Tomato, Mozzarella Bruschetta

Okay, people, I know.  You don't have to tell me.  The last recipe which I posted 2 measly days ago was a tomato, mozzarella, basil recipe, and here I am, giving you another one.  I will remind you that I warned you I would do this.  And in my mind, I had planned on saving this recipe for later, putting a little buffer of other zucchini or squash recipes (as my garden is mass-producing them at the moment), but I couldn't wait.  This stuff is good.

You also don't have to tell me that it doesn't look that pretty, because I know that it doesn't.  I also didn't really get a chance to take a great photo of it all fancy on little toasts (that look like this), so you're not getting the full effect.  However, trust me.  I may have led you astray a time or two before, but stay with me.  This was made with tomatoes from the vine, and basil that had been attached to a plant 2 minutes before it was served.  Tomatoes are in season, so go buy (or better yet, pick) a million and eat them up.

Tomato, mozzarella bruschetta

ingredients

• 2 French baguettes
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling on the bread, plus about 1/4 cup for the tomatoes
• About 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1 pound fresh, firm tomatoes (you can certainly use more and adjust the proportions, as you like)
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese
• 1 can great northern beans, drained
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves

Slice the baguettes on an angle about 1/2 inch thick.  Place on a cookie sheet, and drizzle with olive oil.  Broil in the oven for a few minutes, until golden (my broiler on low took about 4 minutes, so watch carefully to not burn them).

Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan on the stove on medium heat.  Shake the pan every so often until the pine nuts are golden.  Don't let them burn.  Remove from the heat, and let cool.

Dice the tomatoes and cheese to about 1/4 or 1/3 inch cubes.  Drain some of the water from the tomatoes, if necessary (you don't want too much liquid in the mix).  Place them in a large bowl with the beans.  Add up to 1/4 cup olive oil (enough to coat everything without puddling at the bottom), and salt and pepper to taste.  Let  come to room temperature.

Tightly roll the basil, and slice it very thinly.  When ready to serve, add the basil and pine nuts, and stir to incorporate.  Serve on the baguette slices.      

Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms

I have had this dish at least one bagillion times in my life.  I just never really knew that it had a name.  It has been a constant at work lunches, banquets, etc.  It was only recently while I was staying in a Little Italy part of the city for a convention that I learned what the name was.  We wandered into a quaint little Italian market with a restaurant attached, and I looked at the menu.  I was sold at "caper, lemon, butter sauce."  Yes please.

Well, I had to get through the salad and spaghetti first (this place was a legit Italian eatery, let me tell you).  And then came a beautifully golden, thinly-sliced chicken breast topped with capers and mushrooms.  In my mind I said "Eureka!" which is the perfectly normal thing to say in situaitons such as this.  I just spared my dinner guest the inevitable awkwardness of my running through the streets naked yelling it, as legend says it originally was.

I have removed the breading from the version I had, thinking that a pan-seared chicken breast has a better consistency to it, and a little less weight to it.  Cooking the capers in the oil first distributes their distinctive taste throughout the entire dish, giving it a little more briny kick.

Chicken Piccata with Mushrooms

• 4 thinly-sliced chicken breasts (or 2 breasts, butterfly-cut in half)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• juice of 1 lemon
• zest of one lemon
• 2/3 cup chicken stock
• about 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Parmesan cheese, to garnish
• salt and pepper

Place the chicken breasts between sheets of aluminum foil and pound with a mallet until evenly thin throughout.  Salt and pepper both sides generously.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Add the capers and stir for about 2 minutes.  You don't want them mushy--just a little seared.  Remove the capers, retaining as much of the oil as you can.

To the same pan, add the butter.  When melted, add the chicken breasts (you can do 2 at a time: don't crowd the pan).  Sear until golden brown on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side.  Remove, and keep close.  Retain as much butter and oil in the pan as possible.

To the drippings and butter in the pan, add the garlic and saute for about a minute.  Then add the lemon juice, zest, and chicken broth.  Let simmer for a few minutes, until reduced by about a third.  Add back the capers, as well as the mushrooms and parsley.  Stir until the mushrooms are slightly soft.  Place the chicken breasts back in the pan, and spoon over the sauce for a minute or two, until heated through. 

Serve on top of your favorite pasta with Parmesan cheese. 

