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stuffed artichoke or carciofe

There is nothing more delicious and special than a stuffed artichoke.  My parents made these as a special treat for us growing up.  Sometimes cooked in the oven, sometimes on the stovetop.  This yummy spiral journey  begins by eating each leaf, packed with yummy breadcrumbs and a bit of artichoke.  You must scrape the leaf between your teeth.  Like climbing down a flight of stairs anticipating the last step, you come to the heart.  Ahhhh.  Joy.  Be sure to remove all the fuzzy hairy fibers or “choke” that sit atop, protecting the jewel of this glorious vegetable.

Here is what I think is the best and “foolproof” way of making an artichoke.

First wash the artichoke.  Pull off the outer tough leaves, and then with a scissor trim each leaf so the tips are blunt. Next, with a very sharp knife cut off the top third of the artichoke.  I leave the “choke” intact, i don’t mess with it.  Bring a large pot of  salted water to a boil, drop carciofe in the water and let cook for about 8-10 minutes.  Remove from water, drain excess water.  Stuff them with breadcrumb mixture.

Breadcrumb mixture:

2 cups breadcrumb, 1/2 cup olive oil, 8 cloves garlic finely chopped, 1/2 cup  grated pecorino, bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped, handful of basil leaves chopped, black pepper, 1/2 cup chicken stock

Stir mixture together stuff carciofe (artichoke) and drizzle each one with olive oil.  Roast in oven at 350 for about 45 minutes to one hour.  Cover with foil for first 30 minutes.  You will know when artichoke is done if leaf pulls away with ease.

puppy cupcakes

angeletti or anisette cookie

I am quite fond of this soft pillow-ey Italian cookie.  I made them last Christmas and decided to make them again this year, but when I started out to make the recipe I did not have enough baking powder.  This recipe calls for a wopping (no pun intended) 6 tbls of baking powder!!  So instead, I found another recipe as a substitute. Not as good!!   So I am going to share with you my favorite recipe for angeletti.   I believe the  transaltion is “little angels”.

4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs, large

6 tbls baking powder

3/4 cup oil

1 1/2 tbls anise extract

Icing:

1 tsp anise extract (and hot water as needed) to 1 cup confectioners sugar to make icing smooth.

yield: 40 cookies or so

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center and add the oil milk anise and eggs  Mix together with a wooden spoon.  With oiled hands roll into 1″ balls and slightly flatten top.  Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.  Dip cookies into icing while still warm.  Buon Natale!

my very first buche de noel

I have always wanted to make a bouche de noel and every christmas my mom and I agree to make one, and then chicken out.  so this year I decided I would give it a go.  I think I did ok.  I made a few mistakes that I will share with you.  First, it really helps to watch a few videos (youtube has many).  I watched several.  I chose to use  a recipe from marthastewart.com compliments of Johnny Iuzzini from Jean Georges in NY.  http://www.marthastewart.com/recipes/buche-de-noel

I changed it a little..I  did not make the chestnut cream filling, I used chocolate mousse instead.  Johnny’s genoise recipe is great and easy to roll, the ganache is great too.  You might want to double the ganache recipe, it makes it easier to have extra.  OK, so here is where I screwed up, my mousse was too soft and oozed out a bit, next time I will pop it in the freezer to really thicken it.  Also, after filling and rolling do the following :

1) pop it in the FREEZER for 1 hour.

2) then slice the ends…

3) pour ganache over cake-roll over a sheet pan with rack,

4) adhere stump ends

5) more ganache over cake-roll over a sheet pan with rack,

5) then decorate on serving platter with meringue mushrooms.

I also did not use his swiss meringue recipe.  I whipped up 6 egg whites in an electric mixer (whisk attachment!!) added 1 cup sugar and about 4 tbls of meringue powder…whipped until stiff peaks form.  Use a piping bag and tip #12 to make mushroom caps and stems.  Bake on parchment at 200 for 1 hour.

Happy Holidays!!

use watcha got

This past weekend NY was hit with a blizzard!!  Fun! Fun!  I love the  first snow-fall of the winter, always have!  As soon as the very first flakes of winter fall from the sky, it almost feels as if it’s the first time all over again.  So this weekend we had plans with our very close family friends to come over with their two children for early dinner on Sunday.  I decided to make what was in the house, so we did not have to go out…  a little of this, a little of that…and here is what i came up with:

Linguine with Cici and Tomatoes

I sauteed an onion in a large skillet with olive oil and a little butter.  I smashed about 7 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper, added this to the onions and let slowly brown on low for about 20- 25 minutes or so.  Do not let this burn.  I had Italian parsley  (this is the flat leafed parsley) and fresh basil in the fridge which I chopped up and three in to the onion mixture.  When everything was soft,  light brown and fully cooked, I added a nice splash of red wine, turn up the heat for about 3 minutes or so…stir with wooden spoon, then add about 3 tablespoons of butter.  I had cherry tomatoes in fridge, sliced these and threw them in as well.  Let the tomatoes blister a bit. I then opened a can of cici beans (chick peas), rinsed them in a colander…drain and add to the pan.  Add more fresh parsley and basil…let all of these flavors marry together in saute pan, then add cooked linguine to  pan and warm through.  Add a few tablespoons of peccorino cheese toss and serve!!  So freakin good!!! SOOO goood!!

BPC (blueprint cleanse unboxing)

mini vanilla cupcakes with chocolate ganache center

I love Mrs Millmans recipe for chocolate ganache or frosting:

This will last in the fridge for about 5-6 days in a plastic container.  I had some leftover so I decided to inject my vanilla cupcakes with it.  I used my piping bag.  Use a tip that you can easily pierce through the cupcake with.   You want a decent size tip opening to allow the ganache to flow… don’t go too small, it will take you forever.  I used a #21 star tip. They do make a tip for this very purpose(# 230).

Makes 6 cups

• 24 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
• 4 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Directions

1. Put chocolate and cream into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat; stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, until thick, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in corn syrup. Transfer to a large, wide metal bowl. Refrigerate until frosting is cool enough to spread, about 2 hours, checking and stirring every 15 minutes. Use immediately

fresh warm mozzarella

There is no substitute for FRESH and I mean FRESH, just made, still warm mozzarella!!  (I prefer salted to non)  I recommend calling  your local Italian Pork Store and find out exactly when they make their mozzarella.  You want to pick it up while it is still warm and on the counter.  You don’t want it once it has landed in the refrigerator.  When you get it home and unwrap it from the plastic, warm milk should ooze out.  As you slice it, it should be very soft and milky.  Get it while it’s hot!!

I am in the process of learning how to make my own… will let you know how it turns out!

pumpkin cupcakes for halloween

i made martha stewart’s pumpkin cupcake recipe this morning to bring to my daughters class party.  they are very light and tasty.  i made minis.  i just find that the mini cupcakes are better for the little ones.  they can have just one, or 2 if they like.  one batch made about 48 minis AND one small loaf pan of pumpkin bread.  i was going to use my mom’s banana bread recipe (which i LOVE and the kids just adore!!) just substitute the bananas with pumpkin (or zucchini, sweet potato…whatever) but I thought i would try Martha’s new recipe…  it’s definitely good.  and maybe it would have been better with cream cheese frosting.  but I do think i like my moms better.  much better.  my best, and most sincere recipe taster,  my 6 year old agreed that grandma’s “pumpkin bread” is better!!  again, Martha’s is not a bad recipe, by any stretch…my husband and myself have had about 5 so far and it’s only 2:00 pm

martha’s:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pumpkin-cupcakes

moms:

http://butterygoodness.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/never-get-caught-without-a-banana/