cuisine Archives - Dinner in Venice

Symbols of Plenty – Symbols of Tears

November 21, 2013 By dinnerinvenice 10 Comments

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The Thanksgiving table is exquisitely symbolic. Aside from pumpkin, and of course turkey, which clearly represent bounty, some other harvest symbols are fraught with ambiguities – and not only in American culture.

Read about them in my latest column for the Jewish Week:

Filed Under: Comfort food, Main Dish, Meat, Rosh Hashana, Thanksgiving Tagged With: alessandra rovati, comfort food, corn, cuisine, dinnerinvenice, Italian food, jewish italian recipes, kosher, meatloaf, symbols, Thanksgiving, Thanksgivukkah, turkey

Bread and Spinach Dumplings – Strangolapreti

December 1, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 3 Comments

In contrast with today’s rampant carb-phobia, bread was considered for many centuries the most sacred of foods. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, bread was always a symbol of God’s generosity toward mankind and of the fecundity of the earth- it’s still the center of countless religious rituals, not to mention superstitions and everyday idioms.

As a consequence, in many cultures there was always a stigma associated with wasting it or throwing it out, not only among the poor, but even in wealthier households; which is how bread became the main protagonist of the history of sustainable cooking.

Growing up in Italy, I learned how to store bread in paper bags so it wouldn’t become moldy. Rather, it dried out: after a couple of days it could be soaked in water, milk or broth and turn into thick soups or bread cakes, or add fluffiness to meatballs. If we waited a bit longer, we would simply grate it into crumbs. Each region has its traditional recipes, but it was during my vacations in the Italian Alps that I discovered what became my personal favorite.

In northeastern Italy, mountains and glaciers soar to almost 13,000 feet, contributing to a panorama so majestic that some say it makes you feel closer to God. My dad loved rock-climbing, and ever since I was a little girl, he would take me along for his more leisurely hikes. This was our special time together, while my mom would wait for us down in the chalet because she suffers from vertigo! That would give her plenty of time to experiment with the local cuisine, which she learned from the local women, in particular the phenomenal Nonna Plava, an old lady who used to run a small hotel with her son and daughter-in-law, and loved sharing her recipes. One of the best is the Strangolapreti, gnocchi-size stale bread and greens dumplings that are served with melted butter and cheese.

In the Italian Alps, especially in the Trentino region, you can find many different versions of dumplings made from stale bread; the most famous are canderli (similar to knoedels, and to matzah balls), and strangolapreti. This curious name, which literally means “priest-stranglers” (!) is also used to describe different types of pasta and dumplings in other regions. When I was little, I thought that the recipe must have been invented by some anti-clerical, communist grandmother!

I later learned that after the Council of Trent (1545-1563) prohibited the consumption of meat on Fridays, this became one of the traditional dishes for that day, and the legend goes that the clergy enjoyed it so much that they almost choked on it. Who could blame them? These dumplings are simply addictive, and I’ve risked the same fate more than once.

The most important thing to remember when making them (as with potato gnocchi) is to keep a light hand with the flour, and add it only a little at a time; if you add too much, rather than with priest-stranglers, you’ll end up with weapons.

Ingredients

1 lb Swiss chard or fresh spinach, hard stems removed
8 ounces stale bread, coarsely chopped in the food processor
1 ½ cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 to 6 tbsp white flour
2 pinches grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt, or to taste
black pepper to taste
4 to 6 tablespoons butter, or to taste
a few fresh sage leaves

Instructions

Place the bread in bowl, cover with the milk, and mix.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt and the greens, and blanch for about 3 minutes. Drain, and dip in ice water to preserve the green color. Drain and squeeze well trough a colander and chop finely.

Squeeze any excess milk out of the bread; combine with the greens, eggs, flour and nutmeg until the mixture holds; if necessary, add more breadcrumbs rather than flour, but the mixture should be very wet. On a floured surface, divide the dough into 5 pieces. Dust your hands with flour, and roll the pieces into 1/2 inch thick logs. Cut the logs into 1-inch lengths, and place the dumplings onto a floured pan or parchment..

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add salt, and cook the dumplings in batches without overcrowding them. They are ready when they rise to the surface; remove them with a slotted spoon, and place on a sheet pan (in a single layer).

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the sage leaves and cook until the butter begins to brown. Remove from heat, toss the dumplings, and serve, garnishing with the whole sage leaves. Drizzle with remaining butter and top with little black pepper and abundant grated cheese.

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Dairy, First course, Pasta and Rice, Vegetarian Tagged With: Alps, appetizer, authentic, bread, cuisine, dairy, dumplings, First course, food, Italian, kosher, Northern-italian, recipe, regional, sustainable, Trentino, Vegetarian

Thanksgiving Cornmeal Cake from the Veneto

November 19, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 11 Comments

It was eight years ago, just a few months after moving to the City, that I experienced my first Manhattan Thanksgiving: ironically, I ended up celebrating the quintessential American holiday at an Italian friend’s home. Daniela had arrived in New York one year before me, and was so smitten with it that she scored higher on the Time Out Magazine test “Are You a Real NewYorker?” than all our American friends. It was her idea to throw an Italian-style Thanksgiving dinner, incorporating the various traditional foods of the holiday into Italian recipes. Given that she is a superb cook, carrying the extraordinary legacy of three different Jewish Italian culinary styles – the Piedmontese, the Venetian and the Ferrarese – it’s no surprise that the meal was an absolute masterpiece. I had the impression that for the American guests, eating these Italian delicacies instead of the classic turkey with cranberry sauce also felt a little naughty! While I can’t replicate the special atmosphere of that night, after Daniela moved to Israel I adopted her tradition of remembering the Pilgrims with the regional dishes from my own country.

I’m used to cooking around symbolic foods for Passover and Rosh haShana: turkey and pumpkin, the most recognizable Thanksgiving ingredients, also appear on my Rosh HaShana table, and again on Sukkot. The connection with Sukkot runs even deeper, as both holidays are harvest festivals: some historians have gone so far as to trace the roots of Thanksgiving in Sukkot, based on encounters the Pilgrims supposedly had with Sephardic Jews in Holland before they left for the Americas.

But whether or not this story is true, Jews celebrate Thanksgiving Day with an intensity usually reserved to our most sacred holidays: it’s easy for us to empathize with the pilgrims, who had to flee religious discrimination and persecution and travel across an ocean to find freedom – and with their sweat and faith, fought against illness and scarcity, finally turning America’s wilderness into their “Promised Land”.

While the turkey and pumpkin are symbols of bounty, one food on the table is meant to remind us of the harsh winter before the first harvest, when the pilgrims barely had enough to eat. It’s the corn, as it is said that at one point there was so little food that each person was given only five kernels of corn per day. Corn bears a similar type of double-symbolism in Italian history: when it found its way to Italy from the Americas, it immediately spread through the North, and landowners started reaping huge profits by feeding their workers only maize polenta – creamy, delicious and filling, but so poor of vitamins and protein that it caused an epidemic of Pellagra, the same deficiency disease that spread in the American South during the great Depression, leading to deterioration and death. Somehow, native Americans had avoided it because they added wood ashes and lime to cornmeal, correcting its nutritional imbalance.

Cranberries can also be read as a symbol of suffering: of course we combine them with a lot of sugar to make them palatable, but their nature is extremely sour. This reminds me of the symbolism of sweet and sour dishes in Jewish Italian Cuisine, in which the sugar or honey represent the need to appreciate our present and future, while the vinegar or lemon keeps us rooted in our people’s past suffering.

While giving thanks for the plentiful new crop, and the many blessings that we enjoy each year, we also remember those who didn’t make it through that terrible first winter.  Have a meaningful Thanksgiving!

Ingredients

1 scant cup (150 gr) cornmeal maize (for polenta) or 2 cups cooked polenta (cooked dense, not liquidy)
3 tbsps grappa or brandy
1/3 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/2 to 2/3 cup candied fruit (mix of orange and lemon or citron) (optional)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 organic lemon
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup of sugar (about 85 gr)
1 scant cup flour (about 100 gr)
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder (10 gr)
1/4 cup oil (mild olive oil , vegetable oil or coconut oil)
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Prepare the polenta with one scant cup of maize according to instructions on the package, using only about 1 1/4 cup boiling water (traditional polenta tastes better than instant, and you can make it quickly using a pressure cooker… however, instant is OK! Beretta makes a nice product). The polenta has to be on the thick side.  When cooked, pour it over a large cutting board or platter in a wide and low heap and allow it to cool (feel free to pop it into the fridge).  Plump the cranberries or raisins in the grappa or brandy. Dice the candied fruit very small. Discard the film that has formed over the polenta. Cut the polenta into pieces and place it into a food processor. Process it with the eggs, salt, sugar, oil, sifted flour with baking powder; add the raisins in their liqueur, the candied fruit, pine nuts, and the lemon zest and mix well. If the batter is so thick that it’s hard to pour into the pan, you can add just a couple of spoonsfuls of water or non-dairy milk. Grease a 9″ springform pan and dust it with corn meal. If you have parchment, you should line the bottom of the pan before greasing it: this type of batter is very sticky. Pour the mix into it and bake in a pre-heated 400 F oven for about 15 minutes until it forms a golden crust, then lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 30-45 minutes (the cake should bake for 45-60 minutes total). Allow to cool before turning out. Serve warm, sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar.

Filed Under: Comfort food, Desserts, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy Tagged With: cake, corn, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dessert, Fall, Italian food, Italian Thanksgiving, pie, Sukkot, Thanksgiving, Veneto

Pumpkin and Radicchio Risotto

September 30, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 6 Comments

How could we possibly welcome fall, and celebrate Thanksgiving, without pumpkin? For me, this also one of the symbols in my family’s Rosh haShana seder and under the sukkah. One of my favorite ways to serve it is in a creamy and delicious risotto!

Those who were born in the Veneto region, like me, also celebrate red radicchio and like to incorporate it into many different recipes. While a similar type of lettuce was already grown in North-Eastern Italy before the 16th century, the exact kind we eat today, with its white-veined leaves, was engineered in the late 1800s by a Belgian agronomist. The different varieties are named after the Nothern Italian regions where they are cultivated: the easiest to find here in the United States is radicchio di Chioggia (maroon and round), and sometimes the radicchio di Treviso, which looks like a large red Belgian endive. Its mildly bitter flavor blends beautifully with the sweetness of the pumpkin or squash!

Ingredients

1/2 pound fresh pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into small dice
2/3 head of red radicchio
1 1/2 cups Italian rice (Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano type)
1 medium white onion, finely diced
1/2 cup dry wine
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
About 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
7 to 8 cups vegetable stock
4 to 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet. Add the pumpkin and half of the onions and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. Season with salt, nutmeg, pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the pumpkin is tender, another 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then transfer to a food processor and puree the pumpkin. Rinse the skillet and heat another tablespoon of oil in it. Add the radicchio (sliced into thin stripes) and cook for 5 minutes, seasoning with salt. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil, reduce the heat and keep it hot.
In a heavy pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add the remaining onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, for a few minutes. As soon as it starts sticking to the bottom, pour in the wine and allow it to evaporate. Immediately lower the heat and pour in one ladleful of the hot stock and cook, stirring constantly, until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Gradually add more hot stock, 1 ladleful at a time, stirring frequently until absorbed before adding the next. After about 15 minutes, stir in the pumpkin puree and continue cooking, adding more stock, 1 ladleful at a time, until the rice is tender but “al dente” (about 5 to 15 minutes longer, depending on the type of rice). The risotto should be creamy and loose. Add the radicchio, and more salt if necessary. The risotto will be quite loose. Spoon the risotto into warmed soup plates and drizzle with little balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately. Of course if you want to be really fancy and impress your guests, you could also serve the risotto in the pumpkin shell.
*** For a slightly different result, you can also cook the pumpkin with the rice. Just add the pumpkin to all the onion at the beginning, and then add the rice. Try both versions, and see which one is your favorite! In the context of a dairy meal, this risotto tastes delicious with the addition of butter and parmigiano. On the other hand, the creaminess and sweetness of the pumpkin make it very enjoyable as a Parve (non-dairy) dish!

