Wine Club # 15: SICILY!
Date: March 7, 2008
Host: Carmela
Company: Shereen, Tayisa, S-R, Jacquie, Andrea, Julie and the BIRTHDAY GIRL Anna:)
Special Note: I think I (Julie) lost the wine club notes, so we don't have the wine names... BUT - the good news is, the favourites for many were Nono's homemade wines! Julie especially enjoyed the de-alcoholized red wine;) (sweet friends we have eh?)
Carmela served some AMAZING sicilian food, and delicious homemade cannolis...mmmm
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Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini
4 medium potatoes
1 whole onion
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup romano or parmesan cheese (mixed would be nice)
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
Description:
Slice zucchini and potatoies 14 inch thick and place in large bowl.
Pour oil over zucchini and potatoes and mix with your hands.
Sprinkle breadcrumbs, chees, salt and pepper over vegetables and mix again.
Spread the vegetables in a large pan (cookie sheet type). Set oven at 400 degrees and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.
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Pasta alla Norma
Serves 6
This dish from Catania is usually made with Ricotta Salata cheese. The semi-hard salted ricotta gives it a distinctive flavor and should be available in specialty shops and some supermarkets. If need be, substitute pecorino for it, it will not be the same, but still delicious. Alla Norma after the composer Bellini's (born in Catania) Norma.
2 medium eggplants, 1-inch thick slices
1/2-cup olive oil (less if baking eggplant)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 t fresh oregano leaves, chopped or 1/2 t dry oregano
5 or 6 leaves fresh basil, shredded
1/2 peperoncino or 1/2 t red chili flakes, more to taste
2 lbs tomatoes, ripe, seeded and chopped or canned Italian tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup grated ricotta salata or pecorino
1 lb spaghetti or maccheroni
Sprinkle the sliced eggplant with salt.
Place in colander and let stand for an hour or so. (If not bitter, omit, salting removes bitterness.)
Place on paper towels to drain.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
Brown eggplant slices on both sides.
Alternatively, brush both sides of slices with olive oil, place on cookie sheet, bake in a pre-heated 450º F oven for 15 minutes or till nicely browned.
Cut slices into cubes or leave whole.
Heat 2 T olive oil in a pan.
Add onion and sauté till golden.
Add garlic and sauté for 1 or 2 minutes.
Add the tomato, fresh oregano, peperoncino and basil.
Raise heat so sauce cooks at a fast bubble.
Cook about 10 to 15 minutes; do not allow sauce to dry out.
While tomato sauce cooks, bring water to a boil.
Cook pasta and drain when done.
Place in a bowl, pour tomato sauce and 1/4 cup cheese and mix.
Add eggplant and toss again.
OR
Leave eggplant slices whole placing them on top of the pasta dressed with the tomato sauce.
Serve.
Pass grated cheese at table.
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Caponata di melanzane
Ingredients for 4 persons
600 g. eggplant
300 g. potato
4 red or green peppers
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 head of celery without the leaves
1 Tb of capers
4 carrots
1 large onion
olive oil
grated and toasted breadcrumbs
red and black pepper
Preparation
Peel and dice the eggplant and fry.
Peel and dice the potatoes and lightly fry until golden.
Cut the peppers crosswise in rings and place in frying pan. Add the chopped celery, carrots, garlic, onion, and the capers and when cooked, mix in the eggplant and the potatoes.
Stir for some minutes with a wooden ladle.
Add the red and black pepper and continue stirring; then turn off the heat.
At this point sprinkle on the toasted breadcrumbs.
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Clementine, Fennel & Olive Salad
Fennel is sweet, clementines are sweet and juicy, and olives have pungent saltiness. Together they are an astounding salad. This Italian salad is a lovely side dish. A lovely holiday dish - both Thanksgiving and Christmas if you have an Italian theme. If you were in Sicily, you'd be picking the clementines from your own tree.
3 clementines or small, seedless oranges
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped Italian, flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed
1/2 cup salt cured black olives, pitted
METHOD
Squeeze the juice of 1 clementine. In a large, 4 quart bowl, combine clementine juice, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and honey.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Peel remaining clementines, divide into sections. Add to bowl.
Cut fennel bulbs in half from top to bottom , remove core. Slice crosswise into very thin strips. Add to bowl.
Add olives and toss to mix well.
Serves: 4
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Arancine - Deep-Fried Rice Croquettes
Pinch of saffron
2 cups Arborio rice, washed
2 cups chicken stock
Salt
2 Tb buter
1 1/2 cups grated caciocavallo or pecorino
2 eggs, separated
1 small onion
2 Tb olive oil
1/4 lb ground beef, cooked and drained of fat
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped very fine
1 Tb fresh rosemary leaves
Pinch of pepper
1/2 cup cooked peas
1/4 cup white wine
Flour, for coating
Breadcrumbs, for coating
Olive oil, for deep frying
1. Steep the saffron in 1/2 cup of warm water for 30 minutes.
2. Place the rice in a pot with the chicken stock. Add the saffron solution, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the butter. Stir and bring to a boil. Once the stock is boiling, lower the heat and cook the rice, tightly covered, until it has absorbed all the water, about 20 minutes. Spoon the rice onto a platter and mix in the cheese and egg yolks. Spread the rice out to cool.
3. Sauté the onion over medium heat in 2 Tb of olive oil for about 7 minutes, or until translucent. Add the cooked ground beef, tomato, rosemary, 1/4 t of salt, and the pepper and cook, covered, for about 8 minutes. Add the peas and the white wine. Cook until the wine has evaporated. The mixture will look like a thick ragoût.
4. Spread some flour for coating on a piece of wax paper. Lightly beat the egg whites in a shallow bowl. Spread breadcrumbs for coating on a piece of wax paper.
5. To form the rice balls, spread some rice flat in the palm of your hand, then cup your hand slightly, using the thumb of your other hand to make an indentation. To keep the rice from becoming sticky, keep a plate of cold water nearby to dip your hand into each time you form a rice ball. Place about 1 Tb of the meat mixture into the indentation and fold the edges over. Cover with some more rice and shape it with both hands into a ball the size of a lemon, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Squeeze just tightly enough to make a firm ball, but not so hard that it falls apart.
6. Roll each ball in the flour, dip it in the beaten egg white, and roll it in the breadcrumbs, coating it evenly. Refrigerate the rice balls for 30 minutes before frying.
7. Heat the oil for deep frying to 360 ºF.
8. Deep-fry the rice balls for 4 minutes or until golden. Do not fry too many at once. As the arancine finish cooking, drain on paper towels. Arancine are usually served warm or at room temperature.
Makes 12.
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Sicilian cannoli
Ingredients:
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
150 g flour
dry white wine
250 g fresh ricotta (saputo)
2 tbsp chopped bitter chocolate
1 tsp cocoa
1 tbsp orange essence
crushed pistachio nuts
1 tsp coffee powder
2 tbsp candied orange and citron
almond oil
peanut oil
yolk
Description:
To make the pastry case: Place the flour, cocoa, coffee powder, a pinch of salt and the sugar on a pastry board or work surface and mix. Form a well and work in the smoothed butter and enough wine to make a firm dough. Form a ball wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. Filling:Dice the candied fruit and the chocolate. Sieve the ricotta and then whisk in the icing sugar, the orange essence and then add the candied peel and chocolate dice. Refrigerate. Cannoli case:Roll out the pastry and using a round 9'/18cm pastry cutter, cut 18 disks, kneading the dough each time. Stretch each disk out into an oval, brush with almond oil and roll around the bamboo or tin tubes. Brush with a little egg yolk where they overlap and press down to make them stick properly. Lift the ends of the pastry slightly curling them back - makes them easier to remove. Heat the peanut oil in the frying pan and deep fry the cannoli, two at a time. When they are golden brown remove them and drain on kitchen paper. As soon as they cool enough to be able to hold them in your fingers, remove them from the tubes, oil the tubes again and wrap them in more pastry to fry some more. Assembling: Only fill the cannoli when you are ready to eat them or they go soggy. They keep in a biscuit tin for a few days. Decorate the ends with a little crushed pistachio nut, giving the typical green of so many Sicilian desserts.