Coffee Almond Biscotti

Biscotti

 

       Was craving cookies this evening and decided to make my homemade biscotti again. Didn't want to do the old standby of chocolate and orange so thought how good it would be to make traditional biscotti, one with almonds. What would go good with almonds other than coffee? So, I decided to create my own Coffee Almond Biscotti. This recipe makes about 15 individual biscotti. I used the same recipe as the one for my chocolate orange but instead of adding the chocolate chips and the orange zest I used sliced almonds and instant coffee. Add a little dash of brewed coffee and viola; you have delicious moist coffee almond flavored cookies that you will definitely gobble up. Coffee Almond Biscotti.

 

 

Ingredients:

• Biscotti recipe below
• 2 tbs instant coffee crystals
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1 tbs brewed coffee
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• Powdered sugar
• Milk

 

     Follow the recipe for the biscotti cookies listed above. In the recipe above you will take the 2 tbs of instant coffee and mix it into the butter sugar mixture prior to adding the dry ingredients. Next pour in the brewed coffee.  After adding the dry ingredients stir in the sliced almonds. Mold into a log and bake according to above recipe. 

    

     In a small bowl mix powdered sugar and milk until you have the nice icing consistency you want. Mix in the little bit of almond extract for that extra almond flavoring. Once cookies have been baked and cooled. Dip one end into the icing and let dry. Simple and delicious.  Hope you enjoy.

 

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 40 minutes

Cool Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 15

 

Biscotti recipe: http://www.recipesiliveby.blogspot.com/2013/12/Chocolate-Chip-Biscotti.html

 



Pork Pappardelle

Pork Pappardelle

     A fantastic dish inspired by my last trip to Italy. This dish is based on a wonderful meal I had in Tuscany, specifically the little famous village of Pisa. I had heard they were famous for a wonderful hearty wild boar pappardelle. I ordered it at this little café on one of the back streets of Pisa. My cousins and I were looking for a little place, not full of tourists, but that had to have homemade pastas on the menu. You know we like our homemade pastas. We make and eat it all the time so we know what is good when we order.

     We started out walking down this little cobblestoned alley, past a pharmacy and a little shop, and right there at the end of the path was this little café with a little menu board out front with "fresh pasta" written in bright blue chalk. Their special for the day was wild boar pappardelle and I know this was where we had to eat. The dish was amazing. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the wild boar was so tender and had the best hearty tomato flavor that I fell immediately in love.

     Because of where I live and the availability of finding boar in the store I had to substitute this dish with a good cut of pork loin. The meat may have been different but the heart and flavor were still there. I made simple tomato based sauce and cooked the whole loin in my crock-pot in order to have this complete and ready by the time I got home from work during the week. Hope you enjoy Pork Pappardelle.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium pork loin
• 1/2 cup diced white onion
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup finely diced carrot
• 1 10oz can tomato sauce
• 1 clove diced garlic
• Handful chopped basil
• Large bay leaf
• Olive oil
• Salt/pepper
• Crock-pot

1. In a large sauté pan pour in a little olive oil over medium high heat. Toss in your onion, celery, and carrot and sauté until nice and tender.

2. Toss in the diced garlic and sauté until fragrant

3. Pour in the tomato sauce, chopped basil, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Let simmer on low heat just to incorporate the flavors. Remove sauce from heat.

 

 

4. This fourth step I did in the morning before going to work so as to have it all ready when I arrived home. Place the pork loin into the crock-pot. Pour the premade sauce over it. Cover and set to low. This will cook for 8-10 hours.

5. Make homemade pasta. I chose hand cut pappardelle. I used my pasta recipe, rolled out the dough, and hand cut it to thick size about 1 1/2 inch in width. See below for the pasta recipe

6. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until it floats to the top and is tender.

7. Break up the roast. After 8-10 hours in the crock-pot it will pull right apart into nice shredded pork.

8. Toss the pasta in the sauce and meat and serve with some fresh graded cheese.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 8-10 hours
Serves: 4-5 people

Pasta recipe: http://www.recipesiliveby.blogspot.com/2013/04/Fresh-Pasta.html