Filed Under: First course, Pasta and Rice Tagged With: appetizer, cooking, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, Italian, parve, recipes, Risotto, Veneto, Venice

Fluffy Honey and Orange Cake

September 13, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 8 Comments

In Italy, “Miele” (honey), is classified as compulsively as cheeses and olive oil – by area of origins, type of flower, and depending on whether pieces of honeycomb were included… we have strawberry-tree (corbezzolo) and Eucalyptus honeys from Sardinia, chestnut honey from Piedmont, millefiori (thousand flowers) from Tuscany, orange blossom from Sicily, acacia from the Pre-Alps, and many more. Every fall, I take a trip to Zebar’s or Eataly where I stress out about which kind will grace my cake this Rosh HaShana!

Rather than blaming this on my all-Italian obsession with ingredients, you should try for yourselves! After all, when the Almighty promised our forefathers that they would be freed from Egyptian bondage, the Promised Land was described as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus. 3: 17, etc.) – and not with “milk and sugar”!

In this cake, the orange balances out any excessive sweetness of the honey.

Ingredients

4 medium/large eggs, separated
3/4 cup oil (canola oil or 1/2 light olive 1/2 almond oil)
about 300 gr (3/4 a medium/large jar) liquid honey
1/2 cup potato starch
1 1/2 cup 00 or all-purpose flour
2 tbsp orange liqueur (like triple sec) or brandy
zest of one organic orange
1/4 cup of the orange juice
1 package (16 g) baking powder
a pinch of salt

Directions

Using a hand mixer, beat the yolks with the honey until frothy and thick (about 3 minutes). Very slowly add the oil, and beat until creamy. Add the honey, the potato starch, orange zest and the liqueur. Now add the flour (mixed with the baking powder) a bit at a time, alternating it with the orange juice.

In a separate, clean and degreased bowl, or in your stand mixer, beat the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Now combine the egg whites with the batter, with the help of a spatula, using upward movements.

Pour into a 9.5″ or 10″ Savarin or bundt pan (well greased and dusted with flour). Since honey cakes tend to darken more than sugar-based ones, I prefer these cake pans, with a hole, because the inside will cook faster, before the outside has time to darken. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for about 30-35 minutes, or until done when tested with a toothpick. To keep the color lighter, you can cover with aluminium foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Filed Under: Desserts, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Rosh Hashana Tagged With: cake, cooking, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dessert, food, holiday, honey cake, jewish italian recipes, kosher, rosh hashana, RoshHaShana

Quince Paste for Rosh HaShana

September 9, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 16 Comments

Quinces are from the same family as apples and pears. They are much uglier than both, and they taste horrible when eaten raw (I tried!). Feed them to the geese? Think again: as usual, our great-great-great grandmothers were able to turn even this ugly-duckling of a fruit into a delicious treat. So delicious, in fact, that many communities in Italy and elsewhere eat them instead of apples and honey as Tapuach, the first element in our Rosh HaShana seder symbolizing a sweet new year.
(Other Italian traditions begin with dates – in Aramaic,Temareh – for the first blessing, and conclude with figs, apples or quinces).
I hope you try this easy recipe and offer it next to your apples and honey. You will understand why, when quinces were still hard to come by in Manhattan stores, a friend of mine’s 80-year-old Italian grandmother (who shall go unnamed) would be found climbing up the trees in the garden of the Cloisters in Upper Manhattan before Rosh HaShana. We saw her in action and she was quite agile.

Ingredients
– 2 pounds quinces
– 1 and 1/2 pound sugar
– 1 organic lemon
– 4 or 5 cloves

Directions
Clean the quinces, eliminating all the fuzz and any parts that are damaged..
Cook them in a pot of boiling water with half an organic lemon and the cloves.
When they are as soft as boiled potatoes (about an hour) drain them, discarding the lemon and cloves and setting aside about a ladleful of the cooking water.
Halve the quinces and allow them to cool off; then peel them, eliminate the cores, and reduce them into a smooth puree using a food mill or an electric mixer.
Combine this puree with the sugar and 1/2 a ladleful of the cooking water. Cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring regularly. The paste is ready when it sticks to the spoon.
Wet a large cutting board or your countertop, and pour the cotognata on top, forming an even 1/2-inch
layer.. After it has started to dry, you can cover it with parchment paper. After at least 24 hours (48 is better), cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Filed Under: Appetizer, Desserts, Gluten Free, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Rosh Hashana Tagged With: apple, cooking, cucina ebraica, cuisine, food, holiday, jewish italian, kosher Italian, quince, recipes, rosh hashana

Gelato in a Phyllo Nest

July 17, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 11 Comments

One of the things that don’t cease to surprise me, after 18 years in the US, is how strongly, deeply, philosophically anti-air conditioning my fellow Italians can be. It’s not only about being more ecologically aware than our American counterparts – we really hold on to our grandmas’ belief that artificial cooling can cause a plethora of maladies, from headaches to stomach congestion (whatever that is), to pneumonia. Of course, when it’s 100+ degrees outside, we have our own cooling methods.

1) (also called: Italian air conditioning) leave your windows open from about 10 pm to 7 am, to allow the cool breeze to come in. Keep them shut during the day. Grab a fan.

2) Limit “real food” to dinner time; the rest of the day, eat mostly fruit and vegetables and indulge often in frozen desserts.

To those of you who are cringing at the idea of daily ice cream, I’d like to point out that Italian gelato is made with milk instead of cream. Not only that, artisanal gelato includes real eggs, real fruit: it’s definitely more “real’ than a box of mac & cheese! On the other hand, in this land of advertising and additives, it might sound about as interesting as broccoli to the younger ones. Try to explain to your 4 and 5 year olds that home-made is better than the treats from the local ice cream cart with its hypnotizing chime.

Even when I can convince mine to forgo the colorant-laden packaged Dora stuff, they still demand at least cones. This has been a problem for me when trying to serve them my home-made gelato…. I was not thrilled about storing wholesale quantities of cones in my Manhattan apartment, and the idea of what could happen to our Persian rugs gave me the shivers.

My “Eureka” moment came when I saw something that my talented and sophisticated friend Lucilla served at a dinner party…. gelato in edible cups! It made me realize that, for my two demanding little customers Gabo and Bianca, it was all about being able to polish off every possible trace of their dessert. Lucilla was kind enough to share her secret, and here it is. Enjoy your Summer!

RECIPE INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb phyllo dough (home-made or store-bought)
1/2 lb vanilla gelato (home-made or store-bought)
1/2 lb bittersweet or dark chocolate (grated, or use chips)
1 basket berries
milk and butter

DIRECTIONS

Cut the phyllo into 16 squares. Place 4 of them into 4 muffin pans lined with parchment, and brush the top with melted butter. Top each square with another square (without making the corners overlap), and repeat with 4 phylo squares for each muffin pan, brushing with butter in between. Bake in a pre-heated 360 F oven for about 10 minutes or until slightly golden. While the phyllo nests are baking, melt the chocolate in a saucepan on low heat with a few tablespoons of milk (enough to make a smooth but thick sauce). Allow the nests to cool off before unfolding them. Before serving, place a large scoop of vanilla gelato in each nest, and decorate with warm chocolate sauce and red berries. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Dairy, Desserts, Gluten Free Tagged With: cooking, cuisine, dairy, dessert, gelato, ice cream, Italian, kosher, recipes, summer

Minestrone – Italian Vegetable Soup

July 11, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 9 Comments

The word minestrone derives from the Latin verb ministrare, which means ‘to administer’.
Maybe because, as any Italian mother can witness, it is the most efficient way to administer lots of healthy vegetables to picky children, with few complaints!

In many households, minestrone is made at least weekly and (thanks to the fact that it tastes even better when reheated), served several times as a primo piatto (first course) with both dairy and meat meals. I usually serve it plain on the first day; on the second day, I reheat it with some leftover cooked rice, pasta or even spelt. If it’s cold outside, or I’m simply too busy for multiple courses, I just throw in some beans to transform this light soup into an earthy meal. At the end of the week I add a boiled potato and turn the leftovers into a creamy passato (blended soup) with my hand blender.

Just keep in mind, if you plan on stretching your soup over the course of a week, that you should skip tomatoes or it will spoil too quickly. In Italy we have countless regional and seasonal variations for this soup, depending on the local produce! Just to give you a few examples, the Genoese minestrone is flavored with pesto; my Tuscan grandmother liked to add rosemary, and the Lombard one preferred Arborio rice in it.

The only key rules are that all the ingredients should be very fresh and the oil high quality; the soup should be cooked very slowly, on low heat; and finally, the vegetables should be chopped very small, Israeli salad-style…. other than that, have some fun!

Ingredients (serves 8-10 as an appetizer, 6-8 as a main course)

vegetable stock, 1 1/2 quarts
2 whole cloves garlic (optional)
1 onion
2 carrots
6 leaves of kale or Swiss Chards, chopped
1 large slice of butternut squash or pumpkin
1/2 a small cabbage (1/4 if large)
2 celery stalks
2 small (or 1 large) zucchini
1 cup peas
OR asparagus tips, or green beans
1 small or medium potato (optional)
1 medium tomato, seeded (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
extra-virgin olive oil (I use a low-acidic, mild Ligurian or Tuscan)
fresh rosemary or parsley, if liked
(tip: if you rarely make it to the green market…. it does work even with frozen vegetables!)

Peel the carrots and potatoes with a vegetable peeler and wash and clean all the vegetables, discarding any outer leaves and inedible parts. On a chopping board, cut all the vegetables into regular dice max 1/2″ (except for the peas, obviously). In a large pot with a heavy base, heat 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the minced onion and the whole garlic cloves and cook until the onion is translucent. Discard the garlic (if using – I usually don’t), add the vegetables and little salt, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes on medium/low heat, making sure they don’t burn or change color. Cover the vegetables with the vegetable stock and cook, in a partially covered pot and on low heat, for about an hour or until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has absorbed all their flavor. If using asparagus tips, add them later, about 15 minutes from the end. If you are pressed for time, you can also cook minestrone in a pressure cooker (it should take less than 15 minutes). When ready, pour into individual bowls, drizzle with some more extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a touch of freshly ground black pepper. It also tastes great with some freshly grated parmigiano on top, if you are in the mood for cheese!.

Filed Under: Comfort food, First course, Light and Healthy, Non-Dairy, Quick/Easy, Soup, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, food, healthy, Italian, Italian recipes, Jewish, light, parve, quick, soup, Vegetarian

Grandma’s Eggplant and Apple Jam

July 5, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 10 Comments

Few things are more American than a PB & J sandwich. However, jelly itself has been a staple all over the world since antiquity, when someone figured out that even quince (a fruit that looks like an ugly apple, and that’s too hard to be eaten raw) could taste delicious when slow-cooked with honey (incidentally, the word Marmalade derives from the Portuguese Marmelo (quince). Unlike our American children, spoiled by constant sugary snacks, it seems that people back then actually PREFERRED fresh fruit, because they didn’t attempt to make jelly with anything other than quince for centuries!

It was the Persians or the Arabs, who had been producing sugar from cane, who finally came up with the idea of syrup and started using it to manufacture various preserves, experimenting with pectic fermentation and creating the first citrus fruit marmalades. With the conquest of Spain, Portugal and Southern Italy, the Arabs introduced all their confections, changing the European palate forever, much to the joy of children and… dentists.

Preserving fruit or vegetables in syrup, just like drying or pickling, also prolonged their shelf life; this became critical in the Age of Discovery, starting in the 15^th century, for the sailors, merchants and pirates (!) who had to spend months at sea with no access to fresh produce.

However, jam makes me think of far more familiar adventures, such as climbing up my grandmother’s fig, apple and peach trees as a child. I didn’t mind a scraped knee if I could feel that I was part of our little production line: I picked the fruit, nonna stirred the jam, my mom (the pharmaceutical chemist) jarred it, and my dad kept stealing spoonfuls from the pot.

INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds small (Japanese) eggplants
3 small golden delicious apples (or 2 large)
1 medium orange
1 organic lemon
6 cups sugar

DIRECTIONS:

peel the eggplants, cut them in 2-3 pieces each, and pierce them with a fork. Place them in a bowl of salted water for 1 hour. Rinse and cover with fresh, unsalted water. Let rest for another hour. Drain and lace in a large (it will froth up like crazy) copper or stainless steel pot, with the peeled and sliced apples, and the orange and lemon juice and zest. Add the sugar and 2-3 tbsps water,bring to a boil, and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. remove from the heat and pass through a food mill or sieve 9even a potato masher will do!). return to the pot and simmer for 30 more minutes, or until it has thickened. Pour into sterilized glass jars and close them tightly. Store in a cool, dark place.

Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, sauces and jams, Side Dish, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Eggplant, food, historic recipe, history, Italian, jam, Jewish, kosher, Non-Dairy, parve, preserve, sides, vegan

Gratin Tomatoes

June 28, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 11 Comments

Ask any Southern Italian, or Italian American, to imagine cooking without the color and the fragrance of tomato, and they will probably tell you it’s impossible.

However, the use of tomato spread in European kitchens fairly recently: although it was first introduced in the 16^th century, the vast majority of people treated it as a pretty, but possibly poisonous, decorative plant for at least the next two hundred years. In Peru, Mexico and Chile, where it originated from, the natives also treated it as unedible.

While nobody was stirring Marinara, alchemists were concocting plenty of potions featuring the new fruit, which was believed to have aphrodisiac powers when ingested in small amounts. This accounts for the romantic names the plant was given, from England and France (Love Apple, Pomme d’Amour) to Italy Pomo d’Oro, Golden Apple) .

It’s still unclear where and when, in Baroque Europe, someone first tasted the mysterious fruit. Maybe it was a brave and hungry farmer in Southern Italy, in times of famine. Maybe the Sephardic merchants of Livorno, who had first imported the seeds (this may be the reason why many tomato-based local dishes are called “Jewish-style” or “Moses-style”). Or it could have been a bored aristocrat in France, where tomatoes were only eaten at the Royal Court until well into the 18^th century.

In any case, once Europeans actually bit into it, there was no way back! According to Neapolitan screenwriter Luciano De Crescenzo, “ The discovery of tomato represented, in the history of food, a revolution comparable to what the French Revolution constituted in social history”.

Gratin Tomatoes

Ingredients

GRATIN TOMATOES
8 medium tomatoes, firm (on the vine)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
1 1/2 cup to 2 cupsplain bread crumbs
4 tbsps freshly chopped parsley, or 1 tbsp dried oregano
4 cloves garlic
3-4 minced anchovies (oil-packed, or salt-packed and rinsed) (optional)
salt to taste (1/2 teaspoon or less)
black pepper
pine nuts, olives or basil leaves to decorate

Directions

Cut the tomatoes in half horizontally, scoop out the seeds and pulp, sprinkle the inside with salt and drain upside down for 30+ mins. Save the pulp.

In a food processor, mince the garlic, anchovies and herbs, and blend with the tomato pulp that you had set aside. Add the olive oil and the bread crumbs. Add the bread crumbs gradually and stop once the mix holds together without being too firm.

Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture, brush the top with little more oil, and bake for 35-40 minutes in a pre-heated 400 F oven.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/06/28/gratin-tomatoes-12/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Side Dish, Sustainable, Vegetarian Tagged With: cooking, cuisine, food, Italian, Jewish, kosher, Non-Dairy, parve, recipe, side, tomatoes, vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian

Lemon and Lavander Tart

June 25, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 1 Comment

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town” (Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses).

One of my first olfactory memories features a lemon lavender crostata, baked by my grandmother on a summer afternoon about four decades ago.

When we think of lavender fields, most of us conjure up images of Provence: maybe because they were often depicted by French impressionists. However, this plant (a member of the same family of savory herbs which also includes sage, thyme, and oregano) is cultivated all over the world, from England to Brazil, from Russia to Japan and new Zealand – and of course, Italy.

My grandmother lived in Pistoia, a town about 30 minutes North-West of Florence, and just over an hour drive from the Chianti region and its stunning landscapes of rolling hills lined with cypress trees, vineyards, olive groves and (surprise!) lavender fields, in a patchwork of incomparable natural beauty. That’s exactly where my parents and I used to pick our flowers. Only after a generous tip to the farmer we would be allowed to leave with a large bundle.

I remember that I would often come back with a bee sting, promptly treated by the local pediatrician, Dottor Federico: lush lavender shrubs are always humming with fuzzy bees, and the product of this romantic relationship is the most elegant of all honeys.

My grandmother was never a remarkable cook or baker, but somehow this particular tart, made using her next-door neighbor’s recipe, and almonds and lemons from her own orchard, always came out so delectable that it was gone in five minutes – however, its exquisite memory has lingered on for over 40 years….

Ingredients:

1 disc puff pastry or short pastry, home made or purchased
2 egg yolks

3/4 cup (heaped) sugar
1/4 cup (heaped) potato starch
2 1/4 cups 2 % milk
juice of 2 small lemons, or 1 large lemon
zest of 1 organic lemon
2 teaspoons dried lavender

Grease a springform pan (about 9″ to 9 1/2″) and line the bottom with parchment. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees if using puff pastry, 360 if using short pastry.

Roll out pastry and transfer pastry to the prepared springform pan, trimming edges using a paring knife

Prepare the custard: beat the egg yolks with the sugar until foamy. Add the lemon zest and juice.

Dissolve the potato starch into the warm milk, adding little milk at a time. Once combined, add it to the egg mix. Cook in a Bain Marie over low heat, whisking frequently, until the custard thickens. Add 1 teaspoon dried lavender blossoms/petals to the custard.

Pour the custard into the crust, and sprinkle a little more lavender on top. Bake at 400 (for puff) or 360 (for pastry dough) for 30 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden. You can also use mini-pans and make individual size tartelettes.

Filed Under: Dairy, Desserts Tagged With: cake, cooking, cuisine, dairy, dessert, food, Italian recipe, kosher, lavender, lemon, pie, recipes, summer, tart

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Salad

June 25, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 2 Comments

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients

1 red pepper
2 zucchini
1 head curly endive
1 pound goat cheese (I used Natural and Kosher goat cheese log)
pink peppercorns, coarsely ground
green peppercorns, coarsely ground
chives, finely minced
1 carrot, grated
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Directions

With a wet melon ball cutter or with your wet hands, shape the goat cheese into little balls .

Roll 1/4 of them into the freshly grated green peppercorns, 1/4 into the chives, 1/4 into the pink peppercorns and 1/3 into the grated carrot, then place the cheese balls in the refrigerator to harden.

Wash the pepper and zucchini; cut the pepper into thin strips after discarding the seeds and white membranes; cut the zucchini into thin slices lengthwise (with a mandoline if possible).

Grill the zucchini and peppers on a heavyweight grill pan (I like this ).

Wash the endive and cut it into pieces.

Gather all the ingredients in a large bowl and dress with the olive oil mixed with a little salt and pink pepper.

Stir gently and serve in individual bowls or cups.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/06/25/zucchini-and-goat-cheese-salad/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Dairy, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, salad, Side Dish, Special Diet Tagged With: appetizer, Cheese, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, gluten free, goat cheese, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, light, salad, vegetables, zucchini

Shabbat Meals: Red Mullet Livornese-Style

June 20, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 5 Comments

… and the Cosmopolitan Cooking of the Jews of Livorno.

This article and recipe appeared in The Jewish Forward.

Click here to view it.

Filed Under: Appetizer, Fish, Gluten Free, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Quick/Easy, Shabbat, Yom Kippur Tagged With: appetizer, cooking, cuisine, easy, fish, food, Italian, Jewish, jews, kosher, Livornese, Livorno, parve, quick, red mullet, tomato

Mount Sinai with Threaded Eggs

May 23, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 3 Comments

For years, I had been intrigued by this curious cake from Livorno (Leghorn), a dessert that features sweet egg threads on top – a sign that it was introduced by the egg-loving Portuguese Jews and marranos who were invited to settle in the city by the Grand-Duke of Tuscany in the sixteenth century. With the help of the Jewish merchants, Leghorn became one of the most important port cities in Europe (but also a center of the printing press), and became known as “the city with no ghetto”.

I was already familiar with the local cuisine, and decided to try my hand at this tart, which looked like no other. Unfortunately, the yolk threads proved to be a huge challenge: I didn’t seem to be able to control the flow through the colander (the tool of choice in all the books that listed the recipe). My Livornese friends couldn’t help either: apparently they had always encountered the same problem and ended up with a sticky blob or with burns… they said that they used to buy the cake for Shavuot and for Purim from a well-known patisserie, but that when the owner died his tricks were buried with him. I had to wait until the blogging and YouTube era to figure this all out, with the help of some non-Jewish foodies from Portugal, where threaded eggs are often featured on Christmas recipes… in particular, thank you chef Fernando Canales for teaching me that in the 21st century it would be silly to use a colander when most of us have easy access to a pastry syringe (or at least a large syringe to dispense pediatric drops)!

Mount Sinai with Threaded Eggs (Dairy)

Ingredients

Cake base:
1 1/3 cup finely ground almonds (200 gr)
½ cup sugar (100 gr)
pinch of salt
grated zest of 1 medium orange
1 large egg
3 or 4 tbsps candied etrog or lemon peel, finely chopped (optional)
Egg Threads:
1 cup + 2 tbsps water (250 ml)
2 ¼ cups sugar
8 large egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon or orange juice
1 ½ tbsps orange flower water, if liked (or 1 more tbsp orange juice)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 320 F (yes, it’s very low, but if the temperature is higher the “macaroon” will be too crunchy to cut).

Place the sugar and water for the base in a heavy saucepan and simmer until sticky (I have also skipped this step and used plain sugar instead of making the syrup, with an acceptable result). Add the almonds and zest, stirring with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined.

Allow to cool, and when it’s just lukewarm add the egg.

Line the bottom of a 9 to 9” baking pan with wet parchment (squeeze it well) and grease the sides. Pour in the cake mixture and press it down gently with your wet fingertips.

Bake for about 30 minutes and set aside.

For the egg threads, boil the sugar, water and juice in a frying pan (about 10” wide and with tall-ish sides so the syrup doesn’t splatter all over your stovetop), and simmer until the syrup is thick enough to stick to a spoon (coating it).

Slightly beat the yolks in a small bowl and then fill your pastry syringe with as much beaten egg as it can hold.

Now press the yolk out of the syringe and into the simmering syrup, starting at the center and moving the syringe in an outward circular motion so that the egg makes a long spiral thread into the syrup.

When you are done, press the thread down into the syrup with a wooden spoon or a spatula and let cook for a few seconds, until it holds together (but it should still be soft).

Remove with a slotted spoon and dry on a double layer of paper towel.

Repeat the same process with the rest of the yolks.

When all the yolks are cooked and drained, place them in a colander and rinse some of the syrup off with water.

Allow them to dry well.

Invert the almond base into a platter, top it with the candied peel and decorate it with the egg threads. It’s worth it!

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/23/mount-sinai-with-threaded-eggs-dairy/

Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Purim, Shavuot Tagged With: almonds, cake, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dessert, gluten-free, Jewish holiday, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, Jewish Italian recipe, kosher Italian, Non-Dairy, Passover, Shavuot, tart

Crostata di Visciole (Sour Cherry Tart)

May 21, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 5 Comments

The ancient Jewish community of Rome maintains many traditions that will never fade. One of its highlights is this double-crusted tart, stuffed with ricotta cheese and sour cherry jam.

If you visit Rome, try it at Boccione’s, the famous kosher bakery in the ghetto! Theirs is made with really fresh sheep milk ricotta, and it’s worth putting up with the long lines….

Crostata di Visciole (Sour Cherry Tart) (Dairy)

Ingredients

300 gr (22oz) flour (about 2 ½ cups but it’s best to weigh)
125 gr (4 ½ oz) sugar (a little more than ½ cup)
125 gr (1 stick plus 1 tbsp) unsalted butter
pinch of salt
zest of 1 untreated lemon
1 large egg + 1 yolk (large, not XL)
for the filling:
1 pound whole sheep or cow milk ricotta
100 grams (scant ½ cup) sugar, or more to taste
(optional: 1 egg and 1 tbsp rhum or anise liqueur)
1 jar sour cherry jam such as Rigoni Asiago (or regular cherry jam mixed with little lemon juice)
OR 2 cups sour-cherries and ½ cup sugar

Directions

Place the sifted flour and salt into your food processor, add the cold butter cut into cubes, the sugar, salt, eggs, lemon zest, and pulse a few times until crumbly.

Remove from the food processor and work quickly with your hands (keep them cold by rubbing them on ice cubes) until smooth.

Wrap in plastic and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

If using fresh sour cherries, cook them (pitted) for 25 minutes on low heat with ½ cup of sugar and 4-5 tbsps water.

Combine the ricotta with the ½ cup sugar (and egg and liqueur if using: I don’t).

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease and dust a baking pan (I also like to line the bottom with parchment as an extra precaution).

