Cucina Domenico

Visit me at my new website, www.domskitchen.com

2011-07-15T10:13:00.000-04:00

Hello and thank you for visiting. I have recently moved to a new website, www.domskitchen.com. All of my previous blogs and recipes can be found there, along with all new recipes and stories!

Please visit me at my new site!

www.domskitchen.com

Movin' On Up!

2011-05-26T13:40:00.002-04:00

Thank you for visiting. Cucina Domenico has moved to a brand new web site filled with lots of great new recipes, along with all of the recipes and family stories that have appeared on this site. Please be sure to visit me at my new site...

domskitchen.com

To all of you who have visited my blog in the past, thank you so much for taking the time to read my stories and recipes. I look forward to having you join me at my new site! For those of you who have just found this blog, please come and visit us at the new site...there's always room for more at my kitchen table!

Ciao!

Dominic

NEW - Cooking with Limoncello

2011-05-15T23:14:00.003-04:00

Out with the old, and in with the new. Not only is that my motto for New Years resolutions and spring cleaning, it also applies to my annual limoncello bottling! Every year at this time I start the bottling process of my home made 'cello (fondly called Domenicello) that has been sitting in a large mason jar, infusing in a dark basement cabinet for the better part of three months. Not that any of last year's batch goes to waste. It's all good to the last drop! But with the new annual batch ready to be poured (this year I went with orangecello), I tend to look for ways to help use up whatever is left of the previous year's batch...and, of course to help make room in the freezer for the newbies.

Limoncello (or whatever other flavor 'cello that you prefer) is traditionally used as either a palate cleanser before your meal or as an after dinner digestivo to help your system digest your meals. It has also become a key ingredient in trendy cocktails as of late. But did you know that you can also include limoncello in many different food recipes? From appetizer to dessert, limoncello can be incorporated in recipes that traditionally use lemon juice.

When using limoncello in a recipe, the first steps that you need to figure out is how you plan to use it and to what crowd you are serving it. Limoncello is, of course, an alcohol-based liqueur. Serving it straight up, preferably chilled, over vanilla ice cream or chopped fruits will add a nice lemony zing, but keep in mind that these dishes should only be served to grown-ups. If you're looking to incorporate it in a chilled dish for a mixed crowd, you can first simmer the 'cello in a sauce pan to burn off the alcohol until it reduces into a syrup. You can then drizzle the chilled (but not frozen) syrup over fruits and berries or incorporate it in a cake or as a drizzled icing. Both the straight and reduced versions make for great additions to seafood and chicken marinades (again, depending on your crowd). If you are heating limoncello, say in a sauce or as a demi-glace, the alcohol will burn off.

While doing my research, I found some really interesting recipes that use limoncello, such as risotto, gelato, tiramisu, and various cakes and cookies (many of the recipes and all other things limoncello-related can be found at limoncelloquest.com). I've decided to try two dishes this week that will use limoncello as an ingredient.

First up is Limoncello Shrimp. I had the idea in mind as an appetizer and found what looks to be the perfect recipe at crostiniandchianti.blogspot.com. It incorporates all of the key ingredients that I would use, so why re-invent the wheel? Well, I gotta tell you...this recipe blew me away. It was very easy, quick and made one of the tastiest shrimp dishes that I ever had. This definitely ranks as one of my all time favorite appetizers!

Limoncello Shrimp

courtesy of crostiniandchianti.blogspot.com

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon thyme, you could use any green herb that isn't real strong flavored

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3 cup Limoncello

1 tsp butter

In a saute pan heat oil. While oil is heating mix the garlic, lemon zest and thyme together. When oil is hot but not shimmering add the garlic mix. Let it heat up until it becomes aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp. Toss the shrimp to coat with garlic mixture. Cook until shrimp is cooked 3 to 4 minutes depending on size. Remove shrimp from pan. Wipe out any burned garlic. Add Limoncello to pan and let it reduce to about 1/2 the original amount. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Drizzle this over the shrimp. The sauce will be very sweet but when it is added to the shrimp the flavors will balance out.

Next up is a Limoncello Mascarpone Berry Trifle for dessert. I started this recipe by combining mascarpone and confectioners sugar in to a fluffy cream that can be served as a dip along with fruits (this is a traditional Italian treat). I added limoncello to the mix as well. The limoncello was reduced to burn off the alcohol (you can use the limoncello straight up if you wish). I then took the cream, classic yellow cake and berries and built them up as layers to make a trifle. If you want to just serve the mascarpone cream (with or without the limoncello) along with fruit for dipping, I suggest you cut the following measurements in half, as this recipe will give you a good amount of mascarpone cream. Also, the addition of the cool whip, or fresh whipped cream, gives it more of a fluffy texture and cuts back on the limoncello taste. Try it first without the cool whip, then add as needed or desired.

Limoncello Mascarpone Berry Trifle

1 17oz. container Mascarpone Cheese

1/2 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

1/2 cup limoncello

Up to 1/2 cup cool whip (or fresh whipped cream)

1 package frozen strawberries with natural syrup, thawed

1 box classic yellow cake mix, baked into two 9 inch pans

fresh berries (your choice of raspberries, strawberries or blueberries)

Bake cake in two 9 inch pans according to box directions, let completely cool. Mix together the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar and limoncello. Taste to see if you like the texture as is. If you want it to be more light and fluffy, fold in up to 1/2 cup cool whip or fresh whipped cream. In a trifle bowl, place one of the baked cakes. Add mascarpone mixture, then add the thawed strawberries and syrup. Add the second cake, topped with more mascarpone mixture, then top with fresh berries. You can also add fresh lemon zest as well.

Meet Me in the Park!

2011-05-07T08:11:00.000-04:00

Save the date!!! On Sunday, June 5th, I will be joining Lorraine Ranalli and friends for a live broadcast of Cucina Chatter at the Italian American Heritage Festival in Rose Tree Park in Media, PA. The festival is sure to be a fun day for all, filled with food, entertainment, give-aways, contests and more! Be sure to stop by the Cucina Chatter broadcast area to say 'hi'...we would all love to meet you!

NEW - Spring into a healthy meal!

2011-04-30T14:59:00.000-04:00

If you're anything like me, you start to develop a love-hate relationship with the leftover Easter pies and cakes very quickly. You spend lots of time preparing and baking your pies and breads to distribute to family and friends, only to receive twice as much back — at least that's how it is in my house. We came home Easter night with no less that four different varieties of cheese cakes, each one better than the other. But after just a few days, your diet (and waistline) can only take so much! So, earlier this week I decided to switch gears and do a complete 180º turn for dinner. Healthy and light was the goal!

I took a trip to my favorite novelty market, Trader Joe's. I call it a novelty market because, unlike a traditional supermarket, I could spend hours checking out their wide variety of creative (and mostly organic) spreads, sauces, produce, baked goods, coffee and other products. Actually, the only items of theirs that I am a bit sketchy about are the 'fresh' meats. Tell me, have YOU ever seen a butcher or a meat counter in TJ's? Hmmmm....

Anyway, within just a few minutes, I was able to find the exact ingredients that I was looking for. Shredded broccoli and carrots, sweet Italian frying peppers, canned salmon and Sesame Ginger Soy Vinaigrette dressing. A little bit of chopping, shaking and stirring, and we had a healthy, crunchy and delicious meal. I would have preferred fresh salmon, but canned salmon works well in a pinch. If you're not a fan of salmon, try tuna, crab meat or chicken. You can also add whatever other crunchy and healthy ingredients you want - beans, almonds, olives, tomatoes, you name it! And with the warmer weather coming up, this will make a great side dish for your outdoor picnics and grill-outs.

So change those gears and enjoy a healthy meal...then you won't have to feel so guilty about having a little cheesecake for dessert.

New - Easter Treats Part 3: Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

2011-04-20T10:17:00.006-04:00

With just a few days left before the big Easter weekend, we're going to spend a little Kitchen Time with Emma! This week, Emma is sharing a great recipe that will put those dyed Easter eggs to good use!

Since Easter is right around the corner, I wanted to share a recipe for an appetizer that is delicious, yet easy, and tastes elegant - Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs. If you have kids, you will most likely be making hard boiled eggs in order to dye them anyway. So why not put them to good use? (If you are worried about whether or not it is okay to eat eggs that have been dyed, here is a link about doing it safely.) http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/cooking/easter-egg-food-safety

Before I go on any further, I have to admit that as much as I love to cook, I used to struggle with hard boiling eggs. Sometimes they would crack during cooking, and I would never be able to peel the shell off without taking huge pieces of the egg white off along with it. And I would always get the timing all wrong. Just in case you are anything like I was, I am going to share a few tips that I have found helpful.

1) Bring your eggs to room temperature by leaving them out for about an hour before cooking. In case you've forgotten to do this, I've read that you can place cold eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes in order bring their temperature up.

2) Place the eggs in a pot large enough to hold all the eggs in a single layer and fill with enough cold water to cover the eggs by about an inch.

3) Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and let it cook for about 10 to12 minutes, depending on their size. (I usually use large eggs.)

4) Place the eggs in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

There are many variations for boiling eggs, but this is the method that I have found to work the best.

SMOKED SALMON DEVILED EGGS

Recipe by Fine Cooking

Ingredients

6 large hard-cooked eggs

4 oz. cold-smoked salmon, very finely diced (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh chives

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbs. minced red onion

2 Tbs. capers, rinsed and finely chopped

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. packed finely grated lemon zest

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Peel and halve the eggs lengthwise. Remove the yolks and crumble them into a medium bowl. Add the salmon, 3 Tbs. of the chives, the mayonnaise, onion, capers, lemon juice, zest, and 1/8 tsp. pepper and mix. Mound the filling into the egg whites. Garnish with the remaining 1 Tbs. chives and several grinds of black pepper.

NEW - Easter Treats Part 2: Italian Love Cake

2011-04-17T09:04:00.000-04:00

Last week I shared with you a recipe for Strata, which is an excellent idea for Easter breakfast. This week, we're going the sweet dessert route! Easter is of course known for it's rich and filling egg and cheese based pies in the Italian American household. My Mom has always been famous for her Easter cheesecakes. She would often make two or three different varieties. My personal favorite is her Italian Love Cake. Although this isn't her original recipe, it's one that is always in high demand from family and friends (the recipe is fairly easy to find online, and most versions are almost identical).

There was always something magical about this cake. Aside from the perfect, decadent combination of chocolate cake and ricotta filling, it was the assembly that mystified me. The first layer that you add to your baking pan is the cake batter, then topped with the ricotta filling. But during the baking process, the cheese actually drops to the bottom of the pan, and lifting the cake portion to the top. Magic! And I'm sure you'll find the taste of Italian Love Cake to be magical as well.

Enjoy and Buona Pasqua!

ITALIAN LOVE CAKE
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix (Mom recommends Duncan Hines cake mix)
1 2lb container part-skim ricotta cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup milk
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
Prepare cake mix as directed on box. Pour batter into 9 x 13 x 2 inch greased baking dish. Set aside. Combine ricotta cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Blend well. Spread mixture evenly over the top of the cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 75 minutes if using a glass baking dish, 90 minutes if using a metal pan. Blend pudding mix and milk until thickened. Blend in whipped topping. Spread over cooled cake.

Easter Treats Part 1: Strata

2011-04-08T22:07:00.001-04:00

Spring has sprung, which means it's time for beautiful weather, baseball, flowers, and if you are Italian....sweet desserts and egg-tastic meals! In the past few years I have highlighted some of the most traditional Italian Easter dishes - hame pie (pizza rustica), rice pie and Easter bread. This year I'm highlighting two recipes that put an alternative spin on traditional dishes.

This week we're making Strata, which is an egg-based breakfast meal. Similar to frittata, strata incorporates an egg batter with a choice of fillings including various meats, cheeses and vegetables. Unlike frittata, which is cooked in a deep-dish frying pan on the stove top, strata is baked in a 13x9 baking dish. There is also one additional key ingredient – a nice, crusty loaf of Italian bread, cut up into cubes. Assembly is quite simple. You do a layer of bread. then a layer of fillings, a second layer of bread, then finished up with the egg batter. Once baked, you end up with a hearty, delicious egg casserole that has the texture and consistency of bread pudding. The other beautiful thing about this dish is that you can prepare it up to 12 hours in advance. All you have to do when you wake up is pop it in the oven for an hour. It's the perfect meal when you're hosting a breakfast at your house. It leaves you plenty of time to sit, relax and share a cup of coffee with everyone else!

IT'S AN OMELETTE, RIGHT?
This is the question that I get asked constantly about frittata, ham pie and strata. In theory, yes they all can, and often do, share the same ingredients. But that's where the story ends. An omelette is all about the egg. You simply top it with your choice of ingredients, then fold the egg so that everything is contained inside the fold. I love me a good omelette, but we have the rest of the year for that. This time of year is about incorporating the sweet and spicy meats and the rich and sharp cheeses into the egg batter to make it all one.

SO IT'S JUST LIKE QUICHE, RIGHT?
In my opinion, quiche is again about the egg. The other ingredients are an an accent. The Easter pies, however, are about the ingredients working together as one. The egg's main role is to keep everything in its place. It's the glue to the creation. This is why my Mom always said, "give an Italian a few eggs and whatever leftover you have in the fridge, and you'll have yourself a new meal."

VARIETIES OF STRATA
There are endless ways to enjoy strata. You start with the three key ingredients: bread, eggs and milk. After that, the options for the filling are almost endless. You can do a traditional breakfast strata with sausage, bacon, ham and shredded cheese. Try classing it up a bit with prosciutto, pancetta and provolone! You can do spinach and feta (which, apparently, I have to make for my friend Elisa). You can go all veggie with peppers, mushrooms and asparagus. Or how about maple flavored sausage with some sprinkled cinnamon on top for a French Toast taste? And don't limit this dish to breakfast. Throw one together before you head out to work and heat it up for dinner. No matter what time of day, or what time of year, I guarantee you will enjoy this dish.

For my version of Easter Strata, I am using turkey sausage, green peppers, green onions, cherry tomatoes, parmesan and cheddar cheese (I felt that this was a good balance to the other Easter pies and cakes that I will also be making).

1 loaf crusty Italian bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup cooked turkey sausage, crumbled
1 green or red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 large eggs
3 cups milk
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Spray a 13x9 baking dish, place half of the bread pieces on the bottom of the dish.

Add the ground sausage, onions, peppers and parmesan cheese. Top with remainder of bread.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning. Pour on top of bread and filling mixture.

Push down lightly with a spatula so that the egg batter rises and coats all of the bread pieces.

Top with cheddar cheese and tomatoes.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 12 hours.

Place in oven at 350º for 1 hour.

Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

NEXT WEEK - EASTER TREATS PART 2: ITALIAN LOVE CAKE!

Swiss Chard and Beans with Seared Tuna

2011-03-28T20:11:00.002-04:00

Like most kids, I was not a fan of veggies when I was young. Especially peas and broccoli. Actually, unless it was topped with cheese and sauce and ended with the letters "izza", I really wanted nothing to do with it.

Today I'm still not a big fan of peas or broccoli (luckily my kids are, thanks to my wife), but my love for leafy greens has grown tremendously. Broccoli rabe/bitter broccoli is one of my favorite side dishes to make. Sauté with a little garlic and oil, and you're good to go. I couldn't think of a better sandwich topper! Escarole, of course, is the key ingredient to our holiday soup. I've also had some fun experimenting with escarole (you can check out my other escarole recipes here). Spinach is an often go-to as well, although I prefer to eat it as a fresh salad. The fresh-to-wilted ratio after it cooks is almost heart-breaking.

This week, I'm using another favorite green in a very traditional, old world dish. Swiss chard is a leafy green that is somewhat similar to spinach. It has a slightly bitter taste and can be used raw in salads. However, when cooked it loses its bitterness for a more refined, delicate taste than spinach. It's also loaded with vitamins, fiber, minerals and protein.

For this recipe, I'm going to sauté chopped swiss chard in some olive oil, garlic and onions. I'm adding one 15 oz can of white kidney beans and some salt and pepper to taste, then topping it with slices of seared tuna and fresh lemon juice. The slight bitterness of the greens, mixed with the flavors of the garlic and onion, the tang of the lemon and the creamy texture of the cooked beans is amazing. The end result is a delicious, earthy, rustic side dish. Now, if you're not a fan of tuna, grilled shrimp, steak or sausage will also work well. Or you can serve it without any additional topping as a side dish.

SWISS CHARD AND BEANS WITH SEARED TUNA

Serves two

1 bunch swiss chard, washed and chopped

1/4 cup white onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tbspn olive oil

1 15oz can of white kidney beans

1/4 cup warm water

salt and pepper to taste

1 fresh piece tuna steak

FIrst you'll want to sear the tuna (see directions below). When steak is done, place on a dish, cover loosely with aluminum foil and set aside.

In a large pan, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil until translucent. Add swiss chard leaves, beans and water. Cook until swiss chard is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain excess liquid. Place the swiss chard and beans on two plates. Slice the tuna into thin pieces, place on top of the chard and beans. Top with a squirt of fresh lemon juice. Serve with rustic bread.

DON'T FEAR THE SEAR!

Searing tuna sounds intimidating, but is actually very easy. Follow these simple steps, courtesy of ehow.com, and you'll be good to go!

1. Remove the tuna steak from the refrigerator. Allow the steak to sit out at room temperature for 1/2 to 1 hour before you begin cooking.

2. Use a paper towel to dry excess moisture from the tuna steaks. Simply pat the paper towel on both sides of the steak to remove marinade or condensation from the meat.

3. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil or butter to a pan over medium-high heat. Tilt the pan to spread the oil or butter across the surface and coat the pan.

4. Place the tuna steak on the hot pan.

5. Sear each side for two minutes. Do not move the meat around too much while it sears. Gently shake the pan after two minutes, and if the tuna steak releases from the surface, you can flip it on its other side. It is important to make sure that the edged are seared, but you want the inside of the tuna steak

6. Make a small cut in the center of the tuna steak with a knife. Inspect the inside to make sure that the middle of the steak stays rare and red in color.

Julianna's Pasta with Garlic Cream Sauce

2011-03-20T10:29:00.002-04:00

This week we're going back to the basics with a simple pasta dish that is my daughter Julianna's favorite meal. It's a simple dish that's very easy to make, and works great for an easy weekday meal. It's also a nice alternative to alfredo sauce - not as heavy, and with more of a garlic kick.

Since Julianna asked that I share this recipe with you, I thought it would be best that she tells you all the great things about this dish!

So where did you learn about this pasta dish?

My kindergarten aftercare teacher told me and my friend Maggie about it. But now I am in first grade.

What kind of pasta do you think works best with the sauce?

The bowtie pasta that my kindergarten teacher used. I think the wheel pasta will work too.

What do you like about the sauce?

The cream and the butter. Yummy!

Why do you think other kids would like this pasta?

Because it is really really really good. And they might like the same things about it what I like.

JULIANNA'S PASTA WITH GARLIC CREAM SAUCE

2 tbspn butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tblspn flour

3/4 cup light cream or milk (cream will make it slightly thicker)

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/3 tspn dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan, heat butter until melted. Add garlic, sauté for one minute.

Add cream (or milk), chicken broth, flour and parsley. Stir. Cook and continue to stir over medium heat until hot, but not bubbly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked pasta. Top with grated parmesan cheese (the cheese is optional, as the sauce is creamy and flavorful on its own).

Wanna make it even tastier? Try adding some shrimp!

Cooking with Guinness on Saint Patty's Day!

2011-03-13T08:54:00.002-04:00

When my friend Alicia asked if I would be making something 'deliciously green' for Saint Patty's Day, I knew that I had to step up to the plate. Since Irish food is not my forté, my first thought was to put an Italian spin on a traditional dish. Instead of ham and cabbage, I was thinking broccoli rabe and pancetta. No doubt a delicious combination (and something that I could eat any day of the year), but I wanted it to be a bit more authentic for the occasion. I decided to go back to my St. Patty's day expertise...Guinness beer.

Like all other stout beers, Guinness can be put to many uses, far beyond the day's toasting beverage of choice. Bernice Torregrossa, of The Galveston County Daily News, gives a perfect description of the many uses of stouts: "Stout beer, made with darkly roasted barley and malt, is a versatile cooking ingredient. Its fermentation makes it a substitute for yeast in breads, the full-bodied taste adds depth to stews and soups, and the slightly bitter finish intensifies the flavor of chocolate in desserts."

With this in mind, I started to search out Guinness recipes on the web, and with just a few clicks came across huggingthecoast.com, which offers 22 Guinness recipes! The first recipe listed, Gourmet Guinness Burgers with Guinness Barbecue Sauce (courtesy of inspiredtaste.net), jumped out at me immediately. Burgers, which are a standard pub item, married with the flavor of Guinness...perfect!

I followed the recipe, step by step. No doubt, this is a great dish to celebrate the day! The richness of the beer really plays well with the beef, and gives the perfect kick to the sauce. It's the sauce that really blew me away with this burger. Even cooked at medium-well, this was one of the juiciest burgers that I've had in a long time. I would almost put this in a salisbury steak category, served on a toasty bun.

Guinness Burgers (4 burgers)

1 pound minced beef (80% lean, 20% fat)

1 egg, whisked

¼ cup Stout beer (Guinness)

1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill

2 teaspoons mustard (Coleman’s Mustard)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

4 burger buns

Toppings: Guinness BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese, arugula, tomatoes and red onion

Preheat the grill or pan to medium.

Add beer, olive oil, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper to the beef then lightly mix with a fork. Do not over mix.

Separate the mixture into four portions, then lightly roll each portion into a ball and press down to make a burger patty.

Once preheated, lightly brush the grill with olive oil and place each burger patty down onto the oiled grill. Leave the patties for 4 minutes then flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes or desired doneness (4-5 minutes on each side should be cooked to medium).

Remove the patties from the grill and assemble each burger with desired toppings

Guinness BBQ Sauce (makes about 2 cups)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, small dice

1/4 cup molasses

1 12 ounce can stout beer (Guinness)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 can tomato puree (small can)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

In a medium saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil and saute the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the molasses, beer, vinegar and tomato puree then stir to combine.

Add all of the spices and allow the sauce to simmer on the stove for about 20-25 minutes until it has reduced into a thick glossy BBQ sauce.

While simmering, keep an eye on the sauce and stir occasionally.

Special thanks to inspiredtaste.net, for allowing me to run their recipe on my blog.

Now that we've finished up with dinner, let's continue with the Guinness celebration as Emma Caperelli Loerky shares with us her recipe for Guinness Ice Cream!

This is the sixth recipe that I've submitted to Cucina Domenico, and the fact that this is the third time I'm using beer as a key ingredient is not lost on me. But St. Patty's Day is upon us and so that is my excuse this time (do we really need an excuse to cook/bake with beer anyway?). Next time I'll try to branch out and use a different type of booze. For now, let's get back to the beer.

This past summer, after typing Guinness Beer in a Google search, I accidentally discovered that there are a plethora of recipes for ice cream using this dark, malty, bitter beer. I instantly knew I wanted to try it and began to search through the recipes for the one that sounded the most appealing to me. The problem was, I liked something about almost all of them. Some used chocolate as an accompaniment, others used molasses. There were a few that chose to use the beer as the main focus without any additional flavors.

