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

 

 

Final Four Feast...Madness!

Given our love of tournaments of all varieties, it should come as no surprise that the Fricks family really gets into NCAA March Madness! We dutifully fill out brackets for pools with our family and friends, and we also have a round-by-round draft of our own each year. Michelle clinched her loss this evening, meaning she will be the head mushroom washer (a dreaded task!) in our house for the next year. That means you’ll probably be seeing a bountiful number of recipes created by Dennis including fungi! While watching the Final 4 tourney on Saturday, we each selected 2 teams and prepared traditional dishes from their states. It took a little online research and creativity, but here’s what we came up with (along with their relative tastiness seedings—based on tonight’s preparations alone, as some had greater potential for future success with a few changes; we’ve typed them up how we think they’d taste best):

Floridian Mango & Avocado Salad w/Orange Juice Vinaigrette (#1 Seed)

The fresh, crisp flavors of this salad harkened us back to our recent Floridian adventure! We used the state drink (O.J.) as the base of a tangy, spicy dressing served atop tropical fruits and veggies. We deemed this dish a winner, even though we can’t say the same for the Gators basketball team.

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

·         2 TBSP white wine vinegar

·         1/2 cup orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed)

·         1/4 tsp. orange zest

·         Juice of 1/2 lime (about 2 TBSP)

·         1/2 TBSP olive oil

·         1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

·         1/2 tsp cumin

·         finely minced Serano or habenero pepper, to taste (this depends a lot on how spicy your pepper is)

·         2 tsp finely minced shallot

·         salt and pepper, to taste

·         1 TBSP fresh cilantro, finely chopped

For the salad:

·         leafy greens (we used a combination of spinach and micro pea greens, but arugula would also be really yummy)

·         2 green onions, chopped

·         1 mango, peeled and diced

·         1 avocado, peeled and diced (toss with a splash of lime juice after dicing to prevent browning)

·         1/4 red onion, sliced in thin slivers

·         2 green onions, chopped

·         1/3 red bell pepper, chopped

·         handful of canned black beans, rinsed

·         1/2 TBSP lime juice

·         additional roughly chopped cilantro, for serving (optional)

 Directions:

1.    Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl or measuring cup. Whisk thoroughly to combine. Taste and adjust according to your preferences. Marinate dressing in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour. Use a fine sieve to strain out chunky pieces just prior to serving.

2.    Soak the red onion slivers in warm water with a dash of salt and remaining lime juice for about 10 minutes. Rinse and drain the onions slices.

3.    Begin plating by first laying down your leafy greens. Top with green onions and cilantro, if using. (We suggest this because you are likely to lose some of the cilantro flavor from the dressing while straining)

4.    For a fancy schmancy presentation, mix together all remaining salad ingredients and scoop into hollowed out avocado shell. Alternatively, you could just place them on top of your greens.

5.    Drizzle vinaigrette over salad just prior to serving.

 **serving suggestion: Grill salmon to serve with your salad (or shrimp, if you are not allergic secondary to excessive consumption). For cohesive flavors, you could marinate the fish with citrus-y, spicy flavors prior to cooking.

Floridian Spritzer

Light, refreshing, and super-simple to prepare (especially when you consider our typically crazed food and drink preparations!).

Ingredients:

·         2 parts crisp, dry white wine (we used a pinot grigio)

·         1 part orange juice (we used Florida’s Natural…of course!)

·         1 part seltzer water

·         Splash of brandy

·         Basil leaf (for an aromatic garnish; optional—definitely not worth buying, if you don’t have it on hand already)

Directions:

1.    Pour in a cup.

2.    Add ice.

3.    Drink! (I wasn’t kidding about how easy it is!)

Beer & Brat Cheese Soup (#4 Seed)

Did you know that Miller Park (home of the Brewers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is the only baseball stadium that sells more bratwurst than hot dogs?  Originally brought to the states by German immigrants, the bratwurst was first popularized by butcher shops in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin in the 1920’s. Wisconsin also claims ownership of the “beer brat,” a style of preparation in which the brats are first poached in beer prior to grilling. We combined this legacy with another Wisconsin favorite—cheese!! to concoct a scrumptious soup. We attempted to raise our cholesterol even further by topping the soup with fried cheese curds, but this was an epic fail (see below).

Ingredients:

·         1 bratwurst (we used an Italian seasoned varietal from HyVee)

·         2 cans light beer (perfect disposal of some Bud Light left by friends who came to visit!)

