My mother used to laugh at the New York Times cooking section on Sundays. She was a well accomplished cook, and her roots came from eating tripe and veal brain from my grandmother’s kitchen. The reason she ate tripe and brain was obvious: immigrants wasted no part of the animal. The Italian mantra: if we have it, we cook it, whatever the F it is. So, when she saw the recipe of the week was stuff like Spaghetti Carbonara or Fu-Fu Polenta, she would always rebuke the culinary selection with comments like, “Really, we ate this stuff because we were poor, and now it’s on the front page of the food section?” Hey, everything old is new again, even in the kitchen. She had an issue with Carbonara because it was something that she could throw together when she didn’t know what to throw together that night. It’s so painfully simple; pasta, eggs, cheese, bacon; that it’s frustrating what a culinary delicacy it has become. “Carbonara,” in it’s simplicity means relating to coal, or in this case, the burnt bacon more than likely. Some say it’s origins go back to the prostitutes who beckoned the soldiers during WWII ... oh no, wait, that’s another recipe ... alla Puttanesca. But they say the soldiers had few rations that they took bacon and eggs and threw them on the pasta. The key to authentic carbonara is you need to cook the bacon or pancetta (even better) till it’s sizzling, burn your hand off hot, and mix it with a mixture of raw egg and Parmigiano cheese. The hot oil from the bacon will cook the egg, and the whole thing takes like twenty minutes, including boiling the water. However, Americans, unlike the Italians, will bathe in fat and grease, so nothing better than adding cream to your grease for good measure. Giada does give in to the American way here, but I will admit, it was fat-cell amazing. Click here for the link. Abbondanza!
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It’s soup season. One of the reasons I do embrace soups (just not soup season) is the one pot/tummy filler concept. Soups can be a big dump in one pot, add some bread and a salad, and the tummy is filled quickly, and you spent almost no time laboring over your dinner. A lot of soups can be done in the slow cooker, but I threw this one together in about 20 minutes, and reheated it for dinner. The cheese and the ham combined with a flour and milk base create a stick to your ribs consistency, and a fun, kiddie-like crowd pleaser, combining cheese and corn. This is from TASTE OF HOME magazine: 2c water 2c cubed peeled potatoes ½ c sliced carrots ½ c sliced celery ¼ c chopped onion 1 tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper ¼ c butter 1/4c flour 2c whole milk 2c shredded sharp cheddar 1 can (15oz) whole kernel corn, drained 1 ½ c cubed cooked ham In a large saucepan, bring the water, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt and pepper to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 8-10 min or until veggies are just tender. Remove from heat, but do not drain. In another saucepan while the veggies boil, melt the butter and stir in the flour till smooth. Gradually add the milk, and bring to a boil. Cook and stir until thickened. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add this to the veggie mixture and turn up the heat. Throw in the corn and ham and howdy! You are back on the farm!
