copyright 2011 art of living,PrimaMedia,Inc/Maria Liberati

The 15th of March was made famous by an event in Ancient Rome, back in 44 AC when Rome lost it’s mighty Emperor that day at the hands of Brutus.  But this wasn’t immortalized worldwide till 1589, until Shakespeare  penned the play about Julius Caesar and the now infamous line “Beware the Ides of March”.  Under Caeasar’s rule, although  Emperor and a Dictator, there was a type of grandeur that was never recaptured again in Ancient Rome. Romans of today still remember him by bringing flowers to  the Foro Romano.

The Ides of March was based on the Roman Calendar. It was said that on  the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, October  and on the 13th of every other month, there was a full moon and legend has it still today that strange things happen when there is a full moon.  Things that stretch our imagination, sometimes good, sometimes bad..the philosophy of the Romans. 

In honor of Ancient Rome, although most of these ingredients were not around at that time, this is a typical Roman dish using Ricotta Romana. If you have never tried it you are in for a treat. It is made from the whey of sheep’s milk and is sold in a conical form, the surface has a  criss cross , with the lines left from the basket the cheese is put to drain in. It is famous for its’ sweet taste and is often used for traditional pies made for various Holidays.

A delicious meal for lunch or dinner..fit for a Roman Emperor. A  dish of Maccheroni Romana for lunch or dinner with a glass of a dry red wine from Castelli Romana (is  deliciously out of the ordinary enough to be served on the Ides of any month) and  you will appreciate another famous line in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

“Enjoy the honey heavy dew of slumber”

 RICOTTA ROMANA

Maccheroni Romana

1 (500 g) lb maccheroni

1/2 lb (250 g) Ricotta Romana

1 lb (500 gr) plum tomatoes (fresh or canned)

a small handful fresh basil leaves (no stems)

1 garlic clove

1/3 cup (80 grams) freshly grated parmigiana reggiano cheese

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 tblsps extra virgin olive oil

Wash,pat dry and chop cut basil into thin strips. Cut tomatoes into quarters, place in bowl and squash or mash down with fork.

Place olive oil in saucepan with garlic, saute over medium heat. When garlic is just about golden, place in tomatoes. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes,  or until thick, place in basil and salt  to taste, remove from heat and cover.

In rapidly boiling ,salted water , place in maccheroni. Cook till al dente, drain. Place ricotta in bowl, remove 2 (30 gr) tablespoons of cooking water from pasta and place into ricotta, with fork, soften ricotta with water, set aside.

Drain pasta, place into tomato sauce and toss. Serve, top with ricotta, freshly grated parmigiana reggiano and freshly grated black pepper.

For more great recipes, get your copy of the Award Winning Book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition

One of my favorite pieces of  Italian literature is I Promessi Sposi.. (The Betrothed) so romantic.. A  story of Renzo and Lucia, set in Italy in 1628 the book was first published in 1827 and set in a time when Italy was under oppressive Spanish rule. One of it’s main themes is the strength of love between two people.

  I am enjoying the musical that has been made from the original book in Milan tonight…nothing beats the power of love ( well maybe a chocolate cheesecake) and getting ready to get back to our country house to close it up till next summer..

Summer is almost gone…hope you got to experience some of summer’s pleasures.. fresh, local fruits and veggies, gelato or ic and ice cream…al fresco picnics…picking strawberries or blueberries…lazy days at the beach or park or just allowing yourself to be lazy at home fro a few days or even a few hours.

What  goes better with ‘I Promessi Sposi’ than a dark chocolate cheesecake..

Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake

1-16 ounce package of  Cream Cheese

8 ounces Ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 package of Savoiardi cookies or similar cookies

1 8 ounce bar dark chocolate

2 tsps orange honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crush cookies and cover bottom of pie pan with crumbs. Grae chocolate bar onto crumbs, then drizzle two tsps honey on crust.

In bowl place cream cheese, ricotta cheese, eggs, vanilla. Blend till smooth. Pour onto crumb crust. Bake fro 30 minutes or until firm. Cool and refrigerate,serve chilled.

For more great recipes, get your copy of the award winning book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking: Holidays & Special Occasions-2nd edition..selected as Best Italian Cuisine Book in the USA

**Be a Guest writer..have Holiday food memory to share..in honor of the release of the Holiday book we are inviting our readers to share their stories of Holiday food memories. Stories selected will be placed on the blog and archived and may be selected to be placed in a national publication. Email stories to sharethejoy@marialiberati.com

Sept 10 & 11 –see you at Hudson Valley Wine Fest, Rhinebeck, NY at Dutchess County Fairgrounds. The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm will be on stage at 1-2 each day. For more info email: info@marialiberati.com

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

As we are enjoying our evening meal alfresco with fireworks bursting below us…patriotic thoughts of one of my favorite signers of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson….he was so inspired by his travels to Italy that he gave a Tuscan winemaker some land contiguous to Monticello to cultivate. He also hired many vintners from Italy to cultivate his gardens..he illegally  ‘smuggled’ rice in his coat pockets on one trip back from Italy and he also carefully researched the olive production in Italy and recommended their cultivation to acquaintances in South Carolina.

