Questa Dolce Vita

Ok so I'm not a true pesto virgin because to tell the truth, I have "done it" many years ago back in Canada and I remember it being a royal failure. This time, we used basil and garlic from our garden and homemade olive oil from Abruzzo...mixed with the air of Italy, I think that's what made all the difference. It turned out wonderfully and we were able to enjoy a dish of linguine al pesto last night for dinner (forgot to take a photo before devouring it). Pesto is one of those things that completely captures Italy- just simple, fresh ingredients and alot of love and you get something amazing out of it. 

The recipe we used is found here: ​http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pesto-alla-Genovese.html

My only piece of advice is to really use a small, small pinch of salt because even though I used a pizzico, the saltiness of the cheese is quite pronounced and if you go overboard on the salt, your pesto will be unbearably salty. Something to keep in mind is that is it going to make your arm very sore, so make sure you go into it strong-willed and with a good energy reserve! 

This is not a °recipe°, it's more just a case study on how one might go about improvising a pasta sauce based on very few, simple ingredients. In this case, I have cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and pancetta. The other two ingredients are a clove of garlic, olive oil, and white wine. Don't salt at all because the pancetta is very salty. You will just want to chop the garlic finely, and let it golden in a pan with olive oil. Add the pancetta (as I said in the intro post, perhaps a handful and you can cut them into pieces or strips). Add a half-cup or so of white wine and let the ingredients meddle for a couple minutes. Then you will add in your cherry tomatoes (halved so that they release their juices). Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes are getting on the soft side, then add in some zucchini and continue cooking until they are at a tenderness that you like- people tend to be divided on how soft zucchini should be...! If you think that your 'sauce' is too runny, you can add a bit of flour and continue cooking over medium-high heat and it should thicken up! Have you ever done some sauce improvising and come up with something unbelievably tasty? Let me know! 

Jasmine's Garden Pasta (with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes) 
Ingredients
500g pasta (for 4 people), try fusilli 
2 zucchini (zucchine in Italian!), sliced thinly 
1 cucumber, sliced thinly 
2-3 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 
2 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped 
extra virgin olive oil 
1/4 cup white wine
basil 
salt and pepper

Boil the pasta for the amount of time as indicated on the package (to al dente). In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Wait about 1 minute and then add the zucchini and the white wine. Turn the heat down and let this all stew together until the wine is mostly evaporated and the zucchini are fully cooked and slightly golden. When the pasta is ready, drain it, and put it into a large bowl. Add the cooked zucchini, the cucumber slices, the cherry tomatoes, and some basil leaves. The "sauce" leftover from cooking the zucchini should also be added, if there's not alot, add more olive oil to the pasta. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything extremely well and then pop it in the fridge and let it rest for at least one hour before serving. It's meant to be eaten as a cold pasta. Feel free to add extra garlic to the pasta afterwards, or some freshly grated parmesan. 

This is a surprisingly simple pasta dish to make that sounds and tastes much fancier than it's preparatory demands. One of those dishes to keep in your arsenal when guests come from far, far away and you need to impress with zero stress...! 

Fig and Prosciutto Tagliatelle
Ingredients
400g fresh tagliatelle pasta (this is for people who have real appetites, they say ~80g/person) 
6 figs, peeled and chopped into four pieces each 
prosciutto crudo (or pancetta), as much as you like, cut into small strips 
olive oil, couple tablespoons 


Bring a pot of water to boil. While waiting, throw the fig pieces and prosciutto strips into a hot pan with the olive oil. Let them stew together on low-medium heat as you wait for the water to come to boil. Squish the figs a little bit to get some of the flavor out. Don't cook to the point of wear the figs are unrecognizable, you still want them to be in intact, chunky pieces. When the water boils, throw in the fresh pasta and literally cook for about 3 minutes. Drain, keep some pasta water aside. Add the pasta to the figs and prosciutto. Mix well and add some pasta water in case you think it's too dry. Don't add any additional salt anywhere because the prosciutto will be salty enough. That's it! Too easy right?! 

This is more or less what the start of making this dish looks like- first you melt the butter, add the chopped onions and pancetta and let the onion flavour really get into the butter. I would then add the zucchine and let sizzle for about 5 minutes. Then you add the rice and basically let it soak up all that onion-y buttery-ness. Once this has happened, after maybe 3-5 minutes add the wine; I would add about 3/4 cup. You continue to cook on medium heat until the wine has evaporated. At this point, you start adding the broth very slowly- a cup at a time. Add a cup, let the rice cook in it, once it's all absorbed, add another cup. Continue this process until the rice is cooked to the point of your liking. People are all very individualistic when it comes to risotto- some like it "harder" (more al dente) than others so it's really up to you. Hope you liked this one! Here's what it could look like...

This is essentially adapted from any classic recipe for bolognese sauce because the principle is more or less similar just with different meats and different wines (white this time)! Also, this appears to be the first recipe I've posted that is a "secondo", the second course in an Italian meal which is normally meat or fish. Whoo hoo! Enjoy!

Pollo alla Cacciatora 
Ingredients
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
1 onion 
1 clove of garlic
1-1.2 kg of chicken
glass of WHITE wine 
salt and pepper 
1 large can of peeled tomatoes
olive oil

First all you do is cut the first four ingredients into itty-bitty pieces. Some people even like to use a cheese grater. As you can see, I actually did my vegetables in chunks so it totally just depends on your preference. Then you make a soffritto (a tasty vegetable-based base) by frying all the veggies and garlic with oil until they are nice and soft. Then add your chicken pieces and stir them around so they get nice and coated with the soffritto. Add your white wine, once the mixture starts to get thicker (ie: some of the wine has evaporated), add the peeled tomatoes, salt and pepper as desired and cover. Turn heat all the way down to simmer for 40 minutes, stir every now and then. The finished product should be fully cooked chicken that is near to falling off the bone and a thicker sauce. You can decide how you like it but I like when it's so thick that it's almost just the remnant pieces of vegetables. (Photo below is when peeled tomatoes had just been added). 

Click here to go to David Rocco's official website where you can find a printable recipe. This is literally copied and pasted from that. Honestly, I have nothing to add to his recipe, it's perfection and so quick to make. I remember I prepped it in about 20 minutes, stored it in the fridge and went out for a bike ride, came back, popped it in the oven and dinner was ready another 20 minutes later!

Pasta al Forno (Oven-Baked Pasta) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb rigatoni pasta (450g)
• 4 tablespoons extra olive virgin oil (60ml)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 large eggplant, cubed
• 15 infornate olives, pitted and chopped
• 10 large sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 dried chili pepper, crushed (optional)
• 1 jar of tomato purée (750ml)
• salt to taste
• 0.8lb freshly grated mozzarella (400g)
• smoked scamorza cheese, as much as desired, roughly chopped
• freshly grated Parmigiano cheese for sprinkling

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the rigatoni cooks in salted boiling water, prepare the sauce. In a saucepan heat up olive oil and sauté garlic, eggplant, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and chili peppers for a few minutes. Add tomato purée and salt. Let cook for approximately 10 minutes on medium heat.

Drain rigatoni, add to the saucepan, sprinkle with some parmigiano and cook for another 30 seconds. Then place half the rigatoni in a baking dish, adding a layer of half of the mozzarella, half of the scamorza and another sprinkle of Parmigiano cheese over the pasta. Add the remaining rigatoni, and follow with a final layer of all the cheeses. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

The recipe I used was from the food blog Smitten Kitchen and can be found here.  Below is the recipe literally copied and pasted so please visit the site if you want to see her photos etc. She shows quite a bit more of the process that I do, picture-wise, since I'm always in a rush to get to the finished product so I can eat it. 

Classic Key Lime Pie
Adapted somewhat liberally from the version at Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, where I am not.

Every key lime pie recipe agrees that a can of sweetened condensed milk is the king of ingredients. From there, they diverge. Some use more lime juice, some less. (I use 2/3 cup for a nicely tart filling; use only 1/2 cup if you’re more wary of the tartness of limes.) Some use more egg yolks, some use less. (I find I only need 3 for a good set and flavor, but you can go up to 5 if you’d like something extra-rich.) Not all insist that you whip your yolks until they’re pale and ribbony, but it makes for a lovely final texture and I think is worth it.

Most importantly, despite the name, you don’t need key limes to make this. I mean, if you can get them, please do. They’re wonderful. But I made this, as I often do, with regular grocery store Persian limes and it’s no less dreamy with them.

Crust
1 1/2 cups (155 grams) finely ground graham cracker crumbs (from about 10 crackers)
3 tablespoons (40 grams) granulated sugar
2 pinches sea salt
7 tablespoons (100 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
3 large egg yolks (though extra-large would do you no harm here)
1 14-ounce (396-gram) can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup (155 ml) fresh lime juice (from about 1 dozen tiny key limes or 4 persian/regular limes)

To Finish
3/4 cup (175 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 to 2 tablespoons powdered or granulated sugar, to taste

Heat oven: To 350°F (176°C).

Make crust: Combine graham crumbs, sugar and salt in a medium bowl and stir until mixed. Add butter and stir until crumbs are evenly coated. Press crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a standard 9-inch pie dish. I like to use the outer edge of a heavy measuring cup to press in neat, firm sides but nobody will be the wiser if you just use your fingertips. Bake crust until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Set on cooling rack while you prepare filling. Leave oven on.

Make filling: Zest limes into the bottom of a medium bowl until you have 1 1/2 tablespoons. Beat zest and egg yolks with an electric mixer until pale and thick, about 5 minutes. Add sweetened condensed milk and beat until thickened again, about 3 minutes more. Squeeze zested limes until you have 2/3 cups juice. Whisk into yolk mixture until combined. Pour into graham crust and bake pie for another 10 minutes, until set but not browned on top at all. Let pie cool completely before adding topping — you can do this outside (thank you, January!) or even in your freezer (but don’t forget about it) to hasten the process, and your pie reward, along.

First, buy yourself a couple of artichokes- I can usually eat two happily so for two people, buy four good sized ones. I personally prefer the spiny, weapon-like artichokes. They tend to be more "meaty" than the cuter looking ones with the curved bits. I know they look intimidating but all you do is cut them more or less in half (in the sense that you are cutting off the pointy tips, go down about an inch and a half from the median tip length) and peel away any of the smaller "leaves" that still have a tip on it around the outside. You'll want to chop the stem so that only about half-an-inch remains as well. Soak these in lemon water for about 15 minutes and then throw them in a pot with cold water. Bring to boil and let them boil at least 30 minutes. They are ready when you poke them with a fork and some of the leaves start falling off easily and without any effort on your part. Drain the water away, arrange on a plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. Serve and eat steaming!