My famous homemade pate'

Ok, so my homemade pate' is not actually that famous, the only thing that it's famous for is that it disappears at the speed of light every time I make it. At some parties I didn't even get to try a bite of it because it was gone so fast. Not joking. What's the secret? Easy. First of all I don't tell anyone that it's made with chicken livers. At least not until they have tried it and loved it. I'm not sure why, but most people seem to have a big problem with chicken livers, so why tell them? Second, I use a lot of butter. I can't stress this enough: if you are going to make pate' you have to use tons of butter. There's no other way around it. No making it "light". Unless you want your pate' to suck, that is.

So here's the recipe. I usually serve it along with cranberry sauce or some other type of berry jam, but it's also good on its own, with a slice of bread.

HOMEMADE PATE'

One onion
1 pound chicken livers
1 spoon of capers
Butter at room temperature

A shot of brandy
1 glass of broth
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme

In a pan, sauté the finely cut onions in butter until soft and add thyme and the liver ready cleaned and washed. Sauté them until browned. Add brandy and cook for 20 minutes on low heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Let everything cool. Add capers and place in a food processor. 

Process, adding butter one tablespoon at the time until you reach a smooth consistency. Pour in a loaf pan, cover and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  

Goat cheese appetizer balls

It seems like yesterday that I was thinking about Thanksgiving being two months away. And now it's here. Only two days away. Of course I havn't even started cooking or prepearing for it, mostly because this working full time thing has kind of gotten in the way ;-) Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Europe I had to take the day off and, while I was at it, I also took tomorrow off, so I have two days to prepare the feast! I have to say that I'm super excited about cooking. I hadn't really noticed it, but since I've started working I have been cooking less than I used to and I really, really miss it.

It sounds a little crazy, but it's true.

So tonight I'm baking cornbread that I will use for the stuffing, so that my celiac friend can eat it too. Tomorrow I'll make what can be made ahead: my famous homemade patê, a pumpkin spread for my vegetarian friend and, most likely, the pumpkin cheesecake I intend to serve as dessert. Thanks to Debbie at Feast for the eyes I will also make the gravy ahead. That way on Thursday I only have to make the turkey and the side dishes. Sounds like a good plan, right? We'll see if I actually follow it through. I'm famous for not following through, so chaos and disorder are always around the corner...

Anyhow... if you are looking for an easy to make and cool to look at appetizer, here's a recipe for you!

GOAT CHEESE APPETIZER BALLS

2 goat cheese packages

2 tablespoons ground almonds

EVOO, 1 tablespoon

2 teaspoons honey

Salt and pepper

Mix cheese, oil, honey in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Using your hands make balls out of cheese mixture. Dredge them into ground almonds.

Serve with a honey drizzle over it.

Corn fritters with fresh tomato sauce

Another great summer recipe. This year I'm definitely trying to hold on to summer more than last year, although I have to say that it feels pretty damn great to sleep under the covers with the windows open. Last night I enjoyed a glorious rainstorm, one that made the temperature dip from Saturday's 81 degrees to a high of a mere 68F and a low of 52F. I know it's not freezing by any means, but it was quite a shock. The ten day forecast looks good, though. Today is still a little chilly, but from tomorrow on we are going back into the low 80s, hopefully until the 29th, when I'm hosting my birthday party at an outdoors venue.

But enough about the weather. Let's talk about food, shall we?

I had toyed with the idea of making corn fritters for a while, but for some reason I never got around to actually make them. Something would always come up and I'd cook something else, postponing the fritters indfinitely. I mean, between cookbooks, cooking magazines and blogs, how on earth is one supposed to try all the delicious recipes one finds? Seriously, how do you guys deal with this recipe overload?

Anyway, I finally made the fritters... and now I wish I had made them earlier on because they are de-li-cious! Also, they are very easy and quick to make, so I definitely suggest you try them as well.

CORN FRITTERS WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

1 large can of corn (or you can use fresh, if you have it)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red chili pepper, minced
2 scallions, finely chopped
A bunch of basil, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons of water
Salt and pepper

2 tomatoes
1 scallion
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, torn into pieces

To make sauce, cube tomatoes, slice scallion, mix together with fresh basil and season with salt and pepper.

