Pasta with Peas

Another super easy summer pasta. Saute some onions in a frying pan with good olive oil while boiling your favorite pasta. Add the frozen or fresh peas and add some of the pasta water. Add salt, pepper and hot pepper seeds to taste. When pasta is nearly al dente, drain and add to the skillet to finish cooking. Toss with your favorite grated cheese. If you have some mint or basil in the garden, add that for an extra special flavor.

Hot Peppers with Bread Crumbs, Garlic and Cheese

This is one of my favorite things to make and super easy. I love them just on their own, or with some good bread or even cut up and tossed with some pasta and olive oil. They can be super hot or mild depending on the peppers. We use Pasilla Peppers and split them in half. Wash well. I leave the seeds in because I want the extra heat. If you like them more mild, then clean out the seees completely. Put them in a baking pan with a little water in the bottom. This will provide steam later. Then add some bread crumbs ( plain or seasoned) 1 or 2 Tablespoons per pepper. Fresh garlic or good garlic powder, drizzle each pepper with some good olive oil and then add a nice spoonful of romano or your favorite grated cheese. Sprinkle with sea salt. That's it! Cover the pan with foil and cook in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. Then uncover and cook another 10 to have them brown up on top. Here are the ingredients listed. Pasilla Peppers Bread Crumbs Garlic or Garlic Powder Olive Oil Grated Romano Cheese You will need an oblong baking Pan. Oven at 400 degrees Foil to cover the pan. Enjoy these.. they are so easy and so delicious! Again, I leave the seeds in because I love hot food! I sometimes add hot pepper seeds if my Pasilla's are not spicy enough.

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!

Calamari

Making Calamari the right way is not that difficult. You need to clean them and remove the ink and any of those transparant bones, then separate the body from the tenacles. My mom says soaking in salt water is the best way to prepare them and I think she is right.

Drain well.

Then simply toss in flour and fry in hot oil till golden brown. Best to have a frying shield as sometimes they spit a lot of oil at you. Depending on how dry they are when you fry them. Once done, drain on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Remember that the soaking in salt water already has them seasoned somewhat so use salt according to your taste! We serve them with lemon wedges and they are a part of our traditional Christmas eve dinner.

ps. Drew has been trying to edit a video of our mom doing this over a year ago, but so much editing necessary, I thought i'd post the photos of the ones we did this year at his house.

I made a focaccia last night

I decided to make one of my grandma's style pizza or focaccia last night.

Her recipe is similar to Pizza but she added an egg and more olive oil. I kept the oil light in the dough but added  an ample amount on the bottom of the pan before shaping and drizzled some on top of the dough before adding the tomatoes and onions, etc.

The dough.

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup of warm water with 1 ample teaspoon of yeast and a pinch of sugar, allowed to sit for a few minutes.

1 egg

Mix all together and knead for a few minutes. Allow to doublein size. Pour an ample amount of olive oil on the bottom of a cookie sheet with edges.. (you can use a baking pan as well)   and spread out. Dough is softer than pizza dough and spreads easily.

Allow to proof again till it gets puffy. Add your tomatoes, and anything else you like. I put kalamata olives and some chunks of asiago cheese, then topped with some sliced onion. My tomatoes had 2 cloves of garlic in them and some salt and had sat in the fridge. I used some of the juice that came out but not all of it.

Once this was done, I put it back to proof again and preheated the oven to 500. 

Bake 12 to 15 minutes.. and enjoy!

Italian Apple Cake (One Bowl Recipe)

I made this cake over the weekend and it is delicious. Moist cake perfect with coffee, and so easy to do. It reminded me of a cake this family made in Bologna where I stayed many years ago. Make sure your olive oil is light and not heavy in flavor. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare a 9 x 13 pan by spraying with pam or buttering or using olive oil to grease it.

Here is the recipe.

Cut and slice 3 to 4 apples.. ( any kind you have)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped walnuts

Now in one bowl...

3 eggs

3/4 cup of LIGHT olive oil

1 1/2 of sugar

2 cup flour

pinch of salt

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla extract

In a large bowl....

Beat the eggs with a fork and add the oil and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Add the apples and walnuts and mix in till coated.

Pour batter into a well sprayed or buttered or oiled 9x13 baking pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

You will love this cake. Super easy and gets better as it sits!

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.

Whole wheat penne with peppers and goat cheese

Here is another quick and easy dish. Saute your peppers with some garlic and olive oil, or pre roast them.. add some fresh mushrooms and saute till cooked. Toss your al dente wheat pasta into the skillet and add a couple of nice pieces of goat cheese to melt in. Add hot pepper seeds and garnish with some fresh basil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Delicious!

Artichoke Pasta ( Quick and Easy)

One of my favorite quick pastas is with a vegetable and olive oil, garlic and cheese.

Here is one that is super easy.

Frozen artichoke hearts

Olive oil or olive oil and butter

Fresh garlic

Your favorite cheese ( romano, asiago, or combo)

salt and pepper, hot pepper flakes

Cream if you like it richer or creamy

Saute your defrosted artichoke hearts in your butter or olive oil mix. Add chopped garlic, hot pepper seeds and salt and pepper. Do this while you are boiling a pot of water for your pasta.

Cook pasta al dente, drain and add to your artichoke mixture. Toss with cream if you like, or just add your cheese and a little of the pasta water to blend the flavors. Quick, easy and delicious! You can do this with peas, spinach, or any other green or veggie that you like. Try it.. supper in a hurry!

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.

Italian Easter Breads

Our friend Maria Altomari makes these every year for Easter..a traditional bread from southern Italy. Here is my mom and grandma's recipe. We call them Scarcelle. You can make these for Easter or just cut into shapes or use cookie cutters and brush with milk and sprinkle with Sugar or colored beads.

Here is the recipe.

3 Cups Flour
3 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cube butter or margarine
3 t baking powder
2 t vanilla

Mix flour , sugar and baking powder together. Make a well and add the 3 beaten eggs, vanilla and melted butter or margarine. Mix until it goes together but do not knead. Add warm milk if necessary to bring the dough together. Form into a ball. Roll out small sections of the dough and shape or cut with cookie cutters. Add the egg to the large ones for Easter, brush with milk and sprinkle with colored beads. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375 oven. Till lightly browned. My gram always tested hers first to see how long it would take. This is the recipe they gave me. Good luck . We make these for all the holidays and they are great coffee dipping cookies too. The larger shapes stay much more moist because of their size. NOTE you do not need to cook the egg first. It cooks in the oven. Note: You can put the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the wet liquid and mix with wooden spoon but do not beat with a mixer. Theresa (recipe from Teresa Cea and Marcia Vinciguerra)

Ricotta Cheesecake

This is a delicious cheesecake that we always had on the holidays. We call it "pizzadolce" Here is the recipe. My friends ask me for it all the time. Makes a big one so you can cut it in half if you want.

3 lbs good ricotta
2 cups sugar
18 Eggs ( yes this many)
1 t. cinnamon grated peel of one lemon
2 shots of bourbon or whiskey
1 Can of fruit cocktail, drained pieces of chocolate.
My gram used 2 or 3 hershey bars broken into pieces.

Mix the ricotta and sugar with a beater and then add eggs 3 at a time till well blended. Add the cinnamon and bourbon. Prepare your pan. Either grease and flour or use parchment on the bottom. Pour into a large springform pan or line an oblong pan with parchment paper and pour the mixture in. Sprinkle the fruit over the batter so it is somewhat evenly distributed and do the same with the chocolate pieces. Oven preheated to 400 to start. for 20 minutes. Then lower to 350 and cook till tests clean with toothpick. About 1 and 1/2 hour for cheesecake style and a little less for oblong.

Once it comes out of the oven, sprinkle with sugar lightly and let rest. It will come down some. This is so delicious chilled and tastes better a couple days later so you can make ahead of time. This is my grandma Teresa Cea's recipe

Pizzelle

Recipe
6 Eggs
3 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 sticks butter melted
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp Vanilla or other extract ( add anise seeds if desired , I use about 1/4 cup)

Beat eggs and sugar together with a whisk or beater. Add Flour and baking powder ( Mixture will be stiff) Add melted butter and vanilla or other flavorings You will need a Pizzelle Iron. Place about a tablespoon at a time on the iron and cook till the color of your choice. Remove and rest on a rack till cool. Once cooled you can stack them up. My good friend Anna Altomari and I are making these. Anna was recently on the Worst Cooks in America. She really doesn't know what she is doing in the kitchen but she loves to learn!

Italian Fig Cookies

This recipe is from the Fazio family. Sandy was my chiropractor and her daughter Janine worked for me at the Caffe. I am so happy they shared it with me because they are so delicious and bring back memories! We caught up on Facebook the last couple of years. This is why I love facebook.

Cooks note: I used a little less honey than what was called for. The nut and fruit mixture is not wet and not dry. I cut my dough into squares and then placed a ball of the mixture in the middle and folded like a cannoli or made a little pouch by bringing all the corners together in the center.

I added little colored beads to mine after brushing with the egg wash and again after icing. RAVE reviews! Thanks again for sharing your recipe!

Christmas Time Food, Sweets and Traditions

Drew and I are adding some of our favorite photos of Christmas traditions during the month of December!

Calamari

Crab Pasta

Cookies


Panettone is a holiday tradition!

Our mom is famous for this red outfit at Christmas.

We are sitting down to our traditional "Wedding Soup" as a starter on Christmas Day.

Made a bunch of Pizzelle with my friend Anna the other night.

Here is my old Pizzelle recipe from the Caffe.

I love the old pieces of paper these recipes were written on.. this book had all my restaurants secrets in it!

Sprinkles add a festive touch to coffee drinks!

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.