Bleeding Espresso

One of the best parts of having my mom here is a built-in buddy for market-hopping–and I’m talking about every market within a 40 kilometer radius.

Of course we’re having lots of fun in our travels, but all this marketing also means we’ve been enjoying even more fresh fruits and vegetables than usual…more hands to carry market booty! Woohoo!

As you probably know, I love tomatoes. So for today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday I’m sharing my absolute favorite way to enjoy fresh summer tomatoes (those in the US especially, be careful about salmonella right now!).

Here they are paired with “le cipolle rosse di Tropea,” the famous red onions from Tropea, a gorgeous town on the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is on the other side of Calabria (for those who don’t know, I’m on the Ionian Sea). These onions are some of the sweetest red onions in the world and are well-known not only in Italy but also throughout Europe–if you’re here, be sure to give them a try!

A tomato and red onion salad is a quick, easy, refreshing, delicious dish that is great at midday when the last thing I want to do is turn on the stove. It is dressed simply with olive oil, fresh basil, oregano and salt, and you’re welcome to throw in whatever other veggies you like; we especially enjoy cucumbers in this.

Along with the salad, P and I usually have something else uncooked with it, often local suppresata, cheese and bread but this is another favorite:

Bel Paese cheese spread on bread topped with prosciutto crudo

Doesn’t get any better than this after you’ve enjoyed a morning at the beach.

Tomato & Red Onion Salad

3 large tomatoes cut into bite-sized chunks
2 small red onions from Tropea, sliced
Olive oil, fresh basil, oregano and salt to taste

The longer you let the flavors mingle, the better this is, so I recommend making it early in the morning for lunchtime.

Buon appetito!

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Drawing inspiration from Cherrye’s recent Pazzi for Porcini post, this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday dish is Pennette alla boscaiola, pasta with porcini mushrooms, pancetta, and heavy cream. It’s supposed to have prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) in there too, but I got to the store too late and the slicing machine was already cleaned. Next time.

You should know that P and I both love mushrooms. He loves them so much that he goes out looking for them. He’s brought me itty bitty ones like this and monster ’shrooms like this:

And on *really* good days, he makes my kitchen table look like this:

All the above photos are from the fall, prime mushroom picking time. For this recipe, I used dried porcini, which are truly lovely, especially since you get the added bonus of using the liquid you used to reconstitute them.

In fact, from the original recipe (in Italian), I cut out the butter and used liquid from the porcini instead. This dish is a *big* winner in our casa. So fast, easy, and delicious . . . a new favorite!

Pennette alla boscaiola
(Penne pasta with porcini, pancetta, and heavy cream)

• Dry pasta (I recommend penne/pennette or tagliatelle/fettucine) for two
• 30 g (about 1 oz) of dried porcini mushrooms
• 1/2 to 2 cups water to reconstitute mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 150 g (about 5 oz) of pancetta, diced
• 200 ml (about 3/4 cup) heavy cream
• 50g (about a 1/4 cup) of grated cheese
• Salt to taste

1. About an hour before you’ll start cooking, put dried porcini in bowl and cover them in water.

2. When you are ready to cook, put the pasta water on to boil.

3. Use a fine strainer to drain mushrooms, placing another bowl beneath the strainer to catch the water; you’ll need it. If you want to chop the porcini into smaller pieces, do so now; I just leave them as is.

4. In a pan large enough to hold the pasta as well, heat oil over medium heat and then add onion. Let sauté for a few minutes until starting to turn translucent.

4. Add pancetta and let cook for a minute or two.

5. Add mushrooms, about 6 tablespoons of the porcini water, and salt and let cook on low-medium heat for about 15 minutes. If you see that it’s starting to get dry, add porcini water as needed.

6. In the meantime, prepare the pasta so that it’s still rather al dente (it will cook some more with the cream) and drain.

7. Test porcini mixture for salt (if necessary, add more), and then add pasta to the pan, giving it a few turns with a wooden spoon to combine with the pancetta, mushroom, and onion mixture.

8. Make sure the pan is on low heat and add cream, stirring to combine everything.

9. Sprinkle in cheese and stir until mixed in well.

10. Serve hot with extra grated cheese.

Buon appetito!

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Before we get to the recipe, for those who are still wondering what the photo of the cheese-like substance was in yesterday’s post, Jeff in Puglia got it right–it’s homemade olive oil soap!

Now, the recipe. Remember when I made Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Muffins a few weeks ago? I had some almond flour left over so I went looking for recipes for another experimental installment of What’s Cooking Wednesday.

I also wanted to use a banana that was past its prime, and by searching for “almond flour” and “banana,” I found a recipe for Banana Hotcakes with Orange Honey Sauce. I made some adjustments to the recipe, including adding mashed banana to the batter rather than simply setting slices on top of the ‘cakes.

The pancakes *with* the orange honey sauce were really good, and I’ll definitely make them again when I’m in the mood for a breakfast healthier than white flour pancakes and maple syrup (yes I have the latter flown in). These definitely had a different consistency than “normal” pancakes (a bit more grainy and chewy) but that’s to be expected with the change in flour. I was used to it and even enjoying it within two bites.

Honestly though, when I tried one of these without the syrup–um, not so good, but then again, regular pancakes aren’t very tasty without anything added either (at least to me). If for some reason I were going to eat these without syrup, I’d definitely add some sugar to the batter.

Also note that this recipe didn’t make very many pancakes–about six small ones–but *a lot* of sauce. No worries for me on the pancakes as P wasn’t home when I made them. I had plenty for my breakfast.

And the leftover sauce? I used it that afternoon in my tea and then the next day for breakfast with fresh ricotta and more strawberries kind of like this. YUM!

Gluten-free Banana Pancakes with Orange Honey Sauce

Orange Honey Sauce

• 1 cup honey
• Juice and zest of one orange

Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 overripe banana, mashed
• 1 small pinch baking soda
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Prepare sauce by combining honey, orange juice, and zest in a saucepan and simmer until it’s thickened to syrup consistency. Put through fine sieve before pouring over pancakes. Serve warm.

2. For pancakes, whisk together egg, oil, vanilla, and bananas. Add baking soda and then almond flour a bit at a time until it gets to the consistency of pancake batter. If it gets too thick, add a bit of water or milk.

3. Pour batter in (your preferred) pancake-sized circles onto hot, greased griddle.

4. Cook 2 minutes on first side until you see bubbles on top. Flip and cook another thirty seconds or minute more.

5. Serve warm with orange honey sauce on top.

Buon appetito!

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Yesterday just as I was seriously wondering whether I’d have something interesting to make for What’s Cooking Wednesday, I received an email from Salena of The Daily Rant, aka “The Camera Fairy.”

She included a link to a recipe for Olive Oil Cake from Saveur and asked if I’d be willing to be her test kitchen; not surprisingly, Salena’s truck-driving career doesn’t give her much opportunity to bake.

Of course I accepted the challenge.

As stated on Saveur’s site, the original recipe comes from Trattoria Dalla Rosa Alda, a restaurant in the Valpolicella region in the province of Verona in northern Italy. The cake is called Pissota con l’Oio and uses a special liqueur made by Dalla Rosa Alda.

In place of this unique booze, Saveur recommends “Grand Marnier or other sweet citrus-flavored liqueur.”

Well if you’re in southern Italy like I am, “sweet citrus-flavored liqueur” means limoncello, so that’s what I used.

I also added a half teaspoon of confectioner’s sugar because when I tasted the batter, it seemed really bitter to me. You’re welcome to use your own judgment.

I’ll definitely make this cake again and maybe add even a bit more limoncello and lemon zest next time for even more lemony goodness. I’m not sure that my texture came out the way it’s supposed to, but I do love it–kind of a lemon sponge and not dry at all (like Italian cakes can sometimes be).

And now I have yet another reason to love lemons.

Grazie mille Salena!

Olive Oil & Limoncello Cake
[adapted from Saveur]

Butter & flour for preparing pan
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp lemon zest
3/4 cup quality extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup milk
3 tbsp limoncello
1/2 tsp confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).

2. Grease an 11-cup bundt pan with butter and dust with flour, and set aside.

3. Beat eggs and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer until pale yellow, about 1 minute.

4. Add flour, lemon zest, oil, milk, and limoncello and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add baking powder and confectioner’s sugar and stir until thoroughly combined.

5. Spoon batter into prepared pan and place in oven.

6. Bake until cake is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer cake to a wire rack to let cool completely, in its pan.

7. Before serving, dust with confectioner’s sugar if you like. Incidentally, this cake goes fabulously with espresso.

Buon appetito!

27 Comments »

We’re gonna have woast wabbit! We’re gonna have woast wabbit!

Yes, I say this every time we make this dish, and sadly, it’s completely lost on P. So you *must* appreciate it. You do, don’t you?

Today’s What’s Cooking Wednesday recipe is fresh off the “Bizarre Foods” discussion on Friday because yes, I do realize that eating rabbit may be out of the ordinary for some of you. It wasn’t the norm for me either before I came here, although my (Italian) great-grandfather apparently made a delicious rabbit ragù for the family in America.

P’s father used to raise rabbits for food, and now since P is continuing the tradition, it’s quite common to find rabbit on our dinner table.

If you’re curious, no, I have absolutely nothing to do with raising them–we’d likely end up with a lot of pet rabbits if that were the case. And the time P asked me to help, ahem, prepare the rabbit for cooking? He quickly let me off the hook when tears welled up in my eyes at the sight of the poor thing–no longer alive, but still difficult to see.

Yes, I know you may find that hypocritical, but that’s me. I have to say that I do admire P’s compassion and caring in bringing up the rabbits though. I know that sentiment may be nonsensical to vegans, vegetarians, and others, and quite honestly, it’s hard for me to really wrap my head around as well, but it’s true.

He is quite gentle and humane with them and even gives them names; he just grew up knowing them as food, and that’s what they are for us. We definitely save money on meat purchases and at least we know that these are organically raised and treated well.

Such is life in Calabria–full of contradictions and peculiarities but never, ever, boring.

Now on to the recipe, which is based on Coniglio (o pollo) al forno con patate–that “o pollo” means you can also use this recipe for chicken.

Roasted Rabbit & Potatoes
(serves 2 as main course, more as part of larger dinner)

• 3 pieces of rabbit (2 thighs and a shoulder will do)
• 4 large potatoes, cut into chunks
• 3 cloves of garlic, cut into chunks to be inserted into rabbit pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• a few sprigs of rosemary
• thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• salt
• peperoncino

1. Turn on oven and set to 200°C (390°F).

2. In a small bowl, mix together olive oil, salt, peperoncino, and some rosemary. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

3. Wash the pieces of rabbits, and without drying, put them in baking dish.

4. Wash the potatoes, peel and cut them into chunks, and add them to baking dish; sprinkle them with salt and thyme.

5. Score rabbit so that you have places to insert garlic and some sprigs of rosemary. Brush oil mixture liberally onto rabbit pieces and then break up the bay leaves on top of the rabbit.

At this point, it should look something like this:

6. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and place in oven.

7. Let cook for about a half hour. Remove from oven. Turn rabbit and toss potatoes. If the dish is dry on the bottom add some olive oil and/or water.

8. Cook for another 20 minutes or so, being sure that potatoes and rabbit are fully cooked before serving.

9. Let sit a few minutes before serving, but still serve hot.

Buon appetito!

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