Clementine panna cotta

Guess what? The most delicious dessert in the world is also the super easiest thing to make! How often does that happen?

Phil's boss was coming for dinner (doesn't that sound retro for some reason?) and I was going full-on Italian for the main course so I thought panna cotta sounded really good. It's yet another example of cultural culinary cross-pollination--it's basically vanilla pudding...or flan..or crème brûlée, sans the brûlée. I made my version with zest and juice from clementines because I love winter citrus right now. At the end I drizzled a little honey that had been melted together with orange liqueur right over the top for extra flavor. Start by sprinkling one packet of unflavored gelatin over 3 tablespoons water. Let it stand while you take care of everything else--it should absorb for 5-10 minutes.

Now heat up 1/3 cup of sugar with 3 cups heavy cream. Yes, that sounds insane, just typing it down here. Three cups of cream! You must be out of your damn mind. Substitute in a cup half-and-half to help make up the 3 cups, if it makes you feel better. I'm pretty sure that's what I did.

Heat it up quite hot, almost to a boil, until the sugar has all dissolved. Zest in your clementine and squeeze in some juice too. If, let's say, you wanted to make it cardamom flavored instead, or maybe vanilla-ginger or something, this is where you'd add those flavors. I just stuck with the citrus but it's a really great blank canvas.Remove it from heat and pour over the gelatin mixture.
Stir it all up until completely dissolved...you can see here how it is already getting thickened.
Now! You have probably ordered panna cotta at a restaurant and it came out all cute and molded onto a plate and topped with berries or something. That's a lovely way to do it and if you want to go the molded custard route, go ahead and grease up some ramekins so they will unmold properly after the panna cotta has set. But! If you are lazy and/or afraid of unmolding something and having it break right before the boss comes to dinner, go ahead and pour it into cute cups instead and skip the unmolding part.
Here's my cute cups. My bestie Jocelyn and I accidentally stole them from a roommate when we were very young and lived in a huge dirty old house with a bajillion other people.
I feel kind of bad about it now but it was a really long time ago.
I think it would be weird to track him down on Facebook and return them at this point, right?
I had a bunch leftover so the rest went into espresso cups and came to work with me the next day. Teeny espresso cups are perfect for panna cotta! So cute.
They chill for at least 2 hours. Mine went overnight--this really is the perfect make-ahead dessert!
And for a drizzle on top--I heated up 2 tablespoon honey with 1 tablespoon orange liqueur...
And just spooned it over the top in a puddle.
A little twist of clementine peel on the very top et voila! You are done with dessert.

Bolognese di due madri

This sauce has two mommies.We spent a recent weekend in the company of our parents and it was a really lovely time. My mom wanted to make a bolognese sauce for dinner with Phil's mom, and who can say no to that? The two of them puttered around the kitchen--Phil's mom taking notes and my mom scooting around doing everything at top speed, as usual. I got stuck prepping ingredients/doing dishes, and tried to grab a few pictures along the way. This sauce uses a combination of 1/2 pound baby back pork ribs and 1 pound ground sirloin. My mom was really pleased with the way the meats turned out together for the sauce--it isn't too heavy but does develop a nice, deep flavor from the bones. Start by seasoning the ribs with salt and pepper...Then brown them in a tablespoon of olive oil, along with a handful of chopped onion (you'll need about 1/2 a chopped onion, in total, by the way--you'll be adding some to the ground beef as it browns as well).She browns the two meats in separate pans. I cut corners here and do it all together--don't be like me. Be like my mom. (But it makes extra dishes.)Over in a big sauce pot, she crumbles in the ground sirloin, and browns it with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and the rest of the chopped onion.We are a short people.When the meats are browned, add about 1/4 cup of red wine to each pan to loosen up all the good fond.And make sure to do the pork ribs too. Here they are, sizzling in the wine she just poured in. They will get loose and a little bit saucy right away.Now you can just pour everything from the rib pan into the big pot along with the rest of the meat and take it from there. Now you add a 28-oz can of tomatoes to the pan--but use whole tomatoes and puree them smooth before adding to the sauce. I just stuck my immersion blender right into the open can and whizzed them smooth. You can also use a regular blender or just squish them up with your hands in a bowl. Any way you do it, just get your whole tomatoes in smooth form, then pour them in.And then add about 1/4 can's worth of water as well.The most important is to taste as you go along. You add just a little salt at a time as you go along.And add in 2 bay leaves.And grind in pepper, as needed. Taste, taste, taste.Here's where things get a little Sicilian. Jocelyn gave me this lovely little container, made of cinnamon bark...Turns out it holds cinnamon sticks perfectly. Makes sense, right? You add 1/2 of one cinnamon stick to the sauce, along with 1 teaspoon sugar. And let simmer all together for one hour.Cover it to keep from over-reducing as it simmers.And taste. Taste, taste, taste.My mom brought her own pasta with her, packed in her carry-on. That's commitment, right there. Any nice big pasta will do fine here though--this isn't a sauce for thin noodles. Boil in plenty of salted water until al dente.Your sauce should be looking and smelling wonderful right about now, with the pork ribs just falling off the bone. Our next-door-neighbors said they could smell it all the way down the block.Allora, è finito. Enjoy this fabulous sauce with some fresh grated parmesan at the table.And, lest you think only moms rock the kitchen, here's evidence that my father is no slouch either: he made us some fresh baked bread in time for dinnerHe uses the no-knead dough recipe that I have made here before...but his turns out better, of course.

