'La Bella Polenta' and Venetian Style Appetizers

First of all, you HAVE to watch part of this video, it's adorable. Leave it to the Italians to make up an awesome song about making polenta. (By the way, I think the young woman on the far right is in the market for a husband- you'll see what I mean.)  Oh and, be warned: the song sticks in your head.

As a person who has only recently acquired the funds to travel to Europe without the assistance of my parents, I am not a seasoned traveler and therefore this isn't one of those braggy posts. I was lucky enough to stay in Venice in June, and while in general I wouldn't say it is the food capital of Italy or anything, they did have some interesting dishes. Unfortunately for us most of the famous dishes involved seafood. My husband doesn't like seafood at all (although he periodically tries it, just to make sure) and I'm allergic to shellfish. By the way, if you're ever there and you need to communicate that you have a seafood allergy you say, "Sono allergico ai crostace."

Of course pasta and gnocchi are served a lot, but they also serve a hefty dose of risotto and polenta (cornmeal mash) too. The best thing about Venetian food though is the cicchetti, tiny little happy-hour appetizers (pretty much Italian tapas.) There was salt-cod salad, truffled ham* (ridiculously good), fried cheese balls, grilled octopus...so many tasty things. 
 

*This is truffled ham. If anyone knows where to get it in California, tell me!

Instead of crostini toasts as a base for spreads and cold cuts, they sometimes used little grilled polenta squares. I was raised in Arizona, so to me they taste a little bit like an open faced tamale. Here's my recipe:

4 cups of low sodium or homemade vegetable broth
1 cup of dark yellow cornmeal 
1 teaspoon salt (if you use water instead of broth, use 2 tsp.) 
1/4 teaspoon white pepper (use cayenne or nothing if you don't have white)
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup marscapone cheese or thick cream
2 rounded tablespoons finely grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
a big glug of Tabasco or other hot sauce (I told you, I'm from Arizona) 

Bring the broth, salt and pepper to a boil, and add the cornmeal slowly, whisking the whole time. Stir on high for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens- like oatmeal thick. Turn the temperature down to as low as it will go and continue cooking on low for another 30 minutes, frequently giving it a really good stir with the whisk. 

Add in the butter, cheese and Tabasco at the end, mix thoroughly and vigorously, and then pour it out into a 9"x13" greased pan. Try to even out the polenta as best you can with your spatula, I ended up using a cube of cold butter as a flattener because it doesn't stick. 

Let the polenta cool on the counter for ten minutes, then put it in the refrigerator, covered, to cool completely. Cut the polenta into square or diamond shapes, and then you can either brush the shapes with oil or butter and put them on the grill, or just grill them in a non-stick pan until they are brown, but not black at all, on both sides. 

Here are some basic Americanized toppings you might want to try. Because there is cheese and butter in the polenta, I think putting cheese on top would be redundant, but you do what you like: 

-Fresh or canned salmon salad made with capers, dill and mayonnaise
-Fresh chopped tomatoes mixed with very finely diced anchovy, garlic and oil
-Prosciutto di Parma and chopped green Castelvetrano olives
-Bacon, pepper jelly and almond slices

(This one has Prosciutto, hot pepper jelly and roasted Marcona almonds)



-Roasted chiles, chicken and salsa
-Basil and sun dried tomato in oil or tomato jam and balsamic vinegar
-Thinly sliced steak cooked very briefly and covered in lemon juice, olive oil and parsley
-Leftover BBQ pulled pork and apricot jam or fresh apricot
-Cut the squares big enough to make a polenta Eggs Benedict with bacon, eggs and Hollandaise sauce

You get the idea.  
 

The Sacro e Profano in the San Polo neighborhood of Venice, worth a visit!

Savory Cheese-Puff Donuts

These appetizer donuts are really easy but there's kind of a short window of time to eat them in. They are screaming hot when they are just done, but they're not quite as exciting (though still tasty) when they've gone completely cold. My friend Trish has this great vintage warming plate thing that would be great to serve these on, but I don't know anyone else who has one of those, so just eat them within 20 minutes of making them.

