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Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)

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September 15, 2021

A lot has happened in the seven months since my last blog post.  I’m sure you’ll understand why I haven’t posted in a while.

We’re no longer in Santa Fe!

That’s right, we’ve moved full time to Palm Springs, California.

An aerial view of the “new” Villa Sentieri, foreground, with the hiking trail just beyond, that prompted the name of the Villa.

It was, and remains, exceedingly difficult to have left all our close friends in Santa Fe but Palm Springs called to us.

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We get two growing seasons each year.  Since we’re just a few hundred feet above sea level, I don’t need to be concerned about testing recipes at high altitude.  The weather is pretty darn great, too!

The variety of what we can grow here is amazing.  We have ten citrus trees, three fig trees and an apricot tree.  We’re considering adding a pomegranate tree.  We have table grapes trellised up a side wall.  There are four raised beds for herbs and vegetables.

Frank grew the most awesome tomatoes this year.  I have quite a stash of homemade passata (tomato puree) in the freezer.

Naso di Cane (Nose of the Dog) peppers from Calabria. Seeds I brought back in 2019 just got planted in our garden in Palm Springs. I’m hoping to make “Olio Santo” (Holy Oil, aka Hot Chile Oil) in a few months.

The timing of our seasons takes a bit of getting used to.  Our first season pretty much ended in June.  That’s probably the time that most of you were just getting started with your gardens.  Though the herbs have continued to grow through the summer heat, all the vegetables were done by the end of June.

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Right now we have an abundance of fresh limes.  The other citrus trees have fruit but it won’t be ripe for a few more months.

The vegetable beds sat fallow for the summer.  Just a few days ago, Frank planted them with seeds for what will be our second harvest of the year.  That will take place in November and December.

The “new” Villa Sentieri has an interior atrium with a koi pond filled with 17 koi.

Though we’re not harvesting vegetables at the moment, this is the perfect time for zucchini in most of the country.  When there’s an abundance of zucchini, sformato is the answer.

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 Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)
This was the first item that I cooked with Zia Fidalma at her home in Tuscany in August 2019. Green beans, cut in small pieces, can be prepared the same way except the beans are boiled and not sautéed. A combo of beans and zucchini is also possible. Zia does not usually add herbs to her sformato but since she had some niepita she added it. Though you’re not likely to have niepita (aka mentuccia romana), unless you grow your own, adding a small amount of marjoram or oregano is a welcome addition. If you don’t have fresh herbs, use a light sprinkling of dry herbs. In any case, herbs are totally optional.
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Course Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Votes: 0
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Instructions
Besciamella
  1. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter.
  2. Add the flour and sauté briefly until the raw smell is gone. Do not brown the flour.
  3. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well after each addition to avoid lumps.
  4. After all the milk has been added, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan. Boil for one minute.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the nutmeg.
  6. If not using immediately, pour the besciamella into a heat-proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to avoid the formation of a skin.
  7. Refrigerate if the besciamella will not be used within an hour or two.
Sformato
  1. Do not peel the zucchini. Cut off the stem ends and slice the zucchini lengthwise about 3/16 inch thick then crosswise the same thickness to make thick matchsticks.
  2. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant.
  3. Add the cut zucchini, chopped flowers and minced niepita if using. Season with salt and pepper and sauté briskly until just barely tender.
  4. Mix the cooked zucchini with the besciamella, nutmeg, and Parmigiano.
  5. Stir in the eggs after the mixture is cool enough to not cook the eggs.
  6. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper.
  7. Butter a baking dish, approximately 7 ½” x 11”.
  8. Sprinkle the buttered dish with fine dry breadcrumbs.
  9. Pour the zucchini mixture into the prepared baking dish. It should be about ¾ inch thick.
  10. Bake at 400°F till very brown on top, approximately 90 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.
  11. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Carciofi e Patate (Artichokes and Potatoes)

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January 13, 2021

January 7th is International Porchetta Day.

It was declared so by the participants in a charcuterie class at the Italian Culinary Institute in January 2019.

There is a private Facebook group of individuals who subscribe to the cult of porchetta.  We agree to make porchetta annually on January 7th.

The charcuterie class in question began on January 7, 2019, one week before my three-month Master of Italian Cuisine course began.  I made a point of getting to Italy early, really early, as I didn’t want to find myself in class with a sharp knife in my hand the day after landing, jetlagged from a 29-hour trip and an eight-hour time change.

A traditional porchetta at a street fair in Bagni di Lucca.

I arrived the evening of January 8th, almost a week before my course started. I was invited to go to dinner with the charcuterie class.  I described that first chaotic day in my first dispatch from Calabria.

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The next day, Chef John invited me to sit in on the charcuterie class.  Although not officially part of the class, I shared meals and course time with the group.

When International Porchetta Day was declared, with the date matching the first day of the charcuterie course, I became a member.

Traditionally porchetta is made with a whole pig, and not a small suckling pig, but a BIG one!

Roasted cauliflower is an easy and dramatic side dish.

When porchetta is made at home, it’s done with a smaller cut of meat.  I use the shoulder, aka Boston Butt.  At the Italian Culinary Institute, they use two cuts, the capo collo and a pork belly.  The capo collo is a long muscle group in the shoulder that, in essence, is a large cylinder.  The shoulder, and by extension the capo collo, contain beautiful marbling that makes a luscious roast.

