Sauce of the Moment - A Pasta Sauce in the Time it Takes the Water to Boil

Sauce of the Moment
Sugo al Momento

This is literally one you use with whatever you have - and/or the vegetable that looks good/in season at the moment.  Change it up with the season - you can add pine nuts, leave out the tomatoes, leave out the white wine and use a different acidic ingredient. Use this as an outline and make it your own.

For this recipe, we will use peas as our ‘veg of the moment’ since it’s Spring.

2 handfuls of fresh peas, shelled
small handful of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons of white wine
4 tablespoons of chicken stock or pasta water
handful of parmesan cheese
clove of garlic, kept whole
olive oil
salt & pepper

In a pan, over low heat, warm about 4 glugs of olive oil and gently brown the garlic on all sides. In the bowling salted water you have going for your pasta, blanch your peas until they are half cooked. Remove from water and add to the pan with garlic & olive oil.

Raise the heat to med-high, add in your handful of cherry tomatoes. Give a stir, season with salt & pepper. Once your tomatoes start to cook down and slough the skin, add in 2 tablespoons of white wine. Allow the wine to cook out for 1-2 minutes, add in the chicken stock and allow to cook down. Shut off the heat. Give the sauce a taste and adjust your salt & pepper. Its now ready for your pasta.

Once the pasta is near cooked, return the pan to med heat. Drain the pasta directly from the bowling water into the pan with the sauce. With a spoonful of pasta water, incorporate the pasta into the sauce. Remove from the heat, make sure there is a little bit of moisture in the pan, adjust with pasta water. Now add a handful of parmesan cheese and incorporate into the pasta. Serve.


Change it up with the season - you can add pine nuts, leave out the tomatoes, leave out the white wine and use a different acidic ingredient. Use this as an outline and make it your own.

The Perfect Frittata WITHOUT the Flip

A light paper-thin frittata topped simply with Spring’s young onions or traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena D.O.P., done with the right technique elevates an 'omelette' to a sophisticated and elegant dish. This healthy versatile recipe is not just to be made for breakfast, it can be served along side a salad for a light lunch or an appetizer/antipasto with dinner.

The best way to learn to make a frittata is to be taught in person so why not sign up for our live! online and interactive cooking class this Sunday when it's on the menu! (LIVE from ITALY Online Cooking Class details.)

Without having to flip the eggs this dish just got super simple - it's all in the detail!  

1. The pan heat is very important. If your pan is too hot you will brown your eggs and a proper frittata should have no color.
2. By using the oven to firm up/cook the top of the frittata this eliminates the need to flip it & risk breaking the eggs.
3. Less is more. Remember this is not a thick fluffy omelet but delicate enough to almost melt in your mouth.

Simple Frittata

Serves 2
2 eggs
butter or olive oil
salt & pepper
Nonstick frying pan
anything you like to add inside: cheese, veg, bacon, balsamic, truffles, etc.

Preheat broiler/grill.
On medium heat, get the pan warm. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl. Add a small amount of butter or olive oil to the pan.

Add the eggs to the perimeter of the pan letting them swirl to the center. Once they have set up, add your filling as you like (cheese, veg, onions, etc.), crack of salt & pepper. Then pop it into the oven under the broiler 5-10 seconds until the top has set.
Slip onto board, fold over and cut.
Serve immediately.

Baked Figs with Prosciutto & Formaggio di Fossa

Baked Figs with Prosciutto and Formaggio di Fossa

Baked sweet figs wrapped in salty prosciutto, stuffed with stinky sheep's milk cheese is a sweet andsavory way to start your meal. This is also a perfect example of balancing flavors - (if any of you has taken one of our cooking classes, this is what Jason refers to as FASSA: fat, acid, sweet, salt & aromatic). Instead of a soft sweet cheese that many recipes call for when stuffing in figs, we went the opposite direction - using the sharpest, stinkiest cheese we can find, which means formaggio di fossa (sheep's milk cheese aged in a pit from Le Marche, Italy). Read a past post about unearthing this unique cheese.

Formaggio di Fossa from Beltrami in Le Marche, Italy

Baked Figs with Prosciutto and Formaggio di Fossa

serves 4
4 figs
2 slices of prosciutto, cut lengthwise in half
1 slice of stinky aged cheese, cut into four little pieces

Slice off the tip-top of the fig. Cut a shallow X into the top of the fig.
Squeeze slightly from the bottom and the fig will open slightly like a flower.
Wrap a half piece of prosciutto around the fig.
Stuff a piece of cheese into the open 'fig flower.'
Place snugly in a baking dish with a drop of olive oil.
Bake in a hot oven of 225C for 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts, prosciutto is crispy and the fig is soft.
Serve and eat immediately.

Carpaccio of Zucchini

 
Carpaccio of Zucchini
Fine Fine Zucchini

zucchini
salt
pepper
olive oil
lemon
parmesan

handful of cherry tomatoes, radishes, zucchini flowers, arugula (optional)

Use mandolin or slicer, slice zucchini very very thinly - paper thin.

Lay out one layer on a plate or platter.

Crack of pepper, crack of salt, drizzle olive oil, squeeze of lemon. Let sit for 15 minutes.

 

If you have cherry tomatoes and/or radishes toss a small handful ontop as well as zucchini flowers, arugula or celery hearts, etc to give it a little extra bite & color. Finish with shaved parmesan over the top. Serve

Strawberries + Limoncello

 Fresh picked strawberries from the garden with homemade limoncello - a simple dessert that is sheer summer bliss!  This delicious dessert, perfect for a hot night, may have only two ingredients but if you want to make it from scratch you are going to need about 2 weeks.  You can always cheat and buy a fancy bottle of limoncello or limoncino but if you have a little patience you will be great rewarded! 

