Mangia, Mangia! From Bella Italia To Our Table!

We are fortunate to have the Bella Italia store here in Reno. Lorena and Marco, the owners, import all their products from Italy, and Lorena shares a recipe on their website every week. She also finds the time to give Italian and cooking lessons. Sue is a frequent shopper and the last time she was there was introduced to the tomato sauce we are featuring in this week’s recipe. Lorena was warming up a dish fixed with this sauce, and Sue was captivated by the aroma wafting through the store from their eating area in the back.   Another find was the jar of ripe oil cured olives, which we incorporated into our sauce.

 

We were amazed by the rich bouquet of tomatoes and herbs when we opened the can of sauce. This is nothing like your usual can of tomatoes! With the addition of a few ingredients we had on hand it made a voluptuous pasta sauce. Yes, we said voluptuous! Wait until you taste this. Try your very best to find this sauce.

We found a new salad mix from Organic Girl that included baby spinach, arugula, tat soi, red and green Swiss chard. It is our new favorite and the slightly bitter greens went really well with this pasta dish.  We made a basic dressing with the left over juice from Mediterranean olives (purchased at our local Save Mart store’s deli), olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

To round out the meal we made Lorena’s recipe for Gluten Free Fruit Tart for our dessert.

Passport to Italy Tomato Sauce

Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 2/23/13

Serves 6-8
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, sliced
4  flat anchovy fillets, drained
1 /2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
12 oil-cured black olives, pits removed and sliced 
2 tablespoons capers, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, roasted and diced
1 (29-ounce) can Pomodroino tomatoe sauce

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves for garnish
1 pound Spaghetti Rigati, cooked al dente 
Sliced baguette, brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper and toasted
Grated Romano cheese for serving

Directions
Heat a large sauce pan over medium heat and add olive oil, garlic, anchovies, and crushed pepper. Saute until the anchovies melt into the oil and the garlic is tender, about 3 minutes. (You don’t want the garlic to brown.) Add the olives, capers, and yellow peppers. Saute for another couple of minutes. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a slow simmer. Cover and continue to cook until pasta is done.

Anchovies, garlic, capers, oil-cured black olives and roasted yellow peppers

Passport To Italy Tomato Sauce

The perfect plate!

Meg doesn’t remember where she got this wine but we are going to figure it out and buy some more! It was really perfect with this meal. As we are writing this, we wish we had another bottle right now! It is a full-bodied, luscious Chianti.

La Castellina Squarcialupi, Chianti Classico Reserva, 2007



Lorena’s Gluten Free Fruit Tart

For the dough:
1 1/3 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 extra large egg
3 tbsp butter, diced and chilled
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

For the lemon custard:
1/3 + 1/8 cups sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice (1 lemon)
1 lemon peel (only the yellow part because the white is bitter)
2 egg yolks
Fresh fruit (strawberry, mixed berries, banana, kiwi whatever you like!)
Unflavored jelly

Prepare the dough: in a bowl arrange all dry ingredients and mix them to combine evenly. Add butter and mix it roughly with flour mixture; form a well and put the egg in it.

Mix all ingredients well but quickly in order not to warm up butter too much (which would result in a "hard" dough), you have to obtain a smooth "ball". Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes at least.

Prepare the custard: in a small saucepan arrange sugar, 1/2 cup water and the lemon peel, bring to a boil and let it boil about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool down. Discard lemon peel.

In the meantime, in another saucepan, combine corn starch, yolks lemon juice and the remaining water; mix until well combined.

Slowly pour the warm water into the yolk mixture, whisking to avoid lumps. Put it on medium heat and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly.

Preheat oven to 375F
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it over a flour-dusted table, about 1/4" thick.
Put dough disc in a 9" pie-pan (buttered and dusted with flour or lined with parchment paper) and poke it with a fork, in this way you'll allow steam to escape.

Lined the bottom of the dough with parchment paper and top with dried beans, this will prevent "bubbles" in your tart by weighing on the tart. Bake for about 20 minutes then remove beans and paper and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Assemble the tart: pour custard into the tart shell, and decorate with your favorite fresh fruit (or a mix of fruits).

Prepare jelly following the package instructions and brush the fruit with it.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (one hour is better) and serve cold.
It will serve 8 people at least.

The almond flour dough before refrigeration

The luscious lemon custart

Almond flour pastry before cooking

Crust before filling

Filled Tart

A little slice of heaven.



Our biased and unsolicited opinions:

In our heads we went to Italy while eating this pasta. The flavor of the sauce was soft and round and not at all spicy or pungent as suggested by some of the ingredients.  Meg thought it was perfect as is. Sue would have liked a few more black olives and maybe a smidge more red pepper flakes, but really she was quite happy with it, too.

Meg has a plethora of pasta to choose from, and there was serious discussion regarding the perfect pasta.  We finally decided on Barilla Spaghetti Rigati with ridges to hug the sauce. 

The tart dough was unexpectedly soft, even after being refrigerated. This wasn’t a problem, as we pressed it into the tart pan. (Perhaps the variable is the texture of the almond flour. We purchased ours in bulk. ) We used an 8 inch tart pan, and had a small amount of dough left, which we made into cookies. They had a great texture and yet were delicate.  We think that you could make the dough just for cookies. (No pictures . . . we had six little ones and ate them right up.)

We loved both this crust and the filling. The crust is like an amaretto cookie, a little chewy and yet delicate. Lorena said she sometimes makes just the filling and serves it in custard cups. We can see ourselves doing this, too. It is a fabulous lemon curd, not too sweet and not to tart. You will want to double the recipe if you make the custard by itself . . .  gone in a flash! We did not glaze the tart as called for in the recipe. We did sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

Enjoy this tasty trip to Italy.  You will be glad you went. Ciao!