Cut the dough into 2 pieces: one should be about 2/3 and the other 1/3 of the total volume.

Roll out the larger piece on a lightly floured counter and place it on the bottom and sides of the prepared cake pan; brush the bottom with the cherry jam and follow with the ricotta filling.

Some people do the opposite and spread the ricotta on the bottom, followed by the cherry jam on top: in this case the ricotta becomes colored by the cherries while the pie is baking.

Roll out the remaining dough into a smaller disc and use it to top the pie, sealing the edges (you can also decorate with strips, but the ricotta stays moister if you “close” the pie.

I cut it into a large flower shape, which I felt was large enough for this purpose). Bake for about 45-55 minutes.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/21/crostata-di-visciole-sour-cherry-tart-dairy/

Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, Desserts, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Shavuot Tagged With: crostata, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, dessert, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, ricotta pie, Shavuot, tart

Rice Cake with Pine Nuts and Rose Water

May 15, 2012 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

The milk and honey are a reference to the divine love described in the Song of Songs; the rose water is linked to the tradition of Shavuot as the Feast of Roses; finally, the rice symbolizes the marriage between God and His people.

Can you find a more symbolic dish than this lovely cake of clear Sephardic origins?

Rice Cake with Pine Nuts and Rose Water

Ingredients

3/4 lb Italian rice such as Arborio, Vialone nano or Carnaroli
1/2 lb sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cups pine nuts
1 qt milk
2/3 cup butter
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of Rose Water, OR Orange Blossom water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
(*** If you don’t like Rose Water, you can substitute the juice and zest of one orange)

Directions

Pour the milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a pot and bring it to a boil (enameled cast-iron or non-stick pots work best, if you use a steel pot the rice will tend to stick to the bottom and burn).

Add the rice, and cook for 15 to 18 minutes on low heat, stirring frequently.

When the rice has absorbed all the milk, remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl.

Once the mixture has cooled off, add the eggs one at a time, the pine nuts, the butter (softened at room temperature and cut into small pieces), and the rose water (or orange blossom water, or orange juice and zest).

Mix well with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients have blended together.

Grease a cake pan with butter and dust it with flour, and pour the mixture into it (you can use a Bundt pan, or any cake pan with a nice shape. I like to use one that looks like a flower).

Bake for about 30 minutes in a 400 F oven.

Let it cool on a rack and dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/15/rice-cake-with-pine-nuts-and-rose-water/

Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Holiday Food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Shavuot Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dessert, Jewish holiday, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, Sephardic, Shavuos, Shavuot

Rotolo di Spinaci e Ricotta

May 13, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 2 Comments

Shavuot commemorates the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and Jewish communities around the world have developed special culinary customs to give due honor to the holiday.

Meals are characterized by dairy dishes, as the Bible itself compares the Torah to milk and honey (“honey and milk shall be under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11). Some commentators add that, before the revelation at Sinai, the Jews were allowed to eat meat that was slaughtered normally, but after the Torah was given on Shavuot, they became obligated to follow the rules of kasherut . Until the end of that first festival, they had no alternative but to indulge in dairy foods! Mystics also like to mention that the numerical equivalent of halav ( Hebrew for milk) is forty – the number of days Moses waited on Mount Sinai.

Another tradition is eating foods that are rolled, to remind us of the shape of the Torah scrolls that are read in synagogue. Among Ashkenazi jews, the most popular Shavuot food incorporating both customs is cheese blintzes. However in Italy, it’s all about pasta, creamy ricotta and aged parmigiano cheese! Buon appetito….

Rotolo di Spinaci e Ricotta

Ingredients

Fresh Pasta
2 pounds of spinach (or a bag of chopped, frozen spinach)
1 pound ricotta cheese (regular, do not use fat-free!)
salt and peper to taste
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
5 teaspoons grated Parmigiano cheese (grated, not shredded)
1 whole egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup raisins, plumped in hot water and drained (optional)

Directions

Make fresh pasta (I like the recipe here http://www.lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/recipe/pasta_fresca ) and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes, wrapped in plastic.

Put two pounds of spinach in a pot with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 whole cloves of garlic. Salt and sprinkle with very little water.

Cook covered for about 5 minutes, then uncovered until soft and until most water has been absorbed (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Once the spinach has cooled off, drain it through a colander (you can line it with cheesecloth if the holes are too wide), squeezing most of the liquid out.

Chop the spinach and mix it with the ricotta cheese, the egg, salt, spices and parmigiano.

If you like, you can also add raisins and pine nuts. Set aside.

Roll the pasta out into a thin sheet and cut a rectangle of at least 10’ x 20” or wider.

Lay the pasta sheet over a cheesecloth or a sheet of parchment.

Spread the spinach/ricotta mixture over the pasta and roll up tightly.

Wrap the roll in the cheesecloth and tie it with twine at both ends, like an oversized piece of candy.

Boil it for 35 minutes in a large pot of salted water, drain and slice.

Arrange in one layer in a baking tray, dress with sage butter (butter melted with sage leaves till golden brown) or a tomato sauce, and extra grated parmigiano. If you added pine nuts and raisins to the filling, sage butter is preferable.

***EASY ALTERNATIVE: if you don’t have time to make the pasta from scratch you can cook dried Barilla or De Cecco lasagna (the regular tipe, NOT the “No-boil”) sheets in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, making sure they don’t break. After draining, lay the lasagna sheets on paper towel, stuff with filling and roll up. Put in a baking pan with either marinara sauce or sage butter on the bottom and on top. Sprinkle with Parmigiano and bake at 400 F for 40 minutes (no convection or they will dry out).

Slice after baking with a sharp knife.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/13/rotolo-di-spinaci-e-ricotta/

Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Pasta and Rice, Shavuot Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, Jewish holiday, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, Pasta roll-up, ricotta cheese, Shavuos, Shavuot, spinach

“Masconod” – Sweet Cheese Rolls

May 9, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 4 Comments

One of the most traditional Italian pasta dishes for Shavuot has ancient roots and a mysterious name: “Masconod”. The original recipe features parmigiano mixed with sugar and cinnamon (the same unusual combination used to dress gnocchi in some areas of North-Eastern Italy), although the less adventurous palates replace the sugar and cinnamon with black pepper. The pasta is rolled-up manicotti-style, but tighter, like Moroccan cigars: since Shavuot commemorates God’s giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, it’s customary to eat some “rolled” foods, resembling Torah scrolls. This is also true of Simchat Torah (which marks the conclusion of the annual Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the next), but the rolls of Shavuot are usually filled with cream or cheese, since “Like honey and milk [the Torah] lies under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11)….

While Masconod is traditionally made with fresh lasagna sheets, this year I’ve tried it with crespelle (Italian crepes) and it was love at first taste! Move over, blintzes! Here are both options:

“Masconod” / Sweet Cheese Rolls (Dairy)

Ingredients

(serves 6)
fresh lasagna sheets OR crespelle (Italian crepes) (double the amount in the crepes recipe)
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (to taste)
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (to taste)
3 cups freshly grated Parmigiano, Grana or Parmigianito
1 stick unsalted butter, or to taste

Directions

Make fresh pasta, cut into 25-30 5-inch squares, cook in boiling salted water a few at a time, drain and dry on an old towel.

If you prefer, make the (round) crespelle following the recipe, and cook in a non-stick skillet.

Combine the cheese with the sugar and cinnamon (or with simple black pepper if you don’t like sweet and savory combinations).

Brush each pasta square or crepe with melted butter, and sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of cheese mixture.

Roll up like tight manicottis and arrange in one single layer in a buttered baking tray.

Brush the rolls with more melted butter, and top with the remaining cheese mixture.

Depending on the size of your baking dish, you can make a single layer or a double layer.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/09/masconod-sweet-cheese-rolls-dairy/

Filed Under: Dairy, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Pasta and Rice, Shavuot Tagged With: Cheese, cheese pasta, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, historic recipe, Jewish holiday, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, macaroni and cheese, Masconod, pasta, Shavuos, Shavuot

Delicate Salad

May 6, 2012 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Delicate Salad

Ingredients

1 yellow or red pepper
1 carrot
1 zucchini
1 cup cooked fava beans
pink and green peppercorns, coarsely ground (or you can use black pepper)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Serves 4

Cut the lettuce into thin stripes.

Seed the pepper, remove the white membranes and cut it into strips.

Slice the carrot and the zucchini length-wise, into very thin slices (you can use a mandoline, or a potato peeler).

Gather all the ingredients in a large bowl, add the fava beans, and dress with the olive oil mixed with the lemon, the salt and the pepper (if using pre-washed packaged salad and it’s a little dry, add a tablespoon of water).

Toss gently and serve.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/06/delicate-salad/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, Non-Dairy, salad, Side Dish, Special Diet Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, gluten free, healthy, Italian, kosher Italian, light, salad, vegetables

Gnocchi alla Romana

May 6, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 3 Comments

Gnocchi alla Romana (Dairy)

Ingredients

(serves 4-6)
About 8 tbsps butter, or more to taste
3 cups milk
1 cup semolina flour
1 cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano cheese
4 large eggs (use only the yolks)
salt and black pepper to taste
½ teasp of grated nutmeg (if liked)

Directions

Heat the milk in a saucepan with 5 tbsps of butter and ½ teaspoon salt.

When the milk is hot, pour in the semolina slowly, whisking continuously (use a whisk and not a spoon to prevent clumps); cook for about 15 minutes, or until cooked; as the mixture becomes too thick for a whisk, switch to a wooden spoon.

Remove the mixture from the heat, add salt if needed, and add half the grated cheese and all the egg yolks, combining well.

Pour and spread the semolina mixture onto a tray or counter lined wet parchment.

With the spatula, spread it to a thickness of about ½” to a maximum of 2/3, and allow to cool.

Cut the cold semolina into circles with a round cookie cutter.

Arrange the gnocchi in a buttered baking pan, slightly overlapping, and top with some butter flakes, the remaining grated cheese, a touch of grated nutmeg and a little black pepper.

Bake in a pre-heated 425 F oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden-brown.

You can dress and bake the trimmings in the same way; I serve the nicely round gnocchi to guests and enjoy the trimmings on my own the next day!

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/05/06/gnocchi-alla-romana-dairy/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Dairy, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Pasta and Rice, Shavuot, Traditional Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, Gnocchi, Italian recipe, Italian Shavuot recipes, Jewish holiday, jewish italian, kosher Italian, semolina, Shavuot

Ezekiel’s Olive Chicken

March 28, 2012 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Ezekiel’s Olive Chicken

What’s with chicken and prophets? Several Jewish Italian recipes for poultry have Biblical names. Here is one of the most popular examples, which appears in different variations in most cooking books on the topic, from Vitali Norsa, to Servi-Machlin to Joyce Goldstein. It’s not a surprise, because chicken cooked with this technique stays moist and juicy and keeps well for Shabbat! It’s a variation on the basic “pollo in umido”, which Americans call “chicken cacciatore”. The classic recipe is made with a cut-up whole chicken, but if you are in a rush or if you prefer boneless meat, boneless thighs also work well. When I cook boneless meat, I always add the bones to the pot (wrapped in a cloth) and discard them at the end. The bones add tremendous depth to the flavor. You can also add a couple of (koshered) chicken livers.

Ezekiel’s Olive Chicken

Ingredients

(4 servings)
one chicken, cut into serving pieces 3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, slightly pressed or minced (depending on your tolerance 😉
1/3 cup green or/and black olives, pitted
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons mix of freshly chopped herbs (sage, rosemary and basil or mint or parsley)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 or 4 tablespoons olive oil
2 or 3 peeled tomatoes (I use the canned type),
1/3 cup dry wine, red or white

Directions

Rinse the chicken and pat dry.

Heat the olive oil , add the chicken and saute until golden.

Add the salt, pepper, olives, garlic, and herbs, and the chopped (and drained) tomatoes.

Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, then lower the flame and cook covered until tender (about 30 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Now uncover, add the wine, and allow it to evaporate it on high heat.. It's delicious with a side of steamed potatoes or polenta.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2012/03/28/ezekiels-olive-chicken/

Filed Under: Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Meat, Quick/Easy, Shabbat Tagged With: chicken, cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, Italian recipe, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, olive, poultry, quick/easy

Tortino d’Azzima – Matzo Pie

March 22, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 4 Comments

Tortino d’Azzima (Matzo Pie) (Meat or Parve)

This recipe was my contribution to my friend Tori’s Passover Potluck project 2012. Check out the more detailed intro and my step-by-step pictures on her blog, here (you will also love all her yummy recipes!).

