she who blogs

a new way to eat sausage and potatoes

When I first moved to Italy I was living in Rome and teaching English, but the money wasn't enough to pay all the bills, so I picked up a second job working for a tour bus company. It was a new start up and quite frankly really, really badly run (went out of business after two or three years but I was long gone by then).

We wore these horrible uniforms that made us look like the French Gendarmerie, had a boss that was completely bonkers and I had to ride around on a bus all day with crazed drivers and the pay was bad, really bad.

On particularly bad days I used to treat my self to a slice of pizza from a baker that was just around the corner from the company's teeny, tiny offices.

A word about pizza in Rome. There are essentially too types of pizza that you can get - the classic pizza Napoletana - which is the round, thin crust wonder that we are all familiar with and then there is pizza al trancio (pizza by the slice).

This type of pizza is baked in rectangular pans and has a much thicker crust and heartier toppings. At that time ('94/'95) a 100 gr slice of pizza cost 1000 lira and a soft drink cost 2500 lira, so with 5000 lira I could get myself a pretty decent and filling meal.

My favourite pizza that this place made was in bianco - no tomato sauce on it at all.

But it did have sausage. And potatoes.

 
I liked it so much that I never ordered any of the other types they had available.

After I stopped working there I really didn't feel like going all the way across town just for a slice of pizza, so I started making it myself.

Sometimes I buy fresh pizza dough from the baker, sometimes I make it myself. This time I tried making it in my bread machine for the first time.

I love the way it turned out and I love how easy it was - just pour in the ingredients and walk away!

 
Pizza dough in a bread machine:

200 ml water

45 ml extra virgin olive oi

350 gr all purpose flour

5 gr salt

7 gr active dry yeast

Put all the ingredients into the machine, turn on the appropriate program and wait for the dough to be ready.

When the pizza dough was ready I stretched it onto a 30 cm by 40 cm baking sheet and let it rest for 20 minutes.

 
For the topping:

250 gr sausage

3 medium sized potatoes

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water until tender.

Remove the sausage meat from the casing and break up with a fork.

Cook the sausage in a pan without any added oil or fat of any kind (it will release its own) continuing to break the meat into small pieces.

When the meat is cooked drain and set aside.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain and set aside to cool.

Once the potatoes are cook enough to handle, mash them with a fork or pastry cutter, whatever you have handy, just don't make the potato too smooth, leave it lumpy.

Spread the potato all over the pizza dough, then do the same with the sausage.

Lightly press down on the sausage and potato so that it goes into the dough a little bit.

Season to taste and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake at 220°C for 20 minutes.

Serves from 4 to 6 people.

 
 

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Dinner for One

 
I have a serious issue with cooking for one.

I have a hard time getting the amounts right. I always make too much.

Growing up I always saw my grandmothers making huge batches of whatever it was they were cooking from sauce to lasagne to veal cutlets.

Whatever wasn't eaten right away went into the freezer for a future meal.

For better or worse I got into that habit too. Even when it was just my husband and I, I would spend the weekend cooking and then freeze everything in small portions to be pulled out after a long day at work.

If I had a huge freezer, I could probably go on doing that forever, but all I have is the freezer at the bottom of my fridge and it fills up quickly, so this is on habit I am trying to modify. I don't want to leave behind forever, because it has come in handy in the past, but changes need to be made to deal with the resources I have.

This recipe came about by accident. My boys were in the mood for pizza and I wasn't, so while we waited for the local pizza joint to deliver their dinner, I made this.

Super fast, super easy, light and tasty. It could only get better if someone else made it for you!

You will need:

4 mushrooms, sliced - I like chestnut mushrooms, but choose your favourite

1/2 garlic clove, pressed or minced

15 ml of extra virgin olive oil

a sprinkling of chopped parsley

60 - 80 grams of your favourite pasta (depends how hungry you are)

salt

In a large pot, set the water for the pasta to boil, when it comes to a rolling boil, add the salt and the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic. Add the mushrooms and brown. When the pasta is cooked, drain and dress with the mushrooms. Sprinkle with parsley, toss and serve.

Stay tuned for more delicious recipes from Joanne Natale's site Frutto Della Passione

Frutto della Passione translated from Italian means ‘passion fruit’ but it also means “the fruit of my passion” or in plain English: the result or outcome of a passion or enthusiasm. When I decided to start this adventure I was having a hard time coming up with a name. Frutto della Passione was suggested to me by my husband because it so perfectly summed up the idea behind it: a love of food and cooking. I was initially wary of using an Italian title, but in the end I decided to go with it and here you will find the results of my passion for all things food related and yes, most of it is specifically Italian. But don’t let that scare you off. There is so much more to Italian food than spaghetti and pizza!

