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Reader Recipe: Italian-Style Pasta Salad

YumSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:13:31 -0700

I was checking out the Kitchen Goddess group when I came across this salad from Bettyesque. I'm on a bit of a ridiculous olive kick at the moment, and the green and black olives - combined with all the yummy stuff like artichoke hearts and sopressata - just sounded so divine. To check out her original recipe for an Italian-style pasta salad, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member Bettyesque.

Italian Pasta Salad
Original Recipe

It's a stretch from a down-home cookout, but I'm not all that country yet so this is what I bring... We are off to cookout this evening and a I just made this so I figured that I would share.

Ingredients

2 lbs. of tri-colored pasta
12 oz. of chopped black olives
16 oz. of green olives
6 oz. of marinated pimentos
6 oz. of marinated artichoke hearts - chopped
1 stick of sopressata - sliced
1 stick of pepperoni - sliced
1/2 lb of fresh mozzarella or provolone depending on your taste - cubes or balls
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of vinegar balsamic or regular
Italian seasonings to taste
fresh garlic to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Real simple sugars boil your pasta . . . to al dente . . . drain . . . and put in large bowl.

Throw everything above in there . . . mix and your done.

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Monday's Leftovers: Italian Sausage & Tomato Pasta

YumSugar — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 07:50:32 -0700

I got a little carried away at the grocery store this weekend, and as a result, I've got way too much Italian sausage left over in my fridge. So tonight, I'm going to assemble a quick pasta toss that makes the most of Italian sausage's fat and flavor without going overboard on the cased meats.

Since those links carry lots of zing, the key is to keep the rest of the ingredients sparse and simple. I'll add cooked tomatoes, red onion, and arugula to make it a balanced supper, and tie in all the elements with sprigs of basil and finely-grated Parmesan cheese. Presto: it's an alluring Monday night meal

Sunday BBQ: Italian Sausage Kebabs

YumSugar — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:00:09 -0700

This weekend might be a sunny one, and since I don't have any major plans, I'm thinking of inviting some high school friends over for an ultra-chill dinner. It's so casual that I'm not exactly positive what I'll be serving yet, but one thing's for sure: I'll definitely be grilling some of these skewers. They're goofproof to make, portable, and contain the perfect ratio of crunchy, charred bell pepper to spiced, succulent pork sausage and sautéed spinach. They take a mere 15 minutes to cook through, so get your hands on the recipe after the jump

Fast & Easy Dinner: Gnocchi With Chard and White Beans

partysugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:50:38 -0700

If you think gnocchi is a dish that can only be enjoyed in restaurants, think again! These days most grocery stores offer packaged gnocchi in the fresh or regular pasta sections. Why not make this staple a part of your busy-cook pantry? Then when you're in the mood for a comforting Italian-style meal, make this dish! The gnocchi is combined with hearty chard, stewed tomatoes, and white beans. The recipe calls for a topping of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, but if you are trying to eat healthy, simply omit them. Sound delish? Wait till you read the recipe.

Not Your Regular Nachos: Italian Nachos

partysugar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:40:19 -0700

Let me just say that taking a gorgeous, appetizing picture of nachos is hard. The image certainly does not do these amazingly delicious Italian nachos justice. They were so good that I ate an insane amount all by myself. What exactly are Italian nachos? A creation I invented based on a little web research. I took elements from several recipes to make my own version.

First I fried pieces of tomato basil tortillas. Next I made an Alfredo sauce and heated up finely chopped Italian sausage. The chips were seasoned with salt and dried oregano before being topped with the sauce, sausage, and a heavy sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. The whole thing was topped with a tomato, sun-dried tomato, black olive, and pepperoncini salsa. The final result was to die for.

For more details on how I made them, read more.

Italian Nachos
Modified from Joe Buona's Pizzeria and Wikipedia

Ingredients

For Alfredo sauce:
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tbs. unsalted butter
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh-ground black pepper
pinch of fresh-ground nutmeg
For nachos
oil, for frying
2 tomato basil tortillas sliced into triangular pieces
dried, crushed oregano
salt
1 Italian sausage, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese (don't use fresh mozzarella, it will make the chips soggy)
2 tablespoons finely chopped tomato
2 tablespoons finely chopped black olives
1 tablespoon finely chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon finely chopped peppercini
red pepper flakes, optional for serving

Directions

Make the chips: heat the oil in a large pot over high heat. When smoking add the tortilla wedges and fry for 30 seconds on each side until crisp and golden brown. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with dried oregano and salt. Repeat, working in small batches, until all the tortillas are fried.

Make the Alfredo sauce: combine cream and butter in a saute pan. Heat over a low flame, stirring frequently, until the butter is melted and the cream comes to a bare simmer. Remove the pan from the heat once the butter is evenly incorporated into the cream.
Add the cheese, the salt, the nutmeg, and several grinds of the pepper mill. Cover set aside.
Meanwhile heat 1 teaspoon oil in a saute pan over medium low heat. Add the sausage and cook until crisp, browned, and heated through.
Preheat the oven to 375°.
Make the salsa: combine the tomato, sun dried tomatoes, black olives, and peppercini in a small bowl.

Place the chips on a cookie sheet covered with foil.
Drizzle with Alfredo sauce and top with cooked sausage. Cover with mozzarella and drizzle with more sauce.

Bake in the oven for 4 minutes until the cheese is melted. Turn the broiler on and broil until the chips are crisp and the cheese is bubbling.
Remove from oven and top with salsa. Serve immediately with red pepper flakes for sprinkling if desired.

Serves 1.

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Come Party With Me: Italian Christmas Eve - Menu

partysugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:00:21 -0800

On Christmas Eve it's customary for Italians to consume seafood for dinner; they enjoy course after course of rich fish items. Although my family has Irish origins, I thought it would be fun to plan an Italian-style Christmas Eve - this year we'll be eating seven delicious seafood dishes. To get the party started we'll have raw oysters and cold, marinated anchovies waiting for the guests. Once a group has arrived, the hot appetizers will be set out. Spicy seared scallops are a delightful bite and slices of clam pizza are crisp and salty.

At the dining table a tuna and white bean salad will be served, followed by a silky shrimp bisque. The meal finishes with a velvety lobster pasta with cream sauce. Doesn't it sound to die for? Look at these recipes when you read more.

Spicy Seared Scallops
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

24 sea scallops (about 1 1/2 pounds), halved
Olive-oil cooking spray
For the seasoning:
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or more to taste
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
For the Garnish:
One 12-inch-long daikon radish, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
5 romaine lettuce leaves, very thinly sliced

Directions

Combine flour, cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, salt, and cardamom in a small bowl. Dip each halved scallop into the flour mixture to coat; set aside.
Place daikon rounds on serving platter. Top each with shredded lettuce; set aside.
Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat with olive-oil spray, add coated scallops, and sear until light golden brown and cooked through, about 1 minute per side.
Transfer each seared scallop half to a daikon round. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 48.

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White Clam Pizza
From Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine

Ingredients

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
Salt
1/3 cup flour, for dusting
Two 16-ounce packages refrigerated pizza dough
Two 1-pound containers frozen chopped clams, thawed and drained (about 2 1/2 cups)
4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Pepper

Directions

Position a rack in the bottom of the oven, place an inverted baking sheet on top and preheat to 500°.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic and 2 pinches salt.
Lightly flour a baking sheet, place 1 piece of pizza dough on top and stretch to fit the dimensions of the baking sheet.
Drizzle 2 1/2 tablespoons garlic oil on top. Sprinkle half of the clams on top and season with 2 teaspoons Parmesan, 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme and salt and pepper.
Set the baking sheet on the hot baking sheet in the oven. Bake until crisp and golden, about 20 minutes. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make another pizza.

Serves 4.

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Tuna and White Bean Salad
From Food and Wine

Ingredients

2 6-ounce cans tuna packed in oil
3 cups drained and rinsed canned white beans, preferably cannellini (from two 15-ounce cans)
1 red onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon drained capers
2 bunches watercress (about 3/4 pound), tough stems removed and leaves chopped (about 2 quarts)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red- or white-wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Directions
Put the tuna with its oil, the beans, onion, capers, watercress, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Toss gently to combine.

Serves 4.

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Shrimp Bisque
From Ina Garten

Ingredients

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, shells reserved
4 cups seafood stock
3 tablespoons good olive oil
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (3 leeks)
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (3 cloves)
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the shrimp shells and seafood stock in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain and reserve the stock. Add enough water to make 3 3/4 cups.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the leeks and cook them for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, or until the leeks are tender but not browned.
Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute. Add the cayenne pepper and shrimp and cook over medium to low heat for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the Cognac and cook for 1 minute, then the sherry and cook for 3 minutes longer.
Transfer the shrimp and leeks to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until coarsely pureed.
In the same pot, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium-low heat for 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the half-and-half and cook, stirring with a whisk, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the pureed shrimp, the stock, tomato paste, salt, and pepper and heat gently until hot but not boiling. Season, to taste, and serve hot.

Serves 4-6.

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Lobster Pasta With Herbed Cream Sauce
From Bon Appétit

Ingredients

3 1 3/4-pound live lobsters
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 large plum tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 fresh tarragon sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
6 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 pounds fettuccine or linguine

Directions

Bring very large pot of salted water to boil. Add lobsters. Boil until cooked through, about 12 minutes (or cook in batches, if necessary).
Using tongs, transfer lobsters to large rimmed baking sheet. Remove meat from tail and claws; place meat in medium bowl. Remove any roe from bodies and place in small bowl. Cover and chill meat and roe (if any). Remove tomalley (green matter) from bodies and discard. Reserve bodies and shells.
Heat oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Add reserved lobster bodies and shells. Sauté 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add tomato paste; stir 3 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes, wine, vinegar, garlic, tarragon, thyme, and parsley. Add cream; boil 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer just until lobster flavor infuses cream, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
Strain sauce into large bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard contents of strainer. (Lobster and sauce can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)
Transfer sauce to heavy large saucepan. Cut lobster meat into bite-size pieces; coarsely crumble roe, if using. Add to sauce. Gently rewarm over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain; return pasta to pot. Add sauce; toss over medium-high heat until sauce coats pasta, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to large shallow bowl and serve.

Serves 10.

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Come Party With Me: Italian Christmas Eve - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:30:22 -0800

For an Italian-style seafood dinner on Christmas Eve, plan on pouring Italian wines and an Italian cocktail called sgroppino. This icy concoction is made with vodka, Prosecco, and lemon sorbet. The recipe serves 2, but it's easily alterable to make a large batch.

Purchase extra Prosecco for those who prefer a glass of bubbly solo.

With the feast of seven fishes offer guests a Tuscan white like Vernaccia, and a light, fruity red like Sangiovese. To look at the cocktail recipe, read more.

Sgroppino
Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

1 cup chilled Prosecco (Italian sparkling white wine)
2 tablespoons chilled vodka
1/3 cup frozen lemon sorbet
1/4 teaspoon chopped fresh mint leaves

Directions

Pour the Prosecco and vodka into two champagne flutes, dividing equally.
Spoon a scoop of sorbet into each flute. Sprinkle with mint and serve immediately.

Makes 2 drinks.

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Say Cheese! Fresh Mozzarella, Italian Sausage Calzones

partysugar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:26:33 -0700

Mozzarella is a widely known, mild Italian cheese that's made from a pulling, stretching, and cutting technique. At one time, all mozzarella was made from water buffalo milk, but now it's commonly made with cow's milk. Fresh mozzarella is packaged in water or whey and has a soft texture and delicate flavor. It's delicious alone, in a salad (like caprese) or melted. To find out how I used my fresh mozzarella boconccini, read more.

My first thought was to make a classic pizza margherita, but since I've never experimented with calzones, I decided to tuck the chunks of mozzarella into a pizza pocket.

This recipe is straightforward and can easily be adapted to your culinary specifications. That being said, I followed the recipe exactly, and it was wonderful! The combination of fragrant sausage, garlicky pesto, sweet peppers, and oozing cheese is utterly sublime. I made the components (roasted garlic, spicy tomato sauce, and pesto) from scratch, but feel free to take help from the supermarket.

Fresh Mozzarella, Italian Sausage Calzones
From Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients

1 ball of basic pizza dough (enough dough for 1 pizza)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and white pepper
1/2 cup thick pesto
1/2 cup roasted garlic
1 cup diced Italian sausage, cooked
1 red pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and julienned
2 tablespoons chiffonade of basil
4 (1/2-inch) slices of fresh Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 cup spicy tomato sauce, hot

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Place the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough out to form a 12-inch circle.
Spread the pesto over one half of the dough. Layer the garlic, sausage, peppers, and basil, alternately over the pesto.
Lay the Mozzarella and parmesan cheese over the basil. Fold the other side of the dough over the filling and pinch the edges to seal the calzone.
Make three slashes across the top of the calzone. Place the calzone on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the calzone with the egg wash.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Spoon the sauce in the center of the plate. Slice the calzone in half and place in the center of the sauce. Alternately, spoon the sauce into a bowl and serve with the calzone.

Serves 2.

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Keep 'Em Guessing With Complex Flavors of Tonnato Sauce

YumSugar — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:30:02 -0700

Two weekends ago, I joined a friend at a potluck dinner organized by Slow Food San Francisco. While I do support the movement's good, clean, and fair principles, I also realized I'd probably be dining amongst a fair share of victory garden-sowing, microwave-loathing culinary crusaders. Eager to please the environmentally aware diners at the potluck, I decided to bring a wholesome spread of unadulterated vegetables fresh from that morning's farmers market, served alongside a rustic Italian tuna sauce.

Flash-forward to dinner - I'd returned to the serving table for seconds after filling my plate with a few too many vegan farro and quinoa courses the first time around. As I reached for my tonnato and vegetables, and the guy next to me in line interrupted. "Have you tried that? I can't figure out what it is, but it is absolutely delicious. And have you ever seen a purple carrot before?!" I blushed, explained what went into the tonnato, and considered my mission to impress Slow Foodies accomplished. See the crowd-pleasing recipe.

Happy Hour: Italian Fruit Punch

partysugar — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:00:19 -0800

Last week, while at my parents house, I was watching an old episode of Everyday Italian when my mom turned to me and said, "Let's make that cocktail!" With its vibrant color it looked amazing, so we sent my dad to the store to pick up the ingredients. The recipe calls for maraschino liqueur, a spirit that's pretty difficult to find.

The next best substitute, according to the alcohol specialist at G&G Market, is kirschwasser. Although it didn't have the bright orange hue, the cocktail was spectacular: not too sweet with a hint of fizz.

Limoncello is an unexpected flavor that makes the drink tart. The recipe makes enough for six cocktails, so it's perfect for entertaining. To look at Giada's recipe, read more.

Italian Fruit Punch
From Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

2 cups orange juice
2 cups chilled sparkling water
1/2 cup maraschino liqueur
1/4 cup limoncello
Ice

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher. Stir to mix. Pour into glasses and enjoy.
Makes about 6 cocktails.

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