Olympic Challenge: Week 1
Agnolotti alla Piemontese
Since the Games are in Torino, I wanted to open with a traditional Piedmontese specialty so had to do a bit of research since I typically cook Tuscan or Roman dishes at home. Most books cite this meat filled ravioli as something everyone has to try if in Piedmont.
Source: The Silver Spoon
Serves: 6
Prepared Pasta Dough - Make your own or buy prepared lasagna sheets or wonton/gyoza wrappers
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
14 oz ground beef
8 oz ground pork
1 egg and 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2/3 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper
One recipe Pink Tomato Sauce (omit the half & half)
Combine spinach, beef, pork, eggs, and cheese. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. On a strip of pasta dough (about 4 in wide), Place stuffing at 2 in intervals, 1/2-1 t of stuffing per ravioli. Moisten edges and fold over. Press to seal making sure to work out all air bubbles. Cut into squares with a fluted cutter. Wonton or gyoza wrappers are even easier since they're already precut and ready to stuff individually!
Bring four quarts of water to a boil. Add salt and carefully slide the ravioli in. Cook to al dente. Drain and toss gently with the sauce. Serve at once.
Bistecca a la Fiorentina
Simple Tuscan cooking at its finest. We enjoyed this with roasted rosemary potatoes and a spinach braised with a little bit of butter and white wine.
Source: My Head
Serves: 2
1 12-14 oz rib-eye steak
Salt and Pepper
Good Balsamic Vinegar (I use a 10 Year Aged Vinegar I buy from Zingerman's)
Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Break out the special stuff for this. Use the best you can afford.)
Season steak with salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you preheat the grill.
Grill steak 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Slice into thin slices and fan out on two plates. Drizzle with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil before serving.
Chicken Cacciatore
I tweaked this recipe big time to remove all the extra things which added fat & calories but no flavor to the party. That way, we can enjoy it more often without guilt. So good-bye, egg & milk batter and 14 tablespoons of olive oil (eek!). Since the chicken is braised in an intense vegetable base, you don't miss a thing. We had this with our favorite baked polenta (recipe included below). Check out Tyler Florence's cookbook for the original recipe.
Source: Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen
Serves: 6
6 red bell peppers
2 T extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 c all purpose flour
2 T garlic powder
1 T dried oregano
6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
6 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 large tomoatoes, coarsely chopped
Zest of one lemon
3 anchovy filets
1 T capers, drained if in brine
1 t red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch fresh basil, hand torn & divided
1 c dry white wine
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Brush lightly with olive oil or spray with cooking spray and place cut side down on a small baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until peppers are soft and the skins are beginning to turn black. Remove from the oven and place peppers in a covered container (I use Tupperware but Ziploc bags also work) to steam for at least 10 minutes. When peppers are cool enough to handle, remove skins and chop roughly.
Season the flour with the garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour and tap off the excess. Heat 2 T olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Brown the chicken in batches and set meat aside under aluminum foil. Add garlic, onion, tomaotes, lemon zest, anchovies, capers, red pepper flakes, half the roasted peppers, and half the basil to the drippings in the pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often until everything breaks down.
Add the remaining roasted peppers and basil. Tuck the chicken pieces into the vegetable mixture and pour in any chicken drippings which may have collected on the plate and the wine. Turn heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Fettucine al Pesto
Always a favorite around here!
Source: Pesto from Cooking Light
Serves: 4
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts or pine nuts (since we're nut free for the time being, I just ditched these)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups basil leaves (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lb fettucine, cooked al dente
Drop nuts and garlic through food chute with food processor on; process until minced. Add oil; pulse 3 times. Add basil, cheese, and salt; process until finely minced, scraping sides of bowl once. Add to hot cooked pasta and toss well.
Seafood Risotto
A variation on my favorite pressure cooker risotto. This was the foreward to Chad's gelato!
Serves: 2
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 c arborio or carnaroli rice
3 c chicken broth
1/2 t minced garlic
1 T butter
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
12 oz assorted shellfish & seafood (I used the frozen calamari, shrimp, & scallop mix from Trader Joe's)
2 T half & half
1 oz grated parmesan cheese
3 T finely chopped green onions, green parts only
2 T finely chopped Italian parsley
Salt & Pepper
In a pressure cooker, sweat the onion, olive oil, and sprinkle of salt over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes until the onion is translucent. Do not let the onion brown.
While onion is cooking, melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add seafood and lemon juice and cook for two minutes until seafood is mostly cooked (final cooking will happen in the risotto). Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Turn heat under onions to medium high and add rice, turning to coat. Add broth, turn the heat to high and cover. Cook under high pressure per your manufacturer's instructions for four minutes. Quick release the pressure. Stir in the seafood and return to medium heat until the consistency is how you like it and the seafood is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in green onions, parsley, half & half, and cheese.
Grilled Cheese Pizzas
Our favorite pizza dough makes another appearance. Follow the dough recipe for the Grilled Apple and Sausage Pizzas but top with marinara sauce and your favorite italian cheeses!
Roasted Red Pepper, Goat Cheese, & Prosciutto Calzones
Pizza dough....take two. Since my favorite dough recipe makes enough for two meals, we turned the second half into these calzones.
Source: My head
Serves: 4
3 red bell peppers, roasted per the instructions in the chicken cacciatore recipe above and chopped finely
4 oz fresh chevre
1 oz finely grated Parmesan
4 slices prosciutto, chopped
1 egg white beaten with 2 T water for egg wash
Kosher Salt
Cornmeal, for dusting cookie sheet
1/2 recipe Pizza Dough
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Combine peppers, chevre, parmesan, and prosciutto. Divide dough into four equal portions and roll each portion into a 6-8 inch circle. Divide filling across the four calzones. Fold circles in half enclosing the filling and crimp to seal. Dust a cookie sheet with cornmeal and arrange calzones over the cornmeal. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.
Pork with Scallions and Capers
This is probably my favorite recipe from Marcella Hazan's book, Marcella Cucina. Simple but packed with flavor. Another good one with our favorite baked polenta.
Source: Marcella Cucina
Serves: 4
15 scallions, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 T capers, drained if in brine and chopped
1 lb thinly sliced boneless pork loin
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1/2 c all purpose flour
Salt and Pepper
Using a meat pounder or a mallet, lightly pound the pork slices to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
Heat the oil and half the butter in a heavy frying pan. Season flour with salt & pepper. Dredge the pork scallops in flour and brown meat in batches over medoum heat. Transfer the meat to a warm plate and set aside.
Lower heat to medium low and add the scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the scallions are very soft, about 20 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the capers. Saute for 30 seconds. Add remaining butter and pork. Cook until the meat is just heated through.
Classic Baked Polenta
I can eat this stuff all day. Creamy with a slight grittiness and best of all, no stirring!
Source: The Back of a Golden Pheasant Polenta Bag
Serves: 4
1 c polenta or coarse stoneground cornmeal (I'm currently using a Piedmontese polenta from Zingerman's but coarse cornmeal from Bob's Red Mill is great too)
3 1/4 c lukewarm water
1 t salt
1 T butter
1/2 oz grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 2 qt baking dish with cooking spray. Combine polenta, water, salt, and butter in the dish and stir with a fork until blended. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes. Run a fork through it and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Stir in cheese.
Since the Games are in Torino, I wanted to open with a traditional Piedmontese specialty so had to do a bit of research since I typically cook Tuscan or Roman dishes at home. Most books cite this meat filled ravioli as something everyone has to try if in Piedmont.
Source: The Silver Spoon
Serves: 6
Prepared Pasta Dough - Make your own or buy prepared lasagna sheets or wonton/gyoza wrappers
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
14 oz ground beef
8 oz ground pork
1 egg and 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2/3 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper
One recipe Pink Tomato Sauce (omit the half & half)
Combine spinach, beef, pork, eggs, and cheese. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. On a strip of pasta dough (about 4 in wide), Place stuffing at 2 in intervals, 1/2-1 t of stuffing per ravioli. Moisten edges and fold over. Press to seal making sure to work out all air bubbles. Cut into squares with a fluted cutter. Wonton or gyoza wrappers are even easier since they're already precut and ready to stuff individually!
Bring four quarts of water to a boil. Add salt and carefully slide the ravioli in. Cook to al dente. Drain and toss gently with the sauce. Serve at once.
Bistecca a la Fiorentina
Simple Tuscan cooking at its finest. We enjoyed this with roasted rosemary potatoes and a spinach braised with a little bit of butter and white wine.
Source: My Head
Serves: 2
1 12-14 oz rib-eye steak
Salt and Pepper
Good Balsamic Vinegar (I use a 10 Year Aged Vinegar I buy from Zingerman's)
Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Break out the special stuff for this. Use the best you can afford.)
Season steak with salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you preheat the grill.
Grill steak 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Slice into thin slices and fan out on two plates. Drizzle with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil before serving.
Chicken Cacciatore
I tweaked this recipe big time to remove all the extra things which added fat & calories but no flavor to the party. That way, we can enjoy it more often without guilt. So good-bye, egg & milk batter and 14 tablespoons of olive oil (eek!). Since the chicken is braised in an intense vegetable base, you don't miss a thing. We had this with our favorite baked polenta (recipe included below). Check out Tyler Florence's cookbook for the original recipe.
Source: Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen
Serves: 6
6 red bell peppers
2 T extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 c all purpose flour
2 T garlic powder
1 T dried oregano
6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
6 garlic cloves, halved lengthwise
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 large tomoatoes, coarsely chopped
Zest of one lemon
3 anchovy filets
1 T capers, drained if in brine
1 t red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch fresh basil, hand torn & divided
1 c dry white wine
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Brush lightly with olive oil or spray with cooking spray and place cut side down on a small baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until peppers are soft and the skins are beginning to turn black. Remove from the oven and place peppers in a covered container (I use Tupperware but Ziploc bags also work) to steam for at least 10 minutes. When peppers are cool enough to handle, remove skins and chop roughly.
