Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Lemon, Arugula and Golden Beets

Recently I was at the organic market and saw that they had fresh, seasonal golden beets.  Until recently, I had only had golden beets in restaurants and had only cooked with regular beets which turn everything they touch bright pink.  I love golden beets - they are easier to work with in the kitchen and have a pleasant sweet taste.  I can't really describe the difference but as a beet fan, I like them better than the typical magenta variety.

I decided to create a pasta dish that was light and refreshing and that would showcase the fresh summer beets.  This pasta dish is basically a salad, but for the pasta.  It can be served cold or warm and showcases the bitterness of the arugula with the sweetness of the beets.  I added goat cheese, but you could certainly use parmesan or pecorino. The lemon is the perfect accompaniment for this dish - it adds a pleasant refreshing quality to the light olive oil based sauce. This is the perfect healthy summer meal.

Sasha's Summer Pasta with Lemon, Arugula & Golden Beets
1 box of spiral pasta (fuselli)
2 golden beets, cooked and peeled
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
3 oz baby arugula
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (a lemon flavored olive oil would be a delightful substitute)
6 oz goat cheese crumble

To prepare this dish, make the pasta al dente. Prepare the beets by boiling them for about a half an hour.  Rinse them in cold water so they are cooler to the touch and peel off the skin with your hands.  Slice the beets and mix them in the pasta dish with the lemon juice, lemon zest and olive oil.  When the pasta has cooled slightly, mix in the goat cheese crumble and the arugula.  This was delicious!

Pasta

Sasha's Kitchen: Pasta with Lemon, Arugula and Golden Beets

Sasha's Kitchen: Veal Piccata

I've been traveling for the holiday weekend, hence the lack of cooking and new blog posts on my part.  I didn't make anything new this weekend either because Brad and I were on the road. But I do have plans to make some chocolate peanut butter mascarpone brownies tonight or tomorrow now that we are back.  In the meantime, here's a great Italian recipe that I made last week which was a big hit with my husband, veal piccata.  This dish can, like most Italian classics, also be made with chicken, but I like it better with veal. Essentially it is a very lightly breaded lemon chicken in a white wine chicken stock broth.  It is good with a variety of side dishes, from pasta to sugar snap peas to potatoes to even diced tomatoes.

Veal Piccata
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 veal scallops (about 1 lb)
1 1/2 T canola oil
5 T butter (you can substitute canola oil for a healthier dish, but the butter adds flavor)
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 cloves garlic (diced)
3 T of lemon juice
2 T chopped parsley

Combine the flour, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and the pepper in a bowl.  Quickly dredge the veal scallops in the seasoned flour mixture, shaking to remove any excess flour.

Heat the pan and add 1 1/2 T of the butter to the skillet.  Sear the veal until golden brown on all sides, about 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side. Set aside.

Add the wine to the pan and bring to a boil.  When the wine has reduced by half, add the chicken stock, diced garlic and lemon juice.  Cook for 3-5 minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly. Add the remaining salt, butter and parsley and return the scallops of veal to the pan. Cook as desired for another minute or two.  Serve with fresh parsley and the side dish of your choice.

Sasha's Kitchen: Veal Piccata

Sasha's Kitchen: Limoncello-Coffee Gelato

One of my favorite places in the world to travel is Italy.  I would love to make it back to Italy in the next couple of years with my husband, who has never been.  The food in Italy, not surprisingly, is absolutely amazing.  One of my favorite Italian desserts that I had in Italy was gelato, the Italian version of ice cream.  Another one of my culinary-memories from Italy involves limoncello, which I recently made from scratch, so when I came across a recipe for Limoncello gelato, I was sold.  I'm actually calling this recipe limoncello-coffee gelato because it also incorporates coffee beans in the recipe, and has a noticeable hint of coffee flavor to complement the limoncello as well.  The final product has a very sophisticated limoncello flavor with coffee undertones.  It is quite pleasant, refreshing and wonderful.  It reminds me of a taste of Italy with a twist.  I loved making this flavor, using my homemade limoncello since I love making food items from scratch and using them in my routine cooking.  I was pleased with the consistency of the gelato as well - creamy and smooth, just the way that gelato should be.  I adapted the original recipe to increase the limoncello flavor.  The coffee balances out the acidity and sweetness of the limoncello.

