Holy Cannoli! It's Reveal Day!!!

Zoinks. I haven't moved much today. Tripto-whatever is still kickin' it in my blood stream. Completely forgot it was reveal day. And then I remembered because I had to get the recipe up on the Daring Kitchen website.. and then I forgot about it again.. or more specifically, that I ALSO had to post on my own lil blog. DOH. The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book It's now 11:30 at night.. Neither of us, or the kids, have moved much from the sofa and love-seat today. I have drank what I believe to be 1/4th of Lake Erie since awakening this morning at 6:30 (I slept in! WOOOOO HOOO!). Unfakkinbelievably dry pipes today kids. WTF? If you've friended me on Facebook, you might have noticed how proud I was yesterday when I managed to cook 99.9% (my mom still makes the bird, bless her heart) of our Thanksgiving meal, INCLUDING the Daring Baker challenge, with 1 whole hour to spare before the family arrived. Keep in mind that I even whacked a few mobsters, planted a field of grapes, fed and then sold 1000's of fishes, and cooked two dishes eleventy billion times for my virtual cafe as well. Oh yes, yesterday was a BUSY day. Also? My Name is Lisa and I'm an FB games addict. *sigh* Here's what I DIDN'T DO - I didn't photograph my cutsie lil mini cannoli. Basically because as soon as they were filled, the vultures zoomed in and they were all GONE. I got ONE. I filled TWENTY. But fear not, you lovers of horrible photography! I saved 6 shells for W and I because I knew we'd want some today. :D But.. then.. I was wrong. We didn't want them today. When I brought them up to him, he went kinda green around the gills. Frankly, when I mentioned them, I got a lil nauseous myself. No! NO! Not because they were horrible - they were DELICIOUS - everyone declared they were the best cannoli they'd ever had. Seriously. It's just that we gorged so much yesterday that the thought of most food made us queasy today. I ate a handful of chips around noonish (washed 'em down with a gallon of water).. he had toast just before that.. and then I managed to make spaghetti tonight.. and I think we both ate maybe 8 strands before we fluffed up the pillows and sank down into our respective sofas again. I just came into my office to reply to a few emails and realized.. oh shit. I never posted. I blame that f'n bird, folks. I don't ever want to see another turkey for AT LEAST 11 months. :P Anyhoo.. nothing exciting (or chaos related) to say about this challenge.. pretty simple, except for the rolling of the dough - or should I call it, elasto-dough? I tried as much as I could with my puny muscles (which are being suffocated under all my fat) and the brace I am sporting on my right hand for the next two weeks! Are ya'll ready for this? Leave it to me. I swear to the baby Jebus, I am the only person I know who physically hurts herself IN HER SLEEP. My doc figures that's how I did it.. she says I must be gripping my hands in my sleep. Like a death grip on the blankets or something. I managed to cause scarring to the sheath that wraps around the tendons in my right palm and between the thumb and index finger. She called it "trigger finger". I guess this happens mostly to the index finger and not the thumb? Anyhoo.. the scarring on the sheath causes the tendon to stick when it's moved.. so when I bend my thumb at the first joint, it sticks and HURTS LIKE HELL. Gawd and there's this awful clicking sound when it finally releases and my thumb goes back to it's natural position. Squick! So yep.. rolling that dough was not going to happen by myself. So W stepped in, bless his cotton, reinforced toe, socks. The first few were too thick, so they were binned after frying.. but the rest were paper thin and blistered up nicely. I added a lil extra cinnamon to the dough and filled with a pumpkin/cream cheese filling that was divine. Frying was a cinch, since I'm the Frying Queen of NE Ohio. Oh and the only thing I did differently for me is that instead of makin' big honkin cannoli, I made minis because I figured no one would eat big ones since no one attending our Thanksgiving was really a fan of them (except me.. and I still only got ONE). Lis.. you did an amazing job as hostess.. and your recipe is THE cannoli recipe I will use from now on. I also loved the idea of cannopolitans and plan on making those in the future as well. Love ya, chickie! :) Photos will be added tomorrow.. it's now midnight and I must hit the sack, because God knows, I didn't get enough rest today. :P xoxo

