Italian Heavy Hitters (aka RRR's wine tasting): The Food!

Big Night…

Well the eating commenced prior to the first pour. I tried to stagger the menu until all the usual suspects arrived. Plus, I was holding off on the heavier items in anticipation of the wine. Eat, taste… then repeat.

I should probably give readers of this blog some insight into my approach to cooking and utilizing recipes. I typically use recipes as a general guideline and modify based on what I have on hand or what is seasonal. As Ms. Foodie might be learning now, out in the ‘burbs, you do not always have all ingredients available. Take for example, a special stop for leeks! And another trip for bread! Plus I could not find decent pita bread…

Spicy Shrimp Boats – Guess I'll first have to confess that I have a subscription to Every Day with Rachel Ray. Guess Ms. Foodie will have to post a link on her blog! (Ed note: you're right! here it is!) Actually, there aren’t many recipes in the mag that have been worthy of a try. But this one looked simple enough and I needed to find a use for the cooked shrimp in my freezer.

I cut up an English cucumber and carved out the center – to make little round vessels for the shrimp. This surgery to the cucumber took the most time. Otherwise, I quite simply diced up some pre-cooked shrimp. Combined a tablespoon of rice vinegar and ½ Tbs. of sugar and nuked for a couple of seconds to dissolve the sugar. The recipe called for minced jalapeno – however I bought minced green chile by mistake. I used it anyways and added a couple of dashes of Tabasco. Instead of chopped fresh mint (recipe),I had some cilantro on hand instead. Fill the little cuke cups with this shrimp mixture and voila – something fancy – almost 'sushi looking' to impress the guests. Nice sweetness of the rice vinegar coupled with a touch of spiciness. Plus the 'lightness' of it all was a nice break from what was yet to come…

Shrimp with Artichoke Pesto – Partnered some of the whole cooked shrimp with this easy tasty pesto. Using the food processor, pulsed together some artichoke hearts, a handful of fresh basil, shredded Parmesan cheese, garlic and streamed in some olive oil. Easy, tasty and hit with the crowd! Not only was it a more unique side than the typical cocktail sauce, but it doubled as a topping for crostini. I plan on using the 'leftovers' on fish or chicken this week. At the last tasting, I served shrimp with a Bloody Mary sauce – email Ms. Foodie if you'd like that recipe!

Baba-ga-humus – I discovered this recipe in Cooking Light. Roasted a whole eggplant, let cool and then peeled the skin. Added the eggplant pulp, 3-4 Tbs. of tahini, a can of chickpeas, salt, pepper and of course, the garlic. Whizzed around in the food processor and served with some crostini. As a lover of all things eggplant, I could eat this by the spoonful – actually, I have been using the leftovers as a spread in lieu of mustard on my sandwiches this week!

Goat Cheese Leek and Pancetta tart. I tried my hand at using frozen puff pastry and I am sold! This recipe was inspired by two NYT recipes I had on hand. Defrosted a sheet of the puff pastry and rolled out the sheet a bit to fit on a cookie sheet. Brushed the pastry with a bit of truffle oil. Topped with leeks and diced pancetta that I had already sauteed up. A sprinkling of goat cheese and popped into the oven (400 degrees) for approximately 25 minutes. These also re-heated well during the course of the long festive night.

Flatbreads – Sorry to do this again but yes, inspired by Rachel Ray on this one. Admittedly, I have gotten some good inspiration and ideas from her show (and – another confession – her cookbook. It was a gift! Even Ms. Foodie has one.) Unable to find some 'thick' authentic pita bread, I had to settle for the lavash bread at the deli. Oh well, they still were easy to make, tasty and easy to re-heat during the evening. I even 'tested' one out the night before for an easy dinner.

I piled on some arugula, prosciutto and brie. For the veggie topping, I made two different versions, one using grilled eggplant and sauteed mushrooms on another. I folded the lavash and grilled up in a pan on the stove. Easily cut up into appetizer-size squares. They made for the perfect little packages to accompany the wine. For dinner the previous night, I used some salami on hand vs the prosciutto and ummm tasty!

