| Linda's Italian Table

Comments are welcome in the “Speak Your Mind Area” beneath this post online.

TO PRINT – USE THE PRINT BUTTON AT THE END OF EACH POST ON THE WEBSITE

Food Photos By Tommy Hanks Photography

Pasta with Sweet Pea Sauce & Pancetta

September 19, 2011 by Linda Leave a Comment

Pin It

Eat your peas!

Buon giorno!

How many times in our youth did we hear our mothers say “Eat your peas”? How many times did we say this to our children? Well this week’s post, PASTA WITH SWEET PEA SAUCE & PANCETTA, makes all the fear and loathing disappear. Serve this one to your household pea-phobes, and I guarantee they won’t need coaxing. This is one dish that is difficult to stop eating and is so lovely to present, with its vivid green sauce which reminds us all of the garden.

What makes this dish so different? The sauce in this dish brings to the table all the nutritional value we expect from green peas: antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E along with the mineral Zinc. So what? The difference here is that you never know you are eating your peas. Instead, your pasta is dressed with the most beautiful and flavorful sweet green pea puree seasoned with onions, garlic, pancetta,and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. The piece de resistance in this dish is the pancetta which flavors the sauce, and then is removed and reserved to be sprinkled on top of the finished pasta at the very end. This gives it the final level of flavor without which it would not make your taste buds go “whoa” when it hits. The sweetness of the peas coupled with the savory nature of the pancetta is sure to hit your crazy button. This dish will provoke the sounds of “what the—” when they take the first bite.

A little history: There is an old Tuscan side dish made with sweet peas called “Piselli All’Olio” – which includes the use of pancetta, onion and even a little sugar. Usually fresh peas are used. Sounds good –but then we’d still have to look at the peas and well – you know – peas are just peas. So why not take this old Tuscan side and make it a sauce that is so beautiful in color and so sweet so as to be almost irresistible? Well – that’s what I was thinking. So here it is!

This is an easy dish to make and is so delicious –you’ll have trouble backing away from the table. So why wait?

Like Us On Facebook!

PASTA WITH SWEET PEA SAUCE & PANCETTA

Serves: 4

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb Penne Pasta or Fusilli Pugliese – make according to package directions – reserving a couple of spoons of pasta water

2 c. frozen peas – cooked & drained ( if you have fresh peas – all the better – boil them in milk until tender)

1/4 lb pancetta – chopped (Pancetta is Italian bacon – uncured – and can be found at most grocery story deli counters)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Large sweet onion – chopped

2 Fresh Garlic Cloves – chopped

1 Tbsp. Fresh Thyme Leaves

1/4 c. Whole milk – warmed

Kosher Salt & Fresh Pepper to taste

1 c. Ricotta

1/2 c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or Grana Padano cheese

1/2 c. Whole milk – warmed (2nd)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Instructions:

Cook pasta according to package directions and reserve a couple of large tablespoons of pasta water in case you need to add moisture towards the end.

Cook your pancetta in the olive oil in a large pot or large saute pan until crisp.

Remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon and reserve to add at the end.

Add the chopped onion and garlic to the same pan and saute until tender – about 5 minutes.

Now add the thyme.

Add the cooked peas to the pan and cook about 2 minutes, stirring to coat the peas completely.

Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

Add the 1/2 c. warm milk to the puree and blend.

Taste for seasoning and add some Kosher Salt and fresh pepper to taste.

Transfer the puree back to the saute pan and add the ricotta and the grated cheese.

Mix together, add the remaining warm milk, and warm over medium heat for just a couple of minutes until heated through.

Add the pasta water if needed. You can also add a little more warm milk to get it to the saucy consistency that you like.

Add the butter and mix in.

Taste again for seasoning and add more salt and pepper to your taste.

Pour over pasta and toss.

Sprinkle the reserved crisp pancetta over the top of the pasta and serve.

Serve Pasta With Sweet Pea Sauce & Pancetta with extra grated Parmigiano-Reggiano if anyone cares to add it. Either a crisp Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc would help you to enjoy this beautiful dish even more. You just won’t believe how delicious this dish is!

PARLA COME MANGI!

Comments are welcome in the “Speak Your Mind Area” beneath this post online.

TO PRINT – USE THE PRINT BUTTON AT THE END OF EACH POST ON THE WEBSITE

Food Photos By Tommy Hanks Photography

Filed Under: Pasta · Tagged With: Italian, pasta and peas, pasta with peas and pancetta, pasta with ricotta, Piselli all'Olio, pureed peas, sweet green pea sauce, Tuscan peas

MOSTARDA

September 12, 2011 by Linda 6 Comments

Pin It

Buon giorno!

So I thought I’d turn the tables on you and talk about something completely unexpected. Today we go to the left bank of the Po River, in the heart of Lombardy or Lombardia, a region in northern Italy where the city of Cremona nestles. Cremona, a city most noted for the violin making of Guarneri and Stradivari, is also known for making the finest MOSTARDA or agrodolce fruit (sweet and sour) of its kind. Although, different forms of Mostarda can be found elsewhere in Italy, here in this northern city, theirs is the most complex in ingredients and flavor.

