It's Spring: Pasta Primavera con Farfalle... Warning: Inauthentic but Delicious!

Butterfly, or farfalle
Photograph courtesy of Frank Rubino

Primavera, in Italian, means spring and this dish is just in time for my favorite season. It is a tasty and colorful dish, perfect for company or for a main dish for supper.  Most everyone has sampled a version of this dish,and almost every Italian restaurant serves one.  However, this is not an Italian dish, not even an Italian-American dish, although it uses Italian ingredients.   According to faux-Italian food history, Pasta Primavera is a completely American dish. It was actually invented in the 1970's at Le Cirque restaurant in Manhattan, supposedly  in response to the growing realization of the importance of a healthier diet, although the chef did add cream!  I found this interesting article about "faux" Italian dishes, pretty interesting, check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/20/garden/what-makes-food-italian-don-t-ask-american-chefs.html?pagewanted=6&src=pm

There are dozens of versions of Pasta Primavera.  While it is not exactly a light dish, it is usually chock full of any kind of fresh vegetable, raw or lightly cooked, with the addition of fresh herbs, sometimes dressed in a light acidic sauce and topped with grated cheese. I usually do not order this dish in a restaurant, unless it's a really fine one- most versions are usually tasteless and boring, soaked in oil or butter or cream sauce or even, yuck, vinaigrette.

My solution to this was, as always, to create my own, and have made many versions of this dish thoughout the years.  Decades ago, when it was fashionable, I called it Pasta Salad. I made it for every gathering when it was not frigid or snowing, and it came out different every time. I threw in whatever vegetables-du-jour were living in my fridge at the time, and  it usually came out pretty good to great.  I had to be careful though:  most of the time, the vegetables would not be the star of the dish: they were often bland, though raw, crisp or well cooked: they lent color and texture but not much taste. I had to jazz up the sauce so my family and friends would not be underwhelmed by my offering.  I also had to be careful with the pasta: a few minutes of distraction, and they were too soft and broke apart when I attempted to stir in the vegetables and other ingredients. Using the incorrect sort of pasta is also a big problem.  Rigatoni will just break. Spaghetti in any form is a totally different kind of dish, although the original Pasta Primavera was made with spaghetti.    Forget fusilli, those nice little spirals: they look pretty and everyone uses them, but they just don't hold up unless you are willing to bite into too-hard pasta.  I love al dente pasta but when it sticks to my molars, ugh.

Farfalle pasta

After many experimentations, I have found the Farfalle pasta shape to hold up the best. Most people call them bowtie pasta, but Farfalle means butterfly and not bowties.   And they do look like little butterflies!  Bowties, well, boring.  A pasta named after neckwear? Come on!

Alternatively,  though this is best made with Farfalle, Gemelli pasta works pretty well. Gemelli means twin, and Barilla pasta features two thick strands twisted together. It holds up like a trouper, very sturdy with a satisfying bite.  I don't think any other pasta maker has this particular pasta, at least at the local supermarket. So stick with Barilla, for the Farfalle or for the Gemelli.

To solve the problem of boring vegetables and to make them more prominent in the dish, I did some research in my own cookbook library (one of the many items I collect and of which I have way too many) and found in Giada DiLaurentiis's first book, Everyday Italian, some excellent ideas. One novel idea was to roast the vegetables. I found that most recipes call for blanching or even boiling the vegetables.  What are we, in the 50's? Why not used canned for Pete's sake and be done with it! Ugh!

Anyway, I though it was a great idea, since I have been roasting vegetables like crazy lately: roasting caramelizes them and brings out their natural sweetness.  Another great idea she had was to cut the vegetables into similar sized 2 inch strips rather than a large dice that I usually do.    Other than that, my recipe and hers were very similar, after all, it is a pretty simple dish. I did use fresh herbs and dried Sicilian oregano instead of dried, and added crushed red pepper for spice and color.  You can vary the vegetables but stick with the sweet ones: not cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower, brussel sprouts or other strong tasting vegetables, they simply do not roast well. I found this out the hard way! They were quite stinky, actually, and one evening kind of ruined my side dish of roasted vegetables. Never again!  Eggplant will tend to fall apart and be gushy, not a good choice, but zucchini and yellow summer squash will meld with the peppers, carrots, onions and peas and have a fresh, clean taste if not overdone.  Notice, no garlic: I love garlic but I think it gives this dish kind of an off-taste.  It's too out there and masks the bright taste of the vegetables. Also, use COLD al dente pasta, ideally made the day before.  It works better in this dish for some reason. I have done it both ways and I think it keeps the flavors distinct.

