CT Style in The Bender Kitchen with Summertime Recipes!
Back on CT Style in The Bender Kitchen with Ryan Kristafer and Teresa Dufour this past Thursday morning! I feel so fortunate to be working with such a wonderful group of people at WTNH Channel 8 who make it so fun to share The Traveling Epicurean recipes with all of you.
My goal for this segment was to show you a couple of creative and really delicious ideas for all your summertime produce. Panzanella and Berries in Dreamy Cream came to mind.
One of the wonderful things about making these dishes is the abundance and variety you have to choose from at the farmers markets in the summer. The incredible flavors in this Panzanella recipe go without saying. All the aroma’s from the fresh herbs, basil, parsley, thyme & oregano to the fresh vegetables like the heirloom tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, red onions really get you salavating. The creaminess from the fresh mozzarella and the crunchy from the homemade croutons balance it all out.
As for the Berries in Dreamy Cream, you can whip this one up in a matter of minutes as well. I’ve been making this sauce for over 20 years and always get the same delightful response from guests after their first bite. You would never think that melting Fluff and cream cheese together could make such a delectable sauce on fresh berries. It’s a sensation you have to treat your self to and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.
You know this labor of love is so worth the effort when you taste how tender and flavorful these homemade tortellini are! The delicate, circular shaped pasta are stuffed with a purée of sundried tomato, mozzarella, and Reggiano Parmesan and served in one of my all time favorites, a tomato-cream sauce. I introduced Steve to another easy and scrumptious sauce, Gorganzola Dolce-Cream Saucethat’s garnishedwith fresh thyme and a drizzle of truffle oil!
This past weekend I was at The Gulla’s house with Steve and his son Maximo making their homemade tortellini. Steve dedicates a few hours every Christmas Eve making these little gourmet bites for his family’s Christmas dinner. Making these tortellini is definitely a labor of love because you are creating each little amazing folded bundle of pasta by hand.
Having a Smart pasta machine like Steve’s really cuts down on the labor of making tortellini as the pasta comes out of the machine in long ready-made sheets in mere minutes. It’s a very cool process putting out smooth sheets of pasta in 3 minutes flat but you can also learn to make Steve’s tortellini using homemade pasta too if you don’t own an Smart pasta machine. I have a homemade pastarecipe below for all of us without a pasta machine who don’t want to miss out on learning how to make these incredible tortellini.
As Italian legend goes on how the shape of the tortellini came about dates back to the days when Venus, the Goddess of Love, was traveling to a small town in Italy between Modena and Bologna. She was staying at a tavern where the Innkeeper was so taken by her beauty he peeked thru the key to her room one night and got a glimse of her navel. He rushed to the kitchen and created a pasta in the likeness of her belly button. And that’s how the shape of the tortellini came about, the belly button pasta! Who Knew?
INGRDIENTS for making PASTA in The Smart Pasta Machine:
3 parts flour
1 part semolina
180 ml OR 3/4 cup of water for 2 lbs flour in pasta machine
1 egg and 1 tsp water whisked in a small bowl – set aside until ready to form tortellini
INGREDIENTS for Sun-dried Tomato FILLING: NOTE: THIS FILLING IS UNBELIEVEABLY DELICIOUS!…try it on crostini OR on crusty bread!
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup mozzarella – whole milk or part skim
1/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Purée these ingredients with an immersion blender or add to food processor and pulse. Start with 2 tbsp of olive oil and add a little extra if needed to purée til smooth texture
DIRECTIONS FOR FORMING THE TORTELLINI WITH SHEETS OF PASTA MADE FROM THE PASTA MACHINE:
Begin to cut 2″ circles with your cookie cutter out of the machine made sheets of pasta
Brush top 1/2 of the circle edge with a whisked egg
Place 1/4 tsp of sun dried tomato filling in the middle of the circle pasta
Fold the circle in 1/2
Press to SEAL the 1/2 circle of pasta…VERY IMPORTANT to SEAL this edge!
