Planning for the Future Brings Memories of the Past- Couscous Apple Salad

Thursday. I can't believe it's already Thursday! This week is flying by and I don't feel like much has gotten done (though my family would probably disagree)

I know I mentioned earlier this week that we probably won't be doing tablescapes for a while due to Mr B INSISTING that most of my dishes need to be packed (he can be SO unreasonable!), but Allie and I had a little "Blog Planning" session today, so I thought I'd invite you along to see how easy we are to distract plan out our blog posts. We're linking up to Susan's fabulous Tablescape Thursday party, so come and join us!

This morning was spent taking my 12 year old to the dentist for 6 (yes SIX!) extractions. His baby teeth just refuse to pop out on their own and today the canines had to be pulled- next up- orthodontist. 

G-R-O-A-N.........

I have to tell you- he was awesome! And 15 minutes ago when the dentist called to check on "her poor boy" I informed her that he was busily polishing off a humungous plate of pasta and already had his eye on the ice cream. He claims he's not even sore! 

Allie says she has to give him a few lessons on "milking it".

She's an expert

As I was sitting in the waiting room, I flipped through this month's issue of Country Living magazine. Of course I looked at the recipes first. 

I found a recipe for a lovely couscous salad that is VERY similar (actually, almost identical) to a recipe I frequently made in the Fall at our home in the Hudson Valley. We lived among wineries, dairy farms and orchards and apple recipes were always a staple. My original recipe was copied from a magazine or newspaper years ago and I've made it both with couscous and orzo, depending on what I had available.

Since I had the ingredients in the house, this was lunch for me and Allie. 

Now when we started planning, we talked about trying some new things next week

We're really anxious to try some of the fabulous looking recipes in a Greek community cookbook that was sent to us by a follower- turned- friend. Emilia so generously insisted on gifting us with this very special book from her church. So stay tuned for that!

We almost always have reminders of our family to inspire us...

Lunch at the island

He watches over us to keep us on track

As it happened, my Dad was home today and saw what we were doing. He appointed himself Supervisor and told me I was photographing the WRONG pages.

Okay, Dad.

I was showing my kids how even in the 1940s our family tables were filled from one end to the other

One of my favorites- my Dad and Grandma Josie at her dressing table. 

And to whichever family member got that vanity and lamp- I WANT IT!! P-l-e-e-e-e-a-s-e...............

And Dad with Grandpa Joe- the wine was always shared!

As we ate and planned,

I noticed something. There were pictures of my Dad, his parents, and cousins on their summer trip to Upstate NY

What are the chances??

They visited the Pine Bush, NY area for 2 weeks every summer. Fifty years later, I would (unknowingly) end up living within a half hour of the family vacation spot in the beautiful Hudson Valley of NY.

We sat at the island for several hours. I told my kids that you can never go forward without looking to your past.

Hopefully Casa Bramasole's still uncertain future will bring us to another wonderful chapter in our family's journey

Couscous and Apple Salad

adapted from Country Living and recipe from unknown magazine circa 1990s

4 tblsp. olive oil, divided

1 cup Israeli couscous (I used French couscous)

4 cups vegetable broth

1/4 tsp salt

1 large Gala apple, cored, chopped, and diced

1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided

1 largish shallot, minced

a couple of handfuls of heirloom golden mini tomatoes

4 ounces crumbled Feta (I used herbed Feta)

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup rough chopped mint

1/4 cup rough chopped basil

1 tblsp. chopped oregano

in a medium, heavy skillet over medium heat, warm 1 tblsp of olive oil. Add couscous and, stirring frequently, cook till toasty looking and golden. Add broth and salt to taste, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes till cooked. Drain in a wire strainer and rinse with cold water- drain well and put in a large bowl. Set aside

In another bowl, toss apples with 2 tblsp lemon juice. Mix in shallots, couscous, and tomatoes, then gently toss in most of the Feta and pine nuts (save a bit for garnish).

In a blender, pulse together herbs and remaining 2 tblsp lemon juice. With motor running, dribble in remaining 3 tblsp olive oil till emulsified. Add pepper to taste and toss with salad. Garnish with reserved Feta and pine nuts. I heaped the salad in the center of a platter and added some fruits and veggies from our Farmer's Market- roasted beets, apricots, figs, and apples.

**NOTE- This is just an opinion, but since I ALWAYS have an opinion, I thought I'd share it. I followed Country Living's proportions for the dressing tonight to try it. Honestly, I would increase this by 50 per cent or even double it next time. My original dressing has a bit more dressing and I do believe I prefer it- this was a tiny bit dry for my taste.

Join us tomorrow for Foodie Friday at Gollum's and have a WONDERFUL evening full of love and family!

As Always,

Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie

Tomato Soup al Fresco with Corn Madeleines and a VERY Special Birthday!

Buona Sera! 

Yes, it's evening time at Casa Bramasole and another busy day is winding down. Packed a bit, worked a LOT, sent out more resumes, and daydreamed a bit about some lovely cool, Fall weather. It has been STEAMY here in NC and today was no exception. Our resident weatherman, Mr B, tells me that it will cool down by the end of the week, so here's hoping!

I've gotten a number of emails since starting this blog (I love them- keep 'em coming!) and a few have mentioned being surprised at some of the herbs and spices I use in what I describe as traditional Italian cooking.  When I teach a class, this frequently comes up. Here's some info I found on the Web:

The Roman Empire suffered a long, excruciating demise and finally collapsed in the 4th century A.D. Among the many consequences was Italy's increased vulnerability, and a centuries-long history of attacks and seizures began. Some of the conquerors included the Visigoths, Vandals, Huns, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks, Arabs, Normans, Germans, and Austrians. Countries such as France and Spain controlled parts of Italy intermittently throughout several centuries until Italy's final unification in 1860. And, as conquerors tend to do, they all left behind pieces of themselves. Their customs, tastes, and culinary skills were assimilated into Italian life.

Arab Muslims had dominion over Sicily more than once and at one time ruled for about 250 years. During their reign, they introduced foods that would become integral parts of Italian cuisine

Inhabitants of Italy brought foreign foods into the country themselves as well. The conquering Romans brought back wealth and foods from their territories. Marcus Aurelius, the second-century Roman ruler, sent an expedition to China long before Marco Polo went (which is not to discount Polo's contributions-namely, spaghetti and tortellini, which closely resemble wontons). When the Christian Crusades began in 1096, Italian soldiers moved into Muslim-controlled regions and brought back with them the secrets of Arabian fare. Italian princess Caterina de'Medici is known to have brought Italian cuisine to France via her Florentine chefs; in turn, she brought French food back to Italy. By the 14th century, Venice had control of the Eastern Mediterranean and was the center of maritime commerce, bringing in foodstuffs from the East and South.

So you see, Italy has a centuries old culinary history that spans continents! There can be no minimizing the influence of the Middle East. My Nonna loved using herbs and spices in unique ways and passed that along to me. 

Today I wanted to clear out the fridge a bit more. I had roasted tomatoes left from yesterday and roasted the head of garlic while I did some housework this morning. The following soup can be thrown together in literally minutes thanks to the use of a food processor. I got the original recipe many years ago from one of my aunt's cookbooks in Italy and translated it. Over the years it's been tweaked very little, but I do tend to throw in whatever herbs I have on hand. The madeleines are made from a corn timbale recipe I got from a magazine years ago. It's a basic custardy timbale recipe and  can be made in small ramekins- increase the baking time a little bit. I've frequently served this as a first course at a summer luncheon and so years back started using the madeleine mold for the purposes of a pretty presentation. The soup can be served cold, room temperature (my preference during the summer months) or warmed. Make sure you taste prior to serving as tomatoes can vary in their flavor intensity and you should taste the various flavors- remember, a soup served cold especially needs to be seasoned well.

