I have a new crush – Lagostina cookware – just when I’m downsizing my kitchen gear – I have fallen hard. Lagostina makes a quality product that is also stunning and they warranty their products for life. Recently, a friend Karen posted that she bought the polenta pot and for one second I told myself to look away – but I am weak when it comes to quality cookware.

Lagostina’s polenta and minestrone pot is a thing of beauty as are all their cookware. I am also quite fond of her cousin, the Risotto pot which is just as lovely. And while I love these beautiful  stainless steel pots with the wooden accents – the hammered copper –  has me contemplating selling a kidney to get the set. I can hold off harvesting the kidney for a few weeks as my friend, Bryna, sent me a set of the frying pans and they are not only gorgeous but they clean up so easily and are now my go to skillets – even over my high quality nonstick skillets. I find myself also reaching for this polenta pot for pasta and other tasks because I keep it out on the stove as it is too pretty to be put behind closed doors. The polenta pot also comes with a beautifully crafted polenta stirrer and ladle.

I must be living right because this week, when I took some donations to the thrift store and went in – guess what was there on the shelf – a Lagostina stainless steel pan and lid. I grabbed that $10 deal quickly. That new skillet is to the left of the polenta pot on the stove – in the picture shown. Move over All-Clad – Lagostina has stolen my heart.

Even though I have been using this pot for other tasks, I had yet to make polenta in it. Yesterday, I remedied that and made a luscious Sweet Corn and Scallion polenta. I’ve made polenta a few times before but did some research before diving into my own recipe. One trick I gathered for reducing the cooking time is to soak your polenta overnight – see more about that at Serious Eats.

This Sweet Corn and Scallion Polenta that I made for you is so flavorful and delicious and goes well with any protein or as an entree by itself. I did things a little differently than normal polenta recipes – you will see that below in the instructions.

 

Now for the recipe.

2 to 3 ears of corn
5 cups of water
1 cup of milk
3 scallions sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons of butter
2 cups of polenta
2 tablespoons of olive oil

For later to rehydrate if you need to do so (see Cooks Illustrated article below).

an additional cup of whole milk
a ricer

Cut the corn from the cobs and set the kernels aside. Fill the polenta pot with five cups of water and add your cobs to make a corn broth to use instead of water. While that is working make your corn topping.

In a skillet, add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic to the warm oil until fragrant, then add the sliced white and light green portions of the scallions to the pan, cook for a few minutes – and add the kernels of the corn – stir together and add salt and pepper. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes – and set aside.

After the water has come to a bowl with the corn cobs, let it simmer for thirty minutes. Remove the cobs and while the water is still simmering – slowly add the 2 cups of polenta – whisking all the while. I let this simmer and bubble for about 20 minutes before I added 1 cup of whole milk. After 20 additional minutes, I added the four tablespoons of butter and then let it simmer for about 10 to 15 more minutes until creamy.

I added about half the corn mixture to the polenta at this point and saved the remaining corn mixture for topping. You can add more black pepper and even some grated cheese if that is something you would like.

Check out this article on Cooks Illustrated on how to bring your polenta back to life – to the left is a quick photo of the polenta once I followed the instructions at CI. That is a panko-cheddar crusted pork chop that I served with it.

Now for the exciting news – my friends at Lagostina are offering one of my readers the polenta pot. To enter follow the instructions below on rafflecopter. Good luck – this giveaway is open to US residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Adelina Pulford started cooking for her family as a seven year old child in the small Calabrian town of Cervicati in Italy. Her family moved to Australia where she entered culinary school and specialized in regional Italian cuisine and desserts. Today, she teaches Italian cooking at her cooking school, “Adelina’s Kitchen Dromana.” Adelina’s Facebook page shares photographs of all the lovely creations that result from her classes – these classes are on my must do if ever we get to Australia. Adelina is the author of three lovely cookbooks which I will tell you a bit about today.

Adelina’s Kitchen Dromana: Dolci from my Italian Kitchen by Adelina Pulford shares 64 recipes for biscotti, desserts and cakes both in English and Italian along with many photographs of the finished desserts. I love Italian baking and books devoted to same.  There is something uniquely special about Italian desserts – simple or elegant – even the easiest of cookies look and taste incredible. I think it coincides with the style of Italian cooking. Italians cook with fresh ingredients, dishes are not overly complicated – but always delicious. Almond & Chocolate Easter Eggs, Limocello Biscuits, and a Bavarese with Mascarpone & Chocolate that will wow any pastry chef are included in this title along with gluten-free recipes. I have to admit – I have many Italian baking books and I was worried that this title wouldn’t be a keeper but it will survive MY BIG FAT COOKBOOK PURGE of 2017.

