You can stuff it!

Pork... I'm talking about stuffing Pork! You may stuff whatever you want!

 This dish can be made with any chop you like. It would be just as delicious with a nice double cut Veal Chop, a Chicken Breast (please, on the bone) or perhaps a chicken thigh. We love that meat on the bone! It's always sweeter!

My husband loves Pork Chops! He came home with some beautiful double cut chops from the butcher the other day. They were gorgeous! Breading these beauties was out of the question. However, the idea of stuffing them appealed to me.

I started by making a stuffing using spinach. I sauteed spinach in a pan with 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 1/2 white onion, also chopped and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Once the spinach wilted I let it cool and rough chopped the mixture. To the spinach, onion and garlic I added 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup of shredded  soft Asiago cheese and 1/4 cup of unseasoned breadcrumbs.

Make pockets in each of the chops and filled it with the spinach mixture. Seasoned each chop with salt, pepper and rosemary (on both sides).
Get your pan ready to cook your chops. Let it get hot and add  2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook the chops on med/high heat on each side for about 4-5 minutes. They will release easily when they are ready to turn.
Take the chops out of the pan and place them on a baking sheet and finish them in a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes.

While the chops are finishing make your sauce.

There should still be some of the oil and butter in the pan. Cook some sliced mushrooms and diced pancetta in the pan. When the pancetta is cooked deglaze the pan with whatever wine you have open, no wine, no problem, use some broth, no broth, use some water. Make sure you get all that crispy good stuff from the bottom of the pan. If it needs more liquid add it, and maybe just another little pat of butter. Taste it and season it if it needs more seasoning.
A little fresh chopped parsley and sage adds nice notes to this dish.

I served it on a bed of sauteed broccoli slaw.  It was perfect! It was delicious!  Enjoy!

Buone Appetito!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Pork Chops stuffed 3 ways

Pork Chops and Sauerkraut was never my favorite meal growing up. To this day it hasn't been a favorite in my house, either.  My go to when cooking  Pork Chops  has usually been to cook them with  peppers and onions.

While shopping these chops called to me. They were thick cut and I knew that they would be perfect for stuffing.

The stuffing I used was a mushroom, sausage and spinach stuffing. Truth be told everything used for the stuffing was something that was a "must go" in the refrigerator. "must go" is a euphemism for left overs!

I had some left over mushrooms that I mixed with left over sausage and put it in the food processor and pulsed it a few times. To that mixture I added some grated cheese, a wedge or two of laughing cow cheese, ( I absolutely love this cheese) fresh chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

I made a pocket on the side of the pork chop and first stuffed it with the cooked leftover spinach and then stuffed it some more with the mushroom and sausage mixture.

I then heated up my frying pan getting it nice and hot, added 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of butter and browned the seasoned pork chop (salt and pepper) on each side.

Once they were browned, they were cooked in a 350 preheated oven, on a baking sheet for about 25 minutes more.
While the stuffed pork chops were finishing in the oven I deglazed the frying pan using the juice from the sauerkraut and a little touch of white wine. Then I added the sauerkraut and cooked it a little more.

When the pork chops were cooked through I plated the pork chops right on top of the sauerkraut.
It was absolutely delicious. I could have eaten bowls of the sauerkraut, it was that good.  The pork chop wasn't bad, either! In fact, for something made on the fly, it is one of my favorite pork chop dishes that I have ever made!

Enjoy!
xoxoxo
Buon Appetito
Lorraine

Spaghetti Carbonara

Carbonara is an Italian Pasta dish from Rome that is based on eggs, cheese, bacon (or pancetta) and black pepper.
While these ingredients are few and the dish sounds simple enough this dish has always been difficult for me to make.

Many times I have thrown this into the garbage because the egg mixture became scrambled. While the taste is still there it just doesn't look that appealing. Curdled eggs just don't look good.

The other day while I was making this I decided to try to add some of the hot pasta water to the egg mixture. It's a technique I use while I'm making Avgolemono Soup, a very tasty Greek egg and lemon soup to prevent the eggs from scrambling. I thought if it works with the soup, maybe this will have a chance.
I was extremely happy with the outcome. My dish was perfect! It was creamy, smokey from the bacon and peppery just the way it's supposed to be!
This is a rich hearty dish, full of flavor.
If your looking for a wine to pair with this try a White Wine.  Try an Italian wine from the Roman Hills called Frascati. You'll love the way the wine and the dish compliment each other.

