Saying “Cheese” to New Resolutions!

Another year, another round of New Year resolutions! Since starting this blog back in 2008, most of my resolutions have been food related (learning how to make home made pasta, new challenges with Una Mamma Italiana), and because of this my resolutions have been fun and enjoyable to partake in! This year, I have my cousin Jenny to thank for setting me up with my 2013 food-related resolution. Her Christmas gift to me was a fantastic book called Artisan Cheese Making at Home. The book is very well put together and is a lot of fun to look at – the pictures are absolutely mouth-watering. Everything from ricotta and mascarpone, to créme fraiche and greek yogurt, to cocoa rubbed jack cheese, ale-washed trappist cheese and tips on how to make smoked mozzarella are covered in appetizing detail. Obviously, some of these cheeses can’t even be considered just yet, not only for my lack of skills but for the lack of space and set-up in my basement. But that’s not going to stop me from reading and absorbing this book, attempting what recipes I can handle and sharing with you my journey in cheese making. If anything, I’m looking forward to trying out some of the suggested recipes included in the book…even if I have to sneak over to the 9th Street Market to get my hands on some good quality cheese, wrapped and ready to go.

I also have some other fun ideas in mind for the blog this year. Keep an eye out over the next few months for new recipes featuring:
• risotto
• soups
• pot pies
• pasta dishes
• my kids’ take on panzarotti vs. calzone

Plus…I’ll be joining my friend Carl for a very special home brewing post!

I’ll also be chasing down Una Mamma Italiana for another food challenge or two…and hopefully some other surprise visits from other special contributors.

Thanks again for visiting…here’s to a great and appetizing 2013!

Warm Italian Crab Salad

Now that we are just a few days away from celebrating the Feast of the 7 Fishes, which is one of the biggest and most important meals of the Italian and Italian-American culture, I am sure that most of you already have your menu planned. If you are looking for one more addition to your table, or another way to dress up one of your traditional dishes, this warm crab salad recipe is a tasty and versatile solution! With just a few basic ingredients and about 10 minutes of simmering on your stove-top, you can have this dish ready to be served in no time as an appetizer with crackers, mixed with a pasta in garlic and oil or even used as a stuffing in one of your other dishes.

From my kitchen to yours, I wish you a very Blessed and Merry Christmas.

Buona Natale!

WARM ITALIAN CRAB SALAD

1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup chopped onion
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

*8 oz. of canned crab meat equals two 6 oz. cans (found with other canned fish) drained, or a half of a 1 lb can of pure packed crab meat (found in grocery store seafood section)

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 until warm. You can then serve it on top of pasta with garlic and oil or as an appetizer with crackers, as pictured below.

Homemade Torrone? Bah, Humbug!

Every once in a while I get the itch to try something new in the kitchen, some kind of dish that I am totally unfamiliar with. Since we are in the Christmas season, I thought I would attempt to make home-made torrone (the Italian nougat candy that is very popular this time of year). Big emphasis on the word ATTEMPT.

I checked out a bunch of nougat and torrone recipes, and they all sounded similar and easy enough to follow. Bring some sugar and honey to a high temperature boil, slowly pour it into whisked egg whites, beat on high, stir in toasted almonds or pistachios, pour into a pan lined with edible wafer paper/rice paper, let sit overnight. I also found a recipe for chocolate torrone, so I decided that I would give not one, but two batches a try: a chocolate mint and a chocolate cherry. If anything, I figured it would be a learning experience…and boy, was I right!

Here’s what I have learned while ATTEMPTING to make torrone:

1. Precision is key (aka, this is why I am not a baker or a candy maker)
Although I followed the recipe that I chose to the tee, I also added some melted chocolate, along with peppermint extract and cherries to the mixes – which meant that there was more liquid in the mix than was called for. The taste was exactly what I wanted for both, but the texture was less of a nougat and more of a VERY runny salt water taffy. Seriously, you could have eaten it with a spoon. Some friends have told me that this also could have been due to the warm and muggy weather that we were having. Again, this is why I don’t bake. My gravy and eggplant parm were never screwed up because of bad weather.

2. Be careful with substitutes
One of the other key ingredients to a true torrone is edible wafer paper, or edbile rice paper (the thin lining on the top and bottom the torrone that we always compared the taste of a communion wafer when we were kids). While wafer paper is most likely not available at your local grocery store, you can find it at specialty stores and gourmet food shops. I decided to follow the advice of another foodie website, which suggested just using Asian spring roll shells, which are also a form of rice paper. WRONG!!!! While these shells do look similar to the wafer paper found on torrone, the texture is way too thick and crunchy. It was like adding shards of glass to the torrone.

