Fresh Figs with Linguine

It might seem like an odd combination, but this is a very tasty pasta dish. It's fig season right now and figs are plentiful. If you have a fig tree or two you know they are popping and fresh figs are starting to show up in grocery store produce departments. So, why not experiment with them. You might even add a little hot pepper too as an option. The sweetness of the figs with the heat from the peppers makes a good marriage of flavors and the cream tempers the heat. Add the tartness from the lemons and the aroma of fresh basil and you have a damn fine pasta dish. 

Ingredients

1 pound linguine

1/4 
cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

1
 medium shallot, minced (about 3 tablespoons)

1/2
 cup heavy cream

1 cup + fresh figs, stemmed and chopped

The zest and juice from one lemon

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1/2 + teaspoon minced hot chili pepper - optional

Salt and ground black pepper

1 handful of torn fresh basil leaves

Procedure

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta to boiling water; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water. Drain pasta into a colander and set aside.

In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil until shimmering. Add shallot and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until shallot is softened, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in 1/2 cup of reserved pasta cooking water and the cream; add the chopped figs and stir to combine; bring to simmer and cook for 2 minutes.

Remove skillet from heat, add the pasta, and stir until coated.

 Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

 Cover and let pasta stand 2 minutes, tossing frequently and adjusting consistency with remaining 1/2 cup reserved pasta water if necessary.

 Stir in basil 

 Serve, drizzling individual portions with olive oil and sprinkling with cheese.

Pan Seared Spiced Okra with Cashews

This is a great way to prepare okra using aromatic spices. 

Quick, simple and deliscious.

  

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground fennel

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Pinch of cinnamon

1/4 cup cashews roughly chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound small okra, halved lengthwise

Salt

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a small bowl, blend together the cumin, coriander, fennel, turmeric, cinnamon.

In a large non stick skillet (or two, if necessary) heat the oil. Add the okra, and cook over high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook until browned, 4 minutes longer.

Stir and try to turn over as much of the okra as you can and cook over low heat until tender, about 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and sprinkle with the spice mixture.

Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds.

Drizzle the lemon juice over the okra and add the cashews. Stir together and serve. 

Satsuma Orange Pesto with Linguine

 

The inspiration for this pesto came from a pop-up add for Satsuma Mandarin citrus. This is not a traditional Italian pesto but sounds like something that might come out of southern Italy where citrus is plentiful and finds its way into a lot of dishes. The Satsuma orange zest and juice along with the other ingredients - Fresh Basil, Pistachios, Tomatoes, Hot Red Pepper Flakes, Parmesan Cheese, pan crisped Prosciutto and Olive Oil make a fresh, bright zesty refreshing sauce. We instantly loved it. I first made this in January when Satsuma's are in season but with these ingredients it would be great in the Spring or Summer. 

Ingredients:

Linguine, cooked until al dente

Reserved Pasta Water

Zest and Juice of 1 Satsuma or Navel Orange

10 oz. Grape or Cherry Tomatoes

½ cup Fresh Basil Leaves

½ cup Grated Parmesan

½ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup Pistachios

1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Salt & Black Pepper, to taste

2-3 oz. Thinly Sliced Prosciutto

Cook the pasta according to package direction, until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

In a skillet over medium high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil. Fold up the slices of prosciutto into little bite-sized bundles and add to the pan. Cook 1-2 minutes on each side, until crispy. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine the cherry tomatoes, grated parmesan, zest and juice of a sumo citrus, basil, olive oil, pistachios, and crushed red pepper flakes. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

While the pasta is still warm, toss with the sumo citrus pesto until very well coated. Warm up the pasta over the stovetop if desired and add some of the reserved pasta water if the sauce is too thick.

Serve warm with freshly grated parmesan, more basil leaves and the crispy prosciutto.

Linguine with Chanterelle Mushrooms

When we bought our current/forever home, the former owner told us to look for chanterelle mushrooms to pop up in the back yard in the late spring-early summer. We were happily surprised to find that when they did come up we were able to make a number of dishes with them. Here is a simple pasta dish we made with the chanterelles, fresh herbs and a roasted garlic wine sauce. 

Prep Time: 45 minutes mins

Cook Time: 15minutes mins

Roasting Garlic: 30minutes mins

Total Time: 1hour hr 30minutes mins

Ingredients

Spaghetti or linguine

1 large bulb of garlic

Fresh garden herbs to taste, preferably a mix of basil, fresh parsley, thyme, or sage, all chopped together

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chicken stock

1 large shallot 3oz, julienned

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

4-6 oz fresh chanterelles depending on availability roughly chopped, small buttons left whole

3 tablespoons grated pecorino cheese or parmesan or to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Roast the garlic

Peel the skin off the garlic. Cut the stem end off the bulb of garlic to reveal the cloves and make them easier to press out.

