As a teenager, I spent what felt like entire summers babysitting for the kids across the street. There were three of them, aged 4-10, and they were a handful. But they also had a pool and they paid well, so it was a good job all in all. The kids used to love eating pastina, basically tiny little pasta stars, with masses of butter and that shakeable powdered parmesan cheese. I rarely had to cook anything for them (their mom was a great cook and there was always tons of food in their house), but I made pastina once or twice. It was perfect comfort food for kids, no spice, all warmth and simplicity.

Fast forward 15 years. Trevor and I just started a major kitchen renovation (!) and the house is full of dust. It’s still cold and snowy, and it’s that time of year where you’re just on the edge of being sick all the time. We’re ready for spring and it’s not here yet. Comfort food is in order pretty much every day. A few weeks back (before the renovation started!), in this late winter state of being, I was staring forlornly inside the fridge, hoping for inspiration to strike from a handful of leftovers. I was in a bad mood. I was tired. And there was really very little in the fridge since we’d been proactively cleaning it out. So I dumped half a container of homemade kitchen stock in a pot and boiled some Israeli couscous in it. I added a huge amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese and some cracked black pepper. I plopped it unceremoniously in a bowl and took a bite. And it turned out to be the most perfect thing – creamy, savory, comforting, cheesy – and just like pastina with butter, but all grown-up.

I’ve finessed this recipe a little bit to share with you, but it really is very simple. Use the best chicken stock you can as that’s where all the flavor comes from. Don’t be shy with the parmesan or the pepper or the parsley. Your reward for 10 minutes of effort will be a bowl of super delicious pasta to get you through these last few weeks of winter.

Israeli Couscous “Pastina”

A super simple, super comforting pasta, rich with the flavors of chicken broth and parmesan cheese.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

• 2 cups high quality chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 cup Israeli couscous (also sold as pearled couscous)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Add the chicken stock to a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, add the Israeli couscous (don’t wait as your stock will evaporate and there won’t be enough left to fully cook the couscous). Let stock return to a simmer. Simmer the couscous, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is tender and the chicken stock has been almost completely absorbed, about 7 to 8 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat. Don’t drain it – the couscous will continue to absorb the stock, and it should have a slightly loose, creamy texture. Add the 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, a generous amount of black pepper, and the chopped parsley. Stir until the cheese has melted into the couscous. Serve immediately, topped with additional parmesan and black pepper if desired.

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I know it’s the very tail end of ramp season, and most of you have moved on to stone fruits and strawberries, but I didn’t want to let another year slip by without posting this recipe for ramp carbonara. It’s nothing revolutionary, just a simple spaghetti carbonara dressed up for spring. Spaghetti carbonara is one of my favorite meals, rich with eggs and cheese. I probably make it more often than I should, given how indulgent it is, but I love it.

I’ve never seen a ramp growing. They have sort of a woodsy mystique about them, one of the first spring edibles to hit the markets, gathered in wild forests some unknown distance away. I picture them growing in quiet, verdant groves, their dark green leaves waving gently in filtered forest light. Perhaps they’ll be the next on the list of foolhardy things we are trying to grow in our little urban backyard. Although, like asparagus, they need several years to establish themselves. I’m not sure we have the patience.

I loved the idea of the long, thin ramp leaves winding through the pasta like noodles, so the first time I tried this, I left the ramp leaves whole. While it was beautiful to look at, it left me chewing (and chewing and chewing) big mouthfuls of ramp, which wasn’t particularly pleasant. So this time around, I treated the ramps with a bit more finesse. I sliced the leaves into thin strips and just barely cooked them, keeping their texture crisp. It worked out much better.

This came out lovely. While spaghetti covered in cheese is always good, there’s a big difference between a good carbonara and a great carbonara. This one was great. I thickened the sauce with a little bit of mascarpone so it was truly creamy. Instead of parmesan alone, I used a mix of parmesan and pecorino. Of course the ramps, swirled into the noodles, made it garlicky and a little special. And the finishing touch – a shower of meyer lemon zest – brought it all together.

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More Ramp recipes…

Ramp, Cheddar, and Bacon Buttermilk Biscuits

Polenta Pizza with Wild Mushrooms and Ramp Pesto

Quinoa, Cauliflower, and Ramp Cakes

Ramp Carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara with a spring twist – whole ramps, pecorino cheese, and meyer lemon zest.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 3-4

Ingredients

• 8 medium-sized ramps
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 oz. pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz. grated pecorino cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 2 oz. grated parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• zest from 1 Meyer lemon
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Prepare the ramps by washing thoroughly to rinse away any dirt, and gently patting the leaves dry. Separate the round white bulbs from the leaves. Trim any stringy white roots from the bulb and discard the roots, then finely dice the ramp bulb. Slice the ramp leaves into very thin strips, then set aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and saute until it is crispy and brown all over, which should take about 6-8 minutes. After 3-4 minutes, add the diced ramp bulb to the pan. Keep a close eye on the pancetta and stir frequently – pancetta takes a while to start browning but can go to under-cooked to burned in a very short period of time.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, and mascarpone until smooth. Stir in the black pepper, Meyer lemon zest, and the cooked pancetta. Set aside.
5. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to package directions, until just al dente. Drain, leaving just a few tablespoons of the cooking water in the bottom of the pot with the pasta. Add the hot pasta and reserved cooking water to the egg mixture and quickly toss with tongs to create a creamy sauce from the eggs and cheese. Do this immediately after adding the pasta to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Add the ramp leaves to the pasta and toss a few times just to wilt the leaves. Serve immediately.

The post Ramp Carbonara appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: If you’re even a little bit of a Francophile, or have ever found yourself daydreaming of a vacation in France punctuated by long dinners in the countryside, you’re going to want to get yourself a copy of Hungry for France. A cross between a memoir, a travel guide, and a cookbook, with all three components tied together by a love of French food, this book will have you planning your next vacation and tomorrow’s dinner at the same time. The book covers 13 regions in France, alternating notes about the best inns and restaurants in each region with recipes inspired by memorable dinners in those same establishments. As a result, the recipes are hyper-local to their particular corner of France, with hearty dishes like Cheese and Bacon Tarts from the Alps, and fresh, warm-weather seafood dishes like Roasted John Dory with Tomatoes and Olives from Cote d’Azur. By separating the recipes into these regional sections, the author highlights the wonderful variety of French cuisine – from delicate cream-filled pastry, to rich duck confit, to grilled seafood dishes, to hearty alpine stews, it’s all here. I love the recipes that are included in the book – they present slightly unexpected but still traditional flavor combinations that sound highly craveable, the kind of dishes I’d order from a restaurant in a heartbeat. They aren’t the French “basics,” – they’re modern and interesting, but still quintessentially French. There are as many recipes for sweet dishes as savory, which is good, because the French do both so well that it would be a shame to leave either one out. Although I haven’t nearly finished reading all the notes about different restaurants and destinations, what I have read perfectly captures the romance and magic of travel, expertly intertwined with practical advice about where to eat, sleep, and drink in France.

