Simple Recipe's Chicken Piccata

The other night I made the Chicken Piccata from Simple Recipes. Though I wish I would have taken the time to pound my chicken out a little thinner, the results were very good. I mean, come on, there's capers in the sauce! How could you go wrong? I had it with some roasted brussel sprouts.

grilled salsiccia sandwiches

This weekend the weather is decidedly less wintry. Spring-like. So gorgeous. I needed this...our winter has been really depressing and yucky. I know it's not over yet (there is talk of snow tomorrow, even...), but at least we have a couple days of sunshine and open windows and flip-flop wearing and grilling!!!


Yup, Jack fired up the grill, and made us a nice little supper. He made some patties from salsiccia and grilled them, topped them with provolone cheese and onions and green peppers that had been sauteed in bacon grease. A simple dinner that made me see the light at the end of the winter tunnel.

Pollo alla Cacciatora alla Nigella alla...Sorta

Lately I have actually been getting up early enough on Sundays mornings to catch Nigella on the Food Network. It kind of chaps my hide that they only play her at 9:30 am on Sundays, without any re-runs, but they play Rachael Ray and such all the dang time. Same with Jamie Oliver's new show...it's only on 8:30 on Saturday mornings! Is that really when his demographic is watching TV? Do they even want his show to succeed? O.K., enough of the ranting and on to some food.

So this past Sunday, Nigella made her "Express" version of Chicken Cacciatore. Looked easy and yummy, so I made it tonight. I strayed from her recipe, though, and mine wasn't quite AS express as her. But it was still pretty darn simple and really darn tasty.

Sorta-Nigella, Sorta-Iron Stef Chicken Cacciatore

-1/4 lb. bacon, chopped
-2 Tbsp. olive oil
-1 medium white onion, chopped
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-2 shallots, chopped
-2 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
-2 tsp. fresh thyme, stripped from stems
-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut into quarters
-1 tsp. celery salt
-3/4 cups white wine
-2 cans diced tomatoes
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-1 can cannelloni beans
-salt & pepper

In dutch oven, cook bacon in olive oil until brown. Add onions, shallots, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Cook until starting to soften. Add chicken pieces, in batches, getting some brown coloring on them. Sprinkle chicken with celery salt as you cook them. Once all the chicken is browned, but not necessarily cooked through, add everything back to the pot and add white wine. Scrape any yumminess from bottom of pot and bring everything up to a boil. Add tomatoes and sugar, cover and simmer for like 30-45 minutes. Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper as needed. Add drained cannelloni beans. Cook until beans are hot. If needed (I needed it) add a slurry of cornstarch and cold water to thicken. Serve over whole wheat egg noodles with freshly shredded pecorino romano cheese.

This was good tonight, but I have a feeling that tomorrow it will be even better. Three cheers for Chicken thighs!!!

In the Gnudi

This month's issue of Martha Stewart Living has a whole section on dumplings from all over the world. I love dumplings! What's not to love. Anyway, I'd like to make them all. I started with the gnudi from Italy. Most google searches about gnudi turn up the same description...they are like ravioli filling without the pasta. Martha's gnudi are made with ricotta and spinach and parmesan cheese...this seems to be the most common way. Of all the dumpling recipes featured, this one seemed the most accessible for a weeknight dinner...no dough to make, no wrapping to do...just little lumps of goodness. So I got to it. Here's the recipe...not verbatim, but nearly. I used the easier to find corn meal instead of thier recommended semolina for dusting. I also used part skim ricotta instead of fancy schmancy fresh whole ricotta.

Spinach Ricotta Gnudi

1 ½ lb. fresh spinach, large stems removed, washed well
2 large egg yolks lightly beaten
¾ cup ricotta cheese, drained for 30 min in a fine sieve
¾ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons AP flour
½ tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
Coarse salt & fresh pepper
Corn meal, for dusting
4 Tablespoons Unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons Roughly chopped sage leaves, plus about 8 whole leaves

1. Steam spinach until bright green…about 3-5 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly, then use a kitchen towel or cheesecloth to squeeze out any remaining liquid. You should have one scant cup of spinach. Puree in a food processor.

