summer Archives - Dinner in Venice

Pasta salad with Egg, Radishes and Mache’

August 13, 2013 By dinnerinvenice 13 Comments

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Nothing in the kitchen spells summer and vacation for me the way cold rice and pasta dishes do. I grew up with no air conditioning in the kitchen and dining room: to survive the summer, we resorted to a an endless variety of dishes that can be served cold or at room temperature.

Pasta salads were always my favorite (and I just wrote about them in my monthly column for The Jewish Week NY), because they can easily be packed and eaten outdoors. Meet me in Central Park!

Pasta salad with Egg and Radishes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

25 minutes

serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 lb (or up to 1 lb if you are four hungry men!) pasta, "wheels" or half-rigatoni or other short pasta
1 bunch radishes (about 1 cup)
1 cup lamb's lettuce or mache' salad, stems removed (or more to taste)
2 large eggs
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Cook the pasta "al dente" in a large pot of salted boiling water, according to instructions on the box. Drain, dress with 2 tbsp oil, and allow to cool.

Boil the eggs in cold water (cooking for about 7 minutes from the moment the water starts boiling).

In the meantime, slice the radishes very thinly (easier with a mandoline or food processor). Separate the lettuce leaves.

When the eggs are cooked, rinse them under cold running water, peel them and chop them coarsely.

Top the cold pasta with the eggs, the lettuce, the radishes, salt and pepper.

Emulsify the remaining oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper, add to the pasta salad and toss. Enjoy!

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/08/13/pasta-salad-with-egg-radishes-and-mache/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Jewish Italian Cuisine, Light and Healthy, Main Dish, Non-Dairy, Pasta and Rice, salad, Vegetarian Tagged With: egg, Italian food, Italian recipe, Non-Dairy, parve, pasta salad, summer

Summer Cherry Salad

May 24, 2013 By dinnerinvenice 22 Comments

May 22. When I was a child, the end of May marked the beginning of cherry-picking season in Italy, and for the next month or so I could often be found doing my homework with a big bowl of juicy fruit in my lap, and a few red stains on my books .

The decadence of sucking on the cherries is counterbalanced by the zen quality of spitting the pits into a saucer. Ciliegie are the perfect, meditative snack: “una tira l’altra” (one pulls the other, you just can’t stop eating them) – that’s also true of potato chips, by the way, but potato chips aren’t being touted as the next “superfood”.

Cherries are actually so good for you that they are now being marketed in the form of capsules. I find that a bit ridiculous: wouldn’t you rather stick them into a pie? At least dip them into white chocolate? Or, if you are being truly virtuous, how about using them for a colorful salad?

Summer Cherry Salad

Ingredients

10 oz baby spinach, washed and patted dry
1 cup cherries, pitted
1 cup cubed feta or crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup shelled walnuts, halved
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, or to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp honey

Directions

Whisk the oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper to make the vinaigrette and set aside.

Toast the walnuts in a small skillet for a couple of minutes. If you are feeling fancy, toast them with a bit of sugar until they become caramelized.

Place the spinach in a bowl with the cherries, the cheese, and the walnuts.

Toss with the vinaigrette right before serving.

https://dinnerinvenice.com/2013/05/24/summer-cherry-salad/

Filed Under: Appetizer, Light/Diet, salad Tagged With: cherries, cherry, feta, goat cheese, Italian food, light recipe, salad, spinach salad, summer, walnut

Watermelon and Cantaloupe Bruschetta

August 8, 2012 By dinnerinvenice 12 Comments

Bruschetta (which, by the way, should be pronounced [bru’sket:ta] ( listen) and not [bru’shet:ta], please!!!) is a snack that Italians have been enjoying for centuries. It’s a simple slice of roasted bread, rubbed with fresh garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh tomato and basil. Tuscans, always the chic minimalists of Italy, skip the tomato and stick to olive oil and garlic; they call it Fettunta, “greased slice”. Of course they use the very first and very best oil of the season, which makes everything else seem redundant!

Just like bread soups or bread puddings, bruschetta was born as a way to salvage bread that was going stale (note to Americans: real bread does get stale!), at a time when it was considered precious and nobody was watching their carbs and worrying about Atkins. Some Italian peasant, who never reached the fame of the Earl of Sandwich but remained nameless, had a culinary epiphany that would revolutionize the concept of snacking.

Who doesn’t like giving their fork a rest and eating with their hands at picnics and cocktails? Although most of us tend to think of bruschetta in terms of tomato and basil, it’s actually a great base for most Mediterranean appetizers and salads, which it turns into finger foods. Just pick your favorite summer ingredient and build your own! Here is mine:

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 ripe cantaloupe, diced
1/4 small ripe watermelon, diced
3/4 cup goat cheese, or crumbled feta
2 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
fresh mint or basil
2-3 tbsps of the best extra-virgin olive oil you can find (not too strong or acidic)
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 loaf Italian or French style bread, sliced and toasted, broiled, or grilled

Directions

Rub the toasted or grilled bread slices with the garlic cloves while they are still hot. Discard the garlic. Brush with very little oil.
Spread a little cheese on the slices.
Dress the two melons (separately) with the rest of the oil, and little salt and pepper. If using feta, which is saltier, you can skip the salt.
Top some slices with the cantaloupe and others with watermelon. Decorate with fresh mint.

Filed Under: Appetizer, Comfort food, Dairy, Light and Healthy, Light/Diet, Vegetarian Tagged With: appetizer, brunch, comfort food, cucina ebraica, dairy, Italian, kosher Italian, light Italian, sandwich, snack, summer

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

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

Pasta salad with Egg, Radishes and Mache’

Summer Cherry Salad

Watermelon and Cantaloupe Bruschetta

Directions

Gelato in a Phyllo Nest

Lemon and Lavander Tart

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Pasta salad with Egg, Radishes and Mache’

Summer Cherry Salad

Watermelon and Cantaloupe Bruschetta

Directions

Gelato in a Phyllo Nest

Lemon and Lavander Tart

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