The east coast has been been getting hit pretty hard with winter weather recently and with another major storm heading this way, it looks like winter is far from done. (Damn that groundhog!) If you’re looking for a hearty dinner for a cold winter’s night, look no further than this Italian Lentil Soup. It’s quick, easy and delicious… and will warm your bones!
Here’s what you need: (hopefully you won’t have to venture out into 25 inches of snow to get it!)
lentils
extra virgin olive oil
3 stalks of celery – chopped
2 carrots – diced
1 onion – diced
1-2 tomato or a small can of diced or crushed tomatoes
box of spaghetti
salt and pepper
What you need to do:
Bring a medium size pot of water to a boil and add your lentils (we use about 1/2 a bag for the 2 of use and we have plenty of left-overs) Let the lentils boil for about 2-3 minutes, then remove and rinse them. In a large pot, add your olive oil, celery, onion, carrots, tomatoes, lentils and enough water to cover all your ingredients. Then add your salt and pepper, bring to a boil and let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until your lentils are tender. You can serve as-is for a more traditional soup or make it Italian by adding some pasta… (Come on, make it Italian… you know you want to!!)
In a separate pot, cook your pasta. I like to use spaghetti and break it in quarters for this dish because that’s the way mom used to do it for our family growing up (and mom is always right… right?) Once your spaghetti is cooked to your liking, add it to your lentils, give it a stir and your done! Serve with grated parmigiano or romano cheese. Enjoy and buon appetito!
Italian kids around the world have grown up with these tiny juice bottles (125ml/4.2 oz) I can remember going to the “bar” with my father and the barista would bring my father an espresso and me a “succo di frutta.” I always asked for it in the bottle because it was fun to drink out of. It was so much better than any “American Juice” that my mother bought at the grocery store. It still brings back great memories and whenever I see it, I can’t help but buy one.
Ever since Linda from Ciao Chow Linda sent me some dried morel mushrooms that her brother found, I’ve been thinking about what to make with them. If you don’t know yet, I’m a huge fan of foraging for wild mushrooms. You can read about some other wild mushroom recipes here and here.
So I decided to make a pasta recipe and it did not disappoint!
This is what you need:
1 pound of short cut pasta – I used ziti
1-2 oz of dried morel mushrooms
olive oil
pancetta – handful, diced
1/4 pound of chicken breast cut into small cubes
1 shallot – chopped
1-2 cloves of chopped garlic
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of grated parmigiano
salt & pepper
This is what you need to do:
Bring approximately 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a small pot, then add your dried morel mushrooms and let them boil for about 15 minutes so they reconstitute. Take your morel mushrooms out, chop them into small pieces and put the water aside (do not throw the water out.)
In a large sauce pan, add a splash of olive oil, your garlic, shallot and pancetta and let it simmer for a few minutes. Then add your morels and chicken. Let it cook until the chicken is almost completely cooked through (about 10 minutes.) Add the water from your morels and bring it to a boil, then add your cream, salt & pepper and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered to let the liquid reduce. Lastly, add your parmigiano (which will thicken the sauce)… mix in your cooked pasta and give it a good stir. Pour 2 glasses of Pinot Noir (one for you and one for your significant other… you don’t want to get in trouble) and serve. Enjoy and buon appetito!
When my parents were growing up in Calabria, they didn’t have much and when it came to cooking, nothing went to waste… especially since they grew up in large families (mom is one of 8 and dad is one of 6.) Many of the foods and recipes that they made came with them to the US and became a part of our meals. The cycle in my family goes a little something like this:
Young child: put food in front of them – if they like how it tastes, they eat it, if they don’t, they won’t
Teenager: tell them what you’re making – if they like the sound of it, they’ll eat it, if they don’t they won’t
Adult: if it tastes good, who cares what it’s called or what it sounds like or what it is. IT TASTES GOOD.
Gizzards are one of those foods and in this economy, a great way to save a buck.
What you’ll need:
Gizzards
olive oil
1/2 onion – chopped
1 clove of garlic – diced
red wine
salt & pepper
What to do:
Gizzards are very tough, so start by boiling the gizzards for 1 hour. Once you’ve boiled them, add a splash of olive oil in a sauce pan or frying pan with your onion and garlic. Let them simmer for a few minutes and then add the gizzards and enough water to almost cover the gizzards. Then add a splash of red wine and your seasonings… I used salt, pepper and adobo (which is an all-spice.) Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce the heat to low for about 15 minutes. Then uncover your gizzards and let the water reduce for another 10-15 minutes. Cut up a nice loaf of bread and pour yourself a glass of red wine… enjoy and buon appetito!
In my last post on curing black olives I mentioned that I was making them 2 ways: sott’acqua (in a simple brine of salt and water) and al forno (oven dried black olives.) The black olives “sott’acqua” don’t take much maintenance… once you make your brine and drop them in it’s a waiting game. The dried black olives however, are more involved.
The olives we had were late season olives and were a little banged up so I separated the ones that were really bruised to use for drying.
