Memories/ Pasta with Brocolli, Mushrooms and Pesto

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I'm not sure if it's the Memorial Day weekend or what, but my thoughts lately have been on many of the friends and acquaintances in my past. On Mother's day, we visited the grave where my Grandmother, Mom and Dad are laid to rest. How I miss those days when life seemed so simple. I'm old enough that I can look back on my childhood, my early adulthood, my "middle" adult hood and nowadays and see them as distinct periods. There was a "kid" I worked with at the restaurant in Brooklyn that joked about me way back then. " Che is so old,' she said," he played GI Joe with Jesus!"Now that kid is in her 40's and has 3 of her own and I am beginning to feel the weight of the years every morning when I wake up and need to walk around a little so I won't feel quite so stiff.

Anyhow, the friends and relationships from the past have been on my mind a lot lately and while I miss many of those I no longer see much of, I am profoundly grateful that they played a part in my life. Back in 1975, when our restaurant was just getting off the ground, one of the owners was using the kitchen to make food for herself and a few other workers. She put together a simple dish of pasta and broccoli cooked in chicken stock and garlic. The story goes that a customers saw it and asked if she could make some for their table and it became the first entree on the little menu that at the time only consisted of sandwiches made in pita bread. I thought of that the other day when I was considering what to do with the mushrooms and broccoli I had bought earlier in the week.This is my version cooked in pesto. We called it "Pasta con Broccoli". I call it a good memory. Thanks, Andrea.

The pesto came about because I had fresh basil and mint from the salads I've been making with our meals.The Current Wife loves pesto, but painstakingly removes all traces of fresh herbs found in her salad. Go figure. When I prep my broccoli, I remove the stalks, peel and slice them, then cook them in boiling water for 2 and 1/2  minutes prior to cooking the florets.

I remove the broccoli with a metal "spider" after an additional 2  and 1/2 minutes. I use the same water to start my pasta. At the same time, I heat about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet.

 

Since I'm flavoring my pasta with pesto, I use a few pine nuts in the dish. Here, I'm frying them briefly with some red pepper flakes to begin.

 

Next, come the mushrooms and after they cook, the garlic which goes in last so not to burn while the mushrooms cook (but you all know that!)

Lastly, the pasta and broccoli get added to the pan to cook for a minute. Reserve 1/2 a cup of the pasta water to add to the pesto. Mix it in and serve. 

I hope all of you had an enjoyable Memorial Day and found time to remember our fallen heroes, those who died in combat, or in service to our city , and the innocent victims of Oklahoma City, Washington DC , Pennsylvania and New York.

Summer coming on/ Fusilli with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Herbed Feta

 

I suppose it's the combination of warm weather and the appearance of abundance in the food markets, but my brain has suddenly clicked into "summer mode". While food shopping the other day, I noticed that plum tomatoes were .79 a pound. That's a good price and while it isn't an indication this early that the tomatoes are local, their deep red color was enough to entice me into buying them. For the two of us, I purchased just 7 of the Roma tomatoes. I mention this because if you're making a fresh tomato  sauce, why not eat it fresh? You can feed up to 3 people with the sauce made from 7 of these rather large plum tomatoes. (I notice that when we get local tomatoes from New York and Jersey, I can find smaller plum tomatoes. These were probably grown in Mexico). So, using a paring knife, I cut a small X in the blossom end of each fruit. I put a pot of water on to boil, and at the same time filled a large pot with cold water and a tray of ice cubes. When the water comes to the boil, I put the tomatoes in a few at a time. After 30-35 seconds, you'll notice the skin of the tomato splitting. Immediately, take them out of the boiling water and plunge them into the ice water bath. Then continue till all the tomatoes are done. If you've followed this step, the tomatoes should peel easily and not be cooked at all.

 

In the picture above, you'll notice that the peeled tomatoes which I've halved have that white core to them which I will remove along with the juice and seeds. If these were backyard tomatoes that were allowed to ripen on the vine, you would see none of that hard white core. 

Here are the tomatoes with the seeds and juice scooped out (with my finger) and roughly chopped into smaller pieces.

