Before we head off to England (and a five day side-trip to Northern France) to visit the across-the-pond family, we wanted to leave you with a different option for your Christmas Day meal.  Some families love making hard-core meals for Christmas Day dinner – meals that take hours to cook and include many courses or many side dishes.  If that is your type of meal, then you may want to save this recipe for another time (perhaps when you’re hung over on New Year’s Day?).   This dish is so flavorful and so freaking easy to make.  You know what makes it even better? It’s a cost-effective.  So chat with your butcher, make it easier and just ask him/her to butterfly that pork for you, grab a huge mug of egg nog or mulled wine, throw on some Johnny Mathis and spend some time doing what real Americans will be doing – hanging out with Ralphie.

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HANUKKAH/HAPPY KWANZAA EVERYONE! Thank you for supporting us, commenting on posts and actually reading our words.  It means more than you know!  Have a delicious 2010!

I think the title of this post says it all about my feelings (and others) about the famous Romans dish of pasta, traditionally spaghetti, with pecorino cheese and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.  The name says is all – cacio, meaning cheese, and pepe meaning pepper.  We’re not breaking any new ground here because I’m sure there’s about 50 other food blogs that have made this dish.  I’m just here hoping that if anyone does make it, they try to make it the freshest and best way they can. 

I’m going to get my food snob on here – please do not make this dish soley with parmigiano reggiano and that crappy, old shaker filled with pepper that you may only bust out when laying out your fine china on one or two holidays a year.  The pepper most likely has zero flavor anymore – if you do, please name the dish whatever you want.  I personally think “Pasta with Parmigiano Reggiano and Crappy Old, Non-Spicy Pepper from the Depths of My Cupboard” works great!  If you go to the store and spend $4 you can get some black peppercorns.  Just put them into a pepper grinder or, if you don’t have one, throw the peppercorns in a plastic baggie and grab a meat mallet or a hammer and get out your aggressions.  Keep hammering until you’ve produced some nice, ground pepper.  Make a lot if you’d prefer to not have to go through this exercise again and freeze the extras to prevent the pepper from going bad (ie: flavorless).

The reason I’m so passionate about this is because you can not recreate the amazing flavor of this old, traditional dish if you do not have good pepper.  When freshly ground, pepper is very spicy and full of flavor.  It is not supposed to just produce a nice contrast of color to a boring meal – although the beauty of it is it does that too!  Research taught me that in ancient Rome pepper was extremely popular and was used for medicinal reasons by the ancient Greeks.  It was revered as a very valuable spice.  As for the cheese, I’ll go a bit easier on you if you don’t use the Pecorino cheese, but I’ll give you a light tap on the bum so you’ll remember to try it with that cheese next time.  Pecorino would only be used in this dish in Rome because, well, that’s the regional cheese in that area.  If you look close at the label, it’s really called Pecorino Romano, right?  Parmigiano and pecorino are two very different tasting cheeses.  In fact, there are many varieties of pecorino in Italy ranging from soft to hard versions of the cheese.  For this discussion, we are generally talking solely about Pecorino Romano – the hard cheese that is able to be grated. If you do a comparison, I’d imagine you’d notice that pecorino is much sharper in taste where parmigiano is more nutty and mellow in flavor.  Both are pretty nice and salty, which is why you should not have to salt this dish.  Some people feel very strongly about choosing one of these cheeses over the other.  Because of this, we have chosen to use a mixture of the cheeses for this version of cacio e pepe.  This way you get a blend of the cheese.  But in Rome, you will most likely find the dish made only with pecorino. 

When made correctly, you will not believe how unbelievably creamy and spicy this dish is.  I felt like we were back in Rome (of course only if I closed my eyes VERY hard and did not open them to reveal a very closet-like, dirty Brooklyn apartment).  This dish is so quick and easy, I’m sure Rachel Ray couldn’t even make it because she’d only fill 1/8 of a show.  Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed.

Also, months ago we wrote a post on a great NYC restaurant with the same name as this dish.  If you’re ever in New York, I’d advise you to give this awesome restaurant a try… and order their signature dish made in a hollowed out wheel of pecorino!

