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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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Greek Lamb Shanks

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Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Whenever I ask Enrique what special meal he wants on a Sunday, 9 times out of 10 he asks for this recipe. It really is quite the marriage of flavors and couple that with “fall off the bone tenderness” and you truly have a magical experience.

Since I know how often the request for this recipe is coming, I always have some shanks in my freezer. I have an awesome local source that makes this dish that much more amazing; gotta love these farmers and purveyors!

Another special element that highlights this dish is when I remember all the amazing lamb dishes we have had when we travel. I could eat lamb everyday and in everyway but infused with lemon, white wine, and fresh herbs is probably one of my most favorite preparations. I think for both of us, some of this fondness comes from our 8th anniversary spent in Greece.

We were on the Island of Santorini for 1 of the 2 weeks we spent in this amazing country. If you haven’t been to Santorini, you need to put it on your bucket list immediately! If you have been to Santorini, you already know how completely enchanting this island is so you won’t be surprised that we had a delightful anniversary dinner in a small, local restaurant on the second floor with our own balcony overlooking the sea. I probably could have been fed rocks and dirt and been in bliss completely due to the ambience…. but top it off with a delicious Grecian dinner and I think we probably were transported to Heaven’s main gate; in fact, I am positive we were.

The evening began with 2 appetizers of various fresh fishes, simply prepared both fried and grilled and combined with fresh herbs and local olive oil. Next was a simple salad topped with grilled Mediterranean vegetables and fresh lemon juice. I couldn’t have imagined anything could get better until they served us the lamb shank prepared in the outside wood burning oven with herbs, white wine, lemon, and olive oil. It was succulent, rich, and decadent. Dessert was fresh fruit and local cheeses. Simply divine and one of the best anniversary dinners we ever had…..

So this recipe is my interpretation of that memorable lamb dish overlooking the sea in Santorini…..try this for Valentine’s Day and transport yourself….

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

Greek-Lamb-Shanks-with-Cipollini-and-Potatoes

 

Greek Lamb Shanks
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Greek
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 4 Lamb Shanks (each about 1¼ lbs., 1 shank is a portion)
  • Parsley Leaves, lightly packed
  • 4 T Dried Oregano
  • 8 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 4 Lemons, juiced
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 Cup White Wine
  • Chicken Stock
  • 1 lb. Small Potatoes
  • 12 Cippolini Onions or 4 Sweet Onions, quartered
Instructions
  1. Squeeze lemon should be about ½ cup total
  2. In a food processor, add ½ garlic, 2 T oregano, bunch of parsley and a little oil, blend together. Rub lamb shanks with mixture, set aside.
  3. In same food processor, repeat process above. In a bowl, add onion and potatoes and toss with mixture. Add salt and pepper and set aside.
  4. Heat oven to 375
  5. Heat dutch oven and salt and pepper the shanks and then brown all over med-high heat. Add lemon juice and white wine, reduce by half.
  6. Add back shanks and add chicken broth until ½ way up sides of meat and add bay leaf. Put in oven for 1½ hours. After 1½ hours, reduce oven to 350 for another 30 minutes.
  7. Remove shanks from oven and pull out of dutch oven. Add potato onion, juices, salt, and pepper. Add back shanks and more chicken broth, if needed. Reduce heat to 325 and cook for another 1½ hours.
  8. Serve with naan and a greek salad

Delicata Squash Boats with Pancetta, Porcini, and Fried Sage Risotto

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squash boats 2

For me, risotto is one of those simple life pleasures. It’s a comfort food on a cold day or the perfect side dish to any grilled meat in the summer. The only trick with risotto is making sure it is “al dente” and not mushy hence the necessity to hover over the stove stirring and tasting consistently, adding liquid very slowly.

I was so lucky to learn to make risotto from my Italian aunt in the Piedmont area of Italy. I mean, that is risotto country so I better learn from the best or not carry a Northern Italian last name, simple as that, period.

We were on one of our jaunts to visit the family and I made the “casual” comment about loving risotto. Well, let me tell you, don’t ever make a “casual” comment about anything food related to an Italian relative. I had no idea what I had released.

First came the phone calls to the other family relatives “intensely” communicating something about “non hai fatto risotto per la famiglia? Mai????? Mama mia! Then the phone slams down and another call is made, same question but this time the phone slams down with “Ah Madonna!” And the list continues…..each time the same question and the ending disgust. Yikees, all I mentioned was that I liked risotto, I didn’t need any relatives killed over some cooked rice.

We sat quietly as my aunt stomped around, shooed her children to the small grocery store down the street, and mumbled obscenities to herself. At this point, I just wanted a drink.

After about 30 minutes the children arrived and my aunt gazed out into the room where I sat and said, “viene qui!” and I quickly obeyed and came into the kitchen.

What ensued next was a sheer blessing in disguise, an afternoon filled with loving determination to show me (and feed us) the perfect risotto dish. The instruction began with a description of every ingredient (the proper ones) to use to make risotto. The rice, the homemade stock, the onions, the wine, the butter, the parmigiano cheese, this is the base and from here, it’s personal choice what else one wishes to add. During our lesson, she chose veggies from her garden. I took notes like a mad woman and drank in all of her divine wisdom.

As the time progressed, I knew I was receiving something most people wished for, instruction from the true masters of Italian cuisine, the ones that hold the keys to generations before and the knowledge of all that is passed down through the kitchen and I was the lucky recipient.

I learned to use the perfect pot, to heat the stock, to sauté the onions first, (veggies here if desired), add the rice, then the wine, and then patience begins while the stock gets added, ½ cup at a time and stirred until absorbed and tasted. This continues until the perfect “bite” occurs and not a minute before. It is then pulled off the stove, butter added and then parmigiano stirred in……

The final dish is decadent, creamy and piping hot, my mouth was watering. The final demand, risotto HAS to be eaten right away, we were happy to follow command.

My aunt spooned it into a big bowl and topped with a little more parmigiano. I watched as the steam came off the rice and the cheese melted instantly. My mouth was watering. It didn’t take long to devour.

This recipe is an ode to my aunt who took that simple comment and taught me an art form. I will never forget that day and I always hear her instructions every time I recreate her masterpiece.

I decided to add porcini mushrooms, pancetta, and fried sage to her recipe and use roasted delicata squash from our garden to serve it in. It’s a 100% edible and makes for a great presentation.

fried sage

 

squash boats

risotto 2

Table

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY NEW FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER, MY NIECE RACHEL! SHE ROCKS!!

Delicata Squash Boats with Pancetta, Porcini, and Fried Sage Risotto
 
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This recipe is an ode to my aunt who taught me an art form. I always hear her instructions every time I recreate her masterpiece. I decided to add porcini mushrooms, pancetta, and fried sage to her recipe and use roasted delicata squash from our garden to serve it in. It’s a 100% edible and makes for a great presentation.
Author:
Recipe type: Side Dish
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 4 delicata squash, cut in half, seeded, and roasted, can use acorn or other squash
  • 2 cups of carnaroli rice, can use arborio rice
  • 2 shallots, diced
  • 8 slices of pancetta, diced
  • 15 porcini mushooms, sliced thin, can use shitake mushrooms
  • 15 sage leaves, fried in a little truffle oil, 5 broken into pieces and others left whole
  • 7 cups of homemade chicken stock, can use canned
  • ½ cup pinot grigio wine
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • olive oil
  • 2 T butter
  • Freshly grated parmigiano cheese
Instructions
  1. Turn oven on to 350. Place cut squash, face down and roast til soft when fork is inserted. Set aside
  2. In a pot that is wider than it is tall, turn onto medium heat.
  3. Add 2 T olive oil and heat.
  4. Add shallot and pancetta and stir with wooden spoon until shallot is translucent.
  5. Add mushroom and stir.
  6. Add a little salt and pepper.
  7. Cook until mushroom begins to soften and add broken sage pieces.
  8. Add rice and stir.
  9. Add wine and stir til dissolved.
  10. Start adding stock, ½ cup at a time and stir til dissolved. Keep tasting until rice reaches "al dente"
  11. Pull off stove and add butter, stir
  12. Add ½ cup of parmigiano
  13. Spoon into each half of squash, top with some more cheese and one piece of whole sage leaf. Repeat til all squash are filled.
  14. Serve immediately