When I was a little girl, one of my family’s weekly rituals was going to Mass at St. Clare’s on Sunday mornings and then stopping at Enrico’s Bakery on Morris Park Avenue afterwards for pastries.  We did this every Sunday without fail.  We’d get a big box filled with assorted treats like chocolate éclairs, napoleons and sflogliatelle.  The selection would change from week to week, depending on what looked good.  My brother and I each got to choose a few of our favorites.  I don’t remember what he chose, but I always picked the cannoli.  I adored those  crunchy, cookie-like tubes stuffed with an incredibly rich and luscious cream filling. I could barely survive the car ride home bursting with the anticipation of taking that first crispy, creamy bite!

After we moved to Florida, cannoli became nothing but a fond and wistful memory.  No one here had ever heard of a cannolo, much less knew how to make one.  So once in a while, my mother would make her own – and I would help.  They weren’t exactly the same as the ones from my beloved Enrico’s, but I loved them just the same.  Eventually, some Italians from New Jersey moved to town and opened up a little pastry shop right next door to our new church.  My parents were delighted and our Sunday morning tradition was reborn.  Unfortunately, Italians from New Jersey were better bakers than they were businesspeople.  After a few years they went out of business.  Sigh…  Since then, other pastry shops have come and gone…and come and gone.  But, I’ve always enjoyed them, and their cannoli, while they were here. 

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.

I was pretty excited to see cannoli as this month’s Daring Bakers challenge.  This recipe was new to me though, and is a bit different from the one I’ve used in the past. My recipe has egg yolk in the shells and the DB recipe does not.  I made a batch of mini-cannoli using it and some larger-sized ones using my regular recipe.  While the shells using my recipe look much prettier, both batches of shells tasted very much the same, which was pretty darn good.  I should mention, however, that this could be because I used a pasta maker for the larger ones and thus, was able to get the dough much thinner.  To be honest, just rolling out this dough with a rolling pin is pretty easy to do and doesn’t require you to haul out your pasta maker, set it up and then have to clean it afterwards.

Once you have all of your dough cut out and are ready to fry is where things get a little tricky, unless you have an extra set of hands to help you, which I didn’t.   I only had one set of one set of four cannoli forms, so I could only make four shells at a time.  Then, after frying each batch, I’d have to unmold the shells and set the burning hot forms aside to cool for several minutes before I could use them again.  Trust me, after you’ve made two or three dozen of those shells that way, the thrill is gone!

Here are what the cannoli shells looks right out of the fryer…

But, be careful!  Make sure you seal the edges of the dough around the forms really well before you dunk them into the insanely hot oil.  If you don’t, they will explode and you’ll end up with some that look like these…

Although making your own cannoli shells from scratch is time consuming and a bit tedious, making the cannoli cream filling is very simple.  You basically just have to whizz all of the ingredients up in a food processor or stand mixer.  I like to use a food processor because I think the ricotta comes out smoother that way.  You definitely don’t want grainy cannoli cream!

I filled half of my cannoli with the traditional ricotta filling spiked with cinnamon and a few drops of pure orange oil.  I also mixed in some mini chocolate chips.  These are the cannoli I grew up on and as far as I’m concerned, nothing can beat them.  I filled the rest with a pumpkin cream filling made with ricotta, mascarpone, cinnamon, a little pumpkin puree and just a kiss of spiced rum.  I also dusted the ends with crushed pistachios.  I thought they were surprisingly good, but not as good as the original.

Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli

Prep time:

Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes

RECIPE NOTE: THE EQUIVALENTS FROM THIS RECIPE WERE PREPARED USING THIS CONVERSION SITE: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/index.asp.

CANNOLI SHELLS

2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar

Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

CANNOLI FILLING

2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios

Note – If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Pasta Machine method:

1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through

2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.

3, Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.

For stacked cannoli:

1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 – 190 °C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:

1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:

1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.

2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

PUMPKIN FILLING

1/2 cup (123 grams/4.34 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup (113 grams/4.04 ounces) mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (122.5 grams/4.32 ounces) canned pumpkin, drained like ricotta
3/4 cup (75 grams/2.65 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1/2 to 1 teaspoon (approx. 1.7 grams/approx. 0.06 ounces) pumpkin pie spice (taste)
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 2 grams/approx. 0.08 ounces) pure vanilla extract
6-8 cannoli shells

1. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl, cover and chill until it firms up a bit. (The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

2. Fill the shells as directed above.

Thanksgiving is a mere four days away.  Are you ready?  Or, are you running around like a lunatic, frantically trying to pull it all together?  Whether you’re cool, calm and collected or a big pile of nervous, quivering mush, here’s a list of tried and true Thanksgiving recipes from the SGCC archives that I hope will help make your holiday a little tastier, if not easier.   Maybe you’ll find one or two new dishes to grace your Thanksgiving table this year.

Parmesan Artichoke Crisps

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Apple-Maple Acorn Squash Puree

Bacon Pecan Brussels Sprouts Sauté

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Cornbread, Sausage and Apple Stuffing

Oyster Stuffing

Gingery Pumpkin Caramel-Cheese Pie

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

Enjoy!

In my family, Thanksgiving dinner always begins with the primi piatti, or first course. It’s the Italian way.  Don’t even try to slap a turkey, stuffing and some sides on the table without first serving some type of soup, pasta or risotto dish.    But, let’s face it.  Who could possibly ingest, much less savor, turkey and all of the trimmings after scarfing down a plate full of homemade manicotti or porcini risotto?  Maybe that’s the reason why in Italian families, Thanksgiving dinner is usually an all day affair, with several “rest” periods between courses to enable diners to take short naps or walks around the block?   That’s also why, if given the choice, I usually go for a soup.

When soup was on the holiday menu at our house, my mother usually made a big pot of Minestra Maritata, or Italian Wedding Soup.  It’s a light, flavorful soup made with chicken stock, greens and little, tiny, light-as-air veal meatballs, and which by the way, has nothing to do with weddings.  It was, and still is, a very popular dish, if not a predictable one.   But, sometimes, I just want to stir things up and throw something unexpected into the mix.   Here’s a dish that none of cooks in my Italian family would ever think of putting on their Thanksgiving table.  None except me, that is. 

My Roasted Butternut Soup is velvety, and fragrant, punctuated by the earthy flavors of sage, garam masala and ginger.  It’s a savory soup that doesn’t suffer from the cloying sweetness that many winter squash dishes sometimes have. The squash is roasted with a drizzle of olive oil and tossed with the salt and spices to give it a warm, well-rounded depth of flavor.   While there is some cream in this soup, I’ve reduced the amount to just enough to add a little richness while still letting the butternut squash shine through.

This dish is also relatively quick and easy to prepare.  To make it even more so, you can roast the squash in advance and whip up the soup right before you’d like to serve it.

And, just look at how pretty it is all dressed up with some crunchy toasted pumpkin seeds!

If you’re looking for an elegant, delicious and no-fuss dish for your Thanksgiving table this year, look no further.  This Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is for you!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

3 pounds butternut squash (about 2 medium squash), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
5 large whole sage leaves
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Crispy sage leaves or toasted pepitas for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

1.  Combine squash, olive oil, garam masala, ginger, salt and pepper in large bowl and mix until squash is well-coated.  Arrange squash in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray or lined with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until soft and tender.

2.  While squash is roasting, set a large pot over medium heat and melt the butter.  Add the onion, garlic and sage, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion just turns golden, about 6 to 7 minutes.  Remove the sage leaves and discard.  Add the stock and roasted squash to the soup pot and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

3.  Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Stir in the cream and reheat. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve garnished with crispy sage leaves and/or toasted pepitas.

Serves 8 as a first course.

Enjoy!

It’s no secret that I have a soft spot in my heart for POM Wonderful.  Not only does the company produce some excellent, high quality products using sustainable business practices,  but the people behind the brand seem innovative, caring and very supportive of the food blogging community.  Their recent POM Wonderful Blogger Harvest Tour is a shining example of that.  Although, due to circumstances beyond my control (United Airlines Sucks), I didn’t actually get to attend the tour, Jeff and Andrea from POM Wonderful did everything they could to make me feel very much included in the festivities, including sending me a big package full of POM goodies afterward.

The pomegranate is an unusual, yet versatile fruit with many delicious and creative uses.  Its health benefits have been touted far and wide. Pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants – about three times more than are found in green tea or red wine. Antioxidants help to guard the body against the substances that can cause premature aging, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and lots of other diseases or health conditions.  If that isn’t reason enough to indulge, there are scads of “wonderful” recipes using pomegranates and their juice.   The arils (seeds) are perfect for tossing in salads, stirring into yogurt, sprinkling over cereal or garnishing cocktails.  Pomegranate juice is ideal for glazes, cocktails and marinades.

Here are a few recipes from the SGCC archives that were inspired by pomegranates:

Just look at this fabulous Pomegranate Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream!

Or, maybe you’d prefer this tender, moist and juicy POMegranate Glazed Pork Tenderloin.

Don’t they both look delicious?

In case you didn’t know, November happens to be National Pomegranate Month.  November also officially kicks off the “Holiday Season”.  What better way to highlight the unique qualities of the pomegranate than with a little healthy holiday competition?   The fine folks at POM Wonderful have offered to send a case of their terrific, 100% pure pomegranate juice to three of you lucky readers.  To sweeten the proverbial pot, I’m also going to pair that with three copies of Nigella Lawson’s fabulous new holiday cookbook, Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities.

Let me tell you people, you really want one of these.  This is one gorgeous book!  And, it includes everything you could possibly wish for to make your holidays merry and bright. (Everything except the snow, that is.  You’re on your own for that one!) Nigella’s book has recipes and suggestions for everything from from party canapés, cocktails and manageable mass catering to scrumptious Christmas cakes, cookies and puddings. There are also chapters on no-fuss brunch dishes, quick and easy homemade edible gifts and edible tree-decorations.  The book also includes quite a few recipes using pomegranates!

So, how do you score one of these nifty giveaways?  I’m glad you asked.  All you have to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment below telling me about your favorite holiday recipe using pomegranates or pomegranate juice.  If you don’t already have a recipe in mind, then tell me what kind of recipe you’d like to create using pomegranates or pomegranate juice.  Please only comment once, though. Duplicate comments will not be considered.  However, if you’d like an extra chance to win, I’ve got you covered.

• If you tweet this post on Twitter or share the link on Facebook, leave another comment letting me know, with the link, and you’ll get one extra chance to win.  You can do this twice, for a maximum of two (2) extra chances.

• If you have a blog and actually write a post about your recipe, leave a comment, including the link to your post,  and you will get FIVE (5) extra chances.  Of course, you should also put a link back to this post in yours.

The deadline to submit your comments is Saturday, November 28th, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. EST. I’ll pick the winning comments using the handy, dandy Random Number Generator and post the results here on Sunday, November 29th.  I’m purposely setting the deadline for after Thanksgiving to give you time in case you want to make your recipe for the holiday and post about it.

Good luck!!!

Each year around this time our mail boxes and our inboxes are inundated with requests for help and financial support from almost every nonprofit organization under the sun.  While most, if not all, are very worthy causes, it can still be a bit daunting!  This year, perhaps more than ever, the needs of our communities are great while our resources are dwindling. With unemplyment at over 10% and the real estate market in a freefall, writing a few checks to our favorite charities is simply not an option for many of us right now.   But there are still lots of small ways that we can make a difference, some of which can be very rewarding.  What we may not be able to give in dollars, we most likely can give in time.  Volunteering at a local charity during the Holidays is a always a great way to support our community and make the lives of those less fortunate a little bit brighter.  Hosting a Drop In & Decorate Party is a sweet way to pay it forward and have a swell time doing it.

The concept is simple. Bake cookies. Gather a group of family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, your worship group or book club to decorate the cookies together. Then, donate the cookies to a nonprofit agency serving basic human needs in your own community, such as a food pantry, senior center or church group. It’s a great way to spend some quality time with people you care about and give a little back to our community as well. It’s also great way to introduce your kids to community service. What kid doesn’t love to decorate cookies?