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar 
1 teaspoon dried summer savory (or dried mint or parsley if you don't have savory)
 Also:
-1 small block of really sharp or strong flavored cheese, cut into about 1/2 inch cubes. I had sharp Irish Cheddar. Blue cheese would be good too, if it is a kind that isn't too moist and crumbly.

-Enough corn oil, plus a splash of olive oil for deep frying

-a small jar of pepper jelly, just heated through until it's syrupy 

Mix the first nine ingredients in a bowl and then cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and leave the batter on the counter to rise for one hour.

Heat the corn oil in your deep fryer or small pot until the oil is around 360 degrees, (or just wing it). When the oil is hot, take several cubes of the cheese at a time and drop them on top of the batter. Using a tablespoon, very gently cover each cube with a bit of the gooey, stretchy batter. Scoop the individual cubes out, now covered in dough, by the spoonful and drop into the hot oil. They will puff up right away, and then you fry them for a few minutes per side until they are a deep golden brown. To be honest, the ones int he picture are a tiny bit under-done but I was impatient and hungry.

 Let them drain on a paper towel for a minute or two, salting and peppering them like you do with other fried foods. When all of your cheese is used up you can still make cheese-less donuts if there is leftover dough, or just toss it out, it's not like flour is that expensive.

Serve the donuts right away, drizzled or coated with the warm pepper jelly. You could also use warm honey with chopped jalapenos in it, or you could use a syrupy balsamic vinegar reduction.

Roasted Red Pepper "Pesto"

I don't know if I should be calling this pretty orange sauce "pesto", there's no Parmesan (or pine nuts) in it. I'm only doing it because it does have nuts in it, and I think it would work for the same applications: slathered on pizza, pasta, baguette, pita chips, sandwiches, grilled meat and so on. 

You don't have to be a kitchen over-achiever and grill your own peppers, the ones you  buy at the store or deli are just fine. Actually they might even be better because they'll be the nice sweet ones from Italy or Spain. Plus you can sound really pompous when you  mention that they're, "Imported from Europe."

You'll need some kind of blender or food processor for this easy sauce/spread.

1 10 ounce jar of roasted red Spanish or Italian peppers, drained
1/2 mounded cup of roasted and salted and Marcona almonds (if you can't get those, regular almonds are fine, but you want them peeled and roasted and if they are unsalted, add more salt to the recipe.) For a thicker dip, use one whole cup.
1 tablespoon FRESH oregano leaves
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons of your favorite vinegar, I used red wine pomegranate, for the dip use the juice of one lemon instead.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 smashed garlic clove (a small one)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon of creme fraiche, or something similar like heavy cream, sour cream or cream cheese (or that Toffuti stuff to keep it vegan)
OR, for the dip version, omit the creme fraiche and add 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes.

Blend all the ingredients really well in your blending machine of choice, then let it sit in the refrigerator for at least a half hour, or save it in there up to a week (or freeze it for longer). This makes a cereal bowl sized amount which would be plenty for spreading on appetizers, or it would be enough to coat a bowl of buttered pasta for two.

If raw garlic is a bit much for you, you can add dry granulated garlic, about a teaspoon instead. In that case I would add a few extra splashes of vinegar for punch.

Perfectly Piquant Piquillo Peppers

Don't bother making any other appetizers. Maybe have a few thick chunks of chewy Italian bread and a few olives around, but these peppers and a big glass of red wine are all you need before dinner, or, if you're by yourself, instead of dinner. Actually today I had them for lunch. For crunchy texture, serve on pita chips or throw toasted pine nuts in the filling.

Ingredients:
1 16 ounce jar whole roasted Piquillo peppers, I used Italbrand
1 small celery stalk, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
1/2 sweet onion chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Japanese eggplant, chopped fine
4 large Shitake mushrooms (or Baby Bellas), chopped fine
1/2 cup Cream Sherry, I like Lustau, plus pour a glass for drinking while you cook
1 small handful chopped Italian parsley
A good sweet balsamic vinegar- (I used a fig flavored) 1 tablespoon  plus more for drizzling
plenty of extra virgin olive oil, at least three tablespoons
1 slice of thick cut bacon, or two thin, diced
2 ounces goat cheese
generous salt and pepper
a pinch of red pepper flakes
1 rounded teaspoon of dried thyme
1 egg
1/3 cup whole wheat flour, or other flour of your choice, for grain-free I recommend almond meal.

