Worth Kitchen's Take on Italian... But Not Traditional

We were taking some time to let the food inspire us. Its usually the best way to have the recipes come to life. So there we are, walking through Chelsea Market, browsing all the stores, looking at the food, searching for inspiration. As we walk into Buon Italia, we see the truffles, the frozen foie gras, the fresh pasta, the delicious cheeses, and right there the theme for the night was born. We need to take on Italian, but in a nontraditional way. And in keeping with the theme, in a very non traditional way, Tamy created the entire menu. From start to finish she designed all of the plates and even the ingredients. The Worth Kitchen Sous Chef created her first full dinner. This might not sound like big news to you, but 6 months ago she didn't even know how to heat up a soup in the microwave! I am very proud of her and her incredible menu, so I present to you the Worth Kitchen take on Italian.

Three pasta shells were stuffed with eggplant, hot Italian sausage and goat cheese. It was seasoned with basil, rosemary, and most important, an extremely fragrant truffle salt. In the center was a concentrated tomato sauce prepared with shallots, garlic, olive oil, red wine and garnished with basil. This dish is a must repeat!

Adding the last detail to the entree, drizziling warm olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the sauteed butternut squash cubes.

The entree consisted of an Angus Silver Point roast cooked in the oven for 45 minutes and covered in rosemary, salt and pepper; a stuffed mini eggplant with mozzarella basil and truffle salt, and sauteed and browned butternut squash with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Tamy serves the wine to the guests as we prepare to enjoy the dinner. You might notice in the background a couple of people that do not have food in front of them. Well this is due to the fact that they literally crashed the party. We loved it (they are good friends of ours). There was no food for them, but that was not a problem for as they had already eaten. They joined us for about 30 minutes until they retired for the night.

The dessert was a chocolate mascarpone mousse stuffed in a mini apple. On top a homemade whipped cream. The apple was so small that we decided to add an additional serving of chocolate... well also because it was so good. The trick for this dessert was to use semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet, very rich yet delicious. Want the recipe for this? Shoot me an email. Very easy to make.

One fun additional anecdote from this week was that there were 2 alumni of both my high school and college. Alex studied in my high school (graduated 4 years before me) and Liza, our featured "stranger" of the week whom we meet on Twitter, happened to be a fellow Hoya. Very fun coincidence, just to add another theme to the dinner.


I want to extend a very warm "Thank You" to our guests this week: Karen, Lalo, Alex & Liza. We had a great time with all of you. It was a great night. 

Learning from your mistakes... (the recipes)

One thing that we both have realized is that without repeating recipes, it will become very difficult to perfect any one. At the end of the day practice does make perfect, and without the continuous repetition of a specific dish, it will be lacking the set of "signature" dishes. Regardless, one thing that I am putting to practice over and over is technique and creativeness, two things that are extremely important in the kitchen. Through making mistakes you can learn more technique and creativeness than imaginable. Be grateful for the mistakes you make, they will make you a better person, in whatever it is you do in life.

And now for the recipes of the night. Overall... delicious.

Seared artichoke hearts

8 artichoke hearts

4 garlic cloves

2 tb spoons of olive oil

1 tb spoons of pepperocini (dried & flaked)

salt & pepper to taste
¼ cup of parmesan cheese

You can purchase artichoke hearts already cooked, the best ones are the ones that are in olive oil. However, you can cook them yourself by boiling the artichokes for about 30 minutes then cleaning the artichoke hearts. (you can do this a day before and then leave the hearts floating in olive oil).

Warm up a pan with the olive oil. Cut the garlic into thin slices and toast in the oil. Add the pepperocini to allow the taste to be released. Add the artichoke hearts cut in half and sear for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When serving place the cheese on top of the artichokes for added flavor.

Green Pea White Truffle Risotto

2 cups of Arborio rice

3 cups of chicken broth

½ cup of white wine
2 tb spoons of butter

1 cup of parmesan cheese
2 shallots
1 cup of green peas (steamed)

3 tb spoons of white truffle oil

¼ cup of heavy whipping cream

Chop the shallots into small pieces. Heat the butter in a pot at medium high heat. Add the shallots and get them nice and soft. Then add the rice and stir into the butter. Make sure you cover all the rice and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and ½ cup of the broth and a pinch of salt. Stir continuously as the liquid is absorbed into the rice. Continue to add the broth ½ cup at a time. The risotto will become creamy as it continues to cook. Make sure to try it to make sure it is ready. Add the cream, peas and truffle oil; stir in. Add the cheese before serving and make sure it melts into the rice.

New Orleans style Poached Shrimp

12-15 large shrimp (peeled)

½ cup of butter (2 sticks)

2 tb spoons of Old Bay Seasoning (secret ingredient)

2 tb spoons of Paprika

4 cloves of garlic chopped

Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the garlic and the seasonings. Let the butter mix heat up and allow some time for the flavors to fully be released. Add the shrimp to the mix and allow about 5-7 minuts for the shrimp to be fully cooked (poached). Serve with a spoonful of the sauce on top for full flavor.

Mascarpone Chocolate Mousse with Bananas

This recipe was taken directly from the cook book of Harry Sasson, a fantastic Colombian chef.