The Food: The night I planned to test a recipe from Hungry for France for this review, I came home from work completely exhausted and almost defaulted to plain spaghetti for dinner instead, until Trevor rescued the evening and said he’d do all the shopping and cooking if I could stay awake long enough to take pictures. I readily agreed, and very happily sat at the kitchen counter enjoying a glass of Chardonnay while Trevor made a lovely dinner for us. This Pistachio-Stuffed Chicken with Parmesan Cream Sauce was relatively quick to pull together, but it had lovely, nuanced flavors from all the herbs and different liqueurs used, and made for a very elegant, restaurant-quality dish. We served it with a warm orzo and pesto salad for a perfect little dinner (and the leftovers were just as good for lunch the next day). I particularly liked that the recipe used both vermouth and grappa in it – all the alcohol cooks off, but the flavors remained distinct. It will definitely be a repeat dinner dish in our house, and I can’t wait to try other recipes from this book.

Recipe Shortlist: Green Asparagus with Chorizo Vinaigrette; Nanterre French Toast with Honeyed Nectarines; Golden Endive and Chard Gratin; White-Wine Steamed Mussels with Andouille Sausage; Curried Pork in Cider Sauce; Hot Buckwheat Rolls; Hazelnut-Crusted Goat Cheese with Rhubarb-Raspberry Compote; Hot Chartreuse Souffle; Truffled Eggs en Cocotte with Prosciutto Toasts

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Hungry for France free of charge from Rizzoli, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Pistachio-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Parmesan Cream Sauce

Recipe from Hungry for France. Serves 4.

•  1/4 c. milk
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 thick slice white bread, crust removed
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 4 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 c. dry vermouth
• 1/4 c. finely chopped roasted, salted pistachios
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 TBS grappa
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 3 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 TBS butter
• fleur de sel (or sea salt) for finishing
• chervil sprigs, for finishing (optional)

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk with thyme, bay leaf, and garlic over medium heat, just until bubbles appear around the edge, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and strain into a shallow bowl. Add the bread and let stand for 10 minutes, turning once. Drain and squeeze dry, then finely chop and transfer to a medium bowl.
2. In a medium frying pan, heat 1 TBS of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in vermouth and cook until nearly evaporated, about 2-3 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Scrape  half of the shallots into the bowl with the bread, and add the chopped pistachios. Reserve the other half of the shallots for later.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut a slit lengthwise into the side of each chicken breast. Use a spoon to stuff a few TBS of the bread and pistachio filling into the slit of each breast, and pinch together to seal.
4. In a large frying pan, heat the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until hot. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then add to the hot pan and cook until browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Check to be sure chicken is cooked all the way through by cutting into the center of the fattest breast. However, try not to overcook the chicken as it will dry out fairly quickly. Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and set aside.
5. Add the grappa to the reserved shallots in the medium frying pan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Very carefully tilt the pan and use a long match or lighter to ignite the vermouth. When the flames subside, add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, cooking until reduced to half a cup , about 4-5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and simmer until reduced to half a cup, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese and butter until both are fully melted. Transfer to a blender and process until frothy.
6. Ladle the sauce into the bottom of 4 bowls and top each with a piece of chicken. Finish with a sprinkle of fleur de sel and a few sprigs of chervil.

The post Book Club: Hungry for France // Pistachio-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Parmesan Cream Sauce appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last summer, in our wild, overly ambitious garden, we planted a few handfuls of beans. After seven varieties of tomatoes, three eggplants, four types of peas, and six melons, the beans were kind of an afterthought. We planted green beans in two neat rows, then poked a handful of seeds of mixed varieties in a circle around our bean pole, and proceeded to ignore them for the rest of the summer. Towards the end of August the pole beans began to reward us despite our negligence. Two “Gold Marie Vining” plants produced dozens of 8-inch long yellow pods, the sweetest fresh bean I’ve ever tried. We liked them so much that it took us a little while to notice that the less tasty, less prolific green pods hanging on the same pole were slowly turning a beautiful mottled pink. They still didn’t taste great, so we continued to leave them. And then, just like that, it was the first frost, so we pulled the now dried and wrinkled pods from the vines and tore the plants out of the ground. We shucked the pods open to reveal gorgeous cranberry beans, threw them in a jar for later, and continued to clean up the garden.

That jar of beans, which we have since determined must be the “Good Mother Stollard” variety, has been sitting patiently on our counter all winter, waiting for its time to shine. Stacked next to the slowly dwindling supply of jarred tomato puree and pickled green beans, they’ve served as a quiet reminder that summer will come again, with its bounty of food that will take us through yet another winter. A few weeks ago, we finally decided it was time to cook those beans, so we soaked them overnight, then dumped them in a pot with a few aromatics, a hunk of parmesan, and some chicken stock and let them simmer away. A few hours later, when we lifted the lid from the pot, we had the most amazing bowls of beans. The parmesan had completely melted, infusing the whole thing with a deep, rich, cheesy flavor. The beans themselves had a bite to the skin but were creamy and soft inside. Topped with a  provolone-laced crumbled Italian sausage, they were winter comfort food perfection.

That humble jar of almost-forgotten beans turned into one of the best meals we’ve had this winter. Simple but so satisfying, I’m already looking forward to next year’s jar of beans. That small handful of beans I grabbed from the jar and set aside will soon be buried in the earth, ready to turn into another reminder of summer for another winter.

Parmesan Beans with Kale and Sausage

Serves 3-4.