I started my pan on medium heat (#5 if you have a numbered dial) and added a good amount of olive oil. This is a quick sauce. You want to retain as much flavor as you can so use a good olive oil and low heat. I have also added some tomato paste which I will cook along with 2 cloves of minced garlic.

Here are the tomatoes which I've just added to the pan. I immediately start breaking them up with a wooden spoon. At this point, I also start my pasta.

After about 2 minutes, you can see the tomatoes have broken down somewhat. I can now add some torn basil leaves (about half the amount I intend to use).

After a few more minutes, the tomatoes have broken down more. The sauce is still quite chunky. Turn off the heat. You want the tomatoes to retain their fresh taste, so I omit the usual final step of cooking the pasta and sauce together for a final minute. Now, I drain the pasta and add a little parmigiana to the sauce.

Here is the pasta and cheese added to the pan. Mix them into the sauce , add the rest of the torn basil leaves, and plate the pasta. Top each serving with 4 or 5 pieces of feta with herbs. I should mention, I found the cubed feta and herbs in olive oil  at Trader Joe's. You could also use mozzarella or Italian Fontina.

                                                             

    

Here Comes Summer/ Rice Salad with Grilled Tuna and Salsa Verde

  

The first signs of the approaching season appeared almost simultaneously on my fire escape and in my kitchen. My tomato and basil plants went out recently. I'm not sure what went on last season, but I lost all three plants. This year I shopped around in my favorite garden supply catalog, Spray- n- Grow

If any of  you have a garden, you must try Spray-n-Grow. It's a miracle product that will increase the yield of all your fruit trees, vegetables, flowers, even house plants, and it's completely natural. (End of Advertisement) I got some "red mulch" in the hopes of preventing the scorching my tomatoes got last year and a bag of worm casings which work very nicely on tomatoes in addition to the weekly treatment with Spray-n-Grow. I know, it's a lot of fuss for three tomato plants, but we Italians love tomatoes out of the garden.

Another sure sign of summer coming on is the appearance of rice salad on my table. I guess all cooks have go to recipes for dealing with left over salad stuff. Rather than just making another green salad, especially during the summer, I love rice salad. It combines the great taste of rice with the summery goodness of salad and can be a side or main dish. You serve it at room temperature too so you never have to worry about it while you're waiting for those grilled steaks. Like all salads, you can put anything in it, but I always include fresh corn with it.

 

 Begin with abborio rice. I use my wife's method for preparing rice. Start with a larger than you need quantity of salted, boiling water. Add the rice, stirring once and let it cook uncovered for about 15 minutes before you start tasting it. It should be tender, but still have some "tooth" in the middle. While it's cooking, steam an ear of corn. I added some stir fried onion, red pepper  seeded jalapeno and mushrooms, but you can put virtually anything in this salad that you can imagine. After adding in the cooked ingredients, I spread the rice out on a large flat dish to cool.

While I'm waiting for the rice to cool, I started my Yellow Fin steaks in a hot grill pan.I brushed them with oil and a little salt beforehand, and turned them to develop grill marks. They need about 2 minutes per side depending on how thick they are.

After the rice had cooled sufficiently, I added olives, tomatoes and avocado to the salad. Since I had those avocado/jalapeno  flavors going on, I made my dressing with lime juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic powder. Don't add the dressing till you are ready to plate the salad. Some of Trader Joe's Salsa Verde finished my fish giving a southwestern flair to dinner.

I finally finished the last of that red bell pepper!

