The Healthy Gourmet

A friend of mine is embarking on a brand new adventure today, and I’m rooting her on the best way I can.

Julie and I have known each other for almost 20 (eek) years and we met while we were studying something very different from what we actually ended up doing!!

Can it be a coincidence that while neither of us ended up on stage, we both have found our way into the world of food and cooking?

On Saturday, July 4 at 7:30 pm Julie will be co-hosting a new show that is hitting the airwaves on VIVA.

The show is called The Healthy Gourmet and is hosted by nutritionist Julie Daniluk and chef Ezra Title.

Photo provided by Julie Daniluk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The show will follow Julie and Ezra as they go head to head, duelling it out over taste  vs nutrition!

They will be taking their challenges to different groups of people, showing them that there really is a way to have it all

If you have a chance check it out – VIVA, channel 72 on Rogers or 526 on Bell!

Then, after that, check out Julie’s website Meals that Heal!

 

Expats say the darndest things

In recent months I have seen a lot of my fellow expats writing about their own language adventures and it has always reminded me of something that happened to me my first year in Italy.

I have been promising this story for a long time and I made the dish and took the pictures several weeks ago, but life is funny, just when you think you have things under control … SURPRISE something or other throws a wrench in the works and you find yourself even more incasinato than before.

 So, to borrow a catch phrase from Sofia Petrillo: “Picture it, Sicily 1993…” I was spending time in Sicily with my paternal grandmother and had been introduced to two brothers – childhood friends of my father’s. They each had daughters that were more or less my age and we hit it off immediately spending our days on the beach or shopping and our evenings going from club to club.

 My last night in Sicily, the two families invited me to a home cooked dinner at their grandmother’s home. Have you heard of groaning tables? There was so much food on the table that for a moment I was afraid. Oh the glory of it all, seafood, fish and aubergines everywhere! All the classics of Sicilian cuisine laid out before me.

  The dish I remember most (and you’ll soon learn why) was the fried calamari. The batter was so light and crisp and the calamari itself was amazingly fresh. I had never had anything like it and I said so, repeatedly.

 My obvious delight and appreciation inspired my hostess to ask if I had never had these dishes before, “Don’t you eat these in Canada” she asked.

How could I explain the difference to her? Me, who had always lived thousands of kilometres from the sea – to her, who bought seafood a mere hours after it had been fished?

 What I wanted to say was that living so far from the sea, we mostly found them frozen and full of preservatives.

 What I actually said was: “Si, ma da noi non c’è il mare. I calamari non sono freschi come questi, si trovano solo con gelato e pieno di preservativi.”

 (Translation: Yes, but we don’t have the sea. Calamari aren’t fresh like these, we can only find them with ice cream and full of condoms).

Oddly enough at the time I didn’t pay much attention to the sudden silence that descended. I did notice grandma’s perplexed look and I heard her whisper gelato?

 I do also seem to remember someone else whispering: Non parla bene Italiano (She doesn’t speak Italian well).

 It wasn’t until months later that I clued into what it was that I had said.

Now it is one of those stories that I pull out at dinner parties and that I used to tell to my students when I taught English to Italian businessmen.

For the record, if you ever need to talk about preservatives in Italy, the correct term is conservanti.

If, on the other hand it’s condoms you’re after – then the word is preservativi.

 Here is an easy recipe for fried calamari rings – ice cream and condoms omitted. 

500 gr sliced, rinsed and dried calamri rings

200 gr flour

200 ml beer

2 egg whites

salt to taste

300 ml of the frying oil of your choice

In a large bowl combine the flour and beer until well blended (no lumps!) and refridgerate.

In another bowl whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the egg whites to the beer/flour combination and mix well.

Heat the oil in a large pan.

Dip the calamari in the batter and drop into the hot oil.  Fry until golden.  Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

In an unrelated note, isn’t my basil growing beautifully? Thank you dear friend for sending the seeds to me. I think of you every time I water it, or smell it, or use it.

The Daring Kitchen June 2009 Chinese Dumplings

Oh the madness that has been this past month. I have shamelessly neglected, not only my own blog, but also all those blogs that I love to visit regularly.

Work has been terribly busy and things around the homestead have also been chaotic.

I have been waging a merciless war against Windows Live Messenger, which was installed on my laptop and now I cannot get rid of it.

