4 favorite holiday recipes from Charlotte chefs
Local chefs are no strangers to delicious food. Here they share a few of their favorite holiday dishes that bring a bit of nostalgia for those that mean the most to them—family.
Risotto Alla Pescatora by Chef Luca Annunziata, Passion8 Restaurant
Chef Luca Annunziata says he creates the risotto alla pescatora dish because this time of year it really brings him back to his childhood home and time with family, enjoying the Feast of the Seven Fishes, which his restaurant serves every Christmas Eve.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups fish or vegetable stock
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1 1/3 cups Carnaroli or Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
8 small clams, such as Manila or cherry stone or little neck 8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
8 mussels
12 shrimp
1/2 cup peeled, crushed, and seeded plum tomatoes
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/5 cup white wine
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Preparation
In a small saucepan, warm the fish or vegetable stock. Keep warm.
In a large saucepan over moderately low heat, warm the olive oil and the onion, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender (there should be no color), about 5 minutes. Add the rice and toast lightly for 1 minute without letting the rice or onion take on any color.
Add the wine and cook until almost completely absorbed. Add most of the stock (it should come about 1/2 inch above the rice) and bring to a simmer. Cook the risotto, stirring occasionally, until the rice has absorbed some of the liquid, about 8 minutes.
In another pot add garlic tomato and let sauté until gold and brown. Add the clams, mussels and tomatoes, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the seafood is cooked and at the last minute, add the shrimp. When they are done add the shellfish to the rice.
Remove the risotto from the heat and add the parsley and olive oil. Stir well to release the starches and make the risotto creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.
Acorn Squash Stuffed with Bacon Bread Pudding, by Chef Brian Sonoskus, Tupelo Honey Cafe
“Lots of home cooks, when they think of acorn squash, think about a sweetish dish made with a little brown sugar and butter and perhaps some sorghum or honey,” Sonokus said. “While we love acorn squash prepared this way, our iteration adds some savory and salty notes with the addition of peppered bacon and blue cheese in a rich, creamy bread pudding. This would be a truly triumphant holiday table addition.”
(makes 6 servings)
Ingredients
Squash
3 medium acorn squashes, about 2 pounds each
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 equal pieces
Bread Pudding
5 slices peppered bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-wide strips, about ½ cup
1 medium Vidalia onion, finely diced (1 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, thyme, basil, or oregano
2 eggs
¾ cup buttermilk
½ cup plus
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups cubed artisanal sourdough bread
6 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the stems from the squash. Cut each squash in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Cut a sliver off the squash bottoms so they will sit flat. Place the squash halves, hollowed side up, in a baking dish large enough to hold them. Sprinkle the insides of the squash with salt and pepper and place a piece of butter in the center of each. Pour ½ cup water into the dish around the squash. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake until the squash is tender when you insert a small, sharp knife into the flesh. Remove from the oven and carefully pour off the water. Keep the squash in the baking dish and maintain the oven temperature while you prepare the stuffing.
To make the bread pudding stuffing, cook the bacon in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Remove the bacon and let it drain on paper towels, then crumble and set aside. Drain all but 2 teaspoons of the bacon drippings in the skillet.
Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the butter until melted and add the herbs to the melted butter.
Place the eggs, buttermilk, cream, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth and blended. Stir in the onion mixture, bacon and bread cubes and let stand for 10 minutes to allow the bread to absorb the custard mixture, stirring occasionally.
Spoon the bread mixture into the partially baked squash shells, dividing evenly. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese over each filled squash. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the filling is just set, about 25 minutes. Uncover and bake until browned on top, about 15 minutes.
Italian Cream Cheese Pastries by Chef Laura Janelli, Chef Laura at Home
“This recipe is very close to my heart…. a recipe from my Naunie,” Janelli said.
(Makes approximately 30 cookies)
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Dough
8 oz. cream cheese
½ lb. unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Raspberry or strawberry filling (Solo brand)
Preparation
The cream cheese and butter should be at room temperature. Mix the cream cheese with the butter, add flour and salt and mix again. Roll into a ball and divide into four balls. Place in saran wrap and flatten. Place in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
Roll out onto a floured board until it is flattened out, a little less than pie dough. Cut into 3 by 3 inch squares. Fill the center of dough with ¾ teaspoon of raspberry or strawberry filling. Turn each edge of dough over the other. Place the pastries in the freezer for about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown.
Olive Oil Lavender Cookies by Chef Ivana Bekavac, Dilworth Tasting Room
“These small yet delicious cookies always takes me back to when I was little, spending my summers on the Croatian coast playing among olive oil trees and lavenders,” said Bekavac. “It is a really simple, pretty straight forward recipe.”
Ingredients
300g butter (Approximately 2 1/2 sticks of butter)
100g olive oil (3/4 cup)
260g powdered sugar (1 cup)
6g salt (1.2 teaspoons)
7 egg yolks
20g baking power (4 teaspoons)
400g cake flour (1 3/4 cups)
A pinch of lavender
Preparation
Mix together butter(room temperature), sugar, lavender and olive oil. When it gets soft and fluffy start adding egg yolks one by one.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Start adding the dry ingredients little by little.
At this point you can start using your hands to combine all the ingredients.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface and gather it into a ball.
Flatten the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to one hour before using.
This will chill the butter and allow the gluten in the flour to relax.
When the pastry is rolled to the desired size and shape place it on a flour dusted tray and bake for approximately 10 minutes on 340 degrees F.
Photos: Chef Laura at Home, Passion8 Restaurant
This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "4 favorite holiday recipes from Charlotte chefs."