Italian Night

A bottle of red….A bottle of white….We were in the mood for Italian tonight.  A special thanks to Mom Judy for the cheese making kit she gave us for Christmas!  We tried it for the first time today and were pleasantly surprised with how easy it was.  Time consuming, but easy. We literally followed the 3 fool-proof directions on the side of the box and then took a nap while the cheesecloth worked its magic.  The ricotta tasted great straight up, on bread, and in our cannelloni.  It was the inspiration and focal point of our Italian meal this evening.

Italian Antipasto Salad

With all the salty, briny goodness of these ingredients, you won’t need to be told twice to eat your veggies. This salad echoes the traditional Italian appetizer of antipasto in a bowl with a few leafy greens tossed in to boot. We’d recommend cutting the ingredients on the smaller side, almost as if you were making a slaw.

 

oops!  no picture.

Ingredients:

·         romaine/spinach

·         radicchio

·         olives, quartered

·         artichoke hearts, chopped

·         pepperoni, cut into slivers

·         cherry tomatoes, quartered

·         red onion, finely sliced

·         celery rib, diced

·         Provel cheese (or for those who don’t have access to this STL favorite, parmesan will do)

For the dressing:

·         red wine vinegar

·         lemon juice

·         salt

·         freshly ground black pepper

·         Dijon mustard

·         honey

·         oregano

·         Marjoram (optional)

·         olive oil

Directions:

1.    Combine first 8 dressing ingredients in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Finally, whisk in the olive oil a little at a time. (I didn’t precisely measure these ingredients, but you’ll want to have the vinegar and olive oil as your primary components followed by lemon juice).  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

2.    For the salad, combine all ingredients besides cheese in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and top with cheese.

Cannelloni

When going out to eat, both Michelle and I always seem to revisit cannelloni.  The hearty, creamy meat, with the more acidic marinara, all stuffed inside a pasta noodle are just too good to resist.  The “real” top to Cannelloni is a béchamel sauce.  These are easy enough to make (you can google it!), but given our love for Imo’s Provel cheese and it’s excellent melting qualities, we prefer this as our “béchamel” sauce.  Here is our rendition!

Ingredients:

·         manicotti noodles

·         1 tbl. butter

·         1/2 pound ground meat

o   2 parts veal to 1 part pork

·         Imo’s cheese

·         2 tbl. flour—estimated amount

·         1/8 cup parmesan cheese

·         1/8-1/4 cup ricotta cheese

·         Marinara sauce (for the recipe, look back to our post from December 2013)

·         1 cup milk

·         salt, pepper

·         1/2 to 1 tsp. nutmeg, amount can vary based on taste preference.

·         dried oregano and basil

·         1 egg (beaten)

·         1/3 cup+ frozen spinach—chopped, amount can vary based on taste preference.

Directions:

1.    Cook the manicotti noodles per the directions—but err on the side of slightly undercooking.

2.    Melt butter over medium heat in a sauté pan on the stove.

3.    Add the meat and cook/chop until meat is about 50% cooked (2-3 minutes if finely chopped).

4.    Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, oregano basil, and milk—turn heat down a bit.

5.    Let simmer for a couple minutes and add the parmesan cheese and flour to thicken to your desired consistency.

6.    Remove meat from the heat and add ricotta cheese by the tablespoon until the final result is creamy—almost like a burger patty, but a bit more crumbly.

7.    Add more salt/pepper/nutmeg/oregano/basil based on personal taste preference.  I generally feel the mix needs more salt, nutmeg and oregano at this time.

8.    Add the beaten egg to the mixture and stir. 

9.    Stuff the cooked manicotti noodles with the meat mixture.

10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

11. Spread the marinara sauce across the bottom of a pan (9x9” or approximate)

12. Place the stuffed noodles on top of the sauce

13. Add more sauce on top of the noodles.

14. Add shredded Imo’s cheese (or provelone/mozzarella, or any creamy white cheese for those without access to Imo’s) over the top, as desired.

15. Cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Broil for the final 3-4 minutes to brown the cheese on top.

16. Serve.

Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta

I love milky, egg-y desserts.  Ice cream and pudding are the best!  Panna Cotta is an Italian riff on these desserts—made with gelatin as a thickening agent.  It is important (i.e. delicious) to have some sort of texture with these types of desserts so a crunchy topping or even some type of fresh fruit can always be added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tsp. powdered gelatin

·         1 3/8 cups whole milk

·         1/8 tsp. salt

·         3 ounces dark chocolate—chopped (or chips)

·         0 to 1/4 cup sugar**

·         1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. nutmeg—both optional

·         vegetable oil

·         Crunchy topping

o   pepitas

o   thick cut oats

o   any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and allspice

o   brown sugar

 

**We both like this fairly unsweetened—thus, we use no sugar or only a small amount.  The “normal” recipe calls for much more.  I’d suggest starting using a bit less than you normally would be inclined (remembering that the chocolate adds quite a bit of sugar unless you are using unsweetened).

Directions:

1.    In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over only 1/4 cup of the mile and let stand while you prep the rest of the dish.

2.    In a medium sauce pan, combine the remaining milk with your desired level of sugar, and the salt.

3.    Bring the milk mixture to just a simmer over moderate heat.  Once it hits a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk in the gelatin/milk mixture.

4.    In a microwaveable safe bowl, melt the chocolate at high power in 10-15 second intervals until it is soft and “pourable”

5.    Whisk in the chocolate into the milk mixture.

6.    Strain the panna cotta mixture into a bowl (while this seems unnecessary—I’ll admit I didn’t do it the first time we made this—you will have some unpleasant graininess at the bottom of the bowl if you don’t do this).  If you don’t have a strainer, just leave a little bit in the bottom of the original pan when you are pouring into the serving containers.

7.    Lightly brush/rub the vegetable oil on 3-4 ramekins and fill them with the mixture. 

8.    Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm.

9.    Prepare crunch topping. In a dry pan, lightly toast pepitas, oats, spices, and sugar until nuts and oats are lightly browned.  Allow to cool before serving, so they don’t melt the panna cotta.  To speed this process along, you can refrigerate or freeze. (This can be made and stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days in advance)

10. Top with the crunchy pepita topping.  Fresh raspberries and/or strawberries are recommended too!

 

Campari Blood Orange Cocktail

This was inspired by a cocktail we saw Bobby Flay on his “Brunch at Bobby’s” show.  I love blood orange in drinks more than most any other varietal of orange.  It seems to have a deeper citrus flavor without some of the acidity that can some drinks seem too one note. 

Ingredients:

·         Blood oranges

·         Campari  

·         Gin (optional)

·         Orange juice (optional)

·         Basil, sugar, water

·         Bitters

Directions:

1.    This drink is relatively simple as you can just add blood orange juice to campari in about a 4 to 1 ratio (the 4 is the blood orange juice you alcoholics!).  This is a delicious rendition, but I will also include an alternative.

2.    Add 1 part sugar to 2 parts water in a sauce/sauté pan and heat until the sugar dissolves.

3.    Add basil leaves (as many as you desire) to the simple syrup and let steep for at least 15 minutes—an hour is ideal.

4.    Add the ingredients at the following ratio:

a.   Blood orange (4 parts)

b.   Campari (2 parts)

c.    Gin (1 part)

d.   Basil simple syrup (1 or 2 parts—depending on how sweet you like your drinks)

e.   Orange juice (completely optional, I only used a splash)

f.     Bitters/Orange zest (only to taste after the first ingredients are mixed)

5.    Serve with a blood orange slice and basil leaf