Marinara Sauce (sugu)

Marinara

This has become a staple in my house and I believe in my children's as well. Simple to make and delicious. This recipe makes about 5 or 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 glug of olive oil (that's about 2 tbsp)
• 1 onion (red or yellow as you like)
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• Fresh (preferably but dried if you must) basil and oregano, about 1 tbsp if fresh or 1 tsp if dried)
• 3 cloves of garlic 
• mushrooms are optional (my daughter doesn't like them)
• 1 liter of tomato passata
• red chili flakes to taste
• 1/2 cup good red wine (I make my own)

Directions

• Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium low heat
• Chop the onion fine but not minced
• Sauté the onion in the warm oil, slowly for about 10 minutes. 
  
• Add the mushrooms if you are using them and sauté for about 5 more minutes. 
• Stir in the herbs, tomato paste and chillies.
• Chop the garlic finely and finally (fun intended) add and stir with a wooden spoon for about 30 seconds only until the garlic is fragrant. And yes, for some reason a wooden spoon works best! 
  
• Pour in the wine, turn up the heat and deglaze the pan. Boil the wine until you can't smell the alcohol any more (unless you don't mind the alcohol). 
  
• Finally add the passata and stir.
  
  Bring back to a boil and then turn down to a low simmer. 
• Simmer and stir often for 30 minutes or so.  
  

Sicilian Eggplant - 2 ways

My cousin Vic recently visited from California and we made a lot of great meals together. He is an inventive and excellent cook. One day when we had family here we decided to make some of the old Sicilian dishes that my mom used to make. He asked for the recipe for the eggplant dishes but there really isn't one. So I promised to write up what I do and here they are. I will try to insert better pictures next time I make them.

You will need some good marinara for one of these recipes so you might want to make that the night before but please make some (I know Vic will) and don't use store bought.

Fried Eggplant with Marinara

Ingredients:

• One eggplant
• about 2 cups of marinara sauce
• about 4 tbsp fresh basil chopped finely (if you can't get it or grow it, dried will have to do)
• olive oil
• sea salt

Directions:

1. You can peel the eggplant if it isn't local (or perfect and glossy) but feel free to leave the skin on. 
2. Slice the eggplant horizontally (in circles) about 1/4" thick.
3. This step is optional according to everything I've read  I don't do it anymore (sorry, mom) see (salting eggplant?) My mom always salted both sides of the eggplant to get rid of any bitterness. If you do this, salt both sides liberally (you'll wash it off later) and place in a colander to drain. Let the eggplant sit for about 30 minutes and the moisture is extracted. 
   
4. After 30 minutes is up, rinse each slice under cold water and dry (both sides) with paper towels. You don't want any moisture when you fry or it will splash (even more). 
5. Heat a good amount of olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of your frying pan but you won't need any depth) over medium heat. 
6. Fry the eggplant on each side until it is brown and kind of opaque. It should be quite soft when both sides are done. It will also absorb a lot of olive oil so you might have to add more when you flip them. This is good because it really adds to the taste.
7. Have a casserole dish ready and your marinara (it can be cold or hot) handy. Put some of the marinara on the bottom of the casserole. When your eggplant is done, carefully take it out with a spatula and place in the casserole dish. Sprinkle some of the chopped basil on top and add more marinara on each slice. 
8. Continue frying the eggplant slices and put them in the casserole in the same way. It is OK to place one slice on top of another although I tend to stagger them as much as I can. 
9. There is nothing like some of this on fresh Italian bread. You really won't need anything else to make an amazing sandwich. It tastes great warm, but like Sicilian revenge, it is a dish best served cold - the next day. 

Breaded Eggplant

The first time I had this, my cousin's wife (Ignatia Arrigo) brought this to our house. I was about 4 or 5 at the time. I thought it was breaded veal (my favourite) and even though it wasn't it tasted amazing and I have loved it ever since. I am going to repeat things from the above recipe as the preparation is almost exactly the same.

Ingredients:

• One eggplant
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of AP flour
• 2 cups of dried bread crumbs seasoned with salt, pepper, dried oregano and basil
• 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I don't use the pre-grated stuff from a store because they add sawdust to keep it from clumping! Yuck!!!)
• olive oil
• granulated garlic (optional)

Directions:

1. You can peel the eggplant if it isn't local (or perfect and glossy) but feel free to leave the skin on. 
   
2. Slice the eggplant horizontally (in circles) about 1/4" thick.
3. This step is optional according to everything I've read but my mom always salted both sides of the eggplant to get rid of any bitterness. If you do this, salt both sides liberally (you'll wash it off later) and place in a colander to drain. Let the eggplant sit for about 30 minutes and the moisture is extracted.
4. After 30 minutes is up, rinse each slice under cold water and dry (both sides) with paper towels. You don't want any moisture when you bake it or it will be mushy (my mom used to say "mooshoo". 
5. Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush a little olive oil on the paper (but don't soak it) 
7. Place the seasoned bread crumbs in a bowl. You might want to add some granulated garlic depending on your tastes. Add the grated cheese and mix together. 
8. Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork and add a bit of milk, salt and pepper.
9. Place the flour in a plastic bag and put a slice or two of eggplant in and shake, shake, shake. If you seal the bag, this is a really good job for grandchildren. 
10. Shake any excess flour off and place in the egg wash. When the slice has egg on both sides, press it in the breadcrumbs and then onto the baking sheet. 
11. Repeat for all the slices of eggplant.
12. Drizzle more olive oil on the top of each slice. Don't go crazy, but don't be stingy either. 
13. Bake for about 20 minutes but this really depends on how thick your slices are so check often. They are done with both sides are brown and the eggplant is soft and creamy. You might have to eat one to be sure ;)
14. Unlike revenge these are best served hot but they are also really good in a sandwich the next day. 

Nina Cirivello's Potato Salad

This is from Nina's mom's recipe, (my Aunt Marie). It is a staple at our family gatherings in California.

•  A 5# bag of russet potatoes or 5 medium/large ones.  Boil them until they are just soft, but still a little firm.  You can peel them before or after boiling.
• 4 or 5 hard boiled eggs, chopped up very fine
• 3 or 4 stalks of celery chopped very fine
• 4 or 5 green onions chopped fine
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of Best Foods or Hellman's mayonnaise (other brands don't taste as good). You can always add more if the salad it too dry.
• Approximately 2 teaspoons of celery salt, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and pepper
• I usually add a pinch of dill weed to mine, but mom didn't, and I don't think Kat or Marianne do either.
• Mix it all up and taste.

Taste and texture will guide you.  It does taste different after it has been refrigerated and all the favors have a chance to meld.  I actually like it better right after mixing it together, still a little warm. 

Christmas Cookies

My mom and my Aunt Jean always made the best cookies at Christmas.

That's my mom standing and Aunt Jean is seated next to her. The other two women are my mom's older sister Mary and her daughter Augustine. This picture was taken in Dec 1959 (I think).

We usually didn't have Christmas cake but these cookies were around the house in abundance. I stopped making them for many years but now that I am retired and living close to my daughter, we decided to revive our favourite recipes and spend a day making them together. And of course, we had a little helper to help cook and test the results.

Shortbread
I am going to include the full recipe but feel free to make only half.

• a scant 5 cups AP flour
• 1 lb salted butter
• 1 cup icing sugar
• a bit of vanilla (get the good stuff)

Cream the butter and vanilla, then mix in the sugar, then the flour. Form into balls and prick with a fork or roll out and cut into Christmas shapes (I prefer the balls).

Bake at 300°F for about 30 minutes (although this depends on the thickness) or until the bottoms brown.

Greek Cakes
That's what my mom called them even though they are cookies, not cake. These are very similar to shortbreads but have a very unique taste. You'll need a nice cup of tea or coffee or a cold glass of milk with these - they stick to the roof of your mouth because of the icing sugar on top! These get better with age if you can stand to not eat them immediately (I think the anise flavour permeates the cookies as they age).

• 1 lb unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup icing sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp anise oil (don't substitute anything else for this. If you can't find it, don't make it)
• 4.5 cups AP flour

Cream the butter, anise oil and egg yolks, then mix in the sugar, then the flour. Form into balls or finger shapes (my mom always used fingers to distinguish them from the pecan balls that my Aunt Jean made that looked almost the same). Cook 30-35 minutes at 300°F. Cool on racks over parchment paper. When cool, dust generously with icing sugar. Make sure they are cool or you'll melt the sugar and miss the roof of your mouth experience. Also, don't inhale while biting the cookie or you could get a lungful of icing sugar! 

Lemon Butter Tarts

These are a year round favourite. But at Christmas we can usually get Meyer Lemons and that makes them especially amazing! You make the filling ahead and keep it in the fridge. Then you bake the tart shells as you need them and fill them just before serving. Otherwise, the shells get soggy. Don't worry about leftover tarts; there won't be any. 

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups sugar
• grate the rind of 3 lemons (about 5 tsp - make sure you wash the lemons before grating them)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

Combine in a double boiler. I don't have one so I put a stainless steel mixing bowl over a pot of water. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir constantly with a wire whisk until thick (about 10 minutes). Cool, cover tightly and store in the fridge. You can make your own tart shells with the pastry recipe on this blog or buy Tenderflake premade shells. The star of the show is the filling so it isn't crucial to make your own. I suggest you make the smallest shells possible as the filling is beautifully rich.

Cuccidati
We always called these "goochiladedi" or "goochies". We didn't speak Sicilian at home and neither did my parents so this was clearly a misremembered pronunciation of "cuccidati" although we didn't find that out until just a few years ago. But these fruit filled cookies were the sign that Christmas was indeed coming and I suppose was our Sicilian substitute for traditional Christmas cake. To be honest, as a child, I didn't really like them much. I preferred the other goodies. But as my tastes expanded, I grew to admire and even like the richness of these cookies. Some people put food colouring in the sugar glaze, but I prefer mine white with a few sprinkles for colour.

