Pumpkin Sausage Stew

Ciao!! I don’t know about you, but my favorite season is winter. I know it seems odd, since it can get very cold and snowy, but I just love it. I love what it signifies.  I think of Halloween, which is usually spent dressed up in front of the TV watching the parade, Charlie Brown and eating candy. Thanksgiving, spent at our wonderful friends house (which also means bake-athon, I’ll explain closer!!) and our annual Christmas Eve Party. When I think of winter, I think of happy times spent with the people that I love. And, ahem, the food.

It’s hard not to think about all the yummy food when the holidays roll around, right? Well, the other night in New York, it was really chilly out. And I don’t know about you, but on a chilly night, I need some serious comfort food. I need a big bowl of something warm and fragrant. And this Pumpkin Sausage Stew is just perfect.

The stew is filled with garlic, onions, pumpkin and hot Italian sausage. The contrast between the sweet, creamy pumpkin, rich and flavorful garlic and hot Italian sausage is just amazing. It’s a wonderful combination that will drive your taste buds wild!!

As I mentioned when I made my Pumpkin Gnocchi, I purchased a cheese pumpkin from Fresh Direct that was so big, I still have some of the puree in my freezer!! But that’s okay with me, I love eating as much pumpkin as I can when they’re in season. Plus, pumpkin is very healthy. It’s packed with antioxidants including alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, they’re high in fiber, low in calories and fat and they’re an excellent source of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and E, magnesium, potassium and iron. So if this doesn't convince you to eat a lot of pumpkin, I don’t know what will!! Let me know how you like it!!

Pumpkin Sausage Stew

3 tbsp. olive oil

 1 ½ pounds of Italian sausage links- hot or sweet, I prefer hot!

4 cups cubed pumpkin

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups chicken stock

Black Pepper

Salt

Fresh thyme

2-3 fresh sage leaves

1 bag of pearl onions

Brown your sausage links in a large stew pot over low to medium heat. Brown on all sides for around 10 minutes. Remove and put on a plate. Toss pumpkin cubes with salt and pepper and lightly brown them for about 2-3 minutes, remove to another plate. Add chopped garlic, cook for 5 minutes, do not let it burn. Put your sausage back in the pot; add your stock, more black pepper, salt, thyme and sage leaves. Cover your pot. Place in your oven on 350 degrees for one hour. After an hour or so, add your browned pumpkin. Continue baking, after around 15 minutes, add your peeled onions. Cover and let cook for an additional 15 minutes (start checking after 10 minutes, everyone’s oven is slightly different.) When the vegetables are softened, remove the cover, let brown around 15 minutes, test for seasonings. I like to serve my stew over garlic mashed potatoes. Having a spoonful of the pumpkin, sausage and potatoes at the same time is just incredible. Buon Appetito!! 

Almond Cheesecake Pancakes

Sunday brunch has pretty much become a tradition in my house. My mother and I always went for brunch on the weekends and don’t get me wrong, we’ve had our fair share of amazing brunches, living in New York and all, but we kind of got tired of the whole scene. Making reservations, waiting for a table anyway, sitting in a loud crowded restaurant, so instead, we do the cooking now. And let me tell you, we love it!!

I usually plan my brunch menu a few days in advance so I know I have all the fresh ingredients that I need. I get up at my usual lazy Sunday time and start brewing the coffee and then the cooking begins!! I myself like sweet stuff for brunch. During the week I usually have oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast, so this is my time to cut loose!! But I mix it up. Sometimes I’ll make an Italian frittata or waffles or my favorite….pancakes.

Last weekend I made ricotta pancakes, one of my favorite foods. This weekend I made almond cheesecake pancakes. These are made with almond flour in place of white flour. Ricotta has a creamy, yet slightly grainy texture and the almond flour adds a nice nutty crunch, together….WOW. That’s all I can say. The inside of the pancakes are creamy and crunchy, yet smooth at the same time. The outside is slightly crisp. They practically melt in your mouth. One of my little secrets is separating the eggs and beating the whites separately, which really makes them fluff up! These are also gluten free.

These are a wonderful change from regular pancakes. As I said, I absolutely love pancakes, so I am always looking for something fun and new to do with them. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!!

Almond Cheesecake Pancakes

2 cups of almond flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

3 eggs, separated

¾ cup of almond milk
2/4 cup of Ricotta cheese

2 tbsp. of melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. maple extract

1 tsp. pure maple syrup

First, preheat your griddle over medium heat. Next, in a small bowl, mix the almond flour, baking soda and salt. Next, separate the egg whites from the yolks. Put the egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the eggs yolks in a big bowl and add the melted butter. Make sure the butter has cooled before adding, you don’t want to end up with little bits of cooked eggs in your pancakes!! Whisk together. Add milk, ricotta,  butter, vanilla extract, maple extract and maple syrup. Whisk some more.

