Acorn Squash Sformatto

God I love my wife. 

I really do!

Between the last post and what you see here, she organized and threw me an epic surprise birthday party. I had no idea, no clue that she could be so sneaky. 

The house was filled with family and friends while I was brought to the mall, which I later found out was to kill time for the set-up. I come home, she leads me in the door, and I think I actually jumped when I heard them scream, 'Happy Birthday'. It was an amazing way to start my 35th year of life on this planet. 

Speaking of surprises, she also got me my dream chef's knife for a present, the Japanese Shun classic pictured below. I decided to switch over to Japanese steel a while ago as I became more dissatisfied with my Wustof. The Shun fits in my hand so much better, it's lighter, and holds an edge longer. Getting one of these babies means that now I can finally leave the clerk at Williams & Sonoma alone and stop stalking those knives in the display case. I was eager to try out my new knife and what a better way to do so than to use it on some acorn squash. 

Sformato in Italian comes from the verb sformare and means 'to unmold'. It's hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, more like a custard than anything, but it looked good in the book and there's plenty of acorn squash to go around this time of year, so why not? 

Little did I know from the looks of it that this was such an involved recipe with many parts, so I really had my work cut out for me. Let's dive into this. 

First, I heat the oven to 325°.  I cut some acorn squash down the equator to create three pieces. Two parts gets tossed with olive oil and wrapped in foil, and the other piece gets set aside for the salad garnish. 

I also take some Cipollini onions, toss them with olive oil, wrap them in foil, and bake them in the oven with the squash until tender, which took about 45 minutes in my oven. Before I went on my ingredient quest for this cooking mission, I called around to all of the local grocery stores to see if any of them had cipollini onions for sale, and it should be noted that the only one that did was...you guessed it...Whole Foods. Is there any reason to shop anywhere else?

Once the squash cooled, I scooped the flesh out into a mixing bowl and gave it a good mashing. To this, I add egg yolk, whole eggs, fresh Parmesano-Reggiano, mascarpone cheese, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. 

I took the reserved egg white and whipped it to a stiff peak. 

I then added it to the custard and gently folded it in, being careful not to deflate the whites. 

This mixture was put into buttered mold cups and put in a deep roasting pan, where warm water was added to come about halfway up the sides of the cups. 

This pan then gets wrapped in foil and put in a 400° oven for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the custards. 

While these are baking, I remove the stems from shittake mushrooms and put them in a small baking pan with a hefty amount of extra-virgin olive oil, chopped sage, and garlic. The mushrooms get roasted until tender, or about 15 minutes. 

When finished, the mushrooms need to cool slightly and the oil gets strained and reserved. 

While all of that is working, (told you there was a lot going on here), I get a small sauce pan and heat some more extra-virgin olive oil to 300° and deep-fry some sage leaves for the garnish. They take about 30 seconds to fry. I removed them from the oil with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate lined with paper towels to help remove the extra grease. The kitchen smells amazing so far but with all of this going on I'm running around a little ragged to get all of the components ready. 

The finish line is in sight, just a little more prep to go. I take the reserved acorn squash, give it a julienne, and toss it with some olive oil and seasoning. This is then set aside. 

Next, I have to make a mushroom vinaigrette. OMG! Will I ever get to the end of this recipe??

I pour some sherry vinegar into a small bowl and whisk in the reserved strained mushroom cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. The vinaigrette gets set aside. 

Okay....finally....I'm ready to plate this thing! I spoon the shiitakes in the center of the plate. The sformato gets unmolded on top of the mushrooms. I place one of the cipollini onions next to the sformato. The raw, julienned squash goes on top of the sformato as a garnish, along with the fried sage leaves. I then spoon some of the mushroom vinaigrette on top of everything and around the plate. The whole thing gets a healthy shaving of fresh Parmesano-Reggiano. 

My wife and I both used the same word to describe this dish...underwhelming. I loved the taste of the shiitakes, (my wife won't touch any kind of mushrooms). I was at first hesitant about the addition of the julienne of raw squash, but later loved the texture that it gave the dish. But unfortunately, even with everything that was going on in the plate, the main component, the sformato, didn't really wow me. 

