This one was one of the first recipes that I noticed and wanted to try when I picked up the ‘Jaime at Home’ cookbook.  It’s one of those recipes that is fairly intimidating (you have to make your own pastry crust) yet ultimately totally rewarding (because it’s so damn good).  Jamie Oliver makes this with spinach…not having any around I opted for Kale, a favorite veggie of Fresh Dish lobster roll author Taylor Barstow.  One of the things I really like about this recipe is the Parmesan cheese, which I supplemented with some Gruyere – Mario Batali (along with many others) considers Parma ‘the king of all cheeses’ – and if you were a doubter before, try this recipe and you’ll likely change your mind.

The ham in the original recipe called for ‘smoked ham’, which I couldn’t find in the market and didn’t have the time to smoke the ham myself.  So instead, I opted to use some prosciutto (how can you go wrong, right?) and some standard black forest ham, which turned out to add a little bit of sweetness and was great.  I’d recommend it again. Also, don’t deterred about the 3 onions – I know it seems like a lot, but you’re going to want all of them, trust me.  I was skeptical, but this tart is one that will feed a family and leave leftovers.

I’ll admit, I’m not a baker (though I’m striving to learn), so making the dough was a little bit of a challenge.  Especially because the ingredient increments were in ounces, and I don’t own a scale.  Oh man.  I was able to sort of estimate measuring out the ingredients and it turned out great, thank the lord.  I was actually thinking that we’d be ordering pizza for a little bit.  In any case, if you have the time and want to make something truly memorable, try this:

For the pastry crust (make this first):

• 1  3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup lard or shortening – cut into cubes
• Leaves from one sprig of rosemary AND/OR a few sprigs of thyme – chopped
• 1 large egg – beaten
• 2 Tbsp. whole milk
• 1/3 cup shredded (not packed too tight) cheddar cheese
• Big pinch of salt

This recipe really works best with a food processor (at least I think so…I don’t have a mixer) but you can probably have a mixer if you have one.  Start by adding the flour, cheese and lard with a big pinch of salt to the food processor and combine them for around 30 seconds.  The mixture should become sort of grainy, but still rather fine.

Add the herbs, egg and milk and mix together for another little while, just until the mixture comes together.  Once it looks good, dump out the mixture onto a lightly floured board and clump the dough together into a ball but don’t knead it!  Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Ingredients for the Filling:

• ~1/2 lb. black forest or other ham
• 6-8 slices of Prosciutto – thinly sliced
• 2 cups creme fraiche
• 3 eggs
• Several sprigs of oregano – leaves picked, some chopped, others left whole
• 3 medium sized red onions – diced
• 1 medium bunch of kale – stems removed and finely chopped
• 3 medium cloves of garlic – finely chopped
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese – grated (reserve 1/2 of it for the topping!)
• 1/2 cup good Gruyere cheese – grated
• Extra virgin olive oil
• A small amount of butter for greasing sheet
• Salt and pepper

While your dough is in the fridge, start the onions in a pan over medium heat and sweat them until they’ve turned translucent, but don’t let them color.  Add in the kale, in batches (there will be a lot to add) and cook down, mixing it together with the onions.  Next add the chopped oregano and garlic and season with salt and pepper.  Add in the wine and cook until 3/4 of the wine has cooked off.  Once this is done, kill the heat and set the mixture aside.

Next, you should grab your dough out of the fridge and also grab a baking sheet.  Roll out your dough to around 1/4″ thickness.  Patch the dough as necessary, but don’t let it rip at all.  Grease your baking sheet with your butter and carefully place the rolled out dough onto the sheet.  Go around the rim of the baking sheet with a fork or knife and remove any access.  Prick the dough all over with a fork and place it into the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

At this point, preheat your oven to 375 F.  Make the topping by mixing the creme fraiche, eggs and cheeses together in a mixing bowl.  Chop or rip the ham up to your desired size and set aside.

When you dough is ready, pull it out of the freezer and pop it right into the oven for 6-8 minutes or until it’s golden brown.  Remove it and you’re ready to build your tart.  I put the onion/kale mix on first, being sure to cover all of the tart shell.  Next, add the ham and prosciutto and top with the creme fraiche mixture.  Top with the reserved Parmesan cheese, the whole oregano leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.  Bake in the oven for around 15-20 minutes, or until the topping has turned golden brown.  Let cool for 10-15 minutes and cut as you like.  Enjoy!

Summer has come and gone and as usual, I’m wishing for more of the nice weather and great fresh, simple ingredients and recipes.  Fall season is here though, and with it brings the awesome earthy, organic flavors of squash, apples and mushrooms.  I gotta say, it might be my favorite season of the food calendar.  The nights get shorter, the beer gets darker and so does the food.  Bring it on!