Add the dry mix to the egg yolk mix. Whisk thoroughly so it’s not lumpy, but don’t over beat. Now, whisk your egg whites until they are glossy and foamy. Fold the whipped eggs whites into the batter, do so carefully.

Grease the griddle with some more butter and start forming your pancakes. I find that each side takes around 5 minutes to cook. Almond flour can burn easily since it is very delicate, so stand by the whole time!! I personally like mine a little golden though, but that might just be me. Serve while nice and warm and enjoy with a cappuccino- (but no cappuccino after noon, that’s an Italian no no!)  Buon Appetito!! 

Tuscan Grilled Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Today we will be traveling to Tuscany for supper.  You have the time, yes? Well, if you don’t, then just preparing this dish will bring a little piece of Tuscany right to your home.

I adore Tuscan cuisine. It is all about simplicity and fresh ingredients. Tuscan food is traditionally rich with legumes, fish, meat, fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables. As you can see by the ingredients, I find Tuscan cuisine lighter than some of the other regional cuisines (not that there is anything wrong with that, who doesn’t want a lot of cheese now and then?) so this is the perfect food if you are watching what you eat. This dish is perfect for almost all diets. High protein, low carb or healthy eating in general.

For today’s meal, I have prepared Tuscan grilled lemon rosemary chicken over a bed of fresh arugula. This chicken is so tender, moist and juicy. It is flavored richly by the marinade. It takes a bit of prep time, but that is part of what makes it so delicious, so don’t skimp on the time that you marinate it. I also use half chickens so that I can grill it under a brick, which is a Tuscan style of cooking. It flattens the chicken and somehow, I just find that it makes it taste better.

So, I invite you to my table to take a little bite of Tuscany with me.

Tuscan grilled lemon rosemary chicken

2 half chickens

Garlic (chopped, as much as you like, I love a lot of garlic)
½ cup of oil
Salt (Quanto basta!)
Pepper
Rosemary
3 lemons
1 box of fresh Arugula

Start off by rinsing your chicken in saltwater and letting it sit there for around 20 minutes.

Chop your garlic and put it in a bowl. Add the oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and squeezed lemons with the garlic. Whisk together.

Put the chicken in the bowl with the marinade (or you can put the marinade and chicken in a zip lock bag, but be careful, it could get very messy!!). Let the chicken marinate for at least one hour!

Now, start preparing your bricks. Wrap your bricks in a lot of foil. Also take two extra pieces of foil t put directly on top of the chicken. Next, get out your flat grill pan and set on medium heat. Put the chicken skin side down on the grill pan, put the extra piece of foil on top of the chicken and then put the brick on top. Cook the first side for 30 minutes and then very carefully turn it to the other side and cook for another 30 minutes.  Once the chicken is done, take it off the pan to cool.

The chicken is so moist; I actually like to tear the chicken with my bare hands, as opposed to using a knife. You of course can use a knife though. On each portion, put a handful of fresh arugula on the plate and put the chicken directly on top of the greens. If the chicken is slightly warm, it will wilt the greens very nicely and all of the marinade from the chicken will act as a bit of a dressing.

Might I suggest this dish with a glass of Vernaccia di San Gimignano? It is considered Tuscany’s best white wine, so only the best for us, right? Buon Appetito!!

The Scents of Summer: Sausage and Peppers

If you have ever walked through a street fair during the hot days of summer, you are met with the lovely, various scents of all the food around you.  Zeppoles, funnel cake, falafel, cotton candy, corn on the cob. But nothing quite makes my mouth water like the aroma of sausage and peppers.  You know exactly what I’m talking about. The smell of the roasted peppers, the caramelized onions, the hot and spicy smell of the sausage. Pure perfection. Honestly, as silly as it may sound, that smell always makes me think of summer, usually because that’s when the street fairs are around.

So, this past weekend for dinner, I made a classic sausage and pepper stir-fry. Nothing fancy. No tricks up my sleeves. Just prepared the classic way. Some things don’t need a new twist and to me, this is a perfect example. It’s simply amazing the way it is. One of the great things about sausage and peppers is that it’s very easy to prepare, there’s not a lot of prep time and not a lot of steps. Another thing I love about sausage and peppers is how many different ways you can use it. Of course, the classic street fair style is served on a nice, toasted Italian hero. You can also have it with pasta, over polenta, a salad, on top of pizza, use it instead of Bolognese in lasagna. I’ve also been known to go a little nuts and add it to an omelet with some mozzarella or make an Italian quesadilla with some parmigiana and mozzarella. Anyway you have it, it’s delicious.