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

So many new discoveries this month.. let's count! 1- I CAN post more than once a month! I can! 2- Someone's bad karma CAN bite them in the ass eventually! (No, not me :P) 3- I can live on Totino's Pizza Rolls when I absolutely have to! 4- I'm the ONLY Daring Baker who couldn't wait for her lasagne to set up before slicing! 5- Who knew Hubbs would put the kibosh on green noodles?? 6- Indoor plumbing is VERY! IMPORTANT! Okay I'll stop on that last one.. yes, major plumbing issues this month.. and a husband who REFUSED to call a plumber because "I CAN FIX THIS". Two 100 foot plumbers' snake rentals, 3 wax rings and about eleventy billion loads of sopping wet towels later - we have working drains and faucets and toilets and showers and we didn't have to call a plumber. Now ask me if I've started to hit the bottle around mid-morning snack time. :P Cooking dinner without working plumbing isn't easy either.. and this is how I found out I could eat pizza rolls 3 nights in a row, where previously they would make me gag. Maybe I didn't gag because the only energy I had left at pizza roll eating time was swallowing. So needless to say, the Daring Bakers challenge was put off, yet again, until the last week of the month. We were supposed to make it last weekend, but Super Plumber reckoned he deserved a weekend off to play with his brother, and Ivonne and I decided it was high time to get some unfinished The Daring Kitchen website business taken care of. So that left no room for lasagne as planned. But, we figured, this wouldn't be a big deal as there are two of us and only 1 lasagne to make. Should be a piece of cake! Mmmm hmmm.... First off, let me insert the information for this month's challenge: The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge. Our lovely hostesses only had one thing to say.. we must make our own pasta sheets from scratch! HAR! Dough! Me! *thud* To say I was a little nervous going into this is truly an understatement. Dough hates me. Seriously, I could screw up a simple pizza dough, believe me. And they want me to make pasta dough? Flavored pasta dough? The kind you have to roll out MANUALLY?? *eek* Oh yeah, Hubbs didn't have a chance of getting outta this one. Even if we had made it over the weekend with all the time in the world, he still didn't have a chance. Okay well, back to two of us and only 1 lasagne. We figured we'd make the pasta dough and the ragu on Monday night and then make the bechamel and assemble, bake and eat the lasagne on Tuesday night. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! Here's what happened.. Monday it rained, and Hubbs didn't have to work - so I asked if he'd mind making the ragu because that would save us so much time once I got home. We'd only have to make the pasta. Easy Peasy! He agreed.. and he made a mighty fine ragu in my opinion. His opinion.. slightly different.. he didn't feel that it was worth the 3 hours he put into it. When I got home from my 8 in the dungeon, we were to make the pasta dough - BUT - he had decided to surprise me! He made the dough while the ragu was simmering on the stove, bless his reinforced toe tube socks! Problem was.. and I tried not to giggle, point and stare.. honest. I tried. But his "ball of dough" laying on the counter resembled something that most likely died of a really bad case of the shingles. The thing had scales. And lumps. It was kind of the shape of a ball.. like maybe a rubber ball that's sat in the sun for years and was just flaking apart when the wind hit it just right? I should mention, we did NOT make the spinach flavored dough as requested by our lovely hostesses. No, I'm sorry, but he will not eat spinach pasta. HATES IT. And since I'm not the biggest lasagne fan - I love it! But it's just too rich of a dish for me.. we eat it maybe twice a year, maybe - I really wanted to make a lasagne that he'd eat. So in discussing it the week prior, we decided that we'd take the unbelievably delicious slow roasted tomatoes made from the last of our tomatoes at the end of summer last year, thaw 'em out, puree them and use that in lieu of the spinach. Since the recipe called for 10 oz. of spinach and since spinach is so light, we figured 5 oz. of the pureed tomatoes would work. Apparently not. :) Not enough liquid to keep that dough ball baby alive. Jebus, it's death must have been painful.. poor guy. So I made the pasta dough this time.. and I upped the amount of slow roasted tomato puree to about 8 oz. and threw in 2 tablespoons of EVOO. Perfection! OHMYGOD I MADE PASTA DOUGH and it didn't give me the big F!U! in return for my efforts! I'm grinning from ear to ear right now, and this happened several days ago! teeeee! So I started kneading.. and kneading.. when I realized I should be taking photos! Yes Photos! I'm a blogger after all! This is for my blog! "Ohhhh honeyyyy.. can you take over the kneading so I can photograph it??" Muahahahahaahaha And that he did: We decided to let the dough rest until after we'd had dinner - I think he had micro-waveable creamed beef on toast and I had a hot dog? Something.. might have been cereal.. no wait.. yeah, it was pizza rolls. *sigh* And after our nutritious and very low sodium dinners, we said screw the pasta and watched Two and a Half Men. The next day after work, we came home and rolled the pasta. No wait.. when I say "we" I really mean "he" - I had to be super photographer again, doncha know? It took him approximately 2.5 hours to roll that dough out to what we thought was paper thin. He went in sections.. very small sections.. and my job was to take pretty pictures and to hang the sheets (I use that term loosely) over our kitchen table chairs. Here, look for yourselves:    BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! All I could do that night was think about Silence of the Lambs.. remember how the serial killer would take pieces parts of his victims' skin and sew them together to form a mask? Holy cow he would have peed himself had he waltzed into our kitchen! Look at this one! It's got the eyes and mouth hole already built in!! By the time rolling was done, we looked at each other and again said, "screw it". He ate the pizza rolls and I had cereal that night. I think I watched a few Ellen shows I had tivo'd. Now we're on day THREE. And come hell or high water, we were going to eat this bitch TONIGHT. We were DONE dammit. So I started the bechamel (which neither of us wanted, but I had already cheated with the tomato flavored dough so I couldn't make any other changes without the possibility of the Daring Lynch Mob coming after me), and he put the water on to boil and heated the ragu. 20 minutes into it, we realized that our noodles WEREN'T paper thin and wow.. they were kinda thicker than we thought. So imagine the two of us standing in the middle of our kitchen holding up steamy fakkin hot strips o'noodles debating on whether or not we could see each other through them. "I can see you plain as day! Quit moving", "I didn't move". "oh.. maybe I'm looking at Chloe then?" "Well I can see you!", "Yeah, well I don't doubt it as you've got both eyes open and I'm about 140 times wider than that strip of pasta." Ahhh.. newlywed love. Can you feel it? ANYHOO.. we assembled the lasagne and gently covered the pan with foil.. slid her into the hot oven and listened to our stomachs growl for about an hour. At this time, the lasagne was finished and looking wonderful - smelling even better. I should have waited a while for it to cool down a bit and set up, but I truly thought I'd be signing divorce papers had I not cut that baby tout de suite. I mean the man was standing over me with a fork in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. ;) So I cut.. and it oozed a lil.. and then I slid my favorite fish flippin' spatula underneath and slowly lifted a piece of what smelled like heaven.. and then.. *sploooooge* It totally slid apart and I barely got it on the plate: This did not deter us from eating it right then and there. And let me tell ya'll.. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy we didn't fall from the recipe a second time - the bechamel was divine with the lasagne. OMG SO GOOD. The ragu was delish, the pasta had a lovely texture, although we couldn't really taste it's flavor with it being buried under all that other stuff.. but all in all, the judges gave this lasagne a 10. No longer will I ever make the heavy lasagne I grew up on.. this will now be my go-to lasagne with maybe just a few small alterations here and there to cut some time.. but nothing major because I wouldn't want to lose that flavor and lightness it had. Thanks so much for a great experience and a new go-to recipe, Mary, Enza & Melinda!! xoxo

Italians Know Their Cake!

***UPDATED with Whipped Cream/Cream Cheese frosting recipe below*** Well this is going to be the quickest blog post I've ever written. Life is pretty chaotic lately! Our lil group of baking friends got together on Skype again this past Sunday and baked one of the prettiest cakes I've ever made! We even had a guest baker who was a joy to meet, Hi Halley! :) I have to thank Ivonne, Ben, John, Helene, Steph, Marce, Chris and Mary for indulging me this time around by baking an Italian Cassata cake. I've never made this cake before but have been DYING to do it.. and bless their cotton socks, they all agreed. Ivonne provided this exceptional recipe from Gina DePalma's Dolce Italiano cookbook. I must say, if the rest of the recipes are this delightful then this is a book I need to purchase in the very near future. :) Everything went along without a hitch, which is refreshing after the last baking disaster I went through... (stay tuned for that lil gem!). The sponge was a lil disconcerting as the batter, before the egg whites are introduced, is very stiff - almost doughy. So folding delicate egg whites wasn't the easiest of tasks. But it all came together eventually and my cakes baked up light and fluffy. The filling was super easy to put together and if anyone would dream of having a doubt, I doubled the chocolate called for in it. Me no get chocolate anymore *sniff* so when I do.. I double it. :P I left the nuts out of this cake. I'm not a huge nut fan and I knew some of this was going to my mommy and she can't eat nuts. Didn't make much of a difference in flavor, I'm sure. The filling did have the consistency of cannoli filling and it was very good - I just kind of wished that the chocolate would have been maybe melted into the cheese or even a cocoa powder used to flavor it. I don't know.. I've never been a fan of lil slivers/bits of chocolate in a filling - it seems like it's there for texture moreso than chocolate flavor and OHMYGOD I'MSOSURE chocolate was NOT meant as a textural ingredient for crissakes. *cough* Sorry.. lil protective of the chocolate over here. Other than the omission of the nuts, I made one other change and that was using a different frosting recipe. I didn't like the sounds of this cake with a glaze - every Cassata I've ever had was covered in a whipped cream frosting. So Mary passed along a recipe she had found that was a combination of whipped cream and cream cheese and it was just delicious. I don't have that recipe in front of me at this time, but will update this post as soon as I can with it. :) Anyhoo, this cake put together is gorgeous and truly tasty. I urge you to give it a whirl.. if you like Cassata cake and/or Cannoli, I'm pretty darned sure you'll like this recipe. :) xoxo Cassata alia Siciliana Makes one 9-inch cake, 10 servings FOR THE SPONGE CAKES 2 cups bleached cake flour, sifted 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch 8 large eggs, separated 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled FOR THE RUM SYRUP 2 cups granulated sugary 3/4 cup cold water 1/2 cup rum FOR THE FILLIMG 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate 3/4 cup shelled whole unsalted pistachios 3 cups fresh, whole-milk ricotta 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon Freshly grated zest of 2 medium oranges FOR THE ICING 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted 1 large egg white 2 tablespoons water 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract 1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds, toasted and cooled, for garnish Maraschino or amarena cherries, for garnish(optional) Candied orange zest, for garnish (optional) Preheat the oven to 350°F and position a rack in the center. Lightly grease two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans with butter or nonstick cooking spray, line them with parchment paper, then grease the parchment. To make the sponge cakes: Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, use the whisk attachment to beat the egg yolks with the sugar on medium speed until very light and pale yellow in color and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract, followed by the melted burte: Transfer the egg mixture to a large, clean mixing bowl. Fold in the dry ingredient-quickly and lightly, using a rubber spatula, stopping just before they are fully incorporated. Clean the whisk attachment and mixing bowl. Place the egg whites and the pinch of salt in the cleaned bowl of the electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment on medium-high speed, beat the egg whites until the-form firm peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter quickly and lightly; this will also incorporate any streaks of dry ingredients that remain. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing the tops with a spatula. Bake the cakes for 35 to 40 minutes, or until they are golden brown, a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, and the cakes have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully rum them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the rum syrup: In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar, water, and rum. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the contents to a boil, then lower the heat slightly and allow the syrup to simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool. Next, prepare the filling: Using a microplane or box grater, grate the chocolate into fine, feathery shreds. Using a sharp knife, finely chop the pistachios. Place the ricotta, confectioners' sugar, and cinnamon in the bowl of an electric mixer and, using the paddle attachment, beat until the ricotta is creamy and soft. Add the grated chocolate, chopped pistachios, and orange zest and beat just until combined. To assemble the cassata: Have ready a 9-inch springform pan. Using a serrated knife, carefully split each cake layer in half horizontally to make four layers. Place one of the layers in the bottom of the pan and, using a pastry brush, moisten it generously and evenly with some of the rum syrup. Spread the cake layer evenly with one third of the ricotta mixture. Repeat twice with another cake layer, more of the rum syrup, and another third of the ricotta mixture. Place the final cake layer on top and generously brush with the rum syrup. Wrap the springform pan tightly in plastic wrap; this helps the layers fit snugly on top of each other. Chill the cake in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. To prepare the icing: Place the sifted confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the egg white and water and beat the ingredients together with the paddle attachment on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the almond extract. To finish the cassata: Remove the cassata from the refrigerator and carefully remove the sides of the pan. You may need to run a hot knife around the sides first. You may leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan, or carefully transfer it to a cardboard cake circle with an offset spatula. Place the cake on a wire rack to ice it; you can place some parchment or wax paper underneath to catch any drips. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Scatter the toasted almonds over the top and let the cake sit until the icing sets. Return the cake to the refrigerator to chill until you are ready to serve it, at least 3 hours. Before serving, carefully transfer the cake to a platter or cake stand, and, if desired, decorate the cassata with maraschino or amarena cherries and some strips of candied orange zest. Yesssss.. this is the fourth photo of the same slice of cake still just sitting on the plate not doing much but looking pretty.. :P Leftovers should be wrapped and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 additional day. Oh! Speaking of pretty food - my lastest post is up for FoodieView - check it out if you want to see some absolutely beautiful and colorful dishes. :) Whipped Cream/Cream Cheese Frosting 1.5 cups of heavy cream 1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 2 TBS water 1 cup 10X sugar (confectioners' sugar) 1/8 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 8 oz of cream cheese, softened Combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. beat until smooth. Melt gelatin in water and add to whipped cream at soft peak stage. Continue to whip until stiff and then gently fold into cream cheese mixture. I took about 1/3 of the whipped cream and stirred it into the cream cheese mixture to loosen the cream cheese up and then I folded the rest of the whipped cream in gently in two additions. (thanks for reminding me, Tina!) :) xoxo

