I was looking at info on my Wine of the Month Club, which just opened up to Italy, and that got me thinking about Italian cooking. People think cooking Italian, and sometimes start thinking “complicated.” Italy has much more to offer than saucy Pasta recipes, for sure. But what ever you go for, don’t forget to Add a little Wine!!
On second thought, sometimes a simple pasta such as this one is all you need. Add a dry, fruity white wine to bring out the full flavor!
Try serving with a wine from our Wine of the Month Club.
PASTA–PENNE ALLA RICOTTA (Penne With Ricotta Cheese)
Makes 4 servings!
1 pound penne pasta cooked al dente
¾ cups whole/full cream milk
8 ounces fresh Ricotta Cheese
1 tablespoon sugar (betting you could substitute 1/2 tablespoon of MonkFruit Sweetener, but I wouldn’t use any of the others)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper
Add penne and salt to a large pot of boiling water and cook until al dente, stirring often. Drain well.
While that is boiling, warm the milk and add the ricotta. Next, add sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of salt and white pepper. Mix to form a smooth, creamy sauce.
Toss the sauce in the serving dish with the pasta until well mixed. Enjoy!
Although I love great Italian, I confess I much more often cook what I think of as good old American style Southern!
This week I made My best beef stew to date! At least, that is what my husband said. Who is not, by the way, a wine fan. The weather is getting colder and beef or venison stew are my favorite cold weather dishes. Couldn’t resist. Adding a little wine just changed the whole dish! For the first time ever I tried to make a SMALL pot, though.
Our appetites are smaller, these days. That could be the magic coffee kicking in.
This recipe was good for Four hearty bowls with a roll on the side, but if you are adding a salad, with plenty of crusty sourdough, you could probably feed six light eaters off of it.
First I took a pound of stew beef, all pieces cut no wider than a quarter and dropped them into a hot pot with two tablespoons of coconut oil to start browning. I finely chopped up one really big onion and dumped it in, along with a chopped carrot.
I love the taste of onion in soups and stews, but I don’t like big chunks. If you put it in at the beginning, chopped small, you get wonderful flavor but never see it in the final dish. For a big pot of stew I always use at least three onions.
I do NOT agree with all the cooks who say put your potatoes and carrots in the last 15 minutes of cooking.
If you do this, the flavors don’t meld and it isn’t really a stew. Stews are long cooked and at least some of the veggies are falling to pieces. This thickens your stew naturally.
So I always chop a carrot in at the beginning. Once the meat was browned, and the onion juice was bubbling, I sprinkled a tablespoon of flour over the meat and stirred it up. I used self rising, because it was in the cabinet. There is not enough flour for it to matter if self rising or plain. Truth is, you can leave it out completely if you are avoiding wheat or gluten.
Once the flour and onion turned into a nice little gravy, I filled the pot half full of water and turned the heat down. An hour later, I chopped up 4 more carrots and added them in. I also added two potatoes to start cooking down to thicken the stew. Note: If you leave out the flour, add the two potatoes sooner. They become a natural thickener.
I added in some Worschestershire sauce and some pepper, as well as a dash of Texas Pete. Another thirty minutes and I added several good sized potatoes, mostly quartered. Always chop some pieces smaller so they help thicken the broth, same for carrots.
Of course, throughout this whole process don’t forget to stir occasionally, so nothing sticks to the bottom.
Make sure there is enough water in pot to cover all ingredients and let it stew! When your latest added potatoes are cooked, add salt to taste. Last time I used a Sauvignon Blanc from Tingu Cellars. This was one of my white wine bottles I received in my March Wine of the Month Club shipment. They are a great winery in Chile. I found an even better wine club, however, that features award winning wines all from Napa and Sonoma Valleys–California Wine Country at it’s best!! About a half of a cup will do the trick. Then let it bubble another 15 minutes or so.
You can serve with hot biscuits, crusty sour dough, or any good dinner roll. Enjoy!
The recipe I use for biscuits, which will feed a family of five (with a few extra) is below:
*3 cups self rising flour
*5-6 tablespoons of lard or coconut oil (solid, so if it is hot and yours has turned liquid, put it in freezer for a few minutes to firm it back up. You don’t want it to melt till it is baking, this is what creates the flakes in your flakey biscuits!) Six will make them really flakey, so 5 is ok, personal choice here!
You can use butter, but if you do, use real butter, not the fake stuff. And it needs to be firm, not melted.
*Enough milk or water to moisten and get everything to stick together. If your milk has gone sour, you can still use it for biscuits. Buttermilk is great, as well, but using water is fine.
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. lightly grease a cookie sheet or baking pan. Mix your flour and lard together, making a rough crumbly dough. You do not want to mix long, you do still want fairly big size lumps of fat, this will melt and make those nice layers. If you over knead, your biscuits will be tough and hard. Add a third cup of liquid, mix again. You just want all your flour moist, but not so wet it is sticky, so add more water or milk if needed. If you added too much, just work a little more flour in as you Knead it.
As soon as everything is mixed together, turn out on floured surface and gently knead smooth. use a floured rolling pin or smooth sided glass or jar, and roll your dough a quarter to half inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter, a jar or jar ring , or a glass, to cut your biscuits out. Lay them all on the greased pan, touching each other and the pan sides.
This recipe makes about 15 biscuits if you are using a jar ring as a cutter, so it may only fill up half of your pan. Putting them together makes them rise up, not spread out. Bake till risen and golden brown on top. Times will vary with your oven, but generally about 20 minutes.
NOTE: You can freeze some of the biscuits to cook later, just put them on a greased pie tin, wrap and freeze, then pop in oven when ready to cook. If you are putting them straight in the oven, cook at 350 degrees. This gives them time to thaw and rise, cooking time will be a little longer. Or thaw and then cook as usual.
Need an easy dessert? Take some of these biscuits hot out of the oven, split them open, butter them, then spoon fresh sliced strawberries over them that you have already sprinkled with sugar previously, and add a dollop of whipped cream! Home style shortcake! And, yes, you could add some sugar to the biscuit dough if you are planning this, but with sugar on the berries and a little sweetness from the whipped cream, it is not needed. Enjoy!
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