Category — My Books

I’m sorry, slow cooker.  No vacay for you this year.   At 104 degrees F. in New York yesterday, it’s just too hot to turn on the stove, so I’m relying on you to make us a good dinner.  I’ve found a nice sheltered spot for you outside that is protected from the elements and stray critters, so you can do your thing without heating up the kitchen.  You won’t be using up a lot of precious energy either, since you only need as much as a 75-watt light bulb.

Of course, we won’t be wanting any of those heavy stews or hearty roasts you do so well during the cold months, but how about a Summer Minestrone, like I made yesterday, served at room temperature as they do on hot days in Italy, or poached chicken to turn into a warm weather salad, or even a simple frittata?

With more hot days to come, I’ll be turning often to my book, The Italian Slow Cooker.  Here is what you will be cooking.

1. Summer Minestrone (recipe below)

2. Chicken with Rosemary and Garlic

3. Tomato Soup with Burrata or Goat Cheese

4. Farro Salad

5. Salmon with Basil and Lemon

6. Tomato, Ricotta and Basil Frittata

7. Pesto Chicken

8. Rolled Stuffed Turkey Breast

9. Roasted Beets with Orange Balsamico Dressing

10. Summer Squash with Tomatoes and Onion

Summer Minestrone

I was all out of fresh tomatoes, so I used some canned crushed tomatoes instead.  I did have some chick peas that I had cooked previously, but canned would be fine.

Serves 6-8

2 cups canned crushed tomatoes

4 carrots, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 medium onions onion, chopped

2 cups drained cooked chick peas, or 1 16-ounce cans, drained

2 medium boiling potatoes, such as Yukon Gold peeled and chopped

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 cups water

1/2 cup white rice

1 cup chopped fresh basil

Extra virgin olive oil

Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

In a large slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, onion, chick peas, potatoes, bell pepper, zucchini, and salt and pepper to taste.  Add the water.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high 5 hours.

Stir in the rice and cook 30 minutes more or until the rice is tender and the soup is thickened.

Stir in the basil and let cool to room temperature.  Taste for seasoning.  Spoon into bowls.  Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and grated Parmigiano.

Check out www.cookstr.com on Wednesday, June 29.  I’m the featured “chef” (though I would say cook).  Cookstr is a great site for recipes and information about cooking, cookbooks and authors.  Wonder which recipe of mine they will feature?

I had the best time yesterday.  Some friends from the Clavesana Winery in Piedmont in Northern Italy were in town, and we decided to have a few people in to taste some of their wines.   There were 4 variations on Dolcetto, red wines made from the local dolcetto variety of grapes.  These wines go with a wide variety of foods and are well priced.  Problem was, I had had a really busy week and not much time to prepare.  So Charles and I decided to keep it simple.

First we had an assortment of salumi.  There was coppa made from pork shoulder; lardo and pancetta, both made from the belly; and hard and soft salami.   Then we had an assortment of Piemontese cheeses, including 2 kinds of robiola–one with 3 milks: goat, sheep and cow–and the other with 2 milks: sheep and cow.  Both were creamy and mushroomy with a soft texture like brie.  There was Testun made from cow and goat’s milk and aged in the must (the squeezed out grapes) used to make Barolo wine; Braciuk, similar to Testun but not as aged and made only from cow’s milk; Castelmagno DOP a firm, sharp cow’s milk cheese; Bra Duro Stravecchio, an “extra-old” cow’s milk cheese aged a minimum of 1 year;  and Toma Piemonte, an unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese aged 60 days.

Some fresh fava beans in the shell went great with the sharp cheeses, plus we had breadsticks, bread and a platter of fresh fruit and raw vegetables.  I cooked only one thing: a homestyle pan pizza, a recipe from my book Pizza Anyway You Slice It. It’s a good pizza for a party because it makes a large pie, tastes good hot or cold, and cuts into neat slices so it’s easy to eat.  In fact, I just reheated some in the toaster oven for lunch today. It crisped up nicely and still tasted great.

The pizzas were a big hit and everybody loved trying the different cheeses, salumi with the wine.  The improbably named D’OH (long story, but makes sense when they explain it) was the lightest, a very easy to drink red that we will enjoy with summer meals like grilled tuna.  Then there was the Dolcetto di Dogliani 2009, which was  a bit richer — a perfect wine with roast chicken.  Il Clou, with more body still, would be good grilled sausages or chops.  Finally there was the 174 Dolcetto di Dogliani, a wine made with grapes from a single vineyard.  This wine has big flavors and will only improve with age.

For dessert, we had Nocciolina, a crackly-topped hazelnut sponge cake that Anna had managed to carry to New York intact all the way from Piedmont.  The region is famous for its superb hazelnuts and the simple, nutty cake was a delicious treat with a cup of coffee.

Thanks to Anna, Tessa, Mario and Marinella for taking time out from their busy travel schedule to visit us.  As they say in Piedmont,

Alan Richman for The Italian Slow Cooker

It’s not often that the stars are in perfect alignment, or that two such stellar eating occasions as World Nutella Day and Superbowl Sunday occur on consecuive days. But since that is the case this coming weekend, I’m planning to  celebrate the event with Nutella Pizza and Slow Cooker Sandwiches.

Of course, the sandwiches don’t cook in the slow cooker, just the filling does.  In this case it is Chicken Parmesan, a fuss free recipe from a made ahead sauce, or if you must, you can use a store-bought one.  Homemade tomato sauce is not only infinitely better than store-bought, it is also a lot less expensive and better for you.  But we can talk about that more another day.

Here is the recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan Sandwiches from The Italian Slow Cooker.  The chicken poaches gently in the tomato and stays moist and tender.   Good Parmigiano-Reggiano,  sweet mozzarella, and fresh basil make it sing.  It doesn’t get much easier or more delicious than this!

CHICKEN PARMESAN HEROES

(adapted from The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone)

Serves 6

4 cups Sweet Tomato Sauce or Red Wine Tomato Sauce from The Italian Slow Cooker

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 6 slices

6 basil leaves

6 hero rolls

Pour the tomato sauce into a large slow cooker.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper and place the pieces overlapping slightly in the sauce.   Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

Sprinkle the chicken with the Parmigiano-Reggiano and top each piece with a slice of mozzarella and a basil leaf.  Cover and cook 15 minutes more or until the chicken is melted.

Cut the rolls partially open and fill each one with a chicken breast.  Cut the sandwiches in half.  Serve hot with lots of napkins.

After the sandwiches, try a gooey hot Nutella Pizza for dessert.  I first encountered these when Charles and I were writing our book, Pizza Any Way You Slice It! Chocolate lovers and pizza lovers can’t resist it.  I don’t think there is anybody else, is there?

It’s been so cold lately that I’ve got my slow cooker working overtime. All we seem to want to eat is soup, stew, vegetables — anything hearty, hot, rich and/or saucy.  Like this recipe from my book, THE ITALIAN SLOW COOKER–spareribs simmered in tomato sauce with spicy sausages.

A lot of cooks think of spareribs for barbecue, but they are also a great cut to simmer and stew.  With some meaty, juicy spareribs from the supermarket and plump, fresh Italian sausages, I’ll serve this tonight with polenta and steamed broccoli.  The recipe makes a lot, so I’ll cut up and reheat the leftovers and sauce to serve with pasta another day.  Today is the best day, though, since despite the fact that the temperature is in the low 20′s, my slow cooker will be perfuming the house all day long with mouth watering aromas!

SPARERIBS WITH SPICY SAUSAGES

Serves 6

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pounds meaty spareribs, cut into individual ribs

3 hot (or sweet) Italian sausages

1 onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

1 can (28 ounces) tomato puree

Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the meats in batches and brown them on all sides.  Place the browned meats in the slow cooker.  Add the chopped vegetables to the pan and cook, stirring until tender and golden.  Stir in the tomato puree and a pinch of salt and pepper scraping the bottom of the pan.  Bring the sauce to a simmer.  Pour it into the cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until the meat is falling away from the bones.  Serve hot.

When I was in Tuscany researching recipes for my book Italian Holiday Cooking a few years ago, I met a young woman who was a winemaker.  Like everyone else I met on that trip,  I asked her what foods her family prepared for the Christmas holidays, expecting her to name something old and traditional.  Instead, she looked a little embarrassed and said, “We are all so busy, we don’t have the time to do anything special.”  Disappointed, I replied, “But you have to eat something.”  ”Well,” she said, “we’ll make something easy like roast chicken and Seven P Pasta.”

My ears perked up.  ”What does that mean?” I asked, horrified at the thought of  seven green peas in a bowl of pasta.  But it turned out the seven “P’s” stand for the ingredients:  penne, pancetta, porri (leeks), pomodori (tomatoes), peperoncino (hot pepper), panna (cream) and Parmigiano Reggiano.

She told me how she made it and at home I gave it a try.   It was a big hit–just right for the holidays since it is really quick and easy, but it seemed special because of the cream and the leeks.  Since then, I always make sure I have the ingredients in the house during the holidays, ready to make this delicious pasta.  It may not be an old recipe, but it is a new tradition in our house.

Selvapiana Pasta with Seven P’s

Serves 4 to 6

1 medium tender leek

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 ounces sliced pancetta, chopped

1 small dried peperoncino, crumbled, or a pinch of crushed red pepper

2 cups drained canned Italian peeled tomatoes, chopped

Salt

1 pound penne rigati or other short ridged pasta

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1. Trim the leek and cut it in half lengthwise.  Rise well under cool running water, separating the layers to remove any grit.  Cut crosswise into thin slices.

2. In a nonreactive skillet large enough to hold all of the ingredients including the cooke pasta, combine the oil, pancetta, leek and peperoncino.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leek is tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Stir in the tomatoes and a pinch of salt.  Simmer for 10 minutes more or until thickened.

4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boiling over high heat.  Add the pasta and salt to taste and cook stirring frequently, until the pasta is tender yet firm to the bite.

5.  Just before the pasta is done stir the cream into the tomato mixture and bring it to a simmer over medium low heat.  Drain the pasta, reserving a small amount of the water.  Pour the pasta into the skillet and toss well, adding a little of the reserved water if it seems too dry.  Add the cheese and toss well.  Serve hot.

Copyright 2001 Italian Holiday Cooking by Michele Scicolone