PASTA PRIMAVERA con FARFALLE

So pretty! Yes, all these vegetables
are in this dish

Ingredients:
Vegetables:
  1 each of red, green and yellow pepper
  3 small zucchini
  1 yellow summer squash
  3 carrots
  1 red onion, halved and sliced
  20 or so cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
  1 10 ounce box of peas

Herbed, and ready to roast

Herbs:
   1 teaspoon dried oregano, Sicilian, or best quality
    5 or 6 fresh basil leaves, chopped or julienned
    Black pepper to taste

   Ground cayenne pepper, to taste
   Crushed red pepper, optional or to taste
   Kosher or sea salt, 1 teaspoon or to taste
   2 or 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

1 pound cold Farfalle or Gemelli pasta, or your choice of sturdy pasta, not over 2 inches long
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, and more for drizzling at the end, best quality
1/2 cup or so pecorino romano cheese
 Shredded parmigiana cheese, for garnish

Roasted, and at the height of flavor

Slice all vegetables except tomatoes and peas into 2 inch strips. Place in large bowl and add olive oil, stir to coat.  Mix in dried oregano, fresh basil and pepper and place in heavy baking pan.  In a 450 degree oven, bake for about 20 minutes until slightly browned but still somewhat crisp.  Let cool for about a half hour.

Place cold pasta in a large serving bowl.  Mix warm vegetables with the pasta, carefully mix in peas, which are defrosted by now, and add half of the tomatoes.  Add cayenne, and sprinkle sea salt, and then add half the cheese, and check for taste. Add more cheese if necessary. For garnish and taste, add the rest of the tomatoes, the parsley, and sprinkle with more pecorino cheese, and then for the finishing touch, spread the shredded parmigiana cheese over all, and for the extra finishing touch, drizzle a bit of the olive oil either over the entire dish or the individual bowls.   Your family and your guests will thank you, I promise you!

Done!

Chicken Cacciatore: Last of the cold weather dishes...

This will keep you warm!

It is a cold, rainy spring day...perfect for sharing my last cold-weather dish of the season: Chicken Cacciatore. My mother used to make this dish.  I have been making this dish for years for my family and every time I do it, it comes out differently. In fact, most of my dishes do, since I tend to tinker according to mood or based on whatever is in my refrigerator at the moment.

The word cacciatore  in Italian means "hunter", therefore this is really Hunter's Chicken.  I envision a hunter coming home with a pheasant or game hen, and his wife preparing a savory dish with whatever fresh vegetables she might have had on hand, and stewing it for a long time until the gaminess of the hunted fowl is cooked out and the meat falls off the bone. According to Linda Stradley, in her online resource What's Cooking America (www.whatscookingamerica.net ) this dish originated in the Renaissance period in central Italy.  Only the well to do could afford fowl, and hunting was a pastime of only the very rich. So this seemingly humble dish, made at home by many Italian and American cooks, and on the menu of many Italian American restaurants, has elegant, upper-crustic origins. Who knew!

Fresh Peppers at Eataly

This dish is basically chicken pieces braised in wine and tomatoes, with onions, garlic, and vegetables such as peppers, mushrooms, carrots, even potatoes, and seasonings. For this recipe, I used only peppers and mushrooms, which is classic.

Braising is one of the essential cooking techniques, along with sauteing, frying, grilling, boiling, and steaming. According to Mark Bittman in his essential cookbook, How To Cook Everything (2008), braising is a combined cooking method, using both wet and dry methods.  It involves searing the meat in order to caramelize it, adding liquid (usually acidic), covering the pot, and cooking it on a low simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Interestingly, as there always is, actually, there is science involved!  According to The New Best Recipe by the editors of Cooks Illustrated (2004), cooking the meat in this way releases the collagen between the muscle fibers into the liquid. The liquid is absorbed by the meat at a certain point, and the collagen turns into gelatin which gives the liquid body and flavor.   Most of us who are home cooks use this method all the time without realizing that we are using this very important cooking technique.  I was very impressed with myself!

My recipe differs from most in that I use only skinless chicken thighs. I find the thigh is more flavorful and moist due to its higher fat content. Chicken breast tends to dry out no matter what the method.  I sometimes use boneless thighs, however leaving the bone in is preferable as it lends more flavor to the dish.  I  really don't like using the skin, since the skin is fatty, and I do not like those puckery, twirly, fatty, half-peeling-off and basically inedible things floating around in my cacciatore. Crispy chicken skin on a well-baked roast chicken is one thing, but braised chicken skin...ugh. You might feel differently, so it's your preference.

Here is the recipe:

Dredging the thighs

CHICKEN CACCIATORE (Hunter's Chicken)

Ingredients:

3 pounds bone-in or boneless chicken thighs, skinless
Salt and pepper
1 cup flour for dredging
1/4 cup and 3 tablespoons light olive oil or other oil, such as canola
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, sliced

8 ounces (one container) fresh mushrooms, sliced

Caramelized and waiting to be added!

1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 can (28 ounces) peeled plum tomatoes in water or juice, broken up with hands or chopped coarsely
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, Sicilian, and on the stem if you can find it, usually in specialty stores.

