Italian Recipes from Shelly's Tuscan Kitchen

 

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Concietta's Lemoncello

8 organic lemons
1 lt. 98% alcohol
700g Sugar
1.3 lt. water

  • Peel lemons very thin with potato peeler (leave whites on lemon)
  • Put skins in alcohol cover and let sit for 10 days.
  • Boil water. Add sugar; stir and leave mixture until it cools down.
  • Filter alcohol from lemon rinds and combine with sugar & water mixture.
  • Let sit covered for a few days.

Grate a little lemon peel in a sanitized bottle and pour in mixture. Keep in freezer.

Tilapia alle Michelle

4 tilapia fillets
2 bags of cleaned baby spinach
1 head of garlic chopped almost fine (not jarred!)
½ cup raisins
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1 Tbs. capers
1 cup tomatoes chopped
1 cup olives chopped
3 large shallots quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup of champagne (or white wine such as pinot)
3/4 stick of butter
1 cup flour
3/4 cup cup evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
fresh herbs of choosing or if not in season 1 Tbs. of Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste.

Start with the spinach. In a med-large (or 12”) sauté pan over med heat, add ¼ cup of evoo and ¼ stick of butter. Test oil/butter by throwing in a “smashed” garlic clove. If it sizzles, toss in ¾ of the shallots, ½ of the chopped garlic, salt & pepper (maybe ½ teaspoon) and spinach.

With tongs, move spinach around pan to “coat” the leaves with all the flavors.

It will reduce in size very quickly. When it’s reduced to about ½ the size add about ¼ cup of champagne. Place lid over top. Cook for another minute or two. Remove from stove. Plate in serving dish and keep in warm oven.

In the same pan, turn heat to med-high and add the rest of the evoo, shallots, chopped garlic, after a minute toss in tomatoes, olives and capers. Cook for a few minutes, turn heat to high, add remaining champagne. It may flame* so keep your upper body away and make sure the overhead fan is on. Do not worry; it will die down very quickly. If it doesn’t flame, it doesn’t matter. Set aside in a heat proof container.

Put flour in a good sized plate or large shallow bowl. Have tilapia ready for dredging.

In the same sauté pan that you cooked the tomatoes & olives in, over med heat, add ¼ cup of the evoo and the rest of the butter, some dried Italian seasoning. Salt & pepper (optional).

Place each tilapia fillet in flour, one at a time, and coat thoroughly on both sides. Turn up heat to med-high.

“Tap” off excess flour and gently place in hot butter/oil. Repeat quickly with the rest of the fillets. You should be able to fit 4 fillets in the 12” pan. Sometimes I'll cut the fillets to fit.

Sauteé on each side for about 4 - 5 minutes (until light golden brown). Tilapia is very delicate when moving or turning in pan. Make sure you have a nice wide spatula to help with this process. Turn down heat to med; add tomato-olive mixture for a minute, then remove from heat, and plate on top of spinach.

Serve immediately.

*It’s always a good idea to have a kitchen fire extinguisher on hand when using alcohol in cooking.

Buon Appetito! (Enjoy your meal!)