Cucina DiBella

Apple Strudel

As I mentioned in a prior post, the food of Trentino-Alto Adige closely resembles the cuisine of Austria and Germany.  This is again demonstrated in the classic dessert of the region: apple strudel.  This dish is traditionally Austrian, but can be found all over the region of Trentino-Alto Adige.  Strudel di mele in Italian, this dish is warm and homey and delicious. 

However, making this dish from scratch did give me a lot of trouble.  To make it correctly, you must have dough that is stretched to an extreme thinness.  It would have been much easier to buy either refrigerated dough, or to use phyllo dough.  Instead, I tried to make my own dough.  Though it came out fine, when I tried to roll it out I didn't get the desired thickness.  Instead of a thin crust on my apple strudel, I ended up with portions that were much thicker and doughier than it is meant to be.  In fact, my attempt was such a stray from what an apple strudel is supposed to be that I am not even going to include a picture.  It's not that I'm embarrassed at how it turned out, it's that I don't want anyone to scan this post and think that the picture of my apple strudel is how theirs should look.  Instead, I will point you to Academia Barilla, which has great step by step pictures of how to make apple strudel.

The good news is that even if your apple strudel doesn't look like it should, the combination of apples, cinnamon, sugar, rum and raisins is still killer.

Apple Strudel (Strudel di Mele)

Adapted from Academia Barilla

Ingredients:

For Filling:

Puff pastry sheet or homemade dough (see below for instructions)

2 pounds Granny Smith apples

1/2 cup raisins

4 ounces dark Rum

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sliced almonds (or pine nuts or walnuts)

For homemade dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups lukewarm water

1 teaspoon salt

Process:

1. If making your own dough, mix the flour, water and salt together in a large bowl.  Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.  Form into a ball and knead for about 8 minutes.  Let the dough sit, covered, for 30 minutes. 
2. Peel and slice apples thinly.  Soak the raisins in the rum for about 1/2 hour.  Pat dry.
3. In a large bowl, mix the apples, sugar, cinnamon, almonds, and raisins.
4. Whether using homemade dough or a puff pastry sheet, roll out the dough to about 2 mm thick.  The dough should be so thick that you can see the table through it. 
5. Put the apple filling on top of the dough.  Gently roll the strudel up like a jelly roll.  Prick the strudel with a fork.  Brush with butter and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake on a prepared cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 40 minutes.

Ryan's rating of Apple Strudel - 3.  I think we both agree on this one.  It was a nice change of pace, but we're both apple crisp people at heart.

Pork Chops with Blueberry Sauce

One of the common combinations in Trentino-Alto Adige is mixing meat with fruit.  Chicken with juniper berries, pork with apples, lamb with blueberries.  It's an interesting pairing, and to be honest, I was a little scared of what the result would be.  I love savory foods, and I couldn't seem to wrap my head around mixing meat with something that I drool over as a pie filling.  But, I trusted the Italian cooking ability (when has it ever led me astray before?) and chose to make pork with blueberry sauce.  Living in Maine, great blueberries are easy to come by at this time of year.  The result was great.  Even while eating it, I was trying to comprehend how these tastes were working together and couldn't figure it out.  I guess it's time to just let it go, accept that this dish was great, and enjoy it!

Pork Chops with Blueberry Sauce

Adapted from Rock Recipes

-Makes 4 servings-

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons garlic

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 tsp thyme

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup blueberries

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons butter

Process:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium to medium high heat.  Cook the pork chops about 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.  If using thicker pork chops, finish off in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes.
2. Saute the garlic in the skillet for about 3-4 minutes.  Add the blueberries, balsamic vinegar, chicken stock, thyme, and brown sugar.  Simmer over medium heat to reduce the volume by half. 
3. Add the lemon juice and butter.  Simmer another minute to let the sauce thicken.  Spoon over the pork chops and serve!

Ryan's rating of Pork Chops with Blueberry Sauce - 5.  I'm beginning to see a pattern...I think Ryan is biased towards all things pork...

Parmesan Potato Pancake

I have decided that one of my favorite kinds of foods are those that you can butcher the structure of and it will still be delicious.  That's what this potato pancake recipe is for me.  In trying to flip the pancake over I managed to completely demolish its structural integrity.  Trying to put it back together just made it look like some weird potato version of Frankenstein's monster.   So my technique on this one definitely needs some work.  Luckily, I did have one intact piece that was big enough for a picture. 

Regardless of how it looked, this really was a delicious recipe from Trentino-Alto Adige.  The flavor of the onion really comes through, and the parmesan adds just the right amount of saltiness. Other than using it as a side dish or a first course, this would be great as a breakfast side dish. 

(I promise, this isn't really burnt that much, it's the lighting that's making it look darker than it is!)

Parmesan Potato Pancake

Adapted from Food Network

-Serves 4 as a first course or side dish-

Ingredients:

2 pounds yellow potatoes

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Process:

1. Peel the potatoes and grate them using a food processor.  Squeeze the grated potato in a clean washcloth to get rid of any excess water in the potatoes.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and cook about 4 minutes until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
3. Put the onions in a large bowl.  Add the grated potatoes, parmesan cheese, basil, salt and pepper.  Mix everything together.
4. Put 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same skillet used for the onions.  Heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot, spread the potato mixture ito the edges of the pan.  Press it down firmly and make sure that it is even throughout the pan.
5. Turn the heat down to medium and cook 12-15 minutes or until the pancake is golden brown on the bottom and moves easily in the pan.  Flip the pancake onto a large plate. 
6. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and turn heat up to medium-high.  When the oil is hot, return the pancake to the pan, cooked side up.  Cook for another 12-15 minutes or until cooked through.  Turn heat down to medium if the pancake is cooking too quickly.  Remove from the pan and serve!

Ryan's rating of Parmesan Potato Pancake - 4.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

The region whose cuisine I am researching this week is Trentino-Alto Adige.  Nestled in the northeast corner of Italy, the gastronomy of Trentino is very interesting.  Much of the traditional food of this region resembles traditional German or Austrian food than traditional Italian food. Some of these foods include bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and goulash.  Trentino is also well known for a product called speck, which is a kind of prosciutto. 

Speck makes its way into many of the region's dishes, particularly in antipasto dishes.  The antipasto dish that I made last night is traditionally Speck Wrapped Asparagus.  However, my local grocery store doesn't sell speck, so I used prosciutto instead.  This is a super quick and simple antipasto that you can put together with minimum prep work.  This will even please people who don't like asparagus (like my husband).  But then again, I guess you can wrap prosciutto and mozzarella around anything and it will work for most of us meat-eaters.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Adapted from Rustico Cooking

-Makes 4 bundles-

Ingredients:

12 asparagus spears

1 teaspoon salt

4 slices of prosciutto

4 slices of fresh mozzarella

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Trim the white ends off of the asparagus.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Add the asparagus and salt.  Cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Drain the pot and put the asparagus in a bowl of ice water.  Leave for a minute and then drain again.
5. Lay a piece of prosciutto on a counter or cutting board.  Place 3 asparagus spears on the prosciutto in a triangle shape.  Roll the asparagus in the prosciutto.  Repeat with the rest of the asparagus to get 4 bundles.
6. Place each bundle on a cookie sheet.  Top each bundle with a slice of fresh mozzarella.  Bake for 5-10 minutes, just until the mozzarella is melted.

This works fantastically as an antipasto dish or as a side dish for a meal.  I have to push for the fresh mozzarella on this dish rather than pre-shredded.  The fresh mozzarella is silky and delicious, and I don't think shredded would do the trick in this dish.

Ryan's rating of Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus - 4.  Not bad for someone who doesn't like asparagus!