High opera is the signature of Italian culture.

When we think of Italians, we think of colorful gestures, musical language, high fashion, fast cars, and lots of drama.

Even Italian food isn't shy and retiring.

It's bold and sensual and bright.

It demands your full attention.

Let's get into the drama of cooking today on Christina Cooks.

(upbeat theme music) ♪ (announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: ♪ Hi, I'm Christina Pirello, and this is Christina Cooks, where each week we take fresh, seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Are they all plant-based?

Yeah.

Will they all be delicious?

You bet.

That's the macroterranean way.

Now, I love drama in my life, and believe me, there's plenty of it, but I especially like it in my food.

So what we're gonna make today are dishes that are simple but have a lot of flavor which brings the drama to your table and puts a lot of interest in your food.

So we're gonna start by making hummus, but before we make the hummus, we're gonna make the topping, or as my husband from Boston would say the "tawping."

So, we're gonna start by taking some extra virgin olive oil into a skillet.

A good bit because we're actually frying cooked chickpeas to put on top of our hummus.

And then we're gonna take the cooked chickpeas and put them in.

Turn the flame to like a medium high and then add some spices.

Some hot spice, just a pinch.

Okay, a generous pinch.

A pinch of salt to give them flavor.

And some smoked paprika, which will really help to give them that lovely smoky taste.

Now you could also do these in the oven, but you really have to be careful because you run the risk of them becoming dry and too crunchy.

We want them to be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

There's the drama.

So, as they start to simmer and cook, let me talk to you about chickpeas.

I was in Israel teaching cooking and, uh, I'm standing in front of a group of Israeli women and I say, "Yeah, the thing about chickpeas is they're like Italian sports cars.

Sometimes they cook in 40 minutes, sometimes they cook in four hours."

One woman raised her hand and she said, "Don't you just soak them with baking soda like we do?"

Wait, what?

And she said, "Don't you just soak 'em with baking soda like we do?"

So, let me show you this.

Here are raw chickpeas.

They're tiny and small and Italian.

These are chickpeas soaked for seven to eight hours with baking soda.

They puffed.

So, then, you cook them and they puff again, except they cook in about 40 minutes.

So, as usual, I learned more than my students did.

So, now we're gonna make hummus.

Now I make pretty good hummus, I have to admit.

I make really, really good hummus, but our house has a hummus master.

Hon?

-Yes?

-Want to make some hummus?

-Are you looking for me?

-I am.

-Want to make some hummus?

-Absolutely, I'd love to.

(Christina) Here we go.

You know me and food processors.

(Robert) Well, you know, in Israel, they eat hummus -like Italians eat pasta.

-Whoo!

Every day.

(Robert) And hummus in Israel is very simple.

They don't make hummus with red pepper.

They don't make hummus with all kinds of stuff in it.

Hummus is hummus.

(Christina) But the changes is the toppings.

That's right.

-So, what you want is... -What are they, what changes?

-Toppings.

-The toppings.

Toppings.

(Robert) So you want about a cup and a half of cooked chickpeas or a can of chickpeas if you're using canned.

And the recipe is so simple.

To this, you are going to add three or four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

(Christina) So what is it, three or four?

(Robert) Three or four.

The other nice thing about--in Israel, they have wonderful olive oil as well.

I know that we use a lot of Italian olive oil in our house, but the Israeli oil when we were there was just... -Spectacular.

-...to die for.

And it was actually from Egypt, which was yummy.

So, I'm gonna put four in.

(Christina) So, are you gonna put cumin?

Because you know I don't love cumin.

(Robert) I'm gonna put cumin because it belongs in here.

(Christina) I see.

(Robert) But first, before the cumin, we're gonna add some... (Christina) Does it matter the order?

(Robert) ...some tahini.

-No, it doesn't.

-So watch how the tahini comes out of his container.

See how it pours?

That's Israeli tahini.

Very often, the tahini in America is like peanut butter, and so your hummus comes out thick and sort of pasty.

This--this tahini is the reason the hummus is gonna come out like mousse, like whippy and just bright and lovely.

(Robert) And most tahini comes to us from Middle Eastern countries anyway.

(Christina) Yeah, but sometimes it's, I don't know, -maybe this is fresher.

-This is an Israeli...

It's very fresh.

(Christina) This is a company run by three sisters.

They're so cute.

-I love them.

-Pass that off to you, my dear.

(Christina) Yeah.

Now can we put the cumin in?

(Robert) No, not yet.

Next is going to be limone.

-Would you cut, please?

-Yes, I will.

(Robert) So we use three or four tablespoons of tahini and olive oil and, now, about three tablespoons of... (Christina) I don't want you to forget the cumin.

