Spigola al Sale (Sea Bass in Salt)

Yesterday I posted on facebook that I was having serious blogging withdrawals. BTW- you can check out my new facebook cooking page here.  It is a simple and quick way to share cooking information and tips. I love the interaction that facebook offers. Sometimes I feel like I am all alone talking to myself in blog land . I am only 2 clicks away from 200 "likes" on my page. I may be a nerd, but that totally excites me.

Ok, back to what I was saying about having blogging withdrawals. It has been about 1 1/2 weeks since my last post. I have been super busy with my volunteer job, schoolwork, and taking care of my family while attempting to keep my house from becoming a pigsty that I haven't had time to blog. I find it rather ironic that I have such a strong desire to write. This is from someone who absolutely can't stand, hates, loathes to write. I have always found it to be so laborious. I don't even like to email, which my friends and family can attest to since I often send short emails and replies. In high school I was supposed to do a research paper, but calculated that I would still get a C without doing the paper so I didn't do it. I am glad that my boys don't read my blog :) Funny how things change! I still don't enjoy writing in general, but I do enjoy cooking and sharing so I guess that overrides the dislike of writing.

I am really excited to share this Spigola al Sale or Sea Bass in Salt recipe with you. I first learned about this technique for cooking fish at the Italian cooking school. We cooked a huge whole Sea Bass stuffed with spices, incased in salt, and then baked. It was super moist and absolutely delicious. You might think it would be salty, but it wasn't at all. The skin keeps the salt away from the meat so there is no salty taste.  I even tried this technique with a whole chicken and it turned out great too!

A few weeks ago I decided to make it at home. This recipe is not an exact science so I will just share with you how I made it.

Spigola al Sale
(Sea Bass in Salt)

3 whole Sea Bass, gutted and rinsed- (Size doesn't matter, but you may need to adjust cooking time for a smaller fish. I think these fish were about 1 1/2 pounds)

3 lb. box of kosher salt or sea salt

 4 egg whites

lemon slices

garlic cloves

spices- I used dried spices for fish. You could use rosemary, parsley, thyme (fresh is best)

Prepare fish by placing whole garlic, lemon slices and spices inside the fish. Not sure if it is necessary, but I used toothpicks to keep the fish closed so the salt wouldn't get inside.

Beat egg whites with either a stand or hand mixer on high speed using a whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into the salt until thoroughly mixed and the salt is wet. Spread salt on a baking sheet or dish about 1/2 inch deep.

Lay fish on the salt. 

Completely cover fish with salt.

Bake the fish at 375-400 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Crack salt and place on serving dish for a great presentation before breaking open the salt.

Remove salt before eating.

We were so excited to try it that we forgot to take any pictures of the meat. I can assure you that it was absolutely amazing! This is the best way to bake fish in my opinion. You can do this technique with Red Snapper, Grouper, Bream, or I venture to say any other whole fish.

Here's the chicken version. The meat is succulent and very aromatic.

Simply put the spices into the cavity of the chicken or under the skin. Cover bottom of a casserole dish or roasting pan with salt mixture then cover chicken with salt. Bake at 450 for 90 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes.

Crack open salt.

Unlike this picture, the chicken should be place in the pan breast up. It might not look too pretty, but it tasted mighty fine!

Buon Appetito!

Pistachio Pasta

photo from www.wikipedia.com

The pistachio nut is not a food that I was very familiar with before moving to Italy.  My only experience with pistachio flavor was pudding from a box.  While growing up my mom would make a layered dessert with pistachio pudding for my dad on special occasions.  I couldn't stand that stuff. It really turned me off to anything pistachio. Soon after moving to Sicily I discovered pistachio gelato (ice cream). The gelato was super delicious and opened up a whole new world of green nutty goodness. Pistachio is one of Italy's most popular flavors and they pride themselves in the plethora of foods that contain the delectable nut.  In the voice of Bubba Gump, "Dey's uh pistachio gelato, pistachio pasta, pistachio cakes, pistachio candy (torrone), pistachio pesto, pistachio creme, pistachio crepes, pistachio cannoli, pistachio liquor, pistachio arancini (rice balls) pistachio salami. That, that's about it."  I am sure there is more that I am leaving out.

