water (do not drain the cooking water, I used it to cook my gnocchi), chopped and seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. 

Then I made gnocchi (my recipe is very easy - 4 parts potato, 1 part white flour - no eggs). I used about 1 lb of potatoes, weight raw. So I added about 1 cup of flour. The dough should not stick to your fingers but should be soft. Do not add too much additional flour or your gnocchi will be heavy. Here's is the procedure: boil the taters in their jackets, when they are cooked (poke them with a fork which should easily pierce the potato but not split it open), cool slightly, peel and mash. You can use a potato ricer, but I just used a fork to mash them well. Then add the flour a little at a time, using your hands to mix it in after each addition. Once you have added all of the flour, knead the dough lightly. It should be soft but not sticky. At this point wash your hands and dry them well. Dust your hands and the cutting board with flour. Roll out into cylinders about the diameter of your index finger. Cut into 1/2" pieces. You can stop here - but if you want to get fancy, hold a fork with the tines down and touching your work surface and the back of the tines facing outwards. Now pick up a gnocco, and with your index finger, gently press it against the backs of the tines and roll it down and off the fork onto the surface. 

This will give you the classic gnocco with a concave inside and nice ridges on the outside to "grab" the sauce or condiment! To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to a boil (I added more water to the water drained from the cooked greens). Drop the gnocchi in a few at a time. By the time you have added all of the gnocchi, they will start floating to the surface, this means they are cooked.

Do not overcook or they may break up. I do not drain them in a colander because they are very tender and delicate. Instead, remove them a few at a time with a slotted spoon as they float to the top and transfer them to a large non-stick frying pan with the seasoned chopped greens. When all the gnocchi are cooked and have been transferred to the pan, toss delicately (these gnocchi are very tender and very light, so be gentle!) to coat with condiment. 

Serve with freshly grated parmigiano cheese and freshly ground pepper. Buon appetito!!

A new turn on a traditional recipe - Testarolo con Cavolo Nero

I am on a pasta and greens kick!
Today, though, I used "testarolo" instead of pasta.










Testarolo is a specialty from the Lunigiana region of Tuscany. It is essentially a sort of flat bread, baked on a terracotta disk that is heated in the hot coals of a fireplace. It is usually made with a pesto sauce - see my recipe here .

So here we go.. for two generous servings you will need about 1/2 lb Fresh kale, washed with tough stems removed and chopped.
Testarola (you can substitute a short pasta) cut into bite size pieces
or
about 4 - 6 oz of short pasta
A slice of roast pork, baked ham or virginia ham, chopped
1 clove of garlic
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmigiano cheese

Put a large pot of water on to boil. When it comes to a boil, add salt (I used about 1 teaspoon of coarse kosher salt) and put the kale in to cook.

In the meantime, saute the ham and garlic in the 2T extra virgin olive oil. I use a non stick fry pan.


When the kale is cooked tender (about 15 minute at a slow boil), do not drain but put the cut up testarolo or pasta into the pot and continue cooking.
For testarolo it only needs to cook about 30 seconds. For the pasta, use the cooking time given on the package.
When the testarolo or pasta is cooked, drain in a colander, Transfer to the frying pan and toss over high heat until mixed well. Sprinkle with the grated parmigiano cheese and Buon Appetito!

What shall I make for dinner?

Tired of the same dishes over and over again, I opened my fridge and asked myself.. what can I make for dinner today??
Here is what caught my eye in the fridge... fresh spinach washed and ready to cook, gorgozola cheese... my wheels started turning... and this is what I came up with and dinner was on the table in 30 minutes start to finish!



Trofie pasta with spinach, gorgonzola and walnuts
Serves two


1 T butter
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small clove garlic chopped finely
1/2 lb fresh spinach, washed and coarsely chopped

about 2 oz of gorgonzola cheese - I used a gorgonzola that I can buy here called "Duetto" - it is half gorgonzola and half mascarpone cheese
1 T cream, half 'n half or milk

1/2 c grated parmigiano cheese
6 walnuts, shelled and chopped

6 oz Trofie pasta or any short pasta

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When it comes to a boil, add salt and pasta. While the pasta is cooking:

Put butter, olive oil and garlic in a large non-stick fry pan and saute the garlic over medium heat - do not let it get dark!!
Add the spinach (no water), a pinch of salt and cover the pan. The spinach will wilt and start cooking in its own juices. Lower heat if necessary.








When the spinach is cooked, add the gorgonzola cheese and cream, stir until the cheese is melted.










Add chopped walnuts, stir and remove from heat

By now your pasta is cooked. Drain it, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water, in case you need it.

Add the pasta to the cheese and spinach mix. Return to heat and toss well so that all of the pasta is coated with the condiment. If it seems dry, add a little of the water you reserved from cooking the pasta or another tablespoon or two of cream, half 'n half or milk.

Sprinkle with the parmigiano cheese and serve!


Buon appetito!

Crespelle stuffed with ricotta and spinach

Who says you have to spend the entire day in the kitchen if you want a special meal?
Not me!!
I started making these at quarter past twelve... and at 1:30 they were on the table!
When you cook for 2 to 4 people, a great meal can take only minutes to prepare

Here goes!

Crespelle (2 to 4 servings)

2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt

Sift flower into bowl, add eggs and beat with a fork until smooth. Don't worry if there are few little lumps, they will disappear when you make the crepes. Add the water and continue beating.

We are looking for a batter the consistency of heavy cream. Set the batter aside to rest for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, make the filling for the crepes.

Filling

1/2 lb ricotta
1/2 cup chopped spinach, make sure you squeeze out all of the excess water.

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese
1 egg
pinch of salt
a bit of freshly ground pepper (optional)
a bit of freshly ground nutmeg (optional)
1 small clove of garlic, grated or put through a garlic press

Mix well

This is what your filling will look like, more or less. You can add more spinach if you like or you can eliminate it all together and add some chopped parsley for flavor, instead.

Time to make the sauce.
I used about 1 cup of tomato puree, 1 clove of garlic, crushed, a few basil leaves, a pinch of salt. Saute the garlic in about 2 T of extra virgin olive oil, before the garlic browns, add the tomato puree, basil and salt. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer and leave it to cook, stirring occasionally.

Ok, time to make the crepes.
You will need a small non-stick omelette pan. Pour in about a tsp of oil, heat well. As the pan heats, use a paper towel to spread the oil over the bottom and sides of the pan. The pan is hot enough when you sprinkle a few drops of water into the pan and they crackle and disappear.



When you are making crepes in an omelette pan the trick is all in your wrist. Lift the pan off the burner and pour in about 2 T of batter, quickly rotate the pan (this is where the wrist movement comes in) so that the batter quickly covers the bottom of the pan. We do not want the crepe to brown, so watch it carefully. As soon as the top is no longer "shiny" - lift one edge of the crepe with a butter knife, carefully use your fingertips to pick it up and turn it over.


Cook it for about 5 seconds on the other side, and remove it from the pan.
The Crepes should be pretty thin and transparent. After you make the first one, if it is too thick, add about a tablespoon of water to the batter, mix in and continue making the crepes. I get about 12 crepes about 6-7 inches in diameter with this amount of batter.
You can overlap them on a tray as you make them.


We are almost done!


Visually divide your filling in to enough portions to fill all of your crepes. You should be able to use one heaping tablespoon for each crepe.
Lay the first crepe on your work surface, spread about 1 T of filling across the middle of the crepe.

 Fold the bottom half of the crepe over the filling and then roll the crepe up

Et voilà!

When you have filled and rolled all of the crepes. Spread about half of the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and then lay the crepes in the dish, in a single layer.








Spread the remaining sauce on top and add top with a generous handful of grated Parmigiano cheese. Bake in a pre-heated oven (375°F - 400°F) for about 20 minutes.

Serve and enjoy the compliments!!

Buon appetito!

Tagliatelle with Sausage and Leeks: today's quick pasta dish!

  Today's easy pasta dish is home made tagliatelle with crumbled sausage and leeks!

ingredients:
1 link of sausage per person
1/2 leak, with green part removed per person
extra virgin olive oil
white wine
black pepper
salt to taste

 Sauté the sausage in a frying pan with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, when browned add sliced leeks. Sauté for another minute or so. Add a good splash of white wine, lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

I made homemade tagliatelle, but you can use buy the fresh pasta or even use a short pasta, like penne or rotini.
Cook the pasta and drain. Reserve about some of the water you cooked the pasta in.

 Add the pasta to the pan with the sausage and leeks, add fresh chopped chives for garnish and toss well over a high flame. If it seems too dry, add some of the water from the pasta.

Serve with grated parmigiano cheese and

Buon appetito!

Rigatoni with cauliflower, potatoes and fontina cheese

Two days in a row! Don't get used to it!!
Seriously... I was chatting on Facebook this morning with a friend of mine from the Lombardia region of Italy ... she was telling me that she had eaten out last night and - naturally - I asked what she had...

Pappardelle con cavoli, patate e fontina... Wide ribbon noodles with cauliflower, potatoes and fontina cheese...

So I had this cauliflower sitting in my fridge... potatoes in the pantry, fontina? check! but no pappardelle... too late to make them so.... I made a last minute substitution with the promise that next time I WILL use pappardelle...

So here's my recipe - EASY PEASY!! (serves 2)

Put a large pot of water on to boil, in the meantime clean, wash and cut the cauliflower up into flowerettes, peel and cut 1 large potato in half lengthwise and then into 1/2" slices. Coarsely grate about 2 to 3 oz of fontina cheese. I used rigatoni because that's what I had in the house, but you can use any short pasta you want. Here is the tricky part. I figured the potatoes and cauliflower take about 20-25 minutes to cook, so first I threw the cauliflower and potatoes into the boiling water. The rigatoni take about 12 min to cook, so after 10 minutes I threw about 4 oz of rigatoni into the boiling water with the potatoes and cauliflower. If you prefer you can cook the vegetables and the pasta separately, but when the pasta cooks in the same pot it absorbs all the flavor and probably some of the nutrients of the vegetables.While the pasta is cooking, in a large pan heat about 2T extra virgin olive oil and 1T butter (probably using all butter is more authentic, but who needs all that cholesterol?). I also threw in a couple of leaves of fresh sage.
When the pasta is al dente, drain the pasta and vegetables. You don't have to drain it completely. Add the pasta and potatoes to the oil and butter and toss well to coat, add the grated cheese and toss over high heat just til the cheese melts. That's it! a meal in 30 minutes or less!!

