Dolci di Noci or Italian Nut Cookies

 

Italian Nut Cookies/Dolci di Noci

2 room temperature egg whites

½ teaspoon of cream of tartar

pinch of salt

¾ cup white sugar

3 cups finely ground nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, etc)

a few drops of both vanilla and almond extract (optional)

1 tablespoon corn starch

powdered sugar for the balls, about ¼ cup

Whip the the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until just starting to inflate, don't whip until stiff. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except powdered sugar) until well mixed and the egg whites are well incorporated. You can either bake now or chill for a while.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Take about 1 tablespoon of the dough and form into a ball. Roll the ball of dough in the powdered sugar and place on the cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the sides are just lightly browned. Remove the parchment sheet to a rack to cool. Do not attempt to remove the cookies until completely cooled. Store in a tight container. This should make about 2 dozen cookies, according to how big you make the balls.

For the nuts, place whole or pieces of nuts in a food processor and process until it looks kinda like wet sand. Do not over process or you will end up with nut butter. You can also use premade nut flours, but the freshly ground ones will have a better flavor.

Panna Cotta, an Italian Treat

 If you love the taste of ice cream, you will love the taste of panna cotta.   Panna cotta is Italian for cooked cream, although the cream isn't really cooked, more barely heated to simmering.  What in the old days, we would call scalded.   It is easy to make, although it can take 6-8 hours to set to it's jiggly succulence.  

1 pkg unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar, white or brown or even Splenda (or to taste)

2 tsp GOOD vanilla extract

2-3 DROPS almond extract (be careful not to use too much or it will over power things, you may omit if you wish)

Place the gelatin in a small bowl and cover with the milk.  Allow to sit around 10 minutes, which is about the amount of time needed to prepare the other things. 

In a saucepan, combine the milk and sugar or Splenda.  Place over medium heat and bring to just barely a simmer.  Don't boil.   Remove from heat and whisk in the softened gelatin, it should dissolve almost instantly, if not, stir gently until it is.   Add your extracts, mix well and then pour into four small serving dishes.   Cover and chill about 6-8 hours or until set.   Serve in the dish with some fruit or a spoon full of fruit syrup or your flavored booze of choice.   You can also serve with nothing at all.   

You can vary the flavor by using other extracts or flavorings.  

Don's Mushroom Lasagna

A very and decadent meatless meal here.   If you are a fan of mushrooms, you will love this delicious meal.

For mushrooms:
2 lbs. mixed mushrooms, chopped
2 oz. dried mushrooms, rinsed and then covered with 1 cup, cooked in the microwave for three minutes, then allowed to soak another 10 minutes  (optional)
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 tbsp. butter & 3 tbsp. olive oil


Drain the soaked mushrooms, reserving the broth and chop the mushrooms then adding to the raw ones.  In a large Dutch oven heat the oil and butter, add the mushrooms and onion and fry on medium heat until well browned, stirring often.  When slightly browned, add the garlic and keep cooking.   Remove from heat and remove mushrooms to a bowl.

Cream Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
mushroom soaking liquid and enjoy milk to make 5 cups.   Heat the butter in the Dutch oven you fried the mushrooms in.   Add the flour and, stirring constantly, lightly brown the flour in the butter, slowly stir in the milk/broth mixture and continue stirring until it is thickened.  Simmer about 2 minutes.    Remove from heat and cool.

Assembling the lasagna:

4 cups mozzarella cheese
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese, mixed with an egg and 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper
9 lasagna noodles,  cooked,  drained, rinsed and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Grease a 9x13 inch cake pan.   Spread a thin layer of of the sauce on the bottom of the pan.  Place three noodles in the bottom of the pan.  spread with some of the sauce, then sprinkle half the ricotta over the sauce, then half of the mushrooms and a thin layer of the grated cheeses.   Repeat.  Place the last three noodles over the top of the second layer.  Spread with the remainder of the sauce and then the remaining grated cheeses.   Bake in the preheated oven about 45 minutes or until bubbling and the top of the cheese is lightly browned.   Remove from the oven and allow to sit and cool about 15-20 minutes before serving.  