As regular readers will know, we are obsessed with pork, especially roasted pork, so while we’ve yet to make any more than the briefest foray into Cuban food, we definitely intend to compare Lechon Asado Cubano (Cuban Roasted Pork) and Masas de Puerco Fritas (Cuban Fried Pork Chunks) to their Puerto Rican and Colombian counterparts that we have tried, just as soon as our cardiologist deems it safe to do so. In the meantime, we elected to solve our latest leftover roasted pork crisis with Cuba’s other synonymous comestible – the Cuban sandwich.  In this case, we used the leftover pork from our Italian-Style Roasted Pork Shoulder with Salsa Verde.

And before you start accusing us of going all Everyday Food on you with our recent spate of unbelievably easy recipes, those of you who’ve never had a Cuban sandwich will quickly learn that as far as hot sandwiches go, this is among the best, regardless of how easy it is to prepare. Among the reasons for it being one of the best sandwiches, the double-hit of pork products probably features most prominently, but the gooey cheese mixed with the crunchiness of warm pickles is a combination which is hard to beat. Add to it that there are no chunks of tomato or hunks of lettuce to cause what Anthony Bourdain calls “tectonic dynamism” between layers of filling when you take a bite, and the cooking process ensures that it is a suitable girth for easy mouth-insertion, the outcome is a delicious, unctuous sandwich that is also a joy to eat.

Now, I’m describing our Cuban sandwiches, and we did quite a lot of research before making them to ensure we were making them at least reasonably authentically, but, as with many famous dishes, there is a whiff of controversy surrounding the ingredients of a sandwich Cubano. Apparently, in Tampa, Florida, it is common to find Genoa salami in your Cubano alongside the roast pork and honeyed ham, whereas in Miami that would be frowned upon. Similarly, in Key West, you’ll often get lettuce and tomato in the sandwich too, though again in traditionalist joints in Miami and Puerto Rico (home to many Cuban emigres) these would be on the side, if served at all. And, finally, lest we be deluged with complaints, we used Dijon mustard instead of the standard yellow mustard, partially because we prefer Dijon mustard, and partially because we didn’t have any yellow mustard at the time.

Cuban Sandwiches (makes 2 sandwiches – enough for four people)

Ingredients

• 1 loaf fresh Cuban bread (pan de manteca) or soft baguette-type loaf (in the US, Italian bread could work okay, providing it’s quite soft)
• 1/2lb roast pork, sliced thickly (say, 1/2inch, 1.5cm thick)
• 10 slices honey-roast ham
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• 1-2 large pickles, sliced thickly (as above)
• 2tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1tbsp mayonnaise

Recipe

• Heat oven to 400F
• Slice loaf open end-to-end and spread one side with mayonnaise and the other with mustard.
• Then, arrange roast pork slices on mayonnaise-d side, repeat with ham, then cheese, and finally pickles before putting mustard-coated bread on top.
• Cut loaf in half (to make two sandwiches) and wrap loaf in foil. Place on a baking sheet and put your heaviest (oven-proof) iron skillet on top.
• Put in the oven and give it 20-30 minutes depending on how crispy you like your bread.
• Cut in half again (traditionally, it’s cut into triangles, or on the bias) and serve immediately with your favorite cold beer or, if you must, soda.

For more recipes and fun with roasted pork and other wondrous porcine dishes, go to www.weareneverfull/recipes.

This time, I wasn’t feelin’ the citrus-marinaded Pernil, and I had plenty of herbs around to use up so I figured, what about an Italian-style pork shoulder? I made a paste of herbs, olive oil, peperoncino and garlic and rubbed it all over my pork shoulder. With no time to marinate, I just slapped it in the oven using my low-and-slow pork shoulder method. Cooking at about an hour a pound, four hours later, we had a deliciously moist and hearty meal. Although it may seem as though long-cooking meals are more difficult to create, most times it’s actually the opposite. Making that paste (which took about 2 minutes) was the toughest part of the meal! Once you slap it in the oven, you let the heat and the pork fat do the work.