2. Stir together spinach puree, egg yolks, cheeses, 2 Tblsp flour, nutmeg, 1 tsp salt and pepper.

3. Mound 1 cup flour on a cutting board. Using floured hands gently shape 1 Tablespoon of the spinach mixture into a small log. Drop it into the flour and roll quickly to lightly coat. Transfer to a baking sheet that’s lightly coated with corn meal.

4. Boil the gnudi a half batch at a time, stirring gently to keep them from sticking together. Cook until gnudi rise, and remain on the surface.

5. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and 1 ½ Tablespoon of gnudi cooking water, cook on low for 5 minutes, season with salt and pepper.

The flavors of this were great, however half of my gnudi fell apart into mush! I don't know if I didn't cook them long enough or if it had something to do with the lower fat content of my rocotta or what. These are very delicate dumplings. The ones that survived made for a very nice dinner. I loved the bright green coor of them. Wouldn't they be pretty with my Beet Gnocchi?!?!



As for the mush...I couldn't let it go to waste! It still tasted good no matter what form it ended up. So I stirred in the rest of the sage butter and stuck it in the fridge for future use.

I intended to make ravioli. I broke out the ol' pasta machine, and had Jack give me a lesson in pasta-making. It's not hard, but it takes patience. It's sooo worth it, though. We made whole wheat pasta using this recipe. We did have to add some water to make it work, just as someone comments on allrecipes. Once we had it rolled out into sheets, we contemplated stuffing and shaping and cutting. Jack pulled out a round glass and used that as a cutter.


He made a little tortellini, and it looked so cute and was so easy that we decided to do those instead of ravioli. Tortellini have a much more satisfying chewyness than ravioli anyway. I keep saying tortellini, but upon further review, Jack thinks we ended up making Cappelletti, or "little hats." It's a slight difference between the two. Tortellini are more ring-like...said to be inspired by Venus' belly button. I can't find much about different stuffed pasta shapes on-line except this handy-dandy guide to pasta shapes.


Each "whateverini" had about a teaspoon of filling in it.


We spread some water along the rim of the circle, then folded it in half over the filling, pushing as much air out as possible.


Gather the tips in and pinch together. Voila! A delicious little hat!




Whatever we made, they were good. The smooshed gnudi made a perfect filling, and the fresh pasta? Well, that's always a pleasure. I made more sage butter to go on top of them, as I really liked the way it went with the filling flavors.

Shrimp & Polenta vs. Shrimp and Polenta

I had a roll of store-bought. I had some shrimp. I wanted them to unite, but I wasn't exactly sure what direction to go. Jack suggested a Shrimp Polenta Battle! We've done something similar with shrimp before, but not for the same night! Sounded fun to me.

Allez Cuisine!

Ironstef's dish:

Pepperoncini Shrimp with Pancetta and
a Balsamic Reduction over Polenta

-1/4 olive oil
-3 tablespoons minced pepperoncini
-4 cloves garlic-minced

-1/2 bag frozen shrimp (medium), thawed.

-4 slices pancetta.

-2 1/2 inch slices of polenta from a pre-made roll.

-Reduced balsamic vinegar: heat 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and 1 tsp. honey in sauce pan over med/high heat until reduced by more than half. It should be a syrup consistency.

1. Cook pepperoncini and garlic in olive oil for about 6 or 7 minutes. Taste and adjust flavor using salt and pepper. Set aside while you cook polenta and pancetta, to let the flavors infuse into the oil a bit more.

2. Cook Pancetta in a skillet until crispy. Remove pancetta and add the slices of polenta to the skillet (add some oilve oil to the pan if the drippings from the pancetta don't seem like enough to cook the polenta). Cook until well browned on both sides.