·         1 slice bacon, chopped

·         olive oil

·         1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

·         1 small shallot, finely minced

·         2 stalks celery, finely chopped

·         1 medium carrot, finely chopped

·         salt & pepper, to taste

·         1/3 cup all purpose flour

·         2/3 cup chicken stock

·         12 oz pale ale (we used Bass)

·         1/2 cup whole milk

·         1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

·         1 tsp dry mustard

·         1 TBSP Dijon mustard

·         1/2 lb (8 oz.) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

·         1/4 cup Velveeta (we didn’t use this, but think it could add a nice creamy texture to minimize the graininess we had from using extra shredded cheddar)

·         green onions, sliced (for serving)

·         also tastes great with toasted sourdough bread!

Directions:

1.    In a small saucepan, boil the brat in beer for about 15 minutes at a gentle simmer. Remove from heat.

2.    Grill bratwurst over medium heat until lightly charred. Remove from heat and allow to cool before slicing into small chunks.

3.     In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp tender. Take the actual bacon bits out of the pan and discard. Save the beautiful, juicy, fatty, flavorful juice as the oil element for cooking your veggies with deeper flavors.

4.    Add onion, shallot, celery, and carrot to the pan. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Use additional olive oil, as needed. Saute until onions are translucent and soft (about 5 minutes).

5.    Sprinkle the flour over the top and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

6.    Whisk in the chicken stock and beer. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer another 5-10 minutes until vegetables are cooked and tender.

7.    Transfer mixture for soup pot into the blender. Process until smooth (be careful if blender is really full!  The lid nearly flew off and a few drops did end up burning Michelle in the arm during this process.  Dennis brilliantly placed a kitchen towel over the top of the blender to prevent this from happening again!). Once smooth, return soup to large saucepan.

8.    Whisk in milk, Worcestershire, dry mustard, Dijon mustard. Return to a simmer.

9.    Stir in grilled and sliced bratwurst chunks.

10. Slowly stir in cheddar and Velveeta, working in small batches and being careful not to overheat, as this could curdle the cheese.

11. Taste and add adjust to your liking.

12. Spoon into bowls and garnish with green onions.

13.  If you are successful, top with cheese curds as well.

cheese curd failures

So… in researching Wisconsin cuisine, one cannot overlook cheese curds, also known as “squeaky cheese.” The most popular Wisconsin preparation method we found for the curds involves battering and deep frying like onion rings. We came across a beer batter recipe that we thought would make a yummy, crunchy topping for our soup (just in case we hadn’t included enough cholesterol raising components yet!). Sad to say that all of the cheese melted out of our batter making a sticky and not so appetizing mess along the walls and bottom of our deep fat fryer. Not looking forward to cleaning it out, or attempting to batter and fry curds again anytime soon. We’ll just have to taste the local version next time we venture to the Diaryland. In the meantime, we’ll just eat our curds straight up with summer sausage and crackers. At least the soup was a success!

Kentucky Barbeque (#3 seed)

One of the most obscure of the regional American barbecue sauces is the Kentucky Black Barbecue Sauce & Dip because it can be found in only a small area of Western Kentucky just west of Louisville around Owensboro. This fascinating blend is mostly vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and it is designed to go with the specialty of the region, slow smoked mutton.  We did not have mutton, so we chose a similar tough and lean meat—elk. The elk was smoked in the homemade terra-cotta pot smoker for about 6 hours and then finished in the oven.  The idea was to replicate a pulled pork sandwich, but with Kentucky Black Barbeque Sauce.

Ingredients:

·         SAUCE (amounts are approximate, and can vary based on taste preference)

o   vegetable oil

o   1/4-1/2 cup minced onion

o   1/4-1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

o   1/2+2 tbl Worcestershire sauce

o   1-2 tbl light brown sugar

o   1 tsp lemon juice

o   1/4 tbl black pepper

o   1/8 cup dark beer (optional, Anchor Steam is an excellent choice)

o   1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce (or hot sauce)

o   1/4 tsp nutmeg

o   1/4 tsp allspice

o   1/4 tsp garlic powder

o   1/4 tsp onion powder

·         SPICE RUB (again, amounts are approximate)

o   1 part Kosher salt

o   1.5 parts pepper

o   1.5 parts brown sugar

o   1 part chili powder

o   .5 parts onion powder

o   .5 parts garlic powder

o   .5 parts mustard powder

o   .5 parts oregano

o   1 part paprika

·         MEAT

o   For this you can use pork, beef, mutton, elk, bison, etc.  Just make sure to get a “tough” cut of meat as it will be slowly cooked into juicy bits.

Directions:

1.    In a small saucepan, sauté the minced onion until slightly brown.  Add the remaining sauce ingredients and allow to simmer/reduce for about 5 minutes.

2.    The sauce will be much less viscous (runnier) than most barbeque sauces.  This is OK for this sauce.

3.    Set aside the sauce and combine all the spices from the rub and mix well.

4.    Cover you meat of choice with the spice rub.

5.    After soaking wood chips (or prepping your smoker as needed), place the meat in the smoker and cook at 180 to 220 degrees.  The temperature will vary based on the size/type of the meat as well as the amount of time you have.

6.    After about 1-2 hours of smoking, start brushing the sauce on the meat every 1/2 hour or so.  Make sure to keep some in reserve. 

7.    At this point, you can finish the meat in the oven (as I did because of time constraints) or you can smoke until the meat reaches your required internal temperature.  I’d say with this type of meat/cooking, it’s difficult to overcook.

8.    Once the meat is done, you can chop/pull the meat and serve on a sandwich.  I prefer this with a slaw or some type of lighter element.  I’d stay away from vinegary pickled veggies (a normal favorite with smoked or barbeque sandwiches) as the sauce itself is more vinegary than normal. 

Connecticut Election Cake with Clove Whipped Cream (#2 seed)

For an in depth description/history of election cake, I would suggest going to the following link (http://nourishedkitchen.com/election-cake-a-touch-of-american-culinary-history/, or just googling “election cake”).  The brief summary is that it was a cake that was often-times commissioned by cites to feed people in election day festivals and celebrations.  It was much more of a northeastern tradition, where apparently they have kitchens full of bowls!  You'll need 4 total.

Ingredients:

FOR THE CAKE

·         .17 ounces dry active yeast (slightly less than a full single packet) OR 4.8 grams OR 1 teaspoon.

·         1 cup flour

·         1/2 stick butter (at room temperature)

·         1 1/4 cup mixed dried fruit (apples, apricots, raisins, cranberries, prunes, etc…virtually anything will work, just avoid anything candied

·         1/6 cup brown sugar

·         1/9 cup whiskey, bourbon, cognac, or rye

·         1/2 tsp. cinnamon

·         1/3 tsp. allspice

·         1/4 tsp. nutmeg

·         Pinch salt

·         1/9 cup granulated sugar

·         1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

·         1 egg

FOR THE CLOVE WHIPPED CREAM

·         Dried cloves

·         Heavy whipping cream

·         sugar

Directions:

1.    Sprinkle yeast over about 1/3 cup of warm water in a small bowl/cup.  Stir a few times and let stand allowing the yeast to dissolve and bubble.

2.    After yeast is prepped, stir in 1/2 cup of flour and stir until mostly smooth.  Cover this mixture and set aside in a warm environment for at least 30 minutes (mixture will expand, loosen and may have some bubbles on the surface).

3.    While this mixture sits, place the selected dried fruit, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and the whisky/burbon/cognac/rye in a microwaveable bowl.  Stir in the sugar and heat in the microwave for approximately 1 minute.  Set aside to cool.

4.    In a 3rd bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup flour with the nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and salt.

5.    In a 4th bowl, beat the butter with the remaining brown sugar and the granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Then, beat in the egg.  This mixture may look a little curdled at this time (that is OK).  Add the vanilla.

6.    At this point, you should have 4 bowls:

a.   Yeast Mixture (yeast, water, flour…set aside to rise)

b.   Dried Fruit Mixture (fruit, booze, sugar, cooling from microwave)

c.    Flour Mixture (flour and spices)

d.   Egg Mixture (beaten egg with the butter, sugar and vanilla)

7.    In order, you should add combine these mixtures by adding them into the egg mixture.

a.   First add the Yeast Mixture (reducing the speed on the mixer)

b.   Gradually beat in the Flour Mixture (a little at a time)

c.    Add the Dried Fruit Mixture with all the juice

8.    Beat on medium until the fruit is well blended and the dough is soft and elastic.

9.    Transfer to a greased loaf pan (or bundt pan) and cover with plastic and allow to rise (again in a warm place) for about 2 hours)

10. Cook in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for approximately 40-45 minutes.  Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

11. While the cake is cooling (or earlier if you prefer), add 1/2 to 1 cup of heavy cream to a bowl with sugar and cloves at your desired amount. 

12. Beat on high until the cream is whipped and firm.  Refrigerate and serve with the cake.