Recipes - For Leni's Holiday gift

[cornerofmadness]

 

leni_ba  asked for some 'simple' recipes for the holidays. Here's my modest offering. Most of the usual courses for ONE meal are here (though I suspect most of us will not prepare all of these for one setting). Sorry about the American measures since I don't know the others (you can convert them on line I know). Hopefully there's something simple enough to suit your tastes, Leni. Hope everyone else enjoys them as well. (be thankful I didn't try to teach you the traditional Italian Christmas Eve feast of the Seven fishes)

This is a loose and fast guide to a ‘traditional’ Italian meal (generally all these items would be there but NOT these particular ones. I selected simple things to make as per request. The cauliflower for instance is a traditional Christmas treat). Note: I left off the salad here but usually a salad would make an appearance as well as a different wine with each course.
Let’s Start
A.) Most Italian meals have some kind of bread and it’s present at the beginning and throughout the meal.
Grissini (bread sticks)
(The cheater way. You want to make the dough by hand, let me know)
INGREDIENTS:
Frozen bread dough
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
coarse salt, dried oregano, Parmesan, powdered garlic etc as per your preference.
COOK: Start with frozen bread dough, defrosted. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease baking sheets. Pinch off 1-inch pieces of dough. With palms of your hand roll out each piece on a lightly floured surface until it’s a thin rope about the thickness of a pencil @ 10-12 inches long. Carefully place on baking sheets about an inch apart. Brush each stick with egg wash and sprinkle on the salt or cheese etc if you’d like. Bake for 10 minutes or until crisp and brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
B.) First comes the: ANTIPASTI
Frico (Fried cheese)
INGREDIENTS:
Pound Parmesan or Cheese of Choice (this is ungrated. If you buy the grated kind, get the coarsely grated variety)

Oil Spray or Vegetable Oil

Grate the cheese coarsely. Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Brush lightly with oil, or spray with your oil spray. Spread about 2 Tbs. of cheese into a circle about 4 inches wide. Cook for about two minutes or until the edges are golden. Carefully turn the frico over and cook an additional minute. If the edge begin to fold up while cooking, just flatten with the spatula. Transfer to a paper towel to dry, or fold gently over the bottom of a cup to shape. Continue making the frico in this manner until you have used up all your cheese.
C. ) Next comes SOUP
Stracciatella alla Florentine. (Little ‘rags’ soup with spinach)
INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups Chicken Broth

3 Eggs

1/4 Cup Fresh Bread Crumbs and/or Pastina (little pasta like stars or flakes)

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
8 ounces (one frozen box) of chopped spinach

Salt & Pepper

COOK: Bring the broth to a boil. If using pasta, boil pasta until al dente. Defrost spinach and add. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, bread crumbs and cheese. Add salt and pepper. Remove the broth from the heat, and pour in the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Pour the soup into four separate bowls, and sprinkle with additional cheese if desired.

Note: You can use either the bread crumbs or the pasta or both. If doing the latter, add more broth. You can use a chicken bouillon cube for richer broth.

D.) Next comes the ‘first plate’ i.e. Pasta
Pasta con salsa di aglio e olio (Pasta with garlic and olive oil sauce)
INGREDIENTS:
Pasta of your choice (about a pound)
for the salsa you need
2/3 cup virgin olive oil
2-6 cloves garlic finely minced (as per taste)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
reserve 1/3 cup of the spaghetti cooking water.
COOK: Cook pasta to your preference, drain reserving 1/3 cup of the water.
In pan heat oil. Add garlic and saute until soft. Add salt and pepper. Add the reserved pasta cooking water and blend. Pour over pasta and blend. (This sauce cooks fast)
E.) Next comes the ‘Second Plate’ (usually a meat)
Pollo alla Marsala (Chicken Marsala)
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of deboned chicken breast pound 1/8 inch thick
½ cup flour
6-8 tablespoons of butter
2/3 cup of Marsala wine (sweet or dry)
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt
pepper
8 ounces of fresh mushrooms sliced.
COOK: Pound the chicken breasts until they’re very thin (relax Leni, this is very fun and therapeutic. You need a meat hammer) taking care not to rip them. Cut into strips after pounding ONLY if you wish to put on a pasta, otherwise leave whole.
Mix flour, and about 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper together and spread it on a plate. Dredge each chicken breast in seasoned flour, shake off excess.
In large frying pan, heat 4 tablespoons of butter. Saute mushrooms and remove when done. Add more butter as needed. Add the chicken breasts and cook only a few minutes per side (they cook fast at this thickness, cut into to be sure the middle is NOT pink) If you can’t fit all the chicken in the pan do it in shifts, adding more butter as needed.
Add Marsala wine and lemon juice to the juices in the pan and simmer over a med. Heat. Return chicken to pan if you’ve taken it out to make room for frying more. Transfer meat to plate and pour pan juices over, garnish with lemon.

F.) AND you need a veggie to go with the meat.
Cavolfiore Fritto (Fried Cauliflower)
INGREDIENTS:
1 head cauliflower
flour for dredging
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups bread crumbs
1/4 - ½ cup olive oil (can use vegetable oil)
COOK: clean and cut up the head of cauliflower. In a big pot of boiling, lightly salted water, cook cauliflower until al dente about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool then pat dry.
Spread flour on a plate. Break eggs into a bowl and beat. Spread bred crumbs on another plate. Dredge florets of cauliflower in flour, dip in eggs then in bread crumbs. Set on a plate to dry. When done heat 1/4 cup of oil in a pan. Saute the cauliflower a little at a time, turning until all browned. Add oil as needed. Drain cauliflower on a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and/or parmesan cheese and serve.
G). Okay now for dessert
Fragole in aceto Baslasmico (Strawberries in balsamic vinegar)
INGREDIENTS:
1 quart of fresh strawberries
6 tablespoons of sugar (or artificial sweetener)
2 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
black pepper.
COOK: Hull and wash strawberries gently. Cut them in half and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and let stand for 5 minutes. Add vinegar and pepper (if you wish, just a light sprinkle), refrigerate and let marinate an hour before serving.

 

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Mmm, spinach soup. I've gotta make that for the parents. You know they won't like it but at least they'll try it. :-)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've always omitted the bread crumbs when making that for us.

Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!!!

[leni-ba.livejournal.com]

cauliflower... yummy. I think I've got one in the fridge. If you don't hear the news of a house exploding in Lima, then we (the kitchen and I) got through it alive.

Re: Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!!!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Oh good. I'm glad you found something in there you like. The cauliflower recipe is actually easy but it takes a little time (and why I never made it for ELD is anyone's guess.