Green Minestrone ( Minestra Verde)

I love green vegetables. I learned to make this soup from a guy I dated who was from Genoa. It's super easy and comes together very quickly.

4 to 6 Zucchini
1 package of frozen chopped spinach or fresh spinach chopped fine.
2 med onions or 1 large or 2 leeks ( chopped fine in processor)
1 large or 2 medium potatoes ( chopped fine in processor)
Celrey 2 to 3 stalks and leaves
2 cloves of garlic
Chicken broth or substitute
1 can of white beans
2 to 3 bay leaves
Olive oil and a little butter
Variation.. you can add some leftover shredded chicken breast or little homemade meatballs
Pecorino Cheese

Super easy to make. Add olive oil to bottom of your soup pot.
Add the onions, zucchini, celrey, garlic and potato ( all should be cut or processed to fine or course)
Then add chicken broth to fill the pot.
Salt and pepper to taste, bay leafs
Simmer till cooked about 40 minutes or so, add the beans and a dab of butter.

Serve with bread, or add some cooked pasta, or chicken or meatballs.

A very healthy delicous soup.. and add a generous amount of your pecorino romano or your favorite cheese to taste.

Enjoy! You can make it ahead of time.. it tastes better as it stays in the fridge!

Breakfast Pizza by Drew

Drew and Stephanie enjoy this breakfast pizza which Drew made for us when I visited him last in Colorado. It's pretty easy and bakes super quick but you have to remember to add the eggs after you put the dough on the stone.

Making espresso and steaming milk.. Morning coffee

Here is a little video on how I make one of my morning coffee drinks. A huge cup consisting of a double espresso and some steamy fluffy milk.

The technique is quite simple. Think of blowing bubbles into your chocolate milk when you were a kid.  Insert the valve into cold milk, a cold pitcher helps too. Then gently pull it up towards the surface and you will create foam that will come all the way to the top. It is easy to foam cold milk, so make your foam before you heat the rest of the milk. You can spoon it off the top of the pitcher for cappuccino or hold it back to make a caffe latte. At my cafe we made thousands of coffees and really anyone can do it with a little practice.

I made some Meatballs the other day....

I made these meatballs the other day and they were amazing. They just don't get any better than this.

It took me about 1 hour to make everything and I let them slow cook for about 3 hours. The house smelled so good that I had to make something else to eat while it cooked.

I followed our own blog recipes to make everything.

Sauce: http://theresaanddrew.blogspot.com/2010/09/theresas-tomato-and-basil-sauce.html

Meatballs: http://theresaanddrew.blogspot.com/2010/08/basic-meatball-recipe-1-lb.html

I doubled the meatballs and made 2 pounds. I took a shortcut and added the meatballs raw into the already cooking sauce. We ate it with pasta two nights and had meatball sandwiches two other nights. (And I few a meatballs here and there between meals.) Each day it seemed to taste better than the last.

It's really easy and it's the best damn meatball I've ever had. You have to try it.

Edit:  Theresa got hungry after reading this post and made some meatballs.  Here is a picture she sent to me.

Italian Bread

5 and 3/4 Cups of flour

1 tsp sugar ( white or brown)

4 t. dry yeast

2 cups warm water

3 T. Olive Oil

2 T. Sea Salt

sesame seeds or poppy seeds
1 beaten egg white with water added

Mix the sugar, warm water and yeast in a small bowl and let bloom for 5 to 10 minutes. It should foam up and expand. This tells you your yeast is working.

Add the flour, salt and olive oil to a large Cuisinart or mixer and blend, then add the water mixture. It should form to a dough within a minute or so.. if too wet, add more flour, if too dry add some water to get a nice dough consistency.

You either have to keep it kneading in the machine for 3 to 5 minutes till very smooth or put out on the counter and knead by hand for 10 minutes. Dough should be smooth and elastic.

Put in a large oiled or Pam sprayed bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let double. About an hour or so depending on the day.