Limoncello-Coffee Gelato (Adapted from This Recipe)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
4 coffee beans
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 T lemon juice
1/3 cup limoncello

Whisk the whipping cream, milk, buttermilk, cheese, coffee beans and lemon peel in a large saucepan.  Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the remaining bean.  Cook over medium-high heat until bubbles form at the edges.  Stir occasionally, but do not allow the mixture to boil.  Remove from heat, cover and allow to seep for about 15 minutes.

Whisk the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.  Slowly combine with the warm cream mixture, and return the the custard to the saucepan.  Stir over medium heat until the custard thickens, using a candy thermometer to measure the temperature.  Remove from the heat when the temperature reaches 180 degrees, about six minutes.  Again, do not allow the custard to boil.  Pour the custard into a mixing bowl and stir in 1/3 of a cup of limoncello.  Just before you add the limoncello, remove any remaining vanilla bean, as well as the coffee beans from the custard.  I did this by simply filtering the custard in a strainer.

Chill for at least four hours in the refrigerator.  I did the preparatory part in the evening, so I allowed it to chill overnight until the next day.  Use an ice cream maker to freeze, following manufacturer's instructions.  The higher egg yolk content of gelato and the mascarpone cheese will result in the gelato freezing much faster than conventional ice cream in the ice cream maker.  To serve, either enjoy plain, or serve with drizzled limoncello.  I think that this would also taste fantastic with Round Pond Estate Napa Valley Olive Oil.

Gelato

Sasha's Kitchen: Limoncello-Coffee Gelato

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes

I have always loved to eat tangy and tart foods.  As a kid (and perhaps a bit more recently) my favorite candy was always sweet tarts.  I love anything with a bit of lemon flavor and a bit of tang.  Therefore, it was only a matter of time before I decided to experiment with some lemon flavored cupcake variations.  You may recall, that I made my own Italian Limoncello liqueur about a month ago.  I decided to use the limoncello today in my baking, to make lemon cupcakes with a twist, and jazz them up with a bit of limoncello.

I started by including lemon juice and limoncello (in lieu of vanilla extract) in a basic recipe for vanilla cupcakes, adjusting the proportions of the flour and eggs, to accommodate the addition of limoncello as a key ingredient in the cupcake batter.  Then, I made a lemoncello infused cream cheese frosting.  In between layers of the cupcake and the frosting, I prepared a basic lemon with limoncello to add a burst of that lemony-limoncello flavor.

These cupcakes are a cheerful, lemony treat.  They are different from your standard lemon cupcakes in that they have a bit more of a burst of flavor and impart the sweet tangyness of the limoncello.  Here is the recipe below that I settled on in the end:

Sasha's Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes (Batter) (Made 11 cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 T homemade limoncello (or store bought)
3 egg whites
zest of one lemon
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup sugar

Lemony Limoncello Curd
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 T limoncello
3 egg yolks
zest of one lemon

Lemony Limoncello Frosting
1 stick of butter
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
2 cups of powdered confectioner's sugar
3 T limoncello
drop of yellow food coloring

To prepare the cupcakes, beat the butter and sugar in the mixer.  Continue beating on medium high, adding the egg whites (save the yolks for the curd) one by one.  Beat in the lemon zest.  Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  Alternate (while beating on medium) the addition of the dry ingredients and the milk.  Beat in the lemon juice at the end until combined.  Fill your silicon cupcake trays (lined with cupcake liners) about 3/4 of the way full and bake until it comes clean with a toothpick, which took me 35 minutes in my oven.  Allow the cupcakes to cook completely.

