Italian Night!

I finally made the famous Marcella Hazan tomato sauce with onion and butter that has been written up by every food writer and blogger from NYC to Milano. Wow. What the heck was I waiting for? This couldn’t have been easier or more delicious. With only three ingredients (four, if you count the salt), and only three steps, within an hour you will have a bright, clean, delicious tomato sauce perfect for a host of dishes.

The three (four) ingredients:

Fresh, ripe tomatoes or 1 can (28 oz) imported Italian tomatoes

5 TB butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half

Salt to taste

Full recipe below.

You may be thinking, “butter, and an onion just cut in half and thrown in??” Yes. And, whatever you do, do not discard that onion post-cooking. It is the sweetest, most delicious onion you’ll ever eat! A couple of commenters on Food52 suggested using a stick blender and whirling it back into the sauce. Another suggested just eating the onion outright (I did this, it was fabulous). No wrong answers.

simmering

The day I made the sauce, I ladled it over a twirl of linguini, added a few torn basil leaves, and showered it with freshly grated Parmigiana Reggiano (that gorgeous image at the top). Simple perfection!

On day two, I had a “voglia” (Italian slang for a craving - pronounced “wool-lea,” depending on the region) for chicken parm. Don’t ask me why, I just did. I almost never crave red sauce-type Italian-American dishes, but this week I did. I found a pretty low-intensity (read: not a million steps) recipe, used the leftover Marcella sauce, and used Panko instead of breadcrumbs to produce a crispier, crunchier coating. It was terrific. I didn’t go totally old school and serve it over spaghetti, but I did enjoy a crusty Italian bread alongside the parm.

Old school chicken parm

I didn’t have any Italian reds in the house so I used a hearty zin, which worked just fine.

And, finally, to complete Italian night, I made the easiest dessert possible (if you have the means to make espresso): affogato. In Italian, affogato means “drowned.” You literally drown cold ice cream in hot espresso. 

I recently treated myself to a starter espresso machine (made by Capresso and purchased on sale) and I am loving it. Two cappuccinos in the morning and, sometimes, a decaf espresso in the afternoon, and I’m good to go. 

Affogato is a divine little treat. What could be better than ice cold ice cream (in my case, coffee), drowned in dark, delicious espresso? My go-to ice cream of late is Enlightened’s cold brew coffee. At only 90 calories for 2/3 cup, it is all indulgence and zero guilt. I honestly don’t know how they make such a rich, creamy ice cream that clocks in at that caloric rate. But, whatever, I’m on board. The picture of my affogato was sub-par so I’ve included a stock image so you get the gist of what it “should” look like.

Photo by Sarah li from Pexels

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Serves 6, enough to sauce 1 to 1-1/2 lb pasta

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes for the sauce

2 lb fresh tomatoes, prepared as described below, or 2 C canned imported Italian tomatoes, cut up, with their juice

5 TB butter

1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half

Salt to taste

1. Put either the prepared fresh tomatoes or the canned in a saucepan, add the butter, onion, and salt, and cook uncovered at a very slow, but steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until it is thickened to your liking and the fat floats free from the tomato.
2. Stir from time to time, mashing up any large pieces of tomato with the back of a wooden spoon.
3. Taste and correct for salt. Before tossing with pasta, you may remove the onion (as Hazan recommended) and save for another use, but many opt to leave it in. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for the table.

Food52 editor’s note: Marcella called for 2 cups of tomatoes when using canned, but feel free to use a whole 28 oz can (closer to 3 cups), if you like. You can scale up the butter and onion, if you like, or don’t - it’s genius either way.

Making Fresh Tomatoes Ready for Sauce

The blanching method: Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or less. Drain them and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, skin them, and cut them into coarse pieces.

The freezing method (from David Tanis, via The Kitchn): Freeze tomatoes on a baking sheet until hard. Thaw again, either on the counter or under running water. Skin them and cut them into coarse pieces.

