WTF Was for Jaimie's Wedding: Italian Appetizers

I got the honor of both officiating Jaimie's ceremony and making a few cicheti, or Venetian small plates for her wedding.

And I enlisted a bunch of my favorite to help me.

Thanks everyone. I love you Jaimie!

Matt in an apron...for the first time ever?

Caprese Skewers:

Sista is building a platter of beautiful caprese skewers using fresh basil leaves, cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella balls stuck on skewers and drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile I had roasted the diced eggplant and diced red pepper for the crespelle (stuffed Italian crepes) the recipe is below.

And I had to make polenta for the grilled polenta squares... (recipe below)

Thanks for your house, kitchen and hospitality, Brian!

Stuffing crespelle...

I LOVE YOU,  SPENCER!

For the Crespelle: (to serve 8)

1/2 heaping) cup of flour

3/4 cup of milk

1 whole egg plus 1 yolk

For filling and topping:

one medium (3/4 lb eggplant)

2 medium red bell peppers

3/4 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/2 cup of grated Fontina (or Fontinal)

For topping:

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons Parmigiano

Put flour in a bowl, add milk in a very thin stream beating steadily with a whisk, taking care that lumps do not form. When all the milk has been incorporated add the whole egg, egg yolk and a pinch of salt. Mix steadily for about 2 minutes. Heat crepe pan, and with each crepe swipe the pan with butter. Add just under a 1/4 c. batter to pan and cook like you would any crepe! Cook and stack crespelle (they can be made ahead of time and once they have cooled completely covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated). 

Cut eggplants into 1/2 cubes. Salt in calendar to sweat out bitterness for at least half an hour and up to an hour. Rinse under cold water dry with paper towels. You can either than either fry them in batches in olive oil or roast them in the oven after tossing them with olive oil. Your choice, just going for a bit of that nice rich brownness / a tiny bit of caramelization...

Roast the eggplants, peal and dice to the same size as eggplant. (these both could be done ahead of time, of course). 

In large bowl mix the peppers and eggplants with the parmigiano and Fontina. Taste for salt. Roll / stuff the crespelle with some of the filling transfer to baking sheet. When all are prepared top with Parmigiano and drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes until cheese has melted and started to turn golden...

Zucchine Ripiene (Stuffed and Fried Zucchini cups, recipe adapted from Saveur)

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup milk
1 slice white sandwich bread
4 medium zucchini, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2″ lengths
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup canned whole, peeled tomatoes in juice, crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz. prosciutto, minced
1 oz. pancetta, minced
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. thinly sliced basil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 400°. In a bowl, pour milk over bread; soak for 10 minutes. Squeeze bread to drain milk; discard milk. Return bread to bowl.

2. Using a melon baller, hollow out zucchini pieces, leaving 1/4″ walls, to form "cups"; season insides with salt and pepper. Stir together tomatoes, 2 tbsp. oil, chile flakes, garlic, and salt and pepper in a bowl; set sauce aside.

3. Mix bread with prosciutto, pancetta, Parmesan, parsley, egg, and salt and pepper. Stuff mixture evenly among zucchini cups. Heat remaining oil and butter in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add cups; cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, 2–4 minutes. Transfer cups, stuffing side up, to a 9″ x 9″ baking dish; pour sauce over and around cups. Bake until zucchini is tender, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with basil.

AJ also used his amazing cocktail skills to lend himself to the wedding--- prepping lemon twists, wedges and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for drinks after the ceremony.

Clark Kent...I mean Ian, diligently filling the ripiene! Thanks Ian!! You're amazing.

Sista!

A very handsome woo-boy.

For the polenta squares:

 I prepared the polenta (2 cups of polenta to six cups of water) with butter and salt and pepper, and when I was cooked I spread it out evenly onto a greased cookie sheet, and broiled it on high for 15 minutes, until it was golden brown. Then I placed it in the refrigerator so that it would cool and easily slice. I topped each square with my grandmother's simple homemade marinara (recipe on this blog) basil and freshly grated cheese, at the wedding we also offered friend pancetta as a topping on the side.

The ripiene were topped with a spicy tomato sauce, made with the grease from frying the pancetta and proscuitto, fried garlic, chili and salt and pepper. Yum!