Mozzarella in Carozza

This is Mario Batali’s idea of a grilled cheese sandwich. I made some earlier today for a late lunch, and I just LOVED them! Go easy on them though; any more than two half-pieces and you’re gonna want to reach for a defibrillator. All that cheese, oil, butter, egg, and cream is quite heavy on the heart (and the stomach).

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into 4 equal pieces about 3 inches by 4 inches
• Eight ½-inch-thick slices firm white sandwich bread
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• A grating of nutmeg
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparations
Place the mozzarella on 4 slices of the bread. Cover with the 4 remaining slices to form sandwiches. Trim the crusts off to make perfect 4-inch squares.
In a wide shallow bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the cream, thyme leaves, salt, and nutmeg and whisk until well blended.
In a 10- to 12-inch nonstick sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat until smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook until the sizzling subsides. Dip 2 of the sandwiches into the egg mixture, turning to coat, place in the pan, and cook until golden brown on first side, about 2 minutes. Flip over and brown on the other side. Transfer the sandwiches to individual plates and repeat the process with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, and 2 sandwiches. Cut in half, and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

Spaghettini con Carciofi, Menta e Aglio

If I were to pick a single favorite type of food, and if chocolate isn’t an option, then I would be pretty content if I ate Italian dishes every day. I’m always on the hunt for new recipes, because frankly, as lovely as it is, pesto gets pretty tiring if you make it each week.

I’m also a sucker for celebrity chefs, and Mario Batali is one of my heroes. I picked up Molto Italiano not too long ago, excited at the thought of whipping up fancy (and “authentic!”) Italian dishes. Sadly, the book quickly humbled me into admitting what a novice I really am and I haven’t opened it since.

I’m not giving up though. Tonight I came across Mario’s Spagettini con Carfciofi, Menta e Aglio. I’m hoping to try this out this weekend. Baby artichokes shouldn’t be too hard to find, but … Frascati??

20 baby artichokes
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
12 cloves garlic, peeled
6 ounces Frascati or other dry white wine
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
1/2-cup mint leaves
1 pound dry spaghettini

Peel and trim the artichokes, leaving the stems intact. Place in acidulated water.

Place the olive oil and garlic cloves in a 12 to 14-inch pan and place over medium high heat. Cook until the garlic is light golden brown. Drain the artichokes and place in a pan with the garlic and cook until tender (occasionally spritzing with wine, when necessary, to slow the cooking), about 10 minutes. Add the chili flakes and mint, stir through, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

Cook the spaghettini according to the package directions, until tender yet al dente. Drain the spaghettini and toss into the pan with the artichokes. Toss all over high heat 1 minute, then divide evenly among four warmed pasta bowls and serve immediately.

Penne with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

This is probably one of my favorite recipes. I love pesto because it’s so easy to make; the sun-dried tomato in this recipe makes it absolutely divine. The recipe comes from Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian cookbook (as well as on Food Network).

I would advise using good parmigiano reggiano that you grate yourself. Once you use the real stuff, there’s no going back to those tubs of parmesan at the grocery store.

12 ounces penne pasta
1 (8.5-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
2 garlic cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.

Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.