Rosemary Grape Focaccia

 Fall gave a reminder of its proximity to winter these past two days by gracing Philadelphia with cold rain and wind. Two days in a row I looked out my window, saw rain slashes on the glass, and for some reason decided an umbrella was too heavy of an item to carry around all day.  Consequently, I trudged through the wind and rain cursing myself for my lazyness two days in a row.  Apparently I don't learn from my mistakes.

Luckily, the second day of ugly weather was brightened by this schiacciata al'uva, or grape focaccia.  It's a Tuscan specialty, traditionally made in September when the wine grapes are being harvested, and I had been meaning to make it for some time now.  When I made a trip down to Trader Joe's one day, I came across the right grapes and vowed to make the focaccia before they went bad.  

I really enjoyed this focaccia for its rustic appearance and its savory-sweet, perfect-for-fall flavor.  The grapes roast and burst in the oven, forming pockets of musty sweetness in the springy dough and bringing a softness to the bread wherever they are nestled.  I added rosemary because it goes well with grapes and I felt it would tie the whole thing together as a cold-weather snack.

Rosemary Grape Focaccia

dough:

500 g 00 flour

1 packet dry yeast

olive oil

salt

condiment:

concord grapes

dried rosemary

Make the dough: Dissolve the yeast in 50ml tepid water.  In a large bowl, mix together the flour and a hefty pinch of salt.  Add the yeasty water and mix, then incorporate about 200ml more of tepid water and knead until you form a cohesive ball.  If more water is needed because it seems dry, add it a little bit at a time. The dough should be elastic and uniform, not all that sticky.  If it is too sticky, just add more flour.  Knead the dough on a flat surface until it is uniform, then form it into a ball, cut an X shape into the top and cover the bowl, let it rise until doubled in volume.

Once it is done rising, oil a baking sheet and divide the dough in half.  Knead it again briefly, then roll out half the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness and put it in your oiled sheet.  Cover this half with halved concord grapes and sprinkle some rosemary on top, to your liking.  Don't overcrowd the grapes as they may make your focaccia soggy if you add too many.

Now, roll out the other half of the dough and lay it on top of the first one, making a type of sandwich.  Cover this layer with whole grapes and more rosemary, then drizzle with oil and sprinkle some salt on top.  Let this rise for another hour.

Once it has risen again, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 20-30 minutes until it turns a golden brown color.  This is best enjoyed straight from the oven when the grapes are still oozy, but it is great at room temperature as well.  Enjoy!

Orecchiette with Cauliflower and Chickpeas

I'm back from college for fall break and it is so great to be back in a well-stocked kitchen.  Alright, my kitchen at college is not that bad, but I definitely haven't built up the base of pantry items that we have here at home.  This is entirely my fault, because every time I go to the grocery store full of resolve to buy the spices and jarred things that make dishes special, without fail I take a look at the prices and put them right back on the shelf. Ain't nobody got money for an $10 jar of salted flower buds.  I could buy 8 apples with that, have snacks for a week!  So when I came home to a fridge stocked with anchovies and capers, I knew I had to take advantage of it.  

We had some leftover boiled cauliflower in the fridge, so I put it to good use with half a can of chickpeas and a quick parsley sauce, had it with some pasta a voila', a quick, tasty meal came together in no time at all. Unfortunately I left my camera at college, so I had to make do with my cell phone camera.

Orecchiette with Cauliflower and Chickpeas

250 g orecchiette pasta

1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets

1 can chickpeas

for parsley sauce:

1 bunch parsley

1 tbsp capers

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 salted anchovies

4 hazelnuts (optional)

3-4 tbsp olive oil

Make the parsley sauce: in a food processor, combine all the sauce ingredients and blend until somewhat smooth, depending on your preferences.  I added the hazelnuts for extra texture.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil the cauliflower until tender.  Remove the cauliflower from the water but do not drain all the water out.  Bring water back to a boil and use it to cook the pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, oil a pan and sautee the cauliflower with the chickpeas until they develop a light brown sear.  Once the pasta is ready, drain and add to the pan with the cauliflower and top everything with the parsley sauce.  Mix everything together in the pan and serve dusted with some sharp salty cheese if you desire.
Makes 4 servings

Free-form Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Leeks

Fun fact: In Italy, when someone calls you a "bella gnocca" it means you are one attractive little lady. While these gnocchi are certainly not perfect beauties, but I think they're cute in their own rustic sort of way.  

When the idea for butternut squash gnocchi hit me, I had an image in my mind of perfect gnocchi with adorable little fork indentations on them just like the ones you buy at the supermarket, but the universe conspired against me and made the dough way to sticky for shaping.  

In case you didn't already figure it out, I'm calling them "free-form" to make them seem a lot more fancy and intentional than they are. Don't worry, people will probably still be impressed, even though making these gnocchi is ridiculously easy.  All you need is a food processor and a spoon to dollop the dough into a pot of boiling water.

