Italy Part 13

Two Desserts Are Better Than One

I had previously made the Almond Semifreddo and still had some leftovers in the freezer when I decided to also make the Macerated oranges. As it just so happens, these two desserts go wonderfully together!

Almond Semifreddo (p. 142)

Macerated oranges (p. 143)

Two desserts are better than one!
You may also want to try topping semifreddo with chocolate syrup, amaretto- or
orange-flavored liqueur, fresh fruit and crushed candied almonds,
or as I discovered here, sweet soaked orange slices. 

Making semifreddo requires a bit of time and patience but after the preparation, it stores well in the freezer for future meals or afternoon snack attacks. The reason I say this is because there are three different liquid mixtures that require separate prepertation and then careful combining: 1) cream that needs to be whipped stiff, 2) egg yolks and sugar that are whipped and then the amaretto, toasted almonds and crushed biscuits are stirred into it, 3) egg whites that are whipped stiff, and lastly, the cream and egg whites are carefully folded into the yolk mixture. Thank goodness I located my electric beaters!

Use a bread pan for the freezer container to put the semifreddo batter into,
but first it must be lined with plastic wrap with extra draped over the edges.

The semifreddo batter is ready to be "freddo" in the freezer.
Once the batter is placed into the plastic wrap-lined bread tin, it can be frozen for weeks.
You could also put your batter into other shaped containers if you want a round shape, for example.
Or skip the plastic wrap lining and place it into individual serving dishes.
Remember, this dessert is called "kinda cold" for a reason, so before consuming it
straight out of the freezer, place it into the refrigerator to soften (about half and hour). 

Macerated is a fancy word for softened via the process of soaking.
In this case, oranges were peeled and each delicate segment was carefully
sliced out of the membrane, letting the juice collect in a bowl.
Sugar, and a dash of grated lemon peel and lemon juice were mixed into the
orange juice and then the orange slices were mixed and allowed
to marinade until tender and soft. Nice treat on its own or top with Cointreau!

Italy Part 12

The Treasured "Golden Egg"

There are many memories that I treasure from my grandparents' house in Hutchinson, Kansas. One of them involves my grandma Marj's tomato garden in the backyard. I will always remember the feel of prickly crab grass in my toes as I wander out to where the green tomato vines are sleeping under the sweltering afternoon sun. Carefully, we peek under their leaves in search of the full, orange globes hanging heavily from their steams. When we have picked what we need, we return to the cool shade of the kitchen and wash our picked treasure. The small cherry tomatoes are placed into the lazy susan for snacking, taking their place alongside pickled okra. Their larger counterparts are reserved for sandwiches and tomato preserves. I believe my grandmother's garden not only grew tomatoes, but it also cultivated a special appreciation for its sweet, juicy harvests shared between family. To this day, when I bite into a tomato and juice spurts from my mouth and down my arm, I think of those summer afternoons.  

Oh, the beloved tomato! It stands as one of the world's most grown and consumed fruits... err... vegetable? According to the United States Supreme Court (Nix. v Hedden, 1983), the tomato was declared a vegetable based on its culinary uses. On the other hand, my horticulture professor refereed to the tomato as a fruit based on its nutritional content, declaring that these "sugar balls" contained the perfect balance of sugar and acids that humans are programed to crave. He also taught me that an early name that the Italians gave the tomato was the "golden egg" (not sure of the Italian translation), so perhaps the first varieties introduced in Italy were yellow fleshed. Today, tomatoes can be found in a spectrum of purple, red, yellow and orange, known as the much sought after "Heirlooms" sold in local farmer's markets.

My grandmother no longer has her tomato garden, but I still have appreciation for tomatoes when they can be found swollen and sweet! I was lucky enough to have snagged some last week and decided to make up a few recipes from the Italian cookbook that highlighted the simple joy of this summer time favorite:

Tomato and basil crostini (p. 95)

Semi dried roma tomatoes (p.123)

The Tomato and basil crostinis!
Fresh and easy to make. Just 5 ingredients: bread, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and salt.
These keep well in the refrigerator for one day so if you have leftovers,
try them along side a hearty salad or soup for lunch or melt some sharp cheese or
drape a fried egg over the tops for a twist on breakfast! 

The seasoned tomatoes are ready for the hot oven for "semi-drying".
It was important to have them skin-side down and to have them on a wire rack.
I didn't have one that was high-heat proof  so I settled for my broiler pan. 

