apuginthekitchen

Jan 11

Pasta e Fagiole

Pasta Fagioli

I posted this in February 2012, I did a week long tribute to my Italian heritage. This is my Mom’s recipe for Pasta Fagioli, she really made this her own and was known for this dish. It took years for me to pry the recipe from her, like so many cooks she never wrote anything down including amounts so it was hit or miss and it took me several years to get it right but my latest version was the closest I have ever gotten to my Mom’s fabulous recipe.

Ingredients and Directions:

1 1/4 cup great northern beans

1 clove garlic smashed

salt pork (about the size of a deck of cards)

8 cups water

Bring beans, garlic. pork and water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for approximately 2 hours until beans are tender. I did not soak the beans overnight but if you do reduce cooking time by at least half.

1 28 oz can whole italian plum tomatoes (Blended until smooth)

1 can (28 oz) water – just fill the tomato can with water

1 clove garlic minced

1 shallot minced

salt and pepper to taste

4-5 fresh basil leaves

In dutch oven or large saucepan heat some olive oil, add garlic and shallot cook until they are soft and cooked through, add tomatoes, 3 basil leaves and water and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat.

When beans are done add to the tomato sauce (add beans and water they cooked in). Simmer on low for 20 minutes, the sauce will be thin, that is the way its supposed to be,adjust seasoning. Remove salt pork and add the cooked pasta, add 2 or 3 torn basil leaves and simmer for about 5 minutes and serve with grated parmigiano or romano cheese. NOTE: You can judge how much pasta to add I like about 2-3 cups of cooked pasta, it expands in the soup and you want to retain most of the broth.

Pasta:

2 1/2 cups AP flour

4 large eggs

1 tbs water

2 tsp olive oil

On work surface dump flour and make a well in the middle, add the eggs, water and olive oil and beat with a fork, working in a circle incorporate the flour until you have a cohesive dough, add more flour if your dough is too sticky. Knead until dough is smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Or by food processor (which I did) place flour in bowl then add the eggs, oil and water and pulse until it comes together into a ball. Turn onto lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

If rolling by hand roll dough with rolling pin as thin as you can, the dough should be almost translucent. Fold and cut into thin strips like linguine. If using a pasta machine follow manufacturers directions. NOTE: You will only need half of the pasta for this, wrap the other half of the dough well and freeze for later use).

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, when water is boiling add salt (the water should be salty like sea water) Add the pasta stirring to make sure each piece is separated and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and add to the bean and tomato sauce.

Dough Resting

Rolling paper thin ready to become linguine

Jan 9

83 Comments

The Pugs

Veggies for the Pugs

Izzy and Nando, the pugs, are senior dogs with health problems. Both are diabetic, Izzy less than a year from diagnosis and Nando is 5 years living with Diabetes. He is blind and in frail health now, he is 13 years old and Izzy is 12 going to be 13 in April. Since I am not really cooking I thought I would give you a little peek into my life with the pugs. Izzy came from a breeder and Nando is a rescue pug, he was abandoned in Long Island and I adopted him from Pug Rescue.

Izzy and Nando have never had commercially prepared dog food I have cooked for them from the moment they came into my life. Their diet has changed as they have aged and their health issues surfaced. I probably would have given them a raw diet if I had known about it when they were younger but I did my best giving them healthful food, about 80/20 percent mostly protein with bone meal and supplements. Their diet now consists of skinless boneless chicken breast or lean beef, raw vegetables ground in the food processor, non fat plain yogurt, barley, bone meal and their supplements. Because of the diabetes I have to be very careful how I prepare the food, no fat at all the chicken is steamed and I dry roast the beef. I use only organic vegetables and the meat, well, when it’s on sale I get organic grass fed or pastured but it’s so expensive I try to get the best I can, antibiotic and hormone free. Both Izzy and Nando are insulin dependent, I have to give them injections twice a day every day at the same time all the time, schedules are very important when you have diabetes. I have to have a chart for each to keep track of which supplements each gets on a daily basis, keeps my mind sharp!

Supplements

I take them upstate New York to a fantastic integrative vet at Smith Ridge Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Seo saved Nando’s life and put me on the right path to keep him as healthy as possible given his medical problems. I also have a great vet here in the city that we see since Dr. Seo is about 2 hours away.

Stressed at the Vets

They have a good life in the city, the pugs are not really energetic outdoorsy dogs even when they were young and healthy, they always enjoyed laying around in the house or hanging in the backyard. In the summer I would put a kiddie pool there so they could keep cool.