Sausage and Pepper Stir Fry

1/2 lb Italian Sausage (sweet or hot, whatever you prefer)
1 Red Bell pepper, sliced fine
1 green bell pepper, sliced fine
1/2 of 1 large red onion cut
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Vegetable oil, for stir frying
Salt and pepper (Quanto basta)

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet pan over medium-high heat, I recommend around 1-2 tablespoons of oil, since sausage is naturally pretty oily, you don’t need too much. When the oil begins to simmer, put the whole sausage in the pan. Continue cooking until sausage is browned on all sides and no longer pink in the center.

Drain sausage and let it cool for just a few minutes and then slice. I like thin slices, but you can obviously cut it the way that you like it. Add another tablespoon of vegetable oil to the pan and continue to heat. Add garlic and cook, make sure the garlic gets nicely roasted, but not burned. Put the sausage back in the pan. Add sliced peppers and onions and cook, stirring, until peppers are softened and onions are caramelized.

Season with salt and pepper and serve! Buon appetito!

Nonna's Fried Cauliflower

Buongiorno ! Today I will be serving a delicious savory cauliflower pancake. 

Il Contorno (side dishes)

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables. When I taste cauliflower, no matter how it is prepared, the taste always bring back memories of my Nonna’s fried cauliflower.

Until recently, I was in charge of baking and my mom was the cook (an amazing one at that.) So, whenever I wanted fried cauliflower I would have to ask her to make it for me. I usually saved it for special occasions, like my birthday.

Preparing fried cauliflower is a decent amount of work, so I created this recipe that I can easily prepare for myself which gives me the taste of fried cauliflower. It is a fried cauliflower pancake. It is crisp and crunchy made with pieces of cauliflower. I make mine with ricotta cheese to keep it light.

Nothing will ever taste like my grandmas but this will do for now.

Cauliflower Pancakes

6 tablespoons of olive oil (divided)

½ head of cauliflower

2 eggs

¼ cup almond flour

½ ricotta cheese

Salt

Pepper

1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning

Chop you ½ head of cauliflower coarsely into small pieces. Heat a pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and put your cauliflower in the pan. Allow to cook slowly for around half an hour or until soft. Take off the heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, add 2 eggs and almond flour. Mix well. Add the ricotta cheese, salt, pepper and dried Italian seasoning. Add the cauliflower and stir together.

Use a deep pan since you will be frying. Prepare the pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and let it get hot. Take 2 tbsp’s of the mix and shape into round little pancakes and put in the oil. Allow each side to cook for around 4 minutes. I find that these cook quickly, so you do not want them to get overcooked. Take out of the pan and put it on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain the extra oil.

You can serve them as they are or with pesto or a balsamic reduction.

Enjoy these as a side dish to your main course or as wonderful little snack! Buon Appetito!

P.S. Let me know if you have a favorite food that evokes special childhood memories.  I would love to hear your stories! 

Burgers and Chips with dip: An American classic with an Italian twist

Now that the weather in New York is getting so beautiful, I started to think of summer. A relaxing walk on the beach, a cool swim in the pool and all of those tempting barbeques. When I think of summer, what comes to mind is a big juicy, mouthwatering burger slathered with flavored mayonnaise and a side of chips. But, while I want to keep most of my posts traditional, I also want to mix it up a little and have some fun. So when I was thinking about said burger and chips, I wanted to give them an Italian twist on it. And so ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present: Italian sausage burgers with zucchini chips and pesto aioli.   

Il secondo (second course, main course)

My mother first made these burgers for my family this past summer. They are so simple to make, but I promise you, they will be most impressive at your next barbeque. When my mama made these, my brother and father were raving about them for days. It took me a few times to finally try them, but when I did….wow. That’s all I can say. They are juicy and perfectly seasoned. But you know what, enough talk about them. I’ll let you be the judge.

Italian Sausage Burgers

1 pound of ground Italian sausage (hot or sweet, whatever you prefer)
Salt
Pepper
Chopped Italian parsley
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder
4 tablespoons grated parmigiana

Put your ground Italian sausage in a large bowl. Add your salt, pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and 4 tablespoons of grated parmesan. All of these spices are to taste, you can add as little or as much as you would like depending on how intense you like the flavor. Mix all of your meat and seasonings. Using your hands, form into 4 patties.

Prepare a pan with 3 tablespoons of oil and put your patties on the pan. Make sure each side cooks for around twelve minutes; you need to make sure that they are thoroughly cooked.  All together, it will probably take around 25 minutes for them to finish cooking. (These must be cooked slowly or the pork could get tough) Serve with a dollop of pesto aioli (recipe below.) I like to eat mine on a thin, whole grain bun, but may I also suggest serving them on ciabatta or focaccia? I also like to add a few pieces of arugula in place of lettuce, just another little twist.

Pesto Aioli:

4 tablespoons of mayonnaise
3 tablespoons of pesto (prepared pesto is easily found in Italian food shops)

Simply mix the mayonnaise and pesto until smooth and creamy.

