Fabulicious!: Teresa's Italian Family Cookbook (26 page)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (process slightly stale bread with the crusts removed in the blender or food processor)

½ cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or Italian parsley (optional)

1.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly oil an 18 × 13-inch half-sheet pan.

2.
In a mixing bowl, toss together the potatoes, carrots, and 1 tablespoon of oil. Spread in the half-sheet pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

3.
In the same bowl, toss together the sausage, zucchini, red pepper, and 1 tablespoon of oil in the bowl. Add to the half-sheet pan with the potatoes and carrots and bake for 30 minutes, until the potatoes are almost tender. Season the sausage and vegetable mixture with salt and pepper.

4.
In a medium bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, grated cheese, garlic, oregano, and remaining tablespoon oil. Sprinkle over the sausage and vegetables. Bake until the crumbs are toasted and the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the basil, if desired, and serve hot.

Giuseppe’s Cheesy Chicken Bucatini

Makes 4 servings

I love, love, love bucatini! They are thick, but hollow, spaghetti noodles that suck up all the sauce inside so you get super-squishy, juicy bites.
Buco
means “hole” in Italian. Do whatever you want with that knowledge.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ pounds boneless and skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound bucatini or perciatelli

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat.

2.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Add to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Set aside.

3.
Add the bucatini to the water and cook according to the package directions until al dente. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil and the garlic together in the same skillet, stirring often, until the garlic is softened but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and lemon juice and cook, stirring up the browned bits in the skillet with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken and any juices from the plate and stir to reheat the chicken, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

4.
Drain the bucatini in a colander. Return to the pot. Add the chicken mixture, the grated cheese, basil, parsley, and butter and mix well until the butter melts. Season with more salt and pepper, if you like. Serve hot, with additional grated Parmigiano passed on the side.

Y
ou didn’t think I’d leave you without a happy ending, did you? Here are some of my family’s favorite desserts. They’re not all skinny, of course—although some are! (And as promised, none of them use vegetable oil!) I believe as long as you treat your body right, feed it healthy food, and don’t eat Olive Garden-sized portions, you can certainly splurge once in awhile. As my mama always says, “Life is short, pass the cannoli!”

Holy Cannoli Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Oh, do I love cannoli, but the shells can be a huge pain to make. They take so long, they have to be just right, and when they break, it’s game over. So one day when my girls and I were baking cupcakes (for Milania to take to school for her birthday), we decided to make a cannoli cupcake. It’s really a regular cupcake, filled with cannoli cream, and then topped with a special chocolate frosting.

I’m proud of my homemade cupcake recipe for 3 reasons: there’s no vegetable oil in it, it’s fairly light (½ cup yogurt and ½ cup butter instead of the traditional 1 cup of butter), and you can whip up the batter in a snap in a single bowl. All the dry ingredients get mixed together and then all the wet ones get added in.

Cupcakes

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

½ cup lowfat plain yogurt

1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cannoli Cream

1 cup ricotta impastata (see Juicy Bits from Joe,
page 168
)

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Cocoa Whipped Cream

1 ⅔ cups heavy cream

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup mini chocolate chips, for decoration (optional)

1.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Have your littlest helper put paper liners in a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

2.
To make the cupcakes: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter, yogurt, egg and yolks, and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes (set a timer), occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly among the cups.

3.
Bake until the cupcakes are golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan, transfer to a wire cooling rack, and let cool completely.

4.
To make the cannoli cream: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Transfer to a quart-sized resealable plastic bag. Using scissors, snip off ½ inch from a closed corner of the bag. You will use the plastic bag as a pastry bag to fill the cupcakes.