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Filled Focaccia with Pesto, Mortadella, and Burrata

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Ever  need a comfort food fix? I do.

When I make filled focaccia with fresh pesto, burrata and mortadella it is the ultimate comfort satisfaction, nothing competes when it emerges from the hot oven and the burrata has melted perfectly, the mortadella is warm, and the bite of fresh pesto creates the ultimate flavor combination and brings me to one of my fondest memories.

I experienced filled focaccia when I visited a dear friend in Milan. It was a damp, chilly autumn afternoon and we had just returned from seeing DaVinci’s Last Supper.

We arrived in her sweet apartment (not much bigger than my living room back in the US) and I was immediately engulfed with the delicious smell of warm bread, fresh basil, and gooey cheese. As the aroma saturated the room, it was the most amazing sensation, so very unexpected yet incredibly welcomed.

She quickly answered my thoughts and explained she had decided to make us her mom’s filled focaccia recipe. With a slight smile and an air of pride, she announced it was created with her fresh garden pesto,  her nonno’s cured mortadella, and her mom’s homemade burrata. My mouth was watering and my senses were dancing…..

As she cut the focaccia, the ingredients, oozed out of the center and teased us with the beautiful colors and enticing flavors. I set the table and poured the house wine from her uncle’s vineyard.  She tossed together a simple salad which came from her window box garden.  We sat, giggling and chatting as the hours passed during the gloomy afternoon.

As I reminisce, I never knew such a simple dish could entice me at such a deep level but now I realize each recipe, each dish created with such love and intent is forever it’s own work of art.

Filled Focaccia with Pesto, Mortadella, and Burrata
 
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Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • FOCACCIA DOUGH:
  • 5 Cups All-purpose Unbleached Flour
  • 2 Teaspoons Instant Active Dry Yeast
  • 2 – 3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Plus 2 Additional Tablespoons To Oil Bowl)
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 2+ Cups Warm Water
  • STUFFING:
  • 12 Thin Slices Mortadella
  • 2 Burrata Balls, torn in pieces
  • Pesto:
  • 1 Cup Basil
  • 1 Garlic Cloves,
  • Pine Nuts
  • Parmigiano Cheese
  • Salt & Pepper
  • ⅓ Cup Olive Oil
  • TO FINISH:
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Coarse Sea Salt
Instructions
  1. Measure and assemble your flour, oil, salt, yeast, and water.
  2. Add everything but the water into a large bowl and stir.
  3. Add half the water and stir.
  4. Continue to add water until the dough begins to come together into a shaggy ball.
  5. Dump the dough mixture onto a lightly floured surface and begin to knead with the heels of your hand.
  6. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and pliant.
  7. Add a little oil (2 tablespoons) to the bottom of a large bowl and place your ball of dough inside.
  8. Roll the ball of dough around in the oil ensuring the sides of the bowl and ball of dough are both lightly oiled.
  9. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise. (I cover mine with a kitchen towel on top of the plastic wrap and sit it on a large sunny windowsill.)
  10. Let the dough rise until it is doubled in size, about an hour or an hour and a half depending on ambient temperature.
  11. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  12. While the dough is rising, place all of the pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
  13. Divide the dough into two equal halves.
  14. Oil a 13 x 9 Inch baking sheet.
  15. Place one half of the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it with a rolling pin until it fits the bottom of the prepared pan.
  16. Place the dough in the pan, stretching it with your fingers to fit.
  17. Spread the tomato pesto over the dough.
  18. Lay the ham slices, slightly overlapping on top of the pesto.
  19. Lay the provolone cheese slices on top of the ham, overlapping to fit.
  20. Roll out the remaining dough to fit the pan, then stretch it out with your fingers as you lay it on top of the stuffing mixture.
  21. Use your fingers to pinch the two dough halves together to seal.
  22. Use your fingers to press dimples into the top of the dough.
  23. Drizzle a little of the oil over the top of the dough.
  24. Sprinkle the top with some salt and then bake until puffed and golden brown, about 25 minutes.
  25. Cool 10 minutes, then cut into 4-inch squares and serve.

 

Burrata Cheese with Fried Sage and Anchovy Oil

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Burrata with fried sage and anchovy oil

Burrata with fried sage and anchovy oil

It’s summer. The beginning of warm days and nights, lingering afternoons, and patio evenings filled with food, fun, and friends. We long for these nights all year as they bring some of our best memories and fondest times.

So often during the summer, my favorite thing is to create an array of Italian appetizers accompanied with delicious wines and hours of endless conversation. With this as a favorite pastime, I am always looking for bites of deliciousness which can be completed ahead of the fray yet taste like they were just prepared.

