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Small Bite Party Appetizers

December 31, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

2016 is almost here! Whoo-hoo!!

My plans for New Year’s involve staying home with my family, preparing TONS of stuzzichini (small bites), eating zampone and lentils (for good luck), fiercely playing tombola to possibly win some money, let my cousins and uncles scare me to death while they set off firecrackers, drink a glass or two of fine Franciacorta, and shamelessly do the conga around the table to 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s music. Oh, and I failed to mention my favorite part: lighting sparklers!!

What about you? How are you going to ring in the new year?? If you’re hosting dinner or you’re participating in a potluck, I’d like to inspire you with some of the small bite party appetizers I made for our NYE party. They’re pretty, refined, and elegant — suitable for any party and especially perfect for New Year’s Eve!

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Cjalsons: Sweet and Savory Dumplings from Friuli

April 30, 2015 By very EATalian 2 Comments

I’m back home! Alabama was nice–but 3 weeks in a hotel room with only a microwave was loooong. Our hotel quality-of-life was definitely improved by the espresso machine we brought from home. Although it’s highly probable the housekeeper thought we were a couple of cuckoos, we felt exceptionally proud of our survival forethought.

YAY for being back at having fun in the kitchen!

There’s nothing better than homemade “ravioli” to start cooking again. Well, these aren’t exactly ravioli per se…but kind of similar. These tasty dumplings are called cjalsons (or cjarsons) and they’re traditionally cooked for festivities in the mountains of Friuli (the most Northeastern Italian region and where I call home).

The dough is usually prepared with water, flour, salt and, sometimes, potatoes. The filling usually features a nice combination of sweet and salty ingredients like mashed potatoes, raisins, smoked ricotta cheese, cinnamon, cookies, herbs or chocolate. Like for many other Italian dishes, there are many versions of cjalsons. Back home, we use this recipe: we jazz up the traditional filling by using apple, pear, pancetta, and amaretti cookies. These ingredients give the filling a nice variety of textures and an intriguing flavor: they’re sweet with a nice kick of saltiness. The best part is the butter/parmesan/cinnamon finish. I used parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano!) because it’s hard to find smoked ricotta here. If you do find it, use it by all means. Just shave it on top. It’s absolutely the best way to serve this wonderful dish.

Expect more cjalsons recipes in the future. I looooove food from Friuli!

5.0 from 1 reviews

My family's Cjalsons (or Cjarsons)

Prep time

1 hour 15 mins

Cook time

6 mins

Total time

1 hour 21 mins

Recipe type: Entree

Serves: 2

Ingredients

75 g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
75 g (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
40 gr (a bit less than 3 Tbsp) of butter, melted + 1 Tbsp for final seasoning
40 ml (1.3 oz or 2 Tbsp and 2 tsp) of water
1 yolk
55 g (about 2 oz) of pancetta, minced
½ apple
1 small pear
4 regular-sized (or 10 mini) amaretti cookies, crumbled
pepper
sugar
salt
cinnamon

Instructions

Mix flour, water, melted butter and yolk in a bowl. Once the ingredients are combined, transfer onto a clean surface and knead until dough becomes uniform and smooth. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut the apple and the pear in small cubes (about ¼ inch or 6 mm).
Add minced pancetta to a medium-sized skillet and sauté over medium heat. Once pancetta changes color, add cubed apple and pear. Cook until pear is soft, but not too mushy. Add a sprinkle of sugar, salt, and pepper. Remove skillet from the heat, add crumble amaretti and transfer to a plate.
Take dough out of fridge and roll it with a rolling pin or a pasta machine until it becomes thin (see photos above), adding a bit of flour if necessary (not too much!). Cut rolled dough in 3.5 inch (9 cm) rounds.
With a teaspoon, place a small dose of filling in the center of each round. Brush some water on the outer part of the round. Fold round in half, forming a dumpling and making sure no air is trapped inside. Press the edges together to seal them tightly.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
Melt butter in a large skillet and set aside.
Gently place the cjalsons in batches in boiling water. Remove them with a slotted spoon once they come to the surface and transfer them in a skillet with melted butter over low heat. Cook for about 2-3 min, turning them gently. Sprinkle with cinnamon, pepper and parmesan cheese.

Chocolate Frangipane Pear Tart

March 4, 2015 By very EATalian Leave a Comment

Last week I saw a pretty and colorful bag of pears at Trader Joe’s. The bag read “Rainbow Pears”. It was basically a mix of different kinds of small pears, including Red D’Anjou, Green D’Anjou, and Bosc. So pretty! I’m a total sucker for nice packaging and clever marketing, and, of course, I love pears. Needless to say, I drove off the Trader Joe’s parking lot with those pears in my grocery bag and the culinary part of my brain already in motion.

Pear and Chocolate. Of course! Such a glorious pairing. I’m not sure if it belongs to any particular cuisine (French, peut-être?), but it sure is a common combination in Italian desserts. The most common dessert that features these two delicious ingredients is Torta di Pere e Cioccolato, a chocolate cake with pieces of pears inside. It’s a really satisfying cake, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I wanted something that provided a variety of textures and would let me play a little more in the kitchen. I love tarts exactly for this reason and they are very, very popular in my family. So, after a bit of research and a lot of notes, I finally opted for a tart, filled with frangipane and topped with pear halves.

Frangipane is a common French filling for tarts, but as the names suggests, it’s originally from Italy. It’s a rich cream made of butter, sugar, eggs, and ground almonds. For my tart, I specifically used a chocolate frangipane recipe from one of the finest Italian pastry chefs, Luca Montersino. Both my mother and I have a “culinary crush” on him and together we often watched his cooking show on Italian TV. Not only he is great at what he does, he is also a gifted teacher and always provides the scientific explanations behind any of his creations.

So here’s my tart! I love how the pears, kept in their natural shape, provide a nice, rustic look that balances out the rest. This is a perfect dessert for chocolate lovers like me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

CHOCOLATE FRANGIPANE PEAR TART
Servings: 8 | Prep/Resting time: 1 hour and 20 min| Cook time: 40 min

NOTE: Conversions are approximate. I highly recommend the use of a digital scale and measure all ingredients in grams. It’s just easier and more precise!

INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Short Pastry Dough
150 g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
125 g (1/2 cup and 2 Tbsp) sugar
a pinch of salt
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
few drops of vanilla extract
250 g (2 cups) all purpose flour
15 g (2 Tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
(optional) 1.5 g (1/2 tsp) baking powder

Chocolate Frangipane Filling (slightly adapted from Chef Luca Montersino’s recipe)
95 g (3.35 oz) blanched almonds
90 g (3.17 oz) brown sugar
95 g (3.35 oz) butter
105 g (3.7 oz) eggs
28 g (3 tbsp) rice flour
7 g (2 tsp) corn starch
10 g (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) unsweetened cocoa powder
25 g (0.9 oz) amaretti cookies

2 pears
confectioners sugar

INSTRUCTIONS
[Chocolate Short Pastry dough/Crust]
1. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar and then add in a pinch of salt, the egg, the egg yolk, and a few drops of vanilla.
2. On a clean surface, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and add to the butter mixture. Knead briefly until you obtain a uniform, smooth dough. If too sticky, add a bit more flour.
3. Form a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

[Chocolate Frangipane Filling]
1. Grind almonds and sugar together to a fine powder.
2. Mix almond/sugar powder with butter, using a stand mixer. Slowly pour in the eggs. Add in the rice flour, the corn starch, and the cocoa powder. Finally, add finely crushed amaretti cookies. Refrigerate mixture in a bowl until short pastry dough is ready.

[Final assembly]
1. Turn oven to 375F.
2. Remove dough from fridge and roll it out in a disk by putting it in between 2 pieces of non-stick parchment paper until the dough is a little thinner than 1/4 inch (4 mm). Remove paper from the dough. Place dough inside a tart pan with removable bottom. Trim dough in excess from the tart pan borders.
3. Spread the frangipane inside the tart to cover the whole surface.
4. Cut the pears in half and remove seeds. Peel each pear and push pear halves cut-side down into the mixture.
5. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the frangipane has risen.
6. Remove tart from the oven and let it cool. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve.

Enjoy and buon appetito!

-Lisa