Wanted:  A large Italian terrace graced with copious amounts of flowers and a breathtaking view. The terrace should feature an enormous table with seating for all my blogger friends. An open bar stocked with chilled Prosecco and San Pellegrino is a must. Please contact Cream Puff if you are in possession of such a terrace and are willing to sell. Cream Puff will pay any price!

An Italian terrace of my very own … now there’s a dream I’d love to see come true! While it may be awhile yet before I actually have a real Italian terrace of my own, it is possible to imagine that I have one right now, and you too, with Valentina Harris’ Recipes From an Italian Terrace.

Before I bought this cookbook, I was unfamiliar with Valentina Harris. It turns out she’s a noted cookbook author (she’s authored more than 30 cookbooks!) and she runs her own cooking school in Tuscany. So you can drop everything and run right over there to enjoy Valentina’s expertise in the area of Italian food and wine. Her school is called Villa Valentina, but I warn you now, visiting her website will make you cry with longing for the hills of Tuscany. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

So what type of cookbook is Recipes From an Italian Terrace? Well, it’s the kind of cookbook that makes you happy it’s August. It’s the kind of cookbook that makes you look at the simple, fresh ingredients around you and dream of all the wonderful possibilities. It’s the kind of cookbook that inspires and makes you hungry. It’s the kind of cookbook that makes you want to call a contractor and start plans on building a terrace. It’s that kind of cookbook.

Artichoke Pâté, Yellow Bell Pepper Boats, Frittata with Mozzarella, Rice-Filled Baked Tomatoes, Warm Seafood Salad, Stuffed Swordfish Rolls, Florentine Steak, Profiteroles with Ice Cream, Raspberry Semifreddo … I could go on and on and on. This cookbook takes all of the glorious summer foods and offers ideas on how to prepare them simply in order to maximize their flavour.

I’ve never made anything from this book so I knew that it would be a great choice for the Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month for August 2006. And now that July has passed, hopefully the steamy weather will go with it. Toronto reached a high of 36 degrees Celsius today, but it actually felt more like 48 degrees Celsius!In this kind of weather, the oven becomes the enemy.

But this is exactly where Valentina Harris steps in with her recipe for Mozzarella Farcita (Stuffed Mozzarella). Her recipe uses the most beautiful buffalo mozzarella as a starting point. While buffalo mozzarella was once nearly impossible to find, it is now widely available. Any reputable cheese counter should offer it so search it out and ask for it. Buffalo mozzarella comes in balls and is usually packaged in liquid. It is soft and delicate with an incredible milky sweet flavour. This cheese should be consumed quickly, while it’s fresh.

Harris’ recipe involves splitting the mozzarella into layers and then topping each layer with a filling of celery and smoked fish. As delightful as that sounds, I opted for something a bit different. I combined the first fresh tomatoes from our garden, shallot and basil leaves, along with Italian sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. I topped each layer with whole basil leaves and then piled on some of the tomato filling. A drizzle of olive oil, some more sea salt, a few cherry tomatoes and some Mediterranean olives to finish.

It couldn’t have been simpler, more refreshing or more delicious! So please join me all this month as we explore the glorious summer food of Recipes From an Italian Terrace.

And if you know of any abandoned Italian terraces requiring occupants to fill and enjoy it … I am most definitely interested!

Ciao!

Mozzarella Farcita (Stuffed Mozzarella)

Adapted from Recipes From an Italian Terrace by Valentina Harris.

• 4 buffalo mozzarella (weighing 8 or 9 ounces each), drained of any liquid and sliced into three layers
• 2 large or 4 small, ripe tomatoes
• 12 whole basil leaves
• 1 shallot, sliced finely
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper
• cherry tomatoes and black olives to garnish

1. Roughly chop your tomatoes so that you have small chunks of ripe tomato. Keep the tomato juices and put both the tomatoes and juice in a bowl. Add the shallot and drizzle with 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of sea salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper. Mix well and set aside for 30 minutes for the flavours to develop.
2. On a serving plate, place the first layer of each ball of mozzarella.
3. Top with a basil leaf and then sprinkle on some salt and pepper.
4. Put a spoonful or two of the tomato mixture on the basil leaf and top with the second layer of mozzarella.
5. Top each mozzarella layer with another basil leaf and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Put a spoonful or two of the tomato mixture on each basil leaf and top with the final layer.
7. Top each mozzarella with a basil leave as garnish. Drizzle with olive oil and with any reserved tomato juices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and garnish the plate with cherry tomatoes and olives.
8. Serve immediately.
9. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe serves 4. If you cannot find buffalo mozzarella, you can use whole milk mozzarella in its place.

Technorati tags:  buffalo mozzarella, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, tuscany, italy

Let me tell you a story.

There once was a girl, let’s call her Cream Puff, who had a dream. Her dream was to take part in her very first Sugar High Friday, hosted by spittoonextra.

Cream Puff planned long and hard to make her dream come true. She longed for Sugar High Friday #17 to come so that she could wax poetic about her dairy of choice … mascarpone.

But little did Cream Puff know that destiny would send a monster her way to try and spoil her plans. This monster, let’s call it Workasaurus, was mean and nasty. Workasaurus didn’t care about Cream Puff’s mascarpone masterpiece (ooh … alliteration!). Workasaurus only cared about getting the job done.