(If you want to make these vegan, use a heaping tablespoon of whole wheat flour instead of the egg, a squeeze of lemon juice and Tofutti cream cheese instead of goat cheese and a tablespoon of pine nuts instead of bacon.)

Drain the peppers in jar, but don't rinse them. 

In this recipe, I want you to sprinkle salt lightly as you cook each ingredient. In a large skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil on medium high heat. Add the onions, carrot, celery and garlic first and let those cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, until you get browning on all the edges of the little pieces. Then add the finely chopped bacon, eggplant and mushrooms (about a cup chopped each) red pepper flakes, black pepper and thyme. Stir around for another several minutes until the bacon looks cooked.

Add the 1/2 cup sherry and stir around until all of the sherry is either cooked off or absorbed. 

 Remove the mixture to a bowl and mix in with the chopped parsley and tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Let it cool for few minutes, then add the egg and crumbled goat cheese (or other tangy cheese of your choice) and mix well.

Now it's time to stuff the peppers with this filling. These little guys are slippery, so this is probably the most difficult part. If you have large fingers, you might want to use your pinky to shove the filling down to the bottom of each pepper. Just use a light touch and be as careful as you can. It's okay if the peppers are a little torn, the egg in the filling is going to help keep it all together. I laid them out on a sheet of parchment paper as I went along (or wax paper or foil is fine). I had just enough filling for all 14 peppers in my jar.

Next, you can just wipe out your skillet that you've already been using, and heat up a few more tablespoons of olive oil in it, again over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the whole wheat four over your stuffed peppers, and ever so gently kind of roll or flip them over to lightly coat them with flour. Fry them in the pan about 2 minutes per side, I gently flatten them slightly so they cook evenly. I use a small fork to gently flip them (without scratching the pan) but if you have one of those tiny spatulas, that would work nicely.

Serve these hot or room temperature with an extra sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley and an extra drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

These are so freakin' good. Really. 

 Oh and if people claim they don't like eggplant or mushrooms, unless they're allergic, just don't mention what's in them- the flavors take on a different character here because of the cheese and bacon so I think you have a chance of sneaking these past the vegetable haters. 

Zucchini Patties, or Something To Do With Little Squashlings

I'll admit it, I have to spell-check "zucchini" every time I write it. We could spell it zukini, as in, "Eat more zukini to fit in a bikini." No?
Well, bikini assonance aside, I do not mean to imply that the following recipe is in any way slimming, it's just a yummy way to use up the zucchini that your over-zealous gardener neighbor gives you every year.

Ingredients:
5 small/medium zucchini (or the one giant one that was growing sneakily at the back of the garden) grated (approximately 4 cups)
1/2 cup semolina flour, or whole wheat flour (fine corn flour if you need these gluten free)
3 eggs
2 green onions, finely diced
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 ounces soft goat cheese (chevre), crumbled 
olive oil

a lemon, some Greek yogurt, and more Italian parsley to serve

Heat the olive oil in a NON-STICK pan over medium-high heat, using enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan well. (I had my stove on 9 then had to turn it down to 8 after the first batch.)  

After you've grated the zucchini into your mixing bowl, the best thing to do is grab handfuls of it at a time and squeeze the heck out of it over the sink to remove some of the moisture. Mix the grated zucchini in with all of the rest of the ingredients and then drop rounded spoonfuls of the batter into the pan carefully, smooshing them flat as you go, so they look like little pancakes. Fry them in batches, cooking for three minutes per side. Don't crowd the pan too much because you don't want them touching each other, it makes it hard to flip them over. This recipe should make at least 12-16 patties. If your batter starts to look a little runny between batches, you can add a tablespoon more of flour and mix really well before continuing.

They can go into a warm oven until serving, or you can just enjoy them at room temperature. Serve with fresh lemon squeezed over, good generous dollops of Greek yogurt or sour cream, and roughly chopped fresh parsley.