Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
I don't even know where to begin.
I keep saying that every week it is the best one, yet, but... really. This may be the best one, yet!
Victor has finally made his way through the Pasta Issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine. This recipe came from the just-arrived February issue. The same issue I got the Gianduja yesterday.
This is a really grown-up Mac and Cheese with three different cheeses that just knock your socks off topped with lemon, orange, grana padano, and parsley that just explodes a citrusy freshness in your mouth.
It is gastronomic heaven. The sauce is three very different cheeses that blend perfectly together. No one overpowers another. The fresh lemon and orange mixed with the freshness of parsley and a slightly salty grana padano cheese adds a complete contrast but at the same time blends perfectly.
Gastronomic heaven, indeed. The taste-buds are going to be talking about this one for days!
Trottole ai Formaggi e Gremolata di Agrumi
Trottole with Cheese and Citrus Gremolata
- salt
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1/2 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 ounces gorgonzola cheese (about 1 cup)
- 4 1/2 ounces taleggio cheese, bubed (about 1 cup)
- 3 ounces fontina cheese, cubed (about 1/2 cup, packed)
- 1 pound Trottole pasta - uniquely curled pasta rings surrounding a center stalk (or Fusilli or other short pasta)
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Wask lemon and orange; zest half of each fruit, avoiding the white pith. Finely chop zests together with parsley; place in a bowl and stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padana. Set gremolata aside.
In medium saucepan, bring milk just to boil over medium-low heat; remove from heat. In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly with a wodden spoon for 2 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from heat. Add 2 tablespoons milk to flour mixture, stirring constantly until milk is incorporated. Repeat until 1/2 cup of the milk has been added. Add remaining milk 1/2 cup at a time, incorporating between additions, until all milk has been added. Return yo low heat and cook, stirring frequently, especially along corners of pan, until sauce is the consistency of thick cream. Stir in remaining cheeses; cover to keep warm.
Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and immediately transfer to a large serving bowl. Add cheese sauce, toss to combine and divide among bowls. Sprinkle with gremolata and serve immediately.
The recipe does make the white sauce seem a bit overly complicated, but it's really just a rather simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
But it's an extremely good simple-to-prepare sauce with cheese.
This would also make a great side dish and a pretty spectacular buffet dish, as well.
This one is going into the rotation, for sure!
Gianduja
I think this may be the surprise dish of the holiday season. It's mid-December but the February issue of La Cucina Italiana magazine is already here. And I am very glad it is! A past issue had a recipe for Nutella Cookie Sandwiches that seemed perfect as one of our Christmas cookies this year. But since Nutella is not on my regular shopping list, I just keep forgetting to pick it up. Had I not come across this recipe, the cookies would have probably fallen into the ever-growing "I thought about making" category.
And to make good things even better, I just found out that this recipe and the cookie recipe both come from Pastry Chef Karen DeMasco. I've been checking her out online and really like her style. I see more of her ideas coming to town!
Gianduja is a sweet chocolate and hazelnut invented in Turin 1852 by Caffarel Chocolate Company. The better-known to us Nutella came into being in the 1940's in Italy. Nutella is good. This is nothing short of totally amazing. And it literally took minutes to prepare.
I bought hazelnuts already hulled from Oh! Nuts in Brooklyn. They are cheap at $8.99/lb! Plus they arrived in just a couple of days! The Demerara sugar came from Atlantic Spice. I bought it a while back with no particular plan or recipe. I just figured I'd use it, eventually... Around here, nothing ever goes to waste.
One note... since I bought hulled hazelnuts I didn't have to go through the toasting-and-rubbing, but I did put the nuts in the oven for a few minutes to warm them before making the spread.
Gianduja
Chocolate Hazelnut SpreadDemerara sugar gives DeMasco's Gianduja its signature "bit of crunch." Though loose when first made, the spread can be enjoyed immediately as a dip or drizzle. Once thickened (after 2 to 3 days at room temperature or a few hours chilled), it makes a fantastic cookie filling. Scoop chilled spread into balls and roll in cocoa powder or dip in melted chocolate to make decadent truffles.
- 5 ounces hazelnuts (1 cup)
- 8 ounces good-quality milk chocolate
- 1/4 cup Demerara sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
Heat oven to 350°.
Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant and golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Wrap nuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove loose skins (don't worry about skins that won't come off).