Every time I uninstall it, it just installs itself again at start up. It’s like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.  All I have managed to do is hide it, but I know it’s there and I suspect that it is slowing things down.

Remind me never to lend my laptop again!!!

Oh, and the dishwasher died. After almost 10 years of dedicated service it finally died on Saturday morning. Luckily we had plenty of dirty laundry on hand to soak up the water!

We have a new one, still getting to know it, but I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Anyway on to this months challenge.

This month the event was hosted by one of my favourite bloggers, Jen from Use Real Butter.

Jen posts the most amazing recipes and her photos are unbelievable, I secretly (or not so secretly anymore) envy her ability and the gorgeous pics she posts regularly.

Jen chose a family recipe as our challenge this month and I have to say that I wasn’t able to devote the time and attention to it that I would have wanted. 

Life conspired against me this month and I couldn’t give this challenge my full attention, but I will try it again when things are calmer.

I had to substitute a few ingredients because they weren’t available in my local market and I didn’t have time to hunt for them all over Milan, next time I will. 

I love the way my filling turned out, but the wrappers were a tad thick and when it came time to cooking them, I accidentally miss placed my print out and skipped a vital step (I forgot to add the water).

So while the filling tasted great, the wrappers didn’t and because they were too thick, they tasted too bland compared to the filling.

Oh well, next time I’ll know better! Please check out everyone else’s efforts over at the Daring Kitchen!

 

Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

 pork filling:
1 lb (450g) ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried – rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch

 

dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches – or just halve the

filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for work surface

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

 

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

 

Make the dough, Method 1: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.[Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).

 

Make the dough, Method 2 (my mom’s instructions): In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.

 

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

 

My Modifications:

 

For the filling:

I was unable to find napa cabbage, shitake mushrooms or bamboo shoots so my filling had these ingredients (in the same quantities mentioned in the original recipe):

ground pork
white cabbage
green onions
porcini mushrooms
garlic powder
powdered ginger
soy sauce
sesame oil
corn starch

Daring Cooks Debut – Ricotta Gnocchi

I have started and deleted and started and deleted this post so many times that I am starting to feel defeated by it.  I am literally at a loss for words (the cheering in the background is my husband) and I need to come up with something NOW.

You see, I have a deadline.  This post is part of something bigger than just my little (mostly) Italian food blog, it is part of the very first Daring Cooks Challenge.

It is not only the debut of the Daring Cooks challenges but also my debut in the Daring club.

Many of you will have already heard of the Daring Bakers, heck, some of you may even BE Daring Bakers!

Well the great Daring Founders Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice have taken things one step farther and created The Daring Kitchen which is the new home for the Daring Bakers and home to the new Daring Cooks.

Guess who joined!!!  I have always admired the Daring Bakers and their beautiful challenges so when I saw that there was a new group forming I decided to jump in.

How does it work?  Well, quite simply once a month the members will prepare a dish, the same dish and then post about it on the same day.  Every month a different member will host and select a recipe and every month everyone will tackle that recipe and share their experiences on their blogs.

For the first ever Daring Cooks Challenge, our hosts, Lisa and Ivonne have chosen a recipe from a cookbook by Judy Rodgers called The Zuni Café Cookbook.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

For the gnocchi: (measurements slightly different due to packaging differences in Italy

450 gr ricotta
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
15 gr unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional – in fact I didn’t use any of these, I’ll explain why later)
15 gr Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
5 gr salt
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

Step 1 Draining the ricotta

The day before making the actual gnocchi I let the ricotta drain overnight in the fridge to eliminate as much moisture as possible.

Step 2 Making the batter, forming the gnocchi and dusting them with flour

I mashed the ricotta with a fork until smooth then added the lightly beaten eggs.

I melted the butter and added it to the ricotta and egg mixture.

At this point I would have added in any flavouring (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.) had I used any but because of my choice of sauces I decided against it.

I added the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.

Using a whisk (I was afraid an electric beater would be too much and the mixture wouldn’t hold up to it) I whisked all the ingredients together until the batter was fluffy and soft and mixed very well.

I had a small pot of boiling, salted water standing by to test my first gnocchi to make sure it wasn’t too damp and wouldn’t fall apart,

In a large pie dish (I used it because it was shallow and small enough to get the job done without using too much flour) I created a bed of flour to dust the gnocchi with.