• Sprinkle thighs with salt and pepper, dredge in flour
• Heat oil (extra virgin oil will lose its flavor) in dutch oven until hot but not smoking
• Place thighs in oil, do not crowd, and brown on all sides, remove from pan and set aside. When browning, try not to shift them them while cooking. This should take 3 or 4 minutes per side.
• Brown, but do not burn, onions and garlic.
• Add wine, stir with wooden spoon to loosen the "frond", or caramelized bits. This makes the sauce very flavorful. Reduce to half.
• Add tomatoes, fresh parsley and oregano, and stir to combine flavors
• Add chicken, carefully.  Cover and cook for about 20 minutes on a low simmer.
• Correct for seasoning, and serve.
• While the chicken is cooking, saute peppers and mushrooms separately in a saucepan until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Add to chicken and tomatoes, cook for another 30 minutes until chicken is tender. 



Chicken added to tomato and vegetables



Adding the tomatoes to the onions

• Place chicken and vegetables in serving dish, sprinkle with fresh parsley, reserve extra sauce to serve over pasta such as penne or ziti.

This is a hearty dish bursting with flavor, but it is low in fat, so you can enjoy this dish without guilt!

DONE!

On an appreciative note, I want to thank all of my family, friends, readers and followers for their feedback and comments. I really appreciate them. Recently, my son posted my blog on Reddit.com and through his efforts, I gained more followers, and received many compliments. It made this humble home cook feel really good about sharing these recipes with you.   Molto Grazie!

Buon Compleanno, Italia! 150th anniversary of the Unification: Celebrating with the Parmigiana dishes

A scene at Ravello, Amalfi Coast: Bella Italia
Photo By Frank Rubino

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, which is today, March 17, I would like to present some of my favorite Italian dishes.  Eggplant, veal or chicken Parmigiana: who hasn't gone to an Italian restaurant and ordered  one of these?  Many people have asked me if I make these at home and if I would share the recipes, and I am more than happy to.   I think, and others seem to agree, if I do say so myself,  that my Parmigiana dishes rival those made at some of the best traditional Italian-American restaurants, and they are surprisingly easy to make.  One caveat: regarding the meat-based parmigiana recipes, I do not use veal, as I am squeamish about using cutlets made from infant calves, instead I use chicken cutlets. However, you are welcome to use veal if you like, as veal and chicken are virtually interchangeable due to their tenderness and mild taste.

Shutters, or Parmiciana, in Italy
Photo by Frank Rubino

YOU SAY PARMIGIANA, I SAY PARMICIANA


I did a bit of research on  Parmigiana dishes as very little Parmigiana cheese, if any, is used as an ingredient.  According to the always useful Wikipedia, Parmigiana recipes are Southern Italian in origin, and refer to any dish made with a thin-sliced and fried filling, layered with cheese, usually mozzarella, and tomato sauce.  In Italy, Parmigiana is chiefly made with eggplant.  The meat-based dishes are an Italian-American creation.  


Although the word Parmigiana usually means "from Parma," which is in northern Italy, the word is thought to be taken from the Sicilian dialect word for shutters, parmiciana, which refers to the slats of wood, which overlap in the same way as the sliced filling in the dish. That is typical of Italians (or Sicilians, in this case), comparing food to common objects. Just think of how pasta is imaginatively named: radiatore, little radiators; orrichiette, little ears; or conchiglie, shells.  According to the Encyclopedia of Pasta by Oretta De Vita,  some small pastas are even named after prayers, such as the Ave Maria (Hail Mary), referring to the common practice of reciting a prayer before meals. Families knew these pastas were ready to eat after only one little prayer!


EGGPLANT or  CHICKEN PARMIGIANA
MELANZANE O POLLO ALLA PARMIGIANA


As I have said, these dishes are simple to make, however, there are certain steps that must be taken to ensure a rich, savory result that is not greasy nor too heavy.  Eggplant in particular can be an oil sponge; if you are not careful, it will soak up the oil like a wick when frying.  How do you prevent this? First, by making sure that the eggplant is sliced as thin as possible or the chicken is bought or pounded to no more than 1/4 inch thick, and second, that the oil is hot enough to cook quickly without burning, and third, creating a coating that will stick. 


Oil Hotter than Hot

Hot, Hot, Hot!

How do you make sure that the oil is hot enough? Oil must be from 365 to 375 degrees. You can buy a frying thermometer, or you can use one of these four methods: After heating the oil until shimmery over a medium high flame,  flick droplets of water in the oil; when it sizzles and bubbles immediately, it's ready.  Place the tip of the handle of a WOODEN spoon in the oil; when it bubbles, it is ready. Place a kernel of popcorn in the oil; when it pops: ready.  Place a cube of bread in the oil; if it browns in 60 seconds, again, it's ready.  I wait until the oil in the pan is shimmery, and then use the water method. The more hissy and bubbly, the better.   Also make sure you do not crowd the pan, as the temperature will drop to unacceptable levels and you will be left with a soggy mess.  I find that the first few eggplant rounds are slightly overbrowned, but that's ok...they are still delicious.

