Tag: Italian

No Knead Focaccia Bread

Our cooking club theme for April was originally “Grilling” but with a forecast of 50F and rain, we changed it to Italian. I had such a hard time deciding what to bring. With antipasto, sausage stew, eggplant lasagna, meatballs, and tiramisu on the menu, there was only one thing missing – bread! So I decided to try this No Knead Foccacia recipe from Budget Bytes.

It’s almost embarrassing to admit how little effort it took to make this bread. The night before, I mixed flour, yeast, salt, and a teaspoon of garlic powder in a bowl and added water as the recipe indicated. I went to bed, lounged around the next morning, and eventually turned the dough onto a cookie sheet for a second rise. I brushed the dough with olive oil and herbs, and popped it in the oven. When the bread was golden brown, I put the flat loaf on a cooling rack and sprinkled freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

That’s it, really! The focaccia had a lot of flavor and was a nice complement to our meal. I’ll be sure to make this again soon.

Broccoli Chicken Alfredo

Last week I spotted some fettuccine alfredo at the hospital cafeteria, and realized that the only ‘alfredo’ recipe on the blog was Hungry Girl’s Girlfredo Pizza. Here is my attempt at a more traditional alfredo, inspired by this recipe. You’ll notice there’s not much chicken, but a little bit goes a long way.

Although this is a fairly simple recipe, I had 4 burners going at once in order to steam the broccoli, cook the chicken, boil the pasta, and make the cheese sauce. That’s a little too much work for an average weeknight, so I’d save this dish for the weekend and cook the chicken in advance if you can.

Once I finally sat down to eat, I really enjoyed this dish. It was rich and creamy without being too heavy. It’s not exactly what you’d get in an Italian restaurant, but it’s pretty good!

Broccoli Chicken Alfredo

1 (16 oz.) package broccoli, steamed
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
2 T canola oil
2 t minced garlic
2 T flour
1 c. vegetable broth
1/4 c. nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 c. nonfat milk
Dash paprika
1/2 c. grated Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheese (such as from Trader Joe’s)
6 oz. whole wheat linguine, cooked al dente

Pour oil into a medium saucepan on medium low heat. Add garlic, and fry for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to burn it. Stir in flour and mix until smooth. Reduce heat to low and stir in broth, yogurt, and milk. Add paprika. Cook for 2-3 minutes until thickened. Stir in cheese and remove from heat.

Toss together broccoli, chicken, linguine, and cheese sauce and serve.

– Adapted from celebrations.com

Poor Woman’s Polenta Pizza

I spotted this recipe on the Real Simple website for polenta pizza, and I always keep a container of cornmeal in my pantry. But since polenta is known as a peasant food, it didn’t make sense to top it with radicchio, sun dried tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella. So this is my poor woman’s version of polenta pizza.

It came out pretty well, but I should have drained the tomatoes more because they made the crust a little soggy. The edges got nice and crispy, but the middle fell apart. It was still pretty good for poor woman’s pizza!

Poor Woman’s Polenta Pizza

2 1/4 c. water
1 c. cornmeal
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 (28 oz.) can stewed tomatoes, drained
1 c. reduced fat mozzarella cheese

Bring water to a boil. Slowly add cornmeal, stirring constantly. Continue to cook cornmeal for 3-5 minutes, until it is thick. Remove from heat, and mix in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Spread polenta on the bottom of a 9″ springform pan that has been coated with cooking spray. Use either the back of a spoon or your fingers to get the surface as flat as possible.

Mix spinach and tomatoes together, and place on top of polenta. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and cheese is melted.

-Adapted from Real Simple

Pasta Fagioli

My grandmother used to make pasta fagioli all the time, and it’s still one of my favorite soups. I am always so busy trying to make new recipes that sometimes I neglect the classics. This pasta fagioli recipe from Skinnytaste is a vegetarian version of my grandmother’s, and perhaps a bit more like a soup than a stew, but the flavor was right on. After a weekend full of blondies and nachos and macaroons, this soup hit the spot!

Italian Seafood Soup

I was at Trader Joe’s the other day and spotted a frozen Seafood Medley containing shrimp, scallops, and squid. I don’t get the chance to eat seafood as often as I’d like, so I picked up a bag. I found this recipe for Zuppa Di Pesce which sounded like a nice weekend meal. A ‘weekend’ meal of course because it calls for red wine, and we all know what happens when you open a bottle of wine for a recipe, right?