At the Italian Culinary Institute, the belly is rolled around the capo collo.  The fat of the belly protects the capo collo.  It also makes a beautiful presentation.  It also adds about 8 pounds to the weight of the roast.  So, unless you’re cooking for a very large crowd, using the shoulder alone will more than likely be ample.

Given the limitations of the lock-down in Palm Springs where I’ve been sheltering in place, six of us, members of our COVID Pod, celebrated International Porchetta Day.

My porchetta ready for the serving platter.

Porchetta was obviously the centerpiece of the meal and I made my traditional version.  Here’s a link to my Porchetta recipe.

I focused on side dishes that would compliment the roast and settled on a whole roasted cauliflower and a Roman dish called Carciofi e Patate (artichokes and potatoes).  For dessert we had an Olive Oil Cake.

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Carciofi e Patate is traditionally made with whole artichokes, lots of them!  In season, one can buy 12 artichokes for €1 in Italy!  That’s right, about 10¢ each!!! I once used 12 artichokes when I made the dish as part of Easter Dinner.  I spent more than $50 on artichokes for that one dish.  Clearly when Italians describe the dish as “economical” they have no idea about artichoke prices in the United States.

Artichokes in a market in Calabria.

While I prefer the dish made with fresh artichokes, I won’t do that again until I’m in Italy during artichoke season.  Frozen artichokes work well and are much more budget-friendly.

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 Carciofi e Patate (Artichokes and Potatoes)
Carciofi e Patate is a classic Roman recipe. It pairs well with most roasts.
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Course Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Peel potatoes and cut in 8 wedges unless the potatoes are very large or very small.
  2. Brown the potatoes in the three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.
  3. When the potatoes are well-browned, reduce the heat to medium. Add half the onions and garlic.
  4. Sauté until the onion is golden.
  5. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add approximately ½ cup of water. Cover and cook on medium heat until cooked through, adding more water as needed, approximately 25 minutes. There should be no water left when the potatoes are cooked.
  6. Meanwhile, sauté the remaining onions and garlic in the remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a sauté pan.
  7. When the onions are golden, add the artichokes and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté briefly.
  8. Add white wine, cover and braise until barely tender, approximately 10 minutes. The artichokes will cook further with the potatoes so do not over-cook them.
  9. Add artichokes to the pan with the potatoes.
  10. Sauté, uncovered, about 10 minutes longer, to meld flavors. Adjust salt and pepper.
  11. Stir in parsley and serve.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Melanzane al Forno (Eggplant Baked with Parmesan Cheese)

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January 4, 2020

Growing up I didn’t like eggplant.  I didn’t much care for zucchini, either.  Or kale.

Things are a whole lot different now.

As an adult, I basically haven’t met a vegetable I don’t like, though, naturally, I like some more than others.

As with zucchini, eggplants seem to defy the season.  They’re available year-round and the quality is consistent.  Just look for firm, shiny ones with no soft spots or wrinkled skin and you’re basically guaranteed of getting a good eggplant.

Eggplants on the vine (Photo: Joydeep / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0).

Eggplant is a versatile vegetable.  It can be braised, baked, sautéed, fried and steamed … and probably cooked by any other method you can think of.

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Eggplant will sop up any flavor that you pair with it.  It will also sop up large amounts of oil so one needs to be cautious about frying large pieces of eggplant in abundant oil.  Thin slices of eggplant can be floured and fried to great advantage, however.

Years ago, eggplant could be bitter but that trait has basically been bred out of the modern varieties one commonly encounters.  The bitterness led cooks to salt and drain the eggplant to remove bitter juices.  While this is no longer strictly necessary for control of bitterness it is still a great technique to reduce moisture content which is useful for some preparations.

Eggplants at the market in Italy.

America’s Test Kitchen (the organization behind Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country) has developed a method for removing water from eggplant using the microwave.  I have lots of cooking equipment and have no qualms about using newer technology in place of older technology to simplify food prep.  However, I want the newer technology be a natural evolution from the older technology as a way to preserve (but improve) traditional food preparation.  For example, before food processors, one would “mush up” food as much as possible then put it through a sieve.  Food processors do a much better (and faster) job of “mushing,” sometimes to the point that the sieving step isn’t necessary.

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To me, that’s evolutionary.  It’s a more efficient way of getting to the same outcome but staying true to the traditional method.  Blasting eggplant in the microwave in place of salting it is not.

Beautiful eggplants ready to be made into something yummy.

While I have great respect for the rigor of America’s Test Kitchen, some of their hacks and shortcuts really trouble me from the standpoint of maintaining and transmitting traditional foodways.  Using V-8 juice in minestrone in place of tomato is an example.

With salting, rather than microwaving, we’ll proceed to today’s recipe,  It’s a very straightforward baked eggplant with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  Somehow it manages to be WAY more than the sum of its parts.  I urge you to try it, even if you think you don’t like eggplant.

