Roasted Pepper and Mozzarella Bites

(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!)

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My Mom's Zucchini Lasagna

Mom and my brother, George, in Naples

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 there to read this post at my new site. Thanks!

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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!)

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Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

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Roasted Squash Ravioli with Sage

Let's talk ravioli. If you haven't made it, you probably think it's hard, right? It's actually easy and fun and if you make the filling ahead of time, it really doesn't take that long to make them.

There are many ways to make ravioli and I think I've tried them all. You can roll out the sheets of pasta with something as basic as a rolling pin  (a lot of work).  But a little equipment makes the job much easier.  For years I used the trusty Atlas pasta machine to roll out the dough into sheets. This required hand cranking and certainly wasn't hard.

Then I bought the roller attachments for my KitchenAid mixer and let the machine crank the rollers for me. So easy and so fast. I love this machine.



Those are the three ways you can roll out the dough into sheets. Then you make the ravioli. You can simply plop the filling by the teaspoonful onto the dough in regular intervals, fold the dough over, seal and cut with a knife. A pastry wheel makes much prettier edges. I even have one that seals the dough as it cuts.



Or you can use ravioli stamps like these to cut out the ravioli:



I just used a small biscuit cutter.

I've also tried the ravioli attachment on my KitchenAid mixer, but I did not at all like the ravioli made with this. My favorite way to make ravioli, however, is this mold*.  You simply roll out a sheet onto the mold, fill the indentations with stuffing, lay another sheet of pasta over this and then take a rolling pin and seal it all in the mold. Then turn over the mold and they fall out.



For this post, however, I wanted to make it without this mold because I know most of the readers would not have a mold like this.

Roasted Squash Ravioli with Sage

for recipe only, click here

for filling:
1 large butternut squash
ground nutmeg
salt and pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

for pasta:
2 cups all purpose flour or Italian 00 flour
1 cup semolina flour**
3 whole eggs
4 egg yolks

for sauce:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 Tablespoons butter
12 whole fresh sage leaves
Parmesan cheese for grating

Split squash in half with sharp knife. Remove seeds. Place on baking sheet. Salt and pepper lightly. Roast in a 400 degree oven until tender, about 45 minutes to maybe even an hour. Let cool. Remove squash from the skin. Place in a mixing bowl. Make sure you mash the squash well. Add some ground nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Add cheese and stir. Set aside.



Make pasta dough: Place eggs in your mixer bowl. Using the dough hook, mix eggs. Gradually add in the flours**, only adding in as much as the pasta will take. You may end up not using all the flour but make sure that you use all the semolina flour.  When the dough comes together into a ball, only add the flours by the spoonful until you get a nice, firm dough that is not too sticky. Knead by hand on a floured countertop for a few minutes. Wrap in floured plastic wrap and let rest at least 20 minutes.

Cut off a section of the dough and run it through the pasta rollers at the widest setting. Fold in thirds and keep rolling it through this setting several times until the pasta is nice and smooth. Dust with flour if the dough is too sticky. Proceed to the next setting and repeat until you reach setting #4. Roll it through this setting twice and lay on a floured towel. Repeat with the next section of dough. You now have two sheets of pasta dough. Don't wait to make the ravioli at this point or to roll out the other sheets, because you don't want the dough to dry before you make the ravioli.



Lay dough on lightly floured counter. Drop small spoonfuls of the filling onto the dough. With a small brush, brush water all around the filling, where you intend to seal the ravioli. Lay the second sheet on top, pressing out the air as you go from around the filling. Seal between the filling with your fingers. Cut the ravioli with a biscuit cutter or pastry wheel. Lay on a well floured towel until all the ravioli are made.





Meanwhile, heat oil and butter in a large skillet. Gently fry sage leaves. Keep warm until ravioli are finished.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Add ravioli in batches. Boil gently for three minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider and add to skillet, coating gently with sauce. When all ravioli have been cooked and added to skillet, gently transfer to serving bowl and grate cheese over.



** Semolina flour is available at Italian specialty food stores. To order online, click here.  When making fresh pasta, I prefer the combination of regular flour and semolina flour.  It makes a pasta that is a little more firm to the bite than using just regular flour alone. Be aware though that semolina flour is difficult to knead by hand. If you do not have a mixer with a dough hook, it will be a little more work. But the results, I think, are superior.



*If you are interested in purchasing a ravioli mold like the one I showed in the post, click here.

You may also like to read my original post on making fresh pasta

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Stuffed Eggplant

Even if you're not a big eggplant fan, this is a dish you still might like. I personally love eggplant but in this dish, the eggplant is really used as a stuffing with other ingredients. Get yourself a grilled or toasted piece of crusty bread and you can spread the stuffing on the bread. Add a glass of red wine and it's a perfect light dinner.



