Eggplant Balls at Adele’s

These luscious eggplant balls look just like meatball’s but are a “no meat” kind of meatball made with eggplant, fresh garlic, parsley, eggs, Reggiano Parmesan and bread crumbs. They are formed into balls and broiled with a drizzle of olive oil until golden! They are vevelty on the inside with a little golden caramelization on the outside. They are so delicous all on their own and when you simmer them in a tomato-basil sauce they get even better, if that is at all possible! 

A few weeks ago, I got a message from a friend of mine that I needed to meet this family of amazing Italian cooks who were so much fun to be around and how it would make for a great show! Boy, was she right! Adele and her daughter Sonia are just lovely people. Adele is not only passionate about her recipe’s and cooking but about life in general. Sharing her memories from Italy made me feel like I was there with her. Adele’s vivaciousness is an inspiration to how life ought to be lived.

Now, I thought I was the eggplant queen, loving everything about eggplant and all that there is to create with eggplant, from eggplant parmesan, rollatini, to stuffed eggplants (haven’t had a chance to put the stuffed eggplant show together yet…but it’s on the list!) until I met Adele and had a bite of her unbelieveable eggplant balls! Wow, what can I say. The day she invited me over to taste these incredible morsels I knew I had to let the secret out and share this recipe with all of you so you too could experience this creation!

It looks like you now have an amazing reicpe to take care of all those eggplants you have in your garden. If you don’t have a garden, don’t fret there’s an abundance of eggplants at your local market, year round really. Can’t wait for you to make these eggplant balls of Adele’s and add this recipe to your “go to” Italian dishes to impress dinner guests! You might want to add a couple of apps to this like my baked asparagus wrapped in proscuitto, or crab cakes and don’t forget to throw in some incredible desserts like baklava, chocolate pecan pie or drunk blondies with a caramel bourbon sauce!…YUM!

Ingredients For Eggplant Balls, Makes approx 28-34 eggplant balls:                                                                                                                 NOTE: Colleen, a new friend & Travel Epicurean Follower told me she makes these in 2 STEPS -DAY 1 – boil the cut-up eggplant, then put into the fridge over night set in a colander to drain…DAY 2 – continue on with the rest of the recipe!

• 14 cups cubed up eggplant – 6 large eggplants
• 3 eggs
• 4 cups – 1 full loaf of 1-2 day old Italian bread (cut in half and leave on the counter for 2 days to help dry out the bread), wheat bread if you can get it, coarsely ground-up in the food processor OR 1 1/3 cups fine ground dry bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
• 3 ex-large garlic cloves put thru a garlic press
• 1 head of coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Simmer tomato-basil sauce ready to add in eggplant balls
2. Cut the ends off 6 small eggplants and peel them with a potato peeler
3. Cut the eggplants into 1/2″ stips lengthwise and then crosswise 1/2″ inch – cutting into cubed size piecces – it will measure approx 12 cups
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt – filling the water only 1/2 way up the pot
5. Add in the 12 cups of cubed up eggplant to the boiling water all awhile pushing pieces down, they will try to float up and cover
6. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook 5 minutes
7. Remove cover and stir eggplant pieces with a spoon to help evenly distribute the cooking
8. Cover and cook another 5 minutes, total 10 minutes
9. Drain into a colander, then make a well in the center of the eggplant pieces
10. Cover eggplant well with a small plate and a large full can on top of that – to weight down eggplant helping drainage
11. DO NOT RINSE with cold water
12. Leaving draining for 1 1/2 – 2 hours OR for the quicker method …you can press the plate to force the water out, then use paper towel to remove any excess 
13. During this time, at 30 minute intervals, stir the eggplant pieces then replace the plate and the can and continue to drain and cool
14. When the eggplant is drained add it to a large mixing bowl
15. Add in the rest of the ingredients in the list
16. Mix by hand until combined and then shape into 2″ balls
17. Cover cookie tray with foil and spray with Pam
18. Place the eggplant balls on the tray
19. Drizzle olive oil over the tops of all the eggplant balls and broil for 11 minutes NOTE: place 2 racks top from the top broiler rack)
20. Take eggplant balls out and carefully turn over without ripping the bottom of the ball
21. Place back under broiler for another 13 minutes until golden
22. Turn oven off and leave tray in the oven for another 5 minutes
23. Take out and add to tomato-basil sauce and simmer 20-30 minutes
24. OR freeze any eggplant balls you don’t need without the sauce for another time in ZipLoc baggies
25. Serve eggplant balls in the tomato-basil sauce with your favorite pasta!  Mangia…Mangia! 🙂

Adele’s Sangria:

• 1 bottle favorite Pinot Noir
• 3-4 peaches sliced

Add sliced peaches to a pitcher with as much red wine as you like, even better when you can let ferment over night in the frig!

