Today, Ford Motor Company selected Hansen's Cakes to participate in the last leg of their National Media Event, promoting the new Ford Transit Van. We spent the day entertaining 46 members of the press (National & local,) fielding their questions about the history of Hansen's, what we do, where we deliver, etc...and telling them what we personally like about the new van that Ford presented.
We liked the Ford Transit so much, we made a cake to honor it. Ford liked the cake so much, they borrowed it for their End-of-Event-event tonight. All's well that ends well. . Now let's see if we get a free van...?!?
Now, we don't want you to think we were only creating that one van cake this week; here are a few highlights of some of the other cakes we're working on!
Oh guys, it's taking every ounce of strength in me to not turn this post into a sob story about the best summer ever coming to a close, but I will keep my strength. It is difficult and a little painful. Same goes for these cookies--Baci di Dama. Baci di Dama is italian for "lady's kisses," how apt. Though, let's get real: they look a little bit like poops. Haha sorry, sorry...is anyone still reading this? Whatever, let's just think of them as the cookie sisters to Hershey's kisses. Unfortunately, the baked incarnation of this phrase is far more tedious and frustrating than actual lady's kisses, but what can you do.
Traditionally, Baci di Dama are made with hazelnuts I believe, but this recipe uses almonds. Once again I used almond meal instead of almonds that I ground up myself, and this time I think I should have ground them myself. The dough was a little too thick, which in part might have been because of how I whipped the egg whites, but also because the almond meal I was using is rather coarse.
Here's a question for all you meringue pros: after whipping the egg whites to stiff, glossy peaks, whenever I add the sugar, the mixture gets very sticky, heavy, and gunky. And as a result, I think my cookies aren't as light and airy as they could be. Remember the Hazelnut Cookies of yore? Same problem. I'd love any advice you guys have to give! Granted, this recipe does specifically state that the batter should be thick and sticky, but I still think I could get the cookies to be a tad lighter in the end.
Alright, so after you make the dough, you pipe it out into a bunch of kisses onto your cookie sheet and baked them. Tedious tedious tedious. But not so bad. Here's the bigger issue: Martha tells you to make the kisses have a little mound, or peak, at the top (like a Hershey's kiss, sorta), but that makes the whole procedure that follows quite difficult. You see, you make this ganache and are supposed to sandwich it between two cookies, but with the peaks--kisses, if you will--it becomes nearly impossible to stand them up in a way that will let the ganache set. If you lay them sideways, the top cookie slides off and the ganache oozes everywhere into a mess. So I tried to wedge the peaks of the cookies between the grates on my cooling rack, but it still sucked. And plus, the ganache really refuses to set unless you refrigerate the cookies, which doesn't really help their texture much in the long run. Not impressed, Martha.
So I managed to make a million or so of these cookies and only had three mental breakdowns in the process. I wouldn't really mind though if the cookies were totally delicious in the end, but they weren't. They just tasted "meh." I'm sure you can buy some really fantastic Baci di Dama in Little Italy or at some Italian bakery somewhere, but this recipe isn't worth all the effort it requires.
I'll just tell it to you straight: I wouldn't recommend making these cookies. They don't really look that gorgeous when complete (even in the picture in the book), they don't really taste that great, and therefore they aren't really worth spending an entire afternoon swearing and sweating. Just hand out some real kisses instead--they'll be appreciated more, by both the receiver and the giver.
xoxo
Baci di Dama
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen (but I got way way more)
Ingredients
Cookies
2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Make cookies: Place egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high until egg whites form stiff peaks. Add the sugar slowly; continue beating until egg whites are very thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in cocoa until combined. Stir in almonds; mix until completely blended. Batter should be quite thick and sticky.
Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe teaspoon-size, peaked mounds onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Bake until slightly cracked, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets several minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Making filling: In a small bowl, combine shortening and melted chocolate. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate onto flat side of cookie; place another cookie on top. Press together gently so chocolate oozes out slightly. Return cookie to wire rack to set; repeat with remaining cookies. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.