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 Melanzane al Forno (Eggplant Baked with Parmesan Cheese)
Eggplant can absorb huge quantities of oil. This method of cooking limits the amount of oil the eggplant absorbs, making it lighter. The eggplant finishes its cooking in the oven, which eliminates last minute frying just before serving dinner. Individual portions can be made by cutting the eggplant into rounds that fit inside of small ramekins.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Peel the eggplant and cut crosswise into rounds ½ inch thick.
  2. Liberally salt the eggplant slices on both slides and put them in a colander.
  3. Set a weight on top of the egglant (such as a plate with a heavy can on top) and allow to drain for one hour.
  4. Meanwhile, gently sauté the garlic in the olive oil on low heat until the garlic is golden brown.
  5. Remove the oil from the heat. Discard the garlic and reserve the oil.
  6. Rinse the eggplant. Blot dry.
  7. Butter an ovenproof serving dish (or individual ramekins if making individual portions).
  8. Coat the bottom of a large sauté pan with 1-2 tablespoons of the garlic-flavored oil. A non-stick pan works best but a well-seasoned ordinary sauté pan will work fine. When the oil is very hot add one layer of eggplant slices. Cook until nicely browned being careful not to burn the eggplant which will make it bitter.
  9. When browned on one side turn the eggplant slices over. You may need to drizzle a little oil into the pan to keep the eggplant from sticking. The eggplant should still be firm in the center. It will complete its cooking in the oven.
  10. When the second side is brown put the eggplant in a buttered ovenproof serving dish, preferably one with a cover.
  11. Lightly salt the eggplant. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste and some of the grated Parmigiano. Repeat layering eggplant, pepper and cheese until all the eggplant is used up.
  12. Finish with grated Parmigiano. Drizzle with the melted butter.
  13. Cover and bake at 350°F for approximately 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes to brown the top.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2020 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Zucchini in Umido

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December 19, 2019

I try to cook seasonally.

That means no stone fruit or corn on the cob in the winter.  For the most part that means no tomatoes either, though I do make an exception for cherry and grape tomatoes which seem to taste about the same year-round and provide a burst of color and sweetness—if not a robust tomato taste—in the dead of winter.

Certain things defy the season.  Take zucchini.  Yes, they’re the quintessential summer crop (sometimes growing to the size of baseball bats in the hands of inattentive growers) but they show up all year-round, much like bananas do.

Zucchini in Umido bubbling away on Zia Fidalma’s stove in Tuscany.

I know that means they get shipped from “somewhere else” when they’re not in season locally but, for the most part, they taste good all year (unlike, say, peaches which don’t usually taste good if not grown locally and in season).

There’s also a limit to the number of cold-season vegetables that one can eat through the winter.

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Part of the problem is solved by canning, preserving, and freezing and, if not your own or a friend’s, commercially available canned, preserved, and frozen produce.  Let’s face it, eating seasonally traditionally included consuming all those products that were “put up” when they were at the height of season.

Maria making a large batch of tomato puree (passata) at her home in Calabria.

Though some of us conserve produce, few of us do enough to meet our needs throughout the lean winter months.  I have no objection to using good quality commercially “conserved” foods.  What I don’t use are convenience or premade foods.

Though I enjoy and prefer to make my own tomato puree (passata), we don’t produce enough of our own tomatoes to make a year’s supply (and I haven’t been overly impressed with what’s available in the market in sufficient and affordable quantity to make up the difference).

I do what I can, however, for example making passata when our tomatoes are at their best; candying citrus peels from the trees in our neighborhood in Palm Springs in the winter; making cherry leaf aperitif in the fall; and, in those rare years when Santa Fe has an abundance of peaches and apricots, making jam.

The early stages of making cherry leaf aperitif.

I “conserve” other produce as well like making hot chile oil (“olio santo”) when we have enough peperoncini, making limoncello and arancello from oranges and lemons in Palm Springs, and putting fresh (like cherries) and dried (like prunes) fruits in various types of spirits.

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My prohibition on using “prepared foods,” though is pretty definite.  I’ll use good quality canned, peeled tomatoes from Italy but (unless my back is up against the wall as sometimes happens when I have limited shopping venues like when we’re on Fire Island) I don’t use canned commercial diced or crushed tomatoes or tomato puree.  My view, and, granted, it might be wrong, is that the best quality tomatoes go into the cans of “whole, peeled” tomatoes, not into the ones that are ground, diced, or pureed.

Making limoncello.

In a matter of minutes, a can of whole peeled tomatoes can be turned into any of the other products.  It also means that, other than tomato paste, I only need to stock up on one tomato product.  OK, OK, so I have two types of peeled, whole tomatoes.  Both are from Italy but one is San Marzano and the other is a plum tomato that’s not San Marzano.  I use the less expensive non-San-Marzano-but-still-Italian tomatoes when the dish I am making would be indistinguishable with either type.

In December, zucchini are a welcome addition to mealtime, a situation that is difficult to imagine during the fall harvest season when zucchini seem to be coming from all directions.