Then put the dough on a lightly floured surface and punch down to a circular or rectangle shape. Start to roll the dough into a loaf..( like a jelly roll) and then seal the edges with some water if needed. Place your loaf on a well floured pizza peel or baking pan, cover again with a damp cloth and let rise again till about doubled. I have a video of what it should look like. Get a sharp knife or razor blade and cut several slits diagonally across the loaf. Brush with the egg mixture and sprinkle with the sesame seeds so they stick on. Spray the dough with water and then put into your preheated oven. It must be hot! I use a pizza stone to bake mine on but a cookie sheet will work too.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven. After 4 minutes, spray the bread again with water and let go another 4 minutes.. spray with water again. This will make 3 times including the first spray prior to baking. You now have another 37 minutes or so to go with your baking time. Loaf should sound hollow if you tap it on the bottom. Sometimes it takes a little less time. Just use your common sense.. but most likely you will need to bake at least 37 plus minutes total. This is so delicious and sometimes I let it cool and slice it thin for pot lucks.. it makes delicious toast! Just an all around great bread. Try it and you will love it.

Cooks note: Don't rush your bread. It has to rise to get the light and fluffy interior consistency. Once you get the hang of it, you will love making bread and pizzas. Note that in the video of putting bread in the oven, I stated that I would lower oven temp, but that is not true. Bakes at 425 degrees for the entire time.

Lasagna with Ricotta and Spinach Filling

To make a tray of lasagne this size you will need:

1 box of Barilla lasagna pasta

1 recipe of Tomato sauce ( mine or your favorite)

Shredded Mozzerella Cheese

1 recipe of ricotta filling ( recipe to follow)


Ricotta filling

1 pt of ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup or so of grated cheese ( romano or parm)

fresh chopped italian parsley ( 1/4 cup more or less)
garlic powder 1-2 tsp to taste

salt and pepper

You can mix all this together in a cuisinart or large bowl.

If you want to make it spinach like this one.. add 2 cups fresh spinach to the cuisinart and mix into the ricotta filling. If you don't have a cuisinart, just chop the spinach fine and add to your mixture. (this makes a great ravioli filling as well)

I made some meatballs to go on the side of the lasagna, so my friend can have a nice dinner of lasagna and meatballs.

Cook at 375 degrees for 1 hour. I do cook it covered with foil until the last 10 minutes or so and then remove the cover and either add the shredded mozzarella then and cook for 10 minutes longer or after it is completely cooked, sprinkle the cheese on and it will melt on top.

Be sure to let it set for half an hour or when you serve it it will not be firm. Cover lightly with your foil or a piece of parchment paper and it will be ready to serve as you prepare your salad or garlic bread , etc.

To reheat a pre-baked lasagna.. just tent some foil over the top of the pan so not to touch the cheese and bake till heated thru about 40 minutes at 350 to 375 depending on your oven. Take the cooled tray out of the refrigerator at least one hour prior to baking it. You can serve it right away if it has been baked once before.


Building



Baking

Basil Oil

Stephanie teaches us how to make Basil Oil.





1 1/2 cups of packed Basil leaves
2 cups Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

We used the left over leaves to make pesto.

A Fast and Delicious Spaghetti ( Video and Recipe)

When you come home and want something really delicious and quick here is the pasta for you!
All you need it garlic, olive oil, a fresh tomato, some fresh basil and some angel hair or spaghetti.

Here is how you do it for 1 serving dinner or 2 first course.

2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3-4 med cloves of garlic sliced thin or chopped
1 ripe tomato cut in pieces
hot pepper seeds to taste
4 to 5 basil leaves

2 to 4 oz dry spaghetti or angel hair cooked al dente ( I like whole wheat)

Before you start your sauce, put your water on to boil for the spaghetti and salt it to taste.
Then, add your olive oil and garlic to a skillet and saute ( do not let brown), add hot pepper seeds to taste and then the pieces of tomato and once they soften, smash them with the back of a fork so as to incorporate into the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Once this is cooked and it doesn't take long you can turn the heat off while you're boiling your pasta.