Tiramisu - Creampuff Style :)

Hello! It's been a week again.. I promised to post more often and I put nothing up for a week. Go me. *sigh* I just finished up the week from hell. Seriously. I couldn't have posted if I wanted to as I was no where near my PC for most of that time. Instead, I was following ambulances to the hospital. Now that's a lot of fun.. they ask you to not follow close behind, so you make a conscious effort to stay back yet you are soiling your shorts because you want to get there the second the ambulance does. I mean, how the hell would the ER docs know what to do if I weren't there?? Yeah, I'm one of those people.. I gotta know everything that's going on and I gotta be there for it all. How freakin annoying am I? I actually just got done writing out the whole fakkin story about my mom and her 3 trips, 2 of which were via ambulance, to the ER (the first of those trips happened 1.5 hours after we brought her home from her first 4 day stay in the hospital.. the 2nd ambulance ride was after she was home for roughly 15 hours.) and realized that ya'll don't wanna sit at your PCs/lap tops for HOURS reading about my grief. Suffice to say.. after 2 unblocked arteries and stent placements, severe lower back spasms and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) with a dash of pneumonia, she's home now. She is back on oxygen 24/7, but that's okay. Now we wait a month. Why? Because if all of that just wasn't enough to deal with all at once, they also found a "nodule" on her left lung. A biopsy was scheduled for last Friday, but it was found that the "nodule" is to small for even a needle biopsy. Therefore we wait a month for a new CAT scan to see if it's grown and then either a possible PET scan and/or biopsy. I refuse to get frazzled/panicked over this. It could be one of a 1,000 things. It's on the very lower tip of her left lung, suggesting this could be a case of collapsed lung. It could also be a bruise brought on by the pneumonia - or even from her fall back in February. So ya'll keep your fingers and toes crossed.. and a few prayers couldn't hurt either, right? =) Now enough. Let's move on to something so much more happier, shall we? About a month ago, I got it into my head that I needed to make Tiramisu. I've never made it before, because I'm not a huge fan. I've only ever had it from a bakery and once at a restaurant and never did it thrill me. Go figure. But I saw these adorable Lady Fingers at the Trader Joe's while last minute shopping while Helene was still here and just had to buy them. I mentioned to my sweet Ivonne that I wanted to make it and her response was to send me her family's recipe for it. How damn lucky am I?? :D Talk about having the perfect recipe for my first go at it! Once I had all my ingredients out and at room temp, I started the recipe.. which was to mix the sugar and eggs together until they were pale and thick. No problem (I love you, my sexy KitchenAid!).. next, add the mascarpone & cream all at once and beat until smooth and thick. Uhhh.. she's not smooth. And she ain't thick neither. Uhhh.. *panic* "Yes, operator? Get me the Creampuff in Canada STAT" ring ring ring.. ring ring ringgggggggg "Hi! You've reached the Creampuff! I'm not home! So sorry about your luck and your coagulated eggs & cheese!! MUAHAHAHAA!" *sob* "Yes, operator? Get me my Guru in S. Carolina STAT STAT!" ring ring ring.. ring ring ringgggggggg "Hi, You've reached your Guru! I'm not home! So sorry about your luck and your icky eggie cheesy disaster! MUAHAHAHAHAAA!" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I uncracked the bottle of Jack and had myself a couple fingers worth. ;) By that time my phone rings and HALLEY-LOO-YA it was my Guru, bless her cotton socks! She advised me that I should keep beating it until it starts to smooth out and then put it through a fine sieve and I should be fine. It wouldn't end up completely smooth, but it also wouldn't have the consistency of spoiled milk. *buuickkk* And so I did, although I did change from the paddle to the whisk attachment, and sure enough, after 10 min. or so, it did start to come together and by the time I pushed it through the sieve, I had a semi-smooth mascarpone mixture. Phew! Disaster avoided once again thanks to my Guru. :D After that, it was a cinch to put together, pretty much.. I did read the instructions wrong (surprise!) and only used 2 c. of espresso (recipe called for 4) to 1 TBS. sugar and 2 TBS. of Marsala - so my lil lady fingers were ROCKIN' if'n ya'll know what I mean? Zinggggg! Now for the life of me I can not remember why I did not take any photos of the whole thing, quite possibly they came out all blurry? I dunno.. but anyhoo, it was gorgeous. Of course I had to make it even more sinfully delicious by adding 2 GENEROUS layers of grated dark chocolate. ;) Where the photos make it look like it was grainy, it wasn't. It was very smooth and silky. This tiramisu wasn't too sweet, so the added chocolate was a match made in heaven. And the espresso/booze soaked cookies were good enough to eat by themselves. Which I might have done with the 5 left over cookies.. maybe. *blush* The true test would be 2 nights later when I had some friends over for my 40th (gag) birthday party. One of my guests is a Tiramisu connoisseur and he promised to tell me the truth. He took a bite, his eyes rolled back into his head and I swear he started pulsating. Orgasmically like.. I shite you not. Yep! This Tiramisu made him a very happy camper. Yay! Thank you SO MUCH, Ivonne! Not only have I learned what to do when my eggs and mascarpone curdle, but I am now a huge lover of Tiramisu. I've already got my mascarpone in the fridge and can not wait to get my hands on those lady fingers again.. soon.. oh yesss... soon. I think the Tiramisu would look lovely sitting next to Gracie's Croissant Bread Pudding on our Christmas dessert table, don't you? squeeeeee!!! This is a Creampuff recipe and not mine to share. So I guess ya'll are going to have to come to my house this Xmas for a slice, yes? =) Not only did My Sweet Creampuff give me this awesome recipe, but she also sent me the gorgeous napkins you see in the photo as part of my birthday present. =) xoxo