Hangin in the yard

When they were younger they were even in a movie, they were transported by limo to Central Park. They enjoyed the star treatment.

On the set in Central Park

The food

Izzy, Nando and their BFF Daisey!

Jan 8

60 Comments

Ricotta Polenta With Tomato Mushroom Sauce/Ragu

Creamy Polenta with Tomato and Mushrooms

I posted this back in January 2012, it’s really delicious and worth posting again, I am not really doing any cooking because of my injury so I thought it would be fun to go back into the recesses of my blog and re post some of my recipes. This is a wonderful, filling vegetarian dish, you can of course add meat to the sauce but I love it with just vegetables. Tailor to however you like it, adding lots of fresh herbs, different types of mushrooms, I think eggplant would be wonderful. You don’t really have to follow a recipe for this.

Serves 4-6 depending on serving size

4 cups whey or water

1 cup polenta (corn meal) I used stone ground

pinch of salt

1/2 cup ricotta (well drained)

2 tbs butter

black pepper (2 or 3 turns of the pepper mill)

In saucepan add the whey or water and pinch of salt, bring to a rolling boil. Whisk in the polenta, don’t dump it all in add slowly while you are whisking it thickens very quickly. Lower heat to low and continue whisking until its done. It takes approximately 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat add the butter and stir, now add the ricotta. Stir until its all incorporated. Cover pan and set aside while you make the sauce.

8 oz cremini mushrooms sliced or whatever type of mushroom you like

2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 28 oz can whole or chopped tomatoes

splash of white wine

2 clove garlic peeled and minced

1 whole shallot peeled and chopped

handful italian parsley chopped

olive oil for pan

salt and pepper to taste

Put some olive oil in a saute pan and heat on medium high. Add the shallots and cook until they become soft and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook until they start to caramelize. Now add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms lightly browned, add the tomato and wine and cook on med/high until sauce thickens approximately 30 minutes uncovered, I like to cook this in a large skillet. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Add the chopped parsley.

Dec 31

77 Comments

Hoppin John For Good Luck, A Broken Finger And Happy 2014

Hoppin John which contains blackeye peas is traditionally served on New Years Eve/ Day. They are supposed to bring good luck. I guess I could use it since I fell the other day, it was my own fault, never, especially on the pot hole laden streets of NYC push a shopping cart in front of you, you should drag it in back. I learned the hard way, I had just come from the food coop, cart full of all sorts of good stuff, it was pretty heavy. Crossing the street walking at a brisk pace, the wheels got stuck in a pothole, I went flying over the cart with my finger in one of the grooves, it completely dislocated my finger. I spent the rest of the day in the ER where they had to put it back together. I was lucky it wasn’t fractured. Unlucky for me it’s my right hand index finger. I will adapt. This was a bit difficult to make not because the recipe is hard but working without my index finger is not easy and painful.Vegetables are not cut in the proper size pieces but the results are the same.

So I thought I better make some blackeye peas for good luck, this is not the way I envisioned starting 2014.

I have not eaten blackeye peas since I was a child. To be perfectly honest, I really disliked them after a very unappetizing school lunch containing the dreaded peas that I was forced to eat. Since then I have tasted them and they were ok, I looked at several hoppin john recipes and decided on one with bacon, because bacon makes everything better!! This recipe is simple to make and so delicious, now why didn’t they serve this at school it could have been spared years of being a blackeye pea hater.

Ingredients

2 cups dried blackeye peas

1 red bell pepper diced

1 yellow bell pepper diced

1 jalapeno peper cut in half lengthwise seeds removed

1 large stalk celery sliced

1 medium onion diced

2 garlic cloves smashed

1 medium size carrot sliced

6 cups stock (vegetable or chicken) or you can use water

4 thick slices of bacon cut into lardons

splash of olive oil

1 bunch collard greens tough stems removed and cut into thin strips

steamed white rice

hot sauce of your choice

splash of apple cider vinegar (optional)

Rinse peas discarding any rocks or peas that don’t look good. Set aside. In dutch oven set on med/high heat saute the bacon to render the fat, remove the bacon leaving about 2 or 3 tbs of bacon fat in the pot my bacon was lean so I had to add a splash of olive oil, set the cooked bacon aside to add later. Still on med/high add onions and saute until they just begin to soften, add the celery, carrot and yellow and red bell pepper. Continue to saute until vegetables soften, add smashed garlic cloves and cook for another minute or two. Add the blackeye peas, reserved bacon, jalapeno pepper, collard greens and liquid, bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and cook for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally and adding liquid if it looks too dry. Before serving, remove jalapeno pepper and discard (or you can keep it if you like) I just use for flavor.