What is Mostarda? We are all familiar with chutney, fruit conserves, and spiced fruit. MOSTARDA can be simply reduced by definition to a kind of Northern Italian form of any of those which pairs the savory with the sweet, and when added to fresh fruit becomes the most elegant and ethereal of concoctions. France has its moul ardent or moutarde, but MOSTARDA is a totally Italian creation. You’ll find it to be a totally different substance from region to region and also with different fruits used. Simply put, it is a mixture of fresh fruit combined with spices, one of which is mustard. It is most often offered in the fall, and you’ll soon see the reasons why.

A little history: It is said that the infamous Catherine de Medici placed a jar of MOSTARDA in her dowry when she left Italy to be wed to the son of the King of France in the 1500’s. Now you must admit, the stuff had to be pretty good to be offered up for this event. Actually, there are historical references to this fruit mixture that go back even further to the fifth century. The word itself comes from the Italian ardente or burning which relates to the hot sensation of mustard on the tongue.

The Cremona thing: The original versions or recipes for MOSTARDA from Cremona keep the fruits whole. They are candied in a way, but also have the sharp mustardy flavor which permeates the fruit and the syrup. When you see actual MOSTARDA from Cremona, it is usually presented in a bowl with the shiny fruits glistening, whole, and almost transparent like one might imagine sugar plums. Sometimes each fruit is served on its own and in its own bowl. This is the form that you will see most often in jars. Outside of Cremona, you will find it in all sorts of forms. Some are found in mashed or chopped form. The style of Cremona presents like no other, but for my taste and use, I prefer to serve it with the fruits sliced. It is attractive – you can see the fruit pieces – but it is a form that most people can relate to using.

Whatever do you do with it? Ahhh! Now there’s the fun! You can do so much with this lovely stuff. As I mentioned earlier, MOSTARDA is most often served in the fall. Why? This is the time of year when your attention turns to roasted meats and foods of a heartier nature. Spicy cooked fruit is the perfect accompaniment to roast pork or game especially as well as chicken, beef, or lamb. Served alongside the meats, it eliminates the need for heavy sauces or gravies, although you can certainly use them as well. I like to put some of the fruit on salad greens with a light dotting of a nice aged Balsamic Vinegar and use it as a salad course. Another way Italians use MOSTARDA is with savory cheeses on a plate at the end of a meal. You can also use it as an appetizer or add it to a salumi plate. Parmigiano- Reggiano, Montasio, and goat cheeses – aged or not are perfect pairings with MOSTARDA. The beautiful aged goat cheese or chevre that you see in these photos is from cheese artisan extraordinaire, CalyRoad Creamery, Sandy Springs, Ga. Theirs is unsurpassed in my opinion and offers flavor and consistency I have not found elsewhere.

What fruits are used? Be inventive – use what you like. Although, I don’t think I’d use bananas. For authenticity, I like combinations of mangoes, pears, apples, figs, plums, peaches, and dried fruits like apricots and cherries.

Keeping: MOSTARDA keeps a couple of weeks in the refrigerator. You can preserve it using your usual canning method. You can also freeze it in containers to pull out when you need it. That is what I do. It is very convenient to pop a container out of the freezer on a cold fall or winter night when you’re sharing a great wine and you’d like to dress up that hunk of cheese that looks lonely on the plate.

Like Us On Facebook!

MOSTARDA

Makes: About 4-5 cups

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

Any combination of fruit is fine: mangoes, pears, apples, peaches, plums, figs, dried fruits like apricots and cherries

2 Pears

3 Peaches

4 Purple Plums

8 Figs

1 c. Dried Cherries

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

5 tsp. dry mustard

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 c. White Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions:

For pears and apples you can use a peeler to remove the skins. To remove skins on peaches, plums, figs, etc., drop them in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Remove them and let them cool. Then the skins just pull right off in your fingers. Discard the skins.

Slice the fruit in 1/2 inch pieces.

Dissolve the dry mustard and cinnamon in the white balsamic vinegar.

Put the sugar and water in a pot or pan. Stir. Add mustard mixture.

Bring to boil and cook until sugar is dissolved.

Add all of the fruit to the pot. Stir gently. See a couple of different mixtures of fruit here.

Let the mixture of fruit cook about 2-5 minutes. No more. See 2 different assortments of fruits simmering above.

Remove from heat.

Cool down.

Now either proceed with your preserving/canning method or spoon fruit into plastic containers and add some of the liquid from the pot to each container. Discard remaining liquid. Freeze the containers you plan to use later.

This MOSTARDA is really tasty and wonderful to serve with your fall dishes of roasted or grilled meats, on salad, or with savory cheese as is described in the above text. Enjoy this Northern Italian specialty and surprise your friends and family who probably haven’t heard of it. For a little more adventure – it is “blow your mind” delicious with foie gras, or any game dish. Salute the new fall season with this versatile dish!

