Baked Pasta alla Norma....Sausage, ricotta and penne, OH MY!

 

Day 1 of “The Box Project.” In case you missed my last post, for the next month or so I am on a mission. That is…A Box Project Mission. What’s the Box Project? Well, it’s a box of delicious treats I brought back from Italy and am always saving “for something special.” I finally decided, what am I waiting for? On top of it, I have a bad habit of food shopping too often and I hate to say it, but sometimes things unfortunately go to waste. The idea with the Box Project is to use ingredients that I already have on hand and add necessary proteins, dairy or vegetables. So…day 1.

Pasta al Forno.
 

 

Pasta al Forno is basically an Italian baked pasta dish made with a pasta, cheese and preferably meat/vegetables. Well, I had a lovely can of tomatoes that I actually got last year that the real estate agent left in our kitchen “goody bag”, (when I was in Florence, Italy, the real estate agent had a bag full of groceries, ahem, and some wine in the kitchen for our arrival). Along with the tomatoes, I also had a jar of Pesto Rosso with basil that I purchased at Conand. Conand is a supermarket chain in Italy and I swear, every time I go in there, I come out with 6 bags…and that’s on a  good day.  Also on hand was a jar of San Marzano tomato paste, penne and ricotta (yes, when I can’t make my own ricotta or get to my usual cheese guy, I have to settle for supermarket ricotta). The extras I purchased for this dish were some parmigiana, eggplant and hot sausage links. So without further adeu…

 

Baked Pasta alla Norma
 

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 pack of hot sausage links

1 large eggplant (properly prepared, see below)

2 tbsp. garlic, finely chopped

1 can of tomato paste

6 tbsp. tomato pesto

2 tbsp. fresh basil, torn (NEVER CUT BASIL!!)

1 tbsp. oregano

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

1 box of penne

2 cups of ricotta

½ cup of parmigiana, grated

Set a medium size pan over medium/high heat. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Uncase your sausage links (I do this simply by wetting the link and cutting the case with a knife to remove it). Tear out all of the sausage into little pieces and add in the pan. Cook for 30-45 minutes (this depends on how well you like your sausage of course). Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl to cool.

Prepare your eggplant. First off, clean it. Then cut it into slices and layer them in a colander, sprinkle on some salt. Let the eggplant release some liquid. Then rinse the eggplant, squeeze it with your hands and pat it dry. I know this seems like a lot of work, but trust me, it’s worth it. I picked up this technique when I was studying cooking in Italy. Not only does it make the eggplant less bitter, but by releasing the liquid, it is easier to fry. After you have rinsed and dried the eggplant, chop it coarsely. Add to the pan that you had the sausage in. I basically used the fat that the sausage released to fry the eggplant in. Not the healthiest I know, but delicious nonetheless.

 

 

Fry the eggplant until a little golden and crispy. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. By this point, you should have water boiling. Add your garlic to the pan and let it fry until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and remove all of the excess oil and fat from the pan. Put the pan back over medium heat.  Add the tomato paste and let it “toast” slightly. Add 6 tbsp. of red pesto (basically, tomato pesto), a splash of pasta water, the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook it very briefly. Six minutes top. Strain the pasta and add it to the tomato sauce, along with the sausage and eggplant. Let it cook over low heat while the tomato sauce reduces slightly. In the meantime prepare your ricotta.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl, whip 2 cups of ricotta with the parmigiana. Add the fried garlic. You will want to get out a casserole dish to prepare the pasta in. Add one layer of the pasta and then add dollops of the ricotta mix. Continue doing so until filled. Put the pasta in the oven and bake for 30 minutes to one hour. Remove, let it cool and then DIG IN!!!

