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Showing posts with the label red pepper

Ciambotta, a Delicious Calabrese Mess #ItalianFWT

This month the Italian Food, Wine & Travel - #ItalianFWT - blogging group is traveling to Calabria. Follow along the journey with my fellow #ItalianFWT bloggers.  You can also chat with us live this Saturday morning at 11am EST on Twitter at #ItalianFWT.  Hope to see you there! To Calabria Calabria is a region in Southern Italy and forms the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. It is bordered to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea.  I spent one evening in Calabria as a stop between our adventures on Ustica, off the coast of Sicily, and the Amalfi Coast. I regret to say that I wasn't paying too much attention at the time. I collapsed in our room after a walk from the train station, woke to find a place to eat dinner, drank too much red wine, and went back to the hotel to catch a few zzzzzzs before going back to the train in the morning. I will have to return to Calabria one of ...

Artisan Pasta Class: Tequila Sunrise Pasta Doughs

Last night was my second artisan pasta class with Jenn, the Culinary Arts guru at a local high school and friend from college. Remember the first session when we made Hand-Rolled, Hand-Cut Spinach Papardelle ? Yesterday we made 3 different pasta doughs and laminated them together - basic dough, pink beet dough, and red pepper dough. Jenn jokingly called it a 'Tequila Sunrise' dough when we laminated it all together. So pretty! On another note: I am blown away by how quickly you can put a dough together with a food processor. I don't have any space in my cabinets for one, but- wow! - I'm impressed. Basic Pasta Dough adapted from Making Artisan Pasta (my review of that cookbook  here ) Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 3 eggs, room temperature 1 egg yolk 2 to 3 T tepid water Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Dough Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 2 ounces red pepper puree 3 eggs 1 T sweet red paprika Beet Pasta Dough Ingredients 275 g pasta f...

Lasagna alla Puttanesca {Pass the Cookbook}

This month the  Pass the Cookbook  crew - under the leadership of Kita, the culinary force behind  Pass the Sushi  - is cooking from Mario Batali's Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking . As always, we had the choice of three recipes. Our choices:  Broiled Pumpkin with Apples , Ricotta Copetta, and Penne alla Puttanesca . While the sound of all three made my mouth water, I opted to do a riff on the penne, whipping up a lasagna version of the dish. Given the history of the dish - I'll get to that in a moment - I could call this 'Ladies of the Evening Lasagna.' Now to the history. I've heard a few different versions; the last one is the one I've heard the most...and the one I heard when I lived in Italy. Pick the explanation that you like the best! To begin  puttana is Italian for prostitute. Whore. Slut. It's not a nice word. One explanation of how the dish got its moniker claims that at the end of the evening's business, the prostitutes would beg...

Cooking Around the World: Pljeskavica {Montenegro}

We are plowing ahead in our Cooking Around the World Adventure , taking full advantage of longer summer evenings and lack of homework and a schedule. I have to catch up on the blogging part of the process, so forgive me as I skip ahead a few countries. It's just that this meal rated so highly with my boys, I figured I'd go here first. But, I need to write a disclaimer. Throughout this adventure, my goal has been to teach the boys about different countries and their culinary traditions; it has not been about creating wholly traditional dishes. We improvise. A lot. And that was another goal - to give my kitchen elves some creative license, to experiment with herbs and spices, to get inventive. And, boy, did Kitchen Elf 2...he went to town with this dish. Let's start with the country: Montenegro . For much of the 20th century Montenegro was a part of Yugoslavia; from 2003 to 2006 it was a component of the federated union of Serbia and Montenegro. That explains why w...

Sweet Elena's Moqueca {In Your Backyard}

When we went to the kick-off In Your Backyard event for 2013 at Holman Ranch's Tasting Room, we watched Elena of Sweet Elena's make a Brazilian fish stew, moqueca . The smell, while she was cooking, was captivating; and when we finally got to taste it, it was amazing! Both boys insisted that when we cook South American for our Culinary Adventurers class at school that we make this. Sounds like a plan. Brazilians have been making moqueca for at least 300 years. This dish is found in two different variations: moqueca capixaba from Espírito Santo, and moqueca baiana from Bahia. Moqueca is a Brazilian seafood stew based on fish, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cilantro. It is cooked slowly, with no water added. Here's the version that Elena cooked for us...and the version I'll be cooking with my class tomorrow. My mouth is watering just thinking about this. Nick Elliott and Hunter Lowder, of Holman Ranch, paired this with their 2011 Rosé of Pinot Noir . Fruity flav...

Food Matters Project: Cranberry Shelling Bean Cakes with Spicy Soy-Ginger Sauce

This week's challenge for the  Food Matters Project was chosen by Kathleen + Tom of Life with the Lushers : Edamame Cakes with Soy Drizzling Sauce. From the look of their blog, they are a fun duo; and this recipe was fun as well. I had some cranberry shelling beans from my CSA box and made up the difference with some fresh peas. I've used cranberry shelling beans before, but this was the first time I noticed that they are snowy white when you first shell them. Then, after cooking, they turn a deep cranberry color. Hence the name. Perhaps. 1 C fresh cranberry shelling beans 1 C fresh peas 1 egg white whole wheat flour, as needed ground ginger freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper Add the shelling beans to boiling water and cook till tender; this probably took about 20-25 minutes. Drain the boiling water into a bowl and blanch the peas in the cooking water. Drain the peas and place both the beans and peas in a bowl. Use a potato masher to create a...