The recipe that appeared to suit my taste the most was the one taken from here: http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2006/01/18/guinness_ice_cream/. It had a nice mix of beer and molasses and not too many egg yolks. What it didn't have was chocolate and pretzels, which seemed mandatory in my opinion. I pretty much followed this recipe exactly. The only modifications I made were adding some chocolate covered pretzels at the end of churning my ice cream, omitting the vanilla extract, and, in it's place, using a whole vanilla bean instead of just half. I bought milk chocolate covered pretzels thinking it would make my life a little easier, but, after some thought, I decided to coat them again using dark chocolate. Why? Because I was afraid that if I didn't coat them a second time, they would become mushy once mixed with the ice cream. Well, that and I thought that the dark chocolate would be a nice touch, and it was. The salt on the pretzels made for a nice contrast as well. If this seems too daunting, feel free to skip this step all together. Just bash up some store bought chocolate covered pretzels and be done with it.

Guinness Ice Cream w/ Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Adapted from The Boston Globe

Ingredients

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup Guinness Stout

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp molasses

4 egg yolks

About a half cup chocolate covered pretzel pieces

Directions

I modified the way you make the custard using techniques I learned from the book, Frozen Desserts, by Williams-Sonoma.

In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and 1/2 cup of cream together vigorously until blended.

In a small saucepan, whisk together the stout and molasses. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into a medium saucepan. Add the bean, milk, sugar and remaining 1/2 cup of cream to the saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture simmers, turn off the heat.

Temper the yolks by whisking the eggs with one hand while adding about one-fourth of the warm cream mixture in a slow, steady stream. Slowly pour the warmed yolk mixture back into the pan, whisking until well blended.

Slowly whisk the beer mixture into the cream mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 6 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of the wooden spoon. It should barely come to a simmer. Do not let it come to a boil so as not to curdle the eggs.

Using a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, strain the custard.

Fill a large bowl halfway with ice cubes and fill with enough water to just cover the ice cubes. Place the bowl with the custard on top of the larger bowl with the ice cubes. Allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Once cooled, remove the custard from the ice-water bath. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard so that a "skin" doesn't form, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

According to your ice cream maker's directions, churn the custard, adding the chocolate covered pretzels during the last few minutes.

The Trials of Timbale: An Elaborate Eggplant Experience

2011-03-06T00:13:00.001-05:00

Last week we hosted a family dinner to celebrate my Mom's birthday. As with previous family dinners, I planned on making a special dish that was equal parts taste and presentation. This year I really wanted to wow my Mom with one of her favorite foods, eggplant. I decided to make an Eggplant Timbale, which is made of of an outer shell of eggplant strips, stuffed with a pasta-based filling, then baked into a mold using a spring form pan. I remember first seeing this recipe done by Giada De Laurentiis, and knew that someday I would have to try out this amazing meal!

I've been fortunate to have most of the recipes that I experiment with turn out the way that I had hoped, without any major fiascos. This time, not so much. Let me start from the beginning.....

When I decided to do this dish, I went searching online for a timbale recipe. As luck would have it, the first recipe that popped up was Giada's. I looked it over and felt comfortable with all of the steps. The only thing that I wanted to change was the pasta filling. Hers called for the addition of some meats (you can really go any direction you want with the filling....meats, veggies, cheeses). I wanted to stay away from meat in this dish, so I started to click through other timbale recipes. I found one that had the exact filling that I was looking for - chopped tomatoes, sautéed garlic and leeks, fresh herbs and ziti. Perfect! I check out the assembly steps on this version of the recipe. Piece of cake! On to the big day....

I stared prepping everything about three hours before dinner time. No rushing, just working at a nice and easy pace. I sliced up the eggplant and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, and placed the first of three trays (you need a lot of eggplant for this) in the oven, just like the recipe that I was following had instructed. In 15 minutes, the slices should be ready to go. Just cool 'em and layer 'em in the pan! About 5 minutes in, I hear this crazy sizzling from the oven. I opened the oven door and what is supposed to be baked eggplant looks more like sizzling bacon, and quickly on it's way from crispy to blackened! Holy cow!!!!

It didn't take me long to realize what went wrong. Fresh cut eggplant will soak up olive oil like a sponge, which can encourage someone to accidentally go overboard with the oil. Once the eggplant starts to cook, it will release the oil. This is a good method for on the grill, but when you do it in an oven like I was, the eggplant ends up frying itself in the released oils, and in this case burning to a crisp. We still had another two trays of fresh eggplant that needed to be prepared. My lovely wife played it cool and suggested that we just cook up the eggplant as is and serve it as a side with the pasta. Call me determined, or call me a hard-headed Calabrese, but I wasn't about to give up on this dish just yet.

First thing I did was run to the store to grab more eggplant. You need a good amount of eggplant slices for this dish. Since I already sacrificed 1/3 of my batch, I needed to replenish. I got home and started thinking to myself as I'm slicing, "why did this work so much easier for Giada?". Then, as I turned around, I saw it. Sitting there on my book shelf was my Giada cookbook. My AUTOGRAPHED Giada cookbook. I started searching through it. Could it be in here? Would it be in here? Bingo! Giada's timbale recipe, complete with step-by-step photographs. I skimmed through and found the answer...she grilled her eggplant strips! So the recipe that I was following did give poor instructions for the eggplant preparation, just as I thought. Sonofabitch!

I had no time to fire up my grill, so I did what I thought would be best. I started to brown the eggplants on my stovetop griddle. While this method did work better than in the oven, it was still a flat surface and would have caused the eggplant to fry in the released oils if I didn't pay close attention. A stovetop grill grate would have been ideal to allow the oils to drip away from the eggplant, but I had to work with what was available. Thirty minutes later, the cutlets were done and ready for assembly. Everything was layered and put together in the spring form pan, and into the oven it went. I was still on schedule! But as it was cooking, I could still hear sizzling sounds coming from the oven. I checked it out and found drips of oil coming from the bottom of the pan. The eggplants were still releasing some of the retained oil! Why didn't I look at Giada's book from the beginning!!!! All I could do now was hope that the eggplant would dry out just enough while it baked.

I removed the pan from the oven. Looked good, smelled good, didn't feel too mush on top. We called everyone to sit down for the big presentation. I placed my presentation dish (a glass cake dish) on top of the pan, face down. Gently flipped it, gave the pan a little wiggle, and out with ease slid the timbale from the pan onto the dish...and then off of the dish and onto our kitchen counter top. SPLAT! One big, hot pile of steaming pasta with an eggplant crust plopped all over the counter. As I scramble to grab a spatula to stop it from falling onto the floor, CRASH goes the cake plate all over the floor. After a few four letter words to accompany the scooping and sweeping, I just started to laugh. It's all I could do. It was simply a case of TMO (Too Much Oil).

Luckily our counter tops were just wiped and cleaned before this fiasco. I quickly scooped it all into a beautiful pasta serving dish, mixed it all together and served with a big smile on my face. In typical motherly fashion, my Mom insisted that the meal was out of this world and it didn't matter what it looked like. Since everyone had a few servings, I'll accept that compliment. But don't let this happy ending fool you...I'm still a stubborn, hard-headed Calabrese and I will tackle this dish again. And I will be sure to fire up my grill and follow Giada's recipe from step one!

To see Giada De Laurentiis' Timbale recipe, click here .

Justice Prevails!

2011-03-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

It was brought to my attention earlier this week that, along with two other blogs, Cucina Domenico was was being ripped off. Apparently a fraudulent food blog was copying, word for word, our stories and recipes. Sure, some may say that this is a form of flattery. However, the site was so poorly put together, that it was more of an embarrassment.

After letting off some steam, my co-bloggers and I banded together and took action with the upper hands at Google. I am happy to say that as of today the fraudulent blog has been nabbed and put to a halt. Two points for karma!

Special thanks to my co-bloggers at http://www.guidetolifeforwomen.com/ and http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/ for bringing this to my attention and helping get the matter resolved.

To those of you who may have been misled to this fraudulent site, my sincerest apologies.

Cooking with Beer

2011-02-25T21:03:00.002-05:00

Over the past few years, I have started to develop a taste and understanding for quality beers. Along with it has come the appreciation of pairing a good beer with food. Just as you would choose which wine to serve with you meal, a nice beer selection can often help accentuate the flavors of just about any dish. It's not uncommon for me to now consider what beer to order or serve before selecting or preparing my main course. Needless to say, I was very excited when my sister-in-law (a.k.a. my SIL) gave me a cookbook full of beer-based recipes. We're talking way more than just a hot dog beer boil here, people. Just as you would select the proper oil or vinegar as a liquid base, the style of beer that you use can help bring out a sweet maltiness to a sauce or a hoppy essence to a marinade. I'll be sure to share some recipes with you as I experiment with this book. Thank you SIL!

This week, my good friend Emma shares with us her own beer-infused recipe...Gluten-Free Beer Battered Onion Rings! Just the combination of beer and home-made onion rings alone is enough to make my mouth water. But to put the two together? Genius!!!

Also featured this week is a delectable recipe from the one and only Una Mamma Italiana, as she shares with us her recipe for Italian Herb Beer Bread. Be sure to check out the Una Mamma Italiana blog for this and many more creative and tasty dishes.

Mangia and enjoy!

GLUTEN-FREE BEER BATTERED ONION RINGS
By Emma Caperelli Loerky

A few weeks ago my husband celebrated his birthday. When I asked him how he'd like to spend his day, he immediately spewed off a dinner and dessert menu. The menu consisted of filet mignon, sauteed mushrooms, Caesar salad, onion rings, and for dessert he asked for a key lime pie. Since my husband has Celiac disease, I knew I'd need to make some adjustments, but I felt that all of the things on the menu seemed pretty doable. I had a recipe for Caesar dressing that I had been wanting to try (no dairy and no raw egg), gluten-free croutons couldn't be that hard (they weren't and they were delicious!), I've made mushrooms countless times, and my husband is in charge of grilling the steaks. Even the pie, without the dairy and gluten, didn't faze me. But the thought of making onion rings made me cringe.

You see, a few months ago I attempted to make gluten-free onion rings without success. They were greasy and gritty and I was in no rush to try my hand at making them again. However, being someone who adores onion rings, I completely understood how they would make this pretty basic dinner seem special, so I decided to try again. Am I glad I did! My experience making them this time was so much better than the last and the results were spectacular. Aside from the onion rings at my favorite BBQ joint, these were the best I've had. No lie.

The key is to have everything set up and ready to go. You want to make sure you have your oven preheated to 200 degrees (to keep the cooked onion rings warm while you are frying up the rest), a wire rack lined with paper towels close by, as well as a cookie sheet to transfer the freshly fried rings to the oven on. Oh, and lets not forget the batter and the onions themselves. It needs to be sort of an assembly line. Once that is accomplished, you want to make sure that you have your oil at the perfect temperature. If your oil isn't hot enough, they will end up greasy and inedible. If it is too hot, they will burn QUICKLY. Even at the right temperature, these cook very fast, so you don't want to let them out of your sight for very long. The time it takes you to transfer the rings to the oven is about all I would allow myself to be away from the frying pan. I used a cooking/candy thermometer to make sure that my oil was at the perfect frying temperature (365 degrees).   

I almost forgot to mention the dipping sauce, which complimented the onion rings perfectly. In a nutshell - MAKE IT! Do yourself a favor though, double the recipe. I certainly will next time.   Both recipes are adapted from http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/lazy-mans-beer-battered-onion-rings/  

Ingredients
1 Large Vidalia onion (or other sweet onion) 
Approximately 2 cups soy milk 
2 tbsp lemon juice
**Note: If you aren't lactose intolerant, omit the soy milk and lemons and use buttermilk.  

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour  
1 tsp salt about
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp canola oil  
2 eggs, lightly beaten 
3/4 cup Redbridge Beer **(This is the amount the original recipe calls for, however, I had to add at least and additional 1/4 cup, possibly 1/2 cup more in order to get the right consistency. Unfortunately, I didn't measure exactly how much I added. Start off with the recommended amount and slowly add more beer until it's a nice thick consistency, similar to a pancake batter.)  
Vegetable oil (for frying)   

Directions
Mix together the lemon juice and soy milk and let stand while you slice the onions into rings about 1/2 inch wide. Soak the onions in the soy milk mixture (or buttermilk) for about an hour in the fridge. Make the beer batter by mixing all remaining ingredients, adding as much beer as described above. Let the batter rest in the fridge while the onions soak.   

After about an hour, heat enough vegetable oil to coat a large frying pan (or cast iron skillet) by about 1 inch. The temperature should read 365 degrees on a thermometer. Drain the onions in a colander while waiting for the oil to come to temperature. When the oil is ready, dip the onion rings, one at a time, into the batter and gently lower them into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. After approximately 3 minutes, flip the rings and cook on the other side for about another 3 minutes. They should be a light golden color when finished. Transfer the rings to a wire rack lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil and sprinkle with additional salt while they are still hot. Repeat with the remaining onions, keeping the cooked onion rings warm in the oven.

Creamy Wasabi Dipping Sauce   

Ingredients
1/4 cup mayonnaise  
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I couldn't find plain soy yogurt, so I just used 1/2 cup mayonnaise)
2 heaping tsp ketchup
1 heaping tsp tomato paste  
1 tsp Wasabi paste (I used a bit more)  
Dash of Tabasco sauce (This was a last minute addition made my me but can be omitted)  
Salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste  

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and enjoy.

ITALIAN HERB BEER BREAD
By Una Mamma Italiana

Most simple Italian recipes stem from the poor regions of Italy, where they cooked with whatever foods grew regionally. I'm talking about authentic Peasant Food, which happens to be my FAVORITE way to eat Italian. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate gourmet Italian fare, but I grew up on the simple flavors of Italian cooking straight from the garden. This is one of those recipes.

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking Powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

2 tsp salt

12 z. beer

Directions

Mix all dry ingredients. Add the beer and stir (dough will be slightly wet, like a biscuit dough). Place dough in a well oiled loaf pan. Brush the top with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven, brush the top with e.v.o.o. again and sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool for 10 minutes, then slice.

BONUS RECIPE!!!

As coincidence may have it, Una Mamma has also posted a tasty Onion Ring recipe this week on her blog. Since I was FINALLY able to put an end to her ongoing food challenge victories, I thought it would only be appropriate that I share with you the link to her Italian Fried Onion Rings as well. Enjoy!

Meatball Competition - Rolling Out the Winner!

2011-02-21T00:18:00.002-05:00

When Dominic Condo and Una Mamma Italiana, two of my fellow Cucina Chatter radio contributors asked me to weigh in on their meatball competition, I didn’t hesitate for a second! I love anything having to do with meatballs, especially trying new twists on how to make them or how to serve them. Unfortunately, I only got to “virtually” try them, by reading the mouth-watering recipes they both shared on their respective food sites and by looking at the tantalizing pictures. Neither were reinventing the actual meatball, rather coming up with different ways to serve them.

Let’s start with Una Mamma, she came up with a “Meatball Ring,” a sort of stuffed crust pizza made with croissant dough and a raised crust filled with meatballs and a flat center which she topped with salad. It looked fantastic! Oh, if only I could have eaten it! Dom’s creation was a meatball Stromboli. Of course, I did not get to taste his either, but Strombolis are one of my favorite things! He recommends a combo of mozzarella and provolone inside, and to that I couldn’t agree more. I love combining different cheeses and meats in a Stromboli or calzone. While both looked fantastic, my vote goes to the Stromboli and the polls reflected that. Now if they each want to ship me their creations to me here in New Jersey, I could get a better feel for the flavor…

Nice job you guys, Lorraine can attest to the fact that there’s never any losers in an Italian cucina—even though my meatballs and gravy won out when we squared off in our own throwdowns last year. Keep on rollin’!

– Johnny Meatballs
Meatball King of New Jersey - As Seen on TV!

Meatball Competition: The Meatball Ring & Meatball Stromboli

2011-02-05T23:28:00.002-05:00

Any self-respecting Italian has seen the movie, "Big Night," in which an Italian family tries to succeed at the restaurant business in America. Well, there is one particular scene in which the chef accuses a dining customer of being a 'criminal' for wrongly assuming that spaghetti just comes with meatballs. Astonished at the fact that spaghetti is served on its own, she asks why on earth this is. The waiter kindly responds, with a confused disposition,

"Sometimes spaghetti just likes to be alone!"
(click here to watch the hilarious video footage of the scene)

It is a classic scene that depicts the epitome of Italian pride in cooking! But upon pondering the humor in this ordeal, Una Mamma and I got to thinking,

"What about the meatball? Does the meatball ever like to be alone?"

And thus, this meatball challenge was born. We decided to explore unique ways to serve the meatball on its own - without its commonly paired up partner - spaghetti - or any pasta, for that matter.

And so, here you have two dishes that involve meatballs in two similar, yet very different ways. Which one looks better? YOU decide. Don't forget to vote in the poll on the sidebar of this or the Una Mamma Italiana blog!

THE MEATBALL RING
Una Mamma Italiana

Here, (out West, that is) we have more than just sunshine and the Pacific - we have a fabulous restaurant chain, "The California Pizza Kitchen!" Now, I'm sure many of you Easterners have tried this place, but have you ever ordered their pizza salad? I grew up eating at this place. While my brother & I ordered greasy pepperoni, or barbeque chicken pizza, my mom (the constant dieter) would order this pizza salad. This, my friends, is the dish that inspired The Meatball Ring.

CPK would often serve a specialty salad atop a blindy baked (cooked with no toppings) pizza crust. It was like getting some bread on the side of your salad, but it made for a very unique presentation. I thought, why not incorporate meatballs into this.

My mind whirled around stuffed crust pizzas - why not stuff the crust with meatballs? But that looked a bit ridiculous in my head. Then I thought about wrapping the meatballs, instead of hiding them in the crust. (Think pigs in a blanket). Eureka. That - with a little bit of help from my best friend (google), brought the meatball ring to life. And there are SO many directions you can go with this.

I used croissant dough, but I am pretty sure that pizza dough, rolled out thin enough, would work just fine (maybe even better).

I laid out the dough on a circular pizza pan, leaving the triangular tips around the edge in the shape of a ring. I rolled a meatball under each point of dough until I had a star-like pizza crust. I baked it according to package directions.

Then, I let it cool, and topped it with a fresh salad. it was such a fun way of serving up a big salad to a crown. Then with every scoop of salad, each person can pull apart one of the triangles holding meatball. Not a bad idea, right?

But then my mind went a-whirling again. Why not use this meatball ring as a way to serve up ANYTHING at all. My next thought was antipasto. PERFECT. The gorgeous layout of Italian meats, cheeses, olives, artichokes,and whatever else you like on your antipasto platter would look beautiful served atop this meatball ring. And once it's cooled, it holds together like a gem!

Needless to say, this was my Superbowl party recipe! I will surely post a picture of the antipasto version a.s.a.p. - but use your imagination. What would you top this meatball ring with?

MEATBALL STROMBOLI
Dominic Condo

To me, there is no other dish as traditional and tasty as a plate of pasta topped with two or three meatballs. Even when Sunday dinners are presented family style, the full serving plate of meatballs almost serves as the centerpiece of the table. Classic. Comforting.

But I also love me a good meatball sandwich! Served up in a nice roll, topped with Parmesan and maybe a little mozzarella, toasted up in the oven grinder-style...it's crispy hot goodness in every bite! If you've read my previous posts, you know that one of our go-to foods when getting together with friends is homemade Stromboli. Using meatball as Stromboli filling is always high on our request list. The consistency of a meatball sandwich combined with the taste of delicious homemade pizza dough. How could you go wrong?

The recipe itself is fairly simple – roll out your dough, top with meatballs, add some cheese, roll up, bake and serve. It's during the actual assembly when the love and craftsmanship comes into play.

Let's break it down....

A. you want to make sure that you roll out your dough thin enough to fold, but not too thin where it will break. There's a lot more texture in this filling as opposed to a pepperoni or ham Stromboli, so you need enough dough to keep everything contained.

B. you want to squash up your meatballs so they fill up more space and are not to lumpy. You'll want to let the meatballs cool before doing this step for two reasons:
1 - it's easier to work with the meatballs when slightly cooled
2 - if the meat is still hot, it will start to warm up the dough and make it harder to work with.

C. do not go overboard when adding your gravy/sauce.The key to a meatball Stromboli is the gravy....you don't want it to be dry. A nice little drizzle of sauce on top of the crushed meatball is plenty. Too much sauce will make the dough soggy and hard to work with. And just as I mentioned about working with the meatballs cooled, you don't want the gravy to be too hot. Otherwise it will make the dough difficult to work with, You can always serve up a bowl of gravy/sauce on the side for dipping.

D. try using a combination of provolone and mozzarella cheese. Both melt well, and the combination gives you an equal balance of mozzarella creaminess and provolone sharpness. This is one of the many cooking tricks that my cousin Michael taught me many years ago!

You can follow my example photo on how to roll a Stromboli (although the example photo is of a pepperoni stromboli, the same rolling method applies to the meatball stromboli). Add a few slits on the top of the dough to avoid air bubbles. Give it a quick hit with cooking spray, top with a bit of Italian seasoning. Bake uncovered at 375º for about 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let it sit for 5 minutes to cool. Otherwise the insides will run out if you slice it too soon.

Slice, Serve and Enjoy!

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2011-01-30T17:49:00.002-05:00

I've been making homemade chicken soup for a little over a year now. It's the perfect compliment to the cold weather that we just can not seem to get away from these days. It's also a great meal for those of us who still can't shake those nasty colds! The idea of adding tortellini came to me earlier this month, when we were having our annual post-holiday dinner at our friend Lorena's house. Lorena and her mom served chicken soup with tortellini as a first course. We all agreed that the soup alone would have made for a delicious meal - and this says a lot, considering how amazing and off-the-charts all of the home-cooked meals have always been when we get together. You see, these are the meals that set the bar for what I myself attempt to make. I hope that my version of this soup gets me one step closer!

CHICKEN TORTELLINI SOUP

4 chicken thighs (inexpensive and offers more flavor than white meat)

2 bouillon cubes

1 medium onion, cut into quarters

2 cups frozen crinkle cut carrots

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 tspn salt (or to taste)

1 soup blend packet (oregano, rosemary, thyme - found in produce section of grocery store). I like to place the herbs in a cheesecloth pouch (usually available up the baking needs aisle). It acts like a tea bag, allowing the herbs to flavor the broth without floating freely in the soup.

1 10oz pack frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 16oz package of cheese tortellini

Pour 8 quarts water into a large pot. Bring water to a boil, add chicken. Reduce water to a simmer, cover pot partially, cook chicken for 1 hour, 45 minutes, or until chicken is completely cooked. Skim any fat that floats to surface of water. Remove chicken, let cool. Keep water in pot at a simmer. Add bouillon cubes, onion, carrots, celery, salt, and soup blend herbs.

When chicken has cooled, remove and discard skin. Shred meat off of bones with fork, discard bones. Add shredded meat to soup.

Add spinach to soup. Let simmer, stirring occasionally.

Approximately 20 minutes before serving, add tortellini.

Remove cheesecloth herb pack and discard.

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese.

BONUS - Replace the spinach and tortellini with escarole and mini meatballs for Escarole, a.k.a. S'cadole, a.k.a. Italian Wedding Soup!