I'm Gonna Make Him an Offer He Can't Refuse

When my lovely friend, Sara announced that Paige from Chef Girl was hosting WCC No. 19 and had chosen "Dinner and a DVD" as this month's theme, I knew I had to get in on it. There is something about the Weekend Cookbook Challenge and me. We live on different parallel universes I think.. because for the life of me, I can never be on time. I either run out of time completely with no idea of what I could have made in the first place.. or I try to sneak in under the wire and beg Sara to include my lil recipe at the very last minute. Which is what I thought I was going to do this month.. hahahahaaa! That Paige though.. she's a fast rounder-upper! But that's okay, I'm still going to share this with yous guys because A- the recipe is KICK ASS and B- the movie is SUPER KICK ASS. And C- I went through the whole day dating everything the 19th :D First the movie - what every Italian daughter should own in her DVD collection - The Godfather. Of if you are like me, you would own The Godfather DVD Collection, which contains The Godfather Parts I, II and III as well as a BONUS materials DVD. And ya'll know me.. I'm always up for a bonus. :D This was a gift from my mom after my father passed. Do you find that odd? My father was The Number One fan of The Godfather Trilogy (although he'd never admit to liking Part III even though he watched it, easily, over 50 times). The man owned pretty much every gangster/Italian related movie ever made, but The Godfather was the movie he watched over and over again. Seriously, if I had a dime for every time I came home from school, woke up in the morning, came home from work at night, was helping prepare dinner, brushing my teeth, doing my homework or talking on the phone and heard the theme song to The Godfather start up on our TV, I'd be a fakking millionare. I do not joke nor exaggerate about this. His VHS copy is barely holding together, it's been played THAT MANY TIMES. It's too bad he passed before DVDs were the thing.. he probably would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven anyway had he known he could watch HIS MOVIE in high def. =) Did I ever mention that at my father's calling hours, we had The Godfather Waltz piped through the funeral home speakers? Oh yes. Yes we did. And so.. as you can imagine, I too have seen the Godfather movies a bazillion times and can pretty much recite Parts I and II from memory. Yes yes, I hold the same grudge as my father regarding Part III - so sue me. :P I knew this would have to be the movie I would chose for this month's challenge. And what goes better with a lil Marlon Brando, James Caan and Al Pacino? Why Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna! That's what!! I know I've blogged about this phenomenal recipe before.. but it is THAT good and goes SO WELL with a bulletproof vest fulla dead fish that I just had to blog about it once again. This time though, it's not exactly Mama Creampuff's recipe for I have tweaked and twiddled with it a bit. Not by much - you really can't screw with perfection too much, yanno ;) This being maybe the 5th or 6th time I've made it.. I've gradually added a lil somethin' somethin' to it - such as the rinds from parmigiano reggiano wedges and a handful or two of the grated good stuff. I also added a lil garlic.. my father would have shot me if I did not add garlic. And lastly, something I've done from day one, is use pork shoulder steaks instead of veal because I just can't do veal. So there you have it, friends.. The Godfather and Mama Creampuff's Lasagna - a true match made in heaven. :D xoxo

Adventures of an Italian Food Lover...

I had first heard of this book while reading my beautiful and talented partner-in-crime's post regarding how a recipe from the book brought back wonderful memories of her grandmother.. the way she explained the book made me think of it not so much as a cookery book, but more of a book full of precious memories and celebrations of friends and family - through food. After I commented on her post, I immediately clicked over to Amazon to get this book up on my wishlist.. I waste no time, kids.. NO TIME. Imagine my surprise and sheer delight just a few days later when I receive an e-mail from Ivonne with the subject "So don't hurt me..." -'kay well the surprise was there, and then there was a lil alarm, followed by "okay what the hell did we get ourselves into now?" before the sheer delight kicked in.. heee. And I quote: "I volunteered you for a book event." "Sorry!!!" "Since we’re sisters I figured I could do that without asking you first. Don’t ya’ love me???" har!! Yeah, I do love her. =) I, of course, was tickled freakin' pink to be involved with this event because I was more than curious to read this book. After all, I had it added to my wish list within 20 seconds after reading her post doncha know. A week or so later I received it in the mail and that night I started to read it.. I know we aren't suppose to "review" the book exactly, but I have to say to anyone who is thinking about buying it.. go for it. It's a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about each and every friend she wrote about and how the recipes came about. While trying to figure out what I was going to make, and the decision was a difficult one, I couldn't help but to keep thinking about a time in my life when I was 12 years old and my youngest sister had just been born. Now you are going to think this silly and well.. kind of strange, but bear with me.. is that bear?? or bare?? Wait.. it can't be bare - this is a PG-13 blog. ANYHOO.. my father had picked myself and my younger sister up at my auntie's house after the baby was born to take us to their best friends' house.. this doesn't make as much sense to me now, why we didn't go see my mom and the baby, but I went with it pretty easily that day.. so we get over there and his friends are half looped as they'd been "celebrating" her arrival.. On the table was this pink stuff that was shaped like a fish sitting on a platter with a bunch of crackers spread around it and a butter knife stabbing it in it's head. Mrs. R urged me to try spreading some of the pink dead (obviously) stuff on a cracker but I didn't want anything to do with it as I was completely grossed out to the max ohmygod. Okay, so apparently my morbid fascination got the best of me, and I tried a wee schmear of it on a cracker and I remember my eyes lighting up and going back for a bigger schmear of the pink dead thing. Any thought of my newly born baby sister was completely gone from memory.. all I wanted to do was eat this stuff - it was so good! Put a platter of salmon mousse shaped into a fish in front of me now and I would most definitely turn my nose up at it. I have no good reason why.. maybe the thought of ground fish kinda squicks me in my old age.. maybe it's because my youngest sister was spoiled 100 times more than I was. ;) I don't know - but on the day of her birth, all I truly remember is being at Mr. & Mrs. R's house stuffin my pie-hole with processed salmon and, I'm sure, a boatload of mayo. Why the hell would I even mention this right now?? Because believe it or not - that is one of my earliest true food memories - oh sure, I remember the important stuff - the first time I tried lobster for one. But it was more than the actual food, it was the love and celebration and feeling completely safe with the company I was in. Mr. R has long since passed and I don't speak to Mrs. R anymore - fate, I guess.. and my dad.. one of the few times I remember him being completely and unabashedly excited, thrilled, happy and gushing. My God that man loved his girls. Well there is no salmon mousse in Faith Willinger's Adventures of an Italian Food Lover. So I went with another item that is near and dear to my heart.. meatballs! My family has made the same meatball recipe since my grandmother's mother taught her eons ago. My grandmother taught my dad, my dad taught my mom and my mom taught me.. that's alotta meat-ah-balls! Our balls use the same ingredients (mostly) of our sauce so they are a good pairing together - but heck, no one can have just one meatball recipe in their repertoire now can they? So I was pretty jazzed about making these. As always, when I'm rolling my meatballs memories come flooding back from the days of our restaurant business.. the hundreds upon hundreds of meatballs that were hand made every other day. The scooping, the rolling, the greasy hands and mucky fingers after about your 50th ball. Ugh.. the standing in the same position for hours.. that was the worst of it. But you know what? I'd give anything to be back in that kitchen standing next to my mom rollin' meatballs and shifting my weight from one screaming foot to the other. To bend my back to and fro' every hundred ball or so, just to work out the kinks. Listening to my dad on the other side of the huge butcher block table, whistling while he cleaned the beef tenderloin.. the heat.. the smells.. the royal pain in the ass it is to work for the public.. I miss it all and I remember it all - and it only takes (these days) 3 lbs. of ground round, some bread crumbs, cheese, herbs and a few eggs and I'm right back there where I belong. A huge thanks to Ivonne (my heart), Cathy of A Blithe Palate and Faith, for including me in this special event.. for it was much more than enjoying a book.. it was many reasons and ways to revisit my favorite (and not so favorite) memories. xoxo