The food mill method: Wash the tomatoes in cold water, cut them lengthwise in half, and put them in a covered saucepan. Turn on the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Set a food mill fitted with the disk with the largest holes over a bowl. Transfer the tomatoes with any of their juices to the mill and puree.

Gluten-free Chocolate Almond Shortbread Cookies

Hello, Friday! Nice to see you (and just when I thought you'd never get here!). 

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had another wonderful gluten-free recipe coming your way. Well, here it is! The original recipe, from the friendly folks at King Arthur Flour, has been tweaked slightly to ramp up the coffee/chocolate quotient to our liking. If you're not so much of a coffee lover, just follow the original directions.

Besides being gluten-free (they are made with almond flour), instead of regular powdered sugar, I use Whey-Low powdered sugar. Same great taste, no sugar. 

And what gives these cookies that extra coffee-coffee-ness? I swapped out the vanilla extract for Dave's Original Coffee Syrup. Whoa! If you are coffee fanatics, as we are, check out Dave's. Not just for this terrific, concentrated syrup (that is, btw, divine drizzled over vanilla ice cream), but for his coffee beans. We get a delivery about every two weeks from their shop in Rhode Island. 

On to the cookies! Oh, did I mention these only have about 40 calories/cookie?! You're welcome! :-)

Gluten-free Chocolate Almond Flour Shortbread Cookies (adapted from original recipe)

1 C almond flour (minus 2 TB) - I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour
3 TB softened butter
3 TB powdered sugar
1/8 t salt
1/8 t espresso powder
2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t Dave's Coffee Syrup 
Flaked sea salt (for sprinkling)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. LIne a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl until a cohesive dough forms.
3. Let dough chill in refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
4. Scoop 1" balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet; a teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. Arrange the balls of dough about 1-1/2" to 2" apart.
5. Use a fork to flatten each cookie to about 1/4" thick, making a crosshatch design.
6. Sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt on top of each cookie
7. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they start to turn light
8. Transfer to rack to cool.

Yield about 15 cookies. This recipe is easily doubled, and they keep very well in an airtight container. Sometimes I add about 1/2 C toasted, chopped hazelnuts to the recipe, which adds a very nice dimension to these babies.

Print here.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Chocolate-dipped Hazelnut Espresso Cookies

First of all, is that not the cutest cookie up there?  And is it me, or does it not have the coolest wave of brunette ganache sweeping across its little cookie forehead? OK, maybe I've been staring at these cookies a little too long...


So this past weekend we were invited to a friend's home for a lovely dinner of osso buco and fresh spring risotto.  I thought I'd make an Italian-themed dessert to accompany the menu. I found a tempting recipe for Tiramisu Cupcakes and off I went. 

These cupcakes took alot of time - making the cupcake batter, then the coffee syrup, and finally the mascarpone frosting. And when all was said and done, I wasn't 100% sure they were worthy of a trip to a friend's dinner. So I went to my trusty recipe file to find a suitable second. And there it was - a recipe from Leite's Culinaria for Hazelut Espresso Cookies!  It had everything. Except chocolate. But that was quickly remedied by whipping up a chocolate ganache and dipping the top half of the cookie (otherwise known as the "cookie forehead").  Voila! At the last minute I sprinkled some finely chopped hazelnuts on the ganache as it was setting to give it some nice texture.

In the end, I took both desserts to the dinner, and while the cupcakes were good, the cookies were great!  And you know what they say, you can never have too many desserts!  Mangia bene!

Print Cookie Recipe Here

Print Ganache Recipe Here

Un Caffe, Per Favore!

Have you seen or heard about "Pocket Coffee?" Neither had I, until recently. These are shots of espresso (not espresso-flavored) encased in bite-sized, delicious, dark, praline-enrobed chocolate imported from Italy. Could it get any better than that?!

