April 2022 – It's My Kitchen

Tortellini with a thick Bolognese sauce can be a meal by itself. When it’s part of a multi course Italian Feast it’s best served as a small portion. It can be very filling. Tortellini originates from Bologna, Italy. Legend claims that Tortellini was inspired by the goddess Venus’ navel. An Italian medieval legend tells how Venus and Zeus, weary one night after their involvement in a battle between Bologna and Modena, arrive at a tavern in a small town on the outskirts of Bologna. After eating a hearty dinner and becoming slightly drunk, they decide to share a bedroom. The innkeeper, captivated after watching them, creeps to their room and peeks through the keyhole of the bedroom door. However, all he can see through the keyhole is the naval of Venus. This vision leaves him spellbound – so much so that he immediately rushes to the kitchen and creates a pasta inspired by Venus’ navel…and so was born the Tortellini.

Of course, a perfect sauce to go with Tortellini, also originates from Bologna, Bolognese. The night we served our Italian Feast, we offered Two pasta dishes. This one and Pesto Alla Genovese with Vermicelli. The recipe for that one comes later.

***Six courses and Four wines made for quite an evening!***

If you make your Bolognese ahead of time, chill or freeze it, and then reheat it, the flavors will intensify. I recommend simmering the Bolognese, alternating between covered and uncovered for several hours so that you end up with a slight “reduction’ of the sauce. Again, this lends itself to even more intensification of the flavors. The Bolognese will become richer and thicker, clinging to the Tortellini, when you finish it off. The number of servings will depend on how much Bolognese you make and if this is the main course or one of many.

Prep time: 10 minutes to 1 hour – Cook time: 20 minutes to 4 hours

Ingredients

A glass of red for the Chef

Italian Bolognese sauce

Tortellini of your choice

Grated or shredded Parmigiana cheese

Start by making the Bolognese. Here is my own recipe, which I shared with you some months ago. After simmering for several hours, begin to heat your pasta water minutes before you intend to serve this. I DO NOT make fresh pasta. There are so many excellent pastas available, I would rather spend my time on the sauces they deliver us when we eat! I do however, prefer refrigerated Tortellini, rather than dried, that you can get at most grocery stores now. Rana and Buitoni both make excellent refrigerated pasta, in a wide variety, and widely distributed through large and small grocery stores. We served a four cheese Tortellini the night of our Italian Feast and in this recipe as well.

***Delicious, convenient and available***

Add salt to taste. Gently boil the Tortellini so that it retains its shape and cook it about 30 seconds less than called for in the instructions. You’ll want to finish cooking the Tortellini in the sauce.

***Slow boil, according to directions***

***Newest family member Lucy supervising***

When nearly cooked, drain the Tortellini, add it back to the pot and add your sauce. Continue cooking on medium heat for a couple of minutes. You want the pasta to finish and to absorb the sauce. It really enhances the flavor. Gently stir the pasta and sauce together.

When you’re ready to eat, plate this tastebud delighting gift from Bologna, pour a nice glass of your favorite red wine, and enjoy!

***Served with a Cesar Salad, OMG, this was so good!***

This is pictured as the main course. The night of the Italian Feast, there were four Tortellini with Bolognese plated alongside Pesto Alla Genovese con Vermicelli. Just enough of each to satisfy the taste buds and set them up for the Secondi and a nice Chianti.

Leftovers are not usual.

Wines We Love With This

Chianti

Valpolicella

Sangiovese

Cabernet Sauvignon

Quando condividi un pasto con gli amici, diventano una famiglia!

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried or experienced “Sizzle Plate Cooking”, but it is awesome. Some very dear friends, Grace and Garth Pearce, introduced us to the technique about 10 years ago, perhaps a little less. Anyway, it does take some special kitchen equipment, which was gifted to us by the Pearces and we have enjoyed using it many times over these last years.

It always reminds me of the visits the Pearces would make when we were living in SE Georgia, near the coast. During one of those visits, the Pearces brought the sizzle plates and the wooden platters, absolutely necessary when serving, for the four of us. Sizzle plates can be used for all sorts of dishes. The secret to success and slicing and preparing all your ingredients ahead of time. One the cooking process begins, it goes in stages and is fairly fast. If you have smoke alarms in the kitchen, I would recommend having a fan nearby. You’ll be cooking at very high heat and releasing that heat and smoke every time you open the oven door.

