Italy and the Godfather Trilogy...entrees, salad and dessert

Hello folks! We're back again! There are a few recipes here that you just might enjoy, in fact, we highly recommend them!

We've already shared the appetizer recipes with you and several courses followed. We had ravioli, then spaghetti and meatballs and homemade Italian bread, then salad and dessert. It was not a meal for the faint of heart!

Ravioli
Mushroom Pasta Dough
We apologize in advance for the long-winded explanation. This is just what is on the website verbatim. Ignore if you've done this before!
1½ cups All purpose flour, sifted

¼ cup Semolina flour, sifted

1 tsp Salt

2 Eggs

1 tsp Olive Oil

¼ cup of dried porcini mushrooms
Boil about a half a cup of water in a sauce pan and pour it over the dried porcini mushrooms. Cover and let them sit for about 30 minutes.
Drain the mushrooms (save the water if you're going to make a porcini sauce or to add water to the dough if it's too dry) and place them in a food processor. Blend until smooth with no large lumps.
Add the eggs and Olive Oil to the processor and pulse to blend but don't make it frothy.
Pour that mixture into the well you've formed in the pile of flour and mix with a fork until blended enough to get your hands in there. You're going to knead the dough to the right consistency. Usually about 10 minutes and then set in a bowl covered to sit for about an hour.

Filling - this one is out of Kristin's head:
garlic
onion
asparagus
sweet red pepper
fried in a bit of bacon grease
and a bit of red wine (reduced to mushy consistency)
add whipped 2% cottage cheese with a splash of buttermilk till it looks right...and yes, it definitely tasted right!



Spaghetti (thank goodness for KitchenAid mixers!)
Ingredients
2 cups semolina flour
2 cups all-purpose flour ( I prefer bread flour for higher gluten)
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water
Directions
Combine the semolina flour, all purpose flour, and salt in a large bowl. Using a fork, mix these ingredients together, then using a sifter, sift into another bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs & beat well with a fork.
Add extra-virgin olive oil to the eggs and mix with a fork.
Add the cold water to the egg & olive oil mixture, and mix with a fork.
Pour the liquid ingredients into your mixer bowl and attach the flat beater.
Add half of the sifted flour mixture, turn to speed 2 and mix 20 seconds. Add the rest of the sifted flour mixture and mix an additional 20 seconds.
Exchange flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 to 3 minutes, until a dough ball is formed.
Page 2 of 3Perfect Homemade Pasta or Spaghetti for Kitchenaid Mixers (cont.)
Directions
Remove dough from bowl and hand-knead for 2 to 3 minutes. NOTE: Good pasta dough should be elastic and pliable, but FIRM (not soft like bread dough). It should not stick to your fingers or fall apart. To test for the correct consistency, pinch a small amount of dough together after kneading for 2 to 3 minutes -- if the dough stays together without sticking to your fingers or falling apart, it should work well. If too soft, add more flour by dusting the top of the dough and knead some more, continuing to dust the dough with flour until achieving the right consistency. If too dry, wet your hands and knead some more, continuing to wet your hands a little at a time & knead until the right consistency. (Achieving the right consistency isn't hard at all -- I got it just right the very first time I tried this recipe).
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour (this step is important).
Remove dough from refrigerator and let it rest for 15 minutes. Using your hands, roll dough into a log, about 12 inches long.
Cut log into 8 slices, then flatten each piece slightly. Spread slices out so they aren't touching and cover with plastic wrap.
Using the widest setting (1 on the Kitchenaid), turn mixer to speed 2 and taking one piece of the flattened dough, feed through rollers. Fold dough in half & roll again. Repeat 3 more times, lightly dusting the sheet of pasta in between each rolling if it feels the slightest bit sticky.
Move adjustment knob to setting 2 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once.
Move adjustment knob to setting 3 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once.
Continue to increase roller setting until desired dough thickness is reached: 3 for Thick "kluski" type egg noodles; 4 for standard egg noodles; 4 or 5 for lasagna noodles, fettuccine, spaghetti, and ravioli; 6 or 7 for tortellini, thin fettuccine, and linguine fini; 7 or 8 for VERY thin "angel-hair" type pasta/capellini or VERY fine linguine.
Separate sheets once desired thickness is achieved with a thin towel or piece of plastic wrap dusted with flour, so the dough doesn't dry out too much.
To cut the noodles, exchange the Pasta Roller Sheet attachment for the cutter attachment of choice, either the fettucine cutter for wider noodles or the spaghetti cutter for spaghetti or linguine. Run each sheet through the cutter. NOTE: Each sheet can be cut in half or thirds before putting through the cutter to prevent "too long" of strips. I prefer to use the longer sheets, rather than cutting them in half or thirds, as this reduces the time it takes to cut each sheet & hang to dry.
After cutting each sheet, hang to dry on a pasta rack. Dry for a minimum of 10 minutes. If you don't have a pasta rack, plastic hangers work great! IMPORTANT: Flour the pasta rack or the plastic hangers before placing pasta on them. ALSO, separate the strips of pasta as best you can, so they aren't touching. This way they won't dry sticking together. If you want to dry the pasta for later use, dry for several hours and then store in airtight plastic bags (i.e. Ziploc Freezer or Storage Bags).
When ready to cook, boil your water and add salt. For the 1.5 pounds of pasta, I use 2 teaspoons of salt. Oil in the water is not necessary.
Fresh pasta will cook faster than commercially bought pasta -- about 4 to 5 minutes in vigorously boiling water for el dente.

