Pasta with Kalamata Olives and Capers

Servings: —
Source: Joan Berman-Segall

Ingredients
2½ lbs cherry tomatoes and/or grape tomatoes
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
½ red onion, sliced

12 oz. Farfalle (bow tie) pasta
¾ pitted kalamata lives
¼ C capers
1¼ C feta cheese
1/3 C pine nuts, toasted

Directions
In 400° over, combine first 5 ingredients in 13”X9” baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until a little brown and soft – about 1 hours. Let stand until room temperature.

Cook/drain pasta. Add tomato mixture with olives, capers and feta.

Serve at room temperature.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Garlic, Rosemary and White Wine

Servings: —
Source: The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan
Reliable ovens are only a recent addition to the Italian kitchen, and, consequently, traditional roasts are done either on the spit or in a pan on top of the stove. In this recipe the chicken is entirely pan roasted, with just enough liquid to keep it from drying out. As in almost all Italian roasts, it is flavored with garlic and a hint of rosemary. It is one of the simplest and tastiest ways of doing chicken, and, if you use a young frying chicken, you should have the roasted chicken on the table in less than 45 minutes from the time you start preparing it.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 frying chicken (2 ½ pounds), washed in cold water, quartered, and thoroughly dried in a towel
A small branch of fresh rosemary, cut in two, or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
Salt
Freshly ground pepper, about 6 twists of the mill
½ cup dry white wine

Directions
1. Heat the butter and oil in a deep skillet or saut,6 pan over medium-high heat. When the butter foam begins to subside, add the garlic and the chicken quarters, skin side down. When the chicken is well browned one one side, turn the pieces over and add the rosemary. If the garlic starts to blacken, remove it. If, however, it stays a deep golden brown, leave it in until the chicken is cooked. Control the heat so that the cooking fat stays hot but doesn’t burn.

2. When you have browned the chicken well on all sides, add a large pinch of salt, the pepper, and the wine. Allow the wine to bubble rapidly for 2 to 3 minutes, then lower the heat until it is just simmering, and cover the pan. Cook slowly until the chicken is tender at the pricking of a fork. (A young fryer should take about 30 to 35 minutes.) Turn the chicken two or three times while cooking. (If you see that the cooking liquid has dried up, you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water as needed.)

3. Transfer the chicken to a warm serving platter, removing the garlic from the pan if you haven’t done it earlier. Tilt the pan, drawing off all but 2 tablespoons of fat with a spoon. Return the pan to high beat, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons of water, and scraping up the cooking juices in the pan. Pour these over the chicken and serve.

Panna Cotta

Servings: 8
Source: Gourmet
August 1997
Panna cotta, a molded chilled dessert popular throughout Italy, is easy to make and can be prepared in advance. It looks and tastes wonderful with ripe red fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, or sweet cherries.

Ingredients
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons cold water
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

In a very small saucepan sprinkle gelatin over water and let stand about 1 minute to soften. Heat gelatin mixture over low heat until gelatin is dissolved and remove pan from heat.

In a large saucepan bring cream, half and half, and sugar just to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring. Remove pan from heat and stir in gelatin mixture and vanilla. Divide cream mixture among eight 1/2-cup ramekins and cool to room temperature. Chill ramekins, covered, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Dip ramekins, 1 at a time, into a bowl of hot water 3 seconds. Run a thin knife around edge of each ramekin and invert ramekin onto center of a small plate.

Options:

– Add a drop of organic lavender before chilling, and serve with squares of beautiful dark chocolate and fresh raspberries.
– Don’t unmold the dessert. Pour mixture into fancy footed small bowls or Martini glasses.
– Swirl raspberry sauce on top of panna cotta, then garnish with fresh berries and top with a tuile or pirouette cookie.
– Dust with cocoa powder and shaved chocolate curls or “”chocolate leaves””.
– Serve individual panne cotte with raspberry coulis and mint leaves
– Serve with Strawberry Vin Santo Sauce
– insert a few raspberries in bottom of ramekins before filling