Zabaglione

2011-01-23T14:42:00.009-05:00

If you're a fan of custards and puddings, then I recommend you try this sweet home made Italian dessert. Zabaglione (pronounced zah-bah-yone) is made of three basic ingredients: sugar, egg yolk and Marsala wine. Whipped heavy cream can also be used, as well as flavorings such as grated lemon peel, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. You'll need a double boiler, or a stainless steel bowl on top of, but not touching, simmering water. After just 10 minutes of continuous whisking (yes, you have to put some effort into this recipe), you end up with a sweet, creamy, delicious treat that can be served as a topping for fresh berries, cakes, cookies or figs. Add a few minutes to the cooking/whisking time and you'll get a terrific mousse-like consistency. Either way, you can not go wrong.

I first heard about this dessert a few months back. After doing some research on the web, I found a variety of recipes. All use the same basic ingredients (egg yolk, sugar, Marsala wine). I really liked the exrta flavor that was added to this particular recipe that I found here.

ZABAGLIONE

(courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com)

6 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup Marsala wine
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Strawberries, raspberries, or biscotti

Place egg yolks, and sugar in a large, round-bottomed stainless steel bowl. Add grated lemon peel and a pinch of cinnamon and a drop of vanilla extract to the yolk mixture. Pour in the Marsala wine. You can use sweet Vermouth as a substitute for the Marsala.

Half-fill a pot with water, bring the water to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Set the pan or bowl containing the custard mixture over the water; the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Whisk the custard mixture, making sure that the water does not boil. This ensures that a gentle, even heat thickens the mixture without curdling it. Whisking traps air in the yolks for a light, fluffy mixture.

Continue whisking for about 10 minutes, until the mixture triples in volume, froths up and becomes pale. When it reaches the desired consistency, take the container of custard out of the pot. Slightly thickened, the custard can be used as a sauce. Longer cooking will thicken the custard further, giving it the texture of mousse. Continue whisking for a minute or two to prevent the custard from sticking to its container.

Serve the custard while still warm, or, if you want to serve it cool, set it aside for about 15 minutes. Whisk heavy cream until it forms soft peaks; add the whipped cream to the cooled custard and use a whisk to gently fold them together. Reserve some of the whipped cream to serve on top.

Ladle the zabaglione into individual dishes. Serve with whipped cream, berries, and/or cookies such as biscotti.

Serves 6.

Pastina With A Poached Egg

2011-01-13T15:49:00.020-05:00

So the holidays are over and it's time once again time for the season of icy cold weather, cabin fever and, unfortunately, the coughs and sniffles that go along with it. This week, my good friend Emma shares a fantastic, old-fashioned home remedy meal that I'm sure will help put that skip back into your step. Enjoy...and be healthy!

GUEST RECIPES

With Emma Caperelli Loerky

My next post is something I wasn't quite sure if I should blog about. Not because it doesn't taste wonderful, because it does, but it wasn't the most photogenic recipe. On the flip side, it's super easy (one pot), it only consists of 5 ingredients (all of which are almost always in my fridge or pantry), and it tastes great. So, I'd say the the good outweighs the bad.

I got the idea for this recipe from a blog I found last month when I was sick. You see, not only was I sick, but I was desperate. It was right before Christmas and besides having all of the usual holiday stuff to do, I was getting ready to go out of town to visit my family in Philly. I needed to get better. Fast! So, I Googled home remedies for colds and came across this blog: http://chefprivato.blogspot.com/2009/01/pastina-for-babyitalian-grandma-food.html. But I didn't make it right away. Instead, I opted to make a Hot toddy. It really was all I could muster up the energy for at the time. However, I got the perfect opportunity to make this recipe when I got sick this past week. Again. How fun.

For those of you who are Italian like me, pastina is probably a staple in your pantry. I make it quite often and the way I make it changes all the time. It's one of the dishes I whip up for my teenage son when I make something he doesn't like or when he's not not feeling well. Ever since he was a baby, he has always gobbled it up. This time was no exception. In his opinion, this is his new favorite way to eat pastina and I agree.

One of the things I love about cooking is that everyone can read a recipe then translate it to suit their taste. So, I changed the original recipe a bit (okay, a lot). If any of you make it, I'd be eager to hear how you put your own spin on it.

PASTINA WITH A POACHED EGG

Ingredients

1/2 cup Pastina
1 tbsp butter
1 egg
About 2 cups Chicken Broth (more to taste)
Parmigiano-Reggiano (for sprinkling on top, if desired)

Directions

In a small saucepan with a lid, melt butter. Add pastina and toast lightly for about 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth, stir and bring to a simmer, stirring often for about 6 minutes, adding more broth if necessary. Once al dente, make a well in the center of the pasta and add some chicken stock. Add additional stock to the pastina so that it does not stick to the pan. Crack the egg in the well and gently cover the well with some of the pastina. Cover and cook for approximately 2 minutes. Gently spoon into a bowl and sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

2011-01-09T13:27:00.024-05:00

While I was putting together my list of upcoming recipes that I am planning to post, I found myself leaning towards a lot of pasta recipes. Being that pasta is probably THE standby Italian dish, it's no real surprise. And I'm not just referring to a standard plate of Sunday pasta with gravy and meatballs. Pasta can be a very versatile ingredient in many creative dishes. So it was an easy decision to make a special Pasta category on my blog. Just as The Mamma Meets the Cucina, Family Recipes, and Guest Recipe with Emma appears every few weeks, I will now start to highlight a special pasta dish under the banner The Pasta Dish. This special section will feature a variety of topics and recipes, such as: home made pasta recipes, creative pasta sauces and toppings, and links to some of my favorite celebrity pasta dishes (and I have quite a few of them bookmarked!). I hope you get as much enjoyment reading the new section as I do posting it.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI
Served with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

Today's dinner was extra special. Aside from getting to use one of my favorite vegetables incorporated into one of my favorite pastas, my daughter Julianna was very eager to help me roll out the pasta. Spending time in the kitchen with family is always a special occasion, and getting to have my daughter to help out and share in the fun is always a bonus.

I found a good recipe for butternut squash ravioli filling. The most time consuming part is baking the squash in order to purée it, and you can do this ahead of time. After that it's just mixing a few key cheese ingredients and letting it sit while you roll out a basic pasta dough. We used a ravioli stamper to press out the ravioli shapes, but I'm sure that many of you – like myself – have stories of our grandmothers using a juice glass to press out the ravioli.

I used Mario Batali's brown butter and sage recipe for a quick and complimentary sauce, adding some toasted pine nuts as a final touch. Delicious, filling and lots of fun. Three key ingredients to a successful meal!

Ingredients

For the ravioli
3lb Butternut Squash
3/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Salt, to taste
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs

Slice squash in half, lengthwise. Remove seeds and pulp, place cut side down in a baking dish filled with a bit of water. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Let cook, scoop out flesh, purée. Add cheeses, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper, blend. Add breadcrumbs, blend. Cover and set aside in refrigerator.

Next, make a basic pasta dough – you will need 2lbs of dough, which is approx. 4 cups of flour and 4 eggs. This will make approximately 28 ravioli.

When pasta is rolled out, place one sheet of dough on piece of wax paper. Mark the dough where you will be making the ravioli cuts. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each expected cut. Place a second sheet of dough on top (you may need to lightly brush the second sheet with an egg wash if the dough has dried out to help the sheets stick together). Press out the ravioli with a ravioli cutter.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently add the ravioli to the water and cook 4-5 minutes.

For the sauce
4 tablespoons butter
8 sage leaves
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

While your pasta cooks, melt butter in a 12 to 14-inch saute pan and continue cooking until golden brown color appears in the thinnest liquid of the butter. Add sage leaves and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and set aside. Drain the pasta, but leaving a small amount of cooking water, and gently pour into saute pan and return to heat. Add the cheese and toasted pine nuts, toss to coat and serve immediately.

Melanzana Caprese

2011-01-02T19:49:00.008-05:00

Here's a meal that ended up being an impromptu spin-off of a major dish. Our original plans for the day after Christmas were to have my Mom over for dinner. I was going to make Nick Stellino's Baked Pasta with Eggplant Sauce (note: if you are ever planning a dinner for 4-6 people, this is a MUST GO TO dish!). Well, the weather outside was frightful and Mom was not able to make it through the impending snowstorm.

Instead of putting in the time and effort to make this glorious, yet very filling dish for just my wife and I (sadly, my kids haven't developed the appreciation yet for such a fine meal), I decided to put the eggplant to simpler use. Not wanting to just make my standard eggplant parm casserole, I came up with a way to incorporate the flavors of a Caprese salad - fresh basil, tomatoes and chunky slices of fresh mozzarella. While I did not have fresh tomatoes on hand, I did have a can of stewed tomatoes. Using the chunky portions of the tomatoes in the eggplant and reserving the juice to lightly pour on top made for the perfect substitution. The end result was just as tasty and flavorful as a traditional parmesan casserole, but with more of a fresh, crispy spin and less of a gooey, bread crumb encased texture. I can honestly say that I will probably make this version more often than a standard eggplant parm casserole!

Melanzana Caprese

1 large eggplant, skin removed

1/2lb fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

Fresh basil, chopped

1 14.5oz can stewed tomatoes

flour, seasoned with salt & pepper and garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350º. Slice eggplants into thin, long slices from top to bottom (instead of traditional round slices). Dredge eggplant slices into flour so each slice is well coated.

Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with some extra virgin olive oil, heat. WHen oil is hot, place eggplant cutlets into pan, no more than three at a time. Fry 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Add more olive oil as necessary. Set fried cutlets aside to slightly cool.

In a 9x13 baking dish, place one layer of cutlets. Top each cutlet with some fresh mozzarella cheese the tomatoes from the stewed tomatoes (reserve the juice for later) and the fresh basil. Place a second row of eggplant cutles on top. Gently pour the juice from the stewed tomatoes over the cutlets. Cover with foil.

Place tray into oven, bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve with a side of pasta or rice.

Cucina Chatter Radio!

2010-12-28T16:38:00.005-05:00

Pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and click here for a taste of Cucina Chatter Radio! My good friend Lorraine Ranalli, author of Gravy Wars: South Philly Foods, Feuds and Attytudes, is now sharing a sample of her weekly radio show, Cucina Chatter. Check out this amazing cast of characters who are featured on the show, and who I am proud to consider my 'kitchen friends'. And be sure to join Una Mamma Italiana and myself in the Upstairs Kitchen segment!

The Mamma Meets the Cucina: The Feast of the Seven Fishes

2010-12-19T10:10:00.018-05:00

From the Mamma...

Christmas Eve's Feast of the Seven Fishes or "La Vigilia" comes from a long standing Catholic tradition of avoiding meat on the vigil of (vigil = the night before) the Feast Day of Christmas. Tilapia is a favorite meatless dish in our house, which is why I chose to highlight it for this blog post. Now, our family might not have ALL seven dishes include fish, but we will throw on some shrimp fra diavolo, even if it is served sans capellini as an appetizer. But the tilapia and the pasta dish are a staple for us on Christmas Eve. It's yummy enough to impress the crowds of friends and family, but easy enough to handle as we quickly end the game of Scopa and rush to Midnight Mass! So give these a try - even if it's not for La Vigilia - they make a great accompaniment to each other.

PARMESAN CRUSTED TILAPIA
This recipe is one of easy, healthy , and tasty all at the same time. Even kids are huge fans - whaddaya know?! A kid-pleasing fish dish without the word "stick" in the title!

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
4-6 tilapia loins

Coat the tilapia in the melted butter. Mix all dry ingredients. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Coat the tilapia i the bread crumb mixture. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Serve immediately with a side of GEMELLI PASTA!!

CHRISTMAS EVE GEMELLI
This dish is so simple, yet full of flavor. The red and green of the tomatoes and the arugula make a great addition to the Christmas tablescape.

1 lb. Gemelli pasta
1 can crushed tomatoes
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
e.v.o.o.
1 bag arugula
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper

Add 2-3 tbsps of e.v.o.o. to a large, deep skillet. Saute the garlic until light caramel in color. Add the arugula and cook until slightly wilted. (NOTE: you could use spinach here if you do not like arugula. The idea is to get the green color and an added distinct flavor) Remove and set aside. Add the crushed tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt & black pepper to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes or so. Boil the gemelli till al dente. Just before draining, add the arugula back in. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve immediately.

From the Cucina...

My family has been celebrating Christmas Eve with the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes for as long as I could remember, and of course many years before that. For years, our meal would consist of most of the traditional dishes, such as baccala soup, smelts and shrimp. Non-fish dishes, such as spaghetti aglio e olio (garlic and oil) and chicken cutlets would also be served for those not-so-much into seafood. Over the past few years, my cousins, my brother and sister-in-law, and myself have been stepping up to help relieve our aunts and Grandmother from the heavy kitchen duties, while at the same time trying to update the menu a bit with some more modern dishes such as seared scallops and crab cakes. However we still make sure to keep some of the traditional staples in the rotation.

This year I am very proud and honored to be taking over one of the crown jewels of the table, stuffed calamari. Now chances are that many of you are only familiar with the more popular Italian eatery appetizer, fried calamari. Unlike the fried rings, stuffed calamari is actually using the whole calamari tube, stuffed with a breadcrumb and cheese filling, and cooked slowly in a pot of red sauce (I don't use the word gravy here because there is no meat involved). When cooked, they resemble a stuffed shell, and they are tender enough to cut without a knife!

If you have never tried stuffed calamari, I encourage you to do so. Whether you serve it along with pasta or on its own, I guarantee you it will make for a special part of your meal, especially if you are planning to celebrate a traditional Italian Christmas Eve.

STUFFED CALAMARI
Makes 8-10 pieces

1 lb. calamari tubes, cleaned (you can purchase cleaned calamari tubes in the freezer section of your grocery store)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 teaspoon parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Olive oil (enough to add to mixture until proper consistency)
* you can also chop the unused calamari tentacles and place them in the stuffing mixture for extra texture and flavor. Uncooked shrimp will also work well

Sauce Ingredients
1 29oz can tomato sauce, plus 1 can water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a large pot, sauté garlic in heated olive oil. Add tomato sauce and sauce seasonings. Add water until desired consistency. Bring to a slow boil, then lower the temperature to simmer.

Mix stuffing ingredients, add oil and mix with hands until you get a nice, meatball-like consistency. Using a spoon, loosely stuff each calamari tube. You don't want to pack the tubes, because the stuffing will expand and the calamari will shrink when cooked. Secure the open ends of the tubes with a toothpick. Add the tubes to the sauce, cook on a medium-low simmer for 2 hours. You're looking for a string cheese consistency when you slice into the calamari. Serve and enjoy!

– We would like to wish all of our readers a happy and peaceful holiday and the warmest wishes for the New Year. Buon Natale!

New Guest Recipe - Gingerbread

2010-12-16T22:25:00.009-05:00

It's beginning to look (and feel) a lot like Christmas! As we quickly approach the holidays, what better way to celebrate than with a delicious gingerbread! This week, my good friend Emma shares with us a fantastic gingerbread recipe, and also works her magic to give us a gluten-free version! Enjoy!

Where to begin with this month's blog? I guess I should start by telling you that I had every intention of blogging about Struffoli (aka Honey Balls) for the Christmas season. My intentions were so good that I actually went out and bought an expensive, imported bottle of Limoncello for that exact purpose. However, a million other little things happened to prevent me from getting the chance to make it. For example, my cat got sick...twice! And I took in some foster kittens even though I said I was going to take a break until after the holidays. And, of course, I got hit with the cold from hell. All of this in between wanting to spend as much time with all of the people whom I love that happened to be visiting from out of town this month.

So, I decided to blog about a recipe that I had made before and knew would turn out well. It's a gingerbread recipe by Emeril that I came across a few years ago. This recipe has been bulletproof for me. Seriously, I have made countless substitutions to this recipe and each time I've had perfect results. I've done everything from using dark molasses in place of the regular (and/or a combination of the two when I've fallen short of one or the other), to adding bittersweet chocolate chips. In case you're thinking about adding the chocolate chips (which I highly recommend), let me just warn you that they did sink to the bottom of the pan during baking. I'm pretty sure this can be remedied by coating the chips in 1 - 2 tbsp of the flour mixture before adding it to the batter, or you can always try sprinkling the chips on top before baking. Either way, I think they were a delicious addition and worthy of trying again.

When making this recipe into the gluten-free version, I discovered that I didn't have quite enough of any of the various gluten-free flours that I keep around. So, I ended up using equal parts of two different gluten-free flour blends. In the end, the recipe worked. My only complaint is that it rose a little too high and collapsed slightly in the middle after baking, but that can easily be fixed by adjusting the amount of baking soda in the recipe. Most importantly, it had no negative effect on the taste or texture of the bread.

Oh, and did I mention that dark beer plays a huge role in this gingerbread? I didn't, did I? Well it does, and I think it may be what sets this gingerbread apart from all other gingerbread recipes. Since making this bread a few years ago, I have learned that while I don't care for the taste of dark beer on it's own, I love the flavor it lends to baked goods. And, more often than not, I will have a few bottles of it stashed in my fridge just in case I get the urge to bake with it.

GINGERBREAD
by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter (room temp)
1 cup turbinado sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup molasses (regular or dark will work, but I prefer the dark)
1 cup Guinness, or other dark beer

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. (Please note: I usually use the mini foil loaf pans instead of the cake pan and bake for approximately 10 minutes more than called for. I get two loaves, which are the perfect size for gift-giving. On several occasions, I've even made it in a full loaf pan. I can't quite remember how long it took to bake but I want to say about an hour and 15 minutes, and you may need to tent the pan with foil to prevent the top from getting too dark.)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg, In a third bowl, combine the molasses and beer and stir to dissolve. Add the dry ingredients and beer mixture alternately to the egg mixture, starting with and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until puffed and set, about 35 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool in the pan on a wire rack.

GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD
adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter (room temp)
1 cup turbinado sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups gluten-free flour mix (I used 1 cup King Arthur Flour's g/f flour blend and 1 cup Bob's Red Mill g/f flour blend)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (I had a minor issue with this recipe puffing up and collapsing slightly in the middle, so you may want to adjust the amount of baking soda used.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup molasses (regular or dark will work, but I prefer the dark, especially since the g/f beer I used is not as dark as the Guinness)
1 cup Redbridge Gluten-free beer

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. (Please note: I usually use the mini foil loaf pans instead of the cake pan and bake for approximately 10 minutes more than called for. I get two loaves, which are the perfect size for gift-giving. On several occasions, I've even made it in a full loaf pan. I can't quite remember how long it took to bake but I want to say about an hour and 15 minutes, and you may need to tent the pan with foil to prevent the top from getting too dark.)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. In a medium bowl, sift the gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and nutmeg, In a third bowl, combine the molasses and beer and stir to dissolve. Add the dry ingredients and beer mixture alternately to the egg mixture, starting with and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until puffed and set, about 35 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Deck the Malts with Hops and Barley - The Holiday Beer Post!

2010-12-04T23:57:00.012-05:00

'Tis the season for cheer, celebration and merriment, and holiday spirits are no doubt one of the key ingredients to a festive evening. While a good bottle of wine, a nice mixed drink, or a glass of spiked eggnog are among the top choices to fill your glass, Christmas beers have taken on a tradition of their own over the years. Being one who has come to appreciate the complexity and craftsmanship of a good beer, I get to enjoy this time of year as much as I did when I was a kid playing with my new toys.

Before we go any further, I would like to say that I am not by any means a beer connoisseur. I just enjoy certain styles of beers that I have come to appreciate, and am able to b.s. my way through a beer conversation if needed. So to help make the most of this post, which I have been looking forward to writing for a while now, I will be referring to two of my most trusted sources. First, my good friend Matt Pesotski has offered some great words of wisdom. Matt not only has a great appreciation for all things beer, but is also partially responsible for introducing me to better beer. Second is one of my favorite books, Christmas Beer: The Cheeriest, Tastiest, and Most Unusual Holiday Brews, by Don Russell (aka Joe Sixpack). Mr. Russell is an award winning writer who has traveled the world in search of great beers and great stories. He is also a helluva a nice guy! His book is phenomenal, loaded with great stories, recipes and photos of every beer mentioned. The photos really comes in handy when you are searching a library bookcase-sized shelf at a specialty store for a specific bottle. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Christmas beers.

What is Christmas Beer?
From the wassails and solstice celebration ales of years past to wee heavies and barleywines of today, winter seasonals represent a huge category of beer. Winter warmers, also known as Christmas beer or holiday beer, are brewed with the intentions of celebrating both the holidays and the winter season. They are quite often laced with flavors and spices such as citrus, nutmeg, cloves, honey, extra hops and sweet malts. They also tend to have a higher alcohol content, which helps keep you warm on those blustery cold nights!

As Mr. Russle states in his book, Christmas beer is technically not a style. Unlike other recognizable beer styles such as a pilsner, bock or brown ale, the Christmas beer/winter warmer/holiday seasonal beers can't be defined by color, alcohol content, or flavor. There are no rules, no brewing guielines. They are whatever the brewer wants to make. The only criteria is that the beer must be special. It must be produced specifically for the holiday season and its packaging must reflect this. In essence, they are like little gifts, just waiting to be opened!

Here's what Matt had to offer, regarding the style of winter warmers: "Overall, winter is the beer season to go big. We’re not sitting in the back yard pounding crisp pilsners while listening to the Phillies on the radio or cooling off at a BBQ. It’s about sitting, sipping, and savoring. Hopefully, you’re not going anywhere, because we’re often talking about some high-octane stuff, and with the sweet flavors that are prevalent this time of year, it’s easy to go past your normal threshold, and in a hurry. Perhaps more than any other beer season, winter/holiday is the perfect time to stock up with variety. You won’t want a whole case of a lot of these if you’re just trying to fill your fridge, rather than plan for a party, so I like to get a few sixers, a variety case, or find someone to split a case with since it’s hard to get beer in bulk without getting 24 of the same beer."

These are some of my favorite beers....
If you are like me and you get caught up in presentation and labels, you will also have a lot of fun checking out the fun packaging, labels and bottles that fill up the shelves this time of year. Many of your holiday beers are packaged with catchy holiday-related names and characters. Elves have a reputation of being mischievous little buggers, so it is no surprise that the elf character has overtaken many a Christmas beer. There's the Rude Elf, the Bad Elf, the Really Bad Elf and the Criminally Bad Elf to name a few. But the elf that reigns supreme in my opinion is The Mad Elf, by Tröegs Brewing Company. It's a ruby colored Belgian strong dark ale, flavored with cherries, honey, ginger and clove spiciness. It also packs a walloping 11% alcohol volume...no wonder why the elf is so mad! Being that it has such a unique, flavorful taste, this is definitely one that sneaks up on you, very quickly. This may also explain why this is one of the most sought after beers in the northeast, as it moves very quickly off the shelves during this season. I suggest you share one of these with your friends, or plan to nestle in for the night if you are drinking alone!

As expected, Santa himself plays a major role in much of the holiday beer packaging. From classic Dickens-type images to cartoonish comical situations, Old Saint Nick is very well represented. One of my favorite Santa beers is St. Nikolaus Bock Bier, a malty, smooth, dark Munich-style lager by Pennsylvania Brewing Company. Though not as strong as Mad Elf, it does have a heavier alcohol content than your everyday beer, and serves well with a hearty winter's meal.

One of my seasonal stand-by's is anything by Samuel Adams. They've actually gained more of a reputation as of late for their seasonal offering as opposed to their flagship Boston Lager. The holiday season offers a nice variety of Sammy Adams brews. From their Winter Lager with wheat and spices and their Holiday Porter to their cinnamon and ginger spiced Old Fezziwig Ale, there is something for everyone to try. All three of these beers, along with a few other interesting offerings are available in a nice mixed case.

