Penne con Salsiccia, Funghi e Marmalade

 


This dish is impossibly good. I'm submitting it as my very own original recipe. I can't even describe how good this is. It's amazingly complex, but totally approachable. I'd bet a million that in no restaurant in this country has this dish been served. 

Penne con Salsiccia e marmalade

I'm making a new dish (leftover stuff in the house. think I'm getting the hang of using what's available).

Sausage with garlic, onion orange zest (made separately) then I added Penne pasta and a Red Onion / Port Marmalade (I used mull wine). Made the marmalade last night and it's really sweet and tasty. Should be nice coupled with the garlic, saltiness of the sausage.

Grilled Linguica Crostini with Onion Marmalade

Several quick steps to make these, but worth the little extra time. Linguica is a garlic sausage traditionally made in Portugal. I used a much less expensive and much more readily available Whole Foods sausage. The orange/wine marmalade is a nice accompany to the sausage. Little orange zest and a sprinkle of mozzarella (melted in the oven) complete. Good stuff!

Why Excel?

why excel at any one thing when the human being is able to excel at EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Gingerbread Party

For the party -Kris made a wonderful Spiced Wine (mulled wine) Had some a bit ago (+1 Day) and it was better than before.

Cider was great as well ; Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice berries (cracked) and Star Anise-simmered about an hour. De-lish

Also, made an intersting Braciole; the stuffing being different than before - toasted pine nuts, lemon zest, capers and breadcrumbs bound by an egg. Came out really nice.

Basic Tomato Sauce

In a rush...had to make (another) lasagne and needed some basic red sauce. Used the lemon zest infused olive oil to start the shallots (left over from garnish of the Braciole from the previous nite) It gave the sauce a nice delicate, light flavor. Could make this the house sauce.

Lasagne e dolci

Crew luncheon coming up thursday and I promised several people that I would not only cook, but make the infamous lasagne from last year ; a big hit. Did it. Fatto due con salsiccia. Fatto due con funghi ed uno casalinga.

Per la casalinga- veal, marjoram and bechamel to make it a creamy wonderland. I'm saving this tip for the crew that will appreciate it. others might dig in, but I'll give the heads up to a few and will have a slice my self.

Popette di Tachino with chestnusts for side. Making a roasted carrot onion dish. and the beautiful KB is making me a french chocolate tart, creme caramel and (from last year) a peach or pear tart. Ces't tout Francaise.

December 11

Ordinary Sunday: Croque Madame for breakfast. For Lunch??? the BEST damn turkey meatballs I ever had in my life!

Sort of a fusion of my Zia's meatball recipe and a turkey dinner recipe. I'm hesitant to even post it, for fear of it getting out! What a nice secret to have.

Kris made some really nice Rice and Beans and Poached Salmon with apple/bacon glaze. And we had really nice Graves we got at LaVinia.

Pollo Contadina e Fagioli alla Romana

Had some chicken breast laying around and decided to throw this together. flour and brown the chicken in a skillet until browned on both sides. Remove to a roasting pan and leave the drippings in the pan. Throw in some chopped carrots ; saute for about 3 minutes. throw in some onions and caramelize. pour over chicken breast. Saute some mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes (original recipe calls for fresh roma tomatoes) cook for about 5 min and pour over chicken. Drizzle 1/4 cup of dry white wine and roast in oven at 400 for 20 minutes.

Those are Cannellini beans cooked Roman style (Fagioli alla Romana). Infinitely simple and so tasty.

Io amo la cucina Italiana!!!!!

Polloni (2-types)

My first original recipe. Actually, it's a combination of two recipies: Canneloni and Pollo (Braciole) from previous experience. Hence, the name Poll-oni. Stuffing is veal with caraway. Type 1-Polloni Casalinga is made exactly like traditional canneloni, but used the flattended chicken thighs instead of pasta tubes. Type 2-Polloni Arrosto....same as Braciole but with the veal caraway stuffing.

Both were really tasty, if but a little expensive with the ground veal.

Salmone et Crevette a la Dieppoise

Several steps to get to the sauce, but this came out beautifully. Original recipe calls for Sole and Moules; sorry didn't have any....so I used Salmone and Shrimp only.

And...accompanying? A nice batch of Pomme Frites courtesy of Anthony Bourdain and Les Halles.

Dr. ranked this a 4.5 out of 5. I'd give it a 4.3 (don't ask how I came up with that figure!)

My healthy living regime has gone down the tubes since getting into French cuisine. Think that I need to switch back (temporarily) to Italian.

The name Dieppoise comes from a port city in Normandy; rich in all things from the sea. The dish has the added bonus of cream; also a specialty of the region.

Petatou (take two)

Kris did the batch last week, so I had no idea how to make em. But I think I learned a thing or two from her go. 1) use a good tasty cheese (the goat cheese was too strong and the brie too subtle)
2) bake the potato/olive mixture for 20 minutes to mellow the taste a bit. 3) do the egg/cream mixture correctly to get that nice bubbly brown coating on top. Overall these were very good and easy to make a head of time.

Braciole di Pollo

These little guys are super easy and super delish! They don't dry out in the roasting pan either (tried it with chicken breast and it doesn't work nearly as well) Little lemon zest in the stuffing for a nice citrus-ey taste.

Moules Mariniere

Mussels came out beautifully (if a little salty according to kristine...). I thoroughly enjoyed them and filled up on the day old bread soaked in the sauce. yum m m m eeee.

That wine? Le Preceptore, which we bought at LaVinia in Paris! God DANG! is that good stuff. Smooth as butter and yet delicate and full of breadth. Just a friggin' awesome wine (Best part?? the S-man chose it for us-maybe 12 EU??) :) 

Some odds and ends

Polpette e Spaghetti alla Carbonara

to be humbled...

wow.. just when you think you're cooking is progressing....you're feeling confident about making a good meal.....WHAM!! you go to a place like Canyon Chop house and are just blown away. The food was incredible (the ENTIRE meal!). Every aspect of the dining experience there was great. All the dishes from start to finish were fantastic. (we even got a little caviar slash cheese thingy as a pre-starter from the chef)

One of the best aspects was the wine list. Very nice and the markup wasn't extreme like in most upscale restaurants. We had a Peachy Canyon Zinfindel which turned out to be a fine pick for the array of dishes we ordered. DIDN't get a free dessert for my buddy, Pat, for his Birthday, even though the server knew about it. (the man at the table next to us got his!!! AND a birthday drink as well) hmmm.

Ravioli con funghi

Using the last of the demi-glace, I managed to make a decent mushroom sauce for our ravioli.

those are 5 Barrel and Fat Tires to aid in digestion... 

Bustine di Radicchio

Third time's a charm. Made these several times tonite to get it right sul terzo! To get it right??.... very light on the saute, very light on the caraway, and even lighter on the vinegar redux (and just a pinch of salt). I added ricotta to make the inside even more creamy (the prociutto turns to butter!.....and yes, that the good stuff; San Daniele)

Filet du Porc a la Sauge et Orange

 

Filet du Porc a la Sauge

Alright......yes.....pork again. This time Frenchy. Pretty easy recipe of pork and sage. Orange zest (while cooking ) and jus d'orange to make the finished sauce (as the french are fond of making)

Think it turned out quite well. Looks nice and easy to make. Could be an easy menu item at Il Ristorante Boboli.

Bought some fresh Artichokes and might try a hand at deep frying them (alla romana ancora). And.....gotta say again that the Gnocchi alla romana is just an awesome addition to the repetoire

Maiale in Umido all Trestina

Another Mario recipe. This one from Trieste. Use a good pork butt. Made this 3 times over 3 days (only because I had enough meat to do so) The third time , I got it right! everything came together and I didn't accidentally forget any steps. (plus, I used the good (and expensive)pork butt from Whole Foods on round 3 which really made a difference)

Mario's book recipe is slightly different then when he showed it on Molto Mario, but either way would work. I chose the method on the show (which throws the tomato paste in with the sauteed onions to give it a burnished flavor, instead of adding it after the wine).

The Pork comes out of the "Umido" (the dutch oven) super, super tender; amazingly tender. (I added a bit of red pepper flakes to make it jump as well. yummy)

Finding that a LOT of Italian recipes are fairly easy. If you start with good ingredients, the technique doesn't matter as much. Been cooking French since returning from Paris last month and that is HEAVY on technique. I think I prefer la Cucina Italiana.

Gnocchi alla Romana

THIS gnocchi is simply awesome. Rich and tasty and probably REALLY fattening, but I felt like I was in the Eternal city when I tasted it. It's made more like polenta (using Semolina flower, milk and eggs). Cooked in the copper pot, poured into a baking pan and left to cool. From there, rounds are cut out, layered in another baking pan, topped with Taleggio (I used goat cheese) and grated Parmesan and baked for 15-20 minutes. Easy peasy and oh, so good! Will upload a picture as I fully intend to make this again.

here's a recipe:

6 tablespoons butter, plus 2 tablespoons for sheet pan and baking dish
3 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semolina flour
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus 1/2 cup 4 egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Butter 1 cookie sheet with 3/4-inch sides and a baking dish.
In a 3 to 4-quart saucepan, heat to scald the milk, salt, and 6 tablespoons butter. Pour in the semolina in a thin stream, whisking vigorously, and cook for about 1 minute, switching to a wooden spoon as it thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese and 4 egg yolks. Mix well to combine. Pour the semolina onto the buttered cookie sheet and, using a spatula, spread to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Allow to cool.

Using a pastry cutter or water glass, cut 3-inch quarter moons out of semolina. Arrange the moons so that they are leaning up against one another (overlapping) in a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with remaining grated cheese. Place in oven and cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until top is deep golden brown. Remove and serve immediately.

Gnocchi di Zucca

OK, so after Mario beseeched me to make gnocchi 10 times to get the feel for "quanto basto", I now have 4 under my belt. And yes....they keep getting better and better. Last night was a duel between (what some would call traditional) gnocchi and gnocchi alla romana (next post). One wouldn't think of gnocchi like the romans do, but MAN! was it good.

The gnocchi di zucca was created using a roasted and sauteed butternut/acorn squash puree. First time was better simply using the meat of the roasted squash (last Sunday). The puree was easier to work with, but lacked the intensity of the riced squash flesh. Both were good and I think I have the techique down for rolling them off the fork.

Made a simply sauce of garlic, butter sage and portabella mushroom for the gnocchi di zucca. (make sure you cook these thoroughly as they can be dense depending on water content in the squash)

Primo Post - Prego!

I'm creating this blog for my personal use (not only, but basically) I find it easier than keeping a physical book in my kitchen.

Here I'll log recipes, ideas, suggestions, lessons learned, etc....in regard to my food journey.