The gnocchi come out soft and fluffy and are incredibly satisfying, with that slight autumnal sweetness that makes butternut squash so delicious.  I paired them with leeks because squash and leeks are made for each other, and for some added texture I roasted the butternut squash seeds and sprinkled them on top.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Leek Sauce

1 butternut squash of approximately 1.5 lb

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

parmesan cheese

salt

1 leek

vegetable broth

To make the gnocchi: Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.  Wash the seeds of the pulp surrounding them and toss them with salt.  Put them in the oven with the squash but in a separate pan, and roast them about 10 minutes, or until they look done.  Roast the squash at 350 degrees until it is tender, about 35 minutes.

Once it has cooled, scoop out the flesh and put it into a food processor with the flour, eggs, 1 1/4 tsp salt and some grated parmesan cheese.  Process until the mixture is homogeneous.  Set aside while you make the leek sauce.

For the leek sauce: Cut the leek into small pieces and add to a hot pan with olive oil.  Sautee the leeks until they begin to soften, then add about 1/4 cup vegetable broth and simmer until the broth has reduced and has glazed the leeks.

Cook the gnocchi: Bring a large pot of water to a roiling boil, then begin dropping the gnocchi dough into the water by the teaspoon.  Work in batches so you don't crowd them.  Boil until 2 minutes after they rise to the surface, then remove them with a slotted spoon and put them in the pan with the leek sauce.  Sprinkle the seeds on top and enjoy! Yields about 4 servings.

(Adapted from Lidia's Italy)

Torta di Ricotta

Sicily is famous for its desserts, many of which feature ricotta.  Cannoli, cassate, cream puffs, and various tarts and cakes all have ricotta as their star ingredient.  Whenever we have some ricotta in the fridge, I know that it is destined to become this cake.  Today, I wanted to do something different with the ricotta because we always make the same cake, but I ended up making it anyway, because it is really the perfect incarnation of ricotta in a dessert.  However, ricotta here is a world apart from what you can find in supermarkets in the US; that stuff is plastic.  Whereas "ricotta" in the US is usually a gummy white paste sold in plastic tubs, ricotta here is a creamy and delicately flavored whey cheese sold in little plastic baskets that separate the cheese from it's water.

This cake is always a hit with guests of all ages.  You can think of it as an Italian cheesecake, lighter and softer than the American version.  I like to add chocolate because chocolate is life.

The ideal ricotta to get is sheep's milk ricotta, which has a different taste than cow's milk ricotta, if you can find it.

Torta di Ricotta 

Crust:

250g flour

200g sugar

1 egg

150g butter, softened

1 packet of rising agent for baked goods or 3 tsp baking powder

Filling:

500g high quality ricotta

2 eggs

220g sugar

optional: semisweet chocolate

Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together all the crust ingredients in a large bowl until they form a uniform ball, then put it on a floured countertop and knead it until the dough is completely smooth.  If the dough is too loose, add more flour.  Remove 1/3 of the dough and set it aside for the lattice.  Press the remaining 2/3 into a buttered and floured pie dish.
Make the filling: Whip together all the filling ingredients with electric beaters until the mixture is smooth and without lumps.  Pour it on top of the crust.  If you want, chop up a bar of semisweet chocolate and sprinkle it on top of the filling, before you cover it with the lattice.
Make the lattice by rolling out the remaining 1/3 dough and cutting it into strips.  Place the strips on top in a lattice pattern.  Bake for 45 minutes.  Best served chilled.

Salmorejo

"More tomatoes than leaves!" my nonna exclaims as she surveys her cherry tomato crop.  And it's true, the poor plants are throwing all their energy into making fruit, leaving us with more sweet cherry tomatoes than we know what to do with.  It's like this every year when I come to my grandma's house in Sicily.  We end up having tomato salad for every meal in an attempt to consume them until I can no longer even look at another tomato.  So this year, I decided to come up with more creative and delicious ways to use up the bounty of this volcanic soil.

The first dish I made with the tomatoes is this salmorejo, a cold Spanish tomato soup similar to gazpacho.  It makes a very refreshing no-cook summer meal.  My version excludes the serrano ham that is traditionally used to garnish the soup, but feel free to add it back in.

Salmorejo

3 cups cherry tomatoes

1/2 loaf soaked stale bread

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 boiled egg

extra virgin olive oil

First, peel the tomatoes by plunging them into a pot of boiling water and quickly shocking them with cold water.  The skins should come off easily.  In a food processor, combine the tomatoes, bread, garlic, vinegar, oil, and egg and process until smooth.  Serve cold with a garnish of fresh tomatoes.

