"Skinny" apple pie

By now you all know I'm not a dessert kind of person. I don't like to eat dessert, which of course means that I'm not overly good at preparing it. The thing is, I love all things savory and harbor a strong indifference towards sweets. There are of course exceptions. Not many. But there are some. This apple pie is one of them. My mom invented the recipe to get rid of some apples that were lingering on the kitchen counter a little too long for their good and decided to try and make pie with one of those ready-to-bake pie crusts. She just rolled out the crust, cut the apples real thin, so they would cook evenly, placed them on the crust, sprinkled them with brown sugar and cinnamon and cooked the whole thing in a preheated oven (350F) until the pie was ready —which wasn't very long since the pie is so "skinny". That's it.
Easy right? Makes me wish other things in life were this easy. But they aren't. And today I'm so grumpy I didn't even feel like posting a recipe, which is why I reverted to this almost non-recipe.
Oh well. I guess I'll get over it. In the mean time I'll have a slice of apple pie. And a glass of wine.

Wordless Wednesday: Botanical garden on Lake Garda

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.

Wordless Wednesday: impressions of fall

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.

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.

Wordless Wednesday: La Boqueria, Barcelona

Pasta with zucchini and saffron

There's been an almost imperceptible shift in the weather around here, one that made me at the same time a little happy and a little sad. I think it's safe to say that summer is pretty much over and the high temperatures are now lurking around the 76 degrees mark at best, while the Northern winds make the evenings and nights a lot chillier. 

My last 'real fall' was the fall of 2001, a mere couple of months before I moved to Florida and said goodbye to well definite seasons. Sure, the weather changes in the Panhandle too, but the end of summer doesn't come in September and it surely doesn't make you melancholic. On the contrary, by the time November rolls around most Floridians are so ready for the heat and the humidity to be over they can barely stand the excitement of wearing a sweater for reasons other than trying to survive the a/c at the grocery store or at the post office. 

Around here, though, things are different. People throw 'end of the summer' parties and they mean them as in 'let's have one last party outside before the weather turns to shit', not as in 'finally the stupid summer is over'. They also do things like swimming one last time in the lake before season is over or they already start talking about summer with nostalgic tones, which I like, because I always thought best to start being nostalgic in advance. 

The season is changing at the grocery store as well, where they are literally giving away tomatoes and zucchini and other summer staples, which is how I've found myself with the vegetable drawer of my incredibly small fridge filled with zucchini. So I had to come up with a few ways to use them up before I live for France tomorrow and this, my friends, is one of ways I came up with. Easy and fast, very end-of-the-summer like. 
 
PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI AND SAFFRON
Serves 4

1 pound spaghetti
4 large zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 shallot, minced
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cups vegetable broth
2 packets of ground saffron
Salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to directions.

In the meantime, heat a little olive oil in a large skillet, add shallot and saute until fragrant. Add zucchini, season with salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes, until slightly less crunchy. Add saffron to hot broth, then slowly add broth to skillet and let it cook until most liquid has almost evaporated.

Add cooked pasta to skillet, stirring to mix. Season with fresh ground black pepper and serve.

Thai chicken with basil

 

The first time I had chicken basil I was at a small Thai restaurant in Naples, Florida, a place called Siam Thai. Although it was a stone's throw away from glitzy, snobby 5th Avenue South —Naples' downtown area— the place was  family-ran a hole in the wall that featured the right dose of depressing Asian decor, including a couple of posters of Thailand that had seen better days and a mismatched cutlery. Needless to say, it was one of my favorite restaurants in the area. 

It also happened to be literally a minute away from my office, which is how, on a fall afternoon in 2006, my friend and coworker Dan and I ended up sitting at one of the tables in the dark dining room. Since basil is one of my favorite ingredients and Thai basil sauce happens to be one of their spiciest, I feel in love with the dish immediately. In the following four years I ordered chicken basil at every Thai restaurant I went to, although the one from Siam Thai —much like first love— was hard to forget and remains to this day my favorite.

Enter Tommy. Whenever we eat something at a restaurant, even when it's delicious and flirting with perfection, he always says the same thing. "I bet you can make this better at home." Which is sweet, really, although not always true. Or at least I don't think it's true. He seriously does, he tells me. Anyway, because he said that, I found myself buying a Thai cookbook to try and make chicken basil at home. It's an easy recipe and I have to admit that I make a killer basil sauce. But better than Siam Thai's? I don't think so.

THAI CHICKEN WITH BASIL

Serves 2

2 chicken breast halves, cut into strips

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Bird eye chilies, to taste, sliced

6 tablespoons (or less if you don;t want it fiery) chili garlic sauce, such as Huy Fong

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

A big bunch of basil, washed and torn

In a wok heat up some oil ( I usually use canola), then add garlic and chiles. Stir fry over medium high heat for a couple of minutes, stirring and making sure that the garlic doesn't burn. Add onions, chicken and chili garlic sauce. Stir and cook until chicken changes color.

Add soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar and stir some more, cooking for a few minutes longer. Remove from fire, add basil and serve immediately.

Best of the summer: five great recipes for when it's hot out

Summer is almost over and I realize that a post such as this would have been more useful in, say, June, but I just had the idea last night and thought it would be nice to publish some "best of" round ups every once in a while to be reminded of recipes posted months ago that otherwise will be forever forgotten. So here's my first one. Five great summer recipes for you to enjoy before the fall begins. 

SPICY CORN ON THE COB: Corn is a summer classic. It's good any way you make it, but when you grill it... the grilling adds a certain something to it. Doesn't it? And in this case, there's more to it than just corn and that delicious grill flavor. There's a savory and spicy paste made with butter and all kinds of good spices that make it to die for. Click here to find out how to make it!

BASIL GELATO: No, I have not lost my mind. Trust me. Basil and gelato go hand in hand much more than you would guess. I won't lie to you and tell you that on top of being delicious it's also easy to make, because it isn't. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it's worth it. I served it with strawberries macerated in balsamic vinegar and everyone, even a very difficult-to-please guest, loved it. Wanna try it? Here's the recipe.

KILLER RIBS: Of course I had to include at least one main dish to make on the grill, and these ribs are by far the best I've ever tried. The recipe originally comes from Roy's Restaurant, where my mom liked them so much she asked how to make them at home. Ever since then, this are the only ribs that can be found at out table. Sweet, savory, spicy, they have it all. And, of course, they are juicy and tender. To try them, find the recipe here.

ZUCCHINI BOATS STUFFED WITH COUSCOUS: I invented this recipe on a whim, last Labor Day weekend, when we were trying to put together some type of lunch we could enjoy on the boat at White Trash Beach in Bonita Springs, Florida. I had made a batch —a very large batch— of couscous and I had a truckload of zucchini. So why not use the two together? It turned out to be a refreshing, healthy dish, which is what we needed to go together with the massive amounts of beer we consumed that day. Here's the recipe.

LOBSTER AND AVOCADO CEVICHE:  no cook meals are a must in the summer. This ceviche won't increase the heat in your kitchen and it's so delicious you can serve it either for lunch or for dinner if you have company. Lobster can be substituted with big, plump shrimp if you prefer. You can find the recipe here.