Day of the Dead - Dia de los Muertos (Spanish)

In various cultures around the world, the Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos (Spanish) is celebrated on November 1 and November 2. It corresponds with the Roman Catholic holidays of All  Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, respectively. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is a national holiday. It is a day when families get together (such as the skeleton family in the above photograph - lol!).

Altars, such as this one, are built to commemorate dead family members ad friends. Serving as shrines, the altars hold skulls made of sugar and marigolds. Articles that belonged to the deceased, as well as their favorite foods, are then transported by families to grave sites where festivities follow.

Notice the glazed, textured bread - it is known as pan de muertos (literally translated as Bread of the Dead). During this holiday, large versions such as this one or mini versions of pan de muertos are found in bakeries all over Mexico.

Day of the Dead rituals go as far back as 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, to the pre-Hispanic era in Mexico. Skulls, which symbolized death and rebirth, were kept and displayed as trophies by indigenous peoples.

The above skulls are my own trophies which represent party-time - they're filled with Tequila!

Ancient festivities and rituals, however, took place in August, the ninth month of the Aztec calendar. They were dedicated to the goddess of the dead or the modern-day Catrina.

Catrina  is an upper-class skeleton woman - isn't she sexy? There are many versions of her, as you can see.

This one is reminiscent of Twiggy - the famous 1960's model - is she alive or is she remembered on Day of the Dead in Mexico? 

Photograph credit ©Tomas Castelazo

www.tomascastelazo.com/Wikipedia Commons/License CC-BY-SA-3.0

By far, my fav Catrinas are these two!

Which are your favorite sexy skeletons?

In honor of Mexico, its art, food and culture, I've posted a special recipe on this blog - Mexican Pumpkin Treat.

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Nancy:)

Text and Photographs of Skeleton Family, Altar, Skulls, Blue Catrina, Black-Haired Catrina and Mexican Pumpkin treat ©2012 Nancy Real

Halloween Pizza

Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 13 to 15 minutes
Serves: 4


For this vibrant pizza, you already know that I'm an advocate of pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe's® refrigerated section. It's delicious, fast and easy. 

These pizzas are perfect for that Halloween party you've been planning. Make a few of these pizzas (by doubling or tripling the recipe) in minutes. You'll surely please all the spooks and zombies out there. 


Have fun and stay safe on Halloween.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
One 16-ounce Trader Joe's® plain, refrigerated pizza dough
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 large yellow tomato, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
6 red grape tomatoes, cut in half
6 yellow grape tomatoes, cut in half
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 to 12 fresh basil leaves


Preheat oven to 450ºF. 

Using a pastry brush or your fingers, spread the vegetable oil evenly on a 16-inch round  or 12 X 16-inch rectangular baking sheet. Place the dough over the oiled sheet and flatten slightly. Flip the dough over and begin stretching the dough gently with fingertips until it fits into sides of the baking sheet.

Brush the dough with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the shredded mozzarella evenly over pizza dough. Follow with the yellow tomato rounds, red and yellow grape tomatoes. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and remaining olive oil. Top the pizza with basil leaves.

Place sheet with pizza on a rack positioned in upper third of oven and bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until the crust edges begin to turn light golden. Transfer the pizza to bottom rack and bake an additonal 4 to 5 minutes or until bottom of pizza is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

White wine suggestion: Pinot Grigio.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real

Fresh Pasta with Porcini Mushrooms

Prep time: 20 to 25 minutes (for cooking the pasta and making the sauce)*
Serves: 4


On my September 2012 culinary trip to Italy, my husband and I enjoyed freshly made pasta with porcini mushrooms at a favorite hotel/restaurant close to the medieval hilltop town of Spoleto in Umbria. 

Because dried porcini mushrooms have a bold flavor, they're simply sautéed in olive oil - that's it! Make this and enjoy true Italian flavors at home. The only problem is that you'll think twice before spending $25+ for pasta in a restaurant. Buon appetito!

