Bread Pudding

July 3, 2019

It’s a Sunday morning in June.  I’m on the East Coast; Fire Island, New York to be exact.  I’m one-third of the way through a three-week stay on this slip of land south of Long Island.  To the north of Fire Island is the Great South Bay, which separates it from Long Island.  To the south is the Atlantic Ocean.

The Cherry Grove dock. It’s about 4 1/2 miles across the Great South Bay to Sayville on Long Island.

Whenever I’m here, I seem to channel my childhood as far as cooking goes.  I find myself turning (though not exclusively, mind you) to the foods I grew up eating and loving.  A few days ago for dinner I made Italian (OK, Italian-American) sausage with peppers and onions.

A view of downtown Cherry Grove.

Today I’m making my mother’s long-simmered Southern Italian Ragu (or Sugo or Tomato Sauce…or, because I’m in New York, Sunday Gravy).  Growing up, we NEVER called Tomato Sauce of any sort “Gravy!”  It was usually just “Sauce,” which we all knew meant mom’s or Aunt Margie’s or Aunt Mamie’s or some other Italian-American woman’s slow-cooked meat-and-tomato-based sauce for pasta.  And we NEVER EVER used the word “Sunday” as a modifier for “Sauce!”

A tortoise greeted me on a walk from Cherry Grove to The Pines one morning.

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Sauce was Sauce, it was sacrosanct.  It wasn’t better or different or more elaborate because it was being made on Sunday.  If by some chance it were to be made on Thursday (which it usually wasn’t) it would still be made the same way.  To be sure, there was some variability in the meats that were used.  In my family’s version there were always big pieces of pork, preferably bone-in.  There could also be sausage (preferably hot), meatballs, and occasionally (and just for the cook) one chicken thigh (to “sweeten the sauce” as my mother would say).  Other than that, and the occasional appearance (or not) of an additional aromatic, like a small amount of minced onion or a hot pepper, the rest of the process was invariable.

Though there are some larger houses, many of the houses in Cherry Grove are small cottages.

I’m making Sauce today because, well, it’s Sunday and I’m on the East Coast, and because I LOVE it.  If I could, I’d find an AM radio and tune it to a station playing Polkas (Is that even possible?).  Aunt Mamie always did that on Sunday (despite being of Italian descent).  It’s one of those experiences from childhood that has had an outsized impact on me for some reason.  The memory is quite simple:  summertime, doors open , Aunt Mamie cooking, and her big green box radio sitting on a white enamel-topped free-standing kitchen cabinet near the door to her porch blaring out polka tunes.

The Tiki Bar can be a happening place during 2-4-1 happy hour!

Many of my fondest memories are in the summer with the doors open, what can I say?  It’s not like Aunt Mamie didn’t tune to polkas in the winter but that’s not what comes to mind!

One of the many boardwalks that make navigating Cherry Grove possible.

I’m also making Bread Pudding today.  One of those comfort-food desserts that I really enjoy.  I know I’ve mentioned this a time or three, but all of my favorite foods are carbohydrates.  All of my favorite desserts are based on moderately complex carbohydrates (flour and rice, usually) without lots of extra fat (like butter) and without being overly sweet.  Bread Pudding and Rice Pudding are near the top of the list.

Getting ready for the Fourth of July, a “house cat” is decked out with patriotic sunglasses.

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Neither would be considered fit for company but I’m foisting the bread pudding on our dinner guests today with the option of some heavy cream poured on top.  I can always do a run to the store for gelato if I have a last-minute change of heart.  And, it would be a “run.”  There are no cars on this part of the island.  There are some motorized carts that ply the boardwalks that crisscross the community, providing the only means of navigating the town.  The carts are mostly used by contractors, businesses, trash pickup, the fire department, and the EMS.  Although a few residents use small carts or electric scooters to get around, the rest of us walk and use wagons to cart things that are too heavy to carry.

Looking south toward the Atlantic Ocean with deer in the distance.

It’s a pretty idyllic place to spend part of the summer.

A view toward the dock and Great South Bay from the Tiki Bar.

It can also be an exciting and unpredictable place.  Sunday afternoon an intense storm hit Long Island and Fire Island.  Trees and power lines were downed.  The storm put an end to internet service for more than forty-eight hours.  That’s the reason that this blog is getting posted a few days later than planned.

Part of the Cherry Grove Fire Department, an all-volunteer force.

Meanwhile, I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next urge to cook something from my childhood!