WCC No. 16 - Something New!

When my friend, Sara of i like to cook, announced the theme for this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge, "Something New" I knew exactly what I'd be submitting. I had actually made this recipe a few days before her announcement and have been saving it ever since. Originally, what I was going for was kind of shady in my mind. I kept thinking of this concoction my father use to make - it was basically sliced peppers in olive oil with a bunch of spices. YUM. But I wanted something a little more substantial - something with lots of veggies. Something I could spread on crackers, use as a bruschetta topping or serve with crudités. Something that was savory and filling that would be the perfect nibbler during Boston Legal (Ohhh Alan & Denny - you make the best couple EVER) or served to friends who come over for cards or just to hang out. So this is a "new" recipe, something I've never had before and so far, something that my friends had never had either.. everyone of them has asked for the recipe. It's that good. Although this isn't an oil based antipasto like I had originally thought to make, it is as delicious as my dad's peppers and I just wish he was here to try it - he'd go crazy over this stuff! You've got tons of different veggies, Italian tuna and anchovies bathed in a light tomato sauce. Warm or cold, spread on crackers or a big slice of crusty bread - this antipasto is what I like to rate as "drool worthy" in the spirit of Elaine Benes' "sponge worthy". The flavors all work so well with each other and the tuna and anchovies give it just the right amount of salty goodness. I'd say the only drawbacks of this recipe is that it's kind of expensive to make - but you do get a BOATLOAD of it. The original recipe made 15 pints. FIFTEEN. So it all evens out in the end. I halved this recipe, as the only other drawback is space. I don't can things, I'm afraid of it.. I tried tomatoes one time and it was just a disaster - especially 2 months later *shudder* - so I chose to freeze the bulk of this and even with 3 freezers, it's hard to find room for 8 bags of antipasto. hehe And one other thing, before I share the recipe, is that if you decide to make this delicious antipasto, don't make the same mistake that I did by cutting the veggies too big. You definitely want to spend the extra time in dicing most of the vegetables. (you can get more on the cracker that way.. heehehe) Antipasto Courtesy of Derf and Recipezaar Recipe makes 15 pints 2 large green peppers (I used yellow because they're my favorites) 4 large carrots 2 cans pitted black olives 1 (16 oz.) jar broken green olives 2 (12 oz.) jars pickling onions 2 (4 oz.) jars pimientos 1 (48 oz.) jar sweet pickles (I substituted these with asparagus tips) 1 large cauliflower 8 oz. olive oil 5 cloves garlic, smashed 2 (15 oz.) bottles ketchup 1 (15 oz.) bottle hot ketchup (I omitted this as well, didn't know what it was) 1 cup red wine 2 (5 1/2 oz.) cans tomato paste 1 TBS. dried oregano 2 (14 oz.) cans artichokes 2 (10 oz.) cans mushroom pieces 2 cans anchovies, chopped (Even when halving the recipe, I only used 1/2 of 1 jar) 3 (7 oz.) cans Italian tuna Chop green peppers, cut carrots into julienne strips. Chop ripe olives, green olives, pickled onions, pimiento, sweet pickle and set aside. Break cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Put 2 oz. of olive oil into frying pan and add 2 cloves garlic, add cauliflower and saute. Remove from heat and set aside. In a large pot add remaining olive oil and saute the remaining 3 cloves of garlic, add ketchup, wine, tomato paste and oregano. Add chopped vegetables, pickles, olives, artichokes, pimiento, cauliflower and mushrooms. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add anchovies and tuna to mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent sticking. Serve for use immediately, refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, place in containers for freezing or place immediately in hot sterilized jars.* *Note: If you are going to can this recipe, I suggest you read the comments on the recipezaar site - it could be dangerous canning low acid foods such as olives and seafood. If you've got the room, I recommend freezing - this way you'll have no worries. =)

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini

Two reasons for this post.. The first is, I made this soup again this past week and Oh. My. Dear. Jebus. is it good - if you haven't tried this yet and like soup.. please make yourselves a batch ASAP. =) Secondly, I noticed that Alanna of A Veggie Venture is hosting an all month blow out celebrating Soup! Glorious Soup! and I thought what better a submission than this tasty and filling soup that I simply am in love with. For those of you who are wondering when I made this soup the last time, it was almost a year ago - right after I started this lil blog. I thought I was going to be making a whole different soup, but realized after I read the recipe again that it wasn't what I thought it would be. But I ventured on and am I happy I did! If, by chance, you did see this recipe here way back then, take note that I have since changed the recipe to reflect the way I make it, instead of giving you the original with my additions or substitutions noted. What are you waiting for??? Go make this soup! :D Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (I just used bulk sausage) 2 TBS. Extra virgin olive oil 1 c. chopped onion 4 cloves garlic, minced 6+ c. beef stock 1/2 c. water 1/2 c. red wine 2 regular size cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes with the juice 1 c. thinly sliced carrots 1 c. diced yellow bell pepper 1 (1 lb.) bag of baby spinach 1 TBS. packed fresh basil leaves, chiffonade 1 tsp. dried oregano 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce 1 1/2 c. sliced zucchini or 1 1/2 c. celery - leaves and all Salt & Pepper to taste 1 lb. fresh tortellini pasta 3 TBS. chopped, fresh parsley *I bought it but didn't use it.. went with more basil* 1/8 c. soy sauce (Optional - *See Note) Parmigiano Reggiano, shaved In a 5 qt. Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage & drain, reserving 1 TBS. of drippings. Saute onions & garlic in drippings and 2 TBS. of EVOO. Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, all the veggies, basil, oregano, tomato sauce & sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Skim fat from the soup. Stir in zucchini, tortellini and parsley. If the tortellini are fresh, add them in the last 10 min. of simmering. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. *This would be the hour mark and I still felt it needed more saltiness and flavor - so I added 1/8 c. soy sauce* Sprinkle with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top of each serving.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble

No, I wasn't concocting a brew made of baboon blood and toad's eyes. Although, that might have been a good idea to ward away the snifflies I've caught this weekend. *sniff* Kind of looks a lil like what you might find in a witch's cauldren, eh? I can't truly vouch for how good this dinner was myself, as my tasters feel as if they are covered with a thin sheet of visquene, but Hubbs raved about it. Which is good because there's no reason for him to suffer just because I can't taste anything and I know I can make this again once I feel better because it was very easy and quick. There is one thing I learned though.. I do not like the texture of tentacles unless they've been cooked for hours or fried until golden brown and delicious. Anyhoo.. what I wanted to accomplish a couple nights ago was picking out something from a newly acquired cookbook for my submission to the WCC #13. Unfortunately, the only cookbook I received for Christmas was Nigella Bites. Unfortunately because after my first flip through it, I wasn't impressed like I was with Feast and after my more in-depth look into it Friday afternoon I still didn't find much that tripped my trigger. At least nothing I could make for dinner. I did find something that I'll be making later today.. stay tuned! Same bat channel! Same bat time! So I tossed Nigella to the side and picked up my 1,000 Italian Recipes book that I bought many moons ago and haven't really cooked much from. And it was from this book that I chose to make Calamari alla Veneta or Venetian-Style Calamari. This recipe was very easy to put together, very quick to cook with the flavors melding as if they'd simmered for hours (so says Hubbs) and the sauce was very creamy with the addition of a little Parmigiano Reggiano. I decided to serve this with penne, but the recipe says it's traditional to serve with white polenta. I also threw in some sliced kalamata olives just because they were sitting there staring at me. By the way, if you are looking for a terrific cookbook jam packed with lots of traditional and contemporary Italian recipes, this book is worth the cash. Michele Scicolone is of Italian American descent and like many of us, learned how to cook by watching her parents and grandparents. She has collected recipes from traditional family favorites, to tried and true recipes given to her by friends as well as authentic Italian recipes collected in all regions of Italy in her travels. There is definitely something for everyone in this book. =) Calamari alla Veneta or Venetian-Style Calamari Adapted from 1,000 Italian Recipes written by Michele Scicolone 1/4 c. olive oil 1/4 c. finely chopped onion 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled (I gave mine a good smash) 2 lbs. calamari (squid), cleaned and cut into rings 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped or 1 c. chopped canned tomatoes 1/2 c. dry white wine 1/2 c. sliced kalamata olives (My addition, optional) Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 lb. Penne, cooked to al dente or Polenta (both are optional) Pour the oil into a large, heavy skillet. Add the onion and garlic to cold skillet (*See note) and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until the onion is golden, about 10 minutes. The recipe says to discard the garlic at this point, but to me that's sacrilege - so my garlic stayed in ;) Add the calamari, tomatoes, wine and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce is thickened and the calamari are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve hot. In Venice, fish is often served with Polenta with white rather than yellow cornmeal. I chose Penne cooked al dente. *My Notes: When cooking with garlic and onions in oil or butter, it is best to add all the ingredients into a cold skillet then bring them, slowly, up in temperature together to avoid burning of the vegetables. If you want to serve this with pasta, your sauce might reduce quite a bit after 30 minutes. I added a couple ladles of the pasta water and maybe 1/4 - 1/3 cup of finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano to make the sauce creamy. Make sure to taste often as the cheese will bring a lot of saltiness to the dish - especially if you decide to add the kalamata olives. If you decide to serve this without pasta or polenta make sure you have a good crusty bread to sop up the sauce. ;)

I Did It! I Finally Did It! Also.. Peabody Rocks!

For the past 3 (or is it 4?) years I've been trying, very unsucessfully, to recreate my Dad's Christmas Calamari Sauce. And lemme just tell yas.. this process has been very lonnnngggg, disasterous and heartbreaking. So let this lil post be a lesson to all you kids out there - Life is short! Do not take ANYTHING for granted! My Dad made this sauce every single Christmas Eve of his life (well his life with his family) and my Mother and I never, ever watched him do it. We never asked him to show us how to make our most favorite sauce in the world. And then he was gone.. and although we didn't even want to celebrate Christmas without him for a few years, when we were ready to bring back the traditions the way he would want us to.. we had no way of making the sauce. *sigh* After last year's disaster, I decided that I would research any and all old Italian seafood sauces that I could get my hands on.. surely there is some Italian family out there that enjoys this sauce, eh?? By God, you'd think not after all of my failed attempts to find anything. And then one day, my Mom said to me, "You know, he cleaned squid for hours and when he boiled it, the water turned purple." Bingo! I had no idea he cleaned his own squid.. I had been buying it already cleaned and all I had to do was slice it. Duh! So this year, I bought whole squid and Hubbs and I spent an hour or more cleaning about 3 lbs. of it. Now THAT was an experience. If you've never cleaned squid before, you have no idea how many steps there are to it - as well as the ick factor. Nothin' like chopping heads off right below the eyeballs, my friends! heee! Okay - without getting into more gorey details.. after we cleaned the squid, I managed to save a few very tiny ink sacs. We boiled the tubes and the tentacles with the ink sacks until we saw that the water was turning purple! Woo!! Frankly, I don't think the ink sacs had much to do with it though, as after I took the pieces out of the water, the sacs were pretty much still intact. I believe the color comes from the skin left on the tentacles. Anyhoo.. the rest of the process was quite easy. My family's marinara sauce calls for tomato puree and after you dump the puree into your pot, you fill each can up with water to dilute it a bit. So I did that with this sauce as well.. only I used the water that we boiled the squid in to fill up those cans. I know he didn't season it like he did our regular marinara so I only put in salt and pepper along with all the calamari pieces parts.. and after a good 5 hours of simmering.. I had my Dad's Calamari Sauce. Finally. This picture was taken only after an hour or two of simmering so the sauce was still bright red.. when it was finished it had turned a beautiful dark red and the calamari was melt in your mouth tender. Rather than post this recipe here, because I realize not many people are going to be interested in a tomato sauce that features squid, hehehe, and because the steps are quite lengthy to type out - I will offer to type it all up for you and send through e-mail if you are interested, just drop me a line. This sauce really is magnificent :D And now on to the appetizer and the dessert! Both recipes are from Peabody so I will just link you to her beautiful pictures and recipes.. but I just had to share how mine turned out.. both were a smashing success and both recipes were asked for by everyone who attended. Thank you, Peabody - I am now addicted to bread pudding (which I'd never had before) and that excellent bleu cheesey/oniony-peary jammy spread! Oh! I also took the remainder of the cheesecake to work so it wouldn't go to waste and everyone there loved it as well! =) This large wedge was plenty for a crowd of 9 people, I served it with butter crackers and toasted slices of baguette.. Peabody's Bleu Cheese Cheesecake with Onion-Pear Jam 1 3/4 lbs softened cream cheese 8 oz shredded Asiago cheese 8 oz blue cheese, crumbled 5 large eggs 1/3 cup heavy cream 1/4 tsp white pepper Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream cheeses together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add cream and pepper. Combine. Bake uncovered in a water bath until golden brown and center is set.About 45-50 minutes. Cool Completely, remove sides of pan. Onion Pear Jam 4 cups onions, diced 1 tsp olive oil 2 cups pears, peeled, chopped 2 TBSP fruit vinegar 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 tsp kosher salt 1 pinch cayenne pepper Saute onions in oil until brown. Reduce heat and cook until glazed. Add pears, vinegar, sugar, cayenne and salt. Cook till pears are crispy tender. Remove mixture ans simmer juice utnil a thick glaze. Mix pear onion mixture with glaze. Cool. Cover cooled cheesecke with jam and serve with bread or crackers. And here are the individual bread puddings.. when making this, I had to leave out the alcohol and the nuts. I subbed vanilla for the alcohol and MY GOD it was delicious! If making individuals like I did, the baking time was reduced by only 10 minutes or so.. just until the middles felt firm when inserting a thin knife. Half way through devouring mine I realized I forgot to take a picture with the dreamy toffee sauce drizzled over it.. so this is all ya get to see. hehee Peabody's Croissant Bread Pudding with Pecan Toffee Sauce 4 large croissants or 6 small ones 1 pint heavy cream 4 egg yolks ½ cup of sugar 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup raisins Preheat oven to 350F. 1.Tear croissants into pieces and place int o baking dish. Sprinkle bread with the raisins. 2.Mix the egg yolks, sugar and nutmeg together in a bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream. 3.Pour the custard over the bread. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard. You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your crossiants are. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard. 4.Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes until golden on top. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm. Pecan Toffee Sauce 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 cup unsalted butter 1/3 cup whipping cream 1 TBSP Amaretto 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted 1.Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. 2. Add cream and Amaretto and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes and then add pecans. To see gorgeous shots of these two recipes, check out the loverly Peabody's site for the Bleu Cheese Cheesecake with Onion-Pear Jam and the Croissant Bread Pudding with Pecan Toffee Sauce - I can't describe how good both of these were.. you have to try them for yourselves! :D