• 2 c. dried cranberry beans or other medium-sized white bean, soaked overnight
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and finely minced
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 3/4 tsp red chile flakes
• 2 parmesan rinds
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 2 c. chopped kale
• 1/2 lb. Italian sausage
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Take soaked cranberry beans and rinse several times; they should have doubled in size. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent about 4-5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and the chile flakes and saute for another 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the parmesan rinds and cook until they begin to melt, stirring occasionally, another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the beans and the chicken stock to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Simmer the beans until they are tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove the lid and simmer liquid until it is reduced to 1 cup. Add the chopped kale and  cook for another 8-10 minutes until tender.
4. As soon as you add the kale to the pot, heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and use the back of a wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Cook fully, stirring frequently until sausage is browned and crispy.
5. Spoon the beans into serving bowls and top with the crumbled sausage. Serve immediately.

The post Another Garden Season // Parmesan Beans with Kale and Sausage appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. A stressful whirlwind. Work was busy enough that by the time I got home every night, I wasn’t good for much beyond pouring myself a glass of wine and zoning out in front of the TV, so I didn’t do a lot of cooking, or, needless to say, blogging. Next week promises to be equally as busy, but for now I’m checking out to enjoy the weekend. And a stressful week, while not conducive to blogging, is certainly ripe for reminiscing about a recent vacation, so I’m here (finally!) with pictures and stories from the second half of our trip to Italy in April. (For the first part, click here.)

1) Poppies near our B&B; 2) The abandoned abbey at San Galgano

Although I very much enjoyed wandering the streets of Florence and Rome, the part of our trip I was most looking forward to were the four days we had planned in a rural region of Tuscany called the Maremma. In general, I’m more of a wilderness lover than an urbanite, and the same holds true when I’m traveling. What initially attracted me to the Maremma was a big green spot on google maps – the Maremma Regional Park. A little internet digging and I was sold on the lush, green region, located halfway between Rome and Florence, with its promise of beautiful coastline, natural hot springs, agriturismos, wild horses, and plenty of open spaces to explore.

1) A view from the road leading to our B&B; 2) Trevor napping outside our apartment; 3) One of Norbert and Grazia’s chickens, whose eggs we enjoyed every morning

There are a lot of small inns, agriturismos, and B&Bs in the region, but I couldn’t have been happier with the one we chose – B&B At Home In Maremma, located centrally in the region only a 20 minute drive from the coast. We were the only guests, and our hosts, Norbert and Grazia, were immensely helpful and friendly. As soon as we pulled into the driveway and stepped outside, after 15 glorious minutes driving through rain-drenched fields of poppies and olive groves, they both welcomed us with a cold beer, stories about their time in Grosetto, and suggestions for our stay. We chose to stay in our own stand-alone apartment, with a private patio and it’s own fig and olive trees – although we didn’t spend much time actually in the apartment, it was a perfect home base. And the breakfasts that Grazia made for us each morning were amazing – on the first night, when she suggested that we might be tired of sweet Italian breakfasts and offered to make us bacon and eggs, we jumped at the chance to eat farm fresh eggs every morning. By the third morning of sunny side-up eggs cooked in a cup of prosciutto, served with fresh juice, rolls, chocolate cake, and espresso, we were pretty much the fattest, happiest little travelers. Although I did need to take a few weeks off prosciutto after this trip.

1) The natural hot springs at Petriolo; 2) Trevor standing beside the abandoned abbey of San Galgano; 3) The sun finally comes out while walking the wall at Massa Marittima; 3) An olive grove surrounded church at Massa Marittima

Our first morning we were disappointed to awake to rain, but decided to make the most of the day anyway and marked out a loop on our map. The first stop were the Terme di Petriolo, natural hot spring pools formed beside a river. We spent a relaxing hour lying in the steaming springs, plunging into the icy cold river from time to time, sitting side by side with some Italians who seemed to have nothing better to do on a rainy Thursday. (The Italians made me feel transparently white. Trevor confirmed this to be true). Sitting in the hot water while the cold rain plodded down around us was a wonderful way to spend a rainy morning – and free, too! After we were adequately soaked, we got back in the car and headed to San Galgano, an abandoned abbey, where there was also circular chapel where San Galgano used to live. And get this – there was a real-life sword in the stone there. Very cool. Or “a very mystic place” as Norbert told us. Our last stop of the day was the city of Massa Marittima, where we enjoyed a late lunch with a lot of German tourists, did some souvenir shopping, and walked the path along the city wall just as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. I love walking along city walls – they’re always so beautiful and wild. Dinner that night was at an amazing place called Chicco Magico – and it was the highlight of the entire trip for me – but it’s such a good story, I’m saving it for it’s own blog post. Just to be a tease.

1) The view from our hike; 2) The ruined medieval abbey in the middle of the trail; 3) Trevor enjoying the beach; 4) The Mediterranean sea

 Our second full day we had reserved for a trip to the Maremma Regional Park. It was a bit complicated to get inside, but we eventually made it to the trailhead and started a pretty, but steep hike up the coastal hills. There were only a handful of views, but looking out across the treetops to see ruined towers hovering above the sea was a pretty unique experience. Half way through the hike, we reached a ruined medieval abbey in the middle of the trail, and spent some time poking around that before forging on to the beach. After a crowded bus ride (that also included about 50 German retirees decked out in full mountaineering gear), we made our way a few minutes down the road to the beach that is located within the park. Although there were a few moments of panic as we frantically tried to communicate to the parking guard that we didn’t know how to get a parking ticket, we eventually figured it out and found a spot on the sand. Trevor relaxed and I dove into the water. I was probably the only person above the age of 6 who was swimming, but to someone from New England it was so amazingly warm, even in early May. I love the ocean. I could swim and bob and body surf all day, and I’m so glad I got to go in at least once so far this summer! That night we were pretty beat, so we picked up some bread to go with the last of our venison prosciutto and ate on our patio – where we were joined by every cat within a mile, all very keen to get in on the feast.

1) Horses on the way out of the regional park; 2) A wild fig growing on the wall at Massa Marittima; 3) Me standing outside the wall of Porto Ercole

On our last day we had to drive back to Rome, but didn’t need to return the car until 6pm, so we decided to take it slow and stop in Monte Argentario. I was initially unimpressed with the somewhat touristy town of Porto Ercole, but we followed our instinct and walked up a crumbling staircase to find ourselves hiking on a cliff around the old fort. The views were amazing, and as we continued down, we spotted a few rocky beaches that it looked like we could get access to. And we could. They were very neat – lots of pockmarked igneous boulders to climb on – but neither of us felt like getting salty before our drive back to Rome, so we stayed out of the water. After a quick (overpriced) lunch in a pirate themed restaurant (well, actually, everything in the town seemed to be pirate themed) we hit the road back to Rome.