Il Contorno (side dishes)

What’s great about zucchini is that you can slice it very thin; so it really gives that feeling and taste of potato chips. When they are lightly coated in a chickpea flour mix, they fry up nice and crunchy. I like to dip mine in the pesto mayonnaise instead of the usual onion dip.

Zucchini Chips

2 zucchinis
¼ cup of chickpea flour
Salt
Pepper
Finely chopped Italian parsley
3 tablespoons of grated parmigiana
1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoons of water
4 tablespoons of oil (for frying)

Thinly slice your zucchini. Put it in on a paper towel and salt it so it removes most of the water, let it sit for a few minutes.

Combine your chickpea flour, salt, pepper, parsley and grated parmesan in a flat, shallow bowl. This will make it easier to fully coat with the flour mixture.

In another bowl, whisk your egg and add 2 tablespoons of water.

Take the zucchini slices and dip in the egg mixture, make sure they get wet enough so everything sticks. Then put it with the flour mix and coat evenly.

Heat your pan and add 4 tablespoons of oil. Put the zucchini chips in the pan and allow to fry for around 5 minutes on each side. Gently use tongs to remove them from the oil and put on a paper towel so the excess oil can drain off. Salt again. Enjoy with your burger and some pesto aioli for dipping!!

While these are great to serve at a summer barbeque, why wait?!?! So go cook up your burgers and chips and eat outside if you can and have a taste of summer early. Boun Appetito!

For dinner tonight: Rosemary lemon roasted chicken with potatoes and zucchini and chickpea fritters

Buongiorno! Tonight for dinner we will be serving: Rosemary lemon roasted chicken with potatoes and zucchini with a lovely side of chickpea fritters.  Hungry yet?

Il Secondo (second course, main course)

For me, a classic Italian comfort food would be rosemary lemon roasted chicken with potatoes and zucchini. It’s a classic “meat and potatoes” dish. Some people have steak and mashed potatoes, well; this is my steak and mashed potatoes. If the chicken is cooked just right, it will be moist and tender; you should be able to use a fork to get the chicken off the bone, no need for a knife. Your kitchen will be filled with the fresh fragrance of lemon and rosemary, a favorite combination of mine. Made with roasted potatoes and zucchini, this is my idea of a perfect meal to enjoy after a long, hard day. I wish I could prepare this dish with the beautiful lemons they had in Ischia, but until I get back over there, regular lemons will just have to do.

Rosemary lemon roasted chicken with potatoes and zucchini

1 whole chicken, cut up (or any pieces you like if you prefer)
½ cup salt
2-3 whole lemons
Whole head of garlic, peeled and the cloves slightly crushed
Crushed red pepper
Salt+Pepper
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
2 zucchini
2 potatoes

First, rinse your chicken thoroughly and cover it with cold water and the half cup of salt. Stir to make sure the salt is dissolved and let the chicken soak for half an hour. Drain. Squeeze the juice of the lemons over the chicken, add the garlic, the crushed red pepper, salt +pepper, rosemary and thyme (the spices and herbs to taste, remember, quanto basta.) Let it marinate for up to half an hour. Place in a baking pan in a pre-heated 350 degree over, skin side down. Meanwhile, slice your zucchini into approximately half inch slices and your potato into 1-1½ inch cubes; you can keep the skin on.

After the chicken has cooked for about a half an hour, turn to skin side up, add the potatoes and zucchini and mix gently. Cook for another half hour to forty-five minutes and check that your chicken is thoroughly cooked. (You can turn the heat up to 400-450 degrees if you would like to brown the chicken and vegetables slightly.) Serve and spoon some of the sauce from the baking pan over the chicken.

Il contorno (Side dishes)

I love Italian fritters, sweet or savory. I’ll take it either way. The Sicilian specialty panelle are one of the most well recognized street foods of Palermo, often eaten on a toasted roll as a sandwich. They are made using chickpea flour, farinata di ceci, The panelle are traditionally round, flat fritters. The Sicilian proverb” pari na paniella”, you look similar to a panella, referred to an object that had the misfortune to be flattened by excessive weight. They are light and delicate, crunchy on the outside and slightly soft in the middle.

Chickpea fritters: Panelle

1 cup chickpea flour

2 cups water

1/2 bunch fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus more garnishing

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for the pan

1 garlic clove, sliced

2 eggs

In a medium size saucepan, dissolve the chickpea flour in 2 cups of water. Stir in chopped parsley, salt, pepper, 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 sliced garlic clove and 2 eggs. Put the saucepan over medium heat and continue mixing until they form a thick paste. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.

Fill a deep pot with extra-virgin olive oil. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Using your hands, shape the chickpea flour dough into flat little fritters. Fry the fritters until golden brown, around seven minutes each side. Remove the finished fritters to a serving plate. Let cool before serving.

Might I suggest a glass of prosecco and some Verdi playing in the backround? Boun Appetito!