01/21/09 Orecchiette with Red-Wine Veal Sauce from OreganoFromItaly.com
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"Il bene del matrimonio dura tre die – il male dura fino a la morte." (The good marriage lasts three days – and the bad lasts till death.) Welcome to another recipe edition from Angela's Organic Oregano Farm!
This week's Italian recipes:
-Baked Polenta with Garlic
-Orecchiette with Red-Wine Veal Sauce
-Slow-Cooked Chicken and Mushrooms
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Yours Truly,
Angela Reina
Recipe: Baked Polenta with Garlic
Baked Polenta with Garlic
Polenta al Forno con Aglio
Ingredients:
2 and 3/4 cups chicken broth or stock
2 cups water
1 and 1/2 cups milk
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 and 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
8 tablespoons grated Parmigiano cheese (about 1 and 1/2 ounces)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Butter 2-quart souffle dish.
Bring first 6 ingredients to boil in heavy large saucepan.
Gradually add cornmeal, whisking until smooth.
Reduce heat to low; cook until cornmeal is very soft and mixture is thick and creamy, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.
Remove from heat; stir in 6 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese. Season with pepper.
Transfer to prepared dish.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons Parmigiano cheese over polenta. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool. Cover and chill.)
Bake polenta until heated through and golden on top, about 30 minutes. Serves 6.
That's it!
Recipe: Orecchiette with Red-Wine Veal Sauce
Orecchiette with Red-Wine Veal Sauce
Orecchiette con Salsa di Vitello in Vino Rosso
Ingredients:
For the Sauce:
2 and 1/2 lbs veal shanks (Osso Buco; four 1 and 3/4 inch thick pieces)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 large red onions
One 28-to-32 ounce can whole tomatoes including juice
2 cups dry red wine
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flaked
3 whole cloves
1 and 1/4 lbs dried Orecchiette pasta
Directions:
Prepare the sauce:
Pat veal shanks dry and season with salt and pepper.
In a deep large heavy skillet heat olive oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and brown shanks on all sides.
Transfer shanks to a plate and in skillet saute onions, stirring, until golden, about 10 minutes.
In a blender or food processor coarsely puree tomatoes with juice and stir into onions with remaining sauce ingredients.
Bring mixture to a simmer.
Add shanks and cook, covered, over low heat 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, or until meat is tender.
Discard cloves.
Transfer shanks to a cutting board and cool slightly.
Simmer sauce, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
Using 2 forks shred meat.
With a sharp knife remove marrow from shanks and chop.
Stir meat and marrow into sauce and season with salt and pepper.
Simmer sauce 15 minutes.
Sauce may be made ahead, cooled completely, uncovered, and chilled, covered. 2 days or frozen 1 month.
In an 8-quart kettle bring 7 quarts of salted water to a boil.
Cook orecchiette pasta until 'al dente' and drain in a colander.
In a large heated bowl immediately toss pasta with sauce. Serves 6 to 8 as a main course.
That's it!
Recipe: Slow-Cooked Chicken and Mushrooms
Slow-Cooked Chicken and Mushrooms
Pollo Cotto con Funghi
Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup Marsala wine (or chicken stock)
One 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, in juices
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1/2 cup currants
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 2 teaspoons dried)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried)
Directions:
In large saute pan, warm 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat.
Season chicken with salt and pepper.
Add chicken to pan and saute until browned, about 5 minutes.
Remove chicken and put into slow cooker and turn pot on low.
In same saute pan, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Add garlic, mushrooms, pepper slices and onion.
Saute until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add vegetables to slow cooker.
Add wine to same pan and deglaze about one minute, stirring up brown bits.
Pour wine into slow cooker.
Add to slow cooker the tomatoes and juices, capers, currants, basil and parsley.
Cook for 6 or 7 hours on low (or 3 hours on high), until chicken and vegetables are very tender and sauce has thickened slightly. Serves 4.
That's it!
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Only In Italy!
"Only In Italy" is a daily news column that translates and reports on funny but true news items from legitimate Italian news resources in Italy. Each story is slapped with our wild, often ironic, and sometimes rather opinionated comments. And now, for your reading pleasure, a sample of today's edition:
Italians Befuddled From Bible Exam
Vatican City – October 14, 2008 – Only 14% of Italians are able to answer basic questions about the Bible correctly, a report by research institute Eurisko for the Vatican revealed on Tuesday.
Italians were stymied by questions such as "Are the Gospels part of the Bible?" and "Did Jesus write any of the books in the Bible?", according to the report.
Eurisko said Italy was near the bottom of the table in a survey of general Bible-reading, with only 27% of Italians saying they had read a passage from the Holy Book in the last 12 months, compared to 75% of Americans. Two other Catholic countries, France (21%) and Spain (20%), were more Bible-shy than Italy.
While 88% of Italians describe themselves as Catholics, Italy also failed to distinguish itself among the most church-going countries in the report. Only 32% of Italians regularly attend services compared to 55% of Poles and 45% of Americans.
Eurisko polled the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Philippines, Argentina and Hong Kong for the survey.
Speaking at the presentation of the report, the head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Walter Kasper, said it confirmed widespread ignorance and confusion about the Old and New Testaments in many Christian countries, including Italy.
"The majority of Christians know the Bible only from passages read in church and few pray with the Bible," Kasper said. He also condemned fundamentalist readings of the Scriptures characteristic of emerging Christian movements and said the Bible should instead be a means of consolidating ecumenical dialogue.
"Wait! Aspetta! I know it! The seventh commandment is…thou shalt not admit adultery." Earlier this month the Pope kicked off a week-long marathon Bible reading on Italian television. In the defense of the Italians, if we knew that Vatican was going to give us a surprise quiz we would have stayed tuned in a bit longer.However; what Cardinal came up with the brilliant pontifical idea to have among the readers, three former Italian presidents (Cossiga, Scalfaro, Ciampi) and a shady and infamous senator for life (Andreotti)? "Porca miseria", how despicable!Each time these politicians surfaced to read, our grandmother would get up and punch the TV screen! "Che bestia!"Only 14% of Italians are able to answer basic questions about the Bible correctly…" The only Italians capable of answering any Bible question correctly is the Mafia. We're not familiar with any Italian that keeps five copies of the Bible handy as ex-boss Bernardo Provenzano did."Va bene", Italians are not exactly the brightest Bible scholars however, there is no other race that follows more proverbs than we do."Are the Gospels part of the Bible?"
"Botte buona fa buon vino." A good cask makes good wine."Did Jesus write any of the books in the Bible?"
"Chi più sa, meno crede." The more one knows, the less one believes.