(Robert laughs) -Yes, dear.

-Okay.

-Lemon.

-Garlic.

-Garlic.

-Un po?

(Robert) Would you--one clove of garlic.

Would you chop that up just a little bit?

-Oh, you want it chopped?

-Please, please.

-Please.

-And... About a teaspoon of cumin.

(Christina) Okay.

(Robert) About a teaspoon or so.

And finally... -Salt?

-A little bit of salt.

-That's baking powder.

-That's baking powder, sorry.

Sale.

You don't need much salt, just a pinch or two.

(Christina) Okay.

Is that it?

All right, you can go.

Thanks.

(Robert) Now if you--you can either use a food processor for this or a high-speed blender, so... -Okay, bye.

-Bye, okay, ciao-ciao.

(Christina) Bye!

Love you!

Bye.

-Bye!

-Bye!

(whirring) So you're gonna blend this until it's creamy, or if you like it chunky, you can have more of a coarse texture.

It's your call.

I like it to be a little bit not as super creamy.

He left his mess, which is typical.

I actually like there to be a little bit of chickpeas in there too.

Okay.

All right, we're gonna call this done.

All right.

So, now... We're gonna take our hummus.

Oops.

You know... Everybody's laughing because me and any kind of electronic equipment is a whole story of its own.

So you're gonna mound this into a bowl.

And, normally, I would dress this with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

But in this case, I have my spicy chickpeas.

So those are gonna go on top instead.

And these are gonna give the hummus a nice sort of smoky, spicy flavor as well.

So we're gonna plate this up.

When you're looking to make your food a little more dramatic, take a little time to plate and make it pretty.

Don't just serve it in a bowl that you slammed it in with chips or whatever.

Make sure that it's really, really, really beautiful.

And since he worked so hard, maybe let's pass a little hummus to the boss.

Okay.

Hon, you want to taste this?

(Robert) Sure!

♪ So there you go, Israeli hummus with... (Robert) Mm!

That's delicious!

♪ Okay, so now we're gonna make a risotto, but not just a plain risotto.

It's gonna have artichokes and roasted peppers and all sorts of things to up the ante and bring us some drama to the table.

The first thing we're gonna do is show you how to roast a pepper.

This is a red bell pepper, and right underneath the skin lives an alkaloid called solanine which can make your arthritic joints feel not so good.

So cultures that eat peppers roast them over an open flame or in an oven under the broiler to blacken the skin.

This is one time where you get to burn something.

You turn the skin black, put it into a paper sack, peel the skin off, and you do it just like this on an open flame.

And you can't overdo it.

Then you steam it in the sack for about ten minutes or in a bowl with a plate, peel the skin off, and you have roasted peppers.

You can also buy them, but why?

You know what I mean?

There's the drama right there.

People come in and go, "Oh my goodness, there's a roasted pepper on an open flame," and you go, "Yup."

Okay.

So that's gonna roast, and we're gonna make the broth that's gonna be part of our risotto.

And the way we're gonna do that is we're gonna take some white miso, which tastes very cheesy and almost like Parmigiano, and we're gonna just sort of sift it into water to dissolve it a little bit.

And this is gonna become sort of like the cheese flavor of our risotto since we're not gonna finish it with cheese or cream.

And we're just gonna let this simmer the whole time that we make our risotto.

And it's gonna give you just a nice mild flavor.

Okay.

Let's get that out of the way.

And now we're gonna take some extra virgin olive oil to the bottom of a pan.

You can use a skillet or a pan.

Doesn't matter.

There's gonna be lots of liquid and lots of cooking, so it doesn't matter.

You're gonna put it on about medium heat and add diced red onion.

Again, whatever onion you like.

You can use shallots, leeks, but I really love red onion because they're beautiful and they're sweet.

And whole garlic cloves.

I seem to be passionately in love with this whole garlic clove thing because it's such a mild garlic flavor.

And, yeah, we're trying to cook for drama here, but not too much.

Tiny bit of salt.

Then we'll take tongs and turn our pepper.

So you can see how they start to char.

Like that, and you're just gonna keep turning this until it's blackened.

So, there you go.

All right.

So we're gonna sauté our onions and garlic.

You can leave the garlic in and it'll get nice and creamy by the end of the risotto or you can take it out.

Next, we add diced celery and a pinch of salt.

Stir that just till it's coated with oil.

You want a nice shine to it.

Next go in roasted peppers that were roasted, peeled, and diced.

Make sure you get 'em all.

It's such a nice smoky flavor.

Remember, though, when you're peeling your roasted peppers, don't rinse them.

You lose all your smoky flavor, and that's the point.

You want that nice smokiness.

