Many of us in this area have citrus trees in our yards. I adore the burst of color they give a winter garden. It is a comfort when my roses are pruned and bare to see all of the citrus in full production mode. I consider citrus to be one of my personal culinary obsessions, an addiction that leads to much marmalade.
Currently, I have Meyer lemons, pink lemon, lime, tangerine, kumquat and navels. My pink lemon tree is new and is beautiful with its variegated leaves. This tree is bright and healthy, so much so, that it made me see how badly some of my other citrus on the property are faring these days. The leaves on my lemon trees that grow against my flower sink are yellow, the same with the leaves on the navel and lime. What happened here?
First, I realized they are malnourished. With the first day of spring less than a month away, I worked with my gardener to put a fertilizing schedule into motion. Any type of organic citrus food will help with a multitude of issues for your trees. It’s best to fertilize in early spring and again in early summer. Most of these types of fertilizers have nitrogen in them and the nitrogen needs the sun to activate all of the magic- this is why we don’t fertilize in the winter. Always be sure to read over the instructions for feeding the right amount to your trees.
Benedetta got me going on the marmalade train. Here is her recipe for marmalade. It makes good use of extra fruit, looks gorgeous and has a variety of applications. Try it drizzled on your favorite roasted chicken recipe, as an accompaniment to a cheese platter or smeared on your breakfast toast. You can use it for any citrus…I just made some with tangerines.
Benedetta’s Marmalade
2 pounds blood oranges or pink grapefruit (or citrus of your choice)
1 1/3 cup sugar
With a toothpick poke the fruit 10 times and submerge into water for about 3 hours. After they have soaked, slice the fruit in 1 centimeter slices (discarding the ends) and place in a pot with the sugar. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for about an hour. Taste for sweetness adding more if need be. After the liquid thickens remove from heat and let cool. Store in a glass container in the refrigerator, or can using the manufacturers’ instructions.
This pasta is incredible, the dough was the driest I have ever made and I’m convinced that was the secret to its fantastic consistency. Hands down, this is the best pasta I have ever eaten! Give this recipe for tagliatelle with duck ragu a try, I assure you, you won’t be disappointed. Benedetta asked me prepare the pasta while she was teaching the class. We used my handy-dandy kitchen aid mixer with the pasta attachment for ease. Once the dough became a nice texture on the first level, Benedetta instructed me run it through the machine 2 times on level 3, 2 times on level 5 and once on level 6. I would make about three sheets of pasta and then put it through the tagialetelle cutter, so it would not dry out too much. After the noodles were cut we put them on a cookie sheet with a handful of semolina flour, tossing occasionally. Then add the recipe part noted below.
Tagliatelle al sugo di anatra : Tagliatelle with Duck Ragu
Serves 10
For the ragu
1 duck
1 white onion (diced)
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon juniper berries
4 bay leaves
salt
freshly ground black pepper
About 1 quart vegetable or chicken stock (homemade if possible)
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving
For the pasta
½ pound all purpose flour
½ pound semolina flour
7 yolks plus 3 whole eggs beaten
Preparing the Ragu
Cut the duck in large pieces. Chop the onion and sauté in oil and butter in a deep skillet until it begins to soften. Add the duck and gently brown it on all sides, turning occasionally. Raise the heat to high, add the white wine, and boil till it evaporates completely. Add the juniper berries, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cover with the stock. When the liquid begins to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 60 to 90 minutes, until the meat is tender enough to fall off the bone. Allow to cool, then remove the bones and skin from the meat. Shred the meat. Put back into sauce and set aside. Reheat over low heat just before serving.
Preparing the pasta
On a large, flat, smooth surface, put the flour in a circular shape and make a deep well in the center of the flour and pour in the eggs. Slowly incorporate the eggs into the flour with a fork or your fingers, or alternately, use and electric mixer at a low speed. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes until it is smooth, elastic and shiny. If you use your electric mixer, let it knead the dough for about 8 minutes. If at any time during the kneading the dough becomes too hard to knead, just add a little water. If it is wet enough to stick to your hands, add more flour.
Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes before you roll it out, either by hand or using a pasta-rolling machine. Make sure to use plenty of flour as you go along to prevent the pasta from sticking. Roll to the thickness of noodles which is a bit thicker than for ravioli and other filled pastas. The dough may then be cut into tagliatelle, ribbons about ¼ to 1/3 inch wide, using a pasta machine. Alternatively, they may be cut with a knife by hand into maltagliati – short, wide strips with diagonally cut ends.