To make fritters, place corn in a large bowl. Add garlic, basil, scallions, chili pepper, soy sauce, flour, eggs and water. Mix well.

Heat some oil in a large skillet. Spoon batter into skillet, one tablespoon at the time, then, using a wooden spoon flatten the batter and make the fritter as round as possible. Cook for two minutes, then carefully flip and cook on the other side for two minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with tomato sauce.

Oven-fried zucchini chips with basil dipping sauce

The end of summer is near. Yesterday the weather was hot and humid, the kind of day that makes you run to the nearest gelateria for a good ice cream cone or to the bar for an ice cold beer. Today there's a high of 69 and the rain is falling heavy upon Lake Lugano, making it look like the midst of November.

Seriously, it's quite a shock. Yesterday flip flops and a sun dress. Today leggings and boots. As the old people would say, where the hell have the half seasons gone?

Nobody knows.

Still, yesterday I went grocery shopping and, since the weather was still nice out, I bought a bunch of summery ingredients, mostly fresh produce and such. By the time I got home, the clouds where rolling in, the wind had picked up and the lake was white capping. But I had no choice. It was too late to make stew or a roast. So I made this recipe that I found a while ago on Reeni's blog, which is wonderful and you should visit if you have never done so.

I tweaked the recipe a little bit because I didn't have the exact ingredients. It turned out great. As soon as the chips where out of the oven they were all gone. 

OVEN-FRIED ZUCCHINI CHIPS WITH BASIL DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable broth
2 small zucchini cut in 1/4-inch-thick slices
Cooking spray or vegetable/olive oil

Preheat oven to 425° F. Grease a large oven-proof wire rack set on a baking sheet.

Whisk together bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Place broth in a separate shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in broth then in breadcrumb mixture patting the crumbs on. Place slices on wire rack. Repeat until all are coated.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with basil dipping sauce if desired.

BASIL DIPPING SAUCE

1/2 cup plain yougurt
A big bunch of fresh basil, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Use a blender or food processor to combine all ingredients except salt and pepper until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.

"Hospital" shrimp

No. They are not called 'hospital' shrimp because they are served in hospitals. As good as Swiss hospitals are, they don't serve gourmet food. The reason why we called them 'hospital shrimp' is that my dad saw this recipe on a tv show while he was at the hospital with pneumonia back in December. He saw it, liked it, and told everyone in the family about it, so a few days later, when he was released from the hospital, we decided to make them on Christmas Eve as an appetizer. They pleased the whole family, so they have become a family staple since then. The beauty of this dish is that is very easy to put together, but it looks really great and it's easy to serve at parties as finger food. So, if you are hosting a little Easter get together this might be a good addition to your menu.

"HOSPITAL" SHRIMP

Large shrimp, peeled with tails on

1 packaged pie crust

As many thin pancetta slices as you have shrimp

1 egg

Poppy seeds

Wrap each shrimp with a slice of pancetta. Cut pie crust into half inch strips and wrap each strip around the shrimp over the pancetta.

Beat egg in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and baste shrimp with egg mixture. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Place directly on the oven grid (if you palce them in a pan the bottoms will be soggy).

Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Vietnamese spring rolls

When I was a child most of the ethnic options available in Milano were greasy, depressing looking Chinese restaurants where the food was cheap and the smell of fried food lingered on your clothes long after you had left them. Nevertheless my parents loved Chinese food, so we went every weekend, even though the only thing I liked in the menu was steamed white rice. My sister, on the other hand, loved spring rolls. Even though I was only about three at the time I have this very clear memory of her devouring one fried little roll after the other, usually eating so many that they ended up being her main course instead of her appetizer.

As I grew older I started liking Chinese food just fine, and became a fan of many dishes, especially the spicy Szechuan ones, but I have say... spring rolls never really won me over. Don't get me wrong. I like them alright and I do enjoy the occasional Chinese spring roll, but ever since I've discovered the non-fried kind I have become addicted. They are so fresh and packed with crunchy vegetables you can actually feel that they are good for you while you are eating them. I'm not kidding. I was munching on one last night and felt the vitamins just flowing through me. I made them for a little Asian dinner I put together yesterday and decided to make them 100% vegetarian, but they are also very good with the addition of chopped shrimp. You decide.

VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS
For 6 rolls

6 round rice paper rolls
6 leaves of lettuce or spinach
1 zucchini, matchstick cut
1 carrot, matchstick cut
A bunch of bean sprouts
1 spring onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce (or less if you don't like the heat)

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon water

Submerge rice paper in warm water until soft, doing one sheet at the time.

Mix all vegetables except for lettuce and season with chili paste thinned down with a little water. Toss well. When rice paper is soft place it on a plate, add lettuce leaf, then spoon three tablespoons of vegetables over it. Roll up. Repeat with remaning ingredients.

To make sauce whisk soy, fish sauce, sugar and water in a bowl.

Crepes with zucchini filling

If I start annoying you with my never ending babble about spring vegetables, please do tell. I don't want to become one of those persons that annoy the crap out of me because they keep talking about the same stuff over and over again, repeating themselves until you pass out from boredom. The thing is, I mostly cook for just myself, which means that a bunch of asparagus or a bag of zucchini go a long way. So bear with me as I cook my way through pounds of vegetables. I seriously can't help it. I see a farmer's market and I just lose it and end up buying tons of veggies. I guess it could be worse, though. Right? I could be hoarding expensive shoes. But I don't. I just buy tons of cheap ones. And tons of vegetables. 

CREPES WITH ZUCCHINI FILLING

2 eggs

2 cups of milk

1 cups all purpose flour

Butter

1 small onion

1 zucchini

Olive oil

1/2 chili pepper

2 cups tomato puree

1 garlic clove

A few leaves of fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Mix milk and eggs in a large bowl. Slowly incorporate flour, mixing with a whisk. Season with salt and let rest for 20 minutes.

Finely chop the onion and sautee it in a little olive oil in a large skillet with the crushed chili pepper. Chop zucchini and add to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring until zucchini is cooked and tender. Process with a food processor until smooth.

Prepare tomato sauce by simmering the tomato puree with a crushed garlic clove, season it with salt and add basil at the end. 

To make crepes, heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add  teaspoon of butter, let it melt then immediately pour a ladleful of batter in the skillet. Cook for two minutes. Flip. Cook for another minute. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Fill crepes with pureed zucchini, fold and serve over tomato sauce. 

Shrimp carpaccio

So the new year is here. I had such high expectations for the beginning of 2011 and, not so oddly, I was bitterly disappointed. I mean, what the hell is wrong with me? Don't I preach every year that I don't care about New Year's Eve ans so on? So why do I end up caring when nothing goes the way it was supposed to? I guess I'm delusional. Or to be a little less tragic, let's call me a dreamer and be done with it.

Anyways, the point is that yesterday was the first day of 2011 that didn't majorly suck —which put me in a great mood I have to say. For the first time in a week I felt healthy enough to leave the house, which did me a world of good since I had spent day after day on the couch with a blanket and a frown on my face. But last night I was and about in Lugano, drinking drinks I don't usually, eating pizza and catching up with old friends. It was a better medicine than any traditional one and totally worth the slight headache I woke up with this morning. 

I have to say that now I have a brighter outlook on the new year, which also translates in the renewed resolution of eating healthy meals and living an altogether healthier life. So here's my first recipe for the new year: butterfly some good size shrimp, season with salt, pepper, and a mixture of evoo and lemon juice. Sprinkle with chives and serve cold as an appetizer. 

