Gnoccone Ripieno

This is a first for me, as I came across this recipe lately, browsing through the pages of a new Italian cookbook I recently purchased. Although it did not turn out just like the picture in the book, I was pretty satisfied and I probably figured out where I could improve. This is basically the same recipe for traditional gnocchi, without the frozen spinach (white gnocchi). Instead of making little potato dumplings, you keep the whole dough as one piece and you flattened with a rolling pin (or wit your hands!) until it is about 1/4 inch thick. It is better if you do it already on a kitchen rag as it might be difficult to move the dough once it is flattened (see picture).

At this time you can place on the flattened dough your favorite ingredients. I went for some sliced white mushrooms cooked in butter and garlic, and then finely chopped into a sauce using a blender. I spread the mushroom sauce on a thin layer of shredded mozzarella e Parmesan cheese and topped it with fresh spinach leafs.

Carefully, I rolled the dough using the rag and then tied the two extremities with a string. Make sure the rag is as tight as possible around it. That will give it a nice and firm cylindrical shape to the final cooked product. Place the whole thing into a large pan with boiling salted water for 30 minutes. Remove it from the pan and let it sit, still in the rag, until it has cool down (15-20 minutes). This is an important step as it will ensure that the large rolled dough keeps its cylindrical shape once you untie the ends and remove the rag.

At this point you can slice it and place the slices in a baking pan. Cover with small pieces of butter and with parmesan cheese and baked at 350F for few minutes, until cheese has melted. Enjoy!

Crespelle

This is a total knockout dish and one you can't ever get tired of, because there are so many little things you can do differently each time. Crespelle is the Italian adaptation of a France classic: Crepes. As you may already know, crepes can be prepared sweet (for desserts) or plain (for main dishes). This is the recipe for the plain (salty) crepes:

- Butter 40 grams;
- Flour 250 grams;
- 2 cups (500ml) milk;
- 3 eggs;
- A pinch of salt.

Sift flour into a mixing bowl with salt and milk (I used my KitchenAid). Mix well until it is lump-free. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs slightly and then add to the mix. Continue mixing for another minute or so, then remove bowl from mixer, cover with a kitchen rug or plastic wrap, and let it sit for 1/2 hour. Melt the butter in the microwave and add to the mix (stir with a spoon). If you have a crepe-maker, this is the time to finally use it... otherwise you can simply use a non-stick frying pan. If you are using the frying pan, place just enough mix to cover the bottom (help yourself with a spoon, but act quickly as it will harden right away). Cook for one minute on each side. Place on a plate and proceed with the next crepe.

After all the crepes are made (you should have a nice stack of 12-15 of them), you can proceed with preparing the filling (or you can prepare it while the crepe mix is resting). Three typical fillings used for CRESPELLE are ricotta cheese and spinach, ham and cheese, or mushrooms. This time I chose mushrooms. I cooked several sliced white mushrooms in a pan with some butter, dry parsley, and a crushed clove of garlic. When the mushrooms where fully cooked, I placed them in a food processor and obtained a nice mushroom paste which was easy to spread. I took my first crepe and spread half of it with a spoonful of the mushroom filling. Then I folded the crepe in half two times (to obtain a triangle shape). Place each crepe prepared this way in a baking Pyrex pan. In a saucepan, prepare 2 cups of bechamel sauce and pour it over the crepes. Sprinkle the top with some mozzarella or Parmesan cheese (or both) and a touch of dry parsley (for looks). Cover with an aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350. Alternatively, you can place 1-2 crepes (with filling and folded) on each plate and pour a little bit of the hot bechamel on them. Enjoy!!

PESTO SAUCE!!!

Here is one of my very favorite and simplest recipes: Pesto sauce!! This sauce is delicious with any kind of pasta shapes, particularly linguini. It can also be used as a spread in sandwiches, on pizza, or with chicken. The ingredients I used made me 9 bags of pesto (I can use each bag with one pound of pasta), but this is what you need as condiment for just one pound of noodles:

- 3 packages (ca. 3 cups) fresh basil leaves;
- 1/4 cup of pine nuts;
- 1/4 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese;
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (for a low fat recipe, you can substitute half of the olive oil with chicken broth);
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- salt and pepper to taste.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you obtain a thick and smooth sauce. Pour on your favorite pasta noodle. Sprinkle additional parmesan cheese on the top of each plate.