Strawberries macerated in limoncello - it couldn't get any easier than 1, 2, 3:

1. Clean and cut your strawberries
2. Drizzle atop limoncello, mix & let sit for about an hour
3. Serve with fresh whipped cream or mascarpone & mint and a glass of frozen homemade limoncello!

Autumn's Apple Harvest: Apple Cinnamon Cake

 

I love fall's crisp cool nights, sweater weather & endless cups of tea. Along our property we collect crates of wild apples to make sweet desserts & compotes. Apple cinnamon cake is a easy & tasty way to enjoy Autumn's apple harvest - plus it's a perfect something to nibble on as you sip a warm cup of earl gray on a rainy afternoon.

 

This is Jason's Grandma's apple cake recipe - now, to set the record straight she was not Italian, but she did pass on this fantastic, no-fail, super moist apple cake recipe!

Grandma's Apple Cake 

Torta di Mele della Nonna

Ingredients: 

3 cups flour

1 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

5-6 apples, thinly sliced

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 eggs

1/3 cup orange juice

3 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except apples, beat until smooth.

In another bowl, mix sliced apples with cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

In  greased 10 inch tube pan, make layers of batter 1/3 at a time, then a layer of apples. (You should get 3 layers of apple) Ending with apples on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes until a pick comes out clean.

Savory Slow Roasted Tomatoes with Filet of Anchovy

It's tomato season,  so keep it simple while cooking.  No need to make heavy sauces with all those gorgeous tomatoes that are bursting with flavor - try a simple 5 ingredient recipe with slow roasted tomatoes, herbs, loads of olive oil and topped with a filet of anchovy! This recipe is straight from the seaside of Le Marche, where we first devoured this delicious antipasto in Numana.

On a hot summer's day, we keep the kitchen oven off & make these in our outdoor wood burning oven!

Roasted Tomatoes with Anchovies

Pomodori al forno con le acciughe

serves 4
4 round tomatoes (we grow & use grappolo for this dish)
small handful of any fresh herbs you like, chopped - we use oregano but you can also use basil, thyme, etc.
salt & pepper
good quality extra virgin olive oil
8 high quality anchovy filets, (we use anchovies from Sardegna packed in salt)

Preheat oven to 150 C or 280 F

Cut the top 3rd off the tomatoes & discard top.

Place tomatoes on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper & herbs. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil.  Place in the oven for 4-6 hours depending on the size of your tomatoes. Every once in a while as you pass the kitchen, baste the tomatoes in the juices & olive oil in the pan.

Once the tomatoes shrivel up a bit & start to look sun-dried, they are ready. They should still hold their shape & not become mush.

Remove from oven, top each tomato with a whole anchovy filet. Serve warm or room temperature with olive oil from the baking pan drizzled over the top.

Pasta with Zucchini & Squash Blossoms

Fresh pasta with zucchini & blossoms by Lickmyspoon.com

This is literally a 10 minute pasta sauce with a fancy name! You can use any vegetables you like cauliflower, broccoli - you name it - the harder veggies should be blanched first.

Pasta with Zucchini & Squash Blossoms

serves 4

3 medium zucchini, seeded & sliced
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 slices of prosciutto, diced
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
chili flakes as desired
salt
8 squash blossoms
fresh pasta of your choice

Cleaning the squash blossoms:
1. Wash in a bowl of cold water
2. Remove inner pistol & stamen
3. Pat dry with a paper towel
4. Rip into pieces

In a large skillet - brown the garlic in olive oil & discard.
Bring heat up to med-high & toss in veggies & chili flakes.
Sauté until veggies are half cooked (for zucchini about 4 minutes).
Then add prosciutto & tomatoes.
Continue sautéing for another couple of minutes until your vegetables are cooked through but not mushy.
Season with salt.

Toss your sauce, fresh cooked pasta & half of the squash blossoms. Note: It may be necessary to add a spoonful or two of pasta water if it looks a little dry.

Drizzle with olive oil & sprinkle the remaining squash blossoms on top.

Garden Casserole

Perfect for those crisp fall nights- hearty fall veggies in a casserole with crunchy bread - keeps you toasty by the fire! Our garden is filled with these veggies & it is one of the easiest ways to utilize what we've got! Plus - this recipe is ridiculously simple!!

Ingredients

* 2 nice sized potatoes (yukon gold are best), peeled & thinly sliced
* 2 medium zucchini, sliced on the bias with seeds removed
* 2 shallots, chopped
* couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, halved
* handful of fresh herbs, chopped (oregano, parsley or marjoram)
* salt & pepper
* extra virgin olive oil
* good bread

The Steps~

* Pour a little oil in a casserole dish (oven safe).
* Make a layer of potatoes covering the base of the dish
* Layer of zucchini
* Salt & pepper
* drizzle of olive oil
* couple of tomatoes ( does not have to fill in completly)
* sprinkle of shallots
* salt & pepper
* drizzle of olive oil
* chopped herbs
* repeat these steps until the dish is filled eding with potatoes on the top & a final drizzle of olive oil
* bake in a 400 degree oven until it is bubbling & a knife slips in easy & soft. Cooking time depends on size & height of your caserol dish - normally about an hour - hour & half.