I used two teaspoons to scoop up the batter and form the gnocchi before placing them in the flour and coating them with it, trying all the while to keep a nice oval shape.

Once I had tested my batter and was satisfied with the result I went on to form all my gnocchi, half of which I froze for future use.

The Sauces:

The original recipe called for a sage and butter sauce but I wanted to do something a little different and because I live where I do, I decided to reproduce the Italian flag with my gnocchi!

The green field of the flag is represented here with a light pesto sauce.

The white field is represented by a simple butter and parmigiano sauce with a twist.

I used 10 gr of white truffle butter, melted it in a frying pan with some minced garlic and tossed in the ricotta so that it could absorb the flavour and just before removing them from the pan I sprinkled them with a generous dose of parmigiano.

Last but not least is the red field. A couple of crushed plum tomatoes, olive oil and guanciale, cooked just long enough to cook the meat and I had my very own Tricolore!

Please visit The Daring Cooks website to see what all the other Daring Cooks have been up to!

Amatriciana

Spring always makes me feel a little nostalgic so I thought that an old classic would be just the thing to help me break out of my recent self imposed silence.

Are you up for a little history?

This dish gets its name from Amatrice a town in the province of Rieti.

Tradition holds that it was a dish – originally called gricia and made without tomatoes – prepared by shepards using the only ingredients that they could keep and carry with them – cured pork cheeks, onions and pecorino cheese.

The dish became popular nationally in the 1800’s and it was probably at that time that tomatoes and olive oil were added to the recipe.

It is probably one of the easiest dishes to prepare and certainly a favourite of mine.

Amatriciana is a sauce generally used with long pasta, spaghetti, vermicelli or bucatini, In this case I (gasp) broke with tradition and threw in a little Abruzzo flair by using fresh macheroni alla chitarra.

Spaghetti all’amatriciana

Serves 4

400 gr (1 small can) plum tomatoes

100 gr guanciale, cubed

1 medium sized onion

30 ml olive oil

grated pecorino cheese

320 grams spaghetti/vermacelli/bucatini

course salt

salt/pepper

Boil water in a large stock pot. While waiting for the water to boil, crush the tomatoes with a fork and chop the onion, not too finely and saute it in the olive oil.  Once the onions are translucent add the guanciale.  Once the guanciale has tuned a light pink, add the tomatoes and their liquid and continue to cook the sauce over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Season to taste.

Once the water comes to a boil, add course salt and the pasta of your choice. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and dress with the sauce. 

Sprinkle with grated pecorino.

Serve immediately.

Forte e gentile, tu sei abruzzese

<<…quando c’è bisogno non solo di intelligenza agile e di spirito versatile, ma di volontà ferma e di persistenza e di resistenza, io mi sono detto a voce alta: tu sei abruzzese!>>.

 *..when there is a need not only for an agile intelligence and a versatile spirit, but also for an iron will and persistence and endurance, I told myself aloud: you are Abruzzese!* Benedetto Croce

Most regular readers know that I have family and friends in Abruzzo.

My maternal grandparents left Abruzzo with their children in the late 50’s and moved to Canada but they always kept close ties to the family they left behind.

Not only was my mother (and her sisters and cousins) raised with a deep love and affection for relatives back in Celano, but my generation was also raised to hold Celano dear in our hearts and we have always has close relationships with our relatives there.

I even married a Celanese.

My husband and I have been fortunate. Our loved ones, family, friends, everyone we hold dear is safe and sound.

But I can see sorrow in my husband’s eyes every time we watch the news and he sees his land and his people devastated.

Aquila is gone.  Yesterday the Protezione Civile announced that there wasn’t a single building, public or private that is safe.

Aquila is gone and I can’t tell you how this breaks my heart.

Yesterday morning I received an email from the Secretary of the Federazione Abruzzese in Canada and I wanted to share its contents with you all.

I have seen the blogging community accomplish great things, so now I am appealing to you to help me spread this information. If you are a Canadian Blogger in the Greater Toronto Area please mention this initiative in a post.

The  Federazione Associazioni e Club Abruzzesi Greater Toronto and The Grand Priory of Canada for the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta (Ecumenical Order) have created a Trust for those affected by the earthquake in Abruzzo.

Please help me to spread the word about this to as many people as we can.