One of the real advantages of sizzle plate cooking is the food stays warm throughout the meal. You just need to be careful not to touch the cast iron sizzle plates when they are placed in front of you at the table. If you’ve ever been to a Chili’s Restaurant or any place that serves Fajitas, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

This cooking method is fun and entertaining when your guests are in the kitchen. You can imagine all sorts of meat and veggie or just vegetarian dishes that can be prepared with this method. Just be sure that you keep your slices of veggies and meats, fairly consistent in thickness so that all will cook quickly and finish at the same time.

If you decide to invest in a set of sizzle plates, you can get them at Amazon, of course and I think they are also available at the Bed, Bath and Beyond. Some non-chain, local cooking shops also carry them. Be sure to follow the instructions for seasoning the plates before you use them the first time. Just like a cast iron skillet, you don’t want to “over clean” them.

Having shared with you one of my recipes for a Boston Butt on the rotisserie I thought it might be fun to share how we use some of the leftover pork. You can use either sliced or chopped pork. In this recipe I use chopped.

This recipe serves 2 and can be adjusted, depending on how many sizzle plates you have. If you have the extra rack and a convection oven, you can do 6 sizzle plates at once.

Pre time : 30 mins – Cook time : 15 to 20 mins

Ingredients

A cold glass of Sangria or a Spanish red of Chef’s choice

Large Flour Tortillas

1/2lb – Cooked, chopped pork

1/2 – Fresh tomato, diced small

1/2 – Lrg sweet oinion, thin sliced

1 – Red Bell pepper, or Yellow

1 – Shallot, chopped

1C – Sour cream

1 can – Old El Paso refried beans

1C – Rice

1T – Turmeric

Fajita Seasoning from Lindberg-Snider

1 Jar of your favorite Salsa

Making The Magic

Place your seasoned sizzle plates in the oven and heat to 450° while doing the rest of your prep.

Slowly heat the refried beans. I always like to add 1T of Bacon grease for seasoning. You can also use Olive Oil.

Mix the turmeric, salt to taste, chopped shallot, appropriate amount of water and rice. Begin cooking. I love using the InstaPot to make rice. I dump all the ingredients into the pot, turn it on and forget about it until I’m ready to serve it. It’s an awesome kitchen tool.

Now that the rice and beans are going and the sizzle plates are heating in the oven, prep the veggies and pork.

Slice the Red Pepper and Onion into 1/4″ slices. Coat with a small amount of Olive Oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Season the chopped pork with the Lindberg-Snider Fajita rub/seasoning.

***Chopped tomatoes, slice onion and pepper in 1/4″ strips***

Place the onions and Peppers onto the hot sizzle plate in equal portions. Close the oven door and cook for about 3 minutes.

***The veggies will sizzle right away***

Open the door and turn or flip the veggies. Then add the pork to the sizzle plate. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

Open the oven door and turn the onions, peppers and pork. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

***Cook another 2 minutes after turning all the ingredients***

When the cooking is done, it’s ready to serve! No need to plate this since it cooks on it’s own plate! Don’t forget to use the wood platter that go under the sizzle plates.

Heat your flour tortillas if you like them warm. Plate the refried beans and rice. I love shredded cheese on top of the beans.

Build your own Fajita and enjoy the flavor explosion!

***This is fun to make and delicious to eat!***

Variations To Keep It New

Sliced pork also works, but cut into strips. Steak strip or chicken strips also work great. Precooked, chopped bacon can be added to any of these meats, or can be the only meat. Sliced avocado is awesome. Guacamole is sensational, especially when mixed with the fresh tomatoes and sour cream. There are so many variations on this you could eat them every day and never grow tired of them.

Wines We Love With This

Merlot or Chianti or Sangria

Beer! is our favorite

Leftovers

Depending on what ingredients you have leftover, I really like taking everything and making a hash that you can heat and serve with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Another breakfast favorite is making the hash, scrambled eggs and creating some breakfast burritos!

Saludos y cervezas! ¡Come rico y disfruta!

Month: April 2022

Festa Italiana alla Pilollas – Tortellini Bolognese

Fajitas – On A Sizzle Plate