Baked Fish Fillets

I was flipping through my roommate's cookbook looking for an easy recipe that called for very few ingredients, preferably ones that I has already stocked. I stumbled upon a recipe that was simply baking fish in tomato sauce and I thought, by darn, how could I ask for anything easier? I added sweet yellow corn to the mix and boiled some potatoes for a full meal that was easy and delicious.

 

To make 4 servings, pour 3 cups of marinara sauce into a large glass or ceramic baking dish and top with 2 (6 oz.) skinless halibut fillets (I used tilapia.) Sprinkle one 15 oz. can of whole kernel sweet corn. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 20 minutes. Scrub a potato clean, peel if desired (I decided to keep the skin on), chop into medium sized squares and boil until soft.

Buon Appetito! 

(my, how I miss Italy *le sigh)

Apple Something

A promising set up

With the temperatures dropping, summer is long gone and autumn is slowly leaving us too. To cross some final things off of my autumn to do list, I decided to make an apple pie. I had the apples all set, all of the ingredients, this recipe (filling only), and the promise of an easy, no bake crust. I was ready. I started peeling the apples; what I thought would have taken 20 minutes at best, took me around an hour. My arm was tired, my fingers were near sliced off so I just said "too bad" and decided not to finish peeling the amount of apples required. I made the easy crust in two minutes (all that was required was an addition of water) and I shrugged off the fact that I needed to dust it with flour. Well, guess what: I needed flour. On top of the crust dough being too sticky, I also lacked a vital rolling pin. This wasn't going as planned, so I decided to improvise. I rolled the sticky dough out in my hand and made different shapes that I could fill with the apple/sugar/cinnamon filling. It went from being an apple pie to apple turnover mutations on crack. I had so much apple filling leftover that I dumped it into a store bought crust (that I was planning on using for a pudding pie) and threw both "creations" into the oven.

Post-exhaustive peeling but still, a glimmer of hope

Embarrassment

Don't let them fool you; they look better than they tasted...and that's saying something

They came out decent at best. Because the crust dough wasn't rolled out, the apple mutations were too crusty and thick. As much as I love pastry crusts, too much crust and not enough filling do not make a good combo. As for the sad excuse of an apple pie with no crust cover, the apple filling dried out and, though I ate the whole damn thing, I enjoyed it only a little bit. Oh well. I'm not discouraged and will definitely try making a pie again during the next apple season, but for now, I'm going to turn off the oven and leave it to the pros: Mrs. Betty Crocker

Happy Halloweekend!

Baby Cakes Pop 'Ems

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not great in the kitchen. Even with the cooking class I took in Tuscany and a mother who should have her own Food Network program, I am a novice at best when it comes to creating dishes in the kitchen. For my final year in school and with living in an apartment, I was looking forward to really branching out and experimenting with that thing called a stove and that item known as an oven. With everything that happened with the flood, however, I was unfortunately without a kitchen for a number of weeks and got set back. I seized the opportunity of the down time I had when I was on break back at home at the end of September and played with my sister's new baking machine, Baby Cakes. I simply followed the recipe that was given and voila! cute little one-bite cakes to pop in your mouth. They came with lollipop sticks but I didn't use them as I knew that with my family, they would be gone before the day was over. Lies, I ate most of them before anyone came home from work or school. 

This mixer was a wedding to gift to my mom. Yes, after 26 years of service in our kitchen it still works. My mom refuses to throw it out.

Linguini With Shrimp In Garlic And Oil

The other night, after a full day of shopping, I wanted to prepare a quick and easy dinner, partially to give my mom a break, and partially because I want to continue cooking after a semester of taking classes. I'll admit that I have been slacking when it comes to standing in front of a stove, so I have been trying to seize any given moments when I can test out different recipes in the kitchen.

The one I tried for this particular dinner was very simple and easy and took mere minutes to prepare. I washed the pre-cleaned shrimp and sauteed them with peeled garlic, boiled the linguine, and threw everything together. While I didn't follow any particular recipe, but merely did what my mom directed me to do, here is a simple recipe that I found that is identical to my dish. Enjoy!