****
{End Results} Baking Difficultly: 4.5/5 Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5 Tastiness: 2/5 Attractiveness: 3/5 Is it worth it?: No.
{Pairings}
Drink: I think these would go nicely with an espresso, something small to go with their size.
Here is my son's 21st birthday cake. He requested Nigella's Guiness Chocolate Cake, which is a firm favourite with both of my sons. It is in her book 'Feast' and uses a whole pack of butter, a tub of sour cream and about 400g of sugar - yep, heart attack on a plate. The icing is cream cheese and double cream, oh boy is it good.
I got this recipe from the Recipe Card Swap on Bubblyfunk Forum It is a lovely colour and tastes very nice, it would have been nicer had I used the butter and cream that was recommended but I stuck to a little oil and some milk as I am trying not to eat too much fat at the moment, still put in the sherry though lol. Mind you, I HAD to have doughnut today as it was someone's birthday and we always have 'buns' on birthdays - it wouldn't have been polite to refuse now would it? hee hee hee.
Serves 4 1 onion, chopped 25g butter 450g carrots peeled and sliced 1 potato, diced 750mil chicken stock pinch ground ginger pinch ground cinnamon salt and pepper to taste 150ml single cream 2tbsp dry sherry (optional) chopped parsley, to garnish
1. Ina heavy based saucepan, melt the butter then fry the onion gently until soft but not browned. 2. Add the sliced carrots and diced potato, stirring until well coated with butter. 3. Add the stock, spieces and seaonsing to the pan 4. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes 5. put the soup into a blender of food processor and blend until smooth. 6. Return the soup to the pan, then stir in the cream and sherry and heat through without boiling. Serve sprinkled with parsley. You can prepare ahead and freeze it after step 5.
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Title: the Wisor Trio does Ease down the road by Bonnie Prince Billy
We performed at the Carrot Arts Community Cafe- this is one of the songs we did... thanks, mr. oldham. filmed by the spectacular Lisa Swaren!
Title: Chef Merlin: Coq Au Vin
This episode is the first of three episodes that I have produced that focus on French Cuisine.
In this episode, I show how to make Coq Au Vin. Actually, what I made is a little closer to Coq Au Vin Jaune as I used Dry Cooking Sherry in the place of Red Wine. Sherry is a fortified wine, which has similar aroma and taste to a yellow wine. If you plan on making Coq Au Vin, I suggest you use Red Wine to make real Coq Au Vin... unless Sherry is all you have (it is good... just not real Coq Au Vin). Here are the ingredients that you will need:
Half an onion (Diced)
1 Clove of Garlic (diced)
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Sliced Carrot
1 Cup of Sliced Mushrooms
1 Tbs. Flour
Parsley
Bay Leaf (diced)
Thyme
Salt and Pepper
2 Cups of Red Wine
*Serves two*
Check out my other videos in this series: Sauceless French Bread Pizza and Ratatouille.
****************************************
I am a firm believer in the principle that "anyone can cook," and invite viewers from all backgrounds and all levels of cooking experience to join me in creating some nice meals. Feel free to make changes to my recipes as you see fit.
I hope you will subscribe to my videos and share with me your experiences with my recipes, including changes you make.
Everyone knows that Friday is fish day for Catholics (even for some lapsed Catholics like myself). A traditional Friday dish in Rome is baccala' e ceci, salted cod fish with chick peas. (I love fried baccala', and there was a well-known place on via dei Giubbonari, close to our apartment, called Filetti di Baccala' that I loved to go to--whenever I could convince my fish-shy significant other.) Anyway, I still make baccala' from time to time and on a recent Friday I decided to try my hand at baccala' e ceci, which I had never made before. The recipe is actually very simple: you cut pre-soaked baccala (see note below) into fillets, dip them in a simple batter of water and flour (I added a bit of olive oil) and fry them until golden brown.