 

Another weekend/ Cabbage Rolls stuffed with Faro, Mushrooms and Spinach

I love Friday nights. Neeta is home for the weekend and we have 3 nights together. I definitely recommend the 4-3 week to all married couples. As my readers know, I get to sleep alone on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. Not only do I get a better sleep, eat meat and watch all the sports I care to, I can also take two whole days to plan my meals in advance of the Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday wife "visit". Anyhow, it works for us. Stuffed Cabbage is one of those make ahead meals that always seems to be better when you prepare it in advance. I actually made this dish on  Thursday, and had it ready to put in the oven when I heard the key in the door on Friday night.I make it vegetarian so it needs the extra day to pick up the flavors. I also make it with and without sauce. It's a great antipasti for company, or a main dish for us. If you look back over the last few posts, you see a lot of the meals I've been preparing use left overs and ingredients from the meal I cooked for Easter. This is no exception. Although I usually stuff my cabbage with abborio rice, this time I decided to use the faro I bought to make the Pizza Gran at Easter. Faro is a cereal grain that in Italy needs no fertilizer or pesticide due to its hardiness. It has a nutty taste and is similar to barley in texture. I guessed that it would mix well with the other ingredients I used and create a very nice stuffing. I soaked it in cold water in the morning. You could soak it overnight as well. Then, I drained it, covered it with fresh cold water and boiled it for about 30 minutes (till it was tender).

My first stuffing ingredient was mushrooms. I like to use them in all dishes that I would expect to find meat. I sauteed them till they browned  and began to lose water, then added shallots and garlic to the pan.

Next, I added baby spinach to the mushrooms sauteing it till it was just wilted.

Did I mention the little bit of bell pepper I added to the mushrooms? Never a whole pepper; just enough to add a little color and texture. Here are all my ingredients being stirred into the faro. Looks good, no? Add an egg to hold it together and a nice helping of freshly grated parmigiana reggiano and you're  ready to stuff.

I like savoy cabbage for its taste and texture. Cut away the core and carefully unwrap the leaves from the head. Boil in salted water for about 8 minutes. I do it in batches.

After boiling the leaves, you may find it necessary to remove the thick center vein on each leaf or trim them down at least. You place a blob (2 TBS or so = 1 blob) of stuffing in the middle of the trimmed leaf and neatly roll up the leaf tucking in the ends like a spring roll.It's a good idea to set up a work station for this operation. Lay the stuffed cabbages in a baking dish with a little tomato sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking. Then, more tomato sauce over the rolls and top with more grated cheese. When I do this dish without tomato sauce, I use stock, top the rolls with grated cheese and dot them with butter.

Real Italian? /Cauliflower pancakes with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Some time ago, I was entertaining a couple I know who were over my house for dinner. I'm pretty confident in my kitchen , so I didn't feel the need to go searching in a cookbook for something to make, even though these people were rather sophisticated and she had been a resident of Rome for most of her life. Well, they enjoyed what I made and after dinner, the woman  said to me, "Joe, you are a fine 'Mediterranean' cook"! I didn't have to ask her what she meant having encountered this attitude before. To some Italians, it doesn't matter that both my parents and all of my grandparents were Italian.To them, I was born and raised in this country so I'm American. Now, I see her point. I am American and I don't speak Italian. I've been there but I never lived there, so I'm not a "real Italian". I get it, but it angers me. I am so proud of my Italian heritage. I feel it. I feel it especially when I cook.I feel the presence of my mother and grandmother when I'm shopping for food and when I'm creating a dish. OK, the meal I made that night wasn't authentic Italian, but if I were a resident of Rome and created the same dish, would someone say "It's Mediterranean"? I don't think so. If I make a dish and I follow the principles of cooking I've learned from other Italians, then it's Italian and so am I! Well my neurosis aside, here's a dish that's authentic from one of the masters of Italian cooking, the Italian, Mario Batali.

This is from the cookbook, Molto Italiano and is listed among the antipasti. The recipe is for six, and the "pancakes" are supposed to be finished by coarsely grating ricotta salata over them. I had no ricotta salata, so I shaved some parmigiana reggiano over them.I also cut the recipe down for CW and I. They were delicious. Here is the original recipe: 

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large head of cauliflower cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 salt-packed anchovies, filleted, rinsed, and chopped finely

9 large eggs beaten

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/4 cup  all-purpose flour

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

4 ounces Ricotta Salata in one piece

1.  In a large saute pan, heat 1/2 cup of the olive oil over med/high heat until smoking. Add the cauliflower and anchovies, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower is very soft yet still holds its shape, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

2.  Place the cauliflower in a large bowl, add the eggs, bread crumbs, flour, and pecorino, and stir very gently leaving distinct lumps and whole bits of cauliflower.