Stuffed Eggplant
for recipe only, click here
2 eggplant
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 or 5 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons salt packed capers, rinsed
1/4 cup chopped parsley
grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Slice eggplants in half. With a small sharp paring knife, cut out the eggplant flesh by first inserting the knife into the eggplant and following the perimeter, leaving a small 1/4 inch outline. Scoop out the eggplant flesh. I use a melon baller sometimes, or just cut it out with the knife and cube it. Place eggplant halves on a baking tray and sprinkle well with salt and pepper.



In a large skillet, saute the garlic gently in olive oil for two minutes. Add cubed eggplant flesh and saute for another two minutes. Add tomatoes and capers and add a little more black pepper. Remove from heat, add chopped parsley. Taste for seasoning. You may want to add a little more salt.





Stuff the eggplant with this mixture and top with some grated cheese. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Add more grated cheese just before serving.



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Tuscan Bean Soup

(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!)

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Eggplant Parmesan

I have an Italian cousin, Laura, who lives in Turin. Her son Fabio speaks English really well and we correspond via e-mail. He sent me this recipe from his mother (grazie, Laura!) for the way they fix Eggplant Parmesan. It's what I love about Italian cooking - so perfectly simple and fresh.



Don't forget to salt the eggplant - remember my previous Eggplant Rolatini post? I explained the importance of salting the eggplant, not to get rid of bitterness like some people think, but to collapse the tiny air holes in the eggplant itself. If you like to read about stuff like this - the "whys" of cooking and the science of food, you should really pick up a copy of Harold McGee's must have book, "On Food and Cooking".   Lots of professional chefs refer to this book.  McGee has done an unbelievable amount of research on the science of cooking. It's a great reference book to have.



Eggplant Parmesan

For the tomato sauce
About 35 ounces San Marzano tomatoes (or canned if you can't find fresh)
5 Tbsp. olive oil
some onion
some basil
salt
some water

Also:
2 eggplants
salt
canola oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Wash the tomatoes and squeeze them to eliminate the seeds. Skip this step if using canned tomatoes. Put the tomatoes in a pot, with the oil oil, salt, some minced onions and some basil leaves and 1/3 cup of water (skip the water if using canned tomatoes).



When the onion is well cooked, put the sauce through a food mill.



Slice the eggplants, put the slices in a bowl or colander and salt them generously. After an hour, wash the slices well and fry them using the canola oil.



Layer the slices in a baking pan, cover with the sauce, some basil leaves and the parmesan cheese. Serve cold.

Note: Laura says if you want you can make more layers and add ham and/or mozzarella cheese, baking it for around 20 minutes. Bookmark on Delicious

Stuffed Artichokes

Aren't these beautiful? These are Big Heart artichokes which I found at Papa Joe's, in Birmingham. They're much bigger than the regular globe artichokes in the local grocery store. These are special, but you can certainly make this recipe with globe artichokes, which I usually use.

If you've never prepared an artichoke before, give it a try. Once you've done the first one, it's a cinch. It's not as hard as you would think. This is a great vegetarian dish for lunch or you can serve it as a side dish.  The stuffing is really delicious and has a little zing to it because of the red pepper flakes!


This recipe will stuff 2 large Big Heart artichokes or 3 regular Globe artichokes.

1/2 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves
2 cups chopped mushrooms (use any kind you like)
large pinch of red hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 cup fresh bread crumbs*
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup white wine

*Don't use dried bread crumbs from the grocery store.  Make your own, fresh.  Just take some sourdough bread, or any kind of bakery bread like Italian or French.  It can be stale.  Cut off the crusts and place the bread in a food processor and process until it becomes crumbs. You can keep these in a plastic container in the fridge quite a long time. They're much better than buying them.


First, make sure you have a really sharp knife. Have a lemon, cut in half, ready.

Slice the top inch or so of the artichoke off. These tops of the leaves are inedible.


Slice off the stem of the artichoke, so the artichoke sits flat.


Snap off the small, touch outer leaves near the bottom of the artichoke.


Using scissors, snip off the tops of the remaining leaves.


Squeeze lemon juice all over the cut leaves. This helps prevent the artichoke from turning brown.


Start pulling out the inner, purplish leaves. Keep pulling the inner leaves out until you expose the entire choke at the bottom.



Taking a small spoon, scrape out the hairy choke. Drizzle some more lemon on the inside of the artichoke.  Keep the lemon halves for later.

Make the filling:

Saute the onion in a skillet for a few minutes with a pinch of salt, until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and stirring frequently, saute for 5-6 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes. Transfer mixture to a bowl. Add the parsley, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.



Fill the artichoke with the stuffing mixture. Do not pack.



Place stuffed artichokes in a baking dish. Fill dish with water until the water comes up about an inch around the artichokes. Place cut lemons in the dish. Add the wine in the water. Cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the size of the artichokes. To test for doneness, pull out one of the leaves and when the fleshy part is soft, it is done.