Stuffed Sausage Bread – Ok brace yourselves, but got this recipe from Parade magazine. Yes, that flimsy Sunday newspaper insert! And of course, not the REAL sausage bread that Ms. Foodie, Cousina and I make for Christmas. The recipe called for two loaves, but I halved it for one loaf and did some tweaking. I sauteed up some sausage (approx. ½ lb.) and 1/3 lb ground meat (recipe called for beef but I had turkey on hand) with diced onion (about 1 medium). I hollowed out a fat French loaf bread (cut both off the ends and use a long serrated knife) and made some bread crumbs with the 'innards' in the food processor. Then added the bread crumbs to the meat mixture, along with a heavy Tbs of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, diced fresh sage and diced fresh flat leaf parsley plus one egg. Took the 'stuffing' and jammed it back into the hollowed out loaf. Make sure you pack it tightly so it can slice well when done (my lesson learned). Then reattached the ends – I used two BBQ skewers, inserted diagonally on each end. In the meantime, I made some 'garlic butter' and brushed that on top. Wrapped it in tin foil, leaving the top slightly exposed and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees. A perfect appetizer to make ahead and then pop into the oven. Mr. RRR believes this rivals the REAL sausage bread, but not sure his opinion is worth much. He'll devour just about anything made with sausage. Hmmm… sounds like someone else we all know? (Ed note: I have NO idea who she is referring to...oink oink)

Pasta Bolognese – A 'real' recipe this time, from the master Mr. Batali. I sauteed up approximately 2 diced carrots, 4 celery stalks and 2 onions (my advice is to use the food processor to get it to a fine dice) in my Dutch oven. Added some diced pancetta (approximately 4 oz.). Then added ground meat – 2 lbs in total. Given the limitations of the burbs I used one package of the meatloaf mix (beef, pork and veal) and 1 lb. of ground pork. Mario's recipe called for 1 lb. veal and 1 lb. pork. Sauteed that up until cooked through and then added 8oz. of tomato paste, ½ cup dry white wine, 1 cup of milk and fresh thyme ( I threw in some dried too.). Instead of 1 cup water, I used beef broth. And of course, some salt and pepper. You can cook it on the stove (low heat) for 1 – 1.5 hours, or as I did – in the oven at a low temp (250 degrees). Nothing beats anything cooked in the Le Crusette in the oven! I actually made this the night before and just heated it up and added some pasta water to liquefy a bit. Topped the pasta and sauce with some shredded parmesean. A match made in heaven! Oh the vino, let’s not forget the vino! I have to admit, when I heard Mitch decided on Italian reds, I could only dream about this combination.

Chocolate Chip Cookies – There is always room for something sweet, no? Made these a couple of nights prior. Instead of defaulting to the Tollhouse package recipe,I followed one by Cook's Illustrated. The primary differences being melting the butter for creaming with the sugar, using more brown sugar (versus white) and using one whole egg and one yolk. The result being a more chewy cookie – yes, even after a couple of days of being on the counter. And that is the real test – actually two test – 1.) staying chewy and 2.) lasting 2 days without being eaten in entirety!

Molten Chocolate Cake – As fancy as this may sound, it couldn't be easier. This can be a go to impress your guests with no effort dessert for just about anyone! Melted some bittersweet chocolate chips and butter over a double boiler. Whisked in some sugar, eggs, egg yolks and a wee bit of flour. That is it! (I'm going to spare you calorie counters out there by not telling you how much of these ingredients go in.) Put into ramekins and bake for 15 minutes or so (depends on size of ramekins). Mine oozed out within seconds of hitting the plate, but who cares when there's vanilla frozen yogurt so scoop up with the decadent, rich chocolate mess. The crowd did hiss when the frozen yogurt came out - Who's watching calories at this point?