3. Add shrimp to pepperoncini oil and just heat through. Spoon shrimp and sauce over fried polenta disc, drizzle with balsamic reduction and garnish with the pancetta.

Challenger Jack's dish:

Honey Chipotle Shrimp
over Polenta
-2 tbsp minced garlic
-2 tbsp minced shallot
-1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced fine
-1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced fine
-2 tbsp olive oil
-1/2 chipotle pepper, seeds removed, minced
-1 tbsp adobo sauce
-Honey to taste (a teaspoon or 2)
-1/2 package frozen shrimp (medium)
-Salt

Sautee garlic and shallots in olive oil with a pinch of salt for 30-45 seconds. Add the chipotle pepper and adobo sauce. Add honey until you reach desired sweetness. Stir until heated through. Add frozen shrimp and cook until heated through. Remove shrimp and reduce remaining liquid until slightly thick. Return shrimp to heat and toss with the diced bell peppers. Heat through and serve on 1/2 inch polenta slices that have been fried in skillet with butter.

So who's cuisine reigned supreme? Well, we didn't actually score them or pick a winner. It was all in fun, and both were really really tasty. Next time, though, I'm springing for better shrimp. Frozen medium cooked shrimp are cheap for a REASON!

What would you do with the secret ingredients?

calamari chain restaraunt style

Last week I was out of town for work. We were in the Bloomington/Normal Illinois area, and based on nothing but a hotel magazine advertisement, we chose a place called Biaggi's for dinner. It's a small chain Italian place, but I had never heard of it, as there are none located anywhere near the STL. I was quite pleasantly surprised by how good the food was! For an appetizer we had the Calamari Alla Griglia, "Tender marinated calamari, lightly grilled and served over arugula with extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar" and it was probably the best calamari I've had anywhere. It was grilled, which was a first for me, and I loved the slight smokiness.

So I had a bag of frozen calamari waiting for me in the freezer, and decided to pull it out to try and replicate Biaggi's for a quick and easy Monday night meal. Well, it wasn't quite so easy because I was apparently being far from smart that night...I ended up ruining the seasoning on our cast iron skillet that Jack had worked for about a year to get to where it was. Yeah Balsamic vinegar AND frozen seafood liquid are big no-nos...I just wasn't thinking. Oh well, I salvaged the meal using another pan, and now I get to learn how to season cast iron!



The calamari was pretty good. I cooked some garlic in olive oil, then added balsamic vinegar, liquid smoke (to try and get that grilled flavor...our grill is out of gas) and salt and pepper and then the calamari. I cooked it probably about7 minutes? Somehow I managed to NOT overcook it. Yay! Then I served it over a bed of Arugula. I'm beginning to love arugula more and more. Its peppery bitterness compliments so many things. In this case the sweetness of the calamari and vinegar. It was good, although next time I'll thaw the calamari fully first, and rinse it and dry it. I had to pour a lot of liquid out during cooking, and there was absolutely no carmelization. Also, the calamari was a little fishy tasting...I think rinsing might have helped that...or marinating it for an hour or so...



My favorite part of the meal, and something I'll probably be making a lot, was the improvised side dish of cannellini beans and roasted red pepper. I sautéed some garlic in olive oil, added a can of the beans, salt and pepper and a roasted red pepper from a jar, which I chopped up. I'm always looking for new, easy side dishes.




The next day I had the leftovers for lunch...I added the beans to leftover calamari and arugula and ate it cold, like a salad. Like a really good salad.

gnocchi can't be beet!

Over the weekend I was going through a stack of loose recipes that I keep in a binder. I really need to organize that thing. Anyway, I came across a page torn out from Bon Appetit from October 2004. One of the recipes on the page is Beet Gnocchi with Rosemary. Sounded good to me. I've never made gnocchi from scratch. Jack has...the regular (but unbelievably delicious) potato kind. I thought the beet gnocchi would be fun because of the deep red beets. I had no idea how fantastic and surreal the color would be! These fellas were bright pink! Here's the dough (before I added some more flour because it was way too wet):

This photo has not been altered in any way. It was THAT bright!

