Father's Day

Father's day, more than anything, meant a day full of FOOD. My brother and I gave my father some cook books, which he loved. However, since our tradition was to always give an egg-related item, I thought I had to make up for this loss by trying a new egg recipe for breakfast. I thought, "heck, I've never made eggs benedict before, why not today!"

So I did just that: I found that is it much easier to keep the egg together if you first crack it onto a small platter, and then slide it onto the simmering water. I kept it on there for about 3 minutes, and then covered with a plate for about 20 seconds- just so the top will get steamed a little. And what's eggs benedict without the hollandaise sauce??? The sauce was the definition of a cholesterol attack: just yolks and butter. YIKES. But sometimes you gotta sacrifice something... and it WAS father's day!

Served it on some french bread and topped with cayenne pepper and some rosmary (just to add some color to the plate) and voila!

Later that day, we went to a friend's house for "lunch" (can we really call it just lunch if it lasts 6 hours?) and ate our hearts out. My father made some pickled cow tongue for the occasion- an Argentinian delicase- and the host put together a truly beautiful table.

Lots of salads, cheeses, and home-made breads YUM!

When we finally got home, I immediately set out to make a tiramisu to surprise my mother with. My favorite recipes are the most simple ones: I don't like adding any kind of cream, gelatine, or flavoring to the mix. I changed only a few things from this recipe: Instead of using only the egg yolks, I beat the whites as well until soft peaks formed, and folded them into the yolk/mascarpone mixture- this makes the tiramisu much less heavy and more fluffy. Next, I lined the bottom of my container with chocolate covered graham crackers instead of lady fingers- I think that gives it a yummy little kick (I kept the lady fingers for the middle layer!). I also switched the rum for coffee liquor- I felt it was a much better match. It's probably futile to mention that my mom LOVED IT!

Doesn't quite do it justice

Living at Home

Start the drumroll becuase last May (drummsss) I graduated from the University of Florida! Since then, I've moved back home and started an internship doing research and development for Chiquita. I see so many bananas everyday!! But more importantly, I've been able to cook much more easily (and make much more intricate things) now that I'm home. I can't believe I lived 4 years without an electric mixer. How did I survive??

One of the first dishes I made was a porcini mushroom risotto, one of my favorite dishes from Italy. I hit quite a few obstacles, however. My guests were gluten free, meat free, and dairy free. Since risotto is gluten free, that part was easy enough. Meat free may seem easy as well, but I usually cook it with chicken stock- had to scratch that! I also had to throw out any cheese or milk from the recipe- yikes!

Risotto, though it requires a lot of patience, is easy enough to make. First I cooked the rice a little in some oil in a large pan. At the same time, I soaked about half a cup of dried porcini mushrooms in a large cup of warm water- you'd be surprised how much flavor these pack in! When the rice started getting clear, I added about a cup of white wine, waited for the rice to soak it all up, and began adding the porcini water- little by little. You never want to drown the rice, but avoid having it dry up as well. When the porcini water ran out,  I continued adding water or vegetable broth.

When the rice looked almost cooked, I added the porcini mushrooms, some spinach for fun, and the VEGAN pamersan cheese I found. I personally think nothing could measure to the true deliciousness of real parmesano, but my friends really enjoyed this. The final product was fabulous!

Here are some photos I took with my phone:

Really lovely dinner with friends <3



Mama Mia!

Last night, we celebrated our letter M for our ritual Sunday dinners! Truth is, I had a really hard time deciding what to make- so many options seemed right up my alley! Mint chocolate, Manicotti, meat, mustard-encrusted.... what?!?!? I settled with making some mushrooms (oh how I love mushrooms) stuffed with spinach and feta, among other things :)

Actually, the recipe was extremely easy and everyone loved it!!!
First, wash about 30 mushrooms and remove the stems- set up on a baking sheet

In a bowl, mix the following:
Cooked spinach (about 8-10 ounces, I used frozen spinach)
Feta cheese- I used about 5 ounces
Cream cheese- about 2 ounces
3 sprigs of green onion, chopped

Mix it all up, stuff inside the mushrooms, then bake for about 15 minutes! Presto!