Here’s what you need to do: Take your olives and place them in a large bowl with a lid. Sprinkle salt over the olives (I used an entire 26 oz pack of salt) and cover them. You do not need to refrigerate them. Mix your olives twice a day for 2-3 weeks. Water from the olives will start to collect at the bottom of your bowl but don’t remove it… just keep mixing them twice a day. After a few weeks, you will have mushy looking olives in water and you’ll know they’re ready (I kept them in the bowl for 3 weeks.) Drain the water from your bowl and rinse your olives several times to remove the excess salt (otherwise they will be too salty.) Once you have rinsed your olives, lay them on paper towel in a baking tray or cookie sheet and turn your oven on to 125 degrees F (50 C) Place your olives in the oven for several hours and check them periodically until your satisfied with how dry your olives are. This method can take up to 12 hours to dry them out, so you might want to consider leaving them in your oven overnight. The key is to expose your olives to low heat over time so that they can dry out slowly. Another variation is to preheat your oven to 200 degrees F (95 C) and once your oven is preheated, turn it off and put your olives in… that way you can leave the house and not have to worry about the oven being on. You can repeat this process over several days as I did.
Once you have your olives at a level of dryness that you like and they have cooled, place them in a bowl, add a splash of olive oil, oregano, crushed red pepper and mix. They’re ready to serve. They also freeze very well. Enjoy and buon appetito!
I hope everyone is having a great 2010 so far! I recently got back from San Francisco for work and had the pleasure of dinning at a great Italian restaurant called Incanto. What a treat! Owner Mark Pastore and Chef Chris Cosentino have something really special going on the left coast… (for the record, they’re both originally from New England!) Their website describes Incanto’s food as, “…food that is based on the bedrock principles of Italian cooking: emphasis on the freshest and highest-quality local ingredients, respectful treatment of food, and presentation that is neither overwrought or fussy.” and when asked what part of Italy their cuisine represents: “…the food we serve at Incanto represents a part of Italy that is called ‘California’.”
I would describe the food as “Italian upscale rustic”… I know, it doesn’t make much sense but a glimpse of their sample menu (the menu changes daily) might help you agree with me.
How often do you see those dishes on a menu?! It sounds like a list of foods my father ate when we were kids but we wouldn’t touch because of what it sounded like and not what it tasted like (your “someday” has arrived dad!) What were we thinking!!? Do not miss a chance to eat at Incanto if you go to San Francisco… I also want to applaud Edward Ruiz (Wine Director) for his wine selection. The Amarone we had was excellent!
A Big Thank You
to Linda at Ciao Chow Linda for the wonderful gift of goodies she sent my way. Grazie 1000 Linda!!
Not only do I enjoy reading about the amazing food and recipes Linda makes… now I get to try some (without all the work.) Her fig jam is (as we New Englanders would say) wickedawesome (I had to send some to my mother since figs are her favorite.) I can’t wait to try the morel mushrooms her brother found… the one mushroom that has managed to elude me. She also sent some of her husband’s jarred/cured green tomatoes, her blood orange & cranberry jam and a bottle of olive oil. If you head to Linda’s blog, you can find the recipes or posts on most of these items. Thanks Linda!
Last year I posted on “Grispelle” and la Grispellissima festival that is held December 8th in Feroleto Antico, where my family is from in Calabria but I didn’t include a recipe… so here it is. My family makes a fried potato-dough with and without anchovies every year at Christmas time: We call them grispelle & monacialli but they also have other names depending on where in Calabria you are from. Grispelle are doughnut shaped without anchovies and monacialli are small balls with anchovies inside.
Monacialli
Grispelle
What you’ll need:
5 pound bag of all-purpose flour
4-5 large potatoes (we use Idaho potatoes)
Fresh yeast (about 2 oz)
Salt
Grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese
Vegetable oil
Canned anchovies in oil (for monacialli)
What you need to do: Peel your potatoes and boil them until they are soft enough to put through a potato ricer. Once you have riced your potatoes, place them in a large bowl and add some of the water used to boil the potatoes. Mix together until you have a thick potato/water mixture with no lumps (run your fingers through the water or strain the water to remove any potato chunks.) Let the potato water cool. Place the yeast in a bowl of warm water breaking it up with your hands until it is completely dissolved and then add it to your potato water. Now place your flour, salt and grated cheese in a large bowl and slowly add your potato water as needed to make your dough. The dough should have a soft and fluffy consistency.
Potato Water
Let the dough rise for 1.5 – 2 hours. We cover the bowl with a dish cloth and a blanket in order to keep the dough warm and speed up the process. When the dough is ready it should be soft and airy.
Once your dough is ready, you’ll need to oil down a large area (table, counter top, etc.) with vegetable oil. This is done so that the uncooked grispelle and monacialli don’t stick to the surface before you cook them as the dough is very sticky. Also set aside a bowl of oil to dunk your hands in while working the dough.
For monacialli, grab a small piece of dough and stretch it flat in your hands, then add a whole anchovy fillet and wrap the anchovy with the dough (see video below.) Place the monacialli on your oily surface while you make others. This will allow the dough to rise slightly before frying.
For grispelle, take a small piece of dough and poke a whole through the middle to create a doughnut shape and lay them on your oily surface while you make others.
Heat some vegetable oil in a large sauce or frying pan (use enough oil so that the grispelle and monacialli float while frying.) Add your monacialli or grispelle and cook on both sides until golden brown. Let cool and eat!
Grispelle are great on their own but you can also sprinkle sugar on them or dunk them in honey or maple syrup… as you can imagine, the kids love them this way. I’m a monacialli kind of guy. Whichever you prefer, enjoy and buon appetito!
It was a small turn out for this year’s “Seven Fishes Feast” but that’s not going to stop us from making merry! We have some wonderful recipes, I’ll pull out some vino bianco and we’ll give everything a try.
Linda at “Ciao Chow Linda” has gotten this party started the right way… she posted a great sordfish recipe but also gives you a peek into her family’s Christmas Eve tradition and some other great seafood dishes they serve. So head over and check out her recipe. Thanks Linda!
Ozoz at “Kitchen Butterfly” is bringing a delicious looking seafood Cartoccio. She tried it while visiting Roma with her husband and hunted down the recipe when she got home. She does a great job of giving her readers a photo step-by-step recipe. Thanks Ozoz!
Marla at “Bella Baita View” is bringing an antipasto… but not just any antipasto, Sardines Piemontese Style! As she mentions in her post, if the only sardines you’ve tried are those from a can… you really haven’t tried sardines.
Claudia at “Journey of an Italian Cook” is bringing Cioppino… or as her Aunt Fay calls it, “Neopolitan Stew.” Call it whatever you want… it looks delicious! I won’t be pushing anything aside on this dish Claudia!
So these are the recipes from this years “Seven Fishes Feast” thanks to Linda, Ozoz, Marla and Claudia. I’ve decided to send them all a little something, so I’ll be contacting them soon. If you would like to come to the party a little late, we would still love to have you! So keep the recipes coming and I’ll keep posting them. Ciao for now.
Jady at Cucina Panzano made these wonderful Stuffed Swordfish Rolls/-Involtini di Pesce Spada inspired by her Auntie Ella. These look amazing… thanks Jady!
It looks like we have a slow start to this years Seven Fishes Feast… so I’ll have to get things started with some of my favorite dishes. My father is the fisherman in the family and a great cook as well… so he usually takes the reigns on Christmas Eve. { To be clear, he usually designates my mother as Sous Chef (she does all the real work) and he puts things together to make it seem like he did it all… but I promise I won’t tell anyone dad.} I’ll share the recipes for these soon but you’ll have to share yours first.
It’s that wonderful time of the year again! We had our first snow here in New England this past weekend with more on the way tonight, which always helps me get into the Holiday Spirit. Christmas Eve is only a few weeks away, so we need to start planning for a wonderful Feast! My family, like many other Italian families has always enjoyed the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” on Christmas Eve and it’s one of my favorite days of the year.
A little Background on the Feast of the Seven Fishes: For those of you not familiar with the Feast of the Seven Fishes, it’s an Italian tradition of preparing seven different types of fish for Christmas Eve dinner. To be clear, not all Italians recognize or follow this tradition and some have never even heard of it. It seems to be more of a southern Italian tradition that has grown within the Italian American community. (My mother’s side of the family followed a similar tradition which included 9 non-meat dishes when she was growing up in Calabria.)
Regardless of your religion or cultural traditions, I would like to invite you all to participate in the 2nd Annual “Seven Fishes Feast.” Last year I co-hosted with Maryann from “Finding La Dolce Vita” but as many of you know, Maryann has left the blogosphere (I still miss her wonderful recipes and creativity!) So this year I will have to host “da solo.”
So come join me for a wonderful fish feast. I’ll be accepting recipe’s until December 18th.
Like last year, I’ll be giving away some Italian Christmas treats to one participant chosen at random:
A Box of Torrone
A Panetone
Bellagio Gourmet Hot Chocolate
A jar of our homemade roasted red peppers
This is what you have to do to participate:
Create a fish or shellfish dish and post it on your blog.
Display the “Seven Fishes Feast” badge and link back to Italyville.
Send your entry to me at joe (at) italyville (dot) com and put “Seven Fishes Feast” in the subject line.
Tell me your name, blog name, url, the name of your recipe with a photo and a link to your post.
I’ll be choosing a winner at random on Saturday December 19th. Happy cooking and hope to see you at the Feast!
Joe Maruca welcomes you to Italyville where he writes and rants about growing up Italian in Massachusetts, his experiences living and working in Bologna, visits to the family's Olive farm in Calabria and everything along the way. In America we're considered Italian, in Italy we've become Americani... but we're always at home in Italyville.
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Monacialli
Grispelle
Potato Water
Insalata di Mare
Zuppa di Pesce
Baccala’ con pomodori e olive (this is a Calabrian Specialty)