Tortino d’Azzima (Matzo Pie) (Meat or Parve)

Ingredients

MATZO PIE INGREDIENTS
Extra virgin olive oil (to taste)
2 boxes (about 10 oz. each) matzo (more or less)
2 lbs. cleaned Swiss chard or baby spinach
2 lbs. artichoke hearts (frozen is ok)
2 lbs. asparagus or mushroom, cleaned and sliced
1 cup dry white wine
6 garlic cloves
2 quarts cold chicken broth (for soaking the matzo- sub vegetable broth for vegan mod.)
3 eggs (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
SUGO D'ARROSTO (ROAST JUICE) INGREDIENTS
Extra virgin olive oil
Garlic Cloves
Rosemary
4 oz. ground meat (optional)
1 piece marrow bone (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Clean the vegetables, discarding the tougher parts of the artichokes and asparagus.

Cut the asparagus into small pieces, slice the artichokes very thinly (if using frozen, partially defrost first), and chop the spinach.

Blanch the spinach for about 5 minutes in a covered pot with a few tablespoons of water (you can also do this in a covered platter in your microwave).

Allow to cool down, then drain and squeeze the liquid out by pressing it into a colander in your sink.

Prepare three separate skillets on your stovetop, with at least 2 tablespoons of oil in each.

Heat the oil and add 2 whole cloves of garlic to each skillet.

Place the artichokes in one skillet, the asparagus or mushrooms in another, and the spinach in another.

Add 1/2 cup of white wine each to the artichokes and the asparagus/mushroom skillets and salt to taste.

Turn heat on those two skillets to medium. Allow the vegetables to simmer in the wine till it evaporates.

Add 1/3 cup of water to the artichokes, and cover both the artichokes and the asparagus.

Turn heat to low.

Salt the spinach skillet to taste (do not add any wine). Turn heat to low.

Cook all 3 vegetables separately on low heat until very moist and tender, adding some water if they start sticking to the skillet, or if they dry out. Cooking times may vary between 15 and 20 minutes.

Discard the garlic cloves and set the three vegetables aside. If they feel too dry, add a few tablespoons of broth.

Make sure you have some “sugo d’arrosto”* (roast juice) ready, or make some following my instructions at the bottom of this recipe.

Soak the matzahs in cold chicken broth. For a prettier result, soak them briefly (about 10 minutes), a few at a time, not allowing them to crumble (if you soak them for a short time, they might still split in 2, but they will be easy to “re-compose” in the pan).

For a softer, kugel-like texture, soak the matzahs for at least 40 minutes until very soft, break them down with your hands into a “mush” and then squeeze the liquid out (some people prefer this texture and they don’t mind the fact that it looks less “pretty”).

Line the bottom of a baking pan with about ¼ of the soaked matzah. splitting some in ½ or 1/3 as needed to completely fill the perimeter.

Brush or drizzle with a little “sugo di arrosto” and with about 1/3 cup broth (if you mush the matzah you will need to use less broth; whole matzahs, more broth), and then layer most of the spinach (reserve about ¼ for the top); follow with a layer of matzah, a little more “sugo d’arrosto” and broth, and the artichokes (set aside ¼ of all the vegetables) ; again matzah, roast juice, broth, and the asparagus. You can just top with the asparagus or make a final layer of matzah and top with roast juice.

Break the eggs and whisk them with 1 cup leftover broth.

Pour the mix over the pie slowly, trying to cover it evenly and allowing it to penetrate down the sides (if you are serving this dish as a side and prefer a lighter version, or if you are making a vegan modification, you can skip the eggs).

Bake for about 40-45 minutes. Half-way through the baking, check the pie, and if it feels too dry, add some more broth, concentrating it on the perimeter of the matzahs. You can also cover it with foil for the second half of the baking.

TO MAKE SUGO D'ARROSTO (ROAST JUICE)

Roast some beef with olive oil, garlic and rosemary leaves.

When the meat is done, remove it and strain the pot juices, which you will add to the matzah pie (if it’s not Passover, the roast juices also make an awesome pasta sauce!).

If you don’t need to make a whole roast beef, you can make a “fake” roast juice sauce by heating some olive oil in a skillet, and cooking a small amount of ground meat in it with a few whole cloves of garlic, some rosemary, salt and pepper. And if you are vegetarian or vegan, just heat the oil with garlic and rosemary and skip the meat!

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Filed Under: First course, Holiday Food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Non-Dairy, Passover, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Matza, Meat, Non-Dairy, olive oil, Passover, Pesach

Easy Passover Soup with Frittata (“Dadini in Brodo”)

March 18, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 1 Comment

Easy Passover Soup with Frittata (“Dadini in Brodo”) – (meat)

A great matzah-free option if the first Seder has left you feeling stuffed like a Passover turkey and you need a break! You can also serve this at the seder as an alternative to your matzah balls for gluten-intolerant guests.

Easy Passover Soup with Frittata (“Dadini in Brodo”) – (meat)

Ingredients

Serves 6
4 eggs
a tablespoon of chopped parsley
4 slices Hungarian salami, very finely chopped (optional)
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil or to taste
salt, and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (if liked)
3 quarts (or to taste) chicken or beef broth

Directions

In a bowl stir together the eggs, the parsley, salt, pepper, the salami, and the nutmeg.

Heat some olive oil in a non-stick skillet, pour the mixture in, and once one side is cooked flip it over and cook the other side.

If you prefer and if the skillet is oven-proof, you can also cook the second side by broiling in the oven (if you are nervous about the flip!).

Let it cool down and cut it into small cubes that you will place into a bowl and cover with steaming hot chicken or beef broth.

Instead of making a thicker frittata and cutting it into cubes, some people like to prepare very thin ones (crepe-like), and slice them thinly to resemble fettuccini.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: First course, Gluten Free, Holiday Food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Meat, Passover, Soup, Traditional Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, gluten free, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, Matzah Free, Meat, Non- Gebrokts, Passover, Pesach, soup

Malachi’s Chicken

March 12, 2012 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Malachi’s Chicken

Ingredients

4 pounds of chicken cut in pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
a few sprigs of rosemary
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of chicken stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine

Directions

Place the chicken in a large skillet or pot in 2 tablespoons of hot olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste and the wine, and cook for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally..

In a different pan cook the chopped onion and the chopped rosemary in 2 tablespoons of hot olive oil.

When the onion is turning translucent, add a mixture of the flour and chicken stock (be careful to avoid lumps) and cook stirring for 5 more minutes..

Pour the mixture of onion and rosemary cooked in oil with the broth and flour mixture on the chicken, and add the tomato paste.

Cook on medium heat for about 20 more minutes (or till cooked), stirring occasionally.

Decorate with a few leaves of fresh oregano.

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Filed Under: Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Meat, Quick/Easy, Shabbat Tagged With: chicken, cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, Italian, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, quick/easy

Swiss Chard Ravioli

February 29, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 1 Comment

Swiss Chard Ravioli

Concealed identities and hidden truths are the markers of the Jewish holiday of Purim, both in its exterior celebrations (the costumes) and in its deeper meaning. Much like a Shakespearean Comedy of Errors, on the surface the Megillat Ester is deceivingly simple and seemingly random in its sequence of events. The protagonists are assimilated, “comfortable” Jews living in a foreign land (Persia), afraid to reveal their identity, and it is the only book in the Tanakh (Bible) that makes no reference to God. Purim is the plural of the Persian term Pur (lots),those lots that Haman had cast to determine the fate of the Jews – as if to imply that our fate is a game of chance. On the other hand, this story seemed so relevant to our sages that it was included in the Biblical Canon, while the heroism and miracle of Hanukkah were left out. One of the greatest Torah scholars of the Middle Ages, Rambam (Maimonides) even maintains in his Code of Jewish Law that in the Messianic Age “All the books of the prophets and the sacred writings in the Bible will be annulled, with the exception of the Book of Ester” (Hilkhot Megillah 2:18).

The story of Purim is not easy to decipher: adding to the tease is the fact that the Queen’s name itself, Ester, comes from the word “saiter”, ‘conceal’, while the name of the book, Megillah, derives from the root “galal”, which means ‘to roll’, since we read it in a scroll, but also “to reveal”, as if to say that the very act of wrapping, concealing, was really meant to reveal some mysterious truth. Talking about concealments: even the Hebrew name for ‘World”, olam, comes from “alum“: ‘hidden’. The traditional interpretation is that all these apparent riddles playing with the idea of concealment are meant to remind people that it’s up to them to discover the true miracle of God’s presence in apparently random events and everyday things. In this sense, Ester’s fasting and finding the courage to reveal her identity to the king and ask him to save her people – was just as big a miracle as the parting of the Red Sea. The fascination with this motif was always so strong that Jewish culinary traditions all over the world have mirrored it in their holiday dishes, creating foods that hide (usually pleasant) surprises below the surface.

One of our Italian answers? Of course… ravioli! I am posting a version with ricotta both because I always prefer dairy, and because there is a custom to skip meat on Purim: the Talmud relates that that was what Queen Ester had to do in the palace of Ahasuerus, since she had no access to kosher meat (her husband the king was not Jewish). However, the carnivores among you can just scroll down toward the end of the recipe, and see how to make a meat version.

Swiss Chard Ravioli (Dairy OR meat)

Ingredients

Serves 4
Filling
1 lb swiss chards or a mix of greens
½ lb whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup freshly grated parmigiano cheese
salt to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
salt
nutmeg to taste
To dress:
¼ cup butter
a few sage leaves
freshly grated parmigiano to taste :
To make the fresh pasta
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs

Directions

Discard the stalks or any white parts from the chard, and cook it for 2 or 3 minutes with a few tablespoons of water (you can also microwave it on high on a covered platter for 1 minute): drain, squeeze to remove excess liquid, and chop finely.??

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add a clove or two of garlic, cook for one minute, add the chard and a little salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Place the ricotta in a bowl, add the chard and the parmigiano, the nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.

Add a walnut-size amount of ricotta and chard filling at regular spacings on your fresh pasta sheet. Press around the filling with your fingers and seal with the tongs of a fork. Since it’s Purim, cut the ravioli with a fun-shaped cookie cutter leaving the filling in the center of each.

You can also cut the dough into triangles (in honor of Haman’s Star-Treck ears) with a sharp knife.

Cook the ravioli for about 5 minutes in a large pot of salted boiling water; drain with a slotted spoon and serve drizzled with butter cooked for one minute with a few leaves of fresh sage, and grated parmigiano to taste.

*** to make the pasta, shape about 2 ½ cups of 00 or all-purpose flour into a well on your work surface; . add 3 eggs in the center and knead into a smooth dough. Allow torest for about 20 minutes covered in plastic wrap. Roll the dough into a thin sheet with a rolling pin or pasta machine.

*** for a meat version, replace the ricotta with about 8 ounces ground veal or beef (or a mix). While you are blanching the chard, heat a little oil in a pan and add a “soffritto” (“mirepoix” of minced 1/2 carrot, 1/2 onion, 1/2 celery stick); cook briefly, add the meat and little white wine, cook for a minute or two, add the chard and cook for a couple more minutes.

Allow to cool, “tie” with a couple of eggs, flavor with nutmeg and little salt, and use this mix to fill the ravioli.

Skip the parmigiano, and instead of dressing with butter, stick to a rich sugo d’arrosto (roast meat sauce).

Buon Appetito!

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Filed Under: Comfort food, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Pasta and Rice, Purim, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, history, Italian, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, Pasta and Rice, ravioli

“Orzotto” with Vegetables – Barley “Risotto”

February 20, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 3 Comments

“Orzotto” with Vegetables – Barley “Risotto” (Parve or Dairy)

I just gave a demo on healthful and elegant Italian cuisine at the JCC Manhattan during their Fitness for EveryBODY Fair. One of the ingredients I presented was barley, a grain with many beneficial properties. Unlike wheat, it contains a high amount of soluble fibers (betaglucans), which have a positive effect on cholesterol and provide an immediate sense of satiety, which will be appreciated by those of you who are trying to keep their weight in check. It also contains many vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and has been shown to help liver and kidney function. What’s not to like? This way of cooking barley, with the same technique that Italians apply to rice in risottos, is typical of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in the North-East, and I learned it during my year in Trieste.