Italians dedicate entire festivals to particular foods including strawberry, artichoke, lemon, almond, gelato, ricotta, onion, wine, olives, and more. In October of every year, Bronte, Sicily hosts a pistachio festival. It is one of the largest food festivals in Sicily. In 2010 we enjoyed the festival with some of our Italian friends. This past October we attempted to go with my in-laws, but after sitting in traffic for about 3 hours we turned around and went home. Although we didn't make it to the festival, we enjoyed some quality family time in the car :)

Here are some pics from the 2010 festival.

Merchant making torrone which is similar to peanut brittle, but made with pistachios

Torrone before being cut

Torrone - This stuff is addictive!

Italians even have pistachio jeans ;)

Salami and Jello Pistachio

The white sign says, "eggplant with pistachio pesto". The yellow sign says, "horsemeat sandwich"!

 The recipe that I would like to share with you is for Pistachio Pasta. This recipe comes from the Italian cooking school I attended two years ago. It is super simple to make and so delicious. I cooked this for my in-laws when they were here in the fall and they really enjoyed it.

Pistachio Pasta

400 grams or about 1 pound penne pasta 

100 grams or 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios

50 grams or 1/4 cup chopped onions

200 grams panna or about 7 ounces heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

30 grams or 2 tablespoons butter

20 grams or 1.5 tablespoons olive oil

Parmesan

Finely chop the onion and sauté in olive oil and butter in a saucepan. Add the chopped pistachios, salt and pepper, and cream. Heat, but do not allow to boil. Meanwhile cook pasta in boiling salted water, allow it to cook until it is al dente. Drain then mix with pistachio sauce. Stir in parmesan to taste.

As an option you can add some pancetta (Italian bacon).

photo from umamitopia.com

Fry it in the pan prior to sautéing onions. Remove pancetta and sauté onions in pancetta grease, oil, and butter then follow the recipe as written adding the pancetta back in with the pistachios. It adds a nice flavor and satisfies the carnivores in the family.

Buon Appetito! 

 

Timballo di Riso/Rice Timbale

This recipe comes from the Italian cooking school that I attended in the spring. When we arrived at the school each day we would go to a classroom where the head chef would brief us on the dishes that we were going to prepare. Sometimes between the briefing and walking to the kitchen the recipes would change, and we would make a totally different dish than we were told about. After "graduation" the school gave us a cd with all the recipes in Italian. This recipe was on the cd, but we never actually made it in class.

This was probably the most challenging Italian recipe I have cooked so far. It wasn't that the actual dish was difficult, but trying to translate the recipe was challenging. Since my Italian is not good, I rely on Google Translate to translate the recipes. It was also confusing since the recipe is for four rice timbales (english for timballo), but it has you prepare enough meatballs for about 20 timbales! But as the Italians say, "va bene" which loosely translates "all is well". My kids loved the meatballs (which are inside the rice) so they definitely were eaten. 

I had to do some research on timbale recipes since I had never heard of them and didn't have a clue what I was cooking. Then after making this dish a friend mentioned to me that her Italian neighbor had recently taught her how to make it, and I read about it in a book on Sicily.

Timballo is an Italian dish that consists of  baked pasta, rice, or potatoes stuffed with meat or vegetables. One popular Sicilan way to make it, is to line a bundt pan with fried eggplant and then layer with rice and vegetables. After baking, dump out the pan and you have a nicely molded eggplant timbale.


A timbale is a kettledrum and looks like this:

You can purchase molds in the shape of a kettledrum, so I assume that is why it is called Rice Timbale. I didn't have any timbale molds so I just used some ramekins that I already had.

I have not perfected this recipe. I just want you to see how this recipe translates and why it was so difficult for me. This dish was quite delicious so perhaps one day I will try it again, rewrite the recipe, and share it with you.