Meatballs
2 lbs lean ground beef (you can raise your own cow, just like K&V if you want to go the extra mile)
1/2 c. parmesan
1/2 c. italian breadcrumbs
2 eggs
some extra basil and oregano
splash of red wine
Mix all together and adjust seasoning as necessary. Brown in saucepan before adding to sauce.

Homemade Canned Pasta Sauce
Sorry, it's a trade secret. I made this sauce with Kris in September and she won't even tell me what the exact portions are in it!



Italian Bread
Good ol' Emeril and his Basic Italian Bread recipe from The Food Network. Bam!



Fennel, Watercress and Endive Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts
This is another recipe from Epicurious.com. What a wonderful website! It calls for reduced balsalmic vinegar in the recipe. We used the already reduced Sua Maesta vinegar that Rob bought me for Christmas. It's, simply, heavenly. Also, for some reason three grocery stores in Kingston didn't have watercress so I used arugula instead with no issues. It still cleansed the palate and tasted great!

Cannoli
Shells:

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons of butter, melted

3/4 cup Marsala wine

egg white

2 quarts vegetable oil for frying



Filling:

1 15oz container of Ricotta cheese
 (small adjustment, we used cottage cheese since the stores were closed!)
1/2 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips

confectioners sugar for dusting
1. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and marsala wine. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until well mixed.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
3. Roll out the dough until very thin. cut dough into 4-inch rounds, and roll again until very thin.
4. Roll each piece tightly around a cannoli tube. Seal with egg white.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep 3.5 quart pot to 350 degrees.
6. Place the dough forms in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Place on paper towels to drain. Cool and gently twist tube to remove shell from form.
7. In a large mixing bowl whip sugar, vanilla and ricotta together until smooth, then stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Spoon filling into a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe the ricotta cream into the pastry shells, dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately.

Sorry, no photo...we were well into the third movie by then!

In any case, the film and the food was superb. Thank you to Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Robert Duvall and to our wonderful gourmet club!

Italy and the Godfather Trilogy

So, Italy is now the default country for the Alphagenarians. Yes, we have now visited thrice. However, it was the third visit, just the other day, that may have been the most interesting for reasons culinary and more. The main purpose was to watch The Godfather film trilogy as several in our group of six had not seen all or some of the three movies. However, as is our want, we decided to feature some wonderful food along with the viewing for our own pleasure. We started eating at 4pm...and finished around 2am or so as we were finishing the final film of the trilogy. Poor Michael...how is it that my heart can go out to a gangster?

In any case, here are some of the highlights of the evening...err, night...10 hour food-a-thon?