Buon appetito!

Ragù in Bianco - My Style

Sometimes you want tagliatelle al ragù but without the tomato! or at least at my house we sometimes do!
I really have no set recipe, it all depends on what I happen to have on hand... today it went something like this
1 pork chop
1 slice tender lean beef
1 small carrot
a few mushrooms
fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic, 1 small onion

Put a large pot of water on to boil.

Finely chop carrot and garlic. You can also chop the onion, but I just cut it in half and add it to the "soffritto" for the flavor.
Sauté over medium heat in a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

While the vegetables are sauteing, finely chop the mushrooms and parsley.
Clean most of the fat and bone from the pork chop and then coarsely chop the pork chop and the slice of beef. If you have a meat grinder and you don't mind washing it afterwards, you can use it to coarsely grind the meat.

Add the meat to the pan with the vegetables and lightly brown. Then add the mushrooms and continue to stir and saute. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now add the parsley and a small glass of a dry white wine.
Lower the heat and cover. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes or so.
By now, the water should be boiling. Add salt to the water and cook your pasta. I used fresh tagliatelle, but this is also delicious with spaghetti or even short macaroni.

 When the pasta is cooked, remove the lid from the pan with the meat and vegetable mix, add another tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Drain the pasta and add to the pan with the "white ragù" and toss well.

Top with grated parmigiano cheese and BUON APPETITO!!

Sausage, peppers and pasta!

Sausage, peppers and pasta!
(makes 2 servings)

This was today's experiment in the kitchen! My fridge has the end of the week blues, so the choices were few! I had a couple of links of sausage, a red pepper and some Fontal cheese (any mild, melting cheese will do) and grated parmigiano cheese. Here is what I did:

Wash pepper, remove stem and seeds, cut into 1/2" dice, peel 2 cloves of garlic, remove 2 small sausages from their casing, finely chop a handful of fresh parsley leaves, coarsely grate a 2" cube of Fontal (a mild Colby or Swiss will do), 1/4" freshly grated parmigiano cheese,  4 to 6 oz small pasta.

Put a large pot of water on to boil for the past. Put about 1 T extra virgin olive oil in  a large non stick frying pan, add garlic and diced peppers, saute over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the peppers soften (about 10 min); add the sausage links and break them up with a wooden spoon as they saute, when the sausage is browned you can add a splash of white wine if you like. By now the water is boiling, salt the water and put the pasta in to cook. Remove the pasta when it is "al dente", strain and add to the frying pan with the sausage and peppers, add 1 T extra virgin olive oil, chopped parsley and grated cheese. Turn the heat up to high and toss the pasta with the sausage and pepper mix until cheese melts. That's it! Buon appetito!

"Testarolo" with Pesto Sauce

Ok, this is from the series "Italian Recipes Most Non-Italians (and even some Italians) Don't Know"!

A great summer recipe if you have a bumper crop of basil in your garden or if you can buy fresh basil in large quantities. This recipe requires a food processor, unless you want to use a mortar and pestle.

The "Testarolo" is a typical flat bread of the Lunigiana region of Tuscany. That would be the most northern tip of Tuscany that borders on Liguria to the east and Emilia Romagna to the west. Basically it is a batter about the consistency of pancake batter that is cooked on a terracotta (or cast iron) "testo", a special baking dish used directly on hot coals. Fortunately, for me, I can buy it at the grocery store. 

If you can't find a "testarolo" or don't want to make one fresh, you can serve your pesto with pasta.

Ingredients:

This will make a large quantity of pesto, which you can keep for several days in the refrigerator.

about 2 cups of loosely packed fresh basil (about 2 ounces)

a scant half cup of extra virgin olive oil

about 6 walnut meats (the original recipe calls for pinoli nuts, but in my house no one likes them so I use either walnuts or pecans)

1 clove of garlic

50 grams Parmigiano or Grana Padano cheese (about 2 oz)

pinch of sea salt (regular will do)

Wash and dry the basil leaves

break the cheese up into small pieces, remove skin from garlic clove

Place the nuts, garlic and cheese in the processer and process on high until it starts to form a crumbly paste

Add about half of the basil, half of the oil and the salt to the processor. Process on high until a cream starts to form.

Add the rest of the basil and oil to the processor and process on high until the pesto is the consistency you want.

It should look something like this. 

Put a large pot of water on to boil, and if you are using a testarolo cut it into 1" pieces 

When the water comes to a boil, add the cut up testarolo. It only has to boil for a minute or two. Drain as you would for pasta, season with pesto (you will need about 1/3 of the amount this recipe yields) and serve.

If you are using pasta, cook 4 servings of pasta according to the package directions, season with about 1/3 of the pesto sauce and serve.

Buon appetito!!