You serve these fried fillets over a bed of chickpeas stewed in oil seasoned with garlic and rosemary. Chickpeas come canned or dried. They are simple to cook--like other beans, you need to soak them first for a few hours or overnight, then simmer them in water very slowly until tender. But cooking dried chickpeas takes a long time--several hours to soak and several more hours simmering in water until they're tender (using a pressure cooker speeds things up, but it will still take an hour or so)--so I usually resort to canned chickpeas, which are actually quite a decent substitute. But the problem with canned chickpeas is that you lose the 'broth' that results from the long simmering, which gives any resulting dish a wonderful deep chickpea taste. So on Friday, being too lazy as usual to use dried chickpeas, I decided to add tomatoes to the garlic and rosemary cooking base for some more flavor. The result was quite good--cod fish and chickpeas are a great taste combination--, but, if I had to do it over again, I'd add a bit more water to 'loosen' the peas. And one day I'll need to try it the old-fashioned way. By the way, if you have leftovers, you can make another classic Roman dish, pasta e ceci. (I'll post that recipe one of these days.)
The classic way to make filetti di baccala', by the way, is with a different kind of batter (pastella in Italian) that includes eggs and yeast. The result is a much thicker, almost fluffy crust that resembles a fritter. The delicious Roman answer to fish and chips. Whether you use this batter or the simpler one described above, you should let the batter 'sit' out for two hours or so to allow its elements to meld. I'm not sure about the chemistry, but it just doesn't come out right if you skip this step. The other thing to remember about making a batter is that the more liquid it is, the lighter the resulting crust will be--which I prefer. But too much liquid and the batter will not stick to whatever piece of food it is meant to cover, so don't overdo it! I find a batter that is just a bit thicker than heavy cream works well.
Since I had too much fish for a dinner for two, I used the rest of it to make my favorite salt cod dish, brandade de morue, one of the classics of Provencal cooking. It is very simple to make if you have a food processor: just simmer the pre-soaked salt cod in water (with some potato if you like, even if purists apparently call this inauthentic) for a few minutes, until both fish and potato are soft. Add the cod (and potato, if using) into the bowl of the processor, add chopped garlic (or chop it in the processor before you add the cod fish) and begin processing. Begin adding milk (or cream if you're feeling extravagant) and olive oil alternating between the two a little at a time, until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Adjust for salt if needed. If you like you can pass it under a broiler until it forms a nice crust (see photo), a good way to reheat it if you make it ahead. Brandade is absolutely wonderful served with toasted baguette slices (rubbed with garlic if you like), accompanied with some green salad and washed down with some cold white wine, it makes a marvelous quick and easy light supper.
There are many, many other ways to make baccala'. In the south, baccala' is often lightly fried and stewed in tomato sauce, while one of my other favorite ways to make it is baccala' alla vicentina, baked in a sauce of onions, parsley, olive oil and milk, from the Northern Italian city of Vicenza. Next time we have baccala' I'll post some more recipes.
NOTE: Baccala' is cod fish that has been preserved by being salt-cured and dried. When you buy it dry, it is quite hard to the touch and very, very salty to the taste. In other words, you can't eat it that way--it generally needs 24+ hours of soaking in various changes of water. In Italy, it is really easy to make as a lot of places will sell you pre-soaked baccala' on Fridays. Here in the States, I've only seen pre-soaked baccala' once, in an Italian neighborhood in New York. You can probably find it in Little Italys in other cities. Most places, though, you'll need to pre-soak the salted cod fish yourself. It's no big deal, but you need to plan ahead. Some types of baccala' need less time to soak. The kind I buy at our local Whole Foods is not that salty, so if you start soaking in the morning, it's more or less ready for dinner. I find that if I soak it for 24 hours, it loses too much of its saltiness, which is typical of baccala'. But for those who prefer a less salty baccala', just soak it longer and remember to change the water more often. Friends have reported that their grandmothers also used milk instead of water to soak the baccala'.
It's leftover time and I think the volume of bits of pieces in my fridge brings out my inventiveness. This year I decided to use up some of the little bits in a Christmas Quiche. I had some turkey, stuffing, a couple of sausages wrapped in bacon, some ham, cooked baby carrots, sprouts and some tiny tomatoes. I also had some of the prawns we had for our starter yesterday all needing used up.
