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00:00I'm taking a kitchen trip to Italy making Italian inspired favorites. First
00:05since Italy's at the top of my travel wish list, sensational creamy shrimp
00:10pasta. Perfect for a pasta lover like me. I can't wait to eat crispy fried egg
00:17plant in Italy but until then I'm making my version on the ranch and the same
00:22goes for a pea and burrata salad that's a triumph of simplicity and deliciousness.
00:28Then finally for a taste of the Dolce Vita olive oil caramel sundae that's a
00:34social media sensation for all the right reasons. It's all about cooking Italian
00:39ish and dreaming of Italy. Of all the places in the world I want to visit
00:47Italy is at the top of the list and Ladd feels exactly the same way. We do have a
00:53trip planned sometime in the future. We are impatiently awaiting it. Meantime I
01:00love cooking Italian inspired dishes in my kitchen here in Oklahoma. So I'm going to
01:06show you how to make creamy shrimp pasta. It is absolutely amazing and hopefully
01:12it'll tide me over until I can get across the pond to Italy. Alright I've just been
01:18frying some colossal shrimp in a little olive oil and butter. I just sprinkled
01:23them with salt and pepper and they are looking amazing. So I'm going to go ahead
01:27and drop in the pasta. I'm doing linguine. I know there is a whole lot of Italian
01:33food that does not involve pasta but pasta is certainly my favorite. So this shrimp
01:40is pretty well cooked. I got it nice and brown around the edges and you don't want to
01:47overcook shrimp because it can get tough and a little bit rubbery. So I'm going to
01:52get it out and I'm going to go ahead and make a delicious creamy sauce. And it's got
01:59all of those shrimp flavors in the bottom of the pan so it is just going to be
02:04marvelous. Alright I'll let the shrimp hang out. I'll be back. And then I'm going
02:10to scrape all this deliciousness right into the skillet. I've got some garlic, some
02:16finely minced shallot or you could just do red onion if you like. And some fresh
02:22rosemary chopped really really fine. Alright now I've got a couple of other
02:27ingredients. Some capers and sun-dried tomatoes. And then I'll just stir this
02:35around. I'm going to sprinkle in a little bit of salt and pepper. Oh my gosh I love
02:40everything in this pasta. You know Lad and I have been married almost 30 years and I
02:46will say we have not done a lot of traveling. We had one excuse after
02:51another as to why we couldn't start traveling yet. But I think we're getting a
02:57little closer to wanting to take that plunge. Our 30th anniversary is a couple
03:03years away so Paige is really lobbying for us to start planning that now. She knows if we
03:09don't lock in the flights and hotels that we probably won't make it. So I'll keep
03:14you posted. Alright I'm just going to cook this mixture for a couple more minutes.
03:19Okay this mixture is looking amazing and it's about to get more amazing with a
03:29little bit of white wine. A little bit is a relative term. And I'll also add some
03:35vegetable stock but you can also do chicken stock if you prefer. And what makes it
03:42creamy is cream. And it doesn't take too much. I'm just adding about half a cup
03:48each of the wine stock and cream. So I'm going to add a little more pepper to the
03:54mix. That pasta is going to be ready in no time. So if I play my cards right this
04:01sauce is going to get bubbly right when the pasta is ready. Okay that is all mixed
04:07together. So I can add in the shrimp. You don't want to add the shrimp too early
04:12because again you don't want it to overcook while the sauce thickens. I'm also
04:17going to add some chopped spinach and basil leaves. Just going to mix it in with the
04:24spinach. And then I'll toss this together. And I mean it's so simple. Did you see how
04:31fast that came together? It's just amazing. Oh my gosh. This looks incredible. Not as
04:38incredible as I'm sure it's going to be when Ladd and I finally set foot on Italian
04:45soil. But again I've got a little ways before our 30th anniversary. All right.
04:53Now the pasta is ready. I make so much pasta I can look in and see that it's ready. I have a lot of
05:00practice. All right. And then just dump the pasta right in. You don't even have to fully drain it
05:07because it's usually nice to have a little pasta water in the mix. Then I'm going to turn off the
05:14heat under the pan and just toss and toss until that luscious beautiful sauce is positively coating
05:25every last noodle. Noodle is not an adequate term to describe what is in this dish. My gosh. The color
05:36of this sauce is magical. I think those sun-dried tomatoes really help that along. All right. I'm
05:44going to grab some parmesan and grate it on in there. Whoops. Dropped a chunk. And this is something you can
05:53just kind of sprinkle it in the pan but also you can do it on your plate. And there's really no rule
05:59or limit to how much you add. So I'm going to serve it up.
06:07Oh my gosh. The sauce is so silky and beautiful. Oh it does not get better than this. All right. Oh my
06:19goodness. Now all it needs is a couple of basil leaves. I don't know what to say. I can't wait
06:27for my trip to Italy. I know the pasta that I'm going to have over there will make me totally forget
06:34this plate in front of me. But for now this is all I have. I'm kind of happy about it.
