Poached Eggs and Playdates

We had some friends over last night...Baxter the Pit/Boxer mix, along with his human, Josh! Oia and Baxter had a field day playing and running around while I made sure the humans were fed some yummy dinner, and we all had a lovely evening! While they chowed down on treats for tricks, we dove into bowls of gooey risotto loaded with crispy pieces of bacon, and silky, sauteed leeks. The best part though? The poached egg broken over the top of each mound of risotto, dripping and oozing into the dish, adding that much more texture to an already flavorful dish!

I got a later start than I had originally planned, but the bacon was crisping when Baxter and Josh walked in the door! I was moving along in my creation of Bacon and Leek Risotto with Poached Egg. After the bacon was done, I sauteed the leeks in the drippings and eventually added the rice as well as the wine. I've explained the risotto-making procedure over and over, so I won't bore you with the chicken-stock-ladling and stirring process, but I did happen to have two more containers of homemade stock so that added to the flavors! Once the risotto was ready, I stirred in the bacon, some fresh parsley, and some grated Parmesan, and then seasoned it all up with some salt and black pepper.

While the risotto was cooking, I sliced a bunch of ingredients for an Escarole, Apple and Raw Golden-Beet Salad. I used my mandoline to thinly slice some raw golden beets and radishes. I was a bit skeptical about eating beets raw, but the freshness combined with the really bright flavor of the golden beets worked really well. I paired the radishes and beets with some escarole, Granny Smith apple, olive oil, apple cider vinegar and hazelnut oil. I topped it all off with some sea salt flakes. This salt adds a mild saltiness to salads, but with a really interesting texture. They are very fine flakes, so you don't get that crunch that you would get with other types of salt. I like to use it instead of Kosher salt when I'm adding it to salads. I decided not to roast the hazelnuts and sprinkle them over the top, and the salad really worked without them. It was a very bright dish, for one described as a winter salad in the recipe. It was much lighter than what I would imagine a winter salad to be.

The final step was to poach those eggs for the top of the risotto, and by a stroke of luck, I managed to get all three of them perfect on the first try! I usually spend time screaming and yelling at a pot of boiling water when my eggs break, or don't cook correctly, but these three...they went in perfectly, they cooked perfectly, and then, they oozed gooily over that mound of risotto! Score!

Mambo Italiano!

We're jumping off the Asian continent for awhile, and heading over to Europe...to my favorite country, Italy! The best part of Italian cuisine is its rusticness. Don't get me wrong, there's definitely fine Italian cuisine that is very delicate and refined, but I just love the big bowl of pasta, the hearty sauces, and the braised and roasted meats...meals that make for a real meal!

The dish I chose for my representation of Italy's cuisine is appropriately from Jamie's Italy. In Italian, Spiedini di Salsiccia e Manzo, means Sausage and Beef Kebabs. They are roasted in the oven, and I opted to serve them over a rich polenta, which is a cornmeal-based porridge-y side dish.

First things first, the meats needed to be marinaded. I cubed my beef, cut up my thick slices of pancetta and cut the Italian sausages into thirds by twisting them and then snipping in between each section. The marinade consisted of sage leaves, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. Once all of those ingredients are mashed up in a mortar and pestle, pour it over the meats and some more sage leaves. That can marinade for 1-3 hours if you have time, but if not, just go ahead with the next step. I made sure to let it marinate for about 3 hours, though.

If you can find rosemary skewers, they are certainly a special treat, but if you can't, you can also use metal or wooden skewers available in most grocery stores. I happened to find rosemary skewers so I was psyched to use them for the added flavor. After you strip the skewers of all the rosemary except for a few fronds at the top (and save it for another recipe), use a knife to kind of whittle away the bark of the skewer, and form a point on the end of each as well.

While my oven was preheating to the highest temperature, I started building my kabobs: pancetta, sage leaf, sausage, beef, and continue that way until your skewer is full. When you've completed either all your skewers, or finished off the marinated meat (whichever comes first), it's time for them to go in the oven. Right before that, turn the oven down to 400 degrees so that as the oven cools, it continues to roast the kabobs.

After 20 minutes, your kabobs should be juicy, fragrant and best of all, ready to eat! You can squeeze some lemon juice on top before serving. I made a quick polenta, loaded with parmesan and a little bit of butter, as a bed for the kabobs. Each bite, with a bit of meat, a bit of sage and a bit of polenta was hearty and decadent. Rustic Italian cuisine at it's best!

First Cukes, Now Zukes!

My friend Laurie brought me a few gorgeous zucchini from her garden, in exchange for a post on how to make fried zucchini sticks. Now, that's my kinda trade! I decided to serve them with some steamers, cooked in beer and shallots, and sprinkled with a chiffonade of arugula as well as some scallions. I love steamers on a hot summer day, and these were no exception. I could have eaten another two pounds!

Okay, so the steamers are delicious - and I could go on all day about them, but this post is about zucchini, and amazingly fresh zucchini at that! The recipe I used was loosely based on a Giada de Laurentiis recipe from foodnetwork.com, but I just kind of threw stuff together - no measurements this time around. For the breading, I mixed together some panko, grated parmesan and salt. Taste it to make sure it's seasoned correctly, but you won't need a ton of salt since parmesan is quite a salty cheese. In a separate bowl, crack and beat two eggs. The zucchini should be cut into 3-inch pieces that are about 1/2-an-inch thick.

This is a bit time consuming but don't rush, because you want each zucchini stick to be nicely coated. Dip it into the egg and soak it thoroughly, and then allow the excess to drip off before dunking it into the panko/parmesan mixture. Try to get it buried in there and pat the coating all over each piece. Once a piece is ready to go, place it on a baking sheet while it waits to be fried to a wonderful crisp! Keep going like this until all the pieces are finished. If your hands get all "gloopy," rinse your fingers off to avoid thickening the egg wash.

Once you are ready to fry, heat some olive oil or vegetable oil in a pot and allow it to heat until it fries a small piece of "test panko." I just took a little clump of egg and panko, threw it in the oil, and waited to see if it started to fry immediately. It takes a few minutes for the oil to heat up so don't rush it - if you rush it, you're going to get soggy, doughy zucchini sticks, and that...is not...appetizing. Once the oil is heated, fry your zucchini sticks in several batches, depending on the size of your pan.

I did about 5 at a time because I used a small pan. The larger the pan, the more you can do at one time. Once they are crisp and browned, about 2-3 minutes, you can remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and allow them to drain on some paper towels. Serve fairly quickly so that they don't have time to cool completely...the cooler they are, the soggier they get, but when they are hot, boy are they crispy!!

I sprinkled them with a bit more parmesan, and served them alongside the steamers. You could serve them with a ranch dressing dipping sauce, or even give them an extra kick by adding some crushed red pepper flakes to the panko/parmesan mixture. Get creative with it! As long as your oil is hot, and you fry them for the right amount of time, you've got a wonderful side dish for an easy summer meal!

This One Took Awhile!

Today, I decided to conquer the challenge of Jamie's Lasagne alla Cacciatora, or "hunter's lasagne." This was quite an endeavor, I found, but nonetheless probably the BEST lasagna I've ever had, so it was totally worth it. Trust me, during the process, I was cursing all the ingredients and thinking, "This better be the best lasagna ever." It was totally worth every second I spent making it, and even though the recipe mentions that it serves 6...this is going to feed us for awhile!

I took pictures a bit differently this time since there were so many moving parts of this recipe. I have a couple of mise en place pictures, for each of the different steps. So, let's get the show on the road!

