I don't have asparagieria, a long-lean pot for cooking asparagus. The point of using such a pot is to have asparagus standing, so that the tougher, lower part of the vegetable cooks in water while the tender, top part cooks in vapor. Nice idea, for someone who has unlimited cabinet space.
But before you put the asparagus in the right pot, you need to peel it (easy) and tie it (tricky). Tying anything besides your sneakers usually requires 2 pairs of hands. I had one. The good thing was there was nobody around, so I kept my emotions to the minimum.
All this tying was for nothing though. My pots turned out to be either too wide or too short. No chance for asparagus to be upright. So I put it down, cooked little less than recommended, blended most of it anyway (I kept the top parts) and I wasn't disappointed. No one was. The plates were clean...because the pasta was simple, delicate and refreshing.
Penne with Asparagus
Recipe adapted from Giallo Zafferano
Time: 20 minutes
ingredients
300 g (11 oz) pasta penne
500 g ( 1 lbs) green asparagus
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons dry white wine
1/2 cup water
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan
salt, pepper
directions
Chop off and toss the white, tough part of asparagus. With a vegetable peeler, peel off the hard skin.
In a pot of salted water, cook the rest of asparagus for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, on a large skillet heat oil on medium. Add onion and sauté for 10 minutes (without changing its color).
Dice cooked asparagus (everything but the top parts; you'll need them at the end) and transfer it (without the top parts) to the skillet with the onions (cooked for 10 minutes). Pour in wine. After a minute, pour in water. Cook and stir for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta. Leave 1/4 cup of cooking water for the sauce.
Using a food processor with a steal blade, blend all the cooked vegetables till smooth and creamy. Transfer the sauce back onto the skillet together with cooked pasta and 1/4 cup of cooking water from pasta. Stir in Parmesan and the asparagus tops (you can leave some un-sauced for a nice contrast). Season to taste and serve.
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Penne with Lamb's Lettuce
Another good recipe to use all these leaves in my fridge. Because I like eating greens, but not necessarily in a salad. For this recipe , I didn't have enough of them. After removing stems, the weight of spinach dropped by half and then some. That's OK. My spätzle were very green anyway. And very good.
I remember my Mom making this sort of thing, dripping batter into a hot liquid (milk or broth) to make some noodles. I had never tried, till yesterday. I wasn't prepared all the way, I'm usually not, but my solution-oriented-mind, especially in time of crises, came to rescue.
I was running around the house, looking for something to drip the batter through. I didn't want to drip and drip and drip from a spoon like Mom did, I wanted to do it better. First I thought, my slotted spoon would work...but the holes were too small. I looked into using some other things...while the water was already boiling, I was opening drawers and cabinets. And then I saw my grater. Yes! That was it. The batter came out in a lot of small drips right in the hot water and a minute later on my plate. Fast and easy. I was pleasantly surprised.
Spinach Spaetzle
Recipe adapted from Giallo Zafferano
Time: 10 min preparation + 1/2 hr inactive + 5 min cooking
ingredients
100 g (3.5 oz) fresh spinach leaves
3 small eggs
100 ml (.4 cup) water
1/4 teaspoon (2 g) salt
pinch of nutmeg
220 g (1 1/2 cups) flour
3 tomatoes, grated Parmesan, 1 garlic clove, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper
directions
Blanche spinach. Prepare a medium bowl with ice water. In a medium pot of salted, boiling water, cook spinach for 2 minutes. Strain it and transfer it into the ice water for a minute. Strain again, squeezing water out. Chop it with a big knife.
