Pesto

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this recipe with you yet.  What’s wrong with me?  Pesto is one of those things, like marinara sauce, that everyone should know how to whip up.  Do you want to know a secret?  I didn’t eat pesto for years.  YEARS.  I was weirded out by it as a child.  It was green!  And unknown!

When my mom would make pesto pasta during the summer, she would have to make regular pasta for my brother and I, as neither of us would touch the pesto.  Well mom, I’m sorry, I have finally seen the light, and I now know what I was missing.

This recipe is probably like countless others, but it happens to be the one I use, and so that means I’m going to share it with you.  I use it with my Pesto Pasta, which I will share with you very soon.  It’s one of those perfect summer dishes, that is amazing for a cookout, or just by itself.

Unfortunately I haven’t branched out too far in my usages of pesto, unless you count pizza.  I always have some left over (and it does freeze well), so I tend to put it on my pizza.  And yes, I do make pizza in the summer.  That’s the joy of having central air.  You can cook whatever you want, whenever you want.

This recipe comes from Dave Lieberman and is featured in the “Food Network Favorites” cookbook.  I have seen a variation that uses broccoli in it, which is genius if you ask me, as I can’t stand broccoli, but I know it’s oh so good for you.

Pesto

5 big handfuls of basil leaves (about 2 healthy bunches) I have to buy mine, as I kill every basil plant I get near
1/2 cup pine nuts or 3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
Kosher salt
About 20 grinds freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup olive oil

Yields about 1 1/2 cups

Place all ingredients with 1/2 cup of oil in a food processor or a blender (if you have neither, I don’t really know what to tell you.  I know they made pesto before those things existed, but I have no idea how) and blend.  With the motor running, gradually drizzle in remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil until pesto is thick and smooth.

Penne alla Vodka

Well now that you know I’m a vodka and tequila girl, it should come as no surprise that I like penne alla vodka.  It’s good stuff, even though you don’t even taste the booze.

A month or so ago I was in my favorite bookstore, Brookline Booksmith, perusing their sale items as well as their food cookbooks (they happen to have fabulous sales), and I came across Lidia Bastianich.  Now, I’m not going to lie and tell you I have been watching her shows for years (I haven’t).  I only know her name because my beloved Fabio, of Top Chef Season 5 (I looove him, as well as that show), mentioned how she is the queen of Italian cooking in America.  I think she was a guest judge (see how well I paid attention).

So when I came across one of her cookbooks (on sale, no less!), I leafed through it and immediately decided I needed to own it.  My Italian collection consists of Giada, who I love, but sometimes a girl needs to branch out.  I bought it immediately, and ignored the comments I would get when I got home (“but why do you need another cookbook?”).

There have been no comments, by the way, as both of the pasta dishes I have made thus far have been immense hits.  I have also recommended the book to friends.

I started with her penne alla vodka, easy and straightforward.  My girl Lidia likes her Italian plum tomatoes (in a 35oz can, which does not exist at Trader Joe’s), which I had never used before.  Sure, I do whole peeled, crushed, petite diced, but never plum tomatoes.  Well now they rock my world, much like the diced and fire roasted do.

She’s not afraid of the kind of bad for you things, so this isn’t a dish you would eat every week.  Definitely if you’re having company, it’s easy to make and a total crowd pleaser.

And if you’re like me, you’ll eat it with some salad in a bag, rustic bread, and a big old glass of wine.  And sit down and watch something on tv.  It’s kind of sad, my husband and I eat in front of the tv, even though we have a perfectly good dining table (and an amazing one on the way).  Maybe someday we’ll turn the tv off and sit and just chat and eat.  We usually reserve that for company.

Penne alla Vodka
from Lidia Bastiianich’s “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen”

Salt
One 35-oz can Italian plum tomatoes or if you are me, you improvise with 1 and change 28oz cans and hope for the best
1 pound whole wheat penne
1/4 cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
crushed red pepper
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tb. unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce
2-3 tb. chopped fresh Italian parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Bring salted water to a boil.

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor.  Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped (longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink).

Stir the penne into the boiling water.  Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently.  Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8-10 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat (a dutch oven works great for this.  ideally you want a pan/pot that is large enough to mix the sauce and pasta in). Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil.  Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes carefully.  Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes.  Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer (this actually does exist, instead of splattering sauce everywhere), and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream.  Add the 2tb. of butter or olive oil, if using, and swirl the skillet to incorporate into the sauce.   Once pasta is done, drain (or fish out of the hot water and put directly into sauce) the pasta and add to the sauce.  Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with the sauce.  Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary.  Sprinkle the parsley over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix.  Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

Daring Bakers – Cheesecake

As my fellow Daring Bakers will notice, I was a day late in posting.  After skipping last month.  But this month’s challenge was something I could really get into, as I happen to love cheesecake, and I make a mean one to boot.  We were given a basic cheesecake recipe and then told to do what we wanted with it.

