January 2023 | gianna1.com

Welcome to a new year - 2023

It's been a rough year for our family, but I can't complain. January is here and the temperatures are finally going up to a seasonal 60 degree average. New Year's Eve was celebrated with a fish theme as well as Christmas Eve. Mom would create a lovely ragosta (lobster) sauce with wide tagliatelli pasta. The sauce will be on the mild side, but ever so fragrant of lobster. The lobsters shrink and become very small, so if you decide to make a lobster sauce, be aware that you make enough for all your guests to have a taste of the lobster meat.

New Year's Eve Lobster Sauce

Ingredients:

3-5 lobster tails

Olive Oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

Fresh Italian parsley (about 1/2 cup) chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot pepper flakes (optional)

1 - 28 oz. crushed tomatoes

1 lb spaghetti, linguini or tagliatelli pasta

Topping:

Since using grated cheese on fish is a sacrilege in our family, this is a topping with make:

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

drizzle olive oil in a cold small skillet, toast the breadcrumbs but don't walk away; it will burn and then you'd have to start again.

Directions:

In large saucepan or wok, add two to three tablespoons olive oil on medium heat. Gently saute garlic till tender. At this time, place the lobster in the oil just to infuse the taste of the lobster for only a minute on each side. Remove immediately and set aside. Add the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Add the chopped parsley, and season with salt and pepper and optional hot pepper to taste.

Let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes before you add the slightly browned lobster tails. Allow the lobster sauce to simmer away for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile cook pasta according to box directions for al dente pasta. Drain

pasta very well. You can place the pasta in a large serving dish. Add a few ladels of lobster sauce on top and then place the lobster tails around the dish. Top with a few sprigs of fresh parsley.

A nice cabernet sauvignon would pair so well with this robust sauce.

Let's get baking!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 whole thin skinned orange, remove the stem and cut in quarters. Keep the skin on the oranges.

In a clean large food processor, add the orange quarters, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, three large eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of orange extract, 1 tbsp of Triple Sec liqueur, optional, 2/3 cup vegetable oil.

Pulse all ingredients in the processor and then puree until mixture becomes a batter with specs of orange peel.

Add to the processor:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Process all dry ingredients until they are entirely incorporated into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured spring pan, using a parchment paper circle on top of the greased bottom.*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove from your oven and let it cool down completely. Dust with powdered sugar or make a drizzle of 1/4 cup powdered sugar and fresh squeezed orange until thick and smooth. Pour onto the cooled fresh orange cake.

Cooking with Love

with Gianna Conte (Jan)