 

Adelina’s Kitchen Dromana: Learn Cook Enjoy is another title devoted to desserts with 52 biscotti, dessert and cake recipes again in both English and Italian. Pine Nut Biscuits, Vanilla Biscuits with Coffee Glaze, Blueberry and Lemon Friands, and Prosecco Panna Cotta are included in this title. While everything is tempting in this title (as with Dolci above) – the Cake Chapter shines with recipes for a decadent Hazelnut & Chocolate Torte, a Panettone Cake, and a Zuppa Inglese. I just received a friand pan (finally) from Australia and I will be making the friands and will come back to this post to edit. Another must have from Adelina.

The last book I am sharing with you today is Adelina’s Kitchen Dromana: Recipes from My Italian Table which shares 62 entree, first and second courses, sauces and more – and yes in English and Italian. All the classic traditional recipes are here – Potato Gnocchi, Eggplant Involtini, Chicken Scaloppine Parmigiana, Risotto Calabrese and more. Photographs are plentiful and again includes gluten-free recipes. Adelina’s books are approachable and will be appreciated by any level of baker or cook.

This collection of books would make a wonderful gift for the cook that wants to expand their knowledge of Italian desserts and get started on the savor classics. Her books are simple and straightforward but unique enough to please this Cookbook Junkie.

Adelina is sharing a recipe with us today – her Baked Cannoli in both Italian and English. You can download the file here as well.

Baked Cannoli

Ingredients

500g flour
150g butter
100g caster sugar
250g toasted blanched almonds chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 egg white
50ml water for binding the mixture
pastry cream or ricotta filling to fill them

Put the flour, sugar, butter, vanilla essence, in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix for 5 minutes, then add the eggs and the water and mix until the dough comes together, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll dough with pasta machine, as thin as possible, cut square shapes, wrap around the cannoli moulds, seal them with egg white, then brush the outside with more egg white and roll the cannoli in the chopped almonds. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 degrees for 10 minutes, remove the moulds and cook for another 5 minutes, fill with pastry cream or Ricotta filling: –

500g ricotta
one cup whipped cream
100g orange peel pure’
one tablespoon Orange Liqueur
4 tablespoons icing sugar

Mix ricotta in a bowl with liqueur, icing sugar, the fold in whipped cream; refrigerate before using.

Cannoli al Forno

Ingredienti

500g farina
150g burro
100g zucchero semolato
250g di mandorle pelate e tritate
un cucchiaino di essenza di vaniglia
2 uova
1 albume
50ml d’acqua
crema pasticcera oppure ripieno di ricotta

Impastate la farina nel mixer elettrico, con lo zucchero, il burro, e la vaniglia per 5 minuti, poi aggiungete le uova e l’acqua fino a quando avete ottenuto un composto consistente; avvolgete l’impasto nella pellicola, e mettete in frigo per 30 minuti; poi stendete la sfoglia molto sottile, passatele nella macchinetta, tagliate dei quadrati, avvolgeteli attorno agli apposite cannelli di alluminio e fissate le estremita conl’albume, leggermente sbattuto, poi spennellate i cannoli con albume e passateli nelle mandorle tritate; infornate a forno riscaldato, 180 gradi per 10minuti, poi sfilate i cannelli, e rimettete  i cannoli nel forno per altri 5 minuti. Fate raffreddare e farcite i cannoli con la crema pasticcera oppure il ripieno di ricotta

Ripieno di ricotta

500g ricotta una tazza di panna montata a neve
100g di scorze di arance candite tritate
un cucchiaio di liquore di Arancia
4 cucchiaia di zucchero a velo.

Mescolate la ricotta e il liquore in una ciotola, aggiungete i canditi, ed infine aggiungete la panna montata, mettete in frigo prima di servire 

Now for the giveaway!

Adelina is generously offering one reader a set of her books.  This contest is open until June 12th to US and Canada addresses. To enter please use the Rafflecopter widget below. There are many extra entries available – such as joining Eat Your Books, sharing this post and so forth. Good luck! New readers from Adelina’s Facebook page – please note that you can try Eat Your Books for 3 months using the code CBJ17.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and to help with your celebration and plans, I have a few gift ideas, links to recipes that would be perfect for your brunch or special meal with mom and a giant giveaway (below).