Gnocchi at Louie’s

The anticipation of these light and fluffy, melt in your mouth gnocchi is what keeps you focused while you are working away forming these little potato pillows. The recipe for these delicious gnocchi we made at my friend’s Louie and Rachel’s house last weekend is probably the easiest one out there. Having our other friend’s Marco and Sheryl (from the show’s “Salmon B.L.T. Slider’s at Marco’s” and “Lobster Mac & Cheese at David’s“) working together with us forming and shaping the gnocchi made it a breeze. in fact, it felt as though we were only working on the gnocchi for mere minutes before popping them into the salted water. Louie served his gnocchi with a gravy or sauce made from tomatoes, red wine, herbs, garlic, homemade meatballs and sausages where the aroma’s alone made you salivate when first arriving at their front door!

If you have never made homemade gnocchi before you must try this simple recipe. Louie has been making his family’s gnocchi for over 20 years so this is a solid recipe thru and thru. You begin making the gnocchi with only 2 large potatoes and believe it or not this is enough potato to make about 200 gnocchi pillows.The other ingredients in the recipe are ricotta, egg, flour and Parmesan which balance out the dough nicely keeping it super light.

So remember to have a few friends over when making these delightful gnocchi to help with the task and before you know it you too will have a plate of homemade gnocchi right in front of you! A wonderful sauce to have with these gnocchi is my bolognese made with veal, pork, bacon, red wine, heavy cream and rosemary..YUM! Or you could go with a traditional red sauce with beef or turkey meatballs. Don’t forget some appetizers to go with these melt in your mouth gnocchi at Louie’s like my famous Caesar Salad or Crab Cakes! Mangia…Mangia! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 2 ex-tra lg russet potatoes – 1.5 lbs. total
• 1 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1 lg egg
• 1/3 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Bring medium pan to a boil, adding 1 tsp salt
2. Add in the 2 whole russet potatoes – NOT PEELED
3. Boil the potatoes til tender, can pierce with a fork – APPROX 40 MINUTES
4. Remove potatoes with tongs to a cutting board and begin to peel off the skin with a fork gently scraping the outer layer
5. Cut the hot potato into half and load the potato ricer – MUST RICE THE POTATOES WHILE HOT for light and fluffy gnocchi!
6. Push the potato thru the ricer onto a cutting board and spread out the potato now to cool
7. Add 1 egg to a large mixing bowl and whisk
8. Add in the riced potato and mix with a fork just to combine
9. Add in the ricotta, Parmesan, salt and pepper and mix with the fork to combine
10. Add in 1 1/4 of the flour and mix with a fork at first and as it comes together begin to mix with you hands, if it’s too sticky add a pinch more flour
11. Turn dough out onto work surface with a small amount of flour
12. Begin to cut off a little at a time from the lg ball of gnocchi dough and roll out each piece into a long 1/2″ x 18″ (approx) rope
13. Cut rope into 1/2″ pieces and then roll each piece off a fork to form indents
14. These indents help to hold the sauce
15. Lay a dish towel over a cookie tray and sprinkle a little flour on top
16. As you form these little potato pillows lat them onto the dish towel
17. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil
18. Swirl the boiling water with a lg spoon to create a circular whirlpool …help to keep gnocchi from sinking to the bottom completely
19. Begin to add gnocchi to the boiling, swirling water
20. They will sink a little at first and then when they start to float when they are cooked – 3 MINUTES
21. Immediately begin to remove floating, swirling gnocchi with a slotted spoon to a large serving bowl with your gravy or sauce
22. Continue to do this until you go through all the potato dough
23. Cook what you want at this point
24. TO FLASH FREEZE:  Line up the extra gnocchi onto cutting boards that fit into your freezer and begin to flash freeze them until solid, sprinkle a little flour directly onto each board – Do not use a dish towel at this point
25. Then pop the frozen gnocchi off of the cutting boards and place frozen gnocchi into lg Ziploc baggies and back into freeze until future use

TIP:  When using flash frozen gnocchi in the future go directly from the freezer to the boiling water, give a couple of stirs so as not to clump at the bottom. NEVER thaw first or leave on counter too longer especially marble or granite because they will thaw quickly.