Take 1/2 circle and wrap around your pinky having each end meet
Press these two ends together to seal and form one continous circular shape
Fold down top of circular pasta to form tortellini
Place in a bowl as you finish each one until you gone thru all the pasta sheets
Bring large pan of salted water to a boil and add fresh pasta
Cook pasta for 8 minutes, test pieces of pasta for proper doneness
Serve with tomato-cream sauce or Gorganzola Dolce-cream sauce, garnish with thyme and truffle oil … mmm!
INGREDIENTS FOR TOMATO-CREAM SAUCE:
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried oregano
3 1/4 cup POMI “strained tomaotes” – 1 med box – 26 oz.
2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp olive oil
Sauté finely chopped garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 3 minutes, add in POMI strained tomatoes, salt & oregano and simmer for 15 minutes. Add in 2 cups of heavy cream to tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer for 15 miutes more. Serve with cooked tortellini, garnish with fresh thyme (and truffle oil.
INGREDIENTS FOR GORGANZOLA DOLCE-CREAM SAUCE:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup Gorganzola Dolce cheese
1/4 cup dry vermouth
fresh thyme leaves
truffle oil
Add heavy cream, Gorganzola, and vermouth to a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. When it comes to a simmer whisk the melted cheese into the cream and simmer 10 minutes. Serve with tortellini, garnish with a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves and a drizzle of truffle oil.
INGREDIENTS for Easy Homemade-Handmade Pasta- (Recipe from “Pasta at Vin’s“)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup olive oil
4 1/2 – 5 lg eggs
1/4 tsp salt
DIRECTIONS:
Put the kneading attachment on your food processor and add the flour
Add the salt and olive oil
Turn on the food processor to slow
Add in 1 tbsp of water
Begin adding in 1 egg at a time with the processor still on slow
Add in the rest of the eggs
Keep the food processor going on medium speed to begin kneading the dough
Let knead for about 8 minutes until the texture turns into a smooth consistency
Remove the pasta dough and place onto the counter
Knead briefly with your hands and let sit for 1/2 hr.
NOTE: Vin does not cover his pasta dough while it sits for the 1/2 so it can begin to dry out a little bit
Sprinkle some flour onto the counter or work surface and cut pasta dough into 8 pieces
Begin to roll out each piece of dough to your desired thickness, into long lasagna-like sheets
Sprinkle more flour on top of each thinly rolled out pasta piece and begin to cut out 2″ circles with your cookie cutter
Brush top 1/2 of the circle edge with a whisked egg
Place 1/4 tsp of sun dried tomato filling in the middle of the circle pasta
Fold the circle in 1/2
Press to SEAL the 1/2 circle of pasta…VERY IMPORTANT to SEAL this edge!
Take 1/2 circle and wrap around your pinky having each end meet
Press these two ends together to seal and form one continous circular shape
Fold down top of circular pasta to form tortellini
Place in a bowl as you finish each one until you gone thru all the pasta sheets
Bring large pan of salted water to a boil and add fresh pasta
Cook pasta for 8 minutes, test pieces of pasta for proper doneness
Serve with tomato-cream sauce or Gorganzola Dolce-cream sauce, garnish with thyme and truffle oil … mmm!
There’s nothing like homemade Pickled Eggplant with thinly sliced strands of eggplant delicately flavored by vinegar, garlic, red hot chili pepper’s, oil-cured black olives and capers all nestled in an olive oil bath. The oil-cured, black olives, add a burst of rich, meaty, sweetness and then there’s a little pucker from the capers. Similar to the oil-cured olives, the eggplant become’s sweet in the beginning of the pickling process when the salt pulls out all the moisture and bitterness.
When Nancy first gave me a jar of her delectable pickled eggplant I knew I would have to get the recipe. Not only is her pickled eggplant to die for but everything she cooks is of the same standard, absolutely delicious! Along with inspiring me in the kitchen, Nancy had the same effect on me on the golf course when I first started playing 8 years ago. She has such tenacity and determination when playing I call her the fiesty golfer! Considering how difficult the game of golf can be, she’s the perfect person to learn the game with.
