Simplicity is key with Sicilian cuisine and Chef Michael Bonacini of Gusto TV’s ‘Bonacini’s Italy’ explores just how the region balances simplicity with intensity through flavourful dishes. For dolce, Michael combines spicy with sweet through his tender Spiced Chocolate Cookies (Rame di Napoli). Clove and cinnamon provide the spice, while a glaze of apricot jam, dark chocolate and toasty pistachios rounds out these delicate cookies.

Yields 16

gustotv.com/recipes

INGREDIENTS
Cookie:
2 ¼ cups (540 ml) all-purpose flour
½ cup (120 ml) sugar
3 tablespoons (45 ml) cocoa powder
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground cloves
¾ teaspoon (3.75 ml) ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 ½ tablespoons (22 ml) baking powder
2 large eggs
5 tablespoons (75 ml) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tablespoon (7.5 ml) honey
1 orange, zest
2/3 cup (160 ml) milk

Glaze:
½ cup (120 ml) apricot jam
14 ounces (397 g) dark chocolate, broken into pieces
4 ½ tablespoons (68 ml) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (180 ml) chopped pistachios, toasted

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cloves, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.

Add eggs, butter, honey, zest, and milk and mix with a hand mixer until a uniform, slightly sticky batter forms.

Using a 1 ounce (30 ml) ice cream scoop, scoop batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cookie has darkened in colour, but it still soft.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Place the apricot jam in a small bowl, then brush each cookie with a thin layer of jam.

In a bain marie, melt the dark chocolate and butter until glassy and smooth, then remove from heat.

Flip a cookie over and dip in chocolate until the entire top is coated, then place dipped side up on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with a generous amount of pistachios. Repeat until all cookies are glazed and garnished with pistachios.

Leave to dry, then serve.

Spiced Chocolate Cake is a decadent dessert. Chef Michael Bonacini bakes a rich, dense chocolate cake filled with spices and nuts called Pam[n]pepato.

Yield 1 Cake

gustotv.com/recipes

INGREDIENTS
2 cups (470 ml) flour
½ cup (120 ml) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon (5 ml) cinnamon
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) nutmeg
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) ground cloves
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
1 cup (240 ml) sugar
1 cup (240 ml) honey
2 cups (470 ml) melted dark chocolate
2 cups (470 ml) roasted, mixed nuts
¾ cup (180 ml) chopped candied orange peel
Zest of one lemon
1 ½ cups (350 ml) melted dark chocolate, to cover

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C).

Add flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, honey, and melted dark chocolate. Add wet ingredients to dry and fold until fully combined.

Add nuts, candied orange peel, and zest of one lemon and fold to incorporate. Add a small amount of room temperature water if more moisture is needed.

Turn batter out onto a clean surface and shape into a dome. Place shaped dough on parchment-paper covered baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Set aside on a wire rack to cool slightly before glazing with melted chocolate.

Allow to cool fully before slicing—it’s even better when left overnight!

Fennel, olives, rosemary, and orange zest are four Provençal ingredients with punch in this Tomato Soup with Fennel. They may be used alone or combined, frequently with tomatoes.

From Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Fast Revised Edition: A Quick & Easy Cookbook

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for garnish
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
2 medium fennel bulbs (1 pound)
2/3 cup any olives
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 orange
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 large (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water

INSTRUCTIONS
Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over low heat.

Trim, peel, and chop the onion; add to the pot.

Peel and mince 2 cloves garlic; add to the pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

When the onion and garlic start to sizzle, raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften and color, 5 to 10 minutes.

Trim and chop the fennel bulbs, saving a few of the fronds for garnish.

Add the fennel to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally until the fennel begins to soften, 3 to 5 minutes.

Pit 2/3 cup olives if necessary; chop them up a bit.

Strip the leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs, and chop.

Grate 1 tablespoon zest from the orange; squeeze the juice into a small bowl through a strainer or your fingers to capture the seeds; then add the zest.

Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally until it darkens slightly, a minute or two.

Add the olives, rosemary, and orange juice and zest and cook, stirring until fragrant, less than a minute.

Add the tomatoes and their juice and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add 4 cups stock or water and raise the heat to high.

When the soup comes to a boil, adjust the heat so it bubbles gently but steadily and cook, stirring once in a while until the tomatoes break down, 5 to 10 minutes.

Chop the reserved fennel fronds.

Taste and adjust the seasoning. To serve, drizzle with more olive oil and garnish with the fennel fronds.

Braised Short Ribs are a favorite cool-weather comfort food. Beef short ribs are braised until tender in a sauce made from carrots, celery, onion, and herbs and are perfect served over mashed potatoes, polenta, or rice

Serves 4

sipandfeast.com

INGREDIENTS
4 ½ pounds English cut short ribs trimmed of silverskin and excess fat – see notes below
½ cup flour for dredging only
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium onions diced
4 medium carrots diced
3 celery ribs diced
10 cloves garlic smashed
2 tablespoons tomato paste
14 ounces crushed plum tomatoes
2 cups dry white wine
2 medium bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
2 sprig rosemary
2-3 cups low sodium chicken stock or enough to almost cover the ribs

Gremolata (optional):
½ cup Italian flat-leaf parsley minced
1 clove garlic minced
1-2 teaspoons orange zest
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 300f and set the rack to the middle level.

Heat a large stainless steel pan to medium heat. Trim short ribs of any silverskin and excess exterior fat. Dry the short ribs with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on all sides. Dredge the ribs in the flour and shake off the excess. Add the olive oil to the pan and sear the short ribs on all sides until well browned. Work in batches, if required, to not overcrowd the pan. Set all of the seared short ribs aside.

Remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat and oil from the pan and turn the heat down to a touch less than medium. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Saute for about 10-12 minutes or until very soft. Once soft, add the garlic cloves and cook until golden (about 2 minutes).

Add the tomato paste and stir frequently for 3-5 minutes. Next, add the wine and turn the heat to high. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.

Lower the heat to a simmer and add the tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary. Taste test the sauce and season with a bit of salt and plenty of pepper. Don’t use too much salt at this time since the sauce will reduce and concentrate.

Pour the sauce into a roasting pan or baking dish. Place the short ribs into the pan. Pour enough chicken stock to almost submerge the short ribs. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 3 hours, turning the ribs over at the halfway point. After 3 hours remove the foil. Continue to cook until the meat is fork-tender but not falling apart (~30-60 minutes).

Once tender, remove the short ribs from the oven and place them onto a platter tented with foil. Degrease the sauce with a fat separator, paper towels, bulb baster, or just skim with a spoon. Remove and discard the herbs. To thicken the sauce, transfer to a pot and turn the heat to high or if satisfied with the sauce’s consistency just serve as is. Taste test the sauce and make final adjustments to salt and pepper.

Serve the braised short ribs over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, polenta, or with crusty bread. Top with the gremolata if desired.

Notes:
– One large 3 to 4-inch long English cut short ribs is a perfect portion size. If the ribs are smaller, 2 or more per person might be needed. For this reason, pounds were specified over the number of short ribs.
– Cooking time is a rough estimate. Cook until the fat has rendered and the ribs are very tender. Depending on the fat composition and size of the short rib more or less than 3 ½ hours of braising time might be required.
– Serving the short ribs the next day is even better if you have the time!

Tiger Pound Cake uses sour cream to make the cake moist. Use ice cream scoops to plop the chocolate batter on the orange batter as a swirling mechanism.

Serves 10

patijinich.com

INGREDIENTS
2 cups unsalted butter plus more to grease a 10 x 3.5 inch bundt pan
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour plus more to dust the bundt pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch kosher or coarse sea salt
8 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a bundt pan and coat with flour, dusting off any excess flour.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter using the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until soft and creamy, anywhere from 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sugar and continue beating until fluffy and puffy.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the eggs with vanilla and sour cream.

Reduce the mixer speed to low, and take turns adding flour mixture and egg mixture. Continue beating until thoroughly combined, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula if need be. Transfer 1/3 the dough to another bowl, leaving the remaining 2/3 of the dough in the mixer.

In a small bowl, thoroughly combine the hot water and cocoa. With a rubber spatula, fold the cocoa mixture into the 1/3 of the batter set aside in an extra bowl until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

To the batter left in the mixer, add the orange zest, almond extract and orange juice, and beat until completely mixed.

With two ice cream scoops or measuring cups, alternate dropping the chocolate batter and the orange-almond batter into the bundt pan. When all the batter is in the pan, run a butter knife or a skewer through it to create the marbled look.

Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, until springy to the touch, lightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out moist, but not wet. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool.

Once cool, run a butter knife around the cake and invert onto a platter. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

In this Oxtail and White Sweet Potato Stew, a red wine braise, complete with other mulling ingredients like fresh orange and whole spices, makes the oxtails fall-apart tender and flavorful. The longer the braise, the better.

Serves 4-6

foodandwine.com

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 pounds meaty oxtails
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds white sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 jalapeño, chopped
2 cups dry red wine
4 cups veal or beef stock
2 cups water
3 oranges, quartered
12 parsley sprigs
6 thyme sprigs
3 cinnamon sticks
3 dried bay leaves

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large enameled cast-iron Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the olive oil. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper, and add half of them to the pot. Cook over moderately high heat until the oxtails are browned all over, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and brown the remaining oxtails.

Add the sweet potatoes to the pot and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes just begin to soften and brown, about 5 minutes. Add the jalapeño and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil, and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the veal stock, 2 cups water, oranges, herb sprigs, cinnamon, and bay leaves, and bring to a simmer. Return the oxtails to the pot; cover and transfer to the oven. Braise until the meat is very tender, about 3 hours.

Discard the oranges, herb sprigs, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Skim off and discard any fat, and season with salt and pepper before serving.