Weekend Eats

A Creamy Berry Puff Pancake is the perfect thing to make for that lazy weekend breakfast, why go out when you can pull this together in no time while you're still all comfy and cozy in your slippers!

Put the coffee on, relax and read the Sunday paper while it's baking in the oven, it only takes

20 - 25 minutes.

The batter takes 5 minutes to whisk up, it consists of ,** 1 cup of flour** 1 cup of milk** 4 beaten eggs** a pinch of salt** 1 teaspoon of vanilla** 1 tablespoon of sugar**

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in an 8 inch oven proof skillet, next pour 1 cup of the batter in, swirl it around and place it in a preheated 450F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.

You'll be able to make two 8 inch pans like I did, using 1 cup of batter in each or one large pan using all the batter plus the 2 tablespoons of butter. I would think at least a 12 inch skillet size would work, although I never tried it. I have a 14 inch and I figured that was too big.

The sides puffed up perfectly just like they're suppose to, creating the perfect vessel to fill!

I filled mine with berries and sweetened ricotta as the base, the ricotta was mixed with,

** orange zest and powdered sugar** **less than a cup of ricotta** ** 2 0r 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar**, taste it to your liking.

Slice it into generous wedges and drizzle with warm maple syrup for the perfect ending!

Recipe adapted from food.com

If you prefer brunch, make yourself this Pasta Frittata, you'll be amazed at the different variations you can create with just, **a handfull of leftover pasta** some eggs** a dollop of ricotta cheese** grated cheese** and fresh herbs**

After my frittata's start to "set" on top of the stove (where the egg mixture stops moving), I like to finish them off under the broiler, but don't walk away, keep watching it, believe me it could burn in a matter of seconds! Just get it nice and golden brown.

I like to serve this with an arugula salad tossed with an olive oil, lemon and parmesan dressing. So good!

If you want to add a little meat to your morning breakfast try this Baked Sausage and Eggs.

I like to serve this in individual gratin dishes for a nice presentation.

** Preheat your oven to 375F. ** Use 1 link of Italian sausage per serving, casings removed and browned before baking** Butter or brush olive oil into your gratin dish** Crack 2 eggs plus 1 egg white into each individual dish** Sprinkle your favorite dried seasonings over top along with grated parmesan cheese, I used fennel and oregano for mine** Scatter with halved cherry tomatoes** Bake until eggs set, ovens will vary**

Relax and enjoy your weekend!

Buon Appetito

Ricotta Stuffed Meatballs

I got the inspiration to make this the other night while I was flipping channels on my remote, I came across a show on Food Network it was either "Unique Eats" or "The Best Thing I Ever Ate", I can't tell you which one it was but the girl was just raving about these Ricotta Stuffed Meatballs that she ate at some restaurant.

What caught my attention was the brilliant way in which the Chef stuffed them, he did it by freezing balls of ricotta, placing them inside the meat and them forming the rest of the meat all around it.

I couldn't wait to try out his method, it sounded so easy!

Martha once had someone on her show who baked the meatballs first then took a apple corer and cut through the center of the meatball after which he took a pastry bag filled with ricotta and squeezed it into the hole, sounds like a lot of work to me plus you're wasting some of the meatball, and besides I wanted my ricotta cooked.



There was no recipe, I just winged it, you'll be amazed how easy it is to do.
Mix up your ricotta in a separate bowl, I added romano cheese, salt, pepper, chopped basil and parsley to mine, no egg.
The size of your meatballs will determine the size of your ricotta balls, I made a few giant meatballs, like one per person size and I also made regular sized ones, so I rolled my ricotta accordingly, placed the balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the freezer they went for about an hour.

While you're waiting mix up your meat, I usually always add, garlic, onion, egg, grated cheese, moist bread, salt, pepper and fresh chopped parsley to mine.

When the ricotta balls are frozen and ready to go, take some meat in the palm of your hand, place the ball of ricotta inside, then cover it with more meat to form a ball, that's it!

Although it's hard to see the perspective in this photo, these were the giant meatballs I made, one was enough per person to fill you up.
I served these big ones with a salad and roasted cauliflower for our dinner.

I also rolled up a tray of regular sized meatballs, I was curious to see if it would work and the ricotta would stay tucked inside after they cooked, and It did perfectly!

Bake them in a hot oven 400F - 425F
until done, of course that it will all depend on the size you make your meatballs.

Let them cool down a bit before you try to stick your fork inside
otherwise the ricotta will just run out. Trust me, I know!

Spoon some freshly made marinara over the top, dowse it with grated cheese
now grab your fork!

I'm telling you my dear friends, this...was ...

good!!

Buon Appetito!

Artisinal Pasta Tools, and a Day of Pasta Making with Friends

I've been yearning for a corzetti stamp for a long time, practically begging relatives of mine to search out one for me on their recent trip to Italy, which by the way they never could find. Little did I know back then that I could have gotten one right here in this country, specifically from California!

Fast forward about a month later when Terry Mirri, the owner of a company named,

Fatto in America - Artisanal Pasta Tools, contacted me to try out two of his handcrafted artisinal pasta tools, a corzetti stamp and a garganelli board. Their mission is for home chefs to explore food preparation with tools rarely seen by the American consumer. After receiving them and actually seeing the fine craftsmanship that went into each design, the beautiful woods they used, I was in awe!

Corzetti are a highly decorative pasta, but at the same time it's also functional because the embossed pattern helps to hold oily sauces such as different types of pestos.

Just one look at this garganelli board and you will be amazed to see all the work that was put into making this. Fifty six individually cut slats of wood anchored in place with natural jute, all done by hand, oh, and you can also make gnocchi on this too!

Garganelli pasta are thin ridged tubes that are shaped by wrapping ( 2 inch) squares of egg pasta diagonally around a wooden dowel, then rolling it over the slats, ( or combs) to give it it's signature ridges.
Needless to say, I couldn't wait to start making pasta with both of these beautiful tools!

But because it's really not fun to make pasta all by yourself I asked my three good friends, Jean, Joanne and Mary-Alice to join me. Joanne (middle) graciously offered her beautiful newly remodeled kitchen for all of us to work in.

We arrived early in the morning with our aprons and ingredients in hand to the smell of monkey bread baking in the oven, a delicious egg and sausage breakfast ring loaded with all sorts of veggies and cheese, fresh fruit and coffee brewing, not a bad way to start the day off, hey?

After our fulfilling breakfast it was time to get started, we made all the dough first, the eggs were cracked, the flour measured and with a little tweaking with the measurements, into the food processor it went, as each recipe was completed we wrapped the dough in plastic and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Time to crank out the pasta sheets! Just look at the texture of the dough, nice and smooth. Nice job girls!

I couldn't wait to try this, here's what you do, you cut out the circles with one end of the stamp, ( like a cookie cutter) then you flip the stamp over and place the circle of dough over the embossed side, then take the other section which has the knob handle on it, stamp down over the circle. The underside of the handle, which you can't see in the picture also has the imprint, so when completed both sides will have the beautiful design on it.

Look how easy the dough peels off! Perfection! On a side note I did a comparison with a corzetti stamp that was purchased from a popular online kitchenware site but it was very inferior to Terry Mirri's product, the wood was rough, the circles didn't cut right, I could barely peel the pasta off the stamp, and as for the design factor, you couldn't even see it!

I can't say enough about Terry's products, the craftsmanship is unbelievable, heirloom quality which can be handed down throughout generations! Check out his other products too, he carries polenta and cavarola boards, and a handmade storage box to house your pasta machine.

Aren't they beautiful? This is not something you would make everyday but on holidays or a very special occasion, it will be the object of conversation!

We made multiple trays of these, but waited until we got home to freeze them and place into freezer bags.

Making the garganelli was easy once we all got the hang of it, here's what you do,**cut dough into squares**position squares with point slightly over jute rail**wet far tip with water** place spindle over square**flip the tops of pasta over spindle**push and roll over the slats with your palm**slide garganelli off.

After our trays of garganelli were finished we left them single layered so as not to squish the cylinder and waited until we got home to freeze and bag them up.

We had many scraps leftover from cutting out the corzetti so we became very resourceful and started making spaghetti and fettuccine and even a few pasta sheets.

Pasta was every where, on tables and counters, we had a sea of pasta from one end to the other!

Here we are admiring the fruits of our labor, so much fun, can't wait to do it again girls!

I cooked up my corzetti a few days later and used a garlic, olive oil, basil, parsley and parmesan sauce which I gently spooned over the cooked pasta and sprinkled toasted walnuts all over. Delicate, light and oh so good!

Imagine bringing a huge platter of these out to your table, your guests will be wowed! Look how pretty the design turned out.

Although there are many different sauces you could use for the garganelli I opted for a nice marinara, it was wonderful!

What a labor of love pasta making is but worth all the effort especially when you do it with family and good friends!

Buon Appetito!

Foodie Field Trip

I meet with my girlfriends once a week, sometimes we meet for coffee early in the morning, sometimes we go to lunch at our favorite restaurants and often we just cook for each other at our homes.

Sometimes we hop in the car and go into the city just to eat a famous sub sandwich or go to get an Italian ice with some pizza.

I could go on and on about our little excursions like the time we went hunting down fig paste and this particular eggplant salad that we're obsessed with, but I need to get to the point of this post!


Our recent "field trip" was to a fabulous place called Caputo's Cheese Market, if you blink you would drive right by it! Located in an industrial area with high fencing all around you barely see the sign as you enter through the gate, the building looks like a warehouse until the door swings open and you're bombarded by every type of pasta you can think of, tomatoes, canned and jarred all over the place and every kind of staple you would want for an Italian pantry.
Here's the layout, they have three specific rooms, the main floor is where the staples are, then on the upper level you'll find the bakery and deli room, salads of every kind, you can even eat lunch there on the tables they have set up. Pizza, panini or any kind of sandwich you want, order your favorite salads and grab a cannoli for dessert!

I just love their olives, my favorite are the massive green olives stuffed with gorgonzola! Every time I open my fridge and see them, I want to pop one in my mouth, they're so good!

Their sausage is made fresh daily, excellent quality with that old world flavor, and they're not afraid to use fennel!

The cheese room is overwhelming, every where you turn there's a different cheese, local and imported from everywhere, the prices are so reasonable one could get carried away, (cough, cough!)

Any of my Chicagoland readers who do not know about this hidden gem, it is worth the ride, go for lunch and spend the afternoon shopping! They have 2 locations, I've only been to the one in Melrose Pk. Here's the link.

Like I said we could have eaten there for lunch, but on that particular day we planned to go to

Danny's Cafe a neighborhood restaurant which happens to be right up the street from Caputo's Cheese Market!

What you'll find at Danny's Cafe is great food in a casual neighborhood atmosphere with generous portions, I mean come on, how many restaurants do you know that actually serve neckbones?

We went there on a Tuesday, otherwise we would have ordered their platter of neckbones which people go crazy over!

Instead we ordered the fried smelts for our appetizer, this was a small order in which 4 people could easily eat from it.

The feta, tomato, asparagus and olive salad was the perfect complement to my favorite sandwich!

My favorite sandwich is, pepper and egg with crumbled sausage, big enough for 2 to share! Not pictured is the hot giardiniera I spooned all over the top, unbelievably good!

I'm stuffed just looking at all this food!

Buon Appetito!