First up, what mom wouldn’t appreciate a lovely breakfast or lunch, the photo below reflects my menu from Easter Sunday where I shared Bonne Maman preserves along with maple nut scones, biscuits, bacon, ham with Gruyère. I love Bonne Maman’s quality and the jars make the table look homey and beautiful. The Mango-Peach, a new flavor, was incredibly tasty on our biscuits with either the ham or bacon – sweet and salty perfection.

For the scones, I adapt a recipe from The View from Great Island. The Saturday before Easter, I made a few desserts and wanted to make the scones ahead of time as we were going to too-early o’clock mass. I hurriedly blitzed the oats to make oat flour, threw the ingredients together and even though I knew the dough was too wet scooped them up and put them in the oven. Two minutes later, I took a peek and found a flowing sea of maple nut scone soup. The tray came out, I dumped everything into a bowl and added more oat flour and regular flour, re-scooped and put the tray in the fridge for at least an hour. I retrieved them and baked them off – best darn scones I ever made. Disaster averted.

 

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Every St. Patrick’s Day, I make our family recipe for Brown Bread that my sister-in-law, Ann, found many years ago, and I realized that it is a perfect bread for a Mother’s Day Brunch. I’m sharing the recipe today for two reasons – you may wish to make it for a brunch or breakfast – or as a gift for mom with a few jars of preserves or mustard – and secondly I will never lose it again now that I have it posted. This bread is so flavorful with the crunchy sugary top that you can’t stop eating it. The bread itself isn’t overly sweet so that sugar topping is needed. I serve it with an orange butter that I make with a 1/2 cup of soften butter and 3 tablespoons of Bonne Maman orange marmalade.

 

Brown Bread

Preheat oven to 375

• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup of vegetable shortening
• 1 ¼ cup of buttermilk

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl (the first 6 ingredients – even though sugar is technically a wet ingredient as it dissolves). Then cut the shortening into the dry ingredients with a pastry fork, pastry blender or large fork. Add the buttermilk and mix until it comes together – do not overmix.

Flour your bench or board – and take the mix out and knead it about ten times until it comes into a nice round 7 inch circle.

Mark an X on the top with a knife.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small sauce pan – mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of water and heat until dissolved – at 40 minutes brush this mix over the top of the loaf and let bake for 5 additional minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for as long as you can before you must have a piece. Serve with orange butter mentioned above.

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Maille mustards make an elegant gift for anyone who loves to cook and especially for mom. Just as the Bonne Maman jars look special on your table setting – so do the Maille jars. I know it is strange to say a jam or mustard jar is beautiful – but they are. Maille’s Spring honey and mustard collection is very special with three flavors to satisfy all palates. I love mustard and honey and these flavors are incredibly delicious. These mustards and a few of these adorable condiment spoons and you have a charming gift. For a limited time, check out the White Truffle Mustard. Maille also has a delicious assortment of vinegars and I’ve been pleading with them to make their  walnut vinegar available to us in the States.  Maille, are you listening? For the love of all things fermented, please!

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La Tienda has been selling Spanish products since 1996. They have a wide variety of quality items for the food lover. The entertaining basket is another gift possibility for mom and contains a wealth of delicious items. I love Spanish food and I cannot wait to dive into this collection of goodies – I think I know what we’re having for appetizers on Mothers’ Day. I made a mistake and started looking at all the gifts under $100 – I want the tapas plates, the white terra cotta cazeula, okay – I just want everything. Beautiful food related gifts at reasonable prices.

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Anyone that knows me, knows that I have an addiction to French cast iron enamel pans. I’m trying to behave and only collect white pieces and vintage pieces but there are a few pots such as the Perfect Pan from Staub that I have picked up in Graphite. It’s ironic – I had no interest in this pan until a friend messaged me and told me – she had it in her basket and deleted it after she realized that she had a wok and dutch oven. I do love this pot – it is perfect – and a great starter piece for someone building their kitchen.

Le Creuset still has most of my heart — look at this gorgeous pot – sweet mother of French cookware – this is gorgeous what mom wouldn’t love this? Right now LeCreuset will send a petite heart cocotte with any $150 website purchase. This special pot below, I first found at Williams-Sonoma – I’m in lust – it is also on the Le Creuset site and will qualify for that cute little heart cocette.

