This post have moved! Please click here for recipe and info, thank you!
Originally posted 2015-08-10 19:31:29.
Cooked up just for you!
This post have moved! Please click here for recipe and info, thank you!
Originally posted 2015-08-10 19:31:29.
Cooked up just for you!
Back in 2010, in an effort to support my fledgling brand and partner with established and respected local businesses, Epicure Gourmet Market asked La Diva Cucina to design and conduct a series of themed cooking classes at their South Beach store. Back then, I was doing more consumer cooking classes and trying to woo corporate team building clients. The series would create a win-win as my company would get exposure while promoting the store and introducing new ingredients and products to their upscale client base.
My goal was to create a unique twist on a product that was shelf-stable and could be pulled from the pantry. As I walked around the grocery, I gained inspiration and picked out shelf-stable gnocchi, fresh vegetables and cheese. I wanted to prepare gnocchi apart from how it’s usually made, boiled in water and then adorned with a sauce. I’d had sautéed gnocchi before and loved the idea that by simply frying the succulent dumplings in butter, the texture would create a completely different taste experience.
The class was called Buona Sera supper, and as is the case with most Italian style cooking, it was well attended and garnered many compliments from the attendees.
The recipe is easy to make and is fairly quick too. But what’s really helpful is the recipe uses shelf stable gnocchi and is easily modified. You can use fresh vegetables and herbs or not. You may use pancetta or bacon. Or it may be omitted entirely to create a hearty vegetarian dinner.
Please check out my printable recipe below and be sure to check out the notes for substitutions and modifications. And feel free to comment with your own suggestions or questions. Ciao for now!
Pan frying gnocchi creates a unique texture to these delicous Italian dumplings and are excellent combined with ricotta cheese, fresh herbs and vegetables. This recipe is quick, delicious and easily modifed, please read sub notes at the end.
Prep all ingredients as outlined above to have ready to cook.
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt to water to flavor. Once boiling, carefully add gnocchi and reduce heat to medium high. Stir to prevent sticking. Cook as per directions but before draining, reserve one cup of cooking water. Rinse gnocchi in cold water to get rid of any additional starch. Set aside.
Heat up a large frying pan with the olive oil and add pancetta when hot. Cook over medium heat, stirring as needed, until completely cooked and crisped, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from pan, drain pancetta on paper towels and set aside. Drain off all oil from the pan and retain one tablespoon.
Blanch shelled fresh peas in boiling, salted water for three minutes. Drain, refresh in cold water, drain and set aside. If using frozen peas, see note below.
Cut zucchini into large dice, about the same size as the gnocchi. Heat fry pan with reserved pancetta oil and cook zucchini until golden brown on all sides until crisp tender, do not overcook. Lightly salt. Remove from pan and set aside. Clean out pan with paper towel.
Heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. When heated, add gnocchi and fry until the dumplings begin to turn golden, about five minutes, turning as they brown.
Add garlic, peas and marjoram, stir gently and cook for one minute. Add zucchini and pancetta, stir through. Add ricotta cheese in spoonfuls and stir through 1/3 cup cooking water to form a light sauce. If you need more water, add it by 1/3 cup until sauce is a creamy consistency and ricotta cheese is well blended.
Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with shaved parmigiano cheese and serve immediately.
NOTES AND SUBSTITUTIONS:
Bacon can be substituted for the pancetta, or omitted completely.
Zucchini can be omitted completely. Or you can add blanched asparagus or toss in fresh spinach.
Frozen peas may be substituted for fresh, just put the frozen peas in a jug of hot water until thawed, drain and toss in.
Dried oregano or fresh basil may be substituted for the marjoram.
Shaved parmigiano may be omitted.
Originally posted 2020-03-31 15:22:57.
Cooked up just for you!
Ammoglio is an Italian American tomato sauce that originated in Sicily and came to Detroit through Italian immigrants like my Great Grandma Rose. Just like Sunday sauce, ammoglio is made in numerous ways. But one thing remains constant, it’s always served at room temperature and it’s used as a condiment over meat, chicken or fish.
For some reason, in Michigan, breaded steak became the most common and popular way to enjoy the sauce. Because of this, it’s on heavy rotation for supper even in non-Italian American homes.
Whenever summer rolls around, the bounty of fragrant, fresh tomatoes remind me of summers past and eating dinner at my great Auntie Ann’s house. Breaded steak with “ammoglio” tomato sauce or “Moy-gyu,” as my family pronounced it, was one of the dishes I remember eating at Auntie’s table.