Mushroom "strudel"

• So what are you all doing for New Year's Eve? 
• I feel like it's finally time to ask you. I hate people that start asking in November... I mean, are they insane? I usually don't even know what I'm doing the following weekend, let alone the following month. Plus, I've never been a fan of New Year's Eve. There's that moral obligation to have the time of your life that to me is such a buzz-kill. What if I don't have fun? Does that make me a big fat loser? 
• Apparently yes.
• And then there's more. Overpriced prix fix menus, grumpy waiters, slow service. And all the amateur drinkers, getting wasted on two glasses of sparkling wine, the pukefest in the bathrooms, people sitting at a table sending Happy New Year text messages to everyone they know instead of wishing it to the friends they are sitting with. The list is endless.
• So, as you might have imagined, I'm not going out tomorrow night. I opted for the lesser evil, which is throwing a house party. I was even excited about it up until everyone started being a pain in my ass about it. But that's another story. It must be some kind of NYE curse I have. 
• Anyhow, if you are throwing a party and don't know what to serve as a vegetarian appetizer, here's an idea. It's easy to make and it'd delicious... just what you need if, like me, you can't wait until this whole NYE thing is over on Saturday.  
• MUSHROOM STRUDEL
• Adapted from Cooking Light
• 
  
• 3/4  cup  dried porcini mushrooms (about 3/4 ounce)
• 1  pound  button mushrooms
• 1  large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 ounces)
• 2  tablespoons  olive oil
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly grated nutmeg
• 6  ounces  1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 1/2  cup  finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 24  (18 x 14-inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
• Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
• 
  Cover porcini mushrooms with boiling water in a bowl. Let stand 15 minutes. Drain well; chop.
  Place half of button mushrooms in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Remove from processor. Repeat procedure with remaining button mushrooms. Add onion to processor; pulse until finely chopped.
  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add button mushrooms; cook until mushrooms are tender and liquid evaporates (about 10 minutes). Stir in porcini mushrooms, oregano, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cheese; stir until cheese melts. Stir in parsley.
  Preheat oven to 375°.
  Place a few phyllo sheets on a large work surface (cover remaining phyllo to prevent drying). Spread mushroom and cheese filling evenly on the phyllo dough, leaving a half inch boarder. Roll up jelly roll style. Lightly coat top with cooking spray.
  Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Pickled peppers

October is here. Cooler weather. Morning breezes. Cloudy skies and all that. I've been so busy partying like a rock star to celebrate my 30th birthday and having fun with Tommy and my good friends Dayna and Zac visiting from Colorado that I have completely ignored my poor blog —mostly because between all the traveling and drinking we very seldom cooked or ate at home.

But now everyone's gone, so here I am, feeling a little (ok, a lot) melancholic and having plenty of time on my hands to finally update the blog, post some pictures and even some recipes. The shorter days and chillier temperatures inspired me to try canning —something I never thought of when I used to have a full time job or in the summer. I have to say that, for some strange reason, I find canning sort of a soothing activity, as much as some crazy people enjoy ironing or doing the dishes. I hate both. But canning? It's fun. And it ends up tasting a lot better. Since I am no canning expert I had to do some research to find out exactly how to can food and not kill people. Here's a link to the website I've used. I tried bell peppers first because I had bought way too many, but used a recipe by David Lebovitz that originally called for jalapenos, which also sounded great, but hey, I had to work with what I had, right?

PICKLED PEPPERS

(adapted from David Lebovitz)

1 pound fresh bell peppers, washed and cut into strips
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons coarse salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Place peppers in a large glass preserving jar.

In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the other ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.

Remove from heat and pour the brine over the peppers. Place the lid on the jar and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate for at least a week before using, if possible.If you want to preserve them for longer, follow canning instructions above.

Avocado "boats" with tuna salad

 

Ahhhh... here I am. Back home and already bored. I have to say that it's kind of hard to spend a few days in a city as awesome as Barcelona and come back to a tiny village by a Swiss lake. I mean, it's great to be here and all, but it's no Barcelona.

While I was there I made sure I sampled as much food as humanly possible, which is very easy over there for two reasons. The first one is that it's cheap. The second is that with tapas you get to try lots of different things without over-stuffing yourself. Ok, who am I trying to kid? I did over-stuff myself anyways. But it was worth it. Croquettes, clams, snails, potatoes and, needless to say, tons and tons of jamon serrano and jamon iberico, the Spanish equivalents of prosciutto. I had it everyday, multiple times a day, usually starting at breakfast. Yes, it's that good.

Other than eating —and drinking— my heart out I did all the usual sightseeing, enjoying the many amazing churches and buildings the city has to offer. It was an intense four days and the fact that I was there alone made each day even more intense, making me feel as if I had moved there or something. Which is something that one day I'd like to do. As I was driving the 660 miles that separate Barcelona from Switzerland yesterday, I was musing about living in Barcelona for a couple of months to learn Spanish. I mean, since I'm here, I might as well do something that makes me a better a person, and knowing more foreign languages in my opinion always makes you a better person. So that's the idea I'm toying with.

And, as most ideas do, it came to me as I was sitting idly at a bar —waht a surprise, right?— that served tapas. Someone in the table next to me asked to the waiter "What does aguacate mean?" It turns out it means avocado. I was baffled, because for all my life I always assumed that 'avocado' was a Spanish word. Turns out, it isn't. Turns out I need to go studying Spanish. In Barcelona.

AVOCADO "BOATS" WITH TUNA SALAD

Serves 4

2 ripe Haas avocados, halved and pitted

1 can of tuna in olive oil, drained

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 lemon

! tablespoon olive oil

Salt and crushed red pepper, to taste

In a bowl mix the tuna with the chopped onion and tomato until it flakes. Season it with salt, crushed red pepper to taste. Divide mixture in four equal parts and place it in each avocado half. 

Mix olive oil and the juice of half lemon and drizzle the boats.

Note: if you are not going to serve this dish right away, either wait until the last minute to cut the avocados open or drizzle them with lime or lemon juice to keep them from browning.

Branzino tartare with zucchini blossoms, basil and tomato

One of the most exciting things I'm experiencing now that I moved back to Italy is the diversity of ingredients. Every time I go to the grocery store, there's a plethora of vegetables, proteins, grains, and so on, that in the last few years I couldn't find in Florida. Point in case: this very recipe contains not one but two ingredients that were pretty much impossible to find in Naples. Branzino, also called Mediterrenean seabass has little to do with its bigger Atlantic counterpart and is the living proof that bigger isn't always better. Au contraire, sometimes small things are packed with more flavor and tenderness than bigger ones. Baby zucchini and zucchini blossoms were available in Florida for about two weeks each year, so you can easily imagine how high their price was.

Not here. Both branzino and zucchini blossom are readily available, and with price tags that didn't make me weep. They made me smile.

But there's another exciting thing I'm experiencing right now that almost makes me more excited than food: watching the soccer World Cup... in a country that really cares for soccer. Because there are only a few things that are more Italian than soccer, or watching soccer for that matter. And especially watching the World Cup, which is one of the few times when Italians come together and cheer for the same thing —namely the Italian team. I have many funny, sad, exciting and boring stories about the past World Cups and about me watching them, and I will tell you all of them in the next 30 days. But for now, I want to leave you with a recipe that kind of brings together two of my biggest passions, two things that really don't go well together: soccer and fine cuisine. So what does a fish tartare have to do with soccer, you may ask? Well, look at it. You will notice that this dish has the colors of my flag —red, white and green. Go Italy!

SEABASS TARTARE WITH ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS, BASIL AND TOMATO

Serves 4

3/4 pounds Mediterranean seabass, minced
6 baby zucchini with their flowers
A handful of basil
1 lime
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cubed
Tabasco
EVOO
Salt and pepper

Mince zucchini flowers, , wash the zucchini and cut into small cubes.

Thinly slice shallot and soak in cold water for about 10 minutes. Drain, dry and place into a blender with a little olive oil, salt to taste, juice of a half lime, a handful of fresh basil and few drops of Tabasco.

Mix the minced seabass with the cubed tomato, zucchini and their flowers. Season with salt and pepper and season with the sauce you made in the blender. Shape using a mold and enjoy immediately.

Slow roasted tomatoes

I don't think this will come as a surprise. I'm a tomato junkie. You aren't surprised, right? I mean, I'm Italian, for crying out loud. While most people have blood running through their veins, I'm not ashamed to admit that my veins are filled with a curious mixture of tomato sauce, red wine and the occasional leaf of basil. I love tomatoes so much that if I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would be great tomato sauce over bread. Crazy, right? But -I swear- there's no steak, no oyster, not even a truffle that can hold a candle to a perfect tomato. Or, at least, that's the way I feel.

