Double Chocolate Biscotti

I wouldn't say that I'm a particularly good cook, but I'm certainly better at cooking than I am at baking. I spotted this recipe for double chocolate biscotti -- and thought that I could give this baking thing another shot. 

The recipe was super easy to make. The recipe author has several other biscotti recipes on her website, which I am definitely going to try.

It is a little challenging to move the loaves if you form them somewhere else besides the baking sheet. I had to move quickly holding the loaf up in the air so it wouldn't fall apart as I moved it over to the baking sheet. The loaf is soft and pliable, so breaks easily -- even after the first round of baking. 

The orange zest is a nice bright touch. The biscotti turn out a bit crispy, but certainly not as crunchy as I expected. They aren't as soft as a brownie, but you don't need to dip them in coffee or another beverage to soften them up enough to eat. That didn't stop me from having a couple with some coffee ice cream...which I'd recommend. 

Enjoy!

Polenta con Ragu

On a cold, snowy Saturday, I think you need something warm and hearty for dinner. Like a healthy portion of  polenta con ragu. The ragu takes a while to make, but it's delicious and worth it if you have the time. We found our recipe here (which you can translate into English). We have made the ragu several times since. 

The ragu takes several hours to make, but is a delicious sauce with lots of depth. If you have a few hours to just let it cook on the stove on a Saturday or Sunday, it's definitely better than a regular jarred marinara with meat added. The ingredients are very basic, and you can let it simmer, stirring occasionally with little fanfare. We have since started adding a few tablespoons of milk at the end, as mentioned in the recipe.    

The polenta doesn't have a ton of flavor, so the bulk of what you taste is from the ragu. If we make the polenta with ragu again, we talked about adding some roasted garlic to jazz up the polenta a bit. We also topped the final product with shaved parmesan which melts right into the meat. 

The recipe makes a large amount of ragu, plenty more than you need for the polenta. We used the rest of the ragu as a regular meat sauce on pasta later in the week. 

Pork Chops with Peppers and Capers

We got all motivated to try some new recipes last week, including this tasty pork chop recipe. We purchased rib pork chops (I think I normally get the loin? I don't even know) to use, as directed by the recipe. Granted, I've never made this before, but I was impressed with how it turned out!

You do need to prep a little beforehand -- making the brine and soaking the pork chops overnight. We also forgot to pick up black olives, so omitted those.

Making the brine

Prepping all the veggies

Here is the pork, taken out of the brine and drying before dredging in flour.

Browning the pork chops

Mixed all together with the peppers, capers and green onions

Final product on the plate!

It was quite tasty -- definitely better than I expected -- and pretty easy as well! I am not a huge salt person (Paul prefers things saltier than I do), and I thought this was nicely balanced. I loved all the brightly colored peppers, and they went really well with the meat. Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken Sandwiches

I'm a big fan of repurposing leftovers, and Paul had a great idea this week, We had leftover grilled chicken breasts, that had been marinated in a little olive oil and herbs de provence. Paul suggested we make pesto chicken sandwiches with the leftover pieces. 

We threw together a quick pesto (basil leaves, some leftover chopped walnuts, olive oil, Parmesan cheese... I forgot garlic!) in the food processor. I think the pesto looks so dark because we used walnuts instead of pine nuts. which are lighter in color.
 

We served them on hoagie buns, with a smear of pesto, some melted mozzarella and tomato slices. Delicious! Easy to make and cheaper than going out for lunch on Sunday.

Fiori di Zucca

One of Paul's patients was kind enough to share some of the squash blossoms she had growing in her garden. We had some delicious fiori di zucca while we were in Italy, so i was super excited to make them again. 

We used a simple recipe we found online (we found many, with variety in terms of the frying batter and the cheese to include inside). This recipe called for ricotta cheese (we had a cup or so left of skim ricotta, and an easy batter of flour, salt, egg and warm water.

The batter was not too bad -- I think I would have used either a little more salt or perhaps a saltier cheese (whether full-fat ricotta or mozzarella). I wanted (and did) add salt to these after I took the first bite.  I also tossed in a little thyme with the filling, which was pretty tasty. You could easily include chopped basil, rosemary, or sage to change up the flavoring of the filling.

