Happy” top o’ the mornin to ya”…for Saint Patrick’s Day. Today the Irish claim him as their own, but did you know that even the Italians claim him as one of their own. He was born in Britain when it was ruled and owned by the Romans, so the Italians  consider him a Roman-not Irish.

One thing all Americans can usually agree on is to celebrate the day..And no one celebrates the day bigger and better than Americans.

In Italy, today, March 17^th, is Festa Nazionale (national Feast Day) for the Unification of Italy (to celebrate the 150 yrs that Italy has been a unified nation)..no matter what you want to celebrate..Celebrate!

In honor of both occasions, here’s an Italian style dish that includes cabbage and potatoes with Filet of Sole.  Serve with a dry white wine, a sparkling Prosecco or even beer.

Filet of Sole with Cabbage and Potatoes

copyright 2011, art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati from The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

Serves 4.

• 1 pound cabbage
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 large potatoes
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 pound filet of sole
• 1 teaspoon dried leeks
• 1 teaspoon dried fennel

Clean cabbage and chop into large pieces. Boil in 2 quarts of water. Add in coarse salt and boil for 7 minutes. Drain.

Peel and cut potatoes into pieces. Boil for 10 minutes. Puree in food processor and place in puree bowl.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Place in cooked cabbage and stir for 3 minutes on low to medium heat. Add in mashed potatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 more minutes.

Wash fish with fresh water. Cook in a steamer. Place water to boil in the bottom of steamer with dried herbs. Place sole in basket on top, cover, and steam for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Serve fish on individual plates with potato mixture on side. Decorate plates with the tops of the leeks and dried herbs.

 For more great recipes, get your copy of  the book selected as Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA-

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

copyright 2010 art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati

“We do not remember days, we remember moments” once said Cesare Pavese-Italian author/novelist…

so create a special moment for Father’s Day..a meal ..a brunch  together..a picnic..a meal…time together ..created by you…create a moment to remember.

Ingredients for a Happy Father’s Day:
A recipe that uses local and in season ingredients

Your Dad or someone that is a Father figure to you

Time spent together… accompanied by great food, friends and family..

Strawberries are at their sweetest..try this dish accompanied by a Prosecco or Spumante:

Risotto alla Fragole (risotto with strawberries)

4 cups vegetable broth

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 leeks chopped finely

1 cup arborio or carnaroli rice

1 tablespoon butter (unsalted)

pinch of salt

1 cup Prosecco, Spumante or dry white wine

10 ounces fresh strawberries, washed and cut in half

Heat vegetable broth till boiling. Place olive oil in large saute pan. Place in chopped leeks and saute till leeks are just about golden. Place in rice and toast till rice is coated with oil and all liquid is evaporated. Add in wine or Prosecco. Stir till all liquid is evaporated. Place in ½ cup of vegetable broth and stir till all liquid is evaporated and repeat placing in ½ cup liquid til evaporated till rice is al dente (approximately 15 minutes).

Puree strawberries. When rice is almost done, place in strawberry puree. Stir in well. Remove from heat. Let stand for 2 minutes. Place 1 tablespon of butter on top and stir till melted. Serve ,top with grated parmigiana-reggiano cheese. Decorate plates with strawberry garnish.

Happy Father’s Day!

For more recipes and menus for Special Occasions get your copy of the book selected as Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

Hope to see you at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival in Rhinebeck, NY on Sept 9-12 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds. As one of the selected  Celebrity Chefs for the event , I will be  on stage cooking demos of recipes from my latest book with some great wines from the event. For more info, or for sponsorship info email: info@marialiberati.com

Maria

www.marialiberati.com

where food meets art ,travel and life!

copyright 2010, Maria Liberati

Apologies  for not gettting this out sooner but think that you still have time to make this for your Easter dinner. I have been scouring my recipes and looking for just the right one for our community of  ’foodies’..not too difficult-some of the Italian Spring Holiday breads can be so time consuming and something well a little unique.. So for a little bit of inspiration and no Easter egg shaped something… I decided to go with one of my favorite cakes. … a recipe I learned in Austria, the cake is named after a famous Austrian-Italian Prince-Prince Eugenio of the Royal Family of Savoia.
Although he doesn’t have anything to do with Easter..the cake is really a special one..it is made with lots of chocolate ..which always reminds me of Easter..and not too ordinary-as a Holiday dessert should be- and great to have with a glass of bubbly Brachetto d’Acqui or with some dessert coffee or .. alone.. And to make it even more interesting here is some info on Prince Eugenio
Buon Appetito and Buona Pasqua! Please write and let us know how your  torta turns out!

Prince Eugenio’s Cake

( This cake was created  in Austria and named after Prince Eugenio who was born in France to royalty related to the Royal Savoia Family . His mother was Italian. He became a high ranking soldier in the Austrian army and protected Italy from some of their military rivals in the early  1700′s. He was an aficionado of art and this ‘torta’ or cake was created many years ago in homage to this Prince)

16 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate (containing at least 60% cocoa)

1 1/2 cups crushed almonds

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 tablespoons butter

6 eggs

1 tablespoon rum

1 tablespoon brandy

butter for pan

Topping:

2 cups raspberries

1 tablespoon sugar

6 ounces milk chocolate

½ cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla

Beat softened butter,sugar and egg yolks until creamy. Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. Add the chocolate into the egg yolk mixture,then add in ground almonds,brandy and rum.

Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold into the egg yolk mixture gently till well blended.. Butter and flour a low cake pan and bake for 35 minutes in oven at 350 degrees.

Remove from oven. Leaving a 1 /12 “ border around cake, cut out the interior cake , to make about ¼ cup of crumbs. Place crumbs in oven on cookie sheet for to dry and become crisp, set aside., to use as crumble on topping.

Cook raspberries and sugar over low heat for 2 minutes let sugar melt. Let cool. Place whipping cream and vanilla, sugar in bowl. Whip cream till peaks form, add in grated chocolate. Place cooled raspberry mixture in cavity of cake made from digging out crumbs. Top with whipped cream mixture in center of raspberries. Sprinkle with cake crumbs and top with whipped cream and serve.

If you are in the area,  stop by and say hi!
April 14th-Free Library of Philadelphia-Book signing

 May 8th-Borders, Warrington, Pa-Book Signing

Follow  me on twitter

Join in our community and become a fan on facebook

Visit me at OpenSky

 Maria

at marialiberati.com

where food meets art, travel and life!!

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One of my first loves is food..but I have been known to have a fondness for Fashion and when in the kitchen-a home one or a professional kitchen-I am perplexed with a dilemma..wanting to always look ‘smashing’ in the kitchen but wanting to make the food look and taste ‘smashing’ as well…not as easy to do as it looks on TV

The other day my better half  commented, as I was lovingly preparing the risotto  ‘a deux’ “La Befana, but Christmas is over” (La befana is the good Christmas witch)..I realized I was taking the comfort of my home kitchen too lightly..baggy sweater, baggy comfy pants..baggy apron..hair pulled back in a frizzed out ponytail…ahhhh!! what have I done….so today I set out to find a solution to the fashion in the kitchen problem..ambiance has everything to do with food..and the cook is part of the ambiance…

Just in time for Valentine’s Day..apron elegance has beautiful stylish aprons so you can add some  style to any kitchen..

How  to accomplish both?…after all you should look just as smashing as your food tastes..

With these aprons..I will never be mistaken for La Befana..but maybe cupid or well someone else that is sweet and sassy…

For recipes and menus for Valentines’s Day

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene

Maria

visit me at OpenSky

copyright 2010, Maria Liberati

New Year’s Day always means a day of relaxing around the kitchen of our ‘piccolo villa’ here in the mountains of Abruzzo with family and friends that drop by as the day lingers on and  the Vienna Philharmonic on TV with the famed New Year’s Day concert and all kinds of chocolate delights to munch on around the table. From locally produced chocolate torrone, to gianduia torrone, to a type of Panettone filled with chocolate. This year the Philharmonic even put footage of Vienna’s best chocolatiers creating some luscious chocolate creations in sync  to one of the symphonies. But the Raditzky’s March signals the end of another New Year’s Day concert, and the start of another New Year of great food, recipes and places to discover.

Here is a  chocolate recipe ..simple but delicious..one of my Holiday favorites that I picked up the first time I spent some of the Christmas Holidays in Venice. A Chocolate Salami..

http://quazen.com/recreation/food/love-chocolate-try-chocolate-salami/

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

copyright 2009, art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc and Maria Liberati

Hope you enjoy our continuing posting of  yummy Holiday recipes. Share your favorite Holiday recipe with us here or email to us at editor@marialiberati.com

 Here is the perfect main course for one of your Holiday meals, thanks to Fred Cohen of J & A Culinary Arts School in Philadelphia, the recipes use   Sempre Sapori-Tuscan Picnic  Spice Blend,all natural spices with Tuscan flavors, that  I developed in Tuscany, you can still get them for the Holidays here    and enjoy our Holiday Gift Guide, products that were selected by our staff for their exceptional artisan quality and for the experience  they provide consumers. Find a special coupon offer for the open sky store on the last page!