In a food processor with a steal blade, blend chopped spinach with eggs, water, salt and nutmeg till fine and creamy, for about 2 minutes. Transfer it into a medium bowl. With a rubber spatula, fold in flour into the spinach mix. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut tomatoes in half and remove seeds with juices. Dice the rest. On a medium skillet, heat 2 Tablespoon olive oil on medium/high. Add one garlic clove split in half. Once you smell the garlic (after 1-2 minutes) , remove it from the skillet and toss it. Add diced tomatoes and saute for 30 seconds. Add a pinch of salt and take it off the heat.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil. Using a flat grater with big eyes and a rubber spatula, force spinach batter through the holes, letting them drip into the boiling water. Water needs to be moving a bit or spaetzle will stick together. Once you finished with the last dose, let pasta cook for 1 minute. Stir if necessary to prevent sticking. Remove spaetzle with a slotted spoon, draining all the water, and transfer it onto the skillet with tomatoes or straight onto a serving plate. Try not to overload water. I repeated the process twice. Top with grated Parmesan and freshly ground pepper.
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I got fresh and still warm milk and more fresh rhubarb on the market the other day. It was time to make risolatte or rice (riso) with milk (latte) with a lot of beautiful rhubarb.
Risolatte recipe has been in my mind since I came across it a couple of weeks ago on an Italian website. Last time I had rice with milk was when my mom made it, when I was ten or younger. I have never thought that the combination of milk and rice would be appealing to me again. Leave it to the Italians and my infatuation with anything Italian. Rice with milk...I mean Risolatte is back!
Yes, it's sweet, soft and creamy, with a touch of vanilla and lemon. Comfy, comfy food. But I wasn't so excited about just eating rice and milk. Not in Spring, when the market is full of freshly grown goodies. Rhubarb is cheep as dirt. It shows up on the fields here before strawberries and it doesn't stay long. I haven't found many interesting recipes to use it. So I came up with my own.
Sweet rice is not for everybody. Julian refused to eat it. Hania was open-minded, had it for the first time and liked it a lot. Me...I had three of those on the picture above. I skipped dessert.
Risolatte with Rhubarb
Recipe adapted from Giallo Zafferano
Time: about 1 hr
ingredients
for rice
300 g (1 1/2 cups) white rice, arborio works the best. I was out, so I used basmanti.
1 l (4.3 cups) whole milk
90 g (1/2 cup) sugar
1 g (1/8 teaspoons) salt
zest (not grated) from 1 lemon
1/2 vanilla bean
for rhubarb
6-7 stalks rhubarb, 1-inch (2.5cm) diced
1 large orange (grated zest and juice)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar
2-3 Tablespoons raspberry preserves
1 Tablespoon (15 g) diced butter
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
cinnamon for decoration on top
directions
Preheat oven to 180C/350F (fan forced function).
Prepare rhubarb. In a medium baking dish, mix rhubarb with juice and orange zest, sugar and raspberry preserves. Place it in the hot oven for about 20 min, till rhubarb is soft.
Prepare rice. In a medium pot, bring milk to boil on low heat. Add sugar, salt, zest, vanilla seeds and the leftover bean. Add rice. Cook slowly for about 25-30 minutes, stirring often, till rice is tender and the milk has been absorbed. Remove lemon zest and vanilla bean.
Add baked rhubarb with juices to the rice, mix it up and put it all back into the dish you baked rhubarb in. Top with pieces of butter and sprinkle with sugar. Put it in the oven for 15-20 minutes till top is browned. The last 10 minutes, I switched to the top grill only. Remove it from the oven, and enjoy it while hot, warm or cold, with some cinnamon on top.
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This is an improved version of a recipe I saw on Rai Uno. We ate the original I made on Sunday, but I wasn't impressed. It got better the next day, but still it was more like a cheesecake than a tart.
So Today, before breakfast, I rolled up my sleeves all excited to follow my new idea for the cake. I used the crust ingredients from Julia Child, but the method to make it from the Italian show. I decreased the crust, cheese and starch amount by half, leaving egg count the same. I added more lemon zest and I didn't have to wait overnight for the dessert to get better. It was all set after an hour or so.
I love the idea of brushing warm preserves on strawberries. It works like magic. This step should never be omitted. It brings fruit to life, changing the tart from looking dull and old to fantastic and fresh. Just like it tastes!
