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How to Grill the Perfect Steak

Posted June 28, 2010 – 12:00 pm in: BBQ, How To

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Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

Posted May 17, 2010 – 7:37 am in: Uncategorized

In this inspiring new book, Lidia Bastianich awakens in us a new respect for food and for the people who produce it in the little-known parts of Italy that she explores. All of the recipes reflect the regions from which they spring, and in translating them to our home kitchens, Lidia passes on time-honored techniques and wonderful, uncomplicated recipes for dishes bursting with different regional flavors — the kind of elemental, good family cooking that is particularly appreciated today.

Penetrating the heart of Italy — starting at the north, working down to the tip, and ending in Sardinia — Lidia unearths a wealth of recipes:

  • From Trentino-Alto Adige: Delicious Dumplings with Speck (cured pork); apples accenting soup, pasta, salsa, and salad; local beer used to roast a chicken and to braise beef
  • From Lombardy: A world of rice — baked in a frittata, with lentils, with butternut squash, with gorgonzola, with eggs and cheese, and the special treat of Risotto Milan-Style with Marrow and Saffron
  • From Valle D’Aosta: Polenta with Black Beans and Kale, and local fontina featured in fondue, in a roasted pepper salad, and embedded in veal chops
  • From Liguria: An array of Stuffed Vegetables, a bread salad, and elegant Veal Stuffed with a Mosaic of Vegetables
  • From Emilia-Romagna: An olive oil dough for making the traditional, versatile vegetable tart erbazzone, as well as the secrets of making tagliatelle and other pasta doughs, and an irresistible Veal Scaloppine Bolognese
  • From Le Marche: Farro with Roasted Pepper Sauce, Lamb Chunks with Olives, and Stuffed Quail in Parchment
  • From Umbria: A taste of the sweet Norcino black truffle, and seductive dishes such as Potato-Mushroom Cake with Braised Lentils, Sausages in the Skillet with Grapes, and Chocolate Bread Parfait
  • From Abruzzo: Fresh scrippelle (crêpe) ribbons baked with spinach or garnishing a soup, fresh pasta made with a “guitar,” Rabbit with Onions, and Lamb Chops with Olives
  • From Molise: Fried Ricotta; homemade cavatelli pasta in a variety of ways; Spaghetti with Calamari, Shrimp, and Scallops; and Braised Octopus
  • From Basilicata: Wedding Soup, Fiery Maccheroni, and Farro with Pork Ragù
  • From Calabria: Shepherd’s Rigatoni, steamed swordfish, and Almond Biscottini
  • From Sardinia: Flatbread Lasagna, two lovely eggplant dishes, and Roast Lobster with Bread Crumb Topping

This is just a sampling of the many delight Lidia has uncovered. All the recipes she shares with us in this rich feast of a book represent the work of the local people and friends with whom she made intimate contact — the farmers, shepherds, foragers, and artisans who produce regional cheeses, meats, olive oils, and wines. And in addition, her daughter, Tanya, takes us on side trips in each of the twelve regions to share her love of the country and its art.

Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

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Broccoli Corn Bread

Posted May 13, 2010 – 7:35 am in: Baking

Makes 8 servings

Prep. Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 6 hours
Ideal slow-cooker size: 3- to 4-qt

1 stick margarine, melted
10-oz pkg. chopped broccoli, cooked and drained
1 onion, chopped
1 box corn bread mix
4 eggs, well beaten
8 oz. cottage cheese
1¼ tsp. salt

1. Combine all ingredients. Mix well.

2. Pour into greased slow cooker. Cook on Low 6 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Serving suggestion: Serve like spoon bread, or invert the pot, remove bread, and cut into wedges.

The above is an excerpt from the book Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook: Revised & Updated: 700 Great Slow Cooker Recipes by Phyllis Pellman Good. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Reprinted from Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook. © by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2010 Phyllis Pellman Good, author of Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook: Revised & Updated: 700 Great Slow Cooker Recipes

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Quick, Healthy, Springtime Dishes — Featuring Herbs!