And that was our trip to Italy! But most of you probably didn’t come here to read all about my vacation – you came because you saw a picture of that pizza. Carbonara pizza was the first thing I ate upon arriving in the Maremma, so that’s what I’ve recreated here. As soon as we arrived, Norbert and Grazia made reservations for us at this little pizza place in the tiny town of Istia d’Ombrone for dinner that night. We were both quite tired, but this pizza hit the spot after a day of public transportation, waiting around the rental car lot, and driving in the rain. After dinner we walked around the tiny walled town in the glow of the lamplight, only passing two other people as we walked.

I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about making a carbonara pizza, but I knew it had to have prosciutto (rather than bacon or pancetta), since we ate so much of it during our trip, and I knew I wanted the base sauce itself to be as close to a true carbonara sauce as possible. I have to say, I like my version of this pizza even better than the one we had on our trip – the sauce came out perfect, packed with oniony, cheesy, prosciutto-y, garlicky flavor, and with the extra strips of crisped prosciutto and a just-set egg on top of the bubbly, chewy crust, I couldn’t stop myself from eating a third slice even after I was full.

Carbonara Pizza

Serves 4.

• 1 TBS butter
• 1/2 c. finely minced onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto, divided (about 8-10 slices total)
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 4 eggs, divided
• 1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided
• cornmeal (for dusting pan)
• 1/2 recipe pizza dough
• 1/3 c. freshly grated pecorino romano
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 TBS finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and stir to coat with butter. Finely dice half of the prosciutto (about 4 slices) and add to the pan with the onions and butter. Saute, stirring occasionally, until prosciutto is crisp and onions are golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute 1 minute longer, then stir in heavy cream. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat.
3. In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together 2 of the eggs and 1/2 cup of the grated parmesan. Slowly pour the hot cream sauce into the eggs, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so to prevent scrambling. Once all the cream has been added, whisk the mixture for 30 seconds, then set aside.
4. Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal on 2 baking sheets. Flour your work surface and a rolling pin and roll out the pizza dough into two small (or one large) crusts. Place one on each baking sheet. Spread the cream sauce on top of the crusts up to 1/2 an inch from the edge. Don’t spread the sauce so thickly that it runs over the edge – you may have a few tablespoons left over.
5. Mix together the remaining 1/2 c. parmesan cheese and the pecorino cheese. Sprinkle half of the mixture over each crust. Layer a few strips of the remaining prosciutto on top of the cheese. Carefully crack one egg into the center of each pizza. Bake the pizzas for 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown and egg is set. Sprinkle the hot pizzas with freshly ground black pepper and the parsley.

The post Italy Part 2: The Maremma // Carbonara Pizza appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

We’ve been back from Italy for about two weeks, and I’ve finally made it through the first half of my pictures and thoughts about the trip to share with you here. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking, but I have a few notes about where we stayed and ate and adventured, in case you’re interested (or lucky enough to be going to Rome or Florence in the near future).

We spent the first two nights of our trip in Rome, then after a quick (and slightly nauseating) train ride, we spent two nights in Florence. In both cities, what we did the most was walk. We’d wake up, open up the map, circle the places we wanted to see, then set out for the day until it was time for our 4PM siesta. After siesta, we’d go back out in search of dinner. A pretty good daily routine; I’d happily live every day that way.

Rome was a bit of a jet-lagged whirlwind, but I liked the city much more than I remembered. The last time I was there, I was 14, and Rome seemed far too loud, overwhelming, and dirty. This time, for the most part we stayed away from some of the main sights, and even after two days I was starting to get the sense of the thriving city underneath the throngs of tourists. We stayed at the perfect inn/apartment, La Finestra Sul Colosseo, which checked off everything on my list – it was spotlessly clean, spacious, quiet, comfortable, and modern. We slept like rocks. A highlight of our trip was spending Sunday morning on a food tour with Irene from Vino Roma. It was a bit of a splurge for us, but great to wander more pointedly and have Irene there to teach us about local food culture, both past and present. She took us to a truly local farmer’s market, where I was thrilled that no one spoke English, meaning we had to stock up on fresh fava beans, bread, truffled sausage, cheese, and the tiniest, sweetest strawberries of all time using our terrible Italian and a lot of pointing. We ate porchetta sandwiches and drank local beer, then meandered through the Jewish Quarter where we tried a truly remarkable “burnt” sweet bread from a tiny store with no name and an incredibly long line. We wrapped up with a cheese and wine tasting for a memorably tasty morning. Two other highlights from Rome: one, dinner at Cuoco & Camicia, where everything was delicious, but the carbonara-stuffed tortelli and the fillet of beef with foie gras and pumpkin cream were astounding. Two, our Sunday evening stroll/marathon – we walked from our hotel near the Colosseum, to Piazza Venezia, to St. Peter’s, and finally to the hill above the Piazza del Popolo where we soaked in the view and picnicked on our market finds. It was a solid 5 mile walk, and it felt good to see so much of the city before moving on to Florence.

I was less enamored with Florence, perhaps as predicted by Steve and Michelle. Given the small size of the city, and the large number of visitors, every corner we visited felt overrun with tourists. With this came an abundance of overpriced food, tacky “authentic” stores, and a lack of real charm. So, I didn’t love it, but we still had some great moments. Walking up the hill behind the Giardini di Bardini and finding ourselves in the midst of an olive grove felt kind of magical, as did being in the city for the Bianca Notte festival, during which all of the major museums were open for free all night, and bands and performers roamed the streets into the wee hours – it was a huge party, and the only time it felt like a living city. While walking through the Palazzo Vecchio that night, we happened to walk through an upper corridor as a horn concert began below us, and we watched/listened to the entire performance while standing in the center of that majestic building – that was a once in a lifetime experience, and it was incredible. We also ate at one good restaurant, Il Santo Bevitore, where dinner was delicious, if slightly dampened by the incredibly loud and rude Texans sitting next to us. (No offense meant to Texans in general, just these two in particular). And we found venison prosciutto and wild boar speck in the Central Market! So, so tasty. We might try and make some ourselves, just a warning.