P.S. Is anyone seeing the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 tonight? I am and couldn't be more excited! I also went to the red carpet premier on Monday and have some very awesome pictures to share with everyone tomorrow!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

Planning Difficulties and Biscotti Con Noci

Hello Lovelies,

Has anyone ever tried to plan a party and find that the menu is set perfectly, the decorations are easily accessible (and include some fun DIY projects) only to find that the guest list is the problem? I am trying to plan a small backyard BBQ, but find that the guests are having trouble coming - a lot of their reasons are legit, (work, family engagements, etc.) but some people don't answer and it can be frustrating trying to plan things and having everything in order except the most crucial piece - the guests! Anyways, I'm keeping my hopes up that everything will fall into place and have started preparing some things that I plan on cooking.

Burgers and hot dogs are a cinch, so I decided I would start trying out the most crucial of crucial aspects to any get-together: the desert. My sister is known for making chocolate chip cookies and my mom for her biscotti cookies so I am going to try and put a spin on both - chocolate chip biscotti cookies. I plan on making half of the cookies plain and half with chocolate chips. If I get ambitious, I might even dip them in melted chocolate and let them cool for a crunchy topping.

Here is Mom's recipe for Biscotti Con Noci:

Ingredients: 

1 and 3/4  sticks of butter (melted)

1 and 1/2 cup of sugar

3 eggs

4 cups of flour

1 and 1/2 tsp of baking powder

chocolate chips, walnuts (optional)

Mix the sugar and eggs together. Add in the flour, butter, baking powder, and toppings and mix all together. Make long strips of the dough, making sure that they stick together. Place in a greased pan or on parchment paper and cook in oven at 375 degrees until slightly brown. Remove and cut in strips, Place back on the pan, place in the oven, and cook until golden brown.

These cookies are one of many deserts that I am going to try and create for the backyard BBQ bash!

Happy Wednesday!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

A Quick Dinner

Hello Darlings,

I haven't posted about food in a while. I must say that I expected to be making all of these amazing home-cooked gourmet meals since I came home from Italy, but I must be honest and say that I am uninspired. I'm waiting until I see some great recipe and actually want to go grocery shopping so I can purchase some great produce. Another main reason why I haven't cooked up anything for the past couple of weeks (besides pancakes and pasta) is that I have missed my mom's cooking so much that I need to take advantage of whatever amazing dish she whips out.

Seeing as how I miss having photos of food, I thought I would document tonight's simple and oh-so-easy dinner. We just purchased a new grill so my parent's have been taking advantage of the warm weather to throw anything on the grill. tonight was hamburgers. I washed the salad, cut up some orange and red peppers, threw in some chopped almonds, and added a delicious low-fat dressing made from Dijon mustard, oil and vinegar - so simple, so good! My goal this week is to find one simple recipe, make a meal and have it posted by Friday. Maybe, if I don't burn down the kitchen, I'll make it a weekly thing!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

Making Mom Proud

Ciao Darlings,

I feel like if you ask anyone, they will say that their mom's cooking is the best. With that being said, I truly believe that my mom's cooking is above the rest. Therefore, I rely solely on her meals when I'm home and look forward to them when I'm away at school. Once she saw all of the previous posts from my cooking classes, she specifically made it a point that I need to make meals when I'm home. On another note, it is really nice to know that once I move into my apartment next year, I will know some recipes to cook for dinner. Because of midterms this week, I will not be cooking anything in my cooking class therefore there won't be a Food Of Italy post. However, here are some of the meals that I have prepared in my apartment thus far this semester.

One of our first home cooked meals - capellini pasta with peas, salad, prosciutto, and red wine

Minestrina soup - reminds of home!

By far the easiest thing to make. Boil some water and add some chicken stock bullion cubes.Wait until it boils and then add some pastina. When the pastina is all cooked but still al dente, ladle into your bowl and enjoy1 Add bits of crusty bread for some crunch. This is my favorite dish as it reminds me so much of home.

Risotto and Red Kidney Beans

I grill onions in olive oil and boil water with chicken stock. When the onions have browned, I add the risotto rice and scoop the stock with a ladle into the pan, fully submerging the rice with the stock. Once the rice has absorbed most of the stock, bring another scoop in. Continue doing this until the rice is creamy and soft. Here is a simple recipe with the precise measurements.

Steak and Grilled Red Peppers

I just grill the steak meat with olive oil and balsamic vinegar along with the red peppers in the same pan, wait until they both brown and then serve!