The French way to bread!

Preparation


It is best to use the authentic French way to bread  the cutlets or eggplant rounds. This I learned from the book,  60 Minute Gourmet by the late Pierre Franey.  It involves dredging the cutlets or eggplant first in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then egg, then fine bread crumbs. I find that if you wait a few minutes before frying, the combination of flour and egg forms a kind of glue that causes the breadcrumbs to adhere very well.  I think it also provides a barrier that prevent the oil from soaking in too quickly. 


Here are the recipes.  Both the eggplant and chicken recipe are nearly the same, except the eggplant is layered, and the chicken cutlets are not.  

Slice it thin! Not so easy...

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Ingredients:

1 large eggplant
Coating:
    2 cups (approximately) flour, seasoned
      with salt and pepper
    3 large eggs
    2 cups (approximately) seasoned bread crumbs
1 quart or more of your favorite marinara sauce (recipe below)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or 1/2 pound sliced thin
2-3 cups canola oil (this has a high smoking point; olive oil of any kind will smoke and burn)


Prepare marinara sauce:
     1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
     1 28 oz can of peeled plum tomatoes in puree or juice, pureed
      (or two cans of crushed tomatoes)
      1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
      1 cup onions, chopped fine
      2 cloves garlic
      1/2 cup dry white wine
      2 parsley sprigs
      2-3 basil leaves (optional)
      Salt and pepper
      1/4 cup Pecorino Romano Cheese (optional, do not use salt if you add the cheese)
         (this gives the sauce a very rich flavor)
    Saute onions, then garlic in olive oil under a medium flame until translucent. Add  wine, cook until reduced by 1/3, then add tomatoes.  Add herbs and spices, and cook on a low flame for about an hour, stir frequently. Correct for seasoning, set aside. I usually start the sauce and prepare the rest of the ingredients. By the time I finish preparation, it's done.
   

Salt, and blot with paper towel

Peel eggplant, slice into thin slices, 1/4 to 1/8 inch or so thick.  On a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper, lay eggplant in one layer, and sprinkle lightly with salt.  When the moisture starts to bead, after about a half an hour, blot with paper towels. This is supposed to reduce the bitterness, however, if you skip this step it will probably not make much of a difference.

So yummy!

Place the coating mixtures in three different dishes. Beat the eggs until frothy.  Dredge the slices first in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Use a fork, or you will have club fingers, very gross! Make sure you use the fork to pat the crumbs to help them adhere.  Set aside, let the glue do its work!


In a high sided 12 inch frying pan, heat oil until approximately 375 degrees, using thermometer, water droplets, wooden spoon or other method. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Place eggplant rounds in oil but do not crowd, and fry until golden brown, less than one minute per side.  Place eggplant rounds to drain on baking sheet.  

Ladle the sauce

Layering the eggplant

In a 9 by 13 inch lasagna pan, ladle about 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom, layer eggplant, slightly overlapping.  Spoon about 2 cups of sauce over all. Sprinkle a tablespoon or less Pecorino Romano or Parmigiana cheese if you have not added cheese to the marinara sauce.
Evenly distribute 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese or 1/4 pound of thin slices over the sauce.  Place two more layers of eggplant, sauce and cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly.  Remove foil and bake for 10 minutes more.  


Let cool for about 20 minutes, and cut into squares, and serve.

CHICKEN PARMIGIANA


2 pounds chicken cutlets, sliced or pounded thin

Delicious!

Use the same method as above, except you will probably need 2 lasagna pans. Prepare the same coating, and coat each chicken cutlet in flour, egg and then bread crumbs. Set aside.  Spoon 1/2 cup of sauce over the bottom of the pan, layer the chicken closely in the pan. Spread sauce over the chicken, and 2-3 cups of shredded or sliced mozzarella over all.  Cover with foil for the first 30 minutes, and uncover for 10 more minutes.   

Eggplant and Chicken Parmigiana, done!

I promise you will enjoy these dishes...they are my go-to dishes for friends or family, something easy to prepare in advance, even the night before.  If you save or make some extra sauce, you can serve pasta with it- my favorite cut for this dish is rigatoni, which captures the hearty sauce well in its rigati, or ridges.

Happy Birthday, Italy!

BANISHED: The Mystery of Homemade Pasta

Tender, Delicious Pasta

Pasta making has always intimidated me. Creating this essential food staple from only two simple ingredients, flour and eggs, seemed almost counterintuitive and mysterious to me. However, I have always wanted to make my own pasta. So last year, I bought a shiny new pasta maker, despite the fact that all those cranks and rollers and cutters looked slightly dangerous.  I signed up for a pasta making class at Chef Central in Hartsdale, New York, and brought the pasta maker with me. The teacher at Chef Central  was quite patient, showed me how to use it and I learned to use it quite well.  It is actually quite easy.

