A Writer's Blog: Food and Poetry

Cod Cakes

2012-01-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a great thought for writers by Barry Lopez, whom I met at Bread Loaf in 2001--he is a great speaker and writer and review of books. He said:

"Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion."

I made cod cakes for dinner and then froze some individually--they stay wonderfully well and can be made in a sauce or merely fried with tartar sauce:

Here's the Recipe:

Cod Fish Cakes Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs of cod fillets

2 large Yukon yellow Flesh potatoes

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh Flat Italian parsley

3-4 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup of minced onion

1 teaspoon salt

Fresh ground pepper to taste ( add hot pepper because my husband likes them a bit piccante

2 eggs beaten

Corn oil for frying--I use Mazola

How to prepare:

1 Boil Potatoes

2 Toss in the codfish for the last few minutes or when the potatoes are finished cooking done and just leave the fish in the boiling water to cool it will flakes easily. Drain and flake the fish with a fork, take out all bones, and mash the potatoes.

3 Mix the fish, the potatoes and the rest of the ingredients together well by hand. (Take your rings off, ladies!) If the mixture is too crumbly, add another egg. If too sticky, add some more bread crumbs.

4 Form the mixture into patties and dip them into more breadcrumb, and fry them on medium high heat in a skillet coated with oil, until nice browned on one side, then flip them over and continue to cook until well browned on the other side.

Yield: Makes 24 fish cakes. Serves 4-6, and freeze 12, I actually froze only 11!

Armenian beef and lamb sausage

2011-12-30T02:53:00.000-08:00

First of all , I want to say THANKS to all you lovely people who commented on one of my blogs.

I haven't been too constant, and can only blame it on being Giuliana's Nonna Nina--so far she calls me a combination: Nonni, and I am totally snookered!

Next, I want to congratulate the youngest member of the Screw Iowa Writers:

Melissa Westemeier on the publication of her debut chick lit book: Whipped, Not Beaten,available through Cornerstone Books. I ordered ten copies to give as Valentine's gifts to friends. And I advise you all that for only a $12 investment, you'll have wonderful reading entertainment! Melissa writes a fun, informative and interesting blog as the:

Green Girl of Wisconsin.

My son Nico made this recipe of Armenian black sausage (below)--either click on this or copy and paste into your browser

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Soujouk-black.pdf

He experimented and did 4 times the recipe--much harder to work with, and he advises to do only a kilo or 2.2 lbs at a time like the recipe calls for.

And if you go here you'll find a picture of it (I hope)--didn't know how to transfer it.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s166/sh/7e2a3546-05df-4612-b7f7-c532de491c41/80fc4a862b49d65c2de87ad163af299c

Keep reading our great monthly column: "FROM the MASTERS" on www.bridlepathpress.com (and an occasional poem or two.)

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous and creative New Year!

Pumpkin Bits

2011-11-21T14:12:00.002-08:00

Ah 'tis the season of leaves changing on the trees, pumpkins in the patch, and butternut squash hefty in the veggie garden. So let's go sweet with this pumpkin one. Butternut squash soup to follow...if not today, then tomorrow.

PUMPKIN BITS

(These may be made ahead and kept in fridge or frozen.)

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter

1 cup oats uncooked (may be quick cook or not)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 pkg. cream cheese softened (8 oz.)

3 eggs

1 can pumpkin (15 oz)

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (and if you're like me and don't have any handy, use: 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, a dash of cloves)

Preheat oven to 350

Line a 13 x 9 pan/dish with heavy foil enouogh to leave some edge to form a "rolled handle" on each end, and then grease with butter

Mix flour, brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar in a bowl

Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Stir in oats and pecans (may use a combination of pother nuts too--like walnuts, etc.). Reserve one cup of mixture for the crumbs on top.

Press remaining mixture onto bottom of pan. Bake for 15 minutes

Beat cream cheese, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spice with an electric mixer until well blended.

Pour over crust. Sprinkle with leftover reserved crumbs.

Bake 25 minutes. Lift from pan using foil "handles."

Cool completely before cutting into square bits.

Recipe for fior di zucca and a note on Harold Pinter

2011-11-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Fior di zucca

Make a batter of flour, eggs, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder and baking powder and aside to rest while you wash and dry and prepare the flowers.

Don't bother to ask, because I can't tell you how much of each ingredient goes into the batter. Experiment and you'll live a happy life of daring...go by eye. like I do, for how many flowers you have. It's the way I was taught. Some friends think I hold out on them--this isn't true. REALLY. I never measured anything in my kitchen, bit have tried writing these blog recipes...and it's a total pain. And I'm not even sure they are correct measurements. I usually guess.

Clean the flowers. Cut the stems, take out the pistol and remove any sepals. Into each flower place a piece of anchovy and a piece of mozzarella. Roll the twisted flower into a bowl of flour and then dip into the batter and fry in hot corn oil in a deep fry pan.

Server hot.

The following has nothing to do with food, and is merely a not on Harold Pinter and play-writing.

I love theater and plays. Always have. I read somewhere that Harold Pinter wrote 29 plays. these include: The Caretaker (1960), The Homecoming (1964), Betrayal (1978), A Kind of Alaska (1982), and Celebration (2000). He died in 2008, at the age of 78. A great talent, who basically said that he wrote the way he did because that's the way he writes. Isn't that terrific?

He may be quoted as saying, "How can you write a happy play? Drama is about conflict and general degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life."

I've written two short plays for theater and one movie screenplay adapted from one of my short stories. And I began another but only got to 30 pages before I quit because I was merely auditing the class and had to leave because my husband was whisking me off to Asia. That idea of mine was made into a movie about the killing of Aldo Moro--well, at least I had the right instinct.

All writers should try to write plays or screenplays. You are forced to write only action and dialogue--no character's thoughts, thank you very much. And it'll also teach you plot and plot points and the spinning around of the action to go in another direction. Oh, just read the book by Syd Fields, he's the expert.

November 1st, All Saints, Rolled Eggplant

2011-11-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Rolled, stuffed grilled eggplant

Mix together ricotta, chopped mozzarella and grated parmigiano--don't ask me how much--do it by eye for 12 large pieces of grilled eggplant. Stuff and roll. Place in an oven-proof Pyrex dish. Cover with tomato sauce and basil, and some more mozzarella and parmigiano. Bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes. YUM!

After I prepared this I read this quote by Eugene O'Neill. "Keep on writing, no matter what! That's the most important thing. As long as you have a job on hand that absorbs all your mental energy, you haven't much worry to spare over other things. It serves as a suit of armor."

O'Neill wrote 50 plays, including The Hairy Ape (1921), Desire Under the Elms (1924), The Iceman Cometh (1939), and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1941).

Today is the 1st of November--the feast day of All Saints, and the beginning of NANOWRIMO--so start writing your novel and keep at it for a month. I'm adding to the one I wrote a few years ago in the shortest month...February. The important thing is to write something on it every day.

Good luck to all of you who try it.

Pappardelle con funghi e piselli B-day luncheon MH

2011-10-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Pappardelle con funghi e piselli

Wide, fat noodles with mushrooms and peas in cream sauce

This is the dish I'm going to make this coming Saturday for a luncheon of 6 women friends.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of sweet butter

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1 small to medium sweet onion, sliced long

1 minced or squished garlic clove

1/4 cup (at least) of cut up bacon

1 lb of thin sliced Baby Bella mushrooms

3/4 lb of petite peas...if fresh, hallelujah! (if not, use fresh frozen)

1/2 cup of white wine (I'll use Pinot Grigio)

1 to 1 & 1/2 cups fresh heavy cream

3/4 cup of fresh grated parmigiano cheese

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

season with salt and fresh coarse ground black pepper to taste

1 lb of papparedlle (This pasta is fairly expensive over $5 for 1/2 lb...you'd better love your guests as I do.)

Optional: 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce

May add other mushrooms if desired

In a large heave fry pan, sauté the garlic, onions and bacon. Remove from the pan, add the mushrooms and fry up in remaining butter/oil. bacon drippings. Add wine and let the alcohol burn off. Add cream and let cook to thicken. Add, the removed mix plus the peas. Also you want to may add one to two tablespoons of tomato sauce for color, if desired.

Add cooked pasta to sauce and stir, adding cheese

Top with fresh minced parsley and serve.

For a second dish, I'm making rolled, stuffed fillet of sole, poached in wine and tomatoes. With this, I will serve a salad of rughetta (arrugala) and Gorgonzola.

Desert: Tiramisu--recipe is in the archives.

Italo Calvino

2011-10-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

Italo Calvino has written many novels that blend fantasy and reality. Among these are, The Baron in the Trees (1957), Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter's night a traveler (1979).

He wrote realism with little success, and then decided to write the novel that he'd like to read. He said, "What stirs literature is the call and attraction of what is not in the dictionary."

And, "A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say."

And, "I feel suspicious about writers who claim to tell the whole truth about themselves, about life, or about the world. I prefer to stay with the truths I find in writers who present themselves as the most bold-faced liars."

He's an inspiration, folks! Basically what he's saying is write the poems you want, the stories, and the novels, but what he's not mentioning is the fact that what you're trying to write you may also want to publish someday...and herein lies the difficulty: do you listen to what brilliant men have to say about writing, or go with your gut?

Ropa Vieja (Old Clothes) A Spanish recipe

2011-10-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

I might have posted this before--ages ago--but it's been so long since I blogged anything, I figured I'd toss it out here for the world at large just in case I skipped putting it on.

For tonight's dinner I made ropa vieja, which will sit and rest in fridge and then I'll skim off the fat--easy as it gels and floats to the top. Basically this translates to "old clothes- or rags" you make a soup of the meat first. Use skirt steak or flank.

If you have a bone, plop it into the water too--espeically if it's a cut with marrow. Add salt, black pepper, pieces of red or green pepper. a small onion and several pieces of garlic. And then you cook the shredded meat in a fairly spicy sauce with minced onions, garlic and peppers and hot pepper and a hit of vinegar and a hit of vino, and some of the soupy water. Cook this for about 45 minutes or so, or until the water cooks out and you have a nice dense saucy meat to serve over white rice.

Save the rest of the broth to make vegetable soup a few days later--two meals from the same meat.

Epiphany Quote form James Joyce

2011-02-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

It's a day of reflection for me. The sun is shining brightly on the newly fallen snow of this past weekend and I've come across a quote
from The Writer's Almanac of January 6th. It's for every writer who never ever really quite got what James Joyce and a zillion other writers today mean by the expression; "epiphany."

"Around the time Irish writer James Joyce was defecting from the Roman Catholic Church, he was investing secular meaning into the word "epiphany." In his early 20s, he drew up little sketches, sort of like "prose poems," in which he illustrated epiphanies. He explained to his brother Stanislaus that epiphanies were sort of "inadvertent revelations," and said they were "little errors and gestures — mere straws in the wind — by which people betrayed the very things they were most careful to conceal." He also wrote that the epiphany was the sudden 'revelation of the whatness of a thing,' the moment when 'the soul of the commonest object ... seems to us radiant.' "

Oh and here's another quote, this one from Anais Nin:

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection."

Quote about poetry

2011-01-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this quote from Derek Walcott because I want to remember it and because it rings true.

He said this following in his 1992 Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

"For every poet it is always morning in the world. History a forgotten, insomniac night; History and elemental awe are always our early beginning, because the fate of poetry is to fall in love with the world, in spite of History."

Sanibel Island Writers Conference 2009 and PBPF 2010

2010-01-27T05:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been away for close to two months, but grass hasn't been growing under my feet.

So here's the latest report on two different but equally wonderful writerly experiences that have been occupying my time.

It's been awhile since I've been able to blog and there are several things I'd like to say, and since no blog cop is in sight or in the area to stop me, I shall plow ahead.

November's Sanibel Island Writer's Conference ( http://www.fgcu.edu/siwc/Presenters.html) was nothing short of an incredible experience for me. I taught a poetry workshop to a lovely group of interested participants! And all the other frills and thrills that came along with the conference made it fun, energetic and informative.

So many terrrific writers were present and to name a few: John Dufresne, Carl Hiaasen, Steve Almond, and Lauren Small--learn more about Lauren: http://www.screwiowa.com and
http://www.bridlepathpress.com

To my way of thinking, the conference was a complete success because of the interesting writers who presented, the eager participants, but most of all to Tom DeMarchi's great organizational skills. Everything went off without a hitch and worked like clockwork, and even the weather cooperated.

Moving on to the next topic: The Palm Beach Poetry Festival
http://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/

In a word: fantabulous!

I had the extreme good fortune to serve as intern/assistant to Marie Howe. I will try to organize my notes from her workshop and post these just as soon as I finish my novel LAST novel revision—a matter of days.

The craft talks and readings by Marie Howe, Carolyn Forché, Kevin Young, Steven Dobyns, Thomas Lux, Mary Cornish and Ilya Kaminsky and two Florida poets: Jay Hopler and Sidney Wade were brilliant and thrilling—an incredible range of voices, styles and musicality.

Granola

2009-11-21T20:16:00.001-08:00

Good Granola!

1 lb. Oatmeal (not quick cooking) Can use more.
1 cup walnuts or pecans or both
5 oz. Almonds
3 or 4 oz. Pumpkin seeds (optional)
3 oz. Hazelnuts (Filberts)
3 oz. Dried cherries, cranberries & golden raisins
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 teaspoons Madagascar vanilla

Vary amounts as you like. Mix all together (big bowl) then lay out on cookie sheet and carefully pour butter to moisten slightly. Then pour vanilla carefully over all and then again smush, mush, and mix with your hands.

Bake 350 degrees for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until it smells delish!

Can probably mix everything in large bowl and then place evenly on cookie sheet. Vary any ingredient to your taste.

Great as a snack, on top of cereal, ice cream or in yogurt.

Bridle Path Press presents: Screw Iowa's new E-Book

2009-10-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here's news of Lauren Small's Bridle Path Press, started last year, and also the new release of the Screw Iowa E-book, The End of the Book: Writing in a Changing World.

This is a book for writers everywhere to help sustain the writing life, improve craft, and achieve success. It's a collaboration, and can be downloaded now from Bridle Path Press. http://www.bridlepathpress.com/

The book will soon be available (beginning of November) on Screw Iowa's site: http://www.screwiowa.com/

Lauren Small started a new kind of press, one that is dedicated to serving the needs of writers and readers alike.

Below follows the mission statement. The book is only 149 pages, online 80 pages, and is a fast and wonderful read--a must for all writers, trying to live the writer's life in today's world. A free sample chapter is available for you perusal at: http://www.bridlepathpress.com/

Here's the info about it from the site and also the press's mission statement:

All too often nowadays publishing houses, forced to concentrate on sales and profits, turn down quality books because of a perceived lack of marketability. At the same time, lack of editorial control has made readers leery of self-published books.

Hence the creation of Bridle Path Press: a new kind of publishing venture, serving the needs of writers and readers alike.

All books published by Bridle Path Press are approved by the editorial board, ensuring works of the highest quality in both content and design. Writers who publish with Bridle Path invest in their own work and retain one hundred percent ownership of their books. Freed from monetary concerns, the press is able to make selections based on literary merit alone.

Our books compel and fascinate, teach and entertain. Whether in e-book format or hard copy, they are objects of beauty, a pleasure to peruse. We invite you to experience Bridle Path Press, where books are changing the lives of readers, writers. . .and the world.

In the works are the following books: Choke Creek, The End of the Book, and Blue Virgin, Marnette K.Graff's new cozy mystery book, coming soon followed by John Damon's poetry collection.

So that's the whole scoop on Bridle Path Press and Screw Iowa's new E-BOOK.
Thanks for reading.

A poetry discussion

2009-10-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

A poetry discussion about the PBPF

Exciting things are happening in the world of poetry here is south Florida.

I will be Marie Howe's intern/assistant in January 2010 at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival.

Hey, folks--some scholarships are still available. APPLY NOW! Get in touch with Miles Coon, director, and Lauren McDermott, coordinator extraordinaire! (Laura@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org)

Check it out!

http://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/

This year, on November 1st in Delray Beach--place to be announced--the interns and staff of PBPF will read some of their favortite poems. The staff will read Florida poets.
The interns will read work written by workshop leaders (a great line-up this year), personal poems from the interns themselves, and reflective poems on the selection they choose to read from the body of work of their assigned poet. Pretty cool? I'll say.

Here's my personal poem, "The Hazel Nut," from my debut collection, Cooking Lessons, followed by Marie Howe's poem, "What the Living Do,"and then my poetic response to hers.

THE HAZEL NUT

round like me,
pointy at the top
like Clemente’s ideas
of other universes,
scattered here and there
on a dwarfed tree of fall bounty—
this one plunked in between persimmons.
I cull a nut, winnow and bounce another as a picker would, weighing fullness.
I crack the shell and crunch the core.
The sun-tongued firelight smokes and curlicues
acrid snakes above burning leaves.
It’s autumn now in Soriano nel Cimino.
Who climbs our rooted hazel tree
now that you, friend,
are gone and I am
left remembering?

Here's Marie Howe's poem about her brother's death.

WHAT the LIVING DO

Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil
probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes
have piled up
waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is thee
everyday we spoke of.…

But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of
myself in the window glass,
say the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a
cherishing so deep
for my own blowing hair, chapped face and unbuttoned coat
that I’m speechless:
I am living. I remember you.

And here's my response to Marie Howe's poignant poem:

PIAZZA di SPAGNA

You’re on a lunch break, walking in Piazza di Spagna near Bernini’s sinking boat fountain, when it hits you among the stop and go of traffic lights,

the Carabiniere’s whistles and Charlie Chaplin arm waves, the bustle of passersby,
the honking horns, the sight of children holding hands, you are alone. And lonely.

You yearn for a past time and, seeing yourself reflected in shop windows,
at once your muscles weary and wilt onto sagging bones. Then the weight

of your years, the heft of your misery gives rise to blanket your spirit:
for wasted moments, for love gone awry, for the anger in sword-sharp words.

The sun peeps through a cloud, a bird takes flight from a smoky chimney,
a wistful guitar melody wends and wafts its way along concave red tiled

rooftops. You hum along with the old song, Scrivimi, Write to Me. And of a sudden your mood soars with the remembrance of a tiny word spelled: hope.

Spaghetti with mushrooms and peas/ Biscotti for those in the know

2009-10-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti with mushroom and peas

Make a basic red sauce using garlic, onions and basil (hot pepper, if desired). Add thin-sliced mushrooms raw or cooked--whatever you have and whatever makes it easy. And peas--fresh or frozen--1'2 to 1 lb. Felipe loves peas so I use a lb. You may also add cubed pieces of ham to this, if desired. May also use fresh coarse ground pepper instead of hot red!

Cook spaghetti for 8 minutes and drain tightly. Add to the tomato sauce and sprinkle with grated parmigiano.

Milk Biscotti

1/2 kilo double zero (meaning fine and sifted) flour
3 ounces of margarine
150 gr of sifted sugar
50 gr. of powdered skim milk
100 gr. of 2% milk
1 spoon of honey
a pinch of salt
a pinch of vanilla (if you have the dry form,if not use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.
a package of yeast or baking powder--use the entire envelope, or a teaspoon of baking powder

Mix together all the ingredients until you obtain a dough that is compact and smooth. Knead with the heels of your hands. On a cutting board, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to bring it to a thickness of 2 mm, With a little rectangular form cut the biscotti, cutting them with a knife to make two commas in the central part, and brush the tops with fresh milk. Bake them in a moderately hot oven for about 8 minutes.

Obviously these recipes are for people who know how to cook and bake. This biscotti recipe is a direct translation from an old Italian recipe I had while I lived in Rome...19 years ago, folks!
Deal with it.

BAKED ROTINI /poem: "Mistress of Spices"

2009-10-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

BAKED ROTINI (Springs or coils)

I was moving some spices from the newlywed's home (our son and his little wifey!) to our new condo, and thought of a poem which will follow this bake pasta recipe I made for my son's 30th birthday on October 9th.

I prepared a few tins of this Baked Rotini (curlicue pasta—like curly fries, only pasta) and along with this, I made cutlets parmigiana style. If anyone wants that recipe...write me and I'll post it.