Tart with Ricotta and Strawberries
Idea from La Prova del Cuoco
Time: 20 min preparation + 40 min baking + 1 hr cooling
ingredients
for crust
95 g (2/3 cups) flour
80 g (5 1/2 Tablespoons) cold butter, diced small
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest from 1 small lemon
2 1/2 Tablespoons chilled water
for filling
250 g (1/2 lbs) ricotta
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
24 g (3 Tablespoons) potato starch
3 eggs
zest from 1 small lemon
500 g (1 lbs) fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced in four
1/4 cup apricot preserves
directions
Preheat oven to 180C/350F (static function). Prepare a 23 cm (9 inch) round tart baking form and two sheets of parchment paper.
Prepare crust. In a food processor with a steal blade, blend flour, sugar, salt, lemon zest and diced butter, till all greased. Add the water. Continue blending till a solid mass is formed. The less you work, the more delicate and easier to work with the dough will be.
Place a piece of parchment paper on the rolling board, put the dough on top, cover it with another piece of paper. With a rolling pin, roll the dough through the paper till flat and about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than your baking form. Take the top paper off. You might need to scrape some dough off from the top paper. Transfer the bottom piece of paper with the dough on it onto the baking form. Press it against the form, just a little bit. Pierce it with a fork in a couple of places. Put it in tho hot oven for 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare filling. In a bowl of a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, mix all the ingredients till combined, about 2-3 minutes.
Pour the filling onto the pre-baked crust. Arrange strawberries on top. Place it in the hot oven for about 40 minutes, till browned around the edges. Take it out of the oven.
In small pot, slowly bring the apricot preservers to boil and cook them for 2-3 minutes, mixing constantly. Brush the hot preserves onto the hot tart. Transfer the tart (with the parchment paper) onto a cooling rack for further cooling and then in the fridge, for on hour or so.
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I was curious about using phyllo dough. I've never had. But even Italians store a roll of it in reserve. It does become handy at times. From an irregular mass of spinach and potatoes, phyllo dough gave my dish a handsome package. And I gave it a name of Knish.
Knish is probably not. But close enough to what I remember eating in the States. I like the idea of stuffing a lot of vegetables in a thin wrap of dough. We ate my knish warm and cold. For lunch and for snack. Very practical to have it in your fridge, just when everybody thought there was nothing to eat. See Ya!
Spinach and Potato Knish
Time: 15 min preparation (+ time to cook potatoes) + 25 min baking
ingredients
1 roll phyllo dough (275 g/10 oz)
1 kg (2 lbs) potatoes, whole, cooked in skins without salt
300 g (7 oz) spinach baby leaves
3 slices prosciutto cotto, chopped
30 g (1 oz) grated Parmesan
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons olive oil + extra for brushing
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon whipping cream
1 Tablespoon water
feta cheese to sprinkle on top, optional
directions
Preheat oven to 200C/405F (static function). Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brushed with olive oil.
On a large skillet, heat olive oil. Cook spinach on low heat for about 10 minutes, without letting it dry. Add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper to taste. Let it cool a bit. Drain it by pressing spinach against a wire strainer. Chop it with a big knife.
Peel potatoes while they are warm. Pass them through a press to a large bowl. Add spinach, eggs, Parmesan, prosciutto, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all up (it's OK if it's warm).
In a small bowl, mix 1 egg yolk with whipping cream and water.
Unwrap phyllo dough (mine was a rectangle 20x30cm/8x12inch). Cut six 10x10cm/4x4inch squares. Apply a hand full of filling in the middle and fold the edges of the dough over it, leaving about 1cm (1/2 inch) openings. Any leftover vegetables, I put in baking dish on a side in the oven.
Brush the knish with the egg yolk mix. Place it in a hot oven for about 20 - 30 minutes, till the dough is golden and browned around the edges.
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I like rhubarb. But I didn't know Hania and Julian liked it too. This dish is full of it. I got all excited and bought more than enough the other morning, fresh from the market. My backpack was packed with the vegetable. I just started shopping and I don't have a front basket on my bike.