So Cream Puff and all her little co-worker cream puffs met Workasaurus on the battlefield. Let’s call the battlefield Workplace.

They fought long and hard. Days passed. Weeks flew by. There was blood, sweat and tears. But in the end, the cream puffs emerged victorious!

Ecstatic in the glory of victory, Cream Puff decreed that the only thing in the world that could truly mark the importance of such a victory, was mascarpone.

So this SHF#17, we sing the praises of dairy. We sing the praises of mascarpone. We sing the praises of Mascarpone Cheesecake with Candied Pecans and Dulce de Leche Sauce.

The End.

Ciao!

Mascarpone Cheesecake with Candied Pecans and Dulce de Leche Sauce

Recipe from www.epicurious.com. You can view the recipe here.

Cream Puff’s tiredness after battling Workasaurus has resulted in her offering the link to the original recipe (above) as opposed to typing it out here.

Cream Puff assures everyone that she followed the recipe, with the exception of one minor change. The original recipe instructs you to wrap the spring-form pan three times with aluminum foil. Cream Puff felt that wrapping the pan in aluminum foil twice would be more than enough. Cream Puff is happy to report that it was.

This cheesecake was fantastic! Cream Puff highly recommends it.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: sugar high friday, SHF, cheesecake, dulce de leche

I must admit that I’ve cheated slightly when it comes to the third round of the Weekend Cookbook Challenge hosted by Alicat of Something So Clever. You’re supposed to pick a new recipe from a book that’s been languishing in a corner of your home somewhere. Technically, this book has been languishing on The Overburdened Bookshelf. But I actually rescued it about a month ago from my cookbook jungle and flipped to a recipe that I’d wanted to try for a long time.

Which cookbook, you ask? The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten.

What recipe, you ask? Orange Yogurt.

Why haven’t I used this cookbook more often, you ask? Because every time I look at it I am reminded of Ina Garten’s kitchen and I am forced to suppress pangs of overwhelming jealousy.

What made me finally change my mind, you ask? A renewed interest in yogurt.

Lately, I’ve been reading an awful lot about the health benefits of yogurt. Apparently the "friendly" bacteria that live in yogurt, which is a form of fermented milk, are very good at protecting our intestinal tracts. It’s also an excellent source of important nutrients like calcium.

Oh yes … and it tastes good. I have always loved the slight tartness of yogurt. It’s versatility is also impressive. You can eat yogurt at any time of the day. You can use it in both savoury cooking and in baking. You can add a variety of foods to yogurt including fruit and nuts. It’s fairly inexpensive, and you can even make yogurt at home.

I’m not sure if it’s because my bones have been thirsting for more calcium lately, or maybe it’s because my tastes have changed, but I’ve really been craving yogurt of late. And every once in awhile my mind would flutter back to an episode of The Barefoot Contessa that I saw where She-of-the-Kitchen-That-I-Envy prepared a recipe for Orange Yogurt.

It was very simple. A container of plain low-fat yogurt was placed in a sieve lined with cheesecloth and allowed to drain overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, the thickened yogurt was mixed with the zest of an orange, freshly squeezed orange juice, nuts, raisins, honey and vanilla extract. How hard is that?

Not having any cheesecloth handy, I used paper towels, which worked just fine. While I’ve tried this recipe with many different types of yogurt, the one I use most often is a brand called Liberty, which is made in Quebec. I like to use the organic plain yogurt that contains 2.5 per cent milk fat. Granted that may not qualify as "low-fat", but we all have our little indulgences!

I am always surprised at how much liquid drains from the yogurt. This time around I decided to measure the liquid. I was surprised to see that 2/3 of a cup had drained from a container of 750 grams of yogurt. And just as soon as I finish marvelling at how much liquid drained from the yogurt, I begin salivating at the sight of the thick and creamy deliciousness that is left behind.

I add the zest and juice of an orange and about a 1/4 cup of honey. I also like to add nuts … lots of them. My current favourites are walnuts and slivered almonds. I omit the raisins, but do sometimes add chopped dried fruit. I’ve tried apricots and figs, but this time around I used dried prunes, which were delicious. While I have added vanilla extract in the past, coconut fiend that I am, I’ve been using a few drops of coconut extract recently. To further indulge my coconut tooth, I will add a bit of dried (or fresh) flaked coconut if I have some on hand. I love the contrast in flavours between the coconut and the orange. I give everything a good stir and for the next few days, I have the most delightful breakfast you can imagine. What a perfect way to start a weekend morning.

"Orange" you lovely? You bet you are!

Ciao!

Orange and Coconut Yogurt

Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten.

• 1 container of plain yogurt (750 grams;whichever brand you like; whatever level of fat content you like)
• zest and juice of one orange
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup prunes, roughly chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut (I use dried but if you can find fresh … be my guest!)

1. Line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels. Spoon the yogurt into the sieve and place in a large pot in the refrigerator to drain overnight.
2. Remove the yogurt from the sieve and place in a large bowl. Add the orange zest, orange juice and honey and mix well.
3. Add the nuts and prunes, mix well.
4. Finish by adding the coconut extract and flaked coconut. Mix well and cover and refrigerate for an hour before serving.
5. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will yield approximately 3 cups of yogurt.