To make the best cannoli filling you have to start with fresh made cheese that you forking made yourself.

Fresh made cheese is only whole milk, heavy cream fresh squeezed lemons and a little kosher salt. You bring the milk, cream and salt to a slow boil and let it go a few minutes.

To make it curd you slowly add the fresh squeezed lemon juice till it curds as much as you want.

For cannoli filling I want it to curd more than ricotta because I want my cheese thicker so when I add sugar to sweeten the cheese it doesn’t get forking runny.

Now it’s time to drain the cheese.

So I get a paper towel lined colander.

Let it drain.

Now I have Cheese.

I make three flavors of filling.

Vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon.

The vanilla is just vanilla extract, sugar with a drop of anise.

The cinnamon is just cinnamon, a small amount of vanilla extract and sugar.

The chocolate is coco powder, vanilla extract, a drop of anise, a pinch of cinnamon and sugar.

I used one gallon of milk, 1 quart of cream, 2 fresh lemons and maybe 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt to make the cheese.

I saved somewhere between 1/4-1/3 of the cheese to make Cheese Gnocchi’s with the forking leftover.

Ricotta Gnocchi

On my search type in Ricotta Gnocchi for the recipe.

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I’ve been making Cannoli’s for a long time now. A while back  back I tried out the basic five recipes for Cannoli’s. Some forking fell apart. One came out too hard and thick. Some seemed good but got baked on to my cannoli tubes. None of those were perfect and sometimes the batter was so dry you couldn’t make a dough out of it. I figured out how to do them best learning a little from all the recipes so I made my forking own recipe.

Ingredients (will make about 18 smaller sized shells)

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon sugar

pinch kosher salt

about 1/8 cup water

about 1/8 cup wine

about 1 beaten large egg white (use 1/2 in recipe and half to seal)

A little extra flour for dusting your rolling pin and table or mat.

Mix up butter and sugar together. (doesn’t need to be creamed) Add flour and salt then combine. Add wine and water mix well. You will need to add about 1/2 of one large beaten egg white to form the dough. Mix well and let rest 1/2-1 hour.

Roll out thin. Either cut into desired sized squares or cut in desired sized round shapes. I find it easiest to pinch off maybe a scant teaspoon size of dough and roll it out in sort of a round shape on a dusted silicone mat.

Apply loosely to tube.

Use remaining 1/2 beaten egg white to seal shells together on tube.

Deep fry at 350 degrees in a neutral oil until crisp and desired color.

When cool remove from tube.

When still warm dust the shells with powdered sugar.

I recommend filling with home made ricotta cannoli filling. Other options are ice cream or whipped cream mixed with custard.

Since you fired up the fryer you might as well make potato or vegetable chips.

Rutabaga and Potato Chips with a light sprinkle of Sea Salt. (just slice thin, blot dry and fry till crisp)

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Cardoons

I don’t come across  cardoons often so I thought I’d make something tasty and special out if it. They look sort of like celery but thought of  Cardoons as an artichoke since it’s from the artichoke family and thought it would be forking delicious fried with Parmesan and fresh herbs. After all isn’t anything forking fried delicious that way.

Cardoons are more work than most vegetables.

Cardoon

By the time it gets to your market most of the forking thorns and leaves are removed but not all.

Remove small thorns on each side of the stalks and peal the fibers from the stalk tops.

Then you cut the Cardoons in pieces.

Now at this point almost everyone boils  cardoons in vinegar laced water. The cardoons are forking bitter but boiling the cardoons till tender in vinegar water improves the flavor. Then set your Cardoons in something to drain.

Now were forking ready to cook!

Ingredients

One Cardoons bunch (some are small some are big already cleaned up and cooked in vinegar laced water with a little Kosher Salt)

1 cup panko crumbs or grated artisan bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

scant 1/4 cup crushed hazelnuts

sprig of fresh oregano chopped fine

small sprig or half of large sprig fresh rosemary chopped fine

1 small garlic clove minced or chopped fine

1 small spicy chili chopped fine

2 beaten eggs

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Fresh Ground Sea Salt

Canola or vegetable oil to fry with

Directions

You need Two large bowls.

In your dry bowl you want your panko or bread crumbs, hazelnuts, parmesan and 1/2 of your chopped herbs, garlic, and chili. Add salt and pepper.

In your wet bowl you have your beaten eggs with the other half of the chopped up spices and add salt and pepper.

Get your Cardoons.

and now dip in egg mixture and then in dry mixture and do them all.

Now your ready to fry!

Hopefully your fryer or fry pan is at around 350 degrees.

Try one tester piece of cardoon and see how it fries.

They only need a minute or so on each side.

After your batch is fried when they are still hot you should taste one and decide if you want to add more fresh ground Salt and pepper to them.

Crispy Cardoons with reduced Balsamic Drizzle

They come out very tasty and forking delicious and crispy. I think this might be the best way to eat cardoons.

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Kumquat Marmalade

Anyone can make forking Marmalade. It’s  any Citrus or combination of citrus with their peals that’s boiled with water and sugar.

I had some Kumquats so I made them into Marmalade.  The Kumquats should be sliced in half longways so your marmalade doesn’t look the same as forking orange marmalade.

Kumquats next to an orange

Ingredients

8oz package of Kumquats (rinsed off) and cut in half longways. Remove seeds if you see any.

1 Cup Sugar

3 Cups Water

Pinch of Kosher Salt

(optional one mildly spicy but fruity orange colored pepper chopped fine) A fresno or an Asian Wrinkled Pepper just to add a little punch.

Directions

Put everything in a sauce pot. Bring to slow boil on medium heat and stir occasionally. Let it boil down until it looks like Marmalade.

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Asian Inspired Tuna Salad

Every so often I have to think up a different way to do everyday tuna salad. This is a salad recipe that you just have to forking wing. Everybody wings egg salad and all those salads but I did note the ingredients I used.

The base of this salad is made from heart healthy white miso. The white miso is low in calories and almost fat free. I did add a very small amount of thinned down with water light mayonnaise to get it to be more like dressing.

One of the main flavorings in the salad came from roasted mashed white turmeric. The white turmeric is similar in flavor to ginger but is far more edible and can be eaten raw. I used small or VERY small amounts of, mirin, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce.

I also added prepared horseradish, fresh scallions, heirloom daikon radish (watermelon radish) and a small amount of fresh cilantro.

I would recommend to only use your favorite packaged tuna because I wouldn’t waste expensive ahi tuna doing this.

The salad really does pop with flavor and makes a pretty light, healthy but flavorful cracker topping.

Or would be great on a salad or a sandwich.

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Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread Pudding comes out very moist and very flavorful and sweet but not too sweet. Instead of heavy cream I used low fat light coconut milk that does the same thing and adds another layer of flavor.  This pudding gets layers of sweetness by the naturally sweet Kabochca Squash, (that some people call pumpkin) white sugar, dark brown sugar and the main more flavorful sweetness from dates. The perfect amounts of spices make it very balanced in flavor. For a dessert it’s relatively healthy because it’s mostly made of fiber rich squash.

Ingredients- you need one lightly greased baking dish and your oven set to 350 degrees.

One pumpkin or squash cooked and cleaned up cut or broken into bite size chunks. (I used 1lb. 13 oz. of squash after it was cleaned)

One 13.5 oz. can light coconut milk

14 oz. loaf of plain bread torn in chunks

5 whole eggs beaten

2 oz. melted butter

17 dates chopped

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 oz. spicy sweet pecans (one oz. crushed) (the rest for finishing)

About a Tablespoon of Turbinados Sugar (raw brown) for finishing

Extra cinnamon for finishing

A small sprinkle of sea salt for finishing.

Directions

In a large mixing bowl combine the coconut milk, eggs, dates, white sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and crushed pecans. Mix well. Add bread and let soak at least a half hour and maybe longer depending on your bread. The bread I used was very light and fluffy. (a heavier bread will need more time and possibly more liquid)

After the bread is nice and soaked add the pumpkin, mix well and pour in your baking pan. Top the mixture with your remaining pecans, a dusting of cinnamon, turbinados sugar, a small amount of fresh crushed sea salt.

Cover the pan with foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. After 50 minutes remove the foil and bake for ten more minutes.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread Pudding

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I had a bunch of limes to use up and a can of light coconut milk so I thought I’d make a refreshing coconut lime dessert.  As an Anglaise this is the perfect dessert for a holiday party. It’s refreshing and not too heavy and not too sweet either that screams with satisfying  flavor. The Anglaise can be enjoyed a number of ways. Just as it is or poured over a cake. Freezing the Anglaise will turn it into a custard.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

13.5 oz. can of light coconut milk

4 beaten egg yolks

1 oz. butter

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of grated lime peal

pinch of Kosher Salt.

Directions

add all your ingredients to your saucepan on medium heat and keep whisking till it starts to bubble. Let cool slightly and pour into individual cups or freeze to enjoy as custard.

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I’m forking using the Sous Vide to do some turkey breast meat.

Sealed in the bag is Turkey Breast, a carrot, a celery stalk, some sweet onion,  salt, pepper, a chunk of frozen Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 4 leaves sage, 2 cloves garlic, sprig rosemary, and a sprig of thyme. If you have a more expensive vacuum sealer you can add liquid to your bag but most people have the one I do and need to add liquids as a solid.

Directions are to cook in the Sous Vide for 2 1/2-5 hours at 60 degrees C. that means 140 degrees F.  The meat comes out forking perfect, it’s juicy and moist and seasoned just so. It’s hard to ague with perfection.

To do Turkey Legs you’d Sous Vide 6 or so hours at 75 degrees C or 167 degrees F.

I think I’m always going to use the Sous Vide for Turkey Breast. Next time I’ll vacuum seal the Turkey Breast with the Turkey Fat I just froze.

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