Cooking for a Crowd?

Growing up, Meatball Lasagna was always reserved for special occasions, holiday times, and parties. Often it was served as a side dish along with a roast of some sort, a turkey, or a ham, but just as many times, all on it's own.

Homemade mini meatballs are key, a little time consuming, but worth it! You can roll, and cook them ahead of time, stick them in a Ziploc bag in the frig, or freezer till ready to assemble. My meatballs will always have garlic, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, egg, salt, pepper, and lots of grated Romano cheese.
I find that results are best if you use the dried or fresh noodles, not the no-boil type, layering as you go with a light homemade marinara sauce, ricotta cheese mixture, shredded, or fresh mozzarella, the mini meatballs, and more Romano cheese. Who can resist oozing cheese and dripping sauce and a bite of a tiny meatball? A definite crowd pleaser!!

Stuffed Shells are great for a party also, they're individual and self contained, and easy to serve.
Here I made two different kinds, a meat mixture of ground round, chopped spinach, and grated Romano cheese, and your standard ricotta cheese mixture.

This was served as a side dish to our meal on Christmas day. Packed up and ready to go to my BIL, and SIL's for dinner! Two huge pans! You think I went a little overboard??? I know, I have issues!!

We also had New York strip steaks on the grill, beer battered shrimp, shrimp scampi, assorted veggies, and way to much other stuff. Needless to say, everyone went home with a huge care package.

Next time you have a party you might want to try these!

Buon Appetito!!!

Pannetone French Toast

This time of year Pannetone is everywhere! This sweet, almost brioche type dough, tastes like a fluffy bread/fruitcake that is laced with candied fruits and raisins.

The minute you open the box and unwrap it, you're hit by the most intoxicating smell! I rarely buy these because my hubby could literally eat the whole thing within a day. He tears off piece by piece, and before you know it, it's all gone!

This time I hid the box from him because I knew I was going to make french toast with it for our breakfast yesterday. If you haven't tried it this way, I highly suggest that you do, it's way beyond good!!!! and it's perfect for a special occasion.

I usually whisk up 1 egg per slice, you'll find that it really soaks up the egg mixture. Add in some milk and half and half, or cream, pour in some pure vanilla, and maybe a touch of cinnamon. Melt your butter in a large pan, and cook till nice and dark golden brown. Serve with warmed real maple syrup.

Needless to say, the hubby was very happy, and so was I!

Buon Appetito!!!

Cucidati! (Italian Fig Cookies)

Whether you call them Cucidati, Sicilian X Cookies, or just plain Italian Fig Cookies, the end result is the same. Tender sweet dough, that's wrapped around a very flavorful spiced fig filling.

This is a favorite in many Italian households, and hands down, this is my hubby and his brothers

favorite cookie! I think it's mostly nostalgic, because it reminds them so much of their mom, in fact they call them "Moms cookies". Weeks before, my BIL will call me and plead " Are you gonna make mom's cookies this year? Let's make mom's cookies! What do you need? What should I buy? We'll help you! Normally their idea of helping is spending 5 minutes in the kitchen then popping a DVD in, and every so often I would hear one of them say, "How's it going up there? "Got any done yet?" Well this year I decided to call their bluff and said I would make them if they help. I think they now have total appreciation for all the work that goes into it!

To make these, you need to set aside the whole day, it's very time consuming especially if you triple the recipe, which we did. You can however, make the dough and the filling a day ahead of time which I will do next year.

I decided to use Nick Malgieri's recipe ( link below) which is so similar to my MIL's. The only thing I omitted was the chocolate in the filling, my MIL never put chocolate in hers. The dough is tender, and easy to work with, and a breeze to make in the food processor!

For the filling, some of the ingredient's are, golden raisin's, candied orange peel, toasted and chopped almonds.

Apricot preserves, dark rum or brandy, instant espresso, cinnamon and cloves.

I made my BIL chop up the figs. Nice job UJ!

All the ingredients get whirled together in the food processor and the end result is a thick and flavorful fig paste!

The dough and fig paste gets divided up equally.

One at a time on a floured surface, you flatten each piece of dough and roll it out into a rectangle 3" x 12" long. Next, roll your fig paste into a log, lay the log on top of the dough, seal the edges and roll it out into a cylinder. Cut them as big as you want.

Heres our finished project. just waiting for the frosting to dry. You don't have to frost them, but we like them that way. Needless to say, the 2 brothers were very happy!!

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE RECIPE.

Of course I have to send a bunch of these over to Susan from Food Blogga! She's got her famous cookie baking event going on again.

Check out the roundup she has already! They all look delicious! Hurry, you still have a little time to submit something.

Happy Baking!!!

Fritto Misto of Calamari, Lemon and Scallops!

This popular seafood antipasti, is an Italian dish that literally means "fried mixture". In this case I used calamari and scallops, but you could also add mussels and shrimp or any other seafood you like. The most important things are to get your oil hot, never overcook your fish, and keep your breading nice and light.

For this reason, I love using Mario Batali's recipe because he uses cornstarch to bread the fish, which gives it such a nice light flavor, and the taste of the fish is not buried by gobs of breading.
I adapted it a little, in that I added to the cornstarch mixture some sliced jalapeno for spice, which was a big hit by the way, and some green beans for color and crunch. Serve with warm marinara for dipping.

Recently I received a book for review called the "Feast of the Seven Fishes", it's about an Italian American family preparing and cooking for this traditional feast. It's a fun read, the characters in the book might remind you of some of your own relatives, it did me.