When I am looking for inspiration for recipes, I frequently end up pulling from my memory bank of travel experiences. One very fond memory for us both was during a stay in the Tuscan countryside in an Agriturismo. For those of you who might not be familiar, Agriturismo’s are working farms where you can stay for both room and meals. If you haven’t experienced one, I highly suggest the venture. Quaint, rustic, and unique, nothing quite matches the sensation of being woken up to both the sounds of the farm roosters cackling accompanied by the divine smells of the bake goods nestled inside the womb of the wood fire oven preparing themselves for breakfast enjoyment.   It is truly a morning dance for one’s sensory pleasures.

One particular morning, we were gladly awakened by the enticing smells of the kitchen below. We quickly gathered ourselves together in hopes we aren’t too late (or early) for the pleasures we fantasized as we awoke from our slumber. We were careful to lightly tread over the old wood floor covered with footprints of the memories made before us and over to the nostalgic moka pot where countless others have too enjoyed a pot of the liquid gold finishing brewing and awaiting our enjoyment.

Nestling up in the corner table against the rough stone walls of the farmhouse, we sipped our coffee and gazed over the fields being hugged by the morning dew. As we got lost in a gaze of the Tuscan hillside, Gabriella (the owner and chef) quietly slipped a gorgeous tray of fresh figs, homemade burrata cheese, and fresh bread topped with glistening fresh olive oil, zested lemon, and then carefully wrapped amongst a wreath of fresh sage leaves. I didn’t believe anything could have broken my day dreaming stare but the enticing aromas of the farmhouse bread and the warmth of the newly made cheese rising from our table was too alluring to ignore. My head quickly shifted to the food painting in front of me, balanced by color, texture and flavor, it was almost too gorgeous to eat…..almost.

As I took the small, antique ceramic plate and arranged the bread, cheese, and fruit in the same thoughtful manner as Gabriella, I thought carefully about how best to honor this masterpiece. As I contemplated the layers of flavors I was about to experience, I wondered if it would satisfy the anticipation I was building inside my fantasy.

As I sank my teeth into the soft texture of both the bread and the cheese, the warmth of both filled my mouth while the intensity of the fresh olive oil coated my taste buds and the fresh lemon lingered slightly behind.

As I slowly chewed, I marveled at how beautifully satisflying four ingredients could be and how this melody worked so graciously together and I contemplated the age-old question, could it really be this simple to create the perfect, culinary bite? The answer was simple and quick……..yes.

Burrata with fried sage and anchovy oil

Burrata Cheese with Fried Sage and Anchovy Oil
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 tub of burrata cheese (can use fresh mozzarella)
  • 12 sage leaves
  • 2-3 T anchovy paste
  • 5-6 T olive oil
  • 1-2 T white balsamic vinegar
  • 9-10 kalamata olives
  • salt and pepper
  • crostini for serving
Instructions
  1. In a small skillet, heat olive oil. Add anchovy paste and whisk to incorporate. Add sage leaves and lightly fry. Take off the heat and stir in white balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. On a platter, break open the burrata balls. Arrange kalamata olives and pour anchovy oil and sage over cheese. Serve immediately with crostini or crackers

 

 

 

Endive and Prosciutto Spears

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Sometimes we need easy….elegant AND yummy but EASY and this appetizer of endive, prosciutto, and parmigiano-reggiano cheese drizzled with a delicious truffle oil is just that……especially the deliciousness part!

Endive Prosciutto Appetizer|Eatentions

When I think of warm summer nights and long casual evenings on the patio with family and friends, lots of appetizers always come to mind. They go with the flow of the evening and allow everyone to graze and enjoy while sipping a beautiful glass of wine and drinking in the moment.

We do a lot of entertaining during this time of year and so with the appetizer theme comes the need for having easy and universal dishes so I can join my guests in savoring the magic of the evening.

Endive Prosciutto Appetizer|Eatentions

This appetizer was inspired from a Tuscan Farmhouse we stayed at back in 2012. The owner/chef was treating us to a special tasting of her favorite Tuscan vintage and brought out truffle-oil rubbed crostini, fresh cut prosciutto and local pecorino cheese. Somehow that moment brought together the perfect pairing of a bite of food and a taste of wine. Since that moment, I felt the need to recreate it…..both literally and in my dreams, I hope you enjoy.

Endive and Prosciutto Spears
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 3 Heads of Endive, Spears Only
  • 12 Slices of Prosciutto, Halved
  • Parmigiano-Reggiano, Shaved
  • Good Quality Truffle Oil
  • Cracked Black Pepper
Instructions
  1. On a platter, arrange endive spears, arrange prosciutto over spears and add desired amount of shaved parmigiano-reggiano. Drizzle a nice amount of truffle oil and a little cracked black pepper.
  2. Serve immediately with a delicious wine!

Endive Prosciutto Appetizer|Eatentions

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato-Ricotta Cavatelli with White Wine Braised Chicken Sauce

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Did someone say, Sweet Potato-Ricotta Cavatelli?

