Country-Style Rigatoni

This pasta dish is great for a party as well as a midweek meal. Grab a glass of Vino, some warm crusty bread, and you're good to go! Not at all complicated to make, and basicly everything's done in one pan!

The sauce is what makes this dish, when all the ingredients mingle together the flavors are out of this world! Trust me, try it!

This recipe comes from Carmine's Family Cookbook, and although I tweeked it just a little bit by adding a little more this, and a little less that, it's pretty much right from the book. Here's my adapted version.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

4 or 5 Cloves of Coarsely Choped Garlic

1/2 of a Thinly Sliced White Onion

1/2 to 3/4 lb. of Italian Sausage with Fennel, casings removed

8 large Basil Leaves, chopped

1/4 cup chopped Flat Leaf Parsley

One can of Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups of Chicken Stock

3tbl of Butter

1 cup of grated Romano Cheese

3 slices of Prosciutto rolled up and thinly sliced

12 ounces of Dried Rigatoni

10 Broccoli Spears, 3" long

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan, add the onions and garlic.

2. Add sausage, basil and parsley, cook till sausage is nice and brown. Raise heat, add stock and butter, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes till sauce thickens a little. Stir in half of the grated cheese and cook for about 3 more minutes till sauce thickens. Add beans, sliced prosciutto, season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta in salted boiling water for only 4 minutes. Add broccoli and cook another 3-4 more minutes. Pasta will be nicely al dente. It will cook more in the sauce so don't worry!

4. Drain pasta and broccoli, add to sauce, now add more cheese!

This is so good, I decided to bring a huge pan of this to our Festa Italiana! Don't forget to submit your delicious Italian food or drink now, till March 9th. Maryann and I will be getting the tables ready!

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The Second Annual "Festa Italiana" Announcement!

I'm so excited to be announcing the 2nd annual Festa Italiana!! I can't believe a year has gone by since my blog sister Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita and I, hosted this wonderful event.

What made this event so great were the people that came to it, our many friends we've come to know so well from all over this virtual world! We like to to imagine our festa, as how it would truly be if we all gathered together literally. Huge tables set under twisting grapevines, Italian food and drink from one end to the other, laughing, singing, and dancing, while the sound of mandolins playing in the background, of course with out a doubt Sinatra and Dino too!
Last year we were amazed at all the scrumptious dishes you brought here and here.

Please join us again!

To participate here's what you have to do:

* Create an Italian dish or drink
* Post about it on your blog
* Use our badge and link back to both Maryann and I. The links should refer to this announcement post, and also Maryann's, so others can participate.
* Photograph your dish and send a copy no bigger than 350 pixels wide, along with your name, your blog's name and url, the name of your dish or drink, and of course the link to that post.
* Email everything to this one address, festaitalianadishes@gmail.com.

Thats it!

We will be accepting your entries starting today, all the way till March 9th. We will begin posting your dishes on March 2nd, after that we'll add your entries as they arrive.

This is not going to be my entry dish to the festa, I'm still deciding what I should bring, I work good under pressure!! but if you're a coffee lover, then you're going to love this light and refreshing dessert. A great ending to a heavy meal. Granita's are just as satisfying as a bowl of ice cream, without all the calories.

The ingredients are simple, 2 cups of brewed coffee,(cooled down), 1/2 cup of milk, 1 Tbl. of sugar, and 2/3 cup of a good coffee liqueur, like kaluha. I had a couple of those miniature bottles so I used that.

Mix everything together, and freeze it all in a shallow pan for at least 2 hours. Flake with a fork.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla whipped cream!

Looking forward to "seeing" everyone at the Festa! Until then,

Buon appetito!!

Lidia's Chicken with Artichokes

I love Lidia, not only for her fantastic food, but for her down to earth, real, no gimmick, personality.
You won't find any "Bam!" on her show, but what you will find is a warm, family oriented person, who shows her deep love for her Italian heritage, through her food, family and culture.

What I love about this one pot meal is that it's simple, with good ingredients. Anything with my beloved artichokes makes me smile. Braise it on your stove top on a Sunday afternoon, and just the smell will make you happy!

You can serve this with polenta, rice, pasta, mashed potato's or some good crusty bread to sop up the sauce!


You'll want to use a nice heavy pot for this dish. When I was on vacation last year I happened across a Le Creuset outlet store, :)) I was deciding which one I should get, red or blue, tough choice! but as you can see in my first photo, I chose the red one.