Ricotta Pie at Kathy’s

Kathy’s Ricotta pie gives you a filling with the creaminess of a cheese cake and the flavors of an Italian cannoli without all the work. My favorite part of this recipe is the cookie crust crunch that brings it all together! You just can’t go wrong here making this incredible dessert that’s also ideal for breakfast.

Ricotta pie is really a traditional Italian dessert served at Easter. There are so many different versions of ricotta pie out there. Both the filling and the crust vary from cook to cook and family to family who treasure this little treat. That’s what makes each recipe so special because it becomes very personalized. Whether it’s adding orange zest, lemon zest, cranberries or even Marsala wine to the crust to make it more in sink with the makings of a cannoli shell the avenues of creativity are endless.

Enjoy the show and I have a feeling this could very well be on your next dinner table! Not to mention, this would be a great little dessert to bring to any party. You might get a little ambitious and want to try some Cold Cucumber Soup with Seared Scallops, Lobster Mac & Cheese,  Salmon B.L.T. Sliders or Shrimp Scampi to go along with this delicious ricotta pie!

Ingredients for Crust:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 4 T vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions for Crust:

1. Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer
2. Combine liquid ingredients together and add to dry ingredients
3. Mix on low setting until just combined
4. Turn out onto a generously floured surface
5. Shape into a ball
6. Reserve 1/4 cup of the dough and set aside for cutting out small shapes to decorate the top of the pie on the ricotta filling…stars, leaves, hearts
7. Roll into a circle to fit a standard pie plate, dough will be very soft
8. You want the dough to be about 1/4″ thick
9. Use rolling pin to transfer crust to pie plate

Ingredients for Filling:

• 1 lb ricotta cheese – Whole Milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions for Filling – Pre-Heat Oven to 350º:

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir or whisk together ricotta, egg, sugar, and vanilla
2. Fold in raisins and chocolate chips
3. Pour into crust
4. Roll out the reserved pie dough, use cookie cutters to cut out shapes to decorate the top of the filling
5. Bake for 45-55 minutes just til crust is golden
6. Remember as with baking a cheese cake the center should not be set …it should look jiggly in the center not set!
7. Don’t worry, It will set up a considerable amount more as it cool
8. Can serve warm, room temperature, or chilled
9. Cool for 1 hour on the counter, wrap and cool or store in refrigerator
10. Options – can use all chocolate chips or all raisins, or sweetened dried cranberries with orange or lemon zest

Greek Baklava at Maria’s

You’ll know why this Greek Baklava is considered “The Dessert of the Gods” when you bite into the rich flavor of the walnuts, the sticky, syrupy bottom and the buttery-flaky top layers. Not to mention, hearing that sizzling as you pour the cooled honey syrup over the hot baked phyllo dough with layers of ground walnuts, cinnamon and cloves will make you mouth water!

It’s truly amazing how the top layers of the Greek baklava soak up that honey-syrup yet remain flaky and stay drier then those sticky and syrupy bottom layers of the Greek baklava -the perfect combination. The trick here to not having a gooey, soggy baklava is to make sure the baked baklava is hot and the honey-syrup is cooled. It’s important that they’re not both hot.

Looking at the gorgeous golden layers of phyllo and walnuts in the Greek Baklava you’ll automatically think that this may be too difficult to make. On the contrary, the Gods are very forgiving here because this really is a fail safe dish! Phyllo dough can be temperamental whether it’s your first time working with it or your hundredth . That fact is, it won’t matter whether you are layering with a piece that has a rip in it or not because the buttery layers completely flake up and turn golden when the are baked and you just can’t tell.

It was such a fun afternoon at my dear friend Maria’s house learning how to make her amazing Greek Baklava. I’m grateful she shared a family recipe that holds much tradition for the holidays. I hope you can add this incredible dish to your parties and or holiday’s too. Who knows, maybe some day I will get Maria to share with us her Moussaka recipe!

