Pasta Romana alla Siciliana

Ciao a tutti!

On this very special edition of the med chef I come straight from Roma Italia to bring you a delicious dish inspired purely from the fresh ingredients from the market.
I apologize in advance for the format since I'm thing this all from my phone.
To start off I bought a great bottle of sicilian wine, (the nero d'avola) which made me gear this meal in a sicilian vein. The great thing is most if the wine is under $10 or less. The even better part is every thing I buy here is a third if the price is at home. This whole meal cost at most $20 to $30.

The apartment my friend and I rented came fully equipped with a while kitchen and the essentials (at least for an italian). They had some fine salt as well as coarse grain sea salt. Some delicious olio di oliva (extra virgin and organic). They even take mention of separating organic material from plastic and regular garbage.

All the ingredients were bought at the Salumeria (the pancetta, sopressata, and fior di late mozzarella) and the supermercato and open air market.

I started out sauteing the onions and putting the water up for the fresh pasta. The pasta was fresh trofie which are like little twists that held the sauce in its tight little winds ever so gently imparting the flavor of the sauce.

Once the onions started going I added carrots then dime diced pancetta.  I then added some diced eggplant and some tomato paste.  At this point I dropped the pasta and added some of the salted pata water to the sauce to thicken it up along with a quarter to half cup of the Nero D'avola vino. 

The pasta at this point was coming together quite nicely. The only thing was they had ran out if pepper! Do what did I do...I cut up some sopressata and added it to the dish so that its peppery goodness could kick the dish up to where it needed to be.
In the mean time I whipped up a little antipasto of fresh mozzarella, sopressata, and shaved pecorino cheese. 

I also made a quick salad of fresh orgasmic spinach, carrots, cucumber and mozzarella.  I would of also added almonds and forgot to add the fresh tomatoes I bought as well...but I don't think I'll starve.

I then incorporated the pasta with the sauce to marry the flavor of both items.  A sprinkle of pecorino (which I MacGyver'ed a grader out of a slotted metal spoon) and we had ourselves a first class Roman grown, Sicilian style, fully Italian meal!
Many thanks to my friend Milena for asking me to come on this trip and enjoying the meal with me!

Buon appetito!

Mozzarella Fresca!!!

So here it is, the object of my desire, the subject of my dreams and the deliciousness that fills my stomach, Fresh, Home-made, Mozzarella.  Now, for this there is no substitute, and these past couple days I have even been impressing myself with what I can accomplish.  Come tomorrow I will be cooking for quite a large number of guests in my house and the worst thing an Italian host can do is not make enough food.  

On the menu is Pizza, Lasagna and Tricolore pasta salad alla Salvatore...and you cant have Sal's pizza without fresh mozzarella.  The only thing is the shipment that should have came today was delayed and wont come until Sunday (TIG:This is Grenada) so I adapt.  I had the curds in my freezer and said, lets give this a shot...

I took this block of 10 pounds of curds and got almost halfway through it...so think about 4 pounds of curds, and I let it come to room temperature and diced them up.

I made them into french fry style shreds and then gave them a good rinsing twice.

After I rinsed them I drained it out and had on the stove about 4-5 quarts of salted water (about 3-6 oz of sea salt) and brought it up to just before a boil.  To do this you either need a thermometer or a good sense of temperature.  You also want to set up a bowl with ice water.  So once that is set, you take the sliced curds and start putting the hot water on.  

You want the hot, salted water to be around 180 F and it will cool down to about 140 when you put it in the bowl.  This is prime stretching time.  Now this technique is a little hard to explain so unless someone wants to be my videographer I will try to explain.  You want to let it come and fold together like a log.  Once it is formed you want to stretch it out, letting the weight of the cheese stretch itself out.  You also want to fold it about 3-4 times lengthwise allowing it to be maintained in the water after each fold.  I know sounds hard, but it isn't really once you get the hang of it. Just come over and I'll show you!

Next you are going to want to take the cheese and fold it like a croissant out of the hot water and form a ball.  When it is cooled a little from forming in your hands you want to put it in that salted ice water bath.  

Just pinch it off properly and have fun with it...it's Mozzarella!

Here you see the little family of eight complete with the baby at the far left.  We are in for a treat tomorrow!

And there you have it, fresh Mozz' whenever you want it!  Enjoy, I know I will!

I Love Pizza

Pizza, for all intents and purposes, is an amazing collaboration of foods.  It combines three ingredients that come together to form what is arguably the most agreed upon taste of goodness in general society.  It takes the beauty that is fresh Mozzarella, melts it into a fresh sauce of pomodori that is sweet and delightful, and sets it on top of dough that, if made right, will be as airy and crunchy in a way words can not describe.  To some it is the essence of all being.  Tonight, I call it dinner, and am fortunate to know the recipe that makes it one of my favorite dishes to make and enjoy.   There is almost a compulsion to grab the first piece and see how it tastes, so that I know I put out a good batch and to see if I still have it.  It is my benchmark and I love to do quality control (and so does the company I keep).  

This recipe comes down the line from my Grandma Anntonette, to my father, and then to me.  It is something we have been making for years and if it wasn't for her love of food and family, I would never have this treat to share with the world.  I love and miss you Grandma!

So for tonight's recipe, I will explain how I first make the dough, then the sauce, and how to bring the rest of the ingredients together.  I am in the process of learning how to get the exact enzyme one needs to make mozzarella from scratch and word has it some of my Veterinary School friends might be able to help me out. But until then, store bought it is (and this time I got some BelGioioso so it wasn't half bad for a lonely island in the caribbean!).  

This recipe starts with some very important sous chef's, namely the microbial yeast that will help extract flavor and freshness to the dough I will shortly knead and beat on.  Add about a teaspoon or two yeast to a quarter to half cup of lukewarm water.  You do not want to use hot water since it will kill the organism and want it warm to activate the little suckers.  Also throw a teaspoon or two of sugar in order for the yeast to eat (we all have our currency).  Next you're going to have to wait about 10 minutes until the yeast activate and start to double in volume in the container.  It will start to fizzle and bubble up, and then you'll know it's ready.  

Next you will want to ready the flour.  To do that place about a cup to two cups of flour in a bowl.  *(Make sure to have place to roll out the dough ready and cleaned before you begin.  It is important to keep a clean and organized space to perform these duties).  After you set the flour, throw two healthy pinches of salt, a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and since I'm on the spice island, I threw a sprinkle of Nutmeg in as well to add a hearty quality to it.  Once all the ingredients are set and the yeast is fully activated (take your time with your sous chef's they need to be ready before starting), throw the water slurry mixture into the flour.  

 Now here comes the skill part that most people aren't as inclined to do.  Take a fork and start mixing it all together until it starts clumping together.  If it looks like this, you're on the right tract.  

After a couple more spins of the wrist, it should look even more like this, a nice ball of dough.  Empty the contents out onto a good surface and lets begin the pounding! 

Below is a video demonstrating how to exactly knead the dough.  You will want to knead it for approximately ten minutes in order to get the proper gluten and consistency necessary.  Take a look at the video for a live action of the roll...

 

 After ten minutes of pounding the dough (which is a great stress reliever by the way), you should get something that resembles this.  At this point (approximately 20 minutes total time) you are all done with the hard work and just have to coat this lovely ball with olive oil and place it back in the bowl, covered and in a warm place.  I usually leave it out for about 24 hours, but that is unnecessary for the average user.  You ought to leave it out for at least a two to four hours, punching it down and flipping it after the first hour or two.  In my case I actually kept it in the fridge for the night and opened it out to the open air at noon the day of (planning on cooking by seven).  Pictured here you can see my set up, being conscious of the bugs and flies that inhabit the Caribbean (it's their town we are just visiting!)

 When you are ready to use the dough, it should have doubled in size and look something like this.  The bigger values on this recipe make about two "Sal" sized pizza dough's.  Split the dough in half and start shaping it to the appropriate size of the tray, and spread some olive oil on both sides!

Doesn't it look like a heart! That's why I love Pizza!

Now the trick to a Paolillo Pizza is to put the mozzarella down first.  Yeah I said it, put some shredded mozzarella down first on the dough then spread some of the pizza sauce down.  The recipe for the pizza sauce is exactly like the Sunday sauce except you only simmer it for a half hour after you bring it to a boil and let it cool to room temp before placing on the pizza.  

So as you continue place some sliced mozzarella again on top of the sauce.  In my family, we don't generally use a whole bunch of cheese on top.  This goes against most American style pies and I advice to not go that route.  Mozzarella is such a special product and most pizzerias in the states don't use the good stuff (they shouldn't even be allowed to call it that!).  My father is a minimalist and would probably tell me that I used too much mozzarella even on this pie but he's not here this time to critique me!  Next put some strategically placed pieces of basil on and sprinkle some parmegiano reggiano cheese and a little touch of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you are ready to bake my friend!

 The trick to baking is that you want a hot oven.  Since this was my first pizza to be baked in my new oven I set it up to its highest setting (500 F) and set it for a test drive.  I made sure it was hot before putting it in.  I left it on the top rack for about 8 minutes then gave it a flipperoonie 180 degree twist to make sure it was getting evenly baked.  Its important to know the subtleties of your oven and how temperamental it may be.

 After about 16-20 minutes you should get a pie done just right as shown here.  Check the bottom to make sure its cooked through and you, my friend, have just made yourself a grade A Pizza Pie (Margherita style)!  Fun fact of the day is it's called a Margherita pie named after Queen Margherita and in honor of the Italian flag (Red, White and Green) signifying the colors with the Sauce, Mozzarella and Basil.  For my second pie I threw on some Sun Dried tomatoes I had laying around for an even sweeter taste.  Don't be afraid to get creative with it and most of all have fun doing it!  If you get to know me, you can ask me about my pizza dough tossing skills, but I digress.  Buon Appetito and I hope you enjoy it!