I didn't hate this dish mind you. I just feel that I wouldn't go through all of the trouble to make it again anytime soon. This one took a lot out of me and it probably would scare the shit out of most home cooks.  But then again, this isn't a cookbook for kindergarten either. Good food takes time, preparation, and attention to detail. This is why I am here. I want to learn and be challenged like never before, pushing my boundaries as far as they will go. And from the looks of things, they are about to be pushed even further. 

Until next time...

Pumpkin Lune with Butter and Sage

What would October be without one of these guys? 

The pumpkin is truly a New England fall ambassador that's everywhere this time of year, and luckily for us, The Babbo Cookbook has a few recipes that feature this fall icon. People around here put almost as much thought into picking their pumpkins as they do to choosing their Christmas tree. 

Our recipe notes tell us that this dish is native to Mantova, in northern Lombardy. It's sandwiched between Bologna and Parma, two of the most influential culinary hubs not just in Italy, but of the world. Mario, according to his bio, spent an intense few years training in and around this area. It really must have had a huge impact on him because Mario even named one of his first restaurants after the nearby Po river. I can only imagine what cooking here would have been like. 

Lune refers to the shape of the ravioli and it means 'little moons' in Italian. I've had ravioli filled with pumpkin and various other squash in my day, but what makes this dish unique is that he grates an amaretti cookie over the plated ravioli, along with Parmesan cheese. In Mantova, the amaretti are crushed and found inside the filling. How you go about incorporating the amaretti in the dish is personal preference I believe, but I wanted to see what impact it had on the overall taste. Texture wouldn't really be a concern, after all, many times I'll see the use of breadcrumbs in a pasta recipe. 

Checking the ingredients list, we already know that we'll need to make a batch of the amaretti cookies. I saved a few from what we made in the last blog post, so that saves a little time. You could leave that step out, but on this blog we are replicating all of the recipes as close as humanly possible, so no short cuts!

The oven gets heated to 350°. The pumpkin is then halved and seeded, it gets drizzled with olive oil and placed on a baking sheet in the oven until very soft. 

Once it's finished roasting and cools slightly, I scoop the flesh into a bowl and add fresh grated Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. 

You can tell by this familiar mound what my next step is. I swear I'm going to be an expert in pasta by the end of this endeavor. One word of caution when following his pasta dough recipe, it does tend to be a little bit dry. I believe that this is so because when he has us add squid ink, mint purée, or spinach purée to the egg/oil mix for other recipes, we're adding more liquid by nature to the flour, so those doughs would have the necessary extra moisture that's needed to incorporate all of the flour he advises to use. Otherwise if the basic pasta recipe had more egg or oil with the combination of those purées, it would make the dough too liquidy. It took some experimentation and contemplating to really get this. If you're just making the basic pasta dough recipe on page 102, I'd either add one egg or use a half cup less flour to avoid a really dry dough. And even though I have a sweet KitchenAid mixer, I still prefer to get my hands dirty and use the well method to make the pasta. 

Once mixed and rested, I roll the pasta out on the thinnest setting of a pasta machine, and place a tablespoon of the pumpkin filling on the pasta sheet about every few inches. 

I then roll out another sheet in the same manner and place it over the top of the pumpkin. You need to press around the filling to get the air out and seal the two sheets together. 

This brings me to another interesting point that I thought I would bring up. In cooking school and working in other professional kitchens, many chefs are taught that the ravioli need to be sealed with either an egg wash, or a brushing of water with a pastry brush. The 'purists' would have you believe that water is the best option to use to seal the ravioli together because the egg wash would make the pasta too tough. But upon reading Mario's instructions, I noted that he doesn't use either to make his ravioli. It's not really mentioned in any of his fresh pasta recipes, it's just something that I discovered by reading in between the lines. So I tried it his way and it actually worked perfectly. 

I then used a round ravioli cutter to shape the lune. But, after looking at my cuts, I see that because the ravioli cutter is flutted, the lune's edges looked more like rays of the sun than a round moon. So I cut the rest with a biscuit cutter and it looked better. (Hey I've got to get this right) Once they are shaped, I give each one a checking to ensure they are fully sealed. Otherwise, they will explode open when dropped in water to cook. 

I then bring salted water to a boil and drop in the pasta. 

As that cooks I heat butter until melted and foamy and toss in some fresh sage leaves. 

When the lune are done, I add to the butter/sage, toss, and grate Parmesan cheese over them. 

The lune are ready to plate, where they get more cheese and a grating of the amaretti cookie. 

Wow. My wife and I both were impressed with this meal. Simple yet elegant, it was definitely worth all of the prep work. It really helped us celebrate and bring in fall in a proper way.

The pasta was tender and the filling was so flavorful. I love the flavor that the sage brought to the plate. Everything work in such a harmonious way. If there was anything that I would do differently, I would probably choose to peel and then dice the pumpkin before roasting and then purée the mixture in a food processor. Otherwise if you follow the recipe this way by scooping out the flesh of the pumpkin from the skin, the flesh itself sometimes tends to become a little stringy almost like a spaghetti squash. Again, it wasn't off-putting to either of us. It's just that most ravioli fillings that we are used to are often puréed to a smoother consistency. 

I'm going to keep this fall theme going for a little while. As I said in the last post, there are so many really great fall recipes in here to make. Until next time...

Amaretti

October is finally here! I love October. The foliage is at it's peak in Holyoke and looking beautiful. Pumpkins are ripe for picking. You can smell the wood stoves in the neighborhood. And with the chilly nights that we've been having I decided to bake something. 

This recipe is also needed for the next blog post soon to come which will be probably the most quintessential October pasta ever. Even if you don't follow along with me to the end of that one, this cookie alone is a quick, tasty, and simple treat to enjoy in October or any month of the year for that matter. 

I started by putting almonds, cornstarch, and confectioners sugar in a food processor. It gets pulsed until it's ground into a fine powder. 

Then I put some egg whites in my kitchen aid mixer and beat the whites until foamy. 

I then gradually add granulated sugar, almond extract, and amaretto while the mixer is running. The egg whites should be somewhat stiff at this point. 

Next I use a rubber spatula and carefully fold in the almond/sugar mixture to the egg whites. 

At this point, Mario recommends either putting the batter into a piping bag or spooning out the batter onto a sheet pan to bake. I opted for the spoon, although the piping bag would make the end product look prettier. Each cookie gets sprinkled generously with sugar before baking. 

The cookies get baked at 300° for 15 minutes, then the heat is lowered to 200° for another half hour. 

When they're completely dry and crisp in the middle the cookies are done. 

This was the second cookie recipe that I made out of the book and so far I'm impressed. These tasted amazing! Wonderful almond flavor. These are the kind of cookie your grandmother would give you. I enjoyed mine with tea in front of my first fire of the year. 

I am eager to see how this will fit into the next recipe. Do you want to know what it is?

Okay, well for the next post I am making Mario's pumpkin ravioli, (see I told you it's a a great October recipe), and in addition to grating Parmesan cheese over the top, Mario grates one of these cookies over the ravioli to give them a breadcrumb like texture. I can't wait. Until next time...

Spaghetti with Sweet 100 Tomatoes, Garlic Chives, and Lemon Basil

I couldn't let the month of September fly by without making this next recipe that features a few ingredients that I grew in my garden this year....or at least attempted to grow. 

Okay, so maybe the garden didn't do so well this year. It's a bummer. I put my sweat and tears into it. More sweat than tears. But a few veggies did pop up so it wasn't a total loss. 

It was my first year of growing at the new house in a patch of land that clearly had never seen seed of any kind, in a state that got almost no rain this summer. And....maybe....I did neglect it just a little bit. Sue me. Next year will better for sure. 

My tomato plants faired well however, (thanks Home Depot!) and my wife and I had plenty of tomatoes to enjoy, including a nice variety of sweet 100's. The vines are just loaded with them, so I picked some tonight to use in this recipe. 

There's something to be said about cooking with and eating produce so fresh that it has never seen even a bit of refrigeration. And with a recipe that has such few ingredients, every one of those ingredients has to be a star. 

Those of you at home will appreciate this dish in that there is no need to crank up the oven and heat up your home during the Indian summer, nor is some complicated culinary surgery required to prepare it either. It doesn't require that you grow your own tomatoes, but having access to incredibly high quality ones are essential. 

I start by bringing salted water up to a boil to cook my spaghetti in. Once boiling, I throw in the pasta and heat a sauté pan with extra virgin olive oil on high heat. Oh and in case I haven't already mentioned it, don't put oil in your pasta water. It's a waste of oil. Oil and water won't mix. I know some people think that it helps prevent the pasta from sticking together, but it doesn't. Stirring the pasta often and using plenty of water prevents your pasta from clumping together. 

I add some slivered garlic to the oil as my pasta cooks. 

After about 2 minutes, the garlic turns golden brown so I throw in some sweet 100's, basil, and chives.

 

This gets sautéed until the tomatoes beginning to burst. 

Once the spaghetti is just shy of al dente', it gets added to the sauté pan and cooks for about another 30 seconds longer. Why? Because the heat of the condiment will continue to cook the pasta as the pasta simultaneously absorbs the flavor of the condiment. This is something that Mario always harped on on his show 'Molto Mario', and in his countless number of cookbooks. This how it is in Italy, in his restaurants, and making pasta in this manner will really take your noodle cookery to the next level. 

The spaghetti is ready to plate. 

You would not be shunned in my presence for adding some chili flakes and grated Parmesan cheese to this plate, but really it's perfect just the way it is. That is, of course, unless you have anything less than great ingredients. 

Overall, this was way easy, so I'll be looking to find another recipe that offers more of a challenge.  Until next time...

Black Pepper Tagliatelle with Parsnips and Pancetta

Here in Massachusetts, fall is staring us right in the face. This is the time of the year when New England still has warm, comfortable days, and those slightly chilly nights that make you want to cozy up under a warm blanket, pour yourself a nice glass of Barolo, and eat a nice warm plate of pasta. At least it does for me anyway. 

September is an amazing month for cooks in that all of the wonderful summer harvest, the stuff that we have been waiting to taste all year, is just now starting to hit its prime. So I want to take full advantage everything our farms have to offer. I can't wait to start working with this years selection. As I've said before, this cookbook has so many great ideas for fall that I want to dive right in. 

I go to the market and see some parsnips that look great so like the good honorary Italian that I am, I take them home with me, knowing that Mario has something for me to do with them. 

The only real hurdle in this dish is to make the fresh pasta. Once we get that out of the way, the rest is so simple. Sure, you could substitute your favorite dried pasta for the tagliatelle, but what's the fun in that?

I start by making the pasta dough. The dough is Mario's standard pasta recipe but with some cracked black pepper added to the egg/olive oil mixture. 

I knead it for about 7 minutes until it looks like this:

The dough gets wrapped in plastic wrap and is allowed to rest for 30 minutes. 

Once rested, I roll out the dough to the thinnest setting on the pasta machine and cut the pasta sheets into 1/4 inch wide strips of tagliatelle. 

Next, I have to prep my ingredients. I chop some fresh parsley, dice some pancetta, and cut the peeled parsnips into half moon pieces. Again, not a lot going on here. 

Once that's taken care of, I bring some salted water up to a boil for the pasta. 

In a sauté pan, I add the diced pancetta and brown it until the fat has rendered out. OMG does it smell good already. 

Once at this stage, I use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta, add a cube of butter, and start cooking the parsnips until golden brown and slightly crispy. Mario advises to not shake the sauté pan too much during this step so that the parsnips can develop their caramelization. Kind of like when you're grilling a steak and you just leave it instead of turning it every two minutes to make it look like you're doing something. Ya that's right I'm calling you out on that one!

At this point I drop the tagliatelle into the boiling water. 

I add the pancetta back into the sauté pan and when the pasta is cooked al dente, about 2 minutes, add it to the sauté pan. Turn off the heat and add the fresh parsley and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano into the pasta goodness. 

I plate it up and the smell is so overwhelming that I can't even wait for my wife to come home to try it. For such a simple recipe, this was a complex palette pleaser. You have the sweetness of the parsnips, the smokiness of the pancetta, the pepper from the tagliatelle, and the richness of the Parmesan cheese. A really nice surprise. And a great way to put me in the mood for more fall surprises. 

Next up I will continue with the same harvest theme, especially now that I see some sweet 100's on my tomato vines in the garden. Until next time...

Chocolate and Valpolicella Crema

Ask anyone that really knows me and they'll tell you that I'm a sucker for anything chocolate. So I have been waiting for the chance to make what Mario calls the most adult chocolate pudding that you'll ever encounter.

At first glance, this recipe looks like your standard chocolate pudding.  But Mario kicks this into overdrive by adding red wine. I know, i was a little sceptical about it too, but hey, its chocolate, how bad could it be?

I also want to take the opportunity to apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this blog post.  I decided to try out the camera on my new cell phone but for some reason none of the photos seemed to save. Lesson learned. 

I started by reducing some red wine and sugar in a small saucepan until reduced by 2/3 and syrupy.

While that's going, I melt some bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate in a double boiler. When melted, I add the red wine syrup, some egg yolks, milk, cream, and sugar, along with a pat of butter and whisk the mixture until smooth.

This mixture then goes into wine glasses or custard cups and is chilled until it has set. 

Its ready to eat.  It just needs a little dollop of whipped cream.

Wow.....wow....shhh....I'm eating....wow....

This is quite complex. There's such a nice contrast of sweet and acidic.  Its a quick recipe too. I just wish that you could see some of the steps that i went thru to make it.  But regardless, here is what it looks like finished.

I know right! You want to make it don't you? If you love chocolate as much as i do then you can't go wrong with this dessert.

Next up, I'm going to start utilizing some of the great fall ingredients that are coming in to season as we speak. The air is getting more crisp every day, and there are some amazing looking fall recipes in this cookbook.  Until next time...

Preserved Lemons

Here's another short little recipe of Mario's that is used throughout the book several times. It's something that is versatile enough that Mario includes it in dishes with meat or fish. Having used preserved lemons in the past, I can assure you that using them in dishes, especially with a piccata sauce which we'll cover in a later recipe, adds a whole new dimension to your cooking. 

If you go to Mario's YouTube channel, there is a really great video demonstration of this technique. However, if you follow along with me at home, you really won't even need a recipe. 

You start with four whole lemons that are scrubbed clean. You then make two long perpendicular cuts through one end of each, so that every lemon resembles a tulip with an X on the top of it. 

Next, you'll want to salt each lemon very liberally. 

Once this step is done, you can place them in a large jar that has a tight sealing lid. I found that going to the store and buying Mason canning jars works really well.  

Next you add fresh squeezed lemon juice into the jar to cover the lemons completely. According to the recipe, Mario suggest that four lemons juiced will be enough to cover. I have found that you will need at least another three lemons worth of juice in order to cover it. 

Next up is to place the lid on the jar and get a tight seal. Shake very well so that the juice and salt mixture are well combined. The preserves are ready after one month. They will need to be turned upside down every other week during that month for proper curing. 

I know, I know, waiting an entire month for recipe to be complete is a real test of your patience. But if you tried the duck salami recipe from a previous post, then you are used to waiting. 

You can notice a slight color difference from the beginning of the curing process to the end. Make sure you use pure lemon juice and not the stuff from concentrate. That contains water and a bunch of other stuff that you don't need or want in the recipe. 

And there you have it. Some of these recipes that I will be attempting in the months coming require some special shopping on my part. It will require me to go online to Amazon.com to see if I can find some of this stuff. It will be a new experience for me to use the exotic ingredients that make it to the Babbo table, but I can't wait to tackle these recipes. Until next time...