Peaches and Wine

Hi Everyone.  This summer I was happily reminded of a nice treat that I'd completely forgotten about.  A friend brought a pitcher of peaches soaking in wine to a party.  I remembered that peaches and wine was something that my grandmother often prepared when I was a child.  You simply slice up a couple of peaches and pour any type of wine over them and let them sit for about an hour in a pitcher.  A few glasses of the peach soaked wine before dinner is absolutely delightful.  No need to strain the wine as any bits of peach only add a nice touch.  Reserve the peaches for desert either alone or with ice cream or a simple cookie.  They'll have a pleasantly winey taste.  I have a peach tree in my yard which I planted last spring and this year it gave me several delicious peaches!  I served peaches and wine using my peaches!  I was so happy to have been reminded of this lovely summer tradition.

I hope that some of you have tried the romano flat green beans this summer.  They are very prolific and have such a succulent texture.  Look for them before summer ends.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta

Hi Everyone,  we are deep into winter now and I for one am craving rich and savory foods. This dish is very hearty and satisfying, heavy on carbs and protein, but easy to prepare.  You will need about 1/2 lb. sweet italian sausage, ( I use Gimme Lean vegetarian sausage meat, which is the best mock sausage I have found ), about 2/3 pint of ricotta cheese, and garlic, olive oil, parsley, and of course pasta.  I recommend rigatoni, which is a large tube with little ridges on it.  The richness of the sausage and ricotta pairs well with a large pasta and the ridges hold the the sauce well and help to make it adhere to the pasta.

Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta:

Saute three sliced cloves of garlic in a couple of tbs. of olive oil.  When the garlic is just getting golden, add the sausage meat.  If you are using real sausage take the meat out of the casing and fork into small pieces in the pan.  Gimme Lean is not in a casing so just use a fork to break it into edible sized pieces.  Cook the sausage through, and brown on both sides.  When almost done, add some fresh, chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Take off the flame and transfer the sausage to the bowl in which you will be serving the dish.  When the sausage has cooled, add the ricotta and mix together thoroughly.  Cook the pasta al dente and before draining, take about a ladleful of the pasta water and mix it into the sausage mixture.  Drain the pasta and add it immediately to the sausage while it is nice and hot.  Toss and serve. 

I also prepared sauteed broccoli rabe and a salad of mesculun greens dressed with olive oil, fresh garlic and lemon juice.  The fresh greens were a nice counterpoint to the richness of the pasta.  Mmmmmmmm, yummy!  Enjoy your food!  Xo 

Eggplant Parmigiana da Lilly

Hi Everyone, and Happy Holidays.  Today I'm going to give you a recipe for my grandmother's eggplant parmigiana.  This dish is very special as it is not the usual eggplant baked with mozzarella cheese, but more of an appetizer served at room temperature.  I can remember my great aunts visiting Grandma and asking, "Lilly, do have any of your eggplant?" She was famous for it.  She kept it in a jar in the fridge and it was never around for long.  She was the only one in her family to make it and I've never had it anywhere else.  When I started making it for my own family, my step-son was so taken he made it for a school project ( he got an A ) and has incorporated it into his own repertoire.  It's now become a Thanksgiving tradition in my family as my daughter-in-law requests it.   A word of caution:  you must be a garlic lover for this one, and you won't stop eating it until it's all gone.  It's a bit labor intensive, but definitely worth the work!      

Eggplant Parmigiana da Lilly:

For this recipe you will need one large or two medium eggplants, a marinara sauce, 5 cloves of garlic chopped finely, grated parmigiana cheese and breadcrumbs. 

Slice the eggplant into thin rounds and fry in hot olive oil until golden on both sides and set aside.  Make sure your oil is very hot when you begin frying.  For the marinara sauce, saute three sliced cloves of garlic in a tablespoon or so of olive oil until golden then add a medium sized can of pureed tomatoes, a tablespoon of fresh chopped parsley, salt, pepper and a little sugar to taste and let simmer for about ten minutes.  DO NOT add any onions.  Now you are ready to put the dish together.

In a chafing dish or bowl, line the bottom with a layer of eggplant , then spread on a tablespoon or two of the sauce, sprinkle on some of the chopped garlic, then about a teaspoon of cheese, half teaspoon of breadcrumbs and salt lightly.  Then begin again with another layer of eggplant, sauce, garlic etc. layer upon layer, until you've used all of your eggplant.  Cover and put it in the refrigerator for TWO days.  This is crucial!    Everything must meld together in oder for the dish to become what it is.  Don't be alarmed at the amount of oil in the dish, it's all good. Remove from the fridge and serve at room temperature with a good italian or french bread. Mmmmmmm....... this is so good, my mouth is watering!  Warning:  if you make a sandwich of this for lunch and bring it to work, don't let your co-workers taste it 'cause you might not get it back! 

Enjoy xo

I almost forgot, any left over sauce is a good sauce for pasta.

A Harvest Supper

Hi Everyone, it's harvest time, and I'm enjoying some savory suppers using fresh ingredients from the garden.  Tonight I'm preparing a pasta dish using fresh pasta, romano beans, fresh tomatoes, and fried eggplant.  The combination of the beans and tomatoes makes the sauce particularly luscious and the fried eggplant adds a nice textural quality to the dish.