But more than that, I walked away with the thought of how certain foods and traditions connect us all with fond memories and feelings that stay with us throughout our entire lives, no matter what nationality or culture we're a part of. I'm going to be sending this dish off to my good friend Maryann, over at Finding La Dolce Vita.

She's hosting this special event along with Joe, from Italyville.
I'm coming in at the last minute, but I'll still be able to make the party!

Buon Appetito!!

A Limoncello Cosmo, and some Little bites!!

Party time is here, and if you're a lover of Limoncello like I am, then you'll love this festive little drink! Vodka, cranberry juice, and the guest of honor... Limoncello!

I would suggest you test out the ratio's to your liking. Start out for one glass with, 1/2 shot of vodka, 1/2 shot of Limoncello, and a shot of cranberry juice. Fill a shaker 3/4 way with ice, pour everything in, give it a good shake, and pour. Garnish with fresh or frozen cranberries.

Now of course you'll need something to nibble on while your sipping on these, don't worry!! I got that taken care of too.

FRIED RAVIOLI'S**** These are delicious, and super easy to make, you don't need to have homemade ravioli's either.

Grab a bag of store bought, they cook up so fast and you can feed a crowd. They're dipped in buttermilk first, a tip I got from Giada, so much better than dipping them into egg. Next, dip them into your favorite flavored breadcrumbs, which have been doctored up of course. Fry them in 2" of canola oil in a large saute pan. They'll be done in a few seconds, drain on paper towel, then sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve warm, along with some warm marinara for dipping!

BAKED ZUCCHINI STICKS*** You can make a bunch of these with out even frying. Just cut your zucchini into sticks, these you will be dipping in eggs first, then into your flavored breadcrumbs, I also mixed mine with some panko, adding more chopped parsley, granulated garlic, and grated cheese. Spray your baking sheets with olive oil spray, place your zucchini on, and then spray a little olive oil over them. Bake in a hot 375F oven till golden and crunchy. Maybe 25 min's. This is fantastic with a lemon aoli for dipping, which I didn't have time to make, but also good with warm marinara.

Buon Appetito, and Cin Cin!!

Time To Bake The Cookie's...

I've been doing lots of cookie baking lately, besides making them for friends and family, I also went to a cookie swap that my Italian/American club had this year. Each year I usually make most of my old standbys, but I always try to change things up and make something new and different.

This year I tried these colorful and tasty Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies, the recipe is seen here, on Epicurious. I love the way they look with their square shape and the vibrant colors of the green pistachio's and red cranberries, that paired with the flavor of a shortbread dough, is a winning combination! They look cute peeping through cellophane bags tied with ribbon too, a great gift idea!

The recipe said they would last 5 days in an airtight container, well mine lasted 2 weeks and tasted just as good as the first day I made them. I kept them in a cool area, and they were perfect.

So you can definitely make these in advance!

The colored sugar I used around the edges is what I had on hand, I tried to find plain white, but after 2 stores I gave up. Solid red, green, or white sugar would be really nice too.

At our cookie swap we had a Mandolin player who was treating us to beautiful Italian music, as we exchanged cookies, and of course sampled some along with our coffee.

Did you know there were different kinds of Mandolins?? I didn't!

The table was huge, everyone was told to bring 3 dozen each for the swap, along with extra for eating that night, the recipe, and a family story about the cookie if you wanted to, and last but not least a container to take your goodies home in!

We're in the process of making a club cookbook, so all these cookie recipes will be added into it.

This is peek into my container I brought home. Anyone else do a cookie exchange? It's really fun, and you end up with tons of variety!

Happy Baking!!

Veggie Ribbon Pasta

Are you craving some lighter food right about now? I know I am! This pasta dish will satisfy that craving, and you won't sacrifice any flavor at all!

Thin ribbons of zucchini and carrot, that are lightly sauteed in olive oil along with paper thin sliced garlic, then tossed with fettuccine, grated lemon peel, finely chopped fresh parsley and basil. Finished off with a grating of pecorino romano and a few toasted pinenuts. It's so good!!!

Just take your vegetable peeler and make ribbons out of your zucchini and carrots, then slice up your garlic paper thin, by using either a knife, or a garlic slicer, (which I used). See all that garlic in the photo? I used it all! 5 or 6 cloves, believe me it makes the dish! I also used 3 nice size carrots and 4 nice size zucchini.

Grab the biggest saute pan you have, drizzle in some olive oil, and saute all of your garlic till it gets limp, which doesn't take long because it's so thin. Next, throw in all your veggies and gently keep tossing them with tongs till they become limp and their natural juices come out. Keep them slightly al dente. Have your water boiling for your pasta, I used 1/2 lb of fettuccine cooked al dente, but you could also use tagliatelle, or papadelle.

After you drain your pasta, lightly toss it in with your veggie mixture, be sure to get all the juices from the veggies, and garlic incorporated. Grate the rind of one whole lemon, toss in your chopped fresh basil, and parsley, and freshly grated pecorino romano, additional salt & pepper, and maybe a drizzle more of olive oil. Garnish with some toasted pine nuts if you want.

I make this dish because we love the way it tastes, but then I was thinking, in reality it practically costs nothing to make, and in these hard economic times, this would be a healthy and economical meal to feed a family with. Locally, and world wide, there are many people less fortunate than us.

Raising awareness of world hunger is something going on throughout the blogging community, that's why I'm sending this dish off to my blogger friends Val, of More Than Burnt Toast, Giz and Psychgrad, of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, and Ivy, of Kopiaste. A group of caring bloggers who have joined forces for this wonderful cause. They started BloggerAid, please click on the link to find out more about their mission, and how we all can help.