While nuts are warm, combine with chocolate, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Puree until smooth, adding oil in a slow steady stream.
Transfer to an airtight container. Let stand at room temperature until thickened, about 2 days. Spread keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month or refrigerated for up to 3 months. To loosen chilled spread, heat in microwave for about 5 seconds.
And now that the gianduja is done those cookies are going to be made in the next few days.
Torrone al Cioccolato
Chocolate Torrone. How could it be bad? And La Cucina Italiana Magazine comes through, again, with the perfect recipe.
I don't really remember the first time I had torrone. I know I was young and I liked the inside, but I really didn't care for the rice paper coating. It just seemed weird.
It was quite a few years later that I tried it again and a while later that I began to actually appreciate the rice paper.
La Cucina states: A traditional Italian candy, torrone ranges in texture from soft to firm. This one is soft with a good chew. Edible wafer paper, which is flavorless, adds textural contrast and helps keep bars of candy from sticking to one another.
This recipe is a bit time-consuming, but if you follow it exactly, you should end up with a damned fine candy!
Torrone al Cioccolato
- 4 (8-x-11-inch) sheets edible wafer paper or rice paper
- 2 cups hazelnuts
- ¼ cup water
- 1¼ cups sugar
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup clover or other mild honey
- 3 large egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Special equipment: candy thermometer
Instructions
Heat oven to 275º. Line the bottom of a 9-x-13-inch baking dish with rice paper.
Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet; bake until roasted and skins come off easily, about 25 minutes. Wrap nuts in a clean dishtowel; rub to remove loose skins.
Combine water and ¼ cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once sugar is dissolved, add chocolate and stir to melt; reduce heat to low to keep warm.
In a heavy medium saucepan, heat remaining 1 cup sugar and honey over medium-low heat until just beginning to bubble. Using a pastry brush dipped in cold water, wash any sugar crystals down side of pot. Put candy thermometer into syrup and continue heating, stirring occasionally, until mixture registers 315º (upper end of hard crack stage).
When thermometer reaches 300°, place egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk; beat until whites just hold stiff peaks. Remove syrup from heat and let stand until bubbles dissipate.
With mixer at low speed, slowly add syrup to egg whites in a thin stream down side of bowl; increase speed to high and beat until mixture doubles in size. Turn mixer off, let mixture settle, then return speed to high, beating until mixture begins to stick to whisk, about 5 minutes. Add chocolate and nuts; beat on medium speed to combine. Increase speed to high and mix until well combined, about 5 to 7 minutes more.
Spoon torrone mixture into prepared baking dish; spread to an even layer. Cover top with rice paper and refrigerate uncovered, until firm, about 8 hours.
Run a knife around edges of pan. Invert torrone onto a cutting board. Leaving wafer paper on, trim ends, and cut torrone into 1½-x-3-inch bars. Wrap each bar in parchment paper.
Nut Brittles
All of the years I screwed up candy-making seem to be behind me. I think.
I have been having fabulous luck. I'm almost afraid to say anything lest I jinx myself.
But I done good, today!
Candy-making is an unforgiving science - and I am not a scientist. But having a really good recipe has gotten me on the right track. And La Cucina Italiana Magazine came through with a couple of nut brittles that are really easy.
I followed the recipes exactly.
Almond Brittle
- Peanut oil for greasing pan
- 1 1/2 cups raw almonds
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
Heat oven to 350º with rack in middle.
FOR ALMOND BRITTLE: Lightly grease a baking sheet and a 12- x 14-inch sheet of parchment paper with oil.
Spread nuts on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake, stirring nuts and rotating pan once halfway through, until fragrant and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack.
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Gently whisk together mixture to ensure sugar is damp throughout, being careful not to get sugar on sides of pot. Cook mixture over medium-high heat, without stirring, until it turns a dark amber, 10 to 13 minutes - 320. Remove pot from heat, immediately stir in warm nuts, then transfer mixture to greased baking sheet and quickly spread with wooden spoon. Top with prepared parchment paper, oil-side down and, using a rolling pin, gently roll brittle to flatten. Remove parchment paper.
Let brittle cool slightly, then cut into small pieces. Let cool completely before serving.
And then there is the pistachio and pine nut brittle.
This one is a bit different.