For those who want to help you can make a donation to:

O.S.J. Charities Trust Fund for L’Aquila

Abruzzo Italy – Earthquake

Account Number: 09012 69-21310

At: CIBC 7765 Yonge Street, Thornhill, Ontario L3T 2C4

My Bella Vita – Cherrye Moore’s New Domain

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, nor have I given up blogging, just got a little behind because life, love and making a living have been keeping me super busy lately.

I don’t like to post just for the sake of posting, so I know a little silence will be forgiven.

Poking my head out of the trench today to let everyone know that Cherrye Moore’s My Bella Vita has a new address and if necessary please update your links and reader. She is now here: http://my-bellavita.com

Head on over and show her some love!

I’ll be back soon!

J

BBC Documentary from 1957

Simpler times.

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

   

Welcome! Welcome, come on in.

How was your flight?

Is this your first time in Milan?

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.   My name is Joanne and I am a Canadian expat pretty much permanently settled in Italy where I live with not one but two fabulous Italian men.  (One I married, the other I made )

I have been blogging for just over a year and this is my second time at the ULTIMATE BLOG PARTY!!!

Last year I invented a cocktail for the occasion and I called it Blogger’s Delight.

This year I have a different treat for you.

Getting ready for this party got me thinking about the parties my mother used to host when I was a kid.

Specifically the parties held for friends and neighbours where my mother liked to experiment with the kinds of party fare that was considered all the rage at the time.

I remember she would special order pastel coloured party bread and have them slice it horizontally down the length of the loaf.  Then she would lay the various sandwich fillings on each slice and roll them up.  Once sliced they were pink or blue or green or yellow pinwheels that looked amazing to my 7 year old eyes.

Another favourite was the cheese ball she made.  I was always very excited when I saw the preparations for this because it was one of my all time favourites and I snacked on the leftovers for days.

There was a particular variation on her cheese ball that was probably the most appealing to the adults.

In this version my mother added crab meat to the mixture and then chilled it in a fish shaped mold.  Just before serving it she would used almond slices to decorate it so that they looked like scales and an olive was strategically place to give the fishy an eye.

This is my version of her crab and cheese spread!

250 gr cream cheese

1 can crab meat drained

100 gr asiago

50 gr grated parmigiano

50 gr  hard toma (or another cheese of your liking)

1 small onion chopped

salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika to taste.

Throw all of these ingredients into the food processor and give it a whirl until smooth.

Serving option #1 – in microwave safe dish, heat at maximum for 2 minutes, serve luke warm with bread or crackers.

Serving option #2 – serve cold with raw vegetables, pita bread or bread sticks.

For something sweet you can try these or one of these!

When you are finished, please take a stroll around the beautiful city where I live by going here.

Thanks for visiting and come back anytime!

Let me know you stopped by so I can visit you too!

Penne rigate alla Vodka – Penne in Vodka sauce

I had an aunt that made, hands down,  the best vodka sauce. Ever.

She was one of those cooks that made everything from scratch and put her whole heart into everything she made.

I was the first of all my cousins to move out of my parent’s house to go off to school, and she worried about me.

At family parties she always greeted me by putting both of her hands on my face, looking me straight in the eyes and asking  Mangi abbastanza? (Are you eating enough?).  She always made sure there was a package of leftovers wrapped in tin foil for me to take back to my tiny, one room flat on Queen St East.

I have a strong suspicion that she made up that care package before the party started so what I was taking away wasn’t actually leftovers but prime portions safely tucked away before the party got started.

 I think  of her at very specific times, specifically when I make this.

Hey Zia, mangio, anche troppo!

Ingredients

30 ml olive oil

200 gr sausage crumbled and without the casing

100 ml tomato paste

100 ml whipping cream

60 ml vodka

fresh, chopped flat leaf parsley

salt

pepper

320 gr penne rigate

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and add the crumbled sausage.  Stir continuously to keep the sausage meat from forming large chunks.  Add the tomato paste, the parsley, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes over medium low heat.

Add the whipping cream and the vodka at the same time and let the sauce cook for another 10 to 15 minutes over low heat. 

Adding the vodka and cream at the same time is unusual since alcohol is usually added at the beginning of a cooking process so that it has time to evaporate.  In this case we add the vodka with the cream to prevent the cream from thickening too much.

In the meantime cook the penne rigate in abundant salted, boiling water.  When the pasta is al dente, drain and then dress with the sauce.

Serves four. 80 gr pasta per person.