Click this link to see some great pizza ideas for Halloween!

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!

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.

Backyard Tomato Plants

Every Italian I know loves to grow their own tomatoes in their garden and I am no exception. I live in Aliso Viejo, CA so we have a long growing season here. I planted my first one back in April and put the rest in sometime in late May.

Here is a video of what I have so far.

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!

Emergency Lasagna posting for a friend!!

Here is a quick Lasagna video! See next blog entry for recipe and finished photo!

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!

October is national pizza month.

So here is a pizza posting!

Stephanie made pizza with her mom and dad.  Steph's parents are real pizza connoisseurs so this was a real test of how well we can make pizza and we passed the test!       

Here is an email I received from Stephanie along with some pictures. 
 
"These pizzas came out fabulously!  We made two types:  Pepperoni and Margherita
with mozzarella di buffala, basil and tomatos"

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.

Grilled pizza with the help of a Pizza Stone






Grilled Mushroom with Pesto Oil




Grilled pizza with peppers,onion, olive and fresh tomato plus pesto oil

Last night we tried something I saw on Bobby Flay's show.He was showing how to do pizza's on the grill.  His guest grilled her pizza on a stone that was on top of the grill. Now I like my grill marks so I start out on the grill doing both sides, brush some olive oil on your bottom of the dough and then put the dough olive oil side down on the pizza stone. Add the cheeses and close the lid so it starts to melt. Then add your toppings and continue to cook. You have a lot more time when it's on the stone then when it's just  on the grill as it cooks quickly on the grill and can burn easily.

Cooks note:  A Huge Metal Spatula is a tool you will want or a Pizza Peel to help moving the pizza around when you are doing this.

To finish it off, slide it over to the grill again till the cheese is all bubbly and hot and finish off with the pesto oil. Recipe to follow.

Pesto oil recipe


Fresh basil leaves
Fresh garlic
Olive oil and salt to taste


Just mix it all in a blender or mini chop type food processor and drizzle over your pizza when it comes off the grill.


A new cook in training~

 

Basil Harvest 2010

We picked (almost) all of our basil last weekend.  We turned most of it into Pesto, I took video and I'll be posting it soon.  We tried a couple different storeage methods that we will test in a few months.  If everything works out, we'll be eating pesto all winter.  I can't wait to make a pesto pizza!

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.

Rice Ball Photos

Have a bite! Delicious!

Theresa helps some friends to make a pie

So many pizzas.

If you need some ideas for pizza toppings or if you just like to look at pizza, check out this huge collection of pizza pictures.

Some friends came from Arizona last week...

My friend Laurie and her daughter Hailey, along with Hailey's best friend Amber were here, so I made  pizza.. The girls couldn't believe that I made the dough and everything and wouldn't let anyone touch their pizza! There were only 2 pieces left!
They spent their days at the beach so that must have made them extra hungry!They had sausage, mushroom and garlic.. Ours had yellow bell pepper, onions, garlic, sausage and mushroom with fresh basil... (sometimes I think my friends think I'm going to make them a pizza like they get at take out, they are always shocked at how delicious it is)

Making friends with pizza

There are a few pizza blogs out there but one of the best is pizzatherapy.blogspot.com.  We sent him an email to introduce ourselves and Albert Grande, the creator, couldn't have been nicer.  This guy loves pizza more than anyone I know.  He's on a mission: Making good food is more than just about eating.  We're glad to be part of this mission.