Here is my mom's recipe

And here is my Aunt Jean's recipe

Today, we used my Aunt Jean's Pastry recipe (I figured out why she wrote one half plus one third cup Crisco instead of 5/6 cup. That's the way it was written on the box of Crisco!). We used a modified version of my mom's filling that went like this (with a little help from Cooking with Nonna) 

1 lb. dried figs (don't forget to remove the hard stems - just pull them off)

1 cup pecans

1/2 lb. glazed mixed fruit

1/2 lb. raisins (Thompson or Sultana - whichever you like best)

1/2 lb. dates

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp freshly ground cloves

1/4 cup honey

Grated peel of 2 tangerines

1/4 cup whiskey

1/4 cup rum

1/4 cup brandy

a half bottle of maraschino cherries with a little of the juice

A couple of handfuls of dried apricots

A couple of handfuls of dried cranberries

Put all of this (except the glazed mixed fruit) into a food processor with the blade attachment. Don't put it all in at once. Mine took 3 or 4 loads. Pulse until it looks the way you want. Add the glazed mixed fruit. Mix well with a spatula and put aside. 

Make the dough using the recipe you like. As I said, we used my Aunt's version and it was tender and delicious. Chill this dough for an hour before you roll it out. When chilling the dough, make 5 or 6 pieces and flatten by hand. This makes rolling easier. When chilled roll the dough until it is about 1/8" thick and use a cookie cutter (I used a wine glass) that is about 4" in diameter. Preheat the over to 375°F, line a cookie sheet with parchment and begin the assembly. About 1 tbsp of filling should be enough. Place a second circle of dough on top and seal around the bottom. The dough recipe made 36 cookies (72 circles) and there was enough filling left for at least another full batch. Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms begin to brown. Cool on wire racks and finish when cool with vanilla icing and coloured sprinkles. 

And the final version looked like this. 

Sicilian Meatball Cookies
I saw a post on Cooking with Nonna and it reminded me of these cookies my mom used to make. They taste of chocolate but have a wonderful spicy taste mainly due to the cloves and other spices. They make the house smell wonderful! Here is a link to her site with the recipe
Here is what mine look like:

Beer Bread

Thanks so much to Cindy Walton at Lake Herridge Lodge for sharing this amazing recipe. We had this at our shore lunch and it blew us all away.

3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 bottle beer

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add beer and knead gently into a loaf. Bake at 375° F for 40 minutes or better yet, pull Timbit sized pieces off (leave all the jagged ends - don't smooth them) and drop into hot oil until crispy and brown.

350°F is ideal for frying. And yes, this is lard.

Amazing treats. Savoury or sweet.

Enjoy these as they are or for a special treat, as soon as they come out of the oil/fat, toss in a cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Muffins of Necessity (apologies to Andy)

So today I woke up and felt like muffins. But it was the August holiday in Ontario and I was out of or almost out of some needed ingredients. So I thought about improvising and hit on what I think is a winner. Peanut butter, Nutella, banana and chocolate chip muffins. What could go wrong? 

2 cups flour

Half cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

A handful of chocolate chips

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl

1 egg 

3 very ripe bananas

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup Nutella

1/4 cup chocolate milk

Blend until smooth with a hand blender

Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes

Enjoy!

Necessity or Laziness - the Mother of Invention

It is definitely winter today with a high around -11 C. I felt like cooking soup for dinner and thought it would be nice to have cornbread with it. When I looked in the pantry, I didn't have enough corn meal for my favourite recipe, there were other ingredients missing too but it was too cold (or I was too lazy) to go out again. To make matters worse (or better) I misread the ingredient list. Thank heaven for that! The result was the best cornbread I've ever had. Here's the ingredient list. I am listing the pan as an ingredient because I think it is essential for this.

1 cast iron frying pan (mine is 10" in diameter)
1 c cornmeal
2 c AP flour
3/4 c sugar
5 t baking powder
1 t salt
7 T butter (almost one stick) melted (save the rest for your piece when you're eating it)
1 2/3 c buttermilk
2 eggs

Set the oven temp to 425 F and put the cast iron pan in the oven. Heating it like this will make a nice crust on the bottom.

Whisk the dry ingredients together while melting the butter.

Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together. Add wet to dry mixing with a wooden spoon until just blended. You might be surprised by the thick consistency but relax. Now drizzle the melted butter over the dough and mix with the wooden spoon until just blended in.

Be careful when you take the frying pan out of the oven (make sure it has come to the full 425 before taking it out). Spoon the dough into the pan and smooth it a little to spread it out. Put the pan back in the hot oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool about 10 minutes and then run a spatula around the edge to loosen it and invert the pan onto a cutting board. Flip over, cut into wedges and devour. I like mine with a little butter on top and some maple syrup.