Tomato Soup al Fresco with Corn Madeleines 

1/4 cup chicken or vegetable  stock

3 tomatoes (heirloom if available) chopped, preferably roasted (sliced thickly, 275 degrees for 3 hours)

1 large roasted red pepper

1/2 red onion chopped

1 jalapeno chopped and seeds removed or more to taste

zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup parsley chopped

1/4 cup basil chopped

1/4 cup mint chopped (I tend to use a bit more)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 spoonful tomato paste or leftover homemade tomato sauce- optional

1 large head garlic, roasted (slice off top 1/2 inch of head, wrap in foil, and roast at 400 degrees till soft- 45-60 minutes) Cool and squeeze roasted garlic pulp out into processor

4 ounces mascarpone cheese

a big pinch of cardamom

Sea Salt and pepper

Blend the ingredients until the mixture is puréed very smooth; if the soup is too thick, add a little more stock. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Corn Madeleine

2 1/2 cups corn kernels freshly cut

2 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1 big pinch grated nutmeg

2 x-large Eggs

1 x-large egg White

Kosher Salt

Fresh ground pepper

Vegetable Spray

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a medium-sized pot, add the corn, garlic, cream and nutmeg. Slowly bring to a boil and simmer, partially covered,  for about 20 minutes. Cool quickly- an ice water bath works well or refrigerate. Blend together the eggs, salt and pepper, strain cooled corn mixture through a wire strainer into the eggs- press down hard to extract all the liquid. Whisk the custard and discard the solids. Spray 12, madeleine molds (you may only use 10 or 11) with the vegetable spray. Place the mold in a baking dish, pour the corn mixture into the madeleines and place in the oven. Next, pour hot water into the baking dish. The water should come up the mold about ½ in and touch the bottoms. Cover with foil and bake for 75 minutes.

Whisk the chilled soup and pour some into soup bowl, remove the mold from the baking dish and gently turn out the corn madeleines onto a platter. Place one into the center of the soup. Garnish with chopped herbs if desired.

Today is also a VERY special day for our family for another reason. 

Our little Princess

The light of our lives...

is 5 !!!!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!!

Grandma and Grandpa love you SO much!!

As Always,

Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie

Meatless Monday!! Timbales, Baby Artichokes and a Wonderful Eggplant Spread

Hi Everyone! It's Monday and you know what?? That's not a bad thing because it means we celebrate ....

Meatless Monday!!

Our regular readers know that we've been TRYING (with a few hiccups- like the fact that Mr B is a hard-core carnivore and won't play with us) to stand by the tenets of Meatless Monday

From the website :  “Meatless Monday is an international movement to help people reduce their meat consumption by 15%, in order to improve personal health and the health of the planet. We are a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The tradition of Meatless Mondays began in WWI, when the FDA encouraged the rationing of meat, wheat and other staples to help the war effort. The campaign was relaunched in 2003 as a public health campaign to help individuals reduce their saturated fat intake.”

For an Italian cook, coming up with a meatless meal is not at all difficult. The Mediterranean diet relies heavily on fresh fruits and vegetables, pastas, breads, cheeses, and grains. 

(not to mention fabulous wines! Oh, right....we're talking healthy here. Ummmm, wine has tons of antioxidants, so there you go!)

This week has been a bit difficult here at Casa Bramasole. I've been a bit under the weather and, as tends to happen at such times, my Grandma Josie has been on my mind a lot. 

I've mentioned my closeness to my grandmothers frequently, but my relationship to Grandma Josie (or Nanni to my children) was special simply because she was here. I grew up living in her house till I was 12, then saw her weekly till I was 16, then daily till she passed away when I was in my late 20s. Her influence in my life can not be understated. 

For those of you who might be interested, I wrote a little bit about her here. Anyway, Grandma was a very typical Italian housewife in that NOTHING was ever wasted. She trained me to use all the bits and pieces that tend to be left in the typical fridge. This morning I noticed that a few of our tomatoes were VERY ripe, so I decided to roast them

Tonight we'll have a roasted tomato Caprese with a sweet balsamic reduction

As they were roasting, I started to forage through the fridge and this is what I came up with for tonight. Now I did cheat a bit- I had a salmon filet left from yesterday that needed to be used, so 4 of the timbales were lined with salmon. This was done rather quickly as I had several appointments today, so I didn't focus too much on "pretty and perfect"- but I can assure you it all tastes good!

