So here is another wonderful recipe to use up some of my cherry tomatoes. I was watching The Cooking Channel and they were in Florence and a chef there made this recipe. And how I just love Italian food. Ask anyone. And I think I am pretty good at it too. So when I saw they were making gnudi and using a cherry tomato sauce I rewound the channel to get a better look at the meal. And after taking some notes on what it looked like and what they said was in it I made it tonight. But just in case you are not familiar with gnudi I will enlighten you. Gnudi is a dumpling very similiar to gnocchi but made with ricotta instead of potato. So if you are a fan of gnocchi then you will most likely like gnudi. So without further ado......
Gnudi Recipe:
1 small carton ricotta cheese
1/2c chopped spinach
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4c grated parmesan
salt and pepper
In a small skillet add some olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add spinach and saute until cooked through. Let it cool down.
In a medium bowl combine together cheese, spinach mixture, parmesan, salt, and pepper.
Take a generous amount of olive oil and rub it all over your hands, kind of like you are washing them in olive oil. And take small amounts of ricotta mixture and roll into balls. The size really depends on you and how you want to make yours. Mine were roughly the size of golf balls today.
Tomato Sauce:
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4c basil, sliced
salt and pepper
olive oil
In a medium pot add some olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add in tomatoes, basil, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and keep at low heat for 20-30 minutes or until tomatoes release their juices and are cooked down.
To assemble this gnudi dish take 4-5 small oven proof dishes ( I used mini quiche and mini loaf pans) and place on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place a small spoonful of tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish. Place 2-4 gnudi (or more if you made smaller balls than me) on top of the tomato sauce. Place another 1-2 spoonfuls of sauce onto gnudi. Sprinkle on a generous helping of parmesan cheese.
Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Now while this is what the tv said I had to crank up my oven to 375 degrees after leaving it in the oven for 30 minutes on 300. I wanted the juices to be bubbling before taking it out and the parmesan to be golden in color. So I cranked up the oven and maybe at a higher temperature it wouldve only taken 10 minutes. So watch your oven and your times because they may need to be adjusted accordingly.
This dish was very good. And for a dish that I make it was very easy to make. I got to use up another pint of fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden and that was my biggest thing. So this dish is another keeper. I think the sweetess of my tomatoes cuppled with the cooking of them brought out a lovely sweet acidic flavor that brought the whole dish together in a very lovely manner. So try this dish! You wont regret it!!
Well my cherry tomato plants are just taking off and producing more fruit than I know what to do with. I am not a big tomato fan either. So I was searching the internet for a recipe that would help me use some of the tomatoes I have gathered. And I love Lidia Bastianich and her website was the first place I went to. And she did not disappoint!! I found this wonderful recipe. So when my step-mother came out to help me with the kids I could not resist making it for her. And she did not disappoint! She always makes the best yummy noises that boost my cooking ego. And you can bet that I will absolutely be making this recipe several times over the summer while I have a plethora of fresh summer cherry tomatoes. So I highly recommend this recipe!!
Recipe:
3 pints fresh cherry tomatoes
1/2c olive oil
1/3c breadcrumbs
1t kosher salt
1/4t pepperoncino flakes (red pepper flakes)
1lb spaghetti, gemelli, or penne pasta
10 plump garlic cloves, sliced
2T fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1c fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced (julienne)
1/2c parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Halve your cherry tomatoes. Toss with 3T of the olive oil in a large bowl. Top with breadcrumbs, salt, and pepperoncino. Gently toss and pour onto a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. Spread them out evenly into a single layer on the sheet. Bake until they are shriveled slightly and starting to caramelize, about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile fill a pot with water and salt it generously. Bring to a rolling boil. When the tomatoes are nearly done place the pasta in the water to cook.
As soon as the pasta is cooking, pour the remaining olive oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat and scatter in the garlic. Cook for a minute or two until it is sizzling and lightly colored. Then ladle in 2c of the pasta water and bring to a boil. Let half of the water evaporate then lower the heat and stir in the chopped parsley. Keep the sauce barely simmering.
As soon as the tomatoes are done, remove from the oven.
Once the pasta is al dente, lift it from the water and let it drain briefly and place into the skillet with the sauce. Toss the pasta quickly with the parsely sauce. Then add in the parmesan. Once incorpoated add in the cooked tomatoes and the sliced basil. Toss together gently. Mound generous portions onto your plate and serve immediately.