Our local farmer’s market is still hanging on to some of the last fruits of the summer though, as there was still an abundance of summer squash, as well as some late season tomatoes, which I’m happy for as I try to wrap my head around doing some canning for the winter.  This recipe really was thrown together at the last minute and the final product was good, so I’ve decided to post it – if for nothing else then as another good idea on using summer squash – an ingredient that I find sort of difficult to innovate dishes around.  When in doubt – make a pasta, it is really hard to screw up.

The dish is sort of similar to one of Aimee’s classic pasta recipes like Linguine with Little Neck Clams and Chorizo Sausage or Pork, Spinach and Feta Ragu with Vodka Sauce. The one thing that differentiates this dish from the rest is some of the ingredients, the fact that it doesn’t include any meat (hence the ‘Primavera’ aspect of it) and the combination of summer and fall flavors.

I also added some Marscarpone cheese to the dish to finish it, as it added a layer of creaminess to the dish, something I like with veggie pastas.  The other tip I want to share is a method of finishing a pasta, something I will always do now (especially after reading Bill Buford’s book ‘Heat’).  This method entails actually under-cooking your pasta somewhat in the pot, then removing it and finishing it in another pan with a tablespoon or two of your pasta water.  This really creates an awesome binder between the flavors that are in play and will make any pasta better, I promise.  The pasta itself will finish cooking and your final result will be perfect!  Here’s how it went:

For the tomato sauce first:

• 1/2 a large white onion (1/2 for the sauce, 1/2 for the veggie portion)
• 1 medium carrot – shredded on large holes of a box grater
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup good (at least decent) red wine
• 1 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes (optional and add based on your own heat preferences)
• 1 tsp. fresh oregano (optional)
• Salt and fresh pepper
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil

Start the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the onion and carrot and season with salt.  Sweat the onion and carrot and let them cook for 5-10 minutes.  Add the garlic, oregano, a little more salt and red pepper flakes and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so.  Add in the wine and let it reduce by half to 3/4.  At this point, you should start the rest of your dish!!!  Add in the tomatoes and the bay leaf with a little more salt and pepper, reduce the heat to low, add a little water and keep the sauce at a slow simmer while you cook the rest of the dish:

• 2 medium summer squash or 4-5 small round summer squash – shredded on a box grater
• 1 bunch red kale (or green) – chopped
• 1 small head fennel – sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 a large onion (large dice)
• Small bunch of basil, 1/3 to 1/2 a cup – roughly chopped
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup almonds – whole and chopped, then toasted in a small pan over low heat until golden brown
• 1/2 cup good dry white wine
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese, ricotta, feta…)
• 1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Start a large pot of boiling water.  In another large skillet (aside from the sauce) over medium/low heat, add the butter and olive oil.  When they’ve come up to temperature, add the onions and fennel and cook them for around 10 minutes, until they begin to caramelize.  Add in the kale and combine it with the other veggies – it should wilt a little as it cooks down.  Before adding the squash, turn up the heat on the pan a bit and make some room for it on one side of the pan.  Add it in and let it brown a little bit before mixing it together with the rest of the veg.  Finally, add the basil and cook to combine.

In a small separate pan over medium/low heat, add in the almonds and brown them until golden, then take them off the heat.  When the water comes up to a boil, add a few pinches of salt and the pasta, stir and cook until it’s JUST al dente and kill the heat but don’t drain it!

Meanwhile, when the veggies are cooked to a desired doneness, add in the wine and cook off until there’s very little left.  At this point, add in the tomato sauce that you made in the separate pan to the veggies and cook together for a few minutes.  Remove the bay leaf and adjust the seasonings to your liking.  Add in the marscarpone and mix together.

So now you should be ready to combine the sauce and the pasta.  The way I do this is in a separate pan (the one I used for the sauce).  Simply ladle around a cup of the sauce into the pan once it’s gotten hot, and grab a bunch of pasta with tongs and add it to the pan and combine it with the sauce.  Next, add in around 1-2 tablespoons of the water you cooked the pasta in to the pan and mix together.  Serve the pasta on a dish of your choice and top with grated Parmesan.  Buon appetito!

I don’t think there’s a person on earth who doesn’t like pasta wrapped around cheese.  Especially when you put some savory and delicious homemade red sauce on top. This recipe substitutes eggplant for the pasta but works just as well and is a great use for a vegetable that sometimes gets overlooked in modern kitchens.  Trust me, you don’t lose anything by using eggplant (besides carbos) – in fact I think the texture is actually a value add here.

