Perfect and Pleasing Pasta Pie!

Pasta Pie

 My mother served her pasta pie for many occasions. She would bake hers in a pot and make it with a dozen eggs and small round pasta called ditalini. My own version is one I have also been preparing for years. This recipe is with Pecorino Roman and mozzarella cheeses, but you can also add prosciutto, ham, salami, or pepperoni. This is an inviting brunch item, appetizer for dinner, or finger food for a party. Just cut into narrow wedges for easy noshing.

1 pound spaghetti

6 eggs

3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil

Butter

In a large pot, heat water for the pasta. When water begins to boil, add salt liberally. Let water return to a boil, and cook pasta to al dente. Drain well, and allow cooling.

Beat eggs very well, and add the Pecorino Romano, mozzarella, parsley, salt, and pepper. Add the spaghetti to the egg mixture, and mix well. In a large sauté pan, warm vegetable oil and butter over medium heat. Add the spaghetti-and-egg mixture. Cover and cook over low heat until the bottom is golden.

Slide the pie onto a plate, and add a bit more vegetable oil and butter to the sauté pan. Turn the pie over into the pan, and allow the other side to cook, uncovered, until golden. Allow pie to set for ten minutes, and cut into wedges, or use a round cutter and cut into circles. Serve with a simple arugula salad tossed in balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.

Camille’s Tip: This recipe can also be baked. Just mix the ingredients and pour into a buttered baking dish and bake at 350°F for thirty minutes.

WINGING it on Super Bowl Sunday!

Super Bowl is a weekend that celebrates our American culture, and it is also the realization that we are now five weeks into 2014. That means we have all recuperated from the feasting and celebrating of the holidays, and we are also allowed a small and deserved break from our New Year's dieting resolutions.

Very few foods equate Super Bowl Sunday in our minds like Buffalo Wings! There are countless ways to prepare wings, and I personally love them in a mouthwatering and crispy toss of buttery hot sauce and sweet honey. Enjoying them with a fresh blue cheese dip is an added plus. I strongly encourage making your own blue cheese with fresh ingredients. The rich flavors are just so much better than store-bought, and I am happy to share my recipe.

I will be spending Super Bowl with friends and family and enjoying great food and a variety of great wings.
I wish all my readers a fun and exciting game!


Wings
2 dozen wings (washed and patted dry)
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup hot sauce
1 stick butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Spray a baking sheet lightly and evenly with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Layer the wings on the baking sheet and sprinkle with the mixed spices. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, turning over once in the middle of baking. The wings will be done when the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. You may also opt to deep fry the wings in a large pot. Heat several inches of vegetable oil to 350 degrees, and fry the wings in batches until golden brown.

In a large bowl, mix honey, hot sauce, butter and brown sugar very well. Add cooked wings a few at a time and toss until fully coated. Layer the wings on the baking sheet and heat under the broiler for a few minutes in order to let the coating set to a nice golden crisp.
Serve with celery, carrots, red pepper slices and blue cheese dressing.

Home-made Blue Cheese Dip

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
freshly ground black pepper

In a bowl, mix first five ingredients well. Gently stir in crumbled blue cheese. Sprinkle black pepper to taste. Serve chilled.

Happy New Year! No Resolutions! Italian Wedding Soup!

Let's face it, we don't keep our resolutions. Resolutions are pretty much a thing of the past by the third week of January, and I believe my estimation is a generous one! In that spirit, I do not have a resolution for 2014. I just intend to keep on cooking, eating and creating beautiful foodships throughout the year.

So let's begin!

For me, January is all about winter storms and Italian wedding soup. While every other food writer, chef and TV food show host hail the virtues of health salads and detox cocktails in this aftermath of the holiday season, I decline to join the crowd. Why should I blog about one of my salad recipes? There will be time enough for that in July. There are plenty of lean meal recipes floating all around the universe this week, and that fact puts me right into a comfort zone where I am completely off the hook from encouraging everyone to go from 5000 calories per day to 1200.

That said, I am sitting here on the second day of this month and waiting for the predicted snow storm to hit the Northeast. I get a lot of work done at my desk during the winter months and especially during a snowstorm. On such occasions I always like to have a pot of soup ready to keep me company. Italian wedding soup is among my favorites, and it is perfect snowstorm comfort food.

In my new cookbook, Foodships, I write about my love for Italian wedding soup, and I also write a bit about its origins. Contrary to what many may think, the name of this soup did not develop due to a presence at the happy occasion of marriage. Rather, it is called wedding soup because the ingredients, to many Italians, are a perfect marriage of meat and vegetables in a delicate broth.
For my Northeast readers, enjoy your soup in the coming snowy days! For the rest of the country, make soup anyway! Happy New Year to one and all!

Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large bowl, mix bread crumbs, ground beef, Pecorino Romano cheese, egg, and parsley, salt and pepper. Press garlic cloves through a garlic presser and add to mixture. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Roll into baby meatballs. In a large soup pot, warm olive oil over medium heat and brown the meatballs. Remove meatballs and set aside.

Soup
One medium onion, diced
2 teaspoons chicken base
2 cups of fresh escarole, cleaned and chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 cup Pecorino Romano grated cheese
Acini de pepe
In the same large soup pot used to brown the meatballs, add onion to the drippings and cook until tender. Mix in chicken base and allow to dissolve well. Add escarole and stir as greens start to wilt down into the onions. Sprinkle in salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Add meatballs and allow to simmer another 15 minutes. In a second pot, boil water for the acini de pepe. When water begins to boil, add salt liberally. Let water return to a boil. Add acini de pepe, and cook until al dente. Drain and add to soup along with Pecorino Romano cheese.

It is that Christmas brunch time of year!

I first started to make eggs cooked in bread when I saw a scene in the movie Moonstruck, which starred Cher. Her mom, played by Olympia Dukakis, was frying eggs inside a round circle of French bread. I thought that looked very appealing, and so, of course, I tried it. From there, I started to bake eggs in rolls. Cutting into the crusty bread and having the yolk ooze out is a delight! Try this one if you are hosting a holiday brunch!


4 round dinner rolls
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup basil, chopped
4 jumbo large eggs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
Parmigiano-Reggiano grated cheese


Slice off top of each dinner roll. Carefully remove the inside of the bread to create a hollow, making sure the bottom of the roll remains intact. Spread the softened butter on the inside of each roll. Grate the garlic cloves so that the garlic falls into the hole of each dinner roll. Sprinkle in half the basil. Crack an egg into each dinner roll. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add a teaspoon of diced sun-dried tomato and sprinkle with the remaining basil. Top with a generous amount of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. On a baking sheet, bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 17 minutes or until bread is toasted golden at the edges.

Buttermilk Cauliflower

Buttermilk Cauliflower

This recipe encloses the cauliflower in a fluffy and crisp batter, and it is a great addition for our Thanksgiving day feast! Cauliflower lovers will enjoy the WOW flavors, and those who are not the greatest fans of cauliflower will absolutely change their minds!

1 head of fresh cauliflower
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Bisquick
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Vegetable oil

Cut and separate raw cauliflower into florets. Boil until tender but still firm. Plunge cauliflower into a bowl of ice water for about two minutes. Take out of water, drain very well, and pat dry. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, Bisquick, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley to create a batter (should be lighter than a pancake batter) coat each piece of cauliflower well. In a sauté pan, warm vegetable oil over medium heat. Fry each floret, turning occasionally, until golden, a few minutes each side. Sprinkle each floret with additional salt.

Baked Mushroom Caps

Our veggie trimmings add the rainbow of colors to our Thanksgiving table. To me, they are akin to the accessories to an outfit or the flowing curtains and décor to a room, adding another dimension of value to a holiday meal in order to make it complete.

I have developed many tasty recipes for mushroom caps but this particular one is a giant crowd pleaser. I have served them countless times for catering and also for family and friends. Happily, I have received great responses!
The key ingredient is to use prosciutto or lard bread, and these speciality loaves can be found in most Italian gourmet markets.

30 large white mushrooms
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 loaf prosciutto or lard bread
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Flat-leaf parsley

With a damp cloth, wipe mushrooms clean. Remove stems, chop, and set aside. Roughly chop prosciutto bread and place in a food processor. Pulse a few short times, until bread crumbs are coarse.

In a large sauté pan, warm vegetable oil over medium-low heat. Add shallots and cook until translucent. Stir in mushroom stems and garlic and cook until tender. Pour white wine and allow to evaporate as the flavors combine. Add the prosciutto bread crumbs to the skillet. Stir very well, incorporating ingredients and allowing bread crumbs to become lightly moist.

Transfer filling to a shallow dish and allow to cool for ten minutes. Coat a large baking sheet with half the olive oil. Spoon the filling into the mushroom caps and arrange on the baking sheet, cavity side up. Lightly drizzle remaining olive oil over each mushroom. Bake in preheated oven at 375°F for twenty-five minutes, until mushrooms are toasted golden on top. Garnish with parsley.

Camille’s Tip: When buying mushrooms, be sure to check that the stems and caps are attached snugly. This ensures that the mushrooms are fresh

Mascarpone and Roasted Garlic Potato Bake

This month, BRIC Arts Media, an independent television station in Brooklyn, happily launched their fifth channel! As they are growing exponentially, I was glad to participate in their cooking segment called "Hot Potato." I was also pleased to work with a talented producer, Abbey Adkinson.

The recipe we filmed was my mascarpone and roasted garlic potato bake. I have been making my potato bake since I was a teenager. My mother described my grandma Carmela’s original potato pie to me, and I took it from there. The garlic is the major key to making this an exciting and flavorful way to serve a potato dish.

15 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized cubes
1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup milk
1/2 stick butter, plus more melted butter for topping
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella, plus more for topping
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Seasoned bread crumbs

In a small bowl, toss the garlic cloves with the extra virgin olive oil to coat well. Place the garlic in a piece of aluminum foil. Tent the sides of the aluminum foil up into a pouch to close securely. Place the pouch on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for thirty minutes.
Place potatoes in a pot, and add just enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, and lower to simmer for another ten minutes or until potatoes are tender enough for a fork to pass through. Drain the potatoes well in a colander. Return them to the pot and mash them with a potato masher. Add the baked garlic cloves, Parmigiano-Reggiano, mascarpone, milk, butter and parsley. Mix very well. Butter a baking dish or pan, and sprinkle bread crumbs to coat the inside. Spread half the potato mixture evenly in the baking dish. Add a layer of mozzarella. Spread a second layer of the remaining potato mixture. Top with more mozzarella, bread crumbs, parsley and dots of butter. Bake in preheated oven at 350°F for thirty-five minutes.

Camille’s Tip: Never boil your potatoes and refrigerate them ahead of time. This will create a waxy texture.