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 Zucchini in Umido
Pommarola, a simple tomato sauce made with tomatoes, basil and garlic is ideal in this dish. See the notes section for a link to my Basic Tomato Sauce. If pommarola, or a similar simple tomato sauce is not available, substitute good-quality tomato puree. If using puree, I suggest adding a few basil leaves, finely chopped. Niepita is difficult to obtain outside of Italy but if you want to try to find seeds, look for it using the southern Italian name of "Mentuccia Romana" rather than the Tuscan name of niepita. Though the flavor is different, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano is a good alternative.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
persons
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
persons
Ingredients
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Rating: 0
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Instructions
  1. Partially peel the zucchini, leaving alternating stripes of peel and no peel.
  2. Cut the zucchini into largish pieces. You can do this by quartering them lengthwise and then cutting crosswise or by doing a rotating angular cut. You should have approximately 2 pounds of cut-up zucchini.
  3. Sauté the garlic in olive oil until it begins to color.
  4. Add zucchini. Season with salt, and pepper. Increase the heat to high and sauté until the garlic golden brown and the zucchini has turned from white to creamy in color, approximately 5 minutes.
  5. Add the tomato sauce, water, niepita, and salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Cook at a moderate boil, uncovered, until the sauce is thick and the zucchini is tender but not mushy. Adjust salt and pepper while cooking.
Recipe Notes

You can find my recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce here.

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

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Angie’s Marinated Pasta Salad

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December 12, 2018

After driving a circuitous route for two days (I’ll explain why in a minute), I got home to Santa Fe from Palm Springs last Wednesday to a surprise.

My husband and I had plans to attend the holiday party for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, where he is Associate Professor, on Friday.  The surprise was that the party was a potluck and we had to bring a dish.

So, there I was on Wednesday evening, exhausted after two days of driving, with no prior knowledge that I had to produce a dish for a Friday event, coupled with the logistic challenge that I had to leave home around noon on Friday and ultimately make it to the party in Albuquerque by 7:00 PM with a dish in tow that I could neither refrigerate nor heat up!

It didn’t take long before I settled on my cousin Angie Catanese’s Marinated Pasta Salad.  This is a recipe that I’ve been making for about 45 years and it never fails to please.  It has so much stuff in it besides pasta that it’s almost a misnomer to just refer to it as a pasta salad!

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I went grocery shopping on Thursday morning, assembled the salad Thursday afternoon, and the rest is history!

You might also enjoy my cousin Angie’s recipe for Pickled Hot Peppers.

 

The availability of pasta in many different shapes has ballooned over the decades. Cavatappi makes a great replacement for shells in this pasta salad.

Now, for an explanation as to why you haven’t heard from me in two months and what will be coming up for the blog…

In early October I went to Palm Springs to complete recipe testing for the Trio Restaurant Cookbook.  One can’t really test recipes for a cookbook at 8,000 feet in elevation so I spent five weeks in Palm Springs testing and finalizing over 125 recipes for the cookbook.  I had intended to continue posting to the blog during this time but very quickly found it impossible to fit in anything other than grocery shopping, recipe testing, and note-taking!

I got back to Santa Fe a few days before Thanksgiving then, less than a week after Thanksgiving was back on my way to California to go to the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles to apply for a visa.

In early January I am going to Italy to attend a three-month intensive course in Italian cuisine geared toward professional chefs at the Italian Culinary Institute.  Because I’ll be in Italy more than 90 days I need a visa.

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My visa appointment was Friday and I was planning on spending the weekend in Palm Springs then driving back to Santa Fe on Tuesday.  The consular official said my visa would be ready by Tuesday so, rather than trust my luck (and my passport) to FedEx, I decided to drive back to Los Angeles to retrieve my passport.

It took me 3 hours and 45 minutes to drive the 122 miles from our home in Palm Springs to the consulate!  I got my passport in about 5 minutes then did some shopping at Eataly, conveniently located across the street from the Italian Consulate.  (I’d love to know who was responsible for securing THAT location!)  I then reversed course and started the drive back to Santa Fe, passing within a few miles of our home in Palm Springs where I had started the day.  I spent the night in Payson, Arizona then finished the drive Wednesday (which is when this story began).

The entrance to the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles which is conveniently located across the street from Eataly!

While I’m in Italy I will most likely be posting fewer recipes than usual.  I hope to chronicle some of my experiences at the Institute and pass on some tips and pointers on Italian food.  I hope you’ll stick with me during that time.  When I return, I’ll be back to my regular schedule of posting recipes.

Oh, and by the way, judging from how the pasta salad disappeared at the party, I think it was a hit!

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 Angie’s Marinated Pasta Salad
There is so much “stuff” in this that it could easily be the basis of a light meal with just some bread and cheese. Angie’s original recipe called for shells but other types of medium-size pasta work just as well. In fact, I think the cavatappi are especially nice given their unusual shape. If you are making this when tomatoes are at their peak, use three medium-sized tomatoes in place of the cherry and grape tomatoes. You can use 2 cups of purchased Italian salad dressing instead of the homemade dressing if you’re so inclined, though the flavor will obviously be somewhat different.
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Course Pasta and Grains, Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces, Salads, Slaws and Dressings, Sides
Cuisine Italian-American
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 16 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
Dressing
Course Pasta and Grains, Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces, Salads, Slaws and Dressings, Sides
Cuisine Italian-American
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 16 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
Dressing
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Instructions
  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and set aside.
  2. Cook the pasta in abundantly salted water until just cooked but still slightly al dente.
  3. Meanwhile, cut-up all the ingredients.
  4. Onion
  5. Bell pepper
  6. Tomatoes
  7. Celery
  8. Genoa salami
  9. Pepperoni
  10. Provolone
  11. Oil-cured olives
  12. When the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse in cool water to stop cooking.
  13. Stir the pasta and diced onion into the dressing. Allow to cool to room temperature.
  14. When the pasta is cool, stir in all remaining ingredients.
  15. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2018 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Argentine Marinated Eggplant

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July 9, 2018

Argentines love meat.