Crostini with Homemade Ricotta, Honey and Rosemary Pistachios

Ciao a tutti! I am so excited, I leave for Italy on Monday! I can’t believe it’s already here!! When I first signed up to attend culinary school and booked everything, it felt like so long ago and now it’s here. I will be in Italy for two months and I’m so excited to be sharing this wonderful experience with my mother who will be a part of this amazing journey. I will be posting on my facebook and twitter daily and will be sharing lots of beautiful pictures on my pinterest, so please be sure to follow me the entire way. And of course, I will posting here..recipes, photos, journals, you name it. My latest recipe is a Crostini with Homemade Ricotta, Honey and Rosemary Pistachios. That’s right, homemade ricotta!! When I tell you how easy it is to make homemade ricotta, you’re never going to buy the packaged stuff again. I used a recipe for the ricotta from one of my favorite chefs, Fabio Viviani! It’s appears in his cookbook, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen.

As I mentioned, I am planning on starting a business where I throw special dinners and events, so please stay tuned. I hope that some of you will able to join us, I have some AMAZING theme dinners planned. I served this, along with my Fried Pizzettes with Spicy Onions and Crispy Prosciutto at my Masquerade Pop Up last week, which was a big success!! I hope you like this recipe as much as I do!! The ricotta with honey and nuts on the crostini is amazing, it’s sweet, it’s savory, it’s crunchy, it’s creamy, it’s everything! And everyone couldn’t get over the fact that this was real, homemade ricotta. Enjoy!!

Crostini with Homemade Ricotta, Honey and Rosemary Pistachios

 

1 loaf of rustic Italian bread

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 bottle of honey

Homemade Ricotta

Rosemary Pistachios

 

Homemade Ricotta
 

1 gallon of whole milk

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Pinch of salt
 

Bring the milk to a boil in a large saucepan, let it reach 181 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a thermometer! Turn off the heat, add the vinegar, lemon juice and salt. As the milk starts to curdle, stir it with a whisk just a few times to mix the lemon and salt. Cover and let the mixture cool down for 2 about two hours. When it is cool, strain it through a cheesecloth over a pot, pressing the curds with a wooden spoon to squeeze out the liquid. It will keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
 

Rosemary Pistachios
 

2 tbsp. butter

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. fresh rosemary

1 cup of roughly chopped pistachios

 

In a small pan over low heat, melt you butter. Add salt and rosemary. Add the

chopped pistachios and cook until roasted. Turn off heat and allow to cool.

Assembling the Crostini
 

Slice your bread and drizzle with olive oil. Toast until slightly crunchy. Spread the bread with the homemade ricotta, drizzle with some honey and top with the rosemary pistachios. Buon Appetito!!

Cheesemaking Kit and Garden-in-a-bag from Uncommon Goods

Ciao a tutti!! I am so excited to be posting my first product review with UncommonGoods, be sure to take a look at Uncommon Goods. When I was browsing their site, some of their products, especially the food kits sounded too good to be true! Mushroom kits, beer making kits and the ones that I just had to choose, the Cheesemaking Kit and the Grow Your Own Marinara Kit. I mean, the opportunity to make fresh mozzarella AND fresh Ricotta AND grow tomatoes, basil and oregano?!!? Come on!! How could I not jump at the chance to try it? These just seemed like the perfect fit for me. After all, my blog is completely devoted to Italian food and let’s face it; we love our cheese, tomatoes and herbs!

When I got the kits in the mail, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I was SO excited to open them and give them a try. I have always wanted to make fresh cheese, but I have honestly never gotten around to it. I know it can be a lot of work and I felt a little intimidated. But what seemed so appealing about this kit, (besides the obvious aspect of preparing fresh cheese) was that it really made it appear very easy to do. Just a few steps and before you know it, you have fresh cheese!! Oh, the fun that we’ll have together. I have a few photos that I took of the products, but if you would like to see some more, you can browse Uncommon Goods. 

The Grow Your Own Marinara kit includes seeds to grow lovely, juicy tomatoes, fresh oregano and fragrant basil. What’s fantastic about this kit unlike so many other plant kits is that you can grow it right in the bag that the seeds come in, so you don’t even need any extra space. These are lovely to put in your garden, on your patio or if you’re in an apartment, your kitchen. All you need is some sunlight!