Pasta made WITHOUT a machine is not so easy.   My Nonna used to make pasta herself, and there was no machine.  The traditional Italian Abruzzese housewife made the pasta with nothing more than a long, thin rolling pin and plenty of kneading action, resulting, I expect,  in very strong forearms.  I remember long strands of pasta hanging from improvised racks, flour everywhere, a big mess.

 Pasta Machine

For this posting I will try to demystify pasta making so if you ever decide to do it, you will know what ingredients to buy, how to prepare it,  what to expect, and what to avoid.

Preparing to Make Pasta

When setting out to make my own pasta, I researched the ingredients. The most helpful source was in a cookbook by Marsella Hazan, entitled Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  Even though the pasta class was helpful, they had made the pasta dough ahead of time.  So all I knew what how to operate the machine.  I really needed to find out how to actually make a good dough on my own.

First I researched the kind of flour needed. I found in the Fairway Market the soft wheat "00" (doppio-zero) flour used by most Italian cooks to make pasta. Soft wheat 00 flour is silky smooth and similar to talcum powder in texture, slightly different than commonly used all-purpose flour found in every supermarket.  Although I used this flour according to Hazan all purpose flour makes a fine product and is in some ways superior as the pasta has more body but is still very tender.

I also found out that semolina flour, or hard durum wheat flour, is not used in homemade pasta as it is very difficult for the home cook to work with. It is only suitable for factory made pasta.  In fact, you will never find manufactured pasta made with soft wheat flour as it is much too delicate. Even those pastas that purport to be fresh, but are in a cellophane package, are not made with soft wheat. They are delicious but still made with durum wheat.

HOME MADE PASTA

Ingredients:

Pasta & Egg "Volcano"

1 cup "00" or all purpose flour (approximate)
2 eggs

Makes approximately 3/4 of a pound of pasta, or three good-sized  servings.

Beating the Eggs

Prepare a clean work surface. I use a large wooden cutting board not used for meat.  Marble or granite is a poor surface because it is too cool and will cause the dough to contract.

Kneading

Place the flour on the cutting board and make a mound, as tall as you can make it.  Hollow out a space in the center, like a volcano, and break the eggs into the center.  Beat the eggs with a fork, taking care not to spill  the eggs over the edges of the center of the mound, for about one minute. With your fingers, draw the flour into the egg mixture a bit at a time, and then shape it into a tight dough.  It is done and ready to knead when you can poke your finger in the dough and it is not sticky. If too sticky, just add more flour.

Shaping

Cutting into Sections

When it feels right, nice and smooth, flatten the dough and knead.  How to knead: flatten the dough into a disk and fold it towards you, pushing against the mound with the heels of your hands with your fingers bent. Keep doing this, folding and kneading, in a clockwise direction, until the dough is smooth, about a few minutes. The Italian housewives kneaded for a much longer time but the pasta machine takes care of most of the kneading for you. After kneading, form the dough into a shape the size of a sausage link, and cut it into six pieces. Flatten a piece with your hand, covering the rest with plastic wrap to avoid drying.

Through the Roller, Over and Over

Flattened Dough in Machine

Now you are ready to use the pasta maker.  Carefully read the manufacturer's instructions as each manufacturer creates a machine with a slightly different design. Attach the pasta maker to a table or counter using the c-clamp or vise provided with the machine, and lay a clean dishtowel on the end where the pasta will come out. Take the flattened disk and feed it into the roller end of the pasta maker at the widest setting, 3 or 4 times, then the next wide setting, several times.  You will see the dough come out thinner and thinner. My pasta maker has 8 settings, 8 being the widest and 1 being the thinnest. When I set the gage at 2, the pasta was too thin and delicate.  I found 4 or 5 to be the best thickness.

Wide Noodles

Ready for Machine!

You can feed the flattened dough through the pasta cutters on the machine, or you can cut them yourselves with a pizza or ravioli cutter, or you can roll the pasta lengthwise and slice it with a knife for some nice long noodles.  This takes some skill, so I prefer the machine at this point. 

Thin Noodles

Pasta makers usually have two cutters, allowing you to choose between wide pasta, or fettucini, and narrow pasta, which comes out looking like spaghetti but with more of a squarish shape.  While carefully feeding the flattened and thin pasta dough though the cutters, pull the strands out gently with your hand and place them on a clean towel.  You can make them fresh or dry them. If you prefer to dry them, you let the pasta rest on the towels until they dry a bit but are still pliable, and then take a few strands and wind them around your fingers to make a small nest.  I placed these nests in a plastic container, uncovered, until totally dry. You can only store them when they are totally dry otherwise they will form mold. I used mine, the fettucine, the first night, and the pasta nests of spaghetti, the next night. They did not dry completely; they were brittle almost like boxed pasta, but way more delicate.