Here's the recipe. I'll put my personal notes in bold type.

Beet Gnocchi with Rosemary

8 first-course or 4 main-course servings

3 small beets, trimmed
1 pound fresh ricotta cheese (I used part skim ricotta from the grocery store)
1 large egg
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups flour, divided (I had to add more flour to the dough. use your judgement)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 3-inch-long fresh rosemary sprigs

Additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in foil and roast until tender, about 1 hour.
Cool 15 minutes. Slip skin off beets; discard skins. Coarsely grate beets. Place 3/4 cup grated beets in large bowl (reserve remaining beets for another use). Stir in ricotta, egg, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix in 1 cup flour. (Gnocchi dough can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Lightly dust baking sheet with flour. Place remaining 1/2 cup flour in small bowl. Using tablespoon measure as aid, scoop dough into rounds; transfer to bowl with flour, then roll each into 1 1/2 inch log. Hold in palm of hand and gently
press centers with fingertips to make slight indentations (I formed the gnocchi using this method. The way the recipe had them seemed way too big). Transfer gnocchi to prepared baking sheet. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Melt butter with rosemary sprigs in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Cook until butter begins to brown, about 3 minutes. (I took the rosemary springs out at this point. the butter had been infused with plenty of rosemary flavor.)Set aside.

Working in batches, cook gnocchi in large pot of simmering salted water until gnocchi float to surface, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook 1 1/2 minutes longer. Using slotted spoon, transfer gnocchi to skillet with butter and rosemary. Heat butter and gnocchi over medium heat, stirring gently to coat. Transfer to plate; sprinkle generously with additional Parmesan cheese and serve.

Check out this army of little pink pasta:


To go with them, I cooked a roast in the crock-pot. It was a chuck roast, and I added about 1 1/2 cups of Chianti, a few sprigs of rosemary and 5 garlic cloves which I crushed a little bit. I cooked it on low for around 8 hours.



For something green, I cooked the beet tops and some spinach. I cut the beet top stalks into small pieces (about half inch) and sauteed them for a few minutes with 3 chopped cloves of garlic and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. I added about 1/4 cup of water and a tablespoon of sugar and some salt and pepper and let it cook down for about 3 minutes. Then I added the torn up beet leaves and spinach and let them wilt and cooked everything for about 2 more minutes.


The gnocchi was the highlight of the meal. Not only was the color delightful, the slight beet flavor went really well with the rosemary butter. The greens had good beet flavor, too, and I liked the way they went with the richly flavored meat.

4th of July-potato salad and muffins

This year Independence Day was on a Wednesday. So what to do on a middle of the week holiday with scattered thunderstorms? COOK! I made potato salad in the morning and whittled down my zuke child in the afternoon.

The potato salad was completely dreamed up. I had a bunch of small red potatoes to use up, and I have been craving some sort of potato salad involving capers. I love capers. So here's what I came up with (my recipe writing skills are wanting...please taste as you make this):



Iron Stef's Italian-ish Potato Salad

Salad:
13 small red potatoes, boiled whole for about 20 minutes, peel on
Handful of diced prosciutto
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a 3.5 oz. jar capers-drained through hand
1 roasted red pepper (from a jar)
2 tsp. olive oil

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup Olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tblsp. Dijon mustard
Salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.

To Make: while potatoes are cooling, sauté prosciutto for a couple of minutes, then add olive oil and garlic and cook until everything just starts to brown. Set aside to cool. Cut potatoes into bite-size pieces, put into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together. Add capers, roasted red pepper, prosciutto mixture and vinaigrette to the potatoes and stir (I used my hands, because my potatoes were overcooked and I didn't want to mash them too much). Refrigerate until it's time to eat!