So imagine my excitement when I spotted this recipe on the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light. Aromatic slow roasted tomatoes? It's just one of those things that I can't resist. And after trying the recipe, I can tell you one thing: they are delicious. And since they have to cook in the oven for about six hours, making them will warm up your kitchen nicely. What else do you want on a cold winter day? Cooking Light wants you to slow roast them for a whopping 7 1/2 hours, but I ran out of time at 6 and they were already perfect. So there, I just saved you a hour and a half.

AROMATIC SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES
(adapted from Cooking Light, December 2009)

1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise (about 16 medium)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 200°.

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Arrange tomatoes, cut side up, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Roast at 200° for about 6 hours.

Mock salmon tartare

Once again I'm being horrible at posting regularly, but trust me, there is a reason. And I mean a real reason -not just the fact that I'm lazy. I'm trying very hard to concentrate on something that is important and have to do so for another ten days. Then I can go back to my normal self and be horrible about posting regularly for no other reason than my laziness.

Anyway, I thought I'd post this recipe because it's fast and easy, relatively healthy and very, very yummy. I call it a "mock" tartare because it's made with smoked salmon, so technically it isn't a tartare at all.

MOCK SALMON TARTARE

1 pound smoked salmon
1/2 cup fat free yogurt
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup spicy mustard (increase quantity if you like a more robust flavor)
3 tablespoons capers
1/2 red onion, minced
1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Cut salmon into small pieces, season with salt and pepper. Place in a bowl, mix in red onion and capers and dress with lemon juice. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Before serving mix remaining ingredients until well combined. Stir into salmon mixture and serve with slices of toasted bread.

Polpette (meatballs)... to get rid of the leftovers

So Christmas has come and gone and now we are left with tons of shredded wrapping paper, five pounds parked on our bellies and asses (seriously, how do you gain 5 pounds in two days?!?) and, of course, tons of leftovers. If -like me- you have an Italian family, you probably have had fish on the Christmas Eve and meat on Chistmas -which means that you have less leftovers than someone who had turkey, ham and a roast of beef. Still, you might notice that you have a truckload of various meats leftover and the idea of having one more sandwich might make our stomach turn at this point. So do this instead: make meatballs. Not the kind that you simmer in tomato sauce and eat with spaghetti. Those barely exist in Italy, except for in Calabria, which is far, far away from where I grew up. No. Where I grew up, in Milan, meatballs are inteded to be a) an appetizer
b) a way to get rid of leftover meat

Ain't that wonderful?

Give it a try. This recipe almost isn't a recipe -not in the American sense of the word. There's no fixed quantities, no tablespoons of this or cup of that. It's one of those recipes that you have to "feel" and when it "feels" right you will know. Here's the guidelines to make the best polpette:

POLPETTE

Leftover ham, turkey or beef or a combination
Ham or prosciutto (if you don't have it lefotver already)
A couple of eggs
Breadcrumbs
Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Minced parsley
Minced onion (optional)
A pinch of nutmeg

Pulse meat in a food processor until coarsly ground. Transfer in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and add parsely. Add an egg at a time, a little Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Keep adding until the mixture rolls up easily into balls but isn't too dry. Fry in a deep fryer or in a pan with vegetable oil.

Oysters Rockefeller

I've been on an oyster kick lately. I've been ordering raw ones like crazy while I was in Key West and have been lucky enough to go to an oyster party the other night where I had amazingly plump oysters cooked on the grill. My favorite way to cook and eat oysters, though, is making Rockefellers. I used to order them in restaurants all the time and although most were good, I always thought they could be better. See, I'm picky about my oysters Rockefeller. A purist. Don't put any Hollandaise on them. And don't smother them in cheese. I like to taste the actual oysters, the spinach, the tabasco. So I went through my cookbooks and found a recipe that sounded authentic and delicious in a book called "America the beautiful". Once I made them that first time I was hooked, and so was my boyfriend and family. They are easy to make and they are delicious -perfect for a dinner party or for a holiday buffet. The hardest part is schuking them, but if you have the right tool I've discovered that even that is a breeze.

OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER

24 fresh oysters, in their shell
10 ounce brick frozen chopped spinach
2 green onions
1 shallot
1 stalk celery
1/3 cup dry vermouth
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
Tabasco or other hot sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
A box of rock salt

Mince the shallot, green onion and celery and sautee them in a little butter until crisp tender. Add thawed out spinach, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetable mixture in a blender or food processor and pulse until creamy. Add vermouth, hot sauce to taste and bread crumbs. Stir until blended.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place rock salt in a thin layer in a baking dish (or two, if your baking dish isn't big enough to accomodate all the oysters). Open oysters, discard empty half shell, and place oysters on their shell over the bed of salt. Spoon a tabelspoon of spinach mixture over each oyster. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook for 10 minutes in preheated oven and serve immedietly.

Italian style pumpkin "pie"

For those of you who were wondering, no, I haven't disappeared into thin air. I was out of town again for the weekend and then I was scrambling to get all my work done before today because I had asked for today off in order to get stuff done for the big Thanksgiving feast. Also my good childhood friend Margherita is coming into town tonight so I wanted to be ready to drink myself sillier-than-usual, without having to worry about prepping food and slaving in the kitchen.

This morning I woke up at 8 to see one of the crappiest, rainiest days of the year outside my window and all I could think was:
a) Margherita is going to be pissed because she's coming here from NYC to get a tan and go to the beach
b) On the bright side I'll get tons of crap done thanks to the inclement weather

Well, we all know what happens to good intentions.

So far I have only placed the bird in a cooler with its brine and cooked some veggies and sausage mixture for the stuffing. Not as much as I thought I'd get done, I admit. But, oh well, no point sitting here feeling sorry for myself, right? After all, I still have to prepare tonight's dinner, so I'm not quite sure why I'm freaking out about tomorrow's.

The only bit of good news that I have is that last night Tommy and I went to my parents' house for dinner and my mom prepared a wonderful, wonderful dish she learned to make while visiting her good friend Dora in Mantua this past September. It's not your average pumpkin pie, and no, it cannot be prepared with canned pumpkin, but it' a delicious appetizer, especially when pared up with good quality Italian cold cuts such as prosciutto, soppressata and breasola. It was so good we decided to make it as a side dish for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

ITALIAN STYLE PUMPKIN "PIE"

1 medium pie pumpkin
1 cup pine nuts
A few pieces of pear mostarda (available at specialty stores)
10 amaretti cookies, crumbled
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup pecorino romano cheese
3/4 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese
Butter

Grease a pie tin with butter. Cut pumpkin into thin slices and place a layer into buttered thin. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, half the pine nuts, half the amaretti cookies and half the cheese. Make another pumpkin layer and season the same way. Top with a few small cubes of butter.
Cover pie with foil. Cook covered at 385F for about an hour. Serve with cold cuts if desired.

Gravlax

So I have this thing for salmon -for me to eat it it must be either smoked or wild caught. I refuse to eat the farm raised type mostly because it tastes so fishy it makes my stomach turn and also because if you read how they live in captivity and what they eat it will turn you off it forever. Anyhow, I had a beautiful piece of wild caught salmon in the freezer, but it wasn't really big enough to make an entree out of it, so I decided to make gravlax instead. Gravlax is a Swedish dish and, to my knowledge, the only Swedish contribution to world cuisine. Those of you who have read Stieg Larsson's novels will probably know that all they eat in Sweden is toast, coffee and, when they get all crazy and reckless, cereal. Never in one of his huge books does Larsson mention gravlax -which is a pity because it's delicious and easy to make. The only tricky part is that you have to plan ahead for it because it has to marinate for 24 hours. Other than that it's completly idiot-proof.

GRAVLAX
One pound of salmon fillet, skin on
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
A large bunch of fresh dill

Place the salmon, skin side down, on a large piece of plastic wrap.