The pastry recipe is adapted from Rachel Allen's book Bake. I added some Philadelphia cheese a bit less butter and the egg as recommended, but any s/crust pastry would do, including ready made. I baked the pastry case blind and then loaded on the the leftover ingredients along with some sauteed spring onions and garlic.
after loading on the left-overs, I crumbled some cheshire cheese and then poured over two whole beaten eggs, two egg yolks and some soured cream (left over lol!) seasoned well and beaten together.
Stick it back in the oven for 40 minutes, I found some tomatoes that were starting to wrinkle, so I shoved them on the top too. We ate it with roast potatoes and roast parsnips reheated in the oven till nice and crispy again and some coleslaw. Delicious!
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Title: Spiratus - Lovely Leftovers - Episode 3
500 Likes for a setup video!, Click it twice :).
I edited this myself, so go easy :)...
Third Episode of my Lovely Leftovers,basically these are clips that I'm not going to use for a montage because they're not good enough and therefore goes into this series "Lovely Leftovers"
Title: Chuck vs. the Leftovers 4x10 Promo
All images belong to NBC and Warner Bros !!!
Watch and enjoy this lovely & awesome show !!!
Next monday 8/7c NBC
11/29/2010 (08:00PM - 09:00PM) (Monday) : CHUCK FACES A HIGH-STAKES HOLIDAY WHEN UNEXPECTED GUESTS ARRIVE FOR A THANKSGIVING "LEFTOVERS" DINNER -- MONET MAZUR, LINDA HAMILTON AND TIMOTHY DALTON GUEST STAR -- It's the day after Thanksgiving and Chuck (Zachary Levi) faces the most awkward of family reunions when mom (guest star Linda Hamilton) comes over for dinner—along with the dangerous Alexei Volkoff (guest star Timothy Dalton). Back at the Buy More, Morgan (Joshua Gomez) deals with the busiest shopping day of the year as Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) hatch their latest scheme. Yvonne Strahovski, Sarah Lancaster, Ryan McPartlin, Adam Baldwin and Mark Christopher Lawrence also star.
I had a notion for something with peanut butter in it. I buy the Whole Earth Crunchy original peanut butter, but haven't had any for some time. While blog hopping round the cooking blogs, I saw some muffins with pb and choc chips, I decided not to make those but went in search of a cookie recipe featuring the same ingredients.
Preheat oven to 375°F/190C/Fan oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy. Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together well. Add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the chocolate chips. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
It was a dream of a mix to make and came out just the right texture.
No fancy fiddling making into balls and getting all sticky, just wallop down a teaspoon of dough and put it in the oven.
As usual my cookies varied from slightly over done to slightly underdone with some perfect ones! I'm hoping that my new cooker will cook more evenly, I think it is because the door seal on the old oven has really past it's best so heat escapes from the front of the oven.
As there were really far too many cookies for us to eat (we would have eaten them all because they are delicious, but it wouldn't have been good for us) I made up a little package to take to a Party Lite party I had been invited to last night. This is where crafting meets cooking! I'm even beginning to quite like my own handwriting!
The cookies got 5 stars on the About.com site and I would agree.
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Title: It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!!
Animation by by Ryan Gancenia Etrata.
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/banana
Dancing Banana - Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Title: Peanut Butter & Jelly
This is just a random music video I made for kicks to a song that I LOVE!
It's sung by the LDS (Mormon, but don't jump to conclusions.) A Capella group, InsideOut. They are wonderfully talented. This song is from their album 'Sharing Time'. You can find it on iTunes.
It's lame, but I had fun making it. PB&J forever!
Oh, and I know that Jelly is really jam, but seriously. I looked everywhere and could find Raspberry Jelly. So I decided that Jam would have to do. So just enjoy it despite this detail. I do.
Stroke of genius. How did I not think of this before. Oh man oh man.
Okay, let me back up. Backstory first. Well, there's no really backstory per se, but more of a source of inspiration. Barbecues; grills; charcoal. Fire! This is how we cook foods during the hottest days of the summer in order to avoid heating up our kitchen to hellish temperatures, right? Oven-roasting is out, as is loading up all 4 burners with huge pots of boiling water and simmering stews, and obviously baking seems completely out of the question. Thus the spareness of posts on this blog (or at least, that's the excuse du jour). So how to get around this issue without confining all baking to the wee hours of the night, if we are to do it at all?
Here's my great, albeit hair-brained, idea: BBQ'd cookies!!!!!!!!
Okay, okay, I can feel your collective eye-rolling coming at me from all over cyberspace--it sounds ridiculous, but hear me out. You make sure to make a cookie dough that doesn't spread hardly at all, so as to avoid it dripping in between the grill bars. And the dough will have nuts it in, because fire roasted nuts are next to godliness. And then, once grilled, you serve these cookies with grilled fruits (grilled peaches anyone??). Dollop with ice cream. Dessert. Done.
Alright, so maybe that won't work. But here's a more rational idea: what about putting your cookie sheet (or other metal heat-enduring surface) on top of your grill and then closing the lid, essentially using your BBQ like an outdoor oven. Does that work? Has anyone tried that?
Anyway, these cookies here, these Maple-Pecan Shortbread don't exactly seem like a super summery cookie (more of an autumnal one, in my opinion, what with the maple and the pecans and the everything), but I made them for both a summer picnic, as well as a 4th of July BBQ at my brother and sister-in-law's house, and they were a hit at both events. These cookies are really good. Surprisingly so. In fact, they might have been even more of a hit at the 4th of July BBQ since by then they were a day old, and these guys improve with age FOR SURE.
So you got ya dough, which has ground up pecans in it as well as a hefty amount of maple syrup, and after the baked cookies have sat around for a day, the maple flavor really deepens. Actually, the recipe also calls for Maple Extract, which I couldn't find anywhere so I omitted it--and no problem! The cookies were still extremely mapley, but I bet they would be really incredible if you have maple extract on hand as well.
Lastly, because you roll out the dough and cut it with a cookie cutter, and then decorate each cookie with a pecan half and some turbinado sugar, you WITHOUT A DOUBT produce a beautiful set of cookies. You can't really screw up the look of these, unless you don't know how to use a cookie cutter (and if that's your situation, you probably shouldn't be reading my blog, juss sayin'). So, they are perfect to bring to a party if you want to impress people but not do anything too elaborate. Simplicity is highly underrated in baking!
And very very lastly, if you are just crazy enough to try either of my BBQ cookie ideas--LET ME KNOW SO WE CAN BE FRIENDS FOREVER!! If you send pictures, I will love you even more/think you are even crazier/admire you a lot. And even if you bake these in the normal way, I will admire you for enduring the oppressive heat of your kitchen in the name of tastiness!
P.P.S. Sorry for the lack of photos! I was too busy eating cookie dough/pecans to grab my camera during the baking process -_-
Maple-Pecan Shortbread
Makes about 2 dozen
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pecan halves (about 2 1/4 ounces), finely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure maple extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Directions
Into a medium bowl, sift flours and salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup chopped pecans, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until smooth and light, about one minute. Add the maple syrup, egg yolk, and extract; beat on medium speed until well combined. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined. Dough should be smooth and pliable. Flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until firm, 1 1/2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out rounds using a two-inch cookie cutter; place one inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg; sprinkle centers with remaining 1/4 cup pecans. Sprinkle the entire surface with turbinado sugar.
Bake cookies, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to four days.
****
{End Results} Baking Difficultly: 2/5 Ingredient Accessibility: 2/5 (Maple extract, where y'at?!) Tastiness: 4.5/5 Attractiveness: 4/5 Is it worth it?: Hell yeah! Worth firing up the ol' oven in July...maybe...
{Pairings} Drink: I'd wash these guys down with some iced tea, perhaps with a sprig or two of sage thrown in? (That's how my ma makes hers, and it's da bomb diggity!)