Pistachio and Pine Nut Brittle
- Peanut oil for greasing pan
- 1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
FOR PISTACHIO AND PINE NUT BRITTLE: Lightly grease a baking sheet and a 12- x 14-inch sheet of parchment paper with oil (baking sheet and parchment paper from Almond Brittle can be reused).
Heat oven to 350º with rack in middle.
Spread nuts on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake, stirring nuts and rotating pan once halfway through, until fragrant and lightly golden, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack.
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Gently whisk together mixture to ensure sugar is damp throughout, being careful not to get sugar on sides of pot. Cook mixture over medium-high heat, without stirring, until it turns a dark amber, 10 to 13 minutes - 320. Remove pot from heat, immediately stir in warm nuts, then transfer mixture to greased baking sheet and quickly spread with wooden spoon. Top with prepared parchment paper, oil-side down and, using a rolling pin, gently roll brittle to flatten. Remove parchment paper.
Let brittle cool slightly, then cut into small pieces. Let cool completely before serving.
Broiled Cod and Hollandaise
Have I ever mentioned how much I love it when Victor cooks?
But what I love even more is when he cooks and makes a mess in the kitchen! He will laughingly talk about what a mess I can make in the kitchen and how neat and clean he is in the kitchen. Both are partially true. We cook differently but we also cook different foods. And what we cook definitely has an effect on the scope of the mess - or lack thereof.
So it was with complete joy that I walked into the kitchen this evening to see three dirty pots, rice that had boiled over, dirty blender...
Plus he took an otherwise totally healthy meal and put a (homemade) hollandaise sauce on top of it.
That's love. Definitely one of life's little joys.
Dinner itself was very simple. Broiled cod, rice and peas. The hollandaise did take it right over the top. And I do have to admint I not only cleaned my plate, but sopped up the remaining hollandaise with a dinner roll.
It was that good.
And while I was dealing with the great unwashed public today, he was making more Christmas cookies.
Uncle Rudy's Pizzelles and the most outrageous Walnut Biscotti!
I'll get that posted later.....
Pot Roast
The blizzard of the century has hit. And gone. It was a quick storm. It left almost a dusting of snow. Almost.
But the hype.....
PennDot is salting roads. The official snow-fall accumulation in Bryn Mawr - just a couple of miles from us - was 1/10th of one inch. That's right - a tenth of an inch. How do you even measure a tenth of an inch of snow?!? It boggles the mind.
TV news folks live for disasters. In the freezing nether-regions, they're the ones who harp on the totally meaningless "wind-chill factors" to make the weather sound worse than it actually is. Out west, it's the TV crew at the 7-11 trying to find the one knocked-over bottle of ketchup after a 2.3 earthquake.
But snow or no, it has been cold the last few fays and a pot roast seemed to fit the bill for warming us up.
I had the other part of that top round I used for pot pie the other night so we had our start.
Pot roast - like soups and stews and the like - really don't have recipes. They come together based on what's in the house.
Tonight, I started by browning the beef in a bit of bacon fat. I cut a small onion in 8ths and browned it a bit.
I then added a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste and cooked that up for a few minutes and then stirred in about a half-cup of red wine. I cooked that for a minute and then added about 2 1/2 cups of beef broth and a pinch of salt and pepper.
I covered it, owed the heat, and let it all simmer for about an hour.
I then added one potato cut in 8ths, 2 carrots and 3 stalks of celery. (I virtually never peel vegetables going into soups and stews.) I cooked that for about 45 minutes, removed the meat, and then thickened the broth with a bit of cornstarch. I usually use flour, but the cornstarch was handier tonight.
Served with a couple of thick slabs of the homemade bread from a few days ago. (If there's any left in a day or two, it will make for a great bread pudding!)
Victor just lit a fire in the fireplace so it may be time to grab the Kindle and curl up with something fun to read.
The maniacs from the township just salted our street. Looks like I won't be able to call in to work tomorrow "snowed in."
Chicken Florentine with Boursin Sauce
I really like Boursin cheese. Not necessarily as a stand-alone cheese, but for all the things it can be used for.
My two favorite ways to use Boursin is in mashed potatoes (outrageously good) and as a sauce. A bit of Boursin melted with a bit of heavy cream or milk makes the perfect sauce for vegetables, beef, chicken... Outrageoulsly good.