Rice Timbale

with Heart and Smooth Tomato Mozzarella

Carnaroli rice 200 gr
onion 80 gr
vegetable broth 50 gr
olive oil 50 cl
minced beef 200 gr.
eggs 2
grated parmesan 150 gr.
parsley bunch
bread-crumbs 150 gr.
peanut oil .300 lt
tomatoes .200 kg
mozzarella 100 gr.
garlic 1
aluminum cups 4

Chop half the onion fry it in a saucepan over low edge, add the rice, toast, sprinkle with white wine to evaporate off and let stand. Take the remaining clove of garlic, add onion and brown in a saucepan combine the tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook. Apart from taking the chopped beef put in a bowl combine eggs, bread-crumbs, parsley, grated Parmesan, salt, pepper, and knead, form small patties and fry in a pan. In a saucepan, prepare the vegetable broth. Turn the pan with wet rice with vegetable broth and bring to cooking the meatballs and add a ladle of tomato sauce with grated cheese mix into the molds lay at the center include a diced mozzarella, sprinkle with grated cheese and grill in the oven at 180 degrees for 5 minutes.

Tiramisu

You have heard the saying "have your cake and eat it too", but how about "have your coffee and eat it too"? Well, you can when you indulge in one of my favorite Italian desserts, Tiramisu. Tiramisu means "pick me up", because it contains espresso as well as a lot of sugar. Unlike many traditional Italian recipes, Tiramisu is a fairly new food. According to my research the earliest known written recipe of Tiramisu was dated 1981, but most likely was enjoyed several years before that. The simplicity of this recipe definitely qualifies it as an "everyday cooking" recipe.

Tiramisu





1 lb. Mascarpone Cheese (for my friends in MS this can be found at Schnucks in the deli)
5 Eggs
1 quart whipping cream
2/3 cup Sugar
Unsweetened cocoa
Pkg. Ladyfingers
1 cup espresso

1. Prepare espresso and let cool to room temperature.

     Most Italians do not own espresso machines. They make their espresso at home using a Moka Pot. They come is several sizes. We have a 1 cup, 3 cup, and a 6 cup Pot. The one pictured is a 6 cup pot.



Moka Pot

 To make the espresso, first unscrew the bottom section and add water up to the steam valve.

Next put on the filter and fill with espresso tapping gently so the coffee can settle. Once the filter is full, top it with a mound of espresso grounds and replace the top.

Place on the stove and heat. The water will boil and espresso will percolate to the top of the Moka Pot. The pot makes very good espresso.

2. While the espresso is cooling, separate the egg yolks and whites. With an electric mixer, mix the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Whip the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the mascarpone cheese and egg whites to the whipped cream and mix until smooth.

3. Quickly dip the ladyfingers in espresso. Dipping too slowly will cause the ladyfingers to become very soggy. Layer a 9 x 13 inch dish with ladyfingers and half the cream. Layer again with ladyfingers turning them the opposite direction of the first layer. Spread with the rest of the cream. Top with a generous coating of cocoa powder. Refrigerate for about four hours prior to serving.

Buon Appetito!



Sarde a Beccafico

I am so excited to share this dish with you! I first learned of this dish while at the Italian cooking school. This dish is served as an antipasto and the main ingredient is sardines. Yes, I said sardines. I know you are probably turning your nose up about now. I did too, until I tasted it. It was surprisingly delicious! I always assumed sardines were disgusting since the only type I was familiar with were canned. This recipe uses fresh sardines which is nothing like canned sardines.

Sarde literally translates Sardinia. Sardines were named after the island of Sardinia, Italy, where they once lived in abundance. Sardines are a popular ingredient in Sicilian cooking.

Another very popular Sicilian recipe is Pasta con Sarde, Sardine Pasta.

Sarde a Beccafico

(with commentary)

2 pounds of sardines cleaned and open like a book -At the cooking school the chef demonstrated how to clean them. With his bare hands, he pinched of the head, and then with his finger split the fish open pulling out the backbone. I was totally disgusted!! I had never cleaned a fish in my life, and I was about to have to do it without any utensils! My saving grace was that they had some latex gloves that I wore. I don't think I would have been able to do it without the gloves and some deep yoga breathing! At first I was so creeped out, but it became easier with each fish. A couple of weeks ago I made this dish at home and went through the same emotions again, but by the time I finished cleaning the last fish it was no problem.

This is what the fish look like after being cleaned and opened.

5 ounce bread crumbs
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
3 T. grated Pecorino cheese- Pecorino cheese is a hard,strong tasting cheese made from sheep's milk. In South Italy it is very traditional to add black peppercorn to the cheese.