Ooops!  Done

When you are ready to make the pasta, have the table set and the sauce of your choice made, keeping it  hot and ready to serve.  Fill your pasta pot with cold water and add one teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a brisk boil, and all at once,carefully place the pasta in the pot, and stir gently to make sure the strands do not stick together.  It cooks very quickly, taking only a minute or two. Remove immediately when it is at its desired firmness, only determined by tasting, and drain in a colander. Loosen the pasta by shaking the colander a bit.   Do not add olive oil.  Serve in warm dishes...nobody likes cold pasta!

My pasta was very delicate, and held the sauce very well. I couldn't believe I made this pasta from scratch,, just like my Nonna did, so many years ago.

Just in time for the Super Bowl!! Cornbread-topped chili; BBQ beef ribs

CORNBREAD TOPPED CHILI and BBQ SHORT RIBS of BEEF

 Easy Super Bowl Party Recipes

Super Bowl Sunday, February 6, will likely be one more of those snowy, icy evenings that we have been enjoying lately, and you might be wondering what dishes you might want to create for your guests that are easy to prepare with a minimum of fuss. Here are two great recipes: Cornbread-topped Chili, and BBQ Short Ribs of Beef. These two dishes, my corn and black bean salsa (July 15, 2010 posting), some frosty beer, chips and dip, and other party what-have-you, and you have yourself a Super Bowl party!

CORNBREAD-TOPPED CHILI

Cornbread-topped Chili

Cornbread-topped Chili is a ridiculously easy dish that looks and tastes spectacular.  It is simply this: thick, spicy beef and bean chili in a baking dish, topped with cornbread batter, baked in a 350 degree oven until golden brown and firm,  topped with shredded cheddar and baked for a few minutes more until the cheese is melted. That's it!  What, you don't have a favorite Chili recipe?  Well, I have one right here for you!  And you don't have a cornbread recipe?  Hold on, you can use a mix!  I used one and it comes out great.

I was leafing through a magazine one day and saw a picture of this dish, and thought it was a great idea.  The chili recipe was not that great, so I thought, why not substitute my own chili recipe? There was a recipe for cornbread, but I know how to make cornbread from scratch, so how hard could this recipe be?  I figured I would give it a try when I had my next party. On that day, I found that I had run out of corn meal flour: the only thing I had was a package of  Penguin (http://penguinfoods.com/) cornbread mix that I had picked up in BJ's on a whim. I had made a few batches over the summer and found it makes some very fine cornbread, cakey and sweet with added corn kernels. Surprisingly, the combination of sweet and spicy hot worked quite well.  I imagine any good mix will work, as well as any good scratch recipe.

Preparing cornbread batter

Spreading the chili

Ingredients:


1 batch of corn bread batter
1/2 cup (less or more to taste)
     shredded cheddar cheese
9-10 cups chili with ground beef and
     beans ( your own, or see recipe
     below)

Spreading batter over chili

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Prepare your favorite chili, or use the recipe below. Simmer until thick.
• Prepare your favorite cornbread mix, or buy a bag of yellow corn meal and follow the directions on the package for one batch of cornbread. 
• Spoon the chili into a 9 X 13 pan. I like the Pampered Chef stoneware pan. 
• Spread the cornbread batter over the chili.
• Bake for for hour, or until golden brown and firm.
• Take out of the oven, sprinkle evenly with cheddar, and bake until cheese is melted, just two or three minutes.
• Serve either hot or warm.  I found that you can heat this in the microwave the next day without compromising taste.

The Chili Recipe
First, a word about my chili. This is a family favorite which I have been making for years.  It is not authentic, but it is rich, thick, and spicy. Authentic would mean slowly cooked whole cuts of beef and no beans. I use ground beef and canned beans, sometimes, horrors, I don't even drain them.  It would probably horrify a Mexican cook,  but many so-called Italian dishes would horrify me, however people who make them enjoy them. I make no apologies!

Santoku knife in action

Also some words about some of the cooking tools I used to prepare this dish: a Santoku knife, a new discovery of mine, and an old-fashioned potato masher.  The Santoku knife is a small cleaver-like knife, with a hollow edge which prevents the food from sticking. I never used one before, and I found that it cuts true and straight and made short work of the peppers and onions I had to dice so small.  I recommend it highly, as well as a good chef's knife, which is my workhorse.

Old-fashioned potato masher

The potato masher has many uses: it's not only used for mashing potatoes! In this recipe, I used it for breaking up the ground meat right in the pan as it cooks, and to mash the beans about halfway through the cooking process. I got this one at an antique store in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. It's hard to find this design!


Ingredients:

It must be THICK!

