Quick & Creamy Pine Nut Pasta Sauce

This is no alfredo sauce!! This quick and creamy (yet light enough for a hot summer day) pine nut sauce pairs perfectly with homemade pasta. After all the hard work of rolling your dough and making ravioli or cavatelli (or orecchieti, etc.) why drown your delicate pasta in a rich heavy sauce?!

Quick Pine Nut Pasta Sauce
Serves 6

handful of pine nuts (about 100 g or 4 oz) - you don’t have to use pine nuts, any nut of your choice
4 glugs of extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
150 ml or ⅔ cup of cream
small handful (about 30 g or ¼ cup) of grated parmesan
salt & pepper
pinch of nutmeg

Preperation
In a blender or with an immersion blender puree the cream, salt & pepper, nuts, nutmeg & cheese until its thick and mostly smooth.

In a pan on low flame, heat oil. Place in garlic glove browning on all sides. Once the pasta is cooked, strain the cooked pasta into the pan. Remove the pan from heat and pour cream mixture over. Toss and adjust the consistency with pasta water and taste.  Place into serving dish and top with a few extra pine nuts.

No Bake Dessert: Poached Peaches with Rosemary in White Wine with Mascarpone Cream

A gorgeous oven-free, gluten-free, no-bake dessert perfect for those hot summer nights!  This dessert has become a classic in our kitchen and cooking classes throughout stone fruit season. It's light & fresh, and even after a long Italian meal, everyone has room for a little peaches & cream! 

It's not only easy to make, but the ingredients are flexible; use white, rosè or red wine (finish off that bottle of white that's been sitting in the fridge for the last 2 nights...) The same with aromatics - rosemary, thyme, lemon, lavender...whatever you've got on hand. (This is why its so important to have an herb garden!)

Poached Peaches in White Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 firm peaches or nectarines (mature fruit will fall apart)
2-3 spoons of sugar
white or rosè wine
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
zest of ½ lemon (use ANY aromatics you like)
homemade whipped cream or mascarpone cream if you like

With a paring knife cut the fruit in half and remove the stone. If the stone will not come away easily, make a shallow incision around the stone and it will fall away once cooked.

Place the fruit cut side down in a pan or pot that fits the fruit snugly. Add in the aromatics with the sugar and top with wine until halfway up the fruit. Cover with baking paper (parchment) and bring the pan up to a medium simmer for 8-12 minutes total depending on the size of the fruit. Give the peaches a turn on their backs after about 5 minutes and they are done when a knife slips easily into the thickest part of the fruit.

Once the peaches are cooked, remove from the pan and place on a plate to cool. Return the pan to a low flame and reduce the wine until it becomes a syrup. Give it a taste - if its a little tart, add a spoonful of sugar. Be careful not to let this burn. Strain the syrup into a bowl and allow to cool.

To serve: Quarter the peaches and carefully remove the skins. Arrange on the plate and drizzle atop the white wine syrup and a dollop of cream.

Rustic Tart with Fresh Strawberries & Cream

Traditionally made with marmalade, this rustic tart is found kept under a kitchen towel in most homes in our area.  With strawberries in abundance this time of year, we use fresh fruit instead of jam.

This recipe is enough to make two 9-in/22cm tarts with lattice. Use what you have for the tart pans, we use round pizza pans.

Italian Rustic Tart with Strawberries
Crostata di Fragole

1 1/3 cup, 250g butter
4 cups, 500 g of flour
1 1/4 cups+ for dusting, 250g  sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon, 5g baking powder
2 full eggs + 3 yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
drop of booze - grappa, rum, brandy, anything you like
about a pint of fresh strawberries per tart, sliced
Optional: Serve with whipped cream or mascarpone cheese thinned out with milk.

Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla a few drops of your favorite liquor and beat in.
Sift together all the dry ingredients.
Incorporate the dry ingredients into the butter & egg mixture with a few strokes of a wooden spoon forming a dough.  Take 1/3 of the dough & and roll it out slightly larger than your  parchment lined tart pan. Roll down the edges of the dough to create the crust.
Arrange the strawberries slightly overlapping to cover the tart. You can sprinkle a little sugar over the strawberries, if they are in season this is not necessary.