Like many Italian American families in the Detroit area, Auntie Ann had a full kitchen and main dining area in the basement of her home. During the hot summer months, it was lovely to cook and eat in the coolest part of the house. And making fresh tomato ammoglio sauce meant that it was one less thing for Auntie to have to make that would heat up her kitchen!
On a Sunday afternoon, generations of our family would gather round Auntie’s table all eating, laughing and telling jokes. With a gruff and gravely voice, Uncle Jack would tell stories and cuss while enjoying a hearty plate of breaded steak topped with ammoglio sauce. Auntie served fresh Italian bread with sesame seeds, a simple green salad dressed in red wine vinegar and olive oil and mostaccioli with plenty of hand-grated pecorino cheese on top.
After supper, the Stella D’oro cookies, cannoli and coffee came out. This was when Auntie would call her cranky pet chihuahua “Rocky” to the table. She’d scoop up the shaking, growling dog into her ample arms and coax him to “sing” for us!
“Who loves Mama? Who? Sing for Mama, Rocky, SING!” Auntie would croon to the dog as he howled!
“Raaaaroooooo raaaarooooo raaaaarooooooo!!!!” Rocky cried, his big brown eyes glistening.
My siblings and I would crack up! No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get that dog to howl for us! And for all our efforts, all we ever got from the annoyed dog was a bite! I truly cherish those fun times from childhood with my family.
Ammoglio? Ammoghio? I’ve seen this Sicilian salsa spelled and pronounced as many ways as it’s made! Some recipes have included marjoram, parsley and basil. Below, you’ll find MY version of this sauce and how I like to eat it.
To make breaded steak, take an inexpensive beef steak cutlet and pound until very thin. Then dip in egg wash, bread in seasoned “Italian-style” breadcrumbs and pecorino cheese. Broil or pan fry the steak and serve with generous spoonfuls of the tasty tomato sauce.
Recently, my dad told me he had never eaten rice while growing up and that it wasn’t until he married my non-Italian mother that he had it for the first time. She would serve the steak and Italian tomato sauce over hot, buttered rice and because of this, I still love it served that way to this day. It’s comforting and delicious.
This fresh tomato sauce takes minutes to make but works best if allowed to sit a few hours or even overnight for flavors to blend. For a light summer supper, serve it over grilled fish. I absolutely love it over grilled chicken breasts with zucchini and a big, crunchy salad. Or better yet, stick to Detroit Italian American tradition and serve it over a couple of pieces of breaded steak, because Auntie would have liked it that way. Enjoy!
For group cooking classes or culinary team building activations and corporate events, contact Laura Lafata today!
Ammoglio or "a-moigu" or "moigu" as it’s fondly called in the Detroit area, is an Italian American summertime favorite. Simple, delicious and incredibly versatile, this sauce can enhance grilled meats, breaded steak or chicken, fish and vegetables.
Make sure you use the freshest and ripest, most fragrant tomatoes you can find and a very good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl.
Bring a large pot of water to boil.
With a paring knife, cut an "x" into the bottom of each tomato.
Put the tomatoes in boiling water for one minute.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and plunge into the ice bath. This will allow the tomatoes to relase their skins easier.
Go to the "x" on the bottom of each tomato. Using the paring knife, peel away at the "x" to release the skin. Peel the skin from all the tomatoes and discard. Set aside the tomatoes.
Regarding the garlic: Start with one clove and if you want more, you can add more the next time. As the sauce marinates, the flavor of the garlic will really come through. This is a dish to make to your taste.
Add the garlic and a pinch of salt to mortar and smash together into a paste or process in a processor.*
Add the basil leaves and pound lightly to relase the oils and flavor.
Cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze out the seeds into a refuse bowl.
With clean hands, crush the tomatoes over the mortar.
Add the rest of the tomatoes to the mortar and smash, leaving the tomatoes pulpy.
Add the rest of the oil and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Put the sauce into a glass bowl, cover and refrigerate for two hours for flavors to meld. You may also leave on the counter top at room temperature.
Let sauce come to room temperature before serving.
Serve over breaded steak, grilled chicken or fish, pasta or anything that could use a delicious hit of fresh tomato flavor with a Sicilian twist!
*You may simply chop the garlic and squeeze tomatoes into a medium-sized glass bowl if you haven't a food processor or mortar.
Originally posted 2019-07-12 18:08:45.
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