For the baked pasta:
2 lbs of De Cecco (the absolute best pasta, if you can find it!) and this will serve from 10-12 people. Use rotini pasta (can use penne, if desired) cooked al dente (to the bite or a little under) in abundant, salted water. Use only 1 lb of pasta for 4-6 people (assuming there will be other food).

For the sauce: use plain whole plum tomatoes—passed thorough a sieve or crushed by hand. Use fresh or canned Italian plum tomatoes only (no skins!)

Sauté in olive oil: garlic, onions, hot pepper, and before turning a golden color, add a dash of white wine—when the alcohol evaporates, fling in the tomatoes, basil, and salt.

Chop abundant parsley and set aside.

For the sauce—if desired sauté’ pork loin cut into bite-sized pieces and add to the sauce. Low simmer for ½ to ¾ of an hour.

Fry separately cut up small pieces of eggplant, sliced mushrooms, chopped onions, and if desired, use zucchini also—small pieces. These may be added to the sauce directly, if you want to use the lazy method. Either way, it'll be delish!

Layer the pasta into a large rectangular baking pan like this:.
First the sauce (without the veggies or meat), then pasta, then shredded or cut or sliced mozzarella, grated parmigiano cheese, and ricotta, if desired. (I don’t use ricotta when I make the pork sauce).

Then add a layer of the veggies and or meat—mixed together or separately and then more sauce, followed by more pasta, etc. to the top and finish the top layer with some sauce, some mozzarella and some basil and parsley. You really can't screw this up, folks.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (400-450 degrees for 45 minutes…if you like the top crisp, then 5 minutes or less on BROIL. (Don’t do this if you’re going to freeze it—do the crisping at the last minute.

This can be frozen beforehand for a party. When needed, defrost and bake, or if already frozen directly after baking (defrost and then warm over in a very hot oven).

Can you use peas with this dish? Absolutely. Other ingredients? Tiny meatballs, sliced sausage, snippets of prosciutto, etc.

Always reserve sauce for the top when you serve, parsley, and grated cheese...
Enjoy!

And here's the new poem inspired by moving my spices...

Mistress of Spices

Cleansed with rose waters of my bath, I don a loose gown of shimmering lime cotton shot through with cucumber and silver silk. I wrap my head in cashmere cloth, the colors

of saffron and turmeric, tucking under every long black strand beneath the turban; wash my hands with rainwater from a barrel outside the door. My feet are bare, browned

from the sun. Dangling on a golden chain, an anklet’s bells tinkle as I move across
the stone floor. My hand grazes bottles, jars, burlap pouches and tiny tins. I spin a teak

rack of flat, round wheels on a three-tiered stand. Powdered curry, ground cumin, green pods of cardamom, rose salt from a huge lake in Bolivia.

Sea salts: pearly-white, and dove gray from beaches in the Mediterranean. An urn of anise, a pot of bay, and a flagon of cassia, fenugreek’s pungent seeds swirl in a coffer;

uncorked ampoules of truffle oil permeate the air an aroma akin to moist loam and moss. I shake a carafe of garlicky wine vinegar, watch white cloves and pepper corns afloat

like pieces of a kaleidoscope. On a quartz shelf, sentinel treasures: a cachepot of lavender covered with cheesecloth, thin vanilla sticks in a crystal vial, coriander in a brown

earthen jug, paprika in a gourd, and poppy seeds spilling out a jute sack. I conjure spells, whirl magic into teas, tisanes, elixirs, potions; I prepare farsumagru, vindaloo, ćevapčići

with my spices, plus two more: love in all its aromatic scents and senses harvested in dawn mists, and the other whose name, never spoken, cannot be written.

Thanks Mel and Ruth for your critques.

Pistachio Cardamom Cookies

2009-09-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I had the pleasure of meeting Amber Angelilli at the Main Street Sunday Market in Park City. Amber is a professional baker who works at Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City and she's married to Roberto (see archives for blogs on mushrooms) .

Here is her recipe for Pistachio Cardamom Cookies. She brought me some of these heavenly cookies when she and her husband came for dinner at our home last Monday evening with our friend Keith. (Dinner menu to follow recipe). Amber also brought me a basket of chanterelles mushrooms, which I made into a pie on Tuesday (Recipe below)

Pistachio Cardamom Cookies:

8 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar + 2 T. for reserved
1/2 t. ground cardamom + 1/4 t. reserved
4 egg whites
1 t. rose water
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. finely chopped pistachios
preheat oven 350
line cookie sheets with parchment paper or *Silpat.
cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add whites one at a time until fully incorporated. add rose water.
combine flour, cardamom, and salt. sift into butter/sugar mixture and mix until well blended.
Fill pastry bag with batter and pipe 2" by 1/2" "S"
shapes, spacing at least 1" apart. Combine reserved sugar, cardamon, and pistachios and sprinkle over cookies. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges.
Any extra batter holds up well refrigerated for a couple of days.

*Note
For those of you who don't know what *Silpat is--it is a siliconized rubber sheet to bake cookies on. It should be hand washed immediately after use ( never put it in the dish-washer) and you should never cut on it as it will ruin the pad. You can purchase these cookie-sheet liners or baking mats online or in Sur La Table for under 15 and at Bed Bath and Beyond for about $20.

Our dinner menu consisted of:
Prosecco

Appetizers:

Caponatina
Tomato pie
Tortilla with potatoes and onions
Crackers
Bruschetta

Chianti
Spaghetti with clams with garlic scapes and a splash of tomato

Whole fillet of Coho salmon coated in a Dijon mustard sauce

Arugula salad with fresh onions and garden tomatoes

Fresh peaches drowned in Grand Marnier with vanilla bean ice cream

Grappa

Here's the recipe for the mushroom and spinach pie

1 cup of mozzarella
1 cup of ricotta
1/2 cup of cheddar
1/2 cup grated cheeses (any ones you like--I used 1/4 Parmigiano and 1/4 Romano)
1 cup of chopped cooked spinach (leftover works well)
1 egg
1 teaspoon of butter
1 sliced onion
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 lb of chanterelles
salt, pepper to taste
1 deep dish pastry shell
a sprinkling of seasoned (including grated cheese) bread crumbs for the top

Directions:

Sauté the onions, sliced mushrooms and garlic in 1 teaspoon of butter
Mix all the other ingredients and then add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic mixture when cooled.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Pop the ingredients into the pie shell and top with the crumbs. Bake pie in the oven for about 35-40 minutes.

If you're in Salt Lake City some evening...try Caputo's

2009-08-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Congrats to TIPICA, a Caputo Dining Project!

Felipe and I had dinner in Caputo's and I must say it's an interesting project called Tipica...which means Typical in Italian. In the evening Caputo's Italian Market & Deli turns into a lovely little restaurant...prices are reasonable too! and so are the wines!

There are no second patters--that is to say, the menu consists of only pasta, risotti, insalate, contorni, zuppa and dolci! So who cares about meat and fish when you can do as Felipe and I did.

We split a saffron risotto (moderately priced at $17) with Rock Shrimp and Louisiana Lump Crab, and split a Piemontese beef and porcini ragout (also $17)--my comment on this was--don't bother using the porcini mushrooms--they get lost in the sauce. I'd use plain old champignon. Save the porcini to use (as they do in Italy!) by themselves with garlic, hot pepper, parsley and good olive oil! Or do them up in a light cream sauce.

The Deli has some very interesting cheeses, delicious sausages--I'm using some in the sauce tonight: Barolo, porcini, tradizionale, and Calabrese...which are a little hot), and all sorts of wonderful De Cecco pasta, and some fancy made artiginale...artisan! For instance if you're looking for a black ink (from squid) fettuccine...they have it. I've also bought some extravagant and wonderful salts there such as Fleur de sel, porcini salt and truffle salt...all under $20

They also have cooking classes: http://www.caputosdeli.com

Speaking of mushrooms and stuffed artichokes

2009-08-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

This morning I spoke to Roberto Angelilli, my main mushroom man here in Utah, and here's what you can use if you want to make the old impress: BEECH MUSHROOMS.

Next time you have a dinner party, buy some beech mushrooms--brown or white. They are small clusters of white or brown mushrooms and look similar to Enoki. These are also in the oyster family but they are super-duper gourmet. So easy to prepare--either broil, grill or pan fry a small bunch of them wrapped in a thin strip of bacon. Simply cut of most of the root, but leave the mushrooms intact as a group. Serve hot for a delectable appetizer. No fuss or muss.

More about these mushrooms. they have a sweet yet mild nutty taste and keep well in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Maybe longer. I always take all veggies out of plastic wraps and then put them in brown paper bags! Make sure the veggies are completely dry--not spritzed with the water the supermarkets use to keep them looking fresh.

Latin name: Hypsizygus marmoreus. Also known as Buna shimeji (brown) and Bunapi (white), and Hon Shimeji.

***
Now here's an old recipe from my Grandma: Sicilian stuffed artichokes, but first some comments on California artichokes.

They look gorgeous in the store, albeit expensive, but they aren't like the ones we get in Italy! They are tough--leaves especially and stem, if you're lucky enough to find one attached. They have a huge choke of hairlike projections in the heart. And most of the inner leaves have spines. I've tried my Italian recipes on these and they NEVER! come out the same way...at least not the whole ones cooked upside down alla Romana.

So deal with it or move to Italy.

I stuffed two of these beauties after I washed and then soaked them in water and lemon for a few hours.

Instructions:

Cut off all the VERY tough outside leaves and as many of the inner leaves with spiny projections.

Inside each row separate the leaves and pour in or push in mixed breadcrumbs. This should start to make them bulge.

For the mix:

breadcrumbs
grated cheese
salt
pepper
garlic granules or powder
oregano
parsley
paprika

Do it by eye and feel it, and if you must, taste it. No, I cannot even begin to give you measurements. Sorry. When I make this mixture, it's as natural to me as breathing. If you don't use it all, refrigerate.

Then irrigate the entire artichoke with olive oil and 1/2 squeezed lemon. Finish with a generous splash of white wine. I cooked these covered in about 1/2 inch of water and a little oil for two hours. They were STILL too HARD at the bottom of the leaves! So now I've decided the only way to make these decently is to cook in the pressure cooker. Peel the stem to its inner core and cut into 2 inch pieces and circle the artichoke with them.

Use at least an inch or two of water for the pressure cooker. I would place the artichoke on a rack. Probably 1/2 hr from the time the little doohickey thing on the top starts to dance...lower to lowest heat when it does and then begin to time. Let the cooker rest completely before removing the top, or you may run the cooker under cold water so that the valve lowers and it's safe to open.

Your kids will love eating with their hands! Let them pick the artichoke apart leaf by leaf and scrape and pull the inside of the leaf and stuffing off from top to bottom with their teeth. When you get to the choke cut it out with the knife tip in an fairly deep and rotate it till all the "hair" comes out and only the heart, like the deep well of a volcano, remians. Makes a great appetizer

Go for it.

Mare e Monte: Cockles and Enokitake mushrooms

2009-08-10T12:44:00.001-07:00

Mare e monte ... literally means Sea and Mountains

Yesterday walking on Main Street in Park City and enjoying the open craft market, Felipe and I found and re-made our acquaintance with Robert Angellli--robertangelilli@netzero.com --the mushroom-seller we met at last year's summer market. His wife, Amber was with him. She's a professional baker who will have more free time early September when we will have them for dinner. I bought the mushrooms from him. Excellent quality, as always.

For this dish I used cockles (3-4 lbs.) from New Zealand
2 small bunches of fresh Enokitake mushrooms

Wash the cockles thoroughly in cold water...then let sit in a bath of cold water for at least an hour. Rinse again. Pop them in a large fry pan and let them open. Rinse again if you need to. Save the water and filter it. (I use a paper towel and small sieve.)

Clean pot and add:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 sweet onion minced
2 cloves of sliced garlic
4 slices of center cut lean bacon cut up as small as possible
Enokitake mushrooms, clean and separated
3 tablespoons of tomato sauce cooked with basil
chopped Italian parsley if desired
salt, pepper to taste

Cook the bacon, onions, garlic in olive oil and butter on medium-high for about 3 minutes

Cut off the base and separate the tiny mushrooms. Fling in the clean mushrooms, raise the flame to high and cook till mushrooms start to brown. salt and pepper to taste.

Add sauce, add 1/2 -1 cup of the clam broth and bring to a boil, lower to medium and add the cockles...you may discard half of the shells beforehand, if so desired.

Make a pound of spaghetti or linguine and drain it tight, add to the mare e monte...
Garnish with parsley and serve. (4-5 people)

Here's what I found on Wickipedia about these funghi, which when not cultivated are fatter, darker and more robust according to the pictures.

Enokitake (Chinese: 金針菇, Pinyin: jīnzhēngū;Japanese: えのき茸 enokitake; Korean: 팽이버섯, Revised Romanization: paengi beoseot) are long, thin white mushrooms used in Asian cuisines, particularly those of China, Japan and Korea. These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes also called golden needle mushroom. Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called winter mushrooms, velvet foot, or velvet stem among other names.
Enoki, or Enokitake

Last night's dinner and the Willamette Valley IPNC

2009-08-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

Our friend Maria Johnson stopped by last evening after work. Her family is all on vacation in OR and she's working--will leave on Tuesday. She's a top sales woman for Red Ledges in lovely Heber City. She's originally from Oregon and we've just come back from the International Pinot Noir celebration in McMinnville, OR in nestled in the Willamette Valley. So we happened to have on hand some lovely Pinot Gris (Maria prefers white over red...)

We invited Maria stay for dinner which consisted of: an appetizer of black olives, Delices de Dieux cheese and wheat crackers, a delightful dish of of beans, escarole and shrimp--olive oil, garlic and a splash of the wine we were drinking...of course. I served this with fresh brushetta, prepared by FR's sous chef's hands, followed by a crisp salad of cold scallops, butter lettuce, red onions, slivered almonds, and tomatoes drizzled with an aged apple must and my homemade Dom Perignon Champagne vinegar! The wine: two and 1/2 bottles of Willamette Valley Pinot Gris chill3ed to perfection.

A note about the Wine Celebration--in a word--fabulous. Felipe and I met interesting and personable wine-makers Michael Etzel from Beaux Frères, Luisa Ponzi from Ponzi, and Eric Hamacher from Hamacher. We also visited Domaine Serene. What lovely, dynamic people. And it was such a pleasure to see that they are using wonderful bio-dynamics and organic methods of grape-growing. Not only that the wine-makers of Oregon are not afraid to concur with each others and they speak openly of their successes and failures. A true feeling of fraternity and cooperation exists and I applaud it!

Our first elegant evening we had an intimate dinner at the Ponzi winery, hosted by Luisa Ponzi where we were served gourmet food with wonderful wine-pairings. During the festival weekend that followed, there were wine seminars, tastings and bountiful breakfasts--tables laden with apricots, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, Oregonian specialty Marion berries, raspberries, strawberries, black quarter-sized plump, meaty cherries, fresh yogurt and pastries. Two Italian espresso machines were set up and the barrista who served me every morning made an espresso that we call: "una creama di caffe!" Excellent!

Other elegant meals were the lunches served alfresco under huge pine trees on the Linden College campus, and a gala dinner with a dish of Cattail Creek Lamb that literally needed only a fork to cut it and melted in your mouth. So where is this outrageously scrumptious Oregon lamb? If you go to Costco in Florida or Utah, you'll find only lamb imported from Australia and New Zealand. What happened to America first???

And last but certainly not least to conclude the festival weekend we were given a memorable parting champagne and oyster Sunday brunch!

Speaking of which, today FR is taking me out for brunch! at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Deer Valley! Yeah!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Brett Zimmerman, Master Sommelier

2009-07-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Felipe and I attended the Park City Wine Festival...and the best thing about it was Brett Zimmerman.

Please read my blog of July 10-11th on the Barolo Wine Tasting

Brett Zimmerman is Domaine Select Wine Estates Manager and a delightful presenter who knows his wines. It was a pleasure to attend last Friday's Barolo Wine Tasting Seminar and be able to speak with him, addressing such interesting things as location, types of soil, vines, and production of wine-making!

He also represented the Barolo wines he introduced from the tasting at the Saturday late afternoon Canyons Event--a fun three hour walk-around, with music and food from various Park City restaurants.

Zimmerman will soon be introducing my favorite Sicilian after dinner drink, Amaro Averna, to Utah! Yeah, Brett!

He is a Master Sommelier and holds a 2007 diploma to prove it. Allow me to say, there are less than one hundred Americans who have achieved this level of expertise and have passed the exam!

The headquarters of DSWE are located at 555 8th Ave. Suite 2302, NY, NY 10018
TEL: 1-212-279-0799 FAX:1-212-279-0499 http://www.domaineselect.com/

Or you can reach this knowledgeable and personable wine connoisseur through e-mail:
bzimmerman@domaineselect.com

Bannana Nut Bread for Travis

2009-07-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

Travis--this recipe is for you!

The first thing to know about cooking and baking is, like war, you have to know you have allies to help you. Yours are your Mom, and brothers.

Here's a recipe for Banana Nut Bread

Your mom probably knows this one by heart, but just in case she's forgotten it, here it is:

Ingredients:

2 cups of sifted flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
a pinch to 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 TBS. of cream, half and half or milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2-3 ripe medium bananas--mashed—just when those suckers start to turn dark!
1 cup of chopped nuts: walnuts, hazel nuts, or any nut except peanuts will do...

Directions:

Grease 2 loaf pans and dust them with flour--toss the extra flour down the drain!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt. Set apart.

Mix in another bowl the following: egg, sugar, vegetable oil. When combined well, add the flour mix to this and blend well with a big, wooden spoon. Add milk, or cream, and vanilla, smashed, mashed and mushed-up bananas and then mix well.

Fling in the nuts and stir. Save a few for the topping, if so desired. Then pour the batter into the buttered and floured tins.

Bake for 1 hour. Do a toothpick test...ask your Mom about that.

Cool on a rack and then turn over out onto a ceramic, porcelain or thick plastic dish. These may be frozen for later use.

Cool and serve with: ice cream. whipped cream, Macedonia fruit cocktail or with butter and jam.

Barolo Wine Tasting in Park City

2009-07-11T09:43:00.001-07:00

July 10, 2009

( I was unable to post this blog yesterday! )

Barolo Wine Tasting Park City

Today Felipe and I tasted a Gavi villa Saparina which was extremely dry--probably would go nicely with fish.

Next we tasted: a red-fruited and aromatic wine
Barolo (Serradenardi) 2004
This would go well with wild mushroom risotto, pasta with truffles, venison, pheasant, or red meat

The 2004 Barolo Serralunga d'Alba was a nice wine, lighter in color and texture for my pallet.
this wine would sell for about $65.

Next we tasted a Barolo from Famiglia Anselmo 2003 and it was for me a wine of super tannins, also for about the same price as the Serralung d' Alba.
And last but certainly not least we tasted a 2001 Barolo Tenimenti (Vigna La Villa)

Fontana Fredda (Paiagallo) This wine sells for around $130 a bottle--if you can find it, and you can't here in Park city. Most likely places to locate it: New York and Florida.
It was a very earthy taste--a hint of mushrooms and truffles and less tannins than the Famiglia Anselmo.

Barolo is a small grape-growing and wine-producing area in the north of Italy and the wines are from the nebbiolo grape.

Here are some of my favorite red wines, most of which have body are robust: Dolcetto, which means sweet little thing , but isn't sweet at all, it's a lovely wine. Other favorites include: Nebbiolo, Barbaresco. Babera, Brunello, Gaja. I like all the expensive "aia's”: Solaia, Sassicaia, Lupicaia, Ornellaia, and less expensive but still great wines: Grattamaco, Tignanello, and the list goes on ... and on!

Sadly, after all those lovely reds, the last wine on the tasting menu was a 2006 Moscato (Moncucco) Fontana Fredda (Tenimenti), which Felipe and I didn't bother to try--I'd use that wine probably only for cooking veal! though some people like a sweet wine to accompany cakes and fruits after dinner...for me, you can keep them!

Drunk, Happy Halibut

2009-07-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

Drunk and Happy Halibut

1 1/2 chunky white piece of halibut will serve 4 with a side dish of veggies and a lovely mixed green salad--I jazzed up the salad with tiny sweet and hot African red peppers the size of a fingernail and artichokes hearts in quarters, and a dressing of olive oil, anchovy paste and garlic!

Rinse the halibut well, and then pour over two cups of white wine and the juice of 1 lime.
Leave in the fridge for at least one day to "cook" and get loaded (marinated). I left it for two days, continuing to turn it from time to time.

Take out of fridge and let stand for at least an hour.

Season with : a smattering of olive oil, salt, cracked pepper, lots of paprika, garlic powder, seasoned bread crumbs and 1/2 onion flaked on top, add slivers of butter over the entire fish and bake in a hot over at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Perfectly boozed up, flaky and moist inside and with a crispy top--luscious with every bite!

Easy Summer Cooking...all in one pot: veal , sausage and peppers

2009-07-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

I made this dish for a "literary salon" back in February, I believe, it was a mild and lovely Sunday. The party was at my friend and neighbor-artist, Marianne Haycook's beautiful digs in sunny south Florida.

We were graced with the presence of Lynne Barrett and Johnny Dufresne who read for us on the patio--check out the pics above. The group was totally mesmerized, hanging on every word. The writing was great and funny and poignant and the reading of it was just plain wonderful. They both read Memoir.

The platter above: Veal, Sausage, and Peppers: great for a party!

It's a snap...

Grill or fry the sausage--hot and/or sweet--5-7 lbs at least, yes you may also use Sicilian scivolata as well (these are skinny sausages made with fennel seed, grated cheese and parsley) or a combination of these

slice 3-5 lbs of veal into slivers

5-6 sliced (any old which way) potatoes of use the little red ones and quarter them

4-5 red pepper, sliced

3 yellow peppers, sliced

1 green pepper (just for color and the hell of it!), sliced

1 whole onion, sliced

4-5 garlic cloves sliced

1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatoes cut into wedges

1 cup of red or white wine

olive oil

parsley

3-4 yellow summer squash (optional)

3-4 zucchini (optional)

Cut the partially cooked and cooled sweet and hot grilled ( or fried) sausage on an angle..as thick or thin as you desire, and cut the hot sausage in fat rounds. the scivoata in inch pieces.

In a huge oven pan with high sides add the sausage, veal, peppers, onion, garlic, potatoes,tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste--easy on the pepper if you have a lot of hot sausage. (in this particular dish, I did add both types of squash after about 1/2 the cook time--it was a big crowd of good eaters!)

Irrigate with olive oil and wine, and say a prayer it'll turn out great. Place it in a hot oven and cook for an hour turning every so often.

Remember the my old Mafia cousin's adage: the more you put in, the more you find. May Gianni rest in peace!

Summer Picnic Pasta Salad

2009-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Summer Pasta Salad

1/2 lb cooked, drained and cooled creste di gallo--Cock's combs
1 can of Italian (Genova) tuna fish with oil
1 can of tuna packed under water--drain and toss the water!
1 /2 cup of diced sweet pepperoni--yours, or straight from the jar
1/2 cup chopped celery (optional)
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
2 Tbs. of tiny capers
1/2 cup of sweet gherkins sliced
1/2 cup of sliced black olives (I like the ones with Jalapeno)
1/4 cup of green olives stuffed with anchovies
1 Tbs of fresh parsley
1/2 lb cooked cannellini beans or pour straight form the can, cheater!
1 teaspoon of oregano
3 hard cooked eggs...quartered around the platter (optional)
3-4 small sweet tomatoes quartered and placed in between the egg pieces
1/2 lb. cooked cold, shrimp (optional)
Salt, coarse ground pepper
paprika (optional)
garlic powder (optional)
olive oil
champagne vinegar
a spritz of apple must!

Hint: do not add the tomatoes till the last minute. Or else serve each platter with the tom ates around and the salad plopped right smack dab in the center!

Today I made this without the celery, paprika or shrimp...it was super-duper YUM, FR said so, and he has a discerning, spoiled palate.

Serves 4-6, depending how generous you are dishing out the portions.

Osso Buco

2009-07-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

Osso Buco
Literally translated as bone hole! It's the cut of meat that has the marrow in the center!

One summer night in San Felice Circeo I started to make this dish and halfway through the cooking of it--I ran out of PROPANE GAS! What did I do? I knocked on my neighbor's door, pot in hand and asked Licia if I could finish the cooking on her stove! That was the night the lights went out too, and we ate by candle light on the terrace overlooking the Maga Circe--a mountain profile of the the Circe who called to Ulysses.

It was the Feast of San Lorenzo--the day after the Feast of the Assumption (which is Ferragosto the 15th of August and one of the biggest holidays in Italy). Anyway, after dinner we sat with the lights out and an Amaro Averna in hand. Celebrating San Lorenzo is when you see the most amount of falling or shooting stars...that night we counted 16! And the magic of it made me feel I was just that age!

Ingredients:

5-6 veal shanks cut to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick...can use beef, but it takes longer to cook and sometimes remains a bit tough. I've done both--you just have to pay more attention to the beef.
1/4 cup of flour to dip the meat in (optional) I like this ingredient because it gives substance and texture to the gravy.
salt
black pepper
6-8 Tbs. of olive oil
2 carrots sliced
1 onion sliced
3 celery stalks sliced
4-6 plum tomatoes skinned
Now when I make this if I have a potato, a sweet potato or a zucchini, I use them as well. Not part of the true original recipe...but do you care if it's delicious?
2 cups of white wine
2 cups chicken or beef or vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves minced.

Directions:

Okay--this can be made in the oven...it takes 2-3 hours. It may be made on top of the stove and it takes the same 2-3 hours. Or you can brown the seasoned floured meat in 1/2 the oil and add all the broth and tomatoes and cook in the pressure cooker for about 1/2 hr. to 45 minutes and be sure your meat will be tender.

When the meat is cooked, pour the rest of the oil in a large Dutch over or iron heavy pot for stewing. Add oil, onion, garlic, carrots, celery and any other veggies mentioned above. Cook on high flame for about 5 to 7 minutes. Fling in the vino and let the alcohol steam off, and then add the meat and its broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let cook uncovered over a low to medium heat for 1/2 hr to 45 minutes--taste a potato for "doneness" if you added them. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve the sauce over fettuccine with some grated Romano cheese, and the meat as a second platter...

OR

Make it without tomatoes!

The men in my family go GAGA for this dish. I haven't a clue why, but Nico loves the midolo or bone marrow and Felipe just loves the whole thing!. This used to be a poor man’s dish due to the cheaper cut of the meat when my Aunt Jay, who just passed away a few years ago at 96, was growing up. Then one day she went to the Four Seasons in NYC and was shocked to find it on the menu and almost passed out when she read the right side and saw the price.

Fandango

2009-07-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bought a cookbook in a highly unlikely place to sell books: Coldwater Creek!

The book is titled: fandango, which caught my attention immediately because I fling that word around in stuff I write. The book was originally marked at $45, then reduced to half price and then marked down again and I got another 25% off, etc...

In the end a fabulous cookbook by Sandy Hill, with a FOREWORD by Martha Stewart, and with gorgeous pictures and 125 lovely recipes by Stephanie Valentine, cost me a whopping $7

There's a picture of the painting: The Fandango 1873 by Charles Christian Nahl (Crocker Art Museum, E. B. Crocker Collection) on page 63 of the cookbook. And the book is filled with history and romance! My kind of cookbook exactly!

Okay so what's this all about? INSPIRATION, pure and simple. I want to write a cookbook. I find a lovely example of one and it gets me thinking--that's what writers do--they think before they write.

I told my idea to Linda Bladholm, Miami food and cookbook author: see her page on amazon! ( http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Linda+bladholm ) She said this idea about me wanting to write a cookbook is not totally off the wall. I also told her that my recipes are scattered--that is to say, they're not just Italian--they're a whoop=di=do kind of potpourri-melange. So I figure I need a theme. Got one? Anyone who has read my blogs?

If so clue me and I'll be happy to post them and give you complete credit for them on this very bloggerino.

Shrimp with pearls and pearls

2009-07-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! (More on shrimp...)

This definition is from Wikipedia...

"A pearl is a hard, roundish object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of mollusks, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes of pearls (baroque pearls) occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries, and because of this, the word pearl became a metaphor for something very rare, very fine, very admirable and very valuable."

The recipe I'm about to write is for shrimps with pearl onions and "pearl pasta" (acini di peppe-- little beads. like tiny pearls).

Ingredients:

1/2 to 3/4 lb of acini di peppe
1 cup of sugar snap peas with strings removed , then halved--may use just a cup of English peas (green pearls) or broad beans cut 3-4 times on an angle, or French string beans...your choice
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs of olive oil
1/2 to 3/4 lb. of shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails off (medium size)
1/2 cup of white wine (whatever you're drinking always works)
2 -3 small fresh tomatoes, skinned and minced or you may use grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 Tbs. tarragon, if desired
1/2 TBS of mined parsley
1 scallion sliced thin, including the green tops
1 minced garlic clove (optional)
salt
pepper
(may also use couscous instead of pasta, same schemer)

Directions:

Cook the pasta for 9 minutes in enough water so you don't drain it.

At the 5 minute mark, add peas or beans--you may do both if you like veggies!

In the meantime while the pasta and veggies cook, put the butter and oil, garlic, sliced scallion, heat for few minutes and then add wine, cook down, and then add tomato, parsley and tarragon.

Raise heat to medium high and then simmer uncovered for about 5 more minutes.

Add the shrimp, salt and pepper to taste...I love fresh coarse ground black pepper! and toss until shrimp are pink--about 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the pasta to a warmed bowl and add shrimp and serve!

Serves 2-3 Obviously, if you want to serve more people, you add more good ingredients!

Spaghetti with Shrimp and Bay Scallops

2009-07-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

July 3, 2009

Same day as the Frame Poem,but just a bit later.

Here's the recipe as promised. In fact here are two recipes since you waited to read this while I had an exciting excursion to Home Depot...No, they don't make mailbox keys, Ladies of Screw Iowa!

Recipe # 1
Spaghetti with Shrimp and Bay Scallops

1 lb of De Cecco spaghetti (linguine for the second recipe)
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 teaspoon of unsalted butter
2 minced garlic cloves
1 Tbs. of minced onion
½ teaspoon of saffron (if you can afford it!)
1 lb of peeled and deveined shrimp—may use the smaller ones, white or Key West pinks shrimp
½ lb of bay scallops
28 ounce can of any whole San Marzano peeled tomatoes—crush these yourself, or smash them as you will—of course you can use fresh, peeled tomatoes also, in which case, I doubt that you’ll find fresh San Marzano , so use Roma or any plum tomatoes
1 cup of fresh heavy or whipping cream
½ to 1 undernourished as in meager teaspoon of grated cheese (no more or you’ll kill the seafood taste)
hot pepper, if desired

In a large skillet over medium heat oil and butter and add garlic, hot pepper and onion. Before turning gold, add the juice of the tomatoes and then the hand crushed or tomatoes you’ve passed through a sieve. Yes, it’s the old fashioned way—do you want to do this well or not? Let the liquid cook down and then add the cream to thicken. Now for the tricky part—when you’re about to drain the pasta from the salted water, fling in the shrimp and scallops.

Pour some of this sauce into a warmed serving bowl, and then the drained pasta, more sauce and then the cheese.

AND Recipe # 2
Linguine with creamed shrimp: Crema di scampi.

Crema di scampi. Since you probably won’t find langostini or scampi—the ones that look like little lobsters—use a very sweet shrimp instead!

Here are the directions for this—you make it without the scallops and add more shrimp, say 1 ½ lbs. and grind them up and set aside.

In this case you will not crush the tomatoes but rather whip and whir them into liquid.

Also add ½ glass of wine to the cooked onion, garlic and hot pepper and when this cooks down, add the liquidy tomatoes.

Are you following me here, folks?

Let this simmer for about 20 minutes. If you add basil, take it out before you add the cream, and remove about ½ of this sauce to save it for something else.

Add the cream to thicken and then when the pasta is draining add the ground shrimp to the sauce and raise the flame to high—stir till completely drowned. Pour the tightly drained pasta (for this dish, I use linguine instead of spaghetti) into this mixture, and stir in the scanty teaspoon of grated cheese.

Serve from the pot. Garnish with minced parsley at the table.

P. S.
I have never made pasta this way—I will this weekend. I just thought it sounded like a good idea since Felipe told me this morning that shrimp with pasta is not one of his favorites when I mentioned that Lulu said the other day it’s not one of hers after suggesting it for our menu last Sunday!

So there you have it, chefs and chefesses, Necessity is once again a Mother of Invention.

Have faith, it'll turn out lip-smaking, delectably scrumtious. Ipso facto~

The Frame Poem

2009-07-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here's an exercise in poetry I posted on Screw Iowa's blog this morning...and decided to steal for my own! Steal, being the operative word of the day it seems...

And also LATER I'll write a recipe for spaghetti with shrimp and bay scallops (after the poetry exercise you owe it to yourself to make a delish supper dish!)

Take a chance: write poetry, enrich your inner being!

The prompt: In front of me on my desk is The New Yorker—please take hold of any magazine you wish… open to a random page. I opened to the July 6 & 13 2009 issue

Lucky me, I found on pages 56-57 a poem entitled “Twin Cities” by Carol Muske Dukes…plus two pages worth of words from an article: The Kill Company by Raffi Khatchdourian.

What you’re about to write is called a frame poem or an exercise of words that will frame a poem. Basically you steal words or phrases from the magazine pages and write your own poem.

As my dear friend and mentor John Dufresne always said, and he might have been quoting someone else, “Good writers imitate, great writers ‘steal.’” (I believe the quote is a rip off from something Picasso said: “Good artists imitate, great artists steal.” But then again, it could be from something T. S. Eliot said…whatever the case may be, it’s a terrific great idea to consider. Remember it. House it in the room of your brain that speaks to your writing!

Okay, give me a second here to "read" and skim … meantime go find a copy of Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, or whatever. You can highlight the words, or make a list.

These words are from the poem:

Skate across
Raft
Snake
Dakota
Cliffs Caves
River
Mills
Winter ice
Brittle mirage

These are from the article:

The presence of women
Conflicting memories
Squad disbanded
Cleaned up the remains
The men I killed
Squatted
Deaths
Soldiers
Shot while escaping
Massacre
Charlie company
Blindfolded bodies
miscommunication
Law of War
Capacity for moral discrimination
the sound of gunfire

So what’s going on in my brain here? Strong words or images popped out at me.As I was picking out words, apparently my brain started doing associations and did some first drafting homework for me by connecting possible words in order to group together later to write a poem that could make sense.

I might title this:

In the Presence of Women

Some of the Dakota tried to escape
skating the partially frozen river
or snake across it at its shallow, lower parts
in zigzag formation
to reach the hills, cliffs
and caves on the other side.

Some of the horses had travois,
raft-like attachments made of tree limbs
covered with pelts
but the brittle mirage of thawing winter ice
could not hold them
and many women and children drowned.

The Calvary’s disbanded squads
chased and hunted down others,
some shot while escaping.
The remaining men of Charlie Company
blindfolded the renegade Indians
and killed them Army style, lined up
in an execution with a firing squad.

When it was over, it was revealed
these natives weren’t hostile at all,
but peace-lovers, which made this a massacre.

“Miscommunication,” a Sergeant said,
“The Law of War,” said a Lieutenant,
his brass buttons shining in sun
glinting from the General’s office window

The General said to the officers,
“At ease, Gentlemen. What’s needed, perhaps,
is a greater capacity for moral discrimination.”

It took me all of twenty minutes to write this draft, not half-bad for a first draft, but it can made into a really good poem with some time, effort, and revision. Try one! Your brain will make associations you never dreamed about when you formed your list. You can change and invert the words or phrases, and of course, add some of your own to give the vrerse some sense. Have fun!

NY Style Cheese Cake a la Nina and write me a poem

2009-07-02T10:29:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK STYLE CHEESE CAKE

I've been working with this recipe for close to 40 years! Yes, I started in the cradle...

So here's the adapted recipe from my friend Joni Di Giovanni's original one given to me when we were young girls together in bella Roma! At the time I lived there from 1970-1990 there wasn't a pasticceria (bakery)that sold this cake--so if you wanted it, you baked it! Just like cherry, blackberry, peach, blueberry, pear, and any other kind of American pie. I've always cooked, but I learned to bake from Expatriate American women. Viva!

A little note on living and baking overseas...
My dear friend, Angela Ragusa, may she rest in peace, was one of them, who taught me to bake bread, make croissant, and other goodies. Nelsa Montagna taught me the art of baking Italian sweets like crostata and mimosa. There were countless others. One southern chick, Priscilla Diaz, taught me to make "Tea Time Tassies" (one to these days, I'll write the recipe for that...if I can find it.)

And I in turn taught Nico's preschool class to bake chocolate chip cookies and muffins! No small feat, I can assure you, especially when the Italian Mammas were asked to leave me their children and pick them up 3 hours later! I had 1/2 the class on Friday afternoon, and the other 1/2 on Saturday morning...yes, I had a huge kitchen. And no, they didn't even know how to crack an egg--at first try, the egg, complete with shell, went into the mix. Start over: each child tasted every raw ingredient, and learned how to crack and egg, and gently drop the actual egg, sans shell, into the raw dough.

There were other chef/teachers along my path: Italian women who shared their recipes for tiramisu--God bless Margherita Melle--we even made it on our boat the Lady Drifter going to Sardegna! And Anna, a cleaning girl who taught me Neapolitan wonders! Not to mention la mia car'amica Pina Pintucci, who taught me mouth-watering savories, among others!

Back to Cheese Cake...

Blend the ingredients any way you want--food processor, in a bowl of a standing mixer, or by a small hand mixer--max nix--you can't go wrong. I've used all three methods. them all

Ingredients:

1 cup of heavy cream
2 large packages of soft cream cheese at room temperature--that's about 1 lb.
2 tablespoons of sifted flour
1 generous teaspoon (that is to say a little overflowing!) of vanilla
pinch of salt
3/4 cup of sugar
4 eggs.

Bake for 1 hour at 350" stick a toothpick in to see if it's done.

Okay, okay--for you enthusiasts...you may use a spring pan, and yes you may make a Graham cracker crust if you think this is a MUST!

For the crust:

4 to 5 oz. broken up Graham crackers: process these to crumbs (about 1 etto or 110 gr.)
4 Tbs. of very soft butter (1/2 etto)
1 Tbs. of sugar (10-12 gr. )

With the soft butter--butter the pan, then melt the rest and fling it into the crumbs mixed with the sugar. Mix well. Place this mixture into the bottom of a spring pan. Press and flatten this all around--bottom and sides--you can use the bottom of a 1 cup stainless steel measuring cup, or be inventive, choose your own method.

In a heated oven, bake the crust for about 10 minutes at 325 degrees. (In the mountains, bake for 12-13 minutes using convection baking!) While this is baking, mix all the cheesy ingredients adding them one at a time, and then pour this into the spring pan with readied crust.

Now bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees, or until the internal temp registers 150 F.
While baking --do NOT open oven door. Let cool for at least 15-20 minutes on a rack and then slide a knife around the cake edge a few times. Then pop it into the fridge. Sever cold with blueberry, strawberry or cherry glaze, sauce, or just plain old jam.

Write me a Poem:
Don't say you can't, or never tried. Do not tell me that you never wanted to, have no ideas or imagination. there's a little poet in every one of us, and poetry enriches our lives! so sit down with a pencil and piece of paper and do this...

LESSON # 1. THINK

LESSON # 2. WRITE SOME COLLOQUIALISMS HAVING TO DO WITH ONE SUBJECT

LESSON # 3. LINK THEM

Here's my example--straight on this blog--no cheating--no pre-writing.

DEATH

Kick the bucket
Cashed in all his pennies
Dropped dead
Passed-on
Terminated
Deceased
Bit the dust
Died
Expired
Left this world
Went on to Heaven
Melting ice cubes in Hell
Wrote a will but never got to read it
Last breath
Dying in peace
His precious last
Received Extreme Unction
Expiry
Bought the farm
The End

Okay--next job is to link these, but since I have to go pick out some rocks for the garden--your on your own! Try! (Of course, you may want to pick a happier subject...but this is where my thoughts jumped to after cheese cake! Go figure.)

Fifteen Satisfying Things of Late:

2009-07-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

July 1, 2009

Fifteen Satisfying things of late:

1. I'm blogging on Screw Iowa

2. And I'm blogging more on http://ninsthewriter.blogspot.com/ from my website http://www.ninaromano.com/

3. Nico and Katie are home from their Quito and the Galapagos honeymoon and called me yesterday and today

4. Nico’s lively, yellow-eyed weimaraner Otto got nipped in the ear in the Canine Cottage, where he was being boarded during his owner’s absence--but it wasn't bad

5. I'm going to make rolled stuffed Dover sole tonight

6. The house is clean and I've done 7 washloads since Saturday

7. I'm reading a decent book: The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein

8. I heard from Rosalie and she'll give me her critique of my novel next weekend.

9. Reading Melissa Westemeier and Marni Graff’s blog

10. Saw the movie Code last night and Nothing But the Truth the night before—and when the Screw Iowa workshop was here for a week, we watched movies in the “bat cave” AKA media room, almost every night—mostly para chiquitas bonitas, and International (watch the beginning carefully!) with Clive Owen, who in my mind is growing as a n actor, much in the way Leonardo di Caprio’s career performances have soared. I love movies!

11. Today, July 1st is the anniversary of my father's death, and I still feel so loved from afar! I danced with him in a dream last week. Giovanni Archangelo Salvatore De Simone, AJKA John, you are the sweetest man who ever lived!

12. An excerpt from my novel, The Summer Palace, is published on http://www.southernwromensreview.com/ along with another Screw Iowa gal, Marni Graff's nonfiction piece is right up there with Kat Meads.

13. Reading Dennis Lehane's book review on "The Secret Speech" in the NY times Book Review, and remembering that John Dufresne had us write a practice book review in one of his MFA fiction classes for when we make it as writers—well, Dennis, you’ve made it and congrats!

14. Knowing I have a dear friend in Wisconsin who has a busy life, and keeps on trucking with her writing despite it all! Mel, you're an inspiration to us all.

15. I’m thinking about writing a cookbook: sequestering ideas and cloistering myself several hours a day in order to bring this project to fruition!

Zucchini parmigiana with eggplant (Mousaka)

2009-07-01T00:06:00.000-07:00

I washed and dried 3 lbs of very large zucchini. I halved and sliced them and fried them in corn oil. I set these aside. Next I trimmed and sliced 3 very large eggplants and fried these in the remaining oil. I had to add some more. The reason you fry the zucchini first is they absorb less oil than the eggplants, who are apparently thirsty suckers.

I had made a sauce beforehand. when all the frying is done, I layered the large-sized baking pan (with high sides) seen in the picture above with sauce, eggplant, sauce, shredded mozzarella, a generous sprinkling of grated parmigiano, zucchini.

Keep doing this till you reach the top. Be magnanimous with your cheese, your guests and family will appreciate it with each mouthful.

I baked this for close to an hour--on high--first 15 minutes at 400 degrees in a pre-heated oven, and then 40-50 minutes on 375 degrees. If you don't want this crusty at about the 1/2 hour mark cover with a tent of aluminum foil.

Let cool and refrigerate. I don't know why but this is always better and tastier the next day after it "reposes."

Things to do while frying: you can talk to a friend, write mental notes for a new blog, listen to music, dance a few steps in between the frying, answer the phone, dash down a phrase or image for a new poem, or cook something else on the back burner. If you have a TV nearby you can even watch some part of a movie you already saw so many times you memorized the script.

Multi-tasking is part of a woman's DNA...of course you can do these things, how do I know?

I do them.

To make moussaka, you can do as above and also add layers of chopped beef (I mix in some tomatoe sauce), potatoes, and besciamelle.

NOTE:

Roux is the base of besciamelle. La besciamella isn't anything more than a mixture of milk and butter that is thickened...some use a smattering of flour or corn starch, but it's not necessary. This "white sauce" is aromatized with nutmeg. Almost always when working with with a white sauce, nutmeg is used for fragrance.

Fried sweet and sour calamari

2009-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, so I'm not a great photogrpaher, and the tablecloth was a bit flowery and fruity. These pictures are a dish of fried calamari with a wonderful hot sweet and sour sauce. Great for a a quick luncheon. The guys drank Corona (a wedge of lime in the bottle), the gals had a glass of crisp Pinot Grigio.

The dish was accompanied by a cool, refreshing mixed green salad and a fresh loaf of Italian bread.

Basically I dipped the cut calamari pieces in seasoned flour and fried them...placed them on paper towels to remove any excess oil and then I added a sweet and sour scauce--you can use one stright for the bottle or else this one.

Ingredients:

Into some of the remaining oil add:

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 dried hot peppers

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of concentrated tomato (straight from the tube!)

some fresh ginger--1/2 teaspoon, or else cheat--use ground ginger--1/4 teaspoon

a splash of balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon of sugar (May use Splenda instead! It works fine.)

stir rapidly and bring to a quick boil

plop back in the friend calamari--serve immediately

Announcing: Screw Iowa's Blog and Southern Womens Review

2009-06-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hear ye, hear ye!

http://www.screwiowa.com has added a new blog and has revamped the website. Check it out.

Poet of the Week is Marie Lovas, and Preston Allen is our current Master and we're looking forward to posting Lynne Barrett next.

I'm happy to announce that two of Screw Iowa's Members' work will appear in the premier issue of the Southern Womens Review: http://www.southernwomensreview.com/ after entering the site, click on the cover of the issue at the right to download and happy reading!

Marni Graff''s nonfiction piece, Mr. Schadel, and my first chapter, The Summer Palace, excerpted from my novel, The Secret Language of Women. It is a pleasure to be included in this debut issue along with Kat Meads, award-winning fiction writer and playwright.

To celebrate this July 1st opening and while reading the first issue, pop open a bottle of Segura Viudas Brut Reserva--a delightful sparkling Spanish wine--and nibble on some crostini.

Just toast up thin-cut pieces of Tuscan bread, or something comparable and top with prosciutto, or drizzle with olive oil and top with mozzarella, tomato and basil, or use anchovies and olive paste (tapanade), or roasted sliced red pepper and a dollop of whipped tuna.

Enjoy nibbling on good, healthy tidbits, sipping great wine, while spending a leisurely hour reading a delightful mix of writing and authors!

Live dangerously--avoid work and read!

Hot scallop dinner and cold leftover scallop salad

2009-06-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hot scallop dinner and cold leftover scallop salad

Hot scallop dinner and cold leftover scallop salad I made scallops one night for dinner (2 lbs. of the fat ones, if you can get the pink, that's twhat I sued and they are sooooootasty!) and a luncheon salad two days later with 1 lb of the leftovers

Instructions:

Dip the large scallops in a seasoned mix of flour.
Sauté rapidly until golden in big, heavy skillet in very hot oil. Make sure to turn once gingerly!
I used a little butter and corn oil
½ of these scallops I served with a homemade tartar sauce vegetable medly;
the others I conserved.

To conserve the scallops:

When cooll wrap them in paper towels and pop then in a sealed baggie to refrigerate

For the Tartar Sauce:

1 cup of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sof lemon
2 tablespoon of sweet pickle relish,
or instead may use tiny chopped gherkins
1 tablespoons of tiny capers if large, chop them

For the salad--use individual salad bowls:

mixed field greens, arugula (for a more tangy salad) or sweet butter lettuce
½ small sliced red onion or 3 scallions
3 thinly sliced radishes
½ cup of dried cherries
¼ cup sliced almonds
2 Campari tomatoes quartered, circling the salad
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro leaves only, no stems (optional)

Season the salad with extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt and crushed black pepper (if desired garlic powder) toss the middle part, but leave the tomatoes arrange the plump cold scallops on top drizzle Saba apple must on top of the scallops and tomatoes

If serving more than 4, gently slice cold scallops and place on top of the salad, golden side up.

Bring the salad to the table and enjoy a healthy, interesting and zesty salad.

I love Saba Must (usually sells for between $38 if you purchase it in St. Louis' The Hill and $56 a bottle in Caputo's in Salt Lake City, but it's worth every centavo. And don't be stingy with it--be generous! As Felipe's Tia Zoila always said, The food you eat is the only thing you take with you when you leave this Earth to cross over to the Other Side!

Enjoy!

3 Coleslaw Recipes

2009-06-19T01:08:00.000-07:00

It’s almost summertime!

Three Coleslaw recipes because I love it!

Recipe # 1
Sweet Coleslaw

1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar or substitute Splenda
½ cup mayonnaise (I love Hellman’s)
6-7 cups of thin cut or shredded cabbage
1 cup of thin cut or shredded red cabbage
2 scallions thinly sliced, or may use or ½ small sweet Vidalia onion…about ¼ cup
a sprinkling of parsley
a dash of Salt sense (1/3 less sodium)
a dash of black pepper

Mix and serve cold!

Recipe # 2
Bar-B-Q

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar of substitute Splenda
¼ cup of mayo (you know my favorite!)
5-6 shredded white cabbage
1 cup of shredded red cabbage
½ cup of scrapped carrots
¼ cup thin-sliced red onions
¼ cup of your favorite Bar-B-Q sauce
a sprinkling of sea salt

Mix and serve cold!

Recipe # 3
Fruit Coleslaw

1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 tablespoon of apple must (may use grape must or thick Balsamic)
1 cup of whole milk yogurt
½ cup of mayo
1 diced sweet red apple, leave the skin on
1 cup of freshly diced pineapple (may leave this out)
6 cups of shredded white cabbage
¼ cup of shredded carrots
¼ cup of raisins
a sprinkling of salt

Mix and serve cold!

The Kentucky Wedding Summary

2009-06-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

Here it is: Nico and Katie's Wedding Weekend!

The weekend began on Thursday afternoon, May 21, 2009, when our guests started arriving in Kentucky, home of the famous blue grass and rolling hills, but only after we had finished dashing around Louisville finishing off Katie's "to-do" list.

This list was as long as pony's tail and included many more than these things, but here’s a sampling. The flower shop; the cleaners; Starbucks; Enterprise Car Rentals to pick up a 15 passenger van for Felipe to drive all over town in; Katie writing directions to the airport and back to the hotel. For these, she used a yellow pad of legal paper. Then we were off to visit Katie’s mother Lera’s house to check on Otto and Izzy and let them romp around in the garden--the dogs declined the wedding invitation. No comment. Lastly we visited Debbie Folley's ranch to see the new baby ponies, some only a month old, nursing from mothers situated all over undulating stretches of hills, slopes and fields. We toured the stables and watched Debbie train a two year old, who’d never been ridden. Somewhere in-between we grabbed a bite to eat.

Katie and Nico left us and went off to complete other errands while Felipe and I made umpteen trips to the airport. FR chauffeured the van, picked up and dropped off people at the hotel on the grounds of the Seminary on Alta Vista, all the while I rode shotgun along for company!

In the evening we went to Bourbon’s for dinner—4 huge tables filled with people laughing, conversing, eating and drinking. The food was well prepared and the service was extremely good for this lively crew. The five Johnson’s and Maria’s mother June arrived from Utah and joined right in—the soiree was a complete delight.

Friday morning there was a scrumptious bridal breakfast for Katie…her Aunt Judy was our lovely hostess. Thanks again.

At about 1 pm the van, affectionately dubbed “wedding mobile,” departed for Churchill Downs and a sumptuous banquet day at the races. The Fourth Race was named in honor of the bride and groom: “Katie and Nico Race to the Altar,” after which they presented a beautiful trophy to the winner. I bet the wrong horse but it was fun being in the paddock and living the high life of a make-believe horse woman with savvy about jockeys! No, I did not wear a hat!

Saturday, May 23, 2009 was the wedding and exchange of vows, held in the beautiful Cathedral of Louisville, celebrated with an 11 o’clock Mass, beautiful organ music and a glorious choir. We all lit a Unity candle—Felipe and I walked down the aisle to my mother’s favorite hymn, the Ave Maria, followed by Lera escorted by her dear friend Patti’s son Greg. The groomsmen were all spiffy in their dark suits and somber ties, while the bridesmaids were dressed in chic bronzy-chocolate taffeta with plunging necklines, carrying bouquets of pink flowers.

When Nico, standing at the altar in his Armani tux, saw Katie walk down the aisle on her mother’s arm, his eyes glistened with love and pride and we all started to cry from the highly emotional charged moment.

Katie made a gorgeous bride, slender and lithe, sheathed in a beaded strapless gown and her mother’s veil trailing down her back, falling to her tiny waist line. They make a striking couple, despite the difference in height—he’s 6’ 3” and she’s all of 5 feet nothing! During the exchange of “Peace be with you” we gave and received kisses from the stunning couple and handshakes and kisses from everyone in close proximity.

I never take Communion from a layperson—only a priest—but my brother stood next to the priest with a raised chalice, and when I reached the altar, I received the host from my brother’s hands. The moment was sealed with our mutual tears of joy, understanding of our blessings and love for family. A Kodak moment for sure!

After the bridal party left the altar, Felipe escorted Lera and me down the aisle … a nice hunk of ham between two slices of read! Congratulations! Kisses all around! Nobody throws rice anymore, which may save the lives of birds, but I missed the rain of grain for happiness, longevity, prosperity and fertility!

The married couple had a Bently waiting and after the wedding ceremony we all headed back for a fabulous reception held on the Seminary grounds that housed the hotel where the out-of-state guests stayed.

At the reception: excellent food, divine, sparkling Prosecco, luscious wines, a salsa band, wedding cake and confetti! Katie chose hot pink and lilac hydrangea plants for the table decorations, so that they could be planted afterward, and wedding favors—known as bombonieri—wine glasses stamped in gold with a jockey-mounted horse, filled with the requisite five white confetti. She also had placed pictures on the mantelpieces of precious moments in the lives of both families, including grandparents—a sweet, thoughtful and touching gesture from a precious daughter.

And believe it or not, after the reception ... another party in the hotel lobby with more wine flowing than the waters of Trevi Fountain. It’s not over yet! This was followed by yet another party at Brendan’s for a light repast and, yes, dear Bacchus, more to drink! The wedding party continued, after most of us “more mature folks” left, smoking cigars, sharing jokes and not surprisingly, drinking till way past 2 am.

Not a sour puss in the joint! Not an unhappy moment for an entire weekend! Only tears of joy!
My sister-in-law Donna overheard the photographer say, “What a great, happy wedding—wish they are all like this one.”

Some guests departed, but others stayed for a tour of Marker’s Mark on Sunday followed by another luncheon of delicious pulled pork soused and doused in Kentucky Bourbon Bar-B-Q sauce.

Needless to say, the kids had a great weekend send-off!

Cent’anni e figli maschi!

The Kentucky Wedding Week Bash!

2009-05-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

WOW!

A weekend of whirlwind, wonderful activities. More on Churchill Downs, the Cathedral wedding and reception of Katie and Nico Romano, and a tour of Maker's Mark.

Please check out some gorgeous wedding pictures here: http://www.nicoandkatie.com/

Salmon fillet stuffed with lobster

2009-05-16T06:24:00.001-07:00

May 16th. The wedding countdown including today is: 8 days.

Last night's dinner...

I love wild salmon and bought a whole sockeye fillet and had the skin taken off.
I usually save the skin to cook for Otto, but forgot to ask for it. So I bought the dog fresh chopped beef and put it in a bowl of pasta. We ran out of dog food, but he doesn't seem to mind! His breakfast yesterday was 1 raw egg, 2 slices of wheat bread toasted very dark, and ½ cup of non-fat vanilla yogurt. The dog eats like a king!

Back to the fish.

Ingredients:

1& 1/2 lbs whole sockeye fillet, skinned
2 leeks sliced up to the green part, washed and drained
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove minced
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
1 tablespoon of olive oil
¼ cup of sweet cream butter
2 small cooked (boiled) lobster tails, sliced
a splash of white wine
a drizzle of balsamic vinegar—aged
salt, pepper to taste
paprika
hot pepper (only if desired--if you’re married to Felipe, this is a MUST!)

Directions:

In a huge heavy skillet that can fit the large fillet, pour in oil with butter and heat till the butter melts.

Add onions, garlic, and leeks, wilt, but do not brown.

Add the fish, which has been salted, peppered, and sprinkled with paprika.

Bring heat up high and cover.

When edges start to cook and turn lighter in color, uncover, lower heat. Bless the fish with the wine on the fish and a little on the sides. Then drizzle the vinegar only on the fish. The veggies should be golden now.

Swathe the fish with the sliced lobster, and the wilted leeks, onion, garlic and parsley. Cover again and finish the cooking on a medium heat. Uncover for the last 2-3 minutes.

Serves 4 generous portions. You may serve this with rice or couscous, and/or a side of sautéed spinach and garlic. Or a salad. I actually had made eggplant parmigiana--the young ones ate it, I saved it for lunch today.

If this doesn’t turn out to your liking or the way you want it, go to a restaurant and order it, pretending you invented this dish and never read this recipe on my blog.

Like writers, good cooks imitate, great cooks steal!

Baklava

2009-05-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Something sweet for bitter days...

BAKLAVA

1 pound phyllo
3/4 pound unsalted butter1
1/2 pounds chopped walnuts and pecans
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 1/2 cups water3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons of honey
lemon slice
orange slice

13 x 9 inch pan

DIRECTIONS

Make syrup first: 3 1/2 cups water, 3 cups sugar, slice of lemon and orange. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. LET COOL COMPLETELY

Combine nuts, 5 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon.

Melt butterCut phyllo to fit panButter pan and each piece of phyllo up to 8 pieces

Spread approximately 1/3 of the nut mix on the next phyllo after the butter.

Continue with another 5 sheets of phyllo with just butter then another with butter and nut mixture and so on.

End with a few phyllo with just butter.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 300 and bake 1 hour or until dark golden brown.

Cut Baklava into triangular shapes.

Let stand a few minutes, then pour on cooled simple syrup (I add 3 tablespoons of honey) over the top.

YUM ENJOY!!

Master's List 2009 and Orechetti

2009-05-12T19:13:00.001-07:00

We're set for the rest of 2009 for our Masters on:
www. screwiowa.com
Here's the great line-up:

May: Michael Hettich, poet
June: Preston Allen, novel
July: Lynne Barrett, fiction or nonfiction
August: Leonard Nash, short stories
September: Vicki Hendricks, (noir writer) short fiction or novel
October: Lauren Small, novel
November: Les Standiford, novel or nonfiction
December: Jim Brock, poet

And to cwelebrate this wonderful news, here's a recipe I made on Mother's Day

Orechetti con broccoli e cavolfiore
Litte ears (pasta) with broccoli and cauliflower

Ingredients 1 head of fresh broccoli
1 head of fresh cauliflower
5 garlic cloves
4 ounces of anchovies in oil
grated Parmigiano to taste
a splash of white wine

All to taste:
salt
hot pepper
black pepper--fresh coarse ground
garlic powder
paprika
a sprinkling of oregano

Cook the orechetti--a little longer than usual--8-10 minutes
In the water for the pasta you may cook the vegetables or you may cook them beforehand and save the water to cook the pasta.

In a huge heavy fry pan irrigate the bottom of the pan with olive oil, add hot pepper and garlic--when the garlic begins to brown--take off electric heat or turn off the gas heat and douse with white wine. Toss in the anchovies...cover quickly or risk getting splattered or burned or both. Then add: vegetables, add: oregano, salt, paprika.

When the pasta is cooked--do not drain it tight--then toss with the vegetables and add the cheese. Serve immediately. As a first dish, it can serve 8-10 people.

For a second dish, I made two pork fillets with onions, garlic, rosemary and white wine...small yellow potatoes.

My nephew Stefan--the only one in the family who takes after me for cooking--made rolled chicken breasts stuffed with sausage in a besciamella sauce. Scrumptious! He served these with a side of grilled asparagus and cauliflower risotto.

Go for it!

Notice to Women and to writers

2009-05-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

Notice for women:

I received an e-mail this morning asking me to post a link to this summer's
Skidmore Conference:

http://www.iwwg.org/pdf/09SkidmoreBrochure.pdf and to

IWWG: www.iwwg.org

This is a wonderful conference, not just for women writers but for all women.

Personally I can say that I attended workshops given by these wonderful instructors:
Lynne Barrett, Susan Tiberghien, June Gould, and Alice Orr, and I came away from each conference I attended with a good amount of writing, several poem drafts and non-fiction and fiction pieces as well. I always found this conference worthwhile and Saratoga Springs, where Skidmore is located, is a delightful place to visit.

Notice for Writers:

The Florida Gulf Coast University's Sanibel Writing Conference will be held this year from Nov. 5th to the 8th and I'll be teaching a poetry workshop.

At the same conference my former professor/mentors Lynne Barrett and John Dufresne will be teaching fiction workshops, and Lauren Small will be giving a talk on starting your own press and self-publishing on Sunday, November 8th.

Sign up soon!

Flounder with leeks,capers and prosecco

2009-05-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

My son Nico and his intended bride, Katie, are tasting different types of prosecco for the toast at their up-coming nuptials. So tonight when they opened a bottle of an Italian medium dry one, I irrigated the flounder with it. Here's how.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of flounder fillets
2 tablespoons of butter
1/4 glass of prosecco
1/2 cup of leeks cut, thin, washed and drained tight
tiny capers 4 tablespoons
1 tablespoon of seasoned breadcrumbs
salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, if desired

Directions:

In a large fry pan with high sides and a tight-fitting cover, add butter and leeks, add flounder fillet, add capers and seasonings, raise the heat from medium to high add prosecco and cover for about 4-5 minutes. Uncover and lower heat to medium for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle on breadcrumb and spoon the liquid onto the fish. It's done in another minute or so. Serve immediately.

Sun-dried tomatoes with parmiagiano under oil

2009-05-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sun-drived tomatoes conserved under oil

For those of you who have vegetable gardens or access to cheap, fresh produce...this recipe is for you! Espeically if you love good cheese and tomatoes...

In Italy I used to can and dry my own tomatoes. I did not, however, have my own garden, though I did have access to cheap produce in the markets. Summertime in San Felice Circeo, about an hour and half south of Rome, where we used to summer, and also spend weekends thoughout every season--you could find every vegetable and fruit existing--almost.

To dry tomatoes...use plump, Roma or preferably San Marzano. Wash, dry and cut in half, salt and set on flat rush mats or woven basket trays. Turn every day...take them in at night to avoid humidity, and cover with white cotton kitchen towels. Keep them in hot, summer sun until l they are dried. Make sure that air circulates underneath as well as on top of them.

Once they are completely dried (2-3 weeks of constant, hot summer sun), then you may utilize them any way you want…for salads, pizza, pasta, risottos, you name it.

Here’s another way to make them super-duper delish and they’ll keep for at least a year—probably longer, but that will never happen in my house--they are tomato gobblers for sure. this is not a cheap dish , due to the Parmigiano and excellent olive oil you use...never stint in the kitchen, or don't bother wasting your time!

Here is the recipe for sun-dried tomatoes under oil with PARMIGIANO.

Ingredients: Please don't ask me quantities...

Sun-dried tomatoes
parmiagiano
white vinegar
garlic
parsley
hot pepper
and also black coarse ground pepper if desired
salt
olive oil ( d'oliva extra vergine, first cold press)

When the white vinegar boils add the tomatoes and boil for about 10 minutes.
Drain tight and let dry and rest for 24 hours

Prepare a chopped mix of parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and however much hot pepper you desire.

Slice the Parmigiano into thin slices to put in the middle of two slices of tomato, for example, sandwich style. (tomato-parmigiano-tomato)

In the bottom of a glass vase that closes hermetically, place olive oil and some of the chopped mix, a little more oil and begin to place the tomatoes in the vase, adding always some of the chopped mix and some olive oil until the vase is full and on top floats a good amount of olive oil.

Seal the vase and don't open it for one entire lunar cycle, that is a month

something to remember--O I sue the wide-mouth jars that have a fresh sealing rubber ring--remember to change the rings from season to season...and remember always to sterilize the jars, vase, what-have-you, with boiling water, and then make sure that they are completely dry before you begin the process.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

The real saltimbocca according to La Nina

2009-04-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Saltimbocca alla romana according to La Nina

Of course there really isn't any real anything, so if you're inventive, do it yourself or else follow this simple recipe WARNING!!!

This is for those who know how to cook, because there ain't NO measurements, folks, just ingredients!

So here's my version--real or not of saltimbocca the way I made it last night...

Assemble everything your require as in NEED: sliced Swiss cheese, grated parmigiano and sliced or slivered mozzarella, prosciutto crudo--not the salty one--but rather San Daniele or Parma!

Do not ask quantities--I warned you this would not be easy if you don't know what the hell you're doing in the kitchen.

Take thin sliced veal cutlets and dip them in seasoned flour and quickly saute in butter and a smidgen of olive oil.

Take them out of the big, as in huge, fry pan you're working with and set them aside.

After you finish cooking all of them set them back in the pan (not on the flame or heat) and garnish with all the goodies--ham and cheeses. Baptize with the wine and then cover and let it do its thing...melt...serve hot.

I made tiny fried peppers before hand with rock or sea salt and then served the veal with Brussels sprouts. REALLY nice with any veggie and a salad!

Ingredients
(these are in the range of--can be more, can be less--go figure):

2 lbs of thin-cut veal cutlets
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of oil
grated parmigiano
shredded or sliced mozzarella
Swiss cheese sliced
slices of prosciutto crudo to cover veal
about 1/4 cup of vino biancho (I tend to be generous)
salt, pepper, garlic powder or ganules to taste

Malfatti: spinach dumplings wiht sage

2009-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Malfatti

Literally this translates to badly made...because the shapes are not always uniform. Basically these are spinach and ricotta dumplings.

Severs 6-8 people, depending on appetites and what else you're serving~!
Important thing to remember is to drain the spinach tightly to get all the water out.

I use fresh spinach but you can use frozen, chopped. I cook the “cut leaf” spinach (some people discard the stems, but this is total nonsense…just cut them up small!) Place in a huge heavy fry pan with no water...only the water that's left from washing the spinach (and draining it as tightly as possible.

INGREDIENTS

¾ stick of butter, about 6 tablespoons
¾ cup minced onion
4 X 10 ounce bag of frozen spinach or or 4 lbs fresh
2 cups of ricotta
2 beaten eggs
1-1 ½ cups of grated Parmigiano
salt to taste…at least 1 teaspoon
black coarse ground pepper—to taste at least a teaspoon
nutmeg to taste, at least ½ teaspoon
fresh sage leaves a few for each plate
7-8 tablespoons of flour, and extra for the sprinkle on hands to form dumpings

DIRECTIONS

Steam spinach with the cover on a few minutes…take cover off and cook off any excess water. When cool squeeze the spinach so all the liquid is out. Use paper towels for this.

Melt butter and wilt the onion.

Add spinach.

Remove form heat and add ricotta.

Mix well.

Pour mix into a bowl and add eggs, cheese, and spices.

Fling in the flour—I sift mine.

Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. May be made a day ahead of time—just leave it overnight and it’ll be fine.

Roll in your floured hands about a tablespoon or a little less into fat finger-sized dumplings or croquettes.

Cook in boiling, salted water about 7 minutes. When they rise to the top, use a slotted spoon and take them out. When slightly cooled serve in a warmed bowl with butter, grated cheese…what kind? Parmigiano, of course! And top with a few leaves of fresh sage, if you have it.

May also be served with plain red red sauce…just don't drown the dumplings!

"Travels from My Laundry Room"

2009-04-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Malfatti (Spinach Dumplings) recipe to follow

Here's my poem "Travels from My Laundry Room, which was just published on the Northville Review:
http://northvillereview.com/?p=371

TRAVELS FROM MY LAUNDRY ROOM

In my pristine green wash room,
I turn a black wool sweater inside out,
so my hand beading will remain intact
when I gently rub-a-dub-dub.

My jeans are old and frayed,
but memories line their pockets.
I extract sunflower seeds from the seams,
and it seems I’m once again cheering
at a soccer game in Foro Italico
an upward view of Belsito balconies
aflutter with overburdened clotheslines.

Tossing the jeans
in the washing machine
I see the hems are worn
and remember Roman summers
when I was a fleet charioteer
guiding tourists in the Coliseum,
near the Ghetto whose narrow alleys
were tented over by hanging sheets.

Ashes on a skirt give vent to dreams
of volcanic danger,
walking the edges of Etna.
where peasant girls in headscarves
hang clothes to dry in Sirocco winds.

Ah! and here are Nike shorts and socks,
outfit of a marathon racer to win your love—
I’d follow you anywhere, travel-lover.
You romance my heart as no one else,
like nothing else on earth—
We cruise the Mediterranean,
while the shoreline fisherman mend nets,
and women soak their salt-encrusted clothes.

A color profusion, a muted peacock’s tail on silk,
speaks of beckoning coastlines;
haunting images race back to me,
sailing the world's wide open arms and finger lakes,
and I can picture still women in hijab
beating cotton robes upon flat rocks
on the banks of the Nile.

Open rock beach spaces
engorged by roaring surf
lead to fjords in Croatia,
and women rinsing soap from coverlets,
twisting towels of excess water.

Seas pilot us to tributaries of the Yangtze,
and evocative landscapes of river markets
as we travel on flat-bottom boats
in Bangkok and from the back of barges
wash tubs overflowing.

And always, always
women,
baptizing babies,
burying their dead in water graves,
women,
washerwomen,
women laundering
women cleansing away
the bloodstains of martyrs
in wars they never sought.

Tow poems: Grey Sparrow Journal

2009-04-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

Here are two of my poems that have just been published online in the Grey Sparrow Journal

http://greysparrowpress.net/poems1.aspx

Two poems by: Nina Romano

The Moon and Me on Water-Heavy Nights

On a water-heavy nights like this, I’m caught between a think-piece
movie and sleep—the scenes replay as I fight sheet, blanket and pillow.

I stalk the house barefoot. Moonglow ignites the cool flooring, etching
a passageway to the kitchenette where I drink from the faucet and fret,

knowing, I need sleep as tomorrow’s a holiday and I have to cook.
Moonshadows cast beams through the window’s glass on this night,

water-heavy, when my mind, segueing the moon commandeering
the tides, floats in space then dives into aquatic depths,

seeking unsolvable solutions, asking questions scientists still dispute,
repeating lines from the movie I’ve lived before in another Universe.

A WINDOW VIEW IN WINTER

Looking out the window of my wash room,
snow swirls carpet the mountains.
I envision women swathed in white,
removing the burqa covering their faces
safe now from purdah, in the sanctuary
of a cave or grotto household.

As they kneel on woven rugs
washing clothes in buckets with chilblain hands,
so chapped and cracked,
the rinse water bleeds red.
Frozen hands, gnarled and knotted,
this frozen moment in time.

In the hush of my mountain home,
a prayer escapes my lips
for women in other mountain dwellings,
for women on washday,
everyday
throughout the year.

Pork Roast with Rosemary

2009-04-16T08:50:00.001-07:00

Pork Roast With Rosemary

This is a nice dinner to make when you need two hours, say, to critique some poetry, write something new, or read and auto-critique your fiction manuscript, which the writer of this recipe is going to do. How many pages can I do in two hours? I've got 150 to go of a 400 page ms. I stink in math, so I'll let you know when I finish!

Oh, I'm serving this dinner with fresh beets and a salad of rughetta...arugala. For dessert there's ripe mamay (sapote), which is a delicious fruit that grows in the Caribbean or the tropics...brown on the outside and coral color pulp inside...yum.

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds pork tenderloin whole, or 5 lbs of 3 smaller fillets
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dried rosemary or several sprigs of fresh
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup of white wine
1 lb fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
1 sliced onion…red is sweet, also Vidalia are nice
Paprika, if desired

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Rub the roast OR tenderloin liberally with olive oil, then spread the garlic over it. Salt and pepper (and paprika). Place it in a 10x15 inch roasting pan and sprinkle with the rosemary.

Lower head and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 2 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Let stand to cool about 5 minutes before cutting.

Salmon and Kingfish Quiche

2009-04-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

So I'm into quiches and fancy baked pies, what can I say?

Here's another one:

Fish quiche

Ingredients:

3-4 ounces smoked salmon
3-4 ounces king fish (may use all salmon or another fish--this is what I had in the house!)
1 & 1/2 cups blanched peas
1 sliced onion wilted
in 2 tablespoons of butter
a little vino
a little cognac
pimento, cheese
2 cups mozzarella
1 tablespoon of shaved parmigiano
1 tablespoon of shaved Swiss

For the custard:
4 eggs and 1 & 1/2 cups of milk

Directions:
Wilt the onions in the butter and add the vino and Cognac--the alcohol burns off and the taste is sublime!

Mix together: cut up fish--but not the outside smoked part, add pimento, onions, peas, cheese (2 cups mozzarella). Place this in the bottom of a deep dish pie shell

Mix the custard of 4 eggs and 1 & 1/2 cups of milk. Pour this over the fish mixture.
Sprinkle with the shaved cheeses.

Bake 35 minutes in a heated oven at 350 and in case, another 5 minutes at 400 to make it golden on top.

Ricotta pie (sweet dessert)

2009-04-06T04:56:00.000-07:00

Ricotta pie
(Makes 2)

Ingredients:
2 deep dish pie crusts
2 lbs. of fresh ricotta
3 eggs
1 cup of pinoli (pine nuts)
1 bar of unsweetened (Ghiradelli) chocolate (75%-85% pure cacao) broken, shaved bits
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
(may use 2 tablespoons of milk, if mix is too dense)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
(may use lemon zest, if desired)
a pinch of salt

Directions:
Beat eggs, and add ricotta. Blend till smooth. Add sugar, nuts and chocolate

Pour mix into pie shells and bake in a heated oven at 350 degrees for 40 t0 45 minutes.

If you wish to make your own, sweet crust for this, write me a note and I'll give you the directions. It's pretty when you criss-cross the dough on top...lovely for an Easter Sunday.

Quiche: broccoli and leek and asparagus, and ricotta pie

2009-04-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

So here's what you do on Palm Sunday in preparation for Easter week. You bake.

You may also want to remove everything non-Kosher in preparation for Passover, and hope for the best.

Broccoli quiche
(Makes 2)

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons of butter (if using olive oil—use 1½ -2)
1 medium onion, minced
1-2 garlic cloves minced
2-3 cups chopped fresh broccoli (may use frozen if in a bind for time)
(or if you have leftover broccoli, then just chop it!)
2 deep dish 9 inch unbaked pie crust
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella
1½ shredded cheddar
½ cup of grated Parmigiano
If desired, ¼ cup of chopped ham, salami or both
4 eggs beaten
1 ½ cups of milk (may use half and half, or part milk and some cream)
Salt, pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Over a medium/high heat melt butter in a heavy fry pan. Add onions, garlic and broccoli and cool for about 5 minutes. Veggies should not be mushy!

Beat eggs, and add milk and beat some more!

In the bottom of the pie crust arrange the veggie butter mix layer with the cheeses, then add the egg/milk mix over and smush all together gently.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes…and the last five minutes, at 400 degrees.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leek and Asparagus Quiche

Ingredients:
(Makes 2 pies) Freeze one if you like.

Ingredients:
4 slices of bacon chopped (may also do this quiche meatless)
2 huge leeks sliced then, washed thoroughly and drained
1 skinny bunch of asparagus.
2 tablespoons of butter, or olive oil.
2 deep dish 9 inch unbaked pie crust
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella
1½ shredded cheddar
½ to 1 cup of cubed Swiss cheese or Gruyere
½ cup of grated Parmigiano
4 eggs beaten
1 ½ cups of milk (may use half and half, or part milk and some cream)
Salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste (if you like a hint of garlic, use garlic powder)

Directions:
Cook the bacon and set aside. (Reserve fat for something delectable and fattening).

Melt butter and add leeks, add asparagus and cook till tender but not glunky!

Cool and add to bacon and line the bottom of the pie crust with this mix.

Add cheeses on top and then the egg /milk custard. With TLC (tender loving care, stir together.

Pop in the warmed oven for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees and if not golden enough on top, raise temp to 400-450 for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Ricotta spinach mushroom salami cheese pie
(Makes 2 pies)

Ingredients:
1 lb of ricotta
2 cups of shredded mozzarella
Any combination of grated or shredded Parmigiano, cheddar or Swiss equal to 2 cups
1 cup of mushrooms and onions wilted in 2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 minced garlic clove or a sprinkling of garlic powder (unsalted)
1 cup of cooked chopped spinach
¼ cup of cut up salami (use ham or prosciutto or any combination and may be 1/2 cup)
2 deep dish pie crusts
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 eggs
salt, pepper, or hot pepper, nutmeg to taste

Directions:
Mix ricotta, eggs and cheeses. Add spinach, mushrooms, onions, salami and seasonings. Fling into the pie crust and bake for 35 minutes…if needed to render the top a golden color, then give the poor darlings the heat!

Swordfish with picutre and a halibut recipe

2009-04-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Swordfish

I've given this recipe for swordfish before in a whole menu, but here it is with a picture I was finally able to access.

Below that is a quick and easy halibut recipe. Fish is healthy and delish...try some!

For the swordfish: use fish that isn't too thinly cut with the blood line taken out, if you prefer...I always cook the fish with the skin on. If you have a dog--he'll be delighted if you cut up the dark meat and skin and plop it into his plate of dry dog food. I'm sure cats would go for it in a big way, and as they say in Tennessee, Bless your heart!

Pour a little olive oil in the pan and then on each piece of meat add a little smidgen of olive oil a little bit tomato sauce, a little shot glass of vino, a little piece of sliced onion, a little minced clove of garlic a few teaspoons of some capers, a handful of black olives, or you may use green ones with pimento, a smattering of cilantro. (And a partridge in a pear tree!)

Instructions: Salt and pepper the fish--may use garlic powder, if desired. Heat the olive oil and cook the fish a few minutes on each side before adding all the ingredients. Remove and add the onions, garlic and fry till golden. Add vino. Add tomato. Cook down. Add the juices of the fish. Turn off and add: capers, olives (I use the squishy Greek ones and pit them...always pit olives! and cilantro. return the fish and simmer. Don't overcook it. Fish doesn't need a lot of cooking...I implore you. Poke it with a fork for doneness! Or flake off a small piece.

Halibut

1 & 1/2 lbs whole filet for 3-4 people. Use a heavy frypan.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of butter
1 onion sliced-long
2 cloves of minced garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons of red sauce
chopped parsely, basil, if desired
salt & black crushed pepper to taste
a tablesopoon of capers
1/2 cup of anchovy stuffed olives, sliced

Directions:

Heat butter in frypan on a medium heat. Add onions and garlic. When wilted, add lemon juice and fish--I used a whole filet, but you may use chunks or slices. Cook for about 2 minutes and tthen add all the other ingredients. Cover and rraise heat for 3-4 4 minutes. Uncover and stir the ingredients and spoon onto the fish. Cover nad heat on high for another minute or two.

You may also make this without the sauce and add more lemon and some wine, or use wine instead of lemon, eliminate the anchovy stuffed green olives (may use pimento stuffed green olives or none) and add heavy cream.

Spaghetti with anchovies

2009-03-16T17:25:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti with anchovies

Ingredients:

¼ cup of olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves sliced
hot pepper , if desired
1 small can of flat anchovies packed in oil
½ lb of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoon of chopped parsley or cilantro

Directions:

In a large heavy fry pan pour in the olive oil, garlic and hot pepper. Use a moderate to high flame.

When the garlic is golden fling in the anchovies and their oil…careful they skitter and sputter, spatter and squirt, so cover the pan as soon as you toss them in.

When the fish is smushed into the oil, add a ¼ cup of red wine. Let the alcohol burn off.

Add the tomatoes and cook till they pop open. Top with the green stuff!

Do not use cheese with this pasta sauce—you’ll kill it. Instead, you may sprinkle with
toasted breadcrumb.

Add to piping hot well-drained spaghetti.

If you want to jazz this up some more, add olives, capers and pinoli (pine nuts)

What is your phobia?

2009-03-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

My friend Mel, greengirlfromwisconsin! wrote on her blog about her phobia and then asked her readers, what is your phobia?

Here's my answer.

What's your phobia? Number one biggie: losing the people I love.

I'm thinking of this because I just received the sad news that Barbara Jean Parker passed away this morning after a long illness, and while we weren't close friends I took a grad course with her and she was a very generous writer. She was a lawyer and went on to write at least 13 mystery books...the "Suspicion " series and was twice on the best-sellers list.
There's nothing you can do in the face of death, so why fear it? Because it is the unknown. Because it means you'll be deprived of the dead person's company, laugh, smile for the rest of your own life.

So while this is not an obsessive phobia, it is, I find, a great introspective question, and an intriguing writing prompt for fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

So I thanked Mel and decided to post this on my blog as a farewell salute to a lovely scribbling lady, Barbara Parker, who knew how to sling the English and who had a handle on plot! She's in my thoughts and prayers. It was a pleasure to have known her.

In Memory of Barbara Jean Parker

The smell of pencil shavings as the sharpener spins,
The feel of the pencil in between my fingers as I write
Of the bitter taste of sadness in a mouth barely able to speak regret,
And for the sound the empty word condolence makes in this room
Void of people, void of thoughts, save my head’s reflections on
How short your time was, how well you used it.

Halibut a la Nina and endive salad

2009-03-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

March 5

Last night’s dinner: halibut a la Nina

1-1½ lbs of fillet of halibut—cut into 4-6 pieces
1 diced sweet potato
¼ diced fennel white part only
4 scallions thinly cut
1 minced garlic clove
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
A dash of paprika
Hot pepper if desired

In a large fry pan (with a cover)…sauté the scallions, potato and fennel in the olive oil.

Add a splash of vino and one ½ cup of H2O.

Cover and lower heat and let simmer for 10-and uncover on high for the last 5 minutes.

Reduce flame and add butter, fish, paprika, cilantro, and salt, pepper to taste.

Cover and cook high for 2 minute and turn the fish and uncover, reducing flame for another 2minutes or until the fish flakes...

Cover with the veggies in the pot and serve with white rice, egg noodles or cappellini, or bruschetta. I served it with bruschetta and cauliflower made with olives and anchovies. If you want the recipe, contact me.

I also made an endive salad with the halibut.

Directions for salad
Take off any damaged leaves. Cut in rounds and wash quickly in a colander. Do not hurt or bruise the delicate endive--treat it like an old lady. Drain and add to a chilled bowl covered with this dressing:

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 minced garlic
1 teaspoon of anchovy paste (or 2 smooshed up flat anchovies)
salt
fresh ground pepper

It’s snowing .... yeah! And we're expecting more this evening! Guests from Italy arriving to ski on Saturday!

More later...

Leftovers: Salmon stuffed mushrooms

2009-02-21T11:11:00.000-08:00

Salmon Stuffed Mushrooms

The other day I made whole wild salmon in a rosé cream sauce with onions and had a small piece leftover--about 4 ounces with about 1/2 cup of the sauce. Last night I wondered what to do with it. I decided to stuff 10 medium mushroom caps, reserving the stems for soup. I minced the salmon in the sauce and plopped the mix by teaspoonfuls into the caps and baked for 20 minutes in a Pyrex dish with a small amount of white wine. Lip-smacking good!

Every light was off but a small lamp by the terrace door, the oven light, and an overhead stove light. What to do with 20 minutes? Write notes or a first draft of a poem! And here it is:

In storms,
when there's no electricity
I’ve felt my way
through rooms and halls
without a candle lit, a match struck,
or a flashlight in hand,
by touching walls, grasping chairs,
tripping over wires.
Have you ever played
the game Blind Man’s Bluff?
When I picture me
without you
it's like this.

Spinach Pie

2009-02-12T15:47:00.001-08:00

Spinach Pie (with and without meat)
(Sorry! I cannot retrieve pictures!)

Recipe for 2 pies

Two Marie Callender's deep dish pie crusts
or make you own...

Ingredients:
2 lbs of ricotta

4 cups of shredded mozzarella

1 cup of grated parmigiano

3 large eggs

2.5 lbs of fresh spinach washed, chopped, and cooked (sometimes I use leftover spinach that's been seasoned with olive oil and garlic)

(May use frozen cut leaf--be sure to squeeze all the water out, zap for 3-6 minutes)

1 cup of pine nuts

1 teaspoon of sugar

salt, pepper, pressed garlic or garlic powder, and nutmeg to taste

2 tablespoons of seasoned breadcrumbs and a few pats of butter

{If you wish you may add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of cut up ham, and or salami.
You may also mix the spinach with broccoli florette's, if desired.}

Directions:
Heat the oven to 450 degrees

Mix all the ingredients and fill the pie crusts

Sprinkle with seasoned breadcrumbs (I add garlic powder and paprika) and daub with tiny pats of butter

Bake for ten minutes and them reduce heat to 375 degrees for 25 minutes more.

Easy to make in advance and freeze for parties!

Mustard sauce for stone crabs

2009-02-11T17:32:00.000-08:00

Mustard Sauce (two differnt ways)

Yesterday we arrived in Park City, Utah, and brought with us in a cold pack, 10 lbs of fresh jumbo stone crabs from sunny south Florida.

We took some our friends and had them as an appetizer.

Here's the mustard sauce I made... for 8 lbs.

1 & 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
4 tablespoons of mustard:
1 spicy
1 honey
1 honey sweet and hot
1 stone ground
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Tabasco
3 drops of lemon juice

Tonight I made the sauce diferently...for 2 lbs.

1 cup of mayonnaise
3 tablespoons of savory honey Grey Poupon mustard:
10 drops of hot sauce!
3 tablespoon of creamy horseradish sauce

Yes, you can use dry mustard, and yes you can switch around the mustard to whatever or whichever you like--AND YES, YOU CAN INVENT...JUST LIKE I DID.

Sunday Salon: Lynne Barrett and John Dufresne

2009-02-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

On February 1st when the fervor of football ruled, Marianne Haycook, artist, friend and neighbor hosted a party for two Lynne Barrett and John Dufresne, authors and Creative Writing Professors from FIU and both are dear friends and great writers. They each read memoir for the group, and John also read some fiction from his new book: Requiem Mass: A Novel.

Here's the menu:

Shrimp cocktail
Veggie plate
(crudite')
Fruit platter
A mixed salad

I cooked the following dishes:

Stuffed mushrooms
(with crab meat)
Salami baskets
(soprassata stuffed with marscarpone and a pimento stuffed olive)
Spinach pie
(ricotta, mozzarella, parmigiano, eggs, pine nuts, ham, and salami) Regular crust
Pizza Rustica
(prosciutto, ham, salami, ricotta, parmigiano, eggs, mozzarella, Swiss, Romano) Sweet crust
Eggplant parmigiano
(If you don't know what's in it, forget it, and cancel it from your repertoire)
Baked pasta
(squiggly pasta, ricotta, parmigiano, mozzarella, sausage, tomato sauce, cream)
Sausage, potatoes, peppers and onions

There was also homemade flan, brought by Charlie and a chocolate layer cake, vino, coffee and tea.

Next party is going to be at the beginning of May and will feature book artists: Marianne Haycook, Carol Todaro and John Cutrone. To get on the guest list if you happen to be in town, ...write me.

After image: The Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2009

2009-02-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

Blog of January 31 (forgot to post it!)

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival ended on the January 24th It was the 5th anniversary of the festival and the world is a better place for Miles Coon, it’s founder, and for Laura Mc Dermott, the Festival Coordinator, who keeps things running like clockwork. I’d like to especially thank these two individuals, and also every single, solitary, hard-working intern: Richard Ryal, Evan Peterson, Scott Cunningham, Yaddyra Perralta, Jessica Machado, and Maria Hall. It was a pleasure “to hang” with you.

The readings by the poets were exceptional, so from me personally, and I think I speak for everyone who attended, here’s a huge thanks that goes out to the following: Denise Duhamel, Martin Espada, Kimiko Hahn, Gregeory Orr, Thomas Lux, and Dara Wier.

The festival was nothing short of a burst of atomic raw energy on the part of the participants, and cool, intense, smoking dry ice from the established poets—and I mean that in a profound and good way. The decisive, inner strength of each of them rang out loud and clear, like chiming temple bells when they read their own work, and they were fine examples of what each person at this festival yearns to emulate. It was another wonderful WORD FEST experience.

I had the good fortune of interning and assisting for Denise Duhamel, a most generous and accessible poet, who had our workshop generating all sorts of poems with marvelous examples and prompts. Most of them were free verse, but then on the last day, Denise had the group try collaborative poems after she’d spent time elucidating form poems, such as the sestina, the villanelle, and the pantoum, which comes form the Malayan pantun. I’ve never written a pantoum, because I was never interested in doing so before this, but you can bet your bippy I’m gonna try one now (minus the “eye” dialect, of course!)

Here’s what Wikipedia has this to say about the pantun:

“In its most basic form the pantun consists of a quatrain which employs an abab rhyme scheme.* A pantun is traditionally recited according to a fixed rhythm and as a rule of thumb, in order not to deviate from the rhythm, every line should contain between eight and 12 syllables. ‘The pantun is a four-lined verse consisting of alternating, roughly rhyming lines. The first and second lines sometimes appear completely disconnected in meaning from the third and fourth, but there is almost invariably a link of some sort. Whether it be a mere association of ideas, or of feeling, expressed through assonance *or through the faintest nuance of a thought, it is nearly always traceable’ (Sim, page 12). The pantun is highly allusive and in order to understand it readers generally need to know the traditional meaning of the symbols the poem employs.”

Definitions according to La Nina:

*Rhyme scheme: last words rhyming…for instance ABAB pattern, the first and third lines rhyme and the second and fourth ones rhyme.

Here below is a quick terrible example by yours truly:

I cannot sleep for love of thee
Even in sweet dreams I weep
You’re everything I need to see
How I want you in my Castle Keep.

*Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming

Now, poets, get writing!

A complete fish dinner: shrimp, clams, swordfish

2009-01-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

We had my brother and Donna over last night for a complete fish dinner.

Here's the dinner menu:

Chunks of parmigiano and a glass of cold, crisp wine
Shrimp salad on a bed of lettuce
Clams sauté with French toasted bread
Swordfish basically Sicilian style
Sliced pineapple

For the shrimp salad:
The rosy pink shrimp salad was served on a bed of iceberg lettuce, shaved carrots, shaved red cabbage, a quartered tomato and red thinly cut onion rings.(For the shrimp mix: clean and devein shrimp and boil unpeeled quickly with onion, celery, garlic, and a carrot. Cool, peel, and then add: a little olive oil, some mayonnaise, diced celery and onion, salt, pepper) top with paprika.

For the clams:
Toast 8 thick slices of French bread and set aside--two per platter. Wash the clams well several times in ice cold water. Let sit for awhile and rinse again.

Place in a fry pan on high heat to open. Remove them from the broth, and pass the broth through a sieve with a paper towel. In the same rinsed and dried huge fry pan, add hot pepper, garlic and olive oil...when the garlic was golden, add the clams, broth a hit of vino (Pinot Grigio because that's what we were drinking...and it;s always a good idea to cook with the wine you're drinking) and chopped cilantro.

Hint: NEVER add salt to clams or mussels , if made as a "zuppa" (broth).

For the swordfish:

a little smidgen of olive oil
a little bit tomato
a little shot glass of vino
a little piece of sliced onion
a little minced clove of garlic
a few teaspoons of some capers,
a handful of black olives,
a smattering of cilantro.
(And a partridge in a pear tree!)

Instructions:
Salt and pepper the fish--may use garlic powder, if desired.

Heat the olive oil and cook the fish a few minutes on each side. Remove and add the onions, garlic and fry till golden. Add vino--only about 1/2 a glass. Add tomato. Cook down. Add the juices of the fish. Turn off and add: capers, olives (I use the squiishy Greek ones and pit them...always pit olives! and cilantro. return the fish and simmer.

Don't overcook it. Fish doesn't need a lot of cooking...I implore you. Poke it with a fork for doneness!

Make sure you take your time serving each dish, or the company will not be able to finish the meal! After the dinner--take a longer break, and then serve the fruit.

A little discussion of LEFTOVERS

I had huge pieces of fresh swordfish, one piece was leftover. Today with that piece I will make a pasta sauce and serve with linguini or spaghetti.

For Christmas I made very large ( as in almost the size of a lb lobster) stuffed tails with clams, scallops and shrimp. I had two tails leftover. I removed the stuffing and made an omelet adding, onions and zucchini. With the lobster I cut the tails into medallions and made a pasta sauce to die for, and definitely smack the lips! this topped fettuccine. Delectable! Oy vey, I had a person at the table who did not eat fish. In which case, you reserve some of the plain tomato sauce for their pasta...Problem resolved.

More on LEFTOVERS...

One night in the cold west, I made piccadillo. Can't remember if I've written about this dish, but basically it's chopped meat in sauce made with sofrito, and then you add raisins and olives for a sweet and savory taste.

The leftover piccadillo served as the stuffing for empanadas...

Okay, okay, okay--I"ll check back to see if these recipes : piccadillo, stuffed lobster, and empanadas are in the archives...if not--I'll post them...eventually. Unless someone's dying for these, writes and implores me to post them, posthaste.

***

Now can anyone solve this problem about posting blogs??? I had a full tool bar with colors and highlights,the ability to change sizes and fonts, Bold, Underline and Italics...it has disappeared. So if anyone knows how to get it back, a la Sherlock Holmes, I'll be indebted to you...you may even get an invitation to dinner, though I will not pay for airfare. Sorry, folks.

Have a super-duper, scrumptious Sunday!

Pasta with Fontina and Walnuts

2009-01-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

"The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star."
~~Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

Pasta with Fontina, walnuts and sausage

Ingredients:
6-8 oz. of Fontina, grated
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of white wine (whatever you’re drinking…)
6 Italian sausage links
1 lb. of short pasta
2 tablespoons of grated parmigiano

You may use a combination of fennel, sweet or hot sausages. I found some interesting sausage in Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli in Salt Lake City so I bought 6 links: two Barolo, two Porcini mushrooms and cheese and two Calabrese. I also bought the Fontina.

Directions:
Skin and fry the meat in a large fry pan
When well cooked, add the vino

In a large warmed serving bowl disperse ½ of the grated Fontina, ½ cup of the walnuts, and ½ of the sausage and wine.

Add the hot drained pasta to this and top with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix well and serve

Another way to make this dish is the way I ate it in Val D’Aosta, and that’s with added cauliflower! Heavy yes, but delish and filling on a cold night.
A good idea to have a Grappa afterward to digest it!

Broccoli soup

2009-01-02T13:02:00.000-08:00

A gal named Jo has made a few comments and I wanted to respond--but couldn't just hit the reply button...

Hi, Jo! glad you're enjoying these blogs...

Since you're going to try cauliflower soup...try broccoli soul as well..
Use butter and onions, shallots or scallions or a combination of all for a base.

Cook the broccoli in salted water or broth to cover--bullion cube will work too, just watch the salt when seasoning...then mush and smush it all up in a blnederand add the cream, or half and half or a combination of milk and cream.

Will be on later, I hope with another holiday recipe...

New Year's Day: Lentil Soup

2009-01-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

New Year’s Day 2009

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."

-- Virginia Woolf

Ingredients for Hearty Lentil Soup

(Serves 6-8 people abundantly)

1 lb. lentils, washed and sorted
1 lb of pork filet
1 lb of lean ground beef—
1 small package of small carrots, sliced fat
1 sweet potato, cut small
1 yellow fleshed potato, (may use white), cut small
1 yanga, as in very large onion, chopped
1 small bunch of celery hearts with leaves, chopped
1-2 zucchini, quartered
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
½ glass white wine
broth or water—as much as it takes…4-6 cups or so
Hot pepper, if desired
3 slices of thick-cut bacon
Salt to taste—use less if you use bullion cubes or broth.
1 17 oz can of tomato sauce –or 4 fresh tomatoes, skinned
2 tablespoons of flour (to roll the meatballs in)

You may make this without the meat…and it’s very delish!

In a hug pot, heat some olive oil and fling in the cut up pork and brown.
When just about finished, toss in the cut up bacon and fry till desired crispness. Add wine, and let the alcohol burn off.

Add the lentils and broth to cover, and then bring to a boil. For 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let them rest for an hour…in the meantime you are cutting the other veggies, and making the tiny meatballs.

I make tiny meatballs with seasoning, breadcrumbs and grated cheese—no eggs, no onions, no bread. Easy, fast and yummy for soups. Roll in flour.

When the lentils have rested, add more water or broth. Turn heat to medium, and dump in all the veggies…when the veggies are done to your liking, add the meatballs to the soup and cook for about 10 minutes. Turn the soup off and serve with fresh bread or bruschetta. Or do what I did. I made it the day before and then heated if for dinner so I wouldn’t be “cooking” for New Year’s…merely heating up the warm and wundebar soup.

We had a brunch of bagels, cream cheese and lox with capers and tomatoes and onions for garnish. I had made a tomato pie, which I just reheated and voilà! New Year’s brunch! An excellent meal. Felipe opened champagne. Everyone was free to take a walk, a nap, go shopping, watch football, and in the evening before dinner we saw the movie Traitor. I recommend it. The acting was superb.
I must say, you can check out my recipe for tomato pie—but I’ve altered it and like it better…(see achieves)
The oregano and the basil I put on top of the tomatoes…and the onions I no longer use raw—but wilt them in butter…scrumptious!

Stracotto di Manzo: Braised beef with mushrooms and wine

2008-12-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

Dec. 16th

My nephew Marco stayed with us for a few days…
And here’s what we did…

First night we had cream of cauliflower soup with grated jalapeño cheddar—yum! Followed by a fillet mignon dinner with a salad made with rughetta and gorgonzola and some veggie

Next day we drove to Heber and had lunch at the Spicy Lady—we went antiquing and shopping at FR’s favorite store Home Depot, then back to Heber to purchase a 9 ft fir tree—chunky and cute, but doesn’t have the personality or height of last year’s …the only thing better is this one cost $100 less than last year!

At home we watched the something or other latest Batman…I feel asleep, as you can see I was not interested in it, sorry to say. Maybe because of the tragic last appearance of Heath Leger.

Next day off to Park City and lunch at the famous (infamous) No Name Saloon, where Marco ordered a buffalo burger

Made minestrone for dinner with bruschetta.

It was basically veggies, but first I fried some minced bacon, garlic and onions for flavor in olive oil, and then added some vino--why not?

The veggies were: carrots, onion, celery, sweet potato, cauliflower, white potato, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, string-beans, which cooked in a home-made beef broth.

At the last minute I decided to toss in some tiny meatballs—men love meat! I made them lean ground fresh beef and grated cheese, seasonings and breadcrumbs—no egg.

You can also add to the soup: parsnips, Swiss chard, spinach, turnips, peas…basically whatever you like or have in the fridge will work.

Next day

Stractotto di manzo: pot roast wine and mushrooms

1 3-4 lb chuck roast dredged in seasoned flour
1 onion—chopped coarse
whole baby carrots--
celery—two stalks sliced
mushrooms—whole caps 1 lb.
1-2 cup of red wine—I used a Spanish Panarroz, it’s spicy, but a cabernet sauvignon will do nicely.
1 small yellow –fleshed potato—may use any other
1 medium sweet potato cut up
1 cup of dried porcini mushrooms
12/ lb of sliced mushrooms

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups of beef broth

Online:
Directions
Soak the porcini mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water and use the stock for part of the liquid for the beef. Filter if desired. Trim any hard bits from the mushrooms.
Season the beef with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. In a large casserole, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown the beef on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Add pancetta or bacon, onions, garlic, carrots, and celery, stirring, until they are golden. Season lightly with salt and pepper. May use some parsley and tomato sauce if desired. I made it without—but used a helluva lot of vino! . Add the wine and simmer until it is reduced by half, about 20 minutes.
Add porcini mushrooms, mushroom liquid, and champignon mushrooms, and enough beef stock to come 2/3 up the side of the beef. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook at a gentle simmer for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, and the tender meat should melt in your mouth. Turn the roast every 30-45 minutes or so.
Transfer the meat to a cutting board and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Skim off any fat from the surface of the liquid. Bring to a boil and let cook uncovered for a few minutes to further reduce and thicken the liquid. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Slice the roast and serve with the sauce and soft polenta, rice, pasta or bruschetta.

The next day was Marco’s departure day so I sent him off, knowing he’d had Dungeness crabs—I make my own sauce of ketchup, creamed horseradish, and hot pepper—ouch!

This was followed by a dish of spaghetti with clams—the sauce was natural water kicked out by the clams, white wine, cilantro, olive oil, garlic and hot pepper.

Mushroom Quiche and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2008-12-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here are two recipes from Jane Brownley

Jane made these two following dishes for a soirée poetry reading on Friday evening, November 21, 2008 for the lovely poet Denise Duhamel--the reading was fabulous! My friend and neighbor, book artist and quiltor Marianne Haycook, hosted and I cooked except for these two lovely dishes from Jane. some of those recipes will appear soon...just as soon as I get resettled in
Utah.

1 pie crust (I use Pillsbury in a box which you just unroll and plop in the pie dish--you can find it in Publix next to the refrigerated biscuits)
1 container mushrooms of any kind--about 12 ounces.
1/2 sweet onion chopped
4 eggs
2 cups half/half (I use fat free)
1 1/4 cups grated Swiss cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake pie crust at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until light tan.
Saute chopped onion and mushrooms until soft.

Place in pie crust with the 2 cheeses.
Beat 4 eggs
Add Half and Half and mix.
Pour egg and Half and Half mixture over the mushroom, onion and cheeses.
Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until set.
Variations: add spinach, salmon or whatever.

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB PIE
Pillsbury Pie crust (In Publix next to refrigerated biscuits in dairy aisle)
2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries defrosted.
1 package frozen cut rhubarb (In Publix with the frozen strawberries)
1/4 cup Kraft Minute Tapioca (Shake box before pouring)
1 1/4 cups sugar (I use 1 cup with frozen berries)
Place pie crust in pie dish and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees or until light tan.
Mix strawberries and rhubarb in a large bowl with the sugar and tapioca.
Let sit for 15 minutes.

Add the strawberry and rhubarb mixture into the pie crust.
Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter.
Add the top crust to the pie and seal the edges.
Cut several slits around the crust.
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 0r 50 minutes or until bubbly.

Thanks, Jane!
Check out Jane's Christmas and Chanukah gift items on her website...
www.plainjanescloset.com

Donna Doon's corn pudding

2008-11-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

Corn pudding...the show stealer!

The reason we had any leftover this year was because my son was in KY.

3 cans of 17 0z. creamed corn
1 can of regular corn--smushed in the processor
5 eggs--beaten
1 large can of evaporated milk
2 heaping (as in "abondante") abundant tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of corn starch dissolved in a shot glass of water

Flip it altogether into a deep bow, mix and then toss into a buttered high-sided Pyrex dish.

If desired add: chopped red pepper and onions
Also: nutmeg--a dash or as much as you like...in the mix or on top...

Hot oven...for as long as it takes to make mixture to "pudding."

Tuna steaks in lemon and white wine

2008-11-27T06:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

May everyone feel lighthearted and blessed--because despite all of our troubles, we have much to be thankful for.

No turkey recipe but I have a few others...My friend Lauren wrote after she read the cod cakes recipe and asked for a tuna recipe...

So here is: Tuna with lemon and wine. Use steak-cuts of tuna...yellow fin is very nice for this.

tuna
a little olive oil
or butter or combination of both
some white wine
lemon juice
onions
garlic
parsley
capers
olives
red hot pepper, if desired
(may use a little paprika for color, or finish the dish with some diced sweet pimento)

On high heat pour the olive oil into a heavy fry pan, add sliced onions and garlic--when bubbling add the tuna and cook 2-3 minutes on each side.

Add white wine and lemon juice and lower heat. Cook for a few more minutes and then add parsley, capers, olives. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot. (Nice on a bed of rice with some of the juice...)

Enyoy your turkey. Here's our menu for the day:

Brunch:
deboned spiral ham
tomato pie
spinach pie with saausage
water cress salad

Dinner:
penne alla vodka
turkey
stuffing
cranberries
corn pudding
green beans

pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream

Pinot Noir
Cabernet Saugvignon
Pinot Grigio

Cod Cakes Antipasto

2008-11-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Cod Cakes Antipasto

½ lb cooked cod, cooled and shredded
1 cup of sifted flour
2 eggs
1 ½ to 2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 pressed garlic clove (garlic powder, if desired)
1/4 onion minced
1 to 2 tablespoons of parsley or cilantro minced
Salt and black pepper to taste1 tablespoon of white wine

Mix together all the ingredients. Let it rest in fridge ½ -1 hr.
Take out of fridge and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Fry by a tablespoon at a time. Drop into very hot corn oil to fry.

Serve piping hot. May serve with lemon wedges.

Stuffed Yellow Squash

2008-11-04T17:00:00.001-08:00

November 4th Election Day

A quick announcement:
Screw Iowa is giving a presentation/ panel discussion at the Writer’s Room in NYC on Thursday, November 6th

Stuffed Yellow Squash

A good cook will always use what’s on hand, or what the season gives us…
Yellow squash is on tonight’s menu.

Wash and bake the squash for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven
in a baking dish with a little water on the bottom.

When cooled, cut them and take out all the seeds.

Stuff them anyway you like. Here’s what I did.

Mix ¼ lb of chopped beef and ¼ lb of chopped pork. Cook these together without fat or oil. Set aside. In a mixing bowl use about ½ cup of ricotta, ½ mozzarella chopped, and ½ Parmigiano grated. You may want to add some tomato sauce to the mix also—it’s lovely and moist this way.

Chop 1/2 onion and add together the meat, onion and cheeses … (this of course, is not Kosher…) You can substitute the meat with chopped mushrooms, and it’ll be good also. Season to taste

Stuff the squash, top with seasoned grated breadcrumbs and a dollop of tomato sauce. Arrange in a baking pan with a little bit of olive oil smeared on the bottom. Bake for 15 minutes in a high over (400 degrees.)

In Memory of Carolyn Winer

2008-11-03T04:26:00.001-08:00

Our friend Carolyn Winer passed away. She was a vibrant and beautiful lady, and she did not let anyone know she was dying of a rare lung illness. She lived her last year to the very end, enjoying the gift and beauty that is this life. She now rests with her wonderful husband Jack, a dear friend of my husband, brother and friend Jerry from high school fraternity days at NYMA. She was and still is Jack's "Princess."

Here is the poem that was read at her funeral.

DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sun on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight
I am the soft stars that shine at night

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there, I did not die.

I am the song that will never end.
I am the love of family and friend
I am the child who has come to rest
In the arms of the Father who knows him best.

Whey you see the sunset fair
I am the scented evening air
I am the joy of a task well done,
I am the glow of the setting sun.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there, I did not die.

~Author unknown~

La rustichenella

2008-11-02T16:03:00.001-08:00

Nov 2, 2008

The party last night at my brother's was wonderful...a million Gators cheering on UF, who slaughtered GA., while eating like as though the sun would not rise on the morrow.

My nephew Stefan cooked a whole pig in the back yard! And also 10 lbs of chicken, 5 lbs of eggplant and 5 lbs of zucchini all on the grill. He made 5 lbs of yucca, seasoned with lime juice and garlic fried in hot olive oil. He also oven roasted a 22 lb leg of pork--Cuban style—just in case there wasn’t enough to feed the crowd and one of Broward’s finest, the cop who came to tell me to move my car.

I brought avocados for 3 huge salads and then made 1 &1/2 lbs of black beans and 2 lbs of rice and about 20 sweet fried plantains...

There was also dessert which I won't go into...suffice it to say, some people actually ate it.

If I tell you there was barely enough pork to scrape together a sandwich today, would you believe me? You’d be foolish not to. It's true. And there weren't even 50 guests.

The mojitos were made by the pitchersful, not to mention a keg of beer and several cases…and of course, vino.

Everyone had either a designated driver, slept over, or called a cab.

Today I'm making a pasta dish that I haven't made in over 20 years...
pasta alla rustichenella—pasta a little rustic style

In a large as in really big fry pan cook:

2 lbs of mushrooms thin sliced
one onion, sliced
3 tablespoons of olive oil
hot pepper to taste
salt to taste

Cook for a few minutes and then add:

¼ cup of white wine. (I usually cheat here and eye it…and my eye is generous, because I like wine).

Next, when the alcohol burns off, add:
3-4 artichoke hearts, marinated or not, quartered
2 ounces of flat anchovies with the olive oil from the tin
3 cloves of garlic.

On a high flame swoosh and smoosh around till the anchovies dissolve. Add 8 ounces of tomato sauce.

Bring to almost a boil and then reduce heat to LOW…cook for 5 minutes.

Let cool and them plop it into the blender and mix away to a creamy blend.

Cook linguine and top with this delice de Dieux! and a smattering of bread crumbs.

CHILE CHEESE BALL

2008-10-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

For all of you party animals and/or people having guests for the holidays, or for a wine and cheese event, here's an easy and delish as in YUM! recipe from Jane Brownley of www.plainjanescloset.com (gorgeous Christmas items for holiday gift-giving!)

CHILE CHEESE BALL

1 package Wispride cheddar cheese cold pack
1 - 8 ounce package low fat cream cheese
1 cup chopped walnuts
garlic powder to taste
chili powder to taste.

Soften Wispride cheddar and cream cheese.
Mix together with garlic and walnuts until combined.
Shape into a ball and roll in chili powder.

Chill ball before serving.

Taste for yourself...YUM!!

French Coconut Pie (stolen from Marni!)

2008-10-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

French Coconut Pie

Stolen and adapted from mystery writer Marni Graff (creator of the indomitable, gutsy and spirited sleuth Trudy Genova) who stole it from ... ???

~Quick and easy and delicious! And versatile~see below.

Ingredients:

4 Tbs (1/2 stick) butter, melted*
2 eggs, beaten*
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar *
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup milk*
1 9 inch unbaked pie shell*

Preheat oven to 350F. In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Pour into pie shell. Bake until firm and golden on top, about 45-55 minutes.
"Easy-peasy," as Jamie Oliver says!

Everybody loves this recipe because you can substitute ingredients where there are asterisks ( * ) all the way through and still have a great dessert.

Any combination of these substitutes work well to good effect: Land o’Lakes butter spread to reduce trans fat, egg beaters for same, Splenda for less sugar/carbs, and low-fat milk, and still have a reasonable dessert. The pie crusts that are boxed and refrigerated to roll out are great in this, too.

Or use frozen Marie Callender's Deep Dish Pie Shell. It’s one of those quick pies you can throw together unexpectedly if you need to take something somewhere, or your body is "calling for a sweet," or to pull you out of the mid-week cooking doldrums--just as long as you keep coconut on hand, which I'm sure you will from now on… I do.

Enjoy!

Thanks, Marni!

Clam and Sqaush Soup

2008-10-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Oct.24th

Clam and squash soup

Ingredients:

1 ½ butternut squash, cut, skinned, chunks tossed with 1 tbs. of oil, baked for 25 minutes
1 lb of Navy beans, soaked and cooked for 1 ½ -2 hrs. Reserve one cup of broth
9-10 dozen little neck clams, steamed open and shucked and reserve one cup of juice
1 cup of chopped celery
5 ounces or 5 pieces of bacon, cut small and fried
1 cup of chopped onion
4 gloved of garlic, minced
1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cups of white wine
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tbs of olive oil
Total cooking time: 2 hours

While the beans cook, pop the squash into the oven, steam the clams open, shuck and discard all the shells. Filter the water from the clams. Reserve 1 cup.

Hint for cooking the beans: cook in a little water—about an inch or less over the beans, and keep adding the water as it evaporates.

Fry bacon….when crisp, add butter and fling in the celery and onions. When veggies are wilted, toss in the vino—let the alcohol burn off. Add cream and let thicken a few minutes.

Then add all the liquid and stir. Transfer this mix to the beans, add clams and squash. Heat through. Serve with bruschetta. For you wimps who think you’re going to live to 110, don’t add the bacon…you’ll lose a ton of flavor, but oh well…you avoid clogged arteries, cholesterol and triglycerides.

A crisp wine will go nicely with this—a buttery Chardonnay, or a fruity sauvignon blanc…I’ll stick to Pinot Grigio. A nice touch would be champagne…Veuve Clicquot, for instance. Don’t wait to turn 80 to try it.

Poem: His Gesture, Starbucks Cappucino

2008-10-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

A poem by Nina Romano
Photo curtesy of Free Foto .com

HIS GESTURE

is so sweet,
I want to melt.

He’s blond, a little taller than she
and stands behind her
as she orders Starbucks’ cappuccino
rich and tall with froth on top.

He gently rubs her back,
his hand moves in tiny circles
that spiral up and down.
It is at once sensual,
yet tender and protective.

He loves her.
He nuzzles her back

then slowly lifts
and leans his head
onto her shoulder,
turning inward slightly

pushing back her hair
to kiss her bare neck,
and I want to swoon.
I want to be a part of this love
so private

yet made in such a public
display

so easily expressed.
Then I think of the times
when I was young
and my husband dropped

my hand in public.
So I will go home now
to caress the dog behind his ears
to feel his hot breath
on my cheek and on my neck.

A lillte bit of everything, including movie run-downs

2008-10-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

To all the readers of this bloggerino--

I would like to thank those of you who've recently purchased my poetry book. It does my heart a world of good to see those sales numbers change on www.amazon.com

I would also like to congratulate three lovely poets from the FIU Creative Writing Program, whom I was privileged to know before they published: Emma Trellis, Susan Briante, and Rita Maria Martinez. Emma will read from her chapbook, Little Spells, along with Rita, who will read from her clever book, Jane-in-the-box, a collection based on Jane Austen, at the Miami Book Fair International this November. Congrats, Lovely Lady Poets!

Next I'd like to say that I saw a most wonderful and thought-provoking Italian film called Saturno Contro. It's the story of a group of friends and follows their lives and loves. What a shame that American movies make films for the young, forgetting that their is an older, maturer population, who still love to go to the movies!

Appaloosa was a loser...a shame because Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson are two wonderful actors. No plot, no story. Slow and dull--and I love westerns, and surely there are others out there hankering for a good one. The lean men had a great look--but the film fell short and squat.

Nights in Rodanthe. I'm sure every writer wonders why Nicholas Sparks' novels translate so well to the screen. Predictable plot, but nonetheless engrossing, thanks to the chemistry between Richard Gere and Dianne Ladd. At least this tear-jerker entertained.

I missed seeing Body of Lies, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, who in my opinion has made leaps and bounds, hurtling a so-so career to become a fine actor. the movie got lukewarm reviews, but that never stops me from seeing a movie and judging for myself. Maybe I'll catch this one on DVD.

End of soapbox. New recipes to follow...

Katie's KY Derby Pie

2008-10-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

Katie’s KY Derby Pie

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
½ cup of all purpose flour
1 ½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cup broken pecans (or chopped)
½ cup of KY Bourbon

Soak the chocolate chips in bourbon for 20 minutes before adding to mix.

Beat eggs with cooled butter.
Add flour and sugar.
Beat until mixed.
Stir in pecans, chocolate & bourbon.
Pour mix into uncooked pie shell (not deep dish)
May also use a handful more of whole pecans on top if desired
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minute, or until set.

Serve with fresh whipped cream (vanilla added) or vanilla ice cream…or both!

Nico's 29th birthday menu

2008-10-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the menu for tonight:

Calamari in umido
Rolled stuffed eggplant
Pasta with shrimp and peas in a brandy cream sauce
Grilled Eggplant with basil, olive oil and garlic
Fillet Mignon
A medley of mushrooms
Spinach with garlic and oil
Cake (Homemade by Katie!)

If anyone wants these recipes...get in touch:

FR's Birthday Menu

2008-10-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Felipe, 70 years young...he walked 5 miles this morning!!!

Party is in the works for 15 guests...I made all sorts of goodies with Stefan's help.

Here's the list--

Stef's recipies:
wrapped shrimp with prosciutto and cheese
cheese rolls

I made or will be making:
little stuffed empanads
caponata
roasted peppers
Asian eggplant Sicilian style...
zuppa di cozze e vongole (mussels and clams)
lentil risotto with asparagus
penne a alla vodka
baked "loaded to the ex-gills" swordfish
fresh Italian bread
cibatta
vino up the wazoo
two cakes!

Happy, happy birthday , BABY! Cento di questi giorni!

Asian Eggplants Sicilian Style with Zing!

2008-10-02T12:31:00.001-07:00

October 2, 2008

Asian Eggplants Sicilian Style with a super-duper ingredient to give it just enough zing: Bob's Country Sauce!

Ingredients

2-3 lbs of Asian (the long skinny kind) of eggplants…don’t panic, if you can’t get them—just use regular ones…cut long and skinny, leaving the skin, but take most of the seeds out.
½ onion cut to feathery fineness
6 scallions, cut thin, including the green tops
6 garlic scapes, sliced thin
6 cloves of garlic (large chunks)
6 tablespoons of tomato sauce—plain, a dash of olive oil, a clove of garlic
1 lb of baby bellas (portobellas)
1 lb of ground pork
4 ounces dices sweet pimento (or use a finely cut and diced sweet red pepper )
olive oil
white wine
hot pepper
salt
ginger
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of Bob’s country Sauce (the super-duper ingredient for zing!)

Fry the eggplant and set aside
Fry the mushrooms and add the garlic scapes and scallions. Set aside.
Fry the pork and set aside

In a little olive oil, wilt, thin cut onion with the garlic whole so you can take find easily and take out…and hot pepper for those that like it!

Add wine, then tomato sauce, soy, sweet diced pimento—if you have only red pepper—you need to cook this with the onion, and finally Bob’s “Zingy” Country Sauce

Add the eggplant, mushrooms, and pork. Stir so that the sauce wets all the ingredients.
Add salt, ginger and adjust for taste…may need more of bob’s country Sauce, or a dash or tomato or wine…up to you—my dish is happily drunk and merrily tomato red!

This dish may be made more sweet and sour by adding a dash of sugar and a splash of vinegar.

Look for a mention of my blog on Bob’s Country Sauce website and/or blog.

Sarde beccafico

2008-10-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

October 1

Sarde beccafico

Becafico: a small bird. (Silvia hortensis), which is highly prized by Italians for the delicacy of its flesh in the autumn, when it has fed on figs, grapes, etc.

Becco means mouth in Italian.

Apparently, the small sardines when stuffed and lined up in a pan, look like tiny birds and are very tasty.

Sardines beccafico (very Sicilian!)

lb of sardines, fresh, filleted—no heads or spines.
olive oil
garlic
garlic powder
paprika
salt
black pepper
parsley
oregano
bread crumbs
grated cheese
lemon
white wine
capers
2-3 figs or fig jam (or small raisins, or not)
pine nuts (or not)

This is my recipe that my nephew Stefan made the other night for his mother's birthday--he did the sardines without the nuts or sweet fruit and they were scrumptious. Of course the fresher the better and these were caught only hours before by nephew Stefan…the only one in the family who cooks like me! As a kid, he was always checking out what I was making and what I did in the kitchen and pitched in with anything and everything. He learned the way I did--by stealing with his eyes--the only way to learn to cook and rip-off recipes!

When he went away to UF I gave him The Joy of Cooking because he couldn't take me with him...though I got many a phone call: "Zia, how do you do this or that???"

Okay, okay, okay. Enough sentimentality here...let's get to it!

Lay out the filleted sardines in an oven proof pan that has been rubbed with olive oil and garlic.

Squeeze juice of three lemons and drizzle olive oil and a splash of vino over the sardines.

For the stuffing:
In a bowl combine the olive oil, bread crumbs, grated cheese, and seasonings: garlic powder or some crushed garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, chopped parsley, paprika and capers

Smush together the stuffing ingredients, yes, with your fingers! The stuffing should be moist to the touch. Fill the sardines.

Bake in a hot oven for 8-10 minutes. May garnish with a mint or basil leaf.

Serve with bruschetta, or without!

(You can actually do this stuffing and method with any small fish, but of course, you knew that, right? I love that you're catching on!)

Roasted garlic

2008-09-30T16:26:00.001-07:00

Simple and delicious--completely natural, roasted garlic may be used in a number of different ways.

1. Slice off the top of a whole large head of garlic so that the the garlic shows through the thin paper that separates each clove (May use Elephant Garlic also, doesn't work with fresh garlic)

2. Place it on a sheet of aluminum foil

3. Drizzle olive oil on top.

4. Wrap tightly

5. Place in a heated oven and bake on 450 degrees for an hour. Don't waste the heat on just one, make several heads at once.

6. To use the garlic, let it cool. Squeeze each clove out onto a dish for garlic mashed potatoes or to smear directly on brushcetta, or to infuse olive oil for certain dishes.

Witchy Halibut

2008-09-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

September 24th

Halibut with a bit of a witch, starting with “B”

Prepare two things in advance:

1. Wilt spinach in olive oil and garlic. Set aside.

2. Make a sauce of olive oil, garlic, lots of hot pepper, parsley, basil, capers, black olives, wine, anchovies and tomatoes. Set aside.

3. Then quickly sauté halibut in butter and white wine—careful not to poach. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add the sauce to the fish and heat thoroughly.

5. Place fish on a bed of spinach and serve. (May also serve with mashed potatoes or rice).

Dinner’s done! Enjoy!

Cutlets saltimbocca "jump in your mouth"

2008-09-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

September 22nd

Today is officially the first day of Autumn.

And what did this first Fall day bring me here in Utah? Snow on the mountains, a 40 degree rainy morning that has now dissipated and sun shines beatifically on the riotously beautiful changing colors of leaves on the maples and aspens on the hillocks and mountains. Is there a season that I don’t like? Not really because each one has its own splendor.

So enough waxing poetic and rapturous about Fall and the day, and onto last night’s cutlets…

Easy cutlets—veal or beef. Dip thin-thin cuts, almost as if you could see the light through them, as my Dad used to say, into beaten egg and then seasoned breadcrumbs. I add grated cheese to the mix, either Romano or Parmigiano.

Before you fry them, if they are large, half them, and then cut a few edges and make a slit in the center so they won’t “buckle.” Fry these in corn oil with only a tablespoon or so of olive oil on a high flame. Remove immediately. Douse the bottom of a huge rectangle oven-proof dish (I used Corning for this) with some tomato sauce. I used a simple marinara—that is garlic and basil only…of course a little salt. Arrange the cutlets into this.

On top of the cutlets put a generous helping of mozzarella and shredded or grated Parmigiano. Cover this with prosciutto. If you don’t have that handy, then use sliced ham. ( and if you don’t have mozzarella or Parmigiano handy, use Emmental (Swiss) by itself or with another kind of yummy cheese. Irrigate the whole with more sauce and a smattering of chopped basil and parsley.

Bake in a hot oven: 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese oozes out of the beneath the ham and mounded and rounded cutlets.

Enjoy hot…or at room temperature. Makes a great "leftover" sandwich on Italian or ciabatta bread. Beats humdrum hotdogs!

You can also freeze these in the state before baking and in advance of a dinner party.

Signing off in the Wasatch Mountains...

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

2008-09-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

2nd recipe of his lovely Sunday, Sept. 21 in the Wasatch Mountains

Spaghetti alla Putanesca
Spaghetti Whore’s Style

Basically it’s home style sauce, “casalinga,” that’s been dolled up, tarted-up, coquetted-up to look and taste fancier and make a sensation on or off the streets!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
Plum tomatoes
½ glass of white wine
Salt
Hot pepper
Anchovies
Garlic
Parsley
Basil

Flood the bottom of a huge heavy fry pan with olive oil and fling in a bunch of garlic.

When the garlic is golden and just browning—toss in a small can of anchovies, oil and all. Jump back quickly or you'll burn yourself with a firecracker starburst of hot oil. In other words, cover the pot immediately or suffer the consequences. this is one of the reasons chefs cook with white jackets and aprons. The other reason is so that we can distinguish them form priests.

Add ½ glass of white wine and raise the heat.

In two minutes or so add 2 lbs of peeled plum Italian tomatoes. Capers, black olives and chopped fresh parsley, some basil leaves. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. In the meantime cook the spaghetti. Ok, reader, the golden rule of spaghetti cooking is??? Of course, abundant salted water in a big, not skimpy mind you pot. Don’t overcook it—usually 8 minutes will do,. In the mountains add 2-3 minutes more…you’re going to have to taste it, to be sure. I just give a few strands to FR and he serves as cavia….guinea pig.

Not any, and I mean absolutely not a drop of cheese is used in this pasta dish.

Serve immediately.

Tomato Pie

2008-09-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Blog Sept. 21st

Tomato pie

Seems like I never do one thing at a time...must be the Gemini personality. So here’s the recipe for 2 tomato pies. One pie serves 8 as an appetizer, or use it instead of salad.

Ingredients:

8 large, ripe tomatoes
1 huge sweet onion
black pepper
1 cup of mayonnaise
¾ 4o 1 cup of grated /and or shredded Parmigiano
¾ to 1 cup of mozzarella
fresh basil
fresh or dried oregano
a little drink of olive oil

The difficult better way:

1. Wash and slice 8 ripe tomatoes. I combine garden and chunky Romas, put them in a sieve, sprinkle with a little salt. Put a weight on top. I usually place clear plastic wrap on top of the tomatoes, then place a kettle filled to the brim with water. Leave over night

2. Slice a huge onion any old which way and put on paper towels and cover for the night. No, you do not have to refrigerate either tomatoes or the onions, and you won’t die from botulism, I promise. (Tomatoes contain ascorbic acid and Vitamin C. They are natural antioxidants and contain lycopene, which is absorbed by the body faster if the tomatoes are cooked. If you don’t believe me, Google it!)

The easy, non-caring if you screw up way: skip step #1. What will happen is your tomatoes may release their own water and the pie will then be a gooky glop…your choice.

3. In the morning, bake two deep dish pie crusts

4. When cool, line the bottom of the pie crusts with onion and arrange the sliced tomatoes over these. Shake over some coarse ground pepper. I use a lot, and to tell the truth, sometimes add a dash of hot ground pepper…because my husband likes things spicy…he married me, didn’t he?

5. Heat the over to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes. In the mountains, give it another 5 minutes.

6. Garnish with lots of fresh basil, small whole leaves and sliced large ones, and fresh oregano, if you have it. I use dried oregano and if you use it also, you won’t fail the course. Ipso facto guaranteed.

Coniglio: Rabbit ( Nico's recipe "retouched" by Mom)

2008-09-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a recipe my son sent me and I 'fixed up' to lessen the degree of difficulty.

CONIGLIO AL CIOCCOLATO for 4 diners

1 coniglio: rabbit
1 onion
3 ribs of celery
2 bay leaves
a fistful of pinoli
a fistful of raisins
2 small carrots cut into round slices
3 or 4 cloves
20 grams of wild fennel--or the soft, green tops of a large fennel and some seeds.
1 glass of white wine--actual recipe calls for white vinegar, but only if the rabbit is wild.
1 tablespoon of sugar
3 tablespoons of bitter chocolate
flour
olive oil
salt, pepper

(May also use brandy and/or sherry, and slivered almonds in the preparation, if desired)

Preparation:

Skin the rabbit and cut into pieces.

Dip each piece into seasoned flour

Braise these pieces "sweetly" (as with kind, gentle persuasion) in a large heavy fry pan. with hot olive oil until they are golden.

In another pan, add the minced onion, pieces of celery, carrots, and slowly sauté in olive oil on a moderate flame.

When these vegetables have wilted and turned pale, but before gaining much color, add the bay leaves, pinoli (pine nuts), and raisins (if you have the tiny less sweet Sicilian ones, use these), cloves, and a few fennel seeds and the tops of the fennel.

When slightly golden, add the rabbit already cooked, salt and pepper. Cover lightly with the sugar and pieces of chocolate.

Stir the sauce and gingerly turn the meat.

Irrigate with wine (or vinegar), cover and cook on a slow flame until a little thickened sauce, rather consistent form. Turn the rabbit pieces once or twice.

Serve hot with mashed potatoes or rice, or tiny pennette.

Coda alla Vaccinara: ox tails Roman style alla Nina

2008-09-20T10:59:00.001-07:00

Coda alla vaccinara

It seems these are "fat" times for the blog, but soon I'll be moving into a lean period as I intend to finish the revision of my novel set in China and I'll be traveling. So we'll double dip today and I'll give the coda recipe and next will follow the rabbit recipe, speaking of which I saw my first cotton-tail out here in UT in Heber City last night--to be specific the new Red Ledges property, which is huge and gorgeous and still has some lots for available for sale. Contact Maria Johnson: mariajohnson@redledges.com Goggle it here: http://www.redledges.com/

Well, my son wanted to make rabbit with a chocolate sauce, but couldn't find any in south Florida. I think he ordered it special for next week. I'll put that recipe on later. So he's having company and wanted to do a pasta combination meat dish. I gave him this one that follows. It's not really ox, but beef and it's wonderful. What my Mom used to call "peasant" food because it was a cheap dinner to feed a lot of people...but what's cheaaaaaap anymore??? My son paid $4.89 a lb in Penn Dutch...and what do you do with a lb? Nada.

So here's my recipe...for 3-4 lbs of ox tails.

Rosalare (braise) the tails on pretty high heat till they are browned on all sides. Keep turning and watch them so they don't burn.

Then cover them with beef broth, and cover with lid, and let simmer low to medium heat till tender. Don't do the bouquet garni--a waste of time--just add lots of long cut pieces of celery 2 & 1/2 to 3 in long, and also if you have them, whole baby carrots--if you don't have them, then don't sweat it because friend Pina (who lives in Rome) makes coda without.

After 1/2 hour or so--maybe 45 min, remove lid and the broth should start to evaporate, raise the heat to medium /high heat. You'll need another 3/4 hour to be sure they are tender. Stir once in a while.

When done, drain meat and veggies and replace into pot, and save the extra juice on the side. Into the pot with the meat and veggies only, add olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic and 1 medium-sized sweet onion (minced).

When garlic and onion are golden, toss in a glass of white wine, and on high flame cook out the alcohol, and then add a can of whole plum tomatoes, about 1-2 lbs. that you squish and squash, also some basil, a bay leaf if you have it.

It's been such a long time, that I don't remember if Pina adds bacon or guanciale (pancetta), but if you decide to do this, do it when you're frying to golden the garlic and onions. (Adds extra flavor, but don't add too much--say 3 ounces.)

Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower heat and cook till the meat is totally tender and flavored...and the tomatoes have thickened. Taste for salt and pepper. I usually make things spicy for your Dad, so I add hot pepper to the garlic stage. Let this all cook 30-45 minutes.
Here below is another explanation--also you can do that chocolate sauce with these...I never had it, but it sounds good.

Serve with 1 lb of fettuccine, linguine, or spaghetti topped with the sauce...add grated parmigiano or Romano with a sprinkling of chopped parsley to each individual dish. Serves 6

Dennis Lehane: The Given Day

2008-09-19T21:19:00.001-07:00

Dennis Lehane scores again...BIG TIME!!!

Congrats, Dennis!

Well you can pre-order his book, The Given Day, a 704 page historical novel on www.amazon.com at the reduced price of $18 and change, and I suggest you do, as opposed to the $27 change you'll be paying when the book hits the biggie bookstores.

Thank you, Dennis, for this resurgence and interest in history and the historical novel! Here's proof-positive that Dennis Lehane is not just a terrific mystery writer, as if that's a slur, but a notable, epic writer as well.

You can read about him and his blockbusting best-seller to-be in the NY Times "The Arts" section September 18, 2008. He's on the first page with a glowing review by Janet Meslin. Also find an interview clip with Dennis Lehane on www.amazon.com by Harper-Collins

Invest the money, I guarantee you won't be sorry.

Shrimp-stuffed Fior di Zucca (Sqaush Blossoms)

2008-09-17T17:37:00.002-07:00

Sept. 18th

Stuffed fior di zucca

I make these flowers many ways, but here’s an interesting recipe that isn’t fried, but rather baked. If you can’t find the squash blossoms, you can stuff halved-scooped out tomatoes, whole little zucchini, or mushrooms.

Ingredients:

20 fresh squash blossoms, washed and drained
½ lb of fresh ricotta
½ lb of cleaned, deveined, chopped shrimp
thyme
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 lb of Roma tomatoes, or garden tomatoes if you can’t get plum
basil leaves

Blend ricotta, shrimp, salt, pepper, thyme. Stuff each of the blossoms and place in a large Pyrex deep dish with a little coating of olive oil. Bake these on high heat (450) for 10 minutes.

In a little oil cook the washed, chopped tomatoes till they throw out their own liquid and it’s absorbed. Use a medium-high flame, season with a little salt. Use a hand-blender or toss the whole shebang into a blender and whip to a sauce.

Spoon out about three tablespoons per plate and two basil leaves. On top of the sauce lay out the beautifully baked stuffed flowers.

The official Roman way to make these flowers is stuffed with anchovies and mozzarella, battered and fried. One of may absolute all-time favorite spring/summer meals!

Chocolate Coverd Figs

2008-09-17T17:37:00.001-07:00

Sept. 18th
Chocolate Coated Figs

In September, the figs are incredible in Italy. They split at their well-endowed bottoms and honey oozes out. We have nothing to compare here...

In order to boost their sweetness you can do a chocolate dip—the same as you do for strawberries. The only catch is, you have to skin them first. You can cheat and do that store-bought melty dip you place in the microwave, or you can go the baker’s route and do the double boil-boiler method. Whichever you choose, it’s worth the effort. Try it on your family first, and if you succeed, you’ll now have a sensational dessert in your entertaining repertoire.

Kadota figs and Mission figs are the ones I’ve found here in the US. These usually can be found mid-august till the beginning of October, the end of September to be sure. Try using these. If none are available, try using dried figs.

Then build a pyramid with them, the way you would for profiteroles, and in between, you can squeeze in here and there little stars of whipped cream and bits of lavender.

Cozze di latte: milk mussels

2008-09-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

Sept. 17th

Ok here’s a darling, doozy of a recipe—called cozze di latte: literally “milk mussels,” but there’s no milk. It’s only because the color, or lack of it that makes it a “white” dish, meaning no red sauce or tomatoes, and that give it it’s misnomer “milk.”

I can only approximate the quantities, so you do the same.

Use a heavy sauce pan with high sides (terracotta will do nicely) some kind that can go into the oven, like Pyrex.

Ingredients

Bread crumbs
Butter
Olive oil
Spaghetti (about a lb)
Potato (1 large)
Onion (1 large)
Mussels (about 2 lbs)
Juice from mussels
Some white wine (1/2 glass)
Hot pepper, if desired
Garlic
Parsley
Grated Parmigiano

Cook one lb of spaghetti in salted water to very underdone that’s harder than “al dente” (because this will be baked in the oven)

Cook 2 lbs of cleaned and washed mussels in a little water, olive oil, hot pepper, garlic, and a ½ glass of white wine. They will “kick out” their own juice. Reserve the juice , toss out the hop pepper and garlic, and halve the mussels

Wilt one large onion cut into rounds in butter and oil

At least one large yellow potato, thinly sliced. Keep in iced water so it won’t turn color until ready to use.

1. In a big oven-proof pot with high sides:

2. Fill bottom with a light covering of olive oil

3. Next place in a lb of cooked spaghetti

4. Layer the large, wilted onion rounds (butter and oil) on the pasta

5. On top of that put a covering of very thin cut rounds of potato

6. Next place over potatoes, the halved, cooked mussels

7. Sprinkle mussels with Italian rice for risotto and finely chopped parsley

Repeat layers from #5 till you end up with a layer of potatoes

Sprinkle generously with bread crumb, miserly with grated Parmigiano (as in not too much) and parsley, some flecks of butter and a hit of olive oil—don’t drown it! And no need for salt as the mussel juice will provide it.

Take the reserved liquid and pour around the circumference of the pot all the way up to the top layer. Cover tightly and bake in the oven for at least 45 minutes or until the rice and potatoes are done. Remove cover for the last 5 minutes of cooking and “brown” the topping, or pop it under the broiler

Serve one large spoonful (directly from pot) onto each plate…your taste buds will die and go on to Elysium and there, pray for the remaining souls on earth who have never eaten this delicacy.

Any questions, post a comment…complaints, cook hot dogs.

PS to the Rai recipes...

2008-09-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

P. S.

I don't know why my spacings changed and I couldn't fix them in the recipes from La Rai. It looks like I never learned what a paragraph is or how to indent...Sister Mary Agnes, Sister Salvia, Sister Mary de Lourdes, Sister Margaret Mary, and all the good nuns of Notre Dame Academy in Staten Island must be rolling over in their graves!

Farfalle, peas and mozzarella salad

2008-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Robbed from La Rai-TV this morning, September 16th!

This morning I "stole," but changed to suit La Nina’s style of cookery, two lovely recipes from La Rai—our Italian TV station that comes to us via satellite—Heaven forbid we miss una partitia di calcio! (a game of soccer), or the program Porta a Porta.

Recipe #1
Insalata di Farfalle (salad of bows in English, but the literal translation is "butterflies")

Ingredients:

1 lb of faralle (bows) sometimes you can find them tri-colored—use these if you have them because the color lends itself to a more appetizing look
1 lb of mozzarella
1 cup or more halved or quatered tomatoes
1 lb of cooked frozen peas
4-5 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 to 1 cup of basil
salt, pepper, garlic powder

Cook 1 lb of farfalle in salted water, drain tight and add 4-5 tablespoons oil beaten with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Add 1 cup to overflowing of cut up small tomatoes—Roma, or grape or anything you like
or have handy

Add 1 lb of fat diced mozzarella di buffalo (if you don’t have this—at least fresh
mozzarella.

Add the cooked, drained frozen peas

Mix well and add chopped basil—as much as you like.

Taste, if you must, and adjust for seasoning…this last part, I never do. I’ve never tasted
anything I prepare…a habit from when I was a kid, I guess. neither did my Nonna.

Mix well and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Serve at room temperature or cold from the fridge if you live in Florida.

Recipe # 2
Tortellone repieni di verdure
Tortellone filled with vegetables

For the tortellone:

3/4 lb of flour
take a handful out to save for rolling out.
make a well
add 3 hefty teaspoons of tomato paste
beat in 4 eggs with a fork as you pull in the flour around the well
set aside

Cook 2 large potatoes in their skins: cool, peel and mash

Cook 1 lb of Swiss chard mixed with rughetta (arugula) in boiling water

Remove greens when still very green and a little undercooked, drain and
chop fine

Add mashed potato, 1 beaten egg, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and
a fistful of grated Parmigiano. (Never stint.)

Roll out the dough into one huge circle. Cut into wide, long strips of about 3 inches
and re-cut to finish pattern of big squares

Add 1 chunky teaspoon or 1 skinny tablespoon of the filling mix into each square

Then form a triangle, pressing around so the filling doesn’t eke out. In the back, secure
edges—one inside the other if possible, or squeezed tightly together. Make sure
there is space between the fat part of the tortellone and the closure at back so the
water flows though when you boil it. Basically the finished product should look
like a tri-cornered hat worn during the War of Independence. Got it?

Boil in abundant water, lightly salted, then drain and put approximately 4-5 on each plate

While the pasta is cooking, melt ¼ to ½ pound of butter—watch out it doesn’t burn!
Drizzle some melted butter onto each tortellone, and bless the plate with a hearty helping of grated Parmigiano and a leaf or two of sage. Serve immediately.

On your table you should have a pepper mill for those who wish to add coarse ground pepper, and a dish of grated cheese for those who like to overindulge in sheer goodness.

You can also substitute this recipe with spinach, but the rughetta gives it a bit of a bite, especially if its harvested wild. So if you don't have that, try mixing the spinach with fresh mint

Grazie mille, Rai-TV