Tidbits & Nuggets

I've been away for a while now. Life can really interfere with blogging. I never stopped cooking though and since the whole idea of this blog was to keep track of my experiments, I want to go over some of recipes that have been successes.

Last December my friend Carol had an Italian themed Christmas party. I came up with an appetizer version of a Caprese salad. I love cute food that can be eaten in one bite. I took the tastiest cherry tomatoes I could find, cut off the tops and scooped out the middle. I tucked in a basil leaf and then stuffed them the small fresh mozzarella balls. There's a name for them, I don't remember it. I came across Rachel Ray's version which also looks delicious, and perhaps a littl easier. Mine's cuter though!


Braciole was a successful maindish - recipe courtesy of Alton Brown. An electric knife really helped cut it into nice looking slices.







Brutti ma buoni are my dad's favorite:
32 cookies
2 cups hazelnuts (10 ounces)
9 large egg whites
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarselychopped

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line abaking sheet with parchment paper, andspread hazelnuts in a single layer on the sheet. Place in the oven and toast until nuts smell sweet and fragrant,about 10 to 12 minutes. Wrap the warm nuts in a coarse textured kitchen towel. Rub to remove skins from nuts, and discard. Coarsely chop hazelnuts; setaside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Add sugar gradually, beating on medium-high, until stiff peaks form andthe meringue is stiff and shiny, about 3 to 5 minutes. (You can also beat the egg whites by hand using a balloon whisk; the beating times will approximately twice as long.

3. Fold in chopped hazelnuts, vanilla extract, and salt using a large rubber spatula.

4. Transfer mixture to a shallow,heavy-bottomed saucepan. Set over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is lightbrown and pulls away from the sides ofthe pan, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Removefrom heat. Transfer to a medium bowl tocool slightly, about 5 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips.

5. Using two spoons, drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto a baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat,repeat, spacing them 1 1/2 inches apart.Bake until cookies are firm to the touch but still soft and chewy inside, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove to rack and cool.

One of the prettiest cookies I made, if not the tastiest, was
spumoni slice cookies - sugar cookies with layers that look like spumoni ice cream slices. Despite the cherries and pistachios these tasted like plain sugar cookies. Maybe I'll bump up the rum extract next time.