Balsamic Chicken with Green Salad

 Whenever I buy chicken cutlets, I just grill them with olive oil and chopped garlic, adding some white wine or balsamic vinegar for flavor and chopped parsley. For the salad. I just wash and chop the lettuce laves and add any chopped vegetable I'm desiring at the moment - usually they are red and yellow peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and zucchini. for dressing, I have used balsamic vinegar or lemon with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Some sort of Mystery Meat

 To be honest, I can't read the labels on the meat packages here so I go for the best price and grill the meat with olive oil garlic, onions, and white wine or balsamic vinegar.

Polenta al Formaggi

This is an easy one - go to the store and buy some pre-packaged polenta mix, add it in boiling water and stir until it has a creamy consistency. My mom makes it from scratch, so here is a simple recipe on how to make authentic polenta.

There really is no rhyme or reason to these dishes. I try to keep things as simple as possible. If and when I create a culinary masterpiece one day, you will be the first to know!

On a more serious note, I have decided to partake in Blogger's Day of Silence tomorrow where bloggers help to raise awareness and funds for Japan through the means of a ShelterBox. Please visit Forjapanwithlove.com to donate and to learn more about Shelter box and how you, as a blogger, can help.

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

The Food Of Italy: Emiglia Romagna

Ciao Beauties,

Today in cooking class we covered and cooked from the region that I have been most excited over: Emiglia Romagna! This is where my family immigrated from and I was excited to eat something that reminded me of home. As quoted from our textbook, “The people of Emilia-Romagna eat more, care more and talk more about food than anyone else in Italy. They like nothing better than to get together, eat, drink, tell jokes, sing and discuss the merits of dishes.” - The Food of Italy by Claudia Roden. There are a variety of prodcuts stemming from this region including: Parmesano Reggiano (which was first made in Parma and first sold in Reggio,) Balsamic Vinegar, Tortellini, Prosciutto di Parma, and Mortadella. Today we are making fresh ravioli pasta with cheese and spinach stuffing in a ragu sauce and Panna Cotta with berry sauce. 

Tortellini Alle Erbette

Panna Cotta Con Berry

The Ravioli:

Ingredients
2 eggs and 200 grams of flour

10 oz of spinach

8 oz ricotta

1 egg

Pinch of nutmeg

Salt and Pepper

2 oz melted butter

2 oz of freshly grated Parmesian

For the ragu sauce, chop up an onion, a carrot, some celery, a garlic clove, and some parsley. Melt some butter with oil in a pot and sauté everything just chopped, and add a few basil leaves. (Fun fact: Don't chop basil as it will eliminate the flavor!) After it has cooked, add two to three different types of meat. We used pork, beef, and sausage. Cook until the meat is brown. Add some red wine, and simmer until it evaporates. Then add some salt and pepper, a bay leaf, tomato sauce, and a little meat stock. Let it cook for 2 to 3 hours.

For the ravioli, make the fresh past by combining flour, eggs, pinch of salt, drizzle of oil and kneading it with your hands. After it’s smooth and elastic, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest. 

For the filling, wash some fresh spinach and cook it for a couple of minutes  in boiling water until the spinach boils down. Then drain it, chop it up, and let it cool. Add about 8 ounces of ricotta, 1 egg, a pinch of salt and pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and about 2 ounces of grated Parmesan; mix it all up. 

Using a pasta press and roll out some long, thin sheets. Put one sheet down on a floured surface. Dot it with mounds of the filling. Then cover with another sheet, pressing with your fingers around the mounds to stick the dough together. Use a pastry wheel to cut out the ravioli. Boil them for a few minutes until they are done. Toss them in a skillet with the ragu sauce to coat. Then, place a serving platter. Put the bay leaf on top to decorate.

The Panna Cotta:

Ingredients
1/2 Pint of double cream
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1 Vanilla bean
3 Geletin Sheets

Put half a pint of cream with about 2 tablespoons of sugar in a pot. Add a vanilla bean and let it simmer 2 or 3 minutes, but don’t boil. Dissolve gelatin (1 teaspoon powdered gelatin, or 3 gelatin sheets) in cold water and then beat well into the cream. Pour into little dishes. Put it in the fridge to chill. For the panna cotta sauce, we made two kinds: strawberry and blackberry. Just put berries in a blender with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and some sugar and blend until well done. Once the gelatin is chilled, turn the panna cotta dish upside down onto a plate drizzled with sauce. 

Next week we will be studying the beautiful region that I am calling home for now: Tuscany! I'll be in Rome this weekend. See you all on Monday with my weekend recap!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie