Peperonata

After checking the photo above, you are probably wondering if we eat actual food around these parts.  Especially since my latest post have been about sweets, dips and spreads.

Nothing of substance, as in a meal.

Would you believe me if I told you I have never cooked so much food as I had in the past 2 weeks? I have made fresh past to build lasagna (not once, but twice!), I have made Bolognese sauce, and a béchamel sauce all to help built that before mention lasagna.  I have cooked a risotto and some shrimp scampi.

Yeah, I have.  

So to respond to your next question, “where in the hell are the post to those?”

Let me enlighten you:

The lasagna and everything that took to built it (pasta, bolognese and béchamel sauce) got cooked in the middle of the night – meaning not enough light to take good pictures, so that means it has been put on the redo list.  The risotto is coming, since its part of the Daring Cooks February challenge, which I’m so totally late on the posting.  And the shrimp scampi, was such a last minute thing, I totally forgot to take pictures of the whole thing before my family wobbled up the whole dish.

But, I do have this recipe and like the Eggplant Dip that I posted a couple of weeks ago, this one comes from “la Nonna” as well, except with a couple of different twist here and there that I have added over the years to bring the original to such a high standard, that the whole family adapted to it.

Ingredients

3 red (or combinations of yellow, red and orange) bell peppers.
1 large yellow onion
3 tablespoon of butter
2 tablespoon of olive oil
2 tablespoon sugar
Lime zest – about 2 teaspoons (optional)
¼ cup of lime juice (about 2 limes, if small, one if large)
Salt (to taste)
Cracked pepper (to taste)
Fresh herb of choice roughly chopped/shred (Basil, thyme, mint, oregano)

Wash, stem and seeds the peppers.  Cut them in julienne fashion or in squares (this is really up to you, I like the long strings)

Peel the onion and slice thinly.

In a deep frying pan over moderate-high flame, melt the butter and olive oil together for about 2-3 minutes just to the point where the butter is foamy (don’t let the butter burn).

Add the onions and peppers. Add a bit of salt and pepper at this point and cook another 2-3 minutes. Pour the lime juice, stir and cover.  This will help sweat the peppers and coat them with the acidity of the lime juice.  Leave for about 2-3 minutes.

Uncover, add the sugar and stir. At this point, you can see a bit of sauce at the bottom of the pan, if the dish is a bit dry, you can add a bit more of olive oil and butter. (About 1 tablespoon of each).  Lower the heat to low flame and cook until the pepper are soft, about 12 minutes or so.

The last step is to add your choice of herb to the cooked peperonata. I always tend to use basil or thyme which pairs nice with the freshness of the lime.  I also add the lime zest as well at this stage.

Pour into a serving platter, and set aside.  The dish is usually served lukewarm.

La Nonna’s Sweet and Sour Eggplant Dip

My paternal nonna (grandmother) was the quintessential Italian cook.  She was short, a bit on the round side and everything she cooked in her kitchen was Italian, even after living in a Latin American country for over 30 years.  I always thought she missed Italy so much, that was the only way she could stay connected to the mother country - By refusing to change her cooking style and adapting new ways.  She stayed true to her Italian ways.

And that is how I learned to cook Italian food.  The old way.

We use to spend most of the summers with my grandparents.  To me it was 3 whole months of cracking eggs, baking, stirring, cutting and writing down the recipes to take back home as my nonna cooked them up.  She never cooked with precision, it was always a “Little of this.. a dash of that”.  My 20+ year old cookbook still has those recipes, meticulous written in my 11 year-old handwriting and with little doodles and markings all over the margins.  Most of the ingredients are written in Spanish and Italian, because that is how she will be dictating them back to me…

“dos melanzana es sufficiente” 
Translation: “two eggplants is enough”

“una cebolla, tritatta piccolina”
Translation: “one onion, cut up very small”

And on and on. 

I do miss cooking in that kitchen. My love of cooking comes from these lessons.

She was knows for tons of signature dishes.  And their ranking order was establish by how many people in the family would request them and how often.

This eggplant dip was one of my favorites.  Even at that young age, with all the grown up ingredients, I loved this dip.  It’s perfect to eat with toasted bread, or smoother on French bread or on top a steak, or mix into scramble eggs.  As you can see the application is endless.  It’s not a complicated recipe, and as always in Italian regional cooking, simplicity rules the day.  Plus it keeps well in the refrigerator, which gives me an excuse to make a big batch and eat it for days.

The only tip I can give you on this is the type of eggplant to use.  You can use any type of eggplant. But, I like the Chinese or Indian variety.  Mainly because they are both sweeter and tender than the American eggplant, helping the dish hit its sweet & sour point to its full potential.

Ingredients
(enough for about 4 or a small jar)

2 Eggplants (if using the big American variety) if using the Indian or Chinese, you will need about 5 or six.
1 to 2 cup of olive oil
2 medium yellow onions
2-3 tomatoes chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of drained capers, rinsed and chopped
3 tablespoons of pitted olives, chopped
¼ cup of red wine Vinegar (you may use less than this)
¼ cup of sugar (you may use less than this)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut eggplant into small cubes (about ½ inch) and transfer to a colander. Toss with 2 teaspoons of salt. Let drain 1 hour.