I had so much fun at Nancy’s house last week making her pickled eggplant. It’s so worth the effort you put into making your own, a most rewarding process when you taste the final product. All of these incredible flavors come together to make an amazing eggplant appetizer like you’ve never had before! You just can’t buy this in the stores!
10 cups distilled white vinegar – 3/4 of gallon jug
10 cups water
4 cups olive oil
approx 1/2 container of Mortons salt… use 1/3 cup per eggplant
2 cups Italian black oil cured olives – seedless
1 long hot red pepper
2 tbsp capers
8 lg garlic cloves coarsely chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano OR 2 tbsp fresh oregano dried in the microwave
1 large pickling crock
2 clean white cotton pillow cases
1 extra large bowl to tranfer wet eggplant in pillow cases back and forth from washing machine
a case of canning jars
Directions:
Peel and slice all 9 eggplants into 1/8″ thick pieces
Stack slices and cut into 1/8″ strips
Place cut up strips into large pickling crock
After the addition of each cut up eggpant sprinkle in about 1/3 cup salt and mix strips around with salt by hand
Go thru all 9 eggplant making sure to spinkle 1/3 cup salt after addition
Place a small dish on top of all the sliced eggplant so that the dish fits into the crock
Place the gallon jug of vinegar onto dish and let sit 2-3 hours
Remove vinegar bottle weight and plate from crock – at this point there will be a lot of dark brown juice extracted from the eggplant
Transfer eggplant to a clean pillow case a handful at a time leaving behind the brown juice
Divide all the eggplant into 2 pillow cases and tie off the ends into knots so as the eggplant doesn’t come out when you “spin” it in the washer
Rinse out the pickling crock
Take the two pillow cases full of eggplant to the washer and put on “spin” cycle only – NO WATER
After spin stops, remove eggplant from pillow cases & place back into crock (save pillow cases in a large bowl ready to use one more time before cleaning)
Add in chopped garlic cloves and sliced hot pepper
Bring 10 cups vinegar/10 cups water to a rapid boil
Pour vinegar/water mix over eggplant strands in crock
Stir breifly to mix and cover
Let ferment until cooled approx. for 3 hours giving the eggplant a stir at 1 1/2 hour mark
When the eggplant is cooled remove from crock back into pillow caeses
Divide up the eggplant and place back into the same two pillow cases you used on first spin
At this point run all the jars thru dishwasher – time it so they are hot ready to jar the pickled eggplant after 2nd spin (give it about 1/2 hour-depending on timing of your own dishwasher)
Put all the tops to the canning jars in a pan of water, bring to a boil to sterilze as well
Place the eggplant strands back in the washer on “spin” cylce only again – NO WATER
Rinse crock
Microwave fresh oregano in a microwave for 1 minute, crumble the oregano leaves off the stem and set aside
Add spun pickled eggplant back into the clean crock, add in 4 cups olive oil, 2 cups oil-cured black olives, 2 tbsps of caper and 2 tbsp of fresh microwaved oregano
Take hot jars out of the dishwasher and begin to fill with eggplant
Top off the pickled eggplant in the jars with a drizzle of olive oil keeping 1/2″ from the top
Wipe the top of the jars clean with a clean paper towel and seal with the hot tops you boiled on the stove – Be Careful Not To Burn yourself here
Approx 5 hours after putting the tops on the jars, gently push down on the middle circle to hear a small pop and complete the “seal” – NOTE: they may pop down completing that last seal all on their own
The pickled eggplant is done and will keep for months at room temp
I keep an opened jar in the fridge and bring to room temperature when ever I serve it…YUM!
Secret Meatball Recipe at Glenn’s New Haven Apizza
One of the most delicious meatballs you’ll ever have and the mammoth size will knock you for a loop! Glenn Proto, at New Haven Apizza & Bakery, right here in our very own Madison, CT, shared his mother, Annette’s, secret meatball recipe with me this week. The ingredients he use’s in his meatballs couldn’t get any fresher because he even grind’s his own meats for these meatballs. Freshly ground brisket, short ribs, 80/20 beef and Longhini sweet sausage are the main ingredients in his meatballs. Oh, but let’s not forget what he calls his “secret” to the meatballs, his addition of finely chopped pepperoni! Glenn says this is what give’s these authentic Italian meatball’s that extra special something!