Antipasti platter
Plum tomatoes, sliced
Bocconcini, sliced
Avocado, sliced
Basil, chopped and sprinkled on the above
Heavenly olive oil, drizzled on all

Sicilian Caponata
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggplants, cubed
1 onion diced
1 celery stalk chopped
1 garlic clove
salt and hot pepper flakes.
Fry all together at high heat for 5 minutes.
When softened and goldened, add 3tbs capers, handful of olives and 3tbs pine nuts. Stir.
Add 4tbs of red wine vinegar. Stir and cook for a short while.
Add 1 can of plum tomatoes chopped. Bring to boil, then simmer for 25 or 30minutes.
Alicia also used a food processor to make the consistency more consistent (I can say that, right?!?!).

Rob and I got to the point of actually not using the crostini provided as a vehicle for caponata delivery, but instead just heaped it on a plate and used a spoon. I am definitely making this for lunches to take to work in the near future. Looks like an easy multi-tasking dish, too.

I made the Arancine (or risotto balls) that we made our on first official visit to Italy, and they were very tasty!



More to follow on the dinner and dessert. We had a ravioli course, a spaghetti course, a salad course (Italians eat their salad after the entree - don't worry this is still chronologically organized!) and dessert.

Russia desserts - I know we're out of order!

The Russian dessert was a bit of an amalgamation of several recipes, according to K&V. Here is the amalgamation:

RUM AND BUTTER SAUCE 
1/4 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
2 c. water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. vanilla
Rum or rum extract, to taste
Bring butter and sugar to a boil. Mix cornstarch with water; stir into butter and sugar mixture. Boil and stir until thickened. Add lemon juice, vanilla and rum or rum extract.

and.....
RUSSIAN COFFEE CAKE 
1/2 c. butter
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour (not sifted)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 pt. sour cream

MIXTURE
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. flour
2 tsp. butter
1/2 c. walnuts

Mix first 8 ingredients together then alternate flour and sour cream mixture with second 5 ingredients with walnut mixture on top. Bake in tube pan 9 inch and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Grease pan and flour.
Both recipes from: www.cooks.com

From Russia with Love...and yumminess

So, we finally made it to 'R' of the alphabet and the last six months of delay are almost entirely my fault. My sincere apologies to my AlphaGourmet mates...seriously, just too much time on the road. Thank goodness I love what I do and all of you are supportive of my endeavours!

Interesting, there are many similarities between Russian fare and Canadian...I suppose we do share a similar geography so it's not entirely unreasonable. So, apps fell to Rob and I and we decided to go with the prototypical Borscht and then some smoked salmon and caviar...except finding caviar in Kingston is apparently easier said than done at Christmas time. Rob tried the "go to" local place called Cooke's but even they were sold out of the good stuff! So, we settled for the "low-end" caviar. It still tasted good, especially with whipped cream cheese and capers.

The Borscht recipe is from Epicurious.com. I used a homemade vegetable broth and also some sodium reduced beef broth. It seems like many soups have too much salt and even though it's probably the flavour I love most, it can be overwhelming. It was surprisingly easy to make and very much like an average broth based soup that I make whenever I need to clean out the fridge. Beets are a bit of a challenge to grate (wear an apron!) and add excellent flabour.

Italian antipasti platter and more1

It really needs to be seen to be believed...



And the rest of the wonderful antipasti:

Funghi Marinati con Olio e LimoneMushrooms Marinated with Oil and Lemon
1 pound fresh button mushrooms
½ lemon, freshly juiced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, cut in thick slices
2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Directions:
1. Wash mushrooms quickly as they can get waterlogged otherwise. You also can brush them clean if they are not too sandy.
2. Steam mushrooms in a large double boiler for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Drain on paper towels and pat dry.
3. Meanwhile, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Put mushrooms in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Pour liquid over all, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Stir occasionally. About ½ hour before serving, remove from refrigerator, discard garlic, stir again, and transfer mushrooms to a serving dish. Serve at room temperature.


The mushrooms are in the bowl on the right side.

Feta triangles – Triangoli al ripieno di feta

If you want to surprise your guest with something different this is the right appetizer: puff pastry wrappers filled with feta cheese. It’s quick, easy and really tasty.  Be careful you can become addicted to them! This is also a good recipe to make with your kids or for kids.