Caramelized Cipollini Onions

I know people who say that they don't like onions. I don't understand this philosophy. I mean, let's be serious here, I'm not going to just go eat a great big Vidalia like an apple anytime soon, but can you make such a sweeping, general statement? Do you really want to banish onions from cooking entirely? Onions are in just about everything, people. Let's open our minds. Wikipedia states that evidences of onion use can be found dating back to 5000 BC. Are you gonna' fight with 7000 years of human culture? I thought not.

More often than not, people say it's the texture of the onions that they don't like. I think that's where cipollini onions can help us. These are not regular onions, people. They caramelize beautifully with a soft texture, they're sweet without the strong bite of other onions, and frankly, they look really cool. However, they are nasty little buggers to peel, so they're not quite perfect. But they're probably pretty close.

I love them, and I'm pretty sure that you will, too (yes you, the onion-hating people who are reading this who know who you are). I was cooking a few of these up the other day for some people who had ever heard of this concept before, and they just kind of looked at the pan and asked, "Are those onions?" Yes, they are. "Do we just eat them whole?" Yes, you do. Oh boy, do you.

Caramelized Cipollini Onions

• 1 pound cipollini onions, peeled and hard roots carefully cut off, leaving as much onion as possible
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• About 1/4 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2-3 large basil leaves, thinly sliced.

In a heavy-bottomed skillet, eat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and stir frequently until browned, a few minutes on each side. Don't overcook, or they'll get kind of mushy, and that's a shame.

Remove the onions from the pan, and keep them close. Add the beef stock and vinegar, and stir, deglaze the bottom of the pan as much as possible. If there are any browned bits on the pan, dissolve them back into the liquid, because you don't want any of that sweet, oniony goodness to go to waste. When the liquid has reduced by about half, add the onions back, allowing them to reheat. Top with salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese, and basil.

Guest Post:: Caponata (Tomato and Bread Salad)

Thanks to SHeil for this dish, straight from her authentically Italian grandmother's garden.

This is a central Italian bread and tomato salad. It is a great way to turn fresh tomatoes from the garden into a quick, healthy, delicious lunch. There are many different regional versions of the caponata, but this is the 'correct' one, according to my grandmother, who lives in Salerno (which is in the second wrinkle in the ankle of the boot). This recipe may look long at first, but once you know how much seasoning goes into the tomatoes, it's really very quick and simple: seasoned tomatoes and crunchy bread cubes. If you have been storing the tomatoes in your fridge, shame on you. You've created nasty, inedible, bitter things, only good for sauce, BUT you can redeem yourself SLIGHTLY by leaving them on the windowsill for a few hours before you use them.

I hate to say the best bread for this salad is made only in Italy, but it's true. However, you can cheat relatively well with a good baguette, or other fresh, hearty loaf of crusty bread. For this recipe, I used half a baguette I had in the bread bin, and it was very good. When you season and toast the bread they will look like giant croutons, but making them yourself is essential. You can make them ahead of time and store them, but they only take about 10 minutes to cut and bake, so it really doesn't matter, and fresh will be better.

The ingredients are all rough estimations as this is not a picky recipe. You really just need even proportions of bread and tomatoes; you can use according to taste. Use a little more or less of some things, according to your taste. Just don't skimp on the olive oil, you're skinny enough. Trust me.


Caponata

You'll need:

• several ripe tomatoes (4 big/6 medium should do)
• half a baguette
• 1/3 cup relatively good extra virgin olive oil, plus a little more for drizzling
• a medium handful of FRESH basil, torn into little pieces
• a large clove FRESH garlic
• sea/kosher salt (about 1.5 Tbsp) *Kosher/sea salt is WAY better, but regular salt will not kill you in a pinch. It's just not nearly as good, and you'll have to live with that.
• a little pepper
  

for the tomatoes

Get a medium mixing bowl. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the bowl. Less seeds are better, so leave that seedy juice puddle on the board, but you don't have to be obsessive about removing every seed from the tomatoes. Pour the oil over the tomatoes, about 1/3 c,
enough to generously drizzle over the whole pile.

Salt the tomatoes generously (about 1.5 T, enough to shake evenly and lightly over the whole
bowl--you should be able to see salt, but the tomatoes should not be drowning in it). Tear up your handful of basil (you can chop, but tearing releases the flavor better) and add that to the bowl. Finely mince the garlic clove (I just use a garlic press right in the bowl) and add that to
the bowl. Add around 5 twists of the pepper grinder-you'll want enough to very lightly coat the tomatoes. Toss everything together.