06:40Today I am dreaming of my future trip to Italy. Lad if you're listening please book that trip. We
06:51got to get it on the books so we don't blow it off any longer. Well until I do go to Italy I am
06:58enjoying making Italian inspired recipes and I'm going to share the second one with you which I am
07:04extremely excited about. I'm making fried eggplant. Honestly this has been one of my favorite Italian
07:12inspired dishes for a long time. I remember eating fried eggplant when I was in college at a restaurant
07:19in Los Angeles and I absolutely loved it then and still love it now. I'm going to show you a really
07:26cool way to make it. Right now I'm peeling the skin off of an eggplant and I actually blackened the
07:33eggplant. Kind of charred that skin over a stovetop burner and then I put it in this bowl and covered
07:41it with plastic wrap so it kind of steamed everything and it's making that skin a lot easier to remove.
07:47All right I think I got all of that skin off. Wiped my hands a little bit that was a messy proposition.
07:56So now this is the fun part. I'm going to mash this just a little bit with a fork and you just kind of
08:02want to mash it until it's slightly flatter. I want to get it about half an inch thick
08:09and then you wind up with this whole eggplant that's been kind of charred and mashed and I'm going
08:15to fry this in one piece. So I think that's a good thickness. Okay I'm going to let this sit for just
08:24a minute and I'm going to get the breading ready for the fried eggplant. So I have seasoned flour,
08:29have a beaten egg and I'm going to make a bread crumb mixture with just regular bread crumbs
08:36and grated parmesan cheese and I'll season it with salt and pepper. You can also add some minced parsley
08:45if you want to or Italian seasoning if you like. I'm just going to kind of keep it plain because I
08:51think the eggplant is so delicious and it kind of speaks for itself. All right now I'm going to bread
08:58the eggplant but first I'm going to use these paper towels to pat the excess moisture and there is
09:05a lot of moisture in an eggplant. All right that is looking pretty good so I'm going to bread it and if
09:13you play your cards right you should be able to pick it up in one piece and I'm going to dredge it in the
09:20seasoned flour. You might have to turn it over a couple times and sprinkle some on top. Just make sure it's
09:26all coated and then into the beaten egg. This is just the standard breading. I think they do this in
09:35Italy too from what I hear. All right and then once it's coated in the egg it goes into the bread crumbs
09:43and you're going to get this really nice substantial coating and I'm going to leave the end kind of
09:51uncoated so it'll have this cool eggplant shape. All right look at this beautiful breaded eggplant. I love
09:59that it's all intact. All right I'm going to go fry it now and I've got some vegetable oil and it's
10:07heated up so I'm just going to carefully lower this beautiful baby right into the oil. Now I just need
10:14to fry this for about three or four minutes until it's golden on both sides so I'll see you after that.
10:24This fried eggplant looks amazing. Okay now I'm going to put it on a pan with paper towels. All right I'm
10:32also going to grab some arrabbiata sauce. Arrabbiata translates to angry so it's my angry sauce. I love that.
10:43Okay now to serve just carefully slip this onto a platter. I like the paper towels initially because
10:55it drains a lot of that excess oil. I love to serve arrabbiata with this because the eggplant is a little
11:02bit on the mild side and so the spice and the sauce just kind of adds a little bit of interest.
11:08I'm really going for it with this sauce. Okey doke. And then I'm going to garnish the eggplant just
11:17with a few things. I'm going to add some lemon wedges and then you can just squeeze it right before
11:24you eat. And then I'll sprinkle on some sea salt or kosher salt. Some honey. Just a little bit of a drizzle.
11:34You don't want it to be sweet. It just adds a little bit of interest.
11:40And then I don't mind a little pinch of crushed red pepper.
11:45And to finish it just a pretty sprinkle of parsley. My gosh. Ah, this makes me want to go to Italy even more.
11:57Lad, I'm getting impatient here. You wouldn't like me when I'm impatient.
12:02Just kidding. But please go book that trip.
12:11My sister Betsy and I both love Italian food equally. And Betsy happens to be an amazing cook.
12:19Well, recently she made me a dish with burrata cheese and fresh peas. And I looked at her like,
12:27where has this been all my life? It is absolutely delicious. And it's great for entertaining.
12:33So I'm making a really simple salad dressing, starting with olive oil. I'm adding a little bit
12:39of honey and some lemon juice. Just a really tasty, simple vinaigrette. Some salt and pepper.
12:48And quite a bit of fresh garlic. I like to grate the garlic on a little plainer zester.
12:56So then you don't have big chunks of garlic in the salad dressing. It basically disappears,
13:01but you get all of that flavor. And then I have a whole bunch of fresh chives. I'm going to put
13:08chives in the dressing and in the salad itself. And then I'll get the lid. I think I got everything.
13:17Shake it up. I wonder if they use mason jars to make salad dressing in Italy. I wonder a lot of
13:23things about Italy. I can't wait to get there and answer all my queries. I have to prepare and
13:30basically start walking and exercising a year before I go, because I plan to go and do nothing
13:36but eat. All right. So for the peas, this is part of what makes this salad so incredible. I used fresh peas,
13:45and you can get them at a lot of supermarkets now in the produce section. And basically,
13:51I put them into boiling salted water and cooked them until they were just tender. And then I took
13:59them out and I've let them cool to about room temperature. So now I'm just mashing the peas with a
14:06fork. And that's what makes this salad so amazing. Mashing it really releases that flavor. But then I also
14:13have some big chunks that I'm going to leave whole. It's a visually gorgeous salad. Okay, that looks good.