I mean, they really, really love meat!

When visiting family in Patagonia a number of years ago we had a meal that went something like this:

  1. Appetizer:  Fried calamari (15 kilos, no less)
  2. First course:  Grilled lamb chops
  3. Second course:  Grilled steak
  4. Third course:  Grilled chicken
  5. Fourth course:  Grilled sausage

All that was followed by maté, a caffeine-containing tisane made from the leaves of a native tree.

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A tisane would be tea, if it were made from tea leaves but, since it’s not made from tea leaves, it isn’t properly called tea.  A tisane is different from a decoction though we sometimes erroneously call both of them tea.

In a tisane, the botanicals are steeped in hot water, as is tea.  Whereas, for a decoction, the ingredients are actually boiled.

Maté (photo by Jorge Alfonso Hernández / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

I don’t remember what dessert was but we had something!

To be fair, there were some vegetables on the table.  But they didn’t migrate far from us Americans sitting at one end. The heads of this extended family, my husband’s great uncle and aunt from Italy, made a bit of a nod in the direction of vegetables. Their children, grandchildren, and the various spouses and significant others wanted nothing at all to do with anything that once had roots.

Nonetheless, Argentines excel at making side dishes that compliment grilled meat.  This eggplant is one example.  (I’m not sure who, exactly, eats these dishes but they do appear on tables!)

This eggplant great for a crowd since it is made in advance and can sit in the fridge for several days, getting better each day.  It’s a perfect accompaniment to grille meats.  That’s a plus now that summer grilling season is here.

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I really like having an array of dishes in my repertoire that don’t require much (or any) last minute fussing when I’m trying to feed a crowd.  This dish fits the bill perfectly.

Maté plant in the wild (photo by Ilosuna / http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

I frequently get asked for the recipe which tells me it’s generally well liked.

Now that summer grilling season is upon us, give this a try!  I promise you won’t be sorry.

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 Argentine Marinated Eggplant
If your dried oregano is more than a year old, you may want to get a new jar for this dish. The oregano is key to the flavor. If you can get very aromatic, dried wild oregano from Italy so much the better. See the Notes section below for some amazing wild oregano. Adjust the crushed red pepper to taste.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Argentine
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Passive Time 25 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Argentine
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Passive Time 25 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Peel the eggplant.
  2. Slice the eggplant into rounds approximately 1/8 inch thick.
  3. Salt the eggplant slices liberally and place them in a colander.
  4. Put a saucer on top of the eggplant and add a weight, such as a few canned goods.
  5. Allow the eggplant to sweat and drain for an hour.
  6. Meanwhile, mix the olive oil, garlic, oregano, red pepper, salt, and bay leaves. Set aside.
  7. Rinse and drain the eggplant.
  8. Bring the vinegar and water to a boil.
  9. Working in batches, add a few eggplant slices to the boiling vinegar and water mixture. Cook for 1 minute after the mixture returns to a boil.
  10. Blot the cooked eggplant on paper towels.
  11. Put a layer of cooked eggplant in a non-reactive container, such as a glass baking dish.
  12. Drizzle the eggplant with some of the olive oil mixture.
  13. Repeat layers of eggplant drizzled with the oil mxiture until all ingredients are used.
  14. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the eggplant.
  15. Put a dish or plate on the plastic wrap to weigh down the eggplant. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
  16. Allow the eggplant to come to cool room temperature and remove the bay leaves before serving.
Recipe Notes

Wild oregano from the hills of Calabria

Copyright © 2018 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Nanacy Rajapakse’s Sri Lankan Dhal

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June 29, 2018

Who knew dhal could be so complicated?

I discovered dhal in college.  This was mostly during my junior year which provided an amazing, non-stop culinary experience as I lived in the International Residence Project at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dhal refers both to the main ingredient and to the preparation.  Let’s deal with the main ingredient for a bit.

I’ve typically thought of dhal as a synonym for the word “pulse” which, in common, everyday American English, we rarely use.  A pulse is the dried seed of a legume.  Think lentil, dried beans, chickpeas, and so forth.

So far so good.

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Usually, but not always, a dried legume only becomes dhal if it is split.  So, split red lentils (used in this dish) would be dhal but the whole ones would not.  In Indian cookery the word “gram” refers to the whole legume that, if split, would be “dhal.”

According to the Wikipedia entry on legumes, the “term ‘pulse,’ as used by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is reserved for crops harvested solely for the dry seed.  This excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops.”  Peruse any Indian cookbook however, and you’ll see the term dhal applied to dried split peas just as readily as it is to lentils, which are only harvested to be used dried (unlike peas).  So much for the distinction that the crop only be used for the dry seed.

I suppose one shouldn’t be surprised.  The names of different foods vary from region to region and usage is not necessarily consistent.

Split red lentils, referred to as Mysore dhal or a variant of the spelling

While there might be disagreements, need I say confusion, about what constitutes dhal, the dried (and maybe split) legume, the preparation of the dish itself is pretty straightforward.

To turn dhal into dhal, you boil it with flavoring ingredients such as aromatics and herbs and spices.  The resultant dish can have the consistency of porridge or soup or anything in between but it is clearly, and unmistakably, dhal.

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My initial introduction to dhal was Indian.  Channa dhal, a smaller relative of the chickpea (called channa in Hindi) looks pretty much like yellow split peas, which, by the way, are a very good substitute for channa dhal.  My introduction to dhal made from channa dhal (I know, it’s confusing) came initially from Maharaja, the first Indian restaurant in Philadelphia (circa 1972).  The restaurant was actually owned by the aunt of someone with whom I now work.  Small world.  Someone who, by the way, actually asked ME for some Indian recipes!!!

The introduction to dhal deepened after I met Ray Hugh at the end of sophomore year when we were introduced as roommates-to-be in the International Residence Project for our junior year at Penn.  We roomed together over the preceding summer.  We both cooked.  Ray is from Guyana and his cooking reflects the country’s ethnic heritage:  Indian, Chinese, African and Amerindian.

Ray made channa dhal.

Frank and I having a seafood-based meal with Nanacy Rajapakse (far right) in Sri Lanka, 2004

When I actually got into the International Residence Project at the beginning of junior year and tasted Nanacy Rajapakse’s Sri Lankan cooking, I was hooked.  It’s similar to Indian but actually more aromatic and possibly more delicately spiced, though often quite firey hot (which is a totally different characteristic from the non-chile herbs and spices that go into a dish).  For dhal, Sri Lankans typically use the small split red lentils called Mysore or Masoor dhal.  They cook up quickly.  The final consistency is more like porridge than soup.

Over the coming months, I’m going to post a number of Sri Lankan dishes.  If you’re culturally adventurous you might want to give them a try.  At the end of the series you’ll be able to pull together an entire meal that would satisfy anyone from Sri Lanka!

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 Nanacy Rajapakes's Sri Lankan Dhal
You can use more or less coconut milk to taste. I suggest ½ to 1 cup for this amount of dhal. An alternate way to serve this is to omit the coconut milk but add enough water to make a thick coarse puree. Top with some thinly sliced onions and cracked red pepper that have been fried in a little ghee or oil until crispy. Canned coconut milk varies tremendously in quality. Look for a brand that has few (or no) ingredients other than coconut and water. My go-to brand is Aroy-D. See the Notes section below. Dhal can be made ahead and refrigerated, tightly covered. Reheat gently before serving.
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Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine Sri Lankan
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine Sri Lankan
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Wash and drain the dhal. Cover with cold water and soak for approximately three hours at room temperature. Refrigerate if it will soak longer.
  2. When ready to cook the dhal, drain and rinse again.
  3. Add fresh water to cover the dhal by approximately ½ inch.
  4. Add all the other ingredients except the coconut milk
  5. Simmer, partially covered, till soft, approximately 20-30 minutes.
  6. Most of the water should be absorbed by this point. If not, boil quickly uncovered to evaporate the excess.
  7. Add coconut milk and salt to taste.
  8. Simmer gently until slightly thickened. Taste and adjust salt.
Recipe Notes

Aroy-D is an excellent choice if you are going to purchase, and not make, coconut milk.

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Recipes

Smoky Baked Beans

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June 1, 2018

In my first year of medical school (I know that only because of the apartment that I was living in at the time) my parents and my Aunt Ann came to visit for a weekend.  I’ve talked about Aunt Ann in previous blog posts, like this one that includes her recipe for Pineapple Cream Cheese Pie.  She was married to my father’s brother, Jano.

As often happened with my mother, the conversations frequently veered to food.  On this occasion, for some reason, my Aunt Mary’s baked beans.

Aunt Mary was really my mother’s Aunt Mary by marriage.  She was my Great Aunt Mary.  Actually, by the time I knew her, she wasn’t really my aunt, great or otherwise, because she and my mother’s Uncle Derp had gotten divorced.  Nonetheless, we all still called her Aunt Mary.  Well, really, due to some bizarre twist, we called her Aunt Mary Derp if we were referring to her in a conversation and it wasn’t otherwise clear which of the several Aunt Marys in the family was the one we meant.  Why we appended the name of her ex-husband to hers rather than using her last name, I’ll never know!!

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In any case, my parents both talked about Aunt Mary’s baked beans.  They recalled that she baked them overnight.  My mother came up with a reasonable facsimile of what went into the beans.

We tried to do the initial boiling of the beans in a slow cooker while we went out for the day.  That was a failure.  On the low setting, the beans were still hard after hours and hours of cooking.  That got remedied by a quick boil on the stove.

My smoker has an adjustment for the heat output but not temperature, per se. If the wind or external temperature change, the internal smoker temperature changes, too.

We took the par-boiled beans and mixed them with all the other ingredients and put them in the oven overnight.  That was failure number two, but one we couldn’t recover from.  The long cooking period created a burnt taste in the beans given the high sugar content.  The beans hadn’t actually dried out but they must have gotten hot enough to start caramelizing the sugar.  The road from caramel to burnt isn’t long.  Unless one doesn’t get more than six hours sleep, we discovered that it wasn’t ideal to bake the beans overnight!

Eventually, I figured it out.  The recipe for my version of Aunt Mary’s Baked Beans now sits proudly on the hard drive of my computer along with two recipes of my own development.  I also have this great hack for doctoring canned baked beans that I learned from my cousin Shirley (it always generates requests for the recipe that I artfully dodge) but that isn’t actually written down anywhere.

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Today, we’re going to focus on my recipe for baked beans cooked in a smoker.  I’ll also share a trick for making these in the oven if you don’t have a smoker.

When I make these, I put them on the bottom rack of my smoker, uncovered, with meat on the racks above.  Meat juices drip into the beans making them extra tasty!  The high humidity in the smoker keeps the uncovered beans from drying out.

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 Smoky Baked Beans
Adding salt to the bean-soaking liquid is optional. It seasons them and also decreases the cooking time. I find it especially useful where I live as water boils at less than 198°F and beans take much longer to cook. If you don’t have a smoker, add 1 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke seasoning and cook the beans in the oven with a cover. As a reality check, if you’re paying close attention to the photos, you’ll notice that these are “adult” lima beans not baby lima beans. There must have been a run on baby lima beans when I went shopping for the ingredients for this recipe as none of the markets had them.
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Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Passive Time 12 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Passive Time 12 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Wash and pick over the beans.
  2. Dissolve 1 ½ tablespoons salt, if using, in 2 quarts of water. Add the beans.
  3. Soak the beans for about 12 hours in the refrigerator.
  4. Drain and rinse the beans.
  5. Coarsely chop the red Bell pepper.
  6. In a blender jar, combine the Bell pepper with some of the 6 cups of water.
  7. Puree the Bell pepper.
  8. Add the chipotle pepper, if using, and puree again. Reserve the pepper puree.
  9. Sauté the bacon until golden.
  10. Add the onion and sauté until soft.
  11. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.
  12. Add the drained beans, pepper puree, remaining water, and bay leaves.
  13. Gently boil, partially covered until almost tender (1 to 2 hours). Add water from time to time if needed. The beans should be just barely covered with liquid at the end.
  14. Combine the ketchup, white wine, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and black pepper.
  15. Stir the ketchup mixture into the cooked beans.
  16. Return to a simmer on the stovetop then bake (uncovered if using a smoker or covered if using the oven) at 225°F for six hours, stirring once or twice.
Recipe Notes

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Recipes, Technique

Italian Roasted Peppers

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May 28, 2018

I wish I had a pithy story to tell about roasted peppers.

I don’t really, except to say that after reviewing a dozen, or so, recipes to see how they compare with my method, I’ve discovered that NONE of them does it right.  (I know.  That sounds pretty narcissistic, doesn’t it?)

In a nutshell, you want to turn the skin jet black and you want to do it as quickly as possible.  Then you want to put them in a covered non-reactive container for about 10 minutes before peeling them.

The recipes that I found included the following (erroneous) steps:

1.      Roasting them in the oven.

2.      Cutting them before cooking.

3.      Cooking them too long.

4.      Not sufficiently blackening and blistering the skin.

5.      Putting them in a paper bag after roasting.

And don’t even get me started about putting oil on them before roasting!

Here’s the skinny…

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The longer you cook them, the softer the flesh of the pepper becomes.  If you really want any structure at all, you want to get the blackening of the skin done quickly.

You really want the skin to be completely black.  First, this will cause the skin to peel off easily.  Second, it will add the smokiness that you want in a good roasted pepper.  No, they won’t taste burnt.  You will notice, if you give this recipe a try, that the places where the skin isn’t burnt won’t peel off very easily.

The main goals of cooking them fast and completely blackening the skin mean you really can’t roast them in the oven.  You need direct heat.

You don’t want to cut them because you won’t be able to rotate them sufficiently to blacken the skin all over.  They’re harder to handle if cut.  Besides, they’ll dry out.

Sometimes juice will leak out while the peppers are cooling.  If you put them in a paper bag, the bag will absorb the flavorful juice, and that would be a shame!

If I’m roasting one or two peppers, I’ll do it directly over the burner on a gas stove.  Oh, and for that one writer who suggested lining the burners with aluminum foil, get a life!  Not that much juice comes out of the peppers and what does is likely to get vaporized on the cast iron grate.  If a drop or two lands anywhere else on the stove, it’s just as likely to land in a spot that you can’t cover with aluminum foil as it is to land on the foil itself.

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If I’m roasting more than a couple of peppers, I’ll do it on my gas grill.

You can use a broiler if you don’t have a gas stove or a gas grill, though I find the broiler a little less friendly to use.

As for heat, crank it up:  medium high on a burner, high on a gas grill.  The goal is to blacken the skin as quickly and as evenly as possible.  The longer it takes to do this (that is, the lower the heat) the more the flesh of the pepper will soften.  The pepper should hold its shape after roasting, not collapse.

I use roasted peppers in lots of dishes.  Auntie Helen’s Lentil Salad is a good example.