For tonight's dinner I started by sauteing a small chopped onion with some finely chopped mushrooms. When the onions were properly wilted, I added a bag of frozen chopped spinach, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
While that was heating, I took one whole boneless chicken breast (both halves) and pounded it to a uniform thickness.
I spread about a third of a cup of ricotta cheese on top and then about a cup or so of the spinach mixture.
I rolled it up, put it in a greased pan and into a 350° for about 40 minutes.
To serve, I placed more of the spinach filling on the plate, put slices of the chicken on top and then added the Boursin sauce. Whole-grain rice finished the plate.
And I bought dessert tonight because for the remainder of the evening I am going to be playing with my brand-new Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection. 15+ programs I will never fully know how to use. But I'm gonna have fun with it no matter how much I don't know!
Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Beef Pot Pie
Ya know how sometimes you can just surprise yourself at how good something turns out?
That is exactly how I felt tonight with the Beef Pot Pie! It came out G-O-O-D!
Surprisingly good. And made all the better because it wasn't what I had originally planned for dinner! Well... mostly. I had planned the pot pie, but I was going to go easy on myself and use frozen puff pastry for the crust. Except... when I got home and looked in the freezer, there wasn't any puff pastry in there. Oh well.
My first thought was to make a half-batch of pie dough and just do a top crust. But I immediately threw out that idea in favor of a two-crust pot pie. Two crusts really is the way Mother Nature intended a pot pie to be, after all.
I used a braising pan just slightly larger than the casserole I was filling because I wanted to try and contain myself. Soups and stews and the like tend to grow under my tutelage. They easily swell to the size of the vessel they inhabit - and can often require larger quarters.
Tonight, I just wanted to make enough for the pot pie. And I almost succeeded.
I cubed about 3/4 pound of beef from a top round and dredged it in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I then browned it all very well in about a tablespoon of bacon fat. Yes, bacon fat. Remember those BLT's yesterday? I save my bacon fat as did my mother before me and her mother before her. I never throw it away.
But I digress...
After the meat was browned I deglazed the pan with a cup of coffee. As I scraped up the bits of fond in the pan, I knew I was on to something, It smelled great. Into the pan went a quart of beef broth and I brought it all to a boil and then let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
Next into the pan went about a cup of chopped celery and 6 red-skinned potatoes that I quartered. mIt simmered for about another 15 minutes and then I added about a half-bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Frozen mixed vegetables are the perfect soup, stew, and pot pie ingredient. I always have a bag or two in the freezer.
When the potatoes were just about done, I made a paste of the leftover dredging flour and a bit of water and thickened the filling a bit. No exact measurement, here. I probably had a third of a cup of seasoned flour before adding the water and possibly used half of it to thicken. It's a judgment thing. Don't add it all at once.
I spooned it into the crust-lined dish, added the top crust, brushed it with egg, cut steam slits, and put it into a 425° oven for 45 minutes.
I used my favorite pie crust recipe but I didn't add the sugar and used all all-purpose flour. It was light, buttery, flaky, and just the perfect crust. (Why I bought that frozen crust the other day.....)
The perfect dinner and Victor is now in the kitchen making macadamia nut-orange biscotti...
Life is good.
Italian Sausage Polenta Pie
Our Monday La Cucina Pasta went on hiatus this week. Neither of us felt like actually cooking. I thought it would be nice to do something vaguely Italian and originally was thinking a baked pasta dish of sorts.
I needed a bit of inspiration and came across a fun recipe in my Mom's Cook Book - Italian-Sausage Polenta Pie. It fit the criterion for dinner tonight. Italian and baked in the oven. Plus I had all the ingredients.
That cook book is a lot of fun. It really is a snapshot into what cooking was like 45 years ago. Balsamic vinegar is unheard of. A convenience product is Bisquick. Someone really would make "Meat Loaf en Croute" using pie crust mix - and serve it or a special occasion.
Cooking - and eating - was a lot more fun and adventurous.
So on that fun and adventurous note, I followed the basic concept but added a few twists and turns. I had some homemade sauce in the freezer, so I didn't need to make the sauce from the recipe. I also added some mushrooms with the sausage and added a layer of cooked arugula in the middle.
And Mozzarella cheese.
It was perfectly ooey-gooey. And I only dirtied something like 4 pots to make a one-pot meal.
Mom would have been proud.