The addition of the fresh salsa verde was perfect. Many people associate a roast withfall and winter. The addition of fresh herbs and the bright green of the salsa verde actually ‘springs-up’ the meal. Also, anchovies make this sauce. Even if you’re not an anchovy lover, still use them – just like in Lidia’s Lamb dish, leaving out the anchovies is like leaving out the pinch of salt. You just need it to make the dish but it doesn’t leave a fishy flavor. We also added some white wine to the baking dish and when mixed with the meat drippings, that made a delicious sauce on it’s own! I added a bit of creme fraiche to my risotto and I was amazed at how much creamier and delicious it turned out. I’ve added cream before, but the creme fraiche really brought it together. I’ve decided not to include my recipe for risotto since I assume most people can follow the directions given on the side of the package. But to give you the head’s up – I always add garlic and onions to mine and always saute the arborio rice in them for 2-3 minutes before slowly adding my stock. At the end, I finish it with some butter or, in this case, creme fraiche and a good handful of parmigiano reggiano.

Here’s the cuban sandwiches we made with the pork leftovers. We managed to have 2 dinners and 4 lunches with a 4-pound pork shoulder. I highly recommend making this low and slow style Italian pork shoulder. By the way, I’m entering this recipe for Eat for Dinner’s Tried, Tested and True event.

ITALIAN-STYLE PORK SHOULDER WITH SALSA VERDE (serves 4-6)

Ingredients for Pork Shoulder:

• 1 4 to 6 pound bone-in pork shoulder
• 1 to 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 to 2 tablespoon fresh sage
• 1 to 2 tablespoon fresh parsley
• 1 to 2 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon ground fennel seed
• 6 cloves of garlic, mashed into a paste in a mortar and pestle
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• pinch of peperoncino
• 1 cup white wine

Ingredients for Salsa Verde

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon rosemary
• 1 tablespoon sage
• 1 tablespoon chives (optional)
• 1/2 cup of chopped parsley
• 3 anchovy fillets
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (white or red wine)
• lemon juice + 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• salt and pepper
• olive oil (enough to infuse the whole thing – about 1/2 cup)

What to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.
2. In a food processor or blender, add your herbs, ground fennel seed, garlic paste, peperoncino and salt and pepper and pulse a few times. Push down any of the paste that may have accumulated on the sides of your blender. With the lid on and the blade going, add your olive oil into the mixture so that it all incorporates and makes a paste.
3. Make 1-inch deep slits all over your pork (even in some of the skin). Salt and pepper your pork all over. Rub your marinade all over the pork and poke some into each slit. Fat side up, place pork in a roasting pan. Cook pork uncovered for 1 hour.
4. After the hour is over, remove pork from oven and add the wine to the bottom of baking dish. Use a spoon to pick up some of the brown bits. Tent some tin foil over your pork and put back in the oven, turning oven down to 275 degrees. Cook for 3 to 4 hours on this low setting. (I recommend about an hour or more per pound). Optional: Every 40 minutes or so, spoon some of the wine/cooking drippings over the pork.
   
5. While the pork is cooking away, make your salsa verde. This can be made up to one day ahead of time. It’s super easy. First, add your herbs and the garlic in your food processor or blender. Puree as best you can with no liquid in there. Scrape the sides of the blender and add your anchovies. Puree again. Scrape the sides. Add your vinegar and lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon (about 1/2 tablespoon). Blend and scrape. Finally, with the motor running and the lid on, slowly drizzle your olive oil into the mixture until it’s completely emulsified. Give it a taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper. You may desire a bit more lemon juice. Blend again. Voila!
   
6. About 40 minutes before the end of your final hour of cooking time, remove the foil from the top of your pork. This will cook the skin a bit more.
7. Allow the pork to rest 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with risotto and greens of your choice (we used broccoli di rape) and top the pork slices with salsa verde.

With artichokes on sale for 98 cents each (better than the rabbit we bought the other week!), I just had to pick a few up. For some reason, I only grabbed two thinking I would make an appetizer or a side-dish with them. Well, let me tell you, this slight adaptation of a Mario Batali artichoke recipe can actually be eaten as a main if you buy large ones. The husband was still a bit hungry afterwards (our artichokes were on the small side) and our breath smelled like delicious garlic until about noon the next day, but this is a recipe I will make over and over and over again. So easy and simple and, if you’re a garlic-lover, you’ll never stuff your artichoke with breadcrumbs again. I also recommend cooking them in halves because not only is it easier to remove that damn choke, but I think the presentation is beautiful and it’s really easy to eat. Next time I’m going to chop up some capers and throw them into the mix. I’d serve with a piece of a baguette so you can “choop” up all that lovely garlic-parsley infused oil! Also, make sure you plan your cooking based on the fact that you must boil the artichokes for a good amount of time before you oven-roast them. Ok? Now, bring on the spring with this lovely artichoke recipe!

PARSLEY, GARLIC AND PARMIGIANO-STUFFED ARTICHOKES
(Recipe is for 2 artichokes, adapted from Mario Batali recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 artichokes (the bigger the better)
• 1 lemon
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup of parmigiano reggiano
• about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• dash of peperoncino (optional)

What to do:

1. Boil some water.
2. Remove the outer layers of the artichoke. Trim the rest of the artichoke leaves but cutting off the sharp edges with a knife.
3. When water comes to a boil, slice your lemon in half and squeeze the lemon juice into the water along with the lemon halves. Place your whole artichokes in the water and boil for 20 minutes.
4. After it’s done boiling, remove from water, drain and allow to cool a bit. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
5. Prep your garlic, parsley and cheese (along with the optional peperoncino) and mix in a bowl with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. These dry ingredients will be moistened with extra olive oil on top to drizzle the chokes with during cooking.
6. Cut your cooled artichokes in half and with a paring knife, or other small knife, cut out the hairy and sharp ‘choke’ from both halves. Look at pictures at left of the artichoke with and without the choke.
7. Put artichokes in a baking dish and “stuff” your artichokes in between the leaves with the garlic/parsley/cheese mixture and make sure to spoon some in the well of the sliced artichoke. Add any reserved olive oil that’s left to the pan.
8. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until the artichoke is soft in the middle with browned edges. Spoon on some of the extra olive oil from the bottom of your baking pan onto your cooked artichokes.

***Thanks to Ellie at Weeknight Gourmet for trying this recipe tonight. She was a trooper by ‘winging it’ when I didn’t put how much olive oil was necessary. Great job, Ellie and thanks for giving me the head’s up that I needed to add to the recipe!
CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY:

• Does Hollywood HATE Food?
• The REAL Cocido of Spain
• Cabrales Cheese: It’s a Bit of an Animal
• Remaking a Tuscan Restaurant Meal (From Florence)
• AVGOLEMONO SOUP (Greek Lemon-Egg Chicken Soup w/ Orzo)
• PASTA (BUCATINI) WITH PISTACHIO SAUCE
• PASTA WITH TUNA (Pasta Con Tonno)
• GNOCCHI WITH BREADCRUMB, BROWN BUTTER AND SAGE

Just to get your excitement level up even more about salt (if you aren’t already on the edge of your seat panting), I’ll continue with my brief history lesson. We kind of take salt for granted. Unless it’s fancy like that fleur de sel or that Hawaian lava salt stuff, people kind of think, “Whateva… It’s just salt” and then throw it over their left shoulder as if it were nothing or get a giggle out of loosening the lid on a shaker at a diner and watch someone use it (heee heee, teee heeee heeee!) only to waste it as it falls all over the table and floor. But salt IS something. God damn it! If salt was a person, she’d be older than God (salt’s the oldest known food additive), or at least Jesus. Hell, she IS God (can you imagine cooking without it?). Did you know that at certain points in time and in certain places, salt was used as currency? Wars were supposedly waged in the name of salt. Hell, Northwich, Cheshire (United Kingdom) wouldn’t be the awesome, contemporary and trendy metropolis it is today if it weren’t for their salt mines – they even have a museum dedicated to it! ***Note: My husband wanted to let you all know that the Salt Museum was so stimulating to him that on a fun, weekend trip at age seven, he fell fast asleep on a pile of salt – ok, it was a bench, but whatever.****

One of salt’s main use back in the day was in preserving fish (remember, besides salt, you also seem to take ice and refrigeration for granted – are you feeling like shit yet?) and other foods. Ever eat bacalao/bacala? Yes, thanks to the days before fridges and freezers, the Portuguese and Spanish used a “wet” method to salt-preserve their fish on-board their boats while the French and English used the ‘dry’ method by drying their fish on racks onshore (www.saltinstitute.org). Maybe this is also why salt is mentioned in the Bible 30 times?