So, as your vegetables get shiny with oil, then you can add your next veggies.

So, next, we're gonna add some smoked paprika which is gonna give you that lovely smoky, deep flavor and that's a whole teaspoon and a half, so it's really gonna give us a nice taste.

Then we add some cooked cannellini beans which are not only creamy and delicious and sort of make their own gravy, which is great when you're making risotto, but they're heart-healthy.

Right, studies have shown us that they can help to lower cholesterol and blood pressure by eating one serving a week.

So, talk about drama.

Now we're gonna take and turn our pepper again.

It's almost there.

Starting to get nice and blackened.

And go back to our stir.

And the next thing to go in is Arborio rice.

Now, those of you who know me are thinking, "Wait a minute.

She's cooking white rice?

Like, white rice?"

Yeah, I'm cooking white rice because I made a discovery which is Arborio rice is not only rich tasting and yummy, but it's really high in protein.

So, eat Arborio rice now and then.

It's easy to digest and loaded with protein.

Hello!

Now we're gonna add to this a half cup of white wine.

Half cup of white wine.

And, now, what we'll do is keep stirring the rice until it absorbs the wine.

And you do not add any more liquid to this until it has absorbed the white wine because this is where you begin to flavor the rice so that the rice is sweet and takes on a really good taste.

Turn our pepper one more time.

And the pepper is ready to go.

So that's how you roast a pepper, and this is how you make risotto.

Now risotto takes time.

There's a new sort of modern thing going around with some chefs who are saying, "Don't slave over a hot pan of risotto stirring and adding, and stirring and adding.

Just add all the liquid and let it simmer."

But then you just made soft rice.

The point of risotto and the stirring is that you're sort of like breaking down the surface of the rice to create that starchy, creamy texture that is the signature of risotto.

You got to do the work.

So once the wine has been absorbed, largely absorbed, then, you start adding your liquid by about half cup measures.

We're gonna use this miso broth that's simmering which is gonna give us a nice sort of cheesy finish to our risotto.

And we're gonna keep doing this.

Every time the rice absorbs all the liquid, we'll add another half cup and another half cup until the rice is what's known as al dente.

It's creamy, but it still has some tooth.

It's not baby food.

So, we're gonna do this for about 25 minutes, and I'll show you what it looks like when it's ready.

♪ Okay, so here we are with this perfect creamy risotto after 25 minutes.

So now we're gonna finish it off.

What we're gonna do is take some pitted green olives, cut them in half and toss those in.

Don't put in too many olives or your risotto will be salty.

We want drama.

We don't want that much drama.

Okay.

So just maybe six or eight olives.

And, then, go in frozen artichoke hearts.

So, the artichoke hearts are stirred in and not cooked for a long time.

They're stirred into the hot rice so that they don't get mushy.

I want them cooked, but not artichoke cream.

So now we're gonna garnish this and freshen up the flavor and really kick up the drama with some frozen lemon.

I got to tell you, when I learned this trick on the Amalfi Coast, it's like the greatest kitchen hack I have ever, ever, ever learned from one of our guests because you get such great flavor and perfume of the lemon that it's just-- There's always lemons in my freezer.

I seem to not be able to live without it.

Take a little bit of fresh basil and a quick--just a quick coarse chop.

Right in.

Don't put your herbs in too soon or they turn black and you end up with herbs that don't look fresh, and it doesn't contribute to the beauty of the dish at all.

Then, we'll plate it.

Just gonna take big scoops of this gorgeous, creamy rice that has beans and veggies and lots and lots of flavor and drama from wine to artichoke hearts.

And if this doesn't convince the people in your life that cooking is dramatic, I don't know what will.

♪ So, I have an e-mail here from Don in Orlando, Florida, saying that his wife's desserts are a little, uh, lacking, shall we say, and he's trying to be healthier.

So, he's wondering when he's baking, should he use plant-based milks, like oat, almond, soy, whatever else is out there, any kind of nut or seed can make a milk, or should he stick with dairy milk?

Well, dairy milk is loaded with saturated fat, so I'd say bail on that, and while any of the plant-based milks work great, Don, let me tell you what I do.

I save calories and still get a great texture.

I bake all my cakes and cookies with water.

I'm telling you, it's amazing, so give it a try and let me know how your baked goods come out.

♪ All right, so now--now the real drama comes.

Now we're gonna make a dessert that is so easy but so amazing.

And the main attraction is dried figs which you can get mostly year-round.

So what I did was I chopped the dried figs just into, like, you know, quarters, like little chunks, but what you want to do is make sure when you do that, you take the little dried stem off the fig because it's not a good mouth feel.

Then, we're gonna add golden raisins, equal amounts of each.