Holiday Gift Guide 2009

Tuscan Roasted Chicken with Savory Herb Bread Pudding and Buttered Cauliflower

*Bread Pudding*:
Serves 6:
One large crusty loaf bread (crust removed)
1 t Sage leaves chiffonade
1 T chopped parsley
2 t chopped chive
1 egg yolk
3 oz chicken stock
1 oz heavy cream
1-2 oz milk
2 t Tuscan spice mix

*Tuscan Spiced Chicken*:
2 Cornish Hens, halved, serves  2 – 4:
2 oz butter
1 T Tuscan Spice Blend

*Procedure*:
-Remove the crust from the bread and cut into small dice. Place into a deep
dish container. Combine remaining ingredients to form a creamy batter. If
batter seems too thick, thin it down with a little bit of water, stock, or
milk to reach a creamy but not heavy consistency. Place mixture over the
bread and mix well. Allow to soak for 1 – 2 hours.
-In the mean time, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
-Create a compound butter by mixing the spice mixture into raw butter. Smear
the mixture over and under the skin of the Cornish hens.
-Place the chicken onto a rack in a roasting pan and roast for 35 – 40
minutes.
-Pack the bread pudding into ramekins that have been lightly sprayed and
bake for 20 – 30 minutes, depending on how brown you want it to be.
-To plate, take the bread pudding out of the ramekin and center it in the
middle of the plate. Lay the chicken on the side and on the opposite side,
lay some buttered cauliflower. Drizzle some parsley oil (or any oil of your
choosing) onto the side of the plate.

UPCOMING EVENTS

See you on Saturday December 12th in Somerset NJ at the Franklin Township library at 2 PM.. Cooking demo and book signing will feature my latest relaese The Basic Art of  Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions- winner of The Best Italian Cuisine Book of 2009 from Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

 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, 2008, Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  Kitchen has been getting in the Holiday mood quite early  this year.  We have had endless meetings to discuss the hundreds of products that have been submitted for consideration in our upcoming Holiday Guide.

The ones that meet the criteria for the Holiday Guide will be the ones that we ultimately select, but they also have to be products that will make the Holiday Season enjoyable and fun for our readers and excite them just as much as they have excited us! Products that make you want to run into your kitchen just to use them! 

 Most importantly they have to enhance The Basic Art of Italian Cooking experience!

In The Basic Art of Italian Cooking Kitchen.. one of our favorite products (you will hear about  some others in posts to come) has been The Rosetta Stone language programs. We have been testing out the basic Italian and French programs..and a laptop has been set up in a section of the kitchen with the programs installed. Most of our intern chefs don’t know a word of Italian or French.

This makes a great gift for the culinary enthusiast or traveler on your list..

In The Basic Art of Italian Cooking  kitchen we always stress the importance of knowing at  least the basics of other languages, especially if you want to experience the culinary arts of another country to any of the chefs or chef interns that work with us.

The Rosetta Stone programs are entertaining but also the one thing that we think you will find amazing is that with these programs a microphone can be hooked up to the computer and when you pronounce the words you are told whether or not it is correct, so it is almost like having a live teacher!  Some of our chef interns have used the programs and after a few days are already able to communicate in basic Italian…So kudos to The Rosetta Stone for making the world just a little bit smaller. 

By the way, there are also other languages that are really important to have some basic knowledge of, who knows next year maybe we will try Japanese, Chinese, Russian.. with the Rosetta Stone it should be easy..

 Here is an easy expression that is used at the dinner table, before you eat your meal in Italy everyone says..”Buon Appetito” ( Pronounced: Bwone-ah-peh-tee-toe)

After you have mastered that expression, you can enjoy eating this recipe:

Ratatouille of Zucchini and Eggplant

*2 medium fresh eggplants

*3 medium size zucchini

*5 fresh plum tomatoes

*2 cloves of garlic

*3 tblsps of olive oil

*1 slice of  fresh onion chopped

*pinch of salt

*4 ounces of fresh mozzarella cut into cubes

*3 tblsps freshly grated  parmigiana-reggiano cheese

Wash eggplant and zucchini. Cut zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes. Wash tomatoes. Fillet them by removing inside liquid and seeds. Slice into thin slices.

In large saute pan, heat olive oil. Saute whole garlic cloves, chopped onions till golden. place in cut eggplants and zucchini and 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup water. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring. Add in tomatoes, stirring and saute for another 10 minutes or until eggplant and zucchini are tender. If at any time liquid is needed add in a little water.

When done remove from heat and add in cubed mozzarella and  freshly grated parmigiana-reggiano cheese. Stir, mozzarella cheese will become stringy. Serve warm or cool. In the winter it is great hot or warm, in the summer cool. Serve with crusty bread  and  dry white wine.

Buon Appetito!

 Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

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

and/or http://stores.lulu.com/marialiberati