3. Heating up sugar can be disastrous (also part of the Precision problem)
Like I said above, the recipes made it sound so easy. Just heat up the sugar and honey until the candy thermometer reads 310˚. And yes, it would have been just that easy, had I not turned my back for about 10 seconds during my third attempt. Within no time, the hot liquid candy spilled over the pot, all over the range, and actually caught fire on the burner. I was seconds away from having to reach for the extinguisher! I got it all under control…only to have to spend the next hour chiseling away at chunks of burnt sugar on the stovetop.

So, after suffering through and wasting 12 cups of sugar, 9 egg whites a whippin’, 6 pieces of dark chocolate, 4 jars of honey, 3 people laughing at me, 2 cut fingers and a stovetop charred and burned, I say BAH, HUMBUG to home made torrone! In fact, I don’t even want to see a little blue box of store bought torrone this year. Instead, I’ll stick with the delicious Christmas cookies and desserts that are made by my wife, our family and our friends.

If you are looking for a delicious holiday dessert recipe, check out the Holiday Rum Cake recipe that I shared on my blog a few years back by clicking here.

And if you want to try some of the best biscotti and ricotta cookies ever, be sure to visit my good friend Natalie Stone at Bella’s Biscotti by clicking here. They are THE BEST!

Broiled Rainbow Trout with Cannellini Beans and Pancetta

After getting through yet another Thanksgiving weekend filled with way too much food and celebration (what other kind of holiday weekend is there, really?) I decided yesterday to switch gears completely and go with a healthy (ok, healthier) dinner. One of the meals that I enjoyed a few weeks back while on vacation in Disney World was broiled rainbow trout served over a mixture of white beans, arugula and bacon. It was definitely on my ‘to do’ list to recreate this dish, and yesterday was the perfect opportunity.

Instead of using bacon, which is always paired nicely with rainbow trout, I opted for one of my favorite Italian go-to accent ingredients…pancetta! I also wanted to substitute a more hearty green for the arugula, and went with a nice side of broccoli rabe. You can also use a more leafy green, such as sauteed swiss chard or escarole and incorporate it into the bean mixture. Because broccoli rabe is more of a chunky green, it works better as a side dish in this instance.

Assembling this dish was fairly easy: first sauteing the pancetta and beans in a skillet, then seasoning and broiling the trout. Plating this dish rustic style is the best way to serve it – simply place the broiled trout filets over the bean mixture, and drizzle with a balsamic reduction. The rustic presentation will make for a nice dish to serve this holiday season at a dinner party…or better yet, as part of your Feast of the 7 Fishes.

Broiled Rainbow Trout with Cannellini Beans and Pancetta

1 15 oz can cannellini beans
4 oz (or two 1/4″ thick slices) pancetta, sliced into small cubes
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth (your choice)
2 filets rainbow trout
olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup balsamic vinegar

Step 1: Prepare the Beans
In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2 tbspns olive oil. Add the onion, stir and cook until translucent. Add the pancetta and stir together. Cook over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until pancetta becomes slightly crisp. Add a bit of the broth as needed to keep the pancetta from sticking to the pan. Drain the beans, then add to the pancetta. Stir and cook for about 3-5 minutes until beans are warmed, again adding more broth as needed to keep from sticking to the pan. Remove from heat, cover to keep warm. You can also add sauteed greens to the mixture, such as swiss chard or escarole.

Step 2: Prepare the Rainbow Trout
Turn your broiler to 500˚, placing the cooking rack closest to the top. Lightly oil the filets on both the meat and skin side, season with salt and pepper. Cover a baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly oil. Place the filets on the dish, skin-side down. Broil for 4-5 minutes, or until the trout starts to flake. Check it often to make sure it does not burn. Carefully remove from broiler. The skin should peel off easily at this point (you can also remove the skin as you serve the fish).

Step 3: Plating the Meal
Using a large serving dish, spread out the bean mixture evenly. Place the filets on top of the beans. You can break the filets into smaller pieces for easier serving. Drizzle with a balsamic reduction*. Serve with a nice, crisp white wine.

*Balsamic Reduction
To reduce balsamic vinegar simply means to cook it in a skillet or pan until it starts to thicken. Because it reduces, you want to use about 4 times as much as you will need for drizzling. For this recipe, you will use 1 cup balsamic. Pour the balsamic into a skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer until it starts to thicken up (about 3-5 minutes total). It will continue to thicken up after you remove the pan from the heat, so be sure to remove it from the heat while it’s still a just a bit thinner than you prefer. Drizzle over the fish.

And speaking of Disney….

I finally got to personally meet and spend some quality time with my favorite celebrity chef!