Hazelnut Semifreddo with Caramel Sauce

 

When Brian and I were on our great food and wine adventure to Oregon last summer, we saw lots of orchards that we could not identify.  As it turns out they were hazelnut trees.  I love hazelnuts.  Some people call them filberts.  They are the nutty goodness in Nutella.  Turns out Oregon is the major producer of hazelnuts here in the United States.  It was nice to see them used on so many of the restaurant menus in that area, especially in their wine country.  I wanted to cook more with them when I got home.

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Amazing Artisan Bread for 40 Cents a Loaf - No Kneading, No Fussing, No Kidding

What if I told you that instead of buying bakery bread for four or five dollars a loaf, you could make delicious handmade bread whenever you wanted, at a fraction of the cost and it is so easy a kid could do it?  Well, read on because this method of making artisan bread at home will change your life.  

You can make incredible bread without having to do all the usual time consuming tasks of breadmaking :

• no need to make a new batch of dough every time you want bread
• no need to proof yeast
• no need to make starters or prefermented dough
• no kneading! 

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Chicken Ragu Sauce Over Orecchiette

 

This is absolutely one of my favorite pasta sauces.  I make a traditional bolognese or ragu sauce frequently from ground beef and pork, but this sauce is very different.  I make it from chicken thighs, which I braise, remove from the pot and then shred, removing the meat from the bone.  The meat is then placed back into the sauce to cook further. It has a very full, rich flavor from the vegetables, broth, wine and the addition of tomato paste (I used my homemade estratto from this fall).  You can serve this over any pasta.  I like orecchiette ("little ears" in Italian) because it holds the sauce so well.  This is also great over homemade gnocchi.

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