Gnocchi con Zucchero e' Cannella ~ A Veronese Specialty!

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"Romeo, oh Romeo, where forth art thou Romeo?"

Those famous words from Juliet to her lover in Verona, Italy as penned by Shakespeare in his classic melodrama "Romeo and Juliet".  The heroine of that story underscores this month's movie for "Food 'n Flix" which was selected by our host, Kim of Stirring the Pot -- "Letters To Juliet".

Also set in Verona, Italy, a young American woman is inspired by the real-life activity of people writing letters to Juliet and inserting them into the walls of Juliet's courtyard.  'Secretaries of Juliet' reply to those who wrote the letters.   The story unfolds about the romantic lives of two women, one young and one in mid-life and how their endeavors play out in the hills of Italy.  Of course it all ends happily, but if you're interested in more of the details of the film, click on this {link}.

OK, so I began to think about what might be a typical dish that originated from Verona, Italy.  Not knowing much about the city's cuisine, I did some research.  I discovered that Tiramisu was created in Verona, that unforgettably sweet peaches and cherries flourish there, that Valpolicella wine and some of Italy's finest extra-virgin olive oil are both produced in Verona and finally, there is a traditional gnocchi recipe that is sweetened with sugar and cinnamon, known as: "Gnocchi con Zucchero e' Cannella", an Italian dish that I have never tasted, nor ever heard of.  So to help me get out of my comfort zone and try something new, I chose this unusual recipe.  I really wanted to make a peach mascarpone cheesecake, but I didn't want to turn on the oven and bake in this 100 degree summer heat that we're experiencing this week.  More of Verona, Italy's specialty dishes and foods can be found at this {link}.

I also found that there are several ways to make this gnocchi.  One way is for dessert and the other method is for an entree version.  Mr. M. and P. (meat and potatoes) would have nothing to do with the entree recipe and so I made both versions to keep him happy.  I don't know what I'm going to do with him sometimes!

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Seasonal Saturday and Fresh Food Friday!

So many wonderful food bloggers, so many great recipes, and so little time to prepare all of them . . . which one will you share today?  Each and every week, I'm so amazed at the passion for and talent in cooking that this community of bloggers brings together!

The abundance of our gardens and local farms is just amazing this July.  Everyone appears to be enjoying seasonal cooking, baking, grilling, freezing, and canning.  We're so busy, busy, busy doing what we love and sharing that love through our cooking for those whom we care the most about.

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Insalata Caprese Authentico!

.This is the real deal in regard to Italian Caprese Salad. There are numerous varieties for presentation of this appetizer/salad, including the salad that I have provided (in my sidebar). But the true, most authentic way to prepare "Insalata Caprese" is extremely simple and delightful, especially in these summer months when tomatoes and basil are at their freshest!
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As the name implies, this salad originated on the isle of Capri, off the west coast of Italy. The colors of red, white, and green are the colors of Italy's flag as well, which makes it a little bit more "Italian". Most of all, Insalata Caprese, encompasses the pure, delicious simplicity of Italian cuisine at its utmost!

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Panzanella Frittata!

Eggs, they're what's for dinner breakfast!  Last week I made Panzanella, the classic Italian tomato and bread salad.  I had some left-over the next day and decided to make a frittata with what little bit was left.  We call anything left over in the frig "must-gos" because whatever foods that are still fresh, must go!  Frittatas are incredibly versatile, in that you can use whatever you have on hand to blend into the eggs.  Italians hate to waste food . . . 'waste not, want not' are the words that I grew up with.  My mother always said that our relatives would use up everything but the 'oink' of a pig!

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Gazpacho Ala Mama!!

My mother just prepared the best gazpacho I've ever tasted in my life!  I brought a huge box of tomatoes from my garden back to the Midwest with me and since gazpacho is one of her favorite soups along with this intense heat in July, she decided to use them to make her 'wow-factor' version of this chilled Spanish tomato-vegetable soup.  I inherited my 'preserve, freeze, and/or can' outlook from my mother, so not surprisingly, she froze most of this batch of soup to enjoy later.  "No waste, no want!"   I could easily say that this gazpacho could rival that of the culinary pros.

The color of this soup is seriously this beautiful shade of deep red, resulting from the vine-ripe tomatoes that she used.  This radiant color and flavor cannot be achieved with those hard, juice-less, spongy pink things that you find in a grocery store.  Also worth noting:  the flavor intensifies as it chills in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.

My mother doesn't use exact measurements, she's an old-school, taste-as-you-go cook and she is a master at it.  So I said that she had to give me a little help to be able to write down the recipe and post it here.

Gazpacho Ala Mama

6 cups chopped, vine-ripe, fresh tomatoes
2 large cucumbers, 1 peeled, 1 with peel left on, all seeds removed, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
2 cups chopped celery, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
1 cup Vidalia onion, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
2 red peppers, stem and seeds removed, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
1 yellow pepper, stem and seeds removed, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
1 green pepper, stem and seeds removed, sliced and cut into 1/4" chunks
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup vinegar:  1/2 of it balsamic vinegar and 1/2 of it red wine vinegar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
5 cups tomato juice (Campbell's brand is recommended)

Mix everything together and chill overnight for the best marriage of flavors!

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Seasonal Saturday and Fresh Food Friday!

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This week's edition of Fresh Food Friday and Seasonal Saturday is being posted while I'm visiting my family in the Midwest.  I don't need to tell anyone how sweltering hot the weather has been in this region and other areas of the U.S.  I hope that you're all taking care of yourselves, your loved ones, and your pets during this intense weather pattern.

What a wonderful array of recipes were shared last week, and all worth being featured this week.  Both new bloggers and regular bloggers to this get-together are selected.  There are eight highlighted recipe and garden posts for you to check out and visit; they are all wonderful!

So let's take a look at the Featured Posts from last week:

click on 'read more' beneath my signature to read all of the shared and featured posts!

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Luscious Fresh Peach Ice Cream!

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Glorious free-stone peaches from the South!  One of those fruits that we have to wait and wait for, and then pick at just the perfect point of ripeness . . . not a moment earlier or later.  I've brought a bag of these fuzzy gems home to my parents since it is my father's favorite fruit.  Arriving at nearly midnight, my parents were waiting up for me, whereupon my dad quickly devoured two peaches right on the spot!  His exact words were, "Now this is what I call a peach!"  Truly, they are summer treats to say the least.

But before leaving for my trip to the Midwest, my husband, Mr. M & P (meat and potatoes) whipped up a batch of fresh peach ice cream, using what has now become our favorite recipe from David Lebovitz.  We've tried them all, and this is hands-down, the winner!

This recipe is so unique in that there is sour cream included.  I really think that is why this version is so creamy!  This time we made peach sundaes with a slice of plain pound cake, a layer of peaches, topped with the ice cream.  YUM-MO!

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it . . . and please let me know what you think!

Just look at the huge chunks of peaches throughout this ice cream!

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A Beautiful Day in Chicago!

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Although sweltering hot in the Midwest's intense heat wave this week, I spent a few days with my son in Chicago.  Since I've visited the city's famous museums several times, my son took me on an architecture/historical Chicago river boat tour.  It was fantastic and I highly recommend this on your "bucket list".  At the end of this mini-photo tour, you'll see what traditional and famous Chicago treat we had for dinner!

The "Aqua" building that won best architecture design award in the world this year! The design of the balconies imitates the waves of Lake Michigan.

Flowers are everywhere lining the river and Chicago streets, hanging from balconies, along walk-ways, and more.  Truly a city to be proud of!

Kayakers out on the river enjoying the sunny day!

My son on the boat with the Chicago sky-line and Sears Tower in the background.

After the end of the architectural river boat tour, we ended the day with a delicious, out-of-this-world, super deep-dish and stuffed Chicago-style pizza!

As "old blue eyes" used to sing, "Chicago is my kind of town!"

 What a great weekend with my son!

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Fresh Food Friday and Seasonal Saturday!

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As it has been so hot outside, we are certainly still heating up our grills and kitchens with some fantastic cooking among bloggers.  And the heat isn't keeping us out of our gardens either, as we harvest more fresh goodness every week!  There were so many recipes and gardening posts shared last week that I'll feature more posts to showcase more of you!  Remember, oldies and newbies alike are selected to highlight your delicious dishes!

Once again, I extend my heart-felt thanks for joining in this little get-together every weekend.  This has been a great way to find new and upcoming blogs and for newbies to find some of the more established blogs that have been going strong for years.

So let's take a look at the Featured Blogs from last week!

 

click on 'read more' beneath my signature for more shared and featured blog posts from last week.

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Homemade Tomato Bisque/Soup for Autumn Enjoyment!

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A hot bowl of soup on a hot summer day is not for me!  However, while tomatoes are ripe and now in the peak of their season, this is the time to make a big batch of tomato soup and to can or freeze it.  So in the midst of our 99 degree weather day, that's just what I did today.  If you have ever had the pleasure of sipping fresh tomato soup or any flavor of soup for that matter, you'll never go back to the canned varieties!  You also know that there are no additives, artificial flavorings, and not so much salt/sodium in your homemade soups!  Plus there's no fat in this, unless of course you add the good mono fats of the olive oil (and we still need that for our skin, you know).

Fresh, chopped basil and garlic mingle with sauteed onions and carrots to make this soup's flavor explode!  In the cold days of fall and winter, we'll add cream to this for our favorite version of tomato soup alongside some grilled cheese panini!  Now that's where the fat will come in, but hey, you have to indulge now and then!  All this sweaty, hard work in the kitchen will be appreciated when the chilly weather arrives and we'll be enjoying some summer flavors in a bowl.

For this recipe, I don't have exact amounts of tomatoes listed, because I just throw in as many as my taste palate prefers.  I recommend that you do the same.  Start off with at least 10 tomatoes though.

Fresh Homemade Tomato and Basil Bisque/Soup

4 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups red onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
10 large, very ripe tomatoes, peels and stems/core removed, seeded if possible
(start with this amount and taste to see if you want a stronger tomato flavor).
1/4 - 1/3 cup of fresh basil, chopped fine
1 Tbsp. sugar
4 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable if you're vegetarian), homemade is best (which I also freeze large batches of to use in soups).
1 Tbsp. sea salt
1 Tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of cream, if cream of tomato soup is desired.

In a big soup pot, pour in the olive oil with the stove heat set to low.
Add the onions and carrots to saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and saute for one more minute.
For the tomatoes, I blanch them, let them cool, then remove the peels and stem/cores.
Place the peeled tomatoes into a food mill (on top of a medium/large bowl to catch the juice) and turn them around until all of the seeds remain inside the mill and all of the tomato puree comes out into a bowl.  I do this for about half of my tomatoes because it is so tiring!  I'm of the school that the seeds don't do that much damage to the flavor.  In fact, I'm reading more and more about just leaving them in!
Pour all of the tomato puree and juice into the big soup pot.
Add the basil, sugar, salt and pepper, and chicken broth.  Stir.
Cook on very low (with a sheet pan underneath the pot to prevent burning), for about 45 minutes.
Taste and add whatever you prefer.
Add the cream and heat up if you prefer cream of tomato soup.

I do not freeze this soup with the cream in it, but rather add the cream when I thaw out and heat up the soup.

About 3 - 4 cups of tomato soup in each of these containers . . . off to the freezer!

Homemade Fresh Tomato Soup

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Panzanella ~ ~ Italian Tomato, Bread and Basil Salad!

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Bread is perfect for mopping up sauces and broth!  That's the basic idea of this wonderful, traditional Italian, fresh tomato and bread salad known as "Panzanella":  crusty, hefty, day-old bread chunks tossed into tomatoes, onions, and fresh basil with a vinaigrette dressing.  This simple and delicious salad is a creation from the central region of Italy.  Panzanella is also another great way to use those juicy tomatoes that are in the peak of the season.  You won't even have to use the oven or stove; it's a cold, lovely, and light salad full of rich flavor!  

Chopped tomatoes, red onion, and basil in vinaigrette, all juicing up nicely!  The bread soaks up up all of that wonderful juice.

 Several days-old ciabatta or sour dough bread cut into 1" cubes.  These were rock hard!

Toss everything together . . . the orange-colored bread is from the red tomato juice/vinaigrette being soaked up.

Panzanella

4 cups fresh, ripe tomatoes, cut into cubes

1 cup red onion, chopped into 1/2" pieces

20 fresh basil leaves, sliced into slivers or shredded

6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

8 cups of day old/several days-old ciabbata or sourdourgh bread, cut into 1" cubes

Sprigs of fresh basil for garnish.

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, red onions, basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper until well mixed.

Just before serving, toss in the bread cubes.

If you prefer, you can allow the salad to set for 10 minutes before serving so that the bread soaks up the vinaigrette more.

Kick it up a notch by doing any of the following:

Add some chopped up cucumbers.
Add cubes of fresh mozzarella.

Or add chopped prosciutto.

OR, add a combination or all of the above!

Our golden retriever, "Buckeye", just LOVES tomatoes and bread.  

With the basil and vinaigrette, he was smacking his lips in appreciation!

Italian Panzanella

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Heirloom Tomato Frittata with Fresh Basil and Parmesan!

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Heirloom tomatoes have the most intense flavor!  And their color(s) are so vivid and rich!  I just love simply looking at them.  So far, Bill and I have frozen 6 (gallon-size) freezer bags of blanched tomatoes.  We've eaten countless amounts of BLT's (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches) every day for lunch as well . . . somehow we just never tire of that sandwich combination.  We never run out of tomatoes, but we always run to the store for more bacon and lettuce!  LOL!

Anyhow, here's a superb Italian frittata recipe that helps use some of those fresh tomatoes, basil, and onions that you've got growing in your garden (or from the farmers' markets/roadside stands).  It is packed with flavor in it's simplicity!  I hope that you enjoy!

Heirloom Tomato Frittata with Basil and Parmesan

2 - 4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 jumbo eggs, beaten
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1 medium tomato, heirloom or hybrid (regular), cut into small chunks
8 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
3 - 4 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmiggiano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Turn the oven on 'broil'.
In a small frying pan, pour 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil and heat on 'low' for just a few seconds so that you do not burn the olive oil.
Add the chopped onion and cook until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Again, do not burn.
While the onion sautes, beat the eggs in a medium-sized bowl, and set aside while the veggies cook on the stove.
Add the chopped tomato to the onions in the frying pan (not the eggs), turn up the heat of the stove, and cook until most of the liquid is reduced (too much liquid will lead to very runny frittatas that are undercooked and mushy).
Add the basil to the onion/tomato mixture in the frying pan.
Remove pan from heat and add all of this cooked veggie/herb mixture to the bowl of beaten eggs.
Add the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Blend everything together well.
Add another Tbsp or two of olive oil to the pan.  Heat on low.
Pour the egg/veggie/herb/parmesan mixture back into the pan, cover, and cook on LOW for 20 minutes or until the egg mixture is cooked.
Place the frying pan with frittata in the oven and broil until the frittata is cooked through and golden brown.  Keep your eyes on it so that it doesn't burn.
With a good oven mitt/glove, take the frittata out of the oven.
If you like, sprinkle with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Garnish with pretty tomatoes and sprigs of fresh basil.

Enjoy!

Tomato Frittata with Basil and Parmesan Cheese Pin It