“Orzotto” with Vegetables – Barley “Risotto” (Parve or Dairy)

Ingredients

3 or 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 a large onion, finely chopped
1½ cups pearl barley
½ cup dry white wine (optional)
6 cups hot vegetable stock or as needed
1 cup total diced vegetables (you can use 3 or 4 of your favorites, such as carrots, peppers, asparagus, zucchini, green peas, corn…)
about ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano or Grana cheese (optional, for a dairy version)
salt and pepper

Directions

Heat 2 or 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a heavy-bottomed or non-stick pot over medium heat.

Add the onion, and sauté until translucent, adding a tablespoon of water if it starts sticking to the bottom.

Add any of the vegetables that require a longer cooking time, such as carrots, peppers or potatoes, and cook stirring for 4 minutes.

Add the barley, and cook for 2 minutes on higher heat, stirring .

Add the wine, and allow it to evaporate.

Season with salt and pepper, and begin adding the hot stock ione or two ladlefuls at a time, stirring frequently, and adding more stock as soon as the liquid is absorbed.

After about 10-15 minutes add the diced zucchini and/or asparagus (or any quick-cooking vegetables) and keep cooking, stirring and adding hot stock, until al dente, about 30-35 minutes.

It should be creamy and not too thick: add enough liquid.

When cooked, remove from the heat, season with more salt and pepper, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of your best extra-virgin olive oil.

If you are eating dairy, add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of freshly grated parmigiano or grand cheese, and serve immediately.

(At the JCC I made this dish with onions and fennel, added at the start, and an exotic touch of saffron)

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Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, First course, Light/Diet, Pasta and Rice, Side Dish, Special Diet Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, light, Non-Dairy, parve, Vegetarian

Pappa col Pomodoro – Tuscan Bread & Tomato Soup

February 5, 2012 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Pappa col Pomodoro

We just came back from ten days in Italy, mostly spent in Venice hanging out with my mom and childhood friends. But my husband and kids had never been to Florence, and I decided to treat them to a couple of days in the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. The highlight of our stay was a lunch at our friends Alberto and Giordana’s apartment, with a breathtaking view of Fiesole and the Tuscan hills; followed by rides on the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica for our two kids! The food in Florence and in all of Tuscany is fantastic, simple and elegant, and justly famous. If you are not planning a trip any time soon, why not try this easy and delicious soup in your own kitchen? Pappa col Pomodoro is a perfect example of Italian “comfort food”, and of Tuscan peasant cooking. Bread soups were born of necessity: people could not afford to throw away stale bread, and devised ways to make it not only edible, but wonderfully tasty. Be warned that American-style soft sliced bread would just turn into a slimy and sticky mess: you will need artisanal bread with a firm, rough crust. The best types are Tuscan or Pugliese loaves. I live in Manhattan, and love Tribeca Oven.

For tons of authentic Tuscan recipes, and cooking classes in Tuscany (with vegetarian options), visit Giulia at http://en.julskitchen.com/

For kosher cooking classes in Florence, email my friend Chiara at Chiara105@gmail.com

Pappa col Pomodoro (Tuscan Bread & Tomato Soup) (Parve)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cold pressed extra-virgine olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 large can (12 oz.) peeled whole tomatoes (I like Italian tomatoes, San Marzano type)
½ medium loaf, or 1/3 large loaf of Italian-style bread, 2-day old
1 cup water or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of sugar
10 to 15 fresh basil leaves

Directions

Slice the bread. In a heavy pot, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the garlic.

After a couple of minutes discard the garlic, and add the can of tomatoes, breaking them with your hands into the pot.

Add salt, pepper, sugar and water, and stir with a wooden spoon.

Shred the bread into bite-sized chunks with your hands (if it’s too hard/dry cut it into cubes with a bread knife), and add them to the pot.

Do not stir too aggressively, because you don’t want the bread to melt into the water completely: the texture should be somewhat chunky.

You should stir gently using an upward motion, and not too long.

Cook on low heat for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Shred the basil leaves and add them to the soup; drizzle with more olive oil (about 1 tablespoon per person), lightly toss, serve.

This soup tastes even better reheated: it will be so thick that you will be able to eat it with a fork. Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Non-Dairy, Soup, Special Diet, Sustainable, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, healthy, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, light, Non-Dairy, Pomodoro, soup, tomato, Venice

Kamut Soup with Pumpkin and Saffron

January 22, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 1 Comment

Kamut Soup with Pumpkin and Saffron (Parve)

Have you ever tried KAMUT? It’s a long grain with a brown cover – it looks similar to brown rice, but it’s related to wheat and has a velvety, nutty flavor. It’s richer in protein than wheat, and contains several vitamins and minerals. Perfect for a winter soup!

The other main ingredient of this “minestra” is saffron, the star ingredient in Italy’s favorite risotto Milanese, and in many festive Sephardic dishes. Saffron, one of the most highly prized spices since antiquity, and a native of the Southern Mediterranean, is now cultivated in many countries. However, some the best in the world is said to be produced in the Abruzzi region of Italy, a couple of hours east of Rome – a legend says that it was first smuggled here by a dominican monk in the 13th century, and the production has been thriving ever since. In order to maintain the intense aroma of their saffron, the locals uproot the bulbs yearly, and select them for size. The perfect soil and climate conditions do the rest, and every fall the flowers are harvested.

About 80,000 crocus flowers are needed to produce a meager pound of saffron – in case you wondered what makes it the most expensive spice in the world! To justify the extravagant expense, remember that saffron has been used as a medicinal botanical on many continents throughout history, and some recent research has demonstrated that one of its components shows promise as an anti-cancer agent.

Kamut Soup with Pumpkin and Saffron (Parve)

Ingredients

½ pound kamut, soaked overnight (or at least for 3 hours) and rinsed
1 quart vegetable stock
15 to 25 saffron stigms
1 small carrot
1 celery stick
1 cup cubed pumpkin or butternut squash
½ a medium onion
1 quart vegetable stock
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions

Brew the saffron in a few spoonfuls of hot water.

Chop the onion, celery and carrot finely (we call this mix “soffritto”).

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook this vegetable mix in the oil for 5 to 10 minutes.

Add the cubed pumpkin, a little salt, and cook for 3 or 4 more minutes, Add the kamut, cover with the vegetable stock, and bring to a boil;

Cover and allow to simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Add the saffron and allow to cook for about 10-15 more minutes, or until the kamut is cooked “al dente”.

Drizzle with a little more olive oil, add a dash of pepper and some minced parsley, and serve.

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Filed Under: First course, Light/Diet, Non-Dairy, Soup, Special Diet, Vegetarian Tagged With: anti-oxidant food, cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, light, Non-Dairy, soup, vegan

Smoked Fish and Grapefruit Salad

December 30, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Smoked Fish and Grapefruit Salad (Parve or Dairy)

Ingredients

1 head of red radicchio
2 cups mache’ salad
1 cup arugola
2/3 pound smoked sable or smoked salmon
1 avocado
1 pink grapefruit
2 or 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (plus more for the avocado)
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives
salt and pink peppercorns to taste

Directions

Serves 4

Whisk the oil with the lemon juice (and yogurt, if using); add the chives, salt , grated grapefruit zest, and pink peppercorns and mix well.

Peel the grapefruit eliminating all the membranes, and divide it into slices; wash and drain the 3 different types of salads, and cut them into stripes.

Place them with the grapefruit in a large bowl and toss with the dressing.

Peel the avocado, cut it into thin slices, drizzle it with lemon juice (to prevent it from oxidizing). Cut the smoked fish into stripes.

Add the avocado and fish to the salad and serve.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, salad, Special Diet Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, fish, gluten free, healthy, kosher Italian, Non-Dairy, olive oil, salad, vegetables

Ricotta and Pumpkin Sformatini

November 6, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

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!

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.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Dairy, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, Special Diet Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, gluten free, Italian, kosher Italian, light, olive oil

Chestnut and Spelt Soup

November 1, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Chestnut and Spelt Soup (Parve)

After last Saturday’s early snowfall, it’s time to put our summer clothes in storage and welcome the cold season (at least in New York)! Don’t be sad – there are plenty of fun things about fall and winter. One example: hearty soups like this one, which incorporates two ingredients with a distinguished history, staple foods for thousands of years in some areas of Europe.

Chestnut and Spelt Soup (Parve)

Ingredients

2/3 pound dried chestnuts
1 cup Spelt
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Serves 6-8

Wash the spelt well, place it in a pot, cover with water and soak overnight.

The next day, boil the chestnuts in salted water with the bay leaf for 40 minutes.

In a second pot heat 1 tablespoon oilive oil, add the minced onion and garlic, and cook for 5 minutes; add the chestnuts with their water and the spelt (rinsed and drained well), and about 1 qt or more salted water.

Simmer for about one hour, covered, until the spelt is cooked.

Adjust the salt, sprinkle with pepper, drizzle with olive oil and serve hot with toasted bread slices. You can also add a little rosemary.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, First course, Light and Healthy, Light/Diet, Soup, Special Diet, Sustainable, Vegetarian Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, cuisine, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, light, soup

Baked Apple with Hazelnuts, Honey and Yogurt

October 31, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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Filed Under: Dairy, Desserts, Gluten Free, Light/Diet, Special Diet Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, dessert, easy, gluten free, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, light

Dolce di Pane e Mele (Bread and Apple Cake)

October 24, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Dolce di Pane e Mele (Bread and Apple Cake) (Dairy)

Today, October 24, is Food Day! Americans from all walks of life push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. One of the huge problems we are dealing with is that Americans waste more than 40 percent of the food we produce for consumption, while the number of people without enough to eat continues to rise. A very important Jewish concept, especially relevant today, is Bal Tashchit (do not destroy or waste). Originally, Bal Tashchit refers to the biblical prohibition against the destruction of fruit trees during wartime (Deuteronomy 12:19), but the rabbis of the Talmud extended the concept to the prohibition of destroying and wasting anything needlessly.

Really! Nowadays we should apply this idea to all kinds of waste (do we really need to drive, when we can walk or take the bus?). And of course, let’s start with food. Don’t leave your bread in plastic bags: chances are, it will be covered in green mold before you are done with it. If you keep it in a paper bag or a bread box, on the other hand, it will just dry out and you’ll still be able to use it, soaked in broth, to make delicious meatballs (with leftover cooked chicken), or for this delicious cake!

Dolce di Pane e Mele (Bread and Apple Cake) (Dairy)

Ingredients

1/2 cup raisins, plumped in warm brandy (or warm water)
2 eggs
1 (scant) cup sugar
1 untreated lemon
a pinch of salt
1 cup milk
3 large or 4 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin, drizzled with lemon juice to prevent oxidation
about 1/3 pound day-old sliced bread (crust removed)
butter to grease the pan
Another version of the Bread Cake
Ingredients:
1/3 pound day-old sliced bread (crust removed)
milk or rice milk for soaking
2 pounds apples or pears
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 or 3 tablespoons rhum
1 package baking powder (optional)

Directions

Serves 4

In a food processor (or with your hand mixer) process the eggs with the sugar till frothy, then slowly add the milk.

Add the lemon zest and a pinch of salt. .

Grease a spring-form pan and cover the bottom with sliced bread, then cover with some of the egg/sugar mix, followed by a layer of apple slices and raisins,

Continue layering all he ingredients, topping with apples and raisins; brush the top with little melted butter and bake for 30 to 40 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 F.

Other version of bread cake:

Break or cut the bread into small pieces and soak it in milk or soy milk until very soft.

Drain it and process it with your mixer till creamy.

Add the egg yolks, plumped raisins, rhum, sugar, and the apples (peeled, cored, and diced).

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and carefully incorporate them with a spatula (alternatively, you can avoid separating the eggs in the first place and add a package of baking powder to the mix when you add the sugar).

Pour into a greased spring-form pan and bake at 350 F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/10/24/dolce-di-pane-e-mele-bread-and-apple-cake-dairy/

Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, Desserts, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Special Diet, Sustainable Tagged With: cake, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, dessert, easy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, scialut

Turkey or Veal Roast with a Surprise

October 10, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Turkey or Veal Roast with a Surprise (Meat)

On the holidays, I usually serve dairy at lunch and meat for dinner. This colorful “roast”, which is actually cooked on the stove, usually “wows” guests. It’s much easier than it looks!
If you prefer, instead of the boiled eggs you can use a thin frittata made with eggs and chopped parsley or spinach. It’s filling, so I would serve it after a vegetable soup or a light broth-based pasta soup.