14:23Really amazing texture. So I'll drizzle in some of the dressing. And I'm going to save some to kind of
14:29drizzle over the top. You don't want to totally inundate the peas. You just kind of want to give
14:35them a light coating of that flavor. And this is part of what makes the salad so incredible. Just kind
14:43of torn mint leaves. And I'm adding quite a bit. It has a very strong mint flavor. And there's something
14:51about peas and mint that just complement each other so well. And with that creamy burrata cheese, it's
14:59absolutely out of this world. Have I mentioned I love this salad that my sister made for me?
15:04I don't think I've mentioned it enough. So I'm basically going to make a nice kind of foundation
15:11of this pea mixture right in the center of the platter. And I'll make kind of a little well in the center.
15:19And it's going to receive the burrata cheese. So this is burrata, which is basically
15:28mozzarella filled with a really creamy mozzarella mixture. And you can leave it whole if you want.
15:34But I like kind of like to tear it open and reveal that creamy interior. I mean, it's already
15:43basically a work of art. But it always is nice to drizzle on a little olive oil. And then I have some
15:52sea salt and some black pepper on that bright white burrata. And you cannot forget lemon zest for this salad.
16:02And it goes on the peas and on the burrata. I mean, if you looked up fresh in the dictionary, it would have a
16:09picture of this salad. It's just fresh and bright and beautiful. And I still have some dressing. So I'll do a
16:17little drizzle around the edge. Forgot about the extra mint leaves. I could just keep adding and adding
16:25things. Okay, and the last sprinkle, I promise, just a few extra chives. Okay, the salad is totally
16:34complete. But I'm going to grab some bread out of the oven. And then you have the option
16:41of kind of serving it as a salad with bread on the side. Or you could serve it as an appetizer.
16:50Put a little spoon, put these in a basket, and people can kind of scoop it onto the bread and eat
16:56it that way. This is just sliced baguette with olive oil, salt and pepper. And I just baked them in the
17:02oven until they were crisp. They look good too. Well, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank my sister
17:09Betsy enough for sharing this beautiful Italian inspired dish with me. It is a total winner.
17:16How do you say winner in Italian?
17:22Whenever I picture myself in Italy, I'm always eating one of two things. It's either pasta or gelato.
17:30Truly one of my favorite things. So I am going to channel that now and enjoy some gelato with,
17:36are you ready? Olive oil caramel. It is incredible. So easy to make. No cooking required. It's a social
17:46media sensation that I think is going to stand the test of time. It is delicious. So it starts with
17:52olive oil. And I'm going to add just a little bit of butter, tablespoon to a third a cup of olive oil.
17:59And then I'm going to stir this together and mash the butter and kind of get it going a little bit.
18:08Okay, now if that butter is room temperature soft, it'll basically mix in with that olive oil. And when
18:15the butter is all mixed in, it's time to drizzle in some maple syrup. And I'm going to treat this kind
18:20of like I'm making a salad dressing almost. I'm just going to drizzle in the same amount of maple syrup
18:27as olive oil. So about a third a cup or so. And I'm just whisking with the fork as I drizzle it in.
18:35And you're going to wind up with this just absolutely incredible silky caramel sauce that hasn't even
18:43been cooked, which I think is a miracle. All right, that looks great. And then needs a little bit of sea
18:52salt. So I'll sprinkle that in. I love salted caramel of any form. This isn't technically caramel
18:59because it's not cooked, but it's going to be so good over the gelato. The color of this is so
19:06beautiful. It's basically the color of olive oil, which makes a lot of sense, a little bit deeper.
19:11So now it's gelato time. I'm just going to make a really simple little gelato sundae.
19:17And it's great because these days you can get gelato in so many supermarkets. How many scoops
19:24should I do? I say three. You agree, right? I just want to fill this dish and make it look extra pretty.
19:34All right, the third scoop goes in. And of course, you could do any flavor of gelato that you like.
19:40This sauce is delicious with anything. So it's sauce time. And you don't want to be shy with this.
19:49Just drizzle it. Look at that color. It's amazing. I've actually seen plenty of people just drizzle
19:58straight olive oil on gelato, which is very intriguing to me. But I kind of like this approach.
20:04It's a little bit of a bridge between actual caramel and just straight olive oil. And then I have these
20:11wonderful cherries, Luxardo cherries, and chopped pistachios. Or as my daughter Alex used to say when
20:22she was a little bitty toddler, stachios. This seems like it was like a year ago.
20:29Now she has a baby of her own. All right. I think I'll make this for Lad later. I can just see it now.
20:38He'll finish this delicious gelato sundae. And he'll say, hey, honey, I think it's time we plan that
20:44Italian vacation. And then I'll say, let's do it. I'll go pack my bags. I wonder if it'll play out like
20:51that. We shall see. Bye, friends.
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