Ingredients:
One Homemade Tagliatelle recipe previous posted on this blog on September 7, 2012

    -OR-

One pound ready made tagliatelle or fettuccine

2 cups dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 3 cups boiling water for 8 minutes

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1/3 cup cold water, set aside

Salt, to taste

1. Set a 6-quart sauce pot with water on stove burner and bring to a boil; set aside on simmer/boil.
2. Meanwhile, drain the porcini mushrooms and reserve the soaking liquid.

3. In a large skillet, heat the oil on medium-high setting. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in 2 cups of the soaking liquid and simmer on low.

4. In the meantime, add pasta and 1 teaspoon salt to the boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until pasta is al dente (crunchy-tender).

5. Drain the pasta and immediately add it to the porcini sauce in skillet. Stir the pasta while raising heat to high.

6. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pasta in skillet, stirring and gently lifting the pasta with tongs. If pasta mixture looks too dry, add a little more of the mushroom soaking liquid. The sauce should lightly adhere to the pasta and it should not be too runny.

7. Add salt, and if desired, a little more olive oil. Taste and serve immediately, dividing the pasta into 4 portions. Do not add any cheese, as it will conflict with the porcini mushroom flavors.

*If using the Homemade Tagliatelle recipe, add 55 to 60 minutes to prep time.

Wine pairing suggestion: Chianti or Barolo.

Note: Pappardelle variety pasta was used in photograph.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real

Tagliatelle with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Prep time: 55 to 60 minutes for the tagliatelle
Prep time: 25 minutes for the tomato sauce
Serves: 4

Tagliatelle served with this sauce are to die for. And once you taste this fresh tomato sauce, you'll never use canned tomatoes again. Don't forget the red wine and buon appetito!

Make one recipe for Homemade Tagliatelle, previously published on this blog.

Next, prepare the tomato sauce:

Ingredients:
8 to 10 large, vine-ripened tomatoes (boiled in water until skins crack; drained and cooled)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 whole garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup finely chopped yellow or white onion
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

After the tomatoes have cooled, peel them. Transfer the tomatoes in a blender and pulse blend to obtain either a coarsely chopped or puréed consistency; set aside.

In a 5-quart sauce pot, heat the oil. Add the garlic and onion to the oil and stir-fry on medium heat until onion is translucent.

Remove the sauce pot from the hot burner and carefully stir in the blended tomatoes (stand away from sauce pot so as to avoid hot splatters). Bring the sauce to a boil and simmer on medium-low heat, semi-covered.

As the sauce simmers, stir in the salt, pepper, nutmeg and sugar. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes; taste and adjust seasonings. 

Following tagliatelle cooking and serving directions. Set a bowl of grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese on table and ask guests to serve themselves.

Red wine pairing suggestion: Aglianico, Barolo, Chianti or Cabernet Sauvignon.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real

Homemade Tagliatelle

Prep time: 55 to 60 minutes 

Serves: 4

Tagliatelle is a type of pasta rooted in the tradition of Italy’s northern region of Emilia Romagna. The term “tagliatelle” means “to cut”. After this pasta is cut into ¼-inch thick ribbons, it is cooked and combined with your favorite sauce. 

In Italy, the women who taught me to make this truly spoiled me. I mean, I make and eat homemade pasta exclusively. Enjoy these divine tagliatelle, and your pasta palate will change forever.

For the Tagliatelle:

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1/3 cup durum wheat semolina

4 large eggs

1. In an 8-quart glass or porcelain mixing bowl, stir to combine the flour and semolina. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add eggs to the well and beat with a fork. Gradually stir the flour mixture from the sides of the well into the eggs until almost all the flour is absorbed.

2. Using your hands, knead the dough in the bowl until it is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and cover it with an inverted bowl; let it rest 10 minutes.

3. After 10 minutes, cut off 1/4 of the pasta dough and cover the remaining portion (it will be cut into 3 more pieces later).

4. Using slightly floured hands, pat the pasta dough to a ½-inch thickness.

5. With the pasta machine dial on Setting No. 1, slightly push the blob of pasta into the rollers while turning the handle. Stretch out the pasta.

6. Fold the pasta in in thirds; lightly flour the pasta.

7. On Setting No. 2*, roll out the pasta. Fold the dough in half and lightly flour it.

8. On Setting No. 3, roll out the pasta and lightly flour it.

9. On Setting No. 4, roll out the pasta and lightly flour it.

10. Lay the pasta sheet on work surface and, with a pasta wheel, cut the pasta crosswise into 2 or 3 pieces (6 to 8 inches long). Lightly flour the pasta sheet.

11. On Setting No. 5, roll out the pasta. Lay it out on lightly floured, flat surface to dry. Continue rolling instructions with remaining pasta dough, breaking off a piece three more times.

12. As you work with remaining pasta, flip over the previous pieces that have been laid out to dry and lightly dust them with flour. This will speed up the drying process.

13. After all the pasta has been laid out, take the first pieces you worked with and roll them through the ¼-inch wide “tagliatelle” cutter. Place them on a lightly floured surface to dry. Repeat the cutting process until all the pasta has been cut into tagliatelle. Lightly flour the tagliatelle, gently picking them up and arranging them to dry in wavy shapes on a flat surface with some spacing in between the pieces. 

14. Meanwhile, prepare your favorite sauce and bring a 6-quart pot of water to boil. Add the tagliatelle to the boiling water with 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and cook 5 to 7 minutes.

15. Drain the cooked tagliatelle in a colander and then transfer them to a large serving bowl. Add 2 to 3 ladles of sauce, gently toss. 

16. Divide the tagliatelle among four pasta dishes. Place a bowl of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on table for your guests.

Serve with your favorite red or white wine.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real

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*As the setting number of the rollers increases, the opening becomes narrower in order to stretch the pasta sheets.

Tomato, Walnut & Basil Salad

Prep time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Traditionally, I've enjoyed tomatoes sliced and tossed with onions, olive oil and basil.

But recently, I tweaked this tomato salad from Southern Italy by adding walnuts. When I served it to guests, it was a hit. And now, I'm sharing it with all of you - enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 large, vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup chopped, freshly shelled walnuts

4 large, fresh basil leaves, cut in slivers with cooking shears

In a serving platter, lay out the tomatoes in overlapping circles. Scatter the red onion slices over top of tomatoes, followed by salt and pepper. 

Drizzle the olive oil over tomato salad, followed by a sprinkle of walnuts and slivered basil.

Serve immediately with ciabatta bread (Italian slipper bread) or focaccia.

This salad can also be served as a side dish to meat, fish or poultry.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real.

Fast and Fresh Plum Tart

Prep time: 30 minutes

Bake time: 30 to 40 minutes

Makes: One 9-inch tart

What fruit are you enjoying these days? Mmm, that's what I thought - plums. If you're buying them from your local farmers' market, then you're getting fresh, ripe plums. And, they're sweet!

For an easy dessert this summer, make or buy pie pastry, slice up those plums, sprinkle them lightly with sugar et voilà. It's fast, fresh and everyone will go, "Wowwww, how beautiful!"

Ingredients:

Nancy's Easy Pie Pastry* (recipe previously posted on this blog)

   -0r- 

ready-made pie pastry

3 to 4 fresh, ripe plums, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices

2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Follow the rolling-out instructions for one sheet of pie pastry and transfer it to a large cookie sheet. 

Lay out the plum slices in concentric circles and sprinkle sugar over them. Turn the pastry edges inward, over the plums.

Cover the pastry edges with one-inch thick aluminum foil sheets.

Place tart on a rack positioned in center of oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until plums are tender and slightly bubble. Remove foil strips for last 5 minutes of baking.

Cool on cookie sheet set on counter. 

Serve warm or cold, topped with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Text and Photograph ©2012 Nancy Real.

*Note: Fast and Fresh Plum Tart requires one rolled-out pie pastry. You can either make Nancy's Easy Pie Pastry recipe which yields two pastry sheets; freeze one in double freezer bags and use the other. Or, you can make half the pastry recipe which will yield one pastry  sheet.