Almonds failure and picking up the pieces: Amarettinis

Usually, us savvy cooks, we only post on our blogs our success histories but with the failures, we do as somebody said: If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence than you tried. But sometimes, we listen to Beckett:

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Better"

This is my latest failure with a nice recovery. I found this delicious and simple recipe for Amaretto cookies, nice and fat little round almond balls. The original recipe called for blanched almonds, bitter almond sugar, white sugar, egg whites and confectioner's sugar. Fool proof, eh? Well, no. I had to get creative. Instead of 4 drops of bitter almond oil, I tempted fate with olive oil and Di Saronno Amaretto. I was able to roll the little balls, but once on the baking sheet, they deflated like balloons running out of helium and I got a hellish, flat, single layer of dough. Nothing has been written about cowards, so I decided to go ahead and bake it at 250 F.

The result was like a thin sheet of a chewy almond cookie, actually edible! I cut it in little pieces, sprinkled confectioners sugars and baptized it as Amarettinis :D Very nice as a snack or with cookies.

The ingredients for the cookies are as follows:

For 45 cookies
* 1/2 pound blanched almonds
* 4 drops bitter almond oil
* 3/4 white cup sugar
* 2 egg whites
* 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar, to sprinkle the cookies once baked

Preheat the oven at 250 F. Grind  finely the almonds when you are ready to make the cookies, to keep the flavor. Mix the almonds with almond oil, white sugar and lightly beaten egg whites. Knead the mixture until it gets a firm consistency. Moisten your hands and roll the dough into small balls, 1" in diameter. Place the balls on a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper or a non stick baking mat. Loosely cover the balls with tin foil, to prevent aliens reading their little minds (and over browning). Place the sheet on the bottom rack and bake for about an hour. Dust the cookies with confectioner's sugar using a sieve.

Now, if you want to go the Actor's Studio route and mimic my mess, replace the bitter almond oil with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Di Saronno, make a mess, don't even bother to roll the balls, lay a layer of the dough on the baking sheet and there you go, Amarettinis! :D Once baked, cut it in pieces and dust it with confectioner's sugar.

Tiramisu: an Italian delight

Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts; cocoa, wine, coffee... some of my favorites together, you cannot go wrong. Tiramisu is a quite new dish, its origin goes back to the 80's. There are several theories about who and when invented this heavenly dessert, but the most common is that it was created in Treviso, at Le Beccherie by the goddaughter and apprentice of the owner, Francesca Valori, whose maiden name was Tiramisu. 

For the longest time I had been hunting a good recipe for Tiramisu: please don't talk to me about instant coffee, ricotta cheese, Kahlua and other atrocious variations. I found a page dedicated to Tiramisu (I will mercifully omit the name, there were really horrible recipes there). I am not against variations, one of the pleasures of cooking is to experiment, but some recipes there were garish (one included Philadelphia cheese, sour cream, dream whip, coffeemate and coffee syrup, you catch my drift). I decided to look for recipes from Italy and I found one simple and classic enough. And delicious! . The recipe call for something called savoiardi. Those are the equivalent of ladyfingers. Here is the translation of the recipe.

Ingredients (for 6 people):

* 14 ounces of savoiardi (ladyfingers)

* 5 eggs at room temperature

* 1 cup of white sugar

* 2 cups of Mascarpone cheese

* 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Marsala wine, depending on how much you want to spice it up

* 2 cups of good espresso coffee

* Unsweetened cocoa powder

Make as many coffee pots as necessary to get 2 cups. I would strongly recommend to make a good espresso coffee, not a watery mix. Let the coffee cool off.

Separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with the sugar in  the electric mixer for at least 5 minutes, until you get a smooth and thick cream. Add the Mascarpone cheese, a spoonful at a time and fold with a wooden spoon, carefully. If necessary, towards the end, put it back in the electric mixer and mix slowly for a few seconds only, to homogenize the mixture. Add then the Marsala wine. 

Separately, beat the egg whites until you get stiff peaks. Carefully fold them into the mixture you already prepared.

Take a rectangular or square pan and start lining up ladyfingers, until you cover the bottom. You can soak them first in coffee, or you can pour the coffee carefully on top of them, soaking them while they are in the pan.

Put a thick layer of cream on the ladyfingers and cover it with a second layer of ladyfingers. Cover with another thick layer of cream, sprinkle cocoa thoroughly on top and put it in the fridge for a few hours. 

Because it is made with raw eggs, make sure you keep it in the fridge and make sure your kitchen is spotless before you start cooking. Wash the eggs before cracking them and discard the shells immediately. The risk is not that high, but better be safe than sorry.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Creamy chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is very simple to prepare and it is one of my favorite recipes. You can cook this recipe only with Marsala wine or keep on adding the extra ingredients to achieve the creamy and delicious sauce. Do not forget a little bit of crunchy bread on the side to clean the plate! :)

Ingredients:

* A couple of chicken breasts, diced in chunks

* 2 tablespoons of all purpose white flour

* 1/2 tablespoon of fresh oregano, chopped

* 1 cup of mushrooms

* 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

* 1 cup of Marsala wine

* 1 tablespoon of Sherry wine

* 1/4 cup of chicken broth

* 1/4 cup of heavy cream

* Salt

* Pepper

* 1 table spoon of vegetable oil

* Angel hair pasta (optional)

Easy as pie. Actually easier, I do not find pies that easy. Cut the chicken in square chunks, medium size. Then mix the flour, oregano, salt and pepper. Usually I use a plastic bowl with a cover, but a plastic bag can do the trick. Or you can do it one by one if you feel fancy. Drop the chicken pieces in the flour mix, cover the bowl and shake, shake, shake. In a pan, heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil and when hot, melt the butter in the oil. Then add the chicken, brown it and with a slotted spoon put it aside. Over low heat, add the Marsala wine and sherry to the pot and scrape the bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. When the mixture starts thickening, add the mushrooms. Cook for about 5 minutes and put back the chicken in the pot. Cook all together for about 10 minutes, then add the broth and the cream. Cook it for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is reduced. While you are cooking, keep on tasting and rectifying the salt. Serving suggestion: serve over a bed of boiled angel hair pasta.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Escalopa Milanesa

A simple yet very tasty dish to prepare, loved by grown ups and children alike. It can paired with some veggies or some mash potatoes and fries, it goes well with everything. For me, what it makes the difference and it is important is to marinate the meat with lemon juice and use fresh parsley with the bread crumbs. I do not know what the heck do they pass as crushed dry parsley in a bottle (dry crushed parsley, probably) but the flavor is not even a shadow of what the original gives you.

Ingredients:

* 4 thin sliced beef steaks (top sirloin, sliced 1/4" approx.)

* 1 cup plain bread crumbs

* 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

* 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

* 2 eggs

* 1 lemon

* Pinch of salt

* pinch of black pepper

* Olive oil

Season the meat with salt and pepper and marinade it in the juice of the lemon one hour before you cook the dish. Beat the eggs in a shallow container, to dip the meat more easily. In a separate dish combine the bread crumbs, parsley and Parmesan cheese. Some people add garlic but personally I do not like it with the Milanesas, I think they overpower a little bit the nice balance of lemon, Parmesan and parsley. Make a couple of teeny tiny horizontal cuts on each side of the steak; this will prevent the meat from curling when frying. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. The oil needs to be very hot.  Dip the meat in egg, roll it in in bread crumbs. Repeat the operation. This double coating is a technique I learned from a dear lady, Conxita, who sadly left us this year. It works wonders, the breading does not fall apart so easily. Put the breaded steaks in the pan and lower the heat to medium-low: you want to cook the escalopa but not to burn the exterior. When it looks nice, crunchy and golden, drain them on a paper towel, to remove the excess of oil and plate them with you side of choice. Try not to overcook them, or they will get tough and chewy. 

Preparation time: about 30 minutes (and 45 minutes-1 hour to marinate)