Italian

Mom’s Stuffed Peppers

by Lisa on November 21, 2011

I cannot remember when my mom started making stuffed peppers, but they have become a staple at all holiday appetizer tables in our family. They are so popular that when my mom came to visit me through the years, we would stop at Whole Foods, get the ingredients and there would be a jar in the fridge before she left.

When Jeromy and I started hosting Thanksgiving a few years ago, I knew I had to make these. Given TSA regulations, my mom could not just carry a couple of jars on the plane with her because of the oil and vinegar. If I didn’t make them, we wouldn’t have them on Thanksgiving. You have no idea yet how unacceptable that would have been.

These are so easy and delicious. The hardest part? Waiting one to two weeks to eat them!

Mom’s Stuffed Peppers

Print this recipe!

Ingredients

Whole cherry peppers—I bought about 28 in 4 jars {I had to go to four stores to find them!!}
1/3 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto
1/3 lb. thinly sliced provolone
3-4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Method

First it is advisable to use some food grade gloves for this project. You don’t want to handle the peppers and then accidentally touch your eye! Or a baby, that would not be fun. We keep a box of these gloves in our kitchen and they’re great for handling raw meat, poultry, fish or spicy peppers.

Drain all of the peppers and cut off the tops. Reserve the tops, do not discard.

Some of the peppers won’t be usable if they have holes in them or are a little brown, set them aside with the tops.

Using a melon baller, remove the seeds and ribs, taking care not to split open the pepper.

Next, trim the pepper from around the stem. Discard the stem.

Mince the pepper tops and any cleaned peppers that can’t be stuffed, with the garlic. Place 3/4 of this mixture in the bottom of a mason jar. Ordinarily I would just use the jar the peppers came in but since I had to buy four small jars it was easier to put them into one large jar.

Lay out two pieces of prosciutto end to end and place two pieces of provolone on top. Repeat once, then roll tightly.

Slice into 1 inch or so pieces that can be stuffed into the peppers.

Carefully, stuff the peppers. Repeat these steps until all of the peppers are stuffed.

Some will stick out above the top of the pepper, that’s totally fine.

Others will fit pretty well.

Put all of the stuffed peppers in the mason jar on top of the minced peppers and garlic.

Top with the remaining minced peppers and garlic.

Fill the jar halfway with olive oil then the rest of the way with balsamic vinegar. Give it a good shake and stick it in the refrigerator.

Every couple of days, pull the jar out of the refrigerator, let it come to room temperature, give it another shake them put it back in the refrigerator upside down. The next time, put it back in right side up. After one week, they’ll taste good, after two weeks, they’ll taste great!

To serve, cut the peppers in half. If you have a high tolerance for spicy, use the olive oil vinegar mixture as a salad dressing. I can’t handle that, but my mom can.

Only three days until we can pop open that jar!

Enjoy!

{ 3 comments }

Flavors of Fall {Butternut Squash Risotto}

by Lisa on October 17, 2011

Risotto is one of my favorite meals to prepare in large batches. Jeromy and I can get a meal out of it and a couple of servings for lunch. Over the summer I don’t make risotto because it is just too hot where we live to stand over a stove stirring rice for 25 minutes, even with the help of air conditioning. So with the advent of fall, I start making risotto once again.

Risotto can be temperamental and I don’t always make it well. Last time I made it, I put too much stock into the pot and the rice became gummy. Not a good way to eat risotto. I was much more careful for this recipe and it turned out perfectly.

Since Caroline and I are in Massachusetts right now I made this on Friday night so Jeromy would have something to eat while we’re gone. Though let’s be honest, Jeromy is able to feed himself while I’m gone but at least this way I know he’s eating something with vegetables!

Print this recipe!

Ingredients

1 butternut squash
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 slices of bacon, cut into thin strips, 1/2 inch wide
1 medium large shallot
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup Arborio rice
4 cups chicken stock, warmed
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/2-1 cup of water
2 tablespoons butter
about a 1-2 inch slice of goat cheese
1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
salt
pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice the butternut squash in half, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 45 minutes.

