Lots of tasty stuff this weekend! Risotto with portabello mushrooms, fresh parsley, pancetta and a tiny bit of lemon.
With pancetta that looks this good - you're going to see it in a LOT of dishes in the upcoming days and weeks!
Also made a HUGE pot of meat sauce... is there ANYTHING that tastes better than sauce that has cooked for hours and hours?
It has been way too long and there are more than a few photos to sort through - everything from Thanksgiving to various Friday Night Pizze - with the routine meals thrown in for good measure... Might as well just get to posting photos:
Thanksgiving was ham and ham and more ham! Sammiches and ham and eggs for days to follow.
And MASSIVE amounts of cornbread, green apple, Italian sausage and Vidalia onion stuffing. I love this stuff(ing).
You know that the ham bone made for some pretty tasty chicharos (split peas) as well... which is always a nice side dish to "crunchy chicken".
But the pizze were the stars, this first one with thinly sliced fresh tomato, crunchy prosciutto and garlic - kind of Calabrese style.
Then a "Saltimboca-style" pizza with prosciutto, sage and sweet onions. But the winner by far was last night:
Shrimp scampi pizza with cherry tomatoes and plenty of garlic. CRAZY GOOD!
My wonderful sister sent me a big box of goodies for my birthday... and they are going to be rationed out!
Without question the coolest of them all (which, as you will see, is quite a statement!): Finnochiona from the Salumeria of Mario Batali's father in Seattle. Oh laaaaaaawdy this is gonna be good!
How about these?? Dark chocolate dipped tangerine wedges? Who even KNEW these existed? This will be opened on Thanksgiving.
Oh the potential uses for these! Amaretti are so good!
My father and I had these in Italy in 2006 and I haven't found them ANYWHERE in the US. I may wait on these and serve them with pesto when Auntie L comes to visit next... ok, maybe they just can't wait that long! ;)
And you gotta have dessert, right? The "broche de oro" is from none other than the Barefoot Contessa. I'd say that was a pretty amazing haul!
No reference to anything emotional, I'm talking about whether we can see the bottom of the pantry yet! And the answer is a resounding "No!" Even if you find yourself making the same dishes frequently in this economy - because they are filling yet not too spendy - you can do so many small things to make them really great.
Case in point: skirt steak with rice and beans. We have it a couple of times a month, and we could be yawning already, save for the addition of an amazing staple that makes all grilled meats THAT much better: Chimichurri.
Friday night pizza followed the normal order: for the kids, for the kids, for the adults. The latter being a pizza with Italian Sausage, fresh rosemary, Parmigiano and Pecorino cheeses and sweet Vidalia onions. The twist? Cooking the onions in Balsamic vinegar to make them sweet and interesting.
Saturday night dinner was an amazing recipe from Mary Ann Esposito that I have made before: Ground Lamb Ragu with orecchiette, but I left out the crushed red pepper for the youngest kids. No problem for the adults, as I have a secret weapon in the pantry:
Homemade spicy olive oil - made simply with decent olive oil that spicy red peppers (that were originally dried) have been steeped in. A tablespoon of that drizzled over ANYTHING is a wonderful thing!
Nope, I wasn't IN Gubbio this week, but I was reminiscing about my trip there in 2003. I made a really nice chicken dish from Mary Ann Esposito's site "Ciao Italia" - which I LOVE because of how trustworthy and delicious her recipes always are.
This is "Fricco di Pollo all'Eugubina" which is a really nice dish and allowed me to use a wine in cooking that I love: Orvieto Classico.
Tuesday night was Simplicity Itself: Spaghetti al Aglio e Olio... I was really excited about making this because I have made my own Spicy Oil by soaking hot peppers in Olive Oil for weeks. That and a touch of crushed red pepper added a nice zing!
Back from a wonderful trip and back in the swing of things...
Baked chicken, sauteed broccoli and mashed sweet potato with crunchy bits of American Prosciutto (see prior post detailing the goodies from Iowa).
We had a reunion dinner of sorts tonight with the same gang as 3 months ago... but we were missing the center of attention. Our dear Cugino was stuck in Iowa and couldn't make the dinner. He sent some lots of pork products in his stead (see prior post) and we put them to the test. We served a risotto made with shallots and fresh corn with a crispy piece of speck on top that was then broken up and mixed into the risotto. Ok, and we also made al'Amatriciana. And a poached pears in red wine with vanilla icecream and pistachios... Lastly, we took a photo to show our friend how much we miss him.
That's you in the middle Cugino... and it wasn't the same without you!
