Calzones!

Soppressata, fried onions and peppers! Why Soppressata? Quite a while ago I had saw a recipe that used salami in a calzone. I was at the store and saw the Soppressata and decided to try it. The dough was from the Jim Lahey's My Bread Book. Sauce was jarred, sorry. Chef Silvio's Sunday Sauce, which I now have the recipe for in Cooking With Chef Silvio!

Shepherd's Pie

It was a choice between Meatloaf and Shepherd's Pie. The deciding factor... the number of dishes that would have to be washed. Ground beef, onions, frozen vegetables and mashed potatoes. Perfect pre-blizzard meal.

Reuben Bread and Butternut Squash and Leek Soup

Dinner started with some Kielbasa that I did not use in Thursday night's dinner. I was unsure what I was going to do with it when I found the recipe for Reuben Bread.  I had made this bread last year so I just used the Kielbasa in place of the Corn Beef.

I did not have Thousand Island Dressing so I did the obvious thing, I Googled it! Found this easy recipe -

Easy Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. sweet pickle relish
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp milk

Also made a nice soup, Butternut Squash and Leek. Loved it!

Pork, Potatoes, and Vinegar Peppers

 

Guess where this recipe came from... Cooking with Chef Silvio. I know I am in a cookbook rut but this is such a good book! So Pork, Potatoes, and Vinegar Peppers or Maiale Pate e Pupacchie was fantastic. No leftovers. I think that sums up the meal.

I cut up a pork tenderloin into cubes. Cut up 1/2 lb of potatoes into wedges. Heated some olive oil and added the pork, the potatoes and some pickled peppers. Sauteed until the pork and the potatoes were cooked, about 35 minutes, stirring constantly. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Yum!

We had a nice wine with dinner. Lagone Aia Vecchia which was very nice and very cheap. Like $6.99 a bottle. The cherry finish was amazing.

I had found this recipe on The Italian Dish blog a while ago and finally tried it. Next time I need to wait to slice the bread. But other than that why wouldn't anyone make this recipe. A loaf of bread for 40 cents! Come on that is a good deal.

Is that a cat's tail I see in that photo?

 

Yes that is Archie being held by me. I am wearing my New Orleans Saints sweatshirt... sigh, maybe next year...

Pacche e Fasul, Homemade Macaroni and Beans

Tonight we were Cooking With Chef Silvio. Pacche e Fasul, Homemade Macaroni and Beans is what I would consider peasant food. I do not mean peasant food as a bad thing. I am fascinated by Italian food that perhaps my grandparents may have eaten. They were farmers, not well off by any means, and just maybe my great grandmother made this for dinner
To begin with I had never made a pasta like this before. Flour, salt and water. That's it. It was a little heavier than pasta made with egg. But it was good. It had a wonderful texture. And it was rolled out by hand. That's right no pasta machine here. I kept thinking that this was probably a normal thing for my grandmothers to do. I was tempted to pull out the pasta machine but I did not.

The sauce was heaven on a plate. Olive oil, onion, celery, tomatoes, basil and cannellini beans (of course I omitted the garlic). What amazes me about this book and even La Cucina is that the best recipes have the fewest ingredients.

Pasta Ingredients

4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
water

Sauce Ingredients

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 small onion finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
24 oz can San Marzano tomatoes, undrained and crushed by hand
Leaves of 1 bunch fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
14 oz can undrained cannellini beans
Peperoncino

For the Pasta

Chef Silvio suggests using a large wooden board or a marble slab for making the dough on... I used my Pampered Chef Pastry Mat, the marble slab will be installed when the kitchen is done over.
So here we go...
Place flour in the middle of the pastry mat and make a well in the center. Add the salt and gradually pour water into the well while mixing in the flour until all the flour is moistened and a rough dough has gathered into a ball. The dough should be quite firm but pliable. At some point you may ask how much water. Well I used around 1 1/2 cups, but I added it very slowly and I added it as it seemed necessary. Chef Silvio's recipe says you may need to adjust the flour or water.
Scape the work surface clean and sprinkle with enough flour to cover. Place the dough on the surface, sprinkle with flour, and knead with your fist for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and sprinkle the top and bottom with flour. Let rest for 1 hour. 
With a rolling pin, roll the dough from the center outwards in all directions so that it forms a round sheet. Keep rolling and sprinkle the bottom and top frequently with flour so it doesn't stick. The dough should be 1/8 to 1/16 in thickness. Let the pasta sheet rest for 2 hours.
Then cut into strips 3 inches wide, making sure the strips are well floured, top and bottom. Make 2 stacks of pasta strips and cut them across into 1/2 inch wide pieces. (For some reason I decided to cut the pasta into triangles.) Separate the pieces with your fingers and sprinkle with more flour to keep them dry and apart. Gently spread them into an even layer on a tray lined with linen towel and let dry for at least for 1 hour.