Ingredients:
1 8oz. sheet frozen Puff pastry, thawed

6 oz. Feta cheese
1 large egg
It makes about 9 triangles.

Instructions:
1. On a lightly floured surface roll the puff pastry sheet into a 12-inch square and cut it into 9 squares.
2. Crumble the Feta cheese add the egg and mix until well combined.
3. Put equal amount of the filling (about 1 Tbsp.) onto the center of each square.
4. Fold the dough over to form a triangle. Press the edges of the dough together and then use the tines of a fork to seal the edges.
5. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the Feta Triangles.
6. Bake them in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes at 400° or until golden brown.
7. Let them cool on a rack for few a minutes and serve warm.

Celery Boats filled with Gorgonzola Cheese

A classic Italian appetizer more common in the North of our peninsula where Gongonzola cheese is produced.
I’m a Gongonzola cheese lover, but if you’ve never tasted it I suggest you to try it before preparing this recipe. Gorgonzola has a characteristic taste and a distinctive flavour and for some of you it could be too strong. The best way to taste it is to leave it out of the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving. Don’t substitute Gorgonzola with blue cheese, Rockford or Stilton because they seem similar but they’re not. The cheese used in this recipe is  the sweet variety which is creamy and slightly spicy, not the spicy and hard type which  resembles the above mentioned cheeses.

Ingredients:
4 crisp celery stalks

1/2 cup soft Italian Gorgonzola cheese

1 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts

Instructions:
1.Trim the stalks and cut them into 4-inch pieces.
2. In a bowl combine the gorgonzola cheese with the walnuts. Stir the ingredients together until smooth and well combined.
3. Fill the celery sticks with the cheese mixture and chill before serving.

Recommended resources:
 Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese

Italy Redux mains

From Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen:

Spinach, ricotta and pine nut ravioli with sage butter

Pasta dough:
Pinch of saffron strands
1 Tbsp boiling water
4 cups Italian "00" flour
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
4 medium eggs, plus 6 egg yolks
2 Tbsp olive oil

Filling:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
1 lb spinach leaves
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Sea salt and black pepper
2/3 c ricotta cheese
2 3/4 oz Parmesan, grated
2/3 c pine nuts, toasted
Squeeze of lemon, to taste
Beaten egg, for brushing

Sage butter:
5 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp heavy cream
6 sage sprigs, leaves shredded

Directions:
For the pasta, lightly crush the saffron in a bowl, pour the boiling water over it and let infuse until cooled. Spout rest of the ingredients into a food processor, add the saffron water, and whiz until the mix resembles coarse crumbs; add a little more water if needed. Tip into a bowl and press into a ball. Turn onto a lightly floured counter and knead until smooth. The dough should be soft but not sticky; if it feels too wet, knead in a little more flour. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

To make the filling, heat the olive oil in a large skillet and pan fry the garlic until lightly golden. Add the spinach and cool for 2-3 minutes until the liquid released has been absorbed. Increase the heat slightly and stir in the butter, nutmeg an seasoning. Drained roughly chop the spinach. In a large bowl, beat together with the ricotta, Parmesan and the toasted pine nuts. Stir in the spinach and touch of lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, then cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Cut the pasts into 8 pieces, roll into balls, and keep each wrapped until needed. Using a pasta machine, roll each ball into a long sheet about 32" x 5".cover with damp dish towel. Prepare ravioli with filling.

For sage butter, melt butter until it begins to brown. Take off heat and let stand one minute then strain through a strainer into a clean pan. Heat slowly then stir in cream and sage.

Bring large pan of lightly salted water to boil, add ravioli and cook 2-3 mins. Drain well and toss with sage butter. Serve with extra Parmesan.

On page 38-39 of the cookbook, there are some fairly detailed photos of Ramsay making ravioli. Since I am not an expert, I definitely found this helpful! To be clear, while I enjoy Ramsay's cooking I cannot stand his cooking shows where he berates everyone except himself in the kitchen. Isn't good food about good life and enjoyable living?



We also made the marinated mushrooms from the first Italian dinner.

The following recipes are from Alvaro's Mamma Toscana: The authentic Tuscan cookbook by Alvaro Maccioni.

Fagiolini alla Fiorentina (Florentine French Beans)
150g French green beans
1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 Tbsp tomato purée diluted with a little water
Salt

Clean the beans and then soak in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain and cook in boiling, salted water for 10 mins. Drain.
Heat oil in flameproof casserole and brown the onion in it with the fennel seeds. Add the diluted tomato paste and simmer 3-4 mins. Stir in the beans, season to taste. Cover and cook a further 15 mins. We didn't cooked for this extra time since we like the beans crunchy!

The beans are in the middle of the table - sorry, no close up this time!

Cipolla alla Grossetana (Tuscan stuffed onions)
8 onions
1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 Tbsp butter
4 oz minced veal
4 oz Italian sausage, skinned and chopped
1 egg
Salt, pepper, grated nutmeg

Peel the onions and boil them for approximately 10 mins (I would go for 15-20 mins if I make them again). Drain. Carefully scoop out insides of the onions and chop them finely. Put aside the outer shells, ready for stuffing.
Meanwhile, soften the mushrooms in tepid water forms few minutes. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the liquid and squeeze to remove excess water.
Chop the mushrooms and fry them in butter. Add a Tbsp of water from the mushrooms and after 3 mins stir in the veal and sausage. Sauté until meat is cooked about 10 mins.
Pour the meat and mushrooms into a bowl and mix with the chopped onion flesh, the egg, a pinch of salt and pepper and nutmeg.
Place the onion shells in an oiled, deep casserole. Stuff them with the meat mixture. Pour a ladleful of water and/or mushroom liquid over the onions, cover and cook. Sprinkle now and then with own juices for about 10 mins.



Gnocchi di Spinaci al Forno (Oven baked Gnocchi)
1 lb, 2 oz spinach
2 1/4 c milk
1 Tbsp butter
7 oz semolina
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c grated Parmesan

White sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
2 1/4 milk
Salt and nutmeg
1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 F.
To make gnocchi:
Wash spinach, then cook in the water clinging to the leaves.
Let spinach cool, then squeeze dry in your hands. Finely chop it by hand or in a food processor.
Bring the milk to a boil. Melt butter into it and then rain in the semolina a little t a time, stirring constantly. Cook over a low heat for around 10 mins.
Remove from heat and blend in the spinach, the beaten eggs, the Parmesan and a pinch of salt, stirring vigorously. This step took FOREVER for us, so make sure you completely drain the spinach and boil the milk.... I love gnocchi, but I'm not sure if I'd make this one again...there must be a secret step that we didn't figure out!

To make white sauce:
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring energetically to a smooth paste. Stir in the milk and continue to cook, stirring all the time, until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and nutmeg and add the Parmesan.

Shape the gnocchi mixture into small pieces, place them in a buttered ovenproof dish and cover them with the white sauce. Bake for 20-25 mins.



Tonno Ubriaco (Drunken Tuna Fish)
1/2 c olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 onion sliced
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
4 fresh tuna steaks
1 Tbsp white flour
3/4 c Chianti wine
Salt and pepper

Put the oil in a frying pan and sauté the garlic, onion and parsley for a few minutes.
When the garlic has turned golden, remove it. Arrange the fish steaks in the pan and cook until done, about 1 min on each side. Season with. Salt and pepper and sprinkle the flour into the pan to thicken the cooking juices. After 2-3 minutes, stir in the wine.
Cook for a further 5 mins and then serve.

Italy Redux

For our birthdays in June (Rob's birthday and my birthday fall one day apart), Rob decided that he didn't want to go with the original plan of Russia for 'R', and instead preferred to revisit our Italian repast. It was a fabulous meal and Rob's sister, Megan joined us for the evening, too!

So, the Italian Redux meal had a wonderful cocktail to start - the Negroni. This is a relatively simple 1-1-1 recipe with one part gin, one part vermouth and one part Campari (bitters). Finish with a twist of lemon or orange. And, try not to drink too many or the Chianti won't taste as good at dinner...but I wouldn't know that...at all.

The dessert was Tiramisu...although I never did get the recipe! However, anything that is soaked in any sort of liquer is likely to taste rather good!

Next post will have the Italian appetizers and mains included.