Serve over steamed rice, brown or white your choice. Add some hot sauce, an optional splash of vinegar and garnish however you like. I really like some cheddar or manchego cheese grated on top.

A Very Happy New Year to all of you. I wish for all a happy, healthy, successful 2014 and I look forward to blog posts from each and every one of you!!

Dec 31

28 Comments

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 30,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Dec 26

65 Comments

Red Kuri And Butternut Squash Soup

Prepped squash

I just love creamy squash soups, butternut is probably the most well known and it’s delicious. I found some red kuri squash and loved the way it looked, I have never had it before but after quickly googling on my i phone (I love that I can find info in a flash on my phone) I decided that I wanted to try it. Now I love making squash soup, but HATE cutting it, I don’t care how sharp your knife is it’s so hard to cut, serious tough skin. I trim the ends, cut in half and bake in the oven until it’s soft. I don’t have the strength or patience to peel squash.

Red Kuri Squash

Red Kuri squash is great, the flesh is sweet and when baked has a lovely soft consistency. It is not quite as dense as butternut squash, it’s closer to pumpkin.

The soup takes almost no time at all to prepare since the squash is already cooked. I don’t add spice only salt and pepper. It would be good with spice I am sure, it’s just that I am partial to it straight up with only aromatics (I use onion).

Serves 4-6 depending on Serving size

1 butternut squash cut in half, seeds removed

1 red kuri squash cut in half seeds removed

1 onion (I used yellow onion) diced

1 tbs brown sugar(optional)

2-3 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

1/4 cup heavy cream or full fat coconut milk

2 tbs butter

splash of apple cider

salt and pepper to taste ( I used a blend of 5 peppers)

Heat oven to 375 place squash cut side down on baking sheet and bake until soft it takes approximately 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool a little and scoop out flesh into food processor or blender. Puree until very smooth and set aside.

In saucepan or soup pot add butter and melt on medium high, add the onion and saute until soft and translucent add the optional tbs of brown sugar and continue to saute for another minute or so. Add the broth or stock and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Add the squash puree, splash of cider and salt and pepper and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the heavy cream and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve hot.

Soup and Salad

Dec 24

69 Comments

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

Izzy And Nando

I want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you all for your kindness and support. I hope you all have a day filled with joy and love from family and friends and of course lots of delicious food. I look forward to 2014 and more delicious recipes and blog posts from all of you.

Suzanne, Izzy and Nando

NY Daily News Photo of Tree at Rockefeller Center 2013

Dec 22

61 Comments

Rosemary Walnut And Plum Rugelach

Rugelach

I make rugelach every year for the holidays and every year I try to come up with a new flavor profile. Last year I did chocolate hazelnut which was really nice. This year I wanted a subtle herbal note and an altogether different jam I was kind of stuck on apricot. I thought that buttered walnuts and rosemary would make a nice combination and I made some spiced plum jam this summer, the combination sounded really good to me so I gave it a go. The walnuts have a very subtle rosemary taste (I am not a huge fan of strong rosemary) and the plum jam with gently spicing was wonderful with the walnuts. The crust is my standard cream cheese rugelach recipe, it never fails.

Rosemary Walnuts

1 1/2 cups walnuts

2 tbs butter melted

1 tbs fresh rosemary chopped

Pre heat oven to 350. place parchment sheet on small sheet pan. Mix walnuts, melted butter and rosemary in mixing bowl, pour onto sheet pan and roast for 15-20 minutes, they are done when you can smell the nuts. Remove from oven and let cool.

Makes 4 dozen

The Dough and filling:

8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar + more for sprinkling on cookies

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup rosemary walnuts

1/2 cup plum jam

1/4 cup light brown sugar packed

In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment cream the cream cheese and butter until light. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla. With mixer on low add the flour and mix just to combine. Dump dough onto work surface form into a ball cut into four quarters and wrap each in plastic wrap, refrigerate for one hour
Chop walnuts and add brown sugar, mix together.
Remove one of the dough quarters from the refrigerator, roll into a circle on floured work surface. I use the lid of my dutch oven to cut an even circle. Spread jam on the dough round, sprinkle nut/sugar mixture on top of the jam and press down gently with your hand. Cut into quarters and cut each quarter into 3 pieces. Roll from widest end to smallest.

Looks like pizza right??

Place each rugelach on parchment lined baking sheet. Put in freezer for 15 minutes before baking. While they are in freezer pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack.

Yum!