(many thanks to Emily, for thinking of the idea for this post and reminding me to take pictures of the moms cooking!)

Gnocchi di zucca with fried sage leaves

This is an all-time classic! My mom makes these gnocchi all the time and taught us how some years ago. This is a really easy fresh pasta that is much easier to work with than the classic potato gnocchi which can get starchy and gummy pretty easily and cause all kinds of tears and heartache. Squash gnocchi will never break your heart! Finish them off with fried sage and butter and you're in for fall. After a few years of making these, I have settled on kabocha squash as the best kind of sweet winter squash for this recipe. Don't let that dissuade you though, if you happen to have a nice butternut or acorn squash hanging around! But if you're going out to get one specially, look for the round, green kabocha. Also known as Japanese pumpkin! They are super sweet, low-moisture and just about perfect. Slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Roast it at 400 until soft or microwave it if that's how you usually do. Scoop out the soft, yellow good stuff into your food mill.If you happen to have a food mill, anyway. I do. I got it from my mother. You just crank the handle until whatever you are milling comes out smooth, getting out any extra fibers and seeds that might be in there. It's particularly great for potatoes and squashes because it doesn't over-compress the natural starches, which can turn everything gummy. If you don't have one, don't worry about it. Just pick out any stray seeds and kind of mush it all up until smooth with a fork instead. Add one egg, salt, pepper, and about 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese to your squash and mix it all up together.Now you need to add flour. This is where it gets unique and personal. If your squash was on the bigger side (or if you used one of the more watery types), you'll be needing more flour. If you had a little bitty squash, maybe you don't need so much. I add 1/2 cup at a time, mix to incorporate, then add another 1/2 cup and so on. I used about 2 cups total this time in particular.It should all come together into a lumpy ball of dough with a pretty, pale orangey-yellow color. I'd like to paint a wall in that color actually. It's very cheerful/soothing. Now I'm going to show you how I made these gnocchi for most of my adult life. It's definitely the most tedious part of the process--and if your dough is sticky, you might find it better to let it rest in the fridge for an hour or so first so that it is easier to work with. We'll call this Method One. First get a coating of flour on your counter top...
Pinch off a piece of dough and roll a snake, like this is play-doh time and you're riding high in kindergarten.
Lay out your snake... And slice into one inch pieces. Tine each piece with your fork.And voila! One gnocchi. OK, now for Method Two. Bring your big pot of salted water to a boil...Pinch off a tiny piece of the dough, about the size of the tip of your thumb.And drop it in the boiling water. Voila. One gnocchi.Guess which method I'm utilizing more frequently these days? For a special occasion dinner, I will certainly roll-and-slice via Method One because they do look nicer that way...but of course, they taste the same. Now, no matter what method you use, they'll need to boil but it doesn't take long (maybe 5 minutes, tops?) so let's hurry up and fry our sage leaves for on top.Get some olive oil and butter (about 1 1/2 tablespoons of each) going over high heat.Toss in your sage leaves and spread them out so they can crisp up. Yes. Gorgeous. They sort of absorb the butter/oil and become velvety but crunchy. Does that make sense? Anyway--they delicious. Shut off the heat and go check on your gnocchi. When they're done, they float up to the surface. Like I said, takes about 5 minutes at most.Drain the gnocchi and dump them into your butter-sage pan to roll around a bit. Then put them all out on a big platter, turning over a couple of the pretty sage leaves for on top. Shave a few thin slices of parmesean cheese over the top as well. This is an amazing fall meal! Make it for your friends and enjoy.