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No gift guide written by me can be complete without mentioning a few cookbook titles which I believe would be fantastic choices for Mother’s Day. I narrowed it down to a dozen books:

• Bread Crumbs Toast, see my full review at Eat Your Books.
• The Great Dixter Cookbook is a stunning book that combines gardening and delicious food, truly beautiful.
• Dinner Changing the Game, see my full review at Eat Your Books.
• Provence to Pondicherry is a stunner from Tessa Kirros. A review and recipe can be found at Eat Your Books.
• Eat in My Kitchen, James Beard Award Winner! is one of my favorite books from 2016. A link to my full review can be found here.
• Pomegranates & Saffron, is a beautiful book, more information can be found here.
• Lamingtons & Lemon Tarts, is a stunner of a dessert book. I’ll be sharing more information about this title soon.
• Simple is spectacular, jam-packed with delicious dishes. My previous post shares a few photos of dishes I have cooked.

  

Katerina Nitsou is offering $10 off her cookbook,  Macedonia, for Mothers’ Day using the code THANKSMOM at checkout. Macedonia, Recipes from the Balkans is a beautiful title filled with delicious recipes and full page color photographs of every dish. This book is my first book that is devoted to Macedonia and while I haven’t had a great deal of time to work my way through it – I will be. Homey, comfort food from starters to desserts and preserves, are shared in this lovely self-published cookbook which is well worth our attention.

Another author, I must mention who writes beautiful books, is Adelina Pulford who has a number of titles on Italian food and desserts. I am working on bringing a promotion to you on these books and I am especially taken with Adelina’s Kitchen Dromana: Dolci from my Italian Kitchen.

Lee Clayton Roper has written two cookbooks that also would make delicious gifts A Well-Seasoned Kitchen (written with her mother) and Fresh Tastes both of which I covered previously (Fresh Tastes and A Well-Seasoned Kitchen). Lee shares two of her menu plans in the Menu Suggestions below.

Updated 5/5  — I just received Nancy Baggett’s new book Cooking with Lavender and it is beautiful – what a great gift, with some culinary lavender and lavender sugar cookies from the book – it would make this mom happy. Make sure you check it out.

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And the last gift suggestion, but certainly not the least, an Eat Your Books membership along with one of the cookbook titles above would be a wonderful gift for the cookbook lover in your life. Yes, I am the Cookbook Promotions Manager for Eat Your Books (“EYB”) – but I honestly love the site. For those readers who are not familiar with EYB – it is a website for people who love cookbooks and want to make better use of the great recipes from those books. With EYB, a member can create their own personal Bookshelf and quickly find recipes from their cookbooks, food magazines, food blogs, personal recipe clippings, and favorite online recipes. New cookbooks (as well as older titles) are indexed every week. More details can be found at EYB. We also offer dozens of giveaways every month on the newest titles.

 

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MENU SUGGESTIONS

My friends have shared a few of their favorite recipes for a Mothers’ Day celebration:

• Pattie, has shared her post with great brunch ideas.
• Claudia has a scrumptious recipe for Triple Berry Cannoli Stuffed Italian Breakfast Toast.
• Lee has a make-ahead lunch plan and a make-ahead dinner menu.
• Marc has a Souffled Apple Pancakes with Cinnamon Maple Syrup.
• Beth has Challah Bread Pudding with Blueberries and Peaches.
• Signe shares her video for a Sweet Omelette.
• Janis shares Hattie’s Goat Cheese Torta with Pesto and Sun-dried Tomatoes.
• Renee at Kudos Kitchen has a wonderful selection of recipes for brunch.
• Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary always has delicious recipes perfect for any time but her Blueberry Cake would look beautiful on your Mothers’ Day table.
• Eat Your Books has two dozen recipes for Mothers’ Day in the online recipes search and remember you can search your cookbook collection by ingredients for specific recipes as well.

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GIVEAWAY

In my travels and work, I have come across a few duplicates of favorite books and I want to share them with you this Mother’s Day – a dozen cookbooks, a cute pastel set of measuring cups, a Cookbook Junkies apron made by the incredible Kudos Kitchen and a one year membership to Eat  Your Books – so that you can enter all these wonderful books above. This giveaway is through Rafflecopter – with lots of options. You must be a member of Eat Your Books (a free membership is available) to enter. Open to US residents only. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I hope this information is helpful to you. Links to Amazon are affiliate links and help to support this site. I received no compensation for sharing my opinions but did receive samples from Bonne Maman, Maille and La Tienda. Staub and LeCreuset do not know I’m alive and if they sent me something I would no longer be – as I would die from shock. Review copies of most books were kindly supplied by authors and publishers through my work for Eat Your Books. The items in the giveaway are supplied by myself and Eat Your Books is supplying the year membership.