Veal Strips in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce with Grapes

December 1, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Veal Strips in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Veal Strips in Sweet and Sour Sauce

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Veal Strips in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce with Grapes

Ingredients

  • (Serves 4)
  • 1 and 1/2 pound veal breast cutlets, cut into strips
  • 1 cluster dark grapes (3/4 pound)
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 quart dry red wine
  • 1/2 cup grape juice
  • 1 scallion
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 pinch cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 ladlefuls hot meat or chicken stock
  • 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon potato starch or corn starch

Directions

To make the sweet-and-sour sauce, place the wine, stock, grape juice, thinly sliced scallion, and spices in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.

Simmer uncovered until reduced to one half.

Caramelize the sugar in a small skillet: start on high heat and lower the flame as the sugar starts melting, adding 2 tablespoons of water and the balsamic.

Pour the caramel into the wine broth.

Gradually incorporate the corn starch or potato starch, and allow the sauce to thicken for a few more minutes on low heat, removing any clumps, and the bay leaves, with a slotted spoon.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and sauté the veal strips, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Add the sweet-and-sour sauce and the grapes (halved), and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring continuously.

Serve hot.

**This recipe is great for those who are gluten free

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/12/01/veal-strips-in-sweet-and-sour-sauce-with-grapes/

Filed Under: Gluten Free, Hanukkah, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Meat · Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Ricotta and Pumpkin Sformatini

November 6, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Ricotta and Pumpkin Sformatini (Dairy)

Ricotta and Pumpkin Sformatini (Dairy)

The verb “sformare” in Italian means “to turn out, to remove from the mold”. A Sformato is a kind of savory custard that is thick enough to retain its shape when turned out on a platter, thus making a crust unnecessary. Traditional Sformati are made with béchamel sauce (read: lots of butter!), but you can obtain similar results without wracking your diet if you use ricotta. As filling and creamy as a quiche, at a fraction of the calories, this is basically a savory variant of the Jewish Roman Cassola which I posted in December (I also wrote about it in The Forward) . Ricotta is not technically a cheese, but a by-product of cheese-making: that’s why whole milk ricotta is naturally very low-fat, containing only 5% fat (as opposed to 90% in cream cheese!): no need to go with the low-fat or fat-free varieties, which contain additives and taste bad. Pumpkin is also very interesting from a nutritional point of view, because it’s filling and sweet but very low in calories and sugar, and fat-free. It also contains high quantities of carotene, calcium and phosphorus. Enjoy!
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Ricotta and Pumpkin Sformatini (Dairy)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed
  • 1 pound fresh spinach (optional)
  • 1 pound fresh whole milk ricotta
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano or grana cheese
  • 4 tablespoons e.v. olive oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg, if liked
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • oven-proof parchment; flour or breadcrumbs to dust the ramekins
  • optional: 1 cup boiled or steamed rice

Directions

Serves 4-6

Cook the pumpkin until soft (the quickest way is in the microwave, covered with plastic wrap leaving just a small opening for the steam, it takes about 10 minutes. Or you can bake it in the oven, covered with foil, it will take almost one hour).

If using the spinach, blanch for two minutes in boiling water (or steam it), drain it, squeeze most of the water out, and dry with paper towel.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a pan and add the garlic.

Once the garlic is brown, discard it and add the pumpkin.

Cook for about 10 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher, allow it to cool down a little.

Place the pumpkin in the bowl of your food processor (or you can also do this by hand, in a bowl); add the ricotta (well drained of any liquid), the spinach and/or rice if using, the eggs, the parmigiano cheese, the nutmeg, and process briefly.

Line some small ramekins (or a large baking pan) with well-greased parchment paper (grease the paper well ,or they will stick.

You can also dust with some breadcrumbs or flour as an extra precaution, but the sformatini will look less pretty).

Bake in a “bain-marie” (in a lower pan filled with hot water) in a preheated 375 F oven.

When I feel lazy, I just bake them normally without the bain-marie,and they still come out great.

It takes about 20 minutes using small individual ramekins, and 30 minutes in one larger baking pan.

Turn off the oven and allow to set for about 15 minutes with the oven door open.

Turn out on a serving platter, remove the parchment, and serve hot or warm.

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/11/06/ricotta-and-pumpkin-sformatini-dairy/
Filed Under: Appetizer, Dairy, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, Special Diet · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Baked Apple with Hazelnuts, Honey and Yogurt

October 31, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Baked Apple with Hazelnuts, Honey and Yogurt (Dairy)

Baked Apple with Hazelnuts, Honey and Yogurt (Dairy)

Before the advent of industrial baking products, many of the treats that our grandmothers served during the week included fruit. Compotes and baked fruit are a delicious way to indulge our sweet tooth without overdoing the sugar and the calories, and actually adding nutrients to our diet. Baked fruit, in particular, is easy to make and very comforting in the frosty fall and winter days. 

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Baked Apple with Hazelnuts, Honey and Yogurt (Dairy)

Ingredients

  • 4 apples, all more or less the same size
  • 1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar
  • 10 ounces (about 1 and 1/4 cup) plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup coarsely ground hazelnuts
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • juice of 1/2 a lemon

Directions

Cut off the tops from the apples and set them aside, sprinkling the inside with lemon juice.

Core the apples from the top down, using an apple corer or melon baller, taking care not to pierce the bottom (leave about 1/2? pulp on the bottom and sides).

Place the apples in a baking pan just large enough to hold them.

Dice the pulp you extracted from the apples (discarding the hard cores and seeds), and place it in a bowl with little lemon juice, the hazelnuts, the honey and the yogurt, combining well.

Sprinkle the inside of the cored apples with brown sugar, and stuff them with the yogurt/apple/hazelnut mix.

Cover them with the tops that you had set aside, and bake at 375 F for 30 minutes (more if you like very soft apples).

Serve warm.

For a more fragrant recipe, you can stick a couple of cloves into the peel of each apple before baking.

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/10/31/baked-apple-with-hazelnuts-honey-and-yogurt-dairy/

Filed Under: Dairy, Desserts, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, Special Diet · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Fall salad with Grapes and Apples

October 11, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Fall salad with Grapes and Apples GF

Fall salad with Grapes and Apples

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Fall salad with Grapes and Apples GF

Ingredients

  • 4 cups green lettuce (oak leaf lettuce, mache’ or any other type of fresh green lettuce)
  • 1 small cluster red grapes
  • 1 green apple
  • 10 ounces firm cheese (if using Italian cheese, a montasio or asiago; if using a local cheese, a medium cheddar would work).
  • 1 small container plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgine olive oil
  • salt to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon green peppercorns

Directions

Serves 4

Clean and wash the salad and grapes; wash and core the apple, and cut it into very thin slices.

Cut the cheese into small cubes. Peel the garlic, mash it and combine it with the yogurt; add the oil, salt and green peppercorns.

Arrange the lettuce in a large bowl or platter with the cheese, apple and grapes on top, and serve with the yogurt sauce.

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/10/11/fall-salad-with-grapes-and-apples-gf/

Filed Under: Gluten Free, Light/Diet, salad, Side Dish, Special Diet · Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

July 6, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

I’m going to let you in on an Italian secret: while gelatois delicious, we don’t eat it every night after dinner! Our sweet treat after a meal is usually just fresh fruit, especially if the main courses are rich. 
When we have guests we often serve Macedonia, a simple salad made with a variety of fruit cut into small pieces, so that when you put a spoonful into your mouth you can taste a combination of different flavors.  Macedonia is dressed very simply with fresh sugar and lemon juice…. or Prosecco if no children are present! I know that someone is going to ask me if they can substitute Splenda: of course you can (but do you need to? What’s a spoonful of sugar compared to a large slice of cake?).

This is just a sample recipe, but the possibilities are endless – just pick your favorite fruit! Make sure you sprinkle with fresh lemon juice right after slicing, or bananas and pears will oxidize quickly.
I prefer not to use apples, because their texture is much crunchier than most other fruit.

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Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 bananas
  • 1 yellow peach
  • 1 pear
  • 1 or 2 slices pineapple
  • 1/2 basket raspberries
  • 1/2 basket strawberries
  • 1 kiwi
  • 1 orange (peel and cut each slice)
  • 1 Tbsp. golden raisins, plumped up in warm water (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, or to taste
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar, or to taste

Directions

Serves 4-6

Cut all the fruit into small pieces (the smaller, the better!) and mix well with the lemon and raisins.

Add the sugar and mix in.

Refrigerate before serving.

* Remember that this is just an example, you can use any fruit you like!

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/07/06/macedonia-italian-fruit-salad/


Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Light and Healthy, Light/Diet, Non-Dairy, salad, Special Diet · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Almond Spinach Torta

April 10, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Torta di spinaci e mandorle
Torta di spinaci e mandorle

Torta di spinaci e mandorle

My first encounter with this concept was in Giuliana Ascoli-Norsa’s beautiful collection “La Cucina nella Tradizione Ebraica”: I immediately loved it for its uniqueness, and because I was already partial to carrot cake. However, the original recipe used more than a pound of spinach and no potato starch or liqueur, and the result was disappointing. It wasn’t until several decades later, after I moved to the US and tried zucchini muffins, that I remembered this unusual combination and decided to try my hand at it again. This time I emailed all my friends from Tuscany (the area where this Passover dessert is supposed to have originated) to see if they could offer any variations. Unfortunately the spinach cake turned out to be a sort of culinary chimera, a mythical dessert that everybody had heard about but nobody had tasted or knew how to make (on the other hand, I did gather top-notch instructions for spinach fritters, and a sweet spinach and ricotta tart). At this point, though, I had become obsessed and decided to bring out the big guns: for four days I baked two spinach cakes a day, tweaking and fine-tuning, until I was finally happy with the result. And here you go! You might still want to keep the main ingredient a secret if your kids are picky eaters: they’d probably rather think it’s a colorant…