Drop In & Decorate was founded in 2002 by our own Lydia Walshin of The Perfect Pantry.  In 2008, it was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Its mission to is to make cookies-for-donation events easy and affordable (and fun) for anyone, and to provide whatever support possible (tech support, baking/decorating supplies, financial support) to encourage people to organize cookie donations in their own communities.

Since its inception, Drop In & Decorate events have donated cookies to 55 nonprofit agencies in 18 states and Canada. The recipient agencies include Ronald McDonald Houses, food pantries, domestic violence and family emergency shelters, senior centers, and other agencies serving children and families.

This year, Drop In & Decorate is aiming for participation in all 50 states, Canada and beyond.  To help get things started, Pillsbury has donated 50 VIP coupons, worth $3.00 each, off any Pillsbury product — including sugar cookie mix and icing — to be distributed, first come, first served, while supply lasts, to anyone who plans to host a Drop In & Decorate event (max. 5 coupons per person). And they’re also including a Comfort Grip cookie cutter, donated by Wilton, to people who plan to host cookies-for-donation events.  There’s also a free downloadable guide with everything you need to know to host your own party, available on the DI&D web site.

It’s a simple idea in a complicated world, and something anyone can do!  If you’d like more information, you can visit the web site or contact Lydia directly at lydiaATdropinanddecorateDOTorg.

Oh, and by the way, December 4th is National Cookie Day.  What are you waiting for?

Photos courtesy of Drop In & Decorate and Lydia Walshin

Jaden describes this dish as “crack in noodle form”.  I’m inclined to agree.  Another quick, easy and delicious recipe from  The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, these Garlic Butter Noodles are definitely addictive!  With only a handful of ingredients to deal with, I was able to whip up this dish in about 30 minutes.  This is a very good thing at 7:00 on a weeknight when you’ve just walked in the door and have hungry people whining at you! 

Another great thing about this recipe is that you only need one pot to make it in.  I’m all for anything that reduces mess and clutter in my kitchen!

Just look at those gorgeous noodles!  They really do taste wonderful!  You can serve them as is or add some stir-fried chicken, pork or shrimp to make a complete meal.  But, eat them at your own risk.  I can’t be held responsible if you get completely hooked!

Garlic Butter Noodles
adapted from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

Jaden’s original recipe doesn’t include carrots, but I’ve added them here because they play so nicely with the brown sugar and butter.  Also, I think those little pops of orange are pretty!

Ingredients:

7 ounces dry egg noodles
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup julienned carrots
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Maggi sauce (or soy sauce)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Drain the noodles and wipe the pot clean.  Return the pot to medium-high heat and add the butter.  When the butter is bubbling, add the scallions and garlic.  Fry for 1 minute until very fragrant.  Be careful not to let the garlic burn.

Stir in the brown sugar, Maggi sauce and oyster sauce, mixing well.  Add the noodles and toss vigorously to get the good stuff evenly distributed throughout the noodles.

Dish out into a large bowl, grab a pair of chopsticks, hide in the closet and enjoy!

A few months back, I received an email from a friend of mine asking if I would be willing to chat about my blogging experiences with a friend of hers.  This friend already had a food blog and was thinking about making some changes.  Of course, I said I would be happy to do it.  Imagine my surprise when that friend of a friend turned out to be Lael Hazan, wife of celebrated cookbook author Giuliano Hazan and daughter-in-law of the legendary Marcella Hazan!   We made a date to meet for coffee and became fast friends.  Lael is a lovely  person and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know her. She not only works beside her husband in their cooking school near Verona Italy, but she also teaches her own cooking classes, writes for several publications, blogs, hosts her own radio show and somehow manages to raise two adorable daughters as well.  Whew!  I get exhausted just thinking about it!

After Lael and I met, I went out and picked up a copy of Giuliano’s new book, Thirty Minute Pasta.  It’s a carbohydrate lovers dream, filled with one hundred quick and easy pasta recipes, ranging from soups and vegetarian dishes to classic meat and seafood preparations.  The recipes are straightforward and concise, leaving little room for error, which means anyone can be successful with them.  And, the photos are totally droolworthy!

One of my favorite recipes so far is for this Rigatoni with a Roasted Veal Sauce.  It’s a very simple dish that is designed to emulate the flavors of a classic pan-roasted veal rolled with pancetta and sage.  Instead of a veal roast that requires a long cooking time, this recipe calls for ground veal which can be cooked in minutes.  Brilliant!

The first thing you do is sauté some garlic, diced pancetta and fresh sage in butter. (Oh yes, I said butter!  You can put that EVOO away!)   Even though they’re not in the original recipe, I added some diced onions as well.  I just really like onions in my pasta sauce.

Next, add the ground veal and cook it until there’s no more pink left.

I also added some sliced mushrooms to the sauce because I had some in the fridge that were about to pass their prime.  I didn’t want to be responsible for a mushroomicide!

Then, add some juicy, ripe, diced tomatoes and simmer.  I used canned San Marzano tomatoes this time because the fresh tomatoes around here kind of suck right now.

Look at that gorgeous sauce! Don’t you want to just dive right into it?  If you don’t, you should.  It was amazing!  (By the way, have I mentioned how much I love that Scanpan skillet?  It’s the only pan I’ve ever found that gives me an actual crust on fish or meat on my crappy electric stove!)

Ah!  Pasta perfection!

And, in case you were wondering, I am not channeling Pioneer Woman with all of these process pictures.   I have the darkest kitchen in the world, and could never get bright, well-focused shots with my old point and shoot (kitchen) camera.   I rarely ever bring my DSLR into the kitchen because I’m always worried about splattering food on it and ruining it.  So, I recently bought a new point and shoot camera that has an awesome low light setting and I’m kind of going a little crazy with it.  Don’t worry.  I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon.

In the meantime, get yourself a copy of Thirty Minute Pasta so that you too can make fabulous meals like this!   Buy copies for your family and friends too.   The Holidays are coming and this book would make a great gift!

Rigatoni with a Roast Veal Sauce
adapted from Thirty Minute Pasta

I’ve given you the original recipe for this dish without my modifications.  If you’d like to also add diced onions and sliced mushrooms, do so in Step 3.  I added the onions first and sautéed them for about 4 minutes before I added the pancetta, sage and mushrooms.  As I noted above, I also used 1 pound of canned San Marzano tomatoes in this dish.  I was able to find the cans that are already diced.  If you can’t, use an equivalent amount of peeled whole tomatoes and chop them up yourself.  Just make sure to strain out the seeds before you add them to the sauce.

Ingredients:

2 medium whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 ounce pancetta, diced in a 1/8-inch dice
1 pound fresh tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons butter
10-12 fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
3/4 pound ground veal
Salt to taste
1 pound rigatoni pasta

Directions:

1.  Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil.

2.  Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  When butter begins to melt, add garlic cloves.  Sauté until lightly browned and remove.

3.  Add the pancetta and sage to the skillet and sauté briefly until pancetta loses its raw color, about 2 minutes.  Add the ground veal and salt and cook, stirring often, until veal begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes.

4.  Add the tomatoes and season with more salt, if needed.  Continue cooking over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10-12 minutes.

5.  While the sauce is simmering, cook the rigatoni according to the package directions.  Drain well and toss with the sauce.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Enjoy!

*UPDATE* (11/05/09)  My recipe is now up on the Bon Appetit site and the link below DOES work. Thank you all so much for your support AND your votes!!!  I wish I could send each one of you a slice of this pie!

I received an email the other day from the editor of Bon Appetit’s web site, Emily Fleischaker, inviting me to submit a for  the magazine’s Holiday Dessert Bake-Off.  It’s part of an annual feature they do called “Bon Appetit’s Blog Envy”. The Bake-Off is only open to food bloggers, and the grand prize is a trip for two to NY and dinner at Le Bernardin restaurant with Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild and Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton.  (Did I mention how cool I think Andrew Knowlton is?)  So, of course I decided to enter. 