I thought about making the rhubarb upside-down cake I made last year. I was sure it was on Foodnetwork, but it wasn't. OK, but if I went with a cake idea, I would also have to come up with lunch. And since rhubarb is a vegetable, I could make lunch and dessert in one. I'd go for it! All I had to do is go and get ice cream. For dessert, I mean...for lunch.
And then I had to work fast, so I could put the crisp in the oven and go pick up Hania from school. It doesn't always happen, but I love when I already have something fabulous made, just when Hania gets back from school.
Fabulous is this crisp! There is a lot of juice and pulp but there is also a lot of crunch. The rhubarb got all smooth and creamy, no signs of fibers. There is amazing medley of tastes, textures and...temperatures. The dessert is sweet, tart and fruity from strawberries, rhubarb and orange. It's juicy from the fruit and crispy from the crisp. It's hot with cold ice cream melting on top. And it's foolproof!
Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten
Time: 15 min preparation + 1 hr baking
ingredients
4 cups fresh rhubarb (about 5 stalks), 1- inch (2.5 - cm) diced
3 cups (about 1 pound/500 g) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved if big
1 medium orange (zest and juice)
1 Tablespoon (8 g) corn starch
1 1/4 (250 g) cups sugar
1 cup (150 g) flour
1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
1/2 cup (110 g) brown sugar
1 1/2 stick (180 g) cold butter, diced
vanilla, stracciatella ice cream
directions
Preheat oven to 180C/355F (fan forced function)
Place rhubarb and strawberries in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cups sugar and orange zest (about 1 1/2 teaspoon). In a small bowl, mix orange juice (about 1/2 cup) with corn starch. Add the mix to the fruit. Toss the fruit and transfer to a 8x11x2 inch ceramic baking dish.
In a bowl of a standing mixer equipped with a paddle attachment, add flour, the rest of sugar (1/2 cup), brown sugar and oatmeal. Combine the ingredients. Add diced butter. With the mixer on low, mix till crumbs start to form, 1-2 minutes. Spread it on top the fruit.
Place the dish into the hot oven for 1 hour, till juices bubble on top and the crisp is lightly brown. Take it out of the oven, let it cool for about 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream.
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This is where the rest of the bechamel from the onion tart* went...together with a box of greens, that, again, did not get used in a salad. Within minutes, I had a delicious lunch. Just when my hunger started calling.
It was so hot the other day, unusually hot, I needed something quick, easy and light. Something that would clean up my fridge and satisfy my demanding taste buds. This pasta turned out fantastic. I have never cooked these leaves. They came out delicate and combined beautifully with the white béchamel, making the whole sauce creamy...but green. And making me want a glass of champagne to celebrate!
Penne with Lamb's Lettuce
Time: 10 min
ingredients
300 g (10 oz) pasta penne
125 g (4 - 5 oz) lamb's lettuce
bechamel sauce: 18 g (1 1/2 Tablespoons) butter, 15 g (1 1/2 Tablespoons) flour, 180 ml (3/4 cup) milk, 1 g (1/8 teaspoon) salt, pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 slice prosciutto cotto
directions
Cook pasta in salted water. Save about 1/2 cup of cooking water for béchamel.
Meanwhile, prepare bechamel. In a small saucepan, heat milk with salt, slowly bringing it to boil. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt butter on medium/high. Add flour. Using a bubble whisk, mix flour and butter for about 1 minute. Don't allow color to change to dark brown. Take it off the heat. Wait till it stops bubbling and pour all the boiling milk at once. Put it back on the heat, bring to boil on medium/high. Add Parmesan. Boil for 1 minute, constantly mixing.
Take it off the heat. Add nutmeg and prosciutto. Add about 1/2 cup of the cooking water from pasta.
Blanch lamb's lettuce. Prepare a medium bowl with ice water. In a medium pot of salted, boiling water, cook the greens for 2 min. Drain and transfer to the ice water for 1-2 min. Drain again. Squeeze it a bit in your hands and chop it with a big knife.
Add the lettuce to the cooked pasta (I use the same pot). Pour in the béchamel. Mix it all up and serve. It's best when fresh.
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