Merry Christmas!

Just an easy cheat today. I spent more time on the presentation than using fresh ingredients because I got a little boxed kit from Mrs. Phyllis, this old lady whose hair I wash. If I were an Irish grandmother, I would be her. She's so happy and peppy all the time. And she bakes and cooks like a MASTER. She spends 2 weeks baking and when she gets started, no one is allowed in her kitchen or to disturb her for the whole day. I want to be her. Gingerbread cupcakes with vanilla butter frosting! They're going to the Scarpullas', along with the tiramisu from yesterday.

Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients:
1 can (30 oz) pumpkin pie filling
2 8 oz. cream cheese bar things
4 c powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

Recipe:
1. Mix everything.


Thanks Emily :)

Tiramisu

Ingredients
350ml espresso coffee, made with 350ml water and 9 teaspoons instant espresso powder, cooled
250ml Baileys cream liqueur
2 x 200g packets Savoiardi (Italian lady finger) biscuits
2 eggs
75g caster sugar
500g mascarpone
2 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder


1.



Mix the coffee with 175ml of the Baileys in a shallow bowl. Dip the biscuits into this liquid; let them soak on each side enough to become damp but not soggy. Line the bottom of a 22cm square glass dish with a layer of biscuits.


2.

Separate the eggs. Whisk the two yolks and the sugar together until thick and a paler yellow, then fold in the remaining 75ml of Baileys, and the mascarpone to make a moussy mixture.


3. Whisk the egg whites until thick and frothy. Fold the egg whites into the yolky mascarpone, and then spread half of this mixture on top of the layer of biscuits.


4.
Repeat with another layer of soaked Savoiardi, and then top with the remaining mascarpone mixture.

Cover the dish with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to serve, push the cocoa powder through a small tea strainer to dust the top of the tiramisu.



Final photo to come! I prepared it and it's all sitting in the pan waiting to be eaten tomorrow for Christmas at the Scarpulla's. :)

I used the rest of the coffee/amaretto mix for a little dessert ;)

Pumpkin Pasta

Ingredients: 

•  9 tbsp butter 3 tbsp minced shallots 1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix) 
• salt/white pepper to taste 
• 3 tbsp heavy cream 
• 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese + 2 ounces 
• pinch of nutmeg 
• 12 sage leaves 
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley leaves

In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp of butter. Add and saute shallots for 1 minute. 

Add pumpkin and cook until slightly dryer, about 2 to 3 minutes. 

Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cream and cook for 2 minutes. 

Remove from heat and stir in 2 ounces of cheese and nutmeg, to taste. 

 2. For pasta, you can put it into tortellini/ravioli or use it as a sauce over spaghetti. If made for noodles, I would add a bit extra heavy cream for better consistency.  If you go tortellini/ravioli:

...melt the rest of the butter with the sage and stir in the pasta. Sprinkle with the 3 tbsp parma and garnish with parsley! EASY!

Pear Pasta

Photo of the pear pasta from Quattro Leoni from my 3 month stay in Italy

I got this recipe off of the website of a restaurant that I lived next to in Italy, famous for their pear pasta (among other things). Thank you Quattro Leoni.

Ingredients:

Filling:
200 gr ricotta
100 gr mascarpone
1 kaiser pear
Parmesan cheese
salt
white pepper

Sauce:
200 gr asparagus
100 gr fresh cream/heavy cream
50 gr Parmesan cheese
30 gr butter
1 spoon of flour
salt
marjoram/dill for garnish


Recipe:

1.
Peel pear, chop into small cubes. (Probably smaller than what I have here.)


2.
Mix in ricotta, mascarpone, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. (The loosely translated recipe didn't say how much Parmesan cheese for this step so I just added until it tasted alright without overwhelming the rest of the cheeses.)


Spoon out onto ravioli.



Fold and boil.

3.
Steam and chop up asparagus into discs.

4.

Melt butter. Add flour and cream. Boil, then add taleggio cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. (Again, the amount of taleggio was not specified. I added until I got a creamy cheesy consistency.) Add asparagus.


5.

Mix with tortellini, garnish with majoram/dill/parsley!

Pasta Dough

I figured the first post should be how to make pasta dough, as easy as it is. It just happens to be the basis for just about everything I've made in the past couple of months since I got my pasta machine :) Thank you CucinaPro.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup of flour

Recipe:
1.
Pile the flour and make a well for the egg. Using a fork, mix it while gradually incorporating more flour until well mixed.


2. Wrap up in plastic and let it sit for 10 minutes. You can prepare the rest of your recipe as it sits.


3.

Roll through the pasta machine once. Fold the sides over to clean up the edges and flour both sides to roll through again cleanly.


4.

Roll from the thickest to thinnest dial, flouring in between each roll.

You'll end up with this strip, which is where you can either cut circles for tortellini squares for ravioli. Or, you can put it through the add-on roller for spaghetti or linguine.

Check the Pear Pasta for how tortellini should look. :)



Don't forget to keep flouring in between steps to keep it from sticking together.

And boil.