I love how Lidia always gets her grand kids cooking in the kitchen with her, in hopes that the memories and smells, and taste's, will be something that they can always recall when they are adults.

This is my grandaughter "B" Isn't she cute? making some garlic bread for our dinner, a little picky in the food department right now, but we're working on it!!

Here's the recipe:

CHICKEN WITH ARTICHOKES
1 lemon for acidulated water (see below)
1 1/2 pounds baby artichokes
1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or to taste
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1/4 teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups (28 ounces) canned Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, crushed by hand (reserve the juices)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
To prepare the artichokes, fill a large bowl with a couple of quarts of cold water, and squeeze in the juice of a medium lemon (drop in the cut lemon halves too). Trim the artichokes one at a time, first snapping off the thick outside leaves, until you reach the tender, pale inner leaves. Trim the tip of the stem, but leave most of it attached to the base. With a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler, shave off the dark skin of the stem, exposing the tender core. Peel around the globe of the artichoke too, removing the dark-green spots where the tough leaves were attached. Cut across the leaf tips with a serrated knife, removing the top third of the artichoke. Slice the entire artichoke in half lengthwise, splitting the bulb and stem and drop the pieces into the acidulated water.
Rinse the chicken, and pat it dry. Cut it into 10 or 12 pieces (including backbone), and season with one-half teaspoon salt.
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and lay the chicken pieces in it without crowding -- cook them in batches if necessary. Brown the pieces for about 3 minutes on each side, until each is nicely colored on all sides. Remove the pieces to a platter or bowl.
When all the chicken is out of the pan, drop the crushed garlic into the hot fat and cook for a minute or two, until sizzling. Lift the artichokes out of the water, and drop them, still damp, into the saucepan. Stir well, and season them with one-half teaspoon salt and the peperoncino flakes.
Cook the artichokes for 4 or 5 minutes, tossing them often and deglazing the browned bits in the pan bottom. When the artichokes are dry and starting to take color, carefully pour in the wine and cook over high heat, stirring, until it is nearly evaporated, about 3 minutes longer.
Pour in the tomatoes with juices and 3 cups water; slosh the tomato container with some of the water to rinse juices into the pan. Cover the pan, and bring the liquid to a boil. Adjust the heat to maintain a steady bubbling, and cook the artichokes and sauce for about 15 minutes.
Return all the chicken pieces (and any accumulated juices on the platter) to the saucepan, submerging them in the sauce. Cover the pan and cook the chicken and artichokes together for about 40 minutes, after which the chicken should be nearly done, the artichokes tender and the sauce somewhat reduced. Set the cover ajar -- or remove it altogether -- and continue cooking 15 to 25 minutes or more, until the sauce has thickened and coats the chicken and artichoke pieces. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve immediately, or, for best flavor, let the chicken cool in the pot and reheat later. If the sauce has thickened, stir in a bit of water. Serve hot from the pan, or from a big bowl. Sprinkle parsley over it just before serving.
Serves 6.
-- Adapted from "Lidia's Italy"

Buon Appetito!!!

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Salsa

I'm still on my blood orange kick, I had four left, so I decided to try making a salsa with them. They're still in season so go out and get some, they're delicious, especially the darker ones!



We love scallops here, so I thought I'd just simply sear some up on my grill pan, and have the salsa with it. The flavors all blended beautifully, the sweet from the citrus, spicy cilantro, onion and jalapeno, were a perfect pair for the buttery rich scallops, but I'm sure some other fish would be just as good too.

You have to supreme the oranges by cutting out the segments, you want to make sure you get every bit, you just have to be a little patient, believe me, if I can do it any one can! Here's a video that might help.

Place your segments in a bowl, add chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, as much jalapeno as you want, a little salt, and a splash of orange juice.

Note**** For the photo I got carried away with the juice, for the second plate I took a slotted spoon so I could drain the juice, and slathered it all over! You're going to love this!!

Buon Appetito!

Pizza "Amore!"

Times are tough right now, people are thinking twice before they go out and spend a fortune on a meal, why not stay in, rent a movie, and make a heart shaped pizza for the ones you love! (or yourself).

It's so easy to do, make or buy the pizza dough of your choice, get it to room temperature, roll it and shape it into a heart. Just make sure the center of the heart is deep enough so it stays into the shape, and also try to make a point at the bottom, mine kept springing back a little. Prick it with a fork, and preheat the dough in a very hot oven for 5 minutes, so the shape stays put. I had my oven at 550F.

Now add the toppings of your choice! On my pizza here I put sliced tomatoes, Caramelized red onions, artichoke hearts, pancetta, and a mixture of mozzarella and provolone cheese.

Of course there's a million different variations you can come up with, just let your imagination run wild!!

Buon Appetito!

Holy Panini!!

There's something about warm rich dark chocolate and fresh strawberries, melted between a buttery pound cake that's been pressed in a panini grill. Can you say Yummm!


I can't believe I never tried this before!

A while back I received this award winning chocolate as a gift from my son, who after reading this article in Food and Wine magazine, quickly ordered some.

Amedei was founded in 1990 by Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri who just happen to be brother and sister, they work together in Tuscany using artisan skills, along with the finest cacao, in producing this award winning chocolate.

According to the Food and Wine article,

"The most famous Venezuelan cacao of all comes from Chuao. The trees of Chuao are shielded by mountains from all but the warm Caribbean breezes; the soil is naturally irrigated by three cascading rivers. Doutre-Roussel calls the region "one of the jewels of the earth." Besides the microclimate, Chuao has centuries-old traditions of harvesting and preparing cacao. First it's fermented to develop the compounds that will later blossom into rich aromatics, then it's laid out on the parvis in front of the village church to dry slowly in the sun. Because the farmers worked together as a cooperative, Chuao is one of the only places where a chocolate maker could buy, at one stroke, 9 to 10 tons of uniformly excellent cacao. Until recently, that chocolate maker was Valrhona. Today every last kilo of cacao from Chuao goes to Amedei."

Needless to say I was excited to try this! My son's instructions were, " Mom, make sure you taste this on a clean palette, you don't want to try this after having onions or garlic, or anything else that would effect the true taste!" That's exactly what I did, I snapped a piece off, and I was in chocolate heaven! Not bitter at all to me, in fact I found it slightly creamy and so rich in flavor, a most memorable chocolate experience! Thanks Tony!!!

I couldn't wait to try this chocolate all warm and goowy, so I decided to melt some between pound cake in my panini gril. I just bought a good quality pound cake, because after all the chocolate is the star here, and some fresh strawberries. I brushed my heated grill slightly with unsalted butter, layed the chocolate bar on one side of the pound cake, along with some thinly cut strawberries. Gently bring the top down on your grill, you don't want to smash this at all, it only takes a couple of minutes to melt. Gently remove it and let it set a minute.

Look at that dark glossy color! Believe me, it tasted as good as it looks!!

Now you don't have to have Amedei chocolate to make this, you can use any favorite chocolate of your choice, of course a smear of Nutella would always do! Brioche, Challah, or even Ciabatta bread in place of the pound cake would be equally good as well.

Any way you make it, I'm sure you'll adore this decadent dessert!!

Buon Appetito!!

Tilapia Piccata

A couple of years ago I ordered this in a restaurant and instantly loved it, and ever since then I've been making it at home. I still love the classic chicken piccata, but piccata done with fish is high on my list of favorites! Not only does it taste delicious with that tangy lemon butter sauce, you can have it on your table in 20 minutes!! Great for midweek, and just as good for a special dinner party.

In a saute pan heat some butter and olive oil. Dredge your fish in some flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Nicely brown both sides of your fish, I prefer tilapia in this, I think it holds up really well and I like the "non fishy" taste.

Gently remove your fish, deglaze your pan with some white wine scraping up the brown bits. Squeeze a half of a juicy lemon in, more if you like, a nice splash of chicken stock, a couple tablespoons of capers, and a little more butter. After it reduces a while, put your fish back in along with some sliced lemons and fresh parsley. Cook a couple minutes more just till the fish is done, and the all the flavors blend together.

A couple of months ago I bought this hand held julienne peeler and put it in my kitchen drawer and forgot about it. I just saw it the other day when I was making this fish and decided to give it a try, much to my surprise I love it, my new favorite toy!! So easy to use, and the blade is nice and sharp, does the same thing as a mandoline would do, and it's very inexpensive! I would highly recommend it to anyone. The one I have is an Oxo Good Grips.

I quickly sauteed the carrots and zucchini in olive oil and garlic, it literally took seconds till they wilted slightly and then they were done. A great side dish to go along with the fish!!

Can't wait to try my new little gadget on potatoes next!

Buon Appetito!!