As fall crept its way into my house last night, summer kept it’s arm around my shoulder and whispered, “It’s all gonna be alright….I’ll be back soon. It’s 85 degrees outside … I’m here for a little while. Don’t cry. It will all be fine.” But, as I turned on my oven to make one of my favorite one dish wonders, I realized in order for summer to come back to me, my true love, I would have to part with lost leaves, short, dark days, frozen pipes, the after school routine, and grilling. We have returned to the ugliness of pre winter and the renaissance of the creative casserole, cooking dinner before 11 a.m., and making my menu for the following week on a Thursday. So, let me introduce to you, to one of my favorite, therapeutic, comfort foods … pastina. Isn’t that everyone’s favorite comfort food, or do you have to be Italian? Giada’s Baked Pastina Casserole is a cure all for the autumn blues. This covers four hungry apple pickers. Adjust the recipe for your clan. You will need:
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pastina until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl. (Even if there is still a “bite” to the stars, pasta cooks even after you drain it). While you are waiting for the pasta to cook, sauté the chicken breast with the olive oil, and after a few minutes, add the onion and garlic, cooking until onion is soft, and chicken is cooked. Dump everything: the pasta, chicken mixture, diced tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, salt and pepper into a large bowl and combine. Butter an approximately 8x8x2 baking dish with butter or spray, and spread your pasta mixture in the dish. In a small dish, combine the breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle on top. This can remain at room temperature until you are ready to bake it. When you are ready to bake, cut up some of the butter and dot on top of the casserole. Bake at 400 until golden brown, probably about 30 min. HIP MOM HINTS: 1.I use prepared chicken breast like Perdue Short Cuts so nothing has to cook through. It’s much faster and I still sautee’ the meat with the other ingredients to get the flavors to mesh. 2. If your budget allows, try purchasing items like, onions that are already chopped or peeled. What a time and an eye-saver! I would make a terrible sous chef because I hate all the prep. Sometimes I get chopped celery, carrots, etc, depending on what I’m making. Many grocery stores have already cut up stuff just for this purpose. I cried as I took my first spoonful, but my kids were happy, and in the end, that’s all that counts, right??? Questionable. I think I told you I really found a compadre last year with my slow cooker. We do like each other, now. And since it’s back to school time, it means back to the cooking grind. So, I found her in my pantry, gave her a light kiss on her little chrome cheek and started to fill her with stuff to make the first Tuesday back to school feast. Introducing, one of my kids favorites, tacos, in a “dump” form: Slow-Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos with Pico de Gallo from www.eatingwell.com You will need:
Easy: Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl, spread on the meat, and brown each side just for a few minutes, a total of five minutes just about. Save half the mixture. Throw the onion in the slow cooker. Add the browned beef. Whisk the broth, tomato paste and remaining spice mixture together and pour over the beef. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. Shred the beef with a fork, and stir back into the liquid. Serve your shredded little Mexican mixture with Pico de Gallo and Lime wedges, with sour cream, shredded cheese and some shredded lettuce ...or your favorite taco toppings. HIP MOM HINT: Rice and beans on the side will make this a fiesta. Back to school? OLE’!!!! LINK: www.eatingwell.com/recipe/257346/slow-cooker-shredded-beef-tacos-with-pico-de-gallo/ It’s getting to be that time of year again … time to sharpen the Ginsu collection, study Food Network Magazine for the spice of life to make my kids happy, and get back in the weekly culinary game. I decided to start early since the complainers are done with the chef being on vacation. I do 95% of my grocery shopping online. I’m far from a tightwad…as a matter of fact, I am a total over spender, but this saves me oodles and oodles of time, and I get what I need for the week, rather than eating my way through aisles 6 and 14 and buying all sorts of crap because the new packaging looked really edible. But, when I DO get to that gluttonous mecca called the food store, I am a check out magazine addict, especially cooking ones. I think my drool has hit the cashier a few times as I turn the pages while shoveling hot Cheetos into my mouth waiting for the customer in front of me to realize it’s totally ok to bag your own stuff. Jackpot of the summer: Food Network’s Summer Pasta Cookbook. And, it’s sexy cover girl, Pappardelle with Fresh Corn is my choice for the hottest summer pasta recipe. Pappardelle is one of my all time favorite pastas. Everyone has their favorite pasta, but no one can really tell you why. They kind of all taste the same, so it must be a texture thing, a fork thing, or a childhood memory thing. I like the thickness and ease of eating and twirling on my fork .. very unladylike. You will need:
Here is the full recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/pappardelle-with-corn-recipe-1973846 You can make this your summer pasta swan song, or extend your summer into your winter … I like to do that. Winter bites. Totally. The culinary natives in my house are getting restless. Every time Vale walks in the door from her exhausting day at Papermill, she seems to have high hopes for some abondanza-like spread, or at least something reminiscent of a school-night meal. I adore cooking, but I also like my summers to have less cadence, and more of a laissez faire feel…enter Grub Hub, and same day delivery. However, mid July, chicken and broccoli and soprasotto pizza are starting to lose their lusture. I even took a junk food plunge, and after about 15 years of NOT eating it, got creative w KFC. I was about seven pounds heavier the next morning, and completely grossed out. I have no idea how people use take out as a staple of their day to day meal planning, or lack of planning. It’s starting to take it’s toll. As easy as it is, I cannot do this as a lifestyle. Let’s hear a round of encore applause for foil, yet again, and one of everyone’s favorite trip to the Orient throwbacks, ASIAN STYLE RIBS. Easy, easy, easy. You will need: ½ cup each: hoisin sauce and ketchup 4 tsp. Siracha 1 ¼ tsp each: salt, sesame oil, rice vinegar Mix the above well in a bowl. Coat 2lbs baby back ribs with the mixture. Place on a single layer heavy duty or double sheet of foil and make a packet. Grill over indirect heat and cover, turning occasionally for about an hour. Serve with rice and a salad. Hip Mom Hint: Always use Kosher salt for flavor and absorption. I marinate these in the morning and let them sit until I am ready to cook. If there is enough meat on the bone, you can poke a few holes with a fork to let the marinade seep in. If this is a last minute dinner, you don’t have to marinate. I always set up the recipe for four people, but obviously adjust according to your headcount. I promised I would stay away from my foil magic for a while, so I will move on to other things, as much as it kills me. Lol My six year old, Camilla eats crap. Anthying artificial, fried, laced with fillers, preservatives, dyes, gelatin and formaldehyde is her culinary delight. She swears she isn’t hungry for dinner, then pilfers, (because she thinks we are THAT dumb), a bag of chips from the pantry. But, it’s interesting, the one thing she asks me for every single week is my pesto. It’s the simplest, go-to, freshest sauce I can whip up, and in the summer with fresh basil…perfecto. You will need:
I have done this recipe in the blender and food processor. Lately, I’ve been using the blender, but either can work. Throw everything into the container of the blender or processor. I put the blender on liquefy, and as it’s chopping, I shake it so the ingredients move towards the blade. You probably will not have to do this in a food processor. Make sure there is enough olive oil in the container to keep the ingredients moist, and at a pudding type texture. Once the first batch is done, take a plastic spoon and taste it. From there, adjust your flavoring, and do not go overboard with salt. The parmesan cheese will take care of that. You can add more of any ingredient to adjust. The great part, is this can be made in the morning and just stored in a container, even at room temperature. I usually serve with penne, but Vale likes it with spaghetti. It’s fantastic for summer easiness, and served with a tomato and mozzarella salad. Hip Mom Hint: If you are using basil that comes on a stalk, don’t be a kitchen nitpicker. Just break it all up and throw it all in. It’s all edible Ok, ok, I promise I’ll give it a rest with the foil recipes…in September. This is similar to the paella, but just as yummy, and quick. I made this for my family, so it took longer than the 25 minutes it says in the recipe. Turn the grill on high. This recipe serves 4. You will need:
Toss everything together in the aluminum pan and seal with foil. A small batch takes about 25 minutes to cook. Mine took almost an hour but it was about 3x the original recipe. Opened clams and tender potatoes will be your guide. Even if you’re hanging around your concrete pool or your kids’ trampoline, this will make you feel you are digging your toes in the sand in the Hamptons. When it comes to food my family is like a bunch of little piggies heading to the slop tray…most of them will try just about anything. As avid Instagram followers, we creep on the most obscurely delicious delicacies, and made it our goal to eat at each one of them. A recent trip to a tiny town not far from Freehold, NJ concluded with a well-awaited for trip to the famous Bagel Nook in Freehold. http://www.thebagelnook.com/ Dear God! Who the hell stays up at night coming up with these concoctions that will balloon you in your sleep, waking up fifty pounds heavier just from a dream? I ventured to try the ever popular Cheeto Bagel. When I asked what I should team it with, the obvious answer was “ranch cream cheese.” Of course, ranch cream cheese, what else. Richard Simmons, come out of hiding, please!!!!! This cannot be on Deal A Meal! My usually cautious Federica did stick with the standard menu, and went for the basic, Oreo Overload: Oreo brownie stuffed to capacity with Oreo cream cheese. She now tells me she did something with Nutella mixed with the bagel. She had to mix it with Oreo? Eva, my creative little guru overloaded her ten year old jaw with a Fruity Pebbles Bagel injected with cookie dough cream cheese, because really, what else do you eat with a Fruity Pebbles bagel? Bagel Nook’s Instagram tells the real story @the_bagel_nook. I took a gander today and didn’t get passed the overloaded Cheeetos Flamin’Hot bagel, Fruity Pebbles bagel with cotton candy cream cheese, or my midnight snack fantasy, French Toast Bagel draped in s’mores cream cheese. Wait…if that doesn’t do it for you, and you find these entrees too boring, reach over the counter for a Dorito bagel with jalapeno cheddar cream cheese, stuffed with Doritos. Then for a little something sweet after you scarf that down, try the Cap’n Crunch bagel with salted caramel and chocolate chip cream cheese. Make sure you accompany your overdone, seriously WTF are you doing bagel with water..it’s much healthier. Truth be told, I wish they were closer. MMMMM….maybe not. The staff here works harder than Lucy and Ethel on the chocolate candy conveyor belt, and the line may look like it’s dragging, but it moves along, and is worth the wait. The Nook’s online menu is way too average for me. Check out their Instagram or take a ride in a vehicle you can still fit on on the way home. Worth every single unwanted calorie. My babysitter, Vivian, has been with me since Vale was born, and that was over 14 years ago. What I learned from Vivian is that Filippinos are very respectful, and everyone has a title … be it a nickname or term of endearment that sticks for life. She has taught my kids a lot of Visayan dialect, which is really cute coming from a three-year-old who has a total Jersey accent, and there is a word thrown in in total Filippino cadence that is nothing I understood. Federica had a Fillipino accent for a few toddler years till she went to Kindergarten. LOL Although Vivian has known me almost 15 years, she still calls me very respectfully, Mam Lin. (Like Miss Linda). So since my kids all love my chicken cutlets and beg me once a week to make them, I have given them the respect they deserve and named them Mam Lin’s chicken cutlets. I refuse to repeat a recipe each week, but I will do it once a month for sure. These are Albert’s favorite!
THESE ARE APPROXIMATE MEASURES…I measure nothing when I cook…but this gives you an estimate. And you may need more or less depending on how much you cook.
Take your cutlets out of the fridge about ½ hour before you are ready to use them. They are easier to work with at room temperature. Start heating up your olive oil on medium heat to get really hot, but not burning. Salt and pepper both sides of your cutlet. HIP MOM HINT: It’s actually easier if you make a mixture of s/p and put it on a plate and “dip” the chicken in the mixture once on each side. Dredge or dip the cutlet in flour, shaking off the excess over a plate, and leaving a coating. Dip the floured cutlet in egg, letting the excess drip off, but making sure the cutlet is evenly covered. Coat the cutlet in the plate of breadcrumbs, pressing the cutlet into the crumbs so they adhere. Put your cutlet in the hot oil and cook on each side until golden brown. You should know by sight if the cutlet is cooked on either side. If your oil is too hot, the pan will scorch and the cutlet will be brown. You might need more oil. Repeat this with each cutlet until ready to serve. I serve my chicken at room temp (because I make them in the morning, usually), which is totally acceptable, and a major time saver. Lemon and parsley are great condiments here. As a side dish, I do a version of Giada’s Little Stars with Parmigiano. So easy:
Salt your water and let it come to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook to desired consistency (I am an al dente girl). But, I sometimes let these baby pastas cook in the water similar to rice, and the water absorbs for a creamy texture and voluminous consistency. When the pasta is cooked, coat with cheese FIRST. Once the pasta is coated, add the butter to coat but don’t over do it. ABONDANZA! This is one of the home run dinners in my house. So basic, but comfort food always is. HIP MOM HINT: When breading the cutlets, I use paper plates for each ingredient (except the eggs). When you’re done, just chuck them in the garbage. I love anything disposable. |
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