1/2 pound ground beef
2 cans of  red kidney beans, 15.5 oz., I use Goya
2 cans Del Monte (or other brand) tomato sauce,
   8 oz. each
1 can diced tomatoes, 15 oz.
1 can corn, 12 oz.
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 red pepper, diced small
1 green pepper, diced small
1 yellow onion, diced small
chili powder, at least 1/4 cup
4 or 5 slices jalapeno peppers, I like El Paso
1 tsp. cumin
1 tablespoon tabasco, sriracha* or other hot chili sauce
Salt to taste
1 bay leaf (make sure you remove this after Chili is done!)

Sauteed peppers and onions

• In a dutch oven, break up and saute ground beef until it loses its pinkness.
• Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and stir
• In a separate saucepan, heat the olive oil and saute the diced peppers and onions. When soft and almost transparent, stir into beef and tomato mixture.
• Add spices to taste
• Using a potato masher, periodically crush the chili mixture as you cook it,that helps to thicken it
• Taste, taste, taste as you go!
• Simmer for as long as it takes to produce a thick chili

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha_sauce

BBQ SHORT RIBS of BEEF

WOW is all I can say

This fine recipe has only two ingredients, and you don't need a barbecue. I originally saw Sunny Anderson (http://www.foodnetwork.com/sunny-anderson/bio/index.html) prepare something similar to this on the Food Network. It looked so good!  The only difference between my recipe and hers is that she made her own barbecue sauce, which you certainly can do. However, I found that a simple bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce, or my favorite, Sweet Baby Ray's (http://www.sweetbabyrays.com/) is certainly more than adequate. I also used short ribs of beef, instead of boneless ribs. All you need besides the beef and sauce is a working oven and some patience.  

When done, the meat just falls off the bone. So tender, so delicious!  

Ingredients:

1 dozen short ribs of beef

1 bottle (18 oz) Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, or your favorite brand, or your own recipe

3 hours of cooking time!

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees
• Place short ribs in a 9X13 stoneware, cast iron, or other heavy pan
• Pour barbecue sauce over ribs
• With hands or wooden spoons, depending on how squeamish you are, and toss ribs in sauce until fully coated
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for two and a half hours
• Uncover and bake in order to caramelize, for additional half hour
• Stir once more to coat with sauce
• Serve hot!

Enjoy the game!

Post-Holiday Blues Biscotti: An after-holiday treat; our baking club

Today I am deviating from my usual savory recipes to present one of my very successful baking endeavors:  pistachio-cranberry biscotti, which I have dubbed Post-Holiday Blues Biscotti.  Although I made them for Christmas, I have still  been enjoying them in this rather dismal snow and cold filled post-holiday period and they have made me feel a bit more festive. I always found biscotti fascinating and never could figure out how they got that lovely crescent shape, which tells you what kind of a baker I am.  I found out that it actually starts out as a loaf, and is then cut in 1/2 inch sections when done!  Duh! 

Post-Holiday Blues Biscotti

And that brings me to this:  I do not consider myself a baker, at least not yet.  I find that baking can be unforgiving: one tiny error and it is overdone, or underdone, or the chemistry is not right and it falls, or does something else unexpected and strange, and you have just wasted two hours of your time.  No amount of scraping or re-baking will help the product. Trust me.  On the other hand, cooking allows for the occasional error...the dish can usually can be salvaged or re-purposed with the right ingredient or technique. I have had a lifelong fear of baking and I have tended to avoid it most of my life.

Venetians: Photo by Kelly Abel

Lately though, I have discovered that I do love to bake, however, especially when it comes out perfectly.  I love the yummy fragrance of sweet or savory oven baked goodies and I especially love tasting and sharing them with friends and family.  I especially love the tools of baking: my stand mixer is a thing of beauty, and I love my rolling pins, my cookie cutters, my whisk. I love to mix cookie dough, and taste it: I love mixing a cake and watching it rise in the oven (through the oven window, of course!). I love the complicated: I recently mastered the Venetian, or rainbow cookie: it was a personal challege that I set up for myself, and I was so proud to gaze at the completed little bars, standing so proud like little soldiers on the cutting board.  The proof was in the pudding as they say: they came out great.

BISCOTTI'S PROUD HISTORY: ITALY, OF COURSE

Rome: Photo by Frank Rubino

I did a little digging into the the history of the biscotti, I found that like ice cream, pasta, and other vital foods, biscotti are an ancient food originating in Italy, from Roman times.  I found a fascinating history from www.thenibbler.com. According to this account, the word biscotti is derived from Latin and means "twice baked." Dating back to before the fall of the Roman Empire,  it was a staple of the diet of soldiers and other travelers. Apparently some inventive baker found that baking the biscotti first, and then slicing and baking them a second time to dry them out, made them perfect for long journeys. After the culinary drought of the dark ages, the biscotti were revitalized during the Renaissance when an equally inventive Tuscan baker re-developed the recipe and served them to be dunked in sweet wine. Today, biscotti, are made with a variety of flavorings and ingredients, from classic anisette,to chocolate, and other flavorings, and chocked with almonds or other nuts, dried fruits and extracts. Biscotti are  served in Italy with wine or espresso, and in the USA with coffee, a far cry from the utilitarian food of the Roman Legion!