At this point smell the bowl. Yes, smell it. It should smell really fantastic, like a good Italian restaurant, or your Italian grandmother's kitchen, and you should be able to smell the tomatoes, basil, salt, and oil about the same amount. If all you are smelling is tomatoes, add more basil. If it smells fruity, add a little more salt. If there is not a little puddle of oil under the tomatoes (or there are not drops of oil in the juice under the tomatoes), add a little more oil (the tomatoes should glisten). Then, taste a piece. It should taste very slightly salty, because you have to
add seasoning for the bread you'll add later. If it tastes really salty, add more tomato. Again, this is not a picky recipe, adjust to your tastes. It should be tasty all by itself, albeit a little salty, at this point.

for the bread

Slice the baguette half into 1-inch wide slices, then cut the slices into cubes about 1-1.5 inches wide. Dump them all on a cookie sheet, spray them lightly with olive oil, and put them in the
oven at around 400 degrees F. The point is to get them very lightly golden, but crunchy throughout. Crunchy is the important part. You do not want crunchy outside, squishy inside. The whole cube must be crunchy. Seriously. Watch them, as this will not take long, and flip them when the tops become golden, so that most sides have a chance to become golden.

assembly

Simply toss the bread cubes with the tomato/herb mixture. The key is to not toss them together until the very last moment before serving, or the bread will become soggy and unappetizing. The bread should absorb the tomato juice in the bottom of the mixing bowl and be a happy medium between crunchy and chewy.

If your bread is very crunchy, and you do not like the texture, simply dip your bread cubes VERY quickly in water right before adding them to the bowl of tomatoes, again making sure to do this right before serving. You should only have to do this with either really dry tomatoes, or really dense, grainy bread.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare! (the italian equivalent of bon appetito!, literally means "everyone to table to eat!", or "let's eat!")

Insalata Caprese Crostini (aka, Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil on Toast)

I realize I have a very similar recipe on the site already, but it's summer and the tomatoes are straight from heaven (via the dirt of North Carolina's local farms), and I can never get enough fresh mozzarella (especially when it comes from the farmer's market, and you're kind of scared of touching it because it's so soft and creamy), and this one has bread involved, which is amazing, so it's different. I don't care.

At the farmer's market, Hollywood just got a grab bag of different varieties of tomatoes, so I have no idea what kinds we actually ended up using, but having a slightly different color and flavor on each slice was kind of fun. Whatever kind you use, make sure it's ripe and fresh and divine, and you'll be fine.

Some people would have put balsamic vinegar on this dish. I'm told that such is horribly inauthentic (I personally don't care a thing about authenticity), but I really think it isn't needed. The simplicity of this dish really brings out the freshness and quality of the ingredients, so a super-strong flavor like that would be too much, I think.

Insalata Caprese Crostini (aka, Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil on Toast)

for the crostini

• 1 fresh, French baguette, sliced about 1/2 inch thick on the diagonal
• extra virgin olive oil

for the salad

• Fresh, ripe, firm, amazing tomatoes
• Fresh mozzarella
  
• Fresh basil leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Heat the oven on broil. Arrange the bread slices on a cookie sheet, and brush the tops with olive oil. Broil for a few minutes (maybe 3 -5, depending on your oven), until the tops are golden and crispy, but the interior is still soft.

Cut the tomatoes in half, then slice them into half-circles. Cut the mozzarella into similarly-shaped and -sized pieces. Top the bread with the tomato and cheese, then drizzle some more olive oil over top. Salt and pepper to taste.

Top each slice with the basil, and serve immediately (don't let them get soggy--the texture is half the fun).

Pasta with Tomato Mascarpone Sauce

I've got a confession, and most people are shocked when the hear it. I really don't like pasta all that much. I mean, the concept of pasta is fine, but it seems like anytime you go to an Italian restaurant, you just end up with a big homogeneous bowl of pasta and sauce. Every bite is exactly the same. Who likes dinner to be homogeneous?

I've made this argument several times to several people, and once my sister tried to explain to someone else my position. She said, "He doesn't like pasta, because it's too monogamous." When I tried to explain to her that 'homogeneous' and 'monogamous' were in fact, two very different words, she stated, "Well, they both mean 'the same,' don't they?" Who can fight with logic like that?

