Potato and mushroom cups

I'm soooo tired these days. Last night I had the closing shift at the newspaper and afterwards, I stayed up drinking beer and watching The Mentalist until 3 am. Not smart, I know, but I have such a hard time unwinding, especially after a night like last night, when people seem to drive you crazy on purpose. When the alarm went off this morning at 9, I was tired, but thought I felt pretty good for how little I had slept. It's now 11:24 and I just hit a major wall. I could curl under my desk and go to sleep. Instead I have an interview to transcribe, pages to take care of and the thought that tonight it's Christmas tree/decorations time!

Of course I could sleep during the weekend... not this one though. Friday morning I'm leaving for Zurich, so I guess I won't be sleeping too much. Oh well. Thank God the weeened after that is a four day weekend, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to nap then! 

As for my "detox diet" (read: I have to shed at least 4 pounds because I hate the way my jeans fit me right now) it's going well. I bought a really cool cookbook called "Ammazzacicca" which literally means "fat killer". Gotta love that. There's all kinds of good recipes, all under 500 calories, so I'm enjoying food, yet losing some weight. So far just .5 kilos (1 pound), but hey, I've only started on Monday. Here's a good little recipe for you: simple, yet very satisfying.

POTATO AND MUSHROOM CUPS

1/2 pound potatoes cubed
2 shallots
A few sprigs of rosemary and sage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound mixed fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper

Sautèe shallots in olive oil, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add potatoes and minced herbs, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for about 7 minutes. Remove lid and cook for another 7 minutes. Add shallots.

Place potato mixture in a muffin pan to give it a cup shape.

Sautèe mushrooms and garlic in the same pan for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve potato cups with mushrooms on top.

Acquacotta... much more than just "cooked water"

Acquacotta in Italian means, literally, cooked water, but as you can tell by the picture, there's much more to this Tuscan soup than just cooked water. There's a poached egg, there's a rich mushroom and tomato broth and, underneath it all there's a thick slice of bread sprinkled with Pecorino cheese. It's a very comforting dish, easy to make and, above all, it's very cheap. Mushrooms are plentiful in this season, but I had so many bags of dried porcini (don't ask, I'm not sure why) in the pantry I used those, and it turned out great.

ACQUACOTTA

Serves 4

2 large onions, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

Extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds mushrooms, sliced

5 tomatoes, cubed

5 cups tasty stock

Grated Romano cheese

4 eggs

4 large slices country bread

Salt and pepper

Dried marjoram

Heat a bit of EVOO in a large dutch oven, add onions and sautee on medium heat for a ten minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn. Add garlic and mushrooms, sautee for three minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt, pepper and marjoram and cook for about ten minutes. Add broth, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

In the mean time, toast bread and place each slice on the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle with cheese. Pour very hot soup in each bowl. Crack an egg in each one. The broth will cook the egg. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Risotto with pumpkin and pancetta

Happy belated Halloween everyone! I hope you are not tired of pumpkins and pumpkin recipes because lately I have been cooking a loooooot of pumpkin. I just haven't had time to post any recipes, nor have I had time to visit other people's blogs. I'm not sure why, exactly. Maybe because I have been traveling and when I was home I went out to restaurants a lot. Maybe I've just been lazy. Maybe I was trying to enjoy the last few days of warm fall weather because, so far, we have had the most amazing October I've ever seen. So it was a great time to take walks by the lake and go to outdoor festivals. Next week, though, we are supposed to get some really shitty weather, so I guess I'll have tons of time to dedicate to my blog then.

Back to pumpkin, though. Here's a recipe to make risotto with pumpkin and smoked pancetta which is very, very good. And I'm not just saying so because I invented it. It was truly amazing, perfect for any fall dinner party you might be hosting. Or even for a family dinner, really.

PUMPKIN AND PANCETTA RISOTTO

1/2 cup EVOO

2 cups finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped pancetta

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

About 6 cups of hot vegetable stock

1 pumpkin, one half baked in the oven and then pureed; the other half, peeled, cut into small dice, and sauteed in a little oil and butter until tender

1 cup grated Parmesan

4 tablespoons butter

In a medium-size heavy dutch over, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and a tablespoon of butter. Add the onion and pancetta and saute, stirring continuously, just until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and continue to stir, using a wooden spoon, to coat the rice with the oil.

Add the white wine and continue cooking, stirring often, until it has been absorbed by the rice. Pour two ladles of broth to cover the rice and continue to cook, stirring often, until all the liquid is absorbed.