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Lasagna with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

This is a recipe I adapted years ago from Giuliano Bugialli, the famous Italian cooking instructor in Florence, Italy. This lasagna is totally homemade, from the noodles to the bechamel sauce. It contains no meat and is very light. The noodles are rolled out very thin and the recipe uses bechamel sauce instead of ricotta cheese. The tomato sauce, though, is really outstanding. The addition of red peppers to the tomatoes makes for a fuller, richer flavor and even if you do not make the lasagna, this tomato sauce is great with pasta.

There are three items in this recipe that make up this lasagna and you must make them all from scratch - the noodles, the tomato sauce and the bechamel. If this seems daunting to you, try making the tomato sauce a day ahead and refrigerate it. You can make the bechamel in the morning and refrigerate that too, until you are ready to assemble the lasagna. Have you read my older Pasta Fresca post about how to make homemade pasta? You might want to check that out. Yes, this recipe is a lot of work, but it makes the lightest, freshest lasagna you will ever taste.

Lasagna with Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

This recipe is for an 8x8 baking pan.

For the pasta:
3 cups Italian 00 flour or unbleached all purpose flour
4 whole eggs
4 egg yolks

For the tomato sauce:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 large red bell peppers, seeded & coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 large can Italian San Marzano tomatoes (or plum tomatoes, if you can't find San Marzano)
1/4 cup Italian parsley sprigs (leaves only)

For the bechamel sauce:
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups whole milk

For the tomato sauce:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add peppers and whole garlic and cook 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and parsley. Cover and simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Insert immersion blender and puree sauce. (Or pour sauce into blender or food processor, puree and pour back into pot. Then go out and buy an immersion blender.) Simmer sauce until sauce is thick, about 15 minutes more. Transfer sauce to bowl and let cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated.)


For the bechamel sauce:
Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat, add flour and whisk. Cook for 1 minute. Add milk, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes, whisking constantly, until sauce has thickened up. Season with salt and pepper (I use a little white pepper). It is essential that the bechamel have some salt in order for the taste to be right. Pour into large Pyrex or a bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring every few minutes to prevent a skin from forming.



For the pasta:
Arrange flour in mound on work surface and make well in center. Break eggs in well. With fork, gently beat eggs and begin gradually drawing flour into the eggs. When enough flour has been incorporated to enable you to handle the dough, start kneading the dough. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour. (I make this in my KitchenAid mixer, with the dough hook.)   Knead dough until smooth. If making it in mixer, when you take it out of the mixer, also knead briefly by hand.  When you have a nice firm dough that's not too sticky, wrap it in a floured piece of plastic wrap and let it sit about 20 minutes to rest.



Cut a piece of the dough and flatten it (keep remainder covered).  Turn pasta machine to widest setting (setting #1) and run dough through.  Dust dough with flour if sticky and fold into thirds.  Run through machine a few more times until smooth.  Adjust machine to next narrower setting and run dough through, dusting lightly with flour if sticky.  Keep doing this until you have run the dough through setting #5.  Lay the noodles out on a floured surface and repeat with remaining dough.  Cut pasta into 12" long strips. You should have 24 pasta strips when finished. (If you do not have 24 strips, don't worry - just don't make as many layers when you assemble the lasagna.)




Bring large amount of salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and water for ice bath.  Add 3 pasta strips and after water is boiling again, cook for about 10 seconds.  Transfer pasta to ice bath to cool.  Set on towels in single layer.  You can stack towels/pasta on top of each other.  

To assemble:

Butter an 8x8 baking dish.   Arrange 2 strips one way, allowing edges to hang over.  Spread 1/3 of the bechamel sauce over pasta.

Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan.  Cover with another layer of pasta, laying the strips the opposite way.  

Spoon on 1/3 cup tomato sauce.  Repeat pasta and tomato sauce layers 3 more times.  Add another layer of pasta, then another 1/3 of the bechamel and 1/4 cup Parmesan.  Make 4 more layers each of pasta and tomato sauce.  



Top with another layer of pasta.  Cover with remaining bechamel and Parmesan.  Cover with final layer of pasta.  Fold edges in over top layer or trim off hanging edges if you want.  It probably makes it a little easier to slice if you cut off the edges.  I just folded mine over - this is how Bugialli makes his.  (Can be prepared 1 day ahead and refrigerated.  Bring fully to room temperature before continuing.) Preheat over to 375. Bake lasagna uncovered until top is light golden brown and crisp, about 30 minutes.

tip: Try to use San Marzano tomatoes from Italy. Yes, they really are different than the ones grown domestically. It's because of the soil and climate where they are grown in Italy.



tip: Giuliano Bugialli does not add mozzarella cheese to the top of this lasagna. It makes a golden, crisp crust on top. If you really want the cheese on top for a softer texture, you can certainly add that. Cover the lasagna when it bakes.

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