My friend, Noreen, was lucky enough to score a sample from someone she met on a plane. When I dropped something off at her house a day or two later, her husband was raving about them, but teased me by waving the package in front of me, telling me he couldn't share them with me as they were being saved for their daughter (it's a good thing I really like their daughter!).

I was, of course, now laser-focused on procuring some Pocket Coffee. Doug said you could only get these on-line or in Italy. Since I didn't have much chance of going to Italy anytime soon, being the internet-savvy girl that I am, I immediately started to scour the web. I didn't have to scour too hard. My Google search turned up several sites offering Pocket Coffee. Just as I was about to place my order, a little voice inside piped up "why don't you try the Italian specialty food store around the corner from your house first?" Duh...(I love that little voice). The next day I dispatched Barry to A&S Pork Store (BTW: if you live anywhere in the north Jersey area, a pilgrimage to A&S for all things Italian is in order). Lo and behold, he came through with the goods. A package of five little coffee rockets for a mere $3.89 and no shipping!

These chocolates are not only delicious, but they have a nice little kick. They are the perfect pick-me-up! Divertire! (enjoy!)

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps

Those of you following the news know that the East coast had its first major snowstorm of the season yesterday.  Here in my part of New Jersey, we received about 6 inches of snow, followed closely by some nice sleet (which made for a very pleasant shoveling experience this morning).  

Snow days are great because they give you liberty to do things you might normally feel guilty about spending time doing.  So here I sit at the Mac, writing to you, looking out at the snowcapped mountain range in the distance, patchouli candle scenting my office, iTunes cranking (currently the new Bruce Springsteen song "The Wrestler" is playing - BTW, incredible song). And a fresh batch of cookies just out of the oven...

Being somewhat snowbound always makes me think about baking (no surprises here), and the other day I found a recipe from Martha Stewart that sounded good - Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps. I thought this would jive pretty well with the newly arrived snow so I set off to make these this afternoon.  I doubled the recipe because the standard recipe only made 18 which seemed way too small for a holiday baking session. These are really easy to make (which is one of my prime considerations for baking), delicious, and winter-y looking.  And there's no dough rolling here, another bonus. You just scoop up about a teaspoon's worth (a real teaspoon from your flatware, not a measuring teaspoon) of dough, roll it into about a 1 inch ball, fluff it around in confectioner's sugar, drop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, and into the oven they go.  Tip for you: wear disposable plastic gloves when rolling up the dough - it gets a little messy.  Shawn Colvin playing now just in case you were wondering.  These little cookies are more fudgy and less espresso-ish than I expected, but I like them.  The recipe is below.  Let me know how you like them.

I want to leave you with a quote I read today from the November 2008 issue of Conde Nast Traveler.  One of the books in their article on the best books about fictional destinations is "The Epic of Gilgamesh." Truth be told, I had not heard of this. Written in 2500 BC (you read that correctly), this is the world's oldest epic poem about a great king who was inconsolable over a friend's death and goes off in search of "immortality and a way to keep loss at bay." The king gets a tip from a barmaid, "good advice for any traveler: "fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice." Good advice I think for this time of year, and all year round.

And now, herewith the recipe (Duffy's "Mercy" blaring now):

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps (makes 18)

These cookies look like little snow-covered mountains. They will keep for up to a week stored in an airtight container at room temp. Roll each ball in confectioner's sugar twice to make sure it's thoroughly coated and no dark dough is visible.

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

4 t instant espresso powder

1 t baking powder

1/8 t salt

4 TB unsalted butter

2/3 C packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

4 oz bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Scharffenberger)

1 TB milk

Confectioner's sugar for coating

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Pour confectioner's sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.

Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12-14 minutes; cookies will be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Signing off with Bruce Hornsby's "Walk in the Sun."

Biscotti

Hi, there.

The Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti turned out great. Now that I think about it, both items I baked yesterday came from Williams-Sonoma recipes (see early Saturday morning post about scones).  This biscotti recipe comes from an older W-S cookbook called "Cookies & Biscotti," part of the Time-Life series published back in the early nineties.  These biscotti are so good - they have all the essential qualities of a good biscotti - nuts, cinnamon, espresso, a nice texture, a good crunch, oh, and chocolate.  Some of you probably think chocolate would be the first ingredient I mention, but no.  I am not one of those self-proclaimed chocolaholics. I like chocolate just fine but if I have a piece of good quality dark chocolate once every six months, that's alot.  Give me cinnamon, give me nuts of any kind, give me cardamom, give me a nice coffee cake and I am just the happiest woman around.  And why I think I like these biscotti so much is that the chocolate is sort of an add-on flavor, not the major player.

Well, I must run now, but I've left the biscotti recipe here for you to try - let me know what you think.  They really are delightful.  And I think that even if you are chocolate-crazed, you will find these biscotti hit just the right note.

Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 t baking powder

1 t ground cinnamon

1/8 t salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp

1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar (I used dark)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 T instant espresso powder

2 eggs

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips)

Preheat oven to 325.  Butter two baking sheets.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl; set aside.

Combine the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and espresso powder in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add the walnuts and chocolate chips and mix in. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a prepared baking sheet. Using lightly floured hands, form each half into a log 3 inches wide and 3/4 inch high. If you like, you can sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar over the logs just before baking - not necessary, the cookies are great with or without the sprinkle.

Bake until firm to the touch, about 25-30 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Leave the oven set at 325.

Using a spatula carefully transfer the logs to a work surface. Using a serrated knife cut on the diagonal into slices 1/2 inch thick. Arrange the slices cut-side down on the baking sheets and bake until the bottoms are brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn the slices over. Bake until the bottoms are brown, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 3 dozen.

Baking Again!

Greetings, Culinary Blog Readers.

It seems like I am going to be doing alot of baking today.  We are having dinner at a friend's home this evening and even though our hostess very graciously said not to bring a thing, I really can't do that (it's in my genes). But I don't want to usurp whatever dessert she is planning so I am going to make these wonderful biscotti I made a few weeks ago.  Last night, after some half-way decent Chinese food, I went to Home Goods and found a very pretty little glass storage container that will hold the biscotti perfectly. This way, she can either serve the biscotti as a side to her dessert or just keep them for another time. More on the biscotti later.  

This morning I decided to whip a batch of scones for breakfast.  My friend Katie, a similarly food-obsessed person, gave me a jar of Pear-Peach Jam and what better to go with jam than warm-from-the-oven scones.  Hmmmmmm.  It seems Katie has developed quite the jam habit, thanks to "The Jam Man" from the Ridgewood Farmer's Market. Katie was nice enough to share some of her just scored jam with me and I needed something special to sample it with.  I began thinking about this when she bestowed the precious bottle on me earlier in the week.  So this morning when I woke up at 6am (no rest for baking fanatics) I began scouring my files and the Internet for the perfect scone recipe.  I'm sure you know that really good scones contain either buttermilk or cream - I had neither in the house.  Now you can "make" buttermilk by taking regular whole milk and adding a little bit of lemon juice to it but I really don't think it's the same (just MHO).  So this made my scone search a little more time consuming.  All the recipes in my files and the listings on Epicurious.com and FoodTV.com called for one of these two ingredients.  All of a sudden, I remembered that when I worked at Williams-Sonoma many years ago, we would whip up scones frequently when we wanted to demo a new jam or baking pan; and we would almost never have buttermilk or cream in the store refrigerator.  Lo and behold, the W-S web site had one recipe for scones that did not include either item.  That was it!  Let me tell you - there is almost nothing better than coffee and right out of the oven scones on a Saturday morning (faithful readers know this IS my favorite day).

Allora ("so" in Italian), I'm off to do a few errands and when I come back I'll be baking Chocolate Chip Walnut Espresso Biscotti.  See you later.