But first, a quick word about sustainability. It seems that Trader Joe’s received some negative publicity about their lack of sustainable seafood practices. It also seems the company has committed to turning things around by the end of 2012. So how does the Seafood Medley stack up? I turned to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, and it looks like the shrimp, scallops, and squid from Thailand are not on the worst list, but not on the best list either. Next time I am at TJ’s I’ll check out other products to see if I can find the best seafood choices.

Now back to the soup, because it was indeed a nice weekend meal. I really liked the rich tomato broth, and there was plenty of seafood to keep it interesting. However, the first bowl was by far the best. The texture of the seafood wasn’t quite as good the next day, so this isn’t the type of thing you’d want to pack for lunch. (Not to mention, people get upset when you heat up seafood in the office microwave, right!?) Still, it was a nice soup for a cold winter night.

Italian Seafood Soup

1 T olive oil
1 Vidalia onion, peeled and diced
1 t minced garlic
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
28 oz. water
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. red wine
1 bag Trader Joe’s Seafood Medley

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, and cook for 10 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Add garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, water, and seasonings. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add wine and seafood, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.

-Lightly adapted from Comfy Tummy

Lentil Meatballs

Lentils are such a versatile low maintenance bean. I’ve made lentil soup, and lentil curry, but then I saw this Lentil Meatball recipe from In Jennie’s Kitchen. I am not trying to pretend that these meatballs are the same as those that use beef and/or pork, but this version has much less saturated fat and is a lot less expensive to make. Plus, they get nicely crisp on the outside and have a fantastic taste! Jennie reported that she simmered these in sauce, and they held together nicely. Mine did not seem quite that sturdy, but I admit that they were crowded in the pan which didn’t help. Oh well, the one that fell apart first became an appetizer.

The best way to fit this recipe into a busy lifestyle is to consider it as 3 distinct steps. On a day when you’re home, go ahead and simmer a batch of lentils. On the day before you are going to cook them, assemble the mixture and refrigerate it. On the following day, you can fry the meatballs in oil while you’re heating up the sauce and boiling the pasta. And then you can sit down to a fabulous vegetarian meal.

As much as I liked these meatballs, they did soak up quite a bit of oil. I’d love to make them just a little bit lighter, so next time I’ll try to bake them and let you know how it goes.

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

There’s a very simple reason why I haven’t blogged about Eggplant Parmesan. I am too lazy to make it! Luckily for me, my Mom isn’t too lazy, and she let me try to document the process. We started with at least 3 large eggplants.

First, you peel each eggplant and cut it into thin slices. Then, you sprinkle the slices with salt and layer them in a strainer.

Many years ago, people would place the slices in a wooden basket and weigh them down with bricks. Our updated method involves a plastic strainer and a ceramic plate, weighted down with a large can of tomatoes. You can place this directly in the sink, or over a large bowl. The eggplant slices should drain for at least two hours.

Now you need to rinse the salt off the eggplant slices, and dry them well with paper towels. Don’t be afraid to squeeze the slices between the paper towels.

Prepare a mixture of 3 eggs, 1/4 c. water, and 1/4 t black pepper, and whisk with a fork. You may need multiple batches, but you can make more as you go along. Heat about 1/4″ of oil in a frying pan, until a small drop of egg mixture sizzles when added to the pan.

Dip each eggplant slice in the egg mixture, allow the excess to drip off, and place in the frying pan. Cook until browned, turn, and cook on the other side.

Now you can drain the cooked eggplant on more paper towels, to absorb some of the excess oil.

Finally, we’re ready to assemble a dish of eggplant. You can use jarred sauce, or make your own meat sauce or tomato sauce. It’s more important that you use real grated Parmesan cheese. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to the bottom of the dish, and then layer the eggplant, followed by more sauce, and Parmesan cheese.

Keep going until you’ve reached the limit of your pan. We made one large dish for dinner that evening, and two smaller dishes. Cover each pan tightly with foil, and heat in a 200F oven for 20-30 minutes just prior to serving.

There are many variations of Eggplant Parmesan, and everyone probably thinks that their way is best. This version contains no skin, and yields thin slices with no breading. I am biased of course, but I do think this is the best!