Another winter's beer that I enjoy is Winter's Bourbon Cask Ale, a spiced winter warmer brewed with vanilla beans and aged in oak bourbon casks. Right off the bat, this beer gets some unnecessary flack because it's an Anheuser-Busch product, and not a craft brew. How in the world can one of the big beer companies make anything that tastes good? Well, give it a try and see for yourself...it's a nice, flavorful beer. Blue Moon gets a pass, right?

The last main holiday beer that I tend to enjoy most is Anchor Brewing's Our Special Ale, which is a spiced winter warmer that changes up both its label and recipe each year. Flavors such as ginger, evergreen, licorice and cooked fruit have all been part of past years recipes.

I realize that I have only scratched the surface of the vast variety of holiday and winter beers. There are countless incredible offerings from all over the United States and all over the world. So what I have done is set up a special discussion board on the Cucina Domenico facebook page. I encourage you to visit the board and offer up your favorite holiday beers, comments and suggestions. You can visit the board by clicking here.

To my friends who have helped me understand that there is more to life than Bud Light and Rolling Rock: Matt, John, Evan, Elisa, Deanna, Zack, Andrea, Abby, Alice, Conni, Steve, Paul, Brian, Barb, Craig, Tony, Dan, Jeff, Carl, Charlie (Cholly), Neumann, my brother Anthony, and of course Mr. Joe Sixpack....I raise a glass to you this season. And to all of my readers...Salute e la felicità!

For more information on these beers, you can visit beeradvocate.com

NEW - Itali-Asian Fusion: Sausage, Pepper and Broccoli Rabe Dumplings

2010-11-26T22:22:00.015-05:00

This week I'm throwing my hat into the trendy Asian-Fusion kitchen, with a bit of Italian flare. I'm calling it Itali-Asian Fusion. What I'm doing is taking sausage filling that you would use in a ravioli or a stromboli (aka sausage bread), and I'm using it to fill wonton wrappers. I came up with the idea when planning to make sausage and peppers stromboli for a family birthday party. The combination of the sausage, peppers and broccoli rabe mixed with some parmesan cheese was a natural, go-to favorite Italian taste, and the wonton wrappers made for easy single servings along with puréed red peppers for dipping. The wonton wrappers can be prepared in a number of ways when stuffed (fried, steamed in steamer baskets, or baked - I chose to bake mine for quick and easy serving time).

The easiest method that I use to prepare sausage and peppers as a meat filling is to combine the raw ground sausage with chopped peppers in a baking dish and to bake it until the meat is browned and slightly crispy (a mixture of sweet and hot sausage is my preference). This eliminates the extra oils from frying and frees up some time as well. While you let the cooked sausage and peppers cool, you can prepare your broccoli rabe. When the broccoli rabe is done cooking, combine it with the sausage and peppers and either chop it with a knife or with a few quick pulses in a food processor. This helps mix the filling and allows for easy assembly, regardless of what your using the filling for.

As I mentioned above, you can prepare the stuffed wontons a number of ways. Frying is the traditional way, which will give you the crispy texture. Baking will also give you a slightly crisp coating, if sprayed with a cooking spray. And steaming will give you a soft, ravioli-like texture.

SAUSAGE, PEPPERS & BROCCOLI RABE DUMPLINGS
Makes 40-48 Dumplings

1lb ground sausage (hot, sweet or a mixture of both)
Two 7-oz jars roasted red peppers (one for mixture, one for dipping sauce)*
1 bunch broccoli rabe (bitter broccoli)
2 tblspn olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
One 12-oz package wonton wrappers (found in the produce section of your grocery store)
*you can use one bell pepper, red pepper or any other pepper of choice in place of the roasted red pepper for the mixure

Mix the ground sausage (remove casing if needed) with one jar of chopped roasted red peppers. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes, or until sausage is browned, up to slightly crisp. Remove from oven, set aside to let cool.

In a large pot, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Add the broccoli rabe and let cook for 5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Remove from pot and drain excess water. In a large pan, heat 2 tblspn olive oil, add garlic. Add broccoli rabe to pot, mix with garlic for and saute for 10-15 minutes until desired doneness. Remove from pan, season with salt and pepper, let cool slightly, mix with sausage and peppers.

Using either a knife and fork or a food processor, mix and chop the sausage mixture, broccoli rabe and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese just a bit to make for easy filling.

Taking one wonton wrapper at a time, place a full teaspoon of the sausage mixture in the middle of the wrapper. Using either your finger or a brush, wet all 4 of the edges of the wonton, fold in half diagonally, press and set aside. When all 48 wontons are stuffed, you can either fry, steam or bake the stuffed wontons.

To fry: Heat a wok or nonstick skillet on medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. Add 10 – 12 dumplings, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the bottom is browned. Add 1/3 cup water, cover, and steam the dumplings until the liquid is absorbed (about 5 minutes). Remove and cook the remainder of the dumplings.

To steam: Using a steaming apparatus of your choice, bring 1/4 to 1/2-inch of water to a simmer over medium heat. Spray the steamer's surface lightly with the non-stick vegetable spray to prevent sticking. Place as many dumplings as will fit into a steamer, without touching each other. Cover and steam for 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat. Remove the dumplings from the steamer to a heatproof platter and place in oven to keep warm. Repeat until all dumplings are cooked.

To bake: Place dumplings on a sprayed baking sheet without touching each other. Bake at 350º until crisp.

Place the second 7-0z jar of roasted red peppers in a blender, purée, heat and serve as a dipping sauce.

HOW TO MAKE A LOW-FAT, LOW-CALORIE, LOW-CHOLESTEROL VEGETARIAN VERSION
If you're looking to serve these to a crowd of family and friends, and knowing that some may not like sausage, or may be watching their calorie/cholesterol intake, you can substitute the sausage with Gimme Lean (rhymes with Jimmy Dean....get it?!), the vegetarian sausage substitute that is found in the produce section of your grocery store. Now, let me say this up front - I am not a real big fan of this sausage substitute product on it's own. I've tried it a few times. It looks like sausage and smells like sausage...but believe me, it ain't sausage! I'm a firm believer of moderation and calling food what it is. If a cow climbed into a tree, you wouldn't call it a bird, right? However, if you flavor Gimme Lean with extra sausage seasonings (garlic powder, fennel seeds and rosemary to taste), mix it with the peppers and bake it all together, the flavors actually do come together to make for a decent sausage filling...once you also add the broccoli rabe and parmesan cheese. Again, I personally prefer using real sausage for the best taste. But if you are looking for a healthier alternative to keep everyone happy, or if you enjoy using vegetarian substitutes, this little trick will work well for a dish like this...and I can almost guarantee you that nobody will know the difference!

NEW - Thanksgiving Desserts: Pumpkin Layer Cake & Gluten-Free Pumpkin, Sweet Potato & Coconut Pie

2010-11-17T21:58:00.023-05:00

It's that special time of year again, when we gather with family and friends to give thanks, prepare for the upcoming holiday season and celebrate with an amazing meal. Over the past two years, I have shared a few suggestions for Thanksgiving side dishes, desserts and drinks (you can visit my previous posts by clicking here and here). Because my mom is the one in charge of our holiday feast, my suggested recipes are slim and unfortunately I have offered all that I can (for now!). Luckily, my friend Emma has once again offered to share with us a few of her favorite Thanksgiving recipes. Thank you, Emma, for sharing. And thanks to all of you for for continuing to check out Cucina Domenico. May you and yours have a blessed, happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
Ciao,

Dom

GUEST RECIPES

by Emma Caperelli Loerky

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I have decided bring you two recipes that would be a nice addition to your Thanksgiving table. Both are a dessert and both feature pumpkin. This time I am going to offer you one that is gluten-free as well as one that is not. Both are equally delicious and I hope you enjoy them.

BROWN BUTTER PUMPKIN LAYER CAKE

Adapted from Fine Cooking

There are two things that set this cake apart from other cakes I've made in the past - the brown butter both in the batter and in the frosting, and the sweet yet salty nut topping. Let me just say that browning the butter takes this cake from good to excellent, and I don't think I'll ever make buttercream icing again without browning the butter first. It was amazing! That being said, I followed the recipe exactly except for using canned pumpkin purée instead of making my own, doubling both the frosting and the topping and I also weighed the flour instead of using a measuring cup. Based on the reviews I read, I thought that doing so would ensure that the cake wouldn't be too dense. I had fantastic results and I definitely think you should do the same. While I didn't use all of the frosting or the topping, I used much more than 1 batch would've provided. Believe me, you will find something to use the leftover frosting on if you don't eat it all as is (like we did). Next time I make this, I may make cupcakes out of it to make sharing easier.

Ingredients:

For the cake
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée
9 oz. (or 2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pans
3/4 cup unsalted butter; more for pans
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk

For the topping (I am writing this as the recipe stated but I doubled it)
1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter
2/3 cup pecans
1/2 cup unsalted, raw, hulled pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
2 tbs firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 tbs chopped crystallized ginger

For the frosting (I am writing this as the recipe stated but I doubled it)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Make the cake
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the over to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour two 9-inch round cake pans with removable bottoms (or butter two 9-inch round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment, butter the parchment, and flour the pans).

Melt the butter in a heavy-duty 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown, about 4 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and let stand until cool but not set, about 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. In a large bowl, whisk 1-1/2 cups of the pumpkin purée with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and buttermilk until very well blended. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Gently whisk in the brown butter until completely incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.

Bake the cakes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto racks, remove the pan bottoms or parchment, and cool completely.

Make the topping
Melt the butter in a heavy-duty 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the pecans and pepitas and cook until the pecans brown slightly and the pepitas begin to pop, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and salt and stir until the sugar melts and the nuts are glazed, about 2 minutes. Stir in the ginger. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool in the skillet.

Make the frosting
Melt the butter in a heavy-duty 1-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally until the butter turns a nutty golden-brown, about 4 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and let stand until the solids settle at the bottom of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Carefully transfer the bowl to the freezer and chill until just firm, about 18 minutes. Using a spoon, carefully scrape the butter from bowl, leaving the browned solids at the bottom; discard the solids.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light in color and the brown sugar has dissolved, 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Assemble the cake
Put one cake layer on a cake plate. Spread 1/2 cup of the frosting on the layer. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nut mixture over the frosting and top with the second layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Arrange the remaining topping in a ring 1-1/2 inches in from the edge of the cake and serve.

GLUTEN-FREE PUMPKIN, SWEET POTATO & COCONUT PIE

When I first saw this recipe I thought it looked like a lot of flavors going on at one time, too many in fact. But when I read the recipe and noticed that the coconut came in the form of coconut milk, and that it didn't call for any other form of milk, I knew I had to try this. Since my husband can't have milk products, I have struggled to find a decent pumpkin pie recipe for him. They always seem to lack something either in the consistency or the flavor. This pie was perfect. It has a nice texture and the flavors work well together. It tastes like a pumpkin pie with a nice subtle hint of coconut. My son, who says he dislikes coconut and can eat gluten, asked for seconds. And my husband loved it as well.

As far as the crust goes, I like to make my own using King Arthur Flour's Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour blend. I've had the best results with this product but you can use any brand you like. And when rolling out the dough, I have found it easier to roll it out between two pieces of plastic wrap. That way I don't have to use any additional flour which helps in keeping it from getting too dry. This technique has worked the best for me when making a gluten-free pie crust. Also, in order to create the leafy trim around the crust, I made two separate batches of pie crust and I used a pie crust leaf shaped cutter.

Three things about this recipe that I'd like to point out. First, I used a ricer for the potatoes. I actually had to force them through several times and I was concerned that there wasn't going to be enough filling because of all of the potatoes that were left behind. In the end, there was plenty of filling. And second, because of the long cooking time, you will definitely have to cover the crust with foil or a pie shield about an hour into cooking. And third, it is very important to refrigerate the crust before baking, so please don't skip that part!

Gluten-Free Pie Crust
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups King Arthur Flour Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs cold butter
1 large egg
2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

Directions:
Lightly grease a pie pan

Whisk together the flour, sugar, xanthan gum, and salt.

Cut the cold butter into pats, then work the pats into the flour mixture until it's crumbly, with some larger, pea-sized chunks of butter remaining.

Whisk the egg and vinegar or lemon juice together until very foamy. Mix into the dry ingredients. Stir until the mixture holds together, adding 1 to 3 additional tablespoons of cold water if necessary.

Shape into a ball and chill for an hour, or up to overnight.

Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling.

Roll the dough out between two pieces of plastic wrap and invert into the prepared pie pan.

Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and place the unbaked pie crust in the refrigerator for at least a half hour before baking.

Filling
Adapted for Fine Cooking

Ingredients:
1-1/4 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 small cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
3 whole cloves
1 small star anise, crumbled
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
15-oz. can pure solid-pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs. multi-purpose gluten-free flour
3/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 cup well-stirred canned coconut milk (not coconut cream)
3/4 cup cold whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks with 1-1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine the sweet potatoes, cinnamon stick pieces, cloves, star anise, and ginger slices with enough water to just cover the contents. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the sweet potatoes are very tender when pierced with a fork or skewer, about 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes, reserving the boiling liquid. Return the potatoes to the pot over low heat and toss to dry them a bit. Discard the cinnamon, cloves, and star anise. Force the warm potatoes through a ricer, a food mill, or a sieve. Boil the liquid if needed, until reduced to 1/4 cup. Let the sweet potato mash and the liquid cool.

Position an oven rack in the lower half of the oven; heat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and sweet potato purée. Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, melted butter, and reserved spiced liquid. In a separate bowl, stir together the granulated and brown sugars with a wire whisk until any large lumps of brown sugar are gone. Sift the gluten-free flour and salt over the sugars; stir to blend. Add the sugar-flour mixture to the pumpkin and stir well until no pockets of sugar are visible. Blend in the coconut milk.

Scrape the filling into the chilled pie shell; smooth the top. Brush the pie crust with an egg beaten with 1 tbs water and sprinkle with turbinado sugar (optional) and bake for 1-3/4 to 2 hours, turning the pie several times so it bakes evenly. The point of a thin-bladed knife should come out clean when inserted into the center of the filling, and the edges of the surface will be unevenly cracked. If the edges of the pastry darken too much before the filling is cooked, cover them with a pie shield or strips of aluminum foil. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

Happy Anniversary!

2010-11-13T09:00:00.004-05:00

Today marks the two year anniversary that I started the Cucina Domenico blog. I would just like to take this time to thank all of you for having the time and interest in checking out my posts! I have plenty of great ideas to share with you in many upcoming posts, along with lots of other surprises from my co-bloggers and friends, Lorraine Ranalli, Una Mamma Italiana and Emma Caperelli Loerky.

Grazie mille!

New - Family Recipes: Braciole and Chicken Cacciatore

2010-11-08T09:00:00.019-05:00

Whether they're passed along from your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins, family recipes are what help keep tradition alive and well. Just a simple smell of a Sunday Gravy or a taste of an antipasto is enough to bring you back to your childhood in an instant. And what better way to help keep these fantastic traditions alive than to share them with our readers! That's why Una Mamma Italiana and myself have agreed to share some of our favorite family recipes in our new feature segment called....drum roll, please.....

Family Recipes!
We will be featuring this special segment now and again, as we look forward to not only sharing the recipes with you, but also reliving some of our favorite memories as we once again get to enjoy the heavenly tastes of our favorite meals! We hope you enjoy as well!

From The Cucina:
Marie's Chicken Cacciatore

This family recipe has an interesting background, as it was actually first passed up in the family, then back down again. My Aunt Marie (Marie, or Re-Re to those who are her age in the family) was the first person to make it, and she served it once to my grandparents. My Grandmother (also Marie, and Aunt Marie to her nieces and nephews), loved it so much, that she asked to have the recipe, which my Aunt passed up to her. Fast forward a few years to when my Grandmother submitted this recipe to our local newspaper as Recipe of the Week, which was featured as a family favorite dish simply called Marie's Chicken Cacciatore (everyone in our family named Marie gets to share in the glory!). And whether or not you have a Mom or a Grandmom named Marie, an Aunt Marie or a Cousin Re-Re, you will be sure to enjoy this fantastic traditional Italian dish!

Marie's Chicken Cacciatore

4-6 chicken thighs (skin removed)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tspn rosemary
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 green bell pepper, cut into small pieces
1 cup water
2 tblspn vegetable oil
pinch sugar
salt & pepper to taste

In a large frying pan, brown chicken and garlic in oil until chicken is golden brown. Add vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Simmer until liquid evaporates, then drain excess fat. Add rosemary, tomato sauce, remaining water, sugar, salt and pepper. Add peppers, stir ogether, cover slightly, let cook for 30 minutes.

Serve over a bed of rice or over mini pasta shells.

*Note - you can either serve the chicken thighs whole or shred the meat and discard the bone.

From the Mamma:
Dad's Braciole

Braciole is one of those classic Italian comfort foods. Slow cooked meat in a hearty gravy with a taste that no beef stew, stroganoff, or wellington could even compare with! It's one of those dishes you make in the downstairs kitchen and you nurture for a good few hours until it reaches perfection. The smell alone makes my dad's braciole recipe one of my greatest family memories. My father got his passion for cooking from the big Italian famiglia, and his technique from the Culinary Institute of America. Needless to say, his recipe is top of the line! See for yourself....

Dad's Braciole

2 - 3 lb. cut of top round or flank steak, pounded relatively thin
2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2-4 slices good quality ham or prosciutto cotto
2-4 slices domestic provolone
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 lg onion, minced
12 cloves garlic, minced
2 28 oz. cans San Marzano crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 28 oz can of water

Mix the seasoned bread crumbs with parsley, grated cheese, 3 cloves of minced garlic. Combine with extra virgin olive oil until moistened (like the consistency of wet beach sand).

Lay out the pounded meat and top with bread crumb mixture, sliced provolone, and sliced ham. Roll against the direction of the grain of the meat (so that when you slice the cooked braciole, it is cut against the grain. Roll up the meat. Secure with butcher's twine. Season the outside of the meat with salt and pepper. Sear on each side in a few tbsp of olive oil. Remove from pan, set aside.

Add a few more tbsp of olive oil to the pan. (enough to coat the veggies). Saute the onions for a couple minutes, add the garlic. saute until all are soft and lightly golden. Add in the red wine, deglaze the pan. Cook off the alcohol (about 5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and water. Return the meat to the pan.

Simmer on medium heat for about 2 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your meat. Stir frequently. When cooked, slice the meat and serve the extra sauce over pasta. MANGIA!

*TIP* - whenever you are slow cooking a gravy like this, or even a soup, throw in the rind from the block of cheese you are using. (In this case, parmiggiano) It gives the sauce an incredible flavor. Always save those rinds in the freezer, you never know when you'll need 'em!

New Guest Recipe: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2010-10-17T16:37:00.042-04:00

With the second anniversary of the Cucina Domenico blog coming up, it is no secret that networking has played a major part in gathering my blog followers and readers. From my co-blogging project with Una Mamma Italiana and earning a spot on Lorraine Ranalli's Cucina Chatter radio broadcast, to forming Facebook friendships with Johnny "Meatballs" DeCarlo and many other food bloggers, I am very grateful for the opportunities that networking has brought.

This week I am very proud to introduce a new friend to the Cucina Domenico readers. Emma Caperelli Loerky is a South Philly native who I had the pleasure of becoming Facebook 'friends' with via this blog. I would often notice the fantastic recipes that Emma would post. Her recipes are always very creative and beautifully presented. They are also often gluten free. Being very impressed with her creativity and focus on gluten free recipes, I approached Emma about contributing some of her recipes to my blog, and am very happy that she has agreed to do so.

This week we are featuring Emma's Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cupcakes...just in time for all your Halloween parties! You will have the opportunity to read more of Emma's contributions in future Guest Recipe posts here at Cucina Domenico. You can also read more about Emma and her approach to gluten free cooking below.

Welcome to the Cucina, Emma!

Hello all,

I'd first like to thank Dominic for giving me the opportunity to contribute to his blog. I'm really excited and flattered and I hope to be able to bring you recipes that you find useful. My name is Emma, and, like Dominic, I was born and raised in South Philly. I also raised my son, Jake, there for the first 12 years of his life. In 2006, I moved to San Diego to marry my best friend, Karl.

Up until I met my husband, I had never thought I'd leave South Philly. I had also never heard of Celiac Disease, which is an autoimmune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats (I borrowed that definition from Google, people). Being Italian American and growing up in South Philly, where macaroni, meatballs, and sausage (aka Gravy) is the mandatory Sunday dinner, and the soft pretzel is a food group (seriously, as a child we were given soft pretzels in school along with milk at snack time), I was baffled.

Anyway, in the past 5 years, I've learned to read labels and I'm learning how to cook and bake for my husband. I should also mention that my husband cannot have milk products. Apparently, it's quite common for people with Celiac Disease to become intolerant to dairy products as well. Fortunately, my husband can still have eggs and butter. So, needless to say, I've had quite a few mishaps and I'm not always successful, but I have come across a few recipes that I think are worthy of sharing. I should point out that not everything I make is gluten free. My son and I still eat gluten, and, quite often, I will make two versions of the same dish. Even though it can be time-consuming, doing that allows me to freeze any extra gluten free portions, and it also cuts down on cost since gluten free products can be quite expensive.

One last tidbit about myself, I am a mother and housewife who, besides cooking and baking and having 2 dogs and 2 cats of my own, also fosters cats and dogs. Once a week, my family and I volunteer at our local animal shelter as well. Aside from having dinner together as a family each night, volunteering has become a family ritual and we look forward to it every week.

These are the things that bring my family together and I'm excited to share some of our favorite recipes with you. Hopefully, you will enjoy them as well and share them with your own families.

Mangiamo!

GLUTEN FREE PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES
yields 24 cupcakes but can be halved to make 12

When Dominic first asked me to submit a recipe to his food blog, the first ingredient I thought about using was pumpkin. Of course since it's fall, pumpkin is one of the more obvious choices. But it's also Halloween, which happens to be my favorite time of year. That led me to think about candy and what I could come up with based on a popular candy bar. So, I thought it would be fun to make a chocolate peanut butter cupcake that would be similar to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I found tons of recipes and I was able to come up with a gluten free version on my first try. I actually halved the recipe because I was sure that it would take at least two attempts, so I was pleasantly surprised when they came out perfect on the first try. I was so pleased that I couldn't just stick to my initial plan of having a peanut butter cupcake with a chocolate icing. I knew I wanted to do something with fluff, so I made a fluff icing and used a peanut butter icing as a filling. Basically, they are a gluten free Fluffernutter cupcake. I used that same peanut butter icing to decorate my chocolate peanut butter cupcakes as well. Let me just add that I am aware that I am not going to win any prizes for my cupcake decorating skills, but I think they came out pretty cute considering that I have no clue what I'm doing. So, I have two different icings and a ganache to go with the gluten free peanut butter cupcake. I was tempted to fill some with raspberry jelly, but I didn't want to get too carried away, especially since I also planned on making a non-gluten free version. But you best believe that I will be making these again, and when I do, there will be jelly involved!