THE BAKING CLUB
Last year, my friends Nina, Josie and Pat were discussing how we don't see each other enough and realized we could get together once every couple of months and teach each other how to bake. So, that is how our "baking club" came into existence.  We rotated hostessing the club, and meet every few months. Two of our notable outcomes were a tiramisu, adapted from a recipe from a Patsy's Restaurant cookbook, and the recipe presented today, a holiday biscotti, adapted from a recipe created by Giada DiLaurentis. I have been making this biscotti recipe for the second year in a row, and so have my friends.

POST-HOLIDAY BLUES BISCOTTI
This biscotti is a lovely twice-baked little crescent, and has a festive Christmas-y look, with pistachios giving it some green, and dried cranberries giving it a bit of red. The cookie itself is sweet but not too sweet; it can be adapted for other flavorings such as anise to make classic anisette biscotti. It was very important to me to make the cookie, or biscotto, not as hard as commercial biscotti as I once broke a tooth on a particularly hard cookie.  Thus after the first bake,  they are sliced and baked only until they start to become lightly golden. Giada's recipe included a white chocolate dip and red and green sugar crystals to decorate them; this we felt was gilding the lily...there was no need!

My beloved mixer

Some tips: if you do not own an electric stand mixer, mix it by hand.  I burned out a perfectly fine hand mixer and had to cream the sugar and butter by whisk, and it came out fine.  The stand mixer is convenient and I love it and I did use it for my first batch,  but the hand mixer does not have a strong enough motor to mix the very thick cookie dough, which is what it actually is.

Lemon zest and microplane

Also, the lemon zest is an important part of the recipe. The best way to zest a lemon is to use a microplaner. There are hand zesters you can buy and they are alright, except some of them make these long strips which I do not think work as well.  A regular grater is kind of hard to use for zesting but it will do. Make sure you do not include any of the pith, or the white section of the lemon.  Usually one lemon makes one teaspoon of zest, which is what this recipe needs.

And here is the recipe:

Chopping those pistachios

POST-HOLIDAY BLUES BISCOTTI
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour.  I like Unbleached King Arthur Flour
1/2 teaspoons baking powder (not soda!!!!)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Chopping those cranberries

3/4 cup pistachios, chopped. DO NOT use a food processor, it will create too much "dust"!
2/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped. Leaving them whole makes them too difficult to cut for the second baking. This was discovered by my friend Nina, in our baking club.

Whisking the dry ingredients

Mixing altogether

• Line a large, heavy cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Spoon the flour into the measuring cup, use your hand to even it with the top of the cup,  and then sift using a sifter or a strainer into a medium bowl. Add the baking powder to the flour and use a whisk to blend.
• Beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest and salt using a stand mixer or place ingredients in a large bowl and  use a whisk. Add eggs one at a time, beat until lemony yellow and blended. Add the flour mixture a bit at a time, and beat until just blended. Stir in the pistachios and cranberries.



Forming a loaf

• Form the dough into a 13 inch log, about 3 inches wide, on the parchment covered cookie sheet. 

• Bake until light golden for 40 minutes, or until it just begins to crack. If you wait too long, the cracks will be too large, although if you press it together after it is just done, it will be OK. 
• Remove the loaf immediately from the pan and place on a rack or cool surface for about 30 minutes. You can use the parchment to move the loaf.



Baked and ready to slice

• After 30 minutes, it should be fairly cool to the touch.  Using a sharp serrated knife, taking care not to ruin it by sawing too hard, cut into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange them cut side down  on the baking sheet, and return them to the 350 degree oven, baking for about 15 minutes until light golden.  Transfer them to a rack or cool platter and cool completely. 

Slicing after baking

These biscotti, if not overcooked, are tender-crisp, and will last in a tightly covered cookie tin for at least two weeks. They are delicious dunked in coffee or milk...somebody try the wine and let me know!

Variations:  Anisette almond biscotti:  Instead of the lemon zest, pistachios and cranberries, add 1 tablespoon anise extract, and 1 teaspoon fennel/anise seeds, and 3/4 cup chopped almonds.

Ready for second baking

A friend asked me about sugar free options. There are some substitute sugars on the market, such as Spenda, that measure cup-for-cup for granulated sugar. If someone would like to try it and give me a review of your results, please be my guest!

Done!

The completed product is such a delight: if this doesn't lift your spirits and get you past the post holiday blues, well, I just don't know what to tell you.