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Title: Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete - 083 - Boss Battle #21 - Phantom Sentry
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
Boss Battle #21
Phantom Sentry
==============================
Strategy?
It's another cookie cutter boss really. Same 'ol strategy of spending the first turn buffing everyone, and spamming attacks until it dies. The only thing to note is that whenever the boss sucks the party in front of it, the boss will 1hko everyone that's still there the next turn. So, you MUST move your party out of the way. Other than that, it's a simple boss.
Hiro: Triple Sword!
Ronfar: Happy Hour! Heal when necessary.
Jean: Blue Dragon Palm!
Lemina: Burning Rage! Then Catastrophe to deal damage.
Leo: Soul Blade!
==============================
Again, another simple boss battle.
After the battle, we find the Right Opal Jewel from the beginning of the game. Time to find the Left Sapphire Jewel.
Get a Gourmet Pizzette, Gelato & 2011's Most Original Calendar for Just $20 at Via Vanti! $10 Will Go to Support Guiding Eyes for the Blind!
The season of giving is upon us & Via Vanti! wants to reward you for helping to support Guiding Eyes for the Blind with today's deal! Get the adorable 2011 "Dogs in Party Hats" calendar AND your choice of a gourmet pizzette & gelato for just $20.
Today's deal is what the holidays are all about: Giving and Feasting! A full $10 from every voucher purchased of today's deal will be donated to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and your taste buds will be treated to feast on any one of the twelve amazing personal pizzette and Via Vanti!'s award-winning gelato! Plus, you'll get 2011's most original calendar: "Dogs in Party Hats." where doggies are creatively dressed as flavors of yummy gelato. You'll save a sweet 41% AND feel 200% magnanimous!
Via Vanti! is the creator & sponsor of the annual Dogs in Party Hats contest fundraiser supporting Guiding Eyes for the Blind. For more information about how your best friend can become a "Pup Star" go to www.dogsinpartyhats.com and "like" Dogs in Party Hats on Facebook. ABOUT GUIDING EYES FOR THE BLIND
Guiding Eyes for the Blind is dedicated to enriching the lives of blind and visually impaired men and women by providing them with the freedom to travel safely, thereby assuring greater independence, dignity and new horizons of opportunity.
Guiding Eyes is an internationally accredited, nonprofit guide dog school with a 50-plus year legacy of providing the blind and visually impaired with superior Guiding Eyes dogs, training, and lifetime support services. Their family of professionals, volunteers and donors are all committed to giving our students the gift of greater personal freedom, independence and dignity by providing them with the finest bred and trained guide dogs in the world.
Recently, Guiding Eyes for the Blind rolled out a new program that matches autistic children with dog companions called " Heeling Autism." Guiding Eyes depends solely on donations and provides all its services at no charge to individuals and families in need of these life changing programs.
It may come as a surprise to some, but Italy has a Jewish tradition going back not just centuries, but millennia. A Jewish community existed in Rome dating from during the Roman Republic, even before the Empire, in the first centuries BCE. That presence grew during the late Middle Ages, when Italy presented a relatively tolerant environment (with emphasis on the 'relatively') as compared with other European countries. A great number of Jews settled in Italy after the mass exiles from Spanish in the wake of the Reconquista in the late 15th Century. The complicated ups and down of Jewish life in Italy over the years are ably outlined in this article, but, to make a long story short, by the 20th Century the principal Jewish communities in Italy were to be found in Rome, Venice and Tuscany. Then came the Holocaust, which resulted in the extermination of about 15% of Italy's Jewish population and the end of many Jewish communities like the one that had been found in the village of Pitigliano, known as "the Little Jerusalem". About 45,000 Jews live in Italy today.
The Jews of Italy developed their own, very distinct but yet very Italian cuisine. The best book I know on the subject is The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews by Edda Servi Machlin. Today I would like to present two lovely recipes from that book, for dishes traditionally served at Hannukah: riso coll'uvetta, rice with raisins, an unusual but delicious risotto dish from Venice which I will describe in this post, and pollo fritto per Chanukà, fried chicken for Hannukah which will be featured in the next one.
Riso coll'uvetta—called risi coll'ua in Venetian dialect—is an ancient recipe from the Jewish community in Venice. To make it, you begin with a soffritto of garlic and parsley sautéed in abundant olive oil. As soon as the garlic begins to brown, add your rice and toast that until it turns an opaque white, then add a handful per serving of raisins which you will have softened in warm water for a few minutes, mixing well and then adding broth, a ladleful at a time, in the usual manner for making risotto, until the rice is tender but still al dente. There is no mantecatura for this dish, but I mixed in a bit more chopped parsley for color at the end, and seasoned with salt and pepper as needed, to taste. That's all there is too it. Machlin says the dish can be served warm or at room temperature.
NOTES: The combination of sweet and savory in this risotto is quite unusual in modern Italian cookery—a sign, perhaps, of the recipe's ancient origin—but I really liked it. The addition of raisins in Italian cooking, however, is not all that uncommon, particularly in Venetian and Sicilian cuisines, usually being a sign of Moorish or Middle Eastern influence.
There are a few variations to the dish. Some recipes will have you add a bit of white wine as for a typical risotto, some recipes call for water rather than broth, some call for the addition of some apple juice at the end (something it seems to me that would unbalance the flavors too far in favor of the sweet side). Not all recipes call for softening the raisins (although I recommend it heartily) and some recipes call for adding the raisins at the very end of the cooking time. If you want to make this a dairy dish, then you can omit the broth and use butter instead of oil. In the dairy version, you can also add parmesan at the end as with a regular risotto.
Some readers may know that our word 'ghetto' comes from Venice—the gh and double t give the word away as Italian—and more specifically it refers to that part of the city where Jews were obliged to live during the Middle Ages all the way up to the end of the Venetian Republic. It was Napoleon who, in 1797, decreed the end of Jewish segregation. Nevertheless, the Venetian ghetto is still the center of Jewish life in Venice, home to about 1000 Jews and several synagogues, a yeshiva and other centers of Jewish life including a kosher restaurant where, however, I was disappointed to find, this dish is not on the menu...
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Title: The Eight Days of Chanukah
Do I have to tell you? That it's a song? A parody even? That its about the food? I didn't think so.
Since it's low fi here's the words:
[lalala. . .
OK that was a little joke, but good cooking should be should be like music for your tummy, and good cooking is Chanukah, etc]
On the first day of Chanukah
my bubbie gave to me:
potato latkes - as it should be!
On the second day of Chanukah my Israeli neighbor gave to me:
sufganiyot, and potato latkes - as it should be (with sour cream!)
On the third day of Chanukah, my sister gave to me:
sweet potato latkes (modern, but not too modern!), sufganiyot, and potato latkes as it should be (sour cream, un less you flaishik in which case apple sauce!)
On the fourth day of Chanukah, my cousin married to the Italian gave to me:
four ricotta pancakes, three sweet potato latkes, two sufganiyot, and potato latkes as they should be (you want seconds?)
On the fifth day of Chanukah, my bachelor brother gave to me:
Five Golden's brand frozen latkes! (He tries!)
four ricotta pancakes, three sweet potato latkes, two sufganiyot, and potato latkes as they should be (in chicken fat to go with the brisket!)
On the sixth day of Chanukah my vegan all-raw neighbor gave to me:
shredded carrots in olive oil - thanks a LOT!
Five Golden's frozen (he can't help it!)
four ricotta pancakes, sweet potato latkes, sufganiyot, and potato latkes as they should be
(OK, fine, dairy, with some smoked whitefish and herring on the side - and sour cream!)
On the seventh day of Chanukah my third cousin the chef gave to me:
seven mini taro root pancakes drizzeld with macadamia oil and a coulis of passionfruit, (he called it amuse-bouche - is that Yiddish?)
shredded carrots in olive oil (you think I'm making this up?),
Five Golden's frozen (give him credit at least they weren't microwaved!),
four ricotta pancakes, sweet potato latkes, sufganiyot, and potato latkes as they should be
(grated by hand of course, and never, ever reheated!)
