Recently in cheese Category

 

(photo: courtesy of Dr. K.; from a clockwise position: raw onions, reduced onions, water added to reduced onions, onions prior to cooking, and finished product).

When our die hard fan Dr. K. mentioned he tried a new recipe from Michael Ruhlman's excellent new cookbook Twenty I was eager to hear which dish he attempted.  And when Dr. K. sent us photos of Ruhlman's French Onion Soup recipe (the dish he choose) I become intent on adding an Italian bent to the recipe so that we could post the recipe on Scordo.com (after all, any dyed-in-the-wool Italian food snob wouldn't dare post a French recipe).  

 

(photo: Capezzana Olio Nuovo 2010 with fresh whole milk mozzarella dried oregano, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper)

 

The tomato mozzarella sandwich is so simple it hardly needs explaining, but it certainly should be prepared more often by home cooks (hence the post!).  

(photo: Columbus Artisan line seasonal cacciatore)

I've written about Columbus' Artisan salumi line in the past (including their hot sopressata, cacciatore, finocchiona, crespone, salami secchi, and standard Sopressata) and their high-end line is outstanding as it's made with a higher grade of pork, allowed to age 21-90 days, hand tied and stuffed, and made with natural casings.  Click here if you're interested in learning more about how salumi is made.   


(photo: Artisan truffle cacciatore before hand slicing)

Columbus recently released a new line of holiday salame aimed at a larger, mass market, audience; namely, "wine salame"  The salame collection includes: Cabernet Sauvignon (with juniper berries), Pinot Noir (with pink peppercorns), and Pinot Grigio (with lemon zest).  The salame is aged minimally and has no natural casing. Columbus also recently introduced a seasonal, artisan, line of cacciatore made with both porcini and truffles.


(photo: wine salame on left and cacciatore on right; the photo doesn't do justice to the differences in exterior mold and composition of the meat itself)


(photo: wine salame and aged Italian provolone platter)

Our family sampled both types of salumi during the Thanksgiving holiday and we were impressed, as in the past, with the Columbus artisan line.  The porcini cacciatore, specifically, had a deep, woodsy, flavor component with a good combination of fat and meat (I would have liked to have seen a little less fat in the pork mixture but with all handmade salumi it varies from batch to batch).  Both the porcini and truffle salumi had nicely aged natural casings with good mold development (this is the white component on the exterior of the salame and does many things including help the meat maintain good moisture as well as impart flavor).  The wine salame we sampled was an entirely different experience and more akin to a US deli type of salame.  The wine components in each of the three salumi were minor with very little of distinct wine characteristics coming through.  I would aim to use the wine salami, cut very thin, as a sandwich ingredient, where as one should experience the Artisan cacciatore with nothing more than a piece of crunchy bread and a few olives.


(photo: one of my favorite cheeses, Reggianito, great with all types of salumi)

(photo: pan roasted eggplant with tomato sauce, prior to adding cheese and baking)

Back in August, I published a slightly unorthodox eggplant parmigiana recipe where I first roasted, mini or baby eggplant, (these are usually smaller versions of the generic eggplant found in most US supermarkets) and thereafter covered with tomato sauce, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and baked.  The result was outstanding but not as cheesy and decadent as the more classic, Italian American, version of eggplant parmigiana.  So, if you were asking, Vince, where's the melted mozzarella cheese, here you go:      

Ingredients:

- 2 large eggplant
- 2 cups of finely diced mozzarella (the fresh variant or the supermarket kind, whichever you have access to)
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- dried red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper


(photo: the first layer and prior to adding tomato sauce and cheese)

Process:

My version of the classic eggplant parmigiana starts by pan roasting two large eggplant that have been cubed into roughly 1.5 inch squares.  Pan roasting is simple but it does require a large pan, olive oil, salt and garlic, and bit of patience.  I usually add about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil to a large pan and set my flame on medium low.  Thereafter, I add 2-3 cloves of roughly chopped garlic, a bit of red pepper flake, the cubed eggplant, and a healthy amount of Kosher salt (to draw the moisture out of the eggplant - the key to producing great eggplant). You'll want to slowly cook the eggplant over a 25-35 minutes process; stirring every 5 minutes or so.  You'll know your eggplant is cooked fully when you have nice color and a soft texture (like any recipe, taste the ingredients at every stage to ensure you get a great end result!). 


(photo: final layer with cheese <you can cube or thinly slice your cheese> prior to placing in oven)

Next, I take two small sized, and oven proof, ramekin and begin putting together layers of cubed eggplant, finely diced mozzarella, and 1-2 tablespoons of tomato sauce.  Most likely, you'll be able to build about 3 layers depending on the size of your cubed eggplant. Thereafter, you simply place the ramekins in your oven for 15-20 minutes.


(photo: final photo <taken with an iPhone> as my main camera battery died!) 

For another simple eggplant dish, see my roasted eggplant recipe.     

 

Strozzapreti is translated as "priest choker."  The legend has it that the priests of  Emilia-Romagna and surrounding regions enjoyed the long pasta so much that they choked while eating it.  I can certainly understand eating Strozzapreti quickly as it is, indeed, a delicous pasta.