Allow the squash to cool completely {I ended up doing this step early in the morning and leaving it in the fridge for a few hours}. Set aside the squash seeds to toast for a garnish.

When you are ready to make the risotto, mash the squash until it’s a smooth consistency.

I find risotto easiest to make if all of the ingredients are measured out an assembled when I start the recipe. Mise en place is key here.

Most importantly, the broth or stock that will be added to the rice needed to be at a high temperature. I use my electric kettle to boil the chicken stock in this recipe so that I could just pour it into the pot as needed. If you don’t have an electric kettle, just keep the broth at a simmer on the stove and use a ladle to transfer the broth to the risotto pot.

Use a large pot for this recipe, I use my Dutch oven for risotto.

Render the bacon until cooked to your preferred level {my husband likes it soft, I like it crunchy. For this dish, I did it crunchy to add texture}.

Remove the bacon to a rack lined with a paper towel.

Add the shallot to the pot over medium high heat. There should be enough rendered bacon fat in the pot, but if necessary add a splash of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and sauté the shallots until they are soft, about 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the Arborio rice and stir until it’s well coated and toast for about a minute. Then, add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all of the browned bits of delicious goodness on the bottom.

When almost all of the wine has been absorbed by the rice add a cup of the warm chicken stock and stir continuously.

Add the broth in batches. As one cup is almost completely absorbed, add another cup, while continuing to stir the pot. This should take 20-25 minutes. After 3 cups of broth, I like to taste the rice to see how much more broth to add. If the rice is still on the crunchy side of done, I add more, if it’s feeling soft and creamy, I’ll stop adding broth. You just want to avoid reaching the gummy stage with too much broth.

Next, add in the mashed butternut squash. Immediately the risotto will become very thick, so add 1/2-1 cup of water to thin it out a bit. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine.

Remove the pot from the heat add stir in the sage, bacon, goat cheese and butter. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste.

{At this point, I should have lightly toasted the squash seeds, but I forgot about them and didn’t include them in the final dish.}

Serve immediately.

Risotto is so creamy and filling that a little bit can go a long way. You can even serve this as a first course at a dinner party for a taste of risotto instead of the main course.

I love that this risotto packs a punch of great fall flavor from the butternut squash and sage.

Enjoy!

{ 3 comments }

Mangia! {Chicken Piccata}

by Lisa on May 16, 2011

Oh man. I love this recipe. Last year, Jeromy and I decided to cook every recipe out of Giada De Laurentiis’s book, Everyday Italian. We didn’t make it through the entire book in one year, so we’re going to keep plugging away, but this recipe stood out as one to make over and over and over again. And we do.

The fresh and bright flavors of this recipe make it perfect for a springtime meal—I haven’t changed this recipe at all from the original. I still had the lemons from our lemon tree so I made chicken piccata for our Sunday dinner. Served on a bed of angel hair pasta, it’s a filling meal and I ate it the leftovers for lunch today.

Ingredients:

1 package thin cut chicken cutlets {about 1 pound, there were 6 in this package}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour, for dredging
4 tablespoons unsalted butter {I used Earth Balance}
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice {from 2 lemons}
1/4 cup drained capers, rinsed
2-4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

Method:

I always rinse chicken or other meat products before using them. So rinse the chicken and pat dry. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour, set aside.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and melt 2 tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil. Once combined, add the chicken to the pan in batches.

Cook for 3 minutes per side, until the chicken is browned. Remove and set aside on a plate.

Next, add the chicken broth, lemon juice and capers to the pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a platter. Whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.

I love how the briny flavor of the capers melds with the brightness of the lemon and parsley.

I seriously could eat just the sauce, which is why I serve it over pasta.

Enjoy!

Recipe from Everyday Italian.

{ 5 comments }

Mangia! {Eggplant Parmesan}

by Lisa on April 12, 2011

One of my all time favorite meals is eggplant parmesan. I love the way my mom makes it—with layers and layers of eggplant, cheese and sauce, almost like a lasagna.

This is not prepared the way my mom prepares it Her way takes a lot of time, my way? 45 minutes, tops.

Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced to 1/4 inch thick
panko bread crumbs
Italian bread crumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup of water
flour
burrata mozzarella cheese
2 cups of prepared tomato sauce {I used my mom’s!}
salt
pepper

Method

Slice the eggplant and lay them out on cutting board. This is the most important step: sprinkle the slices with salt and let them sit for 10 minutes. The salt draws the moisture and bitterness out of the eggplant and really improves the flavor. After 10 minutes, the eggplant will look like this:

Rinse off the eggplant and pat it dry.

While the eggplant is sweating, set up your breading station. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to use up as much as we can in our pantry. Now that we’re getting ready to move, using up our pantry is more important than ever—the more we use, the less we move! I really want to simplify the amount of food we keep on hand in our next house and will share our approach with you when we move, but back to the recipe….

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For your breading station, place some flour in a shallow bowl and season with salt and pepper; whisk the two eggs and water in a separate shallow bowl; and mix the panko bread crumbs with the Italian breadcrumbs in another shallow bowl.

PLEASE do not run out and buy these ingredients, use what you have on hand. If you have plain bread crumbs, just add some dried oregano, parsley and thyme.

Next, dredge the eggplant in the flour, shake off excess. Then, dip both sides in the egg, shake off excess. Finally, dredge both sides in the bread crumbs. Be sure there is a good coating of breadcrumbs on each slice.

Bake the eggplant on a greased cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. This way both sides will get nice and crispy. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on the oven. You want the coating to be crispy but the inside to be soft.

Spread a spoonful of the sauce on the bottom of the baking pan then lay the eggplant in one layer on top of it. {If you prefer the eggplant to stay very crispy, do not spread the sauce on the bottom of the pan}. Next, spread some sauce on each piece of eggplant.

Finally, divide the mozzarella cheese evenly among the eggplant and sprinkle all of it with parmesan cheese.

Pop this in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and a bit brown on top.

Serve immediately. Ordinarily I’ll serve this alongside a salad and/or some pasta, but on this particular evening we were in a rush to eat and checking out houses online, so we both scarfed down the eggplant without anything else It was delicious, though not as crunchy as I would like. I think if I hadn’t put the sauce on the bottom of the pan and maybe used the broiler, I would have had a better result. Feel free to make these modifications. Recipes are just a guide!

Enjoy!

{ 0 comments }

Mangia! {Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce}

by Lisa on April 2, 2011

My mom and dad came down to visit this weekend to see me all pregnant and to help us start getting some stuff for the baby. They also treated me to some maternity clothes. Thanks to them, my mother-in-law and my generous friends who have loaned me clothes {and of course I had to buy a few things for myself!}, I’m almost all set to get through the next 4.5 months!

When my mom comes down, I usually ask her to make a batch of her spaghetti sauce to keep in the freezer. Not that it actually lasts that long! My mom’s sauce is my absolute favorite, and it couldn’t be more simple.

Ingredients:

1/2 an onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
approximately 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, basil and parsley
2 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, pureed
parmesan cheese
sugar
salt and pepper

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy pan {we used my Dutch oven}. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent.

Add in the herbs, salt and pepper and give it a good stir.

My mom took a look at the pot at this point and said, eh, not enough herbs. So she added more. I cook like my mom, not entirely accurate measurements, but it tastes delicious!

Once the onions start to brown and the herbs are fragrant, add all of the tomatoes.

Next come the two ingredients in my mom’s recipe that really make a difference: parmesan cheese and sugar.

Finally, bring the pot to a boil then set it over low heat to simmer for about three hours, stirring occasionally. While we waited for the sauce we made some fresh pasta dough and rolled out fettuccine. It was a mess but we had a lot of fun!

After three hours you’ll have a pot full of thick and delicious spaghetti sauce.

This recipe is pretty simple, but it has a great depth of flavor. Simmering it for three hours really allows all of the ingredients to meld together. I could eat this by the bowlful. Last night, in fact, I did!

If you wanted to add meat to this it would be delicious, but I love it as an alternative for a meatless meal.

Enjoy!

{ 1 comment }

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