copyright 2012 Art of Living, PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati

Recipe for Giving

Always add in a little of yourself in everything you give:

*pinch of  what’s on your mind

*a beat of your heart

*a vibration from your soul

(photo credit: www.atelierdeschefs.net)

Zaletti (Cornmeal Cookies)

excerpted from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style

1 cup+ 1 tablespoon(250 gr) cornflour

1 cup + 1 tablespoon (250 gr) flour

4 eggs

1 cup (200 gr) butter

½ cup (100 gr) raisins (soaked in warm water for 10 minutes,then drained)

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsps baking powder

pinch of salt

powdered sugar for dusting on top

Beat eggs with sugar till creamy, add in eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then add in vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, cornmeal,salt, baking powder. Mix ,a little at a time, dry ingredients into egg mixture until blended well. Add in raisins.

Form dough into large square and cover in plastic,refrigerate until easy to handle (about 2 hours).

Remove from refrigerator, cur dough into two and form each piece into a long cylinder. By rolling on a floured surface. Wrap in plastic and freeze till ready to bake,

Cut cookies into ¼ inch slices (.75 cm),

Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place cookies on sheet and leave space between each., Bake in preheated oven of 325F (170C). for 10-12 minutes till lightly golden on top. Remove from oven and let cookies cool before serving.

For more recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style here or in ebook exclusively at Kindle. Specially selected to be a featured book at this year’s Virginia Festival of the Book, on March 24th.For more info email:events@marialiberati.com

A house is at its’ most beautiful when filled with guests ..today’s Sunday dinner, with a house full of people reminded me of the classic Italian  movie Il Gattopardo (The Leopard)..some of the film’s most beautiful scenes take place at the table of this royal Sicilian Family filled  with guests and their consorts..meals of many courses were well choreographed with banter as guests supped  and interacted together….

But moreover today’s lunch reminded me of one of Don Fabrizio’s( the Prince played by the award winning actor Burt Lancaster)  lines in the film

“If we want things to stay as they are ,things will have to change”

Today’s  Sunday dinner ..

*eaten at a table of 25 dinner guests but filled with new faces, new family and friends

*new twists on traditional recipes…the Sunday ravioli, made with a melt in your mouth pasta  but filled with a creamy pumpkin and amaretti filling not the usual ricotta filling..but the same delicious ravioli (pumpkin ravioli is traditional for the North of Italy not for the South).

*the dinner  was eaten not in my grandparent’s house in the South Philadelphia neighborhood…but in a house located 10 minutes from where my grandfather was born… (Tagliacozzo  Italy)

*same warm banter and feelings  being passed around the table with many of the same courses but different faces…

*an after dinner coffee at a local coffee bar and a passseggiata was enjoyed in the town my grandfather was born in Tagliacozzo…Sunday dinner usually ended  with coffee and my grandfather  sharing stories, photos and songs about that very  town..

My how things stay the same..my how things change..

Here is a recipe for one of today’s second courses

Flan di Pomodoro, Zucchini, e Formaggio (Zucchini, Tomato, Cheese Flan)

from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking:DaVinci Style

1 cup (200 gr) extra virgin olive oil

1 lb (500 gr) tomatoes pureed- fresh or canned

1 lb (½ kilo) zucchini-sliced

2 leeks

1 onion

4 eggs

6 tablespoons (90 gr) cream

1 whole carrot peeled and cleaned

8 ounces Emmenthal cheese-grated

pinch of oregano

pinch of salt and pepper

Place ¼ cup (60 gr) olive oil in sauce pan and saute finely chopped onion till golden. Add in sliced zucchini and saute for 3-5 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat, Place zucchini, onion mixture in food processor with 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons (45 gr) cream, grated Emmenthal cheese, pinch of salt and pepper. Blend to a puree. Set aside.

Place ¼ cup (60 gr) olive oil in saute pan, heat, place in tomatoes, pinch of oregano, salt and pepper, whole carrot (to sweeten sauce). Let cook for 15 minutes over low heat.

Slice leeks into round slices. Place ¼ cup olive oil in saute pan, heat and saute sliced leeks. Saute till golden. Remove from heat. Place leeks in food processor with 2 eggs,remaining cream, pinch of salt and pepper. Blend to a puree.

Oil a loaf pan. Pour in a layer of leek puree. Then on top of that a layer of zucchini puree. Then add in layer of tomato pulp that has been cooked. You can make a zig zag design with the tomato pulp on top. Place loaf pan in another pan that had been half filled with hot water. Bake in oven preheated to 350 F (175C) for 40 to 50 minutes till firm. Remove from oven, serve.

For more recipes get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVInci Style here or the digital version exclusively at Kindle

I have discovered a magic flavor in a tube..no its’ not toothpaste..it’s tomato concentrate. Imagine a concentrated flavor of a sweet  fruit (tomatoes are classified as a fruit)..the flavor is sweet, sweet, ..without sugar.

So sweet, I enjoy the stuff eaten on top of freshly sliced zucchini, cheese or other veggies or in place of mayonnaise or any other sandwich dressing… and as an added plus it is low calorie..only tomatoes..no sugar or fat!

Here’s a  colorful and flavorful recipe worthy of any artist in the kitchen…you can liken the tubes of tomato paste to tubes of paint used by artist..I call this

Paella Classica allo Picasso

2 cups rice

3 envelopes saffron

1 lb of mixed seafood (i.e. flounder, tilapia, salmon, cod)

1 lb of shellfish

2 glasses of dry white wine

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons of Tomato Concentrate (in a tube)

pinch red,hot pepper

Optional : red pepperoncini

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

1 fresh green pepper (seeded and cut into strips)

Was hall seafood. Cut seafood into uniform pieces, set aside. Wash and clean shellfish.

Place olive oil n a large saute pan with minced garlic cloves,chopped onion. Saute till golden. Add in rice, add in white wine and stir. Dissolve saffron and tomato comcentrate  in 1 1/2 cups hot, boiling water.

Once white wine has been absorbed by rice, add in this hot water mixture a little at a time, stirring slowly. After 9 minutes, add in shellfish and seafood, hot pepper, red hot pepper, peas. Stir and cook till rice is al dente, adding boiling water when needed. Serve hot

** May 3, 2012..Join me in Italy on my luxury culinary cruise to Italy, all inclusive and so much fun! visit a vineyard in Sicily, join me with my on board culinary demos and dinners. Everything is included even your airfare from whatever key city you are flying out of. Only a few cabins left..call Rosenbluth travel  at  1-800-257-8279  or email:Events@Marialiberati.com to make reservations now!!

Join me at some of my other appearances:

**October 2, 2011 ,Salt Lake City Utah,  Book Release of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking:DaVinci Style at the Utah Humanities Festival ..Join me for a Celebration of Leonardo Davinci, poetry from his notebook and his travels.. For more info email:events@marialiberati.com

**October 21-23, Suburban Philly Home Show at the  Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, 100 Station Avenue Oaks, Pa …On stage cooking demos from my latest book release The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: DaVinci Style and a presentation for my upcoming luxury culinary cruise to Italy and the Mediterranean. For more info : events@marialiberati.com

Besides, my frequent trips to the internet to find out about the latest weather reports in the East Coast of the US, I was preoccupied with making 2 chocolate ricotta cheesecakes for an outdoor ‘spaghettata’. A spaghetta is a sort of a dinner  or party and the menu is made up mainly of different spaghetti dishes.

The event will be held at the villa of an acquaintance..luckily it is in the mountains so I know the air will be cool and fresh. But the dessert will be a ricotta chocolate cheesecake.

I cheated a bit on this one..with temps in the 100’s here everyday… I did not feel like making  a full blown cheesecake and used as a principal ingredient, a  chocolate box cake mix that has pudding added to . It is half homemade and half pre made…well anyway it was surprisingly delicious and not one piece of 2  of these cheesecakes was left over.

Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake squares

2 lbs ricotta cheese

8 ounces baking chocolate  chopped

rind of one orange

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

! box chocolate cake mix with pudding

3 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water

In bowl, mix ricotta with orange rind and chopped chocolate and sugar. Set aside. Mix cake mix as package directs with rest of ingredients. Blend. Butter and flour a 13 x 9” pan. pour in batter. Spoon ricotta mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until ricotta on top becomes brown. Remove from oven and let cool.Cut into squares

**Join me on a culinary cruise to Italy in May 2012. Besides a visit t oa vineyard in Sicily, I will be doing culinary demos and dinners throughout the cruise to explore tastes of the Mediterranean. And best of all everything is included, it is all inclusive, airfare, meals, tips, excursions, my events, are all included. Only a few spots left, to reserve your spot or for more info email: events@marialiberati.com

TravelSquire.com provides a rich travel experience offering detailed destination information as well as designing the actual journey; the online magazine is filled with original content featuring far-flung locales around the world. The site features columns, videos, an interactive map and much more. Every article transports the reader to places all around the world in an engaging, fun and informative way. The content on TravelSquire.com covers what’s hot and new around the globe. Destination articles are updated every other week and the site as a whole is updated daily. Each week, Travel Squire’s 10,000 newsletter subscribers receive the most current news delivered right to their inbox. These newsletters feature what’s new and happening on Travel Squire.com to ensure that their readers don’t miss a thing. They feature great places to stay- from established to exotic destinations to the latest trendy hotel. They review the world’s most interesting hotels whether a unique, stand alone property or a member of an established chain. Travel Squire is the perfect place to find out about some of the destinations on my upcoming culinary cruise to the Mediterranean

Here’s my suggestions for a great trip to Little Italy in NYC

Join me on a luxury culinary cruise to the Mediterranean. Visit a vineyard in Sicily with me and be part of my culinary demonstrations and dinners on board. And it is all inclusive, even your flight ticket is included from wherever you are leaving from in the world to join us in the departure city of Venice. To join me call Rosenbluth Travel   at 1-800-257-8279 or email: events@marialiberati.com and reserve your luxury cabin, reserve your place now before they are sold out!

Carnevale..the feast that marks the 40 days filled with other Holidays approaching Easter.. Venice is one of the most famous cities in the world for its’ illustrious Carnevale..the colors, the costumes .the elegant balls…the food.

Venice, also made famous by the Victorian era duo—Gilbert & Sullivan for their operetta The Gondoliers..a comedy that takes place in Venice and is about the fictional King of Barataria. And through various mishaps a gondolier is mistakenly appointed to the Royal throne of this fictional comedy.

Venice also brings to mind other colorful characters who at one time or another used this unique city for their inspiration… Mozart, Shakespeare, Da Vinci, the Doges.

But alas Venice, Carnevale is not your possession, it is celebrated throughout Italy, with some cities like Via Reggio that organize grand productions and parades in honor of Carnevale. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday marks the end of Carnevale in almost every city in Italy except Milan. That city has the tradition of celebrating till Saturday because of the legend of a St Ambrosius who was to return to the city on this particular Saturday,

And besides the costumes and colors, the most memorable part of Carnevale is the food..the specialty sweets made for this Holiday.

I always pay a visit to the center of Rome after Valentine’s Day but before Easter to glance in the windows of some of Romes’ most elegant coffee bars to find the frappe (as they are called in Rome) displayed beautifully in their glass cases just waiting to be savored….here’s a recipe to try at home if you can’t get to Rome.. These are called chicchiare in other parts of Italy, chiacchiare means ‘to gossip’.

Chiacchiare

2 cups flour

½ cup sugar

¼ cup butter

3 eggs

powdered sugar for dusting

½ cup grappa

1 tsp vanilla

3 tblsps milk

3 tblsps unsalted butter, softened

Place flour on a wooden board. First beat eggs with milk with a fork. Make a well in the center of flour and place in the eggs and all other ingredients. Blend by hand , then place in mixing bowl or food processor till smooth dough is formed. Roll dough out to 1 inch thickness. Form chiacchiare by cutting with jagged edge cutter or knife or cookie cutter forms that are square in shape. Bake in preheated oven to 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

For more great recipes and Holiday menus  get your copy of  the award winning book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

I have been blogging about it  for a few weeks in anticipation of  this beautiful ,colorful event. If you can’t be there in Venice, you can watch..take a look at what you missed

(taken from my twitter.com blog)

 Latest: Carnevale in Venice  http://tinyurl.com/demsvw

 sweet treats for Carnevale in Venice http://tinyurl.com/d4fgm6

Bring some flavors of Carnevale into your kitchen.

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm Cooking School is on the road and we will be at

Feb 18-Whole Foods, Marlton, NJ- 6 PM for a book signing and cooking class-Pasta & Sauces
Feb 19th- Whole Foods in Philadelphia, Pa at 6 PM for a book signing and Cooking Class.

Cooking on a Budget from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking will include a 4 course authentic Italian meal

For more info or to register, email events@marialiberati.com or call Sue at 215-660-5045

Join me Sept 23-Oct 6th and The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm cooking school in Italy at the villa in the hills of Umbria. Spend 6 nights ,7 days in the villa, join em for cooking classes, local winery tours and tastings, local olive oil mills,sightessing and La Dolce Vita relaxing at the villa by poolside or in the courtyard enjoying a meal from the  wood burning oven. All meals included and transport to and from the Rome Fiumicino airport.  Email events@marialiberati.com for more info. Only 12 spots are available. Hope to see you at the villa!!

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

http://marialiberati.blogster.com

http://vinovidivici.today.com

Maria

 Have been blogging about  upcoming Carnevale and Venice in most of my posts in the past few weeks. But if you want to pick your wines for Valentines’ Day dinner- Venice also has some great wines to choose from.

Discover the wines of Venice here:

http://www.trifter.com/Europe/Italy/How-to-Discover-Wines-in-Venice-Italy.210287

Join Me Sunday, Febraury 8th at 2 PM at Jenkintown, WHole Foods Market at 2PM for a book singing and Cooking class. The class will be a 4 course authentic Italian Valentine’s Day Dinner. Recipes and samples will be included. To register for this event call the store at 215-481-0707

For your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking go to http://www.marialiberati.com

http://mariaandcom.blogspot.com

http://marialiberati.blogster.com

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

 copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking

Halloween, Mardi Gras where did it all come from- from Venice of course. Well the Romans had a type of Carnevale that they celebrated and the Venetians made it famous…  wherever the Holiday started the most important thing is the treats that are made during Carnevale….

As promised here are more highlights from my short visit to Venice. If you are not able to visit in person, you can  bring a taste of Venice into your kitchen. My first  blog post at http://marialiberati.com/blog2/?p=486 contained recipes for local favorites there. 

For tips on visitng Venice go to http://tinyurl.com/6sj6dg

Here is another special  recipe for a typical sweet  treat and more on Carnevale http://tinyurl.com/8bzrvp

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

 copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati, The Basic Art of Italian Cooking

Our short trip to Venice was enough inspiration for many delicious Venetian treats. Carnevale is in the air and many are anxiously awaiting it’s arrival.  The brightly colored masks are beautiful and some of  the costumes are so authentic to the time of Casanova..But besides the beauty of the masks and the costumes there is a meaning behind the tradition of wearing the costumes & the masks. When a mask and costume were worn no one knew your true identity..in so much as no one knew if you were rich or poor of nobility or not. And for this, the tradition of wearing of the mask and costumes grew ever so popular.  

Carnevale brings to mind the beauty of the masks and the tradition behind wearing of the masks as well as the sweets and traditional foods that Venice has to offer..You knew I had to somehow tie in food with this..but in Italy everythig nis somehow related to food..

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen here in Italy will be working on some of the recipes we were inspired by in Venice. Sweets to first courses to appetizers.  Our recipes this week will be:
Baicoli..a traditonal sweet biscuit made with Marsala wine

Risi e Bisi..a traditional dish from Venice but famous all over Italy (it means rice and peas)

Cicchetti..traditional appetizers served at happy hour at coffee bars in Venice. Cicchetti is realy a word that comes from Venice and means appetizers or snacks which are sometimes known in the rest of  Italy as ‘stuzzichini’

These traditional recipes will give you a chance to experience Venice from your own kitchen, wherever that is. But if you do get a chance to visit Venice, here are some sightseeign tips we came up with:

http://www.trifter.com/Europe/Italy/Sightseeing-Tips-for-Your-Venice-Trip.275877

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria