Torta Caprese

Torta caprese is a classic flourless cake from the isle of Capri. Chocolate and almond flour are the main ingredients that combine to make this a divine dessert, moist and rich with flavor. It's a great cake for all, but especially for those looking to eliminate gluten from their diet. But don't skip the whipped cream -- unless you choose vanilla ice cream as a topper instead.

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Torta Caprese

(recipe from "Cooking with Manuela")

Ingredients

• 1 cup (175 gr ) dark chocolate (I used Hershey's Special Dark bars)
• 6 oz (170 gr) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (120 gr) powdered sugar
• 5 large eggs, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon rum (optional)
• 3 cups (300 gr) almond flour (I used 2 1/2 cups almond flour and 1/2 cup all purpose flour because I ran out of almond flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Line or grease an 8 or 9-inch round springform pan. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. In a small bowl, add the butter, cut into pieces, and the chocolate. Melt in a double boiler or in the microwave for 45 seconds (80% power), adding 20 more seconds as needed. Whisk until smooth, and set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar until light and foamy. Save the egg whites in a separate large bowl for later. Add the vanilla paste (or extract) and the rum. Mix some more.
4. Add the melted butter/chocolate and beat some more. Add the almond flour and baking powder, and mix until combined.
5. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until firm. Fold into the cake batter.
6. Pour into the prepared pan, level, and bake for 35 to 40 minutes golden and set. Test with a toothpick for readiness. Let cool, remove from the pan and serve with powdered sugar.

Fall Minestrone

When my husband says "This soup hits me at the cellular level," I know we've got a keeper of a recipe. And this one, from Ereka Vetrini, who is on Instagram as @erekav, is a real winner. It's colorful, flavorful, packed chock full with delicious, healthy vegetables and pasta too. What could be better? It warms you to the soul, and is the perfect transitional meal as summer's warmth morphs into autumn's chill. The only change I made to Ereka's recipe was to use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, but you can do as you like. And because the pasta swelled so much after sitting for a few hours, I had to add more broth to thin out the soup a bit. I would suggest waiting to add the ditalini until shortly before you're ready to serve.

Check out Ciao Chow Linda on Instagram here to find out what’s cooking in my kitchen each day (and more).

 Fall Minestrone

Recipe from Ereka Vetrini @erekav on Instagram

Ingredients:
2 celery stalks finely minced
2 medium sized carrots finely minced
1 large sweet yellow onion finely minced
⅓ cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp dried rosemary
1 small butternut squash
1 large Yukon gold potato diced
6 cups low sodium vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
3 cups water
10 thyme sprigs
Parmesan rind (optional)
1½ cups small ditalini pastina
1 large bundle of lacinato (dinosaur) kale or a 12 ounces bag of spinach (I used both only because I didn't read the recipe carefully enough, but adding both kale and spinach was delicious)
1 can cannellini beans drained
1 can cannellini beans blended
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Veggie Preparation:
-To quickly mince the celery, carrots and onion, add them to a food processor and pulse 20-25 times.
-Use a peeler to peel the skin off of your butternut squash. Slice the squash in half, deseed and dice into ½ inch pieces.
-Peel and dice the potato. Remove the ribs from the kale and chop the leaves into small pieces.
-Blend one can of cannellini until smooth. Do not drain the liquid before blending.

Minestrone Instructions:
-To a large pot, add the olive oil, the soffritto (minced celery, carrots and onions), 1salt, pepper and dried rosemary. Sautè over medium heat for 3 minutes then add the butternut squash, potatoes, vegetable broth, 3 cups water, thyme sprigs and parmesan rind. Bring to a boil and let boil for 6 minutes.

-Add the ditalini and cook for 8 minutes more stirring occasionally so the pasta doesn’t still to the bottom of the pot.

-Lower to a simmer then stir in the kale (or spinach), canned and puréed beans. Let simmer for 5 minutes more.
-Serve warm with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Plum Tart

A couple of weeks ago we had a sublime meal at Canal House Station, a restaurant run by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hershimer in Milford, N.J. Melissa was co-owner of Hamilton Grill Room in Lambertville, N.J., and was food stylist and recipe developer for many publications, including Cook's Illustrated, Martha Stewart Living and Saveur, where she became food editor. Christopher was food and design editor for Metropolitan Home and co-founder of Saveur, and is a photographer and writer who has written four cookbooks. That's Christopher on the left and Melissa on the right (with yours truly in the middle) in the photo below.

Together they opened their charming restaurant along the Delaware River in a former train station and have published a series of seasonal cookbooks featuring recipes they serve to the public. Each course of our meal was so fresh and flavorful we were nearly licking the plates clean. Dessert was the beautiful and delicious plum tart in the photo above.

I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate it in my kitchen, especially since my Italian chit-chat group was meeting at my house in a few days. But I changed the topping somewhat to add sliced plums, rather than plum halves, and beneath the plums I dabbled a bit of almond paste - totally optionally, but wow, what a great taste combination. 

The time to make this is now, since Italian prune plums are in season for only a short while longer. Of course you can use the easier-to-find typical plums, but do search out the Italian prune variety while they're still available.

Purchased puff pastry makes this an easy dessert recipe. The photo below is of one sheet from a package of Pepperidge Farms' puff pastry, which contains two sheets. I used both sheets and pinched them together since I was having a crowd, but you can cut the recipe in half and use only one sheet. Roll each sheet out to about 10" x 10" and lift up the edges about 1/2 inch to create a border. Prick the pastry with a fork to keep the interior from puffing up too much.

If you want to add the almond paste (and why wouldn't you?), just break off some pieces, flatten them out and dabble them over the pastry. The almond paste also keeps the pastry from getting too soggy from the plum juices.

Slice the plums, (or keep them in halves if you prefer), place them over the almond paste, and add some dabs of butter. Sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden and the plums have softened.  Serve with whipped cream.

Check out Ciao Chow Linda on Instagram here to find out what’s cooking in my kitchen each day (and more).

Plum Tart

Inspired by Melissa Hamilton's and Christopher Hershimer's recipe in Canal House Cooking

2 sheets puff pastry (I used one box of Pepperidge Farm pastry, which contains two sheets), defrosted

1/4 cup flour

6-8 tablespoons granulated sugar

10-14 Italian prune plums (depending on size you may need more or less)

1 tube of almond paste (optional)

2 tablespoons cold butter, broken into bits.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the pastry until each of them is about 10" x 10".

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and place each piece of pastry on the parchment paper next to each other. Squeeze the edges of the pieces together in the middle. Lift the edges all around to form a kind of "frame" to keep the juices from running over the sides. Prick the interior of the pastry all over with the tines of a fork.

Sprinkle half the sugar over the pastry. Place dabs of the almond paste all around, then slice the plums and arrange over the almond paste (or just cut them in half and place halves over the almond paste, in which case you may need more plums). Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake for about 30 minutes or a little longer until the edges of the pastry are browned.

Serve with whipped cream.

Romano Beans, Potatoes and Pancetta

 

If you've never tried Romano beans, you have been missing out on one of best vegetables ever. They're sometimes hard to find, and are available for only a short time in late summer/early fall, so if you see these in your local supermarkets or farmer's market, grab a bunch.

They're common in Italian households, but not so much in the U.S., unless you come from the South, as does my friend Emily, who said they are called pole beans there. Her husband Tom curates a beautiful garden in Hopewell, NJ, growing all kinds of fabulous produce, including agretti, practically unheard of here in the U.S. but another of my favorite seasonal vegetables in Italy. He even sells to a few high end restaurants, and I am occasionally the beneficiary of some of their goodness, including this latest batch of Romano beans.

These beans were simply prepared with small white potatoes, a little pancetta, some garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Be sure to use quality ingredients since when a recipe is so simple as this, each ingredient really needs to shine.

Start out by boiling the potatoes and about ten minutes before they're done, add the beans. Cook until the beans and potatoes are soft through and through. This is not the time for crunchy beans. They need to be soft enough to smush a bit with a potato masher. Then drain everything in a colander.

Meanwhile, saute some pancetta and shallots (Tom also gave me some Belgian shallots he grew) until the pancetta has rendered its fat and the shallots are wilted. Add the garlic and let it soften too.

Add the potatoes and beans, salt and pepper, and "smush" everything together with a potato masher or a sturdy fork. Add a little more olive oil if you like (and I like).

Serve with a nice glass of wine. This was dinner for me and my husband, and was very filling, but you might like to add a salad if it's not enough for you.

Romano Beans, Potatoes and Pancetta

(For two people)

Ingredients:

about 8-10 tiny white potatoes

about 1/3 pound Romano beans

1 thick slice of pancetta (about 1/2" slice)

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot, finely diced

1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, minced

salt, pepper

Instructions:

Boil the potatoes in water until almost cooked through. Add the beans to the water (after de-stringing them if they are stringy) and boil until they are cooked through - about 8-10 minutes. Drain everything.

Place the pancetta in a pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Cook until the fat starts to render, then add the shallot and cook until wilted. Add the garlic and cook until wilted, then put the potatoes and beans into the pan, season with salt and pepper. Smush the potatoes and beans somewhat using a potato masher or sturdy fork. Add more olive oil and mix everything well.