Hummus!

Aaaaaaand we're back! Back means we successfully navigated the Boundary Waters and have now moved into our new place in New Haven, CT. First-time east-coasters, are we. The best part so far is our ability to WALK to anything and everything. Like for ice cream, after dinner. Fantastic.

Of course, we're still Midwesterners at heart. So consider this hummus, which I confess to making when I was still in Madison, a tribute to our true home.

This was not as good as my Aunt Wendy's hummus, but it's a good start, and not too tough to make. I suggest starting with the below and modifying it to taste and texture as you go.

2 cups (aka two cans) chick peas/garbanzos
1/2 cup tahini, technically, but in this case - 1 oz sesame seeds and 1-2 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic
juice from 1 lemon
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste

Start by making a paste with mortar and pestle of the sesame seeds and sesame oil to imitate the tahini. Then combine the ingredients (minus the paprika, salt, pepper) in a food processor and blend, adding more (regular) olive oil and/or water if it gets too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste

Finish with paprika sprinkled over the top. Again, taste and modify with lemon juice and oil (sesame or olive) to adjust the taste/consistency. Serve, of course, with pita.

"Mozza" Sandwich

What do you do when it's 90+ degrees, the house is a mess, and all of your cooking tools are packed up anyway, gosh durn it? Make a sammich!

Not just any sandwich, of course. And here I must digress to dwell upon the wonder that is Pizza Brutta, a phenomenal little Neapolitan pizza joint in Madison (remarkably good food = another thing to miss about this place, dammit). Their pizza is authentic, simple, flavorful, fast, perfect. In particular, their Prosciutto Arugula (surprise!), a "bianco" (no tomato sauce) with a little rosemary and fresh greens on top, is just...well, go try it.

Now, Pizza Brutta has always had fantastic-looking sandwiches, too. And it's been nearly impossible to-date to pass on the pizza and take a risk on a sandwich. Until this past Tuesday, when I was there for lunch and realized that this was, quite possibly, my Last Meal at Pizza Brutta, and I had to go for it. I got the "Mozza", and I was not disappointed. In fact, I continued to drool and blather over it all day.

And I continue to do so, apparently. So I made my own go at the Mozza this evening, amidst an obstacle course of cardboard boxes. In comparison to the original Mozza, it fell a little short (the fact that I bought bread instead of baking my own and serving it fresh out of the oven may have been one factor, my home-grown but parched basil may have been another, or it could have been the lack of house-made mozzarella) - but it was still extremely tasty, easy, and generally satisfying.

All ya need is: ciabatta bread, fresh basil, thinly-sliced prosciutto, sliced fresh mozzarella, a small clove or half clove of minced garlic, and olive oil (alt: garlic-infused olive oil). Drizzle the bread with the olive oil (don't be shy about it), spread on a little garlic on one side, then layer the remaining ingredients. (Come on, let's admit it's hard to fail with those ingredients.)

***

What other restaurants in Madison will I miss? Well:
-Osteria Papavero (Best Italian food outside of Italy - and in some cases, inside of Italy. Seriously.)
-Inka Heritage (Peruvian food is delicious. Lamb, seafood, ceviche, mmm.)
-Brasserie V (Particularly for the mussels and the selection of Belgian - and other - beer. Closest thing to Chicago's Hopleaf we've found so far.)
-Quivey's Grove (On Friday nights, for the fish fry.)
-Sophia's (Best breakfast in town, in my opinion.)
-The Old Fashioned (Mostly because it screams "Midwest" - could it be that they raffle off hams?)

Dry Spell

The great news is that La Piccina Cucina reached over 300 unique visitors last week! Keep 'em coming!

The less great news (blog-wise, at least) is that the husband and I are packing up for our move to New Haven, CT in the next couple of weeks, and then are taking a week-long camping trip that puts me (gasp) entirely out of electronic contact. So the recipes are going to be somewhat few and far between in the next few weeks.

I'm not done by any means, though! New Haven means access to the Atlantic, which means less cheese (sigh) but more seafood (hooray!) for delicious new recipes.

Stay tuned and thanks for watching!

Tiramisu

(from Loukie Werle's "Italian Country Cooking")

The husband loves dessert. The husband really loves tiramisu. So when I saw that my new cookbook had a recipe for it, I knew I'd be making it soon.

I also got about halfway through this recipe and realized, wait a minute, you never cook the eggs. Nope. Who knew? Well, we had fresh backyard chicken eggs again, and we haven't gotten sick yet, so it seems like we're good to go. But if you wanted to play it safe, you could also buy pasteurized eggs at the grocery store and substitute those in.

The verdict on the tiramisu from the husband: "One of the best I've had!" And not too hard, either!

3 eggs, separate
1 cup sugar
2 cups mascarpone
3 tbsp brandy (recipe called for sweet Marsala, but it worked) - more if you want
1/4 cup grated dark chocolate
18-24 ladyfingers
1 1/2 to 2 cups freshly made strong coffee, room temp

Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale (keep whisking - it'll happen). Fold in the mascarpone.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the brandy and half the grated chocolate. Beat again until you have soft peaks. Fold this into the mascarpone mixture.

Place a layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of a rectangular baking dish. Pour half the coffee over the ladyfingers, soaking them well. Spread half the mascarpone mixture over the top, then layer on another set of ladyfingers, then coffee, then mascarpone. Sprinkle the rest of the grated chocolate on the top, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

...

And that rounds out a great Fourth of July weekend (celebrated, apparently, primarily with Italian cooking) - celebratory dinner at Inka Heritage, Madison Farmer's Market, Bloody Marys with walleye & eggs at the Old Fashioned, boating on Lake Monona, being cooked for while snacking on great cheese, watching - and maybe setting off - fireworks from a friend's (thanks, Justin!) penthouse balcony overlooking the lake. I guess there are a few things I'll miss about Madison.

Amatriciana

UPDATE:
This is another recipe that I make differently just about every time. Last night, I crisped the pancetta more and caramelized the onions, and I used a regular-sized can of tomato sauce and one cut-up fresh tomato. Delicious. I think the lesson is that you kind of can't fail with this dish, no matter how you make it.


3/4 lb pasta
2.5 thickish slices of pancetta, diced
Red pepper flakes
Olive oil
1/2-3/4 white onion
1 large tomato, diced
1 can tomato sauce
Parmesan and/or Romano cheese for serving


Pour a little olive oil (a couple tbsp) in a pan, turn the heat to high, and add the pancetta. Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. Cook the pancetta until it starts to get a little crispy, turning down the heat to prevent burning as necessary.


Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the onion and cook over medium-high until they have caramelized (very soft, translucent, and starting to get almost a little brown, or golden). Add the tomato and cook over medium until they start to soften and break down.


Pour in the can of tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and partially cover. Start your water and cook your pasta, adding the pancetta back to the sauce when you start to cook the pasta. Combine pasta and sauce and serve with grated cheese!

This is one of my all-time favorite pasta sauces: remember how my mom always orders carbonara in Rome? For me (in Rome, or if I'm lucky, when my dad makes it), it's always amatriciana.

I've made this a few times before, but I tried a few things differently. For one, I couldn't find good pancetta, so I used thick-cut prosciutto (probably a huge no-no...so much for that!). For two, I used a slower recipe based on the Simplest Tomato Sauce - and probably won't ever make it differently again (aside from going back to the pancetta when possible). Top it with plenty of Romano cheese, and you're set.

So:
1 large can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
1 white onion: half of it chopped, the other half just halved again (try yellow onion for a sweeter flavor)
2 tbsp butter
1/4 lb pancetta or thick-cut prosciutto, sliced/diced
1 lb fettucine, in this case, but bucatini, if you can find it
Red pepper flakes and ground black pepper
Grated Romano or parmesan cheese for serving
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt

In a medium pot or dutch oven, drizzle a little olive oil and turn to medium. Add the prosciutto or pancetta and sprinkle lightly with red pepper flakes and just a little black pepper. Heat until it becomes aromatic, then remove the meat and set aside.

Next, add the tomatoes, butter, and onion to the same pan you cooked the prosciutto in. Turn the heat up to bring it to a boil. Crush the tomatoes against the sides of the pot and stir until boiling and the butter is melted. Turn heat to low.

Let cook about 1/2 an hour or longer - until the onions have softened. Bring salted water to a boil for the pasta, and when you add the pasta, remove the two onion quarters and add the prosciutto. Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes, and some salt if you want it.

Allow to cook until the pasta is ready. Serve with plenty of grated Romano cheese.

Watermelon Smoothies

This was an old college favorite, and it's still great today. This is one of Joef's recipes, and it's great for summer - and Fourth of July weekends!

He used light ice cream this afternoon as an experiment, and we couldn't taste the difference. Not that this is in any way light. But...well, we try.

Here's all you do: combine roughly 1 part seedless watermelon and 1 part vanilla ice cream in a blender (more ice cream if you want it thicker, less if you don't). Blend and serve!

Scrambled Eggs with Basil and Prosciutto

More egg "recipes", using eggs laid fresh this morning! We had to figure out what we could make to use a ton of eggs up (nine), and not surprisingly, the following:

Prosciutto
Parmesan cheese
Provolone cheese
Fresh basil
A little butter
Pinch of salt
A little ground black pepper

Butter the pan lightly and heat over medium. Mix the eggs separately in a bowl, then pour into the pan. Add the other ingredients, cheese last, and occasionally run a wooden spoon slowly through the eggs to bring the bottom portion that's more cooked onto the top. Repeat until all the eggs are cooked.