Italian Stuffed Cabbage

I had heard of Polish stuffed cabbage but not Italian, and when I first saw the recipe at Smitten Kitchen I knew I had to make it.  A meatball of Italian sausage is rolled up in savoy cabbage leaves, and slowly simmered in tomato sauce.  But the recipe wasn't exactly healthy, so I set about with some tweaks.  I swapped out the pork sausage for chicken sausage, low-carb whole wheat bread for white bread, and low-fat milk for whole milk.  But it wasn't right: the meat was too lean, so the texture and taste were a bit lacking.  I tried again and went halfway, using a blend of pork sausage and chicken sausage, and the result was healthier and heavenly.  

Production and cooking do take time, so set aside a lazy Sunday when you'll want to putter in the kitchen.  You'll need to carefully peel and blanch cabbage leaves, make the filling, and then cook the parcels for about an hour.  Another error I made the first time was buying a small head of cabbage; the larger the head, the larger the leaves, and the more likely the leaves will fully envelop the filling.  The whole wheat bread also isn't as soft as white bread, and chicken sausage isn't as soft as pork sausage -- I used the food processor to blend them, buzzing the bread into crumbs and chopping the sausage up finer.  Finally, I did away with the toothpicks on the second try.  They're not necessary, and I don't like the idea of biting into a stray one.

The serving suggestion of mashed potatoes on the side is perfect.  Although it took a bit of work to put this together yesterday, all I've got to do tonight is reheat.  Joe really loved these, and I'm look forward to digging into the leftovers come dinnertime.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Cannoli

Except this month we're the Daring Fryers! I missed the challenge deadline by a day, but better late than never, right? Who sets a deadline for the day after Thanksgiving anyway? I was still recovering from cooking, eating, and baking two of these!

So this was my rush job. I rarely deep-fry, but you might not believe me if you saw the applesauce doughnuts I made earlier this month. Making the cannoli was easy except for the rolling -- the dough has a knack for springing back so the square never seemed to get bigger. But the shells came out crispy and delicious, and I flavored the ricotta filling with vanilla bean and some maple syrup, for that touch of autumn.  A lot of people aren't familiar with cannoli, which used to stun me. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood where they were readily available, but when I moved to other states people would ask, "Is that like ravioli?" If you're one of these people, don't get put off by the strange concept of filling deep-fried pastry with cheese. It whips up light and is so good when sweetened.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Italian Tricolor Cookies

These cookies take me right back to childhood. The section of Brooklyn we lived in had lots of Italian bakeries, so we never lacked sweets. These "rainbow cookies" or "7-layer cookies," as they're known, are my favorite, along with those butter cookies sandwiched with the apricot or raspberry jam half-dipped in chocolate with sprinkles (anybody got a recipe for that?). These tricolor cookies are sweet and almondy, and a perfect way to kick off Christmas cookie season.

The recipe calls for flavoring one layer with cocoa, and coloring another layer orange. I was out of red food coloring and unable to make orange, so I went with green, which looks avacado-y in this photo. I also only had one 8x8 inch pan, but these round cake pans worked out ok. The shapes didn't match up at the end, but I cut my way around them.

I don't recommend cookie cutters for the finished product, since the assembled layers were taller than the cutters. Sliced rectangles worked out the best. However you cut them, though, they'll taste great!

Baked Tricolor Cookies from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

For the cookie layers

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

7 oz almond paste (recipe follows, but I used storebought)

¾ cup sugar

½ tsp pure almond extract

1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

3 large eggs

Grated zest of 1 orange

Orange food coloring (liquid or gel)

2 tbs dark unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

For the filling

2/3 cup apricot jam

2 tbs amaretto liquer (I left this out)

For the glaze

6 oz dark chocolate (60% cacao)

1 tsp light corn syrup

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter three 8-inch square baking pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper and butter the parchment. Dust with flour and knock out the excess flour. (I used cooking spray in place of the butter.) Sift the flour and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste, sugar, and almond extract together until small crumbs form. Add the butter and beat on high speed until the mixture is combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the orange zest and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in three parts, beating on low speed after each addition until combined.

Divide the batter among three small mixing bowls. In the first bowl, add a few drops of orange food coloring to the batter, and mix well. Continue to add a few drops of food coloring and mixing until the batter is medium orange in color. In the second bowl, add the cocoa powder to the batter and whisk until fully incorporated. Leave the third bowl plain.

Pour each batter into a prepared pan and smooth the tops. Bake the layers for 12 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and cool for 20 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the rack, remove the pans, and let cool completely. Remove the parchment.

In a small saucepan over low heat, stir the jam and amaretto until warmed through and completely blended, 3 to 5 minutes.

Place the chocolate layer on a serving rack and evenly spread half of the apricot jam over the top. Top with the plain layer and spread with the remaining apricot filling. Top with the orange layer and let the layers sit in the refrigerator for 5 minutes (or while you make the chocolate glaze).

In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly.

Spread the glaze over the top of the bar cookies, completely covering the orange layer (some glaze may spill down the sides of the cake). Place the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate topping completely sets (about 1 hour). Remove the tray from the refrigerator, wait 30 minutes for the chocolate to warm up, and cut into 20 individual squares or use a small cookie cutter to cream your own shapes.

The bars can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 4 days.

Almond Paste

1½ cups finely ground almonds

1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

½ tsp pure almond extract

Put all the ingredients in a food processor with 2 tbs water and process until a paste forms. Remove from the processor, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to use. Extra almond paste, tightly wrapped, keeps well in the freezer.

My Favorite Use for Garden Tomatoes: Crostini

I once told a friend who says she can't cook how easy these are to make, and she replied, "But it requires a heating element." Come on, anyone can toast bread, right? That's all the cooking required!

My tomatoes only started ripening around the second week of August, probably due to the lack of sunshine with the nonstop storms we've had. My basil plant, on the other hand, is about 2 feet tall! And both are required for one of my favorite summertime snacks. The other must is fresh mozzarella -- the soft, creamy kind that's packed or stored in water. Don't buy the cheaper, rubbery variety at the store. That stuff is fine for melting and disguising behind other ingredients, but with something this fresh you need the good cheese.

Some people will want to toss it back in the oven to cook the tomatoes a bit and melt the cheese, but I like the summery freshness of it my way.

1 baguette

3-4 plum tomatoes, sliced

1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

5-7 fresh basil leaves

Olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the baguette into thin pieces and rub a bit of olive oil on them. Toast the bread on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes, until the bread is golden brown. You can also just throw them in your toaster oven, but that tends to brown just the outside instead of toasting the bread thoroughly for a nicer crunch.

After that, it's easy assembly. Top each piece of bread with a slice of mozzarella (the cheese acts as a nice barrier for the bread against the wetness of the tomato). Then top them each with a slice of tomato (and plum tomatoes are better because they have less water, leading to less sogginess). Slice your basil leaves into thin strips and scatter them over the tomatoes. Follow with dashes of salt and pepper. That's it!

These work great as party appetizers. You can also lay the ingredients out like I did above, but in larger quantities, and let guests assemble the finger food themselves.

Cheese Ravioli from Scratch

Joe's the pasta-maker in our house (and pizza, and bread most of the time). But I'm good at filling and cutting the ravioli. We make a great team! These are tasty on a bed of sauce with more Parmesan grated on top while the ravioli are still hot so the cheese melts just slightly.

What we used for the filling:
1/3 cup ricotta
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tbs. dried oregano (fresh, if you have it)
2 tbs. dried basil (ditto)
1 tbs. salt
1 tbs. black pepper
Stir together and set aside. Play with the filling, adding other cheeses, herbs, or seasonings.

Joe's pasta ingredient list is simple:
3/4 cup semolina
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs water (more, if needed)

He whizzes them all together in a food processor (knead by hand if you don't have one) just until the dough comes together in a ball. The dough shouldn't be sticky, and if the sides are frayed when you're cranking it out, your dough is probably too dry. He then divides the dough in half and flattens each half into a rectangle.

Then he folds the dough in thirds like a letter, as pictured, and runs it through the pasta machine. (Why he prefers a hand crank instead of a stand mixer attachment, I don't know.) Run the dough through the crank starting on setting 1, and each time gradually work your way up to setting 7.

The dough will be thin like this.

My rolling mat is great because it has a grid and measurements in inches and centimeters. Cut your dough (my pastry cutter makes these pretty scalloped edges) into long strips. Throw some flour under the strips to keep them from sticking to your mat.

Scoop 1/2 tsp of filling in the center of each square (mine were about 2 square inches each), taking care not to overfill them. Lay another strip on top.

Using a wooden bamoo skewer, go between the lumps of filling, and press down and roll around to push out the air and seal the pasta.

Do the same at the top and bottom, pressing down and rolling in toward the filling and back out to the edge.

Cut up your squares. You can also use a round cookie cutter to make circular ravioli instead.

Boil them for 3 to 4 minutes, and fish them out with a strainer. They'll float to the top. Happy eatins'!