When the pasta is done, fire up the skillet again ,add a little of the water from the pot to the skillet and then add the drained spaghetti and toss for a minute to coat it well. Top with your favorite cheese if you like and you have just added a new dish to your repetoire that is easy, economical and you will amaze yourself and your friends.








Cooks note: If you want to add some variety or don't like hot pepper seeds, try adding some sliced olives or a few capers in your sauce. If you like your sauce with more tomato, simply add more fresh tomato and season to taste. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top makes it even better!

Lets Make Pesto!

Here is Stephanie's first video on our blog.  She normally films our videos but she's such a good cook we had to get her in front of the camera! 





4 cups of basil leaves
1 1/2 cups of olive oil
1 cup of pine nuts or walnuts
1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
 
Use it on pasta or pizza.  It's awesome on a turkey sandwich.   I use it on toast instead of butter.  We love tomato sandwiches and pesto makes them even better.

Homemade "Brodo" Broth

This is the finished product of homemade soup with greens, chicken and homemade meatballs.

 There is nothing better than homemade broth, chicken or beef as it has so much flavor and is a great starter for soups and risotto. It can be frozen and kept on hand.




Basic Recipe for Broth

Whole chicken or chicken breasts ( to keep it lower in fat)
Water to cover your meats and veggies
Celrey 2 to 3 ribs cut into pieces
Carrot 1 or two cut into pieces
Tomato 1 or 2 fresh or a handful of whole canned tomato

Onion 1 large or 2 med sliced into med pieces Fresh herbs ( Italian Parsley, Thyme, basil )
Salt and pepper

Add all to a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer and cook for about 2 hours or so till meat is tender and falling apart.

Here's what the start of the soup looks like

You can strain the soup when it's done and have a clear broth.
You can strain and remove the thyme stems and meats and then blend the cooked veggies into your broth.

If your broth looks like it has too much fat in it, then strain and put the broth into the fridge for a day and the fat will get hard and float to the top. You can then easily remove it.

Here I added some white beans to my soup

After a couple of hours of simmering







Chill strained broth to have the fat harden on top and be easy to remove




You can keep a little for flavor

Steam the greens first and then add to the cooked broth along with some of the cooking liquid

I like to add cooked greens to my soup ( endive, napa cabbage, rappini, anything you like) and then shred my chicken and add it all together to make a wonderfully delicious soup similar to an Italian wedding soup. Add a couple of meatballs that you have made from the freezer and it is a complete dinner.

You can also add some tortellini to the cooked broth and serve with grated cheese for a delicious starter. The possibilities are endless!

When I was little my mom used to ask what we wanted for our birthday dinner and I always wanted her chicken soup with rice.

Cooks note: You can use beef or chicken or a combination of anything you may have in your freezer. Bones give great flavor so make sure your meat has some bones.

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is one of our favorites. It is easy to make, delicious and economical. It is also very healthy.

Here is the recipe our mom has passed on to us. We are from Bari, Italy and of course every region has it's own favorite ways of doing things.

Lentil Soup

1 bag of brown lentils ( raw or soaked in water and drained)

2-4 cloves of garlic chopped

3 stalks of celery cut as you like it

1-2 carrots cut or chopped

2-4 bay leafs

Olive oil I don't measure but seems like 1/3 cup at least

1 large can of tomatoes, either crushed , whole or sauce ( you can use fresh tomato if you prefer)

Water

Salt and pepper to taste

You can soak your lentils for a couple of hours or overnight. This will cut down on cooking time but is not necessary.

Add lots of water to your stock pot to cover the soaked lentils by about 2 inches and if raw use more. You can always add more water if it looks too thick.

