Molfettan Calzone

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe, so I thought I'd share this one for calzone, Molfetta-style. I must admit I am a bit intimidated by some of the wonderful recipe blogs out there. My motto continues to be "If It Ain't Easy, I Don't Cook It" so keep in mind this is nothing fancy!

First things first, let's look at making the crust. Although your calzone ends up looking kind of like a pie, the dough is much more bread-like.

Ingredients:
1 kilo flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
1 cube of active yeast
warm water

You can mix the dough either on a tabletop, or in a large bowl. Create a small indentation in the middle of the flour and pour in a bit of warm water, then crumble in the yeast. When the yeast has dissolved add the sugar and salt and mix until they dissolve, too. Gradually mix in the flour, adding water as needed to achieve the consistency of dough. It shouldn't stick to your hands, nor should it be so dry that it crumbles. Knead the dough for at least 8 minutes, adding either flour or water, as necessary. Lightly flour the surface of your dough and cut a cross into it. This has religious connotations, "blessed bread" and all, if you prefer an "x" will do the trick just as well, but the cut also serves to allow the dough to rise. At this point, it should look something like the photo below...

Wrap this baby up in a dry cloth, then stick it under the covers in your bed...or in some other warm spot...and let it rise for about an hour and a half. On to the filling:

Ingredients:
2 cod
green onions
cherry tomatoes
pitted black olives
grated pecorino or romano cheese
raisins

I know you are going to be thinking...how much of each of these ingredients? And I can only tell you that...it depends! It depends on how you like your calzone. Like so many recipes passed on through the oral tradition, you just have to try and see how it comes out, then make adjustments to suit your taste the next time. In any case, the onions are the key ingredient here, so you probably want about a kilo of them.
Boil the cod until they are firm and white inside. Clean them, discarding all the skin, bones, etc. and set the meat aside.

Chop the onions finely and sauteè them in oil and a dash of milk. The milk creates a much more delicate flavor. Add the finely chopped cherry tomatoes and cook until they are soft and basically have disintegrated (see photo above). Salt to taste.

Mix in the chopped olives, grated cheese, raisins and fish meat. Set aside for now.

When the dough has risen, dig it out from under your bedcovers and punch it down to release excess air. Divide it into four equal parts and roll each part out to slightly larger than your pie tin (or cake pan, if you prefer). Lay one crust on the bottom of your cooking dish, pressing it down so it takes the form of the dish. Fill crust with one half of your filling, then cover with a second crust. Fold the top crust over and under the bottom crust and press together (so the filling won't run out). Repeat for the second calzone.

Bake at 180° Celcius (about 360° F) for 30-40 minutes, or until the crust becomes quite brown.

This is how mine turned out. My husband thought it should have cooked longer, but I thought it was just fine like this...it's often just a matter of opinion when it comes to cooking, don't you think?

Comfort Food

It's raining, it's raining...thank goodness, it's finally raining! We have gone without rain for too long here, they have even been rationing water supplies. But, tonight it's pouring down rain, a regular thunderstorm!

The perfect evening for Chicken and Broth, an American classic that I have Italianized by serving the broth with pastina as a first course and then the chicken and the vegetables seasoned with a bit of salt and olive oil as a second course.

Here's how I prepare it...

I use a pressure cooker to speed things up. Place a whole chicken, two peeled whole onions, 3 or 4 peeled whole carrots, 2 stalks of celery and 1 whole unpeeled potato in the crock pot. Cover with water and add 2 bouillon cubes. Close pressure cooker lid. Cook for 20 minutes at minimum from the time the first steam is released from the cooker.

Cook your favorite kind of pastina in another pot. Drain and serve in bowls with chicken broth.

Sveta's Turkey Loaf

One of my favorite resources for discovering new recipes is to ask a friend, "What are you cooking today?" If it seems like something that might go over well at my house, I cook it that very day.

Because often I do get stuck in a recipe rut...fixing those "sure hit" recipes time after time. Well, yesterday I spent the morning on a wild shopping spree with my Russian friend, Sveta, who told me she wanted to fix a Turkey Loaf. And guess what we had for lunch at my house yesterday?

Here's her recipe...

Ingredients:

1/2 small onion
300 g. deboned turkey breast
300 g. fresh ricotta
1 egg
some bread crumbs (how much? depends on how compact you like your loaf)
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of ground nutmeg
some parsley
a dash of extra virgin olive oil
300 g. sliced speck ham

Heat oven to 180° celcius. Blend all the ingredients (except the oil and ham) in your food processor until you have a fairly smooth mix. Lay your slices of speck on a sheet of waxed paper (in Italy they have what's called "carta forno" which is similar to waxed paper, but without the wax) and form a loaf on top of the ham. Wrap the ham around the loaf, using extra slices to close up any uncovered areas. Grease your cooking dish with some olive oil and gently roll your loaf into the center of the dish. Bake for 1 hour, approximately.

Optionally, you can use a slightly larger baking dish and add diced potatoes, seasoned with a bit of salt and olive oil, around the loaf.

My kids were still raving about how good it was when they went to bed last night! Now, that's my measure of a successful meal

Fried Nolca Olives

Right. So, by now you've figured out that I live "amid the olive trees." And a great by-product of living in this particular setting is....we have lots of olives!

Today's "If It Ain't Easy, I Don't Cook It" lesson is on the preparation of fried black olives. These are Nolca olives and they have a lot of "fruit" to them. They are completely inedible raw (like all olives, as far as I know), but fried they are quite delicious!






The olives should be washed in cold water and then dried thoroughly. Heat a fair quantity of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and throw in your olives, plus some halved cherry tomatoes, some fresh basil and a pinch of salt.

Cook over a medium-high flame to get started. Then cover the pan and reduce the flame to the lowest possible setting. Shake the pan to mix the olives regularly. Cook until the olives soften.









Serve as an appetizer with bread and cheese, if you like. Yum, yum!

Lunchtime!

Lunch is generally the main meal of the day for most families here in southern Italy. Many people are either finished with work by midday, or able to return home for the lunch hour.

On those mornings when I don't have to work, I like to prepare a complete homemade Italian-style meal. That means a first course, a second course, a side dish and, perhaps, even a dessert.

But, as you probably have guessed by now, I am a lazy cook. If it ain't easy, I don't cook it, right? Today's lunch was right up my easy cookery alley.

Here's what we had...

First course, Pumpkin Soup. This pumpkin was one of the volunteers that grew in our garden this year.
Ingredients:
pumpkin, potatoes, water, boullion cube, seasoned croutons

Directions:
Chop pumpkin and potatoes into cubes and place in cooking pot. Use about one third the quantity of potatoes as compared to pumpkin (that means less potatoes!) Add water to just below level of vegetables (more water makes a thinner soup, less water makes it thicker). Depending on quantity of water, add one or two boullion cubes. Bring to a boil. Cook until vegetables are soft. Blend with a hand blender. Serve with seasoned croutons.

Second course, breaded chicken cutlets. These got eaten up so fast that I hardly had time to take the picture. This is the last piece left...

Ingredients: chicken cutlets (chicken breast sliced into thin flat pieces), 1 egg, bread crumbs, milk, salt and pepper to taste, olive oil.

Directions: Beat egg in a dish, add a splash of milk and salt and pepper to taste. Put bread crumbs in another dish. Heat oil. Dip cutlet in egg mixture and cover both sides with egg. Next, place the cutlet in the bread crumb plate and cover completely with crumbs. Fry in hot olive oil till golden brown. Place on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Dessert: chocolate chip cookies! I always use the Original Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with a couple of variations. I use only half the quantity of chocolate morsels that they advise and I double the quantity of walnuts (I love walnuts!). I also take the cookies out of the oven a couple of minutes earlier than recommended, so that they remain soft!

So, there was no side dish today...but, hey, nobody's perfect! We got our veggies in the soup!

Buon appetito!

Fried Peppers

This is the Queen of "If It Ain't Easy, I Don't Cook It" recipes...nothing could be simpler.

First, gather and wash a bunch of green or red (not spicy) peppers. These are from our garden. They are not bell peppers, they're smaller and skinnier.

Next, place them in a frying pan with a couple of tablespoonfuls of preheated olive oil.

Add some cherry tomatoes cut in half, a clove of garlic also cut in half and salt to taste.

Cook covered at a relatively high heat until they soften to the consistency you prefer.

Serve warm.

It's that easy. And so delicious!