PARLA COME MANGI!

Comments are welcome in the “Speak Your Mind Area” beneath this post online.

TO PRINT – USE THE PRINT BUTTON AT THE END OF EACH POST ON THE WEBSITE

Food Photos By Tommy Hanks Photography

Filed Under: Appetizers, Side Dishes · Tagged With: CalyRoad Creamery, Cremona, fruit compote, fruit with cheese, fruit with roasted meat, Italian, Italian chutney, Italian fruit compote, Italian fruit mixture, Mostarda di Cremona, mustard fruit

Ricotta Stuffed Dessert Figs

September 5, 2011 by Linda 1 Comment

Pin It

Buon giorno!

As if figs weren’t sweet enough and “dessert enough” at this time of year – here comes a dish that definitely gilds the lily by stuffing them with all the things we love, packed in one fat little bundle, surrounded by a shiny oozing puddle of melted dark chocolate. Whew! Got your attention? RICOTTA STUFFED DESSERT FIGS are not only drop dead delicious but the presentation is definitely one that merits Simon Cowell’s ‘”wow factor.” When you present these plump little packages at the end of your meal, the OMG’s will be audible all over the neighborhood.

These DESSERT FIGS are sooooo easy to make – you will just not believe it. You can make them even a day ahead and keep them refrigerated – so that you can concentrate on the rest of your meal preparation, all the while smugly knowing that your divinely inspired finale is all ready and waiting to be served.

The task at hand is to find some ripe juicy sweet figs. During the long season from June through October, this is far from difficult. An easy little stuffing is quickly created with just a few ingredients. Then you place some stuffing inside each fig which has been slit in a cross pattern, but not all the way through. You merely cut the fig from the top where the stem was attached 3/4 of the way down, and then turn it and do it again. Go ahead and “over stuff” them. You’ll want them to be really full and fat. After stuffing, you can refrigerate them until you are ready to serve.

You have options: At this point you have choices – you can serve the figs cool (not cold as their flavor is better with the chill off) OR you can bake them for a few minutes and served them warm. YOU CHOOSE!! Don’t you just love it when YOU can decide? I don’t know about you, but when I’m creating in the kitchen, the feeling of wandering aimlessly in uncharted territory is not exactly my comfort zone. I like to know where I’m headed and be in the driver’s seat. This is one of those times when you can create your own scenario. Warm or cool. Baked or not.

What are we waiting for? Andiamo!

RICOTTA STUFFED DESSERT FIGS

Makes: 10-12 figs

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook: 10 minutes (if you decide to bake them)

Ingredients:

10-12 Ripe plum juicy fresh figs –washed, patted dry, with stems removed

3/4 c. Ricotta Cheese

2 Tbsp. Powdered sugar

1/4 Tsp. Almond Extract

3 Tbsp. Coarsely Chopped Pistachios or Walnuts

2 Tbsp. Mini dark chocolate chips or coarsely chopped dark chocolate

1 tsp. Orange zest

2 Tbsp. Candied Orange Peel (optional) – chopped in small pieces. But if you want to make your own – try this Food Network Link to a great recipe for Candied Orange Peel.

Dried or Candied Cherries for the top

Honey for drizzling

Last and most important – Use a good dark chocolate melted for drizzling or puddling on the plate. I like the consistency of Lindt 70% for this. For an interesting treat – try the Lindt Intense Orange which I used for this demonstration. It has tiny pieces of orange in the chocolate and is really nice with this dessert.

Like Us On Facebook!

Instructions:

Slice your figs in a cross from the stem area 3/4 of the way down, but not all the way through as stated in the above text – first one way, then the other.

Mix together: the ricotta, powdered sugar, extract, nuts, chocolate mini chips or chopped chocolate, zest, and peel if using.

Stuff a generous spoonful into the cavity of each fig. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Just before serving, drizzle each fig with a little bit of honey.

If serving warm – Bake the figs at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

If serving cool – go to the next step.

Next – whether serving the figs warm or cool. Top with a dried candied cherry. Drizzle each fig with the melted chocolate OR puddle the melted chocolate on the plate and set a stuffed fig in the center. Serve one or two per person.

* Here’s another idea: Just add dried cherries to the stuffing and top the figs with one of the whole cherries. This really adds a different flavor to the mix and offers some versatility:

What to serve with this dessert? Pairing wines or beverages with chocolate is always fun – but there are pitfalls. It is said that the wine should be sweeter than the chocolate so the chocolate will not appear too bitter. With that in mind, for my taste, in pairing with RICOTTA STUFFED DESSERT FIGS, I think Prosecco or even an Asti Spumante would always work well. I also highly recommend a Tawny Port with these figs. However, if a red wine is preferred, Valpolicella or Syrah are good choices. What ever you do, enjoy the heck out of these jewels – the making, the serving, and above all the eating! Troppo Bella!

PARLA COME MANGI!

Comments are welcome in the “Speak Your Mind Area” beneath this post online.