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L’uova di Pasqua: The Italian Easter Egg

Easter in Italy is generally much less commercialized than in the United States, but there is one tradition that recalls the Easters I knew growing up:

L’uova di Pasqua. The Italian Easter Egg.

As you can tell from the photo, these are not those little bite-sized, even two or three bite-sized eggs you’re using to seeing. These are hollow and range in size from palm of your hand to ginormous (think: wrap your arms around it to carry it).

I bought some yesterday just to show you what an egg looks like wrapped and unwrapped:

Then since it was open, well, we had to smash it, because the eggs usually have a “sorpresa” (surprise) inside. Depending on how much you paid for your uova di Pasqua, your surprise could be a dinky little toy or something more substantial, but still a toy nonetheless.

Having spent a whopping €1,50 ($2) on each one of these, we got dinky. And here’s P putting the stickers on the pathetic plastic car:

Stylin’ when it’s done, though, isn’t it? “Collect them all!” says the insert.

And in case you’re wondering, there’s no Easter Bunny and definitely no marshmallow stuff or jelly beans. Thank goodness for my mom! I love jelly beans, and now so does P.

Buona Pasqua to those who are celebrating!

 

More From Michelle Here

dish buzz - dell'anima

Skirt Steak - Dell'Anima
Originally uploaded by district.belle

My friend recommended we go to Dell’Anima to check out their aperitivo offering, which runs from 4-6pm on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the bar area. It’s based on the Italian tradition whereby so long as you are partaking in their drinks, you are welcome to partake in some of the appetizer offerings they have available. We went on a Friday around 4:40pm. The bar was full, but not packed with patrons behind the occupied seats. I was a little disappointed that there was not more available this particular day. There was a dish filled with various types of olives and another with various grilled vegetables. Most of the glasses of wine were in the $11-15 range, with the specialty cocktails costing $12.

Click here to read the rest of my column over on Neighborbee.

Click here to visit her blog grits in the city

What’s Cooking Wednesday: Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup

 

Are you someone who would never think of making your own chicken stock because it sounds way too Martha Stewarty, i.e., complicated?

Well this week’s What’s Cooking Wednesday is for you.

Making your own chicken stock is easy peasy, plus you’ll feel like a star chef when you’re done…and then you’ll wonder why it took you so long to brave the task of making chicken stock. Seriously. *So* easy and delicious!

In the recipe below, I’ve listed that you need a chicken, but you actually don’t. All you really need are the remains of a chicken with just a little bit of meat left on it, skins, whatever you’d normally discard from a chicken. If you’ve picked clean a rotisserie chicken, use that! It makes fabulous, already well-seasonsed stock.

Aside from the chicken, for great soup, I recommend *always* putting in onion and celery (whole or chopped, up to you), and then, well, whatever else you like and/or have available. This particular go-around, I added carrots and chard because that’s what I had in my fridge, but you can add corn, peas, spinach, escarole, whatever you like.

Now yes, making homemade soup does take a bit of time, but it’s not like you have to stand over the pot the entire time. Especially if the weather is still chilly where you are, may I recommend:

Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup
(about 6 bowls of soup)

• 1 small chicken
• Cold water to cover the chicken
• 1/2 lb. chard, chopped coarsely
• 2 stalks celery, chopped or left whole
• 3 onions, left whole
• 2 carrots, sliced
• Salt to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup rice per person
• Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Put chicken in a large stock pot and cover it with cold water. Cook on medium to high heat for about an hour and a half, periodically skimming off foam that surfaces.

2. Cook chard in salted, boiling water until it’s soft.

3. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the water and let cool, and remove any remaining foam.

4. Add the celery, onions, carrots, salt, and pepper to the broth, and let cook for another half hour or until you start to see that the onions are getting mushy. Take out the biggest chunks, but if you like, take some of the mushiest and chop them very finely to throw back in.

5. In the meantime, clean off the chicken and put the meat back into pot, discarding bones and skin.

6. Add chard to broth.

7. Cook rice either in broth or separately.

8. Serve with grated cheese if you like (I do).

Buon appetito!

Now, for broth beginners, are you going to try this or what? And for you experts, do you have any chicken stock tips to share?

Related posts:

1. what’s cooking wednesday: italian wedding soup
2. what’s cooking wednesday: ham and cabbage soup
3. what’s cooking wednesday: mediterranean eggplant soup
4. what’s cooking wednesday: pepper steak over white rice
5. what’s cooking wednesday: calabrian style pan-fried chicken

 

What’s Cooking Wednesday: Linguine with Shrimp and Mussels

In going through old photos, I came across one of this dish, variations of which we make quite often in our house. Apparently I never posted it (the photo is from March 2007) so now it’s finally time to share the recipe for What’s Cooking Wednesday.