I'd also like to point out that I used this gluten free flour with excellent results. It is my new favorite gluten free flour and I recently discovered that I can find it at my local Whole Foods. I'd also like to mention that I adapted my recipe from one that I found on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup peanut butter (not natural)
2 eggs at room temperature
1/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Multi-Purpose Flour Blend
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat brown sugar, shortening, and peanut butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until well blended, then add vanilla and applesauce and beat until combined. In another bowl, combine gluten free flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and xanthan gum. Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Spoon into lined muffin cups and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cupcakes are done when the tops spring back when touched.

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
8 oz chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)

Directions:
Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a double boiler. If you don't have a double boiler, just place a bowl on top of a pan of simmering water. Make sure the water does not touch the bowl or you risk scorching the chocolate. Stir frequently until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before using.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter (not natural)
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup cream or milk (I used soy milk)

Directions:
Beat the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and slowly add enough milk or cream until it reaches a good consistency (you may not need all of the milk).

Assembling the Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes:
After the cupcakes have cooled, dip the tops of them in the slightly cooled ganache and let them set in the fridge for about an hour. You can then make "webs" out of the peanut butter icing by drawing circles on top of the cupcake then dragging them outward using a toothpick. Or you can just pipe a dollop on top of the cupcake, or, better yet, you can fill the inside of each cupcake with the peanut butter icing, which is what I wished I would have done in the first place.

Fluffernutter Cupcakes with Fluff Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 lb room temperature unsalted butter
7 1/2 oz jar Fluff
2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:
Beat butter until creamy. Add marshmallow fluff and slowly add sugar.

Assembling the cupcakes:
Using a cupcake plunger, remove a portion of the center of each cupcake. Pipe a small amount of the Peanut Butter Icing into the center of each cupcake. Pipe the tops of each cupcake with the Fluff Icing.

One last thing, those cute little bats you see are edible and I got them at etsy.com.

Pumpkin Amaretto Risotto

2010-10-07T15:04:00.017-04:00

I was recently asked by a good friend of mine if I could come up with a recipe for Pumpkin Risotto. I won't mention any names, but this one Italian mamma said that she had fallen in love with this style of risotto when in Italy. I did some research and found a good amount of pumpkin risotto recipes, however most of them were very similar in taste and style. Pumpkin itself can be bland, so you need to add some spice to it to bring out its flavor. Most of the recipes that I found were heavy on the cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, which are standard pumpkin pie spices. That didn't sound all that Italian to me, and I wasn't aiming for a pumpkin pie flavored risotto.

I finally came across a true Italian pumpkin risotto recipe which follows the traditional Lombard/Northern Italian method and used that as my launching pad, making a few other flavor/ingredient adjustments to my liking. Instead of cinnamon and nutmeg, this recipe called for crumbled up Italian amaretti macaroons. While I don't usually have amaretti macaroons on hand, I do always have a bottle of Disarona Amaretto in my liqueur cabinet. I decided to give that a try, and just one tablespoon added the perfect slightly sweet/slightly nutty taste that I was hoping for! The alcohol will burn off, but the Amaretto taste stays. There's no doubt, this dish will be a fall standard in my house!

A quick note on making risotto: Risotto is a demanding dish and requires the chef to stand next to the pot for the better part of 20 minutes. Turn the rice every 20 seconds or so in order for the liquid to bathe all of the pot. With the high heat your rice will dry out at the bottom and you'll need to move the rice with a wooden spoon so that the remaining stock on top goes to the bottom. Only when the rice is almost dry can you add your next laddleful of stock.

PUMPKIN AMARETTO RISOTTO
Click image on side to enlarge

5 cups hot chicken broth (you cannot use cold broth for proper risotto)
1 tbspn EVOO
4 tbspn butter
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1 small glass white wine
1-1/2 cups pumpkin puree (canned is fine, but be sure to use 100% pure pumpkin. Do not use pumpkin pie filling)
1 tbspn Amaretto
1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

In a medium pot, heat chicken broth (hot but not boiling), keep warm. In a large pot over medium heat, heat olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Add onions, saute until soft but not brown. Add rice, mix so all grains are coated, let cook for 2 minutes (it's ok if grains begin to slightly toast). Add wine, toss to coat all grains.

When wine has evaporated, add one ladle of the hot stock. DO NOT ADD MORE THAN 1 LADLE AT A TIME! Stir every 20 seconds or so until rice is almost dry. You'll continue to add one ladle at a time for about 20 minutes.

After the first ten minutes of ladling/stirring, add the pumpkin puree. Stir to mix completely. Continue with the ladling/stirring for another 10 minutes, or until you run out of broth. Add one tablespoon Amaretto, stir.

Cover and remove pot from heat, let sit for one minute. Cut up remaining 3 tablespoons of butter into small pieces. Add to pot, stir to mix completely. You want the risotto to be hot enough to incorporate the butter without actually melting it at contact. Add fresh grated parmesan cheese, stir to mix.

An optional dash of nutmeg to each serving adds a nice touch. Serve with a glass of white wine, or a nice pumpkin ale or Oktoberfest and enjoy!

Gravy Wars Revisited - My Review of the Winning Gravy!

2010-10-03T22:09:00.005-04:00

A few weeks back, I went spoon-to-spoon with Una Mamma Italiana in a Sunday Gravy War. After all of the votes were tallied, Una Mamma ended up being top tomato. Today, I finally had the chance to make a pot of the winning gravy, step by step. The verdict is in.....and Una Mamma's Sunday Gravy is definitely a winner!

Rather than go over each step of the gravy making method (you can see the recipe first hand by clicking here), I thought it would be best to highlight was makes Una Mamma's gravy so different than mine.

While I start my gravy process with frying up some garlic in olive oil, this recipe calls for garlic AND two onions (I only use onion powder as a flavoring). So right out of the gate you're dealing with some great aromatics. This is also when the wild card ingredient comes in to play...the butter. Now I'm sure that some of you, as I, were stumped with the butter ingredient. Who puts butter in red gravy? You're actually using it to sauté the onions and garlic, so it makes total sense and adds nice flavor.

The next difference that I noticed was adding the tomato paste to the sautéed veggies BEFORE adding the tomato purée. This helps break down the paste into a flavorful brownish sauce that incorporates nicely with the tomatoes...and this is a nice trick that I think I will start to use with my own recipe.

And the final difference is adding the meat at an early stage. I like to first have all of the seasonings and tomatoes marry together for a good 45 minutes or so prior to adding the meats. This allows the sweetness of the tomatoes to really shine through, while allowing the meat flavors to add a tremendous accent to the meal. I call this the Clemenza method (all of you Godfather fans will relate). Una Mamma's recipe, on the other hand, gets the addition of the seared meats involved immediately. This really allows the fats and flavors of the meats to take over, which makes this a true, hands down, no denying, by-the-book MEAT GRAVY.

Final thoughts - my family and I give Una Mamma thumbs up all around! We did find the gravy to be a bit thinner than mine (my addition of a can of sauce thickens it up a bit), however it was very flavorful with an amazing aroma. The thinner gravy isn't a bad thing, it just means [to me] that I would know ahead of time that I would be aiming for this particular taste and texture. Of course I would never turn my back on my own gravy – this would be like turning my back on my own child. But, like all good parents, you are always ready to welcome your friends' children into your house to play as well. And I guarantee you that I will be serving up Una Mamma's Sunday Gravy again in my house.

Bravo, Una Mamma!

Easy Weekday Meals

2010-09-30T08:33:00.015-04:00

Looking to put a new spin on a weekday meal that will keep the kids asking for more? Put aside your traditional chicken cutlets, and serve up pretzel coated chicken tenders. The shape of the tenders are similar to fast food chicken fingers, and the pretzels add a natural salty/snacky taste. Plus, knowing that pretzels are part of the meal is sure to make for a fun dinner for parents and kids.

PRETZEL COATED CHICKEN TENDERS

Using a food processor, break up about two cups worth of pretzels almost to the point of breadcrumb consistency. You want to have some small pieces of pretzel still in the mix. If you don't have a food processor, you can smash the pretzels by placing them in a plastic bag and rolling it with a rolling pin or a large tomato sauce can. The crumbs will not be as fine, but it will work. Then simply bread the tenders as you would normally bread chicken cutlets (rolling in flour, then egg wash, then pretzel crumbs). For the best taste and texture you want to fry the tenders, not bake them. I prefer using peanut oil for the taste, but vegetable oil will also work fine. For some extra flavor, you can add a few drops of sesame oil to the frying pan. Serve with honey mustard, barbecue sauce or marinara sauce for dipping (gotta get some Italian influence in there!!). Serve with steamed vegetables (carrots and peas are our favorites).

Note: you can bread the tenders ahead of time, either that morning or the night before, and keep them in the refrigerator until ready to use. This will save prep time to help get a quick meal on the table for your family to enjoy!

Never one to be outdone, my blogging collega, Una Mamma Italiana, offers up a two-for-one weekday meal! And this one isn't just putting leftovers to use, it's actually making another tasty, beautiful dish!

Here's an easy weeknight dinner that makes a GREAT fritatta the next morning! Italian sausage and potatoes, roasted with a little kosher salt, black pepper, garlic, and rosemary. Served very appropriately with a simple side salad. Easy, right?

Then, the next morning the sausage and potatoes make a cameo appearance, coarsely chopped in my fritatta. Mix in a little grated cheese, fresh parsley and basil, and you've possibly stumbled upon a quick fix for a fancy breakfast in bed! Hubby will be happy:)

(Use this trick wisely, ladies)

MANGIA!

Fall Favorites

2010-09-24T16:15:00.016-04:00

Traditions, as you may have guessed by now, have been a major influence in many of the posts that I share on this blog. It's the excitement and familiarity of annual events, foods and most of all time spent with family and friends that encourage me to write and share my stories and recipes. And now that we have officially entered my favorite time of year, the autumn harvest season, I thought I would share some favorite fall food suggestions with you.

The first weekend of autumn is the time when I prepare my jars of marinated eggplants. I started this tradition a few years back, and posted about it last September (you can click here for the recipe). I was inspired by my grandmother to start jarring eggplants. She would marinate and jar every year at this time so they would be ready for the holidays, so I was determined to keep that family tradition alive. I am very honored to say that this family recipe has garnered the most attention on my blog. To this day I am still getting nice comments about the post, and just a few weeks ago I was contacted by a woman named Lori who has a food blog of her own. Her family also jars eggplants and she was surprised to find that my recipe was almost the same as hers. So thank you Lori for the shout-out. Be sure to check out her fine food blog, Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a pumpkin junkie, so it goes without saying that I'm extra excited to dip into pumpkin foods, both new and traditional. Throughout this season I plan to share recipes for spaghetti squash and pumpkin ravioli. I'm also very excited to have my friend, Emma, share some pumpkin dessert recipes with you as we get closer to Thanksgiving.

Speaking of pumpkin, I have to tip my hat to Rita's Water Ice. The debate will always live on as to who has the best water ice, but in my opinion Rita's Pumpkin Pie and Caramel Apple cream ices are the ideal way to transition from summer to fall. Try going for the pumpkin ice with vanilla custard topping. Nice.

Nothing beats a crisp fall morning than a nice hot cup of coffee. An easy way to add some fall flavor to your next pot of joe is to sprinkle some cinnamon, nutmeg or my favorite, pumpkin pie spice, into your coffee grinds before brewing. If you're a fan of fall spices, you'll love this. Trust me. And what's a nice cup of hot coffee in the fall without a crisp, crunchy spiced wafer to dunk? My family gets a smile from ear to ear when those orange and black boxes start to appear in huge piles at the supermarket. Yeah, I know...they're sold year round. I don't pay attention to them until they're stacked a mile high in front of the store.

Wanna kick up your spiced wafers to dessert level? Add a smear of cream cheese. And if you're really in the mood for a treat, add a little bit of pumpkin butter on top of that. Fuggetaboutit!!!

Now I wouldn't be able to discuss fall foods without mentioning my new favorite seasonal treat — autumn beers. I have quickly learned to love the full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper beers that make their seasonal appearance, usually starting in late August. Each year, more and more brewers are jumping on the popularity of dunkel (dark) lagers, Oktoberfests and pumpkin ales. The beauty of it is that each brewer adds their own little twist or spin on the styles, so each version has it's own distinctive taste and the beer drinker benefits from the variety. I like to have a variety of each style on hand, but this year I hit the jackpot with the Samuel Adams Harvest Collection. It contains six different styles of beer, including Harvest Pumpkin Ale and what is one of my seasonal staples, their Octoberfest (yes, they spell it with a 'c'). So if you're interested in sampling seasonal brews, this is the best time of year to do so. Have fun, mix up the varieties and enjoy (and most of all, be safe).

Happy fall!

Chocolate Guinness Tarts

2010-09-20T21:33:00.007-04:00

I came across this recipe while I was doing some reading on a beer web site. My first thought was 'beer, chocolate, pastry...everybody wins!' I made them this past weekend, and they didn't disappoint. The Guinness taste didn't really come through as much as I expected, but dark chocolate has a very powerful taste of its own, and you're only using 1/2 a cup of the beer. However, stout and chocolate compliment each other very well, so this combination makes total sense. What I would suggest for future servings, and I will be making these again, is to serve at a party, place the tarts on a big plate, and have a small cups of Guinness sitting next to it, so your friends can help themselves to a rich and tasty dessert.

CHOCOLATE GUINNESS TARTS

45 mini sweet fillo shells (found in the frozen food section)
Two 3.5oz good quality dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids)
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Guinness

Bring a pan of water to a gentle simmer and sit a heatproof bowl over the top - not allowing the water to come into contact with the bottom of the bowl. Break the chocolate into the bowl and add the butter and the beer. While the chocolate mixture is melting, whisk the eggs and the sugar until pale and smooth. When the chocolate has melted, stir the bowl to amalgamate the other ingredients, and then pour into the egg and sugar mixture. Stir well and pour into the shells. Bake in a pre-heated 425ºF oven for 4 minutes. Refrigerate overnight and serve.

Stuffed Eggplant

2010-09-16T23:10:00.006-04:00

The early fall is now among us, and it's time to put that vegetable harvest to use. I put this recipe together from a handful of other stuffed eggplant recipes that are available online, picking and choosing a few ingredients and steps from each. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can adapt your own touch by adjusting ingredients and seasonings to your liking. The basics to the filling are the garlic, onion, breadcrumbs and eggplant pulp. The peppers, shrimp and tomatoes were a personal preference. You can add whatever else you wish to the filling (olives, pine nuts, sausage, ground meat, raisins, etc.).

STUFFED EGGPLANT

1 large eggplant, sliced in half lengthwise
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 container cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped shrimp, uncooked
salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º
Place the eggplant halves, cut side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove inside pulp, leaving a 1/3 to 1/2-inch thick shell; reserve eggplant shell. Chop/smush pulp.

Heat olive oil and butter in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onions, stir for one minute. Add garlic, peppers and tomatoes, stir until crisp tender. Add shrimp, stir until they turn pink. Add chopped eggplant, salt and pepper, Italian seasonings, and parmesan cheese, stir. Reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add breadcrumbs, stir, let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place eggplant shells, open side facing up on a cookie sheet. Drizzle some olive oil and add some salt and fresh ground pepper to the inside of the shell. Fill each shell with the eggplant stuffing. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle some shredded mozzarella or parmesan cheese on top of eggplants. Place under broiler for 5 minutes, or until top becomes lightly browned and crisp.

And the Sunday Gravy Wars winner is...

2010-09-16T14:20:00.004-04:00

The scores have been combined and tallied and a big congratulations and a tip of the stirring spoon goes to my colleague, Una Mamma Italiano! While I am very proud of my gravy recipe, there is no doubt that Una Mamma's is rich in both taste and tradition, and I look forward to making her recipe and posting a review of it very soon!

The whole point of this gravy war was to realize the signifiance of the Sunday Gravy tradition. And no matter which recipe looks closest to yours, any one who keeps the tradition going is the real winner. Let us never lose our cultural heritage that boasts such things as family meals and awesome food!

Try our gravy recipes. Dare to compare them! Why not submit your own recipe to us? We love to hear about other paisani that love Italia as much as we do.

So thanks for all the votes and Buon Appetito!

Spinach Quiche

2010-09-08T17:19:00.006-04:00

Another summer has come and gone, but we still have a few good weeks left to enjoy a nice outdoor meal under slightly cool skies. Whether you call it spinach quiche or spinach egg pie (because real men don't eat quiche, right?), this is the perfect dish to enjoy on your outdoor patio or deck with friends, a nice glass of white wine, and a late summer, early fall breeze. Of course you can serve this any time of the year. I first started to make it around Easter time along with my Easter Ham and Rice pies, but I felt that this pie holds up as its own meal, so I started making it during the late spring/summer/early fall. And if you prefer beer over white wine, try serving an American Wheat Ale, Blonde Ale or a Belgian Witbier. Their refreshing, subtle citrus flavors are the perfect complement!

SPINACH QUICHE

1/2 cup butter

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 (6 oz) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled

1 (8 oz) package shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a medium skillet melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion in butter until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in spinach, feta and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into pie crust.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pie crust, allowing the egg mixture to thoroughly combine with the spinach cheese mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle top with remaining cheddar cheese and bake an additional 35-40 minutes, until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve room temperature or chilled.

A Sunday Gravy War!

2010-08-26T09:46:00.017-04:00

You know what happens when very passionate cooks duke it out in the kitchen? Those of us standing on the sidelines win!

Be prepared to win big in the latest war between the Mamma and the Cucina. These dueling cooks are about to go spoon to spoon in Gravy Wars! Yes, inspired by my book (pause for a little pat on the back), Una Mamma Italiana and Cucina Domenico are preparing to unveil their secret gravy (or sauce, if you will) recipes to the entire universe. They want you to vote on whose recipe is best. It’s a virtual taste-test. You will be asked to judge based on your interpretation of the info presented by our beloved bloggers of cookery.

This, my friends, is the crux behind “Gravy Wars | South Philly, Foods, Feuds & Attytudes!” You don’t need to be Italian, a professional chef, or a native of Philadelphia to be sucked into legitimate kitchen competition. All you need is a passion for food and a mild interest in preparing it, and before you know it, you too will become competitive and possessive in the kitchen.

It truly is a phenomenon to behold!

Oh, if only we could get the Mamma and the Cucina to dole out their signature sauces to the entire social media world at some place like the Superdome. Ah, maybe someday. Alas, we’ll have to settle for the online battle.

Be sure to get your friends, relatives, co-workers, Farmville competitors, and acquaintances of all types to weigh in on this match. Who knows? With enough hype, we may just get these two to Louisiana yet!
– Lorraine Ranalli

NOW, Let the Gravy Wars begin!!!!

THE MAMMA'S SUNDAY GRAVY

Let me begin by saying that Sunday gravy is a lot like a marriage - the more love you put into it, the better it gets. A good gravy recipe perfects itself over time, and my recipe is definitely age old. My great grandmother taught it to my father, who taught it to me, and NEVER with a recipe! So like Dom, I had to endure the sheer agony of writing down my measurements and step by step instructions. I kid you not, people, this took me a week. It's hard stuff when you're assuming that some gravy crazed paisan out there is reading this recipe and isn't quite sure what a 'pinch' or a 'shake' of something is. (who am I kidding - neither do I). The fact is, there are not any words to describe the attention to detail that goes into my "Nonni's" recipe for red gravy.

This is appropriately called gravy because of the fact that it is derived from the juices of MEAT. In our case, we're talkin pork shoulder and meatballs. Check out the recipe, copy it, change it, whatever you please - just don't miss out on the opportunity to start a Sunday gravy tradition in your family! Buon Appetito!

3 28 oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
Extra virgin olive oil (enough to sear the pork and then to barely cover the onions)
3 TB butter
2 lb. pork shoulder
2 onions, chopped
8-10 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cans water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 TB sugar
2 TB Italian Seasoning

Season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Start with enough e.v.o.o. in a pan to sear the pork on both sides. Remove the meat and set aside. Throw in the onions (then the garlic about 5 minutes later) adding enough oil to just barely cover the onions. It looks like a lot but it is the emulsifier you need to get this sauce good and creamy once blended. Add the butter at this point to aid in simmering the veggies. *disclaimer: Lorraine Ranalli, Gravy War QUEEN, might be judging me right about now, but all I can say is WATCH OUT! because butter is quite possibly my second favorite thing to cook with (the first, of course, being my hubby)!

Mix in the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes. Add the cans of tomatoes and the water. Mix together then blend with hand blender until smooth. Put the meat back in. (at this point, you would add your meatballs too, if you made them. I like to fry my meatballs and sear the pork in the same oil. Then I would set aside BOTH meats until after the sauce is blended. Then add the meats back to the sauce pot.)

Season the sauce with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and sugar. Simmer 2- 3 hours, or until the meat is cooked thoroughly. 1/3 hour before serving, double check your seasoning and make adjustments accordingly.

How to serve?
Over pasta and with a big chunk of Italian bread to soak up the gravy with. Is there any other way?

DOM'S SUNDAY GRAVY

I have made countless pots of gravy since I was literally a kid, but only in the past few years have I really zeroed in on a specific recipe. However, I have never followed a written recipe. It was always from memory, or whatever mood I was in that day. Although I found it a bit painstaking (as I believe this should be a free-form dish), I documented every measurement while making this version of my gravy.

First, let me address the whole gravy versus sauce issue. There are countless opinions on the subject. When I hear "sauce," I think Marinara. Quick. Delicious, nonetheless...but quick.You heat your oil and garlic, add your tomatoes, onions, seasonings, maybe even some meat or even shrimp, and in 20-30 minutes you have a tasty meal. Gravy, on the other hand, is a bit more complex. My guess (and this is only a guess) is that the term comes from the flavors of the meats that are incorporated. The "other" gravies (beef, turkey, chicken and pork) are, of course, made from meat drippings. So when you add your meats to your red sauce and let it simmer for a few hours, the meat flavors the sauce to make it a red gravy. But the main difference to me is the time, patience and love that you put in to your gravy (I was gonna go with blood, sweat and tears, but that would be gross). You treat your pot of gravy as if it were a child. You raise it and nurture it, from it's infant stage until it matures.

I always add meatballs to my gravy, usually with either sausage, boneless country spare ribs, or brasciole (thin steak stuffed with a breadcrumb mixture and rolled up). I also prefer to bake my meatballs and sausage, instead of the traditional frying. It's just as tasty, healthier for you, and frees up some quality time.

Before we get into the actual recipe...you'll notice that I suggest adding two baby carrots to the gravy. This is an old trick that I learned a few years back. The carrots add a natural sweetness to the gravy, while at the same time they soak up some of the acid from the tomatoes.

Enjoy!

2 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 29-oz can tomato sauce (plus one can full of water)
1 6-oz can tomato paste with Italian herbs
olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblspn Italian Seasoning (marjorim, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil)
1 tblspn sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 beef bouillon cube
2 baby carrots
1 cup red wine(whatever you have opened)
1 loaf crusty Italian bread

Drizzle bottom of sauce pot with olive oil to coat on medium-high heat. Add chopped onion; stir for 1 minute or until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic; stir for about one minute. Add the two cans of crushed tomatoes, one can of tomato sauce plus one can of water, and one can of tomato paste; stir. Add Italian seasoning and sugar; stir. Heat and occasionally stir until slowly bubbling. Add bouillon cube, baby carrots and splash of wine; stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Lower heat, slightly cover and simmer for one hour. Add cooked meats; simmer partially covered for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Sip and enjoy the remaining cup of wine as you dip some bread into the gravy while it's cooking.

Serve over your choice of pasta and enjoy!