The rest of the dinner went fabulousssllyy!! We had two different types of mac-and-cheese (one traditional, one verrrryy spicy southwestern), a beautiful meatloaf, and macaroons for dessert!

Let's not forget the wine! We had Merlot, a moscato (which people mixed with orange juice to make "mimosas"), and I was Soooo proud to get triple points for my Marcus James Malbec from Mendoza!

I can't wait to see what adventures N will bring us :)

Alphabet Dinners

So I figured I'd let you in on my food traditions that have been going on this semester... For the past few months, my friends and I have been gathering every Sunday (well almost every Sunday) for our "traditional" alphabet dinners. A very simple, yet extremely fun idea!! Basically, we choose a letter of the alphabet (we've been going in order), and everything we eat must start with that letter! Some, like the letters I and K, were a bit more challenging- but it just drives us to be more creative!

I've been behaving like a bad blogger and haven't been taking pictures (my camera has been in hiding), but my good friend Mel has been kind enough to document our fun adventures :)

This past Sunday, we were eating the letter L (much easier than K), so everyone went all out for yummy treats!! I set up by backyard with beautiful twinkling lights, a fire was roaring in the firepit, and lemon-lime (white) sangria was flowing!!

K Dinner: Kababs on the fire, a nice candlelit dinner in my backyard, complete with dessert kababs!

Kale Salad

L Dinner:

My lemon-basil chicken salad 

Lemon-Garlic lettuce salad :)

White sangria made with Lucky Duck wine!

Hmmmm a-la-mode Lava cakes with "late night snack" 

Limoncello to finish!

ANNDDD thank you to my friend Mel for taking these pictures!  I'll step it up for the next one :)

Death by Chocolate

The time has come. The post that explains the delectable picture in my heading. CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES.

The truth is, the pictures speak a thousand words- truffles are pretty simple to make, you just need to be willing to get your hands dirty :)

I'm searching for the recipes (my cook book is a little messy hehe) but I figured you'd enjoy seeing the pictures regardless

Vanilla and Nutmeg. Tasted like Christmas (I think haha)

Milk chocolate with nuts, and Dark chocolate chili. 

Who knows. Yummy :)

Casa del Vino

This post, unfortunately, will not involve any of my cooking. Instead, I wanted to share one of my photo projects that I worked on while in Florence, about Casa del Vino. If you speak any Spanish, Italian, French, etc, you'd probably guess that this was a wine bar of some sort. Actually, this was a little hole-in-the-wall shop that I frequented for lunch. Yes, they had a very nice selection of Italian wines, but they also made yummy sandwiches and snacks (this is where I first tried tripe! yes, cow stomach).

Still, I don't think that's the reason this place became packed everyday around 1. The warm atmosphere kept people coming, usually regulars who knew the owners by name. In fact, even I got to know the owner and his wife, Nicoletta, after a few glasses of wine. If anyone ever goes to Florence, I highly recommend this friendly place if you're searching for a true, local, Italian experience!

Tripe Sandwich

One of the regulars. I think he was suspicious.

The owner

Nicoletta

Regular

Pasta e Cremino

Here is another wonderful monday of mouthwatering treasures:

I learned to make two different pasta recipes, Penne All'arrabbiata and Bucatini All'Amatriciana. The shape of the pasta in both these recipes was specifically picked to match the sauce perfectly. For those who don't know, penne is a short pasta in the shape of hollow cylinders, while Bucantini (my favorite when I was cooking in my Florentine home hehe) are a sort of hollow spaghetti- like long, thin, delicious straws. Enjoy these recipes from class sllluuuurppp!

Penne All'Arrabiata: 

Can never have too much olive oil

+ 1 pound penne pasta
+ 6 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped**
+ 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
+ 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
+ 1/2 cup olive oil
+ 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper
+ sea salt to taste
+ grated parmesan (lots of this if you're my father)

** Tomatoes are very easy to peel if done right. All you have to do is cut a shallow x at the bottom of the tomato, drop into some boiling water for about 30 seconds, then remove and put in some ice water. The skin should peel right off!

This recipe is so Italian: simple and delicious!!!

Put a pot full of water to boil for the pasta- this will probably take the longest so get it started!

Next, put the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, basil and chili. Simmer all together for a few minutes so all the flavors come together, and then lower the temperature. Add some salt to taste

When the pasta is al dente (cooked but firm) drain and toss into the pan with the sauce, stirring it all up! A little trick we learned was to save a little bit of the pasta water for the sauce as well, because the starch left in the water kind of brings it all together.

Now you can transfer the pasta to a serving dish and top with parmesan cheese. Buon Appetito!

YUMMMMM!

Bucatini All'Amatriciana:
Spicy and Savory- will definitely make your mouth water. This dish is very popular in Rome!!

+ 80 grams (about 3 oz) of Guaniciale**
+ 1 medium onion, finely chopped
+ 15 gr (1/2 oz) red hot pepper- more or less depending on how adventurous you're feeling!
+ 1 can of diced tomatoes
+ 400 grams (about 13 oz) Bucantini pasta (can use spaghetti if you can't find this)
+ salt to taste
+ 80 grams (about 3 oz) grades Pecorino Romano cheese

**Guaniciale is kind of like the Italian version of bacon, but it is never smoked (like bacon). If this can't be found, it can be substituted with pancetta. Use bacon only if you can't find those!!! I'm still thinking of what I can put for my vegetarian friends...

Heat the meat over low heat until the fat melts. Transfer it to a clean plate and put aside.
Next, cook the chopped onion in the fat left over from the meat (hmmm scandalous, but dellicccciousss) until the pieces are soft. Add the pepper, mix it all up real good, then add the tomatoes and stir. Season with salt to taste, add the guaniciale, and let it all simmer for about 10 minutes.

Hopefully you remembered to put a pot of water to boil for the pasta by now- cook the bucatini until it is al dente, and mix with the sauce. Serve with the grated cheese on top and enjoy!!

hmmm that's-a-spicy!

Moving on... to the sweet stuff! In chocolate class we made an Italian classic, cremino. You really can't find this anywhere else. I tried to do some research on google about its history but can't find anything! The ultimate specialty- during the chocolate festival (a few posts back), you could see the cremino towers all around the booths: layers of white and milk chocolate- flavored with delicious, nutty hazelnut.

Though the recipe itself is easy, most of the ingredients are a bit hard to procure if you're not a professional pastry chef (or study in a culinary school hehe)

Cremino layer:
+ 500 grams White chocolate
+ 250 grams hazelnut paste
+ 10 grams cocoa butter (this makes it creamy and basically melt in your mouth ahhh)

Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter together and then add the hazelnut paste. You must make sure it is all evenly mixed and is fully melted and smooth, otherwise you risk getting globs of cocoa butter. Line a pan with parchment paper and spread the chocolate in an even layer. Put in the fridge to cool.

Cremino Alpino layer:
+ 500 grams milk chocolate
+ 250 grams hazelnut paste
+ 10 grams cocoa butter

Repeat the process from above, and when mixture is ready, smooth over the first cremino layer in the pan. You can repeat this as many times as you want (some of the treats sold at the fair looked over 20 layers tall!) but we only made the two layers in class.

Next, when all the chocolate is set, you'll want to cut it into pieces and indulge!!

We wanted to be precise. Notice the cocoa butter globs- EEK!

Cut into slices, then cubes!

Fun-sized pieces of cremino!

Our final, delectable masterpiece!