Spinach Gnocchetti, Chicken Marsala, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Pistachio Gelato

SPINACH GNOCCHETTI

- 4-6 potatoes;
- 1 egg;
- half package frozen spinach;
- white flour;

Peel and boil the potatoes as if you were preparing mush potatoes. When the potatoes are soft, whip them with one egg and the cooked spinach that you will have previously blended and pureed. Mix well, adding the flour gradually until you obtain a soft dough that does not stick to your fingers. On a well-floured counter, take small pieces of dough and roll them in the flour into a snake shape about the thickness of your finger. Cut with a knife every 3/4 inch and pass the individual pieces in the flour. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. When hard, you can remove them with a spatula and place them in separate zip lock bags ready to use. To cook: boil water with a couple of TBSPs of salt. When the water boils, drop frozen gnocchetti and cook until they began to float. Drain and serve with your favorite sauce. Eat immediately. My favorite sauce is melted butter flavored with sage leaves... Yummy!!!

CHICKEN MARSALA

- 8 small pieces of chicken breast (chicken finger style similar to those used for the Chicken scaloppine);

- one cup white flour;
- one cup cooking Marsala wine;
- one package of white mushrooms, sliced;
- chopped fresh or dry parsley;
- one cup of butter;
- 2 TBSPs of minced garlic;
- 2 bouillon cubes.

Melt 3/4 of the butter in skillet or a large non-sticky frying pan and add the cubes. Pass Chicken in flour and place in the pan. Cook slowly until fully cooked (turn it once or twice). Increase heat and pour Marsala wine. On a separate pan, cook mushrooms in remaining butter with garlic and parsley. When mushrooms are done, add to chicken and serve together.

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

- 0ne shallow pie crust;
For the filling:
- 50 grams (2 TBSPs) white flour;
- 90 grams (3 TBSPs) potato or corn starch;
- 200 grams of white sugar;
- 3 cups boiling water;
- a pinch of salt;
- 3 eggs yokes;
- 1 lemon peel
- 8 TBSPs lemon juice;
- 1 TBSP butter;
For the meringue:
- 3 egg whites;
- 5 TBSPs of white sugar;
- 1 TBSP lemon juice.

Bake the pie crust following the instructions. Let it cool down. Prepare the filling as follow: in a sauce pan mix sugar, flour, and starch. Add the boiling water little at the time stirring continually. Keep stirring while cooking on low heat for 15 minutes. In a small bowl, beat the egg yokes and add few spoonfuls of the mix. Pour beaten eggs with mix in the suace pan and stir vigorously until you obtain a thick cream. Remove from heat and add the lemon peel, the lemon juice, the salt, and the butter. Mix well and pour inside the baked crust. Prepare the meringue as follow: beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and one TBSP of lemon juice until firm. Add sugar and mix gently. Cover the pie with the meringue and sprinkle additional sugar on the top. You can caramelize the meringue by placing it back in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until the meringue is golden. Alternatively you can use a cooking torch (that is what I did). Refrigerate for few hours. Serve cold.

GELATO PISTACHIO

The base recipe is the same as for the other gelato flavors I made in the past (see for example the Oreos Gelato one). After placing the gelato custard base in the ice-cream maker, let it freeze for a while and five-ten minutes before the ice-cream is ready, add one package of Pistachio flavored Jell-O. I know it sounds silly, but I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised!

Chicken Scaloppine

As many other bloggers have probably already figured it out... you only get the chance to write a blog entry on February 29th once every four years... So here is my chance too and I want to celebrate it with one of my very favorite recipes: chicken scaloppine!!

Recipe for four people:
- 4 chicken breast halves or 8-12 pieces of chicken tenders;
- 1 cup of butter;
- 4-5 fresh sage leaves (optional);
- 1 bouillon cube;
- 1 cup cooking white wine;
- 1 cup white flour;
- 1 cup whipping cream or half and half (optional).

Cut the chicken breast in small pieces and tenderize them (about 1/4 inch thick) or use the chicken tenders directly. Pass them in flour. Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan (I use my wonderful Cusinart electric skillet). Add cube and sage to butter, then the chicken. Cook at low-medium heat until chicken is fully cooked (turn it an cook it on both sides). Increase heat to medium and add wine. Keep miving the chicken around the pan to make sure they won't stick to it. Let wine evaporate and decrease heat to low-medium. For a richer sauce, stir cream in it and continue to cook for few more minutes. Serve hot. (Mushpotatoes make a great side dish).

Oreos Gelato and Italian Hot Chocolate

OREOS GELATO

The base for the gelato (Italian ice-cream) recipe is similar as the one for chocolate gelato:

- 4 egg yokes;
- 180 grams of granulated white sugar;
- 1 tsp of vanilla beans or 2 tsps of vanilla extract;
- 1 and 1/2 cup skim milk;
- 1 and 1/2 cup whipping cream;
- 10-12 Oreo cookies broken in small pieces.

Beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla at high speed (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer). Decrease speed and mix in milk and cream. Pour in a sauce pan and cook on low-medium heat until cream thickens. Stir continually! Place cream in a bowl and place bowl in a ice bath. Stir occasionally until cream is cold. Add to cream to the ice-cream maker. When cream begins to freeze, add the crumbed Oreos. Don't eat it all at once and make sure to share it with others!!

ITALIAN HOT CHOCOLATE

This is definetely another family favorite, particularly in this long Utah winters! In Italy, you would just go to a pastry shop or a bar with your friends to have hot chocolate.

- 2-3 cups milk (any kind, but I prefer whole milk);
- 1 1/2 Tbsp of corn or potato starch (white flour would do it to);
- 2 Tbsp of unsweetened Hershey's cocoa powder;
- 4 Tbsp of sugar;
- 1 cup whipping cream;
- Ground cinnamon powder.

Place the milk, the starch (or flour), cocoa, and 3 Tbsp of sugar in the blender at the lowest speed. Place mix in a sauce pan and cook on low-medium heat stirring continually until hot and dense. Whip the cream with the remaining sugar. Pour hot chocolate in mugs with a generous amunt of whipping cream. Sprinkle a touch of cinnamon on the top. Enjoy heaven!!

Pasta al Forno, Ragu Sauce, Bechamel Sauce, Creme Brulee', Four Cheese Pasta, and Spaghetti Carbonara

Another weekend at home with lots of time to play in the kitchen... what more can a man wish for? Because of work and school, weekends dedicated to "wholesome cooking mental therapy" are not taken for granted around here. Here is what I came up with in the past couple of days:

1. Pasta al forno (baked pasta);
2. Creme brulee';
3. Four cheese pasta;
4. Spaghetti Carbonara;
5. European style hot chocolate;
6. Oreo's gelato.

PASTA AL FORNO

It seems that I have been making a lot of this lately. It is a complete meal and it can be stored in the fridge or freezer for that one last minute meal during the week when there is no time to make dinner. I try to make it a little different each time as to keep my hungry crowd interested. By the way, in case I did not mentioned that before, Costco has the absolute best Italian pasta ever. The brand is Garofalo and it is imported from Naples, where they have been making it since 1789 using the old fashion brass equipment to shape and cut the noodles. Believe it or not, the price is better than what you would pay for it in Italy and it is very hard to find it in Italian grocery stores... So you can imagine my surprise when I learned about it and found right here in Utah! :

- Penne pasta;
- Ragu' sauce (meat sauce);
- Bechamel sauce (white sauce);
- Shredded mozzarella cheese;
- Shredded Parmesan cheese;
- Dry basil.