The muffins were kind of a combination of this recipe for "savory zucchini bread" and Just Hungry's Basil Parmesan Zucchini muffins. Here's my final recipe:



Parmesan Basil Zucchini Mini-muffins

2 1/2 cups biscuit mix
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. each garlic powder, red pepper flake and nutmeg
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Dash of hot sauce
2 tbsp. minced fresh basil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup olive oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten (I used egg substitute, because I had it and needed to use it)
3 cups shredded zucchini (I didn't drain mine, which is why there is so much more bisquick than the original recipe)

Combine ingredients, fill mini-muffin tin (about 3/4 full per cup) and bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!

big giant smooshed sandwich

Summer time is picnic time. Every Wednesday I try to make it to the Missouri Botanical Gardens for the Whittaker Music festival. Basically, it's free admission to the gardens to hear some live music and hang out with friends. We usually have an array of snack foods...cheese, sausage, olives, etc. And some wine, of course. Yesterday, since I had a vacation day, I decided to make a big sandwich to share with everybody. I got the idea for this sandwich from the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. Here's the original recipe.

My pesto consists of basil, garlic and olive oil. I added a few drops of sesame oil for nuttiness, since I was out of pine nuts. And salt and pepper of course. I also added some fresh parsley, because I had it.

For the rest of the sandwich I grilled eggplant, zucchini and red pepper, much like the original recipe:



The bread I used was LaBrea Pane Italian. It's one of my favorite breads, and it was the perfect size and shape for this sandwich. For the meat I used cappicola ham, and for the cheese I used an aged provolone.


I assembled the sandwich about 5 hours before picnic time, wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in a large pyrex baking dish, with another baking dish on top which I filled with bottles of water. The end result was fantastic. The picnic didn't happen, though, due to weather. I went over to my brother's house instead and he and my sister-in-law helped me eat the giant smooshed sandwich.

carbonara!

Last night I made Pasta Carbonara Florentine, a recipe from Cooking Light. Here's the recipe (I didn't follow it to the tee...see my notes after the recipe):

Pasta Carbonara Florentine
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 (6-ounce) package bagged prewashed baby spinach
6 slices center-cut bacon, chopped
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons dry white wine
8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
1 large egg white
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and spinach; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, stirring constantly. Remove spinach from pan; place in a bowl.

Add bacon to pan; cook 3 minutes or until crisp, stirring frequently. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan; set bacon aside. Add onion to drippings in pan; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add wine; cook 1 minute or until liquid is reduced by half. Remove from heat; keep warm.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well, reserving 1 tablespoon cooking liquid. Immediately add pasta and the reserved cooking liquid to onion mixture in skillet. Add spinach and bacon; stir well to combine. Place skillet over low heat.

Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, cheese, pepper, egg, and egg white, stirring with a whisk. Add to pasta mixture, tossing well to coat. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve immediately.

Things I did a little differently:
-I sauteed the spinach in garlic and olive oil instead of cooking spray
-I used more than one cup of onion...probably almost 2 cups...I just used the whole onion. I also added 3 cloves of chopped garlic when I cooked the onion. I didn't measure the wine, but since there was more onion, I used a little more wine, too.
-I used more pasta, too. a whole pkg. of whole wheat fettucine.
-I added an extra egg white to make sure the extra pasta/onions got all nice and coated. I may or may not have added more cheese, too...so much for "cooking light"... :)

The verdict? Yummy! Silky and subtle and great with the Feudo Arancio Grillo Sicillia (also the wine I used in the sauce...I'm not a huge white wine drinker but this one will make more appearances this summer, for sure). Next time I'll add a bit more bacon and spinach, I think, but other than that, a good, simple meal.

gnocchi-dokey!

Last night I whipped up a pretty easy dinner that turned out really yummy. I was looking to make something that would go well with a Zinfandel I had, and in my research, Italian sausage kept popping up. I also had some gnocchi that I wanted to use. I came across this recipe for gnocchi with Italian sausage and spinach, which sounded pretty perfect.I decided to add baby portabellas and zucchini also.