Red, White, and Blue Brunch

We have to miss the birthday party for my favorite 3-year-old. So, we decided to throw him a brunch on our own for the 4th of July. Here's what we served. Quite a feast! Click on the titles for recipes. Riley's Spaghetti and Meatballs (Red + White + Blue) Fresh Blueberry Brioche  (Blue + White) and Strawberry-Jam Swirled Brioche Loaf (Red + White) Red, White, and Bleu Coleslaw (Red + White + Blue) Caprese con Blu (Red + White + Blue)  Jenn's Homemade Sodas (Red + White + Blue) Jenn had the kids muddle blueberries into sour cherry syrup and limemade. Then they topped it off with sparkling water. For the tall people...we mixed a striped champagne cocktail - sour cherry syrup, limemade, and bubbly! Pia's Fruit Salad...Yummy, Yummy! (Red + White + Blue) Layers of fresh raspberries, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, and cinnamon whipped cream. Happy 3rd birthday, Gabe. We love you!!!

Red, White, and Bleu Coleslaw

This is so easy, it's almost embarrassing to call it a recipe. But since one of my friends wanted to make this after she tried mine, I figured I'd write it down for her. It was delicious; I will definitely be making this again, too! To go with the red, white, and blue theme of the brunch, I went with a red, white, and bleu sidedish... 2 small heads of cabbage, sliced thinly 1 red bell pepper, diced 4 strips of applewood smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled 1/4 C crumbled bleu cheese 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 1 C mayonnaise 1/2 C honey balsamic vinegar (you can use any vinegar that you have) freshly ground sea salt and flower pepper fresh tarragon leaves In a large mixing bowl, place the cabbage, red pepper, bacon, and fresh tarragon leaves. In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients - minus the bleu cheese - together to form a smooth dressing. Toss the dressing into the salad. Gently fold in the bleu cheese. Chill for at least 30 minutes before se...

Rhubarb Barbeque Sauce

My rhubarb romance is going strong. I created a rhubarb barbeque sauce tonight - to slop on some braised ribs for dinner tomorrow. When Jake tasted the sauce, he asked, "What made you think of that?" Well, I needed a sauce for the ribs and I had rhubarb. Oh, and it's something I've never heard of. It's as simple as that. I started with the watermelon barbeque sauce I had made for Brian's birthday lunch and went from there. 3 stalks fresh rhubarb, washed, dried, and sliced 1 T fresh garlic, minced 1 T fresh ginger, minced 3/4 C honey 2 T unsulphered molasses 1/2 C organic ketchup 1/2 C dry white wine 1/2 C water 1/2 t red pepper flakes freshly ground smoked sea salt and flower pepper Cook the rhubarb and garlic in a splash of olive oil till the rhubarb begins soften. Smash with a potato masher. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the sauce thickens. Slather on braised ribs and let marinate overnight.

The Food Matters Project: Roasted Pepper-Almond Pesto

Here's the third installment of the Food Matters Project , the brainchild of Sarah of 20somethingcupcakes and Kate from Cookie + Kate . When I read the mission - cooking through The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman who espouses eating more plants, fewer animal products and processed foods, and the positive impact of those choices on us and our planet - I was in. Each week we will all - here's the ' we ' and we've grown to just over two dozen fellow foodie bloggers - cook the same recipe, posting our interpretations and adaptations. This week Heather, of girlichef.com  and a personal favorite of mine, assigned us Mark's Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto. [Recipe is below.*] Click here for our hostess's post. Or click here , and look in the comments, to see what the others whipped up. I substituted ingredients to match what we had on-hand and to accommodate personal preferences - my family isn't big on walnuts. Then I used the pesto as a ...

Austria: Cooking Around the World with Camilla (CATWWC)

"The hills are alive with the sound of music..." This photo was from my cousin Katie's year-abroad. She captioned this: "Lake Wolfgang/St. Gilgen Village: Birthplace of Mozart's mother and opening sequence of the movie." Since we can't all go on a "Sound of Music" tour in Austria, like the boys' Aunt Katie-Cakes... we traveled, by tabletop, to AUSTRIA for dinner tonight on our cooking around the world adventure. A couple of things that came to mind when I think Austrian food: Wiener Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel.  There are scant few things that I just absolutely do not eat. I know, I know that there is a difference because 'don't', 'can't', and 'won't'. For this commentary, I am using them interchangeably. Fava beans, sadly, I don't eat because I'm allergic to them. But I have eaten fava, lots when I lived in Italy, and I love them! One thing I won't eat is veal. So, Wien...