To make the pasta:

I cup semolina flour

salt (about 1/4 tsp.)

2 eggs

Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle in which to put the eggs.  Sprinkle with salt and stir the flour into the eggs, pulling more flour in from the sides of the bowl until the flour and eggs are blended into a dough.  Dust the dough with flour and set it on a board so that you can roll it out.  Roll it out as thinly as you can, as you would for a pie, only thinner.  I usually only roll out half the dough at a time.  When you have it rolled out sufficiently, roll it up to form a tube and slice it into strips.  I cut the dough into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Unravel the pasta and sprinkle with a little flour so that it doesn't stick.  I cup of flour makes enough pasta for four people.  Extra dough can be frozen.  

Romano beans and tomato sauce:

Gather two handfuls of beans, wash and cut them in half.  Make a sauce by sauteing a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil and salt until browned, adding the beans, a little water, some chopped parsley, and a couple of ripe tomatoes.  Salt again, and let everything cook down, about 10 t0 15 minutes.   

Cook the pasta al dente.  This pasta will cook quickly and float to the top of the pot.  

Pour the sauce over the pasta and top with fried eggplant slices (recipe from Feb. 16) and grated parmigiano cheese.  This dish is great with a nice chianti.  Mmmmmmmm, so satisfying.

Enjoy!  xo 

Zeppole/sfinge

Hi Everyone!  I was on my way to my favorite cafe in Little Italy last week when I was taken by surprise by the Feast San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples.  Walking by the stalls of frying sausages and peppers really made me wish I still ate red meat.  There were booths with traditional nougat candy, platters of sliced tomatoes with garlic, broccoli rabe and what I consider the ultimate feast food, zeppole.  The first time I ate zeppole I was at a small Italian feast in my neighborhood in the Bronx.  I was about 5 0r 6 years old.  My family called this type of zeppole, sfinge, from the Sicilian dialect which has some roots in Arabic.   I was fascinated by the huge kettle of boiling oil into which the cook was placing pieces of  raw pizza dough.  The dough was turned in the oil until golden on all sides then removed and put into a brown paper bag and sprinkled heavily with powdered sugar.  When my mother handed me one, I could tell it was going to be a treat but, as I bit into it, I fell in love!  It was pure heaven!  Oh, the wonder of fried dough!  Here's how to make your own sfinge, just like at a festa!

Zeppole/sfinge

Heat up some peanut or canola oil in a pot until boiling.  Buy or make enough pizza dough for one large pizza.  Don't try to make the dough wholesome or whole wheat, this is junk food here.

Pull off small pieces of dough and brown on all sides.  The dough should puff up and cook quickly.  Remove cooked dough and put out onto platters with paper towels on them to absorb the oil, and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.  Mmmmmm, a great treat!

I will get back with more garden fresh recipes as the picture implies, but I couldn't resist the delicious memory.  Enjoy!

Fresh Tomatoes and Pasta

Hi Everyone, this has been a hot summer and unlike last summer, an excellent one for tomatoes. I wanted to prepare a meal using fresh slicing tomatoes, as the flavor of a good ripe tomato can stand on it's own, but make it a little more hearty.  I decided to slice and dress the tomatoes and add cooked pasta.  The result was just what I was looking for!  The dish was full of the fresh, rich flavor of summer and heartier than a tomato salad.  Of course, the quality and ripeness of the tomatoes, are what makes this dish.

I hope you've had a chance to eat some Romano green beans this summer.  Boy, they are good!

Fresh Tomatoes and Pasta:

The amount of tomatoes needed will vary due to size etc.  Cut the tomatoes and mix with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a couple or three or four cloves of finely minced garlic, salt, chopped parsley, and a few basil leaves.  Cook your pasta al dente, I used Barilla's whole wheat linguine,  and add to the tomatoes.  You may want to add more olive oil and salt or sprinkle on some parmigiano cheese.  Mmmmmmm, so good.  Enjoy!  Xo

Romano Green Beans

Hi Everyone, today I want to talk about the Romano green bean which is an Italian flat bean.  It is grown like any green bean, either pole or bush.  If you are a gardener, it's not too late to add this delicious variety to you garden.  Romano beans are extraordinary enough to include even if you are already growing green beans.  If you don't have a garden, look out for them this summer, as you only find them in markets during the summer months.  Remember that they are flat. What sets this bean apart is it's succulent and rich texture. Most green beans are crisp and juicy, while the Romano has a meaty quality.  I love them sauteed with olive oil and garlic. They are great over pasta.  A nice hearty pasta dish is sauteed beans with fresh or canned tomatoes, some fresh basil, finished with parmigiano cheese on top.   They're also good sauteed, then cooled and served with a little vinegar or lemon juice as a salad.  I know that once you try them you'll love them!

Romano Beans and Tomato Sauce:

Crush a couple of cloves of garlic and saute in olive oil and salt until golden.  Add about 1/2 lb of clean romano green beans either whole or cut to a size that you prefer, and a little water and let cook slowly.  When the beans have softened, add some fresh or canned tomatoes, a few fresh basil leaves, salt, and cook until the beans are soft the tomatoes have cooked down.  Pour over some pasta that has been cooked al dente and add some grated parmigiano cheese on top.  Mmmmmm, so good!  Enjoy xo.