One last note...if you decide to try either of our Sunday Gravy recipes, we would be delighted. But if you decide to alter our recipes, and add your own flavors or ingredients, we would be overjoyed. Experiment, adjust the flavors to your likings, and most of all have fun. And be sure to share your version of the recipe with us.

Balsamic-Honey Marinated Carrots

2010-08-16T20:49:00.005-04:00

Here's an easy, tasty and healthy dish that serves well as either a side or as a rustic-style appetizer. If you have ever dined at Pesto in South Philadelphia (one of my favorite restaurants), you may have had their similar, rustic family style dish served at your table. I like to keep things simple by using either frozen baby carrots or frozen crinkle-cut carrots. If you prefer to use fresh cut or fresh baby carrots, have at it! Also, I prepare this dish to be served chilled. If will also serve well warm if you prefer.

BALSAMIC-HONEY MARINATED CARROTS

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 bag of frozen baby or crinkle-cut carrots (or 1 medium carrot, sliced into rounds)

Steam cook the carrots until soft. Mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Toss the steamed carrots well in the marinade. Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

Grilled Italian Pulled Pork Sandwiches

2010-08-04T16:04:00.017-04:00

As mentioned in the most recent Men's Health magazine, Philadelphia is a great sandwich town. While cheesesteaks and hoagies are among the most popular sandwiches with many of our tourists, there is no doubt that a tender, juicy roast pork sandwich is a fan favorite with most locals.

Earlier this summer, as we do every year, we hosted a grill-out party with our family to celebrate both of our daughters birthdays. This year I decided to change up the usual menu a bit and serve up grilled pork sandwiches as the main course. While I had the flavor of a traditional porchetta sandwich in mind (savory roasted pork seasoned with garlic, rosemary, fennel and other Italian herbs), I wanted to prepare and serve it pulled pork style (shredded, but without the messy barbecue sauce). With a little internet research and some helpful advice from my friend Jay (who is a guru of slow cooked and smoked meats), I was able to put together a recipe for a delicious grilled Italian pulled pork sandwich.

INGREDIENTS
5-7lb boneless pork shoulder (excess fat trimmed with thin layer left intact, bone removed and set aside)
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
6 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for brushing
1 cup dry white wine
1 beef bouillon cube

The first step of arranging this meal is selecting and preparing the meat. You want to use a 5-7lb pork shoulder (I used 7lbs for 12 guests). You can buy it with either the bone still in or removed. The bone is going to add flavor, but you have to deal with the task of removing the bone yourself. What I decided to do was have my butcher remove the bone, but set the removed bone aside for me instead of discarding it (more on that in a bit). A 5-7lb pork shoulder is a large, solid chunk of meat, so you'll want to season the pork a day ahead of time so the seasoning is absorbed throughout.

Stir fennel seeds in small skillet over medium-high heat until slightly darker in color and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer seeds to spice mill and cool. Add kosher salt, peppercorns, and dried crushed red pepper. Grind to medium-fine consistency (not powder). Place pork in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Make 1-2" deep slits around various parts of the pork shoulder. Rub garlic all over pork, then coat with spice mixture. Be sure to get the spices and garlic into the slits as well. Loosely cover pork with waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.

Note: I don't have a smoker at home, so I cooked the pork on my gas grill using indirect heat. If you are interested in smoking a pork shoulder, there are plenty of great recipes available online. Also, you are looking at a good 7-8 hours of slow cooking on the grill, so be sure that you are working with a full tank of gas.

To prepare your grill for indirect heating, you'll want to use at least a two burner grill so the pork does not sit directly over the flame. My grill is a three burner, so I had the two side burners on low and sat the pork in the middle of the grill, with the middle burner turned to OFF. Before placing the the pork on the grill, you'll want to remove the grate where the pork will rest (I removed the middle grate of my three burner grill) and place an aluminum drip pan filled half way with water just below the area where the pork is going to sit. An aluminum pan purchased at a Dollar Store will work fine for this. The pork shoulder is going to produce a lot of tasty juice that makes for an incredible gravy. By placing the pan below the pork, the drippings will mix with the water to make the gravy. For additional flavor, throw a beef bouillon cube into the water. Remember the bone that the butcher set aside for you? That bone holds more flavor than you could imagine. Throw the bone into the water filled drip tray as well! Place the grate back onto your grill. Turn your two side burners on and get the grill up to about 300º. Set the burners to LOW and keep the grill lid closed to maintain a 280º-300º window.

Remove the pork shoulder from the refrigerator and drizzle some olive oil all around so the pork is lightly coated. Place the pork on the grate that is sitting above the drip tray. Close the lid, leave it alone and let the magic happen. Check on the pork QUICKLY once every hour, turning just a bit so the pork evenly cooks. Then close the lid and keep it closed until the next hourly check. No matter how much the smell tempts you to sneak a peek, keep the lid closed to maintain that heat.

At around the 7-7/12 hour mark, the internal pork temperature should reach 160º. When it's at this temperature, and you are easily (and carefully) able to shred the pork, it's time to remove the pork from the grill. Place the pork on a dish, cover it loosely with aluminum foil, and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes before you shred it. Remove the drip tray from the grill. Be VERY CAREFUL when doing this. The pan and the juices will be very hot. Wear oven mits and use tongs to help lift the tray from the grill. Discard the bone and pour pan juices into a sauce pan. Spoon off fat that rises to top. Pour in the white wine, bring to boil over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes. Whisk to blend. Pour pan sauce into a large bowl. Cover and set aside. Shred roast with a fork. Add the shredded pork to the sauce, and you are ready to go!

The final and most crucial stage of this glorious sandwich is the assembly. Like a street corner doo wop group singing a five-part acapella harmony – which is another Philly pop culture staple, by the way – the classic porchetta sandwich also relies on five major parts to create the perfect taste: quality pork, a good roll, sharp provolone cheese, broccoli rabe and peppers. I'll allow you to have your choice of roasted red, sweet or hot peppers...I like to go with the roasted red myself. Slice open a roll, load it up with some shredded pork, baste it with some of the juice, then pile up the cheese, rabe and pepper...and you, my friends, will be in sandwich heaven.

Mangia and enjoy!

We have an Artichoke Champion!

2010-08-02T09:23:00.005-04:00

A pat on the back and a tip of the toque to Una Mamma Italiana for a landslide win with her Roasted Artichokes and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breast recipe. It's a well deserved win – the recipe looks amazing, and I will be making it and giving my personal review of it very soon. Plus, I did offer up an unfair advantage by using two of the four suggested ingredients in my dish.....ok, who are we kidding....that was a bogus foul call on Mamma's part!!!!! Regardless of the sneak attacks, I congratulate Una Mamma on a job well done! Thanks to YOU, all of our readers, for making this such a fun competition. We plan to do this again really soon, and we look forward to YOUR suggestions to make it happen!

Una Mamma - you may have won this battle, but our kitchen wars are far from over.

Arivaderchi!

Food Challenge Results: Pollo con Carciofi e Pomodori and Chicken Artichoke Picatta

2010-07-26T11:39:00.015-04:00

So as we all know, artichokes (carciofi) were the winning ingredient for the "Mamma Meets The Cucina" Food Challenge. You voted and we heard ya loud and clear!!! So what you are about to read is the result of long hours of inventing and preparing the (hopefully) WINNING recipes for this challenge:) We both know we've got some hefty competition - but it's all in good fun....for now.

Let's start with Una Mamma Italiana's original
Roasted Artichoke and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

.....or if you want to sound really Italian, Pollo con Carciofi e Pomodori! The roasted taste of the artichokes and the tomatoes is what makes this dish. Don't skip that step...and the creamy sauce, though somehwat of an indulgence - is so worth it because it's the perfect, rich finish to the chicken....I'd serve this with a green salad tossed with none other than - artichoke hearts!

Enjoy!!

ROASTED ARTICHOKE & TOMATO STUFFED CHICKEN BREASTS

INGREDIENTS:
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered
1 can artichoke hearts
e.v.o.o.
2 TSP Italian Seasoning
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
4 TBSP grated romano cheese
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2-3 LG chicken breasts

Place quartered tomatoes and artichoke hearts on a baking sheet. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and season with 1 tsp Italian Seasoning, kosher salt and black pepper (enough to coat). Roast in the oven (under the broiler) for about 5 minutes, or until the vegis get dark and crispy.

While these are cooking, make pockets a pocket in each of your chicken breasts. (NOTE: this is much different than butterflying the breasts. Simply cut a slit in the middle, leaving the back and sides of the breast intact. This creates a pocket for your stuffing to fill.

Roughly chop the roasted artichoke hearts and tomatoes. Stuff the pockets of the breasts generously with HALF of the chopped veggie mixture. Season the outside of the breasts with salt and pepper.

Saute up some of that garlic in the e.v.o.o. As soon as they start to get golden, add the chicken and brown on each side, flipping them with EXTRA CARE so as to keep the filling inside:) Once browned, remove from the pan and place the breasts in a warm oven (350 degrees for 10 minutes or so) to finish cooking.

In the meantime, add the remaining roasted artichokes & tomatoes mixture to the pan. Saute briefly, then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Cook on med-high until reduced by about half (and the alcohol cooks out) and then add the heavy cream. Stir in some of the grated cheese and the rest of the Italian seasoning. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken back into the sauce to heat everything through and meld all the flavors.

Then, plate and serve!

And now, here's Cucina Domenico's
Chicken Artichoke Picatta

This is a traditional Italian dish with the addition of artichoke hearts, which makes for great flavor and texture. Although this recipe calls for chicken cutlets, it would also work well with veal cutlets, flounder or tilapia.

Two quick, but important notes about this dish:

1. Piccata is fairly quick and easy to make. As long as you stay on top of your timing, you'll end up with a perfect dish.

2. Whenever you are using wine to cook with (you will be using white wine for this dish), never use anything less in quality than you would drink or serve to guests. Better tasting ingredients make for better tasting dishes!

CHICKEN ARTICHOKE PICCATA

INGREDIENTS:
2 large or 4 small thin cut chicken cutlets
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
juice plus zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
4 tblspn olive oil
2 tblspn butter
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoon capers
1 small jar artichoke hearts

Mix together the flour, garlic powder, dash of salt and pepper, and lemon zest, dredge cutlets in flour mix

In a large pan heat 4 tablespoons olive oil, add 2 tablespoons butter.

Add cutlets, cook 3 minutes each side.

Add 1/3 cup white wine, 1/3 cup chicken broth and juice from lemon, lower heat, let simmer for 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons capers and 1 small jar artichoke hearts. Let simmer for 1-2 minutes.

Serve over rice.

NOW it's time to vote again! Use the poll on each blog's sidebar or the Cucina Domenico Facebook Group Page to cast your vote for which recipe YOU think should be the winner!
Happy voting!

NEW - And the winner is....

2010-07-19T15:11:00.004-04:00

ARTICHOKES!!!

It looks like Carciofi will be the battling ingredient for the first "Mamma meets the Cucina" food challenge! So stay tuned as each blogger posts their homemade original recipe containing artichokes! Then you can vote AGAIN on which one you think looks like a winner!

A big GRAZIE to every one who voted!

New - Basil Liqueur

2010-07-17T22:32:00.003-04:00

'Bazinagole' is no doubt a very versatile herb. Aside from being a major player in your marinara and Sunday Gravy recipes (yes, there is a difference), it can, among many other ways, be chopped up and made into a delicious pesto. You can also use the whole leaf – for example, rolled up with a nice slice of prosciutto and a piece of sharp provolone in a chicken cutlet, then grilled. Delish!!! But did you know that basil can also play a pivotal part in an after dinner drink?

A few years back, my good friend John had given me a bottle of his mother's home made basil liqueur. He told me to use it as a digestivo (a sipping drink made of water, sugar and alcohol, flavored with a fruit, herb or root, and enjoyed after a huge meal to help assist with the digestion) Limoncello is one of the more popular digestivos today. I knew to dare not ask John for his mom's famous family recipe, but I did come across a recipe online that is similar in taste, scent and color, and honestly is quite enjoyable...but still a distant second to the treasured old world bottle that John gave to me and still sits in my liquor cabinet.

As with all home made liqueurs, you want to use a higher proof alcohol base to extract the flavors from whatever fruit or herb you are using. While grain alcohol is not absolutely necessary (and can be hard to find), I recommend using at least 100 proof vodka. It is strong enough to do the trick without packing too much of a wallop. And be sure to use good vodka. The cheap stuff will taste just that – cheap and harsh.

Aside from being a tasty digestive aid, basil liqueur is easy to make and has a short preparation time compared to most other liqueurs. It also makes for a generous and impressive gift for birthdays and holidays.

Cent'anni!

BASIL LIQUEUR

40 leaves fresh basil
1 750ml bottle 100 proof vodka (be sure to use a good brand vodka)
2.25 cups water
2.5 cups sugar

Boil the water. Put the washed, fresh basil leaves in the water, in a covered jar, and leave for a day in a dark, dry area. The water will now be a greenish yellow color. Filter using a fine filter (cheesecloth or coffee filters work well). Add the alcohol and sugar. mix and bottle. And that's it!

NEW - The Mamma Vs. The Cucina: Food Challenge!

2010-07-10T22:36:00.014-04:00

Calling all foodies! Una Mamma Italiana and Cucina Domenico are ready to go head-to-head in their first Food Challenge Throwdown, and we need YOUR help! We have decided to let YOU, the readers, pick which key ingredient we'll use. The ingredient that gets the highest vote will be used by both Una Mamma and Cucina Domenico in a unique recipe developed by each of us. The winning prize? Two fantastic home made recipes to be shared with all of you, of course!

Here's the rules:
Select an ingredient from the list below, then vote in one of the following THREE WAYS!

• Place your vote via the poll on the left sidebar of this blog.

• E-mail your choice by this Sunday, July 13th to either unamamma1@gmail.com or cucinadomenico@verizon.net.

• Post your vote on the Cucina Domenico Facebook Group Page.

The votes will be tallied and the Mamma and the Cucina will get to work developing recipes.

Next week, the winning ingredient will be revealed, followed by both Una Mamma Italiana's and Cucina Domenico's recipes using that special ingredient.

This week's ingredient choices are:
A: Lemon
B: Artichokes
C: Olives
D: Pesto

We look forward to receiving your suggestions. Now start voting!!!

NEW - Tips for the perfect Pot Roast!

2010-07-02T14:19:00.006-04:00

Wondering how to make the perfect pot roast? Look no further, as my friend and blogging partner offers up some fantastic suggestions! Enjoy....

I often get questions from readers on how to make a large pot roast that is not dry and tasteless. I am here to tell you that it is not as difficult as you think to make a juicy, tender roast, out of an otherwise tough piece of beef! The secret is good seasoning and slow cooking.

Here's my tips:

(DISCLAIMER: I do NOT use specific measurements and directions. The fact that I am Italian is enough of an explanation for that. If you can't handle my style of cooking, then I sincerely apologize, and feel very badly for your pot roast.)

Start with a seasoning rub that you will coat your roast in. I prefer using a variety of chopped FRESH herbs like thyme, basil, parsley, rosemary, etc. I mix all the herbs with EXTRA VIRGIN Olive Oil and KOSHER SALT and cracked black pepper. Don't skimp on the olive oil and the be sure to use the Kosher salt, it just dissolves so well and adds such amazing flavor. And DON'T forget the minced garlic!

Coat the meat with this mixture and broil it in the oven until you have a nice brown crust on it. Put in your meat thermometer (You're gonna want to invest in one of these, they are pretty awesome!) Then turn the temperature down to 250 degrees and bake until your meat has reached an internal temperature of 130 degrees for rare-medium rare. You may cook it until it reaches a higher temperature for a more well done roast.

I personally, just keep watching my meat thermometer until its ready. But as a guideline - you could estimate somewhere around 20-30 minutes per pound of meat. But that is ONLY a guideline!

When you take your roast out of the oven, LET IT SIT! This is a good chance to work on your patience for about 20 minutes:) If you do not follow this step, you WILL end up with a dry roast. When it cooks in the oven, all of the juices travel to the center of the meat. If you cut it right away, you would be losing all this goodness! So let it sit, let the juices redistribute, and you're golden!

The only other advice I can give you for achieving the perfect mouth-watering roast is to serve it with some mascarpone mashed potatoes. Then, my friends, you've got the perfect meal.

Buon Appetito!
Una Mamma Italiano

NEW: Random Beer Trivia

2010-06-27T20:54:00.004-04:00

This one's for the books!

On May 4, 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the managing director of the Guinness Breweries and Cliff Clavin-esque tavern know-it-all, became involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the koshin golden plover or the grouse. That evening he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europe's fastest game bird.

Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs in Britain and Ireland, but there was no book with which to settle arguments about records. He realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove popular.

Beaver’s idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended student twins Norris and Ross McWhirter, who had been running a fact-finding agency in London. The brothers were commissioned to compile what would become The Guinness Book of World Records.

NEW - Grilled Chicken Breast stuffed with Crab Meat

2010-06-25T16:23:00.011-04:00

This dish is a two-for-one special. The seasoned chicken breasts and the crab meat filling are delicious stand-alone recipes. Other options for the crab meat filling are stuffing it in flounder or tomatoes, or serving it up with crackers as a dip. Honestly, I probably ate half of the crab meat filling alone while gazing out my kitchen window, waiting for my grill to heat up.

Yet the taste of the seasoned chicken with the crab meat filling gives you the best of both worlds. Enjoy!

GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST STUFFED WITH CRAB MEAT

4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. white wine
Juice of 1 lemon
8 oz. canned crabmeat*
1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Old Bay Seasoning to taste

Heat butter in a pan until melted. Add onions and celery; heat until soft. Add crab meat, wine and lemon juice; stir. Add breadcrumbs; stir. When warmed, remove from heat, place crab meat filling in a bowl; set aside.

Butterfly cut** the chicken breasts, fill with crab meat filling, fold closed and secure with tooth picks.

Drizzle both sides of chicken breasts with olive oil, then season with salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning (eyeball seasoning to your liking).

Heat grill to medium-high heat. Spray grill grates with cooking spray to avoid sticking. Place chicken breasts on grill, close lid. Flip every so often until chicken breasts are completely cooked on all sides and throughout, approximately 15-20 minutes.

Serves well with grilled asparagus and a glass of Pinot Grigio.

*I suggest buying the large, 16-oz cans of crab meat that are located in the seafood section of your supermarket. While they can be a bit pricey at times, they are packed with 100% crab meat. The smaller cans that are found near the cans of tuna are packed with about 1/3 water, so you are getting your money's worth with the larger cans. You will use 1/2 of a can for this recipe.

**To butterfly cut the chicken breasts means to slice the breast open horizontally, almost but not completely through, so you can fold the two pieces open. For specific instructions on how to butterfly a chicken breast, click here.

NEW: Shepherd's Pie Italiano

2010-06-22T13:09:00.019-04:00

Ciao, fellow foodies. Our goal with "The Mamma meets the Cucina" is to keep the Italian recipes and traditions going in future generations of our now American families. We've got the rich heritage, but unfortunately, not many of us have real live nonne and small Italian village marketplaces at our fingertips. That's why there's "The Mamma meets the Cucina!"

So, we decided to kick off with a recipe that puts an Italian twist on an American classic - Shepherd's Pie Italiano! Shepherds pie is one of those comfort foods...well, to me, Italian food is ALWAYS comfort food! It makes you feel warm and fuzzy (wait - maybe thats the vino...?) In any case, a hearty meal like this really makes me think of my grandparents and great grandparents. Before they came to America, they ate regionally. By this I mean that they ate whatever foods naturally grew in the climate and soil of their small towns. (Here, I must give a shout out to Guardia Lombardi - my grandparent's small, small, small town near the tip of the boot) They lived off their land and used those regional ingredients to come up with such amazing dishes. To them it was peasant food - to us, it's a delicacy hard to find in the states.

I always say - until I retire and move my family into our Italian villa on the Amalfi coast, the burden rests on me and my generation (as usual) to let these traditional style recipes live on in the future. It gives us a link to our past; it acts as a tribute to our ancestors; it keeps us hungry for more... (there's gonna be a lot of that around here!)

So with an Italian touch, we turned a bunch of meat in a pie shell into a rich, hearty Italian sausage scallopini casserole type thing with a polenta topping! A regular old peasant dish, right?! Tell me your mouth is not watering already? Watch as Chef Condo reveals his Cucina secrets play-by-play for all of you paisans out there....

SHEPHERD'S PIE ITALIANO

For this recipe, I'm taking the traditional Shepherd's Pie (beef and vegetables in a brown gravy topped with a mashed potato crust) and am adding an Italian spin to it. I'm talking sausage scallopini topped with polenta.

This dish is done in three stages:
Stage One - the scallopini
Stage Two - the polenta
Stage Three - combining and baking the two to make the pie

The scallopini (stage one) can be done ahead of time and refrigerated (up to a day). There is a lot of natural flavor coming from the garlic, onions, peppers, mushrooms and sausage, so you don't have to season much at all. I added a bit of black pepper and some Italian seasonings, and did not use salt at all. You can season to your liking.

The polenta (stage two) requires some time and effort. There's only four major ingredients (water, cornmeal, salt, parmesan cheese - I also added a bouillon cube for extra flavoring), but you have to be committed for 20 solid minutes of continuous stirring. Otherwise you risk burning the polenta or having it turn out lumpy. You want a nice, smooth texture What I suggest is to get yourself into a zone. Create a relaxed and happy atmosphere to help those minutes just breeze by. Throw on your favorite CD (my go-to is either the Best of Dean Martin or Dave Brubeck's Time Out), pour a glass of wine and have at it. You'll reap the rewards, I promise you!

Stage three is the easy part. Pour the scallopini mixture into a medium baking dish, spread the just-done polenta on top, and let it bake for 20-25 minutes. You can hit it under the broiler for a minute or so to crisp up the polenta, if you like. Let sit and cool for a few minutes before serving.

1 lb. ground sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
2 tblspn olive oil (plus more if needed)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 portabella mushroom cap, chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
fresh ground black pepper
Italian seasoning
1 cup corn meal
3 cups water
1 tspn salt
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan on medium-high heat, add garlic, heat for one minute. Add ground sausage, breaking up in pan, stir occasionally. When sausage is evenly browned, add onion and peppers, stir. Add mushrooms, stir. When peppers and onions become crisp-tender, add tomato sauce. Season with some fresh ground pepper and Italian seasoning (adjust seasoning to your liking). Stir, cover and simmer on medium-low for about 20-25 minutes, until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside (you can prepare the scallopini portion earlier in the day and refrigerate to save time).

In a large sauce pan, place three cups water and bouillon cube, add salt, bring to a boil. Lower water to medium-low. Slowly add cornmeal a little at a time to water, stirring as you add. Do not add cornmeal all at once, or else it will clump. Stir cornmeal into water continuously for 20 minutes. You have to keep up with the stirring to avoid the polenta mixture from burning. About mid-way through, add parmesan cheese, continuing to stir. After 20 minutes, remove from heat.

Pour scallopini mix into a mid-size baking dish. Scoop polenta mixture on top and smooth out (like a cake frosting) to completely cover scallopini. Bake in oven uncovered at 350º for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for a few minutes. Serve and enjoy!

The Mamma and the Cucina....who are these people anyway?

2010-06-18T21:01:00.009-04:00

Now that our collaborative project is officially off and running, what better way to start than by officially introducing ourselves!

Tiffany (Pusateri) Longo was born into a loud, loving Italian-American family with strong values and deep traditions. Today, Tiffany relates her childhood stories and traditions in her own family in simple, everyday ways. From birthdays to baptisms, and feast days to 'onomasticos,' Tiffany never passes up the opportunity for a true Italian festa! To the Longo family, even the littlest holiday is a reason celebrate their heritage. As a result, Tiffany has joyfully burdened herself with the responsibility of helping today's generation of Italian-Americans accomplish these same goals for their children.

As a freelance writer, Tiffany's articles appear in La Voce Italian-American newspaper under the column "Mamma Mia!" She also keeps up her blog regularly, where you will find everything from recipes to projects to humorous Italian commentary for other mammas and the whole family.

Tiffany grew up Italian, is married to an Italian, and is now raising four little Italians of her own. She currently lives in Spokane, Washington with her husband Dominic, her son lil Dom, and her daughters Gabriella, Gianna, and Maria. With all the chaos of four kids (all under the age of 6, mind you!) she finds consolation in her family being together, and, of course, eating together. No matter how crazy her household may be, it's never too busy to boil pasta.

Dominic Condo was born and raised in an Italian-American household in South Philadelphia, and currently lives in the Philly suburbs of Drexel Hill with his wife, Daria, and their two daughters, Julianna and Ava. He started his blog, Cucina Domenico, in the fall of 2008 as an opportunity to share his family stories and memories and many of the recipes that would go along with them. Not only does he like to make the traditional dishes, he also likes to experiment by adding his own simple twists. Being a descendent of various Italian regions (Calabria, Naples, Abruzzi and Sicily), he finds it very important that his children are aware of their heritage and the creativity that the Italian culture has to offer, and hopes that someday his blog serves as a memoir for them.

Coming this weekend: The Mamma Meets the Cucina!

2010-06-17T09:02:00.029-04:00

A new and exciting feature on Cucina Domenico's blog is almost here!

Join Una Mamma Italiana and Cucina Domenico as they share (and compare!) their stories, recipes and traditions of the Italian-American lifestyle. You'll feel like the guest at every Sunday dinner as you witness the humorous culinary banter from this East coast - West coast duo. They may be 2500 miles apart, but they share the same Italian passion (and pride) in their own family recipes.

What kind of canned tomatoes are the best? Homemade roasted peppers or jarred? Who's gravy is better (yeah, they're going there!!) It's up to all of you! Don't miss the fun - The Mamma Meets the Cucina appears on both the Una Mamma Italiana and Cucina Domenico blogs. Get to know each blogger in their very first "about the authors" post this weekend! CIAO!

Breaking News....Meet the Mamma!

2010-06-10T22:02:00.006-04:00

Cucina Domenico is proud to announce that I will be teaming up with my good friend and fellow blogger, Una Mamma Italiana, for a brand new collaborative blog series on Italian culture and traditions, and the wonderful recipes that accompany them. Our new series, The Mamma Meets the Cucina, will be coming your way very soon via both of our blog sites!

I came across Tiffany Longo's blog, Una Mamma Italiana, a few years back through the popular Italian culture website, italiansrus.com. It was Tiffany's blog that influenced me to start posting my own recipes and memories of family traditions. We have since become good online friends, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with TIffany.

We are both very excited to share with you our posts, which will be coming your way very soon! In the meantime, be sure to enjoy her latest post, Italian Connections. Also, be sure to check out her wonderful blog, www.unamammaitaliana.blogspot.com.

Ciao!

ITALIAN CONNECTIONS
by Tiffany Longo

It's kind of like magic --- the way that any two people, from opposite sides of the world - that have NEVER met before - can somehow meet and feel as though they've known each other their entire lives. No, I'm not talking about soul mates or true love. I'm talking about a real, live paisano!

You see, Italians simply have this established connection by sharing the same culture. It's as if you have known each other for years prior, but you really only met a few minutes ago. How can this be, you ask? Consider for a moment the defining characteristics an Italian person's life - good food, a loud family, cousins everywhere….

Sound familiar? If you're Italian, it does. Forget match.com, simply being Italian already ensures your compatibility on the spot! For instance, I have Italian friends who have childhood memories so similar to mine, it's as if we grew up in the same household! Yet, in reality we lived in different states. This is the beauty of meeting a fellow Italian. You can find a true friend in a matter of minutes.

Many paisani I meet can relate to the smell of gravy when you walk into Nonna's after Sunday mass. Others remember their firm but loving grandfather yelling for his sausage and peppers to be ready - for breakfast, no less! That's another thing - we never ate cereal for breakfast when visiting with family. It was fresh, homemade bread, toasted with butter and a few slices of salami or prosciutto on the side. Cereal was for schooldays and med-e-gones - that's it!

Then there were Grandma's two kitchens. This, too, my Italian friends could remember in their families. One was in the basement, where Grandma jarred huge batches of marinara sauce for the cellar shelves. The upstairs kitchen was for the family's daily meals.

Most Italians can also relate to everything having a plastic cover or a doily on it - the kitchen table, the couch - all of it. And every bedroom had at least four rosaries hanging on the bedpost, right by the handmade blanket crocheted by none other than Nonna herself. Then there was the mudroom - full of jugs of Grandpa's favorite red wine, which he would pay us quarters to try!

Recounting these memories with any Italian I meet gives us a sudden bond. It is almost like we understand each other, which is a relief in most relationships these days. Italians don't have to worry about agreeing n the important things, because it's all understood within our culture. Money, religion, politics - the three things you NEVER want to discuss with a newly found friend (or lately, with anyone at all) - are already agreed upon based on your cultural values. When I learned this, I came to one of the most frightening, yet important conclusions of my life.

I always thought marrying an Italian man was the worst thing any woman can do. I now firmly rescind my opinion, and agree that marrying a fellow Italian (man or woman) is one of the smartest things any one could do. You don't have to argue about family gatherings, what to eat, or how you're going to raise the kids. It is all innate; it's in our Italian blood. That is why Italians get along so well with other Italians, and we tend to form these little mafia-like cliques. It's inevitable when you just have that 'connection.'

And so, the memories that I have from my childhood are not mine alone. They belong to so many Italians out there who grew up in this beautiful culture. Our ancestors took their way of life from Italy to America and kept it going. As a result, we Italian-Americans are left with a unique cultural blend. It is one in which American ideals allowed our Italian values to be realized. And that is something kind of like - magic!

NEW - Cucina Chatter Radio - TUNE IN!!!!

2010-06-08T09:18:00.006-04:00

Tune in to Cucina Chatter Radio every Tuesday afternoon from 1:00-2:00EST, hosted by my friend and author of Gravy Wars, Lorraine Ranalli. I am very honored to say that you can also hear yours truly as one of her guest commentators/cast of characters!

Lorraine Ranalli initially created Cucina Chatter as a blog to accompany her humorous cultural tome Gravy Wars. Having spent a lifetime behind the microphone, it was only natural that Lorraine expand her social media platform to broadcast.

Pull up a chair at Lorraine's table and get in on the chatter!

You can hear Cucina Chatter Radio live from 1:00-2:00 PM starting Tuesday, June 15th on 1490 WBCB, Levittown, Pennsylvania or listen live at http://www.wbcb1490.com/

NEW - Top This: Olive Salad

2010-06-03T21:43:00.012-04:00

Marinated toppings and salads/spreads are a big thing in my house. When it comes to sandwiches, burgers, scrambled eggs or any other dish that would go well with a condiment, my wife and I are usually reaching for a jar of roasted red peppers, hot cherry peppers or bruschetta topping instead of ketchup, mustard and relish. There's something about the combination of fresh vegetables mixed with olive oil, herbs and the tang of vinegar to really add a nice punch to a dish.

Roasted red peppers are, of course, the standby. They're fairly easy to make, and nothing beats the taste and texture of home made. Whether you're roasting your own or buying them jarred, they work well with just about anything, from pasta salad to a topping on a veal chop. For as good and versatile as they are, the most recent go-to jarred pepper in our house is Mancini's Fried Peppers with Sweet Onion. Unlike roasted reds, they're a little less on the tang and just a bit more on the heat. We've been buying these two jars at a time as of late!

One of my big late summer/early fall traditions as of late is marinating and jarring eggplant. It's my way of keeping some old world traditions alive for my kids to enjoy and appreciate. Based on the response that I received from my post last year, it's got me thinking that maybe I should make a few more jars this year...just in time for holiday gifts! To read more about my jarring process and serving suggestions, click here for the link to my marinated eggplant article.

Another great topping that we often use is bruschetta topping (made with chopped plum tomatoes, onions, fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil - think of it as Italian salsa). The traditional way to serve it is as a topping on a piece of toasted French or Italian bread rubbed with fresh garlic. However, the flavors and ingredients work so well together that I'll often use it as a topping on white pizza, chicken or mixed with pasta.

Olives are, of course, a great appetizer side. They work well in salads, antipasto, as ingredients to main dishes, or on their own. They're also an endless source of entertainment for my kids. Seriously, who hasn't put olives on their fingers when they were young?!?! Although they only come in two colors – black (fully ripe) and green (unripe) – there's a wide variety of pepared olives to choose from: traditional black and green (in small, medium or large), manzanilla (Spanish green olives, often stuffed with pimientos), kalamata (Greek black olives, brine cured), and gaeta (Italian black olives, salt cured and soaked in oil) just to name a few. My daughter, Julianna, has been eating green olives stuffed with gorgonzola cheese since she was 1-1/2, and her younger sister Ava is following suit right behind her!

This week, I'm going to combine the best of both worlds and make an olive salad/spread. I'm using three types of olives (medium black, medium green and kalamata), mixing it with some fresh garlic, oregano and basil (fresh or dried will work), crushed red pepper, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a little bit of grated parmesan cheese for an extra kick. Serves well as a bruschetta-style topping, mixed with pasta, or on your favorite pizza or sandwich.

Now, if you're not a big fan of olives to begin with, this dish probably won't change your mind on them. But if you are an olive lover, give this dish a try. I'm sure you'll like it. And have fun with it...add your own favorite variety of olive, or try spicing it up by adding some peppers!

Ciao!

OLIVE SALAD

1 cup medium black olives, pitted
1 cup medium green olives, pitted (with or without pimientos)
1 cup kalamata olives, pitted
3 tspns red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, smashed*
1 tspn fresh oregano, chopped (or 2 tspns dried oregano)
1 tspn fresh basil, chopped (or 2 tspns dried basil)
1/4 tspn red pepper flakes
1 tblspn grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (you can add more olive oil to desired amount)

Place all ingredients in a food processor, adding olive oil last. Pulse to chop until desired texture (I recommend chopped instead of smooth texture).
Place in a jar or bowl, cover and let refrigerate for at least an hour prior to serving.

*To smash garlic, place clove(s) on a chopping board, lay the flat side of a chef's knife on the clove (sharp side facing away from you) then strike the knife with the heel of your palm, crushing the clove beneath the knife. The papery skin will slip right off the crushed cloves which can then be minced very fine or used in the recipe as it is. Not only does smashing garlic simplify the peeling and chopping process, it also releases the flavors of the garlic.

Grilled Tilapia Tacos

2010-05-26T22:20:00.009-04:00

Is it Memorial Day weekend again? Already? I hate to use the old cliché that time flies...but slap a Superman cape on the clock! The good news is that it's officially grilling season. I use 'officially' lightly, as I have many friends who are die-hard, year-long grill masters.

I am sure that many of you are planning a cook-out at some point this weekend. If so, try to think beyond the old standbye burger and dog. Yes, they are great on the grill and one of the best summer traditions, but don't be afraid to have some fun. If you look at some of my posts from last year, you'll find some good suggestions that have become grill-out staples for me.

For this season, my first grill-out suggestion is a fun, yet very healthy dish: grilled tilapia tacos. Tilapia is a very delicate and flaky white fish, with a very mild, not-so-fishy taste. It's also inexpensive. Because tilapia will flake when cooked, you can risk having it fall apart while removing it from the grill. I suggest grilling it in an aluminum foil pouch. The foil pouch will allow the flavors of any seasonings to marry together, and will also help retain the moisture, so the fish will not be dried out. No flipping necessary.

I recommend using soft corn tortillas, quickly heated up on both sides on the grill. For toppings, fresh cole slaw mix works best. You get a variety of veggies that are nicely shredded and add a delicious crunch. I also recommend adding a drizzle of a nice citrus based dressing, salsa (I have a go-to pineapple salsa that is killer for this!) or a bottled marinade (garlic-lime or tequila lime marinade would work well). Top with a bit of fresh cut mango, and you're all set.

Disclaimer - steel drum band music not included

Happy summer!

GRILLED TILAPIA TACOS

4 pieces tilapia
2 lemons, sliced and zested
olive oil
sea salt & fresh ground black pepper
corn tortilla shells
1 bag shredded cole slaw mix (found in the bagged lettuce section of your grocery store)
Your choice of citrus based marinade, salsa or dressing
1 mango, cut into small cubes.

Place one piece of uncooked tilapia on a piece of aluminum foil twice the size of the fillet, drizzle with olive oil and season with some sea salt, fresh ground black pepper and lemon zest, top with a slice or two of fresh lemon. Fold the foil over and seal edges with a double fold. Repeat with remaining pieces of tilapia. Place the pouches on direct, medium-high heat for approximately 10-12 minutes.

After you remove the foil pouch, be very careful when opening it. Lots of steam will escape. DIscard the lemon slices, remove the fish and flake it up with a fork, then place it on a dish for serving.

Meanwhile, quickly heat the corn tortillas on the grill just until the get warm. If they stay on too long, they will not fold properly.

Layer the tortilla shells with some tilapia, a bit of cole slaw mix, top with a drizzle of your marinade preference, add a few pieces of mango. Fold up and enjoy.

Mediterranean Salad

2010-05-19T20:04:00.004-04:00

Here's a nice, fresh salad idea that's perfect for spring and summer. Serve it as a main or side dish, or even wrapped in a tortilla as a sandwich. Lots of zesty flavor here! All of the tasty ingredients, especially the red onion, really bring the couscous to life. Try adding some roasted red pepper and cucumber for even more flavor and texture.

MEDITERRANEAN SALAD

1 cup uncooked couscous
1 glove garlic, minced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided, plus more for mixing
2 lemons
1/2 lb medium size raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 6-8 oz can medium black olives, pitted
1/2 container grape tomatoes
6 oz jar artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
4 oz container feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 of 10 oz can of chick peas
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

Prepare uncooked couscous according to package directions. Place cooked couscous in a large mixing bowl, stir in a few drizzles of olive oil to avoid couscous from sticking, set aside.
In a large frying pan, heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add garlic, heat for 30 seconds, add juice of one lemon, heat for additional 30 seconds. Add shrimp, stir for approximately 3-4 minutes, until shrimp are pink. Remove from heat, chop into large pieces, let cool.
Mix remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil with chopped basil and the juice and zest of one lemon. Add shrimp, olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red onion, feta cheese and chick peas to couscous. Drizzle the olive oil dressing over couscous mixture. Mix well. Serve with a nice Pinot Grigio

Serves 6-8.

Mother's Day Dinner: Asian Potstickers

2010-05-06T22:01:00.009-04:00

Spring has sprung and it's time once again to celebrate and honor all of our Moms! Last year I shared a breakfast recipe for Apple Cinnamon French Toast. This year, I'm going to share a recipe that you can make for a nice Mother's Day lunch or dinner - Asian Potstickers, also known as Asian Dumplings.

I grew up in a very traditional household. My dad went to work and my mom took care of the house. When I was a kid, she handled all of the meals. So our tradition on Mother's Day was Chinese food for dinner. As we got older, and my brother and I both became interested in cooking, we put aside the wonton, lo mein and fried rice for our own home made meals and grill-outs. A few years back, my wife and I bought bamboo steamer baskets as part of my mom's Mother's Day gift. I thought it would be fun and nostalgic to once again have Chinese food for dinner. We all sat in her kitchen and made home made dumplings together and put the steamer baskets to use right away. Not only was it fun to be in the kitchen with my mom for that day, we also had a great meal that brought back old memories...even if it didn't come in a white cardboard box.

Happy Mother's Day!

ASIAN POTSTICKERS

Potstickers are made with wonton wraps* and a filling that can be a mixture of scallions, garlic, ginger, shredded vegetables and your choice of minced meat (chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, etc.). I found this recipe online for Minced Chicken Potstickers. Perdue Short Cuts works great for this - it's pre-cooked and one package makes for the perfect amount. You can make the potstickers by either steaming them in a basket or steamer, pan frying them in a pan or a wok, or baking them in an oven on an oven stone (they may stick to a regular oven dish or baking sheet).

*Wonton wraps are square shape and can be found in the vegetarian area of the produce section in your grocery store. They come in a package that resembles pre-sliced cheese. You can also use dumpling wraps (if available), which are a bit larger and are round in shape. You would fold the dumplin wraps in half, rather than folding them into a purse shape.

2 tablespoons chicken broth
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch , plus extra for dusting
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons minced scallions
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1 package Perdue Short Cuts, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
40 wonton wraps

In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch until smooth; set aside.

In a large skillet, heat sesame oil over medium heat. Add scallions, garlic, and ginger; cook, stirring, about 1 minute. Stir in cornstarch mixture; cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute (mixture will be thick). Stir in chicken, salt and pepper until well combined; let cool.

Lightly dust a baking sheet with cornstarch. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of each wonton wrap. Brush edges of wrap with water; bring each set of opposite corners up over the filling so that they create a purse shape; pinch the edges together to seal. Place dumpling on baking sheet; repeat with remaining wonton wraps and filling.

To Steam in Steamer Basket:
Fill a large pot with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer. Spray a steaming basket insert with nonstick cooking spray. Place eight to 10 dumplings in basket (they should not be touching). Set basket in pot and cover tightly; steam until dough is cooked, six to seven minutes. Repeat, steaming the remaining dumplings. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

To Pan-Fry:
Pre-heat wok or large frying pan until a bead of water dances and evaporates in the pan. Add two tablespoons of peanut oil into the wok/frying pan. Sesame or peanut oil are preferred for their authentic Chinese flavors. Sesame oil will tend to smoke a bit more than peanut oil at high heat. Heat the oil for about a minute. (You might see bubbles starting to form.) Fry the pot stickers until they are golden brown on the bottom, for about 3 minutes each. Add about 1/2 cup of water and place a cover on the pan. This will allow the pot stickers to steam and cook all the way through. Steam until all the water is gone - you'll start to hear crackling sounds - and the pot stickers again begin to brown. If you like them well browned, gently lift and turn them with a spatula to brown the sides.
Remove from the heat and serve.

To Bake:
Place potstickers on large round baking stone; lightly spray with oil. Repeat with remaining wontons. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges of potstickers are golden brown; remove from oven and serve.

Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 green onion, finely chopped
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Whisk or stir well

Cinco De Mayo! Apple Cinnamon Empanadas

2010-05-01T09:43:00.007-04:00

It's Cinco De Mayo season! The celebration the Mexican Army's victory at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (often confused with Mexico's Independence Day, which is September 16th). It has also earned it's rankings as a major "party holiday." Just as Saint Patty's Day is celebrated with shamrocks, Guiness and Jameson, many Cinco De Mayo parties will be overflowing with sombreros, Corona, Do Equies, Jose Cuervo and lots of Mexican food.

Although most of my recipes are of the Italian flavor, one dessert that I have made which is very Cinco De Mayo friendly is empanadas. Empinadas are Spanish turnovers (a stuffed bread or pastry), and would make for a great Cinco De Mayo dish. They can be stuffed with meats as a meal or fruits as a dessert. We recently made apple cinnamon empinadas for a Dominican dinner party that our friends hosted, and they went over really well...especially with a few rum & cokes! We used apple pie filling, but we pulsed it a bit in the blender to make it less chunky, but not liquidy. After they were baked, we dusted them with cinnamon sugar.

Now, you know that my Paisan blood would not let a dish like this go without getting a little bit of Italian influence in the mix. So here's how we're gonna do that. Take a spoonful or two of Nutella (the creamy hazelnut spread created by Pietro Ferrero during World War II as a chocolate substitute, due to a rashioning of cocoa) and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat it up for 15 seconds, wait 5 seconds, then heat up for another 15 seconds (30 seconds straight will cause it to burn). Place an empanada on a plate next to a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with the melted Nutella for what might be the best dessert you'll ever have.

Olé!

Apple Cinnamon Empanadas

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 small can apple pie filling
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
vanilla ice cream
Nutella

DAY BEFORE: Cream butter and cream cheese together until smoothly blended. Beat in the flour. Shape dough into a smooth ball, wrap in foil or cling wrap, and refrigerate overnight or up to a week.

AT BAKING TIME: Remove dough from refrigerator 30 minutes before using. Heat oven to 375º.
Lightly pulse apple pie filling in a blender or food processor to thin it out, but not liquidy.
Roll chilled dough thin*. Cut with 3 inch round cookie cutter or small juice glass. Place small spoonful of filling in center of each round, moisten edges with water.
Fold round over and press edges together. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet 15 to 20 minutes. Immediately roll in sugar mixed with cinnamon.

Take a spoonful or two of Nutella, and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat it up for 15 seconds, wait 5 seconds, then heat up for another 15 seconds (30 seconds straight will cause it to burn). Place an empanada on a plate next to a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with the melted Nutella.

* If you're having trouble rolling the dough, add more flour. It'll make the dough less sticky.

Broiled/Grilled Veggies with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2010-04-22T22:09:00.012-04:00

I had the urge a few nights ago to make something fun and quick for dinner, using a mix of fresh vegetables. I came up with broiled veggies with a roasted red pepper sauce. My first thought was to grill the veggies – which would have worked great – but I was also juggling 'daddy duties' this night, so 20 minutes under the broiler spared me plenty of free time to keep the kids occupied. I went with my grilling/broiling standards: eggplant, zucchini, squash, asparagus and grape tomatoes (would have thrown in some fennel too, if I had some on hand). I did some research on red pepper sauce and found a couple of options: mixed with balsamic, olive oil, garlic and seasonings for a thinner sauce; or mixing with light sour cream and lemon zest for a creamier sauce. I decided on creamier, but instead of sour cream, I went healthy by using fresh guacamole. Unbelievably good! When I say 'fresh guacamole,' I mean no jarred guacamole dip (the kind that you find sitting next to the salsa and nacho cheese dip in front of the potato chip rack). Read the ingredients on on the jarred stuff and you'll know why. If you have the time and the recipe to make a fresh guacamole dip, have at it (and please share the recipe with me!). If not, you can find good, all natural guacamole dips in the produce section of your grocery store. I recommend Wholly Guacamole.

This dish is beneficial in so many ways: it's healthy, nutritious and tasty; it's a quick fix for a weeknight (the most time you'll spend is with chopping up the veggies); and it's very versatile. It would serve well on it's own, on top of pasta, rice or chicken, or would work as a side dish at your next grill-out. For an extra kick, try toasting up some garlic bread and use the veggies and sauce as a bruschetta-like topper!

BROILED/ROASTED VEGGIES WITH ROASTED RED PEPPER SAUCE

1 medium eggplant, skin removed, cut up into cubes
1 zucchini, cut up into cubes
1 yellow squash, cut up into cubes
1 bunch asparagus, cut up
1/2 container grape tomatoes (whole or cut in half)
1 clove garlic, minced
olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 12-oz jar roasted red peppers, drained
1/3 cup fresh guacamole (not jarred guacamole dip)

Place vegetables and garlic into a large mixing bowl. Add a few nice glugs of olive oil, enough to coat all veggies but not so much that they're swimming in oil. Add some salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix well.

