photo credit: @sahxic < twitter

There is a common misconception about this Italian Chicken dish – Pollo alla Marengo.  The story almost always appears when you read a recipe for Chicken Marengo.

There is a city in Italy, just south of the Piedmont region, called Marengo.  This is where Napoleon defeated the Austrians in the early summer of 1800.  Napoleon felt it was bad luck to eat before a battle, so the story goes that he was starving after defeating the Austrians.  He supposedly told his Chef, Dunan, to scrounge up whatever he could from the locals and make him a fabulous meal.  Dunan returned from his “scavenger hunt” with chicken, tomatoes, garlic, eggs and a few crayfish.  With that, he created Napoleon’s signature victory meal – Chicken Marengo.

The problem with this story about the creation of a wonderful Italian chicken dish, is that Dunan was not hired to be Napoleon’s chef until well after the battle and there is no mention in any books of this dish until around 1820.

No matter what the true story is behind this Italian chicken dish, it is a good one with many variations.  I find that very few of them actually incorporate the crayfish.  Here is a version that I like that uses boneless chicken breasts, which makes eating it a little less messy.

Sprinkle four boneless chicken breast pieces with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Brown these in a few tablespoons of good olive oil over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes on each side and remove to a plate and keep warm.

Now add a few tablespoons of butter to the pan and toss in one chopped, sweet onion and a cup of finely chopped celery.  Cook until tender and add 1/2 cup of good chicken stock and 1 cup of white wine.  Bring this to a boil and return chicken to pan.  Now add one 14-oz can of diced tomatoes.  I like the fire-roasted ones for a deeper flavor.  Add a cup of button mushrooms and cover the pan.  Reduce to a simmer and simmer about 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken to a serving platter and add 1/2 cup of pitted and chopped Kalamata olives.  Okay, I know those are Greek, but I like the saltiness they bring to the dish.  Also add a few springs of parsley and about 14 cup of fresh thyme leaves.  Cook this for an additional minutes and pour over the top of the chicken.  If you really want to be true to the original Italian chicken dish, you may add a fried egg to each plate as a garnish and tell the Marengo story!   This is marvelous served with polenta, mashed potatoes, or pasta with a nice green salad and some good artisan bread! 

Watch Chef Lucca make Chicken Marengo here!

Mangia Bene!

photo credit: cursedthing

If you are looking to add some Italian cookies to your lineup this Christmas, why not try these heavenly Rocotta cheese cookies.  Did you know that ricotta is not really a true cheese?  It is actually  a by-product of the cheese making process.  The watery leftover liquid from the making of another cheese is called the whey.  Ricotta actually means “cooked again”.  When the whey is recooked, the final product is ricotta cheese.  Italian ricotta is made from the milk of many different animals, but the American version is almost always made from the milk of a cow.  Italian versions tend to have a nutty, sweet flavor and are more dry than American ricottas.  In Italy, you can also purchase a salty or a smoky version, as well.

In Italy, ricotta is used in many desserts such as cannolis and cheesecakes.  It is also used to make these marvelous Italian cookies!

This recipe for Italian cookies makes about two dozen.  You will want to have your oven at 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, place two cups of sugar and one cup of softened butter.  Blend together on low speed.  Then raise the speed to high and beat until the mixture is very light and fluffy – about five minutes.

Turn your speed to medium and add in a 15-oz. container of ricotta cheese, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 2 large eggs. Beat until well blended and turn speed to low.  Add 4 cups regular flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt.  Beat until a dough forms and drop by tablespoons a few inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake about 15 minutes.  The cookies should be starting to turn a little golden, but they will be soft.  Remove to a rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make your icing.  Mix together 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon orange extract.  When cookies are cooled, spread icing on tops of cookies and allow to dry for about an hour.

You will enjoy the smiles when people bite into these delightful Italian cookies made with ricotta cheese! 

Would you like to see author Sylvia Main make some fabulous lemon ricotta pancakes?  Click here!

Mangia Bene!

photo credit: evilhayama

When many of us think of Gourmet Italian food, we conjure up visions of pasta and pizza.  Did you know that polenta has played a HUGE role in the history of Italy and in its cuisine.  Polenta does not receive the recognition that it should.  This humble peasant dish provided sustenance for Italians who worked the fields in Northern Italy for centuries.  The Italians workers in the south had their fish and their pasta, but polenta was the traditional sustenance in the Northern regions such as Lombardy and Venetia.

To call polenta a cornmeal mush is an insult to an Italian.  This authentic Italian food was made with a sort of family ritual.  Way back then, a special unlined copper kettle called a paiolo was hung on a hook in the middle of the fireplace.  The hearths were usually large enough to accommodate a bench, and that is where the family would sit while the daily making of polenta took place.  The family members would keep warm by the fire and talk about their day while watching the cornmeal flow into the boiling water.  This authentic Italian food required lots and lots of constant stirring, so it was almost a celebratory event when it was finally done and was poured out steaming onto a wooden surface to cool.

Polenta can be eaten hot with butter and cheese, but once it cools it hardens and can be fried, broiled, sliced, or baked with other ingredients – much like a lasagna!

Cooking polenta the old-fashioned way is quite a chore.  It takes a long time just to get the very thin stream of cornmeal into the boiling water.  A while back the L.A. Times printed a recipe for polenta that can be made in the oven.  Although this is surely not authentic Italian food, it is lots easier and quite good.

Spray a 2 quart casserole with non-stick spray.  Now in your casserole,  mix 32 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth with a teaspoon of salt and a cup of yellow cornmeal and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from the oven and add a cup of any type of cheese that you like, but be sure it is crumbled or shredded.  Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more.  Garnish with parsley and serve as a side dish or as a pasta substitute with your favorite sauce. Once this is refrgerated, it can be sliced and fried.

So next time you think of authentic Italian food, remember the peasant dish that sustained half of a country for centuries – the simple Italian polenta!

Watch an Asiago cheese version of polenta being made here!

Mangia Bene!

We can most likely thank the Genoans for Pesto.  This quick Italian green mixture will brighten up any dish.  The name actually derives from the Latin word “pesta” – meaning to crush or pound.  Of course, the key ingredient in Pesto is basil.  Basil thrived throughout the region near Genoa, so it was widely used.  Pesto is basically pounded basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and pine nuts.  Basil also thrived beautifully in the region of Provence, France.  They make a similar sauce, but pine nuts – or pignoli – are not used in the French version.

Back in old Italy, this dish was prepared using a mortar and pestle.  Now, that probably was NOT a quick Italian dish.  However, with our wonderful food processors these days, you can literally make this in under a minute.  Pesto was not widely known in North America until the late ’80’s, early ’90s.  Today, it is readily available everywhere.  There is one brand that is very reasonable that can be found in grocery stores near the pasta sauces.  It comes in a short, fat jar and it is incredibly delicious!  Unfortunately, the pine nuts are still outrageously expensive, so many people substitute walnuts or almonds.   If you are a true lover of pesto, you will probably want to grow your own basil.  Even a little kitchen window pot of basil will produce lots if the plant is properly “snipped” to encourage new growth.

There are many variations to this dish.  There is even a vegan version that is made with basil, walnuts, olive oil and miso paste.  I’m going to share with you two versions that I love.  By the way, pesto freezes beautifully – in case you are lucky enough to have an abundance of basil leaves.

Here is a quick Italian Lemon Pesto that is delicious!  In a small food processor, place 1 1/2 cups of basil leaves, 4 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup of pine nuts, and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.  Whirl this all together and slowly add in 2 tablespoons of good olive oil and 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.  That’s it.  Quick Italian love on a spoon!

Here is an even easier recipe than that!  In your blender or food processor, place 2 firmly packed cups of basil leaves, 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup of good olive oil, 3 garlic cloves, and 1/4 cup of pine nuts.  Blend on medium speed for three minutes until smooth, scraping sides occasionally.

I use this quick Italian gorgeous green concoction on everything!  Eggs, chicken, pasta, bread, cheese, crackers.  If you have never had this, you are in for a real Italian treat!

Watch Chef Hoffman make pesto in his food processor here!

Mangia Bene!

photo credit: stu_spivack

Zabaglione is a wonderful Italian dessert that is rich and custardy and has a taste of “spirits”.  There does not seem to be a consensus of opinion about the origin of this dish.  Some say Florence, some say Venice, but most agree it came about some time in the 1500’s.  The original version is actually thought to have been a drink, rather than something eaten with a spoon.  It was primarily wine that was thickened by with the addition of egg yolks.

Today it is a light custard that has at its base – egg yolks, sugar and some type of wine – Marsala, sweet sherry, or dessert wine or liquer.  The original recipes used honey as a sweetener because sugar was not readily available.  Large amounts of air are whipped into this Italian dessert delight, giving it the nice airiness that people love.  It is served hot immediately after cooking, although it can be refrigerated and served cold.

Italians LOVE Zabaglione and they even have Zabaglione flavored gelato.  Although this is considered primarily an Italian gourmet treat, it is also quite possible in parts of South America.  In fact there is a drink in Venezuela that tastes similar to Zabaglione called ponche de crema.  This is primarily served during Christmas season, much like egg nog in the United States and England.

In an Italian kitchen, you might even find a round bottom little copper pot that is supposed to be the best for making Zabaglione.  It is often made in a double boiler over barely simmering water, so as to avoid ending my with a scrambled egg mess.

This Italian dessert is traditionally served with some sort of side fruit, such as figs, berries, peaches, pears – although it is often served with a cookie or two on the side.

Italian Dessert:  Zabaglione

Starting with a double boiler, whisk four egg yolks with 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of whichever “spirit” you have decided to use.  Turn on the heat and whisk, whisk, whisk – until it thickens.  This can take 8 or 10 minutes, but the mixture will become frothy and light.  Turn off the heat and beat 1/2 cup of heavy cream with 1 tablespoon of sugar to the soft peak stage.  Fold the cream mixture into the egg mixture and serve immediately!

Would you like to see Gordon Ramsey make a marvelous Peach Zabaglione in under a minute?  It looks marvelous, although I think I would pass on adding the basil.  Want to see?  Click Here!

Watch Chef Angelo make his fabulous Zabaglione Custard with Strawberries here!

Mangia Bene!

photo by Dominick Hundhammer

Everyone has heard of Italy’s incomparable Gorgonzola cheese being used in cooking gourmet dinners.  This is primarily made with cow’s milk and it is a wondrous creamy, piquant cheese that originated around 879 in a little town outside of Milan named … You guessed it!  Gorgonzola!  Today Gorgonzola is a suburb of Milan.

Although the cheese dates back to the 9th century, it wasn’t until about 200 years later than that greenish/blue mold was introduced to the cheese making process quite by accident.  The green veins are actually penicillum glaucum.  Really, the mold in gorgonzola is more green than blue.  The London Stock Exchange is lined with green marble and they refer to it as “Gorgonzola Hall”.

When cooking gourmet Gorganzola sauce, you can try substituting domestic Gorgonzola or some other type of blue cheese, but you must try to find the best quality Gorgonzola that you can.  I found a site online that has been winning some very impressive top awards in international cheese competitions.  They are out of Denmark, Wisconsin and their specialty is creating Italian cheese within the United States. If you would like to learn more about them, click here.