Mix salt, pepper and sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle evenly over salmon, until the flesh is completly covered with salt mixture. Place dill on top of salmon.

Wrap the salmon up, as tightly as possible, in the plastic wrap. Use a second sheet of plastic wrap to wrap again. Place the package in a container (I used a pyrex) and place in the fridge for at least 48 hours. You will notice some liquid forming in the container -it's normal.

After two days open the pacakge, discard the dill and gently wash the salmon with cold water. Place on a cutting board and cut thinly, from the tail end first, detaching each slice from the skin. Serve with dill, crackers, sour cream and slices of lemon.

Fall vegetables "strudel"

Regardless of the fact that it's hot and humid out -in fact the weather is grosser than what it was in August!- I have decided that fall is here and that I should therefore start cooking my favorite "cold weather" foods. This summer has been particularly brutal, one of the hottest on record, and both my body and my mind have been put through a lot of heat related stress. Although I might have to wait for another 4 weeks to see any real changes temperature wise, to keep what is left of my mental sanity I need to convince myself that the worst is indeed over and that soon I'll be wearing sweaters and making stews.

Hence today's recipe, a quick way to use some good fall vegetables like sweet potatoes and chard (which, now that I think of it, I'm not sure it's a fall vegetable. But, oh well, you get the point!). I first saw a version of this recipe on the cookbook "The Silver Spoon", a more than 50 year old bible of Italian cooking. My grandma use to have it in her kitchen and when they finally translated in English a couple of years ago I bought it immediately so that I could have a copy here in Florida as well. They describe it as an appetizer, but really you can serve it also as a side dish or as a light vegetarian meal. I also saw a version of this recipe on one of my favorite blogs -Il cavoletto di Bruxelles- and in that case the strudel was made with pumpkin and spinach and topped with sesame seeds, but still, very similar.

To make a long story short, I started making this savory strudel last year, after making one too many savory pies and being bored by them. It's versatile, it's easy and with store bought pie crust is so quick to make you'll find yourself making it over and over again.

VEGETABLE STRUDEL

1 large sweet potato
1 bunch swiss chard (about 12 ounces)
1 large shallot
4 ounces good quality mozzarella
1 store-bought round pastry dough (such as Pillsbury)
1 egg
Fennel seeds

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet. Slice the shallot and sautee it in the oil until tender. In the mean time wash and chop chard. Add to skillet and cook with shallot until wilted, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Quickly boil the sweet potato until crisp tender. Peel and cut into cubes. Add to chard mixture. Also cut the mozzarella into small cubes.

Lay the pastry dough on a cookie sheet covered with cooking spray. Lay half of the mozzarella cubes int eh central portion of it. Top with chard and sweet potato mixture and one more lauyer of mozzarella.

Fold dough over filling and close the two short edges by pinching the dough together. Gently flip it so it lays seam-side down on the cookie sheet. Brush with egg and sprinkle with fennel seeds.

Cook in 375F oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Savory yogurt crustless pie

This is a last minute response to Faith's "Secret ingredient" challenge posted on her blog, Thought 4 Food. Her ingredient of choice was yogurt and after thinking about it for a few days, I remembered a recipe my mom used to make back in Italy, a savory yogurt and cheese "pie" she served cut into squares as an appetizer. It's a simple recipe where the flavor of the yogurt shines together with the sharpness and saltiness of good cheeses -Emmethal and pecorino romano. It goes well with cold cuts such as pancetta and prosciutto or with jams like jalapeno or red pepper jellies. And the best thing about it is that is good both hot, warm or cold.

SAVORY YOGURT PIE:
8 ouces plain yogurt
4 ounces all-purpose flour
1 cup grated pecorino romano
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup meted butter
Cooking spray
Breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 375F.

Lightly cover an 8-inch spring form pan with cooking spray. Toss a few tablespoons of breadcrumbs in it, to cover evenly.

In a medium bowl mix yogurt, flour, grated cheeses, yeast, butter, eggs, salt and pepper, stirring well to mix.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with bread crumbs.

Back in preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Serve hot, warm or cold.