1/4 White Onion thinly sliced
4 slices of Thick Cut Peppered Bacon (Burgers Smokehouse preferred)
Pancetta may also be used in place of the bacon
2 egg yolks
fresh cracked black pepper
salt to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese-freshely grated
1/4 cup pecorino ramano - freshly grated
2 Tablespoons sweet unsalted butter
approximately 1 cup of reserved pasta water
1 pound spaghetti


In a skillet on medium heat cook the onion until transparent. Add the bacon and cook until bacon is cooked and fat is rendered but not crispy. Set aside.

Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Salt the water to taste. Add spaghetti and cook as instructed. Do not over cook.

While spaghetti is cooking beat two egg yolks with a fork and add the cheeses. This will make a very thick paste.  Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

While the spaghetti is cooking, using a ladle remove some of the pasta water and a little at a time add it to the egg mixture. You do not want the eggs to scramble. Keep adding the pasta water until your mixture is loose.

Drain the spaghetti, reserving some of the water.

Add the egg mixture to the spaghetti a little at a time until all is mixed in, toss with the bacon and onions. If too thick add a little more of the pasta water.

Top with some freshly grated cheese and another turn or two from the pepper mill and serve.

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Asparagus Bundles

It's that time of year again, when everyone get's really busy. The Holidays are almost upon us.
I don't know about you, but I am always looking for something a little different to serve as a side on Thanksgiving, or for that matter at anytime!
The other night I made a delicous bundle of asparagus. It was a little bit of an after thought so I didn't have all the perfect ingredients or everything needed so I improvised. Let me tell you, my bundles were great. Sometimes you just make it happen using what you have! Here's what I had...

One roll of pie crust, yes you know which one I'm talking about. It comes in a box, and you keep it in the frig and when you need it you let it come to room temperature and unroll it!
2 bunches of thick asparagus, which I trimmed off the hard bottoms and then using my vegetable peeler, took off the skin on the sides of the asparagus.
3 slices of fresh mozarella cheese
a chunk of smoked gouda
a package of speck

I took two asparagus stalks and wrapped them in the speck. I cut up the cheese and put a piece of each cheese on top of the speck. I cut the pie dough into strips and wraped them up in the crust.
Place the asparagus on parchment paper, drizzle them olive oil and season with salt and pepper, (I had some left over truffle so I shaved some of it on top)
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until the crust gets a little color.

I served these bundles on top of the pasta I made the other night.  These are delicious on their own and will definitely find a way to the table for the holiday!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Ricotta Cheesecake

This is not your normal ricotta cheesecake. It is so smooth you would think that you're actually eating a New York Style Cheesecake! I have no idea where this recipe came from. It was written on an index card in my own hand writing. It's definitely from my single days, I just have no idea from whom I got it.

Ricotta Cheesecake
3 pounds ricotta cheese
8 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest from one orange
zest from one lemon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup of cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a 9 inch springform pan and then dust it with flour.  Using aluminum foil tightly mold the foil around the outside of the pan. Set aside.
In a blender puree the ricotta cheese, until very smooth. Do this in batches.  Add the eggs one at a time while the blender is going.
Take out mixture of ricotta and eggs and pour into a large bowl. Add the sugar, zests, vanilla, and cornstarch making sure all is mixed in well.
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.  Place the pan in a large roasting pan and carefully add hot water to the pan so that it comes to about one inch outside of the springform pan.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours until the top is golden. Insert a knife and if it comes out clean it is done.
Turn the oven off and prop open the door and let the cake rest in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and let rest to room temperature.
You may serve this at room temperature or chilled.
I like to dust the top of the cake with some powdered sugar.

Enjoy!
Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Burrata Cheese

I don't know how many of you are familiar with a cheese known as Burrata. It is such a delicious creamy cheese. It is a ball of mozzarella cheese filled with shreds of mozzarella soaked in cream. Can you imagine? I had been serving it on it's own, at room temperature with just a drizzle of some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, until I had the pleasure of dinning at Il Ristorante di Giorgio Baldi, in Santa Monica, California. If you have the opportunity to dine there, I would highly recommend it.  My meal was absolutely fabulous. We fought over what pastas to order, the truffle or the porcini and ended up ordering it all! We started with an appetizer of Burrata, which was served with some tomatoes on the vine which had been baked with a delicious pesto sauce, and then spooned over the room temperature Burrata cheese.  The aroma,  and the taste is something I cannot even begin to describe.  I wasn't given their recipe and when I got home I tried to recreate what I had been served. Whenever I can, I prepare the Burrata this way, improvising as I go along. My family says "Thank You", as soon as it's on the table before their forks break into these creamy balls of delight! They know what's about to hit their taste buds, and it is out of this world.

Plain tomatoes into a baking dish. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper, chopped garlic, parsley, basil and some olive oil.

Bake the tomatoes until the skin bursts and the tomatoes can be mashed with a fork

Spoon the tomatoes over the Burrata and enjoy!

Buon Appetito
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Easter Pies

My sister and I are starting a new tradition. We are making our Easter Pies on Good Friday. The new part of the tradition is that from now on she will be taking the day off! You cannot start baking at 3 pm on Good Friday! You shouldn't start that late in the day on any given day! We made 3 different pies today. 2  different meat pies, one recipe is simply called Easter Pie ( the recipe is out of the newspaper) , and the other is Pizza Gaina, and is also known as Pizza Rustica. Until recently, I thought that this was one of my mothers recipes. I found out during a phone call to my Zia Josie, that this is not something that was a tradition on my mothers side of the family. It became a tradition while we lived on Daniel Drive in Farmingdale, New York.  I don't recall an Easter growing up that we didn't have these two pies on the table Easter Day! Thanks to "Aunt" Margie and "Aunt" Marie,  I now make these recipes and they have become a tradition in my own family.

Pizza Gaina


Filling
1/2 lb of Prosciutto
1/2 pound Genoa Salami
2 pieces of sweet dry sausage
1 pound basket cheese
1 pound ricotta
1 pound mozzarella
1/2 cup grated cheese ( I used Parmigiano)
12 eggs

Dough
4 cups flour
4 eggs
4 T Crisco
1 t baking powder
1/2 cup warm water

Cut up all your meats into chunks and put them into a bowl large enough for all of your filling ingredients.

Cut up your basket cheese, and mozzarella into chunks and mix with the ricotta cheese. Add the grated cheese and 12 eggs. Mix all together until it is well mixed.

Set this aside and start on your dough.  Mix all the ingredients together and knead. It will be a firm
dough, not sticky.

 Roll out the dough to fit in a large baking pan. It's not an easy dough to work with so keep rolling. Once you have the dough rolled out to the desired size place into your baking pan.

add the meat and cheese filling

usually the recipe calls for encasing the mixture into the dough, but I didn't have enough dough so I didn't do that! I just folded the ends of the dough towards the middle of the pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turn down heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional hour.

Let the pie cool and then slice into small pieces, and enjoy. This can be served warm, or at room temp. It is very rich and very tasty.
Buon Appetito!
I'll be posting our sweet pie tomorrow!
Come back and see me soon!
Ciao!
xoxoxo
Lorraine

Pasta ai quattro formaggi

I love Sundays! It's usually a day where my entire family can be together and break bread.  There is usually a nice spread on the table, a little something something for everyone, if you know what I mean.  My husbands request was for spaghetti and meatballs, but that meant a trip to the store to buy some ingredients that I didn't have. I just wanted to use what I had in the frig.  Cheese! I had lots and lots of cheese. So while I may be calling this Pasta with four cheeses, it has more! It has in it what ever I had left in the cheese drawer!

It's a simple recipe, butter, milk or cream, cheese, and salt and pepper. It really doesn't get any easier. 

While the pasta is cooking, a penne or a rigatoni go great with this sauce , I start by melting 1 stick  (1/4 pound) of butter in a sauce pan, and while melting I added about 4 - 5 ozs of mascapone cheese. If you don't have mascapone, use cream cheese.  I slowly added about 1/2 cup of milk and when it was nice and smooth I tossed in some of the cheese that I had on hand. Tonight I used Gorgonzola, Asiago, Parmigiano Reggiano, Fontinella and Gouda. The Gorgonzola is strong, so use the amount you want to your taste. I don't usually measure, so I would estimate that I used approximately 3- 4 ozs of each cheese. YUM! 

On a low flame, I whisked the mixture until well blended. I do not allow this to come to a boil.  I tossed the pasta with the sauce and served it at once. Delicious!  

My family requested that I make this more often, but with all that butter, cheese and cream I think I'll keep this as a once in a great while dish, and keep it in the special file...

Enjoy! and Buon Appetito!

xoxoxo

Lorraine