Making the Sauce

This is an amazing sauce. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and celery and cook for approximately 5 minutes or until ingredients turn golden. Add the tomatoes, 12 basil leaves, torn up, and salt and pepper. Simmer, covered for about 5 minutes. Take off the cover, stir in the beans and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes become soft. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Stir gently until the water comes back to a boil and the pasta comes to the surface. Drain the pasta, saving some of the water. Return the pasta to the pot, mix with the sauce, and add enough cooking water to just about cover the pasta. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, give it a nice stir and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and peperoncino to your liking. If you like it brothy, serve immediately; if you like it thick let it sit off heat for 10 to 15 minutes with the cover on.


This was the second recipe I have cooked out of Cooking With Chef Silvio. I am recommending it and have added it to my Favorite Cookbooks list. Can't wait to try another recipe. And I think Chris is pleased with his cookbook choice!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I made my sister's Chicken Stock recipe. I added Escarole, frozen mixed vegetables and pasta. If either of us was not feeling well before dinner this soup cured it. Such a wonderful meal.

Roasted Kielbasa, Bell Peppers and Onions

In today's newspaper there was an article about "super" foods. Onions and Bell Peppers were on the list!

The Keikbasa was Grote & Weigel. I cut everything up and tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, thyme & sage. It went into the oven for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees. A little dijon mustard and some bread made this a perfect winter meal.

Spaghetti Pie with Pecorino Cheese, Prosciutto and Zucchini

 

For Christmas I received Cooking with Chef Silvio. We have eaten at his restaurant in Madison a few times and each time the food was wonderful. This recipe was amazing. We cleaned the plate! The only change I made was to add sauteed zucchini. I wish I had some leftovers for lunch...

Ingredients
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup pecorino romano cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper
12 oz cooked spaghetti, cold
2 tbsp butter
5 oz. goat cheese, sliced 1/4 " thick
3 oz prosciutto, cut into strips

In a bowl, beat the eggs, grated cheese, cream, parsley, salt and pepper until well combined. Stir in the spaghetti, then set aside. Saute the zucchini in pan in olive oil. Place the butter in a deep pie tin and melt the butter in a 425 degree oven, and spread over the pan bottom. Pour half of the spaghetti mixture into the buttered pan and spread evenly, then top evenly with the sliced cheese and zucchini and prosciutto. Pour the rest of the spaghetti mixture over the top. bake at 425 degrees for 8 to 20 minutes,or until it is firm and golden. We served it hot with a jar  of Chef Silvio's Sunday Sauce.

Sausage Pizza

 I would have to say that pizza is my favorite Sunday night dinner. 

My mom use to make it quite often and I think I have gotten pretty close to her recipe!

Otechino con Lenticchie, Pork Sausage with Lentils

The other day I was looking at some of the blogs I follow and came upon a photo of a dish that looked really good. The recipe was from ...ti cucino cosi... and yes it was in Italian. There's no need to fear Google Translate is here!

This recipe is very similar to Panecotta minus the escarole. The original recipe uses Cotechino, which is a fresh sausage made with pork, fatback and pork rind and comes from Modena, Italy. I used a pork sausage with Provolone and Red Pepper. The recipe also called for 150 grams of Lentils. So I was able to use my new digital kitchen scale! Thank you Chris!

Photo shows too many lentils!

This is my version of the recipe.

Otechino con Lenticchie (Pork Sausage with Lentils)

Ingredients
150 gr Lentils (1 cup)
2 cups water
1 potato, boiled
80 gr bread, soaked in milk (about 4 slices of Italian bread)
1/2 lb. pork sausage
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Parmesan

Method
Cook the lentils in water until the water is all absorbed and lentils are cooked, allow to cool. (This took about 18 minutes). (The original recipe called for a pinch of a salt in the water when cooking the lentils but every blog that I read about lentils said the salt would make them tough, so I omitted it).
Boil the potatoes. Cook the sausage.
Saute the finely chopped onion in oil.
Place the sliced sausage, onions and potatoes and mash well with a fork. Add the lentils.
Add the slices of bread that have soaked in a little milk and mix everything together.
Put the mixture into a greased (I use Pam cooking spray) Pyrex baking dish and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Serve warm.

Along with this we had a salad and used Paul Newman's Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.

Happy New Year's Day!