Posted March 25, 2010 – 10:33 am in: Appetizers, Breakfast, Herbs and Spices, Seafood
Bay leaf
Image via Wikipedia

By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich,
Author of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

The use of fresh herbs has exploded in the American kitchen today. I recall that as a young apprentice in Italy — at my great-aunt’s apron strings — for every herb we had in the garden, there seemed to be a pot on the stove to match.

Some herbs were better to cook with while others were better added at the end to a finished dish. For example, rosemary, bay leaves and thyme are mostly used for long cooking where their oils are extracted slowly out of their leaves. Sage, oregano and marjoram need very little cooking time, and herbs such as basil, parsley and mint are great to toss in raw at the end — just enough to release their refreshing aromas.

If you have small children a wonderful way to introduce them to the enticing aromas of herbs is to gently crush the herbs in your hands and let them smell. I did this with my grandchildren when they were very small and it’s a great way to get them excited about the world of herbs and food at an early age.

In fact, once you get your small children excited about herbs, introduce them to your own dishes. Here I’m sharing some of the quickest, and most child-friendly. Enjoy!

HERB PESTO
Makes 1 ½ cups

  • 1 cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
  • ½ cup packed fresh basil leaves
  • ½ cup packed mixed fresh sage, thyme, and marjoram leaves
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt

Wash the herb leaves in cool water and dry them thoroughly, preferably in a salad spinner. Combine the herbs and garlic in a blender and blend on low speed, slowly adding the oil while the machine is running, until the pesto is smooth and all the oil is incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Keep in a sealed jar in the refrigerator and use as needed. Pesto will keep refrigerated for up to 4 weeks or it may be frozen for up to 3 months. Make sure there is a thin film of oil over the pesto to keep its flavor and color bright.

HERB FRITTATA
Serves 2 as an appetizer, 1 as a lunch dish
From “Lidia’s Family Table” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004)

  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
  • 1 ½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Whisk the eggs, milk, salt, and fresh herbs until just blended together.

Heat the butter and oil in the small frying pan until it just starts to sizzle, then pour in the eggs and turn the heat down very low. Cook gently for 3 to 4 minutes. The eggs will start to puff up and sizzle at the edges. Lift a corner of the frittata with a spatula, and check to see if the bottom has browned in splotches. When it has, flip the frittata over by giving the pan a firm, quick shake up and over toward you so that the egg mass dislodges and flips over in one piece. Or, if that unnerves you, turn the frittata over with a spatula. Cook the second side for 1 ½ to 2 minutes, again checking to see if the bottom has browned to your liking. Serve right away, or let cool to room temperature and cut the frittata in wedges.

BAKED FISH WITH SAVORY BREAD CRUMBS
Serves 6

Landlocked Umbria does not have a seafood cuisine. But its mountain lakes, rivers, and streams abound in freshwater fish, like the tasty tench. This simple preparation is one I found in Umbria, and it is excellent for fillets of our sweet-water varieties, such as carp or whitefish, or even light ocean-fish fillets like sole.

  • 2 pounds whitefish fillets
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Juice of a large lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 6 plump garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
  • ½ cup fine dry bread crumbs
  • Zest of a large lemon (about 2 teaspoons)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste, chopped fine
  • Fresh lemon slices, for serving

Recommended equipment: A 4-quart shallow rectangular baking dish; a heavy-bottomed skillet or saute pan, 12-inch diameter or larger, with a cover.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly salt the fish on both sides, using about ¼ teaspoon salt in all. Pour 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, white wine, and another ¼ teaspoon salt into the baking dish, and whisk together well. Drop in the garlic cloves, and stir with the dressing. Lay the fillets in the dish, turn and swish them in the dressing so both sides are thoroughly moistened, and arrange them, skin side down, in one layer.

Toss the bread crumbs in a bowl with the lemon zest, parsley, oregano, chopped peperoncino, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Drizzle with the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, and toss the crumbs well until evenly moistened with oil.

Spoon the seasoned bread crumbs on top of the fillets in a light, even layer. Bake, uncovered, until the crumbs are crisp and golden and the fish is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Lift the fish out with a spatula, and set on a warm platter to serve family-style, or on individual plates. Spoon over it the juices left in the baking dish, and serve right away, with lemon slices on the side.

© 2010 Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, authors of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

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3 Tips for Choosing Quality Produce in the Winter

Posted March 3, 2010 – 11:36 am in: Shopping

By Mary Ann Esposito,

Author of Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen

Ah winter! Fun in the snow making snow angels with the kids, ice skating and snowshoeing. If only all that joy and satisfaction could be found at your local grocery store come January. And unless you live in warmer climes, most of us along with warding off colds, the flu, and grouchiness at the thought of a looming long winter, are at a loss as to what to buy and eat when the choices are almost as bleak as the weather.

Sure, lots of us will crave warmth reaching for cans of soup, full of sodium and other stuff too difficult to try and pronounce. We’ll scavenge the produce aisles in hopes of finding some lively looking salad greens from California and fruit from Florida, instead of some foreign country. We’ll console ourselves with grapefruit, navel oranges, apples and pears while dreaming of fresh local strawberries not due until June.

January, February and March can be tricky if you are picky about where your food comes from. Chilean plums, Mexican grapes, blueberries from Uruguay, anyone? Even in the winter months, it’s important to choose foods that are as local as possible.

Here are three suggestions for choosing foods that can sustain you from January until the first bunch of locally grown asparagus makes its lovely anticipated appearance in spring.

1) Dried beans such as garbanzo, kidney, split pea and pinto beans are readily found on grocer’s shelves. They can be turned into delicious, high fiber, high protein dishes that will power you through the cold. For instance, how about a hearty sausage, lentil and ditalini soup from my latest cookbook: Ciao Italia, Five Ingredient Favorites from an Italian Kitchen? Easy to make and you won’t believe how good just a five ingredient soup can be.

2) Winter squashes of every color and description are in my opinion, the workhorse vegetables of winter along with onions, Brussels sprouts, and mushrooms. Creamy and velvety squash soup is a favorite as is a rich risotto made with diced squash, and spaghetti squash does a great stand-in for spaghetti and meatballs. If you have some eggs, an onion and mushrooms, a tart is a nice change of pace as is a steaming bowl of onion soup with a blanket of melted cheese over the top.

3) Don’t overlook leafy Swiss chard, kale, carrots and beets. Swiss chard and kale can be steamed for use as a side dish, incorporated into crustless quiche or stuffed and baked. Combine cooked beets and carrots for a nice winter salad; add some feta cheese, and a handful of walnuts or pine nuts and you have a perky salad that can banish winter blues with one taste.

Yes, January can be a challenge on many levels but sacrificing good food does not have to be one of them if you think, choose wisely, and cook in season.

©2009 Mary Ann Esposito, author of Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen

Author Bio

Mary Ann Esposito, author of Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen, is the creator and host of the long-running PBS series Ciao Italia, celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2010. She is the author of eleven successful cookbooks, including Ciao Italia Slow and Easy and Ciao Italia Pronto! She lives in Durham, New Hampshire.

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Nutrition Label Lies & Loopholes: Serving Size Sleight of Hand

Posted February 19, 2010 – 11:43 am in: Nutrition

By Tom Venuto,
Author of The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight

For years, concerned consumers and watchdog organizations have been screaming that the U.S. labeling laws are full of loopholes and in need of serious revision. After years of talk, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says they’re planning to so something about it. But will it be enough?

There are many food labeling issues we could complain about, but one of the biggest problems (due to its direct relationship to the obesity crisis) is serving sizes.

I’m not just talking about supersizing. What’s worse is that the actual calories are being disguised with serving size sleight of hand.

Let me show you some examples:

Tostitos touch of lime. Calories per serving 150. Not too bad for tortilla chips eh? Not so fast. Check that serving size. 1 ounce. That’s 6 chips. There are 10 servings per container. That’s 1500 calories in the bag.

Most guys could knock off half that bag for a cool 750 calories. Ok, suppose you have some restraint and you only eat a third of the bag (20 chips). You still get 500 calories. But who stops at 6 chips?

Vitamin Water. While I could rant about how sugar water is being marketed as health food, I’ll stick with the serving size sleight for now.

The label says there are 50 calories per serving. Wow, only 50 calories! Plus they add all those vitamins. Must be good for you and perfect for dieters, right? Think again. Look at the serving size and servings per container: 8 oz per serving and 2.5 servings per container.

Excuse me, but is there ANY reason for making it 2.5 servings other than to disguise the actual calorie content?

When you see that the entire bottle is 20 ounces, you realize that it contains 125 calories, not 50. Although 20 ounces is a large bottle, I don’t know many guys who wouldn’t chug that whole thing.

Sobe Lifewater? Same trick in their 20 oz bottles.

Healthy Choice soup, country vegetable. They make these in convenient little microwavable containers with a plastic lid. Just heat and eat.

It says 90 calories and 480 mg of sodium per serving. Wow, less than a hundred calories. Wait a minute though. Turn the container around and you see the serving size is 1 cup and the servings per container says “about 2.”

Huh? It looks pretty obvious to me that this microwave-ready container was designed for one person to eat in one sitting, so why not just put 180 calories per container on the label (and 960 mg of sodium). I guess 90 calories and 480 mg sodium sounds . . . well . . . like a healthier choice!

Ben and Jerry’s chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. This infamously delicious ice cream with its own facebook fan page has 270 calories per serving.

We all know ice cream is loaded with calories and should only be an occasional treat, but 270 calories per serving, that’s not too terrible is it?

Look a little closer at the label. The serving size is ½ a cup. Who eats a half a cup of ice cream? In fact, who hasn’t polished off a whole pint by themselves? (The “comment confessional” is below if you’d like to answer that.)

According to Ben and Jerry, there are 4 servings in that one pint container. 270 calories times 4 servings = 1080 calories! That’s about half a days worth of calories for an average female.

I could go on and on — crackers, chocolate chip cookies, muffins, pasta, boxed cereals (who eats ¾ a cup of cereal?), etc. But I think you get the point.

What’s the solution to this mess? News reports in the last week say that the FDA may be cracking down. Count me among those who are pleased to hear this news. One of their ideas is to post nutritional information, including the calories, on the FRONT of the food labels.

The problem is, this move by itself could actually make matters worse. Suppose Tostitos started posting “150 calories per serving” right on the front of the bag. Most people would assume the chips were low in calories. Putting calorie info on the front of the label would help only if it clearly stated the amount of calories in the entire package or in a normal human-sized serving!

Ah, but the FDA says they’re on top of that too. They also want to standardize or re-define serving sizes. Sounds great, but there are critics who say that consumers would take it as approval to eat larger servings so the strategy would backfire.

Suppose for example, the government decides that no one eats ½ a cup of Ben and Jerry’s so they make the new serving size 1 cup, or half the pint-sized container. Now by law the label says 540 calories per serving instead of 270. Is that like getting official permission to eat twice as much?

I’m not against the FDA’s latest initiative, but what we really need is some honesty in labeling.

Food manufacturers should not be allowed to manipulate serving sizes in a way that would trick you into thinking there are fewer calories than there really are in a quantity that you’re likely to eat.

It would be nice to have calories for the entire package listed on the label at a glance. A new rating scale for caloric density would be cool too, if it could be easily interpreted. It would also be nice to have serving sizes chosen for quantities that are most likely to be commonly eaten. But standardization of serving sizes for all types of foods is difficult.

My friends from Europe tell me that food labels over there are listed in 100g portions, making comparisons easy. But when you consider how much each individual’s daily calorie needs can vary (easily 3-fold or more when you run the gamut from totally sedentary to elite athlete, not to mention male and female differences), standardization that applies to everyone may not be possible.

I think the recent laws such as requiring calories on restaurant menus are a positive move that will influence some people’s behavior. But no label changes by themselves will solve the obesity crisis. A real solution is going to have to include personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change.

Changes in the labeling laws won’t influence everybody because the people most likely to care about what labels say are those who have already made a commitment to change their lifestyles (and they’re least likely to eat processed and packaged foods — that have labels — in the first place). Actually, for those who care, all the info you need is already on the labels, you just have to do a little math and watch out for sneaky label tricks.

There’s one true solution to this portion distortion and label lies problem: Become CALORIE AWARE. Of course that includes educated label reading, but it goes much further. In my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle system, here is how I define “calorie counting”:

1. Get a good calorie counter book, chart or electronic device/software and get to know the calorie counts of all the staple foods you eat on a daily basis. Look up the calorie values for foods you eat occasionally.

2. Always have a daily meal plan — on paper — with calories printed for each food, each meal and the day. Use that menu as a daily goal and target.

3. Educate yourself about average caloric needs for men and women and learn how to estimate your own calorie needs as closely as you can based on your activity, weight, body composition, height, gender and age.

4. Get a good kitchen food scale and use it. Keep counting calories and doing nutrition by the numbers until you are unconsciously competent and eating the right quantities to easily maintain your ideal weight becomes second nature.

Obviously, saying that calories are all there is to nutrition is like saying that putting is all there is to golf. Calorie quality and quantity are both important. However, it’s a mistake to ignore the calorie quantity side of the game. Serving sizes matter and even healthy foods get stored as fat if you eat too much.

You can play “blindfolded archery” by guessing your calories and food portions if you want to. Hey, you might get lucky and guess right. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend depending on luck — or the government — for something as important as your body and your health. I would recommend the personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change.
© 2010 Tom Venuto, author of The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight

Author Bio
Tom Venuto is a fat-loss expert, nutrition researcher, and natural, steroid-free bodybuilder. Since 1989, Venuto has been involved in virtually every aspect of the fitness and weight-loss industry — as a personal trainer, nutrition consultant, motivation coach, fitness model, health club manager, and bestselling author of the popular e-book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, as well as other digital programs such as MP3 teleseminars and weight-loss membership websites. He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Visit the author’s website at: www.TheBodyFatSolution.com.

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Irish Apple Cake

Posted February 17, 2010 – 10:47 am in: Cakes, Dessert

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 4 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and diced (2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square cake pan well.
  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  3. Add the egg, apples, nuts, and vanilla and stir well.
  4. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cake is lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
  6. Let the cake cook in the pan for 5 minutes, then unmold
  7. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
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10 Ingredients - 5 Meals

Posted June 18, 2009 – 3:38 pm in: How To

Here’s Mark Bittman on the Today show discussing stocking the pantry and making five dishes from 10 ingredients you should have on hand.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Agnolotti with Ricotta and Spinach

Posted May 24, 2009 – 9:36 am in: Italian, Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb flour
  • 6 oz sweet cream butter
  • 8 eggs
  • salt, to taste
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese, as dry as possible
  • 2 oz spinach, trimmed and washed
  • 13 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
  • black pepper, to taste
  • nutmeg, to taste
  • 4 cups heavy cream
  • 4 oz mascarpone cheese
  • white pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. The Dough - Combine the following ingredients: 1 pound bleached flour, 2 ounces sweet butter, 5 eggs, and 1 pinch salt. Work the dough long enough to allow the butter to be incorporated inside the dough. Wrap the dough in a towel and let it rest, for at least one hour, inside the refrigerator.
  2. The Filling - Steam the spinach and chop it very fine. In a bowl, beat together 2 eggs with 7 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1 pinch each: salt, black pepper, and nutmeg. Add 15 ounces dry ricotta cheese and mix very well, but not too long. If you mix it too much, the mixture will become liquid.
  3. The Agnolotti - Roll out the dough in a thin layer and brush it with an egg wash (made from 1 egg). With the help of a teaspoon to make a “walnut” shape, place the spoon on the dough and cover it with another layer. Cut with a round pasta cutter 2 inches in diameter. Stuff the pasta with the filling and cook in boiling water until the agnolotti come to the surface of the boiling water.
  4. The Sauce - For the sauce, bring 1 quart heavy cream to a slow boil and add 4 ounces sweet butter, 6 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 4 ounces mascarpone cheese, 1 pinch of salt, 1 pinch of nutmeg, 2 pinches white pepper. Boil slowly for five minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.
  5. Serve agnolotti on warm plates with warm sauce.
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Ground Beef Stroganoff

Posted May 17, 2009 – 10:27 am in: 30-Minute Meals, Beef, Main Dish

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup drained mushrooms
  • 1-1/4 cups condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
  • 1/4 cup water, red wine or beef broth
  • 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

  1. In a fry pan, brown the ground beef and onion; drain well.
  2. Stir in mushrooms, soup and water.
  3. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
  4. Stir in sour cream; heat through, but do not boil.
  5. Serve over noodles or rice.
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