Mosaic Biscotti for Christmas (and a Video)

I made 225 biscotti yesterday for Christmas.   Yes, it took a long time, but it was so very worth it.   These Mosaic Biscotti are so beautiful and just look like Christmas to me.  They contain hazelnuts, chocolate, pistachios and cranberries (my addition).   These come from the Queen of Desserts,   Gina DePalma, the pastry chef at Babbo.   There is a reason Mario Batali hired Gina.    She's brilliant.    And if you aren't familiar with her, check out her book on desserts, Dolce Italiano.   This book is such a must have if you like baking.




If you aren't familiar with making biscotti, they really are very easy, they just take time.   The dough is shaped into a wide log, baked and then sliced into the individual biscotti and then baked again until they are dry and crisp.  These biscotti contain no butter, which allows them to last for several days, wrapped.  You can make these ahead of time and freeze them for a couple of weeks.

I have printed the recipe the way Gina makes them, without the cranberries.  When I made them, I cut back on the chocolate a little bit and added about a cup of cranberries.  You can certainly adjust any of the nuts or chocolate any way you like.

See Gina DePalma make these biscotti for an audience at Google:




Mosaic Biscotti

from Dolce Italiano by Gina DePalma

for a printer friendly recipe, click here

3.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks, plus 1 egg white for glaze
2 cups sugar, plus 1.5 tablespoons for glaze
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Ghiaredelli bittersweet chips, so I didn't have to chop.)
2 cups skinned or unskinned hazelnuts
2 cups whole, unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped (I didn't even chop mine.  Lazy.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Beat together the eggs, egg yolks and 2 cups of the sugar on medium speed until pale and thick, about 2 minutes.   Beat in the vanilla extract, followed by the dry ingredients and then the chocolate and nuts, until the dough is thoroughly mixed.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.   Lightly grease two large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or butter or line with parchment (no clean up, if you do this - my preferred method!)

Using floured hands, divide the dough into 5 equal portions*.  On a lightly floured surface, shape each portion of the dough into a log about 1.5 inches in diameter and 10 inches long.   Place 2 of the logs on one of the baking sheets, 3 inches apart, and 3 of the logs on the second baking sheet, also 3 inches apart. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork until frothy.   With a pastry brush, glaze each log with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.



Bake the logs until they are lightly golden brown, firm to the touch, and just beginning to crack slightly, 20 to 25 minutes.    Rotate the sheets 180 degrees halfway through the baking time to ensure even browning. Allow the logs to cool on the baking sheets on a wire rack until they are cool to the touch, about 40 minutes.    Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees.

With a sharp, serrated knife**,  slice the biscotti slightly on the bias into 1/4 inch wide slices.   Lay the slices on the baking sheets in a single layer.   Return them to the oven and cook for 20 minutes more, or until they are toasted, dry and crisp.   Cool the biscotti completely on the sheets and then store them in an airtight container kept in a cool, dry place for up to 2 weeks.

When I baked these, I tripled the recipe and had about 225 biscotti.

*You may make the biscotti any size you like.    For larger biscotti, divide the dough into only 4 pieces.   Make the logs a little wider and you will have longer biscotti. I cut the biscotti into 1/2 inch slices.

**This is the knife  Gina DePalma talks about in her video which she believes is the best for slicing biscotti.  And it's great - I have one and love it.

Bookmark on Delicious

Stuffed Zucchini

If you read this blog, you know that I love to stuff vegetables, as I did here and here and here. It's a way to get people to eat vegetables who otherwise wouldn't and it can also be a great way to make a special dish ahead of time.  You assemble the vegetables, refrigerate the dish and then pop it into the oven right before you need it.  I really love doing that because it frees me up to concentrate on the rest of the menu.



Zucchini can be really bland.  This recipe adds a lot in the flavor department to this vegetable. You blanch the zucchini in boiling water, cut them in half, scoop out the insides and fill them with any stuffing you like.  I used a mixture of onion, garlic, prosciutto and cheese.

Stuffed Zucchini

for a printer friendly recipe, click here

4 medium zucchini
1/2 large onion
3 garlic cloves

pinch of red hot chili pepper
4 slices prosciutto, chopped finely
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Blanch the whole zucchini in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove.

Trim ends off zucchini. Cut in half, lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving 1/8 inch of the flesh all around. Chop the zucchini flesh and set aside.

Place zucchini halves on baking sheet. Salt and pepper them.



Make stuffing:  In a large skillet, saute the onion in a little olive oil and salt for a few minutes, until soft.  Add garlic and red hot chili pepper and saute one minute more.  Add zucchini flesh and some salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and add the chopped prosciutto, parsley and cheese. ( If you are going to stuff the zucchini and cook them later, let the stuffing cool before you fill the zucchini.  Fill them and refrigerate them until you want to cook them and then bring them out about 30 minutes before you want to cook them, to bring them to room temperature. )

Bring the oven to 375 degrees.  Drizzle a little olive oil over the vegetables.  Cover the pan tightly with foil and cook for 15 minutes.   Remove foil and cook another 10 minutes.   Grate additional parmesan over the top.

Bookmark on Delicious

Pistachio Cookies and Vetri

Please note that I have moved my blog as of September, 2009. THIS POST is now at: http://tinyurl.com/y975dwf . Please hop on over there to read it. Thanks!