Rising To The Occasion With A Broccoli and Walnut Souffle!

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? Stay at home and make this elegant dinner to share with your special someone.  A soufflé, always has a “wow” factor to it, and this one is a beauty.  They are not as tricky as you would think, so let the illusion remain and accept the praise with grace.

A mouthful of this soufflé is full of tiny bits of fresh broccoli, and crunchy walnuts, and paired with the sour cream horseradish sauce, it is a little bit of heaven on a fork.

A salad or just about any vegetable would be a nice accompaniment. We chose these beautiful heirloom tomatoes, because they were so pretty and smelled like garden grown tomatoes. (Yes, we are desperate for summer produce again.)

And because Valentine’s Day was on the February calendar, we felt it necessary to make a chocolate dessert.  Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, Any Day,  . . . you get the picture. Finding these beautiful raspberries cemented the deal.

Pretty Raspberries All In A Row!



Broccoli Walnut Souffle
Serves: 5 -6
Source: “The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two”, Anna Thomas, Knopf

4 T butter
4 T flour
1 ½ c hot milk
5 egg yolks
1 ½ c chopped cooked broccoli
½ c finely chopped or sliced walnuts
3 T minced onion
3 T grated Parmesan cheese
½ t salt
freshly ground black pepper
7 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar

garnish
Sour Cream Horseradish sauce

Butter a 2 quart soufflé dish and tie a buttered “collar” around it.
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook the roux over medium heat for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Then add the hot milk and stir with a whisk as the sauce thickens.
When the sauce is perfectly smooth, remove it from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks, one by one. Then add the cooked broccoli, the walnuts, the onions, and the cheese. Stir well and season with salt and pepper.

In another bowl add a pinch of cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat them with a clean whisk or beater until they are stiff enough to form peaks. Do not overbeat them, as they will be too dry.
Stir about 1 cup of the beaten egg whites into the warm sauce. Now add the remaining egg whites and gently fold them in. Do this carefully, as you want to lose as little air as possible.
Pile the soufflé into the prepared soufflé dish, place it in the middle of a preheated 375’ oven, and bake it for 40 – 45 minutes.

Serve immediately with hot Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce.

Adding chopped broccoli to the batter.

Filling the souffle dish.

The gorgeous souffle!

Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce

Makes about 2 ½ cups
Source: “The Vegetarian Epicure Book Two”, Anna Thomas, Knopf

2 T butter
2 T flour
1 c hot milk
2 egg yolks
½ c grated Wensleydale or other mild cheese (we used Gruyere)
1 c sour cream
1 T prepared horseradish
½ t Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet and stir in the flour. Lower the flame and cook the roux for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add the hot milk, stirring with a whisk as the sauce thickens. Then whisk in the 2 egg yolks, one at a time, and stir in the grated cheese.

Continue stirring with the whisk until all the cheese is melted. Do not let the sauce boil.
Add the sour cream, horseradish, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over a very low flame for about 5 minutes more, still gently stirring. Serve hot.


Baked Tomatoes
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg For Saturday Night Specials 2/09/13

3 heirloom tomatoes
1 clove garlic, grated
1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. Italian herbs
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp. olive oil for drizzling
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes and place on oiled baking sheet. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the remaining ingredients, except the olive oil, in a small bowl. Sprinkle over tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake at 400 degrees on top rack for approximately 15 minutes. Broil for 1-2 minutes to brown tops.

Pretty, pretty tomatoes.

Tomatoes ready for the oven.

Kestrel "Lady In Red" , Columbia Valley, Washington

Raspberry Chocolate Pecan Torte
Serves: 8 – 10
Source: “Great Desserts of the American West”, Frances Towner Giedt, Lone Star Books

½ c (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/3 c granulated sugar
1 c pecan halves, toasted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 t pure vanilla extract
1/3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3 c fresh raspberries, rinsed and drained on paper towels
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350’. Lightly butter a 9 inch round tart pan.

In the top of a double boiler or a large stainless steel bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water, (don’t let water actually touch bottom of the bowl), combine butter and chocolate. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar.

In a food processor or nut grinder, process pecans until they form a fine powder. Stir into chocolate mixture along with eggs and vanilla extract. Add flour and stir to mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Set aside 1 cup of the raspberries. Gently place remaining berries on top of cake batter, gently pressing each berry slightly into the batter. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes, until a tester inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes; invert out onto a rack, turn torte right side up, and cool.

When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar from a shaker or sieve onto the top of the torte and pile the remaining raspberries in the center. To serve, cut into wedges.

A 5 star dessert!

Almost too pretty to eat, almost.

Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

We wouldn’t change anything about the soufflé. The sauce however, needed some boosting, which we did with two additional tablespoons of horseradish and a few red pepper flakes. This would be a great sauce for eggs Benedict or fish or a potato gratin. Confession time: Sue did not have any Dijon, (a pantry staple, can you believe it?), which probably affected the flavor, but we made up for it, in our minds, with the horseradish.

Sue fell in love with the wine label during a tasting at Total Wines. Lucky for her, the wine was really good and paired well with this meal. It was even on sale, so Sue claims it was meant to be.  (Who buys wine because of a pretty label?)

This Raspberry Chocolate Pecan Torte is “five star” wonderful. Excuse us for a moment while we go on and on about this dessert. It has a chewy edge, and  gooey raspberry surprises throughout.  Plan on sharing this with a lot of friends, so that the temptation leaves with them. Otherwise, you will have to hide it under all the other food in your freezer like Sue is doing. Meg has more will power and says she will have a small slice with coffee for the next five days. Yeah, right.

We enjoyed this, and we hope you do too!