The simplest way to use roasted peppers is to cut them in strips after peeling off the skin and toss them with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt.  They make an excellent side dish.  Since they’re served at room temperature they can be made in advance.  Using different colored peppers makes it festive.

If you like peppers, and you’ve never roasted your own, please give this recipe a try.  I think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is and how much better the peppers taste that the ones in the jar!

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 Italian Roasted Peppers
Roast the peppers using direct heat, set as high as possible. For one or two peppers, I use the burners on my gas stove. For more, I use my gas grill. A broiler (gas or electric) works too. The directions below are for a gas burner but the same technique works for a gas grill and a gas or electric broiler. The pepper won’t obviously touch the heat source if using a grill or a broiler.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
or more
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 10 minutes
Servings
or more
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. If using a gas burner, set the burner to medium high.
  2. Using long-handled tongs, put the pepper directly on the grate above the flame (where you would ordinarily set the pot).
  3. As the skin begins to blacken, move and rotate the pepper to get the skin evenly black.
  6. When the skin is evenly blackened, put the pepper in a non-reactive heat-proof bowl with a lid, such as one made from glass or enamel.
  7. Cover and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
  8. Rub off the skin. It helps to keep a bowl of water nearby to dip your fingers into to remove the skin that will inevitably stick to your fingers.
  10. Catch any juice that runs out of the peppers to add back once the peppers are peeled, cleaned, and cut.
  11. Cut the peppers in half from top to bottom. Remove the stem, ribs, and seeds.
  12. Use as directed in the recipe.
Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Auntie Helen’s Lentil Salad

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May 18, 2018

Auntie Helen had a way with lentils.

In addition to making lentil salad for summer cook-outs, she taught me that cooked lentils, topped with homemade tomato sauce, make a great main (or side) dish for a cold winter’s day.

Auntie Helen liked her scotch.  On the rocks.  And she was not shy about quantity.

Auntie Louise liked gin.  Also on the rocks.  Also not shy about quantity.

It was mostly under their tutelage that I went from drinking Bourbon Manhattans (Old Grand Dad at the time) to Bourbon, also on the rocks.  This was somewhere around the age of 19.

Auntie Helen in 1976

I soon made the jump from Old Grand Dad to Jack Daniels, which remained my tipple of choice for decades.  Now I’ve branched out to a wide array of bourbons but always on the rocks and in respectable quantities.

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Auntie Helen and Auntie Louise were born, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, in a palazzo in Rome, now part of the American Embassy.  After their parents lost everything for the second time (there was talk that the first time it happened, they were bailed out by one of the Stroganoffs) the family emigrated from Italy to America.  Their father, a Count in Italy, worked delivering bread in Trenton, NJ.

Auntie Helen and Auntie Louise both became schoolteachers.  Neither married.  They lived together their entire lives.

They had a sweet little house on Yardley Road, just steps from the Yardley town line, in Morrisville, New Jersey.  I spent many weekends at their house, a little over an hour from where I lived in Philadelphia.

Auntie Helen did the cooking.  Auntie Louise made drinks and helped to clean up.

Auntie Louise in 1976

Though they came from a background that was more privileged than most immigrants of the time, they had little by the time the family got to the United States.  They did what many immigrants did, they assimilated and became almost “hyper” American.  I never heard either of them speak a word of Italian.  And, while Auntie Helen cooked an array of Roman specialties, she also cooked a lot of American food, including Impossible Pies, more the savory ones than the sweet ones; homemade Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (the only thing she cooked that I didn’t like); and cheese and egg strata for brunch (with lots of bacon on the side!).

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I recently found a series of Impossible Pie recipes that Auntie Helen wrote out for me.  I can’t promise that I’ll make each of them, but I will post the recipes, in her own handwriting.  If nothing else, they’ll be a bit of a time capsule.

Meanwhile, please enjoy my take on Auntie Helen’s lentil salad.

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 Auntie Helen's Lentil Salad
Auntie Helen’s lentil salad was more of a general concept that a definitive recipe. Feel free to add other ingredients to this, like a handful of chopped black oil-cured olives, some sliced scallions, or a sprinkling of dry oregano. You can replace some of the olive oil with the oil from a can of anchovies or add a teaspoon of anchovy paste if you’d like. It will add an umami touch without tasting fishy.
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Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 8 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Beans, Nuts and Legumes, Sides
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 8 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Instructions
  1. Wash and pick over the lentils but do not soak them.
  2. Drain the lentils.
  3. Combine the lentils and water.
  4. Bring the lentils to a boil and gently boil until just tender, 10-15 minutes, or maybe a little more based on your elevation.
  5. Drain the lentils.
  6. Mix the hot lentils with the diced onion, oil, and rosemary. Stir well.
  7. Bury the bruised garlic clove in lentils.
  10. Loosely cover the lentils and cool at room temperature.
  11. When the lentils are cool, they can be refrigerated for up to three days before proceeding.
  12. To finish the lentil salad, remove the garlic clove and discard.
  13. Dice the roasted red pepper.
  14. Add the diced roasted red pepper, vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix well and chill thoroughly.
  15. Remove the lentil salad from the refrigerator approximately one hour before serving.
  16. Adjust salt and pepper before serving. Add more olive oil if the lentils seem dry.
Recipe Notes

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