If you are craving the exotic Mediterranean flavors you should definitely try the yogurt chicken kabobs with roasted grape tomatoes, tzatziki and garlic toum that may be the most flavor chicken you will ever have to go with this lovely Greek Baklava. What a perfect dinner that would be! Or you could mix it up a little going down the road to Italy with my lazy-mans lasagna, homemade pasta, or spaghetti and a secret meatballs recipe from New Haven Apizza and Bakery! Enjoy 🙂

Baklava Ingredients:

• 1 lb walnuts – pulsed finely in the food processor
• 1 package phyllo dough thawed over night in the frig
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 dash of ground clove
• 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (melted but not HOT)

 Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/2 of a lemon
• A lemon peel, a 1″ x 2″ piece

Directions for Syrup:

1. NOTE: Make the syrup first and let it cool down while you are working on the baklava
2. Add all the syrup ingredients to a saucepan over medium-high and heat bring to a simmer
3. Simmer for about 10 minutes until a froth is formed
4. Pour into a glass Pyrex (heat proof) measuring cup or similar to let COOL and set aside

Directions for Baklava:

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Pulse the walnuts in your food processor until they are finely chopped and put them into a bowl
3. Add the cinnamon and clove to the walnuts and mix with a spoon to combine
4. Use a brush to apply butter to the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 pan
5. Place a layer of the phyllo dough then brush the top of the phyllo dough with butter
6. Repeat 8 times (total bottom layer 8-9)
7. Spread about 3/4 of a cup of the walnut mixture at a time
8. Add 2 more layers of phyllo dough and brush butter in between each layer
9. Add another layer of walnuts and repeat process 3 more times or until nuts are gone
10. Add 8-9 layers of buttered phyllo dough for the topping
11. Make sure to butter the final top layer
12. Cut the baklava into 3″ x 3″ squares with a very sharp knife, then slice those squares on a diagonal
13. Bake for approx. 50 minutes until golden
14. When the baklava comes out of the oven pour the COOLED syrup over the HOT baklava immediately and hear that wonderful sizzle
15. Allow the baklava time to absorb the honey-syrup, about 2-3 hours or overnight
16. Do not refrigerate, or cover, just tent loosely with foil and you can leave out on the counter for up to 1 week, although it won’t last that long lol …enjoy 🙂
17. Try crumbling the baklava over a bowl of vanilla ice cream…mmm!

CT Style Summer Kick Off!

I was kicking off my seasonal summer dishes on the set of CT Style Morning Show in the Bender Kitchen this week! Doing the cooking segment on CT Style was so much fun, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and everyone there was very welcoming. Besides presenting the “featured” recipe in the segment showing off some of my other high viewing YouTube shows was important to me so I began to organize and get the prep work done. These other recipe’s that I wanted to display in the segment were my homemade Caesar Salad, Buffalo Chicken Dip, Baked Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto, CrazyGood Candied Pecans and the Pavlova.  The other aspect of getting ready for CT Style was getting all my art work and photos in order with high resolution graphics and Steve at Gulla Design did a wonderful job helping me with this!

The actual featured recipe for the show was the cold cucumber & fennel soup topped with seared scallops. If you have never tried this yet you need to put this at the top of your list because the flavors here are out of this world! If you are not a big soup person you have to at least have the seared scallops with my green goddess sauce for another amazing duo!

The cold cucumber and fennel soup is the same soup I presented in the MasterChef Open Casting Call in NYC this past March. All the tasting judges had loved the soup! Although, for the MasterChef presentation I had topped the soup with Alaskan King Crab. For the CT Style segment I placed seared scallops in the center of the soup. Scallops are very tender when cooked properly, and have a mild flavor but can totally stand up to the bursting flavors of the soup without getting lost. Topping the soup with the scallops is definitely my favorite way to have this dish. The cold cucumber & fennel soup and seared scallop make for a perfect match!

I hope you will enjoy my “CT Style Summer Kick Off” as much as I did! This cold cucumber & fennel soup with seared scallops may change your summer. Since we are talking about boosting your culinary summer, I’m going to keep on you about making your own BBQ Sauce until you get it done! Another great side dish for summer is my Zucchini Torta and a refreshing dessert of Fresh Berry Granita! And don’t forget the amazing Metaxa Mojito’s to kick off your get together! Enjoy 🙂