Tukey or Veal Roast with a Surprise (Meat)

Ingredients

3 slices Hungarian salami and 3 slices good pastrami
1 boneless turkey breast in one piece, about 2 pounds, butterflied (or veal)
1 tablespoon (or more) freshly chopped parsley
2 boiled eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon plain bread crumbs
1/2 a medium onion, chopped finely
one small carrot, chopped finely
one celery stick, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic (one whole, one minced)
1 ripe tomato, completely seeded, salted and drained.
1 1/2 tablespoon plain bread crumbs
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine (do not use “cooking wine”)
salt and black pepper

Directions

Boil the eggs, peel them and eliminate a small white slice from the ends, so that ,when sliced, all the slices will contain some yolk.

With the flat side of a mallet, pound the turkey breast or veal to a ½-inch thickness, and season with pepper.

Grind the cold cuts very thin (best to do this with a food processor), combine them with a tablespoon of bread crumbs, the parsley, the garlic, little pepper, and a touch of nutmeg if liked. Spread the filling over the center of the meat leaving the ends untouched.

With a spoon, thin the filling out in the center to accomodate the eggs.

Add two thin slices of tomato (only the pulp, completely seeded and well drained!) – in absence of a tomato you can use a couple of spinach leaves, or peeled fillets of red roasted peppers.

Fold the edges of the meat over the filling, closing it on all sides, and tie well with kitchen string.

Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil (you can use only 2 if using veal, which has more fat, but need more for turkey) in a large sauteuse pan, with a clove of garlic.

Add the meat and allow it to brown on all sides, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine and let it evaporate. Add the chopped onion, carrot, celery ,one cup of hot water, salt and pepper, and cook covered on medium/low heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, then uncover and allow the sauce to thicken.

Transfer onto a platter, slice, and serve with the sauce.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/10/10/tukey-or-veal-roast-with-a-surprise-meat/

Filed Under: Holiday Food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Meat, Shabbat, Sukkot, Thanksgiving Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, roast, Sukkot, Thanksgiving, turkey

Etrog or Lemon Risotto

October 9, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Etrog or Lemon Risotto (Dairy)

The Etrog, one of the symbols of Sukkot, is a special fruit, which looks like a giant lemon and grows on very delicate trees, in warm climates. Some Hassidim actually prefer the Etrogs from Italy (from the region of Calabria), probably because of a tradition that says that Moses used one from there. After Sukkot, a lot of us like to use them to make jelly or other specialties. In the movie Ushpizin the protagonists use its juice to dress a salad, but here is another fun idea (and you can make this recipe any time using regular lemons):

Print
Etrog or Lemon Risotto (Dairy)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups boiling hot vegetable stock
2 shallots, or 1/2 a large onion, very finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups Italian Rice (Vialone nano, Arborio or Carnaroli type)
juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime or etrog
grated zest of 2 organic lemons or one etrog
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives
1/2 cup ricotta (ricotta is naturally low-fat, do not use low-fat or fat-free ricotta)
(you can substitute mascarpone for the ricotta for a creamier version)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Directions
In a pot, heat the stock until it boils, and keep it simmering.
Heat the oil in a large heavy pot (enameled cast iron or non-stick), add the onion, and cook over medium/low heat until soft.
Add the rice, and mix well, raising the heat to “toast’ the rice for a minute or two. Stir in the wine and allow it to evaporate.
Add a couple of ladlesful of the hot stock to the rice and reduce the heat to medium-low.
Cook the rice until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom
Add more hot stock, one or two ladles at a time, until the rice is tender but firm, what we call “al dente“.
Don’t allow the rice to dry out, in Venice we want to present our risotto “all’onda” (wave-style – meaning creamy and moist, not too solid). If in doubt, add more hot stock.
Stir in the lemon juice and zest, mix, and the ricotta, salt and pepper to taste; turn the heat off and cover. Allow to rest for 1 or 2 minutes.
Decorate with the chives and serve immediately, accompanied by the grated parmigiano cheese.
3.1
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Filed Under: Dairy, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Pasta and Rice, Side Dish, Sukkot Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, cuisine, Etrog, Italian, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, Risotto, Sukkot

Fish with Pine Nuts and Raisins

October 4, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Fish with Pine Nuts and Raisins (Parve)

This simple and easy fish dish is served in many Italian cities during the meal that follows the Yom Kippur fast. Raisins and pine nuts appear in many Jewish Italian dishes of Sephardic origins, and offer a lovely contrast to the vinegar. For this recipe, Roman Jews use red mullet, but I’ve tried it with other types of white fish and it still works. You could substitute a branzino, orata, striped bass, grouper, snapper, and so forth. Just don’t use a fish that’s too fatty like sea bass or soft like sole and tilapia. (And don’t even think of salmon )

Fish with Pine Nuts and Raisins (Parve)

Ingredients

1 large red mullet or other fish (or 2 smaller fish), cleaned and gutted, rinsed and pat dry
extra-virgin olive oil, 3 to 4 tablespoons
salt and white pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup of white or red vinegar
2/3 cup raisins, plumped in hot water and drained
1/3 cup pine nuts

Directions

Heat half the olive oil in an oven-proof skillet on the stove, add the fish and sauté’ for one minute or two on each side.

Combine all the other ingredients, including the remaining olive oil , and pour them over the fish. Cover and cook on low/medium heat for about 20 to 30 more minutes, or transfer into a 350 F oven and bake covered.

If you prefer, you can make this dish with fish fillets. In this case the cooking time will be more or less 10 minutes.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/10/04/fish-with-pine-nuts-and-raisins-parve/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Fish, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Light and Healthy, Main Dish, Shabbat, Yom Kippur Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, fish, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Non-Dairy, Yom Kippur

Roasted Fish with Fennel

September 25, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Roasted Fish with Fennel

Another very common symbol on the Rosh HaShana table is the head of a fish, with the prayer “that we be a head and not a tail”. We don’t actually eat the head (yikes), just present it as a symbol; but we do eat the rest of the fish and here is a great easy recipe.

If you didn’t use fennel for the previous symbol, Roviah, but green beans or beans, try adding it to the fish instead – it’s a delicious combination! Some people do not like using lemon on Rosh HaShana (in the spirit of eating only things that are sweet, and not sour): if that’s your case, add only the peel/zest, without the pulp.

Roasted Fish with Fennel

Ingredients

(serves 6-8 as an appetizer or 4 as a main course)
2 branzinos (a type of bass) or other white fish, about 2 pounds each - scaled, gills removed, gutted and rinsed
1 fennel bulb, sliced very thinly (I use a mandoline)
1 medium onion or leek, sliced thinly
one lemon, sliced thinly, seeds removed
fresh rosemary
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and white pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts into the skin of the fish, on each side about 1/4-inch deep diagonally three times on each side.

Season the inside with salt and white pepper.

Stuff the inside with just a few slices of fennel, onion and lemon and a sprig of rosemary.

Brush a baking pan with extra-virgin olive oil (I prefer a milder extra-virgin oil for fish, like a Ligurian oil); on the bottom of the pan layer fennel, onion and lemon, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Drizzle with the olive oil.

Place the fish on top of the vegetables, sprinkle with little salt and drizzle with more olive oil, and transfer into the oven for about 18 minutes or until cooked (cooking time depends on the size of the fish – to make sure the fish is cooked check if it’s flaking from the bone).

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/09/25/roasted-fish-with-fennel/

Filed Under: Fish, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Light and Healthy, Light/Diet, Main Dish, Rosh Hashana, Shabbat, Special Diet Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, fish, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Non-Dairy, Rosh hashanah, symbolic

Tagliatelle with Pumpkin and Lentils

September 22, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Tagliatelle with Pumpkin and Lentils

For Rosh HaShana I usually serve a fresh pasta soup in chicken broth before the main course: it’s easy to make (make or buy pasta; make chicken stock; cook the pasta and serve with the broth). But I wanted to offer something different for those of you who do not have a seder before the meal, and prefer a more filling first course. As a bonus, this pasta recipe includes pumpkin, one of the holiday symbols in some Italian Jewish communities, including Venice (see my post on “Zucca Barucca” above).

Tagliatelle with Pumpkin and Lentils

Ingredients

(serves 4)
3/4 pound fresh or dried tagliatelle (Italian wide egg noodles)
1 cup pumpkin or butternut squash (diced into small cubes)
2 cups boiled lentils (or you can use a can)
1 small zucchini
fresh sage
bay leaves
1 small onion, minced very fine
1 sprig rosemary
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the onion, 2 sage leaves and 1 bay leaf.

After a couple of minutes dd the diced zucchini, the drained lentils and the cubed pumpkin.

Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add a ladleful of hot water to the vegetables, salt and pepper, and cook for 10 minutes or more, until soft but not mushy.

Cook the tagliatelle in a large pot of salted boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, transfer the vegetables into a bowl and put the rosemary sprig in the hot skillet where you cooked the vegetables, roasting it for a couple of minutes in the oil left over. Discard the rosemary and toast the breadcrumbs for 2-3 minutes in the same skillet.

Drain the pasta, dress it with the vegetable sauce and the toasted bread crumbs, and serve.

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Filed Under: Comfort food, First course, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Pasta and Rice, Quick/Easy, Rosh Hashana, Side Dish, Soup Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, pumpkin, Rosh hashanah, soup, symbolic, vegetables, Venice

Stuffed Goose Neck for Rosh HaShana

September 20, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Stuffed Goose Neck

Kosher goose is nowadays only available in the US and in Italy through a few select butchers, or only at certain times of the year. But just a few centuries ago, starting in the Middle Ages and continuing through the Renaissance, goose had become the main source of meat for most Jewish communities in Western Europe, from German-speaking countries to the Italian peninsula. Goose was to the Jews what pork was to Christians: where the Gentiles used lard, the Jews cooked with goose fat; the meat was eaten roasted and stuffed or used to prepare sausages, salamis and kosher “prosciutto“. It was the “Kosher Pig”!

Several versions of this dish are still a popular Rosh HaShana main course in different Italian cities, of course only those years when we can get our hands on a goose.

(A widespread variation is a turkey meatloaf enclosed in the turkey skin, which I will add later.)
On a personal note, while I’m obsessed with this recipe, I am not going to serve it for Rosh HaShana this year, because the last time my husband (who is squirmy about meat in general) saw me stitch the neck with the trussing needle, he went 100% vegan for two weeks.

Stuffed Goose Neck for Rosh HaShana

Ingredients

The skin of one goose neck
1 and 1/2 lb ground goose meat
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
1 egg
2 small day-old rolls, crusts removed (or 2 slices bread, crusts removed) and cubed
1 or 2 tablespoons bread crumbs
chicken or meat broth
1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or allspice (if liked)
6 very thin slices Hungarian salami (or goose “prosciutto“)
salt and pepper to taste
extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Soak the bread in 1/2 cup of broth.

In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onion until soft, adding one or two tablespoons of water if necessary to prevent it from sticking or burning.

Allow the onion to cool down, discard any liquid or oil (you can place it in a cheesecloth or large piece of paper towel and squeeze the liquid out into your sink).

Also drain as much liquid as possible out of the bread, squeezing it well.

Now place the onion and bread in a large bowl and add the ground meat, egg, parsley, spices, salt and pepper and 1 or 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs, or just enough to give the stuffing the right texture (you can always add more later).

Combine everything together, mixing gently but thoroughly; on the other hand, don’t overdo it: it’s not Challa! My grandmother used to say that meatloaves and meatballs come out too hard if you handle the meat for longer than necessary.

Use this stuffing to fill the neck of the goose (yikes, I know), previously lined with some thin salami slices. It’s easiest with a spoon, and don’t stuff too hard because the stuffing expands during cooking and it can break the skin!

Now sew the opening close with a trussing needle and white cotton string.

Prick a few small holes in the skin with a skewer or kitchen knife, to prevent it from bursting during the cooking.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet or sauteuse pan.

Add the neck and brown well on all sides.

Transfer into the oven and roast for at least an hour, turning it and basting with the liquids from the cooking at least 4 times at regular intervals.

