A Night in Italy

Last weekend we went to Ohio for a wedding and on the way home we were listening to Splendid Table on NPR. A woman called in and asked for advice about a menu for her friends who were making their first trip to America from Italy. The caller said she had enjoyed many amazing meals with said friends in Italy and wanted to offer them an Italian-style dinner that featured American fare. The host, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, came up on the spot with a mouth-watering menu, and she described it (in her ever-soothing voice) mouth-watering course by mouth-watering course. I was inspired by this style of eating: many small courses, deconstructing a meal, element-by-element and savoring each piece. I love the idea of allowing time, wine, and conversation to lead the way. I've never been to Italy, but I read Eat, Pray, Love, so I've got it covered ;)

Well, my garden is currently full of cherry tomatoes and my friend Laura has been to Italy, so I decided it was a great night for an Italian-style dinner. Here is the menu, bolded recipes listed below. 

• Bruschetta 

• Hummus

• Meat and Cheese Plate: goat cheese and cranberry white cheddar, 
Volpi Pinot Grigio Salami

• French Bread

• Red Grapes

• Venetian Panino (simple, but delicious finger sandwiches)

• Salad with Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette

• Ricotta, Spinach, and Bacon Ravioli with Herb Butter Sauce

• We also enjoyed a bottle of Viognier (a crisp, refreshing white wine. If you've never had it, you should check it out)

Venetian Panino (original recipe here)  
This is a Giada de Laurentis recipe. You may know how I feel about this woman. Seriously, how can she eat half of what she cooks and remain a size -5? In addition, I find her cleavage distracting.  Well today I soldiered on and watched and entire episode of Everyday Italian. This is where two of these recipes originated. I, of course, made a few changes.

I didn't think to take pictures until later and the
 light was bad and I was lazy.. I apologize.

Ingredients
- 8 ounces Gruyere, shredded (Emmentaler  is cheaper, generic Swiss even more so - any of these would work)
- 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 12 ounces sliced turkey
- 12 slices wheat or sourdough bread, crusts removed (I used french bread. You can make these whatever size you want. I made small ones)
- 6 tablespoons olive oil (canola or vegetable would work in you're in a bind)


Directions
1. Into a food processor add the cheese, butter, mustard, and garlic. Blend until the mixture is thick, smooth and spreadable.


2. Spread the cheese mixture over 1 side of each bread slice.


3. Arrange the turkey slices over the cheese mixture on 6 of the bread slices.


4. Top sandwiches with the remaining bread slices, cheese mixture side down, pressing gently to adhere.


5. Cut the sandwiches in half (or don't, it's completely up to you!)


6. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Cook half of the sandwiches until golden brown and heated through, about 4 minutes per side.


Salad with Sweet Balsamic Vinaigrette
I originally was inspired by this salad, but I ended up just using the dressing recipe.
  
My salad components were: baby romaine, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, caramelized onion, and goat cheese.


The dressing:
1/2 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
1 ½ tablespoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried mustard (I used two teaspoons of Dijon mustard)
1 tablespoon minced sweet onion
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (I used pomegranate red wine vinegar)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
Throw all of these ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend away! Or, throw into a jar and shake, shake, shake. OR, throw into a mixing bowl and whisk! The options are endless!! This dressing is light, refreshing and very sweet. It be really good on fish and I also dipped my ravioli in it too!

Ricotta, Spinach, and Bacon Ravioli with Herb Butter Sauce
The original recipe was Prosciutto Ravioli, but I had bacon already and it's cheaper!





I made this for only two of us so I did not make all 48 raviolis. I made about 12. I saved the extra filling and plan to use it in either lasagna or manicotti.  Also, the original recipe says to boil some water, cook the pasta for a couple minutes, then drizzle the butter sauce over. I didn't want to heat a pot of water for just 12 raviolis so I sauteed mine in the butter sauce (directions below).


Ingredients
- 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry (really wring it out so that you don't have soggy raviolis)
- 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and chopped (I used 6 slices)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 48 wonton wrappers

Butter sauce:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Freshly grated pecorino (I used Parmesan)

Directions:
1. Whisk the ricotta, spinach, prosciutto, egg yolks, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.

2. Place 1 tablespoon of the ricotta filling in the center of a wonton wrapper.

3. Brush the edge of the wrapper lightly with water. Fold the wrapper in half, enclosing the filling completely and forming a triangle. Pinch the edges to seal. Transfer the ravioli to baking sheets.
4. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers. (Can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

5. Melt the butter in a heavy small skillet over medium heat. Add the oregano and garlic and stir 1 minute. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add the raviolis (you might have to process in two batches) and saute a couple minutes on each side (until golden brown).

6. After the raviolis were heated through, I poured the remaining butter sauce into a small dish and served it as a dipping sauce.  These are seriously amazing.

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Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Muffins

Here is yet another use for the zucchini that may be overflowing in your garden. I like plain old zucchini bread, but I get tired of it. These muffins (which can also be made as a bread loaf or in a bundt pan) are so good and, if you have a picky eater, you wouldn't even know there's zucchini in them!  I used a large zucchini so I had to scoop the seeds out. I also peeled it because the skin is tougher in the large ones. The peeled zucchini meant no little green specks in the batter (a good way to hide the veggie!).

Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Muffins

This recipe comes from Modern Alternative Mama.com. I replaced sprouted flour with half whole wheat, half white. You could use all wheat or all white as well.

Ingredients:

2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg (I always use pumpkin or apple pie spice because I have it on hand)
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. poppy seeds

3 tbsp. butter, softened
½ c. sugar
1 egg
¼ c. maple syrup (I used the real stuff)
1 tsp. vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon (easy thanks to my fancy new juicer!)
1 c. zucchini, shredded (peeling is optional)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350. 

2.  In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients thoroughly.

3.  In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar. 

4.  Add egg and maple syrup and blend together. 

5.  Add vanilla, lemon juice and zucchini and stir until smooth. 

6.  Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

7.  Pour into greased muffin tins, loaf pan, or bundt pan. Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes, bread/cake for 40 – 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

I will definitely keep this recipe around. The muffins were so good. Not too lemony (in fact, I'd like a bit more lemon flavor) and very moist. A good, basic poppy seed muffin recipe. 

Quick and Delicious Hamburger Buns

Found this recipe from Taste of Home via Pinterest. I've wanted a quick and easy recipe for buns, so I was excited to try this out.  I read all the reviews and made a few adjustments. My recipe is below. The original recipe can be found here. These were, just as the recipe promised, easy and so delicious.  On a day below 80 degrees, I will probably make several batches and freeze them. You can freeze the dough before they rise or after the baked buns cool.  They would also be great shaped into sub or hot dog buns.  I used half wheat flour and half white. They were good, but very wheaty - I'd try them with just white flour next time. I really may never buy hamburger buns again!

Quick and Delicious Hamburger Buns
from Taste of Home.com



Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp active dry yeast (I used fast rising because that's what I had)
- 1 cup, plus 2 Tbsp. warm water (110-115 degrees) - this is just HOT water from your tap
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 - 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 3 cups for the dough and a half cup when kneading)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp. cold water

Directions
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add melted butter and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Add the egg, salt, and enough flour to form a soft dough (I added 3 cups)

3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise.

4. Divide into 10 pieces (obviously 8 would yield larger buns, 12 would yield smaller); shape each into a ball. Place 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. I patted mine down a bit so they were more hamburger-bun-looking, rather than dinner-roll-looking.

5. Let rise for 20-30 minutes.

6. Whisk egg white and water together then brush tops of rolls.


7. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool.

Here's the nutrition information from Taste of Home. This assumes you make 12 rolls. I made 8 and they were just slightly larger than the cheap ones you buy in the store.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 each) equals 195 calories, 7 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 18 mg cholesterol, 204 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Originally published as 40-Minute Hamburger Buns in Best of Country Breads , p45

Better-than-Rice-A-Roni Cheesy Zucchini Rice

I'm not sure if you've heard, but it's been hot... and dry.  I don't have AC so the "cooking" has been relegated to sub sandwiches, salads, and take-out these past two weeks. Most fast food makes me sick so we're talking eat-in resturants and our bank account is starting to complain. I told my husband I would make a more concerted effort to get back on the cooking bandwagon. Even if we're only eating sandwiches, we just can't afford to eat out so often.

In addition, the garden is bursting at the seams with zucchini, cucumbers, and I think my potatoes are already  ready to dig! Yesterday I gathered about a dozen juliet cherry tomatoes and my first big heirloom of the season (one of the chickens had taken a bite out of it, but 90% of it is still good!). I've made several jars of refrigerator pickles and I've given a ton of zucchini away (I'm also minding my neighbor's huge garden which has yielded more zuke than I can manage!) Zucchini is my favorite vegetable and I'm perfectly content to saute it in a little olive oil with some garlic, mushrooms, and rosemary, but even I can't eat all of this zucchini! I shredded and froze about 10 cups of it. So this week I'm going to do some baking because, in addition to all the zukes, we just found the eggs our hens have been hoarding under the rose bushes:

So I'm thinking some baking is in order! Maybe later in the week - today it's almost 100!  Today I did use one small zucchini in this homemade rice-a-roni style dish. 

Cheesy Zucchini Rice

from bunsinmyoven.com - a blog that I suggest you check out. All the recipes look wonderful!

When I was in college I loved those rice or noodle packets that you can whip up in 15 minutes.  In fact, I do still like them, but calories, sodium, and just plain guilt generally keep me from buying them.  I was thrilled to stumble upon the following recipe during my pinning one warm evening.  I made it for lunch today and both Dylan and I loved it.  As a dinner dish I might also add mushrooms and/or chopped tomatoes. It would also be great with chopped chicken, salmon, or black beans. So versatile, which is what I like!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups chicken broth (I used Swanson's fat free)
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium or 2 small zucchini, grated
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar (I used Cabot's 75% reduced fat and it was still delicious)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
splash of milk, as needed

Instructions

1.  Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.

2.  Add the rice and stir to coat. Toast the rice, stirring often, just until it starts to turn golden.

3.  Pour in the chicken broth and garlic powder, bring to a boil, turn heat to low, and cover.

4.  Cook, covered, for 15 - 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

5.  Remove from the heat and add the butter, grated zucchini, and cheddar. Stir until well incorporated. 

6.  Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

7.  Stir again and add salt and pepper to taste and a splash of milk if you'd like to thin out the texture a little bit.

Seriously it was so good and so easy you will never buy Rice-A-Roni again! You could add any veggie, really and could play around with seasonings. Maybe add salsa? Give it a try and let me know! ;)

Nutrition Information
This makes about 4- 1/2 cup servings.
One serving: 175 cal  /  47 carbs  /  3 g fat   /   15 g protein

Easy Refrigerator Pickles

When it comes to store-bought pickles, I feel neutral.  I use them on hamburgers, but I'm not a huge fan of just munching them straight out of the jar (there are people who do that, you know).  A couple years ago I began making refrigerator pickles out of necessity... so many cukes! so little time! I will tell you, a fresh refrigerator pickle is nothing like the salty, mushy store-bought variety. Refrigerator pickles are crisp, fresh, tangy, and just a little salty.  Also, these pickles require a few simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand. You can pick up a quart of small cucumbers at your local farmers market if you don't grow them yourself. In addition, you can store them in any glass container-  you don't have to use canning jars.

Digression: Personally, I feel that making things from scratch is only necessary when the homemade version is cheaper, more nutritious, and/or more delicious. I once made a pumpkin pie from scratch. I mean, from scratch. I started with a pie pumpkin and some flour. I did it all: cooked the pumpkin, scooped out the flesh, made the crust from hand, everything.  When it came out of the oven I prepared myself for the greatest pumpkin pie experience of a lifetime...well, it tasted like pumpkin pie...  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but it didn't taste any more magical than one made with canned pumpkin and it had taken me all day!  And so, I now limit my from-scratch excursions into areas where it is to my advantage in some way to do so!

Okay, back to pickles. Back when I believed I could convert my husband into a veggie lover (so far I've only achieved veggie eater, not veggie lover), I planted a huge garden with complete disregard as to what he would actually eat.  Then I ended up with more produce than two adults needed (or wanted, in my husband's case).  It was then that I discovered pickling because the hubs draws the line at cukes. He just plain hates them. He likes pickles, however.

When you can pickles the "real" way (using a hot water bath), you can't eat them right away and it can be a bit of a gamble as to whether they turned out or not. You wait 3 weeks, crack the jar and then say, "oh, last year's were better." Also, you need to follow a recipe pretty rigidly so that the acidity is just right and they don't go bad. This can be tough if you only have a few cukes on hand. Refrigerator pickles, however, are quick and easy and you don't need any canning supplies to make them! They are also more flexible with cucumber quantity.  In the past I've used a recipe that I pieced together that uses canning salt, but this year I tried a new one that uses only ingredients you most likely have on hand!

Also, somewhere along the way we discovered that my husband's boss loves pickles. He's the kind that will sit and eat an entire jar (I told you there were people like this). So one year I gave him a small jar and I received such rave reviews that I decided refrigerator pickles were the way to go!  His wife told me he ate the jar in about 15 minutes and, from a man who considers himself a bit of a pickle-connoisseur, I take that as a compliment!

So this recipe is from Urban Preserving.com and I definitely think it's a keeper:

Small Batch Refrigerator Pickles
makes two pints - I made 3 pints and 2 quarts out of 3.5 pounds of cucumbers. I tripled the water/vinegar/salt solution)

1 quart small cucumbers (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup filtered water
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons dill seed (I used dill weed)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 spring onions (whites only), chopped (you could chop up yellow or red onion instead)

Directions:
Wash and dry cucumbers. Chop ends off and slice into spears. Set aside.

Combine vinegar, water and salt in sauce pan and bring to a boil. (Note to self: to not inhale over boiling vinegar... it hurts).

Equally divide the dill seed, garlic cloves and chopped onion between the two jars. 

Pack the cucumber spears into the jars as tightly as you can without crushing them - really smush 'em in there! I hold the jar on its side when I pack them:

Pour the brine into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put lids on the jars and let them cool on the counter top. Once they’re cool, put them in the refrigerator. Let cure for at least a day before eating. Pickles will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

Some pickling notes...

- Because I'm a pickle rebel, I made some cut into chips instead of spears, you are allowed to do this.

- I packed some into larger jars, this is also allowed, you'll just need to add a little more onion, garlic, and dill.

- You can play around with the spices: add a little cumin or pepper maybe?

- If you use actual jars and canning lids, you'll hear the seals pop as they cool.  Don't be fooled, the USDA says this is not a legit seal and they still have to be refrigerated.

- You don't have to use canning jars. I like glass for many reasons, but you could use any container with a tight seal - as long as you can back the cukes tightly.

- I've used fresh dill instead of dried in the past. Works just as well, but I didn't grow any this year so I just used store-bought.

- Write the date on the lid, this way you won't find some in the back of your fridge and wonder how long they've been lingering there. If they spoil, you'll know because they'll be super mushy.