Semi dried [non] roma tomatoes!
I am aware that I broke my rules here (not buying the ingredient specified by the recipe).
However, I just couldn't bare to get pale romas when these others were looking so radiant!    

These homemade Semi dried tomatoes make a great accompaniment or topping for
 many things, including hard cheeses, meat sandwiches, or tossed salad.
They also inspired me to prepare an Italian hamburger,
complete with basil and beef patties, pesto sauce and feta cheese!

In honor of my Grandma Marj, I have added pictures of my mother, Connie, preparing her tomato preserves (jam).  This Mugler-family recipe extends the tomatoes' lives well into winter and is enjoyed with hot dinner rolls and breakfast breads. I recently discovered it as a unique garnish for crackers and cream cheese. 

Italy Part 11

Getting Squirmy with Squid!


Curiously, I peeled back the lid of the soggy, aqua blue cardboard box to take my first peak at the sea creatures that I was going to be preparing for the following day's dinner. It had been a hot afternoon and with a short walk home from my neighborhood grocery store, the frozen mass of squids had begun to thaw, making my fabric grocery bag smell like spoiled fish parts. Can't they at least package them in a plastic liner?! I decided to dump the solid block into a large pyrex dish and left them out to thaw completely while I prepared their marinade and other parts of the meal.

I was making Grilled squid with salsa verde (p. 123), to be served along with Bean and rosemary dip (p. 88) to accompany some left over Focaccia bread, salad, and some Macerated oranges (p. 143) with Almond semifreddo (p. 142) for dessert.  It was a Thursday. Spending the day in the kitchen with NPR radio is my usual desire during these long days while Joe is admitting, or in other words, working a 16-hr shift at the hospital. I wanted to make something special for us to look forward to for Friday in celebration of his last day as an internal medicine intern (until September...)!  As the squids slowly shed their ice blanket, I was mixing their lemony marinade, pureeing the salsa verde, whipping cream and egg whites for the semifreddo, and slicing orange wedges.

Three pounds of frozen squid. 

Three pounds of thawed squid.

Once all of these additional recipes were prepared and properly stored in the freezer/fridge, the remains of my simple dinner finished, and all of the dishes cleaned, I once again stood over the dish teaming with squids. Other than eating fried calamari, which is so chopped and breaded that it doesn't resemble its original form in the least, I could only recollect handling squid in my college biology dissection lab. Standing over these cephalopod mollusks, now soft and slimy, I admired their odd physiology. Their ten extremities (eight arms and two tentacles) strayed carelessly from the base of their heads, entangling other squid's arms. Their heads were attached to inner organs hidden within a long, smooth hood.  I reached down with both my hands and dug my fingers into them, feeling their freckled skin and admiring their tiny jaws located in the middle of the base of their legs. It wasn't until I picked a single specimen up to study in greater detail that I noticed the relatively large, doll-like eye balls that were implanted within the head region. My stomach churned. Their sour stench suddenly bloomed in my nostrils, and all I could focus on where 20 pairs of dull pupils staring up at me. I'm going to need my apron... and a fan in this kitchen. 

I was beginning to question why I hadn't purchased the neighboring box of squids on the
frozen grocery store shelf labeled, "cleaned, cut, and ready for cooking!"
After personally experiencing these cleaning and cutting processes,  "fingernail scrubber"
and "sugar scrub" was scribbled down, and underlined, next to the ingredients list of
this recipe as a reminder of the contagious stink that squids posses. 

I'll save you the gory details from converting those limp, slimy squids into the familiar smooth muscle rings that are pictured below, but it did require a full kitchen wipe down and hot shower afterwards. In the middle of separating heads from hoods, I was thinking about how glad I was that my dinner partner was out of the house for fear of appetite hinderance!  As for myself, after the initial moment of disgust, I was actually quite pleased with the knowledge gained from the experience. It almost felt like a science experiment, minus sterile gloves and lingering goggle lines. Once the squids were prepared, I put them in a clean pyrex dish and left them to refrigerate in a minced garlic, oregano, lemon juice and olive oil marinade until the following evening.

With all of the preparation that was completed Thursday night, Friday's dinner was a breeze! The grilling steps were quite simple. Again, having no "real" grill, I heated my cast iron panini grill on the stove. After draining the marinade from the squid pieces, they were placed in batches onto the hot grill to cook for about 5-7 minutes, turning over a few times. 