Wrap the bulb of garlic in foil, then bake at 350 for 20 minutes, turn off the oven and allow them to continue cooking with the residual heat until cool.

The cloves of garlic should be soft and supple. Squeeze out the garlic, mash to a paste and reserve. From here the garlic can be prepared ahead of time.

Chanterelles growing in our back yard - 

Rinse the chanterelles under cold water to clean them and allow them to soak up moisture (counter-intuitive but actually a good technique for them).

Warm the chanterelles in a dry pan with the shallots, cooking until the chanterelles have given up their juice and are wilted. Add the olive oil, roasted garlic paste and crushed red pepper flakes and cook for a minute more.

Add the wine and cook down by half, then add the chicken stock.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, then add to the pan along with the butter and herbs and cook for a minute to reduce, toss to combine and coat the noodles with the sauce.

Add a splash of pasta cooking water if the pan gets dry.

Remove the pan from the heat and add half of the cheese. Double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, adjust as needed, then pull the pasta out of the pan with tongs. Twirl the noodles into two warmed pasta bowls. spoon the mushrooms and juices over them, garnish with pecorino or parmesan cheese and serve.

Scarola Ripasatta - Savory Sauteed Escarole

We've used escarole for years in Beans & Greens  (https://ourgardenandtable.blogspot.com/2015/11/beans-and-greens.html) and as a side dish sauteed in olive oil with garlic and red pepper flakes. But just watched this video by Pasta Grammar where they made several dishes using sauteed escarole with garlic, olives, capers, pine nuts, chili peppers, anchovy filets, and raisins. Yes, all those amazing flavor ingredients. The video made this look so tasty that we had to make it at home. Here is a link to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53QO0zsMkuE. This was so good that I'm still thinking about it a week later so we will probably make it again tomorrow. 

Here is how it's done. Not complicated at all. 

Ingredients:

Two heads (approx. 2 pounds) escarole 

Salt

2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic roughly chopped

10+ capers, or to taste, diced

10+ Kalamata olives, or to taste, roughly chopped

1 to 2 dried or fresh chili peppers, chopped (optional)

2 anchovy filets in oil, drained

1/3 cup  raisins

2 tablespoons pine nuts

 

Cut the heel of the escarole head(s) off and separate all the leaves. Wash them under running water.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. Add the escarole leaves and boil for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Drain the escarole and roughly chop.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil, garlic, capers, olives, chili pepper, and anchovies over medium/low heat. Cook and stir until the anchovies have completely dissolved, then add the raisins, pine nuts, and drained escarole. Stir all together.

Partially cover the pan and let the escarole cook, stirring occasionally, until the excess water in the pan evaporates completely—about 10 minutes.

We served it along side home made Italian sausage. It was the perfect companion but this would also be great with roasted chicken, pork or fish.

Serve, Bon Appetito!

Spaghetti with Walnuts - Al Capone's Favorite Pasta Dish

According to his grand niece, there was a particular pasta dish 1920's Gangster Al Capone loved - Spaghetti Con Salsa di Noci - spaghetti with walnut sauce. This may seem odd to many people used to spaghetti with tomato sauce but this is a typical "peasant" dish from the Campania region of Italy where Capone's family roots were. There are various versions of  Salsa di Noci with different flavor details but the basic ingredients are - chopped walnuts, minced garlic, Italian flat leaf parsley, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Other flavor ingredients might include - hot red pepper flakes, lemon zest and juice, anchovies and oregano. 

That said, I am using the recipe Al Capone's grandniece wrote in her book about him. 

It is a simple dish but with a lot going on - earthy flavor from the walnuts with a little brightness from the lemon juice, heat from the red pepper flakes and buttery gooiness from the melted Parmesan cheese. Save this recipe for the nights you want an easy, delicious comfort meal. You will love it!

Ingredients:

- Spaghetti

- Walnuts

- Garlic

- Fresh Parsley

- Hot Red Pepper Flakes

- Lemon juice

- Parmesan Reggiano

- Olive Oil

- Salt

Chop the walnuts - 

Mince the garlic -
               

Chop the parsley -

Cook the Spaghetti until al dente. Reserve some of that salted, starchy pasta water for the sauce later.

Heat some good olive oil in a pan over low heat. Add the chopped walnuts, garlic, fresh parsley, red pepper flakes and lemon juice.

Stir everything together so that it's all well-coated in the olive oil and cook until fragrant.

Add the spaghetti and toss until the pasta is well coated in the sauce. Add the reserved pasta water and bring to a simmer until it starts to thicken.

Fold in grated Parmesan cheese and add a final drizzle of olive oil before serving.