Spinach Almond Torta (Parve, GF, gebrokt-free)

Spinach Almond Torta (Parve, GF, gebrokt-free)

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Almond Spinach Torta

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cup (7 oz) blanched almonds
  • 12 oz baby spinach (2 bags)
  • ½ cup potato starch
  • ½ cup almond or seed oil OR 1 ½ sticks parve Passover margarine
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 3 or 4 tablespoons kosher for Passover anise liqueur or amaretto
  • 1 tablespoon kosher for Passover baking powder (if available)*
  • (for the icing)
  • 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet parve chocolate (grated or chips)
  • 3 tablespoons confectioner's sugar** (optional)
  • 3/4 stick margarine
  • 1/3 cup Passover almond milk or water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
  • (you can also skip the icing and sprinkle with cocoa powder and confectioner's sugar)

Directions

*kosher-for-passover baking powder can be hard to find, but this year my kosher supermarket carried two different brands. The baking powder will make this cake even fluffier, but if you can’t find it the egg whites are enough to make it soft.

** Kosher for Passover Confectioner's sugar can be also hard to find, but it's easy to make by processing 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon potato starch in your food processor for at least 3 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cook the spinach for 10 minutes in a covered pot with 4-5 tablespoons of water.

Once it’s soft, drain, squeeze, diwcard the liquid (I usually line a colander with cheesecloth or paper towel, place it in my sink and press the spinach down in it with a bowl.

Grind the almonds and the spinach together finely in your food processor (I never buy ground almonds, I find that the flavor and texture are too ‘dry’: it takes seconds to grind almonds in a food processor).

Set aside and wipe the food processor, then place the egg yolks in it with the sugar and a pinch of salt and beat until foamy.

Add the spinach and almond, and the liqueur, and keep pulsing until combined.

Melt the margarine in your microwave or in a small skillet (if using oil, it does not need heating), and add to the mix. Keep pulsing and slowly add the potato starch, sifted with the Passover baking powder (if using).

Process until smooth.

Remove the batter from the food processor and pour back into the large bowl.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a handheld electric whisk until they form stiff peaks (to make this easier, I add a couple of drops of white vinegar or lemon juice to the bowl).

Incorporate the whites into the batter with a spatula, using delicate upward movements.

Pour into a 9” baking pan, lined with parchment and greased well (you can also dust it with matzo meal if you are not keeping gluten- or gebrokt-free).

Bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out almost clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack without removing from the pan.

Once cool, carefully remove from the baking pan and cover with chocolate icing, or simply dust with a mix of cocoa and confectioner’s sugar.

To make the icing,

Combine almond milk and sugar in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, chocolate and softened margarine.

Stir vigorously until combined and spread on the cake using a large spatula.

Decorate with rose petals or red berries, or cherries.

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/04/10/almond-spinach-torta/

Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Holiday Food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Passover · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Chestnut and Leek Soup

March 24, 2011 · by · Leave a Comment
Chestnut and Leek Soup
Chestnut and Leek Soup

Chestnut and Leek Soup

Chestnuts were central to the traditional Italian diet, especially in the mountains and among the poor. This simple soup is extremely satisfying when it’s cold outside, especially if you accompany it with a nice glass of a dry, fruity white wine. For an ever richer soup, you can substitute half the vegetable stock with milk. 

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Chestnut and Leek Soup

Ingredients

  • (serves 4)
  • 2 leeks
  • 1/3 pound fresh chestnuts (or 1 cup
  • cooked and peeled chestnuts)
  • ½ pound potatoes
  • 4 tablespoons butter, or olive oil
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 quart vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Blanch the chestnuts for about 15 minutes and peel them (you can also use pre-cooked and peeled chestnuts, but you will lose some flavor).

Clean the leeks, discarding their outer leaves and green parts, and slice them thinly.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into small dice. In a skillet, heat the butter or oil, and saute’ the leeks for 5 minutes;

add the chestnuts and potatoes, salt, and add the wine.

Allow it to evaporate, then add the stock, and bring to a boil; lower the heat, and cook for 45

minutes to one hour, or until the chestnuts and potatoes are fully cooked.

Puree’ the soup with an immersion blender or your food processor. Add more salt and pepper if liked, and serve hot.

http://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/03/24/chestnut-and-leek-soup/

 

Filed Under: First course, Gluten Free, Quick/Easy, Soup, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
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