Which leads me to the point – baking a whole fish in salt seems natural to me now. When I decided to cook this after seeing Jose Andres do it recently, I couldn’t believe how delicious this cheap, easy and simple way of cooking a fish could be. Please, I beg you to give this a shot. I’ve read that you can cook chicken and squid as well as many other things in a salt crust. I recommend a whole fish mainly because you can fillet it and remove or not eat the skin. Yes, you remove most of the salt from the fish after it has been cooked, but there is still a very, very salty residue on the skin. Just eat the moist meat under the salty skin with just a squeeze of fresh lemon and a drizzle of really good olive oil. So rustic (see picture – I couldn’t really plate this in a pretty way), so “salt-of-the-earth” kind of a meal (pun kind of intended) and so freaking easy. Paired with some crunchy, spicy okra fritters and you’ve got a great and pretty healthy meal. This is also a great meal to have around Lent or Easter (meat free) – kind of seems a bit Biblical to me.

SALT CRUSTED WHOLE SNAPPER WITH OKRA FRITTERS AND LOUISIANA REMOULADE – Serves 2

For the Fish:

• 1 2-lb whole fish (we used snapper)
• 1/2 lemon sliced up
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 1 big box of kosher salt
• water

For the okra fritters:

• 2 cups sliced okra (thinly sliced)
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• milk (enough to moisten batter if necessary)
• salt and pepper
• pinch of cayanne pepper
• pinch of garlic powder
• veggie oil for frying

For the Remoulade (this makes alot):

• 1 cup light mayo
• 1/2 cup dijon mustard (if you have creole mustard, even better)
• 1/2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery, thinly diced
• parsley, chopped
• juice of 1/4 lemon
• salt and pepper

What to do:

1. Prep your remoulade so it has some time to sit and the flavors can meld together. All you need to do is add every ingredient together and stir. Done.
2. Prep your okra fritters. Slice your okra and onions and saute for a few minutes to soften. Add to a bowl and allow to cool for a minute. Add your flour and cornmeal and season with some salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder. Stir all together. Beat your eggs with a fork and add to your veggies/flour/cornmeal mixture. Stir. If batter seems way too thick, add a bit of milk and stir. We kept our mixture pretty thick because I wanted a few thick, big fritters instead of a bunch of small ones. You want it thicker than pancake batter, but not as thick as bread dough! Reserve on side for a moment.
3. Preheat your oven to 450.
4. Now, let’s get your fish started. In a LARGE bowl, mix your salt with some water. We used about 2 pounds of salt and a cup or so of water. Lay about a half-inch to one-inch of salt in the bottom of your baking pan. Add two bay leaves (optional) for the fish to lay on.
5. Stuff the fish (where it has been gutted) and add some lemon wedges, some crushed garlic cloves and a few thyme sprigs. Try and close the ‘gap’ as much as possible – you don’t want to get too much salt in there. Lay your fish on the bed of salt and (now the fun part) pile the rest of your salt on top of the whole fish. You want it to be at least an inch or two thick.
6. Once you have your salt mound perfected, throw it in to your 450 degree oven for 25 minutes.
7. While fish is cooking, fry up your okra fritters. Put about 2 cups of vegetable oil in a pan and heat till it’s ready to fry. Using a large tablespoon, shape a fritter and cook in the oil – I pressed down on the fritter to make it more like a flat disk instead of a ball. Allow to cook about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes tops before flipping (depending on how hot your stove is). When finished, allow to drain on some paper towels and sprinkle with a bit of salt and a squeeze of lemon.
8. When your fish is ready, allow to sit for a few minutes and then break the salt crust with a sharp knife. Don’t cut into the fish, though! Throw away the bits of salt crust that come off and when you remove your fish, dust the extra salt off of it.
9. Filet your fish by slicing one side of the meat against the bone. Remove the bone and plate your filets. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice and drizzle some of your favorite extra virgin olive oil on top of the fish. Serve with some okra fritters that are topped with the remoulade. Dig in!