To make the latticework top:
Pull off a pinch of dough & roll into a long snake. This is an easy dough to work with if it breaks just pinch it back together. This is a rustic tart. Moist hands will help if the dough is sticky.
Continue until you have enough to make your lattice top.

Bake in a preheated 350F/175C degree oven for about an hour or until the top is nice & brown, the bottom is cooked & the dough should shrink away from the pan a bit.

In loving memory

Spiced Baked Figs with Vanilla Panna Cotta

Sweet dreams are made of this... Baked spiced figs with creamy vanilla panna cotta is utterly decadent and gorgeous on the plate! During an unseasonably late fig season, we are celebrating with wild green figs from our neighbors tree. I love figs with pecorino cheese and honey, but now that our neighbor Caroline taught us this recipe its a new favorite! A beautiful finish for your late summer, early-fall dinner.

Recipe for Panna Cotta with Baked Spiced Figs

Baked Spiced Figs:
12 small figs
1 vanilla stick
a pinch nutmeg
a pinch cinnamon
60-75gr. Sugar
butter

Preheat your oven up to 200C.

Butter an oven tin.
Cut the figs in half and place them face up and close together in the buttered tin.
Open the vanilla stick and take the pods out, drizzle the pods, cinnamon and nutmeg over the figs.
Bake in the oven for 15minutes, lower the temperature to 160 C., drizzle the sugar over the figs and keep in the oven for another 15minutes. Let them caramelize.

Vanilla Panna Cotta
serves 8
Ingredients for Panna Cotta
3 sheets of gelatin
scant 1/2 cup milk or 120 ml
2  cups or 500 ml heavy cream
1/2 cup or 60 g sugar
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise

Fill a bowl with water, add the gelatin and let is soak. Pour milk into a pan & bring to just below simmering, then remove the pan from the heat. Do NOT let it boil. Drain & squeeze out the gelatin & add it to the milk. Pour the cream into another pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Then remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla bean and stir in the milk mixture.

You can put the mixture into any kind of ramekin, mold, cup, you like. Rinse your 'glass' in ice-cold water, shaking out any excess water & fill with the milk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set (at least 3-4 hours). Turn out onto a serving dish & serve with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce.

fresh picked wild figs from Le Marche, Italy

Profiteroles & Chantilly Cream

 

Jason made these years before in cooking school at The French Culinary Institute (called choux à la crème) but I wanted to find an Italian version. So I emailed our friends Paola and Antonio the owners of our favorite artisan gelateria, Maki and asked them for their favorite profiterole recipe. Anything dessert related especially if chocolate is involved they are our favorite place to turn. Below is the recipe Antonio learned while taking a cooking courses at La Cucina Italiana as well as the "Profiterole Pyramid" topped with a healthy helping of chocolate cream!! 

Profiteroles - Cream Puffs - Choux à la Crème

makes 50
250 ml water
150 gr flour, sifted
100 gr butter
4 eggs (both yolk and white)
salt/sugar: just a pinch

Bring the water, together with the butter, the salt and a pinch of sugar, to the boil.

Add the flour and mix well keeping the pan on the fire for just a couple of minutes, until the mixture is well amalgamated and it comes off the sides of the pan.

Let it cool down a little before adding the eggs, one at a time: mix well the egg before adding the following one.

Put the mixture into a sac a poche or pastry bag and place the profiterole or 'choux' (they should be as big as a walnut) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes at 180/200° C until they puff up and get a nice golden color.

Tip:  Antonio would reduce the amount of butter (20gr less) should he need to fry the profiterol (he would also add a pinch of baking soda) while the above recipe is good if you want to cook them in the oven.


Filling: ( You can also fill with custard cream or even whipped cream)

284 ml/10fl oz whipping cream
1 vanilla pod
powdered sugar (icing sugar) to taste


Place the cream into a bowl. Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the cream.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Add icing sugar, to taste, and mix in gently.

Topping: Since we asked chocolate makers for their recipe, of course they top their profiteroles with a healthy drizzle of chocolate sauce.