Print Recipe
Bread Pudding
If the raisins or currants are not absolutely fresh and soft, cover them with hot water to plump up before adding them to the mixture. It is best if the bread is a few days old so that it has lost some of its moisture.
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Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 80 minutes
Passive Time 60 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 80 minutes
Passive Time 60 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Instructions
  1. Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
  2. Add milk and rum to the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
  3. Butter a three-quart ovenproof covered dish.
  4. Toss the bread cubes and raisins if using. Put the bread into the buttered dish. Pour milk and egg mixture on top.
  5. Grate nutmeg over the top. Dot lightly with butter.
  6. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature 30-60 minutes.
  7. Bake at 350°F, covered, for approximately 60 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until brown on top.
  8. Serve warm or at room temperature. Pour a little heavy cream on top if desired.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2019 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)

March 23, 2018

Google and Wikipedia and Bing have all let me down!

Often when I’m writing a blog, I’ll do a search or two to shore up some facts.

In this instance, I was trying to find a picture of a product and to confirm my understanding of exactly what it is.  That product is New Sugar.

My searches turned up nothing.

Back in college, I would buy new sugar on trips to the West Indies.  The stuff I bought was sold in cans.  It was dark brown, partially crystalized and partially a thick liquid.  It was not as dark or as thick as molasses.  My recollection is that new sugar is basically sugar cane juice boiled down until it thickens and some of the sugar crystallizes.

It’s what my recipe for Jamaican Easter Bread (aka “Bun”) calls for.


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Long ago, when my meager supplies of new sugar were exhausted and I was no longer going to the West Indies on a regular basis, I created a substitute for new sugar that fooled even my Jamaican friends.  (Hint, it’s in the recipe below.)

If my recipes contain a substitute for a difficult-to-find ingredient, I like to make the substitution clear and to provide directions on how to use the original ingredient if available.

In my blog entries, I try to provide some sort of personal or cultural or social context for each recipe.  In this instance, I wanted to highlight new sugar.

I was about to give up when I tried different search terms.  I had only known it as New Sugar, but, finally, searching on “Wet Sugar” got me one website that had what I was looking for.

The website confirmed my understanding of what new sugar, aka wet sugar, is:  boiled sugar cane juice.  It also confirmed that it is much more difficult to find than it was 30-50 years ago.  I hate to admit it, but I was buying new sugar more than 40 years ago!

My recipe for Bun (that’s really what it’s called in Jamaica…just Bun) came from Valrie Tracey a Jamaican friend from college.  Valrie and I and my roommate, Ray Hugh from Guyana, were close friends in college.  Though I’ve lost touch with Valrie, Ray and I are still in touch via Facebook.  And, yes, her name is spelled Valrie, apparently due to an error on her birth certificate as her parents intended for her name to be Valerie!


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In addition to new sugar, Valrie’s recipe called for “Mixed Spice,” a commonly used mixture in the cooking of Britain and many former British colonies.  I don’t like using spice combinations that I haven’t made myself, like pumpkin pie spice or curry powder.  If the brand goes out of existence or changes its formula one can’t recreate the dish exactly the same way again.  For that reason, starting in college, I worked out my own formulas for spice mixtures that I used on a regular basis.

Valrie Tracey in 1975

Rather than have you make a batch of Mixed Spice before making a batch of Bun, I added the individual spices, in the correct amounts, to the recipe.

After resurrecting this recipe from one of my two 5 x 7 metal index card boxes of recipes that I started back in college and sharing the Bun with a number of friends, I began to seriously wonder why I hadn’t made it in over 40 years!

I can assure you, I won’t wait long to make it again.

I like to toast the Bun and add some butter and jam but in Jamaica it would often be served with a wedge of cheese.  However you serve it, I’m certain you’ll enjoy it.


If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven’t seen Bertha’s Flan or Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, take a look.  They will give you an idea of what I’m looking for.


Print Recipe
Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)
If you can find new sugar (also known as wet sugar) you can use 2 ½ cups of new sugar in place of the brown sugar and molasses. The dough for this version of Bun is quite wet, more like cake batter than bread dough. When I was making this back in college days and had to mix it by hand, I added enough flour to make a dough that could be kneaded. With a stand mixer, I allow the mixture to be wet. You might want to try both variations and see which you prefer.
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Course Sweet Breads
Cuisine West Indian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 90 minutes
Passive Time 2 hours
Servings
loaves
Ingredients
Bread
Glaze
Course Sweet Breads
Cuisine West Indian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 90 minutes
Passive Time 2 hours
Servings
loaves
Ingredients
Bread
Glaze
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Instructions
Bread
  1. Scald the milk by heating over medium high heat, stirring frequently to prevent a skin from forming, until bubbles begin to foam up around the side.
  2. Allow the milk to become lukewarm (approximately 110°F).
  3. Combine lukewarm milk, yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar from the amount above, and 1 pound of flour in the bowl of a mixer.
  4. Using the paddle, mix well then allow the sponge to sit, covered, until it doubles in bulk.
  5. After the sponge has doubled, mix in 1/3 of the remaining flour and 1/3 of the remaining sugar.
  6. When combined, add the butter, molasses and all the spices and flavorings. Mix well.
  7. Add ½ of the remaining flour and ½ of the remaining sugar. Mix well.
  8. Add the eggs and mix well.
  9. Add the remaining flour and sugar. Mix for about 10 minutes on medium speed.
  10. Mix in the fruit.
  11. Divide the batter into 4 well-buttered 8” x 4” bread pans. Cover and sit at room temperature for about an hour. The batter will not really rise but the yeast is the only leavening so it needs to have time to make air bubbles that can expand and leaven the bread.
  12. Bake at 300°F for approximately 90 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Glaze
  1. When the bread is nearing completion, make the glaze by bringing the sugar and water to a boil and simmering a few minutes until syrupy.
  2. As soon as the bun comes out of the oven, brush some of the glaze on top. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pans.
  3. Remove the bun from the pans and brush with more glaze. Allow to cool another 10 minutes.
  4. Brush with remaining glaze and cool completely.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2018 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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Stracciatella (Italian Egg Drop Soup)

March 5, 2018

The name of this Italian soup, Stracciatella, comes from the Italian verb meaning “to shred,” a reference to the strands of egg in the soup.

I learned to make this from Auntie Helen d’Aquili when I was in college.

Auntie Helen and I in 1976. Can you believe my hair!!!

It’s really simple to make but, like so many Italian dishes, it relies on few ingredients that must be of high quality.  In this case the broth is absolutely paramount as is high-quality Italian imported Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.


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I have a few friends in Santa Fe who raise chickens and I am occasionally gifted with freshly laid eggs but good supermarket eggs are usually what I use.

I’ll let you in on a little domestic struggle, however.  I want to raise chickens.  My husband doesn’t.  So far, he’s winning the struggle but I haven’t given up.  His excuses are pretty lame as far as I’m concerned.  The most common one is that chickens will attract coyote.

HELLO!  We live in the forest.  We are surrounded by coyote and other wildlife.  Just an hour ago, while sitting at my desk getting ready to write this blog, a big deer walked through the paved area in front of our house gnawing down our landscaping like it was a salad bar.


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Most summer nights we hear the coyote yipping as go hunting.  They are mere yards from our house.  I don’t think a few chickens will bring them any closer than the already abundant rabbits currently do.  We just need to build a coyote-proof chicken enclosure.  There’s a great how-to right here (Frank! Frank, are you listening?).

Frank seems pretty happy in this selfie we took on Kauai. Chickens roam everywhere on Kauai. I think that is part of Frank’s happiness though he has yet to admit it.

Homemade broth is essential.  Chicken or beef broth are both standard choices, though Auntie Helen used beef.  You can make an excellent beef broth as part of the process of making Marisa’s Mystical Meatballs.  In fact, this soup would make an excellent first course followed by the meatballs and accompanied by a vegetable or two and some rice.


If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven’t seen Bertha’s Flan or Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, take a look.  They will give you an idea of what I’m looking for.


Print Recipe
Stracciatella (Italian Egg Drop Soup)
This classic Italian soup requires top-notch broth and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Homemade broth is essential. See the Notes section, below, for a link to my blog post that contains instructions on making a wonderfully flavorful beef broth.
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Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Rating: 0
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Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Grate the cheese.
  2. Grate the nutmeg.
  3. Beat the eggs, cheese and nutmeg together.
  4. Beat 1/2 cup of cold broth into the egg mixture.
  5. Bring the remaining broth to a boil.
  6. Stir the boiling broth with a whisk while slowly adding the egg mixture.
  7. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
  8. Adjust salt and pepper.
  9. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

You can find a recipe for beef broth in my post on Marisa's Mystical Meatballs.

Copyright © 2018 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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Sformato di Spinaci (Spinach Casserole)

January 13, 2017

The word sformato in Italian means deformed or shapeless.  When applied to food, standard Italian-English dictionaries often translate it as pie or soufflé. It is none of the above.

A sformato is most definitely not deformed or shapeless.  In fact, a food historian described a sformato as “something that was cooked in the mould [sic] and then extracted from it” (Alexandra Grigorieva, Naming Authenticity and Regional Italian Cuisine in Authenticity in the Kitchen: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2005, edited by Richard Hosking).  Nor is a sformato really a pie or a soufflé as those terms are usually used.  It has no crust of any sort, as would a pie.  It is not puffy like a souffle.  Sometimes it doesn’t even contain eggs.

A sformato is most often made of vegetables, usually bound with some combination of eggs, cream, cheese, and/or béchamel (balsamella or besciamella in Italian), and cooked in a baking dish.  I think the best English translation of the word is casserole.