CHECK OUT SOME OF OUR OTHER LENT-APPROVED FISH RECIPES:

• BREAD-CRUSTED FISH WITH A LEMON BUTTER SAUCE
• WHOLE, FRIED SNAPPER WITH A PARSLEY GARLIC SAUCE
• ANISE-FLAVORED SALMON IN PARCHMENT POUCH
• LIVORNESE FISH STEW

After our second full day of tasting we were all overwhelmed by the urge to continue our bacchanalia that evening with a four course dinner and more wine. Heated discussions were had over what should be on the menu and what we could reasonably cook given that we’d been drinking all day and the kitchen in our cabin was less than professional-grade. Finally, we decided that a variety of cold appetizers, including hummus, guacamole, crudite, and pita chips, would be an easy way to begin and might allow us to cook the rest of the meal without getting too drunk.

The second course was gnocchi with a combination of two Lidia Bastianich sauce recipes – one with breadcrumbs fried in butter, and the other with sage and brown butter. The sauce, of course, was about as easy as a sauce can be, but the process was lengthened by us making the gnocchi from scratch.

The third course was a delicious New York Strip steak served with a red wine jus and roasted red and golden beets. And all of this was topped off with a final cheese course of a California goat brie, a morbier and an honest hunk of manchego — naturally all washed down through purple lips with some more red wine.

Now, the point of this tale is not to wow our readers with how much we drink when we’re with Amy’s cousins, because we often surprise ourselves by that, but rather it is to demonstrate that you can make really, really good gnocchi di patate from scratch even when you’re half in the bag — though we recommend you make it when sober for the first time.

Here’s how to do it.

GNOCCHI DI PATATE (Serves 3 to 4)

Ingredients

- 3 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3inch cubes/lumps

- 3 tablespoons kosher salt (2 tablespoons of table salt)

- 1 large egg

- Up to 2 cups plain white flour (depending on size of your potatoes)

- 1 large pot of boiling water or enough to boil the potatoes in and then the gnocchi.

Recipe:

1. Boil water and add two/one tablespoon of salt

2. Peel and chop potatoes, and boil them until they no longer stick to a knife-blade. Remove potatoes from water, but not discard it. Drain potatoes and let stand until cool enough to handle.

3. Use a food-mill, food processor or, better yet, the fine grater side of a box grater, to grate potatoes.

4. Spread grated potatoes out on a baking sheet and sprinkle with remaining salt to draw out some of the moisture. Leave for 20 minutes.

5. Sprinkle flour on a board and place grated potatoes on it. Make a well in the middle and crack egg into it. Add half a cup of flour and combine it all by hand.

6. Mixture should be quite sticky so continue adding flour and combining until it gets smoother. You’ll know it’s the right consistency when it stops being sticky and, if you cut into it, it resembles cookie dough. Don’t worry about getting it really smooth because the potatoes won’t combine perfectly with the flour, it’ll always have a kind of speckled look.

7. Cut dough into three or four lumps. Re-flour your board and hand roll each of the lumps into a long sausage, about the width of a large hot dog, I suppose. Then take your knife and cut the roll into inch-long lumps. These are your gnocchi.

8. Then take a fork and press/roll the gnocchi down the tines of the fork, making grooves to better hold the sauce.

9. Re-boil the water and cook gnocchi in batches. You know they’re done when they float to the surface.

10. Serve with your favorite sauce (Amy’s Tomato Sauce, Pistachio Sauce, Pesto or Brown Butter and Breadcrumbs – see below).

BROWN BUTTER AND FRESH BREADCRUMB SAUCE (from Lidia Bastianich)

Ingredients

• Unsalted Butter (about 1 stick)
• 6-8 Sage leaves
• 1 thick slice of bread – grated finely
• Salt and Pepper
• grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Recipe

1. Melt butter in saute pan on medium. When it begins to color, add your grated breadcrumbs. You will be crisping up your breadcrumbs, but watch your heat because you do not want to burn your butter.
2. After 1 1/2 minutes, add the sage. Allow to flavor the butter for another minute.
3. Season with salt and pepper. Toss sauce with your gnocchi. Plate and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. DELIZIOSO!