To make the curd, combine all of the ingredients over medium heat. Heat, stirring constantly, until a curd forms that is slightly translucent in color.  Top each of the cupcakes with a dollop of curd.  You can also put the curd inside, if you prefer to do it that way.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese in the basin of your mixer, on high speed.  Beat in the powdered sugar until combined into a frosting.  Add the limoncello for the flavor, and add a drop of yellow food coloring to add a subtle boost of color.  Beat until combined into a frosting and frost the cupcakes using a fluted tip fit onto a pastry bag.

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemony Limoncello Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Chicken Scarpariello

One of my husband's favorite dishes is Chicken Scarpariello.  He is especially fond of the Chicken Scarpariello at Acappella, an Italian Restaurant in Tribeca that we love to go to for special occasions.  While Acappella has some of the best Italian food in New York, I decided to try my hand at making a Chicken Scarpariello that my husband would enjoy for a lazy Sunday night dinner after the heartbreaking loss of the Gold Medal Hockey Game.  While team USA came up a bit short, this dish did not.  My husband loved it and it was both an enjoyable and easy to make meal.  I served it with spelt berries, an organic grain that I fell in love with for the first time when I had them with my duck confit brunch at the Flatbush Farm the day before.  They proved a great addition and gave a lovely and wholesome texture to this chicken entree.

Sasha's Chicken Scarpariello

1 package Empire skinless & boneless chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)

zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 cup white cooking wine

1 cup low sodium chicken stock

1/4 cup Italian parsley

1 small hot cherry pepper

1 cup spelt berries ( I used Bob's Red Mill Spelt Berries)

salt and pepper to season

Olive Oil (or Canola Oil)

2 tsp of flour

First, prepare the spelt berries the same way you would with rice - 1 cup of the wheat berries to 2 cups of water.  i also seasoned with pepper, salt and the zest of half a lemon.  Bring the water to boil and simmer until the water is gone, and remove the zest.

To prepare the chicken, I cut the chicken breasts into small pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper.  I seared and browned the chicken on all sides for a couple of minutes with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.  Then, I put the chicken aside (it gets cooked through later).

I added some more olive oil to the pan and added the diced peppers and garlic.  The hot pepper only ads a bit of heat, so if you do not want any heat, leave it out.  Conversely, if you want a spicy dish, add another hot pepper.  I sauteed the peppers and garlic for about five minutes, before adding the white wine, lemon juice, chicken broth and flour.  I also added the zest from the other half of the lemon.  

I then returned the chicken to the pan and allowed the sauce to simmer for about 20 minutes or so until the chicken was cooked through and the sauce was thickened and significantly reduced.  A little bit of flower helps the sauce thicken a little bit (although it is really not a thick sauce at all - it is very light and lemony).   Just towards the end of the process, I added the parsley.  I served the chicken with the spelt berries.  Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chicken Scarpariello

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I

Photo by Lena

After doing research for my last blog, walking and eating on the Freedom Trail, I became very interested in food and the Colonial Period. I found out some interesting facts about Rum:
“But of all of the drinks that warmed the eighteenth-century American interior, rum was the most important. It is estimated that just before the War of Independence the colonists were downing twenty four pints of it per head per year, women, and children included.” (Food in History by Reay Tannahill, page 254) In fact some historians, according to Tannahill, believe the Revolutionary War may have actually been triggered by the tax on molasses (1733) more than the tax on tea (1773). Rum is made from the “syrupy liquid left after the juice of the sugar cane" that is "boiled, once, twice or three times to produce sugar crystals” (256).

In honor of the drink that played a part in American history, I am propose you make yourself a cup of Grog:
1 cup hot tea
1 jigger dark rum
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 twist of lemon peel.

To a mug (or heat resistant glass), add tea, rum, honey, and lemon juice. Stir. Garnish with lemon twist.
Source: Famous New England Recipes (Colourpicture Publishers, Boston), page 32.

Check out other beverages on this blog!  Click here for Sasha's Limoncello; Click here for Sasha's Amaretto; Click Here for my Irish Coffee and Click Here for Sasha's Brooklyn Egg Cream

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I