I was amazing at how quickly the squid shrunk with heat! 

Once all of the squid pieces had been grilled, they were placed onto a serving dish and lightly seasoned with salt and fresh cracked pepper while hot. The Salsa verde, composed of blended mint, parsley, basil, capers, anchovies, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil, was generously poured over them and tossed to coat. The final presentation required fresh lemon slices. My husband was quite curious about this recipe, trying to remember if he had ever tasted calamari before. He has whole-heartedly embraced the tasting adventures that accompany this trip through Italian cuisine (we keep frozen pizzas in the freezer "just in case").  

I challenge you to get squirmy with some squid this summer (or get the pre-prepared stuff)!
This dish resonated with flavors and a lemon-garlic fragrance that brought the
Mediterranean Sea right to the dinner table.
 It also gives quite a topic for dinner conversation :)

For laughs, 

Naxos, Greece 2008.

Me and a handsome octopus hanging outside the door of a local seafood restaurant. Later that night, one of my fellow travelers ordered calamari for dinner.  When her order arrived, a giant squid body (about as big as the eight-legged cousin I'm admiring above), was plopped down in front of her.  It was battered and fried but looked as if the cooks just threw a whole squid into the hot oil (no tiny rings that we Americans are so familiar with). The poor girl was so shocked by the site that he burst into tears and excused herself from the table for the remainder of the meal. 

Italy Part 10

Oh, focaccia, how I "knead" you!


There is a reason that wheat is the number one consumed grain in the world: bread! In my last entry I blabbed on about pasta, but in all honesty I think bread takes the cake as the world's most widely consumed wheat-based foods. And for good reason! In my experience, I would say that most Westerners prefer bread that rises in the oven into a soft starchy dome, and is many times eaten with most meals. For example, toast or bagels for breakfast, sandwiches at lunch, hot rolls at dinner.  As a kid I started the habit of eating my bread from the inside out, meaning I pull out the soft, doughy insides of a slice first, saving the crunchy crust for the last bites. Italians like bread too! But, then again, don't they like all things made from processed white flour?  Putting pizza and pasta aside for a second, let us reflect on possibly the best bread in the world: Focaccia (p. 139).

In the beginning, the yeast awakens with a bit of caster sugar and warm water.
Yeast allows for the producing of carbon dioxide gas, which acts as a leavening agent.

After mixing the active yeast with the dry bread flour, a bit of olive oil and salt, and more warm water,
the dough is dumped out onto a floured surface and kneaded for about 8 minutes, so roll those sleeves up!
Kneading allows for long strings of elastic wheat protein, known as gluten, to form.
Gather the stretchy dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl.
Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm spot (I prefer the top of my fridge).
After about an hour, its size should be doubled! 

The next steps involve "punching" the dough (releasing all of the carbon dioxide gases that have
 become trapped in stretchy dough pockets) and divide the mass in half, for making two loaves.
I froze one half of the dough at this point to be used for a future occasion!
Then, roll out gently and place in a bake pan and let rise- again- this time for 2 hours.  

What endurance yeast has!
You can see that the dough has doubled in size again.
This time, smother with olive oil, and if you are feeling extra spunky, add other
toppings like olives, rosemary, sea salt... 

Then, throw into a preheated oven set to 425 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.
Note: When it is comes out golden and moist, immediately transfer to a cooling rack to keep the crust crisp. 

Eat within 6 hours or cut and freeze for later.
You can see here that it was consumed within minutes of coming out of the oven, warm and fragrant,
as a wonderful accompaniment to more starchy white stuff, pasta! In this case, Bucatini alla norma. 
Focaccia can also be enjoyed as sandwich bread or topped with butter and jam for a unique twist for breakfast.
Leftovers would be also be excellent with soup or baked with a top layer of shredding, sharp cheese and fresh herbs.

What is the difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour? 
Bread flour is preferred for some leavened dough products because it produces a lighter dough with greater elastic properties. This higher stretch characteristic is achievable because bread flour has a higher protein content versus all-purpose flour. This higher protein content allows for longer, stronger strains of gluten, as well as a higher gluten content, which helps the dough to rise during baking and hold its shape and structure. If you don't have bread flour for a recipe, you can substitute using all-purpose flour but beware because all-purpose flour requires less water! So start with less liquid than a recipe calls for and add it slowly. Making this focaccia was my first experience using bread flour and I have to admit, I notice a huge difference is how light and fluffy the final product turns out.

