Stracotto di Manzo: Braised beef with mushrooms and wine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

Recommended Reading

Recommended reading: Support the Arts: buy books!

Novels and more! Here are some books I recommend:

Requiem, Mass. by John Dufresne

Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (noir)

In the Heat by Ian Vasquez (mystery)

Straits of Fortune by Anthony Gagliano (mystery)

All or Nothing by Preston Allen

Some Assembly Required by Lynn Kiele Bonasia

The Heiress of Water by Sandra Rodriguez

The Secret Names of Women by Lynn Barrett (stories)

You Can’t Get There From Here by Leonard D. Nash (stories, Kitsune Books)

The Neighborhoods of My Past Sorrow by Jesse Millner (poetry, forthcoming, Kitsune Books)

Choke Creek by Lauren Small (novel, forthcoming. Bridle Path Press)

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane (historical literary fiction! Yeah!!!)

Meet You in Hell by Les Standiford

Hell's Bay by James W. Hall

The Highjacking of Jesus by Dan Wakefield

Seven Notebooks by Campbell Mc Grath (poems)

Two and Two by Denise Duhamel (poems)

Secret Aisian Man by Nick Carbo (poems)

When Katie Wakes by Connie May Fowler (memoir)

Cutlets saltimbocca "jump in your mouth"

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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...

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

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

Pepperoni pesto sauce (with cream)

Sept. 15
Pepperoni pesto sauce (with cream)

This is a La Nina special, invented because I love peppers and I love heavy cream! and one summer day about 17 years ago, I bought about 10 lbs of peppers on sale at a little local market. I roasted some, I fired some and I had 4 leftover!

Forgive me if this is a repeat recipe, but I went back through the older posts and couldn't find it. I made this dish last night and probably changed it anyway...so here goes the latest, last night's version of pepperoni pesto with cream sauce will go with any short pasta. I like to use penne, shells, farfalle…but any one will do. This recipe serves 6.

4 large red peppers minced
1 large onion minced
2 cloves of garlic minced
salt and hot pepper to taste

Cook the above on a medium/hot flame in 3 tablespoons of oil and 1/4 lb of butter. The "water" (liquid) will kick out. When the peppers, onions and garlic mixture is dry, add a glass of white wine. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio marry well with this dish.

Cook on high flame till the alcohol burns out. Add 1/2 quart of heavy whipping cream (this is not a dietetic as you can see) Stir until it thickens.

Fling in the cooked pasta and add 3 tablespoons of grated Parmigiano—not more, it is simply to amalgamate the whole dish, not to kill the taste! If no hot pepper was added, serve with coarse ground black pepper.

This is a lovely, but rich dish. For 6 people use about 1 ½ lbs of pasta. Don't drain the pasta tight. Reserve a 1/2 cup of the pasta water, just in case it’s too thick, or to add to some that’s left over to save in the fridge for a day or two later. Heats up great in the microwave—covered. About 2 & 1/2 minutes!

Serve with either a lovely spinach, mixed green or Boston or butter leaf lettuce salad.
Go easy on the condiments e buon appetito!

Answer to Auntiemwrites' question

On 9/11/08, auntiemwrites wrote:
auntiemwrites has left a new comment on your post "Home from the road trip WEST":

Sounds like you crammed a ton into your time~what was your favorite meal?

Lucky 7 Steak House in Cheyenne, WY makes a huge (16 oz), perfectly cooked (medium-rare) and well-presented prime rib with au jus and a side of horseradish...I ordered a side of grilled onions besides, a baked potato with sour cream and chives. This dinner came with a cup of soup, dinner rolls, a mixed salad (I chose a delicious, creamy blue cheese dressing) and rice pudding for dessert--all for $17 and change...you can't beat that anywhere.

Felipe selected a luscious Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine not included in price...cela va sans dire. I only ate the broth of the soup, a few bites of the potato and didn't smother the salad with the dressing, but rather kept it on the side and dunked my fork in it! Left almost all the center of the cut--because I love the tail best...who doesn't? the rest FR ate and cut up all the leftovers into bit size pieces for Cyrus, our friends' dog.

Home from the road trip WEST

Sept. 11th.
The commemoration day of the terrible loss of lives in the Twin Towers.

Home from our wanderings WEST!

We just got home last night from a road trip out west, which was truly incredible. We were on the road 9 days. We toured the Yellowstone National Forest, the Tetons, the Shoshone National Park with breathtaking views, and took the Beartooth Highway through WY to Red Lodge, Montana--also did the Chief Joseph Highway. All gorgeous and scenic with the added beauty of snow on top of Shoshone, which made it hazardous and difficult for our driver, Felipe to see, so the next day when it was sunny and clear, we took a two hour detour to drive through it again! What beautiful country we have!!! and thank God some of it was saved as a national treasure for all to see.

We visited Cody, WY, and the Buffalo Bill Historic Center which houses 5 museums--we saw all of them! Buffalo Bill and the Plains Indians were the two I enjoyed the most.

Also saw Devil's Tower--a natural phenomenon, which was in the movie, Close Encounters of a Thrid Kind. We stayed in Keystone, WY, and allows me to saw that South Dakota's Black hills are nothing short of stupendous. There we took in Mt. Rushmore, a magnificent feat. We went back in the evening and the Big Dipper shone brightly straight above. It was a highly emotional and beautiful lighting ceremony. The Vets in the audience were invited to go up on stage afterwards to take down the flag and each of them gave their name and where they had been stationed or seen action on foreign soil.

The next day we saw the Crazy Horse Memorial in Custer State Park--still in construction which will be larger than Mt. Rushmore--they aren't taking any money from Washington. The government took Indian lands and broke all promises but one: the promise to take their lands, offered 10 million dollars years ago when the project got underway in 1948. Now I wonder why they refused??? Still nowhere near completion, but it will be larger than Mt. Rushmore, with Crazy Horse pointing to his lands, "where my people are buried." Most impressive.

Stopped in Cheyenne just overnight so we have to go back and sight-see and also missed Ft. Laramie. But in a week's time, we sure saw and did a lot.

Took a kazillion photographs, but still don't know how to put them on the computer...

Will write more about the trip in days to come with a mention of the foods we ate as well! and before we head to Florida for FR and Nico's birthdays, and dear friend Rita's 80th!!! all at the beginning of October.

Katie & Nico's Engagement

Katie & Nico

Picture taken in Rome, April, 2008

August 27th

A Short History of Our Whirlwind Louisville, KY Weekend…

When I read the schedule that Katie made for us, I said that not even Princess Diana, bless her, had she still been living, could have fulfilled this program…but somehow we did and it was truly delightful. Thank you, Katie!

Almost the first thing we did upon being picked up at the airport on Friday, August 22nd, was to visit Churchill Downs (spectacular) where FR and Nico reserved the Aristides Room for the rehearsal dinner day and evening (next May 22nd) It’ll be complete with races, betting, food and drinks for 50 people!!! This is the room next to the one visited by Queen Elizabeth, who, we were told, never smiled or waved to the greeting crowd. We, unlike the Queen, are really going to party! Forget just about the wedding day—this is going to be a wedding weekend! Maybe even a week!

The young couple gave us a whirlwind tour of Louisville and we saw some beautiful parks and old mansions, and then were ushered to see Garden Court, the beautiful Louisville Seminary, where the bridal reception will be held. Gorgeous grounds! Several of us “out-of-towners” who will be attending the festivities will be staying in a hotel on the reception grounds.

Our first evening in Louisville, Felipe took us out to dinner at Avalon, a lovely upscale restaurant in Bardstown—a neat area with interesting little shops and restaurants. The dinner party included the parents of the groom, the groom-to-be, his fiancée and her mother, and also Elizabeth, Katie’s sister from North Carolina and her friend, Lauren. It was a most enjoyable evening—nothing like hanging around young people with good food and drinks.

Everything went super nicely over the Louisville, KY Engagement weekend, thanks to Katie and her mother, Lera, a sweet, fun, and lively gal. (I had met her only once before and felt most welcomed). The engagement party, held in the garden of Katie’s childhood home on Daisy Lane, went off without a hitch. Lera’s wedding dress and veil were on a mannequin, making the festive occasion quite special. We met many of their relatives and friends and Katie’s 91 year old Nanny. Everyone had a lovely time.

The menu consisted of: fried sesame chicken wings, two kinds of potato salad: one of them was a German potato salad made by Nanny, baked beans, devilled eggs, baked ham tea sandwiches, a cucumber and sour cream dish, zucchini-chocolate chip tiny muffins, and a chocolate cake. There were several types of beer, Pinot Grigio wine, and a Bourbon cocktail that Nico made with pineapple juice that could knock you out of your socks and to the moon, which his mother didn’t taste because FR did.

Everyone that saw Katie open her gift from us liked it. Most especially the bride-to-be said she loved our present, and Nico thanked us for our presence. Gotta love that boy Katie’s engaged to—he has manners—and everyone in KY seems to be crazy about him—they couldn’t ALL have lied to us. So we didn’t do such a bad job after all! Katie was the belle of the ball, and Lera, a most charming hostess.

Saturday, the day of the engagement party, Katie took us to Lera’s friends spread: Debbie Foley’s Silver Brook Stable—a beautiful horse farm—where we saw some new-born colts, and some outrageously beautiful horses with names to match. Debbie and Lera have been friends since grade school. After the party we went to the KY Fair to watch Debbie come in 3rd riding Callaway’s Karla, Joann Griffin’s horse, in the 5 Gaiter Class at the World Championship Horse Show. We met Joann and her husband Joe after the race to congratulate them.

The KY FAIR Horse Show was wonderful—even more than we bargained for because Katie's brother Jack McCray is the assistant trainer to the winning horse, Breaking News, in that class. So it was an exciting evening. Katie always gives away a trophy at the show in honor of her great-grandfather, but this year she gave that honor to her visiting sister Elizabeth from NC give it away. Very admirable thing to do.

Sunday morning eleven of us guests had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then most got on their way. Felipe, Nico, Katie, and I toured downtown and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. It was neat seeing the presidents who had signed baseballs.

Then while FR and Nico had a drink at Ramsi’s Café on the World, Katie and I ducked into Carmichael’s Bookstore and a neat used book store called, All Booked Up, where I found two leather-bound treasures signed by Gail Godwin—perfect condition and unread. We joined the boys for more drinks and “Madame Toussand’s Empanada” appetizer, which is filled to overflowing with London Broil, Kentucky Kenny’s sharp cheese, portabella mushrooms and onions, baked inside a homemade ajean bread and drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil! Indeed, we did. Then it was off to pick up Aline (AKA Nanny) and dinner at Lera’s for barbeque pork, green beans, coleslaw, potato salad, and leftover cake!

The “begaged ones” took off at 5 am on Monday, but Felipe and I spent the day with Lera shopping. We had lunch at this cute, funky restaurant that was on the Food Channel, called Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Great Bloody Mary's! We ate spinach salads—mine with Gorgonzola, tomatoes, bacon, and hard cooked eggs—the others had the same by with Gouda and toasted pecans—all had the poppy seed vinaigrette. Yummy!

Here are some of the shops we visited: Mission Jewelry (Fine Art), Crazy Daisy (Antique Mall), Caffeine Gallery, (Karen Hartsough, the artist gave Katie and Nico a beautiful frame she created), Celia’s, The Hadley Pottery Co., (Yes! Felipe bought me two beautiful plates! The Red Tree, and numerous others.

Lera dropped us at the airport around 4 pm, so for now, Arriverdeci, Louisville till next springtime and the nuptials.

Broccoli & Cheese Quiche

Aug. 19th

So here’s the recipe for two broccoli quiche "pies." I make two, so I can freeze one or give it a friend. In the olden times, I would make the crust—if you absolutely must have it, write to me and I’ll post it…

In the meantime, those other smarty pants among us will use Marie Callender’s deep dish frozen pie crusts—just make sure you prick the bottoms!

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 cups milk or a combination of milk and cream or 1/2 and 1/2 so okay,
take a guess at what I use??? Right on! 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of cream…and make
mine heavy, darling!
1/4to 1/2 lb bacon, cut small (with this, I’m rather conservative…closer to ¼)
1 small sweet onion chopped
2 cups of fresh broccoli florets wilted (7 min. cooked in microwave)
1 cup of grated parmigiano
1 cup of grated or shaved Emmantel—that is Swiss cheese
1/2 cup of sliced, grated, or shaved sharp cheddar
Salt if you must, black coarse pepper a definite, and garlic powder
Beat together the cooled, already scalded milk/cream concoction.
Add the eggs and beat some more. Then add all the cheeses and seasonings

For those of you who live east of the Mississippi:

Beat 2 cups of cream—or a combination of cream and milk or half and half…what
I do is scald the milky/cream stuff first…then cool.

Cook the bacon and onions together till they almost crisp and spread on the bottom of the crusts.

Next pour in the cut up ½ cooked broccoli florets. Sprinkle with more seasonings, like paprika and red pepper, if desired.

The oven should be heating to 375 degrees, then reduce heat and pop the two quiche in the oven and bake them for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees and test with a dry knife—when you stick it in the center—it should come out dry…if moist, leave it in a little longer.

For those of you poor dears living in the mountains, here’s what I did—heat the oven to 375 and then pop the quiche in and let cook for 1 & ½ hrs , then reduce heat to 350 for 30 minutes and when a knife is placed in and comes out fairly dry—these beauties are done


For the salad:
A day or two beforehand of the dinner party, roast on a high flame a cup of walnuts and sprinkle with sugar and honey. Cook, continually stirring. Turn off the heat and toss the nuts out onto a dish covered with aluminum foil…until they cool—separate the ones that are stuck!

With the nuts you can add: dried cherries or cranberries and I love to add chucks of creamy Gorgonzola. I used my cherries—thanks to Marni, I now know they're called Mt. Ranier--and they are drunk as skunks in Grappa!

Wild Mushroom Medley (sauce for pasta)

Aug. 18

Mushrooms can be in any combination of wild that you like—for our up-coming Wednesday dinner party for 8 persons, I'll use 3-4 kinds: hen-of-the-wood, chanterelle, shitake, and possibly something else—basically whatever I find at the market, more than 1/4 and less than a 1/2 lb of each. I love to make things complicated. I really judge by eye. Use the amounts you want!

You can use just two, if your pocketbook can’t handle the cost of the 3rd. Or if you can’t find a third or fourth available, you can even use dried porcini mushrooms. Soak them in boiling water and then discard the water when softened. Add a tiny bit of fresh water—say 1/8 of a cup, and retain it.

Regular champignon and baby portabellas may be used in combination with the dried porcini, but the flavor with the fresh wild ones is incredible by comparison—especially if they are fresh porcini! (In which case you wouldn’t need to use the other mushrooms, unless it’s an “old impress-the-company” kind of dinner party because they’re all big wigs. Or it’s a really a business meeting, dinner a disguise to make things pleasant and your husband asked you too. Yes, this is exactly the case…and No, they don’t read my blog!

For the sauce:

Olive oil
Butter
Garlic or garlic scapes
1 small sweet chopped fine or minced onion or a fistful of scallions, sliced paper thin (save the green tops for serving along with chopped parsley)
2-3 lbs of wild mushrooms—I will use at least 3, and perhaps a smattering more.
½ lb of lean cut or mid-section bacon, cut into small pieces
2 cups of heavy, heart-stopping, artery clogging whipped cream…for you airy
fairies who think you’re going to live till 110 years of age, use half and half—
what a cheat on flavor and texture, but, hey, it’s your choice.
1 cup of chopped parsley
Paprika
Hot cayenne pepper, for those who desire it
Black coarse ground pepper to top the pasta as you serve it!
White wine
3-4 tablespoons of fresh grated Parmigiano


Directions:

In a huge, as in super big skillet with high sides, because you will pour the pasta into this! heat the olive oil and butter, garlic scapes and/or garlic flecks, bacon and onions on a high flame and cook till the bacon is as you desire it—I like it just about crispy. Fling in the cut up mushrooms—don’t make these so tiny that you don’t recognize them as mushrooms.

Keep the flame high, and when these are wilted, irrigate with a lovely white wine…never use crappola wines—remember this is going into your digestive tract. When the alcohol burns off, keep stirring and add the cream. Stir until thickened. Add salt, if desired—I don’t do this, depending on the bacon to do it for me—and the paprika and pepper. Lower flame.

When the pasta is cooked, drain tightly and empty it into the sauce. Stir. Add the parmigiano and stir some more. Don't overdo the cheese. It's only to amalgamate the pasta (in this case
1 & 1/2 lbs. of penne) Serve each plate with a smattering of the parsley and the thinly sliced green scallion tops. Sever to mouth-watering executives, who have probably starved themselves all day, not realizing that they will not be able to eat as much!

One more tiny little killer detail. If you want to make this a mouth-watering, memorable experience that lasts forever in the minds of the guests: add about 2 tablespoons of truffle oil just before serving the pasta, but don't give away your secret...

Oh, a little aside. I’m serving a mixed zuppa of mussels and cockles for antipasto, a zucchini parmigaina and a huge salad for seconds, and for desert, pitted white-fleshed cherries (called Ravenna in Italy, I don't know the American equivalent, but have juist been informed that they are Mt. Ranier cherries by my frind Marni) that I have soaking in grappa. Would a broccoli quiche be overkill before the zuppa??? I’ll see what I have time for, and if I make it, will include the recipe here for all you of those of you who cook with what the Dali Lama calls, "reckless abandon."

The Summer Wednesday Market in Park City

Here is a sampling of what I found: Beehive Cheese CO. makes hand crafted cheeses and all of these cheeses are made form Utah milk! Yippee! There's a great variety and we bought several to taste...I can't say they are inexpensive--but have you checked out the prices in supermarkets of other cheeses lately? here's what we tried:
Promontory cheddar (smoked with Apple and Walnuts a 7 oz piece cost $7.
Promontory cheddar aged 22 months --Paprika rubbed approx. 8 oz. same price
"Barely Buzzed" is a mild cheese coated and rubbed with espresso and lavender and I found it yummy!

We bought lobsters Freshies Lobster Co. Shore to Door in 24!!! and they were live and delicious Maine beauties. About $17 a lb--that's cheaper than the supermarket prices by $5 a lb. If you are hankering for a taste of the sea here in the Wasatch mountains order from them.

Next we tried an Asiago baked Italian loaf and a ciabatta made by Volker's Bakery--they feature artisan bread. E-mail vritzinger@aol.com They also had a strudel that looked very tempting--we steered clear of that. After all , if you're not running, how many carbs can you do in a day?

I bought fresh Swiss chard, basil, white eggplant, huge zucchini, and turnips form local growers...didn't get their name or contact, but I will next week when we shop for fresh mushrooms (see an earlier blog for those beauties.) We have guests for dinner next Wed. night so I am making a mushroom medley with fresh pasta...if I haven't put that recipe on this blog yet, I sure will this week.

Caldo Gallego (Galician Soup)

Aug. 15th

Caldo Gallego

A wonderfully thick Galician bean soup!

My husband’s Tia Zoila use to add “unto” which is a kind of rancid fat…I skip that part and find it’s very delicious just the same…maybe more so.

So here are the ingredients

One huge soup pot and plenty of water
Two lbs. of dry white cannelini beans and plenty of water to cover several inches!
The end of a prosciutto with plenty of meat on the bone…remember, the more you put it, the more you'll find!
Swiss chard chopped, as much as you like—I use a kilo (at least 2 lbs.) sometimes 3lbs!
Turnips (2 lbs.)
Potatoes (2 lbs) I like the yellow fleshed ones--but you can use any kind

Wash and soak the beans overnight. If you didn’t do it and still want to make this pottage, then boil the beans for 10 minutes at a roiling boil and then let sit covered for an hour…there you go!

Cook the beans for two hours with the prosciutto on the bone. Usually I get an end cut and it's always less expensive than by the lb. when it's sliced at the fat end. The meat should be falling off the bone when finished cooking—if not, guess what, folks, you cook it a little bit longer. Take out all the bones, any skin or gristle, and then you’re ready to add the tubers.

(Go here for The Cook’s Thesaurus : http://www.foodsubs.com/Tubers.html on tubers and corms. And go here for a quick education on corms, cormlets, and cormels and roots: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corm )

Add cut chunks of turnips, and cook for 10 minutes and then add the cut up peeled potatoes and cook for 1/2 hour moderate heat . When the veggies are cooked, you can do a fork test—they should be willing to break themselves in two at the insertion of the fork! Smash the beans and veggies a little bit to thicken the soup and then at the last 10 minutes of cooking add chopped Swiss chard. Turn off heat.

No salt, no pepper, no garlic, no onions, and no oil—and it’s perfect without any of these! Serves 8-10, depending how generous you are when you ladle the soup into each waiting bowl.

Serve with warm thick slices of Pugliese Bread, Italian Loaf, or French baguettes, or whatever your little ole’ heart desires…except sliced puff white American! Leave that for the dilettantes.

Make sure you have a delicious and crisp white wine to accompany this dish…you’re gonna need it! It’ll aid digestion and won’t fill you up like a balloon the way water will. It you must have water, then try a lovely San Pellegrino—sparkling (cool, but no ice!) to aid digestion and you won’t drink as much of it as tap water. If you really must, add lemon to it. I like my water to taste like pure water and not lemonade.

P. S. One of the tastiest dishes I remember eating in Spain--some of you will not believe this--was pig's ears with fat white beans! served in a terracotta dish with vino tinto: Temranillo
Can you find pig's ears anymore? Another great piggy dish is red beans and pig's knuckles. These recipes will be published on this blog by request only.

Tuna with sesame seeds & balsamic reduction

August 14th

Ahi tuna, yellow fin, whatever--just make sure it's fresh.

Dip the steaks--not too thinly cut--in olive oil and then sprinkle with sea salt, coarse ground black pepper and smear with crushed garlic or sprinkle with garlic powder for a lighter taste.

Dip pieces into black and white sesame seeds...press down so they adhere....

Heat coated grill (olive oil, or some butter--but remember this tends to burn easily!) very hot and toss the tuna steaks on---press down firmly on the steaks once per side and still on a high flame, flip them and continue cooking for 2 minutes on high. This will give you a pink center or medium prepared steak. If you want it more red or less pink, guess what, folks, you adjust the flame and keep the rarer pieces on for less time, the more well done pieces a little longer on the flame...nor genius or Ph. D. stuff here!

Make a balsamic reduction (you can do this while the fish is grilling). Pour 1/2 cup at least into a stainless steel cooking pot and put it on high flame till you gt the thickness and consistency you want. Then when fish is cooked, pour a dash of this reduction on top of the tuna and then swirl it all around the plate--you'll think several things at once when you see this:

1. you have died and gone to heaven
2. you're in a fancy restaurant, not your very own humble kitchen.
3. Aha! my husband's going to know I've been cheating on him and going to posh places

Cancel that last...dying young and going to Hades in a jet plane ain't all it's cracked up to be. Ask
James Dean

Serve the tuna with healthy veggies like steamed broccoli and/or smashed and mashed garlic potatoes! (Remember garlic fights against cholesterol and is natural and it also helps keep the blood pressure down when combined with Niacin--ask your doctor--I josh you not.)

Enjoy!

Picture of Sicilian Cannoli

Here's a picture I forgot to add the other day with the recipe for cannoli filling. These are authentic Sicilian ones, I brought on a visit to my aunts (one is 96, the other 94!!!) in Palermo last April. The outside pastry is darker than you'll find in most bakery shops here in the States. I always add a little cacao to the mix before deep frying them--that's the secret--oh and use wine instead of water to blend the pastry dough.

Cannoli filling

My friend Marni liked the carrot cake and asked me if I had a recipe for cannoli filling--it's also the same filling used in cassata cakes. For the filling--no measurements, so go by taste--some like it sweeter than others.

So here's that recipe from my head--don't have my files or books with me here in the wilds of the Wasatch Mountains.

Ricotta, vanilla, and powdered sugar all blended together--add chocolate bits and/or candied fruit. Sometimes I used to add a little Sambuca, or fior di arrancio, or Grand Marnier. The ricotta has a stronger flavor in Italy as it's so fresh. A little old lady used to come around in the early summer mornings in san Felice Circeo when Nico was little and she carried the ricotta, steaming hot in little wicker baskets.

Nico would eat it with fresh made blackberry jam or neighborhood honey. Sometimes he'd spread it on bread or pizza-pane. I learned how to make cannoli (shells and all!) because my Dad loved them. I used to keep them stored in a cookie tin and fill them when needed. He only liked the chocolate. He wasn;'t nuts for frutta candida--even home made, so I'd just put a cherry at each end. Mio caro, dolce Pappa'--how I'd love to make thee for him today.

Carrot Cake (in English & Italian)

This Carrot Cake recipe is bilingual. I wrote it for Sandra and Franco Brasolin’s youngest daughter, Ornella, who tasted it in the good old US of A. These are dear friends of ours, and we’ve known them since before our son was born. Franco manufactures jewelry in Milano, and Felipe and I translate for him when he does the spring JCK show in the Venetian in Las Vegas. We dine out every night of the show, and eat good food, and while eating, like all good Italians, we talk about food—that being served, that which has been consumed recently, etc.

Per: Ornella
For: Ornella

Eccoci qua la ricetta per Carrot Cake.
Here is the recipe for CARROT CAKE

Ha bisogno di una teglia quadrata di 20 cm. Ungi bene la teglia, e spargere farina sopra.
You need a square pan about 8 inches by 8.

Ungi bene la teglia e spargere la farina.
Butter the pan and sprinkle with flour.

Devi mettere tutti gli ingredienti fuori dal frigo per u'ora prima.
Place all of the ingredients outside of the fridge for about an hour beforehand.

1 tazza di farina passata, e ripassarla
1 cup of all purpose sifted flour, sift again.

1 cucchiaio di lievito (polvere bianco)
1 spoonful if baking powder

1 cucchiaio di cannella
1 spoonful of cinnamon

½ cucchiaio di sale
½ spoonful of salt

Mescolare tutti gli ingredienti sopra e aggiunge:
Mix all the ingredients above and add:

2/3 tazza di olio vegetale
2/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 tazza di zucchero
1 cup of sugar

2 uova mescolate bene
2 eggs well beatten

Poi aggiungere:
Then add:

½ tazza di noce
½ cup of chooped nuts (any nuts will do)

1 & ½ tazze di carote gratucciate
1 & ½ cups of grated carrots

Versare dentro la teglia imburatta e mettere in forno caldo basso ( 180)per circa 30 minuti.
Pour the mix into a buttered pan and place in a hot oven (350) for about 30 minutes.

Servire con formagio di crema Philadelphia o puoi fare un “icing” dolce di:
Then serve with cream cheese or make icing of:

¾ tazza di zucchero a velo passato
¾ cup of powdered sugar

3 ounces (supergiu 1 etto) di cream cheese
3 ounces of soft cream cheese

1 & ½ chucchiaio scorza di limone o arrancio grattuciato
1 & ½ spoonfuls of lemon or orange zest

1 chucchiaio di vanilla
1 spoonful of vanilla

Lavorare bene il formaggio e aggiunge lo zucchero lentamente e poi gli altri ingredienti.
Blend the cream chees well and add the sugarslowly and then all the other ingredients.

Quando il dolce é freddo, poi spargere il “icing.”
When the cake is cold

Spero che mi caspisci!
Hope you understand me!

Baci—
Kisses,
~Nina

Sockeye Salmon with potates in a rosé sauce

Aug. 3rd

Here’s a dish I made last week when Phil and Donna were visiting and our friend Maria came for dinner. (So let’s say this serves 6 people generously.) While I was cooking we also had four visiting doe munching the weeds to the side and back of the house. They are very curious little girls and put their heads up at whistling, but do not scamper off until they have had their fill.

Now to the salmon…always buy wild salmon and never farm raised. If you're going to spend money and time preparing something—make sure it's healthy as well as flavorful!

In a large deep fry pan—I use Bialetti! I coated the bottom with very little olive oil. I sliced two large Yukon Gold potatoes very thinly. (You may use any potato you have…I just happened to have these in my pantry.) These, I placed around the bottom of the pan. I added 3 white fresh onions also thinly sliced…save the green tops for later. I flecked these with about 3-4 fat shaved (as in extremely thin and papery!) garlic cloves. Then I salted the potatoes, onions and garlic, and covered with water. I cooked them for about 20 minutes: 10 minutes high and covered and 10 minutes medium uncovered or until the water almost all evaporates.

To this I added a glass of Pinot Grigio! (that’s what we were drinking for dinner), and on a high flame till the alcohol burned off. Then I poured in 8 oz of liquefied fresh pulp tomatoes—no skins—but you can cheat and add a small can of tomatoes (8 oz.).

Next I poured in almost ¾ of a cup of heavy cream. When this starts to bubble and burble, lower the heat to a moderate flame. Add a whole fillet of skinless salmon.

Since my husband purchased this for me—he forgot to ask the fish “peddler” to skin it. Needless to say, I took in hand my sharpest new Chicago Cutlery boning knife and skinned that salmon sucker clean and neat. You may need to use a smaller knife such as a 3 inch peeler to slice away any insolent piece of remaining skin.

Next what you want to do is rinse the fish so that any scales that might to be brazen enough to adhere to the fish’s flesh come off. Pat dry with paper towels. Add the fish to the pot so it lays on top of the mixture, and spray with butter, or dab with butter, or if you are an absolute fanatic and won’t even spell the word butter, margarine if you must. Salt and pepper generously. Raise the heat and cook for 5-10 minutes only. Spoon the sauce, not the veggies, on top as it cooks.

I usually sprinkle the fish with some garlic powder, and I add some very hot red SIRACHA HOT CHILI SAUCE to the sauce because my husband doesn’t like bland food. Also when you serve the fish a fresh dusting of coarse ground black pepper looks and tastes divine. Add thin rounds of the green tops saved from the fresh onions. (May also use scallions.) Serve to oohs and ahhs when the guests savor the very first bite.

Oh, and as an accompaniment to this, I made bruschetta, some with just garlic and oil, and some slices smeared with a lovely French creamy cheese, also a huge mixed salad, and asparagus. For desert we had a medley of mixed berries with a choice of vanilla ice cream and/or fresh whipped cream.

NB
Not entirely a dieter’s dinner, but oh well, c’est la vie! And life is short no matter how long you live!

Lauren Small's Gazpacho

As promised! Lauren Small sent me her recipe for Gazpacho and here it is below. But first, here’s a little background information about Lauren. She is a woman of many hats. She's an award-winning equestrian, a wife, a mother, a sister, an aunt, a fiction writer, a novelist, a teacher of creative writing, a great friend, a wonderful reader, a member of the Screw Iowa! Writer's Workshop (www.screwiowa.com), a thorough “critiquer” and a good cook!

Lauren Small’s novel, Choke Creek, is due out mid-September by Bridle Path Press and will be available on http://www.amazon.com/ and also on Lauren’s website: http://www.laurensmall.com/. Her novel will be taught in high schools in Maryland and Florida.

The novel is based on the Massacre of Sand Creek in 1864. The story is told in alternating chapters between the main character, Evie Glauber, who is in search of truth and her boyfriend Eason, who joins the Army to fight in Viet Nam. Small's love of history, research and her wonderful lyrical writing are showcased in this debut novel. Small’s research led her in many directions and one of the books that inspired her writing was The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien. As Small says in the book’s “Afterword,” “As for the Indian Wars—there is much that still needs to be said. It is my hope that this book will become one voice in the conversation.”


Here’s the recipe for Gazpacho (Serves 4)

Gazpacho

4 large, ripe tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 green pepper
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small clove garlic
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce (or to taste)

Cut cores out of tomatoes. Peel and seed cucumber. Take seeds out of green
pepper. Cut all vegetables into chunks and puree in food processor with all
other ingredients. If the soup is too thick, add a little water. Chill and enjoy.

Lauren's Cranberry Cole Slaw

I spent a lovely June week at my dear friend Lauren Small's in Baltimore. Lauren's husband Don has a wonderful orto in which he grows lettuce, spinach, radishes, eggplant, etc. They also have a patch of star gazer lilies, which is oft-visited by local bunny rabbits and deer! One evening at dinner on the patio I even saw a fox! Lauren's herb garden is right outside the front door and is loaded with things I love: basil, mint, oregano! She makes Gazpacho almost every summer evening--light and delish and cool to the palate. Hopefully, she'll send me her recipe and I'll put it on the blog too. This salad dish below she made for a barbecue party a week or so ago. Thanks for sharing, Lauren!


Cranberry Cole Slaw

1 cup cranberries
1/4 cup sugar1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 small red onion
thinly sliced4 cups shredded red cabbage
1 large apple peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Mix everything together. Chill and serve.

Penne al radicchio

July 29th

We ate this dish at my friend Luciana's in Roma!
It's light and fast to make, and easy on the palate. A lovely spring and summer dish.

Wilt the washed, drained, and sliced radicchio in heavy fry pan awash in olive oil, (5-6 tablespoons) minced onion and pressed garlic--as much as you like of everything! I usually use a small sweet onion, preferable Vidalia, and 3 fat cloves of garlic and hot pepper for two heads of radicchio.

When wilted, add a glass of white wine--whatever your drinking works well! When the alcohol burns off add about a 1/2 glass of heavy cream and stir. When slightly thickened, remove from heat and toss with the penne--sprinkle with grated cheese to amalgamate the whole dish. Add fresh coarse ground pepper if desired.