So inspired by the works of architect Andrea Palladio that he consulted his books as bibles for the construction of Monticello.   Palladio was an admirer of ancient Rome as was Jefferson and he said that   “Roman taste, genius and magnificence excite ideas”

Also inspired by the Italian language ,he taught it to himself while a student at William and Mary but he made sure it was included in the languages studied at the University of Virginia in 1764.

While Ambassador to France he toured much of Italy-especially the north and spent some time finding out how Parmigiano-Reggiano was produced,he even looked for a machine to make macaroni to bring back to the US..

One of Jefferson’s favorite wines was a Montepulciano.So who would have thought that this pasta dish served with a Montepulciano could be considered patriotic? it is if you are  celebrating the Fourth with Jefferson in mind!

Pasta with Fresh Zucchini

2 ounces ricotta

2 cups white flour

1 ½ cups cold water

pinch of salt and pepper to taste

2 zucchini

10 cherry tomatoes

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons plain tomato sauce

Preparation:

Place flour on wooden board and shape into a well. Place water and salt in center of wekk. Blend by hand and work the dough till smooth and well blended. Let rest for 2 hours covered with a clean towel.

Divide pasta ball into 4 portions. Roll out each portion on well floured board. Cut into noodles that are ½ inch thick with the help of a pasta machine or by hand.

Cut each noodle into smaller strips. Sprinkle with flour, let sit.

Place olive oil in saute pan with the zucchini that has been cut into quarters. Cook over high heat for 2 minutes. Place in tomatoes that have been cut in quarters with the plain tomato sauce. Let simmer together for 5 minutes. Add in salt as desired. Turn off heat.

Boil water ion pasta pot. Place in fresh pasta, cook for 2 -4 minutes (taste after 3 minutes do not overcook). Drain. Place in saute pan with zucchini, toss, serve with grated dried ricotta

In honor of our founding fathers, serve with a Montepulciano and don’t forget the fireworks

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

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Sept 9-12 ,see you at the Hudson Valley Wine Festival in Rhinebeck, NY

Maria

copyright 2009, Maria Liberati

This frittata is one of my favorites and is so simple made up only of a few ingredients..not the least important is the fresh mint to turn a few ordinary eggs into something extraordinary. Here it it is our lunch from the country house, serve with a chilled white wine..like Fallenghina, Est!Est!Est!, Trebbiano, Pecorino

Frittata con Mentuccia

For 2 people

* 3 whole eggs

* 1/4 lb ricotta di pecora

*2 tblsps olive oil

*handful fresh mint leaves, washed and torn

*salt and pepper to taste

Place eggs in bowl, shave the ricotta and add into eggs with salt and pepper. Beat with fork. Add in mint leaves, whisk with fork gently. In saute pan, heat olive oil. Pour in egg mixture. Cook on both sides. When finished, flip onto dish, cut into slices, serve garnished with mint leaves.

Just in time for the Holidays..get your copy of

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking :Holidays & Special Occasions  with over 140 recipes, menus, wine pairing tips and short stories of Holidays spent in the mountains of Italy

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

http://www.twitter.com/Marialiberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking kitchen here in Italy was busy with many recipes today, although still hot,hot, hot and no desire to use an oven or a stove but preparing for some end of summer picnics to take advantage of the summerl iek weather that will be ending soon (I think).

Of all the recipe swe worked on my favorite is a sort of cheesecake made with fresh ricotta..my faovrote part of making the cheesecake was taking a walk to the local place in town where they produce the fresh ricotta.. Here it is ..

Ricotta Raisin Cheesecake

1 1/4 lbs (fresh, if possible) ricotta

2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

6 eggs

1/4 cup raisins

peel and juice of one fresh lemon

1 tsp of orange flower water

a pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

Place raisins in a small bowl of warm water for 15 minutes. Place ricotta in a bowl with sugar, blend with wooden spoon until you it is a smooth creamy mixture, add in egg yolks. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and add into ricotta cream. Blend, then  and add in orange flower water and juice and peel of lemon. Blend

Beat egg whites till firm  with pinch of salt. Add t oricotta mixture blending in with wooden spoon. Drain raisins, dry with paper towel and dust with remaining flour. Add into ricotta cream. Blend in with wooden spoon.

Line a pie pan with baking paper. Place in battter, eve nout batter with wooden spoon. Cook in ove npreheated to 360 degrees for 55 minutes or unti ltop is golden in color.

Get your copy of The Basic Art of Italian Cooking:Holidays & Special Occasions before the holidays with 140+ recipes, menus, Holiday stories and more!

Mangia Bene, Viv Bene,

Maria

http://twitter.com/Marialiberati

 Holy Cannoli!

Editor: Kate Hollinger 

Copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati

The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm

http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2

A cannoli, which is Sicilian for “little tube”, is an ever- popular pastry dessert found sprinkled throughout cafes and restaurants in Italy. We thank the Sicilian region of Italy for these rich desserts that are found today throughout the United States as well, thanks to the immigrants who brought the recipes over in the early 20^th century. Cannoli originally came from the Palermo region of Sicily as early as the first century A.D., served as a treat and given to friends in dozens during the season of Carnevale, a festive European celebration held right before Lent. It is said that cannoli was most likely a symbol of fertility during this pre-Easter celebration similar in some ways to Mardi Gras.

An original cannolo (the singular form of cannoli) consists of fried, rolled up and open-ended pastry dough (the thinner the better) filled with a sweet, rich filling of ricotta or mascarpone cheese blended with flavorings such as vanilla, chocolate, or pistachio flavors. Occasionally additional ingredients are added, such as chocolate chips, citron, or candied cherries. The filling inside the cannolo are most commonly flavored with Marsala wine, vanilla extract, or rosewater. The size of cannoli ranges from small finger-sized bits referred to as cannulicchi to portions five times the size.

Nowadays we see different Italian American variations of this Sicilian treat. Many bakeries in the United States may fill the pastries with sugar, milk, and cornstarch custard instead of any kind of cheese. When looking for the best possible version of this Italian delicacy, search for the cannoli that has not been sitting for a long time with the cheese filling already inside. The longer a cannoli is left sitting, the soggier the pastry tube gets as a result of its contact with the filling. After about a day of sitting together, it is a soggy pastry not worth of being called a cannoli Bakers who make a lot of cannoli at a time fill the inside of the cannoli with chocolate that hardens and can then handle touching the creamy filling for longer than 24 hours.

For a cannoli recipe and lower calorie  cannoli recipe

Find more info  on cannoli

Hope to see you on Thursday, March 12th at the Harleysville Book Shop, 674 Main St Harleysville, Pa at 6-8 PM. I will be doing a book signing and cooking demo of recipes from the book, Free and open to the public. For more book signing,cooking demos, keynote speaker events coming up on foods, Italian culture and more go to

http://www.marialiberati.com/appearances.php

Join me for The Basic Art of Italian Cooking School  in Italy on Sept 23- Oct 6th for 7 days of hands on cooking classes, wine tastings, vineyard tours, artisan food producers, excursions, nature walks in the hills of Umbria all while staying at the villa that houses the cooking school. Register by May 1st and receive $200 off entire program. Go to

 http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2/?page_id=542

for more recipes and articles go to http://www.marialiberati.com/blog2/?page_id=400

Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,

Maria

 copyright, 2008, Maria Liberati

Stress is caused by many things including  not taking time out to do things that we enjoy. Today yes, most people are living their lives on the internet and almost attached to their cell phones and Blackberry-especially today with the news of higher prices of gas, foods and cost of everything in general. People are so afraid to take time out to enjoy themselves-almost to the point that they feel guilty about doing something simple like preparing and enjoying a great meal at home or taking a walk, even something simple like setting aside some time once a week to have your meal ‘al fresco’ outside- in your backyard,terrace if weather permits (if possible). If weather does not permit then eat ‘al fresco’ style inside- casual fare using brightly colored plates and dinnerware to brighten up your spirits makes a big difference.

Taking time to enjoy some of the finer things in life, no matter how small can make a world of difference in the way you approach life and can give you a whole new outlook on life.

Here is a great recipe to make for a casual dinner that should chase your stress away.

Farfalle con Ricotta

(Butterfly or bow tie pasta with Ricotta)

1 lb of butterfly (farfalle) pasta

8 ounces of frozen or fresh (washed and chopped) spinach

1 small onion finely chopped

½ cup ricotta (regular or low fat)

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

2 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp of dried oregano

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup of dry white wine

4 tblsps of olive oil

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

2 tblsps of milk

3 tsps of kosher salt

Heat oil in saucepan and sauté onions till just golden. Saute for 1 minute. Add in white wine and let liquid evaporate for 1 minute. Add in spinach and the ricotta. Stir while mashing ricotta with fork.

Add in milk, salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for 10 minutes.

Bring 6 cups of water to boil for pasta. Add in kosher salt. Add in pasta and stir with wooden spoon. Cook for 8 minutes or time indicated on package.

Drain pasta and add into ricotta sauce. Top with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and mix gently and serve.

“Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene”
Maria

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

 Contributed by Alexis Popov

Copyright 2008, Maria Liberati, http://www.marialiberati.com/  http://www.marialilberati.com/blog2

            As I danced around my Uncle Donny’s basement as a child, I was told to stay away from the long hot peppers that were strung together to dry over the boiler, because both the boiler and the peppers were too hot for my small person to touch.  I would watch intently as Uncle Donny used a thick sewing needle to thread together the peppers, attaching them all just below the base of the stem, so that they could dry either by the heat of the boiler in the winter or by the warmth of the sun- kissed bricks in the summer.  Once the peppers dried and hardened, the stems are broken off and the seeds removed, before they are placed in extremely hot olive oil to fry for three to six seconds until they are golden and crispy.  After he finishes frying, Uncle Donny places the peppers and the oil into a glass container atop the stove so that they are easily accessible, as they are used often and for many different things.  The fried peppers get crushed up and mixed into various pasta dishes, my personal favorite being pasta with fresh ricotta, while the olive oil gets used in everything from potatoes  and eggs to a midnight snack of dipping with a loaf of fresh Italian bread, for its rich, nutty, tangy favors tastes good on just about everything.  My favorite part, however, is the delicious smell that escapes as the peppers fry in the hot olive oil.  The aroma of the sizzling olive oil and crunchy peppers fuses together to make such a wonderful smell that as a kid I would routinely bring all my sweatshirts down into the kitchen as my mother fried, so that my clothing would become infused with the scent and I could retain it long after the stove had been turned off.   On my last visit to see Uncle Donny, he sat me down at the kitchen table, and with a threaded needle in one hand and a long hot pepper in the other, he demonstrated the first step of the process that has earned him the role of master fryer in my family, a role passed onto him by my great grandmother, Nana.  Nana taught Uncle Donny how to string, dry, and fry these fantastic long hot peppers, and in turn, he taught me.

            Why go through all the hassle of making your own ravioli when they come prepackaged and stress free in the supermarket?  Because making something yourself is not only rewarding, it’s fun.  I recently discovered that making ravioli from scratch is not nearly as difficult and time consuming as most people perceive it to be.  Although mixing the dough, rolling it out, and filling the ravioli is not something that I would recommend for a Monday night after work and before soccer practice, making dinner with your daughter or girlfriend on a lazy Saturday afternoon sounds like a perfect opportunity to experiment with something new in the kitchen.  Instead of using the traditional ricotta filling, try adding spinach to the mix or substituting for fresh mozzarella. Cream sauces compliment ravioli very nicely, so bust out the heavy cream and make the sauce your own by adding an ingredient that makes your mouth water like cognac or tomatoes.  So next time you’re feeling like shaking it up in the kitchen throw on some Sinatra, pour a glass of wine, and bust out the big rolling pin for homemade ravioli.

For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at: http://www.marialiberati.com and receive $5 off retail price

 (copyright 2008, Maria Liberati)

 I’m in the ‘food for love’  and love it truly is for this next recipe. It is one of my favorites and it is just as healthy for you as it is delicious…

It’s from my next book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking-Holidays and Special Occasions

Farfalle con  Ricotta

1 lb of butterfly (farfalle) pasta

8 ounces of frozen or fresh (washed and chopped) spinach

1 small onion finely chopped

½ cup ricotta (regular or low fat)

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley

2 fresh basil leaves

1 tsp of  fresh or dried oregano

Pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup of dry white wine

4 tblsps of olive oil

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

2 tblsps of milk

3 tsps of kosher salt

Heat oil in saucepan and sauté onions till just golden. Saute for 1 minute. Add in white wine and let liquid evaporate for 1 minute. Add in spinach and the ricotta. Stir while mashing ricotta with fork.

Add in milk, salt and pepper to taste. Let cook for 10 minutes.

Bring 6 cups of  water to boil for pasta. Add in kosher salt. Add in pasta and stir with wooden spoon. Cook for 8 minutes or time indicated on package.

Drain pasta and add into ricotta sauce. Top with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and mix gently and serve.

for more recipes, get your copy of  the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.comand receive $5 off retail price and free shipping for a limited time only.

Ciao for now

Maria

http://www.marialiberati.com

http://mariaandco.blogspot.com

http://themediterraneandiet-healthy.blogspot.com