Pour in 1 cup more of the remaining stock and stir and cook until it has been absorbed. Repeat with 1 more cup. Add the remaining cup and cook, stirring, until the rice is al dente, tender but still very chewy, and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Stir in the pumpkin and reduce the heat to very low so that the risotto doesn't simmer anymore. Stir in the cheese and butter to give the risotto a nice, creamy finish. Spoon it immediately into heated shallow serving bowls.

Roasted chestnut soup

• Happy December everyone! Can you believe that November has already come and gone? Seriously, if I think of Halloween it seems just a few days ago and now here I am, sitting in the kitchen with the snow coming down and the first window of my Advent calendar already open. Soon I'll start baking all kinds of Christmas cookies and I guess I should be posting all kinds of Christmas related recipes, but first I wanted to share one that I had made for Thanksgiving dinner —only I ended up forgetting about it so I didn't serve it to my guests. I'm a notoriously chaotic person, you see, and I tend to be easily distracted so no one was too surprised when, once dessert was served and already eaten, I realized the soup was sitting in its pot on the stove, simmering on low. 
  Since it was too late to serve it to my guests I ended up eating the leftovers for days —good thing the soup was delicious, comforting and thick as a winter soup should be.
  
  
  ROASTED CHESTNUT SOUP
  Adapted from Cooking Light
  3  cups  whole roasted and peeled chestnuts
  2  cups  chopped yellow onion
  3/4  cup  thinly sliced carrot
  1  tablespoon  olive oil
  6  cups  beef broth
  Salt and pepper
  1/3  cup  heavy whipping cream
  1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh thyme leaves
  
  
  Combine onion, carrot, and oil on pan; toss to coat vegetables. Bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add to chestnuts; stir in broth. Pour half of broth mixture into a blender; blend until smooth. Pour pureed mixture into a Dutch oven. Repeat procedure with remaining broth mixture. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place pan over medium-high heat; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. 
  
  
  Place cream in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt; beat at high speed until stiff peaks form (do not overbeat). Ladle about 3/4 cup soup into each of 10 bowls; top each serving with about 1 tablespoon cream. Sprinkle with thyme. Serve immediately.

Classic herbed roasted turkey

So yesterday I had my first "European" Thanksgiving in a long time and, let me tell you, it was a blast. I had never hosted a dinner party for sixteen people before. It was hard but it was fun and everyone was so helpful we didn't have any big problems. Well, except the fact that I forgot to serve my chestnut soup I had worked so hard to make... guess I'll be eating a lot of it in the next few days. 

Other than that we all gathered around the dinner table and we ate, and ate, and ate

. 

As I watched my guests chowing down turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower, stuffing and whatever else they could get their hands on, I realized that this year I have many things to be thankful for. There's the old friends I can now see on a regular basis without having to cross an ocean. There's the new friends that welcomed me into their lives. There has been a few wonderful trips —Madrid, Barcelona and the Amalfi Coast come to mind— and the plan to take a few great ones in the near future. There's the fact that this year I didn't break my knee while cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, I want to take that one as a good omen. There's snow coming this way and there's ski trips and snowmen and hot mulled wine and all the wonderful wintery things I've missed so much in the past nine years. 

So yes, I have a lot to be thankful for and only a few things that I seriously need to change in my life. But I'm content. And calm. Which, if you know me well, you'll know it doesn't happen very often. 

CLASSIC HERBED TURKEY 

• Adapted from Cooking Light
• 
  
• 1  (12-pound) fresh or frozen turkey, thawed
• 4  thyme sprigs
• 4  sage leaves
• 4  garlic cloves
• 1  medium onion, quartered
• 4 tablespoons  butter, softened
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  kosher salt
• 3/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  cup  chicken broth

Preheat oven to 500°.

To prepare the turkey, remove giblets and neck from turkey; reserve for gravy. Trim excess fat. Stuff body cavity with 4 thyme sprigs, sage leaves, garlic, and medium onion. Tie legs together with kitchen string.

Starting at neck cavity, loosen skin from breast and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat. Combine butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Rub butter mixture under loosened skin over breast and drumsticks. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey. Pour 1 cup water in bottom of a roasting pan. Place roasting rack in pan. Arrange turkey, breast side up, on roasting rack. Bake at 500° for 30 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove turkey from oven).

Bake turkey at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until a thermometer inserted into meaty part of thigh registers 165°. (Shield turkey with foil if it browns too quickly.) Remove turkey from the oven; let stand 20 minutes. 

Best pumpkin recipes

I have a confession to make. It's almost the end of October and I haven't cooked one single pumpkin recipe yet. You might wonder what is wrong with me. The answer is nothing. It's really not my fault. The problem is you cannot find canned pumpkin in Italy nor in Switzerland, a fact that makes cooking with pumpkin suddenly a lot more time-consuming. Because let's face it: dealing with a whole pumpkin is a giant pain in the ass. I'm not saying I'm not going to do it all —pumpkin is one of my favorite ingredients after all— but surely I won't be cooking as many pumpkin recipes as I used to when I lived in the United States. That said, here are five great pumpkin recipes that I absolutely love. In fact, I love them so much I'm going to go through the pain of cutting up a whole pumpkin.

PUMPKIN BREAD I'm not a morning person, which also makes me a generally anti-breakfast person. There are, of course, exceptions and this bread is one of them. Spiced pumpkin bread and a cup of coffee turn me into one of those annoying persons that smile and talk at 8 a.m.

PUMPKIN AND SMOKED PAPRIKA SOUP It's no secret that I'm a soup freak, especially when the weather turns a little cool. This one is made with pumpkin, yellow peppers and smoked paprika... sweet and smoky and thick. What else couold you ask for?

PASTA WITH PUMPKIN AND SAUSAGE Who knew that spicy sausage, sharp cheese and sweet pumpkin were a match made in heaven? Well, they are. This pasta dish explodes with flavor and if that isn't enough to convince you, it's also very easy and quick to make, perfect for weeknights.

ITALIAN STYLE PUMPKIN "PIE" This isn't your mother's pumpkin pie. First of all it's savory —which makes it a better pie in my book. Second, it's best enjoyed with slices of prosciutto and Italian salami, and any excuse to gorge on prosciutto is a welcome one. 

FALL VEGETABLES STRUDEL This recipe is awesome. A play on the classic apple strudel, it's the perfect way to get rid of whatever leftover vegetables you have in the fridge. Plus it looks really sharp, so you can serve it as a vegetarian dish if you have people over for dinner.

Polenta with wild mushrooms

Polenta. Fresh wild mushrooms. No need to add many more ingredients, for this dish is so good because it's so simple. And it taste like the beginning of autumn, cool mornings and falling leaves, and all the other lovely things we associate to early fall. Some find the fall sad and don't welcome the cooler air and the shorter days, but I've always loved the fall —maybe because I was born in the September  (yesterday as a matter of fact!)— and I'm very excited about the fact that this year I'll be spending it near the woods, the lake and the mountains of Switzerland.

Other than the yellow and red leaves and the brisk lake breezes, I'm looking forward to the fragrance of wood burning in the fireplace, and to the stews, polentas and roasts one only eats when the temperature drops. I'm also looking forward to the year ahead of me and to see if being 30 is all it's cracked up to be. Yesterday my birthday was one of the best of my life so far and if that is an indicator of the year that lies ahead, I think I will enjoy a pretty great year.

POLENTA WITH FRESH MUSHROOMS
Serves 4

1/2 cup instant polenta
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound fresh porcini mushrooms, stemmed, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound fresh finferli mushrooms, trimmed

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1/2 cup Madeira or Marsala

Cook polenta according to package directions. When it's almost ready, stir in Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and butter. Keep warm.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat. Add mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and thyme. Add Madeira, and cook, stirring to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pan, until liquid is almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Taste, and adjust for seasoning.

Spoon warm polenta on the bottom of each dish and top with mushroom sauce. Serve immediately.

Chicken in milk

Look! It's Friday and I actually
a) posted something
b) remembered to post a recipe I learned from a fellow food blogger

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link to last Friday's post where I'm bitching about FollowFridays on Twitter. The point is, I'm going to try, every Friday, to post a recipe I have discovered on someone else's blog. That way not only you get a good recipe, you also learn about an amazing food blog.

Anyhow... this week I have discovered that in November everyone (well, everyone except me apparently) was talking about Jamie Oliver's crazy new recipe -chicken cooked in milk with lemon and cinnamon. Now, before you hit the "back" button on your browser and never come back again, let me tell you this: it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but I swear it's good. And if you don't believe me, see what Shiv from Pithy and Cleaver has to say about it. That's where I learned about this recipe in the first place -and her pictures are so great, I couldn't resist. Plus, I reasoned, if veal and pork are good cooked in milk, why not chicken?

