Cooking With Foods Columbus Found Here

"Queen Of Italian Cusine," Lidia Bastianich, Goes That Route To Celebrate Columbus Day

(CBS) 

MARINATED WINTER SQUASH (Zucca Gialla in Marinata)

This is a great side dish or appetizer. Traditionally, the zucca is fried before it is marinated, as I do here, but it is also delicious when made with grilled or boiled zucca. I recommend butternut squash but acorn, hubbard, and other varieties will work as well.

Serves 6 or more as an appetizer or side dish

1 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt or more to taste
6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
A butternut squash, about 2 pounds
1 cup vegetable oil or as needed
8-10 fresh basil leaves

Recommended equipment:

• A heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 12-inches diameter or larger
• A 6-cup glass or ceramic casserole dish, preferably about 6-inches wide, to marinate the squash in several layers

Mix the vinegar, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt together in a small saucepan. Over high heat, reduce by half. Remove from the heat, drop in the garlic slices and let the marinade cool. Stir in the olive oil.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise and scrape out all the seeds. Peel the halves, place cut-side down and cut crosswise, into 1/3-inch thick half rounds.

Pour vegetable oil into the skillet to the depth of 1/8-inch and set over medium-high heat. When the oil sizzles on contact with squash, fill the pan with a layer of slices, spaced slightly apart. Fry for about 3 minutes on the first side then flip the slices over. Fry on the second side another 2 or 3 minutes until the slices are cooked through (easy to pierce with the tines of a fork), crisped on the surface and caramelized on the edges.
Lift out the slices with a slotted spoon, draining off oil, and lay them on paper towels. Sprinkle salt lightly on the hot slices. Fry up all the squash, in batches, the same way.

Arrange a single layer of fried squash in the bottom of the marinating dish and scatter 4 or 5 basil leaves on top. Stir up the marinade and drizzle over a couple of spoonfuls. Scatter some of the garlic slices on the squash too. Layer all the squash in the dish this way, topping each layer of fried slices with basil leaves, garlic and marinade. All the seasonings should be used-drizzle any remaining marinade over the top layer of squash.
Wrap the dish in plastic and marinate the squash for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight in the refrigerator. If chilled, let the squash return to room temperature before serving.

HAZELNUT TORTE (Torta di nocciole)

This is wonderfully easy cake with flavors for which Piedmont is known.

Hazelnuts are called tonda gentile delle Langhe -- the "sweet round nut of the Langhe" -- and with a bit of chocolate, you have the match made famous in Torino, gianduja.

I love this torte for its versatility, as well. I serve it simply with powdered sugar or whipped cream and you can flank it with a scoop of chocolate ice cream or give it a drizzle of warm chocolate sauce. In Piemonte, I've had the torte with zabaglione-and if you turn the page, you'll find a perfect partner in Zabaglione al caffè nero.

Makes 10-inch cake serving 10 or more

1-1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus some for the cake pan)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar (1/2 pound)
6 tablespoons soft butter (plus a bit for the cake pan)
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1 cup milk at room temperature
4 tablespoons semisweet chocolate, chopped by hand in small pieces

Recommended equipment:

• A 10-inch springform cake pan
• A heavy duty electric mixer fitted with the whisk

Chop the hazelnuts in a food processor or mini-chopper to small bits-not to a powder. Whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Butter and flour the cake pan. Preheat the oven to 350° with a rack in the center.
In the mixer, cream the sugar and butter together until light, smooth and fluffy; scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Incorporate the eggs, olive oil and orange zest in several additions, blending each in at slow speed, scraping the bowl then beating at high speed for a couple of minutes to lighten.

On slow speed, incorporate the dry mix in several additions, alternating with splashes of milk. Scrape the bowl when both are added and beat briefly on high. Fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate by hand and blend in well.
Scrape the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. The top should be lightly browned and just spring back to a light touch.

Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes or so, remove the side ring of the springform and let the cake cook completely. Cut in wedges and serve, topped with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

The torte will keep in the refrigerator for a week, well wrapped in plastic, or freeze it for longer storage. When serving torte that has been chilled or frozen, toast the cut pieces in the oven (or toaster oven) to bring out the flavors.

[cmp271]

The Italians didn''t invent tomatoe sauce at all!! It came from the America''s?

Corn always looked like it does now. How could a vegetable change over just a few hundred years??

Any more recipe''s for blue hubbard squash? It is really good, a different taste.

[randycarol]

I don''t see a recipe calling for potatoes, unless I''ve missed something here?

[twomtns]

I doubt very much that Columbus found potatoes
unless he was able to get the "Santa Maria" to jump acros what we now know as South America to somewhere near the Andes