To test for doneness, prick with a skewer or toothpick and make sure the juices run clear.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/09/20/stuffed-goose-neck-for-rosh-hashana/

Filed Under: Jewish Italian Cuisine, Main Dish, Meat, Rosh Hashana Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Goose, Italy, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, Rosh hashanah

Zucca Barucca (“Holy” Pumpkin or Butternut Squash)

September 20, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Zucca Barucca (“Holy” Pumpkin or Butternut Squash) (Parve)

Pumpkin or Butternut Squash is an important part of our Rosh haShana Seder. While the symbolic foods of the Pesach Seder are meant to internalize the memory of Passover, the symbols of Rosh haShana point to the future to wish us a good New Year. The Aramaic term for squash/pumpkin is ’Kerah“. Because of its resemblance to the Aramaic root “Kara” (to cut), when we eat this vegetable we pray that any of our bad deeds will be cut out of the Book of G-d’s Judgement. Pumpkin arrived in Italy after the discovery of the Americas, and was such a hit with Northern Italian Jews that in Venice we call it “Zucca Barucca” (Holy Pumpkin – from the Hebrew “Baruch“).

Different communities and different families prepare it in different ways, but here are a sweet-and-sour version, plus my favorite (but not very photogenic) Venetian version, mashed.

Zucca Barucca (“Holy” Pumpkin or Butternut Squash) (Parve)

Ingredients

SWEET AND SOUR PUMPKIN (or Butternut Squash)
1 pound butternut squash or pumpkin (weight peeled and seeded)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced or minced
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons white wine vinegar (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons fresh chopped mint
MASHED PUMPKIN (Zucca Disfatta)
2 pounds butternut squash or pumpkin, diced (weight peeled and seeded)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil (to taste)
1 medium onion, very finely minced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
(in Ferrara they even add candied Etrog)

Directions

SWEET AND SOUR PUMPKIN (or Butternut Squash)

Peel the squash and discard the seeds.

Cut into wedges, about 1/2” thick.

In a skillet or wok, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat.

Add the squash and cook until soft inside and golden brown on the outside (8 to 10 minutes).

Discard most of the frying oil, and put the skillet back on the stovetop with the squash.

Drizzle with the vinegar and add the salt, pepper, sugar (or honey), garlic and mint.

Cook for about 10 more minutes on low heat, stirring gently.

It can be eaten warm or at room temperature.

MASHED PUMPKIN (Zucca Disfatta)

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the onion in it, adding a couple of tablespoons of water if necessary.

Add the diced pumpkin, parsley, salt and cook it on low heat, covered, stirring often, until it’s so soft that it can be mashed easily.

At this point, mash it with a fork or potato masher.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Rosh Hashana, Side Dish, Sukkot Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, Italian recipe, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, Non-Dairy, Rosh hashanah, symbolic, vegetables, Venice

Leek Frittata

September 13, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Leek Frittata

One of the most popular ways to serve this Siman (Symbol) in our Rosh HaShana Seder: inside an earthy frittata (with or without the addition of spinach). Frittatas can be prepared in advance.

Leek Frittata

Ingredients

2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups thinly sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only)
8 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg, if liked

Directions

Preheat the broiler (if using). Heat the olive oil in a 10? nonstick skillet.

Add the leeks, some salt, and cook on medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk the eggs with 1/2 teaspoon salt, a pinch of pepper (and nutmeg, if liked) in a bowl.

Add egg mixture to the leeks in the skillet and fold gently to combine.

Cook over medium heat until almost set. If you are brave, flip over with the help of a platter, and cook the other side. If you are unsure, transfer the skillet under your (preheated broiler for about 2-3 minutes.

If you decide to use the broiler, make sure your skillet is oven-proof and doesn’t have a plastic handle.

Cut into wedges and serve.

*Many people make this frittata with leeks and spinach together.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Gluten Free, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Quick/Easy, Rosh Hashana, Traditional, Vegetarian Tagged With: appetizer, brunch, cucina ebraica, cuisine, frittata, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, leek, Non-Dairy, Rosh hashanah, symbolic

Oven-Baked Turkey Meatballs

September 1, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Oven-Baked Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs and meatloaves are a staple in Jewish Italian kitchens: I would go as far as to say that every family has a different version (and every son swears that his mother’s is the best!).

For many centuries most Jews in Italy were poor, and had only sporadic access to meat: one of the ways they found to make use of cheaper cuts was grinding the meat and stretching it with different ingredients – bread, eggs, and countless vegetables. The result included not only delicious meatloaves and meatballs, but also a variety of stuffed vegetables and pasta. These dishes are great for Shabbat and the holidays when food needs to be prepared in advance and reheated, because they don’t harden and actually taste better the day after.
If you choose one of the versions that incorporate cooked, chopped vegetables (spinach, leeks, zucchini, eggplant… the options are endless!) you might also be able to sneak some greens into the diets of the most irreducible picky eaters.

Oven-Baked Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey (if you are on a low-fat diet, ask for white meat only)
1 scallion, very finely minced
1 slice of bread, crust removed
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup of white unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup warm chicken or vegetable stock, or water (you can also use parve, unsweetened soy milk)
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs or as needed
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

(prep time: 20 minutes; total time: 1 hr and 15 minutes)

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet and cook the scallion or onion in it until translucent, adding a little salt and water if needed to prevent it from sticking or turning brown.

Drain the onion from the oil and let it cool down.

In the meantime, soak the bread slices in warm broth or water till soft, then remove them, squeezing the liquid out, and set aside.

In a bowl, mix the ground turkey with the cooked scallion, the salt and pepper, parsley, bread (drained of the excess liquid), nutmeg, egg; mix everything together, working well with your hands until all the ingredients have combined. (if you are not on a low-sodium or low-fat diet you can also add two slices of a natural salami, very finely minced).

Let rest for two minutes so that the bread will absorb some liquid making the mixture easier to shape.

Shape into ping-pong size meatballs. If the mixture is so soft that you are having a hard time forming meatballs, you can add a teaspoon of bread crumbs, but don’t overdo it – your meatballs should not have the texture of real ping-pong balls

Roll the meatballs into a dish filled with the plain breadcrumbs.

Line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper.

Brush or spray the parchment lightly with a small amount of high-quality extra-virgin olive oil (do not use baking sprays! Just transfer a good olive oil into a spray bottle).

Arrange the meatballs on the parchment in one layer and lightly spray or brush the top with a little more olive oil.

Bake until golden (about 30 minutes) in a preheated oven at 425 F. Enjoy!

*** ALTERNATIVES: If you prefer, you can cook the meatballs in a light tomato sauce. Start a tomato sauce by cooking 1/2 an onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil till translucent; add a can of peeled Italian tomatoes (just break them down with your hands), add salt and pepper and a small pinch of sugar; cook for about 10 minutes then add the meatballs, and cook on medium/low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring slowly and often. You can also use the same mixture to prepare one meatloaf: in this case the baking time will need to be increased by at least one third.

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Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Light/Diet, Main Dish, Meat, Special Diet, Sustainable Tagged With: cucina ebraica, cuisine, easy, healthy, Italian recipe, kosher Italian, main dish, Meat, meatballs

Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

July 6, 2011 By dinnerinvenice 7 Comments

Macedonia (Italian Fruit Salad)

I’m going to let you in on an Italian secret: while gelato is delicious, most of us don’t eat it every night! Our sweet treat after dinner 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! 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.

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 (you can use a low-calorie sweetener if you need to follow a strict diet)

Directions

Serves 4-6

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

Add the sugar and mix in. Refrigerate before serving.

* This is just an example, you can use any fruit you like!

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Filed Under: Desserts, Gluten Free, Light and Healthy, Light/Diet, Non-Dairy, salad, Special Diet Tagged With: authentic Italian cuisine, cuisine, dessert, easy, fruit, fruit dessert, gluten free, healthy, Italian, Italian light dessert, Italian recipe, light, Non-Dairy

Chocolate Salami – Salame Cioccolato

April 13, 2011 By dinnerinvenice 2 Comments

Chocolate Salami – Salame Cioccolato

Obviously, this is not only for Passover! Ask any Italian child and they will probably name chocolate salami as their favorite dessert, any time, anywhere.

Chocolate Salami – Salame Cioccolato (Parve)

Ingredients

4 tablespoons water (or oil, for a softer texture: almond oil or coconut oil taste best)
8 tablespoons sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate, grated (or semi-sweet chocolate chips)
a few drops of vanilla or almond extract (you could also use a couple of tablespoons of a sweet liqueur such as Amaretto, but your kids will really want to eat this!)
1 cup shelled walnuts, or pistachios or hazelnuts
1 cup broken Passover cookies such as Mandelbrot (skip and add more nuts for GF option)
2 tablespoons candied orange (optional)

Directions

Melt the chocolate with the sugar in your microwave or in a bain-marie.

Add 4 tablespoons hot water or oil and stir until smooth.

Add the cookies, nuts, liqueur or extract, candied peel.

Taste and add a couple of spoonfuls of honey if you would like it sweeter, and one or two more tablespoons hot water if it’s hard to stir.

Allow to cool. When it’s lukewarm, shape it into a salami and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or aluminium foil.

Let it rest in the refrigerators for at least 6 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, unwrap and cut into slices.

For a softer texture, replace the water with oil.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/04/13/chocolate-salami-salame-cioccolato-parve/

Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, Desserts, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Non-Dairy, Passover, Quick/Easy, Traditional Tagged With: chocolate, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dessert, Italian recipe, Jewish holiday, kosher Italian, Non-Dairy, parve, Passover, Pesach

Stuffed and Fried Zucchini Flowers

March 30, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Stuffed Fried Zucchini Flowers (Dairy)

Stuffed and Fried Zucchini Flowers (Dairy)

Ingredients

12 zucchini flowers
1/2 cup of COLD dry white wine (120ml)
1 large Italian mozzarella ball, cut into strips
3 tablespoons parmigiano cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup pastry flour (best) or all-purpose flour
extra virgin olive oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Check inside the flowers for bugs and shake them out.

Wash the flowers very carefully or they will break.

Dry well with paper towel without rubbing. leave for a few minutes on paper towel so the inside will dry out as well.

Stuff each flower with a strip of mozzarella. If you eat fish with dairy (**many Jews of Sephardic and Italian origins do not) add an anchovy fillet.

If you don't, salt the mozzarella and add a touch of parmigiano cheese and maybe nutmeg.

For the batter, mix eggs, all purpose flour and wine together until smooth and even (a whisk works best).

Heat up the extra virgin olive oil in a deep pot, at least 3" deep, until hot; test it by throwing a small piece of bread in it - lots of small bubbles should form around it, but it should not burn.

Gently coat the stuffed flowers with batter.

Fry until golden brown. Place on several layers of paper towel to absorb the excess oil and immediately season with salt.

The flowers can also be fried in the same batter without stuffing, sprinkled with sugar and served as a dessert (a delightful idea for Purim and Hanukkah!)

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/03/30/stuffed-and-fried-zucchini-flowers-dairy/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Dairy, Side Dish, Vegetarian Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, cuisine, dairy, easy, First course, Fried, kosher Italian, mozzarella, quick, quick & easy Italian, stuffed, zucchini

Eggplant Roulades with Tuna

March 29, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Eggplant Roulades with Tuna

Ingredients

(serves 4)
2 medium/large eggplants
4 ounces anchovies (salt- or oil-packed)
1/2 cup capers (salt- or oil-packed)
1/2 cup green olives, pitted
1 can of tuna
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
10 mint leaves
salt
pepper

Directions

After washing the eggplants, cut them lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices , arrange them in a colander in your sink or on a platter, and cover them with kosher salt on both sides.

Allow them to rest and 'weep" the bitter juice out for one hour.

Keeping the eggplants in the colander, rinse them well under cold running water to eliminate all traces of bitterness and salt.

Blot dry with paper towels.

Arrange the eggplants on a wide tray and cover them with a mix of oil, vinegar and salt, and freshly chopped mint leaves.

Allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, combine the tuna (drained), olives, capers (drained and rinsed), and anchovies (rinsed) in a food processor until they form a smooth, creamy paste.

Grill the eggplants on a heavyweight grill pan, turning them and brushing them with the marinade, until cooked through.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then spread the tuna mixture on one side of each eggplant slice, roll up and secure with a toothpick.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: Eggplant in Italy was apparently abhorred by non-Jews until the end of the 1800s. Its Italian name, Melanzana, is said to derive from the Latin "Mela Insana" (Bad Apple) because it was believed to be poisonous and cause fevers that would make people lose their minds. But in the 20th century the purple fruit took the country by storm, and is now the star ingredient in some of the most popular and world-famous Italian dishes.

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