Ten Minute Dinner

This is the easiest, quickest (other than calling for take out) dinner you will ever make it and it's delicious.  It was inspired by a recent cooking show that I was watching.  Olive pesto.  Much like regular basil pesto, this is an uncooked sauce so in the amount of time it takes you to boil pasta, that's how long this dish is to make.

I used linguine because it's my favorite and what I had on hand, but I think it would be pretty great with a wider pasta, like a pappardelle.  So get your big pot of water on to boil and make your pasta.  Don't forget to salt your water when it comes to the boil.

While the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking, drag out your food processor.  Now, you can chop everything with a knife or you can use a mortar and pestle if you prefer.  The food processor makes very quick work of this though so that's what I went with.   You will need about a cup of pitted olives.  I used Kalamata, but I think any good olive would be good.  Just don't use canned olives.  It definitely won't come out the same.  Frankly I wanted to use oil cured Moroccan olives, but they are difficult to pitt so I went with the already pitted Kalamata's.  You will also need a clove or two of garlic, the juice of one lemon, a small bunch of fresh basil (about 10 leaves or so) and a small bunch of fresh Italian parsley (about 1/4 cup).  There is no need to add salt to this because the olives are plenty salty.  But you may want to add some pepper to taste.

Put it all in the food processor and pulse until you have a small chunky consistency.  You don't want it completely smooth but a little texture is nice.

And here's the thing, this is so fast that you even have time to do the painful task of washing the food processor before the pasta is even done!   So set your sauce aside in your favorite zebra bowl and get that pain in the ass thing washed before dinner.  You'll be so happy you did, trust me!

Once the pasta is done, drain with just a little of the pasta water left in the pan (not much, just about a 1/4 cup but you can hold some more aside in case you need it).  And then toss the pasta and the olive pesto in the pan (or a big pasta bowl if you prefer).  

This is absolutely going into my go to recipes.  It was so easy and so good!   I suspect I will make it often and tweak it as I go.  I think it would be great with the addition of pine nuts or maybe some Parmesan cheese (although we did add it to the top after it was done).  Possibly the lemon zest in addition to the juice.  Maybe even some anchovy or hot pepper flakes.  The possibilities are endless!!!

Mangia!

Muffaletta This Pal

Just the word Muffaletta makes my mouth water... that combination of good crusty Italian bread, olives and garlic and herbs and cheese and capicola and ham and and ..... ohhhhhh ecstasy!   I love it, love it all, crave it, want it right now.   But as I strive for healthier living, I needed to find a way to have all those amazing flavors and still be kinda healthy... sort of.  Maybe.  I could be fooling myself here, but go with it, don't harsh my buzz.

Pasta salad.  Why not?  Just substitute the deliciously fatty Italian meats, for pasta.  Sacrilege you say!?  Try it first!

I first took a red bell pepper and roasted it off.  You can do this on a grill, in a broiler, on a stove top, in a freakin toaster oven if you want.  Just do it.  Don't buy it.  It's cheaper and tastes better when it's done fresh.  After that's done, give them a chop and toss them in your big bowl that will hold all your ingredients.  Now come the olives.  I only used one kind and Muffaletta generally has several, but when you're talking Kalamata, why mess with a good thing.  I would bathe in Kalamata's if I could.  Wow, a Kalamata olive bath.  That's something to aspire to.  Anyway, yeah... as I shake myself out of my reverie, add a big amount...a cup?  two cups?  Use your judgment, of Kalamata olives, chopped.

From there, I added the fresh mozzarella.  Now I suppose if you must, you can add a lesser motz, but why would you want to?  Soft, creamy, yummy fresh mozzarella!   Don't be an idiot.  Fresh is best, make this your mantra.

Cut in cubes, and add to the olives and peppers.  And then, ahhhh a bounty from my garden.  Chives, basil, Italian parsley, tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes! 

What you see here are a couple San Marzano's, a couple Green Zebra (did you honestly expect me not to have zebra tomatoes?) and 16 Black Cherry's.  I only used the Black Cherry's (and the herbs) for the salad.  The rest will be used in something else or just eaten with some extra virgin olive oil and that crusty Italian bread I mentioned earlier.

So, 16 Black Cherry's.... true, I'm sure most of you don't have a giant 6 foot tall Black Cherry tomato plant in your yard, but if you do, use them!  If not, another fresh tomato would be fine, or as a last resort, grape or cherry tomatoes from the grocery.  And then pile on the herbs.  Don't be shy, add them to where you may even think it's too much.  It won't be, trust me.

A pound of whatever pasta you like is needed here.  You can use anything.  Don't feel confined to using tri-color rotini or whatever most pasta salads are made from.  I did use a tri-color farfalle because I had it on hand, but you can use anything ... penne, cavatappi, orzo, whatever.  And now the dressing.  I use my standard 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and that's it.  There is so much good stuff in this salad, but it's also big so you may need more dressing.  Probably not a full double recipe but more.  Season as you go of course, but there is no need to be aggressive with the salt, the olives add a lot.

Enjoy the hell out of it... make it often!  Buon Cibo mia Amici

My Version of Mediterranean Pasta Salad

This salad is one of several different pasta salads I've come up with through the years, and probably my favorite one. It's got it all. Start with a pound of farfalle (otherwise known as bowtie) pasta. Now be forewarned. If you do make a whole pound of pasta, this salad will feed an army. Cook pasta in salted water to al dente, drain, cool completely. You can toss with a little olive oil while it's cooling if you like, to keep it from sticking together.

Now the good stuff. First up, half a pound of pitted Kalamata olives, sliced.


A whole pint of grape tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes if you like), sliced.


Then a small jar of marinated artichoke hearts. They are usually already sliced, but I slice them in half again. Sometimes even more if it's particularly big.




You will also need a full 9 oz. bag of spinach. I made this before I went to the farmers market so I used the bagged pre-washed spinach.


And then, a 5 oz. container of crumbled Feta cheese.



Now the dressing. This is a very simple Balsamic vinaigrette. The salad is so chock full of flavors you don't need to bog the dressing down with too much. One half cup Balsamic vinegar to one cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This is actually double the amount of dressing I usually make, but this salad is big and needs it. Add salt and pepper to the dressing, to taste. Remember you put olives in this salad so you may not need as much salt as you think.

Mix well and the spinach will start to wilt into the salad.



It's great as a side dish or on it's own. It's fantastic with some grilled chicken added. Feel free to leave out whatever you may not like. If you don't like Feta, try using cubes of mozzarella instead. If you don't like Kalamata's, by all means use an olive you do like. A lemon citronette (lemon juice, Dijon, olive oil) instead of the Balsamic vinaigrette would be delish too. Play with it. It's really really yummy.

Kalamata Olive Foccacia!

Now we're talkin my language! I love foccacia bread. Garlic and rosemary is my favorite. I've made variations before but I'm always looking for another. I don't know why, because no matter what I put on it, not matter how much I love those ingredients, it still doesn't get better than garlic/rosemary in my book. But I continue to experiment. Hey that's what cooking is all about though right? I knew I wanted to try the bread with kalamata olives. Seriously, how good does that sound?? Kalamata olive foccacia bread. Well damn, it sounds awesome to me!

But what else should go with it? This was my dilemma. I wanted to make sure the olives were highlighted. No other strong flavors. So no rosemary this time. I googled and found that some recipes for olive foccacia had sundried tomatoes as well. No. That wasn't going to work for me. I love them, but they are also a strong flavor. Sundried tomato foccacia would be for another day.

I decided on garlic and then after consulting with my foodie guru Madonna to see what she would pair with garlic and olives. I was thinking an herb, but her suggestion was lemon. Interesting! I decided to give it a go.