Dec 18

58 Comments

Pandoro Bread Pudding

I posted this a while back but thought that it’s worth posting again as this is a dessert I make every year at Christmas. I buy the Pandoro at Eataly, it’s the best in my opinion. I am sort of obsessed with custards lately, and thats what you use to make bread pudding.

Pandoro is a sweet Italian Yeast Bread it’s traditionally served around the holidays and every year I buy one that I make bread pudding from. It’s similar in texture to a brioche but a little sweeter, so if you cannot find Pandoro using brioche will also work. This bread pudding is not heavy, its very light and you can almost characterize it as fluffy. I added a little orange and chocolate because they go so well together and the end result is a creamy bread pudding with melted chocolate and just a hint of orange. This is best served warm so the chocolate is soft. Garnish with some whipped cream if you like, but I found this needs nothing its delicious on its own.

What is your traditional holiday dessert? Is there something you serve every year without fail?

Makes 8 individual small ramekins or one 9×13 rectangular baking dish

Approximately 1/2 of a Pandoro cut into large cubes (about 16 oz)

6 eggs

1/4 cup sugar (If you use brioche increase the sugar to 1/3 cup)

2 cups half and half

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

soft butter for the ramekins

8 tsp orange marmalade

4 oz dark chocolate chopped

Boiling water for the bain marie

Cut bread or Pandoro into cubes, break eggs into large mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk until combined. Add the half and half, heavy cream and vanilla and whisk well, you don’t want the sugar to pool at the bottom of the bowl. Add the bread cubes and let sit while you prepare the ramekins.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, put your kettle on to boil the water. Butter each ramekin then place a tsp of orange marmalade in each and spread on bottom and half way up the sides. Chop the chocolate and add to the soaking bread and stir. Spoon it into each ramekin. Place ramekins in large roasting pan and pour the boiling water carefully so that it comes a little less than half way up the ramekins. Carefully place in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set. Remove from oven let cool about 15 minutes and enjoy. Alternatively, you can use a medium size rectangular baking pan if you do not want to use ramekins.

Delicious!

Dec 17

49 Comments

Eggnog- The Quintessential Holiday Beverage

Eggnog

Creamy, sweet, delicious eggnog, I love it and it’s been a part of my holiday repertoire for as long as I can remember. I make it with and without alcohol. I also use a cooked custard because there are children drinking this and don’t want to take any chances with raw egg. The recipe I started out with is Martha Stewarts from quite a few years ago. She did not cook the eggs. The recipe calls for separating the yolks from the whites, using the yolks in the base and whipping the egg whites with some sugar and folding it into the base. It’s frothy and creamy and sweet and really delicious. I have changed it over the years and no longer fold egg whites into my custard, I’ll save those for something else like angel food cake. After cooling the custard before serving I add a pint of vanilla ice cream or Haagen Daz makes an egg nog ice cream which is delicious. This is not a diet drink and it’s loaded with cream and sugar and is very rich. The final presentation is with lightly sweetened whipped cream on top and a generous grating of nutmeg. I usually make a very large batch using a dozen eggs, divide and add the alcohol to half and leave the other virgin. I like to use rum and cognac or brandy and in the non alcoholic version I add pure rum flavoring which I make myself by simply boiling some rum for 15 minutes to remove almost all of the alcohol. The recipe below makes a quart of egg nog base, add or deduct you really don’t need a recipe.

Makes 1 quart eggnog base

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

6-8 egg yolks (I use 8)

2 tsp vanilla extract

Place egg yolks and sugar in mixing bowl and either whisk or use electric mixer to combine the yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow. Place milk and cream on stove and heat until scalding (not boiling) add half the hot milk/cream to egg yolks whisking constantly. Pour back into pan with the remaining milk, cook on medium heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. You are making a custard, check frequently when the custard starts to thicken by dipping the spoon in the custard, swipe a line on the back of the spoon and if it stays intact the custard is done. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and transfer to a heat proof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, it should sit directly on the custard and refrigerate at least 4 hours preferably overnight.

custard is done

Making the eggnog

1 quart egg nog base

1 pint vanilla or eggnog ice cream (optional)

1 cup heavy cream whipped

fresh nutmeg grated

rum extract to taste

To make boozy egg nog omit rum extract and add rum or I like to add rum and cognac or brandy. You decide how much, I like to add 1/4 cup rum and 1/4 cup brandy.

Pour the eggnog base into serving container, whip the cream adding just a little sugar. Soften your ice cream and add in scoops to the eggnog, let it melt, it’s ok. Top with whipped cream and generous grating of nutmeg. If you don’t use ice cream divide the whipped cream and fold half into the eggnog base and top with the other half.