It’s meatball week here at Chez SGCC.  That’s because we love meatballs and think they make the perfect Super Bowl nosh.   They’re compact, easy to eat and can be made a zillion different ways.  So, as we count down to the big game, I’ll be sharing some different and delicious meatball recipes for you all to try out.

Let’s kick off with these yummy Asian-style Scallion Meatballs with a Soy-Ginger Glaze.

The original recipe for these tasty little morsels, from Canal House Cooking, calls for ground turkey.  I decided to make them with a combination of ground chicken and pork.    You can use whatever you want.  Turkey is perfectly fine.   I just think that Asian meatballs should be made with chicken and pork.   I also put a splash of fish sauce in my meatballs.  Don’t ask me why.  I’m just crazy like that.  I think it ups the umami quotient. 

I like to pulse the meat up a few times in the food processor before I mix in the rest of the ingredients.  You don’t have to do this either.  I find it gives the meatballs a finer texture, though.

There are no bread crumbs or other thickeners in the original recipe either.  I found the meatball mixture to be a little too wet for the balls to hold their shape, so I added a little cornstarch to it.  It worked great!

I love these gratuitous frying pan shots, don’t you?  The bubbles make me giddy!

Once your meatballs are all cooked, serve them with a drizzle of soy-ginger glaze.  They taste even better if you eat them with cute little curly-topped bamboo toothpicks like these.

When I served this Buffalo Chicken Dip last weekend during the play-off games, the hungry football fans at my house went wild!  In fact, Mr. SGCC told me not to bother making Buffalo wings anymore because this dish was easier to make and eat, and was just as delicious.  I don’t know if was just the beer talking, but it was quite a testimonial!

The first time I saw this dip was about a year ago at this time.  I was shopping at my neighborhood supermarket and my friend Jeanne, the Publix Aprons lady, was handing out samples of an almost identical dish.  Jeanne is great!  She was a caterer, food writer and cooking instructor in the Boston area before moving down here several years ago.  Now, she cooks up lots of tasty stuff at Publix.   I always stop by her makeshift store “kitchen” for both good food and conversation.  If you get a chance, check out her new blog,  Sola Gina Nella Cucina: Cooking On My Own.  It’s a good read with lots of great recipes.

Now, where was I?  Oh yes, the dip.  I remember thinking at the time that this dip was the perfect nosh for sitting in front of the TV, watching football.   It has all the great flavors of Buffalo wings, without the mess or the bones.  I slipped a copy of the recipe in my purse with every intention of making it.  Yeah, well the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and so, apparently, is the road to my kitchen.  Winter melted into Spring and football season was long gone.   That recipe card sat  in the corner of my kitchen counter for months and I never got around to making it.  When I finally was ready to make it, I couldn’t find that darn recipe anywhere!  I couldn’t find Jeanne anywhere either.  She had taken a few days off to spend some time with her kids.  

I remembered which ingredients I needed for the dip, but not the measurements.   I searched the Aprons web site – several times.  The recipe wasn’t there.   By this time I had become a little obsessed.  So, I turned to Google.  I found several different versions of Buffalo chicken dip, but none were exactly how I remembered it.   The closest came from the Baltimore Nesties Cookbook web site.  I have no idea who the Baltimore Nesties are, but I owe them one for that recipe.  I adapted it based on what I remembered of Jeanne’s recipe.

To make this dip, you will need a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, cream cheese, bottled buffalo wing sauce, blue cheese dressing, chopped scallions and shredded cheddar.   Just heat up the cream cheese, wing sauce and dressing, toss with the chicken and scallions, sprinkle on the cheddar and pop it in the oven.  That’s it!    You can serve it with crackers, tortilla chips or even crudités, if you want.  Personally, I think it would be fab served with those big scoop-shaped Fritos.  Wish I’d had some of those when I made it.

This recipe is super easy, and takes hardly any time at all to make. If you made it during the Super Bowl, you could probably pull it together during the half time show.   And, it is so, so good!  Creamy, cheesy and spicy all at the same time!

If Buffalo wings are a Super Bowl tradition at your house, why not try this dish instead?  Whether you’re a Giants or a Patriots fan, this Buffalo Chicken Dip is something everyone will root for!

One thing that has always fascinated me is the art of making charcuterie.  For years, I have longed to learn the craft of salting, smoking, curing and drying large, fat-laden slabs of meat.  I’d even bought a copy of Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s,  definitive tome on the subject, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing.  Late at night, I would greedily pore over those pages, lusting after each photo and dreaming of someday presenting my loved ones with my own delicately spiced and perfectly balanced versions of sopressata, guanciale, pâté and confit.  I discovered other like-minded, charcuterie-loving bloggers as well – trailblazers in the metamorphoses of pork, duck and foie gras.

Until very recently, I have only admired those adventurous, bacon curing, salumi making souls from afar – never daring to venture into those uncharted waters myself.   Then, I found out about Charcutepalooza, a   twelve month blogging extravaganza devoted to celebrating the “elegant craft of salting, smoking and curing” meat.  Each month, the group tackles a different type of charcuterie, using Ruhlman’s book as a guide, and the participants each post about their experiences.  With over three hundred members and counting, Charcutepalooza is a great opportunity to explore, learn and share the ins and outs of homemade charcuterie.

I sat on the fence for a long time before I decided to join the group.  I worried that I wouldn’t have the time or the resources to follow through.  I also worried that the hot, muggy climate I live in wouldn’t be conducive to hanging and curing meat.  And, I was really afraid that I might unwittingly kill someone with my carnivorous creations!   However, when I finally found a local source of fresh duck and pork bellies, I threw caution to the wind and signed on.

