Italian comfort food Archives

Puff Slices with Dandelion Greens and Cheese

April 22, 2013 By dinnerinvenice 11 Comments

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This week, the nice weather inspired me to check out my neighborhood “community gardens”, and I found a few fun things to cook with. Of course, if you live in the suburbs, you might already have a lot of these interesting greens growing in your own property.When it comes to that stubborn backyard weed… why kill them when you can eat them?

Dandelion greens, for example. They make a great addition to a salad, but you can also try something fancier. They pair perfectly with cheese. Make sure they are not treated with toxic chemicals. And stay tuned – more “weed” coming soon! Next is borage…..

Puff Slices with Dandelion and Cheese

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

serves 4

Ingredients

1 puff pastry sheet
1 cup (unpacked) dandelion leaves
4 to 6 ounces semi-soft, ripened cheese such as taleggio, Brie or Camembert
extra-virgin olive oil to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F. Wash the dandelion leaves and pat dry.

Roll out the puff pastry and cut it into rectangles. Arrange them on a baking tray lined with parchment, leaving some space in between because they'll raise. . Brush with little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Decorate with the thinly sliced cheese and the dandelion. Drizzle with little more oil and add a touch of black pepper. Bake at 350 F in a pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden. Enjoy immediately.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/04/22/puff-slices-with-dandelion-greens-and-cheese/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Dairy, Sustainable, Vegetarian Tagged With: appetizer, Cheese, comfort food, dandelion, greens, herbes, Italian comfort food, sustainable, weeds

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies

January 31, 2013 By dinnerinvenice 15 Comments

Biscottini da Te’ al Cacao e Nocciole

Italy’s Langhe region, in the heart of Piedmont, produces some of the finest wines in the world. However, to many foodies, Langhe is first and foremost synonymous with nutty and chocolaty treats. The local hazelnut, “Tonda Gentile”, is in fact considered the highest-quality hazelnut in the world, and the jewel of the Italian production. Even the famous food writer David Lebovitz writes, “I do not like to speak in superlatives, so when I say that the hazelnuts from Piedmont are really the best I’ve ever tasted—believe it”.

The pure, fresh air of these vine-covered hillsides does seem to work some kind of magic on both the flavor and texture of the nut. And magic it could well be: the Langhe hills, topped by medieval churches and often wrapped in a mysterious fog, which fades the natural colors into soft purples and muted greens, inspired in the past many superstitions about witches’ gatherings! Of course, after the Piedmontese confectioners came up with Torrone (Italian honey nougat) and then with Gianduja (chocolate with hazelnut paste) , everybody figured out that those mysterious witches they feared must in fact be good fairies.

My personal Langhe fairy was my mother’s friend Matilde. Matilde, an elderly Piedmontese piano teacher with a formidable gift for baking, was solely responsible for turning my sugar-hating self (I did not eat dessert until age 10) into the cookie monster, and all with this easy recipe below.

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

1 hour, 15 minutes

6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 and ¼ cups flour (plus more for dusting)
1 and ¼ cups powdered sugar
½ lb blanched (peeled) hazelnuts
1 cup (or 2 sticks) butter, cold and cut into cubes
4 yolks
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
salt

Directions

Grind the hazelnuts in your food processor with 2 or 3 tablespoons of the confectioner’s sugar (taken from the total. The sugar absorbs the nut oil so that you don’t end up with marzipan). Sift the flour with the cocoa, and combine it with the butter – either in a stand mixer or using ice-cold hands (keep a bowl of ice nearby).

Add the ground hazelnuts, the rest of the sugar (but reserve 2 tbsps for decorating), the yolks, and a large pinch of salt, and knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic and place into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes .

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Using a cold, flour-dusted rolling pin, roll the dough on a floured surface (even better: roll between two sheets of parchment or wax paper*). When it’s about 1/3” thick, cut it into discs using a cookie cutter. Arrange the cookies about 1” apart from one another on a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

And bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and dust with the remaining confectioner’s sugar. Serve with a hot pot of black tea!

TIPS FOR ROLLING OUT A STICKY DOUGH:

• If the dough is very sticky, dust its surface with flour before placing it between the two sheets of parchment or wax paper.

• Lift the sheets out and put them back on several time, to prevent them from sticking to the dough and creating creases.

• Turn the dough over several times, so that it is rolled out evenly

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/01/31/hazelnut-cocoa-tea-cookies/

A FEW MORE IDEAS FOR COOKIES BY SOME OF MY FAVORITE BLOGGERS:
Brutti ma Buoni by AglioOlio&Peperoncino

Nutella Cookies by SundayAtTheGiacomettis

Amazing Sugar Cookies by CouldntBeParve

Margarita Cookies by SmittenKitchen

Filed Under: Comfort food, Dairy, Desserts Tagged With: chocolate, comfort food, cookies, gianduja, hazelnuts, Italian comfort food, Italian cookies, Langhe hazelnuts, nutella, Piedmont, tea

Tuna Loaf

May 1, 2011 By dinnerinvenice Leave a Comment

Tuna Loaf

Move over, Gefilte Fish! In Italy, we have our own not-so-refined and yet delicious comfort appetizer…
Tuna Loaf. I don’t know if I can call this recipe historical, because it’s made with canned tuna 😉 but it’s been around long enough that a couple of versions are included in a G. A. Vitali-Norsa’s “classic” ‘La Cucina nella Tradizione Ebraica” (1970). Of course, many more variations are enjoyed often – especially in the warm seasons – on countless Jewish Italian tables. Here is mine:

Tuna Loaf

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cans (about 9 ounces) Yellowfish Tuna, packed in olive oil, plus 2 anchovies
1 cup plain bread crumbs
2 eggs
a pinch of nutmeg (if liked) OR 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley
* if you don't follow the Sephardic prohibition against mixing fish and dairy, you can add a couple of tablespoons of grated parmigiano reggiano

Directions

Drain the tuna very well and pulse it in a food processor till smooth

Add the eggs, the bread crumbs, spices (and cheese if using)

Shape it into a long loaf, and wrap it tight in a cheesecloth, tying it at the ends with kitchen string

place it in a wide pot of boiling water (enough water to just cover it) and cook for 25 minutes

Allow to cool, unwrap, slice, and serve with mayonnaise or any other lemon-y or tangy sauce

(if you prefer a crunchier version, you can bake it for 30 minutes at 200 F instead of boiling it)

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2011/05/01/tuna-loaf/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Fish, Non-Dairy, Quick/Easy, Shabbat Tagged With: appetizer, cucina ebraica, fish, gefilte fish, Italian comfort food, Jewish Italian Cuisine1, kosher Italian, quick/easy, tuna loaf

Puff Slices with Dandelion Greens and Cheese

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies

Tuna Loaf

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Puff Slices with Dandelion Greens and Cheese

Hazelnut Cocoa Tea Cookies

Tuna Loaf

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