So maybe I lied about the pictures doing most of the talking – I guess I had more to say than I thought! It’s fun reliving our adventures. It may be another week or so before I get my act together on the second half of our trip, but the last four days, which we spent in the Maremman countryside, were easily my favorite, so hopefully it’s worth the wait! In the meantime, I cooked up some Cacio e Pepe with English Peas for you. Cacio e Pepe is a classic and delicious spaghetti dish coated with a rich cheese sauce and a healthy sprinkling of black pepper – it tastes like what I always want mac’n’cheese to taste like. I had a version in Florence served on a black bean puree, which I re-imagined here using a spring pea puree instead. Buon appetito!

Cacio e Pepe with English Peas

Serves 3-4.

• 1 1/2 c. fresh English peas
• salt to taste
• 1/2 pound spaghetti or bucatini
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more for garnish
• reserved pasta water
• 3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
• 3/4 c. freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 2 TBS sour cream

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water, and set aside. When the water is boiling, add the peas to the water and boil for 1-2 minutes, until bright green and floating at the top. Use a skimmer to remove the peas and immediately plunge into the ice water to stop the peas from cooking. Set aside.
2. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions. When the pasta is done, remove to a bowl with tongs and set the pasta water aside.
3. In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the black pepper and stir until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add 3/4 c. of the reserved pasta water to the pan and bring to a boil, then add the cooked pasta and all of the cheese. Stir to melt the cheese until the pasta is evenly coated with a creamy sauce, adding more pasta water if necessary.
4. Take 1 c. of the cooked peas and place in a blender with the sour cream and 1/4 c. of the pasta water. Blend until smooth, then season to taste with salt. Mix the remaining 1/2 c. of peas into the pasta.
5. Place a circle of the pea puree on each plate. Top with a pile of spaghetti. Finish with freshly ground pepper and freshly grated cheese.

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Remember the lovely books from Yvette Van Boven, Home Made and Home Made Winter? Well, lucky for us, Yvette has just released a third book, Home Made Summer, which is just as inspiring as the first two books. And, to celebrate the book’s release and the beginning of summer eating, I’ve teamed up with Abrams Books to giveaway a set of all three books to one lucky reader! Giveaway details are at the end of the post, but first, some thoughts on the latest in the series. Giveaway now closed, congrats to Jen (comment #5) on winning!

When I reviewed Home Made Winter last fall, the post, and Yvette’s recipe for French Beef Stew, quickly became one of my most popular posts, with many of you trying out the recipe and coming back to let me know how you liked it and what you changed. I think the popularity of that post is really a testament to the quality and appeal of Yvette’s recipes, which is ultimately what keeps me coming back to her books. From her Winter cookbook, I made the beef stew, a delicious apple quinoa cake, and white chocolate lattes, and was pleased with all three. And now, from Summer, I’ve made the Polenta Pizza with Spicy Ratatouille (recipe at the bottom of the post!), and the most delicious Sparkling Cava Sangria (recipe soon!) and was amazed by both recipes. The polenta pizza was the most summery comfort food I’ve ever tasted, flavorful and rich without being too heavy. I devoured it. And the sangria, which uses fresh grapefruit juice and sparkling white wine, was a huge hit at my birthday party – the two pitchers of it were the first thing to go, even before the blackberry margaritas. Since we’ve only just fully entered spring, I’m sure many more recipes will grace my summer table before I switch back to winter food – at the top of  my list are the Quinoa Patties with Feta, Zucchini, and Corn, the super refreshing sounding Avocado, Cucumber, and Lime Shake, the Italian Chicken Stew with Grilled Goat Cheese Polenta, and the White Wine Sorbet. Summer is such a delicious time.

Style-wise, Home Made Summer stays true to the other books in the series. These books don’t stick to the serious, elegant, bucolic ideal that many cookbooks aspire to represent these days. Instead they are whimsical and lighthearted, full of little sketches, snapshots of Yvette’s many home countries, and cheerful type. Flipping through them is a bit like getting to take a peak inside someone’s kitchen notebook, except all the recipes have already been thoroughly tested and come out flawlessly.

If you’re interested in meeting Yvette, she’s currently on book tour! She’s already departed from the East Coast, but if you live in California, she’ll be holding several events in and around San Francisco over the next few days:

• April 18, 12pm – Rakestraw Books, Danville
• April 19, 6:30pm – Draeger’s, San Mateo
• April 20, 3-4pm – Omnivore Books, SF
• April 21, 1pm – Book Passage/SF Ferry Building demo
• April 22, 7pm – Books Inc, Berkeley

The bottom line: The three books in the Home Made series are whimsical, fun, and packed with delicious recipes, and Home Made Summer is no exception. The recipes in this book are the essence of summer, with heavy use of all the season’s best vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and flipping through the book makes me dream of picnics and barbecues. The recipes strike a great balance between being simple enough not to need hours of your time and tons of advance planning, but creative enough to remain interesting to experienced cooks, so I can heartily recommend it to both groups.

Giveaway details: To enter to win a copy of Home Made, Home Made Winter, and Home Made Summer, all you have to do is leave a comment below letting me know what summer food you are most looking forward to eating this year. By entering, you are agreeing to the official rules as listed here:

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited
• One entry per household, and only entries answering the question above will be considered!
• The sponsor of this giveaway is Abrams Books
• The estimated retail value of the three books is $110
• The odds of winning will depend on the number of entries received
• This contest is only open to U.S. Citizens over the age of 18
• The contest will open today, April 18th at posting time, and will close at 11PM EST on Wednesday, April 24th
• The winner will be selected randomly and contacted via email (so please leave an accurate email address!). If I do not hear from the winner within 48 hours, the winner forfeits their prize and an alternate winner will be chosen.
• I will post the winner here by Friday, April 26th

Giveaway now closed! Congrats to Jen on winning.

Disclaimer: Abrams Books sent me a review copy of Home Made Summer free of charge, but I was not otherwise compensated for this review and all opinions, as usual, are my own.

Now, after all that legal mumbo jumbo, how about that polenta pizza with ratatouille recipe?!

Polenta Pizza with Spicy Ratatouille

Recipe from Home Made Summer. Serves 4-6.

• olive oil for the pan
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 1/4 c. polenta
• 4 c. water [Katie’s note: or chicken stock for extra flavor, but omit the salt if using]
• 3 TBS butter
• 1 1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 recipe spicy ratatouille, cooled to room temperature (recipe below)

1. Oil a 12-inch round cake pan or pizza pan. Add the salt to the 4 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Pour in polenta in a thin stream, stirring constantly until smooth. Lower the heat to medium-low, and cook, whisking constantly, until polenta is thick with no lumps. Depending on the type of polenta you use, this could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes (instant polenta will cook up much more quickly than regular polenta, if you’re in a rush).
2. Remove the cooked polenta from the heat and immediately stir in the butter and 3/4 c. of the parmesan, stirring until fully melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then pour into the oiled cake pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or spatula (dip the spoon in water if it is sticking to the polenta). Let cool completely so that it is solid (you can stick the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes to accomplish this if you’re short on time).
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Top the polenta with the ratatouille, leaving about 1/2 an inch of polenta exposed around the perimeter of the pizza. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 c. of parmesan, and bake for 25 minutes, until the edges are brown. Let cool slightly so that it’s easier to slice.

Spicy Ratatouille

Recipe from Home Made Summer. Makes about 3 cups.

• 3 TBS olive oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, stem removed and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 medium eggplant, stem removed and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
• 4 big tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 TBS chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 TBS harissa (adjust according to the spiciness of the harissa you’re using)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute for 3-5 minutes, until soft and light brown. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the peppers, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, thyme, and harissa, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the vegetables are all tender. Sprinkle with the parsley prior to serving.

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At the end of April, Trevor and I are headed to Italy for a ten day vacation. I am beyond excited. It will be my first time abroad since returning from Prague in 2009 (unless you count two whirlwind days in Madrid for work last summer), and I’ve been daydreaming about the trip since we booked the tickets in January. I’ve also been practicing my Italian, drooling over hotels in Rome and Florence, and thinking about what, exactly, I want to eat and drink while I’m there. So the arrival of these two regional Italian cookbooks – Venezia in Cucina: The Flavors of Venice and Sicilia in Cucina: The Flavors of Sicily – could not have been more timely for me.

I have to start off by telling you: the pictures in these books are incredible. Not just pretty, stunning. Many times while reading these books I’ve stopped to linger for several minutes over one image or another – an explosion of red and green paper confetti in front of an ornate church; a man mid-jump off a cliff into a serene ocean, the sky pink and a smoking volcano in the background; an earthenware bowl of spaghetti on a sun-dappled table. These books are full of art, and it’s art that brings another culture to life on the page. Although I received review copies, I would have bought them for the photography inspiration alone.

As for the food, the recipes are authentic and the instructions are simple – oftentimes, there are no ingredient amounts listed for anything that could be considered seasoning. It will simply say “season with lemon, salt, parsley” or “dissolve 3 TBS tomato paste in hot water.” While I could imagine this being a deterrent for an inexperienced cook (how much lemon? how much hot water?), I felt that it added to the over all… Italianness of the books. I like that it gives you the freedom to add flavor as you go and taste for seasoning, and I also like the feeling that that’s how an Italian grandmother might tell you to do it – “you know, add parsley until there is enough parsley. Bene, basta.” The recipes from Venice focus heavily on seafood, with only a few non-fish dishes to be found. You’ll find plenty of pasta – tagiolini pasta with spider crab and cherry tomatoes – antipasti – scallops au gratin with tomato – and mains – baked turbot with summer vegetables. The recipes from Sicily are still influenced by the sea, but there’s more variety. High on my list are the fried cheese balls with chili-honey sauce, lamb stuffed with potatoes and pistachio pesto, and spaghetti with ricotta and fresh pecorino. Both books also have dessert chapters, as well as sections spotlighting local wines and unique regional ingredients.

A final point – I love that everything, from the section intros to the ingredients to the cooking instructions, is in both English and Italian – it totally indulges my inner language-learning nerdiness.

These books are like a travel advertisement in the best way possible. But they are also useful in the kitchen, as a cookbook should be. To test out the two books, I made three recipes for a large and indulgent Saturday lunch/ as food to welcome Trevor back from his week-long business trip. I’m sharing the first two recipes today – spaghetti in a tomato-anchovy sauce with breadcrumbs, from Sicilia in Cucina, and mini Parmesan meatballs, breaded and fried in olive oil to make them extra savory and crunchy, from Venezia in Cucina. Both recipes were simple, tasty, and filling, in a rustic sort of way. I’d make them both again for a quick dinner any night. The third recipe was an apple-custard tart which I could have eaten all of in one sitting – but you’ll have to wait a few days for that recipe.

The bottom line: These two books – Venezia in Cucina and Sicilia in Cucina – are a beautiful glimpse into the food and culture of two specific areas of Italy. I would happily have bought them for the photographs alone, as they depict far more than just beautiful food and create a gorgeous visual tale of life in another place. The recipes are simple, regional, and authentic, although in some cases the lack of specificity in the instructions may be a deterrent to a beginner cook. The fact that these are dual language books in both English and Italian was icing on the cake for me – now on my upcoming trip, I’ll be ordering dinner like a pro. I’d recommend these two books for anyone who daydreams about Italy, foodie or not.

Disclaimer: Ammo Books, the U.S. distributor of these books, sent me free review copies of both Venezia in Cucina and Sicilia in Cucina. I was not otherwise compensated for writing this review, and all opinions are my own.

Spaghetti with Breadcrumbs

Adapted from Sicilia in Cucina. Serves 4-6.

• 1 lb. dried thick spaghetti or bucatini
• 3 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 anchovies
• 4 TBS tomato paste
• 1 c. hot water
• 1 c. fresh breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, until just barely al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 1/2 TBS of the olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add the garlic and anchovies and saute for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant, breaking up the anchovies with the back of a wooden spoon so they dissolve. Mix the tomato paste with the hot water in a small bowl until they have an even texture, then add to the anchovies and garlic. Let simmer on low, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes.
3. In a separate pan, heat the remaining 1 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Toast the breadcrumbs in the oil until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes, then sprinkle with salt to taste.
4. Remove the spaghetti from the pot as soon as it is al dente and drop straight into the simmering sauce. Turn off the heat and toss the spaghetti with the sauce. Add about half the breadcrumbs and stir to coat. Divide the spaghetti between bowls and top each with a handful of the remaining breadcrumbs

Fried Mini Meatballs with Parmesan

Adapted from Venezia in Cucina. Makes 25 1-inch meatballs.

• 1/2 lb of ground pork
• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 1/2 c. of grated parmesan cheese (about 40g)
• 2 TBS of flour
• 1/4 c. of finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 c. breadcrumbs plus more for frying
• 2 large eggs
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

1. In a large bowl, mix together the pork, beef, cheese, flour, parsley, 1/4 c. of breadcrumbs, and eggs until they form a smooth mixture. Season generously with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cover, and let stand for 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld. If it’s going to be any longer than 1 hour, refrigerate while you wait.
2. Heat 1/2 inch of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Form the beef-pork mixture into meatballs about 1 inch in diameter. Spread a generous amount of breadcrumbs on a plate, and roll the meatballs in the breadcrumbs to coat. Test the temperature of the oil by adding a few breadcrumbs to it – if they sizzle and fry up quickly, the oil is hot enough. Fry the meatballs in batches, using tongs to rotate every few minutes to ensure that they cook on all sides. When they are browned all over, check inside to ensure they have cooked all the way through. If they have, remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain. Serve hot, with tomato sauce for dipping.

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I’ve been waiting for this meal for a long time.  Since February, to be exact, from the moment I put the first seed in the first pot to sit in my bedroom window absorbing the weak winter sun.  And by this meal, I don’t mean this dish exactly – I just mean the first meal where all of the produce (well, except the garlic, we don’t get to plant that until September) could be fresh-picked from the garden, moments before preparing it.  Accomplishing this was just as satisfying (and delicious) as I thought it would be.

The garden has been far more successful than I expected.  Our random assortment of pots with store-bought dirt have turned into a lush array of greenery, and I’m so happy about it.  The highest tendrils of the watermelon are beyond arm’s reach, the cucumbers have climbed all the way up the porch and threaten to overrun the grapes, the tomatoes (started from seed!) are turning red one at a time, and the kale finally battled off the last of the cabbage moths and could provide at least 5 batches of my favorite kale soup.  Even the lemon tree has made a comeback and is covered in new leaves (!) after losing almost all of them this winter.  (This lemon tree seriously toys with my emotions.  After all my painstaking work nursing it back to health from the mealybugs, it rewarded me with over a hundred blossoms – not a single one of which managed to turn into a lemon larger than a quarter before shriveling up and falling off the tree.  No lemons this winter – any citrus experts out there have advice for me?)

This is less a recipe than a suggestion for how to use whatever’s good in your garden now.  The basic process is this: gently cook your vegetables until they’re crisp tender, then toss with pasta, or rice, or leave them by themselves.  Smother the veggies with herbs, heated only for a moment or two just to release their flavor.  Then dress the dish – I went the luxurious route, with cream and cheese, but a drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkling of salt would have an equally wonderful effect.  Maybe pour yourself a glass of white wine, and, if it’s a nice night, take your dinner out to the garden and enjoy all the goodness summer has to offer.  It can’t be beat.

I can’t wait to share more garden-inspired recipes soon!  Especially when the watermelons (and the figs, and the grapes) are ready.  Stay tuned.  And enjoy your weekend!

Creamy Spaghetti with Summer Squash and Tomatoes

Serves 4-6

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 3 TBS butter
• 2 small summer squash, thinly sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 20-30 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 c. packed fresh parsley, thinly sliced
• 1/3 c. packed fresh basil, thinly sliced
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/3 – 1/2 c. packed grated parmesan
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• sea salt
• black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.
2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until melted.  Add the sliced squash and cook until tender and beginning to turn golden brown, about 7-10 minutes, flipping with a spatula once or twice over this time period.  Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes longer, until garlic is very fragrant but not browned.  Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring.
3. Add the spaghetti to boiling water at about this point.  Cook according to package directions.  In an ideal world, you want the sauce to be ready as the same time as the pasta, but life doesn’t always work out like that.  If your pasta is done first, rinse with cold water or drizzle with olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
4. Lower the heat on the sauce and cook vegetables for 2-3 more minutes, stirring.  Add cream, parsley, and basil to vegetables, and cook, simmering gently, for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat, and stir in lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.
5. If your spaghetti is just finishing, add a few TBS of the pasta cooking water to the sauce, then drain the spaghetti and immediately toss with the sauce.  If your spaghetti has been finished for a while, add as much of the spaghetti as will fit to the saucepan and heat over low heat for 2 minutes, tossing spaghetti with sauce.  When spaghetti is just heated, add it all back to the pot to mix thoroughly.  (The goal here is to get the sauce to adhere to the spaghetti and both to be hot when served).
6. Serve hot with additional grated parmesan.

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Hey, two months in a row!  Look at me, fulfilling promises and everything.  This month’s cookbook is David Leite’s “The New Portuguese Table,” a fairly recent compendium of traditional Portuguese recipes with a modern twist.  I’ve been really looking forward to cooking from this book, as it won a James Beard award in 2010 and has a solid 5 star review on Amazon, with only one negative review in the bunch.  I made three recipes from this book in the past few weeks – cilantro bread soup with poached eggs, white beans and sausage, and black olive risotto – and I hate to say it but I’m not as enthused about the recipes in this book as everyone else seems to be.  The white beans and sausage were good, but not that original – I thought it tasted like regular old chili.  (Full disclosure, I used kidney beans instead of cannellini beans, because I just couldn’t find dried cannellini beans.  I went to four stores looking for them.  So the bean substitution probably added to the chili effect.  However, kidney beans and cannellini beans are actually pretty close in flavor, and genetically related, so the major differences caused by the substitution were probably texture and appearance, and not so much flavor.  Also, did you know that kidney beans and cannellini beans are poisonous?  Thanks, wikipedia.  You are so full of knowledge.)  The cilantro soup I did not like at all – its only redeeming factor was the croutons made from Trevor’s delicious homemade bread – and I ended up dumping most of the recipe out, as well as not finishing the bowl I brought to lunch the next day.  And it takes a lot for me to throw out food that I really wanted to like.  Maybe I was expecting too much from such a simple recipe, but it was definitely a disappointment.  On the other hand, this black olive risotto – super awesome.  Like decadent grown-up mac’n’cheese with a twist.  I made it twice in one week, and taking the time to make two risottos in one week is big for me.