If broiling - pour veggie mix into a baking dish, sit directly under broiler at 450º for 15-20 minutes, stirring once, until slightly charred and tomatoes start to burst.

If grilling - place veggie mix on a sprayed vegetable grill tray. Grill veggies on direct heat until slightly charred and tomatoes start to burst.

*Note - broiling will allow veggies to retain most of it's juices and the added olive oil, while grilling will allow the veggies to become more charred.

For the sauce - drain peppers of all jarred water. Place peppers in a blender and puree. Add 1/3 cup guacamole and blend until sauce is creamy. Spoon/drizzle a bit of sauce over each serving of vegetables and add additional sauce on the side of the dish for dipping.

Mangiare bene!

The Löw-döwn on Löwenbräu

2010-04-21T16:02:00.007-04:00

If you are – let's say – 35 or older, you should remember this catchy jingle:

Here's to good friends,
Tonight is kind of special.
The beer we'll pour
must say something more, somehow.
So tonight (tonight),
Tonight,
Let it be Löwenbräu (let it be Löwenbräu).
It's been so long.
Hey, I'm glad to see ya.
Raise your glass.
Here's to health and happiness.
So tonight (tonight),
Let it be all the best.

Yesterday, I went old school and bought myself a case of Löwenbräu beer. I'm a big fan of the classic Munich Helles Lager style beer (yes, I also like Peroni and Rolling Rock and yes, beer will always take second to a nice glass of red wine), so my beer distributor suggested I try a case...while it's around, that is.

I found out some interesting stuff during my visit to the Beer Yard. While what is currently sold is the true Munich-brewed version, the stuff that was popular back in the 70s/80’s was actually a Miller Brewing Company produced version that contained a good amount of filler, which diluted the malty characteristics of the Munich-brewed version (a practice commonly done by the big adjunct/mass produced beers such as Bud, Miller and Coors). Miller stopped making it in 2002 and Munich started to import the real stuff, (their label says Löwenbräu Original). Unfortunately, they got caught up in the Anheuser–Busch InBev merger, and sadly it will no longer be imported into the States. Whatever’s on the shelves now is what’s left.

Here's some other interesting information (according to wikipedia):
- Löwenbräu has a long history dating back to 1383 when it was first brewed at "Zum Löwen" ("The Lion's Inn") by an innkeeper.

- Löwenbräu has been served at every Oktoberfest in Munich since 1810 and is one of only six breweries permitted to serve beer at the festival.

- During Oktoberfest, Löwenbräu brews a special beer called "Wiesenbier" (literally "meadow beer", refers to the Bavarian name of the Oktoberfest, the "Wiesn"), a fresh, light amber lager.

So long, good friend...it was nice knowing you.

Salmon Cakes with Ponzu Dipping Sauce

2010-04-16T23:13:00.009-04:00

This recipe was influenced by my good friend Lisa, who passed it along as an appetizer suggestion. It is a nice alternative to the traditional crab cake or fish cake. There's hardly any additional filling, so you're getting nice chunks of salmon in each bite. You can use fresh salmon, cooked and finely chopped (as Lisa did), or you can use canned salmon (which I chose to do).

Now, here's the thing on canned salmon. It's made from top quality salmon, and is only flavored with a pinch of salt. So it's very nutritional. You'll notice a couple of varieties. First, you have a choice of traditional (the big cans), or boneless and skinless (the smaller cans). Traditional cans are packed with the skin and tiny, delicate bones. Both the skin and bones are edible...seriously! The salmon is pressure cooked in the cans, so the bones become so soft, they can smushed into the meat with a fork. The bones are also rich in calcium and magnesium. The smaller cans have the skin and bones removed, so the meat resembles the texture of chunk white tuna. The smaller cans cost more, but I prefer no bones or skin in my canned salmon. Next you have a choice of pink or red (sockeye) salmon. The pink is lighter and milder, while the red is more intense in flavor and color. Both work well in all dishes.

I spoke about ponzu sauces a few posts back (click here for previous article). For this version, I'm using low sodium soy sauce as a base, and flavoring it with brown sugar, minced green onions, grated ginger and lime juice.

Thanks, Lisa, for this great recipe suggestion!

SALMON CAKES WITH PONZU DIPPING SAUCE

Salmon Cakes
3 (5 oz.) cans salmon
3/4 c. bread crumbs
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter

*Note - the mixture worked well for me without using any eggs as a binding agent. However, you can use an egg to help bind the mixture if you wish.

Mix all ingredients together. Form mini cakes by rolling the batter into meatball-shaped balls and patting down into small cakes. Heat butter in a frying pan. Pan fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side, adding more butter if necessary. Makes 10-12 cakes.

Ponzu Sauce Recipe
1/4 cup of soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime 
1-1/2 tsp of brown sugar 
1 tbs of minced green onions 
1/2 tbs of grated ginger

Mix all ingredients together.

Easter Recap: Breaking Bread

2010-04-11T21:37:00.006-04:00

The decorations have been put away, the candy baskets have been separated and divided, and the last of the ricotta pies have been finished. Another Easter holiday has come and gone. It was a good holiday for us this year filled with family get-togethers, insane amounts of home made food, breads and desserts, a trip to the zoo with the kids, and beautiful spring weather. Aside from a minor 'ham catching on fire' incident at my in-law's house, it was a perfect holiday weekend. There was, however, a slight situation that had me a bit concerned....

In my last post, I wrote about my attempt to make Easter bread this year. I did my research, checked out a good amount of recipes, and put together what I thought would make for a traditional Easter bread. I gave it a test run the week before Easter and got thumbs up across the board. I wrote out the recipe, posted it on my blog and shared it with my readers. Compliments and kudos came in, and a few people even said that they were looking forward to trying the recipe themselves. Mission accomplished, right?

Holy Saturday (the day before Easter) was a particularly busy day. Aside from the regular weekend chores, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather to catch up on some outdoor cleanup. On top of all this, I still had plans to make two of my 'perfected' Easter breads. Now, as I've written a number of times, I am no baker. I am not familiar with the in's and out's of dough, but I do know that the slightest adjustment can screw up your dough like nobody's business. I followed my recipe to the tee, covered it and let it alone to do it's thing. I check on it an hour later and it looked nice and poofy, all ready to go...or so I thought.

I don't know when it happened, how it happened or why it happened, but when I went to punch down the dough, it turned into a gooey mess. Maybe it was the humid weather, maybe not. Whatever it was, it wasn't dough that could be weaved, braided and twisted as I previously promised. SInce it was now 8:30 at night, I was faced with two options - scrap the dough, hang my head in shame and have no Easter bread to serve for breakfast, or make some sort of compromise. I found that compromise in the form of a tube pan. I figured if I can't shape the bread, let the bread shape itself. And that it did in the tube pan! What started out as a glop-fest rose into a beautiful, cake-shaped loaf of sweet, fresh bread. A little glaze and some candy sprinkles later, and the bread was saved. It was an Easter miracle!

So, if you tried my recipe and had similar struggles, my heartfelt apologies. But if you own a tube pan, give it a shot next year. I promise you'll be glad you did!

Easter Bread

2010-03-26T22:00:00.005-04:00

Tis the season for Easter pies, cakes, breads and desserts!

Last year, I posted an article on Easter traditions in an Italian household (click here for the article). It was a great opportunity for me to trace the history of the many desserts and treats that are served during this special season. It was also an opportunity for me to share my recipes for the traditional Italian ham and rice pies that are served this time of year. My main goal in writing this blog is putting my own spin on traditional recipes and sharing them with you. I spent the past 5 years or so tweaking and adjusting my versions of the ham and rice pie recipes until I felt that they were right. I was very honored to receive some positive and very kind feedback on last year's post.

This year, I set a new goal for the Easter season – I decided to learn how to make Easter Bread. For those of you not familiar with Easter Bread, it's a sweet bread (often flavored with anise) that's braided and woven into a basket shape. It usually has colored Easter eggs placed in the middle and is topped with a glaze and candy sprinkles, which gives it a bright and festive look. Serving a slice topped with butter, with a nice hot cup of coffee, tea or espresso makes for the perfect spring time breakfast.

While growing up in my neighborhood, you either made your own bread with a special family recipe, or you stood in line at the neighborhood bakery, waiting for a fresh loaf. We were fortunate to have a wide variety of neighborhood bakeries, including Varallo's, Potito's, Termini's, Isgro's and Cosmi's, to name a few. My grandmother would make her own bread, as would many of my aunts. Not wanting to tamper with their perfected recipes, I set out to find a recipe of my own. I checked out a bunch of recipes on the web (there are many out there) and put together a recipe that sounded best to me. One challenge that I had to deal with right off the bat is that we do not own a large stand mixer. Quite a few bread recipes that I found suggest you don't use a hand mixer, as the dough may become too heavy and burn out the unit. After a bit of searching, I did find a recipe that didn't require too much work or a dough hook attachment. I started there, adjusted some ingredients to my taste and gave it a shot. Gotta say, I was very happy with the end result! The taste, the texture, the aroma...it was all there!

Before we get to the actual recipe, there's one more anecdote on traditions that I would like to share with you. Earlier this week, I posted as my Facebook status "Trying out new Easter Bread recipe." True to family fashion, my cousin quickly stepped up and offered to share my Aunt Tina's recipe for Easter Bread if I ran into any trouble. A friend of mine also offered to share a recipe that she had (she made sure to let me know that she wasn't allowed to share her Mom's recipe...ain't no arguing that one!). This is exactly what I had in mind when I started this blog. A nice little community to share recipes with family and friends and be influenced by each others ideas. Thank you to my cousin Pauline and and my friend Emma for having my back this time around! And thanks again to everyone for continuing to check out my updated posts. It's a fun ride and I'm glad to share it with all of you!

Buona Pasqua!

EASTER BREAD

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package dry yeast
3 eggs at room temperature

Optional ingredient for additional flavor*
1/2 tsp. aniseed OR 1/4 tsp. anise extract

Eggwash (1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water)
6 dyed Easter eggs**
sprinkles

*Anise has a licorice flavor and is often used to flavor cakes and cookies. Aniseeds are traditionally used, but you can use anise extract if you do not want the small seeded texture in your bread. The ratio of seed vs. extract is 2 to 1.

**There is no need to pre-boil the 6 dyed Easter eggs. They will cook with the bread in the oven. Carefully dye them and tuck into the bread when called for.

In a small saucepan warm milk and butter to lukewarm. In a large bowl mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, and yeast. Add warm milk mixture, stirring well. Add 3 eggs and aniseed/anise extract, blend well, and add remaining flour. Knead with a dough hook or on a floured board until smooth, then place in a greased bowl and cover, let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Divide in half; roll each piece into a 24 inch rope. Loosely twist ropes together; place on a greased baking sheet and form into a circle. Pinch rope ends together. Cover and let rise for about an hour.

Brush bread with egg wash, gently spread sprinkles over bread Gently split ropes and tuck eggs into openings. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Lenten Meals Part 2: Baked Tilapia with Shrimp Stuffing

2010-03-17T22:03:00.007-04:00

Another great dish to make during the Lenten season is Baked Tilapia with Shrimp Stuffing. Tilapia seems to have become the 'go to' fish over the past few years, holding it's own along with flounder, shrimp, salmon and tuna. I wanted to try something other than traditional baked tilapia, and found this recipe on the web a few months back. It's fairly simple to prepare, is very healthy and makes for a nice presentation. Serves well with steamed asparagus, rice and a nice glass of white wine.

BAKED TILAPIA WITH SHRIMP STUFFING
courtesy of applecrumbles.wordpress.com
(click here for original recipe posting)

Serves 2

1.5 fl oz Lemon Juice (or use juice of 1/2 a lemon)
8 large cooked Shrimp, chopped small
1 tbspn Olive Oil,
1 tbspn Scallions (green onion), chopped
2 cups fresh Baby Spinach
1 tspn Minced Garlic
1 tbspn Parmesan Cheese, grated
4 pcs. (4oz ea) Tilapia filet
Old Bay Seasoning, (about 1 tsp)
Sea Salt and Fresh ground Pepper to Taste

Preheat oven 425F
Squeeze/sprinkle lemon juice over tilapia and set aside.
Chop the shrimp small.
Heat oil in saute pan over med. hi heat.
Add chopped green onion, garlic, spinach, you can add sea salt & pepper if you want, to taste.
Simply toss until spinach begins to wilt … about 1 – 2 min. Add shrimp and turn off heat.
In a baking dish sprayed with non stick spray or coat with olive oil (I usually line a foil baking pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up), place 2 pcs. of fish side by side.
Sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning…Not Too Much!
Top fish with the spinach/shrimp mixture, spreading evenly on top.
Top that layer with your other 2 pcs. of tilapia and sprinkle with Old Bay, salt & pepper to taste, and 1/2 TBS parmesan cheese on top of each fish assembly.
Bake about 20 minutes or til cooked through.

Lenten Meals Part 1: Scampi

2010-03-13T23:01:00.005-05:00

Since we're now about half way into the Lenten season, I'd like to share a few seafood dishes that I enjoy making on Fridays. For this post, I'm going with two scampi recipes that I've had on hand for a few years: traditional shrimp scampi done on a stovetop, and a baked scallop scampi done in the oven. I only make these dishes occasionally, since both call for a nice amount of butter and a seafood ingredient that is fairly high in cholesterol. I do, however, use Smart Balance butter substitute instead of regular butter which helps cut down on the fat and cholesterol. Plus, a special meal once in a while isn't a bad thing!

SHRIMP SCAMPI

6 tablespoons butter (or butter substitute)
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely chopped
2 lbs. (62-70 count) fresh raw medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed
1/4 cup shopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh or dried dillweed

Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet until sizzling, add shallots and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until shallots are softened (2-3 minutes). Add shrimp, cook, stirring occasionally until shrimp turn pink (4-5 minutes). Stir in parsley, lemon and dill weed. Continue cooking until flavors are blended (2-3 minutes). Serve over hot cooked pasta.

BAKED SCALLOP SCAMPI
courtesy of cooks.com

1 lb. small scallops
1/4 lb. butter
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic (fresh or jarred)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 pinch paprika
1 pinch parsley flakes

Place scallops in a casserole. Melt butter and mix lemon juice and chopped garlic. Stir together. Pour mixture over scallops. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, paprika, and flakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Asian-style Pork Chops

2010-03-05T22:20:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, I posted a recipe for Italian-style pork chops, using Italian salad dressing as the marinade. This week I'm doing the pork chops Asian style, using a ponzu style sauce as the marinade.

Ponzu sauces are made with a soy sauce base. You can add a number of herbs, spices, seasonings and other liquids (such as lemon or lime juice, olive oil or rice wine vinegar). Ponzu sauces work well as both a flavoring and tenderizer for meats. It is also a great serving dip for steamed or fresh vegetables, dumplings/potstickers, eggrolls and fish cakes. For this version, I'm using soy sauce, brown sugar, ground ginger and allspice. I'll also be topping the pork with fresh sliced pineapple, so the pineapple juice will add additional flavor while baking. I actually prefer canned crushed pineapple and its juices, but we only had fresh pineapple on hand. I'm using two boneless london broil pork fillets (any cut of pork chop will work), which I'll slice up and serve over a bed of rice. The pork will be incredibly tasty and tender, but you can also serve additional sauce to drizzle over the pork and rice. You do not want to serve the sauce that the pork was marinating in, it will be full of nasty bacteria from the raw meat. Instead, reserve a portion of the sauce before adding the meat and warm up on the stove top before serving.

ASIAN-STYLE PORK CHOPS

2 boneless london broil pork fillets (or your choice of cut)
1/3 cup of soy sauce* 
1 tbsp of brown sugar 
1/2 tspn of grated ginger
1/4 tspn allspice
sliced pineapples or 1 small can crushed pineapple with its juice

Poke pork fillets with a fork to allow marinade to soak through. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and allspice in a bowl, mix well. Place fillets in a zip lock bag, pour in marinade. Shake up and place in refrigerator for at least two hours, up to 12 hours. Remove fillets from baggie, discard marinade. Place fillets in a baking dish, top with sliced or crushed pineapples. Bake uncovered at 350º for approximately 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven, let fillets sit, slightly covered with aluminum foil for about 5 minutes. Slice and serve over rice, topped with pineapple. For extra sauce, reserve a portion of the marinade prior to adding to meat, heat and serve when pork is done. Again, do not serve the marinade that the pork was sitting in, it will contain bacteria from the raw meat.

* Note - soy sauce is high in sodium. You can use low sodium soy sauce if you are watching your sodium intake.

Stuffed Artichokes

2010-02-23T21:55:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we hosted a nice family dinner for my mom's birthday. I decided to serve a special dish that my mom always enjoyed, stuffed artichokes. My grandmother would make them and send them over to my house a few times a year when I was younger. It has to be at least 25 years since we've had them last, so I knew that they would make for a special birthday dish. I searched out a bunch of recipes and found a great one on italianchef.com. The recipe was simple enough to follow, and contained the perfect combination of flavors. What made this dish even more special was that it was almost the exact same recipe that my great grandmother (my mom's grandmother) would use. It was the perfect birthday treat.

There are many more great, authentic recipes at italianchef.com, I highly recommend you check it out! I also placed a link under the Recommendation section. Special thanks to Chef Paolo Torre for allowing me to share his recipe.

STUFFED ARTICHOKES
(click here for link to original post)

Serves 4

1 cup bread crumbs
½ cup grated Pecorino-Romano Cheese
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 artichokes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1. Combine bread crumbs, Pecorino-Romano Cheese, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium bowl. Mix together well.

2. Cut stems off artichokes, flush with bottom. Cut pointy leaves off the top of the artichokes. Spread leaves of each artichoke out and push stuffing in between them. (I also scooped out and discarded the hard, purple leaves in the center of the artichoke prior to stuffing).

3. In a pot just large enough to fit the artichokes, add the sliced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the artichokes. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top of the artichokes.

4. Turn heat on to medium and cook until sizzling about 1-2 minutes. Add water to reach half way up the sides of the artichokes.

5. Cover and cook until the artichokes are tender and a leaf is easily pulled out, about 45 minutes. If liquid is evaporating too quickly add a little more water.

6. Transfer to a serving platter, drizzle a little of the liquid from the pot over the artichokes and serve.

Cupid, Roll Out Your Dough....

2010-02-14T22:04:00.005-05:00

Valentine's Day has always been a special day for me. It was the day that my wife and I started dating, it was the day that we got engaged, and it was the day that our nephew, Evan, was born. With all of the chaos and commotion now in our house, going out to dinner on the busiest restaurant night of the year doesn't seem so appealing. Nowadays the quiet, romantic dinners have been set aside for another day so we can celebrate with our daughters.

This year, I stepped up to my New Year's resolution early and bought myself a pasta maker. I got my new kitchen toy just a few days ago - perfect timing to put to use for a nice Valentine's dinner. What made it extra special was the enthusiasm and excitement that our daughter, Julianna, showed when I asked her to help roll the first batch of pasta. She's been showing a real interest in helping out in the kitchen, making her own lunch and helping with dinner, so asking her to assist me with a Play-Do like project was a no brainer. She was all into the preparation and rolling of the dough, and mastered the crank machine in no time. And I have to say that the pasta that we made – wheat fettucini – turned out to be absolutely awesome. I used the noodles in a Giada De Laurentis recipe, Whole-Wheat Pasta with Lemon, Basil, and Salmon. It was the perfect Valentine's dinner.

Being the proud Italian father that I am, it is always gratifying to see our kids enjoy themselves while learning something new and creating new memories. It's a goal that my wife and I strive for every day. Every picture tells a story, and these pictures will forever be a reminder of our first time making pasta together and making yet another great Valentine's Day memory.

Love, hugs and kisses to my wife Daria and our daughters Julianna and Ava.

Sausage and Escarole Bites

2010-02-08T10:05:00.005-05:00

This recipe was inspired by an episode that I recently watched of The Essence of Emeril. The original recipe, Swiss Chard Boules Stuffed with Lemon Barley Risotto, was made of a pancetta, barley and risotto filling, wrapped with swiss chard leaves (click here for the original recipe). I was intrigued by the recipe and started to think how I could put my own spin on it. Being snowed in for a two day weekend left me the perfect opportunity to experiment. I decided on ground sausage stuffed with provolone cheese for the filling. I went with escarole leaves for the outer wrapping. I blanched the leaves in chicken broth for a few minutes, enough time to make the leaves soft and pliable enough to wrap around the cooked sausage stuffing. I placed the wrapped sausage in a baking dish, added a little bit of the broth to the dish for extra flavor, then baked them for about 20 minutes. Gotta say, I was very happy with the end result! As expected, the sausage and provolone were perfect together. The fresh, crisp taste of the escarole was a nice compliment and the additional chicken broth added great flavor. I definitely plan to use this recipe again and suggest it as a party appetizer.

SAUSAGE AND ESCAROLE BITES

1/2lb sausage (hot or sweet), removed from casing
chunk of sharp provolone cheese, broken up into 12 small, sugar-cube size pieces
1 bunch of escarole (you'll need 12 nice size leaves), thoroughly washed
1 chicken bouillon cube

Remove sausage from casing. Grab a small bunch at a time, enough to roll to the size of a meatball. Place a piece of provolone cheese onto the sausage, then roll into a small ball. You should end up with 12 sausage balls filled with cheese. Fry the sausage balls in vegetable oil in a frying pan, turning often so that all sides are done and inside is thoroughly cooked. Remove sausage from pan, set aside to let cool.

Fill a large pot with water, add a chicken bouillon cube; bring to boil. Add 12 escarole leaves, blanching for about 3-4 minutes until just soft and pliable. Remove leaves from broth. One by one, place the sausage onto the bottom edge of 1 of the escarole leaves and roll the ball in the leaf, tucking edges in and rotating the ball so that the sausage is evenly covered and the edges of the leaf are smooth. Place them in a baking dish, add 1/4 cup of broth to the dish and cover with foil. Place baking dish in the oven at 350º for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven, place on a dish and serve.

Makes 12 pieces.

New Recommendation - Penzeys Rosemary Powder

2010-02-02T23:11:00.002-05:00

I'm not a big fan of rosemary. I'm well aware that this is a bit of a hurdle for me, being that rosemary is practically a staple seasoning in many Italian dishes. Not sure when my dislike for the herb came to be...I may have had a dish flavored with rosemary that "didn't agree with me" (I've had the same effect with Jägermeister). It's not even the taste that bothers me, but rather the woody, needle-like texture. "Just chop it up!" is what one of my aunts recently told me. I tried. No dice.

Just when I was about to give up hope, along comes my friend John with a miracle in a jar...Rosemary Powder! He picked up a jar for me at Penzeys, a spice and seasoning superstore (located in Chestnut Hill, among other locations and on the Web). It's similar to your regular powdered seasonings (garlic, onion, celery, etc.), grounded very fine. It was the perfect compliment to some homemade chicken soup that I recently made. It has a terrific aroma, and the taste is very fresh, yet slightly subtle and not overpowering. And there is no crunch...my prayers have been answered!

Next time you're in the Chestnut Hill area, be sure to check out Penzeys. If you're not in the area, hit up their website. Tons of great kitchen accents and gift ideas!