Well, let me tell you this: I am glad I tried it. It wasn't just good, it was delicious. The meat was tender and juicy and the sauce, once strained, was lemony, garlicky and finger-licking good. The chicken smelled so good we actually had to put the cat in the laundry room because he looked like someone who's on a mission to jump on the cupboard and steal the bird. We promised him we would give him a little piece of chicken later on, but then it turned out to be so good that we ate all of it -yes, just the two of us.

CHICKEN IN MILK
(adapted from Pithy and Cleaver)

A 4 lbs. chicken
1 pint milk
3 sticks cinnamon
4 small sprigs of sage
10 cloves garlic, smashed and unpeeled
zest of 2 lemons
Salt and pepper
1/4c olive oil
2 tsp buter

Preheat the oven to 375F

Pick a a dutch oven that has a well-fitting lid and that would fit your chicken snugly. Melt the butter with the oil over medium-high heat, season the chicken generously with salt and pepper and then fry it in the butter/oil mix until the skin is uniformly brown. As Anthony Bourdain would say, be careful not to tear the freakin' skin.

Remove from heat and drain off the butter and oil from the pot.

Add the milk, cinnamon, lemon zest, sage, and garlic to the pot with the chicken. Place in the oven and cook covered for 1/2 hour; remove the lid, and then cook for another hour.

Risotto with porcini mushrooms

Many of you might not know this, but the arctic cold wave that is plaguing the United States has made its way to Florida, where we haven't seen the 70s since 2009. I know, to most of you that's nothing and, to be honest, it's nothing to me as well. I grew up in the cold and enjoy it, so I have a hard time sympathizing with people bitching because they have to put a sweater on. I mean, come on. Ten days of cool weather aren't the end of the world, right?

To tell you the truth, I'm enjoying this cold spell. I like to wake up to a house that is naturally cool (no heating to be had, it's a Florida house!) and I'm having tons of fun wearing all my boots and sweaters and jackets. Lows in the 30s? Bring it on! Highs in the 50s? Great! And you know why? Because it give me the perfect excuse to make my favorite winter dishes, stuff that I would never be making if it were 75 outside. Risotto is a perfect example. Rich, creamy, winter-y. Just the way comfort food should be. We made it at my parents house the other night and, as always when my dad makes risotto, it was amazing. Remember: the key to a great risotto is giving it your undivided attention.

RISOTTO WITH PORCINI

A one-ounce packet dried porcini
1 small onion, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil + 3 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups Arborio or Vialone Nano rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup frehsly grated Parmigiano
A quart of simmering beef broth

Steep the porcini in warm water for fifteen minutes.

Mince the onion and sauté it in oil and butter mixture. When it's translucent, stir the rice into the pot. Sauté the rice for several minutes, until it becomes translucent, stirring constantly.

Stir in the wine, and continue stirring until it has evaporated completely. Then stir in two ladles of broth, and while it's absorbing, chop some of the mushrooms, while leaving some in bigger pieces. Add the mushrooms to the rice, then continue adding broth a ladle at a time, stirring occasionally. As soon as the rice is al dente, turn off the heat, stir in the remaining butter, half the cheese, a little bit of ground pepper, and cover the risotto for two minutes. Serve with the remaining grated cheese.

Pear pie with caramel sauce

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great, although maybe not as eventful as mine. I'm currently sitting on my couch with a big glass of red wine in my hand and a very swollen left knee that hurts like hell. Last night, as the turkey was almost done and we were about to start making oysters Rockefeller I slipped on a little bit of water that was on the kitchen floor and flew up in the air and down on the floor so fast I didn't know what hit me. One second I was happily skipping around the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner. The next I was landing square on my left knee, putting all my weight on in. It hurt right away. Bad. Tommy and my friends put me in a chair, made me a Martini and elevated my leg (in that order). You know, the things good friends do when you injure your self in the midst of a freaking cooking marathon. Naturally there was no time for dwelling, for my parents were due to arrive in minutes and several things still had to be done -the potatoes had to be mashed, the gravy had to be made, the stuffing was sitting half made half not on the counter. So they left me sitting in my chair, in the kitchen, martini in hand and ice on my knee, and they started running around the kitchen, getting stuff done, following my orders as I barked them out. Within minutes my parents were in the kitchen also, dinner was almost ready and I had rightfully won myself the nickname of "kitchen nazi".

But what's important is that Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous. And boy, was I glad my mom had made this wonderful pie!

PEAR PIE WITH CARAMEL SAUCE

From Cooking Light:

3 ounces all-purpose flour, divided (about 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
6 medium firm pears, peeled, cored, and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
Cooking spray
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Sauce:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 teaspoons water

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare pie, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 1/2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add juice and pears to flour mixture; toss gently to coat. Roll dough into an 11-inch circle; fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Fold edges under and flute. Arrange pear mixture in an even layer in prepared crust.

Combine remaining 1 1/2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) flour and 1/3 cup brown sugar in a bowl. Add 3 tablespoons cold butter to brown sugar mixture; cut in with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle butter mixture evenly over pears. Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes.

To prepare sauce, combine 1/3 cup brown sugar, cream, and 2 tablespoons softened butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in 2 teaspoons water. Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed with pie.

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.

Pork and sweet potato goulash

I know. Goulash isn't made with pork and usually you don't see sweet potatoes anywhere near it. But as it often happens with me, I had decided that that's what I wanted to cook last night and -dammit- nothing was going to stop me from having a delicious bowl of goulash. Not the fact that I didn't have beef in the fridge. Or potatoes in the pantry. Or pink paprika, for that matter. I decided that pork, yams and hot smoked paprika would make wonderful substitutes and well, they did. Of course my goulash had little to do with the stew I used to eat in the Italian Alps near the border of Austria. It was thicker and spicier, and at the same time sweeter because of the sweet potatoes. In one word, it was good, just the perfect way to end an almost flawless weekend. I served mine over egg noodles, but I'm sure it's very good by itself or, if you are feeling creative, with rice.

PORK AND SWEET POTATO GOULASH:

1 1/2 pounds pork loin, cubed
2 yellow onions, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cipolle bionde, tritate
3 tabelspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 carrot, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Heat a little oil in a casserole, add the onions and sautee for a few minutes, until tender. Add garlic and pork, season with salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Lower heat to low. Stir in paprika and cumin, mix well and pour in a cup of water. Simmer on low for about 45 minutes.

Add potatoes, carrot, bell pepper and more water, enough to cover the stew. Cook for ten minutes more, then add the tomatoes. Adjust salt and pepper, cook for ten minutes more and serve over egg noodles.

Two squash soup

I've been incredibly lazy lately. I had all these grand ideas for the blog and was determined to post on a daily -or at least regular- basis. And then it happened. I got slammed at work and have been writing so much that when I get home the last thing I want to do is write some more. And I have also been distracted by many different problems and thoughts, the biggest of all being that I'm seriously thinking about starting my own business and doing so in Italy. I know, I know. That's why I've been distracted: I have been wrecking my brain, trying to understand what I want and what I need.

Anyways, I was sitting at my desk this morning and all of the sudden I realized that it's October 22nd and that I'm not ready for Halloween. I have no costume ideas and no parties to go to, except for my parents' party where, I'm hoping, I won't have to cook too much. Crazy, right? For some weird reason I'm not even in the mood to cook these days. Maybe it's the weather. After a couple of beautiful, cooler days the temperature has gone up again and I abruptly stopped dreaming of stews and soups and turned the a/c on again.

But, before I got preoccupied, before I got lazy and before the temperature went up I made this lovely squash soup and I have to say that I can't wait for winter to start for real so that I can make it more often. It's absolutely delicious.

TWO SQUASH SOUP

1 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cooking spray
2 sliced yellow onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of ground allspice

Preheat oven to 400°.

Rub the insides of each squash half with olive oil, place squash halves cut side up on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until tender.Scoop pulp out.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add squash, 4 cups water, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

Blend until smooth with an immersion blender.

Pasta with pumpkin and sausage

Did you know that canned pumpkin doesn't exist in Europe? Or at least, if it does, is not something you can find at any old grocery store. So whenever you want to make something with pumpkin you have to buy an actual pumpkin, take your chainsaw out to cut it, roast it, puree it and all that. Not that it's impossible to do, but it requires a certain level of commitment and makes pumpkin one of those ingredients you can't use on the spur of the moment. You have to plan ahead and have time for it.

Imagine my joy when I found out that in the U.S. you can buy canned pumpkin and that it tastes great. It was one of those discoveries that made me giddy with excitement, kind of like when I saw a slow cooker for the first time. But that's another story. The canned pumpkin makes impossible to make recipes very possible. Even on a week day, even if you are tired. This pasta i a perfect example -using the canned stuff cuts the preparation time down to nothing and the result is finger licking good.

PASTA WITH PUMPKIN AND SAUSAGE

For 4:
3/4 pound short pasta such as rotini or penne
2 links fresh hot Italian sausage
1 onion, minced
1 sprig rosemary, minced
A pinch of sage
1/2 can of pumpkin
Good quality vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta in abundant salted water.

In the mean time crumble sausage in a large skillet and brown in its own juices with the minced onion and rosemary. When the sausage is brown add pumpkin and dilute with stock until it reaches a creamy consistency. Season with salt, pepper and sage. Cook for a couple of minutes, until warm. When sauce starts to boil stir in 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and remove from heat.

When pasta is ready and drained add it to the skillet, return it on the stove and cook for a bout a minute, stirring constantly until pasta and sauce are well mixed. Serve with extra cheese on the side.

Pumpkin and smoked paprika soup

Although the folks at Weather.com and Weather Channel have clearly lied about the temperatures and the humidity dropping, I'm still cooking as if it were fall for real. So pumpkin it is again, this time used to make soup. In the near future, if it ever does cool off I want to make pumpkin risotto and pumpkin ravioli, but for now soup it is because this one is great served both hot or cold.

Either way it's incredibly easy to make and the results are definitely worth it if you like a nice combination of sweet and smoky flavors like I do.

PUMPKIN AND SMOKED PAPRIKA SOUP

Makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
2 carrots
1 onion
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 quart good quality chicken stock (or veegtable stock if you want to make it completely vegetarian)
Salt and pepper
1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Chop vegetables and heat oil in a dutch oven casserole. When oil is warm add chopped vegetables, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook everything on medium high heat for about 10 minutes.

Add paprika and garlic and toast for a minute, stirring vigorously.

Process soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender, then put the pureed vegetables back in the casserole. Add remaining broth, pumpkin, and more salt, eppper and paprika if you'd like. Warm, stirring frequently , for about 10 minutes.

Pumpkin bread

Happy first day of October, everyone! I was pleased to find out that this morning the temperature was below 75F and the humidity was almost gone. I'm sure it's just a tease and we will get some more gross, over 90 degrees days, but it's a start. It's a remainder that in less than 4 weeks summer will be gone for good, even in Florida. To celebrate the beginning of my favorite season I made pumpkin bread, an obvious choice, I agree, but see... I've been itching to make it since the middle of July, so I couldn't resist anymore. Eating the first slice with coffee was the highlight of a day that is already turning out to be a pain, so I'm exceptionally glad that I've baked it.

PUMPKIN BREAD

8 ounces all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil or applesauce
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/3 cup water
1/2 can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, baking powder, bakind soda, salt and spices in a bowl.

Place sugar, oil, milk, and eggs in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add water and pumpkin, and beat at low speed until blended.

Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Spoon batter in a greased loaf pan.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

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.

Potato and porcini bake

Ah, the first day of autumn. It reminds me that somewhere, in some faraway lands, the leaves are changing colors and the air is getting crisp at night. Sweaters are being warn and in the kitchen cooks start to prepare different meals, fall meals. Fall has always been my favorite season and I miss it dearly. A heat index of 95F at 11 a.m... are you kidding me? This is not fall!
Unfortunately I can't ignore the high temperatures and high humidity and just wear those boots and jackets I'm longing for, but what I can do is start cooking my favorite fall meals and patiently wait for the cooler weather to make its appearance.
So to celebrate the beginning of fall I made a dish my mom made all the time when porcini mushrooms were in season, a simple but delicious bake that makes a great side for grilled meats. Porcini are a little expensive, but they are well worth the money -and dry porcini work great too!

POTATO AND PORCINI BAKE
Serves 4

1 pound fresh porcini mushrooms (or 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms)
1 pound potatoes
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon marjoram
1/2 tablespoon parsley
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

If using dried mushroom soak in warm water for about 30 minutes before using.

Heat up a swirl of olive oil in a large pan, add mushrooms and herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium heat until mushroom are tender. Coarsely chop and set aside.

Using a mandolin slicer, slice potatoes to a potato chip like thinness. Grease an oven proof casserole and make a first layer of potatoes, slightly overlapping them. Season with salt and pepper. Make a second lyer of mushroom mixture. Then a layer of potatoes, season with salt and pepper. And so on. Finish with a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

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