The seafood we used was frozen, so you can use this basic recipe with any combination of frozen seafood you like.

This is yet another really quick meal; don’t you just love when you start the water for the pasta before you even start preparing the sauce?

Linguine with Shrimp and Mussels

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small cloves garlic
• 5-6 cherry tomatoes
• 1 package of frozen shrimp and mussels (or seafood of your choice)
• 1 small glass of white wine (or water)
• Salt
• Bunch of parsley, chopped
• Linguine for two people

1. Put the water for the pasta on to boil, and prepare pasta when water is ready.

2. In a saucepan, heat oil and then add garlic, letting it cook for about a minute or so. Don’t brown.

3. Cut tomatoes in half and add to pan, sprinkling a little salt over them; let them cook for two to three mintues.

4. Add frozen seafood and half the parsley, and let cook for another 2-3 minutes.

5. Add wine (or water).

6. When the liquid is reduced by about half, adjust for salt.

7. Toss well with linguine and serve with a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Buon appetito!

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Pho You!

Until 2 weeks ago, I had never eaten Top Ramen cooked. Yea, I had it uncooked in an Asian type salad but never cooked.
HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hit the jack pot to find a package in my pantry that was "Oriental Flavor"
So I cooked it up. Then I put in hoison and red chili sauce. It was gooooood. It tasted just like my favorite soup. Pho. Pho is pronounced fu as in f#*k you. Or rhymes with duh. I love to get Pho'ed up. I Pho'in love it! Traditionally Pho is a Vietnamiese noodle soup. You can have it with beef or chicken or tofu. My family prefers it with beef. My kids love it and often request it.
When I have a cold, it's my go to meal.
You can make it as spicey or unspicey as you like it. We like bean sprouts, raw jalapenos, Thia basil and chili sauce in ours. It's cheap, hot and good.
But now I have discovered my fake Pho. My Oriental flavored Top Ramen. Seven for a dollar. Can't beat that, now can you?
There is a place we like to go here in town called What the Pho. Great name, great Pho.
But now I know if I am really hungry, yet too tired to leave the house I can always have my fake Pho!!
It's Pho'in GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace the Pho Out

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palachinke

 

For a year in my twenties I lived with three lovely ladies (who I still adore) in a hilltop house that was perfect for entertaining... so we did. A lot. And, to be honest, we weren't the best cooks ever - we rarely followed recipes, chose the most difficult things we could to make (with no practice rounds, naturally), and we nearly always had a substitution or two. BUT we were fabulous hostesses (if I do say so myself).

(yep, that's me in the middle)

We were the Greenfield Girls, living on Greenfield Drive overlooking all of El Cajon, California - which, while not the most highbrow location on the coast (understatement), was awfully pretty when viewed from a distance. Like from our back windows and yard.

A brief Cliff's note version of some of our escapades:

• cornish game hens that took six hours to make (the guests arrived two hours before they were ready)
• spaghetti sauce with waaaaaay too much pepper (finely ground packs a lot more punch than coarsely ground!)
• pumpkin pie made with the larger size can rather than the 15oz, making pies even starving boys wouldn't eat (literally)
• too dry pot roast, recycled into chili
• packaged macaroni and cheese disaster (how do you mess that up, you ask? believe me, it's possible)

Despite our various challenges, there were many lovely brunches, dinners, parties, showers... and I have a homemade cookbook to prove it (replete with pictures). Theresa and I decided to document it all when Michele got married, so recipes, stories and pictures were assembled together - just for the four of us.


A week or so ago this Italian lady I sometimes watch Saturday mornings on PBS was making palachinke, and it brought to memory a Greenfield Girl experience. Vanessa, the fourth Greenfield Girl, made these once - a little piece of her Yugoslavian heritage. Basically, I think, palachinke are crepes with a better name - thin, pancakey things you can slather with butter, sugar, jam, nutella, or your sweet of choice and then devour.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to cook something fun (that's the Greenfield Girl way), these were our Father's Day treat today. And, should you want an adventure, they can now be yours.

Jevremov Palachinke (pa-la-chin-kay)
4 cups milk
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients till there are no lumps. Let stand for 30 minutes. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Melt a pinch of Crisco (butter flavor is great) in the pan. Pour a thin coat of batter into the pan, and move the pan around so it coats the bottom. Flip once the edges get good and browned and there are bubbles coming through; cook a couple of minutes on the other side. Serve warm with your choice of topping (we used cinnamon sugar and blueberries).

***And, because I simply can't post this without it, here is the introduction Tee wrote for our cookbook:

As you venture into the cooking world, there are some important factors to remember. First, you survived a year of cooking in the Greenfield Drive kitchen. This means that you overcame missing ingredients, over-cooked and under-cooked food (but never dangerously so!), too many ingredients and not enough ingredients. You survived piles of dishes and improvising what dishes were to be used to carry all of the food. Remember: You are a survivor. Whatever disasters come your way, based upon your Greenfield Girl experience, you can rest assured that you will come through on the other side, and that you will be blessed with a true treasure: A MEMORY.

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How To Eat Birthday from Joanne at Frutto della Passione

Well, playtime is over.
After 3 wonderful weeks in Canada I'm back in the saddle and ready to go.  So much happened and those three weeks flew by.  Part of me wishes I was still there and the other part wishes I could just dedicate all my time to writing about it, but the bills have to be paid and my in box is a big scary mess, so - high ho, high-ho, back to work I go.
One of the best parts of the trip was spending time with my niece and nephew, twin toddlers who keep you on your toes and knock you flat on your back.  Aside from gaining a new appreciation of caterpillars, snails and worms (blech), these two little bundles of energy taught me some very important things.
Eat only when you are hungry, stop when you're full, sleep when you're tired, you can see where this is going right?
While I was there my sister and brother-in-law held a party for the twins and watching them and the guests with their birthday cake inspired this post.

HOW TO EAT BIRTHDAY CAKE

Watching small children eat cake is almost as enjoyable as eating it yourself and I realized that we should all do it exactly the way that kids do.  So here are 3 simple rules for eating birthday cake.

1. Commit to it without complaining.  That means no moaning about calories or sugar or fat or nutritional value, it's birthday cake not spinach and unless you have serious health issues, shut up and eat.
2. Finish it.  Don't take two bites and then leave it on the plate, if you really don't want it say no politely.  Of course if you chose not to eat it, don't spoil other peoples' enjoyment by bombarding them with how bad it is for them. 
3. Enjoy it.  Eat it with gusto, pleasure and complete abandon.  Savour the sweetness.  Lick the icing off the fork.  Life is too short to feel guilty about one piece of cake.  Besides you can compensate the next day by eating less.

Once you get these rules down you may even want to apply them to other aspects of your life, who knows, maybe two year olds have more to teach us than we knew!

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From Joanne (Frutto della Passione)

No bologna sandwiches for these kids!

My mom used to say that I was the only kid in North America that didn’t eat peanut butter.
I think she made that statement with a mixture of pride and exasperation.
Pride because she liked that streak of individualism in me and exasperation because the ONLY sandwiches I would eat were bologna (or mortadella).
No cheese, no tuna, no ham and obviously no peanut butter.
For my entire elementary school career I took bologna sandwiches, a thermos of milk, something baked by my grandmother and an apple or an orange in my lunch box.
Everyday.
Not so my son.  HE gets a three course meal everyday at school. I have a habit of bragging about this to friends and family back in Canada. Schools, from kindergarten to high school provide hot, catered lunches for students and the cost works out to be less than 3 euros a day for the family.
There is no way that any child can get away with the insanity I got away with. Kids are also less likely to pull the picky eater act in front of teachers and classmates than they are at home.
How do the schools do this? Easy, it is all subsidized by the city (ie our taxes) and the contract for providing these lunches goes to the company that makes the best offer.
It is by no means a perfect system, but the menus have been prepared by dietitians, nothing is fried, fruits and vegetables are seasonal (and therefore more affordable) and the cost to the family is calculated on income.
My family (both my husband and I work) are in the highest payment bracket and we pay 59 euros a month.
I can’t do the weekly shopping for that much, never mind feed my son for a month.
The meal is structured following a traditional Italian meal. There is the first course, called the primo.
A primo is either pasta, soup or risotto. This is followed by the secondo, a protein - meat, fish, eggs or cheese and a contorno- a vegetable side dish. The meal ends with fresh seasonal fruit, once or twice a month the kids get ice cream or budino or fruit salad.
The only beverage available is water. No pop. No juice. No tea. Just water.
The menu is created around a four week cycle. That means 20 different primi. Slightly fewer secondi and contorni are scheduled around sepcial treats, like Friday of week three, when the kids are served fennel and carot salad, pizza with tomato and mozzarella and ice cream. Friday of week four they get breaded squid (baked not fried) for their secondo.
Are you thinking ‘There is no way 6 year olds will eat that’?
What would you say if I told you that they do?
Sure beats the hell out of bologna.
What do you think? Is it worth 3 euros?

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