Tag

italian

Out of my Comfort Zone: Chocolate Zabaglione

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This past weekend, our friends invited us over for dinner. It was wonderful. There is nothing better than good conversation, great food, and happy kids playing for hours.

I asked if I could bring something, and thought maybe this would be a good time to try something new. I wanted to go beyond a traditional baked dessert of pie, cake, brownies, or cookies. Also, since I only had to bring dessert, I thought it might be fun to try something that was a little bit more labor intensive.

 

I stared digging through my cookbooks, and in Giada De Laurentiis ‘s Everyday Italian I saw this recipe for Chocolate Zabaglione.

Zabaglione is traditionally an Italian vanilla cream custard that is served with fruit. To Brian, it isn’t dessert unless it is chocolate, so I thought this would be perfect. Also, it gave me a chance to use my new double boiler.

I did make a few changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand. For example, I used a very dry white wine that I had on hand instead of a Marsala wine. Also, I did not have the large eggs that the recipe calls for, so I used 9 egg yolks instead of 8. Finally, the kids love all kinds of berries, so instead of using just strawberries, I used a mixture of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Everyone LOVED it!

Chocolate Zabaglione adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
8 large or 9 medium egg yolks
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup dry white wine
pinch of salt
1 pint strawberries hulled and sliced
1 6 oz container of raspberries
1 6 oz container of blackberries

In a small sauce pan, gently heat cream and chocolate chips stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside, but keep warm stirring occasionally.

In the top part of a double boiler, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, wine, and salt. Then carefully set over the bottom part of the double boiler with simmering water (NOTE: Don’t let the water touch the bottom of your double boiler). Whisk the mixture constantly while over the heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until it reaches 160 degrees.

Remove from heat, and then carefully fold in the chocolate mixture.

You can serve warm over berries, or let cool for 6-8 hours in the fridge before serving. It is important to note you cannot reheat this recipe.

We enjoyed it cold.

Smart Cookies: Italian Butter Cookies with Lemon Glaze

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Every Christmas, I make Italian Butter Cookies with Lemon Glaze. Brian’s grandmother, Grandma Yo, made them for most celebrations, but always had them at Christmas time. They are light and almost refreshing, and perfect with a cup of tea. Since most people are looking for a little something lighter this time of year, I thought they would be a perfect Smart Cookie recipe for the month of January. Technically they are still cookies, but they are not as heavy, and may serve as a small reward for all the time put in at the gym.

The recipe is fairly straight forward, but they do require a little bit of effort to create the little doughnut like shapes.

 

Grandma Yo’s Italian Butter Cookies with Lemon Glaze

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 stick butter melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp pure lemon extract
1 – 3 Tbs milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In another large mixing bowl beat together sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla until well incorporated. Next, slowly add flour mixture until soft dough is formed.

 

Next, take about a tablespoon of dough and roll into a thin log and then form into a doughnut shape as shown below.

 

Place on baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

 

While cookies cool, mix together powdered sugar, lemon extract, and milk until a thin glaze is formed. When cookies are cooled, dip into glaze. Store in a air tight container.

For more information regarding Smart Cookies or to volunteer visit their website at http://smart-cookies.org.

To look back at past Smart Cookie recipes you can click here, here, and here.

 

 

 

I Could Pass for an Italian Grandma: Tomato Sauces

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Everyone keeps asking me about quick cooking recipes and with the holidays looming, I thought I would share some recipes for my favorite tomato sauces. All of these recipes are ones that I have tested and made and re-made over time. I am in no way a tomato sauce expert, (geez, I’m not even Italian) but these are all tasty, quick, and can be frozen. You can use jarred sauce if you want, and I am never above doing that, but there is something about walking in the house after a hard day and the house smelling something home made.

 

Before I share the recipes, I first wanted to share some things I’ve learned about Tomato Sauce from watching hour upon hour of cooking shows.
1. Use the freshest ingredients possible. Fresh bulk sausage, fresh herbs, fresh garlic help keep the whole sauce tasting fresh. Remember in most cases you are using canned tomatoes, so the rest of the ingredients should be fresh.
2. Always freeze the extra. Seriously this requires no extra work, and then you always have sauce on hand. Perfect for enjoying after a night of Christmas shopping. Just make sure you add some fresh herbs when reheating and that helps freshen it up a bit.
3. How you use garlic is up to you, but I have found that how you use it makes a big difference in the sauce. For an intense garlic flavor, mince a few cloves of garlic and cook it in olive oil and then add the other ingredients as directed. For a mild flavor, smash a few cloves of garlic and cook them in olive oil, make the rest of the sauce as directed, and before serving remove the garlic cloves. For and even milder sweet flavor, roast a head of garlic and stir a few cloves into your sauce.
Erin’s Summer Sauce (we use this in the summer, during lent, or for our vegetarian friends because there is no meat anywhere in the recipe)
¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small yellow onion chopped
3 Cloves Garlic (either smashed or minced)
¼ Cup White Wine (optional, if I have one open I put some in, if not no big deal)
1- 32 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1- 32 oz can diced tomatoes drained
1 large bunch of FRESH basil leaves torn or chopped (reserve some for garnish)
Salt and Pepper to taste
In a large pot over a medium heat, pour olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes (if minced don’t let it burn) stirring constantly. Add wine, sauce, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.  Lower heat and add basil. If you used smashed garlic cloves, remove them now. Mix with favorite pasta. Serve with reserved basil and fresh parmesan.
Erin’s Marinara (this sauce is basic and not greasy. It can be used for anything even when making pizza.)
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 lb of pancetta or bacon diced into small pieces
1 yellow onion chopped
2 carrots grated
3 cloves garlic (minced or smashed)
1 dried bay leaf
¼ Cup red wine (optional)
2 – 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp fresh oregano chopped
1 bunch fresh Italian parsley chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
In large pot over medium flame, add olive oil and pancetta/bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, and rendering fat until pancetta/bacon is crispy. Remove pancetta/bacon from pot and let drain on paper towel and reserve as a topping for a salad. Add onion, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper and stir occasionally until all vegetables are soft. Add wine and scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Then add tomatoes, and bring to a low simmer (you might have to lower heat). Then add rosemary, oregano and stir. Right before serving remove bay leaves and smashed garlic (if you smashed it), and add chopped parsley.
Erin’s Meat Sauce (this is Brian’s favorite. I make this a lot in the winter)
It is the exact same recipe as the marinara with a few changes.
For meat sauce I omit pancetta/bacon and instead cook 8 oz bulk sausage (sweet or hot up to you), and 8 oz ground turkey. Cook the sausage and turkey until completely cooked through (don’t drain it adds flavor) and then cook just like the marinara. (Just a side note, my Mom and kids HATE sausage of any kind, so I will just do a full pound of ground turkey).
I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as my family does. Ciao!