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July 30, 2014 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Tuscan Summer Dinner Series – Louisville

Tuscan Summer Dinner Series with Chef Gina Stipo
Join Chef Gina Stipo for three authentic Tuscan summer dinners showcasing fresh local produce, fresh pasta and Italian products at two long-standing Louisville institutions: the historic Pendennis Club downtown and Kathy Cary at Lilly’s Bistro on Bardstown Rd. Chef Gina has recently relocated from Tuscany to Louisville and is thrilled with this opportunity to share her love for great Italian food and wine.

The Pendennis Club
218 W Muhammad Ali Blvd
584-4311
August 16, Saturday at 6 p.m. ** Featuring wines by Banfi Vintners
Antipasti Misti – fried zucchini blossoms, zucchini and Parmigiano ribbons w balsamic,
Caprese salad
Tagliatelle con Limone e Timo – fresh made pasta ribbons tossed with lemon cream & thyme
Gallina con Vin Santo – Cornish game hens braised in Tuscan wine
Verdure del’estate Arrosto – roasted summer vegetables with fresh herbs
Insalatina del Orto – fresh garden salad
Torta della Nonna – “grandmother’s cake” – rich vanilla custard baked in a crust
topped with toasted pine nuts
Cost: $65 members
$75 non-members

Lilly’s Bistro
1147 Bardstown Rd
451-0447
Wednesday August 27th and Thursday August 28th at 6 p.m.
** Featuring extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegar from Oliva Bella
Antipasti Misti – panzanella, prosciutto with figs, pecorino toscano, pinzimonio
Ravioli alla Maremma – homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta, tossed with a
butter sage sauce
Porchetta – roasted pork loin, shoulder and belly seasoned with Tuscan herbs
Verdure del’Estate Arrosto – roasted summer vegetables with fresh herbs
Insalatina – garden salad with lemon and herbs
Pannacotta di Lavanda con Pesche e Aceto Balsamico – lavender cream with fresh peaches
and balsamic vinegar from Oliva Bella
Cost: $80

May 22, 2014 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

April showers bring May flowers

After all the cold rain of April we are rewarded with the burgeoning flowers of May. Poppies, roses and peonies cover the Tuscan landscape. Acacia is rampant along highways, turning miles of roads into soft white shoulders. Elder flowers dot dark elder bushes throughout the countryside and I’m preoccupied with how best to get at them while they’re in their prime. Both acacia and elder are edible and I love adding them to a simple fried antipasto along with baby artichokes and the big sage leaves that come out in the spring. It’s a brief, fleeting season and so we have to hurry.

Acacia smells beautiful, reminiscent of orange blossom, with white droplets bunched together like grapes, drooping from the branches. Acacia is everywhere and generally has branches that grow within reach, giving easy access to the flowers.

The elder (sambuco in Italian) has an unusual smell with large pale yellow lace-like flowers against dark green leaves. It is more difficult to pick as the bushes tend to grow on steep slopes on the sides of roads, maddeningly just out of reach.

I first fell in love with fried elder flowers when I was little girl in Italy and my mother learned how to fry them, which is common in the area around Verona. Not understanding the concept of seasons, I would bring flowers home all year long that I hoped were the right blossoms for frying. I was so often disappointed. Elder isn’t eaten or used much in Tuscany but in the northern regions they make tinctures and syrups of both the flowers and the berries.

The batter is the simplest thing in the world and you make just however much you think you’ll need for the flowers and leaves you want to fry. Put flour in a bowl with a little salt. With a whisk start pouring white wine and stirring to incorporate. Use just enough wine that you have a batter the consistency of crepe batter. Heat peanut or grapeseed oil on a high heat, dip your flowers into the batter and put them in the oil. Turn them when they’re golden brown, not too dark, and drain them on paper towels.

In the summer we have zucchini blossoms and sage leaves, but in the spring we celebrate the short season of acacia and elder blossoms. If you can’t find any flowers to fry, try small artichokes, zucchini slices and mushrooms. Buon appetito!

May 13, 2014 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Spring Artichokes

Stuffing an Artichoke

This is the season where we’re transitioning out of winter and into late spring and it’s the perfect time for artichokes. While in Italy we have a wide range of artichokes, from slender and purple to plump and green, in the US the most common is the globe artichoke and one of the best ways to enjoy them is stuffed.

The artichoke is actually the bud of the flower of a thistle plant and if allowed to grow on the plant they bloom into a thorny flower with a prickly purple center. Most of the artichoke is inedible and the only way to eat it is to make your way through the tough leaves to the cap-like center heart. In Tuscany we generally will clean the artichoke before cooking, cutting away, tearing off and scraping out the choke, then sautéing them with olive oil, garlic, lemon and parsley.

When you first begin to deal with artichokes, it’s difficult to throw most of the vegetable away, but once you embrace the reality that most of the leaves and the choke are completely inedible and tough and that you eventually have to throw it away anyway, they become easier to clean and prepare.

You can also find small artichokes right now, they come in packs of 12. These are the babies that grow on the plant late in the season. They are simple to prepare as they require less cleaning and there isn’t as much to throw away. Just cut off the top half of the artichoke, peel off the outer leaves until the leaves become pale green and yellow, trim the stem, and gently simmer them until tender, then stuff them. You would probably want two or three per serving.

Artichokes can seem intimidating but a little practice and you’ll soon be enjoying these delicious vegetables often! Stuffed artichokes make a lovely starter and are a delicious way to enjoy the bounty of the spring season.

Stuffed Artichokes

4 large globe artichokes

8 oz mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsp parsley, minced

1 tbsp basil, chopped

1 teas dried tarragon, or 1 tbsp fresh

3/4 cup grated Parmigiano

Sea salt

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

olive oil

hot pepper flakes

Cut the stem off the artichokes even with the bottom so the artichoke can sit up on a plate. Peel the stems, chop them and put them in a little water with lemon so they don’t brown. Cut the top off the artichokes about half way up and discard; with scissors, trim the tips of each leaf, discarding the smallest leaves that grown on the base of the flower.

In a pot big enough to accommodate all the artichokes, put enough water to come halfway up the artichokes, squeeze a lemon into the water, add salt, a garlic clove and 1 tbsp of dried tarragon. Place the artichokes in the pot, stem down, drizzle them with olive oil and bring to a boil. Boil 15 minutes and remove with tongs, putting the artichokes cut side down to allow them to drain. When cool enough to handle, open the artichoke flower and remove the hairy choke in the middle, scraping with a spoon. Place in a baking dish. (Or you can leave the choke inside and stuff them as is, discarding the choke and any inedible leaves at the table when eating.)

Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft, add the mushrooms and the chopped stems from the artichokes, and the hot pepper flakes. Sauté until softened, put in a mixing bowl and add the herbs, bread crumbs, Parmigiano, extra olive oil and salt. Stuff the artichokes with this mixture, packing it in the cavity as well as within each layer of leaves, drizzle with oil and bake at 400 for 20 minutes until browned.

October 28, 2013 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Bread of the Saints – Pan co’Santi

It’s called many things throughout Tuscany: Pan co’Santi, Pan con Santi, Pan di Santi; but they all mean the same thing and that is Bread of the Saints. A special walnut, raisin and black pepper bread made only during the fall for the feast of All Saints, or Tutti Santi, on November 1st, it can be a round loaf or a flat bread. The original feast day that gave birth to Halloween, which has taken Italy by storm in the past 5 years, All Saints Day is a national holiday with banks and stores closed all over Italy, followed by All Souls Day on November 2nd when Italians flood to the cemeteries to take flowers to the graves of their loved ones.

With the exception of the Feast of the Assumption, which they celebrate by closing up shop and going to the beach (or in the case of Siena, running a Palio) in Italy every special holiday has it’s own bread, dessert or pastry. They take a break during the hot months and so pan co’santi beginning in late September is the first herald of the food year. It is one of my favorites and a welcome change in the morning with a cup of coffee or a cappuccino. Most of the bars and stores offer at least one type, whether round loaves or baked flat like foccaccia. I like the flatbread sprinkled with sugar, crispy and chewy, nutty and sweet. They’re both great as a simple dessert with fruit and cheese.

My friend Stefano Valenti has a lovely tradition of making and selling special pan co’santi loaves to his friends and family. While he’s fourth generation in a baking family, he no longer bakes for a living, but he spends the week before Tutti Santi purchasing the expensive ingredients and taking orders. On the 30th of October he bakes dozens of loafs and on the 31st he and his girlfriend, my trusty assistant Sira, set up shop at home and welcome everyone as they come to purchase and pick up the loaves they’ve ordered. A lovely tradition to hang onto in troubled times in Italy!

Here’s a simple recipe, be sure to pack it full of raisins and walnuts and black pepper. Happy All Saints Day and Buon Appetito!

Pan co’Santi

2 ¾ cups flour

1 teas sea salt

2 teas black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1½ teas active dry yeast

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup warm water. Mix the flour, salt & pepper together, make a well and add the yeast and olive oil. Beat the wet ingredients with a fork, gradually incorporating all the flour until it forms a ball. Add the raisins and walnuts and knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic. Put the ball in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled. Take the ball out, knead it again for a few minutes, then shape the dough into an even round loaf, place it on parchment paper on a baking sheet and allow it to rise for 30 minutes, then bake it at 400° until brown. It will be done when tapping on the bottom produces a hollow sound. Remove it from the oven and brush the top with a beaten egg yolk.

To make a schiacciatta, or flat bread, instead of forming it into a round loaf after the first rising, let it rest for 30 minutes and then punch it out onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Sprinkle it with sugar and bake it immediately until golden brown.