Hearty Puttanesca Pasta Sauce
Hearty Puttanesca Pasta Sauce is our take on a Neapolitan classic. While staying mostly true to the classic version, Hearty Puttanesca Pasta Sauce replaces canned tomatoes with tomato paste, yielding a thicker, heartier sauce which really clings to the pasta. The addition of toasted pine nuts, a subtle and rich nuance, brings unexpected yet wonderful flavor and texture to the sauce and we substitute fish sauce for mashed anchovy fillet. Serve Hearty Puttanesca Pasta Sauce over a fancifully-shaped pasta; we recommend radiatore, cavatappi or gemelli, for yet another level of interest. Start with a simple Wilted Arugula Salad before moving on to the main course accompanied by a Nero d’Avolo, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo or Sangiovese. Mangia e Buon Appétito!
Prep Time: 15 minutes, Total Time: 45 minutes. Serves 4 as a main course.
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Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake
Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake adds surprise layers of fresh strawberries and lemon curd to light and airy ricotta cheesecake. The strawberries and lemon just shout “Summer!” Making Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake with stevia instead of sugar will greatly reduce the carbohydrates count without impacting the flavor or texture; use our Keto Lemon Curd when making a keto version of this recipe as we did.
While many recipes call for using a bain marie or water bath when baking a cheesecake, it can be cumbersome. For most home bakers, it is difficult to execute properly and if you get a leak between the springform pan and the bain marie, you have a soggy disaster on your hands. While the water bath method is supposed to result in less cracking of the top crust, that has not been our experience. That said, we actually like some light cracking in the cheesecake’s top crust; it adds character. Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake is delicious! Serve it is or perhaps with a dollop of whipped cream. If you want, you can prepare a sauce made with fresh strawberries and some lemon juice and serve it on the side on the plate or allow guests to add their own or not.
For the crust: Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 35 to 45 minutes.
For the strawberry filling: Prep Time: 5 minutes, Total Time: 10 minutes.
For the cheesecake: Prep Time: 1 hour plus time to drain the whey from the ricotta, Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes.
Yields One 9 or 10-inch Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake.
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Beef Braciole
Beef Braciole are a true Italian treat and worth the time and effort to make them. Of Sicilian origin, braciole are enjoyed throughout Italy and in the USA too; while usually made with beef, braciole are also made with pork and even fish. Going the traditional route here, thinly sliced beef rolled up with cheese and other seasonings tucked inside are browned gently then simmered in tomato sauce until so tender that they break apart with a fork, no knife required. For a simmer sauce, consider using our Rosemary Marinara, Quick Tomato Sauce, or Marjoram Marinara. This recipe makes individual, small braciole versus a single large braciola which is served as individual slices.
Prep Time: 30 minutes, Total Time: 2 hours. Yields 8 to 10 beef braciole. Serves 4 to 5 persons.
Support Cook and Eat at Home. Purchase a PDF of the Beef Braciole recipe for $1.00
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Beef and Sausage Ragu
Beef and Sausage Ragù is a zesty, hearty sauce. I created it to serve with bucatini, which was my late father’s favorite pasta; it’s also great with baked macaroni made with ziti, penne or rigatoni. This recipe makes quite a lot of sauce. If you’re not using all of it at once, portion out the remaining Beef and Sausage Ragù into containers and freeze for future use within a month. Start with Breaded Cauliflower followed by your main course of Beef and Sausage Ragù paired with a Chianti for a real Italian dinner.
Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes, Serves: 8 over pasta.
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Beans and Escarole
Beans and Escarole an Italian classic and a long-time family favorite. As a side note, the Dutch oven pictured is vintage 1940’s Magnalite made from re-purposed post-war aluminum; it was used by my Mom for decades and now enjoys continued use in our kitchen.
Escarole, with its leaves of bright green and white, heart of yellow-green and white tender new leaves and lightly-bitter taste, combines with creamy cannellini beans and the panache of pancetta to make Beans and Escarole a cold-weather dinner favorite. Any leftovers should be refrigerated, then reheated gently and consumed within a day or two of preparation.
Select a fresh, firm head of escarole, avoid wilted ones or heads where the leaves are falling off the base, a sign that the escarole is not fresh. Cannellini beans are the traditional bean used in Beans and Escarole, but feel free to substitute small white beans or great northern beans. Using canned beans, as we’ve done here, makes for a relatively quick preparation. You can also start with dried beans which requires a little bit of planning ahead, see the note below regarding their preparation. Prepare Beans and Escarole with a Sicilian Orange Salad starter for a simple and satisfying Italian dinner.
Prep Time: 30 minutes, Total Time: 1 hours, 20 minutes Serves: 4
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Ricotta Cheesecake
Ricotta Cheesecake is New York Style Cheesecake’s light and airy Italian sibling. Substituting ricotta for cream cheese results in a lighter, less dense but still delicious cheesecake. Making the recipe with stevia instead of sugar will greatly reduce the carbohydrates count, which we estimate to be around 5 or 6 grams per serving without any topping; either way you choose to make it, Ricotta Cheesecake is delicious.
While many recipes call for using a bain marie or water bath when baking a cheesecake, we find it cumbersome. For most home bakers, it is difficult to execute properly and if you get a leak between the spring-form pan and the bain marie, you have a soggy disaster on your hands. While the water bath method is supposed to result in less cracking of the top crust, that has not been my experience. That said, we actually like some light cracking in the cheesecake’s top crust; it adds character and the small crevices serve as wonderful reservoirs for any fruit sauce topping you may choose to use or for the liquor, see the last step below, when serving the Ricotta Cheesecake.
Prep Time: 1 hour, Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes Yields one 9 or 10-inch cheesecake of 8 servings.
Support Cook and Eat at Home. Purchase a PDF of the Ricotta Cheesecake recipe for $1.00
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