A Biscotti Recipe, 4 Extremely Talented Bakers.. and Me. =)

*UPDATED* - Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti recipe added below I just got done reading Peabody's, Brilynn's, Helene's and Ivonne's posts about their biscotti. I couldn't be more impressed and awed. What a fabulous job you guys did!! Thank you so much for joining Ivonne and I in baking this recipe! I truly look forward to next month and can't wait to see what we'll be making. :D Oh yes.. I've decided.. and made that executive decision without being anywhere nears an executive, that we shall do this again next month.. Oh yes, my friends, we shall. Muahahaa! This was my first time baking biscotti. I've always paid the big bucks for these crunchy cookies and never even gave it a thought. Until Ivonne and I were talking about what to make this month and after suggestions of panettone (scared the bejebus outta me) and Christmas cookies, she came up with biscotti. My eyes lit up and a very large smile appeared on my face. Of course! Biscotti! Perfect! And so it was settled. By this time, I had already spoken with Peabody about her wishes to join us and Ivonne had spoken to Brilynn - so now the 2 of us had become 4. I was tickled. A few days later, as I was writing what seems to be my weekly letter to Helene, I realized she'd probably enjoy making biscotti too, so I invited her as well. I was very happy to find out that she was definitely up for it - now we had 5! And I was just delighted. =) Well let me tell you.. had I known how easy it was to make such delicious biscotti in my own kitchen I would have NEVER shelled out a dime for those "gourmet" cookies I've always loved. Of course this is thanks to Dorie Greenspan and her fabulous book, Baking: From My Home To Yours. Kids? If you haven't bought or begged for this book yet, seriously - get on it. You will NOT be disappointed. Her inclusion of Thelma Labensky's recipe for Chocolate Biscotti was heaven sent. When I read the ingredients and saw espresso powder in the list, I knew this would be a damn good biscotto. And ohhhh is it! The cookie has a nice crunch and isn't too sweet. The chocolate is very pronounced, thanks to the espresso powder. I don't digest nuts well, so I left out the almonds but kept in the chunks of semi-sweet chocolate. Well duh. Aside from that, I followed the recipe to the T. Right up to the option of dipping them into white chocolate. Not a white chocolate fan here. Actually, I hate the stuff. BUT, my creative juices were flowin' and I thought adding cinnamon to white chocolate might make it good enough to eat. Alas, this did not come to fruition as my white chocolate would not melt. I used a double boiler and gently brought the heat up, but my chocolate would only melt to a thick, frosting like, consistency. So I chucked it. And then I ran to the freezer for my good semi-sweet stash and got on with the dipping! Chocolate Biscotti Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, Houghton Mifflin Company, Nov 2006 2 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder 2 TBS. instant espresso powder 3/4 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 3/4 stick (6 TBS.) unsalted butter at room temperature 1 c. sugar 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 c. chopped almonds, blanched or unblanched 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 3/4 c. store-bought mini chocolate chips Sugar for dusting Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat. Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale, about 2 minutes; the mixture may be crumbly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes; don't worry if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate, then turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead in any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough into 12 inch long logs. Flatten both logs with the palm of your hand so that they are 1/2 to 1 inch high, about 2 inches across and sort of rectangular, then carefully lift the logs onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar. Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, or until they are just slightly firm. The logs will spread and crack - and that's just fine. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, put it on a cooling rack and cool the logs for about 20 minutes. (Leave the oven on.) Working with one log at a time, using a long serrated knife, cut each log into slices between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick. Stand the slices up on the baking sheet - you'll have an army of biscotti - and bake the cookies again, this time for just 10 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool. Makes about 40 cookies. Playing Around: Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti: As impossible as it seems, these are even more irresistible than the original version. Add 1/3 co. of chopped dried cherries to the dough along with he almonds and chocolate. White Chocolate Dipped Biscotti: Have a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or a sheet of parchment or wax paper at hand. Gently melt 12 oz. finely chopped white chocolate or 2 c. store bought white chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and scrape the chocolate into a narrow heatproof container. One by one, dip the biscotti into the chocolate, coating them to their midpoints. Lay the biscotti on the mat or paper, and when they are all dipped, slide them into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to set the white chocolate. My Notes: I must have cut mine thicker than Dorie's as I only had 30 biscotti. Also pictured are cinnamon biscotti that I also made. They were equally delightful - with a big kick of cinnamon for you cinnamon lovers. Unfortunately, I'm about done tuckered out tonight, so I'll post the cinnamon biscotti recipe tomorrow morning. =) Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti Courtesy of Mollie and All Recipes 2 c. all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 2/3 c. sugar 6 TBS. butter 1 egg 1 egg yolk 1 tsp. vanilla 1 egg, beaten 3 TBS. sugar 1 tsp. ground cinnamon Preheat oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the 2/3 c. sugar and butter. Beat in 1 egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients. (I used my stand mixer for all of this) Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time (you'll need to knead this dough a bit to get the unmixed dry ingredients incorporated thoroughly), roll the dough into 9 inch long 1 1/2 inch wide logs. Flatten both logs with the palm of your hand slightly, then carefully lift the logs onto the baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden and firm to the touch. Cool for 15 minutes. On a cutting board, slice each log crosswise at a diagional into 1/2 inch slices, using a serrated knife. *Note: see below for notes on slicing. Place back on baking sheet, cut side down and sprinkle with a mixture of the remaining cinnamon and sugar. Return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, until toasted. Cool on wire racks and store in an airtight container. Makes 20 biscotti. My Notes: Thanks to advice from Alton Brown (I heart you AB!), I used my electric knife to cut both varieties of biscotti. I hardly had any crumbles at all. Also, if you don't have an electric knife, another tip I picked up was when cutting with a serrated knife, press down instead of sawing - helps to reduce crumbling. Serving: You can serve these with coffee - espresso, cappuccino, latte, or plain-old-poured-from-the-pot coffee - red wine, milk or ice cream. Or, if you stick them in a cookie jar and leave them onto he counter, they'll just about serve themselves. Storing: By their very nature, biscotti are good keepers. They'll keep in a cookie jar or an open basket for a week or more. Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Baked Tortellini Casserole