They were simple to make and cooked quickly. You definitely want to eat them right away while the breading is still crispy! And I'd avoid eating the stem end (or getting too close to it) as well -- even after taking out the stamen or pistil, it can be bitter. 

I'm hoping we can another batch to fry up before summer is over! 

Artichoke, Asparagus and Sausage Pasta with Homemade Caesar Salad

This meal is from a while back,  but thought I'd revisit it -- as this Giada recipe for sausage, artichoke, and asparagus pasta is one we go to a lot. We found it in her Everyday Pasta cookbook, and it's easy and delicious. 


And since it's been so long, I can't find the recipe I used for the homemade Caesar dressing. I remember using real anchovies (I was so brave!) and raw egg. I'll try to track it down and add it to the post, though I think I already scared everyone off with those two ingredients.
 

Chicken Marsala

I found an easy recipe on Epicurious for chicken marsala. We didn't have any mushrooms, which I typically like to include with chicken marsala, but this recipe worked out just fine without the mushrooms. 

I ended up cooking the recipe a little differently, as I missed the part of the recipe where it asks for "chicken breast halves, each halved horizontally." I just halved full-sized chicken breasts instead. As I started to move through the recipe, I realized that the cooking times for the chicken seemed awfully short (hello, food illness). 

In order to adjust for this, I ended up browning the chicken breast halves for about 6 to 7 minutes (for each batch), and then put them back all in the pan when the sauce was reducing. That helped greatly -- ensuring that the chicken was cooked through, and helping the sauce to infuse.

I also added a little more sage when browning the chicken, but I really love the flavors of sage.

Veal Scaloppine with Mushrooms, Marsala and Thyme

I have something to admit. I love veal. But I have never been brave enough to make it myself. I'll usually just stare lovingly at it on a menu. 

We saw it available, and decided to be brave. We used this easy veal scaloppine recipe. I would make it again, no question. We used regular button mushrooms instead of oyster mushrooms, and veal cutlets instead of medallions. We had Marsala cooking wine in the house, so we used that over sherry (which is our usual go-to). 

Easy, fast and tasty. Made for a yummy dinner (plus a couple lunches) alongside a big salad. You could easily pair potatoes or roasted vegetables with this as well.

Mushroom Risotto

It's an oldie, but a goodie in our household. Now that I'm back "on" with mushrooms, Paul gets really excited about making this mushroom risotto.

We usually use a bag of mixed dried mushrooms or dried porcinis. For the fresh mushrooms, we used shiitakes, which were looking lovely.  I also had absolutely no idea that Mario suggests using red onion instead of a white or yellow onion. We have never used a red -- I guess my brain just glossed over the part while we read the ingredients. We also use sherry instead of vin santo, but I think that works just as well.

Paul is perfecting (he's pretty close) his risotto-making, and has it down from start (oil in the pan, cooking the mushrooms) to finish (mixing in the butter and cheese) in about 30 minutes. Top with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese, alongside a leafy green salad and you're good to go!


*Also makes for good lunchtime leftovers.

Shiitakes!

Serving 1 (there may have been a second helping).

Riobollita

I've been dying to make our own version of ribollita after having it while we were in Italy. This week ended up being perfect for it, as I'm on a temporary soft food diet while some dental work heals. 

Lots of people had comments on the ingredients, what should be included, excluded, etc. I made the recipe as listed, but instead of adding in bread crumbs, I added some Italian bread (about 2 - 3 thick slices), ripped into big pieces. I added them in at the end, and it helped thicken everything up into more of a stew. 

I topped it with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Totally delicious...even if I was gumming down everything. I think you could mix up and add some other vegetables (I'm envisioning squash) if you wanted, maybe cutting down a little on the cannellini beans. 

Chicken Milanese with Sage-and-Lemon-Butter Sauce

There are vegetables off camera. I promise.

I came across this tasty-looking recipe in Food & Wine magazine. Looked easy enough to make and something different and delicious for during the week. I did make a couple modifications to the recipe. I bought chicken breasts instead of cutlets, so I spent about 10 minutes annoying the crap out of our neighbors by trying to flatten the chicken breasts with a rolling pin. 

Making friends everywhere I go.

I also used only panko bread crumbs, instead of a combo of regular breadcrumbs and panko. I think panko is crispier, and frankly -- it's better for you than prepackaged bread crumbs. I had to cook the chicken a little longer, since they were smaller pieces than the recipe intended, but I think they turned out pretty great. There was definitely enough sage-lemon-butter sauce to go around for all 8 pieces. You tasted some of the lemon zest added to the breading mixture, and it nicely echoed the sauce. 

I also think you can't go wrong with some roasted red potatoes and a fresh green salad alongside this meal. For the potatoes, I washed and sliced them, tossed them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then roasted them in the oven for about 30 minutes (at 350 degrees).

Homemade Ravioli

Paul and I were motivated one Friday evening to make our own pasta. Four hours later, we were ready for dinner. It's definitely a lot of work, but a fun experience (especially when your frantic pasta making is fueled by wine and sheer hunger). We started by making Mario Batali's tomato sauce recipe (it's our go-to for making sauce).

We made two fillings -- a roasted squash with sage and a ground turkey with ricotta cheese and Italian seasonings. We used the tomato sauce with the turkey, and make a sage brown butter sauce for the squash ravioli. 

The sauce bubbling away on the stove.

Turkey, ricotta and Italian seasonings on the left -- roasted squash and sage on the right.

Paul is usually the pasta-maker in our house, but I helped roll it out as well this time!

We used a pizza cutter instead of a more traditional pastry wheel or pasta cutter.

Squash ravioli with browned butter and sage sauce

Turkey meat ravioli with a fresh tomato sauce

It's definitely time consuming, but also pretty fun and rewarding to make your own pasta. Food just seems to taste better when you've made it yourself. I think I would have a little less dough on the outer edges of the ravioli next time, as it cooks differently than the pasta that is surrounding the filling (i.e. it takes longer to soften up since it's two layers of pasta versus one). I think I would just trim the ravioli a little more next time to solve that problem. My favorite was the squash ravioli with the brown butter and sage sauce -- so delicious!

We also had TONS of leftovers -- and opted to freeze them, uncooked for a quick dinner another evening. We defrosted and cooked them yesterday for a tasty mid-week meal!

UPDATED: Mario Batali's Stuffed Meatloaf

We've been trying to use all the super awesome kitchen tools (chinois -- you're next!) we have accumulated since getting married a little over a year ago -- one of those being the meat grinder attachment to our KitchenAid. I think we decided to make this recipe while we were really hungry, planning our meals for the week (the recipe is from Molto Italiano -- i could only find the recipe we used posted in one place).

When we shopped for the ingredients, we bought larger cuts of pork and beef instead of already-ground meat. Paul used the attachment to grind up the pork and beef from larger cuts (v. impressive!). We decided to use provolone cheese instead of the caciocavallo cheese suggested as a) we couldn't find it and b) the suggested substitute given to us by the Whole Foods cheese guru was about $25.00 per pound. It was delicious, but not worth buying just to stuff in a meatloaf. We did buy a little to eat with crackers -- much better use of expensive cheese, in my opinion!

Anyways, back to the recipe. There were a few steps involved -- including blanching the spinach and carrots ahead of time, but relatively painless. We had a little more work, with grinding the meat (we also made our own breadcrumbs).

Paul carefully rolling the meatloaf, stuffed with spinach, carrots, provolone and prosciutto.

I loved the "bath" underneath the meatloaf of rosemary and water. It made the kitchen smell really good (I am a rosemary fiend, however).

Just before cooking in the oven.

**UPDATED: Paul had after photos!**

It was REALLY GOOD. Like "want to have it every day" good. The floured and oiled outside gets nice and crispy (and the crust remains even after you microwave your leftovers!). The reduction sauce adds a little moisture, but you don't even really need it. We ate this for at least a week afterwards as it makes a LOT. Enjoy!