Ricotta and spinach manicotti and cooking = power

Not until recently I started thinking of cooking as something both empowering and liberating and that comes to my mind when I think of certain passages of my childhood.

In the period between my mom’s death and my father marrying again my paternal grandmother lived with us and she did all the cooking at home. She was an amazing cook – still is at 88 – but she rarely made the dishes I liked – I

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The best gnocchi I have ever made + cookbooks that go beyond recipes

It’s not a secret how addicted I am to cookbooks and after I discovered the amazing “Eat Your Books” I no longer felt guilty for buying so many of them because I actually use my books all the time – I cook and bake from them regularly. Some cookbooks I love because of their recipes, while others won my heart over for reasons other than food. Some of them get me really emotional, while others

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Linguine with Mascarpone & Prosciutto

Today I am going to post some "real food" as Mr. Humble likes to call it.

Real food and well... a bit of a rant concerning staging food.

Now like most food bloggers, I stage the food that goes onto the blog. Meaning I pay a little more attention to how I arrange my plates than I would were just serving it up for the Humble household table. I think that is an acceptable level of manipulation, as it is entirely possible to recreate.

What I do not employ are tricks like rubbing barely cooked steak with shoe polish to give it that nicely browned look, using shortening mixed with powdered sugar for indestructible ice cream, or hair spray to make my cake slices look moist. You get the idea, taking food and rendering it inedible for the sake of looks.

Anyway, I don't like fooling people and I certainly don't like being fooled myself.

Like I was this weekend when I spotted a gorgeous Moroccan stew. It was lovely with chunks of lamb mingling with garbanzo beans, lentils, herbs and vermicelli.

So I made this stew for dinner Saturday night, following the instructions to the letter, only to have it come out looking like something my dog barfed up. Well, that is if I had a dog and it happened to survive solely on a diet of corrugated cardboard.

The stew was miserable looking. After simmering for two hours the fresh herbs and lamb were now roughly the same unattractive color. The lentils, garbanzo beans and vermicelli mingled in the insipid gray broth. It tasted alright but it looked awful.

So I took a second, critical look at the photo included with the recipe. The herbs shown are bright and vibrant! Clearly they had not been been simmering in a stock pot for two hours. The lamb chunks appeared to have been seared and then placed artfully arranged on top. The Garbanzo beans, neatly piled in the center of the bowl had the glossy, fresh from the can look... this soup was a LIE.

I was pretty annoyed. Okay I was really annoyed. I was going to post the photos of the soup as advertised and the real soup on my blog but it is so utterly depressing that I can't bring myself to photograph it nor inflict that kind of visual trauma on my readers.

Rest assured that I will never pull that kind of nonsense on this blog.

Anyway, lets get to today's lunch.

I'm still making an effort to deal with the surplus mascarpone I have on hand. So I decided to toss linguine with it, mixed with basil pesto.

To contrast the creamy sauce, I added salty slivers of pecorino romano and thick pieces of prosciutto. To give the dish a little color and texture I added some freshly toasted pine nuts and a scattering of fresh basil leaves.

A quick lunch for the little Humble and I, one that required less than 15 minutes of hands-on time.

Tasty and pretty, no shoe polish or hairspray needed.


Not So Humble Linguine with Mascarpone & Prosciutto
serves 8
1 lb linguine
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2-3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup basil pesto
1 cup thickly sliced prosciutto, cut into bite sized pieces
pecorino romano
fresh basil
salt and ground pepper

Boil the pasta according to the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until they are fragrant.

Drain the pasta and then toss with the mascarpone and pesto to coat. Plate the pasta and sprinkle with the pine nuts, prosciutto, shaved pecorino romano, basil and season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

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Arancini

Arancini tonight.

If you're unfamiliar with them, don't worry. I'm here to help.

Once long ago, I too was one of those poor, unfortunate arancini-less schlubs. Wandering though life without the deep fried carbohydrate bomb that would someday complete me.

Oh yes.

Then, while waiting for a connecting train somewhere in the hill towns of Italy, I came face to face with the golden blob of deliciousness.

I had no idea what it was, but it didn't matter. It was so perfectly golden and so obviously deep fried that had to be good. (I'm of the opinion that deep fried always equals good. You could deep fry a cockroach, or even a Hot Pocket, and it has the potential to be delicious.) I quickly purchased two and brought them back to Mr. Humble, who I had abandoned earlier with my bags to explore the station.

Hold on, I need to nom on these while taking photos...



Okay, so the train station arancini were not all that good. They were cold and gluey. They were... well, train station food.

Still, I adore risotto and I knew that deep frying it was going to take my love of the starchy rice to the next level.



This recipe calls for leftovers, preferably risotto that has been allowed to sit in the fridge overnight. Feel free to use any risotto recipe you like. You can also toy with the fillings, as this is a very flexible appetizer. I enjoy a fresh basil pesto risotto, filled with buffalo mozzarella. Or saffron risotto filled with shrimp. Just use your imagination.

Technically, since this is deep fried, you might even be able to involve Hot Pockets.

Maybe.

Not So Humble Arancini
yields roughly 1 dozen
2 cups cold, leftover risotto
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
mozzarella
vegetable oil for frying

Heat your oven to 300°F

Cut the mozzarella into a dozen 1cm cubes.

Grab a golf ball sized hunk of the cold risotto and press the cube into the center and mush the risotto around it. Roll it into a ball and set aside. Repeat until you've formed all the risotto balls.

Then take the balls and coat them in the egg and then the bread crumbs, shaking off any excess.

Heat several inches of oil over medium heat (350°F) and fry the risotto balls in batches, drain briefly on paper towels and then transfer to the oven to hold.

Serve warm.

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Crema Fritta alla Veneziana

Venetian style fried custard

What to do with a dozen egg yolks left over from macaron prep?

That's what I've been trying to figure out since separating eggs for macarons. (They are aging at room temperature on my counter as we speak, a state that is making my microbiologist husband cringe with discomfort.) Thats right, I'm going to match wits later this week against the infamously temperamental cookie: the macaron. (Cue dramatic music here)

I actually made a batch yesterday and while they came out near perfect, the feet stuck out just a little and for the blog I think I could do better. So I am going to make a few adjustments and try again today or tomorrow as time permits.

So, back to all these egg yolks! I am one of those people who cannot waste even the smallest amount of food. So I must find a good use for all these yolks. There were a few obvious choices: chocolate mousse, crème brulée, custard... all great ways to make use of leftover egg yolks, but I wanted something a little different. Something like the fried custard you can get in Venice during carnival.

These little desserts are creamy, lemony and deep fried. How can you go wrong with that?

My spin gives this dessert a lighter crisper crust, using lemon zest, rice flour, and panko breadcrumbs. Crack the crisp shell and thick warm custard with a hint of lemon oozes out.

Oh so good...

Not so Humble Crema Fritta alla Veneziana:
adapted from Luscious Creamy Desserts
serves 8-10

Custard
6 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup bread flour
4 cups whole milk
5 large strips of lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch salt

Coating
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup corn starch
3 eggs
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

vegetable oil for frying
lemon wedges

Butter a 9" square baking pan and line with a piece of parchment.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture has lightened in color and is relatively smooth. Set the whisk aside and grab a wooden spoon, add the bread flour and pinch of salt and mix (it will be very thick). Add a cup of the milk and using the whisk again, mix until smooth. Add the remaining milk and the strips of lemon zest, mixing well.

Set this pot over medium heat and slowly bring it to a boil. This should take roughly 18-20 minutes. Whisking frequently at first and then constantly towards the end. Once the mixture thickens and large bubbles begin to form, remove from heat and strain through a medium mesh sieve. Stir in the vanilla and pour into your prepared pan. Press a sheet of plastic wrap down onto the custard to prevent a skin from forming and then chill for at least 4 hours (ideally overnight).

For frying, heat your oil to 350°F and have a skimmer handy to remove crumbs and keep the oil clean. Heat your oven to 250°F and line a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels.

You'll need three shallow bowls to assemble the custards for frying. In the first, mix the rice flour, corn starch and powdered sugar. In the second, toss the panko crumbs with the lemon zest and in the third, beat the eggs lightly.

Remove the thoroughly chilled custard from the refrigerator now. Cut around the sides to release the custard and turn out onto a small cutting board lined with a piece of parchment. Peel the piece of parchment off the top of the custard and cut into rectangles (roughly 2x3"). Working in batches so not to over crowd the custards while frying, take 2-4 pieces of custard and place them into the sugar/flour mixture. (Return the remaining custards to the fridge to keep chilled while frying this batch) Coat thoroughly in the flour, then dip into the egg and finally in the panko. Add the custards to the hot oil and fry briefly until golden brown, flipping once. Remove from the oil carefully (they are delicate at this stage) and place on the pan with paper towels and keep warm in the oven.

Repeat with remaining custards until all have been fried.

Serve warm with a dusting of powdered sugar and a slice of lemon.

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