For the Ragu' sauce:
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil;
- 1 carrot finely chopped;
- 1/4 onion finely chopped;
- 1 bouillon cube;
- 1lb lean ground beef;
- 2 cans of tomato sauce (15oz. each);
- salt and pepper to taste;
- 1 pinch of sugar.

Saute the carrot and onion in the oil in a medium size sauce pan. Add the bouillon cube and ground beef. Stir well until beef is brown. Add tomato sauce and 1/2 can of water (about 1 cup). Add salt, pepper and sugar. Continue to cook on low heat for at least one hour, stirring occasionally.

For the bechamel sauce:
- 1/2 cup of butter;
- 1 tsp of nutmeg;
- 1 pinch of black pepper;
- 1/2 cup of white flour;
- 1 qt. milk.

Place butter, nutmeg and black pepper in a sauce pan and melt on low heat. Mix half of the milk with the flour in a blender and add it to the butter together with the rest of the milk. Stir continually on low-medium heat until sauce thickens.

Putting it all together:

Cook and drain pasta. Mix with Ragu' sauce and place in a pyrex pan (13x9). Pour the bechamel on the past with the help of a large spoon. Generously sprinkle the cheeses and add a touch of dry basil for color and taste. Cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat it. At that time, bake it for 1 hour at 350F, remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

CREME BRULEE'

This is one of our family favorites!! We are probably going to eat it for family night on Monday.

- 3 cups whipping cream (you can use half and half if you want to cut down on the amount of calories and fat...);

- 6 egg yolks;
- 1 cup sugar;
- Pinch of salt;
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Cook cream in a saucepan until hot, without boiling. Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt in a mixer at high speed. Slowly stir in the hot cream. Strain the mix through a tea colander and fill 8 ramekins. Fill to about 1/2 the height 2 medium or 1 large pyrex pan(s) with water and place ramekin with cream for a hot water bath. Place pyrex pan(s) on medium rack in the pre-heated over (300F) for ~60 minutes. Remove pan(s) and let sit until water cools down. Remove ramekins from water bath and cover each one with surround wrap. Place in the fridge until ready to eat (they can stay in the fridge as long as 2-3 days). When ready to serve, remove plastic wrap and sprinkle the top with 1 Tbsp of sugar. You can caramelize the sugar with the classic torch (I got mine as a Christmas present a couple of years ago and I love it!) or by placing the ramekins back in the oven and broil the sugar for a couple of minutes, keeping the oven open and making sure you don't over cook it.

FOUR CHEESE PASTA:

- 1lb Rotini pasta (fusilli);
- 1 Tbsp butter;
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg;
- 1/2 bouillon cube;
- pinch of black pepper;
- 1/2 cup of whipping cream;
- 2 oz of cream cheese;
- 2/3 cup of shreeded mozzarella cheese;
- 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese;

- 4-8 oz of your favorite cheese (in the past I have used Swiss, or Brie, or Gorgonzola cheese). Since I was making this for my children, I used Cheedar cheese.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the numeg, pepper and cube. Add the cream and the cheeses. Stir continually over low heat until all cheeses melt and the sauce is rich and thick. Cook pasta and drain. Mix cheese sauce in and enjoy immediately.

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

We made this as a side dish for some friends on Sunday evening.

- 1 package of spaghetti (1lb);
- 4 egg yolks;

- 4oz of Pancetta (Italian cured bacon). You can use regular bacon if you like, but it won't be the same. Sorry. I buy my Pancetta at the deli counter at Harmons. They carry the Boar Head brand, which is really good. Have it cut paper thin.

- 1 cup whipping cream;
- 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese;
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- Black pepper and salt to taste;
- 2 Tbps of extra virgin olive oil.

Mix egg yolks, cream, 1 tbsp olive oil, cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl. Set aside. Cut pancetta in small pieces and place it in a fry pan on low-medium heat with oil and garlic. Cook pasta and drain. Mix in the cream sauce and pancetta and serve immediately.

I will talk about the Oreo's gelato and the hot chocolate tomorrow as it is getting kind of late and I am tired (and full). Buonanotte.