This dish was a perfect example of what summer food should be. The tomatoes were fresh and wonderfully sweet and made even better by baking them. The pasta was cooked perfectly and not heavily dressed so the meal was not heavy. But it was filling enough to please even a meat eater. The freshness of the basil was also very refreshing. And the best part was how inexpensive this whole meat cost me. I grew the tomatoes myself and I had the herbs in my box so it was cheap and very very tasty!! I absolutely encourage you to make this with your own fresh cherry tomatoes! Venite a mangiare!!
You know for a self proclaimed non-baker, I sure am making a lot of baked goods. How does that happen? Oh I know! I love desserts thats how! And this time my dessert making was intensified with my mother in town. She loves desserts as much as me. In fact there was one night for dinner we had boiled peanuts and key lime pie! Healthy and nutritious right? lol! Well this dessert was an inspiration from a local cupcake shop we found in downtown Fort Walton Beach. It was called Cupcakes by the Beach. She only had about half a dozen options and we chose 3 of them. We tried the Red Velvet, Chocolate Hazelnut, and Strawberry Shortcake. They were decent cupcakes but nothing spectacular. And after looking at her strawberry shortcake I started to get ideas of how I would make the shortcake cupcake. And sitting on the counter in front of me were some perfectly ripened and sweet smelling white peaches. So I looked over at my mother and asked if she was up for an adventure. I would make a better tasting white peach cupcake with my own whipped cream frosting. So we started scheming our next day's dessert.
I will go ahead and let you know up front that after making and eating this it tastes more like an actual shortcake than a cupcake. The cake part itself tastes more like pound cake than a white cake. It is very tasty and as long as you know its a shortcake and not a cupcake it tastes much better in your head!
Cake Recipe:
1 3/4c cake flour
1 1/4c all-purpose flour
2c sugar
1T baking powder
3/4t salt
1c butter, cubed and cold
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1c whole milk
1t vanilla and/or 1 vanilla bean scraped
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium bowl combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add in butter and mix until just coated with flour.
In a small bowl beat your egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl mix together eggs, milk, and vanilla. Slowly add the egg mixture to your dry ingredients in 3 parts. Then gently fold in your egg whites.
Next time I make these I may not do cupcakes since they do taste more like pound cake than cupcakes. Maybe mini loaf pans would be better.
Peach Puree:
6-8 ripe white peaches
1/2c sugar
Remove all flesh from peaches and place in a medium pot with the sugar. Bring to a low boil and simmer gently until peaches are cooked through. Using an immersion blender or regular blender puree the mixture. I left the skins on my peaches because I like the pink color of the puree.
I placed a small dollop of puree in the center of the cake batter in the tins and swirled it around with a wooden skewer providing a marbled effect. But it glomped to the bottom of the cupcake and we ended up with upside down peach cupcakes. Next time I might omit some of the liquid in the cupcake and replace it with the peach puree. I also might save 1-2 peaches and cut up and place some fresh peaches in a hollowed out center of the baked cupcake. So choose whatever method you think works best for you and if it turns out please be sure to let me know!
Be sure and save the remainder of your puree to drizzle on top of your cake later!
Bake cupcakes for 17-20 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Whipped Cream Frosting:
8oz mascarpone cheese, softened
6T powedered sugar
2c heavy cream, whipped
Using a hand mixer combine mascarpone and powedered sugar until smooth. Gently fold in the whipped cream until fully incorporated.
Once your cakes have cooled dollop some frosting on the cake and drizzle generously with peach puree.
Hopefully you enjoyed your peach shortcake as much as we did. And any improvements you make to this first try please be sure and let me know!
This post will definitely not be for everyone and I realize that. This is another one of my crazy ideas that I put into practice that perhaps is not on most peoples radar even when presented to them. But thats okay. I like to think you enjoy my trials and errors in the weird food realm. So here is another one for the books. I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit. And just in case you were not aware this is one of my favorite magazines! But I saw this recipe and was completely hooked. I had to try it! Alex wasnt too sure about it. And when I showed my Dad he didnt seem too interested either. But that didnt stop me! Oh no siree. But in order to do this I needed brown and yellow mustard seeds. And where do I go when I need spices? My spice sage! You know for as much as I push their products youd think Id get something in return. Oh well. When you find a good place, with good prices you stick with them no matter the return.
And now that you have your mustard seeds it is time to experiment!!
Recipe:
*I halved the recipe stated here*
1/2c rice vinegar
1/4c brown mustard seeds
1/4c yellow mustard seeds
1/4c apple cider vinegar
1/4c sugar
1/2T salt
1/4c water
In a small saucepan combine all ingredients over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and turn heat to low and gently simmer stirring often and adding water by the tablespoonful if the mixture is too dry. Mustard seeds should be firm and intact but pop like caviar when bitten into, about 40-50 minutes.