I began thinking about which of the desserts in my holiday repertoire was the most amazingly decadent and delicious of all and this pie immediately came to mind.  It has an impossibly rich and creamy cream cheese and pumpkin filling with gorgeous, luscious, thick caramel ribbons running through it.  It also has lots of crunchy little toffee bits mixed in and is covered with a layer of even more dulce de leche.  This gingery pumpkin cheese pie with  toffee bits and caramel swirl is by far the most popular dessert in my holiday arsenal.  It is sheer heaven on a plate!

I’ve altered my original recipe a bit since then. Instead of sugar cookies, I now make the pie with a spicy, crunchy gingersnap crust.  I also swapped out the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in the recipe for pumpkin pie spice.  But, in my opinion, these changes make this pie even better, if that is possible.

So, here’s the deal.  I’ve entered my pie in the Bon Appétit Holiday Dessert Bake-Off, and I really need your help to win.   Please go over to the Bon Appétit Blog Envy Bake-Off site and vote for my Gingery Pumpkin-Caramel Cheese Pie! Once you’re at the site, you’ll have to click on the”vote on the next batch” button until you get to the Pies category.

Please please please, vote for my pie!!!  I’ll love you forever!  I’ll be your best friend!  I’ll bring you a doggie bag from Le Bernardin!

PLEEEEEEASE VOTE FOR MEEEEEEEEE!!!

Gingery Pumpkin-Caramel Cheese Pie

Ingredients:

For the crust:

3 cups gingersnaps, crushed into coarse crumbs
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar ( Use more or less according to your taste)
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup toffee bits
2 cups dulce de leche or caramel sauce of your choice, divided. (You may have to soften the dulce de leche to make it “swirlable”. I microwaved mine on 50% power for about 20 seconds.)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together cookie crumbs, cinnamon and salt.  Add melted butter and mix until well blended. Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla, and beat until completely combined.

Mix in the toffee bits and swirl in 1 cup of the dulce de leche or caramel sauce using a knife or offset spatula.

Pour the filling into the pie plate and smooth it out. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

When thoroughly chilled, spread the second cup of dulce de leche or caramel sauce evenly over the top of the pie.

If desired, use another 1/2 cup of dulce de leche to pipe rosettes or other design on top of the pie.

Chill until the topping is firm.

In an attempt to make November a little less frazzled for us, our fearless leaders at TWD are allowing us to present our weekly recipes out of order.  This works for me as this week’s recipe is Dorie’s Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake.  Not only is this cake rather labor-intensive to make, but it calls for chestnuts, which I detest.  I suppose I could have used a different kind of nut, but frankly, I just didn’t have the energy this week.  My shoulder is still frozen from making all those macarons and fillings for the DB challenge last week, and I couldn’t bear the thought of any more mixing and stirring, for a while at least!  Instead, I decided to make Dorie’s more shoulder-friendly Cran-Apple Crisps. 

These crisps were a snap to put together and are absolutely delicious!  The recipe is also quite forgiving.  I made them last night at around 10:00 pm, which because of the time change here, was 11:00 on my body clock.  In my fatigue-induced stupor, I made several errors.  First of all, instead of adding cinnamon to the crisp topping, I accidentally added ground cardamom.  To my foggy eyes, both spice jars looked the same.   I also forgot to butter the ramekins before filling them.   Then, I baked them at 350 degrees F. instead of 375, as the recipe directed.  After about thirty minutes, I realized what I had done and turned up the heat in my oven.  I was certain that I was going to end up with a sticky, burnt mess, but I didn’t.  Despite all my goofs, the crisps turned out just fine.  The topping was crunchy and golden and the filling was the perfect balance of sweet-tart  fruitiness with a thick, syrupy texture.

For my crisps, I used Honeycrisp and Fuji apples, fresh cranberries and plump, sweet, dried Bing cherries.  I had never baked with fresh cranberries before and I was a bit skeptical.  I needn’t have worried.  While the cranberries were quite tart, the tartness was nicely offset by the sweetness of the apples and cherries.  For not a whole lot of work, the payoff was great.  This really is a lovely dessert that would certainly be worthy of a place at any holiday table!