3.5 ounces anchovies in oil- I didn't use the anchovies. They smelled awful.
Parsley bunch
1 clove garlic
1 ounce pine nuts
2 ounces Raisins- soaked in warm water approximately 30 minutes, then squeeze out water
breadcrumbs for dipping
2 eggs
Extra virgin olive oil

Heat a little oil in a pan and then toast the breadcrumbs. Add the raisins, pine nuts, garlic, chopped parsley, pecorino cheese, parmesan, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix in enough olive oil to make the mixture wet.

Wash and dry the sardines.

Place a small amount of the breadcrumb mixture onto half of the sardines. Place the rest of the sardines on top of each breadcrumb covered sardine. Next dip in egg and then dredge in plain breadcrumbs. Fry in oil (olive, peanut, or sunflower oil). Drain on paper towel.

There are other ways to make these. Another version is after placing the breadcrumb mixture on the filet, roll it and dip it according to the directions. Instead of frying, place them in a baking dish and bake until done.

Fresh sardines are hard to find in the states, but if you ever get a chance to try them I recommend you go for it!! Or better yet, make a trip to Italy and try some authentic Sicilian Sarde a Beccafico for yourself. Free lodging available!!

Buon Appetito!

Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

Risotto is a very popular Italian dish. I had never heard of risotto until we moved to Italy. There are many variaties of risotto dishes and they are all delicious. It is easy to make, but does require a lot of attention while cooking, but it is so worth it!

Here is a pic of uncooked risotto. As you can see it is different than long grain white rice.

Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

Serves 4

(the cubes are frozen broth)

 1 3/4 cup  Carnaroli rice (400 gr)

1 1/3 cup  sliced mushrooms (300 gr)

7 oz. cut into pieces asparagus (200 gr)

1/2 cup chopped onions (100 gr)

3/4 cup chopped ham (170 gr)

 1/2 cup grated Parmasan cheese (100 gr)

1/2 cup butter (100 gr)

1 tablespoon fresh parsley (15 gr)

 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (57gr)

Vegetable broth

Preparation

Chop the onion and fry in a pan with extra virgin olive oil add the rice and toast.

Add mushrooms, asparagus, and ham to rice. Add broth a little at a time while stiring constantly until soaked in  rice. Continue the process until rice is cooked.

Lastly stir in butter and Parmesan.

Buon Appetito!!

Eggplant Parmesan

I made an Eggplant Parmasan last week using a recipe that I got from the Italian cooking school. I was so pleased with the results. It was better than I expected. I should have known that it would be good since I used all fresh local ingredients. The only problem I ran into was trying to convert the measurements. The recipe calls for 30 DL (deciliter) of olive oil. I figured wrong and added way too much olive oil to my tomato sauce, but it didn't alter the taste any.  Because it was so oily my pics didn't turn out good.

Eggplant Parmesan

Number of servings, 8

Eggplant 1kg (2.2 lb or 1 large eggplant)

Peanut oil 1 liter (approx. 4 cups)

Tomato Pulp 700 gr (3 cups)

chopped fresh basil 50 gr (3.5 T.)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil 30 DL (1/3 cup)

Grated Mozzarella 500 gr (2 cups) I used about 1 ½ cups and had some leftover

Basil bloom

Grated Parmesan cheese 200 gr (¾ cup)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the eggplant into slices sprinkle with a pinch of salt and let drain for an hour. Pat dry, flour, and fry slices in peanut oil at 350 degrees. Drain well on paper towel.

Meanwhile, peel tomatoes. Simmer the olive oil, finely chopped onion, tomato pulp, basil, salt and pepper.

In a bowl combine Mozzarella (I used buffalo mozzarella that is packed in water. Discard water and grate) and Parmesan.

Arrange in a baking dish layering eggplant, tomato sauce, and cheese repeat and garnish with basil bloom. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes serve hot.

Eggplant Caponata Take Two

Last week I tried making Eggplant Caponata again and this time it turn out great! It was a definite improvement from the first time. I left out the potatoes and peeled the eggplant in stripes instead of peeling the whole thing. I also broke up the olives instead of leaving them whole. This is served as an antipasto (appetizer). I like to eat it with Italian bread. It is a process to make but so worth it.

Eggplant Caponata

EGGPLANT 0,800 kg (approximately 1.5 lb or 1 large eggplant)

GREEN OLIVES 100 g (1/4 cup)

CELERY 100 g (1/4 cup)

ONIONS 200 g (1/2 cup)

PEANUT OIL 0,500 lt (for frying)

RED AND GREEN BELL PEPPERS 800 g (approximately 5 large peppers)

FRESH BASIL 30 g (1 ounce)

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL 50 DL (for sauteeing)

CAPERS 30 g (1 ounce)

SUGAR 30 g (1 ounce)

WHITE VINEGAR 25 g (a little less than 1 ounce)

SALT AND PEPPER 100 q.b (to taste)

COCOA 20 g

1. Wash eggplant and peel 1/2 the eggplant. Cut eggplant into cubes. Cover cubes in water and add a generous amount of salt. Let sit for one hour. This takes the bitterness out of the eggplant.

2. Wash the peppers, remove seeds, and dice.

3. Fry peppers in peanut oil, drain on paper towels.

4.  Drain eggplant and squeeze out water. Fry in oil. Be careful to use a big pot so the oil doesn't bubble over when placing the eggplant in the oil.

5.Wash the celery and onion then dice. Brown in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper and cook for 20 minutes on low flame.

6. Then add the sugar, vinegar, capers, pitted olives, eggplant, peppers, basil, and celery. Add salt and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool. Sprinkle with cocoa and serve cold.

Caponata and Pork Involtini

In February I took a professional cooking course at a local cooking school. There were nine sessions and each session we prepared a full Italian meal, which consists of antipasti (appetizer), primi piatti (first plate) which is usually pasta or rice, secondi piatti (you guessed it, second plate) which is meat, contorno (side dish or salad), and dolce (dessert). We were seperated into groups and each group would prepare one of the courses. I learned alot, but obviously I didn't get to personally make all the dishes so trying to make them on my own may take some practice. We were given the recipes from each class. The only problem is that they are in Italian. So I have to translate them. Using Google translate makes things alot easier, but somethings are lost in translation and can be a little confusing.

I have really not had the time to cook the Italian dishes since alot of the ingredients I need can't be found at the Commisary on base. However, I recently decided that I was going to pick a couple of recipes a week and go shopping for the ingredients.

I did try a pesto a few months ago that we made in class and it was horrible! One of the problems was that I didn't have a food scale. Italians use the metric system and weigh their ingredients instead of using measuring cups. For instance the recipe may call for 30 grams of cheese instead of measuring out 1/4 cup of cheese. So I was trying to convert the metric measurements to our imperial measurements and it didn't work out well. After that fiasco, my husband so kindly ordered me a food scale and it has been very helpful.

I decided last week to make Eggplant Caponata, which is an antipasto. It is probably my favorite antipasto. It consists of delicious marinated vegetables. However, I was very disappointed to learn that all the vegetables are deep fried before they are simmered in the marinade. My Caponata turned out pretty good, but not perfect. It still needs some tweeking so I will not post the recipe until I am happy with the outcome. I plan to try again this week.

This is the Caponata from class:

This is my Eggplant Caponata:

As you can see it isn't quite the same. I really don't remember potatoes or olives in the original one. I think the olives were too overpowering and I didn't like the potatoes in it. 

I also decided to make Pork Involtini, which is thinly sliced pork, stuffed, and rolled. I was very pleased with how the Involtini turned out. It was so good.

Pork Involtini

Serves 4
Pork Roast 0,800 kg
Bread-Crumbs 200 g
Grated Parmasan Cheese 30 g
Garlic 30 g
Cooked Ham 100 g
Parsley 30 g
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 30 DL
Swiss Cheese 100 g
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut pork into very thin slices.

Grate bread or put in food processor and mix with the grated Parmesan, minced garlic and season with salt, pepper, parsley and enough oil so the dough is very wet.

Stuff the meat slices with a layer of bread crumb mixture, slice of ham, and some cheese.

Roll them up in the form of roll and secure with a toothpick. One tip, don't use colored toothpicks unless you want your meat to have some color! lol!

Finally pass the rolls in seasoned breadcrumb mixture and bake in the oven at 350 degrees until done. I cooked mine about 45 minutes.

They were really delicious!!

Buon Appetito!!