Some brown rice syrup, but don't get carried away with sweetener.

These are figs and raisins we're talking about here.

This is gonna be plenty sweet, but you need the sweetener in there to kind of bind it all together and smooth out the flavor.

So just a little bit, maybe a quarter cup.

I don't know.

You decide what you like.

Some pumpkin pie spice, or you can do just cinnamon.

If you can't find pumpkin pie spice, just use some cinnamon.

Not only does the cinnamon make the dessert seem sweeter, but it has the actual opposite effect in the body in that it helps to control blood sugar.

So there you go.

Then, we'll add water to half cover the dried fruit.

And this is gonna cook until the fruit is soft.

It's gonna take, depending on how dry your dried figs are, this could take a good 20 minutes to a half an hour.

And while that's cooking, because then you have to cool it before you can finish the cooking, we're gonna make the crust.

The crust is really easy.

It's a cup and a half of whole wheat pastry, or I use sprouted wheat flour because it digests in the body like a vegetable instead of like a grain, so it's a little bit easier on you.

I'm gonna use a half teaspoon of baking powder.

(clanking) Don't get too crazy with measuring.

You know, just measure, sort of.

A little salt because that's gonna make the crust sweet.

We'll use two tablespoons of coconut sugar so that it has like, um, a cookie finish to the--to the crust.

Then, we'll add a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil.

This is an olive oil crust.

So it's gonna have sort of a shortbread, buttery kind of flavor without being too rich.

That's gonna go in.

And as you can see, I didn't sift or whisk or anything.

Then, we're gonna start by adding about a quarter cup of water.

That may be all that I need.

What you're trying to do is get a crust that just gathers together.

You don't need it to be super dry or super wet.

You kind of want it to just come together and hold and be soft without sticking to your hand.

And a quarter cup of water is gonna do the job.

So once the crust starts to come together, try not to touch it too soon because the oil from the skin of your hands can make it tough.

You see how that's just gathered together?

That's what we want.

So now we're gonna take parchment.

Put the crust there.

Now this isn't a crust that has to rest or refrigerate or anything, but you do want to shape it into a rectangle because that's what you're ultimately gonna roll it into is a rectangle.

But you can see that it's just come together.

It's not...

It's not too hard, it's not too soft.

It's like Goldilocks, it's just right.

Now you're gonna take a rolling pin and gently, please, gently.

Please don't use your rolling pin as though it's a weapon.

You're gonna use this and create a rectangle that's about an eighth of an inch thick.

The key here is to make sure that the rectangle that you roll out is even in thickness.

It doesn't matter if it's perfect.

It doesn't matter if it's a little rustic looking.

It does matter if when you run your hand across it, it's, you know, thick in one place and thin in another.

You need it to be even.

Then, to make sure that it doesn't stick after you've rolled it out, you release the top sheet.

Flip it.

This way it doesn't stick.

Then you take one of your pieces of parchment and that goes right onto your baking sheet.

Then... You take cooled filling.

You see how it gets after it's been cooked and cooled?

It should purée under a whisk or a fork.

If it doesn't, then you can put it into a food processor.

Sometimes, dried figs are really tough.

And you want a nice thick filling, and it should be very, very thick and not super easy to spread.

And you want to take this and you want to go not quite to the edges and not quite to the edges closest and farthest from you.

And, then, because we have kind of an odd shape since my crust looks more organic, gonna cut off that one piece of excess.

Then, you're gonna take and you're gonna roll this jelly roll style all around the filling.

And, then, you're gonna lay it on its seam.

You're gonna take a bowl of warm water and wet your knife blade 'cause this is gonna ensure that it slides right through the cookies instead of breaking them.

You're gonna take these guys, cut them into little pinwheels.

You should get a good dozen out of one of these rolls.

And you're gonna set them cut side up on the baking sheet.

And these are gonna go into the oven at 350 for between 15 and 18 minutes until the crust is tender and the filling is bubbling.

And wait till you see how they look when they're finished.

♪ So, after they've cooled, I like to plate them, garnish them with a few fresh berries, and you have one of the most delicious, dramatic desserts you'll ever serve.

♪ So what are you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board, and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks.

♪ ♪ (announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

♪ Jonathan's Spoons, individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: ♪ You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at: And by following Christina on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The companion cookbook, "The Macroterranean Way," combines the Mediterranean diet with the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine, allowing us to understand how food affects us so we can cook deliciously while creating the wellness we want.

To order your copy for $14.95 plus handling, call: Add "Back to the Cutting Board" and Christina's iconic "Cooking the Whole Foods Way," and get all three books for $49.95 plus handling, call: ♪