Season the flour with the garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour and tap off the excess. Heat 2 T olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Brown the chicken in batches and set meat aside under aluminum foil. Add garlic, onion, tomaotes, lemon zest, anchovies, capers, red pepper flakes, half the roasted peppers, and half the basil to the drippings in the pot. Season with salt and pepper and cook on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring often until everything breaks down.
Add the remaining roasted peppers and basil. Tuck the chicken pieces into the vegetable mixture and pour in any chicken drippings which may have collected on the plate and the wine. Turn heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.
Fettucine al Pesto
Always a favorite around here!
Source: Pesto from Cooking Light
Serves: 4
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts or pine nuts (since we're nut free for the time being, I just ditched these)
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups basil leaves (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 lb fettucine, cooked al dente
Drop nuts and garlic through food chute with food processor on; process until minced. Add oil; pulse 3 times. Add basil, cheese, and salt; process until finely minced, scraping sides of bowl once. Add to hot cooked pasta and toss well.
Seafood Risotto
A variation on my favorite pressure cooker risotto. This was the foreward to Chad's gelato!
Serves: 2
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 c arborio or carnaroli rice
3 c chicken broth
1/2 t minced garlic
1 T butter
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
12 oz assorted shellfish & seafood (I used the frozen calamari, shrimp, & scallop mix from Trader Joe's)
2 T half & half
1 oz grated parmesan cheese
3 T finely chopped green onions, green parts only
2 T finely chopped Italian parsley
Salt & Pepper
In a pressure cooker, sweat the onion, olive oil, and sprinkle of salt over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes until the onion is translucent. Do not let the onion brown.
While onion is cooking, melt the butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add seafood and lemon juice and cook for two minutes until seafood is mostly cooked (final cooking will happen in the risotto). Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Turn heat under onions to medium high and add rice, turning to coat. Add broth, turn the heat to high and cover. Cook under high pressure per your manufacturer's instructions for four minutes. Quick release the pressure. Stir in the seafood and return to medium heat until the consistency is how you like it and the seafood is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in green onions, parsley, half & half, and cheese.
Grilled Cheese Pizzas
Our favorite pizza dough makes another appearance. Follow the dough recipe for the Grilled Apple and Sausage Pizzas but top with marinara sauce and your favorite italian cheeses!
Roasted Red Pepper, Goat Cheese, & Prosciutto Calzones
Pizza dough....take two. Since my favorite dough recipe makes enough for two meals, we turned the second half into these calzones.
Source: My head
Serves: 4
3 red bell peppers, roasted per the instructions in the chicken cacciatore recipe above and chopped finely
4 oz fresh chevre
1 oz finely grated Parmesan
4 slices prosciutto, chopped
1 egg white beaten with 2 T water for egg wash
Kosher Salt
Cornmeal, for dusting cookie sheet
1/2 recipe Pizza Dough
Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Combine peppers, chevre, parmesan, and prosciutto. Divide dough into four equal portions and roll each portion into a 6-8 inch circle. Divide filling across the four calzones. Fold circles in half enclosing the filling and crimp to seal. Dust a cookie sheet with cornmeal and arrange calzones over the cornmeal. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.
Pork with Scallions and Capers
This is probably my favorite recipe from Marcella Hazan's book, Marcella Cucina. Simple but packed with flavor. Another good one with our favorite baked polenta.
Source: Marcella Cucina
Serves: 4
15 scallions, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 T capers, drained if in brine and chopped
1 lb thinly sliced boneless pork loin
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1/2 c all purpose flour
Salt and Pepper
Using a meat pounder or a mallet, lightly pound the pork slices to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.
Heat the oil and half the butter in a heavy frying pan. Season flour with salt & pepper. Dredge the pork scallops in flour and brown meat in batches over medoum heat. Transfer the meat to a warm plate and set aside.
Lower heat to medium low and add the scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the scallions are very soft, about 20 minutes. Uncover the pan and add the capers. Saute for 30 seconds. Add remaining butter and pork. Cook until the meat is just heated through.
Classic Baked Polenta
I can eat this stuff all day. Creamy with a slight grittiness and best of all, no stirring!
Source: The Back of a Golden Pheasant Polenta Bag
Serves: 4
1 c polenta or coarse stoneground cornmeal (I'm currently using a Piedmontese polenta from Zingerman's but coarse cornmeal from Bob's Red Mill is great too)
3 1/4 c lukewarm water
1 t salt
1 T butter
1/2 oz grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 2 qt baking dish with cooking spray. Combine polenta, water, salt, and butter in the dish and stir with a fork until blended. Bake uncovered for 50 minutes. Run a fork through it and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Stir in cheese.
posted by Raquel | 1:55 PM
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