3.  In a 10-12- inch non-stick saute pan, heat 2 TBS. of the olive oil over med-high heat until smoking. Drop the cauliflower batter by the tablespoon in the pan, without crowding the pancakes, and cook, turning once, until golden brown, about 3minutes on a side. Transfer to paper towels to drain and continue cooking the pancakes, adding the remainning oil to the pan as necessary.

4.  Coarsely grate the ricotta salata over the pancakes and serve.

Thank you MB!

Leftover Ricotta?? /Swisschard- mushroom lasagne

Fresh Ricotta comes in overfilled cans with holes in the bottom to allow the cheese to drain. Usually, you can find it in one or two pound cans. When CW said she wanted Eggplant Parmesan for Mother's Day, DH (dutiful husband) went out to buy ricotta during his weekend food shop. Unfortunately,the market I went to only had the two pound cans so I was left with all this left over cheese which doesn't keep very long. One of my inventions for using left over ricotta is to spread it on egg and onion matzoh. Topped with a little salt and freshly ground pepper, this is a real treat. Did you know there is a rather large population of Jewish people in Rome? They have some specialty dishes that are truly wonderful though I don't know if ricotta and matzoh is one of them. 

 

A small problem of cooking with swiss chard is that the stems that are on the vegetable take a longer time to cook than the leaves just like the stalks on the broccoli plant, for example. Simply clean them up, slice them and cook them first and they will be fine. Above, you see sliced  mushrooms and the cut up stalks which should be cooked at the same time. By the way, if you see the "rainbow" variety of swiss chard the stems are red, green, yellow and white. It would be a pity to discard them (as I saw Rachel Ray do this morning) and miss all that color.

As soon as the mushrooms and stems are cooked, add garlic and the chopped washed leaves to the pan cooking them about 3-4 minutes longer. Then put them aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the dish.

To the cheese, add salt and pepper an egg,  some grated parmigiana reggiano and a grating of nutmeg. If you have a little mozzarella or Italian fontina, you may grate some into the mix as well. Remember though, ricotta is the star. Any additions should compliment the ricotta not overpower it.   Now, it's time to construct the lasagne.

 

This is the first time I've used the "no boil" lasagne believe it or not. I like the curly edges of the traditional lasagne and couldn't imagine the "no boil" stuff could be as good. I was wrong.

The only thing to remember with this lasagne is to make sure their is enough liquid for the noodles to absorb so either dip the noodles in sauce before using them, or make sure you use enough sauce between the layers. Above is my first layer with a good amount of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.I use an offset spatula to spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles. I also like to line my noodles in both directions from one layer to the next so they hold up better on the plate.

Here's the second layer with more sauce and the mushrooms and swiss chard mix.  I had enough vegetables left for about 1/2 a layer, so my third layer was a mixture of  cheese and   vegetables. The top layer was sauce and grated parmigiana regianno.

                                                         

 

Layer 3

                                                               

 Top layer ready for the oven

You need to let the dish sit for 30 minutes before baking it. This gives the no boil noodles time to absorb the moisture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, then allow an additional 20 minutes before cutting it. I promise you, this was good!

Mother's Day/ Eggplant Parmesan

Mother's Day reminds me of the mixture of guilt and anxiety I would face every year usually one or two days prior to the day. For sure, I would be thinking of the perfect gift for mom weeks before, but invariably I would be buying flowers that morning or trying to find the card I forgot to send or even hoping I could schedule some other appointment after dinner. It took me till she was in her late 80's to realize that all she ever wanted was to be in my company for a few hours. We (CW and I) visited the cemetery on Sunday and I thought of all that as I cleaned up leaves that were stuck in between  the stalks of the wild irises I planted there. They need little care and bloom every spring setting the spot ablaze in color. I think she would love them and thank me profusely which of course, would make me feel guilty. In stark contrast, my wife's sons asked her what she wanted for Mother's Day and when she decided she needed a new watch, they told her to pick one out and they would give her the money!On the day, they called. When I asked her if she wanted to invite them for dinner, she said no because they were busy. No fuss from the lady who lost her own mom when she was 12 years old. Her only request was for me to make Eggplant Parmesan, her favorite Italian meal, and one which my mom excelled at making. No problem, hon!

As with most Italian meals, the secret is in getting the finest quality ingredients. Let's start with the eggplant. Buy either small "Italian" eggplants or a mid-sized vegetable. Just be sure the skin is shiny, without blemishes and there is no indentation in the front (which indicates a female). Females have more seeds and are thus, more bitter. You should peel the eggplant, then slice it in thin (1/4 in.) slices. Now, salt each piece with coarse salt and arrange them on a wire rack. Cover with a sheet pan weighted down with a few cans and let the eggplant pieces sit for an hour. Then, wash off the salt and thoroughly dry each piece. This will remove the bitterness.


As for the rest of the ingredients, the ricotta and mozzarella should be fresh if you can find them (If you have never tried fresh ricotta, it's worthwhile making your own), the tomatoes ideally San Marzano and the breadcrumbs Panko ( unless you have a bakery that makes their own) I won't go into how to make tomato sauce. I assume all my readers know how.I fry my eggplant for this dish. My grandmother and mom always fried theirs until mom got health conscious and decided to bake hers. I think you lose something in the taste but you are free to make that decision for yourselves. So, it's only a matter of efficiency in constructing this dish. I flour each piece lightly, dip it in egg then breadcrumbs and lay it on a sheet pan. When all the pieces are breaded, I heat a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil and fry the breaded eggplant till golden. I have another sheet pan lined with paper towels to drain the oil. After that, I put sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and build 3 or 4 layers of eggplant pieces, ricotta (mixed with some parmesan), and sauce. If you have basil, you can add a few torn leaves to your layers. The important thing here is to not smother the eggplant in cheese or sauce. This is the reason I can never order eggplant parmesan in a restaurant . They tend to overdo the sauce and cheese (not the Italian way). Top the eggplant with a few slices of fresh mozzarella and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. Thank you mom, I will always hold your memory dear.

Leftovers /Lamb Soup

What do you expect? Make a leg of lamb for a party when three of the guests cancel and you get a lot of leftovers particularly in the Ambrosino home where CW doesn't eat meat, and grandchildren don't eat! So apart from the usual lamb sandwiches and Shepard's Pie which I made, I thought I would share an old family recipe of mom's. We had a few days last week when the temperature was in the upper 50's but the humidity was up, the days were cloudy and the air felt cool because of the wind. In other words, perfect soup days. I remember my mom making  soup like this using left over lamb. She didn't make it often so when she did , it was memorable. There is something about the taste combination of lamb, carrots and barley that I have always loved. When I was a kid, I often asked mom to buy Campbell's "Scotch Broth". I don't know whether Campbell still makes it, but I liked it because it tasted like mom's version. This is Joe's version.

Start with cubes of lamb carefully trimmed of fat (mom insisted on that), onion, celery and carrots, garlic a few mushrooms and barley. My mom also used a bouillon cube and a little tomato sauce. Instead, I substituted a Canadian product, "Better Than Bouillon" which I found in my local Stop&Shop. It had reduced sodium and comes in beef or chicken base. One teaspoon of this jelled liquid is equal to one 8oz. can of broth.  Instead of tomato sauce, I substituted a few shots of Sriracha hot chili sauce.

I began with about two tablespoons of olive oil. When it was hot, I added the "aromatics", that is the carrots, onion and celery. Cook those over medium heat for about 5minutes till softened but not brown.

 

Next, I added the mushrooms and cooked them till they began to color (another 2-3 minutes). At this point, you can add the garlic. When you're cooking vegetables this long , you don't want to take a chance that your garlic may burn and get bitter.

Now, I add the barley and begin to stir that into the vegetables.. Notice I haven't added the meat yet. Since it is already cooked, adding it before you introduce liquid to the pot in my opinion, does nothing but overcooks the meat. If I were making this with raw meat, I would brown the meat first, then remove it and cook the vegetables as I have shown.

 

Here you see I have added a few shots of the Sriracha prior to adding the meat and broth. Please let me emphasize that there are a number of possibilities when making a soup like this with leftover meat. I believe celery and onions are essential, but anything else like beans, pasta (instead of barley), potato,  spinach, or  tomato sauce can be added or substituted. Next, add the broth or bouillon and water. Add enough because the barley needs about 40 minutes to cook.Copy what you have learned or seen others do or experiment. It's your dish, your cooking. Buon appetito!

The Easter Menu

The date of Easter was always a controversy in the early church and  after the split between the Roman and Byzantine churches, it became more complicated by the fact that there were two different calendars being used. That controversy continues today resulting (often) in separate dates for Easter depending on whether you are Greek Christian or Western Christian. In the Ambrosino family, it wasn't a real problem while my parents were still alive. FW and I simply alternated whose parents we would have dinner with every year even after the "Separation"- ours, not the churches. After our moms' deaths, by some unilateral decision, Easter became the province of FW. After CW came along, I began inviting my kids the week after Easter and that's how it has stayed. My grand kids have become accustomed to two Easters  to go along with the two Christmases they celebrate.They may start their own sect in the future!

While Christmas Eve is never traditionally a meat day, Easter always is, but I make sure there are always plenty of meatless dishes for CW to choose from. This year, I decided on a boneless leg of lamb as the meat course with shells stuffed with three cheeses and spinach as the pasta course. Vegetables included grilled eggplant, asparagus with parmigiana reggiano and green beans with tomatoes for the salad. I made a pizza grana for dessert and each guest took home a small loaf of Easter bread. 

 So here are those Easter breads which came out quite nicely thanks to the recipe I found on The Italian Dish, a terrific blog, by the way.The "pizza grana" pictured above is from a recipe by Mario Batali in his cookbook, Molto Italiano. It combines fresh ricotta (not the kind in plastic tubs) sugar, cinnamon, orange liquor, eggs and farro, a cereal grown in Italy and is traditionally served at Easter. We are fortunate in New York that such specialties can still be found in Italian neighborhoods, but this year I thought I'd try making them myself

 The first course of stuffed shells, I made with this (ridiculously) high priced pasta I found in Eataly.
 I certainly don't recommend doing your shopping there, but I would recommend you visit there at least once just to get a taste of what Italians are accustomed to in food quality.

The pasta is stuffed with a combination of grated parmigiana, grated mozzarella and ricotta. I added a package of cooked chopped spinach which I squeezed dry before adding, some nutmeg and an egg. I baked the stuffed shells over a layer of sauce for 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Sorry, no pictures- 

the kitchen got a little busy.

We cut slits all over the boneless leg of lamb and stuffed, fresh rosemary, prosciutto and slivers of garlic into them. Then we bathe it in olive oil, poured some red wine in the pan and roasted it for 30 minutes at 425 degrees then lowered the oven to 375 degrees and cooked it till an instant read thermometer read 140 degrees which is rather well done for lamb (the way we weird Italians prefer it).

The only thing CW couldn't (wouldn't) partake of.

While the lamb and shells were in tho oven,I made a salad of green beans and grape tomatoes in a balsamic vinaigrette

I also made some grilled Italian eggplant which involves cutting the eggplant thinly, then sprinkling it with coarse salt. I laid the pieces out on a rack which I placed over a sheet pan.

Next, I used another sheet pan over the salted eggplant and weighted it down for an hour to release any bitter juices. After that, I rinsed the salt and dried the eggplant.

Here's the finished eggplant grilled over the stove.(This is a wonderful treat on an outdoor charcoal grill)

We also served a dish of asparagus which I blanched then shocked in ice water. I finished them in a skillet with butter and parmigiana reggiano!

It all went very smoothly and we even had energy after dinner to walk to the neighborhood playground for a little fun. I hope everyone's Easter was as sweet.