Marinara Sauce

Like I posted below with my Italian meatball recipe, Aaron and I rarely eat pasta, but every so often we get a hankering for it.   For the most part I am lazy and just open a good quality jar of sauce, but I wanted something special to go with my meatballs.   So after study and comparing recipes, I've put together a good marinara sauce that goes perfectly with my Italian meatballs and is also pretty quick and easy to make.

4 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup wine (optional)
2 28-oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
1 14.5-oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6-oz. can of tomato paste
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
1 tsp. Italian herbs
1 tsp. dried basil (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven and then add the onion.   Fry gently until the onion begins to brown a bit.   Add the garlic and fry a minute or two until very fragrant.   Add the wine and simmer until it is nearly all evaporated, then add the remaining ingredients.   Simmer about 30 minutes or until it reaches the thickness you like.   If you are going to simmer the Italian meatballs in the sauce, you may need to add a bit of water or tomato juice, as they will absorb some of the liquid.   Enjoy!

Italian Meatballs

Aaron and I rarely eat pasta, but every so often we get a hunger for some.   Usually I make my bolognese sauce, but this weekend I was hungry for meatballs.   I did some research and came up with a recipe for meatballs that I thought I'd try.   I'm very happy I did, as they turned out fantastic.   Good enough that I wanted to share it with you.  Here goes!

Italian Meatballs

1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 pound ground chuck

1 pound Italian sausage, hot or sweet, your preference

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

4 tbsp. chopped parsley

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp. cold water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.  Set aside.   Mix the panko bread crumbs with the buttermilk and set aside for about 10 minutes to soak, then mash to a smooth paste with a fork.   Add the remaining ingredients and mix well, but gently, with your hands.   Form into 2 inch balls and place on the greased baking sheet.   Roast uncovered for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned.   Simmer very gently in your favorite marinara sauce about 20-30 minutes, then eat with pasta or on a meatball sandwich.

Calzones for Christmas

It was a cold and snowy Christmas day here in Topeka.   My bf, Aaron, trudged through the snow drifts and made it to my apartment about 5:30 pm.   We had planned on making calzones for supper.   I have made pizza many times, but this was the first time for making calzones.    Aaron had requested we make them using Italian sausage, pepperoni and black olives for the filling.    First I made the dough:

3 1/2-4 cups white flour
1 tbsp. glutin
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp. yeast

I put all of this in the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer and using the dough hook, beat it until a smooth, elastic and fairly soft dough was made.   Then I allowed it to rise about an hour to an hour and a half.

While the dough was rising I cooked the Italian sausage in a saucepan, until lightly browned, stirring constantly so the large clumps were broken up.   When it was done I pushed all of the meat to one side of the pan and then propped the pan up on one side, to allow the fat to collect on the lower side.   After allowing to drain about 30 minutes, I scooped most of the fat out with a spoon, then took a clean paper towel to soak up the rest.

I love pepperoni, but find it makes pizza way too greasy for me, but heard that if you line a microwave safe plate with paper towels, put a layer of pepperoni slices over the paper towels and cover with another paper towel, then microwave for 1 minute on high, most of the grease will cook off.   I tried it and it really works very well!

And last I opened a small can of sliced black olives and drained them.

By this time the dough was well risen and ready to form into the calzones.    First I preheated the oven to 450 degrees.   Next I divided the dough into quarters and rolled each quarter out into a circle on a floured board, about 1/4 inch thick, maybe 8 inches across.   On half of the circle I spread a thin layer of pizza sauce, sprinkled about 1/2 cup of the cooked Italian sausage, then about 1/4 of the black olives, next a layer of the pepperoni slices and finally about 1/4 cup of grated mozzarella cheese.   I then folded the bare half circle of dough over the filling, stretching slightly to cover all the goodies, then sealed the edges of the dough together by folding under and pinching closed.   I repeated this for the remaining three balls of dough.   When all were filled and sealed, I place them on a greased baking sheet and placed in the hot oven.   They need to bake about 10-15 minutes or until the top is brown and crispy.