My thanks go out to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for choosing this recipe. She will eventually have the recipe posted on her site.  But, if you can’t wait to try these Cran-Apple Crisps, you can also find the recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours on page 422.

I’m a bad blogger buddy!  Jaden Hair’s lovely new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, has been on the shelves for three weeks and I’ve yet to post about it.  Jaden was the first food blogger I ever met way back before SGCC was even a thought in my head.  She lives about 15 miles away from me, so when I stumbled upon her blog a few years ago, I immediately emailed her to introduce myself.  Jaden was kind enough to invite me to attend one of her cooking classes that just happened to also be a taping for a television feature on her.  I didn’t think twice before accepting!  I had a blast!  Plus, I got to be on TV!  That was when the blogging bug really bit me.  A few months later, with Jaden as a major inspiration, I decided to try blogging for myself – and SGCC was born.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Jaden’s recipes – and I’ve tried a whole lot of them.  When she announced that she was writing a cookbook, I was thrilled for her!  I was even more thrilled to be among her many recipe testers for the book.  During that time, I tried out some awesome recipes and it drove me crazy that I couldn’t share any of them with you, because…well, you know…because they were top secret, hush-hush recipes for the cookbook!  I wish now that I had taken photographs of some of those wonderful dishes I made.  

A few weeks ago, Mini SGCC was feeling under the weather, so I whipped out the cookbook and made some Quick Vietnamese Chicken Pho for her.  The next day, I tried Jaden’s recipe for Banh Mi.  Both were excellent.  I’d planned to post about them both in depth, but then my United Airlines fiasco happened and I was too preoccupied with that to take pictures.  By the time I got around to it, all I found were the empty Tupperware containers in the garage fridge!

One of my favorite “Steamy Kitchen” recipes is Jaden’s slow-cooked salmon. In the book it’s been transformed into Tea Smoked Salmon, but the original method is explained there as well.  I’ve made this dish about a dozen times so far, and it is one of my favorite ways to prepare salmon.  The fish is baked on a bed of onions and sliced oranges in a very low oven for about 30 minutes. I also like to add sliced fennel and fresh tarragon sprigs too.   The result is a soft, lush, melt-in-your-mouth salmon that retains its gorgeous color and texture.

I decided to try the recipe again the other night and played around with the presentation a little.  Since our temperatures around here are still hovering up in the high 80’s, I dressed some of my salmon up for a day at the beach.  The rest got dolled up for a swanky cocktail party coiffed with some crème fraiche and fresh dill.  Either way, they were both delicious!  I always try to find fresh, wild salmon, which is healthier and tastier than the farm-raised kind. But, this recipe works well with that too.

I’ve got lots more of my Steamy Kitchen faves still to share, but all in good time!

And, if you haven’t already bought your copy of The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, what the heck are you waiting for?  It’s a beautiful book for the pictures alone!  And it’s chock full of terrific recipes too.  You can find it at all of the major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders. And, please don’t forget your local independent book stores.  Remember, they are often your friends and neighbors who are struggling to compete with the big guys.  To find indie booksellers in your area, you can go to Indie Bound.

Slow Cooked Salmon
adapted from The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

4 (8 ounce) salmon fillets
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 navel oranges, cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 large or 2 small fresh fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
3-4 sprigs fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste
Assorted garnishes such as crème fraiche, sliced oranges or fresh herbs

Directions:

Preheat to 250F.  Lightly brush salmon with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Let sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Grab a baking pan big enough to hold all fillets in single layer. Make a bed on the pan by layering the onions, fennel and two of the sliced oranges. Place the salmon fillets on the bed and tuck in the tarragon sprigs.

Bake for 30 minutes. (If you’re cooking more than 4 fillets, just add another 2 minutes per additional filet.) To test for doneness, stick a sharp paring knife in, if it goes in and out, its done.

Top with whatever finishing herbs, spices or ingredients you’ve chosen. After cooking, the salmon is going to look almost exactly the same as when you first put it in. Don’t worry, after 30 minutes in the oven it is cooked.

Dress up your salmon however you like.

Serves 4.