Italian Night - hosted by Amy McReynolds

Margherita Pizza

Cornmeal

1 recipe “thin crust pizza dough”

1 C. fresh tomato sauce (recipe below)

1 ½ C. sliced fresh mozzarella

5 fresh basil leaves, torn

Directions

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees. If using a pizza stone set stone in oven to preheat as well.
2. Divide dough in half (other half can be frozen and used later), shape into 2 balls. Roll dough on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin to 12-inch rounds. Remove the Stone from the oven once it is done “pre-heating” and sprinkle with cornmeal, transfer dough to the stone.
3. Spread with warmed tomato sauce and top with mozzarella. Drizzle olive oil on top and a small amount of fresh ground sea salt. Bake about 8-9 min. or until crust is golden and crisp. Scatter with basil leaves and serve.

Thin crust Pizza Dough (makes 2)

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

2 Cups flour

½ tsp. sea salt

¼ cup olive oil

Directions

1. Stir the yeast, sugar, and ¾ C. warm water together and set aside for 5 min.
2. Pulse flour and salt together in a food processor. Stream in the yeast mixture and oil through the feed tube while continuing to pulse until a shaggy dough is formed.
3. Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead for 5 min. until dough is elastic. Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl. Cover with a dampened towel. Let rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
4. Punch the dogh down to deflate, cover and let rise for 30 minutes more.

Meatballs (makes 13)

1 lb. ground chuck

4 eggs

4 oz. pecorino Ramano cheese, grated

¾ C. fresh bread crumbs

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ to ½ Cup of parsley, minced

¼ to ½ Cup of onions, minced

Form into the size of a large egg and cook at 400 degrees for 25 min.

Fresh Tomato Sauce (serves 6)

8 large tomatoes, very ripe

Coarse sea salt to taste

4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped

½ cup Italian parsley, or Basil minced

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425

Slice each tomato in half, remove seeds and set, cut side up, in a lightly oiled oven dish in one layer. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, garlic, and parsley or basil. Drizzle olive oil over all. Place in the oven for about 30 to 45 minutes, or until the tomatoes are very soft and juicy. You can serve as is and just toss with pasta or let cool a little then pour contents in to a blender to mix (blended sauce is what you will need for pizza sauce).

*when tomatoes are in season I make about 4 casserole dishes of this all at once, blend it up, then pour it into Tupperware containers and keep it in the freezer to last the whole winter!

Creamy Tomato Sauce

In a sauce pan melt 2 TBSP. of butter over medium heat, stir in 2 TBSP of flour. Slowly pour in 1 to 2 Cups cream, stir over medium heat until thickened then add to fresh tomato sauce until you achieve a good ratio of red and white sauce.

Fresh Pasta (serves 8)

3 C. Semolina flour (you can find this at Tony Capputo’s deli)

1 tsp. Kosher salt

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

2 to 3 TBSP water

1 TBSP olive oil

Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl, then move flour to sides of bowl to create a well in the center. Add the remaining ingredients to center of bowl. Mix wet ingredients with a fork and slowly mix in flour from sides of bowl. Should look like bread crumbs once all mixed together. Dump out onto a counter and knead for 10 minutes (a long time but the dough really needs that long to moisten and soften.) Let rest on counter, wrapped in plastic, for about 30 minutes to an hour. Cut ball into quarters. Wrap the dough balls you are not using and flatten one into a rectangle.

*Feed through the pasta machine starting at #1 setting. Fold into thirds and feed through #1 setting again – (keep folds on the sides and open end into machine). Continue this process of feeding through largest setting, folding into thirds, and feeding into widest setting again a couple more times. Then feed through #2 setting, #3, and on down to #7 (just one time for each setting and no more folding dough). Dust well with flour throughout the process as needed. Cut the long pasta sheet into 8” segments , then feed through the cutter. Let the pasta dry on your counter top for at least an hour then cook it or you can put it in ziplock bag and freeze it.

*Or if rolling out by hand roll dough until it is so thin you can see the table through the dough. Dust the dough with a good amount of flour then very loosely roll up the dough. Cut into 1/2” wide segments, gently toss pasta with fingers in flour until strands unravel. Let dry for at least an hour on counter, then cook or put in ziplock bag and freeze it.

To cook – bring a pot of salted water to a boil then add the pasta and cook for only about 1 – 2 minutes, it is very fast so keep and eye on it! The frozen pasta cooks the same way.

*****This dough does not save, so when you make it, you must roll out and cut all of it because it goes bad – even in the fridge.

Oreo Truffles

• 1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Let cool in refrigerator for about 30 min. then roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter. Put balls in refrigerator for at least an hour before dipping in chocolate.
2. Melt chocolate in microwave, then refrigerate so the chocolate is still melted but not too hot. Dip balls in chocolate by using a fork and spoon chocolate sauce over the ball; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

This recipe can be done with nutter butter cookies, or mint oreo cookies. Also almond bark can be used instead of Semi-Sweet chocolate for the coating. You can also dip in the semi-sweet chocolate then after hardened swirl white chocolate over the top.