It is really easy being green (Sorry, Kermit.)! It’s also pretty simple to turn out this exceptionally fast meal, especially if you have Cypress Grove’s Sgt. Pepper® goat cheese.
This is a riff of a Parmigiano Reggiano dish common to Northern Italy, made a lot more interesting, with half the work, and (shh…) a bit healthier, too.
For my fellow home chefs who live outside of North America, any good herbed chèvre that you like will work fine.
There are lots of variations on this recipe. Feel free to riff away!
Prep & Cook Time:
15-20 min.
Serves
Four (4)
The Gear
Vitamix® Mixer, or similar high-speed;
Pasta pot
Wok, or deep sauté pan
Large microwave container with lid or a steamer;
Large mixing bowl
Large slotted spoon
Colander
Spatula
Tasting spoons
The Stuff
Base Sauce
113 g. / 4 oz. Cypress Grove fresh chevre Sgt. Pepper® cheese disc
30 ml/ 2 tbsp avocado oil, or rice bran oil, for sautéing.
Roasted Cauliflower
1/2 Cauliflower head, top florets only, finely cut into pea sized bits. Reserve remainder to rice/chop finely for other dishes;
4 to 6 g. of truffle salt;
Sprinkle of dried basil;
Sprinkle of dried oregano;
30 ml/ 2 tbsp avocado oil for roasting.
The Steps
If using cauliflower, pre-heat your oven to 350Pre-heat your wok on high, or your sauté pan on medium-high. I prefer the wok because I want that “crispness” to the texture of the meat, to counter the soft sauce. Sautéing will take a bit longer;
Add water and kosher salt to your pasta pot. Set on HIGH;
Wash off your spinach in the colander. Drain. Put in your microwave dish;
Add the Sgt. Pepper cheese to your blender;
When the wok is hot, add rice bran oil (It has the highest smoke point, to avoid toxing out your oil), and sauté the ground pork, breaking it up into as small bits as possible. Add the truffle salt, basil, and oregano.
When the water achieves a rolling boil, add the pasta to your pasta pot. Set the recommended time for that type of pasta;
If your meat or vegetable is done, keep warm on a low setting;
With four minutes left, put the spinach in your microwave dish into the microwave. Heat on the fresh-vegetable setting, or for 3:20 at a power of 70% (Power-7);
Drain the pasta. Add to your large mixing bowl;
Add the add-ons: Meat; vegetable; etc.;
Put the spinach in the blender with the cheese disc. If it’s very dry, add 15 ml/ 1 tbsp of vegetable broth, or water. Pureé by starting slow, and then integrating until the spinach is fully emulsified into the cheese. No little spinach bits. Takes about 1 min. to 90 seconds;
Add the sauce to the pasta. Use the spatula to get it all out of the mixer. Toss with tongs (long noodles), or the spatula (small noodles), to integrate;
Plate, and sprinkle with the shredded Parmigiano Reggiano, then serve.
Wine Pairing
This pairs well with a nice, light white.
Pinot Grigio would be my call. A dry one, like Santa Margherita, would help contrast against the heavier cheese element in the pasta, clearing the palate, and opening up the next delicious bite!
A commercial tart commonly sold in Italian supermarkets.
Italians love their tarts! Tarts, especially those with jam, are a staple of Italian breakfasts and snacks. It is very easy to find these at children’s birthday parties, because they are a relatively “healthy” food, compared to other sweets. They are everywhere, in bars, in the supermarket, patisseries, but a homemade tart is absolutely the best!
These tarts are made with just a few ingredients. They can be filled in many ways, and are quite easy and cheap to produce.
You can eat them comfortably with your hands. In addition, this tart is a basic, easy preparation that is very versatile. You can freeze it, both raw and cooked, and it will still remain perfect!
Prepare a double batch, and freeze part. Then, to serve it, you thaw it in the fridge for a few hours, and prepare it as you prefer.
With this base recipe you can even make cookies, maybe adding chocolate chips or nuts. You have many possibilities!
I really love to change up breakfasts, especially on the weekends. It’s nice to start the day with a food that “embraces” me.
I get bored easily, so I improvise a new variation from time to time. Today, I have decided to make a tart a bit ‘different and to enrich it with a luscious frangipane, the almond version of a pastry cream, where almond paste base is enriched with sugar and butter for a soft, spreadable cream filling used for pastries like this fruit tart.
Cooking in the oven becomes a wet mixture with a slight almond aroma. I covered everything with a peach jam, but you can choose any flavor that you prefer.
This cake is good for the lactose intolerant, because it contains no milk or butter, and is free of eggs.
So it was born, a magnificent tart, healthy and delicious, perfect for breakfast or for a snack. The kids love it! I was amazed of how they devoured it. They usually prefer chocolate anything, but the fruit and the frangipane’s consistency has won them over.
I usually prepare a tart like this the night before, but it keeps well for several days. If you use the pastry to make cookies, store them in a tin box and will keep perfectly!
In a mixer with a flat beater, mix the milk and sugar, oils, honey, inulin and baking powder. Mix at low speed until integrated.
Grease your springform pan with oil or butter, then sprinkle with some flour.
Flour the work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a single circle.
Lightly fold your dough round in half, then in fourth. Put it in the pan and open it. Work the dough into the pan, pressing into the corners and sides of the pan evenly. The crust should be 8mm/ 3/8″ thick. There will be extra dough once the crust is formed. Cut it off and reserve it for the lattice top. Wrap the reserved dough in plastic wrap to preserve.
Put the springform pan and your dough ball into the freezer to chill for about 15-20 minutes, so the pastry will maintain a better shape during cooking.
Combine the frangipane ingredients in Tart Filling with a flat beater mixer until fully integrated.
Remove your springform pan with pastry crust and the ball of reserved pastry dough from the freezer. Fill the crust with the frangipane.
Bake at 170°C/338°F for 30 minutes.
On a piece of parchment paper, roll out the shortbread top in an 8″/20 cm circle. Press a lattice mold into the dough and remove any excess pastry, or cut into strips and make a lattice. Transfer parchment and lattice to a baking sheet.
Remove the tart base from the oven. Put in the lattice top. Cook separately for 15-20 minutes.
When the tart is fully cooled, add the jam and fruit to the top of the frangipane.
After the lattice has fully cooled, sprinkle it with powdered sugar.
Top the tart with the lattice.
† Caster sugar is relatively new to Americans, but it is a superfine sugar that is common in Europe and Asia. It should be a staple in your pantry because it cooks so much better. It is not standard white American sugar. If you can’t get your hands on some quickly, you can approximate it a bit by using a 3:1 ratio of American white refined sugar to powdered sugar. Best to order it.
Crostata con Frangipane e Marmellata, Senza Latticini
La Diva dei Dolci
Le crostate, soprattutto quelle con la marmellata, sono un dolce tipico in Italia per le colazioni e le merende. Si trovano ovunque, nei bar, al supermercato, nelle pasticcerie, ma la crostata fatta in casa è in assoluto la più buona.
Esempio di crostata industriale, comunemente venduta nei supermercati.
E’ molto facile trovarle alle feste di compleanno dei bambini, perché sono un cibo abbastanza “sano”, rispetto agli altri dolci. Infatti, le crostate sono fatte con pochi ingredienti, possono essere farcite in molti modi, sono abbastanza facili ed economiche e si possono mangiare comodamente con le mani. Inoltre, la pasta frolla è una preparazione base molto versatile, perché la si può congelare, sia cruda che cotta, e rimane comunque perfetta. Quindi è possibile prepararne una dose doppia, e congelarne una parte. Al momento dell’ utilizzo, la si fa scongelare per qualche ora in frigo, e poi si prepara come si preferisce. Con questa ricetta potete fare anche dei biscotti, magari aggiungendo le gocce di cioccolato, o frutta secca, avete moltissime possibilità.
Io amo molto variare le colazioni, soprattutto il fine settimana, è bello iniziare la giornata con un cibo che mi “coccola”. E poi mi annoio facilmente, quindi devo cambiare. Ho deciso di fare una crostata un po’ diversa e di arricchirla con una golosissima crema frangipane, che cuocendo in forno diventa un composto umido con un leggero aroma di mandorla. Ho ricoperto tutto con una marmellata alle pesche, ma si può scegliere qualsiasi gusto si preferisca. Infine, questo dolce va bene anche per gli intolleranti al lattosio, perché non contiene latte o burro, ed è priva di uova.
Così è nata lei, una buonissima crostata, sana e golosa, perfetta per la colazione o per la merenda. I bambini la amano, mi sono stupita di come l’abbiano divorata. Di solito infatti preferiscono dolci con il cioccolato, ma questa consistenza un po’ pastosa del frangipane li ha conquistati. Io l’ho cotta la sera prima, ma si conserva benissimo per diversi giorni. Se invece con la pasta frolla volete preparare dei semplici biscotti, conservateli in una scatola di latta e saranno perfetti.
Per 8 persone
Cosa serve
Una ciotola o un mixer per impastare
Uno stampo per torta da 21 cm di diametro
Uno stampo per creare le strisce di pasta da mettere sulla marmellata (o un coltello per tagliarle a mano)
50 g di zucchero Zefiro
50 g di farina di mandorle di Aziende Campobasso
65 g di farina di farro Ecor
20 g di farina di grano duro del Molino Chiavazza
5 g di baking Cameo
10 g di inulina (è uno zucchero, ma si può eliminare)
20 g olio extravergine d’oliva Monini
20 g olio di semi di girasole Giglio D’Oro
100 g latte di avena di Alce Nero (o di mucca)
25 g di miele Ambrosoli
Marmellata
6 cucchiai di marmellata di albicocche o a piacere.
Composizione
In un mixer con una frusta piatta, mescolare il latte e lo zucchero, gli oli, il miele, l’inulina e il lievito.
Aggiungere tutte le farine a bassa velocità fino integrarle. Mescolare per circa 2 minuti. Riserva della pasta per la parte superiore.
Ungere il vostro stampo a cerniera con olio o burro, poi cospargere con un po’ di farina. Infarinate il piano di lavoro. Utilizzando il matterello, stendere la pasta frolla in un unico cerchio.
Leggermente piegarlo a metà, poi in un quarto. Mettilo nella teglia e aprirlo. Il lavoro nella padella, premendo negli angoli e sui lati della padella in modo uniforme.
Unire gli ingredienti per la frangipane.
Rimuovere lo stampo a cerniera e crosta di pasta dal freezer. Riempire la crosta con il frangipane.
Cuocere in forno a 170 ° C / 338 ° F per 30 minuti.
Su un pezzo di carta da forno, stendere all’inizio shortbread in / 20 centimetri cerchio 8″ . Premere uno stampo reticolo nella pasta e rimuovere l’eccesso di pasticceria, o tagliati in strisce e fare un reticolo.
Trasferire pergamena e lattice di una cottura foglio. Rimuovere la base crostata dal forno. Mettere in cima reticolo. Cuocere separatamente per 15-20 minuti.
Quando la torta è completamente raffreddato, aggiungere la marmellata e frutta alla parte superiore del frangipane.
Dopo che il reticolo si è completamente raffreddata, spolverare con zucchero a velo
Top la crostata con il reticolo.
Finito il riposo in freezer cuocere la rete di pasta da sola per 15/20 minuti.
Quando la torta è completamente raffreddata, aggiungere la marmellata di frutta sulla parte superiore del frangipane.
Dopo che la griglia di pasta si è completamente raffreddata, spolverare con lo zucchero a velo.
Pesto once was an exotic revolution in American-Italian cooking.
Today, it has become so ubiquitous that it shares space with the ketchup and the mustards in your condiment corner, and with the marinaras as a another daily sauce for all things pasta.
It needs a big reboot.
Meet The Jazz Chef’s World Pesto, that visits the bastion of basil sauces with a bolt of Brazilian chimichurri thinking, the pop of Peruvian black mint and achiote pastes, with a bit of strong Irish mustard on the minimally spicy side to cut down on salt.
I roll with a more mellow Manchego for the formaggio (cheese) and pass on the pricey pine nuts, picking pistachios as my preference.
It’s easy to make on the fly, works well on sandwiches and salads, in savory crackers and, of course, prettifying pasta.
The basics of pesto are basil, a good parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and a quality EVOO. The 2.0 reboot honors the structure of pesto, but games the flavors with a few innovations of savory and a touch spicy that please the palette. Just put the good stuff in a chopper, food processor or a blender with a pulse button and BANG! World pesto!.
You can use fresh basil and mint in this recipe, but add 1-1/4 tsp vinegar or more lemon juice to compensate, and you won’t exactly “get” the black mint experience as done by the Peru Chef.
Serves: 1 pasta dish or 4-6 sandwiches
Prep Time: 5-10 min.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
2 oz shelled salted pistachio nuts
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tsp Strong Irish Mustard
2 drops Bourbon Barrel Aged Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Peru Chef Aji Amarillo Paste
1 tbsp Peru Chef Black Mint Paste
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 lg clove garlic
3 tbsp Peru Chef Basil Paste
Combine the ingredients as shown in the photo demonstration below, and serve with other recipes that call for pesto. Add a 1/3 cup of olive oil when done and it can be flipped as a chimichurri sauce as well! Stores in the freezer for at least two weeks, and it can be frozen.
1. Put chunks of the manchego cheese and shelled, salted pistachios in a food chopper or processor.
Chop/Grind until the nuts and cheese are like a meal.
In a separate bowl, add all of the other ingredients. Stir. Add the nut and cheese mixture. Stir.
Add the garlic. Integrate, and let stand for an hour.