Pane Cotto

Today would have been my Mom's 94th birthday. I thought of her all day as I was doing my cooking. And boy did I do some cooking. A large pot of meat sauce. Chicken Pot Pie. Zucchini and Eggplant Lasagna. Beef Strudel. Tomato Soup. And I made a pot of chicken broth from the carcasses of some roasted chickens I had in the freezer. I used a recipe from What's Cooking America. I ended up with 7 cups of broth. Not bad. Now doing all this cooking is not hard. Yes it is time consuming but I know I am putting a home cooked meal on the table every night. What is hard? Cleaning up.

Cooking is easy, it's the cleaning up that is hard.

Besides all the things I listed above I still made something different for dinner. Pane Cotto. Escarole, bread and I added chicken. This is true comfort food.

This recipe was from the New Haven Register, April 15, 2009. It is from Jo Farricielli of East Haven, CT.

Pane Cotto
Ingredients -
1/2 loaf Italian bread, cubed; bread can be day-old, stale or fresh
1/2 sliced onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 - 6 cups of cooked Escarole and Beans, recipe follows

Method-
Coat 9- by 13-inch casserole or baking dish with cooking spray. Spread enough cubed bread to cover bottom of a 9- by 13-inch casserole or baking dish. Saute onion in olive oil until onions are golden and slightly caramelized. Spoon this mixture over the bread. Then cover with the Escarole and Beans.
Sprinkle top generously with grated Parmesan and mozzarella and bake in a preheated 350- degree oven for 20 minutes. Move to upper shelf in oven, and broil for 5 minutes, until cheese is slightly browned. Makes 6 generous servings.

Escarole and Beans
Ingredients - 
1 large head of escarole
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup cooked cannellini or pea beans, canned or freshly cooked
Salt and pepper

Method-
Wash escarole. Remove core, cut leaves and boil in about 2 cups of salted water until it cooks down and is completely tender. Remove from heat; reserve liquid. Lightly saute garlic in olive oil. Add cooked beans, escarole along with enough liquid to make the mixture slightly soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook together on top of stove for 20 minutes. This can Be made ahead of time, eaten as is with fresh Italian bread or made into Pane Cotto.

Chicken and Rice

From The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook we have Chicken and Rice. The recipe called for chicken thighs. The chicken thighs at the store were very sad looking so I opted for 2 bone-in breasts. I cut the breasts in half and then followed the recipe. Even though this was cooking for 2 we still had leftovers!

Chicken and Rice, from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
salt and pepper
4 (5- to 7- ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced (I didn't use this)
3/4 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/8 tsp dried
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 3/4 cup broth, rice and 1/4 tsp salt in bowl. Cover and microwave until rice is softened and most of the liquid is absorbed, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, pat chicken dry with the paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in medium ovensafe saucepan over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown chicken well, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to plate.
3. Pour off all but 1 tsp fat from saucepan. Add onion and 1/4 salt and cook over medium-low heat until soften and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup broth and wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in parcooked rice, breaking up any large clumps, and bring to simmer. Place browned chicken skin side up on rice, cover (Use ovensafe cover for the pot), and bake until rice is cooked through and the chicken registers 175 degrees, about 25 minutes.
4. Using potholders (saucepan handle will be hot), remove saucepan from oven. transfer chicken to serving platter and tent chicken loosely with aluminum foil. Fluff rice with fork, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.

Lentil and Kale Soup

Happy New Year! Let's start the new year off with a good breakfast. A frittatta using up some roasted potatoes, some zucchini and cherry tomatoes along with bacon and cheddar cheese.

We had sandwiches made on No Knead Sandwich Bread. I made this Monday and added whole wheat flour and flax seeds to the dough. It was delicious!

Dinner was a pot of Lentil and Kale Soup. Yeah that is Tuscan Kale, I love Bishop's! They have the best produce around. And I had some chicken in the freezer from the last time I made broth. And yes those are hot dogs you see in the soup. Starting off the new year by cleaning out the freezer.  This soup was so nourishing and delicious. I am sure it is because of the homemade broth.

Wordless Wednesday

Okay a couple of words - Happy New Year!
Tonight's dinner is from The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook. 

Chicken Vesuvio.

This was delicious!

2014 Top Twelve

Let me just start by saying 2014 was an interesting year. Let's see.. The flu right after Christmas. The fractured hand in February. A case of food poisoning in April. And let's not forget that fractured ankle in June. Seriously, my New Year's resolution for 2015 is to stay in one piece! But this is a food blog so let's get to the point. Top Twelve Best Dinners of 2014 -

 January 18 - Becco.
Even as I type this it was one of the most memorable meals I have had.

February 23 - Short Rib Pot Pie.
I don't think I need to even say anything about this.

March 5 - Round Lasagna.
It is just such an amazing dish!

April 12 - Bread and Vegetable Lasagna.
Any meatless meal that Chris likes is a winner.

May 17 - The Stuffed Artichoke Recipe I Have Been Searching For.
Just so close to my Mom's.

June 30 - Lenore's Chicken Croquettes. 

Tough one to pick, Lenore brought over a lot of really good dinners

but I think this one was my favorite.

 July 8 - Eggplant and Tomato Casserole.
When you have too many tomatoes make this!

August 16 - Friselle con Pomodoro. 

Anytime you have tomatoes make this!

September 25 - Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter.

This was a life changing recipe.

 I have always made a quick marinara the same way my Mom did. 

Sorry Mom but this is my new go to recipe.