Bookmark on Delicious

Caramel Cake - Daring Baker's November Challenge

I was scared to make this cake.

When I saw what this month's Daring Baker's Challenge was, I was excited because it was something sweet and the last couple have been savory.    This cake comes from Shuna Fish Lydon, who is a professional pastry chef and writes the great food blog, Eggbeater.  I started reading all the comments by people who have previously attempted this cake and had real problems with it.  I was sure I would, too.   But Shuna had lots of detailed notes posted about how to deal with some of the challenges of this cake and I followed them thoroughly and did not have any problem at all.   The cake was moist and light and absolutely delicious.  The caramel frosting is outstanding.  So if you have the urge to make this cake, don't be afraid. It was pretty straightforward. It just takes a little time to make it properly.


Making the Caramel, Steps 1 & 2



I think one of the important things that Shuna emphasizes is the "dry, wet, dry, wet, dry" method of cake making. You must alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, and do it very slowly and patiently. For additional notes by Shuna about how to make the cake, click here.

When you finish this recipe, you will have additional caramel sauce left over.  It won't take long to put it to good use!  You can even drizzle the extra over the cake slices.

The hosts for this month's challenge are Delores of Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity , Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food . And if you need a gluten free version of this cake , you can turn to Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.

For the full recipe for this cake, please go to this link on Bay Area Bites.



My previous Daring Baker's Post: Lavash Crackers with Peperonata Topping

Bookmark on Delicious

Last Minute Lemon Shrimp Pasta and a Review of Chicago's "Quince"

We had to go to Chicago this weekend for a wedding and we got to have dinner one night with our oldest son, Barry, who goes to school there. I've always wanted to try "Quince", the restaurant which occupies the space where the famous five star "Trio" and Grant Achatz used to be. We had a great dinner there. The menu had me stumped because I wanted to try almost every single thing on it. And I was so disappointed in myself because I did not have the guts to take decent photos of the food - just these lousy low light ones. But I was way too conscientious to use my flash in such a nice place. Just what they need - another food blogger taking pictures of the food. But that food really deserved serious photos. If you want to see real photos of how the food was presented, go to their website. The dishes are real works of art.

We had two waiters the whole evening and they were just great. What a treat to have such outstanding service.

Quince has a selection of specialty martinis which are really interesting. Talk about a hard choice - I had the Quince Tini (pear vodka, pear puree, Apple Pucker, quince) and my friend Yvonne had the Green Tea-ni (dragonwell tea, earl grey-infused vodka, cointreau, honey) and Brian had a Tequitini (tequila, campari, pineapple juice). They sound great, don't they? They were!

The menu is a collection of cold and hot appetizers and entrees of seafood, meats and gnocchi. One thing I was disappointed with was there was not some kind of pasta on the menu. I was looking for some handcrafted pasta, like ravioli or something, just to see what Chef Hannon would do with it.

I started with the Shaved Asparagus Salad, which is something they are known for. It had a combination of shaved asparagus and whole asparagus dipped in tempura batter and fried , tossed with truffle vinaigrette and shaved parmesan cheese. Really special.



Here was Brian's scallop appetizer. I just loved the way they presented this.



For my entree, I had the yellowtail snapper with forbidden black rice over basil cream. The aroma when the waiter brought it to the table was wonderful.



I'm glad Brian ordered the short ribs with peas and carrots because I was dying to see how they were plated. It was a great presentation and I tasted the short ribs and they were outstanding. Don't you love how they did the peas and carrots?



See what I mean about my lousy photos.

My son had the ricotta gnocchi and they were light and delicious. We wanted to have a Sicilian wine and instead of ordering one of the Nero d'Avolas, we tried the Bonaccorsi “Val Cerasa,” Etna Rosso 2000 and we loved it. Always fun to try something different. The wine list was great.

For dessert, I had the doughnut with blueberry jam. Nice.

The only downside to the evening was that the dining room was blazing hot. I was actually sweating. I did mention it to one of the waiters and he turned the heat off and that helped. There was a fire in the fireplace in the dining room, which was nice but not when it's 85 degrees in the place.



After we drove home from Chicago, I had nothing to fix for dinner so I whipped up this quick dish. I love having shrimp in the freezer because they come in so handy when you don't have anything defrosted. A little warm water and a colander and they thaw out so fast.

I sliced a red onion and some garlic and sauteed them for a few minutes with a pinch of salt and pepper. I threw the shrimp in for a couple of minutes, added about a half cup of white wine, about a cup of chicken broth and let this simmer just a little. I threw in a large pinch of red hot chili pepper, the zest and juice of one lemon and let that simmer, covered, for a couple of minutes until the shrimp were just poached. Meanwhile, I boiled the penne pasta. When that was almost done, I took them out with my trusty spider and added them to the skillet with the shrimp and sauce. The last touch was a handful of chopped parsley and a few gratings of parmesan cheese. Dinner in no time! Much better than picking up fast food on the way home.

Bookmark on Delicious

How to Make Homemade Gnocchi

(Please note that I have moved my blog as of September, 2009. This post is now at: http://tinyurl.com/y9z5k38. Please hop on over and visit me at my new site. Thanks!)

Bookmark on Delicious

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

(Please note that I have moved my blog as of September, 2009. This post is now at: http://tinyurl.com/y9z5k38. Please hop on over and visit me at my new site. Thanks!)

Bookmark on Delicious