On the eighth day of Chanukah,
my children gave to me a very messy kitchen,
seven mini taro root pancakes drizzeld with macadamia oil and a coulis of passionfruit (talk about potchky-ing!),
shredded carrots in olive oil (word! feh!),
Five Golden's frozen (like you've never done it),
four ricotta pancakes, sweet potato latkes, sufganiyot, and potato latkes as they should be
(in schmaltz with grivenes!)
[that's not al. . . ]
On the day after Chanukah, my doctor gave to me:
.
.
.
.
.
a lecture.
Happy Chanukah! Essen! (Eat!)
I do have to tell you the words are copyright 2009 by the author - that would be me.
Learn about the tradition of celebrating Hanukkah with Rabbi Eli Levitansky.
For more christmas videos check out the Mahalo Christmas playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E2B785F5CFDA72EA
Check out our Mahalo pages on Hanukkah:
First Night of Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/first-night-of-hanukkah
Gifts For Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/gifts-for-hanukkah
Hanukkah Cards: http://www.mahalo.com/hanukkah-cards
Hanukkah Latkes and Sufganiyots: http://www.mahalo.com/hanukkah-latkes-and-sufganiyots
How to Celebrate Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-celebrate-hanukkah
How to Decorate Your Home For Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-decorate-your-home-for-hanukkah
How to Play The Dreidel on Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-play-the-dreidel-on-hanukkah
How to Spell Hanukkah: http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-spell-hanukkah
What is Hanukkah Gelt?: http://www.mahalo.com/what-is-hanukkah-gelt
What is Hanukkah?: http://www.mahalo.com/what-is-hanukkah
What Time Does Hanukkah Begin? http://www.mahalo.com/what-time-does-hanukkah-begin
When is Hanukkah? http://www.mahalo.com/when-is-hanukkah
Check out these Mahalo How-To Playlists:
Christmas Arts & Crafts: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=57AC3D2516B746BD
How to Speak Korean: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CFD5322C76EEBB0F
How to Speak Spanish: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2450C6C9DCDFCBFD
How to Speak Italian: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=887048ECD49FDF31
How to Speak French: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D2521D2616635BAF
Christmas: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E2B785F5CFDA72EA
Christmas Songs: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C8C401BD241911A4
Thanksgiving Arts & Crafts: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=433F6B6BC2245066
Its not a blender - it's a Vita-Mix. Vita-Mix 1700 Turbo Blend 4500 Countertop Blender with 2+ HP Motor
designed to render the full bioavailability of whole foods such as apples, strawberries, greens and more. This includes the leaves, peel, stem - where you find all the valuable fiber. The TurboBlend 4500 breaks down whole foods, releasing phytonutrients that help build the immune system, fight disease and improve overall health. The super-efficient 2-peak horsepower motor runs substantially cooler when mixing thicker ingredients like nut butters and frozen treats. It also processes fresh, whole foods in seconds to deliver superior taste and texture. The container is oversized, 64-ounce capacity made from Eastman Triton copolyester material that is virtually unbreakable, more chemical resistant and contains no BPA. Unit features a locking lid design for easy removal. A Healthy Lifestyle recipe book containing over 150 step-by-step recipes in full color in included. Vita-Mix 4500 is covered by a full 5-year warranty from the most trusted brand in high performance blending equipment.
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Title: U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (Live)
Music video by U2 performing Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own. (C) 2004 Universal-Island Records Ltd. under exclusive licence to Mercury Records Limited
Recipes, food and cooking information. Search recipes by title and ingredient. Recipes, cooking ideas, baking tips, and more. Browse hundreds of easy chicken recipes including pies, curries, stir-fries and pasta dishes.
Today, Ford Motor Company selected Hansen's Cakes to participate in the last leg of their National Media Event, promoting the new Ford Transit Van.
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