Ingredients 3 cups freshly squeezed orange juice 3/4 cup sugar
In a saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in 1 cup of orange juice. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Then let it cool. Mix with the remaining orange juice and put in the fridge for a couple of hours. Prepare the sorbet using your ice cream maker, and serve it with some orange zest!
According to an apparently recent legend, Thomas Jefferson invented macaroni and cheese. Truth is that pasta and cheese was served long before Jefferson declared himself a fan of macaroni. And by the time of Jefferson, the word macaroni was used as is used the Italian word maccheroni: basically a synonym of dry pasta without an associated shape. In fact, depending on the Italian region, maccheroni may refer to smooth rigatoni, square-shaped spaghetti or even tagliatelle.
Although Jefferson did import to America the first pasta maker for his own macaroni and we do know that in 18th-century North America people enjoyed pasta and cheddar baked together, we don’t know which shape of pasta nor which recipe Jefferson liked. But what we do know is that Jefferson pretty much enjoyed his travels in Northern Italy, and that he admired the works of Palladio. In fact, Jefferson followed Palladio’s principles to design his house in Monticello. Andrea Palladio was one of the most important Italian architects. His works can be admired all around the province of Venice, but mostly in Vicenza. His vision of classic architecture pushed Renaissance architecture to a whole new level that even anticipated neoclassical style, which was popular by the beginning of the 19th century. When visiting Monticello you can see the result of Palladio’s influence on American neoclassical architecture, which became the official style of the new nation. Actually, Monticello reminds you a lot of La Rotonda, a fabulous villa in the outskirts of Vicenza designed by Palladio.
Well, all this being said here is my interpretation of this American staple.
Ingredients ½ lb whole wheat macaroni 2 cups milk 1½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (+½ cup to put on top) ½ cup fontina cheese, grated 2 Tbsp corn starch Salt, pepper 1 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp olive oil ½ tsp dry mustard ½ tsp nutmeg
While you cook your pasta, preheat the oven to 350F. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter. Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Whisk in the corn starch dissolving any lumps, and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in the milk. Add some salt and pepper, the dry mustard and nutmeg. Let it simmer until it thickens a bit. Add the cheese and let it melt while you stir. When the pasta is al dente, drain it but reserve about half a cup of the cooking water. In a baking dish, mix the pasta, melted cheese sauce and reserved water. Pour about half a cup of grated cheese on top and bake for about 20 minutes or until a golden-brown crust forms.
Tips Jefferson’s Italian pasta maker, the first in America as I mentioned, didn’t last long. Jefferson, being an ingenious man, made drawings to put together his very own machine. However, records say that after his Italian machine broke, he decided to import his macaroni… from France!
Both Monticello and La Rotonda are UNESCO world heritage sites. Monticello is the only house so recognized in the US.
Italians don’t have a lot of grilled beef recipes. But when Italians do it, they do it right. Beef doesn’t need to be marinated, because if you do your beef won’t sear as it should and then it won’t be able to retain all the goodness of its own juices. That’s why real bistecca alla fiorentina (steak in the style of Florence) calls for nothing besides salt and pepper, added only when the beef has already been seared on the grill. Bistecca alla fiorentina is a staple of Tuscan cuisine; it was even described by Artusi in his famous book.
Ingredients 4 thick porterhouse steaks, at room temperature Salt, Pepper
Bistecca alla fiorentina has to be prepared on an outdoor coal grill. The grill has to be hot, but no flames — mi raccomando. Place the steaks on the grill. Grill next to the hot coals for about 2 minutes. Raise the grill and continue grilling for another 3 minutes. Turn the steaks over and salt the seared side. Grill for 5-7 minutes for rare (10-12 minutes in total). Salt and pepper the unsalted side of the steaks. Let the steaks sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Tips Ideally your steaks should be chianina beef (the traditional breed in Tuscany) and one-and-a-half or two-fingers thick (about 1 – 1 ½ inches).
Ingredients (2 panini) 1 medium loaf whole wheat bread 4 slices cooked turkey breast 4 slices provolone cheese Pesto mayo (3 Tbsp mayo + 1 Tbsp pesto) Cranberry sauce for dipping
Choose a nice and crunchy whole wheat bread. I chose one with cereals, walnuts and raisins. Cut the bread in half and then open it. Spread some pesto mayonnaise on both sides of the bread. Fill your sandwich with sliced turkey breast and provolone cheese. Set some leftover cranberry sauce in a small plate for dipping your sandwich into! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!
Tip Warm up the turkey. By doing so you’ll activate the fabulous pesto aroma. Or heat the whole sandwich in the oven or in a panini grill until the cheese melts.
My great-grandmother was from Milan, and maybe because of that my mother and I love breaded cutlets which are a staple of Milanese cuisine. So, every time I go to Milan I not only shop but I also have a good cotoletta alla Milanese.
Ingredients 4 veal cutlets with bone 2 eggs 4-6 Tbsp butter 1 cup breadcrumbs Salt, pepper
Cut away any fat and pound each cutlet gently. Beat the eggs slightly, add a touch of freshly ground pepper, and pour the eggs into a shallow bowl. Set the breadcrumbs in another bowl. Start a standard breading procedure: dip the cutlets into the eggs and then dip them into the breadcrumbs. Sauté the milanesas in a preheated saucepan with butter (for a golden result shallow-fry the cutlets adding more butter). Over medium-high heat, it won’t take a lot to be ready: 4 minutes on one side, turn once, and then 2-3 minutes on the other side for medium rare. Drain the cutlets on paper towels, salt them and serve with sweet potato oven fries. Not an Italian side dish I know, but they are better for you than traditional fries and they are just perfect for holiday dinners!
Sweet potato oven friesIngredients 2 large sweet potatoes 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp cinnamon Kosher salt
Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes. Cut the potato into wedges. Toss the sweet potatoes wedges with the olive oil, cinnamon and salt. Set them onto a baking sheet forming a single layer, and bake in a 425F preheated oven for about 30 minutes until tender and golden brown (while they're baking, turn the potatoes a couple of times).
Tips The words cotoletta and cutlet actually have the same origin!
Do cotolette alla Milanese remind you of Wiener schnitzel? Apparently Marshal Radetzky (yep, the same as in Strauss’s march) introduced veal cutlets to Austria after living in Milan. However, Austrians are very proud of their cutlets so they don’t agree with the Italian origin.
