Grapes and Espresso December 2, 2015 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment Grapes and Espresso 2015-12-02 15:05:51 Serves 4 Print Ingredients (2) 1.5 oz strong Espresso 1 T. olive oil 1 pound red and white grapes 5 oz. sweet white wine (Sauternes or Gewürztraminer) 3 sticks of cinnamon 1 T. honey ½ T. balsamic vinegar ½ T. butter Instructions Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized frying pan. Add the grapes and sauté for one minute. Add the espresso, white wine, cinnamon sticks and honey. Stir for two minutes and then remove from the heat. Add the vinegar and butter to the pan and stir until the butter melts. Serve warm. Notes This elegant dish is a splendid blend of colors and tastes. Serve as an accompaniment to an Italian meal of roast meat or poultry with polenta or as a light dessert with cheese and biscotti. By Judy Fitzgerald Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
The Best Gnocchi April 8, 2015 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment The Best Gnocchi 2015-04-08 14:16:03 Light, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth perfection. Print Ingredients 3-4 large Idaho potatoes (2 lbs.), scrubbed 1 whole egg, beaten 1½ cups all-purpose flour 2 T. grated Parmesano-Reggiano 1 T. extra-virgin olive oil 1 T. unsalted butter, melted 1 t. salt ¼ t. course ground black pepper Instructions Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 425°F. Prick each potato several times with a fork and place on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan large enough to hold them all in a single layer. Bake in the oven until the potatoes are tender enough to be easily pierced with a small knife (50-60 minutes). Remove the potatoes from the oven and let them cool slightly—just enough so that you can handle them, not more. They should still be steaming when you cut them open ( about 6 to 10 minutes). (If you let the potatoes get too cold, the proteins in the egg won’t bind with the potatoes, and your gnocchi will fall apart). Cut each potato in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Pass the potato flesh through a food mill or press through a ricer set over a medium bowl. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir in the beaten egg, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, melted butter, salt, and pepper, and 1 cup of flour, reserving the rest. The mixture should be stirred only until the ingredients are combined: anything more will overwork the dough, and your gnocchi will come out tough (like the frozen-in-a-bag variety). Work the mixture into a smooth ball; if the dough seems a little too moist for this, add a touch of flour (the moisture level in every potato is different, so every batch of gnocchi will be a bit different, too). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Working quickly, cut the dough into inch-wide slices, using a dough cutter if you’ve got one, a regular dinner-table knife if you don’t. Roll these between your hands to make them into a ball. The dough should feel soft, slightly tacky but not sticky—sort of warm and sexy. Roll out each piece into long logs (or “snakes,” as we call them in the kitchen), approximately 14” to 16” long, about ¾“ thick. (This isn’t a precise measurement. You can make your gnocchi whatever size you want) Cut each on in half and roll it out again, thinner, to the same length. Sprinkle the rolled-out snakes with flour to keep them from sticking, and keep adding more flour to the work surface as you go to help as you roll the dough. Cut each snake into gnocchi-sized pieces ( I like mine to be about 1 inch x 1 inch), and place the pieces on a lightly floured baking sheet. Cover this with a cloth or plastic wrap until you’re ready to cook the gnocchi, so they don’t dry out. To Cook the Gnocchi: This step is just as important as the preparation: tender gnocchi require careful attention. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the gnocchi all at once (or as close to it as possible). Stir once gently all around, so that the water is aerated and the dough doesn’t become glued together like one big gnoccho. Let the gnocchi cook until they rise to the surface (about 1-2 minutes); wait one more minute and then, using a slotted spoon or a spider, remove the gnocchi. (Don’t ever dump the gnocchi out into a colander the way you would spaghetti: that’s a disaster. All the gnocchi crash onto each other and break.) Notes Gnocchi are delicate little things; fresh gnocchi should be cooked the day they are made or, at the very latest, the next day. Frozen and stored in an airtight container, they’ll keep for up to a month. Serve with your choice of sauce: Tomato, Pesto, Browned Butter, Ragu... By Andrew Carmellini Urban Italian Cookbook Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Make Do With What You Have by Jamie Bordoshuk March 20, 2015 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment With both kids out of the house, my wife and I decided to try our hand at living in California for a couple of weeks. Why not? We had nothing keeping us here. The thought of warm weather, sunshine and the beach was all the convincing that I needed to book those two airline tickets out of this Midwestern icebox. Two weeks in someone else’s kitchen. Our beautiful rental home in Santa Barbara, two blocks from the beach, boasted a “gourmet kitchen”. True, it had a six burner Viking range. But, where was the overhead light? The built-in Sub Zero refrigerator was huge. But, only one shelf? Tons of cabinets and drawers, but not a single spatula to be found. No cheese grater, but enough lemon and lime squeezers to put a full-service margarita bar to shame. As my mother used to say, you just have to “make do with what you have”. Despite the meager supplies, I decided to forge ahead with Friday’s dinner party for our California friends and family. I would make two lasagnas – one for the California vegetarians, the other for us Midwestern meat lovers. Thursday was sauce day. I literally opened every drawer at least three times looking for tools, pots, pans and serving pieces. At home, it was second nature to locate everything without even thinking about it. I quickly realized that I would have to improvise if I was going to pull this off. Two mismatched pots sat side by side on the Viking range. One tall, dark and non-stick. The other was squat, bright and stainless steel. The sauces simmered all afternoon and by 3 o’clock, the kitchen smelled absolutely amazing – just like home. I turned off the pots to cool and we went out for our daily walk on the beach. Friday morning came around and it was time to build my lasagnas. As every good chef knows, preparation is the key to success. I guess that warm ocean air had gotten to me, as I didn’t think to look for two 13 x 9 pans BEFORE I decided on the lasagna. After 20 minutes of opening up every cupboard and drawer again and again, I remembered my mom’s wise advice. Make do with what you have. I grabbed a 5×8 loaf pan and a pie tin and got to work. Classic Meat Lasagna 2015-03-16 14:40:26 Serves 8 Print Ingredients 1⁄2 box lasagna noodles, no-boil 1 lb. ground beef 2 t. Worcestershire sauce 1 small onion, small chop 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 T. dried oregano 1 can 28 oz. crushed tomatoes 1 can 14.5oz diced tomatoes 1 lb. Ricotta cheese 1⁄2 lb. Provolone cheese, sliced 1 lb. shredded Mozzarella cheese Kosher Salt Fresh cracked black pepper Instructions In a sauté pan, heat oil. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add garlic and sauté until it begins to brown. Add ground beef with some salt and pepper and sauté until cooked through. Stir in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Cook on a simmer until thickened slightly - approximately 25-30 min. Remove from heat. In a 9x13 pan, spread a small amount of the meat sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer in the following order: Lasagna noodles, sauce, thin layer of ricotta, provolone, a sprinkled layer of Mozzarella, another layer of uncooked noodles. Repeat layering process to the top. (The last layer will be Mozzarella) Cover lasagna pan with foil & place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until nice & bubbly (approximately 45min.). Remove foil & continue cooking until cheese on top begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven & allow to sit for 20 minutes. Cut & serve. By Jamie Bordoshuk Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/
Let Italians Save Your Dinner: A Recipe for Pasta Carbonara by Robin Nathan February 20, 2015 by Jill Foucre Leave a Comment It’s dinner-time and you’ve been running all day. The kids will be home in a few minutes, your other half is right behind them, and all they want to know is “what’s for dinner???” Allow me to introduce you to your new dinner best friend … pasta carbonara. “Carbonara?” you say. “I’ve been eating that for years. What the heck is so special about that??” Well, my friends, you only think you’ve been eating it for years. If you order it in a restaurant and one of the ingredients is heavy cream, it’s not an authentic carbonara. The classic, authentic Roman creation contains only 4 ingredients – pasta, eggs, romano cheese, and bacon. That’s it. For many of us, these are ingredients that are always in our fridge and pantry. Welcome to dinner. Or brunch. Or midnight post-party snack. The first time I had this dish was in the kitchen of a former Italian boyfriend, and man, was it a revelation. (The pasta, not the boyfriend.) So simple, so soulful, so satisfying. (Again, the pasta, not the boyfriend.) Just cook the pasta (I love it with fettucine or pappardelle), cook the bacon. Drain the pasta, put it back in the pan with a tablespoon of bacon drippings. Pour in beaten eggs and grated Romano cheese, and use a tongs to toss and stir. The heat of the cooked pasta turns the beaten egg into a thickened, satiny sauce in about a minute. Tumble in the cooked bacon, tong it through. Pile into bowls with loads of grated Romano cheese on top. The boyfriend is a memory, but the pasta remains. Dinner is served!! Pappardelle a la Carbonara 2015-02-17 12:41:15 Print Ingredients 12 oz. Pappardelle 5 Strips thick cut bacon, cut into ½” dice, cooked slowly until crispy-chewy and rendered 5 eggs, beaten to blend 2 T. Grated Pecorino Romano cheese (plus more for garnish) 1 T. reserved bacon drippings Black pepper to taste Instructions Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until barely al dente. Cook the bacon while the pasta cooks. Scoop out the cooked bacon pieces and discard all but 1 T. of the bacon drippings. Beat the eggs with the 2 T. grated cheese in a bowl. Season with black pepper. When the pasta is barely al dente, drain it and put it back into the pot. Pour in the warm bacon drippings, and quickly toss. Add the egg mixture all at once and toss with tongs for one-two minutes, until the egg mixture becomes slightly thickened, satiny and clings to the pasta (This must be done off heat, otherwise you’ll have scrambled eggs and pasta. No bueno.) Tumble in the cooked bacon pieces and toss once more. Tong into serving bowls with a generous handful of grated Pecorino Romano. Buon Apetito! By Robin Nathan Marcel's Culinary Experience https://www.marcelsculinaryexperience.com/