Though the process of making this dish may sound complicated, it’s actually very simple as the eggplant doesn’t require breading and just a little frying before the involtini can be wrapped and placed in the oven.  You can also use pasta as a substitute for the eggplant, pounded chicken or veal would work too.  I sat and ate Involtini in Rome years ago, before I was ever interested in the culinary arts and really opened my eyes.

The basic idea for this dish is an old Italian country style classic, though it was brought to my eyes via Mario Batali (surprise, surprise).  This dish filled the house with some really awesome aromas that had Tanner the dog sitting at the kitchen door begging for a handout.  Make extra, the leftovers are delicious too!

I recently have been in the practice of incorporating my red sauce with lots of hearty red wine – using Bordeaux varietals or Syrah, not Pinot.  The wine really stands up the the tomatoes and the two compliment each other beautifully.  The involtini really has two main steps that get combined just before baking in the oven – making the red sauce and preparing the eggplant.  Here’s what I did:

Red Sauce:

• 1 large Spanish onion – medium dice
• 1 large carrot – small cube
• 2 stalks celery – small cube
• 3-4 cloves garlic – diced
• 1 large can whole tomatoes
• 1 c. red wine – something you’d drink (the heartier the better – Cabernet Sauvingon, Syrah, etc…)
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• 4-5 whole stalks Thyme
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes  (I like adding the red pepper for this dish, not for all dishes)
• 2 Tbsp. EV olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Over medium heat, cook the onion, celery and carrot (season with salt here) in the olive oil until slightly browned but not burned – about 7 minutes.  A little color on the onion is ok here, but you don’t want any on the other vegetables.  Add in the garlic, bay leaf, basil, red pepper, thyme stalks and a bit more salt and pepper and toss together for another few minutes.  Raise the heat and add in the wine.  Let the wine cook off until the aroma of the sauce doesn’t have any alchoholic bite to it and most of the liquid is gone – around 5-7 minutes depending on your pan.  Add in the tomato paste and incorporate it into the sauce.

Take the tomatoes and crush them in your hand over the pan and add them to the mixture.  The tomato pieces should be fairly small and their juice should thin the sauce a bit.  Add more of the juice as neccessary.  Lower the heat to low and cook until the sauce thicken a little bit.  Adjust the seasonings to taste.  Leave this over very low heat while you prepare the eggplant.

Preparing the Eggplant

• 1-2 eggplant (1 eggplant for 2 people) – sliced lengthwise and thin! 1/3 to 1/2 inch max!
• 1.5 c. olive oil (for frying)
• 1.5 c. Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 c. scallions – small dice
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. sage – diced
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Combine the ricotta, scallion, egg, red pepper flakes, sage and nutmeg in a mixing bowl and set aside.

In a heavy pan, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat (to a temp. around 350-375 or until a small square of bread browns in a couple minutes).  Add in the eggplant slices a few at a time (don’t overlap in the pan) and cook for about a minute or two on each side.  The eggplant should get pretty soft but not brown too much.  Drain the cooked eggplant on paper towels and continue until all of the eggplant is cooked like this.

Take a slice of eggplant and put a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta mixture at the base of the slice and roll it up to form a small round.  Place the roll-ups in an oven-safe baking pan or dish in rows (will make it easier to serve later).  Continue until all of the eggplant has been used or all of the ricotta is gone (I usually run out of eggplant first).

Combining

• The rolled eggplant
• The prepared red sauce
• Pieces of fresh Mozzarella
• Parsley

• Salt and pepper (optional)
• Extra red pepper flakes (optional)

Once all of your eggplant is wrapped and in the oven-safe dish, take your red sauce and distribute it around the eggplant.  Add a little bit of fresh Mozzarella to each eggplant roll and optionaly some salt, red and black pepper.  Place in your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese inside the eggplant is oozing and the Mozarella is a little browned but not burned.  Pull from the oven, top with some diced parsley and serve.

Serves around 6 people.  Enjoy!

Did you guys ever see that Iron Chef episode where Cat Cora pulls out the Buddha’s Hand and everyone (including me) was like “WTF is that”?  I’ve been looking for one of these ever since.  Our friend Tyson brought one over to our house last Thanksgiving as I remember and used the zest in his delicious homemade cranberry sauce.

Coming home late the other night, I decided to stop at Whole Foods to grab some things to cook with.  Per usual, I started in the produce and immediately saw them, a big pile of them – the Buddha’s Hand!  Cheap too, they were like $4/Pound, so I eagerly picked one up and thought about turning it into a garnish for fish.  I’ve been wanting to try this Gremolata recipe too, so why not put them together.  The Buddha’s Hand zest made for a great substitution to the typical lemon zest.