This afternoon, I roasted a whole chicken to be used in the sauce for the lasagna. There are a bunch of roasted meat recipes in Jamie's Italy, and the hunter's lasagna calls for one to five of them. I opted for just one my first time, but I could have done rabbit, duck, chicken, squab or quail. You can get a whole chicken relatively cheaply at the grocery store, while the others can be a bit pricier. All I needed to roast the chicken was well, the chicken, as well as some bay leaves, some garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and some lemon halves.



I rubbed the chicken with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, I stuffed the lemon halves, bay leaves and garlic cloves (whole) inside the bird.



I know that's not a very pretty picture, but I wanted to show you how it's done! :) I put the chicken into a 375 degree oven for an hour and a half, basting half way through!



Once the chicken was done, and cooled, I shredded it with my fingers. This became part of the mise en place for the red sauce. Along with more olive oil, more garlic, some rosemary, more bay leaves, and 3 14-oz cans of plum tomatoes, I was ready to start the next step in the process.



I heated a large saucepan with some olive oil and slowly fried the garlic until it was lightly colored and very fragrant. Once the garlic was ready, I threw in the rosemary sprig, bay leaves, and the three cans of tomatoes. I left this to cook gently for 45 minutes, covered.



While the red sauce was cooking, I made my fresh pasta dough and left it to rest for the requisite 30 minutes.



Once the red sauce was close to the 45 minute mark, I started in on the white sauce for the lasagna. This step called for milk, a sprig of parsley, nutmeg, some sliced onion, black peppercorns, butter, flour, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.



I needed two different pots for this step. The milk, parsley, nutmeg, onion, and peppercorns went into one pot, and I then brought it to a gentle boil.



Meanwhile, in the other pot, I was melting down some butter. Once the butter had liquified, I stirred in the flour to make a roux.



While the milk mixture was heating, the timer went off on the 45 minutes for my red sauce. I added the chicken to the sauce and set the timer for another 20 minutes. I also pulled out the bay leaves and rosemary sprig.



And now back to the white sauce! Once it was gently boiling, I strained all the stuff out of it (because all we really wanted was the flavoring for the milk) and slowly poured the milk into the roux, stirring to blend as I poured. This is a slow process so be patient with it - pour a little and then blend it, pour a little and then blend it - it's a bit like risotto!



At some point during all this commotion, I found time to roll out some lasagna noodles. I quickly blanched them by putting them in boiling water for a minute, and then directly into an ice water bath. Once the noodles were done, my red sauce had simmered, and my white sauce was blended, it was time to build the lasagna!

I want to pause here, and say that lasagna does not need to be this much work. You could very well buy dried lasagna noodles, some jarred marinara sauce, and an already cooked rotisserie chicken to make this same meal, but...have you ever known me to take the simple route!?

Okay - back to the task at hand! I layered two of my lasagna noodles in a greased 13x9" pan.



They aren't exactly square but hey, it's more rustic that way. On top of the noodles, I ladled on my red sauce with the chicken in it.



On top of the red sauce, I poured on some of the white sauce, and then sprinkled it with some of the shredded parmesan.



Then, you start all over again, until you've used all the sauce. I ended up with 2 layers of sauce and three layers of noodles (one layer for the top). The pan was full to the brim, nothing else would fit in there if I had tried! Once the last layer of noodle had been placed on top, I poured the remaining white sauce over it, sprinkled with parmesan and some fresh shredded mozzarella. I sprinkled some sage leaves on top and a few drizzles of olive oil, and it was ready to go into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, until it turns golden on top.



I made some Italian-Style Swiss Chard while the lasagna was cooking, and when the time went off, this is what I pulled out of the oven!



This was the best lasagna I've ever had. I'm not sure whether it was the different layers of sauce, or the fresh lasagna noodles, or the touch of fried sage on top, but this ... was ... de-lish-ous! I can't wait to eat it for lunch tomorrow!



I'll be making my next menu this week, so if you have any requests, don't forget to comment on a post to let me know. You can also contact me here, if you would prefer to email your request directly to me.