Orange and Fennel Poached Sole

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 45 min
Source: Gourmet
September 1993

Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
2 shallots, chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 strips of orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler
1/2 cup water
2 sole or orange roughy fillets (about 1 pound)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions
In a skillet boil the orange juice, the wine, and the vinegar with the shallots, the fennel seeds, and the zest, shaking the skillet, until most of the liquid is evaporated. Add the water, bring the mixture to a boil, and in it poach the sole, covered, at a bare simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer the sole with a slotted spatula to 2 plates and keep it warm, covered. Boil the poaching liquid until it is reduced to about 1/3 cup, remove the skillet from the heat, and swirl in the butter. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and pour it through a fine sieve over the sole.

No-Knead Bread From Nytimes (Sullivan Street Bakery)

Servings: —

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

Directions
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450°. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on rack.

No Knead Bread From Cook’s Illustrated

Servings: —

Ingredients
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (or 2 C APF and 1 C WW flour), plus additional for dusting work surface
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1½ teaspoons table salt
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces) at room temperature
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ounces) mild-flavored lager
1 tablespoon white vinegar
(2 T honey if opting for the whole wheat version)

Directions
1. Whisk flour, yeast and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

2. Lay 12- to 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500°. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, 1/2-inch deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425° and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210°, 20-30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; cool on wire rack 2 hours.

Mushroom Soup

Servings: 4
This is a ridiculously easy soup to make. It’s tasty and durable, and it gets even better overnight.

Ingredients
6 tbsp/75 g butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
12 ounces/340 g button mushrooms
4 cups/900 ml light chicken stock or broth
1 sprig of flat parsley
Salt and pepper
2 ounces/56 ml high-quality sherry (don’t use the cheap grocery-store variety; it’s salty and unappetizing and will ruin your soup)

Directions
Method
In the medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons/28 g of the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, then add the mushrooms and the remaining butter. Let the mixture sweat for about 8 minutes, taking care that the onion doesn’t take on any brown color. Stir in the chicken stock and the parsley and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour.
After an hour, remove the parsley and discard. Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the blender and carefully blend at high speed until smooth. Do I have to remind you to do this in stages, with the blender’s lid firmly held down, and with the weight of your body keeping that thing from flying off and allowing boiling hot mushroom purée to erupt all over your kitchen?
When blended, return the mix to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring up to a simmer again. Add the sherry, mix well, and serve immediately.

Improvisation
To astound your guests with a Wild Mushroom Soup, simply replace some of those button mushrooms with a few dried cèpes or morels, which have been soaked until soft, drained, and squeezed. Not too many; the dried mushrooms will have a much stronger taste, and you don’t want to overwhelm the soup. Pan sear, on high heat, a single small, pretty, fresh chanterelle or morel for each portion, and then slice into a cute fan and float on top in each bowl.
And if you really want to ratchet your soup into pretentious (but delicious), drizzle a few tiny drops of truffle oil over the surface just before serving. Why the hell not? Everybody else is doing it.

Quick Turkey Giblet Broth

Servings: —
Source: Fine Cooking #60, pp. 81
Don’t throw away the neck and giblets that come with your turkey. They can be turned into a tasty broth that makes a classic pan gravy. There’s no need to simmer the broth for hours, either. Sweating the meat and onion in a little oil before adding water jump-starts flavor extraction, so your broth is ready in just about an hour. You can make the broth up to three days ahead. Yields about 3-1/2 cups.

Ingredients
Turkey neck, gizzard, tail, and heart
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large onion, cut into 2-inch chunks
Kosher salt
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 rib celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 bay leaf
2 large sprigs each fresh thyme and flat-leaf parsley
8 to 10 black peppercorns

Directions
Chop the turkey neck into three to four pieces with a cleaver. Chop the gizzard in half. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the turkey neck, gizzard, tail, and heart (don’t use the liver) along with the onion and 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and cook gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally; the meat will release lots of juice.
Add 4 cups cold water and the carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer until the broth is flavorful, 30 to 40 minutes. Strain the broth and use immediately or let cool. Pick the meat from the neck and tail to add to the gravy along with the chopped gizzard and heart, if you like.