First I cooked the gnocchi and set it aside. Then I cooked the salsiccia and set it aside on a paper-towel covered plate. I poured off a little bit of the sausage grease, but left about 2 tablespoons of it in the pan. I used this and bit of olive oil to saute onion and garlic (4 cloves) until it was soft and translucent. Then I added the chopped zucchini and mushrooms and cooked until they were just soft (the zucchini still had a bit of bite). then I added the salsiccia back and cooked for a couple of minutes before adding the cooked gnocchi and raw baby spinach. I stirred everything together and cooked it until the spinach was just wilted, about 1 minute. that's it! Pecorino Romano cheese on top, of course!

final product still in the pan:
mmmmm...cheese:


here's the wine that started the whole thing:

It went very well with the meal. It's a very fruity wine, and complimented the spicy, salty sausage and highlighted the freshness of the zucchini and spinach.

Naked in Italy

I was watching No Reservations the other night *of course* and what came on but a commercial for a new show, which starts tonight. This got me very excited and happy. Why? Because it’s a new JAMIE OLIVER show! We have not been getting enough Jamie Oliver here in the states for a looooong time. TLC showed his “School Dinners” show one week, but that was it.

The new show is “Jamie’s Great Italian Escapes” and it’s on tonight (Wednesday) at 7 (central). Dare I forgo my embarrassing habit of watching America’s Next Top Model? I think that I should. Jamie is much much better for my brain.

This reminds me, a month ago or so someone sent me an e-mail with a Word document attached which claimed to be Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook “Naked Chef 2.” It said it was released by an angry insider at the publisher before the book was to be rsomethingr aomething. The word document is indeed filled with more than 100 Jamie Oliver recipes (I recognized some of them from teevee), but I hadn’t heard anything about a so-called “Naked Chef 2,” so I put my goodies gumshoe hat on and, well, I just checked it out at Snopes.com. Yeah, they are all Jamie Oliver recipes, but it’s not an actual book. Someone just compiled a bunch of his recipes, which were available all over the internet already, and put them on one document.

And remember, TONIGHT! New show! *squeeeee!*

My weekend food

Friday Night I went out to this restaurant called The Edge for my friend Scott's birthday. The place is in Lafayette Square, and it's a pretty cool joint. There's a really nice dining room for fancier dining, a brick and wood bar area for drinking and dining with your fellow Mafia members, a room for parties (that's where we were) and I think there was another more casual bar/dining area off the main dining room. They were pretty accommodating considering 12391234894 of us showed up...without a reservation. They were able to do separate checks and bring everyone the right food.

I had the "Rigatoni a la Edge," which was rigatoni in a red meat sauce with mushrooms, peas and prosciutto. It was good...and there was a HUGE amount of it. Enough left over for almost 2 lunches! Came with a house salad (Mel said it was pretty close to Pasta House's salad), and Cheese garlic bread. I had a couple of glasses of the House Chianti, which I thought was so-so...It was pretty fruity and tangy...I like a more buttery wine. I should have tried their house Cab, but things were just too hectic.

Then most of us headed over to this piano bar up the street called The Heights. It's a really cute bar, patronized mostly by gay men (but anyone should feel welcome there). I just had a couple of Gin & Tonics. The bartender was very good. They have food there, but obviously I didn't try any that night. A couple of my friends love the Brunch they have every Sunday...I'll have to join them some time.

Saturday night, before going to a trivia night, we went over to my aunt's house. They had ordered Stefanina's Pizza. St. Charles dwellers know the place well. They do have really good pizza. It's kind of along the lines of Imo's, but heavier on the toppings, and the cheese seems gooier.

Sunday night we stayed in and had one of my favorite types of meals...Warm bread, olives, Fontinella cheese, Lebanon Balogna and Mortadello. I love eating this way...an Olive oil dip here, a slice of cheese there, an salty olive followed by a swig of fruity, rich red wine. Heaven.