Archive for the ‘Italian’ Category

Italian Sausage Peppers and Pasta, oh my…. 
While at my Weight Watchers meeting today not only did I lose some weight, (yay me!!!) but I found an awesome Italian recipe.  I love the idea of having Italian food made healthy, and this dish has it all spicy sausage, red wine and fire-roasted tomatoes. 
Recipe follows the pictures

 

Nothing beats making your own pizza at home.  You can’t help feeling like the owner of a pizza ria. You’ll be singing Dean Martin’s That’s Amore and trying to spin pizza dough in the air. I know this because it’s what happens in my kitchen when it’s pizza night at our house, only I like to sing Volare by Dean Martin. 

We love to make our pizza New York style. Now there’s nothing wrong with Chicago style…we just prefer New York Style pizza.  So, here’s a little info on New York Style pizza (NYSP): NYSP is made over-sized, thin and bendable. It has a very thick outer crust and a thin middle.  New York pizza dough is traditionally hand-tossed and light on sauce.

NYSP is cooked in a very hot oven anywhere from 500 to 900 degrees, right on the oven shelf or on a baking stone for a crunchy outer crust.

Pizza is one of the fun family meals that everyone can get in on.  Give your kids a chunk of dough and show them how to roll it out with their hands or you can even use a rolling pin.  When it comes to spinning and throwing the dough into the air, it takes a lot of practice and it is really only done to get the excess flour off the dough. Kids love adding all their favorite toppings…they always make me think they approaching it like they are creating a work of art.

If making dough from scratch is too time consuming, there are several pre-made crusts available at your local supermarket.

The recipe is after the photos:

Ingredients

1/2 cups warm water (105F)

4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoons of olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoon of granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of yeast

1/2 cup cornmeal

Procedure

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and salt in water.
2. Add oil and flour and stir with heavy spoon or dough hook on your stand mixer for 1 minute.
3. Turn out to a lightly floured surface and press into a circle or leave in mixer and go to step 4.
4. Sprinkle yeast evenly over dough and knead for 12 minutes.
5. Divide in half for a 15 inch pizza
6. Roll each portion into a ball. You want a dough ball without visible seams except the bottom.
7. Place dough balls in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow proofing for 1−2 hours at room temperature to use the same day, or store in refrigerator to use the next day.
8. Place dough ball on lightly floured surface, and lightly flour the top. Use fingertips to evenly flatten out the dough ball. Work from the edges to the center press dough into a 12″ circle. Place both hands within the shell edge and stretch with fingertips and palms maintaining an even pressure. Or, use a lightly floured rolling pin to stretch to desired shape.
9. Sprinkle cornmeal or semolina on pizza peel (a wooden paddle with a handle to slide the pizza in the oven) or a cutting board. The cornmeal allows the pizza to slide onto the stone easily.
10. After topping the pizza, when you are ready to cook it. Shake the peel or cutting board to make sure none of the dough is sticking.
11. Carefully slide the pizza into the oven.
12. Bake in a 500 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden.

My “Junior Chef” Garrett told me this morning that raviolis should be for dinner tonight.  I told him, “Great! You can make them.” “Make them?” he asked. “Yep, we’ll make them completely from scratch.” 

Ingredients
The filling
1 lb fresh spinach
1 lb ricotta cheese, thoroughly drained
1 egg
4 oz parmigiano reggiano cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg

The dough
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

Directions
Boil the spinach in lightly salted water. Place the boiled spinach in a cheese cloth and form a small sack. Squeeze the sack to expel as much water as possible. Chop the spinach finely

Place the spinach in a bowl. Combine the drained ricotta, egg, parmigiano cheese, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch of nutmeg. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and nutmeg if necessary

To prepare the pasta dough: Combine all the ingredients, mix the dough so it is very soft and moist. Use the minimum flour necessary, just enough to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands while working.
Cut the dough in two parts.
Place one of the pieces on the work surface, and flatten it with a rolling pin until it is very thin.
 Repeat the same steps with the other half of the dough, making a pasta sheet of the same size.
Set it aside, covered with a moist towel if necessary to prevent the pasta from drying too much. 

Place about 1 teaspoon of the filling on the dough, spaced 2 inches apart. 

Bring water to a boil in a stockpot. Gently drop the ravioli in the boiling water a few at a time 

Cook until the pasta is al dente (firm but not too soft or overcooked). Drain ravioli, picking them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon

Serve with your favorite sauce.   Cheers!!!