Drop in your chopped garlic, celery and carrots.

Add your bay leaves

Turn heat on high till mixture starts to boil and then down to a rapid simmer. If lentils are raw, cook for awhile till they start to absorb some of the water. If you soaked them you can add your large can of tomato in now and then once the heat adjusts, drop it down to a simmer.

Add the olive oil.

I do not add salt at this time. I usually wait till it's almost done to adjust with salt and pepper. If you prefer to use a chicken stock or vegetable stock instead of water or in addition to.. that is fine.

Once soup is cooked, adjust your seasonings. Add water to desired consistency, and if you like it a bit blended, use your immersion blender to thicken it up a bit. This is a wonderful soup on it's own and can be served with bread and salad to make a complete meal. You can add rice or cooked pasta as well. One of my favorite chefs on tv is Mario Batali. He knows so much about cooking from our region of Puglia. Soups and even frittata are so much about what you have in your pantry or refrigerator. Make them your own, use what you have and add your own touch.

Cooks note: Sometimes after a day or two, it always tastes better once it's refrigerated and heated up, you can add some spinach and turmeric or a touch of curry to give it a different twist, and adding broth or water to loosen the texture is always good.

Meatballs 101

Basic Meatball Recipe


1 lb. Turkey Meat (or substitute lean meat)
1 egg
2/3 cup of bread crumbs (plain or seasoned)
2-4 cloves of garlic chopped fine
¼ cup to 1/3 cup of chopped flat leaf parsley (Italian Parsley)
Salt and pepper to taste (2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper approx)
1/3 to ½ cup of grated Romano cheese


Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix but don’t overwork the mixture as it can make the meatballs less tender. I like to put a small amount of the mixture in the microwave for 1 minute or fry in olive oil to taste for seasonings at this point. Adjust if necessary.
cooks note: If it seems a bit dry, you can add a little milk to moisten the mixture.. but not too much. An alternative to the bread crumbs is just some sliced bread soaked in milk and then squeezed to get the excess milk out. Crumble into mixture in place of dried bread crumbs.

I like to scoop out with an ice cream scoop to keep them of equal size and then round them out in my hands. Makes about 15 or so.

You can either fry in a skillet with olive oil till browned or cook on a parchment lined cookie sheet for approx 30 minutes at 375 degrees till browned. Then drop them into the sauce so they absorb the wonderful tomato flavor. Don’t stir too much as the meatballs could break apart. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or so until they are done.

NOTE: This is a basic recipe. You can add lots of different things to this like hot pepper seeds, different meat combination, etc.

It's easy to double or triple this recipe for a crowd. You can keep the meatballs in cooked form (before adding them into the sauce) in the freezer if you want to prepare extra and have for another time.

Try them and you will never eat store bought meatballs again. They are just so much better made with love at home.

Theresa helps some friends to make a pie

Cooking Times and Temperatures

I like to put my stone in the oven and preheat to 475 degrees. I usually would like the oven on for at least half an hour at that temp before baking. My cooking time can be anywhere from 9 to 14 minutes at this temp with the stone. It is great to have a large long spatula to lift the pizza up and check the bottom for color. You want it browned but not burnt. If you have just bought your pizza stone then keep it in the oven even when you are not using it and let it get dark. The darker, the better and don't wash it with soap. If you get burnt cheese or things on it, use your spatula or dough scraper to get that stuff off. A well seasoned stone makes a really great pizza! I think Drew and Stephanie use 500 degrees to do theirs but as I mentioned, it really depends on your oven. Do what works for you.

How to make homemade Pizza. Part 3.

Here is part three to our homemade pizza video. We finally get to eat our pizza!

How to make homemade Pizza. Part 2.

Here is part two to our homemade pizza video. This video shows how to top and bake a pizza.

How to make homemade Pizza. Part 1.

Here is part one to our homemade pizza video. This video shows how to make pizza dough with a mixer and by hand.