500 ml milk
5 egg yolks
150 gr sugar
35-40 gr corn flour, sifted
250 gr dark chocolate
250 ml cream

Bring the milk to the boil then add the chocolate.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar and egg yolks. Then add the flour, mix and finally add the end the hot milk/chocolate

Cook the mixture very gently for a couple of minutes just until it starts boiling. Remove from heat and add the cream.

Tip: If you want the classic profiterole pyramid, just dip them into the chocolate sauce (after you've filled them with cream) and place them on a plate and decorate.

Enjoy!

photo: Food&Wine

Thanks Paola and Antonio for sharing this recipe!!

Panna Cotta with Fresh Wild Berry Sauce

Photo: Cooking in Sens

An easy dessert to make that is always a crowd-pleaser is panna cotta with fresh picked wild berries - the combination of the rich, creamy, vanilla panna cotta with with tart & tangy berry sauce drizzled atop is a perfect match.

Panna Cotta with Fresh Berry Sauce
Panna cotta con frutta di bosco

Ingredients for Panna Cotta
2 sheets of gelatin
scant 1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise

Fill a bowl with water, add the gelatin and let is soak. Pour milk into a pan & bring to just below simmering, then remove the pan from the heat. Do NOT let it boil. Drain & squeeze out the gelatin & add the milk. Pour the cream into another pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, remove the vanilla bean and stir in the milk mixture.

You can put the mixture into any kind of ramekin, mold, cup, you like. Rinse your 'glass' in ice-cold water, shaking out any excess water & fill with the milk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator for several hours until set (at least 3-4 hours). Turn out onto a serving dish & serve with fruit sauce or chocolate sauce.

Ingredients for Berry Sauce
1 pint of your favorite berries or cherries
1/4 cup or less sugar (depending on sweetness of berries)
1/4 cup of water
optional - mint, lemon juice, lemon zest, etc.

Put the berries, sugar & water in a pot & simmer for 15-20 minutes until the fruit breaks down & forms a syrup.

Drizzle over the top of the panna cotta once on the serving plate.

Pasta all Norcina ~ Rich & Creamy

For a richly flavored creamy sauce with sausage - it can't get much easier than this! Plus it pairs perfectly with store bought dry pasta (we recommend rigatoni or penne). If you have access to fresh truffles, you can shave it over the top to transform this rustic dish to something exquisite!

Most of you know this sauce as Norcina - but at our house we affectionately call it - pasta Rossana in honor of our dear friend who first taught Jason this simple winter sauce! We'd arrive for dinner with a hungry look in our eyes begging for 'pasta Rossana' and its meaty creamy goodness. She would laugh & say "Dear it is not MY sauce but the sauce of Norcia." We nod understandingly, smile back & ask for another serving!

Pasta alla Norcina
Pasta with Sausages & Cream

Serves 4

6 oz. / 150gr of sausage meat
1 small carrot, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, peeled
olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 cup/ 125ml cream (panna per la cucina)
small handful of fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 lb./ 500gr short pasta of your choice (penne or rigatoni work wonderful) you can also use gnocchi, orecchietti or strozzapreti

(Optional: Shave truffles atop when in season)

Get a big pot of water going for your pasta.

With a few glugs of olive oil in a pan, throw in the garlic clove whole and gently, on very low heat sweat garlic until lightly brown. Then discard garlic.

Add chopped carrot and sweat over low heat for a minute or two.

Add in the sausage meat. Raise the heat slightly and with the back of a fork break the meat up as it cooks.

Add in the cream, lower the heat and let it reduce by half. Give it a taste and check the seasonings adjusting by adding salt and pepper if needed.

Shut off the heat until your pasta is ready. Then on low heat, bring your sauce back up.

Drain the cooked pasta from the water and place directly into pan. (Do NOT discard your pasta water).

Over low heat, mix the pasta together with the sauce and a handful of cheese, adding a little pasta water if needed. Give it a taste, adjust the seasonings if needed.
Serve immediately.

(If you are able to find truffles, shave over the top just before serving or at the table.)