Add more cheese to your taste

Fall-off-the-Bone Baked Chicken Wings

Who doesn't love chicken wings? They are the perfect party or game watching treat. After eating 10 times our body weight in chicken wings over the years, we have found what we feel is the perfect method to make them. You are totally welcome to tell us, that no, no, no! You, or your dad or your cousin from Buffalo, has absolutely the best way to make them. This is just a simple technique, let your favorite home made or store bought sauce make them shine. 

INGREDIENTS  

3 pounds Chicken Wings separated into drums and flats

1 tablespoon roasted garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp Salt

Olive oil

1 tsp black pepper

1 - 2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 cup sauce of your choice for basting

How to -

1 - Spray or dribble olive oil on the wings as a binder and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and thyme. Gently massage seasonings into the wings.

2 - Spread wings evenly on a baking sheet and put in the fridge, uncovered, for 3 - 4 hours to marinate and dry.

3 - Remove wings from fridge and let set at room temperature for 20 minutes. 

4 - Preheat the oven to 250° F.

5 - Sprinkle the wings with 1-2 tablespoons of non-aluminum baking powder toss to coat each wing lightly.

6 - Place wings on top of a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. You want the fat to fall away from the wings. You don’t want to cook the wings in the fat.

7 - Bake the wings, uncovered, on the top rack of your oven for 40 minutes at 250°.

8 - Remove from the oven and turn oven up to 450° F.

9 - Once the oven is ready, put the wings back in oven and cook on the top rack for 30 minutes - rotating half way (at about 15- 20 minutes).

10 - After 30 minutes remove from the oven and brush wings with your home made sauce or store bought.  Place back in oven (top rack) for another 10 minutes or until crispy. 

11 - Let rest for 5 -10 minutes after done cooking and serve with blue cheese dressing.

Roasting Figs in Fig Leaves

If you like figs, you will really enjoy this post. I found the pic below of roasted figs wrapped in fig leaves that chef Alex Guarnaschelli posted on her Facebook page recently. She described them this way - "These are baked figs from Italy. They are wonderfully chewy and seedy and sweet and taste like candy and dirt and earth and diamonds and emeralds and cake." 

Besides the taste description, what a cool look they have wrapped up in fig leaves! I knew immediately that I had to try to duplicate them at home. We love figs, and in fact, have two fig trees in our backyard. Fig season is winding down but there were enough ripe ones to pick to make this experiment do-able.

There's not much information available on the exact process but basically fresh figs are baked in a warm oven (170 - 200 degrees) for 12 hours where their flavor is concentrated and they become very sticky. Then they are pressed together into a ball and wrapped in fresh fig leaves to be baked again for several hours in a warm oven. I figured the fig leaves would add to the unique taste but was unsure if any herbs, spices, flavorings were added. And maybe wine or a liqueur of some kind? Since there is no information available on these kinds of details, I decided to add a few that made sense - a pinch of ground fennel seeds, a drizzle of honey, orange zest and a splash of red wine.

I also found this interesting video that shows a commercially made fig ball being opened - 

Here are our figs after being roasted overnight in a covered ceramic crock with the fennel, honey, orange zest and wine. They shrunk quite a bit but they did not dry out and become hard. The kitchen smelled great by the way -

I picked and washed 9 good looking fig leaves, fanned them out in a circle and piled the figs in the middle with their juices. 

Wrapped the leaves around the figs and tied with some cotton yarn (thanks Lisa). And placed the "ball" back into the crock for the second low and slow roast. 

The fig ball back out of the oven after a 5 hour bake - 

Here is the fig ball being opened. The figs were plump, moist and chewy. The taste was everything I had hoped for - earthy, sweet, figgy with hints of orange and anise, maybe not the "diamonds, emeralds and cake" that chef Alex described but that's OK, because I'm glad they didn't taste like cake. Really very nice and will definitely make more next year.

Caponata

Caponata alla Fuscà 

Caponata is a southern Italian eggplant side dish. The base typically includes eggplant, celery, onion, olives, tomatoes, olive oil, of course, and red wine vinegar and sugar which gives it its signature agrodolce (sweet and sour) flavor. Other ingredients can include pine nuts, sweet peppers and raisins. The Sicilians sometimes throw in tuna. It is always served at room temperature. 

It is perfect as part of an antipasti plate or side dish along side chicken or fish or on grilled country bread as bruschetta or on polenta or with pasta. Nice stuff! I think you will like it. The amounts in the recipe below are approximations. You might need to make it a few times to get the amount of ingredients and the timing right to suite your own taste. Like a lot of Italian food, this gets better over the next few days, so you can make it ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator. Don’t re-heat it though, just let it come to room temperature by itself.