Once we get past all the freshly ground meat that goes into Glenn’s meatballs the love doesn’t stop there, he then caramelizes red onions, adds in Ricotta fina (a special and costly ricotta from the very best Liuzzi Cheese in North Haven,CT, eggs, grated Romano cheese, Italian cubed up bread soaked in heavy cream, and fresh garlic and herbs! Wow, he doesn’t hold back on quality that’s for sure. What an incredible ingredient list for these most flavorful and succulent morsels. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word “morsels” either because the size of these meatball’s are cray cray! It was a blast rolling the meat mixture into bigger then baseball size meatballs with Glenn and his son Dylan. Isn’t it wonderful how the tradition carries on as Dylan and his siblings grew up making these incredible meatballs just as Glenn did. And now, we can add some of this lovely tradition into our kitchen’s since Glenn was so kind as to share his family’s recipe with all of us. He believe’s traditions and recipe’s are meant to be shared so everyone can enjoy them!
Hope you enjoy this secret meatball recipe show and remember he serve’s up 3 of these colossal meatballs in one “spaghetti and meatball” order from his restaurant! You might want to start with a few appetizer’s like my crab cakes, buffalo chicken dip, Mediterranean layered dip, spanakopita or my hummus!
Glenn’s Mammoth Size Meatballs – makes approx 10-12 Colossal Size…Can make them smaller to yield more meatballs!
2 1/2 lbs. of ground beef (.75 lbs ea. of ground brisket, short ribs and 80/20 ground beef)
1 1/4 lbs. Longhini sweet sausage
1/2 cup finely chopped pepperoni
2 cups Italian bread after soaked in heavy cream and squeezed slightly (1 lb. about 1 loaf of Italian bread, cubed and soaked in heavy cream)
2-3 cups heavy cream – to soak cubed up Italian bread
3 lg eggs
1 cup grated Romano cheese
3/4 cup ricotta (ricotta fina if you can get it)
3/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
1/3 heaping cup finely chopped fresh garlic
1/2 cup caramelized red onions (finely chop 2 med. size red onions and sauté on medium/high with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter for 5 minutes and then twenty minutes on low with adding 1 tbsp sugar and 1/4 tsp salt)
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp finely ground pepper
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp dried oregano
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400º
Cube up the Italian loaf of bread to 3/4″ pieces
Add cubed up bread to 2 – 3 cups heavy cream – should be enough to have all the pieces get saturated and soak for approx 15 minutes
Add beef and sausage to a large bowl and combine with your hands
Add in the pepperoni and the rest of the ingredients in the list and combine with your hands – Don’t over mixed meat …just until combined
Begin to roll meat mixture into desired size meatballs dipping your hands in the left over the heavy cream to help smooth the edges of the meat while shaping them
Place the meatballs onto a cookie tray..they can be right next to each other
Note: the larger they are the longer you will bake them
Bake for 45-60 until the tops are crispy and brown …mangia, mangia!
One of the wonderful things about making these dishes is the abundance and variety you have to choose from at the farmers markets in the summer. The incredible flavors in this Panzanella recipe go without saying. All the aroma’s from the fresh herbs, basil, parsley, thyme & oregano to the fresh vegetables like the heirloom tomatoes, garlic, cucumbers, red onions really get you salavating. The creaminess from the fresh mozzarella and the crunchy from the homemade croutons balance it all out.
There’s nothing like homemade Pickled Eggplant with thinly sliced strands of eggplant delicately flavored by vinegar, garlic, red hot chili pepper’s, oil-cured black olives and capers all nestled in an olive oil bath. The oil-cured, black olives, add a burst of rich, meaty, sweetness and then there’s a little pucker from the capers. Similar to the oil-cured olives, the eggplant become’s sweet in the beginning of the pickling process when the salt pulls out all the moisture and bitterness.
