Chocolate Cabernet Napa Snaps

A chocolately-rich sandwich cookie that's all grownnnnns-up!

Featuring Scharffen Berger Chocolate

Legends From Europe, Market Basket Recipe Contest: Parmigiano Reggiano Crostata di Primavera

A taste of Emilia-Romagna!

Dish Your Blog: Delverde Recipe Challange ~ Rigatoni Autunno

Mediterranean Basmati Rice Paella

Featuring VILLAGE HARVEST Basmati Rice

Grand Prize Winner of the Village Harvest Rice, "Pic Your Trip" Contest!!

Famous Utica Greens ~ A Signature Southern Italian Dish of Utica, NY

A Southern Italian specialty of Utica, NY

Garlicky Greens ~  It's a Utica thang, baby!

Legends From Europe, Market Basket Recipe Contest: Parmigiano Reggiano Torta Primavera

A taste of Emilia-Romagna!

Award-Winning, Homemade Tuscan Herb Gourmet Potato Chips

A gourmet homemade snack remininscent of the Tuscan countryside!

Award-Winning, Sicilian Pizza Cannoli

First Place Prize-Winning, Pizza Cannoli

Festive Pickled Blueberry, Prosciutto & Gorgonzola Pizzettes

'"Mama's Plate Update' Blueberry Blogger's Recipe Contest"  Savory Entry

Italian Lemon & Olive Oil Pound Cake featuring: Bill Sanders' First Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A lemony treat enhanced by the freshness of extra virgin olive oil

 Learn how you can make this deliciously moist, Italian Lemon & Olive Oil Pound Cake with a Limoncello Glaze using FIRST FRESH Extra Virgin Olive Oil!!  It's oh, so delizioso!!

"Fresh is Best!" -olive oil evangelist, Bill Sanders

Award-Winning, Chocolate Pasta ~ Pasta di Cacao

You don't have to speak Italian to live your life in Italian!

1st Place winner in the "Instructables Pasta Contest."

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DaVinci Storyteller Experience: Zucchini Ripieni ~ Stuffed Zucchini

A Tuscan favorite we enjoyed during the DaVinci Storyteller Experience in Toscana, Italia

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Tuscan Panforte di Siena ~ An authentic Tuscan treat!

An ancient Tuscan tradition ~ pronounced (pahn-FOR-tay)

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"LEGENDS from EUROPE" Herbed Parmigiano Reggiano Fritters with Balsamic Reduction Dipping Sauce

Made with real Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Italy

"LEGENDS from EUROPE" Recipe Contest Winner!!! ~ Parmigiano Reggiano Gnudi with Spinach & Sun-Dried Tomato

Bisnonna Elvira's Italian flag Gnudi!  Mangiamo tutti!

Under the Tuscan Sunset Potato Salad

Earthy and rustic salad inspired by my recent trip to Toscana, Italia

Pipe Rigate & Peas with a Smoky Marinara Sauce

Smoky Marinara Sauce (with smoked pork shank)

A rich and smoky, Sunday sauce to fragrance the entire house and warm the soul. It must simmer for a couple hours to render that smoked, pork shank so its falling-off-the-bone tender. But, go grab a piece of crusty, bread and dunk it before Nonna sees you!

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce with smoked pork shank (braised-tender)

3- 28 ounce cans of San Marzano plum tomatoes

1 smoked pork shank

8 cloves of garlic (pushed through garlic press)
3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste

1/2 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of Dry Cooking Sherry (not Cream)

5-6 hot cherry peppers (roughly chopped) (optional)

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (not EV)

2 tablespoons of dried basil

7-8 fresh basil leaves (torn)

1 teaspoon of kosher sea salt

1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

Parmigiano Reggiano grated cheese for garnish

PREPARATION:

Coat a large, cast iron,( or heavy bottom Dutch oven,) on low heat with the olive oil and add garlic. Make sure the heat is low, so the garlic does not brown.  This step allows the garlic to infuse the olive oil. Add the smoked, pork shank to the garlic oil and heat for about 5 minutes.

 Add the whole tomatoes (with juices). Turn heat up to medium-high. stir in the tomato paste, chopped hot cherry peppers, dried basil, salt & pepper, and dry Sherry.  Stir thoroughly, cover and allow to simmer on medium heat for at least an hour.  At this point, the sauce already  has a smokiness  imparted from the shank.

After one hour, remove the smoked pork shank with a slotted spoon, and set aside on a cutting board (you will return this to the sauce).  Turn the heat down to low, and with a potato masher, while the pot is still on the heat, smash the whole tomatoes. You may leave some pieces a bit large, if you like. It depends on how chunky you like your sauce.  Also, you may use a "stick blender," if you have one of those.  I do, but I used a potato masher anyway.

At this point, I returned the pork shank to the sauce, because I wanted to render the meat on the shank so tender that it falls off the bone. You may leave it out if you like. Cook the shank in the sauce until it is very tender, then remoeved it from the sauce, once again, to pull the pieces off the bone. Shred the smoked pork pieces and added them back to the sauce. 

Add the heavy cream, torn basil leaves, and about  1/4 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano grated cheese. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Skim off any excess oil on the top of the sauce that may have rendered from the pork shank. 

COOK'S NOTE:  * DO NOT add grated cheese to the sauce until the very end, or it will stick to the bottom of the pot. And, whatever you do, please, no not add sugar to this sauce! The sweetness of the Sherry Wine is the perfect lover for the plum tomatoes. They make magic together! Sugar would only contaminate this sauce*

Ready... Set... Squeal with JOY!!!!!

I am delighted to finally announce that 

The Brooklyn Ragazza~

Cathi Iannone is DaVinci Wine's   

"CULINARY ARTS"

2012 DaVinci Storyteller!!

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Utica Chicken Riggies (Original, Chef Joe Morelli recipe)

The famous, signature dish of Utica, NY

Italy’s sauces are many; sometimes it is a meat sauce, other times, olive oil & garlic (aglio e olio), pestos, cream or tomato sauces, augmented, depending on the time of year and what is plentiful during the season.  The sauce in this dish is a very typical Piedmontese-style, spicy tomato sauce that's  made with a Sherry Wine, is laden with roasted red peppers and studded with spicy, hot cherry peppers. 

The name “Chicken Riggies” is a Utica, NY, colloquialism and a household name known to everyone in Central New York. And, for those that do not know, Utica, NY is so famous for its Chicken Riggies (rigatoni) that we actually have a, much publicized, annual "Riggies Fest" where people (and, restaurants) compete with their own version of the dish, and a winner is crowned every year. For a restaurant, holding that revered title, inevitably translates to a big boom in business.

Over the years, there have come to be several variations on the recipe, and truth be known, I have seen people get into full-blown debates over which restaurant (or, person) makes the best “Riggies!” Personally, I am partial to my mother's, who learned from the best,  Utica's own, Chef Joe Morelli.

Recently, Utica’s "Chicken Riggies" recipe made its way to the magazine pages of “The Cook’s Illustrated- Lightened-Up Edition.”  Also, a few years back, while working at Williams Sonoma's flagship store in NYC, I, personally, gave this recipe to a couple celebrity chefs in NYC, including Tyler Florence, and Rachel Ray, who featured the recipe on one of her shows, along with the  famous dish,  Chef Morelli's Utica Greens.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of Rigatoni

2  lbs. of chicken breast (cut up into  small chunks)

2  large fire roasted red peppers  ( from the jar and sliced into 1 inch pieces)

Bunch of hot cherry peppers, roughly chopped ( 7, or so – depending how much heat you want)

1- 28 ounce can of whole San Marzano  tomatoes

Hot cherry peppers from my garden, 2011

5 cloves of garlic  (save one of the cloves to sauté chicken and peppers)

1 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese (plus more for topping)

1  cup of cooking Sherry wine (cut with  about ½ cup of water)

2+2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (separated- half for sauté, half for sauce)

4 tablespoons of butter  (half a stick)

¼ cup of heavy cream

½ teaspoon of dried basil  ( plus, a few torn  leaves of fresh basil for tossing in with pasta at the end)

½ teaspoon of sea salt

PREPARATION:

In a large pot heat extra-virgin olive on low heat with 4 smashed and chopped  garlic cloves. This infuses the garlic into the oil before you add the tomatoes. Be careful that the garlic doesn’t get brown. It will be bitter.  Add the whole tomatoes and Sherry Wine. Simmer for a few minutes.  Add the butter, dried basil and the sea salt.  Allow to simmer on very low heat.  Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the chicken  in extra-virgin olive oil. When chicken is almost browned, stir in the roasted red peppers,  the hot cherry peppers,  one minced garlic clove, and sauté for a couple of minute so the flavors marry.  Carefully, mash the whole tomatoes with a potato masher, then add in the Pecorino Romano cheese. (Do not add the cheese earlier, as it will stick to the bottom of the pot a little, and cling to the masher.) Toss the chicken and peppers in with the marinara sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.  Prepare rigatoni al dente and toss the full pound of rigatoni in the pot with the sauce mixture.  One pound of rigatoni is perfect for the amount of sauce that is prepared.  Serve with additional grated cheese and red pepper flakes.  Buon Appetito!

NOTA  BENE:

The original Riggies recipe calls for one stick of butter, but I cut it down and supplemented with a little heavy cream, but you can experiment, if you wish.  Also, some variation that I like instead of chicken are:  ¼ pound of crisped prosciutto and chopped calamata olives.  Or, prosciutto and peas is really good, too! Just don’t omit the roasted red peppers, that is what gives it a distinctive taste.    Also, when I double this recipe, I like to use one can of crushed tomatoes and one can of whole tomatoes, then crush the whole tomatoes with a potato masher while it’s cooking.  I love the chunks of tomato in the finished dish.     xxoo