I happened to choose espresso chocolate chip, as I LOVE the combination of chocolate and coffee.  Nothing goes better together…at least at the moment.  I actually made this cheesecake a few weeks ago at my parents house, and it was sadly dropped on the floor before anyone was able to sample it.  My mom had the fridge full of food, and my dad, unawares that I had literally shoved the cheesecake in there (why I didn’t just put it in the fridge in the basement is beyond me), opened the door, and that was that.  But that was also the same night that the BU hockey team won the NCAA title (go terriers! and no, I didn’t go there), so it wasn’t ALL bad.

I was able to sample my sad little cheesecake, and in turn was able to tweak it a bit.  The second time around I left out liqueur, and used mini chocolate chips instead of full sized ones, as they tended to sink into the batter (although the minis did as well, they were just cuter).  I also made a few mini cheesecakes, and according to my sister in law’s husband, they were just the right amount of cheesecake for him.

Now my husband won’t touch the stuff, and I didn’t want to stuff my face full of it and immediately hate myself for doing such a thing, so I sent it to work with him, as I knew my coworkers would both love and hate me for bringing it in.  It was promptly devoured by his colleagues.  Which is no easy task, if you ask me.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

For my variation I stirred in a bag of mini chocolate chips at the end, and added instant espresso to taste.  The espresso I didn’t measure, so it’s something you kind of have to play around with until you get a flavor that works for you.  I also baked mine in a spring form pan and stayed away from the water bath, I’m not really picky about the top cracking, it’s all about how it tastes!

Chicken Linguine

Are you looking for a most delicious meal, that is easy to make and won’t break the bank?  Then have I got one for you!  Chicken linguine (even the name is basic and to the point) is something my mom only started making within the last 10-ish years.  The first time she made it, my husband had come to visit me at my parents house, even before we were actually dating.  So it’s no wonder he stayed around and decided to marry me 🙂

The original recipe she has makes enough for a small army, and uses 2 pounds of pasta.  So that first time she made it, we had a TON.  And my husband happens to be of the didn’t-really-get-home-cooked-food-as-a-child-and-will-eat-just-about-anything variety.  And so he did.  And so he still does.

Which to me was strange, as my mom was always in the kitchen when I was growing up.  It might not have always been the most healthy of foods, but man, do I make a MEAN mac and cheese, all because of my mom.  So naturally I am always in the kitchen, making something from scratch.  The only food I like to order in is chinese food and Indian food (mainly because when you cook curry, your house smells like it for days).

But you didn’t come hear to read about all that, you came for the recipe.  This is something you can very easily whip up midweek, and have leftovers for days.

Chicken Linguine

1 pound of linguine (I use whole wheat, or whole grain)
1 pound of chicken breast (I like the thin sliced stuff), cut up into manageable pieces
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
red pepper flakes (as much or as little as you like)
salt
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup (or more or less, depends on how much sauce you want) low sodium chicken broth
handful chopped parsley
handful grated parmesan cheese (I didn’t have any, and used pecorino romano)

Start out by boiling the water for your pasta, as that always takes the longest for me.  Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the box.

Cut up your chicken, and set aside.  In a large skillet heat up enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan.  Add in garlic and sautee until tender, this should take a few minutes.  Add in salt (about a tsp. or so) and red pepper flakes (again, this depends on how hot or mild you like your food, I do about a tsp. or so), and cook for a minute.

Add in chicken and cook through.  Once chicken is pretty much cooked through, add in lemon juice, and quickly bring to a simmer.  Next add in chicken broth, and bring to a simmer again, yet let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Once pasta is cooked, either add the chicken mixture to the pasta, or vice versa, depending on how large your pot is.  Sprinkle in parsley and cheese, and mix together.  If you like lots of cheese, keep adding it in (I happen to add a ton of cheese, because I happen to love it).  And that’s it!  Simple, and dinner’s ready!

Daring Bakers – Pizza!

This month marked my second daring bakers challenge.  And while I was yet again hoping for something crazy, I can’t complain about pizza.  I love it, and it happens to be my husband’s favorite food.  We got a pizza stone not too long ago, and have been making our own pizza (and dough) ever since.  I don’t think I can go back to delivery pizza.

I actually have worked at 2 pizza places in my day, Pyzzz in CT, and Spiritus in Hyannis on the Cape.  I never mastered the art of tossing the dough, but I came up with some delicious combinations, if I do say myself.  Oh, and the dessert pizza at Pyzzz….to DIE for.  So good.  I’m going to have to try and recreate that some day.

So the recipe for the dough is a little more complicated and takes longer than the one I normally use, but it’s a keeper.  Instructions below:

4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled –
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Flour a work surface or counter.  Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them.  Gently round each piece into a ball.

Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

Note: I usually do about 450.

Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan (you can also use parchment paper).

Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

For my toppings I marinated some chicken strips in buffalo sauce, and sauteed in oil, and then covered with more sauce.  I chopped it up, and added it to an already sauced and cheesed pizza, along with a bit of gorgonzola, for delicious buffalo chicken pizza (and it was a crowd pleaser, well, crowd of 3, my friend Kathleen came over for dinner).

I also made pesto (and somehow forgot pine nuts, it was still good, don’t know that recipe from memory yet apparently), and used that, mozzarella, romano, and some roni.  That one was good, although I think we neglected it a bit and it cooked longer than it should have (we were consuming buffalo chicken pizza instead of paying attention to the oven).

Can’t wait to see what next month brings!