While waiting for the Eggplant, prep your other ingredients by chopping your onions, tomatoes, garlic, capers, olives and measuring your vinegar and sugar.  Put everything aside.

After an hour, gently squeeze (I use a potato ricer to do this task) eggplant to remove excess moisture and pat dry (they need to be very dry). Heat about 1 ½ cup of the oil in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat until very hot.  You can test the oil by adding one of the eggplant cubes, if it rapidly bubbles up, the oil is ready. Fry the eggplant in batches (don’t crowd the pan, you want the eggplant to crisp up) stirring and turning constantly with a slotted spoon, until browned and tender, 3 to 5 minutes per batch. Transfer to a tray lined with paper towels to drain and cool.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from skillet, then reduce heat to moderate and cook onion, until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook until golden, season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes of so.

Add the eggplants and tomatoes and stir to coat. Then add the olives, cappers and cook for about 2-3 minutes more to mesh all the flavors together.

Now the tricky part, building the sweet and sour flavor.

I usually start by adding the vinegar and sugar in increments of 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring and cooking for about 1-2 minutes after each addition and tasting it as you go along until you get the right amount balance to your taste. I’m also at the same time, adjusting the salt and pepper if needed.

Remember taste, taste and taste some more, as you are cooking along.

Once you find that right sweet and sour punch, simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 15 more minutes.  Cool to room temperature and served.

You can also store it in a jar and chill in the refrigerator.  It usually keeps up to a week.

In my house, we finish this up by the third day, we cannot seem to keep it around for much.

Some notes: 

• Go easy on the seasoning of the salt, since you salted the eggplants during the soaking period. And the Olives and cappers are already on the salty side… so make sure you taste each step of the way.
• You can replace the red-wine vinegar with Balsamic, but you need to reduce the sugar as well.
• You can also add herbs to it, like oregano, or thyme.  Be sure to do this as the last step.

Hot Spinach Dip

I love to have people over to my house and shower them with food. Blame it on my Italian/Latin heritage. We are natural host. If there is a party, we are there cooking, dancing and making sure that everyone around us is having a good time. We love to have people sit at our table to eat and drink and totally enjoy every bite.

Since I moved to Tampa, I have not had the chance to do this. Because well, most of my friends live in other states, cities and I frankly to lazy to go make new friends. Yes, I’m shallow that way.

When I meet Tom, I was glad, because that meant 2 things: One, I could stop cooking for one! And two, I was going to heritage friends by proxy. I was not disappointed; so far his friends are witty, funny, smart and just love to eat – perfect combination if you ask me. Which means that my inner host kicked into overdrive and now we are having dinner parties more often.

And a dinner party must have appetizers! And Internet, this appetizer is the easiest thing you will make (don’t let the ingredient list scare you off) and people will beg you for the recipe once they smother the first piece of toasted goodness with this Creamy Hot Spinach Dip.

Ingredients
1 box of frozen Spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 onion, cut into small pieces
1 clove of garlic mince (or garlic paste)
3 tablespoon Butter
3 tablespoon Olive oil
2 cups of fresh spinach, chopped rough (if desired)
1 envelope of Vegetable soup mix
1/2 cup of mayo
1/4 cup of sour cream
2 tablespoon of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 teaspoon of mustard (Dijon type)
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of Gorgonzola cheese
2 round of bread (or similar country, crusty bread) for bowl, another for dipper pieces.

Follow directions to unfreeze the frozen spinach and make sure it’s squeezed dry.

In sauté pan, place the butter and olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a bit until a bit soft, add the garlic and cook a bit more then add the drained frozen spinach as well as the fresh (if using). Mix and cook for about 5 minutes or so, then mix in the dry vegetable mix. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool down.

When spinach mixture is cooled. Mix in the rest of the ingredients (Mayo, Sour Cream, Mustard and the cheeses) Stir until everything is incorporate. At this point you can store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before using. If you are preparing the same day, then turn the oven to 350 degrees

Take the bread and form a bowl by cutting the top and scooping/hollowing out the inside, reserved and put it aside. Spread a bit of butter inside and then scoop the spinach mixture inside, spreading in and around the bread bowl. Spread a bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Cover the bread bowl in aluminum foil, place in a baking sheet pan and into the oven it goes for about 20 minutes. At about the 15 minutes mark uncovered and cook another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Take out of the oven, and let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Turn your oven to broil (medium setting) During this time, take the scooped pieces of bread and break off until small bite side pieces. The same for the additional bread break into rustic pieces with your hands. Spread on a baking sheet, drizzel with a bit of olive oil and place into the oven to toast up. About 2 minutes or so. Need to keep a watch on it so your broiler does not burn the bread

Take out and arrange the bread bowl dip in a serving plater, with the toasted pieces of break around it. 

Served and bask in the praises