With no real plan for dinner last night, when the time came I just decided to dump a few ingredients into a baking dish and bake it until it was bubbly and goldeny delicious. At least that's what I had hoped for. Although I found this dish to be a lil rich for my liking, Hubbs loved it and has demanded that I write down exactly what I did so I can make it for him again. Nothing special going on here.. the usual garlic, onions, herbs and tomatoes sauteed then mixed with some tortellini and fontina cheese. The only thing I thought I was taking a chance on was the addition of prosciutto. I'm kind of a prosciutto "purist" as I only really like it wrapped around something sweet (melon and/or figs) or just plain straight out of the butcher paper. I don't even like it on a sandwich. So adding it to a baked dish was something new. My feelings are, the prosciutto was what made the dish taste a lil too rich. I think if I were to experiment using it again in something I'm cooking, my sauce would be much more light.. like pasta mixed with a lil olive oil with maybe sun-dried tomatoes and prosciutto or just prosciutto and some fresh basil. But not with a tomato sauce. But who am I? Like I said, Hubbs loved it and even had a 2nd helping. He put the remaining casserole in a tupperware and is bringing it to work today for lunch, so mebbe my tasters were off last night? hehee Baked Tortellini Casserole 1 pkg. fresh tortellini (the smaller package, not the family sized) 1/2 large vidalia, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 bell pepper, chopped 1 (28 oz.) can quality diced tomatoes (San Marzano is what I prefer) 3 TBS. tomato paste 1/2 tsp. dry oregano 2 TBS. fresh basil, chopped 1/4 c. dry white wine 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1/8 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto, cut in ribbons (optional) 1/2 c. grated Pecorino Romano 4 oz. Fontina, cut into 1/4 inch slabs Preheat oven to 400º F. In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil, then salt the water generously. Add tortellini and cook just until they float to the top - you don't want to over cook them as they will be baked later - drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute onions, garlic, bell pepper and oregano in a little olive oil until veggies are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the can of diced tomatoes with the juice, tomato paste, 1/4 cup of wine, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Combine tomato mixture with tortellini, sprinkled Pecorino over top and mix gently then add the slabs of Fontina, mixing some into the tortellini and leaving some laying on top. Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Let set for 5 minutes then serve with a salad and crusty bread. *Note: I think this is the first time I've made a dish with Fontina baked on top (I've always used Mozzarella) and it was fabulous. So good, in fact, that I am going to sub Fontina for Mozzarella the next time I make my pizzas. :D

Mmm Manicotti

I woke yesterday with the wish to finally get back into my kitchen since the big party AND with an incredible urge to make manicotti. Funny thing is? I don't think I've ever eaten manicotti let alone made it before. Weird, eh? Stuffed pasta dishes weren't big in our family - other than my father's Christmas ravioli and the occasional offering of stuffed shells on our restaurant menu. So how could I crave them? Ya got me.. but I'm glad I did!! Not having a recipe made it a lil hard to figure out how to make them, although I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to stuff them with. So off I went to All Recipes as I always do when in search of ideas and or specific recipes. I was not disappointed in finding many recipes for Manicotti, that's for sure. I chose to go with Manicotti Alla Romana submitted by Mark Blau. Although I didn't follow his recipe to the Tee.. it did give me the guidelines I needed for a perfect Manicotti dish. The reason I chose his recipe was because of the bechamel sauce involved. Although I wasn't sure if I'd include it or not - as my favorite Lasagna Roll recipe from Giada (a/k/a The Head and Mammories) calls for bechamel, it doesn't need it and I haven't included it since the very first time I made her rolls years ago. But this bechamel was slightly different with the addition of chicken bouillon. I found that interesting and decided to try it. It was fantastic! My only change next time would be to try to create this sauce with chicken stock as opposed to the bouillon granules because you could slightly taste it was bouillon. I really feel though, that this addition of bechamel really pushed the dish over the top. So if you decide to try this recipe.. don't skip it. =) The other changes I made were to leave the spinach out and to substitute 1/2 pound of the ground meat for 1/2 pound of pork sausage. And I added Pecorino to the meat mixture as well. Is there anything better than the scent of garlic and onions cooking? I think not! Here is my slightly different version of the above referenced recipe - 2 TBS olive oil 1/2 c. chopped vidalia onion 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1/2 pound ground round 1/2 pound ground pork sausage 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. black pepper 14 manicotti shells (1 package) 2 c. ricotta cheese 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 c. Pecorino Romano cheese, grated 3 c. marinara sauce (divided) 2 TBS. butter 2 TBS. all-purpose flour 2 TBS. chicken bouillon granules 2 c. half-and-half 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley 2 TBS. fresh chopped basil 1/2 c. Parmigiano Reggiano Preheat oven to 350º F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Saute garlic for 1 minute and stir in ground beef and pork sausage. Cook until well browned and crumbled. Season with salt & pepper and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add a generous amount of salt. Add manicotti shells and parboil for half of the time recommended on the package (5 minutes). Drain and cover with cool water to stop the cooking process and prevent the shells from cracking. To the ground beef/pork sausage mixture add the ricotta cheese and Pecorino Romano. When the mixture is cool, add the beaten eggs. Spread 1/4 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Gently drain the manicotti shells and carefully stuff each one with the meat and cheese mixture; place shells in prepared dish. Lightly cover the dish with plastic wrap or a clean, damp towel to prevent shells from cracking. See Note. Prepare the white sauce by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and chicken bouillon. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, until it begins to bubble. Stir in half and half and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Pour or ladle the sauce evenly over the stuffed shells. Carefully pour or ladle marinara sauce over the white sauce, trying to layer the sauces without mixing. Sprinkle the basil over the marinara sauce. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle with Parmigiano cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes more. Let sit for 5-10 minutes so the manicotti will set a bit. *Note: After stuffing the Manicotti, I placed them into a plastic container that has a tight fitting lid. I used wax paper between the layers to prevent sticking and froze 8 Manicotti and only baked 6. Two manicotti per person is a generous portion.. unless you are Hubbs and eat 4. har!

Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna

It's been 12 hours and I'm still swimming in the afterglow of the best lasagna I've ever had. Yes.. I made Ivonne's Mom's lasagna last night and whooo baby! I can't wait for lunch time! After much deliberation, I decided to nix the braciole idea and use pork shoulder in lieu of the veal for Ivonne's sauce. I know that pork is more flavorful than most cuts of beef when simmering in a sauce and the fattier cut of the shoulder along with the bone would definitely impart good flavor, yes? Oh Hell Yes. And then much to my delight, I checked e-mail a couple hours after the sauce was still simmering on the stove to find that Ivonne had wrote back with that same suggestion. I was more than happy to know that my gut feeling was right on track! I made just a couple changes.. the pork, obviously, and I had a good hunk of creamy Fontina cheese that needed used, so I added that in with the mozarella and parmigiano. Lastly, I had to use store-bought lasagna noodles. I'd give anything to try this with fresh noodles, but I don't have a pasta making machine and I'm kind of afraid of making my own pasta. One day I shall conquer that fear! But right now, I'm still chicken. This lasagna was so good with store bought noodles that I can't even comprehend how much more wonderful it is with fresh! Holy comoly! :D In her e-mail, Ivonne suggested that if I wanted meat in the lasagna I should shred the pork and add it to the layers. I think that is a fabulous idea, but for my first try at this dish, I decided to keep it as close to Ivonne's as possible. I served the pork on the side and that worked really well. Hubbs got his meat and enjoyed it.. but only had seconds of the lasagna, so that - again - should tell you how damn good it was! ha! So in a nutshell, all I can say is this.. Mama Cream Puff ROCKS! Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous family treasured recipe, Ivonne.. I'll be making this lasagna for many, many more years to come! Mama Cream Puff's Lasagna Courtesy of Ivonne and her Mom! I'm going to direct you straight to Ivonne's post for directions on how to make this lasagna. Not only can you get a look at her fabulous pictures, but she explains how to make this much better than I ever could. =) How does one loving daughter tell her mother that her lasagna recipe is out and someone else's mama's recipe is in? Pray for me people. Pray. For. Me.