Ingredients - 

   

2 large or 3 medium size eggplants  

1/2 - 3/4 cup of olive oil
2 cups of celery, sliced thin on a bias
3/4 cup of onions, chopped
2 cups of drained canned Italian plum or chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
9 - 11 large green olives, pitted and cut in half - use the good ones: Cerignola or Castelvetrano. In a pinch Kalamata olive will be OK but NOT grocery store green olives stuffed with a pimento.

2 tablespoons of capers – rinsed
1/2 cup of red wine vinegar, mixed with 2 tablespoons of sugar

Handful of golden raisins
2 tablespoons of pine nuts – toasted
Pinch + Hot red pepper flakes (optional)

Basil – nice handful torn into pieces

salt and ground pepper to taste

Cut eggplant into 1 inch cubes. Sprinkle cubes of eggplant with salt and set them in a colander in the sink to drain. After 30 minutes, rinse them and pat dry with paper towels and set them aside.
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in heavy non-stick skillet, sauté the eggplant in it, stirring and turning for about 8-10 minutes until they are lightly browned but not mushy. You might have to add more olive oil. With a slotted spoon transfer the eggplant to a bowl.

  

Using the same skillet, add about 1/4 cup oil to the oil that’s left in the skillet and add the celery and onions. Cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes until celery and onions are soft and lightly colored. 

Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until caramelized and almost evaporated, 1–2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes and continue cooking for 10 minutes. 

 

Stir in the olives, vinegar & sugar, raisins, capers and cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

 

Take off heat and add back the eggplant, add the pine nuts and basil. 

 

Stir it all together. Serve at room temperature.

 

Summer Uncooked Tomato Sauce

 

This is why you should have a vegetable garden, or at least grow a couple tomato plants and some basil even if you have limited space, grow them in containers. We are fortunate to have a nice flat back yard with a big garden that gets plenty of sun. This time of year here in Georgia so many herbs and vegetables are getting to their peak of flavor ready to be picked. I pulled three Cherokee purple tomatoes out of the garden this morning to make this uncooked raw tomato sauce. 

This simple tomato sauce is very aromatic with the individual ingredients keeping their identity. You can clearly smell and taste the separate components - the sweet/tart Cherokee purple tomatoes, the lemony fresh basil, the pungent raw garlic, the background heat from the Calabrese pepper and the grassy olive oil. 

Make sure to get the freshest tomatoes possible. You won't be disappointed. Don't even try this with pale supermarket tomatoes. If you don't grow your own tomatoes and basil, wait until you can find some heirloom tomatoes and good basil at a farmers market. This will be your go-to pasta sauce for special occasions every summer.

Ingredients for two people - adjust amounts for more:

3 ripe home grown or heirloom tomatoes finely chopped. (Let their juices go into the sauce too.)

3 large garlic cloves finely chopped, not minced

1 nice handful of fresh basil hand torn into small pieces

1/2 cup of a good quality extra virgin olive oil

Optional - small hot chili pepper finely chopped

Pinch of salt and pepper

Combine the tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper (and hot pepper if using) in a bowl. Pour in the olive oil and then the basil. Make this several hours ahead of when you are going to use it. Cover with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature so the flavors can mingle and develop. Stir every now and then and taste. Do not refrigerate.

Use this with your favorite pasta along with a side of grilled Italian sausage and some sliced melon. Salty pecorino cheese is perfect on top. Yah!   

Or... as the tomato sauce for any summery dish - grilled/fried eggplant, zucchini, peppers, dollop on scrambled or fried eggs,  as a bruschetta topping and more. 

Moussaka

Moussaka

Maybe you've never had, let alone made, Moussaka (correctly pronounced - Moo-sah-KAH', by the way). But if you're reading this blog post you've most likely both had it at a Greek restaurant and made it at home. Here is our version. Like many old world dishes there are regional, local and inter-familial variations on how particular dishes are prepared and what ingredients and seasonings are used. Moussaka is no different, but basically it includes layers of eggplant, ground lamb seasoned with cinnamon and cloves, thin sliced potatoes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs and topped off with a creamy fluffy béchamel sauce. What's not to like, right?

   

It's been described as a Greek version of lasagna.... But it really isn't, it just looks like lasagna on the outside, the ingredients are layered and it's cooked in a rectangular casserole pan. So there you go.

Ingredients

For the vegetables

2 - 3 Yukon gold or Russet potatoes sliced very thin

1 sweet onion chopped

2 medium Italian eggplants sliced thin

1 Tablespoon thyme

salt and pepper

For the lamb

1 lb ground lamb

1/2 onion minced

1/2 tsp dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 pinch ground cloves

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup diced tomatoes

Salt and pepper

For the béchamel sauce

2 cups milk plus

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Procedure -