Italy Part 9

Oodles of Noodles: A pasta preview from campanelle to bucatini

Next to pizza, I would guess that Italians are well associated with pasta. What a laundry list of pasta-based dishes that come to mind! There is spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna, ravioli, da da da.  In short, the Italians have mastered the combination of shells and sauce. Perhaps, in an effort to chase away mundane meals, they have created a myriad varietal shapes for their beloved staple food. For example, there is the iconic spaghetti noodle that is long, round and thin, which differs from linguini that is long and thin, but also flat, which differs from bucatini that is long but thicker and hollow, which is different from the beloved round, small hollow tube macaroni noodle. 

Use this link, posted by the National Pasta Association, which describes and illustrates a fairly comprehensive list of pasta shapes (which is very useful for hunting down a new pasta to try, or for visualizing one mentioned in a new recipe, before gawking at the grocery store noodle isle):  http://www.ilovepasta.org/shapes.html

Besides all of these crazy noodle shapes, there are actually only two categories of pasta: "wet" and "dry". They are both wheat based, however, the difference is that wet pasta uses a softer type of wheat flour and contains eggs, whereas dry pasta uses hard durum wheat semolina.  How to choose which type to use for your recipe? In general, wet pasta is preferred for lasagna and stuffed pasta dishes; the "wet" quality allows for a dough that can be molded as needed for the stuffing. You can find these in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, or venture to make it yourself!  By contrast, dry pasta is more versatile and provides for the "al dente" texture after boiling. I almost prefer dry pasta solely based by its long shelf life and quick prep time.  

The following is a preview of some pasta dishes I have prepared recently. Cheers to noodles! 

Bucatini amatriciana (p. 109)
Before I had done research on pasta, I went to the grocery store and searched the pasta isle, 
head to toe, for "bucatini." No bingo.  I substituted linguini for this recipe knowing that dry pasta 
is composed of the same basic ingredients, just different shapes. 
Looking back, I wasn't too far off with my substitution, considering the long noodle shape!

Linguine pesto (p. 108)
This recipe was whipped up in no time since I had pre-made the pesto.
Just take the pesto out of the freezer and into the fridge the night before and stir into hot pasta.
Try shaving your parmesan with a veggie peeler for a sophisticated garnish (this photo shows grated). 

Bucatini alla norma (p. 113)
Perhaps my favorite pasta shape! This is true bucatini thanks to Super Target carrying the only bucatini in town.
The noodles resemble tiny straws with a consistency that is thick and chewy.
This recipe called for eggplant, yippee! Many would disagree, but I absolutely adore this mushy, purple vegetable. 

Using my thinking noodle to create my own pasta dish!
I was craving a cold pasta salad, an American summer tradition.
For this recipe I used "campenelle" pasta, which means "small bells".
This recipe allowed me to make use of leftover sun-dried tomatoes and asparagus
(blanching the asparagus in the boiling water that was heated for the pasta),
all tossed in an olive oil, mustard, white wine, and parsley and lemon vinaigrette.

Trivia for your thinking noodle:
Marco Polo, as popular legend has it, was the one to introduce pasta to Italy in the 13th century after visiting the Far East. However, its origin dates back to ancient Greek mythology, in which the Greek God, Vulcan, invented a device that made strings of dough... sounds like spaghetti. Even the Chinese were making a type of noodle since 3000 B.C.  For more information, visit here.

Conserve Your Herbs

Sometimes I daydream about owning a home. Yes, a home with a yard that stains your toes green. A home with a laundry machine that is vacant when you want to use it... a refrigerator with an ice maker.  Moreover, perhaps the thing I daydream about most is having a home with a vibrant garden, bursting with herbs, root vegetables, and sweet cherry tomatoes. I think about it weekly as I pull off small plastic envelopes containing green leaves of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, or mint from the refrigerated grocery shelf.  This sparks my desire to walk out to a garden and pick sprigs and leaves in the exact quantities needed.  You see, fresh herbs are meant to remain in the soil instead of in your refrigerator. Have you ever purchased fresh basil and two days later notice that the leaves have withered and browned? Buying these expensive, perishable herbs is the only option for many city dwellers and non-gardeners like myself.  These shriveled leaves being throwing away are really shriveled dollar bills! Forget it, I'm sticking with dried herbs. But wait! Before you give up on investing in fresh herbs, let me share with you some advice for conserving them. 

Step 1)  After purchasing your fresh herbs, rinse them with a gentle stream of cold water, shake them out, and let them air dry on a tea towel. With this step, handle them with care. Some herbs, like basil and mint, can be bruised easily and this can affect their flavor and expedite browning. Also, be sure to let them dry out completely! Turn them and give 'em a few shakes every so often to help speedup this drying process. 

Mint, rosemary, oregano, and parsley (amidst some washed nectarines).
I prefer to purchase organic herbs to lessen exposure to chemical pesticides,
as well as support a healthy environment. Remember, even though organics
are not covered in pesticides, washing is still important for removing dirt and germs. 

Step 2)  While the herbs are drying, label some freezer-safe ziplock bags with their names using a permanent marker.

Step 3) Place dried leaves into its corresponding freezer bag. When doing this, keep some air in each of the individual ziplock backs in order to "fluff" the leaves before freezing. If the leaves stick together too much it is more difficult to cut off individual sprigs or leaves after they are frozen.

Ready for a trip to the tundra.
As you can see in this picture, I place all of my small
herb bags into a gallon-sized bag just to keep track of them.
Keeping extra air in the bags helps to protect the frozen leaves.

Step 4) Place into the freezer and forget about them! They should be good for about six to twelve months. Try to put them somewhere in the freezer where they won't be assaulted by heavy ice cream containers or ham bones (I prefer my freezer door shelf).  

Step 5) After they are frozen, just pull them out as needed. I find it most helpful to use my kitchen scissors to cut off whatever I want, but some herbs are easy to break off when they are frozen. Once you have taken what you need, put them back in the freezer as fast as possible! Also, if you are going to chop your herbs, do this step as quickly as possible too! After thawing, the leaves can be limp, so manipulating the herbs is easiest while they are still crispy with cold. 

Waking up my parsley after a cold slumber.

Herb varieties behave differently in the freezer.
This is an example of parsley and oregano.
On the left is frozen, crispy parsley fresh out of the freezer.
Notice how well it retained its green color.
Parsley holds up very well in the freezer.
On the right is oregano that was chopped while still frozen a few minutes before.
Notice that the leaves have become slightly browned in the freezer.
Both still taste and behave in recipes as if they were unfrozen,
so don't let these small changes in leaf behavior deter you.

Notice how nicely the frozen parsley leaves
(shown in the previous picture) turned out after chopping.
They are ready to add to the pan!
In this case, I was preparing Pizza rustica.

From my experience, the herbs that hold up the best in the freezer include parsley, rosemary, and thyme. I say this because not only do they hold onto their color, but they retain every bit as much of their flavor after freezing. Oregano becomes only slightly brown. Mint behaves the worst, in my opinion, because its leaves become slightly brown and it also loses some menthol potency. In other words, mint still behaves well in dishes that require extensive heating or light frying, however, if you wanted to use it in a mojito you're better off making a trip to the store. I just purchased a big bag of basil and will experiment with it next. I do know that basil keeps well as part of pesto in the freezer.

So, I encourage you to conserve your herbs! They are better destined for a bit of freezer burn than the trash.

Italy Part 8

Pizza Rustica (p. 120)

This recipe had been tagged as something I really wanted to devour, while also being something I was totally nervous to prepare. The nerves come from the fact that I had to prepare a crust... did I mention that my baking ventures don't turn out the majority of the time? At this point in my Italy journey, I decided that I was up for the challenge. I took this recipe in two parts: early in the week I prepared the dough and cheese-egg filling, while later I put the pieces together and baked it. As I progressed through this recipe, my confidence crumbled slowly, as I ran into a few problems. 

First of all, my dough turned out to be a crumbly, dry flour mass instead of a moist play-do. I ended up refrigerating it in this crumbly condition to see if perhaps, with time, it would moisten up. It did not. So, I added an extra egg and some water and (hurray!) it became a moldable dough that I was able to manipulate into the pizza crust. Secondly, I had to beat the six egg whites by hand until stiff since I had misplaced my beaters. If you do this, plan ahead and sport your favorite sweatband... you'll need it! Thirdly, the pie barfed in the oven. I think this was a combination of not sealing the edges enough (most likely because I didn't have enough dough from the bottom crust layer to fold into the top layer), and I didn't poke the top thoroughly enough because the steam generated during the baking process couldn't escape gently- it exploded out! This also slowed the cooking process since heat was being released from the middle of the pie too quickly. It took an extra 20 minutes. 

Thankfully, however, it is really hard to mess up crust, eggs, and cheese. This Pizza rustica was happily enjoyed with good company and a few glasses of pinot nior on a stormy Wednesday evening.

Early stages of making the crust.
First, with fingers, you had to pinch butter into the dry
flour until it resembled big bread crumbs (pictured here).
Then, with a dull knife, you had to mix in an egg, egg white
and some water until a "dough" was formed.  

Ready for the refrigeration step.
It needed to cool for 30 minutes before rolling out into a thin crust.
I kept it cooling for three days until I was ready to complete the pizza.

The beautiful "dough" after correcting with an extra egg.
The dough was split into two pieces and rolled out separately.
One-half serves as the base, and the other as the cover.
Note: My bottom crust didn't stretch over the sides of my dish. 
Don't do this! The dough needs to hang off the sides of the dish 
so that it can be easily sealed with the top layer's edges.

The filling, prepared in two parts.
The bowl on the left was prepared earlier in the week
and refrigerated until ready to bake. It contains lots of
goodies: four different cheeses, egg yolks, salumi, prosciutto,
and fresh herbs. The bowl on the right shows freshly beaten
egg whites. The egg whites were folded into the cheesy
mixture to complete the filling.

Mama mia!! The pie is ready for the oven. The sides are sealed,
the top pricked with a fork and brushed with milk.
Note: The recipe called for beaten egg to brush 
over the top, but I had run out.  Egg produces a glossy glaze, 
while milk allows for a more brown, caramelized crust.  

Blah!
The foil laying at the sides of the pan was used to
dress the outer crusts to prevent them from burning while the
pie was put back into the oven for extra cooking time
(complements to chef,  Jennifer).

My beautiful friend, Jennifer, showcasing the
salvaged pizza and the spontaneous hail storm.    

Pizza Rustica- a hearty pie.

Mid-dinner reflections.

After all of the stumbles I had with the recipe, I was pretty impressed with the end result. My recommendation to anyone attempting Pizza rustica is to remember that you can prepare the filling and crust dough ahead of time. This splits the labor and cleanup time into two, manageable parts. That way, the day you wish to eat it, just assemble the ingredients, bake, and enjoy!

Amaretto Dream Cream

In an attempt to use up some milk (once again, concerned about our refrigerator's cooling abilities), I decided to try preparing a specialty ice cream. Inspired by a cheesecake that my mom once made with amaretto, I came up with the following recipe:

Amaretto Dream Cream

Makes 8-10 servings

4 c. whole milk

3/4 c. sugar

dozen coffee beans

pinch of salt

3 tbsp. amaretto

3 tbsp. corn starch

Additional amaretto for topping (optional)

First, bring the milk, sugar, salt, and coffee beans to a boil over medium-high heat in a large pot, stirring constantly. Once it boils, turn off heat and set aside for about half an hour. This will allow the milk to take some of the coffee flavor from the beans. As the milk is steeping, mix amaretto and corn starch together to form a thick paste. Remove and discard the coffee beans from milk after the steeping step is complete. Add the amaretto and corn starch mixture and bring to a boil again. Once this comes to a boil, turn heat down and let simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. This heating step allows for the corn starch to thicken the milk a bit. Set aside and let cool to room temp. Now, dump the contents of the pot into a storage container and let cool in the refrigerator overnight. Because of the very low freezing point of alcohol, this ice cream batter needs extra cooling steps. After an overnight chill, pour the mixture into the powered ice cream maker (making sure to pre-freeze the ice cream maker foot if you have a Cuisinart like me) and let freeze for 15-20 minutes. I added another dash of fresh amaretto at this step, so do so if you wish (but not too much because it will make it hard to freeze). You will probably notice that the texture is still a bit soft. This is, again, due to the amaretto liquor. Therefore, take the ice cream maker foot with the semi-frozen ice cream, cover and place in the freezer for about 4 hours, and repeat the freezing step again. This time it should resemble creamy, cold ice cream! Serve immediately or place into a freezer-safe container and freeze for future ice cream cravings. 