October 7 - One Tray Bake.

Jamie Oliver recipe. Always a winner!

November 17 - Beef Stew with Cannellini Beans.

Perfect for a cold night.

December 30 - Not My Mother's Meatballs.

Yeah this beat out Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It was a fun recipe to make and these were tasty meatballs!

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Not My Mother's Meatballs

 

These meatballs are from Luca Manfé's My Italian Kitchen. They are his mother's meatballs and they are delicious! I did make 2 changes in the original recipe. I only used one egg, not adding the 2 egg yolks called for in the recipe and I put some Mozzarella cheese in the center of each meatball. I figured it couldn't hurt. Delicious!

Orecchiette with Zucchini, Ricotta and Mint

 

So I have this homemade Ricotta that I am trying to use up. Chris gave me My Italian Kitchen by Luca Manfré. In it I found the recipe for Orecchiette with Zucchini, Ricotta and Mint. I had the Ricotta, the fresh mint and I have always wanted to make orrechette. Well I am on vacation so...

One of the other cookbooks Chris gave me was MasterChef. In it was a recipe for homemade Orecchiette. Okay first mistake was to use a new pasta recipe. I should have made my usual recipe. The MasterChef recipe was rather dry, but next time... Making or should I say shaping the Orecchiette took a while to get the shape right. I actually watched a couple YouTube videos of "older" Italian women making Orecchiette. Holy cow I was ready to give up after watching them. It was like they were on speed. It took me an hour and a half to make this pasta, just shaping it. Perhaps with practice I can reduce my production time. 

Okay back to Luca's recipe. Pretty easy to follow. I make pasta with zucchini quite often. The addition of the mint lightened up the dish and I actually had the fresh mint in the fridge. Oh, I did make one change. I added a little white wine after adding the pasta to the saute pan. Sorry I could not help myself.

  

My version of Orecchiette with Zucchini, Ricotta and Mint, from My Italian Kitchen by Luca Manfré.

Ingredients -
 1 16 oz. package of Orecchiette
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, finely minced
2 zucchini, ends trimmed, cut in half and sliced into half-moons
Salt & Fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves 
Parmesan cheese 

Method -
Heat 2 tbsp oil in saute pan over medium high heat. Add the shallots and zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the Orecchiette and cook until al dente.
Transfer the cooked pasta to the pan with the zucchini, adding some pasta water and the white wine. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the ricotta and the mint and turn off the heat. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

We Now Return You To Our Regularly Scheduled Program - Sunday Pizza

 

Yes it is Sunday. Doesn't feel like a Sunday but I can deal with some time off. I had the pizza dough in the freezer. I sauteed some onions and cooked bacon for the topping. I had a little spinach left from our salad on Friday night. That got sauteed and seasoned with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.  The sauce was just crushed tomatoes and oregano. The crust was put in the pan and then I let it rise in the pan for an hour. Some Parmesan was sprinkled on top and the sauce was spread onto the crust. I made half of the pie just bacon and onion. The other half had the spinach, some onions, fresh ricotta and olives. Parmesan and Mozzarella was sprinkled atop the whole pie and a bit of olive oil was splashed on top. Delicious!

 

We opened a bottle of wine which I gave Chris for Christmas, Apothic Dark. Very, very good!

Cappelletti and Salad

Eating the day after Christmas seems unnecessary. But we must eat. And I had to keep it light. One of the nice things about having Christmas dinner at our house is that my sister gives us a pot of Cappelletti. I love this soup so much. Tonight we had the soup with a salad. The salad consisted of green leaf and baby spinach. I picked up Cherry Tomatoes and fresh Blueberries. Everything else was leftover. There were roasted nuts, some of the homemade Ricotta and olives and mint that were not used for the Crostini. I used one of my new cookbooks for the salad dressing. A Lemon Vinaigrette from My Italian Kitchen by Luca Manfré. It was perfect for the day after the Christmas and Christmas Eve feasts!

Christmas Day

Dinner for four the day after consuming shall we say large meal. I tried to keep it on the small side. I really did try. Keeping it as simple as I could. What can I say. I guess I just can't keep it too simple...

We started with appetizers and cocktails. 

 

Arancini, filled with Mozzarella with a side of
Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter.

 

Parmesan, Rosemary and Thyme Shortbread, from Savory Simple. 

Christina's Famous Nuts, from Food and Wine.

Fresh Ricotta Crostini with Black Olives,
Lemon Zest, and Mint, from Saveur.

The Ricotta recipe is from What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine. 

This Ricotta is so easy to make. 

If you do nothing else in 2015 make homemade Ricotta.

Dinner started with Cappelletti in my sister's Chicken Broth. Love in bowl!

Not that we need anything after the soup there was the 

Mustard Peppercorn Rib Roast, from Chow.com. 

I would like to thank Jeff, who cuts my hair for telling me about 

this recipe. Wow it was very good.

The meat for the four us was under $43. 

There were 2 bones, my favorite part and more than enough meat.

Sides were of course Thyme Popovers and something new. 

Christmas Vegetables, from Cookstr.com.

 

Honestly the meat was a little under cooked fom me but as 

Chris was slicing the meat I was thinking about the leftovers! 

After dinner my brother and his wife stopped in after finishing their Christmas visits.

There were Christmas Cookies, coffee and cordials! 

After a large meal I love the way the table looks
with coffee cups and lots of cordial bottles.

And Santa gave me some help in meal planning for 2015!

 Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!