Sformato di Spinaci, spinach sformato (or, reluctantly, spinach casserole), is one of those dishes that has iconic status in my husband’s family.  Like Merluzzo in Umido, the recipe came from Italy with his grandmother whom we called Nonni.  Nonni is one of those made up words that sometimes take hold in a family based on the mispronunciations of little kids.  The Italian word for grandmother is Nonna.  However, Nonni is to Nonna as Gramma is to Grandmother.

Just as Pasta Ascuitta has only one meaning in my family, Sformato has only one meaning in my husband’s.  If you simply say “sformato,” everyone knows you mean spinach sformato, and not, for example, cauliflower sformato.

I first had sformato at Christmas Dinner at my in-law’s house in 1989.  Although I had been cooking northern Italian food since 1973 based largely on Marcella Hazan’s wonderful cookbooks, that Christmas was really the beginning of my learning to make some of my husband’s family’s northern Italian favorites.  It’s really a whole different taste profile from the southern Italian dishes I grew up with.

I’ve actually taken a heretical twist with my interpretation of Nonni’s sformato. I’ve added a little balsamella for moisture. This was most definitely not in the original, though it is not an uncommon addition to sformato. If you want to make the original version, just leave out the balsamella.  It will be a little drier.  You might want to not squeeze the spinach quite as tightly if you don’t include the balsamella.

Print Recipe
Sformato di Spinaci (Spinach Sformato or Spinach Casserole)
Nonni always made this with ground beef but Italian sausage, casing removed and crumbled, works really well (a bit of southern Italian heresy creeping in!). It can also be made without meat, but the amount of spinach should be increased by an additional 10 oz. to a total of 30 oz. I have occasionally used fresh spinach but, honestly, frozen chopped spinach works just fine. I doubt you could reliably tell the difference in a side-by-side comparison of fresh vs. frozen spinach in this dish.
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Course Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 15 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
For the spinach mixture
For the balsamella
Course Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 15 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
For the spinach mixture
For the balsamella
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
For the spinach mixture
  1. Cook the frozen spinach in a heavy bottomed sauce pan tightly covered until thawed, breaking up the spinach from time to time.
  2. As soon as the spinach is thawed, pour the contents of the pan into a fine mesh sieve and allow the spinach to drain and cool.
  3. When the spinach is cool enough to handle, squeeze small handfuls of the spinach to remove excess water.
  4. Cut through the mass of squeezed spinach about eight or ten times with a knife then rub it through your fingers to loosen it. It will be pretty tightly wadded up from squeezing out the liquid.
  5. Brown the ground beef or sausage in olive oil over medium heat. You want to get some really browned bits of meat for the flavor. Don't make the mistake of just cooking the meat until it is no longer pink.
  6. When the meat is nicely browned, add the onion and cook until golden and soft. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
  7. Combine the meat mixture and spinach in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool briefly.
  8. Meanwhile, make the breadcrumbs by removing the crusts from a slice of two-day old home-style white bread. Tear the bread into pieces and whiz in a food processor until processed into evenly sized crumbs. Reserve.
  9. Melt the butter and toss with the breadcrumbs. Reserve.
  10. Make the balsamella (see directions below).
  11. Add the balsamella to the cooled meat and spinach mixture. Stir well, loosening up the spinach. When well combined, stir in the eggs. Be certain that the mixture is not so hot that it cooks the eggs.
  12. Reserve two tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese and mix the remainder into the spinach-meat-balsamella mixture.
  13. Pour the spinach mixture into a buttered 9-inch round or 8-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle top with the buttered crumbs and reserved Parmesan cheese.
  14. Bake at 350°F for approximately 60 minutes or until golden brown.
  15. Cool about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
For the balsamella
  1. Heat the milk in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan until bubbles begin to form around the edges. Do not bring the milk to a boil.
  2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour when the foam subsides. Cook for several minutes without browning.
  3. Add the milk, approximately two tablespoonsful at a time, mixing well after each addition. Adding the milk in small amounts should allow you to stir out any lumps before adding the next bit of milk.
  4. After all the milk has been added, bring to a boil and cook for one minute, until thickened.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the nutmeg.
Recipe Notes

This recipe doubles well.  If you want to cook a double recipe in a single pan, use a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish.  Bake at 325°F rather than 350°F as it will brown too much around the outside before the inside is cooked.  If necessary, raise the heat to 375°F at the very end, and put the sformato on the top shelf of the oven, to brown the top.

If you want to use fresh spinach, use 2 pounds instead of the 20 ounces of frozen spinach.  Remove the stems.  Wash the spinach, shaking off most of the water.  Put the spinach in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven with just the liquid clinging to the leaves.  Cook covered, over medium heat till fully wilted.  Drain and proceed as above with the exception that you will need to do much more chopping of the cooked and squeezed spinach than the eight to ten cuts suggested above.

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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