Steeping the coffee beans with the milk.
You can see I'm using Denver's "trendy" Dazbog coffee beans.
It would also be nice to substitute coffee beans for vanilla beans! 

Mixing corn starch with amaretto.
Note: The amaretto I used is called, Amaretto Paolucci by
Paolucci Liquori Ltd.  It tastes almost identical
to Disaronno, but at half the cost. 

The nifty Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!
Working hard to freeze the amaretto-milk batter.
Sometimes I sneak spoonfuls of the ice cream at this
barely-frozen step! Sort of the equivalent of sampling
cookie batter before you bake it. 

This is the finished dream cream!
I dreamt it up and it is fabulous.
I recommend topping your scoop with a drizzle of
amaretto from the bottle.  Here I have it paired with an
almond biscotti.  If you are feeling adventurous, drop a
scoop into a hot cup of dark roasted, strong coffee!

For some additional incentive to buy a bottle of amaretto liquor, try drizzling over a bowl of fresh cut fruit, stir into pancake batter, or explore some fun cocktail recipes (there are hundreds out there)! I would also recommend trying it on the rocks on a hot summer evening as a simple after dinner night cap that makes your taste buds sing with notes of almonds and apricots.

Italy Part 7

Let's face it. Cooking my way through Italy has provided a food surplus in the Lazar apartment. In fact, last week I decided to slow this journey down a bit because we had too many leftovers for our modest refrigerator to handle; for example, you'd have to fumble around for 5 minutes just to find the cream cheese, and then, where are the bagels hiding? Not to mention, I am worried about the health of our refrigerator at the moment. Our milk has started souring early, our beers are not frosty, and my thermometer, which I placed on the top shelf, displays a needle that hovers around 50 (it should be below 41 degrees thank you)! This is a bit discerning for me - a gal who loves leftovers. For example, I think I've been eating that Chicken cacciatora (from last Friday) daily since Joe's work schedule keeps him from home for most of the day and then sends him home with a meal from the hospital cafeteria. Leftovers provide for a glamorous meal after pressing a few buttons on the microwave. 

I was reminded of my love for leftovers last night when Joe and I returned mid-afternoon from Summit Valley after completing our first "14er." Actually, we did two, climbing to the top of Gray's Peak first followed by Torrey's Peak since they stand a little less than a mile apart from each other. If you have not heard of a fourteener (you are probably not from Colorado... ah hem, as we were totally foreign to the concept), it is a mountaineering term used to describe a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet above sea level. Long story short, you get really hungry after a climbing around the Rockies! We refueled at the top of Torrey's before the descent. With a view like that, I'll never forget that peanut butter sandwich. Then, we stopped for coffee in Georgetown, an old mining mountain town off of I-70, to regain our strength and reflect on the morning (it was only noon since we started up the mountain a little past 6:00 AM).  I had my best intentions to whip up some Pizza rustica dinner, but I didn't have the energy. As Joe passed out into a peaceful slumber, I heated up a magnificent meal from my supply of leftovers! This included the cacciatora (hehe) with a hardy side of Mushroom risotto.

Torrey's Peak, the second of summit of the morning.

Mushroom riscotto (p. 117)
This is probably one of my new Italian favorites. I made it as simple weekday meal and was surprised as how short the cooking time was. The only downside is that you have a lot of dishes to clean up, as it requires three stove tops to be cooking various components of the dish at the same time: the broth requires simmering with the steeped mushroom water (prepared from hydrating dried porini mushrooms), the mushrooms need to be sautéed with garlic, vermouth and a butter-olive oil combination, and lastly the rice and onions need constant stirring over heat while gradually folding in the mushrooms and broth. The final result is a creamy rice mush, but the rice is slightly chewy. Al dente I would say! The final step requires stirring in another pat of butter and a few handfuls of grated parmesan cheese. Plop a few scoops onto a plate and serve while its still steaming. The interesting part of risotto, from what I read, is that although it is served piping hot, Italians actually prefer to eat theirs after it has cooled a bit. To speed this process, it is commonly spread to the edges of the plate and then consumed from the edges to the center. I guess it allows the flavors to develop more. Also, did you know that you acquire the strongest flavors of a food or beverage at room temperature?  This risotto is really worth a short wait for maximum flavor extraction.