Remove saucepan from stove and let cool completely. Transfer to a sealable container and place in the fridge.
So what can you do with this mixture you may be asking. Well the article suggests using with charcuterie (cured meats like pancetta, serrano ham, salami, etc), sauteed greens, or in a warm bacon dressing.
I told Alex about my endeavor and he has agreed to try it when he gets home. He said it is not as weird as some of the things I have made, afterall it is only mustard seeds. It tastes slightly sweet and tangy and a little pop in your mouth. I am very excited to try this in a recipe. Maybe I will persuade my mother to try some this week when she visits!! Let me know if you make this what you use it in.
I recently watched a television program where the restaurant made their own pancetta and made it look pretty easy. That got me to thinking. Could I make my own pancetta? Or would it be too difficult to manuever? I suppose before I begin I should talk to you about pancetta and what it is. Pancetta is mostly oftenly referred to as Italian bacon. It is an unsmoked, salt cured pork belly. And it needs to be immersed in a spiced salt mixture and then hung to dry. While I knew I could find the pork belly and I knew I could cure it well, did I have the place to let it hang dry? Well I had no cellar or basement or anything of the sort but I figured I could find a dark cool place somewhere in my house and decided that I had nothing to lose so I would give it a shot!
First things first you need to get yourself some pork belly. I have found some very nice pieces at the Commissary on base. It is not a whole slab of pork belly but I think this works out better. You get manageable sizes pieces of pork belly in which to cure. It also fits inside a ziploc bag much better. If you want a large size of pork belly then by all means go ahead but it will require more salt mixture than I am outlining as well as a longer cure and dry period.
And now that you have your pork you need a salt mixture. Here is the recipe I used for 2 small pieces of pork belly.
2T pink salt
1/4c kosher salt
2T brown sugar
4T black pepper
2T juniper berries
4 bay leaves
1t nutmeg
4-5 sprigs of thyme
This is not an exact recipe. You can use any spices you like in here. You can use fenugreek, fennel, hot pepper spices, or more black pepper or any other version you like. This was just my first attempt at a basic run of the mill salt blend.
Trim the skin off the side of the pork belly.
Mix all the spices together and rub into every part of of the pork belly. Once you have it all rubbed in, place the pork into a large ziploc bag. You want to let this marinate for 7-10 days in the refigerator. You may want to shake the bag or flip the bag over once a day. I let mine marinate for 9 days.
Once your meat has cured in the fridge you need to rinse every bit of the salt mixture off the meat. Use your fingers to rub off all the salt mix. Lay it on a paper towel to dry off.
Pat off all the excess water and grab some kitchen twine and roll up your meat. I rolled mine width wise. Make sure and leave a loop at the end of the string so you can hang it by a hook to dry. Your meat will need to hang for about 2 weeks.
I screwed a hook into my ceiling in what I believe is called the breakfast room. I put it in the corner of the room. It is generally kept dark because no one uses it much and the blinds stay closed. It stays cool because its not too close to kitchen to get that heat and with the blinds closed no heat comes in that way either. It is also fairly close to the vent. But basically you need to find a place where it will stay cool and dark. Or as cool and dark as you can get. I also placed a plate with a paper towel on it to catch any fat or juices that come out of the pancetta.
I forgot to take off the skin on my meat so about a week into my drying process I pulled it off and removed the skin and then let it hang for another week.
I took the smaller of my pancetta up to my Dads and sliced it paper thin and tried it out. I told my Dad that since I had never tried this I did not know if 1) it would be good or 2) it would make us violently ill. But he was willing to take the chance and so was I. And no one got ill!
It was nicely salty and yet maintained its porkiness. It did have some more dried out pieces on the edges of the meat. But I think when you make homemade foods you take all that with a grain of salt. You realize it is not the perfect prepackaged meats you buy in the store and just cut it off or chew it like jerky! But now that I know for sure that this is a process that works for me I can experiment around with different salt mixtures. I am going to try a salt cured pork belly but once rinsed I am going to one side in cracked black pepper and let it dry. That way you get some nice black pepper taste like you do when you buy deli style pastrami. But the best part is the price to make this. I spent between $1-3 a piece for my prok belly pieces. And I had all the spices on hand. You may have to buy some salt if you are making large pieces but overall it should be stuff you have in your pantry. And that means I spent probably $5 for my two pieces of pork belly. And when you go to the store to buy pancetta you spend $5 for maybe 6-8 slices. So I am coming off on top! If you like cured meats then I absolutely recommend trying this recipe out!