A Basic BLT
Tomatoes, bacon, and iceberg lettuce. On toast with mayonnaise.
It doesn't get much better - except the bread was the homemade bread I made on Saturday. It is definitely one of the better homemade sandwich breads I've had.
An Ruffles potato chips.
That was an impulse-buy at the grocery store this morning. I really don't remember the last time I had a bag of Ruffles. I usually opt for kettle chips or tortilla chips on those rare occasions I actually break down and buy them.
I have nothing against potato chips. I just don't need the calories. But every now and again they're fun.
And I have nothing against iceberg lettuce, either. I like the crunch and you can't get that with other lettuces. And for those of you who wouldn't dream of buying iceberg but buy those packages of romaine hearts by the truckload?!? Guess what?!? Nutritional value of the two is the same.
Christmas Cookies
It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! It's almost semi-miraculous since the cold-from-hell had made my sniffer almost worthless. But Christmas Baking waits for no man, so Typhoid Timmy headed in to the kitchen with Victor to make a batch of Aunt Emma's Apricot Cookies.
This was supposed to be the weekend Gino and Elizabeth baked cookies with us, but they wisely chose to stay out of the quarantine area. There will be more cookies and other years.
(And yes, the hands were washed often and no sneezing or coughing over the cookies occurred.)
Victor had made the apricot filling yesterday and made the dough this morning. My job this year was to roll and cut. It's the easy part.
The dough was perfect. Very easy to roll and cut.
Victor did the filling and forming. Definitely the more labor-intensive part of the job. I know. It's the job I usually do. he had me roll this year. I immediately agreed!
Aunt Emma's Apricot Cookies
Filling:
- 1 pound dried apricots, chopped fine (soaked overnight – we soak in apricot brandy!)
- 3 cups sugar
- grated lemon rind (we use about a tablespoon – the amount was never specified)
Drain apricots. Place in saucepan with lemon rind, sugar, and water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until water is absorbed. Be really careful — it burns easily. Cool.
Dough:
- 2 pkg dry yeast
- 5 cups flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 pound lard (Yes, lard. Shortening just doesn’t cut it.)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 shot whiskey
- Juice and rind from 1 lemon
Proof yeast with 1 tsp sugar and 1/4 cup warm water. Cut lard into flour, as you would for a pie dough. Make a well in the mixture and add all the other ingredients, including yeast.
Work dough with your hands and form into a ball. (Don’t overwork. Use a light hand.) Refrigerate overnight.
Roll cold dough to about 1/8″ thick. Aunt Emma would cut the dough into triangles, place a scant teaspoon of filling at the wide end, then roll up and shape into a crescent similar to a croissant. It takes a bit of practice. The easier way is to cut squares, fill, and fold over. Cut into 2″ squares or circles. Place scant teaspoon of filling, fold and seal. Shape into crescent.
Bake at 325° until golden brown on lightly greased sheets or ungreased parchment paper. (Investing in a box of parchment paper is the only way to fly!!)
Cool completely and dust with powdered sugar.
And since we were low on bread, I baked a loaf of the no-knead bread from my Mom's cook book that I made last week. It was really good and this one looks to be just as good - if not better!
Chicken and Cranberries
Yesterday about 11:00am, I realized it was happening. I am in the early throes of the 2010 Cold-From-Hell.
I am so not amused.
'Tis the Season, and all that. When you are working with the public, it's just inevitable.
Did I mention I am not amused?!?
Feed a cold, feed a fever, I always say, so I decided on a quick and easy dinner. I had chicken in the 'fridge, potatoes, and a butternut squash. Set.
The potatoes got drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with garlic powder, salt, and pepper and went into a 350° oven for 45 minutes. The butternut squash got peeled, cut and cubed, drizzled with maple syrup and a bit of salt and went into the same oven for the same 45 minutes.
The chicken was salted, peppered, garlicked, and saged, and went into a nice hot skillet. When it was just about done, I pulled the chicken out of the pan, deglazed it with a bit of grenadine liqueur and a splash of water and when it cooked down, added some fresh cranberry sauce. Fresh as in homemade. It's been hanging around since Thanksgiving. (The stuff has a shelf life just short of plutonium.)
The chicken went back into the skillet, heated all the way through, and dinner was served.
My taste buds are still working. Sweet and savory was a good combination.
I think it's gonna be an early night.