First things first. Roast the garlic. I always roast my garlic for foccacia now because the first time I made it, it called for chopped garlic on top and it all burned. Burned garlic is not yummy. So cut the top of a head of garlic. Place it on several layers of aluminum foil and then drizzle with olive oil.


Wrap the garlic up and place in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. When it's done, remove and let cool.

Now we need to get started on the bread. This bread recipe takes time, so make sure you have a lot of it before you start. Attach the dough hook to your Kitchen Aid mixer. If you don't have one, poor you! Start by making a sponge, which is just another way of saying a dough starter. It consists of yeast, warm water and flour, mixed together with the dough hook on your mixer. The sponge needs to rise for one hour (place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and then a towel). When it's risen it pretty much looks like a sponge, thus the name.

Before the sponge is done rising, make the actual dough. Again, yeast, warm water, flour, but to the dough you also add some olive oil and salt.


Get the dough well mixed and then add the sponge to the mixer and mix together. When the dough cleans the mixing bowl all by itself, it's perfect. You may have to add more flour to get to this point. I needed to add flour several times yesterday because it was so humid out.


By the way, aren't my mixer action shots cool?

The dough and sponge come together as one and then need to rise as one. You can knead a little before you set it to rise, but with the Kitchen Aid doing all the work for you, you really don't need to knead. Again, place the dough in a oiled boil, wrap with plastic wrap and then cover with a towel. Set it aside to rise for about an hour, or until it's doubled in size.


Once it's risen, spread the dough out on sheet pan, cover with plastic and a towel again and let rise a third time. I said it takes time, but it's worth the efforts so quit complaining! The third rise should only take about 30 - 40 minutes. In the meantime, get your toppings ready. Your garlic should be cool enough to handle by now so squeeze all those lovely little cloves out and into a bowl.


Add about 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. Then add the zest of one lemon.



With a fork, mash the garlic with the oil and the zest so it resembles a paste. Normally I would add salt here, but since I'm using olives I decided not to. Which leads me to the star of our show, the olives! I bought pitted kalamata's, but you can buy them unpitted and pit them yourself. Then give them a rough chop.



When the dough is done rising, with two clean hands, make dimples in the dough. Don't be shy! Dimple that dough all over!!!



Then take the topping and dump it on the dough, then spread it out evenly with a knife, a spreader, or a brush. I use a brush because I want to make sure that the dough gets a nice shine of olive oil all over it.


Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check it and make sure it's browning lightly on the bottom and very lightly on the top. You do not want to overcook it or burn any of the yummy toppings.


It's delish! I still think it could use a fresh herb though. Maybe thyme? I'm not sure. I'll continue to experiment though.

(Full bread recipe can be found here)

Tuscan Mac and Cheese

I've talked about the deliciousness of Tuscan Mac and Cheese on my message board, so if you go there, you've probably already heard about this dish. It bears repeating because it is SO good! In fact, the first time I made it, Nick's exact words were, "You know, if you want to make this again, I won't object." We love it, Mom loves it, even Grandma loves it. I am posting it with my tweeks to the original recipe.

8 ounces sweet or hot Italian sausage
1 lb. gemelli or cavatappi, cooked and drained
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut into cubes and softened
4 ounces crusty Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz.)
1 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon snipped fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups milk
2 ounces shredded Asiago, Parmesan, or Romano cheese (1/2 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Remove casings, if present, from sausage. In a skillet cook and crumble sausage; drain. In a very large bowl combine sausage, cooked pasta, cream cheese, bread cubes, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, thyme and salt. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Pour sauce over pasta mixture. Stir gently.

3. Transfer mixture to a 2-quart casserole. Bake, covered, for 35 minutes. Uncover; top with Asiago cheese. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes more or until heated through. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with additional cheese, if desired.

I know, this sounds like fat city! But there are so many ways you can lighten up this recipe. Start out by using turkey sausage. Use light cream cheese. I wouldn't try using fat free. But light works nicely. Use skim milk. I've made it both ways... full fat and lightened up and it's delicious both ways. I bet if you try this, it will become one of your go to meals too.