Rotolo di Zucca e Ricotta

Well, this recipe certainly was a bit of work - but it was SO worth it. This dish is so pretty, and wonderful for impressing those dinner party guests. It's a lot of work, but the work isn't all that difficult. I love how Jamie Oliver writes, because it's like having a conversation with someone who's telling me how to make a specific dish. It's so easy to follow his instruction!

This is a rotolo of spinach, squash and ricotta. When I wiki'd "rotolo" to find you a more specific definition of what it is, I found that "Rotolo" is an Italian surname. Haha! So, I'll give you the Mere-finition, which is that this dish is a roulade of pasta. Normally, a roulade is made with a thin piece of meat rolled around some sort of stuffing such as vegetables or cheese. I replaced the meat with thick lasagna noodles, and voila, a rotolo!

Alright, here we go! I made my fresh pasta dough and left it to rest for the necessary 30 minutes. It was a bit sticky tonight, but after a little extra flour on my kneading surface, I evened it all out. I then moved on to my mise en place. The filling for the rotolo consists of butternut squash seasoned with fennel seeds, coriander seeds, chili powder, salt and pepper along with some wilted spinach, fresh oregano, garlic, butter and nutmeg. I also needed to get out my parmesan and ricotta. Finally, some extra butter and a nice handful of sage leaves, and my mise en place is complete!



Once everything was out and prepped, I preheated my oven to 425 degrees because I need to cook the squash. I dusted the squash pieces with the crushed coriander seeds, fennel seeds, chili powder, salt and pepper and tossed the squash in a snugly fit dish.





Once I got the squash in the oven (for 30 minutes - covered with a damp piece of wax paper), I started on the spinach since it was supposed to cool before use. I heated a nice glug of olive oil in a pan and added my sliced garlic and fresh oregano leaves.



Once that had sizzled a bit, I started adding the spinach and as it wilted, I continued to add more. I had two whole bags to get in there so slowly but surely wins the race. Keep the spinach leaves moving around with a tongs so that none of them burn, but as the leaves wilt, it makes more room to add more leaves.



Continue this way until all the spinach has wilted down. At this point, you can season with nutmeg, and a few clumps of butter. Always taste your food, as you are cooking - then you'll know if you need to add some salt and pepper to this before taking it off the heat. I added a little bit of each and then removed the spinach to a bowl to cool.



Once a half hour has passed, check on your squash. Remove the wax paper, toss them around a bit and put them back in for another 15 minutes - or until they are golden.



While the squash was finishing up, I used my pasta roller to make six long sheets of pasta. I laid them out on a dish towel (I would have preferred to use a white one - but I lucked out and nothing turned black at the end of this ordeal!). I used some water to stick the noodles together to make one long sheet.



Once the squash was finished, I removed it from the oven and spooned it across the long side of the noodle sheet.



I then sprinkled my cooled spinach around the rest of the sheet, leaving a 2 inch section at the top clear of any filling. That's the part that will tuck over to complete our rotolo.



From here, I sprinkled both ricotta cheese and shredded parmesan cheese on top of this mixture.



I used the edge of the towel to start my roll, and then continued tucking and rolling until I had one long roll of pasta and stuffing. Use a little bit of water on the top edge to stick it to the rest of the rotolo.



Once it was rolled, I put a pot of water on to boil. I didn't have a pot really big enough for this so I kind of had to wind it around the side of the pot I was working with. The best case scenario would probably be an oblong-shaped fish pot, but we work with what we've got right!? While the water was boiling, the recipe instructed me to roll this up in a dish towel. I didn't have a nice, thin, white dish towel like Jamie did in the pictures, so I made do with what I had. I was a little concerned that my pasta would come out dyed a little black, but luckily, that did not happen! I tied the ends with some kitchen twine.



Once the water was boiling I placed this in the pot as best I could, and then placed a plate on top to hold it under the water since it tends to want to float to the surface. I left this to simmer for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, I needed to clarify some butter by placing it in a very low heated oven, and allowing it to melt there. Once melted, I separated (as best I could) the white parts of the butter from the clear. I added the clear portion to a pan which I heated more aggressively. Once it was hot enough, I threw my sage leaves into the butter and allowed them to lightly fry.



I pulled the leaves out and let them drain on a paper towel. I kept the now sage-flavored butter over a low heat so that it didn't start to congeal. I pulled the rotolo out of the boiling water with some silicon potholder gloves and unwrapped it onto a cutting board. Because I had to curve it to get it in the pot, it had burst open in a few places but not too badly. I sliced the rotolo into generous serving portions and plated! I decided to serve this beautiful looking roulade with an arugula and radicchio salad, dressed with only some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and tossed it with a handful of shredded parmesan.



This isn't a dish you see on every Italian restaurant menu, but I'm sure glad it was on mine! :)

Buon Appetito!

Tonight, I made some fresh spaghetti for a lovely dish from Jamie's Italy, Spaghetti alla Carbonara di Salsiccia. Well, the recipe calls for linguine...but I wanted to use my pasta press instead of the rollers, so that's what I did! :) This also gives me a perfect opportunity to talk to you about carbonara sauce, since it's one of my favorites! It is an egg-based sauce that usually incorporates Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese, as well as some parsley and some sort of pork product, usually bacon or pancetta. It's totally simple, and is an extremely easy week-night meal. You tack on a bit more time if you make fresh pasta, but you know what I say - it's always worth it to make fresh pasta!

Tonight, I started by making my pasta dough so that it could rest while I got my mise en place together. I set it aside for the necessary 30 minutes.



This is another recipe with very few ingredients so my mise en place was done very quickly. All you'll need is some extra virgin olive oil, some heavy cream, grated Parmesan, lemon zest, salt and pepper, some chopped parsley, chopped pancetta, 4 Italian sausages and 4 egg yolks.



While my dough was still resting, I moved on to the first step of the recipe - making the little sausage meatballs. I slit the skin on the sausage and slipped the meat out so that I had a pile of loose sausage meat. I rolled little pieces into meatballs, about the size of large marbles. I picked the perfect surface to work on, huh?

My dough was ready at this point to start running through my pasta press so I stuffed some in to start pressing while I started the next step. I put some olive oil in a large pan and heated it until the oil was warm. I poured my mini sausage meatballs into the pan and allowed them to fry on all sides until nice and golden.



Once the sausage was golden on all sides, I poured in my chopped pancetta and allowed the mixture to continue cooking until the pancetta started to become crispy and golden as well.



Meanwhile, my pasta dough had been fully turned into spaghetti noodles so I put a pot of salted water on to boil. While I was waiting for my "watched pot," I mixed the egg yolks, heavy cream, half of the parmesan, the lemon zest and the parsley together with a whisk. It turns into a lovely bright yellow mixture.



Once the pasta is finished cooking (8-12 minutes for boxed pasta; 3-4 minutes for fresh pasta), drain it in a colander, reserving just a little bit of the cooking liquid in case you need to thin your sauce a bit. Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of the pot that you cooked the pasta in, and then pour the pasta back in from the colander. At this point, pour the sausage and pancetta mixture into the pasta (try and avoid pouring the grease from the pan in if you can) and then pour the egg mixture on top. Quickly toss your pasta with some tongs so that the carbonara sauce coats all the noodles but doesn't scramble. The heat from the pasta will cook the egg gently so that it turns into a rich, gooey coating for the spaghetti. Be careful to continue tossing until all the noodles are well coated and there is no extra sauce cooking on the bottom of the pan...you'll have scrambled eggs if you're not watching what you are doing!



Once you've plated the pasta, sprinkle it with some of the leftover grated Parmesan. You can serve with a side salad, or a steamed veggie. Tonight, I chose to use Broccoflower. It just looked so bright and spring-y at the grocery store - I had to buy some!



That was DE-LISH-OUS!