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY:

• CHESTNUT CUSTARD TART
• BREAD-CRUSTED FISH WITH LEMON-BUTTER SAUCE
• LIDIA’S LAMB CHOPS (Lamb Chops with A Mustard Anchovy Sauce)
• LEBANESE-SPICED LAMB OVER CRISPY PITA WITH CHICKPEAS, PINENUTS, POMEGRANATE SEEDS SMOTHERED IN GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE
• LIVORNESE FISH STEW

Continuing with more comforting winter foods, I decided one night to make Ribollita again. Traditionally, this Tuscan dish is usually made one day using whatever leftovers were around and reboiled (what ribollita literally means in Italian) the next for even more of a flavor power-punch. I also read that ribollita should take a total of three days to make! That’s some soup! It should also be made with stale bread, similar to another delicious Tuscan soup, Pappa al Pomodoro, we made months back. The stale bread not only needed to be used up, but it thickened the sauce too. We actually left the stale bread out of our recipe because the veggies made it super thick, but please add it to yours! And, similar to the Spanish Cocido (which also requires a long cooking time), ribollita ingredients and recipes vary from region to region in the country.

Another traditional ingredient in ribollita is cavolo nero (Tuscan black winter cabbage/kale). This stuff is all over Tuscany, we even, no lie, saw it growing on the side of the highway in Italy. It’s beautiful and, damn it!, we can’t buy it that easily even in New York City. I’ve seen it at various farmers markets, but I have yet to see it in any of my local stores. It is a deep, dark green, very nutritious and has alot of “give” meaning it can withstand to be cooked for a good amount of time. I used regular kale and some savoy cabbage instead.

We have travelled to many countries over the past few years and one thing I’ve learned is that poor-people’s food is the absolute best type of food. There is something so amazing and inspirational knowing that the poorest people were able to take all the rich’s ‘throw-away’s’ and create so many delicious, memorable and traditional meals. To me, they are the true hero’s of the culinary world and I look to their techniques to inspire me every day. Not measuring, using whatever around, cooking tough cuts of meat and making them taste absolutely delicious… this is peasant food.

As a reminder, I did not add bread to my recipe, but I am including it in this one. Another thing to remember is, of course, this meal will be more delicious if you soak and cook tried beans. I used canned cannellini beans because of time. I also added a rind of parmigiano reggiano for added flavor. This is also optional. Finally, we totally bucked tradition and added some sausage because we had to use a few links up. Regardless of how you do it, this is a meal in a bowl and is extremely delicious! Please give it a try for yourself.

RIBOLLITA (Tuscan Vegetable and Bread Soup) – Serves 4-5

• 2 cans cannellini beans
• 8 cups of vegetable stock/broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stalk and some of it’s greens, chopped
• 1 leek, cleaned and chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 head of kale, ribs removed and sliced thinly
• 1/2 head of savoy cabbage, sliced in thin ribbons
• 2 yukon gold potatoes, sliced into wedges
• 1 large zucchini, sliced into wedges
• 2 cups passata (or tomato puree)
• couple sprigs of fresh rosemary
• fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red hot pepper
• parmigiano reggiano rind (optional)
• 2 links of sweet or hot italian sausage, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 loaf of day-old Italian bread (cut into cubes – traditional, but optional)

What to do:

1. Saute the onion, carrot, leeks and celery in some olive oil until they are relatively soft (bout 8 minutes). Towards the end, add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add zucchini, the kale and cabbage and saute for 2 or 3 minutes.
2. Add the herbs and hot pepper flakes.
3. Cover all of this with your vegetable stock and add the passata (tomatoes). Add your cheese rind and sliced sausage (optional).
4. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Simmer on low/medium-low for about 40 minutes. Add your canned cannellini beans and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Check to see if it needs salt and adjust accordingly.
5. If you choose to add stale bread, add it at the very end… allow to soak up some broth (about 5 minutes) and allow it to break down. Stir into your soup.
6. To serve, add a piece of the parmigiano rind to the bottom of the bowl and ladle in some broth and plenty of vegetables. Top with lots of grated parmigiano reggiano and some chopped parsley. Enjoy!