The hot, creamy Mushroom risotto straight from the stove.
Garnish with fresh oregano if you wish, but don't dive in yet! 

Eat like an Italian and play with your risotto before eating.
Here, I spread my risotto to the edges of the plate to increase
the surface area, speeding the cooling process.
And as I noted above, this dish makes excellent leftovers!

Italy Part 6

Denver's weather pattern has shifted from being consistently scorching hot to having repetitive popcorn thunder bursts in the afternoon and evenings. These storms, with their cool wind gusts and thunder and rain percussion, arouse my desire to cook. Last Friday, this is exactly what happened and I opened to the Italian section of my cookbook.  I decided on a dinner of:

Arancini (p. 90)

Chicken cacciatora (p. 122)

Shaved fennel salad (p. 98)

Fresh fennel, often mislabeled as "anise" in supermarkets
(like King Soopers on Friday morning)! I chose female bulbs, which
have smaller, thinner bulbs compared to males.  Taking the time to
select for fennel gender s is worth it because females contain a more
potent flavor profile.  This salad only uses the bulbs, but I saved the
top leaves for future recipes (very fragrant herb).  Did you know that
fennel is a main ingredient in absinthe and it is
speculated to have many medicinal benefits?   

Let's eat!! Cacciatora translates to "hunter's choice"
and the recipe varies by region.  Generally, this dish calls for
tomatoes, onions, and chicken. This particular recipe called for
pancetta, mushrooms, and dry vermouth too. I browned
the chicken in oil first, then simmered it until the meat fell
off the bones. So delicious! I just wish I had a big casserole
dish that the recipe called for.  I tried using my biggest frying
pan and it was just barely containing its contents  (it was so full,
the lid rested on the chicken)! Served with white rice.
Yes, rice is used in much of Italy.

A closer look at the Arancini (stuffed rice balls).
For this recipe, I was forced to buy saffron... ugh,
it is just so darn expensive! But I had to follow my rules, no
 cutting corners.  Tasting just one of these rice balls
made me glad I bit the bullet. The rice was cooked with the
saffron, making it a bright yellow, sticky mess. The rice
was then combined with parmesan and eggs, stuffed
with fried minced beef, onions, oregano, and wine.
Once the balls were formed, they were rolled in white flour,
dipped in more egg and then coated in bread crumbs.
After brief refrigeration, they were dropped into a
hot pan of oil for 3 minutes until golden brown.

The stuffed rice balls required frying in oil, and I think this is a good chance to make a note about choosing oils for frying. Every oil is not the same. For Italian cooking, they use primarily olive oils, and if you ever stand in the baking isle of the grocery store to pick out an olive oil you have probably noticed the spectrum of types to choose from. There is "extra virgin" to "extra light". What does this really mean? It has a lot to do with processing, as well as ripeness (acid content) of the olives. Extra virgin olive oil is the least processed, meaning that the olives are pressed once without chemicals or heat. This is the highest quality, and most expensive, type of olive oil to purchase because it requires more olive input (usually less ripe ones); however it embodies an intense, fruity and almost buttery flavor. Extra light olive oil is composed of a filtered combination of refined olive oil with small amounts of virgin olive oil added back. The "light" descriptor doesn't come from having less calories, but instead it describes the pale color of the oil relative its dark green extra virgin cousin. The two other types in between these two extremes include, "virgin" that is pressed similarly to extra virgin but has a higher acidity from riper olives, and regular olive oil that has an even higher acidy with a bit of refined oil added back. 

Why bother with extra processing of olive oil? For culinary purposes of course!  I tend to choose my olive oils at the two extremes: Extra virgin, for garnishing foods after they are prepared or for low-heat cooking, and light olive oil for frying and high-heat cooking. The higher processing of the light olive oils allows for a higher smoke point. For example, for the rice balls, I needed to heat the oil to about 350 degrees (this was off the scale of my Martha Stewert thermometer, ha!) and extra virgin would have started stinking from oxidation long before reaching that temperature. Also, it is best to store your olive oils in a dark, cool place (like your pantry) to guard the oils from heat and light exposure, which can accelerate the transition to rancidity. Other oils, such as vegetable oils, have a unique story too, but that will have to save for future entry.