Breakfast Tiramisu

I get really excited for breakfast.  I will wake up early for it.  I plan it out the night before, even if it's just oatmeal, so I can get maximum awesomeness out of my morning meal.  I think this affinity has something to do with the freedom of being able to eat on the sweet end of the spectrum and call it a meal.  Given my love of breakfast, when the exceptionally hospitable owner of Villa Theresa Bed and Breakfast (where my dad was staying while he visited me in Pisa) invited me to eat breakfast for free there, I was ecstatic. But even more than the food, I was excited about eating breakfast in such a beautiful setting.

Villa Theresa's flowers

Villa Theresa was the old residence of a wealthy duke in the 1700s, and now it is a lovely bed and breakfast with a lush garden courtyard where guests enjoy a delicious breakfast featuring marmalade made in-house from oranges grown in the garden and home-made yogurt with honey, among other things, such as the classic cornetti (a croissant-like pastry) with nutella.

The house-made yogurt really impressed me with its freshness and lack of acidity.  It was quite liquid, just barely set, but I could really taste the milk.  I was told that it is made fresh every day.  

The house-made yogurt with fresh peaches

I knew I wanted to make a breakfast inspired by that yogurt that would recall not just the food I ate, but the magical scent of eating in the garden.  While flipping through my favorite food magazine, Sale e Pepe, I saw a recipe for raspberry and jasmine tiramisu, and I decided to adapt it to breakfast by swapping the classic mascarpone out for Greek yogurt.  It worked beautifully!  I've never had a breakfast tiramisu before now, but what better way to start the day than with a little "pick me up"*?

*Translation of tiramisu (duh)

I got the jasmine flowers from a bush on my street here in Pisa, nervously looking both ways as I stripped the flowers off to make sure the bush's owner wasn't about to leap out and yell at me.  The only person who saw me was a nun who looked mildly concerned but didn't bother me.  Sorry bush, they'll grow back.

making jasmine syrup

Jasmine flowers may be a bit harder to find in the US, but you may be able to find already prepared jasmine syrup in middle eastern markets, or you can make this without the jasmine and just use your favorite floral tea instead, adding it to the water and sugar and steeping it as you would with the flowers.  Instead of lady fingers, I used savoiardi sardi, which are a larger and softer cookie that you may have a harder time finding in the US.

 Raspberry Breakfast Tiramisu with Jasmine

for the jasmine syrup:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup jasmine flowers (Or a floral tea, if you can't find the flowers)

for the tiramisu:

2 cups 0% greek yogurt

2 tbsp honey

savoiardi (lady fingers)

about 1 cup raspberries

Make the jasmine syrup: In a small pan, bring the water and the sugar to a boil.  Once all the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat and add the flowers to the pot.  Let steep for 2 to 3 hours, or overnight. 

Once the syrup is done steeping, drain the flowers and put the syrup back in a small pot.  Turn on the heat and add in the raspberries.  Boil them for about 5 minutes, or until the syrup has turned bright red.  Strain the syrup to eliminate the seeds, and pour it into a deep plate.  Dip the lady fingers into the syrup and let them absorb it for about 10 seconds, then line the bottom of your serving dish with them.  Mix the yogurt with the honey and spread half of it on top of the lady finger layer in your dish.  Top the yogurt with more soaked lady fingers, and add the second half of the yogurt on top.  Garnish with some raspberries and jasmine flowers, and enjoy!

Adapted from Sale e Pepe, July 2014

Ricotta-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Pesto

Italians love to complain about Italy. Seriously, talk to an Italian for a couple minutes and they will 99% of the time start ranting about how nothing works in Italy, how the economy/government/things in general are messed up.  They must take its immense beauty for granted, because I would willingly live with all those problems if I knew I could wake up to this view every morning.  

      

This is Lerici, a little town on the Ligurian coast.  I visited this weekend, and it took my breath away.  So in honor of Lerici I decided to share a quasi-Ligurian recipe involving the most famous condiment of the region, pesto.  

These are ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers with pesto sauce, and I highly recommend you make them for your next lunch.  Here in Italy zucchini flowers are widely available, even in the supermarket, but in the states it might be a little harder to find them. I have seen them at farmer's markets in the US though, so if you come across them, make sure to buy them!

Ricotta-Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Pesto

zucchini flowers

200g ricotta

1 egg

grated parmiggiano reggiano

1 large bunch basil

pinenuts

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Gently wash the flowers and remove the stamen inside without ripping the petals.  Prepare the filling: mix the ricotta with grated parmiggiano to taste and then beat in the egg until the mixture is homogeneous.

Spoon the filling into the flowers and put them on a baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes.

While the flowers are in the oven, make the pesto.  In a food processor, blend the basil with a handful of pinenuts, about 1/2 cup grated parmiggiano, and 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Add salt to taste.

When the flowers are done, put them on a plate and drizzle the pesto on top.  Enjoy!