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On a cold, wintery day, there is nothing better than the warmth of a hearty bowl of Hungarian goulash. After much research, I adapted a recipe by Wolfgang Puck. I’m glad I trusted my instinct that his would taste pretty authentic considering he is from Austria. According to my research, traditional goulash should NEVER contain green peppers or tomatoes. So many recipes I found contained canned tomatoes, but this is supposedly a BIG no-no. Another key, I learned, to a kick-ass goulash is onions, and lots of ‘em. Slicing them thin (use a mandolin if you can) and sweating them down may take a bit more time, but the sweetness and oomph it adds along to the paprika is a taste that can’t be beat.

I have used most of Puck’s recipe, but have adapted a bit of it based on a few other recipes I read as well. Many eat goulash alone, with a side of spaetzle or flour dumplings. I added some boiled potatoes for my starch. Americans may put goulash over rice or egg noodles and top with sour cream, but that is not traditonally Hungarian. I’m also a big lover of paprika, so I use alot… you can scale it down a bit if you’d like. In fact, if you do not like it a bit spicy, do not add the hot paprika and just add one more tablespoon of sweet.

HUNGARIAN GOULASH (Adapted from Wolfgang Puck’s recipe)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium to large onions, thinly sliced (about 4 – 5 cups)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground
• 3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 tablespoon hot paprika
• 2 tablespoons fresh marjoram (I substituted oregano), minced
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 cups beef or chicken stock
• 2 to 3 pounds of beef, cut into 2 inch cubes
• 4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut in halves or quarters
• Salt and Pepper

What to do:

1. In a large saute pan or dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium low and slowly cook your thinly sliced onions until they are translucent. This should take about 30 minutes if you cook them on low and slowly. If you want to cook ‘em faster, go right ahead. I just love the sweetness the slow cooking of the onions brings.
2. Add your beef pieces and allow to sear a bit.
3. Add your garlic and ground caraway seeds and cook for a minute or so.
4. Add the paprika (both hot and sweet), the marjoram or oregano, thyme and bay leaf and allow to saute for a minute.
5. Add the tomato paste and your stock along with a pinch of salt and pepper.
6. Bring this to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for at least an hour (an hour and a half is optimal). This will allow the meat to become tender.
7. While meat is cooking, boil your potatoes until they are parboiled and then add them to your goulash a few minutes before you are ready to serve. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper if needed. Serve in a bowl with enough bits of meat and a few halves of potatoes and enjoy.

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AVGOLEMONO SOUP (Greek Chicken Soup with Orzo, Egg and Lemon)

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• juice of 3 lemons (make sure they’re juicy!)
• 8 cups chicken stock
• some hot water (ONLY IF NECESSARY)
• 1 large chicken breast or 2 normal sized ones
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cup orzo
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano

What to do:

1. Bring your chicken stock to a boil. Add chicken and diced onions (20-30 minutes in total depending on size).
2. After about 15 minutes, add your orzo (takes about 12 minutes to cook).
3. After your chicken is cooked (20-30 minutes), remove and let cool for a few minutes so you can shred it (throw in the freezer if time is limited). Lower the heat on your chicken stock to low just to keep it warm. Ladle about 2 or 3 cups of the stock into a bowl to cool (you will use this to mix in with the egg and lemon mixture – must be cool to prevent it from curdeling).
4. Squeeze the lemon into a Pyrex measuring cup (or something with a spout).
5. Meanwhile, the fun part. Crack your eggs in a large bowl and vigorously whisk until the mixture looks foamy. Slowly add (while whisking at the same time) your lemon juice into the foamy egg until it is completely incorporated.
6. While continuing to whisk the foamy egg mixture, slowly add your warm/cool stock that you reserved in another bowl from step 3 until it’s completely mixed in with the egg mixture (again, make sure it’s not boiling hot – you don’t want this to scramble!).

7. Slowly add this mixture back into the pot. Shred the chicken and add back into the pot. Add oregano. If extra liquid is needed, add a bit of water. Allow to come back to a decent temperature and serve immediately.

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