Gremolata is a very simple Italian garnish, traditionally served with Ossobuco – though since it incorporates citrus, I thought it could also accompany a hearty fish like Swordfish (which looked very good that day I must say).  Gremolata is simply a mixture of parsley, garlic and lemon (Buddha’s hand, wink, wink) zest – though I decided to add some salt and a little olive oil just to give it some added seasoning and binding.

The first thing that I noticed about the stuff is that it’s intense on flavor!  The garlic and lemon really come through as you might expect and I sort of overused it on the fish.  Because of its strong flavors, I immediately saw why it’s served with the veal shanks in Ossobuco.  Don’t get me wrong, this worked ok, just be fairly conservative if you’re going to use your Gremolata on fish.  It would also go great on pork or steak, especially if seasoned with some hearty spices.

I served this alongside some delicious broccoli rabe with caramelized fennel and onions (recipe another day).  I really like serving the bitter greens with the sweet onions and fennel – makes for a great balance of flavors.

For the Gremolata:

• About 1/2 c. parsley
• 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (or Buddha’s hand)
• 1 clove garlic – diced
• Pinch of salt
• A few drops of good extra virgin olive oil

Simply dice the parsley and garlic together.  Zest your lemon and add it to the mixture and continue to dice on your board until it comes together.  Add the salt and olive oil and combine.

For the Swordfish:

• 4 1/2 lb. swordfish steaks or 1 large 2 lb. fillet
• Sea salt
• White Pepper
• Paprika (optional)

In advance, season the fish and let rest while you prepare the other ingredients.  I recommend grilling the fish, though if no grill is available, just sear the fish in some olive oil and butter at high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness).  You really want that high heat to get some good color and crust on the fish.

Swordfish is one of those proteins that I HATE if it’s overcooked (who likes any meat overdone?), so ere on the side of under cooking and really let it rest once you pull it off the heat.  You can always put it back on the heat if it’s too raw, but you can’t make it more raw once it’s overdone!  As long as you make sure the fish is nice and fresh, it can be a little under cooked and it’s fine to eat (it will be more tender and succulent that way)!

Top the fish with some of the Gremolata, a side of vegetables or starch and salad and enjoy!

Serves 4

Although I have no Italian blood in me, my culinary gene does.  My mother grew up with an Italian step-mom who, along with many classic cookbooks, taught her most of what she knows about cooking. Donna, my step-grandmother, was a quintessential Italian woman:  short, thin, brown hair and huge brown eyes, and a genius with any sort of pasta dish.

Though I only knew her for the first seven or eight years of my life, prior to discovering how much I love to cook, I have a bond with her that can only be passed down through food.  Since I spent most of my adolescent years cooking with my mother every evening, my foundation of knowledge about food is rooted in traditional Italian cuisine.  For that reason, I always feel comforted by anything Italian and it is my instinct to prepare it for guests.  Donna would be proud.

Chicken piccata is a classic Italian dish and, unlike some of the other commonly prepared Italian chicken dishes, this one won’t take you all afternoon.  The simple sauce and beautifully browned chicken never fails to impress those who try it.  Serve it with a little pasta, or prepare a nice green side dish for a comforting and satisfying meal.

Ingredients:

• Four boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Two Tbsp. of all-purpose flour
• One tsp. of paprika
• Half a tsp. of cayenne pepper (this addition came after my grandmother, and can certainly be omitted for non-spice lovers).
• One tsp. of salt
• Half a tsp. of fresh ground black pepper
• Two to three Tbsp. of capers with a splash of caper juice
• Juice of one lemon
• Optional:  A splash of dry white wine
• One Tbsp. of butter
• Three Tbsp. of olive oil

Begin my mixing all of the dry ingredients, including the flour, paprika, cayenne, and salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Next, place the chicken breasts in between two layers of wax paper (the butcher paper will work too).  Pound the chicken away from the center until it is about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick.  Liberally dust the chicken with the flour and spice mixture.

In a large, skillet (preferably not non-stick), heat up the butter and oil over medium high heat.  Place the chicken breast in the pan and don’t touch it for five to six minutes, or until it is a nice golden brown.  Then, flip the chicken breast and brown the other side for an additional four to five minutes.  Remove the chicken breasts and place in a low heat oven (~200 degrees).

Add the juice of one lemon (or a bit more if the lemon is not very juicy) and a splash of dry white wine into the pan with the drippings from the chicken.  Stir to de-glaze and lower the heat.  Cook on low until the lemon juice and wine thicken from the flour left in the pan.  Add the capers.  Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Serves four.