White Wine Demi-Glace Rabbit with Sweet Potato Cavatelli

White Wine Demi-Glace Rabbit with Sweet Potato Cavatelli

Yes, yes, that someone is ME! Something in my being simply calls me to make pasta and to make it often, in fact, to make it as often as possible.

A BIG obsession for me is ricotta cavatelli, its texture and shape just work with my taste buds….now go and mix it up with some seasonal yummies and it easily becomes the perfect food in my world, easily.

Ricotta Cavatelli was a staple when I was growing up. My Nonna would make it at least every Sunday and sometimes during the week if any of us did something extraordinary or just asked (isn’t that how it works with grandbabies?). I’m thinking the latter happened much more often than the former….

Now back to the cavatelli story. For her, she kept the sauces simple, Bolognese or butter, it just didn’t get much fancier than that and it didn’t need to. Honestly, any pasta she made was sensational and frankly, I ate more of it raw than anything (which completely made her crazy but secretly, she really loved it).

Nonna always started with making the ricotta, I am sure it had a lot to do with hovering grandkids waiting impatiently to be fed and acting completely starved to death…..Solution? Easy, triple the batch, make crostini, and let us go to town (and out from under her feet, literally) so she could crank out her cavatelli treasures.

I loved that the air was always filled with fresh cheese and the aroma of her infamous Bolognese sauce, which conveniently simmered all day and comatosed us while we waited for the feast of deliciousness!

Finally, I was old enough to make pasta in my own house and when I first branched out from the traditional and into the “variations”, I was sure I would need a pasta confessional and ask my Nonna for continuous forgiveness but, when I was able to create one I knew she would approve of, I felt redeemed!

I never got the opportunity to make her my sweet potato – ricotta cavatelli but the memory of those days comes to me every time I venture out and make them or any variation……and I never forget to start with the ricotta and crostini…….here’s to you Nonna….

Sweet-Potato-Cavatelli

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 Sweet Potato-Ricotta Cavatelli with White Wine Braised Chicken Sauce
This recipe was inspired by my love for ricotta cavatelli. Cavatelli are similar to gnocchi but a bit smaller in size. This recipe birthed from my love of sweet potatoes and ricotta cheese!
White Wine Demi-Glace Rabbit with Sweet Potato Cavatelli
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Cavatelli
Fresh Ricotta
White Wine Braised Chicken Sauce
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Sweet Potato Cavatelli
Fresh Ricotta
White Wine Braised Chicken Sauce
White Wine Demi-Glace Rabbit with Sweet Potato Cavatelli
Instructions
Sweet Potato Cavatelli
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Pearce sweet potatoes all over and place on a baking sheet. Cook for 30-40 min or until soft. Pull out of oven and peel and pass through a food mill or ricer into a bowl. Cool completely.
  2. Combine cooled sweet potatoes, ricotta, egg, and salt
  3. Place flour on kneading board. Make a well and add the above ingredients. Mix to combine
  4. Keep kneading until the dough comes together and has a smooth consistency. If sticky, add some flour. Don't over knead dough or it will become too tough.
  5. Cut off a small chunk and roll it into a rope about ½″ thick.
  6. Roll rope in some flour before cutting in 1 inch pieces. With a gnocchi board, start at the top and press each piece to make and indentation and then roll down the board. (If you want, you can go one step easier and forget the gnocchi board, just roll out some dough into a ½ inch thick rope, indent a line down the middle and cut in 1 inch segments).
  7. Toss with flour and put on cookie sheets. Apply more flour if they are a bit "sticky". Let rest and dry about 2 hours.
Fresh Ricotta
  1. In a saucepan over medium heat, add all ingredients and let come to a light boil. Cook for 15 minutes as the liquid and solid separate. Remove from heat and pour into a fine mesh strainer over a bowl and let drain until all liquid is gone.
White Wine Braised Chicken Sauce
  1. Season the chicken legs on both sides with salt and pepper and in a very large saute pan on high heat with olive oil sear them until they are brown on all sides.
  2. Once they are brown remove them from the pan and place in a cassoulet baking dish.
  3. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic into the hot pan where the chicken legs were and caramelize.
  4. Once they are brown, add in the flour
  5. Next, pour in the wine and reduce it by ½, then add in the the rand chicken stock and cook for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Pour the entire mixture into the dish with the legs and add the thyme bundle and bake on 300° for 2-3 hours.
  7. After they are cooked, remove the chicken and strain the sauce into a pot and cook until it is reduced by ½ and keep warm. Shred chicken and put back into sauce.
  8. In a bowl combined the chopped herbs and set aside.
  9. Cook pasta in large pot with salted water for 7-8 minutes or until al dente. Drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water. Toss pasta with sauce, herbs, and pasta water, if needed. Top with parmigano reggiano and serve immediately.
  10. Buon Appetito!
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