Let me elaborate: this recipe takes your standard risotto ingredients – arborio rice, chicken stock, onion, white wine, and parmesan – adds two special ingredients – black olives and mascarpone – and becomes something super comforting, super creamy, and super delicious.  Trevor’s one semi-negative comment on it was that it lacked depth of flavor, which I do sort of agree with – it hits you with creamy, cheesy, and olive-y pretty hard.  But I’m OK with that.  That’s kind of what I’m looking for in a comfort food.  And this is definitely comfort food.  So the risotto recipe is a keeper.  But the other recipes I tried?  I probably won’t go to the trouble of making them again.  That doesn’t mean I’ve completely given up on this cookbook – I still have a few recipes I’d like to try, like the green olive dip and the rosemary custard – but I will approach future recipes with a more critical eye.  The cookbook itself is very attractive and well laid out, and most of the recipes included sound interesting – many of them are totally new to me, which is always something I look for in an ethnic cookbook.  Overall, I’d give this book 3 and 1/2 stars, with room for improvement if the two not-so-good recipes I tried were just flukes.

Black Olive Risotto

Serves 3.  Adapted from David Leite’s “The New Portuguese Table”

• 1 1/2 c. arborio rice
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 5 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 2/3 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 c. pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 3 TBS minced fresh parsley

1. In a large, wide saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until translucent and beginning to brown.  In the meantime, heat stock over medium heat.  Add dry rice to pan with onions and cook for 1-2 minutes, until edges of rice are translucent.  Then add white wine all at once and cook, stirring constantly, until it is absorbed.
2. Add  ladleful of hot stock to the rice and stir constantly until it has been completely absorbed, about 2 minutes.  Continue adding stock one ladleful at a time and stirring until completely absorbed until the rice is just tender – you should use most of the stock.  If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, use hot water.  When rice is tender.  Add parmesan cheese, mascarpone cheese, and sliced olives, and stir until cheeses are melted and risotto is creamy.  Remove from heat and serve hot with fresh parsley sprinkled on top.

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Remember when I competed (and won 2nd place!) in Duke’s Iron Chef competition and got a fancy pasta machine and went on and on about how I was gonna use it all the time?  Well, if your definition of all the time is approximately once every two months, then I guess you could say I was telling the truth.  And even if I don’t frequently have the opportunity to spend a few luxurious hours rolling out pasta dough, I do really enjoy it when I get the chance.  Kneading, stretching, cranking, folding, and re-cranking the dough is just an activity that really focuses me.  When Trevor and I went to the pasta class with Terrence, we used a food processor to mix and a KitchenAid to roll out the dough, but, while efficient, it really wasn’t the same.  Maybe it’s just that I’m so entranced by the idea of moving to Italy and living in a Tuscan farmhouse and growing my own perfect tomatoes and walking barefoot across the stone floors while singing (in Italian of course) and kneading pasta dough that I feel like practicing the kneading part now will leave me in good stead when I inherit an Italian estate.  Or maybe I was an Italian grandmother in a past life.  Or maybe I’m just trying to snag an Italian lover.  Who knows?

In any case, last weekend Trevor visited and it was a completely rejuvenating 3 days.  It was sunny and 70 degrees every day, I pushed aside all thoughts of work, I slept more than 8 hours each night, we went mushroom picking in the Duke Forest with Justin and Clark, Trevor made his debut at shooters… all in all, pretty good stuff.  And of course, we had to play around in the kitchen just a little bit.  What better to occupy a few hours in the kitchen than fresh pasta?

Ever since I had been totally awed by the beautiful color of these beet ravioli they had been in the back of my mind, so I decided to go for it.  They were incredible!  While the beets made the dough a bit more challenging to work with than an egg-based dough, they also lent a wonderful tenderness to the finished pasta.  Stuffed with a goat cheese, ricotta, and parmesan filling that melted out of the ravioli with every bite, they were a total win.  Last weekend we simply served them with some caramelized onions, a bit of melted butter, and grated parmesan cheese, and this weekend, for round 2, I mixed up a blood-orange and fennel butter sauce, based on a combination in The Flavor Bible.  Neither sauce was perfect, although I think I enjoyed the simple crunchy-sweetness of the onions more.  However, the blood orange sauce definitely won out in terms of sophistication and presentation.  If you try either preparation or think of something new, definitely let me know.  Either way, if you feel like spending a little time working with your hands and/or pretending your a five year old with the largest, tastiest quantity of purple play-dough you’ve ever encountered, definitely try this recipe.

Don’t forget to vote for my entry in Marx Food‘s Ridiculously Delicious Challenge, March 1st – March 4th!

Beet and Chevre Ravioli in a Blood-Orange and Fennel Sauce

Beet ravioli recipe adapted from Martha Stewart via Madeline’s Adaptations. Three beets makes about 2 pounds of pasta, probably enough for 80-100 ravioli.  Extra dough can be frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap, for several months.

For the ravioli:

• 3 beets
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 5-8 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt

For the filling (makes enough for 3-4 servings of ravioli):

• 1/3 c. ricotta cheese
• 1/3 c. goat cheese
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• kosher salt and pepper to taste

For the Blood-Orange and Fennel Sauce (makes enough for 3-4 servings of ravioli):

• 3 TBS butter
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely ground (can leave whole if desired)
• juice of 1-2 medium blood oranges
• zest of 1 blood orange

For the pasta dough:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Chop off beet greens, wash beets, and wrap in foil.  Roast in foil for 45 minutes to 1 hour (beets should be tender).  Allow to cool enough to handle, then peel off skin, and puree beets in blender.
2. Mix beet puree, eggs, olive oil, and salt in a large bowl.  Add 3 cups of flour, and incorporate fully with a wooden spoon.  Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time, kneading by hand between additions, until the dough is elastic, does not stick to hands, and has been kneaded for at least ten minutes.  I ended up using about 8 cups of flour to balance the amount of liquid that 3 beets added to the dough.
3. Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes.  Roll out using a pasta machine, or with a rolling pin as thinly as possible.

For the filling and ravioli:

1. Mix all ingredients together until smooth.  Season to taste.  Place a teaspoon of filling inside a 3 inch square of pasta dough.  Fold one edge over and seal edges, pressing together firmly with fingers.  Trim with a ravioli cutter for presentation.  Boil ravioli for 2-3 minutes in a gently boiling, salted pot of water.

For the sauce:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan until beginning to foam.  Add fennel and sautee until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add blood orange juice and reduce to desired consistency.  Season with salt as necessary.  Serve over ravioli; top with blood orange zest.
   

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