Rickis Cheesemaking Kit

Now, onto the cheese!!! As I mentioned, I’ve never made cheese, I was too afraid of having to live up to the expectations of creamy, milky, buttery fresh cheese. But this kit took all of my worries away. Plus, everything you need is included; all you have to do is add milk. If you want, you can even make it with goat’s milk or powdered milk. Yes, it’s just that simple!! (I’m starting to sound like an infomercial, aren’t I?) This kit also has the ability to make 30 batches of cheese! That’s right, 30 batches!! And it only takes 30 minutes to prepare (Okay, I’ll stop now). Seriously though, as you can tell, I was very excited to get started. The kit includes an easy to follow recipe booklet, dairy thermometer, citric acid, butter muslin, vegetable rennet tablets and cheese salt. Fresh cheese, tomatoes and herbs, here I come!!

I decided to make ricotta for my first time. Last summer when I was in Italy studying Opera, I remember having the most amazing fresh herbed ricotta. It was so good, I just….I can’t even tell you, that’s how good. It was so creamy; I spread it on fresh bread and ate it for lunch with tomatoes. To make the cheese, it does involve a good amount of steps, but don’t get nervous, even though it looks like a lot, they are all very simple steps and it is easy to follow as long as you read it carefully. I would suggest reading through all of the instructions a few times just to familiarize yourself with the steps, so when you make it, you know exactly what to expect.

The cheese over the hot water

Basically, you first pour your milk into a pot, add citric acid and salt and stir. Then, you heat the milk and continue to stir some more. As soon as you start to notice the curds and whey separating, you turn off the heat and let it sit. You line a colander with a butter muslin and ladle the curds in the cloth. All you have to do next is tie the cloth into a bag and let it drain for half an hour. Then…drum roll please……you can eat the cheese!!!! It’s so easy. 

As I said, I added some Tuscan spices to my cheese, along with a swirl of pesto and mamma mia, was it good!! It is hard to find fresh ricotta in most places, you usually just have to settle for whatever brand the supermarket has, so this was a welcome change. This really reminded me of the fresh ricotta I had in Italy, it was so creamy and smooth. Seeing how easy it is to prepare, I would without a doubt get this kit again or give it to one of my foodie friends as a present. 

Ricotta Cheese

The finished product with some Tuscan herbs and pesto

1 gallon of milk
1/4 piece of rennet tablet
11/2 teaspoon citric acid
1 tsp. salt

Now…the herbs. These are literally a Garden in a Bag, in fact, that’s what it says on the bag!!! This kit includes the bags for tomatoes, oregano and basil. For all of these fresh and tasty herbs and tomatoes, all you have to do is cut open the bag; take out the packets of soil and seed.  Pour the soil into the Garden-in-a bag and level the soil. Sprinkle the seeds evenly over the soil and then lightly water seed into the soil. You then place a plastic bag over the top of the Garden-in-a bag and put it in a warm area out of direct sunlight until the seeds sprout. 

Garden-in-a-bag

Within ten days when the seeds have started sprouting, you remove the plastic bag and place in a bright location. The oregano and basil will take around six weeks and the tomatoes take about sixty days to grow. I will post again when they have all fully grown and let you know how they come out! I have always wanted a full garden, I love the idea of growing my own herbs, but I live in an apartment and while I have a terrace where I could grow some stuff, I just wasn’t sure about the whole idea. These make it very simple and you don’t need tons of space and you don’t have to invest a lot of time in maintaining, the way you would have to with a garden. Be sure to take a look so you can get some even more detailed information about these kits and all of the other fun goodies that they offer at Uncommon Goods. 

So, what exactly did I do for dinner with my beautiful homemade creations?!?! Well, I served my fresh herbed ricotta on lightly toasted whole wheat ciabatta and drizzled with some pesto and had some yummy tortellini with meatballs. As for the herbs, I’ll just to have to wait and see!! Buon Appetitio!!