However, there are a few sauces of which I wouldn't mind a big ole' bowl of homogeneity. I first tasted a tomato mascarpone sauce from a little food delivery service my parents have (seriously, it started as a milkman delivering 2 gallons a week, and now he brings produce, and baked goods, and ridiculously good pasta sauce). Then I had another shot at it at a quirky little cafe in a bookstore in Washington DC over lobster and asparagus ravioli (more on that later). I decided to give it a go.

The end result was not exactly like what I had before, but was quite good. Feel free to experiment and comment.



Pasta with Tomato Mascarpone Sauce

• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 large, ripe Roma tomatoes, diced
• about 1 cup chicken broth
• 3-4 large, fresh basil leaves, sliced thin, plus additional for garnishing
  
• about 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 pound dry pasta (I used fusilli, because I like how it holds the sauce, but you could use just about anything)

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the shallot and garlic, and stir until soft but not yet browned. Add the diced tomatoes, and saute for a few minutes. Add the chicken broth and basil, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the tomatoes are very soft, about 25-30 minutes. Add more broth if it reduces too much.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Rinse, and keep warm.

When the tomatoes have finished simmering, add the mascarpone and stir until melted and mixed well throughout. Season with salt and pepper to taste (it will probably require a good bit of salt).

Top the pasta with the warm sauce and additional sliced, fresh basil.

Tortellini in Asparagus Cream Sauce

This recipe comes from my sister, who was trying to find a way to sneak a few more green vegetables into the diet (she being the domestic goddess that she is, keeping her lovely home with her adorable baby). I've edited just a little bit, and frankly, I quite like the result.


Honestly, this sauce would work just as well on any type of pasta (I think the aforementioned sister uses cheese ravioli). I know what some of you will say when you read the ingredient list and see half-and-half instead of heavy cream. Just hold on there, folks. Remember, this was an attempt to be more healthy and eat more vegetables. You can use heavy cream if you want (and I bet it would be good), but that would kind of defeat my purpose.



Tortellini in Asparagus Cream Sauce

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, hard stems discarded
• 1/2 large, sweet onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• A few tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  
• 1.5 pounds dry tortellini
  
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450-degrees. Cut off the tips of asparagus and set aside. Place the asparagus, onion (sections separated), and garlic in a roasting pan. Drizzle some olive oil over them, and toss to coat well. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until slightly charred and well-cooked (the time may vary depending on the thickness of the asparagus: mine were very thin).

Bring a pot of salted water to boil on the stove for the pasta. When the vegetables are done, throw in the pasta to cook for the recommended time (usually about 10-12 minutes).

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. Add the vegetables and saute for a few minutes, until soft. Add the half-and-half and bring to a simmer, then reduce heat. Using an immersion blender, puree the vegetable and cream mixture until very smooth (the asparagus can be kind of stringy, so make sure you've done a good job). Add the lemon juice and Parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste (it may take a lot).

Add in the asparagus tips and simmer for just a minute until slightly soft. Drain the pasta, and using the larger of the two pots you've used, mix the pasta and sauce together until heated. Serve with more Parmesan if needed.

Tomatoes with Fresh Mozzarella

While this is not nearly as much of a "recipe" as some posts on this blog, this colorful plate certainly does pack some punch when it comes to presentation. The simplicity of the flavor, color, and presentation really make this kind of a standout dish, and it so simple. The secret is all really in the quality of the ingredients: without fancy sauces or anything to hide behind, the quality of the tomatoes and cheese shines right on through. Go ahead and splurge a little on this one at the farmer's market or a high-end grocery store. You'll be happy you did.

It's great by itself, or you can serve it with some toasted bread drizzled with a little olive oil.


Tomatoes with Fresh Mozzarella

Ingredients

• Fresh, slightly firm tomatoes
• Fresh mozzarella (yes, it has to be fresh: there's a difference)
• Fresh basil leaves
• Extra-virgin olive oil
  
• Salt and pepper

Optional

• Toasted pine nuts
• Roasted red peppers
• Balsamic vinegar

(If you're using pine nuts: toast the nuts by placing them in a flat-bottomed pan over medium heat. Shake the pan regularly to mix them around, being very careful to not let them burn. Continue for a few minutes until both sides are golden brown. Remove from heat.)

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella into me dium, even-sized slices. Layer alternately on a platter (if you're using red peppers, too, layer them in as well). Drizzle with the olive oil (and vinegar), then top with torn/chopped basil leaves (and pine nuts).