Drop the pasta into abundantly salted, boiling water and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until just al dente. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than dry pasta, usually in 3 minutes or less. Drain the pasta, top with the duck ragu, and serve immediately, accompanied by freshly grated parmesan cheese
Shopping tip: Duck slaughtered and delivered the day of the cooking class by Gary Carpenter of Carpenter Squab Ranch. 5207 Casitas Pass Road, Ventura, CA 93001-8701 p: 805 649 1474
I was extremely honored to host acclaimed chef, Benedetta Vitali. Bene (as friends call her) is chef and owner of Restuante Zibibbo in Florence, Italy. In 1979 she and her former husband co-founded Cibreo where Bene was the pastry chef. Then 10 years ago, she went out on her own, and again, has found tremendous success. I was fortunate to meet Benedetta through my chef and mentor Kim Schiffer. Kim had the privilege to work for her at Zibibbo a few years ago. Many notable chefs from Tom Douglas, to Michael Tusk, favor her exceptionally prepared food. During her tour thru California she had cooking engagements at Sur la Table, Quince, Chez Panisse and lucky me…my kitchen!!!
For the next couple of weeks, I will share recipes and tips from my time with Benedetta. Her food is truly extraordinary. It was practically a religious experience eating her pasta with duck ragu. The texture of the pasta alone was so incredible, nothing compared to that pasta coupled with rich and tender duck pieces….ah, see what I mean? Not only is her food amazing, but so is her spirit. Bene believes in the goodness of fresh food and the power of a woman. Where is a picture of Rosie the Riveter when you need it?
Crostini al pate di fegato (or for you and me) Chicken Liver Crostini
Since we had fresh ducks on hand, we did a combination of duck and chicken liver. However, here the recipe calls for just chicken liver. Assembling this was a true art form. Benedetta made quenelles of the pate drizzled with warm marmalade and served alongside toasted bread.
Serves 10
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion minced
1 stalk of celery minced
I carrot peeled and minced
1 1/4 pounds chicken livers, coarsely chopped
4 salted anchovies, boned, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
5 tablespoons capers, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons cognac
Salt
Up to 1/2 cup meat stock or water
1/4 pound (one stick) unsalted butter
1 pound dense white bread
First, prepare the soffritto. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and saute, stirring often and watching constantly, until the soffrito is a nice golden brown, about 10 minutes. At this point, add the livers, anchovies and capers. Mix well, add the Cognac and only a little salt (because of the anchovies). Cook for about 10 minutes until the livers are pink inside, but have no trace of blood. If you need more liquid to complete cooking, it would be best to use stock.
Remove the pan from the stove and puree the contents, still hot, in a food mill, a food processer or blender. If you use a food mill, you may want to beat the puree with an electric mixer at high speed to obtain a smooth, elegant texture. Mix in the butter, which should melt into the mixture if it has not cooked too much.
To make the traditional wet crostini, cut the bread into rounds about 1/2 in thick with or without the crusts, of whatever size you wish. Toast the rounds well, so that they are completely dry both outside and inside. Otherwise, when the stock is poured on, the toasts will collapse. To serve, put a generous tablespoon of the liver puree on each toast round. Place the crostini on a serving platter. Pour a ladelful of warm stock just before serving. If you prefer, you may omit the stock and serve the crostini dry.
For Valentine’s Day, I made these heart shaped sugar cookies for my daughter’s class. What sets these cookies apart is that they are made with wheat flour and a little less sugar than most sugar cookie recipes. They are still tasty, bake up chewy in the center and crunchy on the outside. To decorate, I used royal icing, but they also taste great plain.
The batch makes about 18 -24 cookies.
3 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting (I buy mine at Trader Joe’s)
½ cup semolina
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Sift dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream sugar and butter in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix eggs in one at a time and scrape the bowl with a silicon spatula to free up the stuck butter and eggs that form on the side. Add vanilla followed by dry ingredients and until fully incorporated.
Turn dough onto plastic wrap and form into a flat rectangular shape. Freeze for about 30 minutes until dough hardens (you can also put it in the refrigerator overnight).
Preheat oven to 325 (convection is preferred, but not mandatory)
Prepare two lined baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface, until about 1 centimeter thick. Cut with cookie cutters starting from the outside and moving your way to the middle. Take the scraps to then form another disk shape and repeat…if dough is too soft return it to the freezer for 15 minutes to harden up a bit.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes rotating the trays in the oven after about 8 minutes. Cool on wire racks completely before decorating.