Braised Baby Artichokes

a bag (about 10) of baby artichokes halved with choke out and rubbed with lemon, tender leaves only
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 sliced garlic cloves
2 long yellow sweet peppers, seeded and sliced OR you can use hot pepperoncini, left whole- do not cut them open- you just want the whisper of heat here
2 TBLSP oregano leaves
1 large onion, sliced thick
2 rosemary sprigs
1/2 cup white wine
1 TBLSP fresh lemon juice or white balsamic
1/4- 1/2 cup of chicken broth
Salt and cracked black pepper

roasted peppers- optional

Put oil, garlic, peppers and oregano on low in a large deep skillet. Gently warm til garlic is soft about 5 minutes. Add onion, rosemary and cook over low heat until onion is soft. Add wine, lemon juice and broth. Bring it to a boil then reduce to a simmer, add the artichokes and cook til tender. Cool and  serve warm or room temperature. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in roasted pepper strips if desired

I had some eggplant laying around this weekend and was planning on making a caponata. As I was browsing my emails, I happened to see a recipe for Eggplant Caviar on David Lebovitz's blog. Now normally I would have just read his post ( I love his blog) and skipped right on by the recipe as I have one that I've used for years. But his was SIMPLER than mine. Easier to do and lets the eggplant shine. So I tried it, we really enjoyed it, and I think you will too. I even spread a little in a tomato and fontina panini I made this afternoon- YUM!

Eggplant Caviar

adapted from David Lebovitz

 2 medium eggplants
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus additional for preparing the pan
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic or shallot, peeled and minced (or both)
1/2 teaspoon smoked or sea salt
1/8 teaspoon chili pepper powder
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, parsley, cilantro, or basil

 Brush a baking sheet with olive oil and sprinkle it with a bit of salt. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Preheat a grill to medium high.

 Poke each eggplant a few times with a sharp knife ( this is important- don't ask me how I know) and grill, turning them infrequently with tongs, until they're charred on the outside and feel soft and wilted. Depending on how smoky you want them, roast them for five to ten minutes.

 When cool enough to handle, cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, and place them cut side down on the oiled baking sheet.

 Bake the eggplants until the flesh is thoroughly cooked, which should take about twenty minutes, but may vary. Remove the eggplants from oven and once cool enough to handle, scrape the pulp from the skins into the bowl of a food processor. 

 Add the tablespoon of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic or shallot (I used both), salt, and chili pepper powder.

 Pulse the food processor a few times, until the mixture is almost smooth. Add the herbs ( I used basil and mint) and pulse a few more times.

Taste, and add additional salt, lemon, or other seasonings, as desired.

To serve, spoon into a bowl and make a well in the center. Pour a bit of olive oil in the middle and sprinkle with chili powder, sumac, or some chopped fresh herbs. 

The real "throw-together" part of this meal ended up being these timbales. I used a basic technique, but no real recipe, so I just wrote down what I added. 

Broccoli Potato Timbales (with or without salmon)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I had a salmon filet. I sliced the meat off the skin in thin slices. Discard the skin. Salt and pepper the salmon. Cut into long strips and wind into the bottom of greased ramekins leaving a hole in the center.

1. Steam 1 large head of broccoli. Place in a food processor and pulse till chunky. I boiled 3 medium sixed potatoes (peeled and halved crosswise), then put the potatoes through a ricer. I let them cool for about a half hour. (it wasn't intentional- we had a video game emergency going on)

1. Add to the food processor along with 4 ounces mascarpone cheese, 3 x-large egg yolks (I'm sure large would work fine), about a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, 3 cloves crushed garlic, paprika, nutmeg, and a pinch of cayenne. I also juiced half a lemon in there. I divided the mix into the greased ramekins (I had 4 with salmon liners and 2 without) and put the ramekins in a baking pan. I poured boiling water into the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Remove ramekins to a wire rack to cool for 20-30 minutes. Unmold. If you have time and really want to make this pretty, you can press finely chopped nuts (hazelnuts or pistachios would be nice) around the sides of the plain ones. Or sprinkle them on top. Grandma Josie would be proud :)

Because I'm not feeling my best and because things are somewhat crazy around here now as Casa Bramasole prepares for a move, I'm not certain how many tablescapes we'll manage for a while (Mr B. is being very unreasonable- he insists that ALL the dishes can't stay unpacked! Men!) We will continue with recipes, design issues, and just plain talk for as long as possible 

As Always,

 Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie