Tag: Italian Cuisine

Baked Turdilli : Recipes At My Table

Baked Turdilli 

Baked Turdilli

Baked Turdilli are a healthier version of our traditional treats.  When I go home to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario for Christmas, mom and I will make the traditional ones.  These are an easier version, but with good taste.  The original recipe requires that you deep fry these little dough balls which turn out a bit like a donut.

Turdilli originated in Calabria, but Italians everywhere make them.  They vary in size.  I like them smaller so that I can taste the different kinds.  I put white icing sugar and Sambuca on some and cocoa, icing sugar and Baileys on others.  They honey ones are my favourite, and sometimes I pile them like a mountain.  When I make a mountain of honey turdilli, I make them smaller.

First I beat the eggs and the crisco shortening.

Then I add the remainder of the ingredients and bring them together with the dough hook attachment.

The dough comes together.

It pulls away from the bowl and is ready for the counter.

The dough should be pliable and not sticky.

I cut pieces and roll them into 1 inch thick ropes and then choose your size.  Mine were cut into 1 inch pieces.  If you want to make a mountain, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and of course you can make them larger.

You want to put ridges in them so that the honey sticks. If you don’t have the special basket, you can use a fork.

You know that I love to peek into the oven.

Let them cool when they come out of the oven.

Melting the honey.

In they go and toss them around.

Put them on a rack onto a cookie sheet and sprinkle to decorate.

These one are iced.

Baked Turdilli : Recipes At My Table
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Baked Turdilli 

Baked Turdilli are traditional Calabrese Christmas cookies. 

Course Dessert
Cuisine Home Cooking in Canada, Italian
Keyword Baked Turdilli
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

The Turdilli

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp Crisco Shortening
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup oil
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt

The icing

  • i cup icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp Baileys, Sambucca or your choice of flavouring

The honey

  • 1 cup honey
  • sprinkles optional
  • white sugar optional

Instructions

The Turdilli

  1. Beat the eggs and shortening first.

    Add the water and oil.

    Next put in all the dry ingredients.

    Mix with dough hook.

    Roll onto counter and knead a few times.

    Cut large pieces and roll into 1 inch ropes.

    Now, cut to desired lengths.

    Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

    Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes.

    Lower oven to 350 and cook a further 10 to 15 until golden.

    Place on a rack to cool.

    Ice and decorate as desired.

The honey coating

  1. Place the honey in a pan until it bubbles.

    Remove from heat and toss in turdilli.

    Coat all the turdilli in honey. 

    With a slotted spoon, place turdilli on a rack.

    Garnish with sprinkles or plain white sugar. 

    They are also good with just the honey.  

Recipe Notes

To make chocolate icing sugar add 1 tbsp of cocoa to the mixture. 

Icing should be thin.  

 

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Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table

Italian Barbecued Pizza Dogs

Italian Barbecued Pizza Dogs

Italian Barbecued Pizza Dogs is an easy way to bring sausage pizza to the table in the summer.  Italians eat a lot of sausages and pizza and this is the ultimate dish if you like both.

I was about ten years old before I ate a hot dog and that was at the grocery counter while my parents shopped.  Then they started to buy hot dogs, but weren’t sure of how to cook them.  At the grocery store they were on a grill.  My husband’s grandmother was Hungarian and she boiled them until they busted.  As immigrants we tried new foods and I always laugh at the way we tried to cook them.

My Italian Barbecued Pizza dogs start with sausages on the grill and then I have a pizza dough that I use strictly for grilling.  It fluffs up and is easily made in the food processor.  You don’t have to wait for the dough to rise, because there is no yeast in this and it actually makes a bun around the sausage.

For that perfect barbecued sausage I have included a good video. Rodney Bowers is a regular on the Marilyn Denis Show.  I like him because he is down to earth and honest.  His recipes are easy to follow and he gives good advice.

If you like these you can make an easier appetizer version.  Recipe right here on this website: https://recipesatmytable.com/spicy-sausage-bites/

This is the easiest dough to make and cooks up easily on the barbecue.  Everything goes into a food processor.

This dough isn’t sticky; it is pliable and smooth.  Knead it a few times and divide it into four pieces.

It stretches easily, but will be resilient when it meets the sausage.

The sausage grilled and ready.

Slice the sausage down the length without cutting through. Stuff it with the cheese.

Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table

Now pinch the dough together to form a bun around the sausage.

Put on a Pizza Pan and back into the barbecue they go.  I had the burners on low; it was between 350 F and 400F.

Cooked and plated.

Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table

The First Bite

Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table

Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table
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Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table

Cooked with ease on the barbecue, these dogs do bite. 

Course Main Course
Cuisine Home Cooking in Canada, Italian
Keyword Italian Pizza Dogs Recipes at My Table
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

The dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup plain yogurt

The Sausages

  • 4 Italian Sausages one per person
  • 1 cup shredded 4 Italian Cheese Blend
  • 1 cup marinara sauce https://recipesatmytable.com/marinara-sauce-passata-making/

Instructions

The dough

  1. Place all the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse.

    Put in the yogurt and sour cream and spin on high until the dough moves away from the sides.

    Turn onto the counter and knead for a few seconds.  The dough is pliable and you can easily roll and mold into a ball.  

    Let the dough rest while you barbecue the sausage.

    Divide into four.

The Sausage

  1. Barbecue your sausage on medium/low.  

    You want heat, but you don't want to burn your sausage.  

    Don't poke them or you release all the juices and don't pre-boil them.  

    This is an excellent video with the same advice:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo455T-66UM

The Assembly

  1. When the sausages are barbecued, let them sit for a few minutes.

    Meanwhile take each of those dough ball and press it flat.  

    I used a small rolling pin to stretch it.  This dough is very easy to work with.

    Lightly brush a pizza pan with canola oil.  I like the pizza discs with holes.

    Place one sausage per pizza disc.

    Slice each sausage lengthwise and stuff 1/4 cup of grated cheese into each.

    Pinch the edges of the dough and pinch and then tuck around the ends.

    Place on a 300F -350F bbq.

    Turn after 15 minutes.

    These Italian Dogs should be golden brown.  



 

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Tempting Italian Pizza Buns

Tempting Italian Pizza Buns

One of my favourite panini in Italy is a soft roll stuffed with meats, cheese and other goodies.  I like it because you can buy it and carry it down the street; I guess they would be the equivalent of a pizza pocket.  These Tempting Italian Pizza Buns can be stuffed with anything you like.  Whatever you do, don’t put any tomato sauce inside; I use marinara as a side for dipping.  In the video I stuff them with capicollo (pork cold cut) and cheese. My favourite are stuffed with rapini, sausage and onions.  Everything is pre-fried and then it becomes the little treasure inside. Try to use two items or at the most 3 inside these buns.  You can put them in the refrigerator, and they can be frozen.  They make the perfect all-in-one sandwich.

The Inspiration behind this bun

My nonno Salvatore loved fried rapini with sausage; in fact, most Italians love this dish and it is on many lunch menus.  The buns stuffed with rapini, sausage and onions that I make are a tribute to nonno Salvatore. When I am in Italy, I enjoy the buns stuffed with ham and cheese; and so, the idea for this recipe came about.  Sometimes I would stop by my favourite bakery in Cefalù and pick the stuffed buns up on the way to the beach and they became a mid-morning snack. Today, I am stuffing these pockets with capicollo and cheese because not everyone in my family likes rapini as it is an acquired taste.  You can also substitute other vegetables.  I like fried peppers, onions and mushrooms in this pocket. Remember not to use anything to soggy in the filling, or the bun won’t retain its shape.

Making your own bread dough is easy. Don’t be intimidated. It is simply a combination of flour, water, yeast, sugar and it’s done. I love this dough because it doesn’t need to rise. If you don’t like to make your own dough get some frozen pizza or bread dough at your local bakery.  It’s all good!!

Blanche some rapini and fry it.

Fry up some onions to golden brown.

Take two Italian sausages and remove from casings and fry up with the onions.

Rapini, onions and sausage ready for the buns.

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Tempting Italian Pizza Buns

Pockets of flavour!

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

The Filling

  • 1 bunch rapini blanched and fried
  • 2 Italian sausage links removed from casings
  • 2 large onions thinly chopped fried

The Buns

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1 tbsp quick rise yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing buns
  • grated parmesan cheese sprinkle on buns

Dipping sauce

  • Marinara Sauce

Instructions

The filling

  1. Clean and wash the rapini.  Cut and discard all the hard long stems. Place the rapini in a pot of boiling salted water for 5 minutes.  Remove to a cold bath.

    Take the sausage out of the casings and break it up.  Fry until golden brown. Remove from the pan.

    In the same pan add 2 tbsp of canola oil and fry onions. Remove and mix into sausage.

    Drain the rapini well. Cut up into small pieces.  Add 2 tbsp olive oil to frying pan and fry the rapini.  

    Add the rapini to the onions and sausage and mix well.  Set aside


The Buns

  1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

    Combine the warm water with the yeast and sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

    Put the flour and salt in a mixer.

    Pour the liquid into the mixer at low speed.

    The dough will form a ball. 

    Put it onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes.

    Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. 

    Cut dough into two parts and each part into six.

    Form circles.  I use the bottom of a glass to press down the dough.  (see video)

    Fill each circle with your choice of ingredients.  Don't put too much in the centre.

    Pinch the dough together, shaping each piece into a ball by pulling the edges under.

    ( see video)

    Put on a large pan lined with parchment paper.  

    Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

    Let the buns sit on the pan for 5 minutes.  

    Cook for 25 minutes.  





Recipe Notes

Keep the stuffing ingredients simple.  You can use pepperoni, peppers,mushrooms,etc.  Try to keep it to a maximum of 3 ingredients per bun.

 

 

 

Rapini and sausage Pizza Bun.

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Pappa al Pomodoro: the best tomato soup

Pappa al Pomodoro is the best tomato soup

I love Florence. On my travels to Italy I make a point of stopping there.  It’s historical and each dish has a story, just like mine.  However, in Florence the cuisine is stricter; there are many rules about what to eat with each dish, the type of wine and the ingredients, whereas, the southern Italians are more lenient.  One thing that we all share is our love for simple ingredients. I always say that Italian cuisine is all about the fine food and unleashing its flavours.   My first time there, I tried Pappa al Pomodoro in Michelangelo Square; this rich tomato soup uses bread as a thickening agent.  What’s not to like about this?  Bread and tomatoes in one dish. My Pappa al Pomodoro  uses the basic ingredients, but I changed the original recipe.

Here I am by the Duomo in 2016.

Visiting Florence 2016

 

Just around the corner and down the street from the Duomo is my favourite little spot to eat in : Lampredotto Icché Tu Mangi  I love all their dishes because they are typical of the region.   I will try some of their recipes on other posts.

You can find them at  https://www.facebook.com/Icchetumangi 

Making the soup

I am sure that this dish also stems from the Cucina Povera, but it is Heaven to me.  All Italians use leftover bread, and this is a great way to use the baguettes I bought.  I have a tendency to do that when I walk into the bakery.  At Lakeside here in Leamington, everything smells so good; all the freshly baked items call my name when I walk in and I usually leave with more than enough for two people.  Purchasing the mini baguettes is a good because I can freeze them easily and pop them in the oven for that freshly baked feel.

Another downfall as a Sicilian is my purchase and use of cheese: it’s an Italian thing.  At home when we eat pasta my uncle Reno makes it snow over most of his dishes.  My grandson Owen, will not eat his pasta unless he sees the cheese over it.  It’s all about the cheese.  This Pappa al Pomodoro requires good cheese and plenty of it. I also switched from using fresh basil, to using pesto. It gives it that other level of flavour.

My best tomato soup has a twist on it: I smother it with cheese and put it in the oven to brown.  Ready in 30 minutes, take this to your table as a hearty dish.  Your family will love this.

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Pappa al Pomodoro

The Best Tomato Soup

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4
Author Renata Solski

Ingredients

  • 2 cups tomatoes
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp pesto
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 small baguette cubed You can use any stale bread here that you like.
  • 1 cup grated mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • nutmeg
  • 2 tbsp olive oil and more for drizzling

Instructions

  1. Place 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a 6 quart sauce pan.

    When the olive oil is warm, saute the onions for a few minutes.

    Add the pesto.

    Place the tomatoes next.   

    Add the Chicken Stock.

    Follow with the bread. 

    Bring all to a boil and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat with the lid on the pot.  

    Use a potato masher to get a fine consistency.  

    Ladle soup into oven proof bowls.

    Mix mozzarella and parmesan. Generously sprinkle over the soup.

    Put bowls into a 375 F oven for 10 minutes.

    Remove from oven, drizzle with olive oil and top with some freshly grated nutmeg.  



Recipe Notes

If your bread is very stale, you can soak it in water.

I used my homemade tomato puree, but you can use canned tomatoes.  

Increase the tomato puree or tomatoes to 4 cups and the broth to 4 cups if you want a watery soup.  I like it thick.  

 

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