Plum & Raspberry Galette

Servings: 6-8
I originally developed this recipe using amaretti — very sweet, very light, very crisp almond meringue cookies. You can often find them in Italian and specialty groceries. Almond biscotti work well, too. Choose plums that are ripe but still a bit firm so they’re easy to slice. My usual plum of choice is the popular Santa Rosa, but red-fleshed plums, such as Elephant Heart, make a dazzling tart. You could also use sliced nectarines or peaches.

Yields 1 galette; serves six to eight

Ingredients
1/3 cup crushed amaretti or almond biscotti (use a food processor or put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush with them a blunt object until they’re the texture of coarse sand)
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
6 ripe plums (about 1 lb.), rinsed and dried
1 disk Sweet Galette Dough (below)
1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. sugar
3 oz. fresh raspberries
2 Tbs. strained raspberry jam (optional)
Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 400°F. Combine the crushed amaretti and the flour and set aside.

Sweet Galette Dough
Freeze any unused dough well wrapped in plastic; defrost the frozen dough in the refrigerator for a day before using it.
Yields enough dough for two galettes about 11 inches in diameter.

11-¼ oz. (2-½ cups) all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. sugar
½ tsp. salt (omit if using salted butter)
8 oz. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
5 oz. (about 2/3 cup) ice water

Directions
Cut each plum in half, remove its pit, and cut the flesh into ¼-inch-thick slices.

Cover a baking sheet, preferably without sides, with kitchen parchment. (If your baking sheet has sides, flip it over and use the back.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the galette dough into a 15-inch round. Transfer the dough by folding it in half, picking it up, and unfolding it on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the crushed amaretti over the dough evenly, leaving a 2-inch border without crumbs. Arrange the plums over the crumbs in concentric circles, overlapping slightly. Lift the edges of the dough and fold them inward over the filling, pleating as you go, to create a folded-over border. Brush the border with the melted butter and sprinkle the entire galette with the sugar. Bake for 30 min. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the raspberries over the plums. Return the galette to the oven and bake until the crust is browned and the fruit is cooked and tender, another 15 min.

Slide the galette off the parchment and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for about 10 min. before slicing. For a shinier filling, brush on the jam before slicing.

Sweet Galette Dough

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the chilled butter using a stand mixer, a food processor, or a pastry blender until the butter is evenly distributed but still in large, visible pieces. Add the ice water all at once to the flour and butter. Mix the dough just until it begins to come together (if using a stand mixer or a food processor, be especially careful not to overmix the dough). Gather the dough with your hands — don’t worry if you see streaks of butter — and shape it into two disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Mushroom Gravy (For Turkey)

Servings: —
Source: From Fine Cooking #67
The woodsy flavor of porcini makes this gravy something special. Start soaking the mushrooms at least 15 minutes before the turkey is done.

Ingredients
1/2 oz. (1/2 cup) dried porcini mushrooms
1 recipe turkey broth (below)
1/4 cup turkey fat or vegetable oil
6 Tbs. all-purpose flour
2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice; more to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Yields about 1 quart.

Directions
Soak the porcini in 1 cup very hot water until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Fish out the porcini and slowly pour the soaking liquid into the turkey broth, leaving any sediment from the mushrooms behind; you should have about 4 cups combined liquid. Chop the porcini finely.

After transferring the turkey to a cutting board, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a heatproof measuring cup. Let the fat rise to the top and then spoon 1/4 cup of the fat back into the roasting pan. Set the roasting pan over two burners on medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the pan and use a flat whisk or wooden spoon to combine it with the fat. Cook for about 2 minutes.

Slowly pour 1/2 cup of the broth into the pan while whisking vigorously to disperse the flour. The liquid should thicken quickly and become gluey. As soon as it thickens, whisk in another 1/2 cup broth. Repeat until the gravy starts to look more like a smooth sauce; then whisk in the remaining broth and bring to a simmer. Add the thyme and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the gravy through a medium siev