I had already missed the first Charcutepalooza assignment, which was making duck prosciutto.  I decided to start there anyway as the process looked pretty easy.  It seemed like a good way to get my feet wet, and the end result sounded pretty awesome.

Little did I know then that my plans would soon go awry.

I prepped my duck breasts…

…covered them in kosher salt, and let them sit in the fridge for twenty-four hours.

Then, I rinsed and dried them thoroughly.

After that, I wrapped them in some unbleached cheesecloth and tied them up with butcher’s twine.

I measured the weight of each breast at the start of the process and every other day after that, carefully recording the results.   The prosciutto is supposed to be ready to consume after it has lost a third of it’s weight.  This is supposed to take about a week, but after two, mine still needed more time.

When I started out, the weather here was still hovering in the mid fifties, so I found the coolest spot in my house and literally hung those duck breasts out to dry.   And yes, that is a pasta drying rack that my duck breasts are hanging from.  Since I rarely make fresh pasta these days, I was glad that I could put the rack to good use.  I think they look kind of cute – sort of like an eclectic pair of great, big, meaty earrings.  Quick!  Someone call Tim Gunn!

When the temperature started to climb, I moved the rack out to the garage, which stayed several degrees cooler.  Eventually, I had to break down and hang it in my garage fridge.  It was just too warm to leave it out anymore.

This is where things went horribly wrong.

The next day after storing my duck breasts in the garage fridge, I went out there to get them for their daily weigh-in.   When I opened the fridge door, the rack – and my duck prosciutto – were gone.

HUH!?!?

At first, I thought that someone must have taken out the rack to make some room, and left the breasts in there.  But, I couldn’t find them.  I took everything out of the fridge, thinking that maybe they had fallen behind something else.  Still nothing.  Then, I looked all around the garage, hoping that whoever moved the rack had accidentally left them out.   I found the empty rack, but no duck breasts.

I moved my search inside the house and, with the keen precision of Sherlock Holmes, hunted from room to room for clues.   But, the duck breasts were nowhere to be found.  They had simply vanished!

By this time I was getting a little panicky.    Was someone playing a cruel joke on me?  Was I losing my mind?  Did Bella suddenly develop thumbs and teach herself how to open the fridge?   Did some duck-loving burglar sneak into my garage in the dead of night and steal it?  All sorts of crazy scenarios ran through my head.

Later that day, I kicked into “lawyer mode” and cross-examined both Mr. and Mini SGCC.  Both of them vehemently denied having ever touched the duck breasts. They both seemed like they were telling the truth.  Mr. SGCC even looked a little sad about the fact that he wasn’t going to ever get to try my duck prosciutto.  Still, how well do I really know those two?

I tried to question Bella too, but she wasn’t talking.  Hmmm.  Come to think of it, she did look a little guilty…

It’s been several days now, and still no duck breasts.  I kept hoping that they would turn up somewhere, but no such luck.  I honestly have no idea what could have happened to those little suckers.  And, I was so looking forward to sharing my first attempt at curing meat with you too.  It could have been a beautiful thing, people.   What a disappointment!

My next charcuterie experiment is going to be Charcutepalooza’s February assignment: homemade bacon.  I actually saw Michael Ruhlman demonstrate how to do this last Fall at BlogHer Food, so I’m really excited about trying it.    I’m hoping to catch up with the rest of the group, so I’ll also be working on the March challenge, which is all about brining.  How does some homemade corned beef for St. Paddy’s Day sound?

After my duck prosciutto fiasco, you can bet that I intend to keep a very close eye on all future charcuterie endeavors.   But in the meantime, if you happen to see any small, stray, cheesecloth-wrapped bundles of duck prosciutto lying around, or spot Lady Gaga sporting an eclectic pair of great, big, meaty earrings,  please let me know A.S.A.P.!   I’m willing to share.

As a little girl, I perceived my mother’s kitchen as a mysterious and intriguing place where sights and smells and sounds converged to become yummy things for me to eat.    Of course, I understood nothing about the art and science of cooking.   I only knew that after the swooshing of knives, the clinking of whisks, the stirring of pots and the fragrance of garlic and herbs harmoniously sautéing on the stove that I wasn’t allowed to touch,  something wonderful and delicious would magically emerge.  I looked and I listened, and soon I became pretty good at guessing what Mom was making by observing her various “kitchen dances”.

Among the sounds that always brought me running into her kitchen were “tzzzzt” and “tsssss”.   I knew them well.  They were the sounds that a cutlet makes as it first meets the surface of a hot pan, followed by the gentle, telltale sizzle that follows as it fries into a mouthwatering golden, crunchy, meaty medallion.  Cutlets were one of my favorite foods when I was growing up, and they still are.  My mother made them Milanese-style, dipped in egg and seasoned Italian bread crumbs, and served them alongside copious amounts of stewed tomatoes.  I’d positively drown my cutlets in that sweet, lovely stewed tomato juice!  I can’t help but moan just thinking about it.  It was heaven!

This classic Italian dish was originally prepared with veal.  But somewhere along the way, chicken became the more popular choice – probably because chicken is a lot more budget friendly.  Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I thought I’d try the dish using turkey cutlets.  I think it’s a nice choice for those who aren’t into roasting a whole turkey for the holiday, or who are only cooking for a few.  Traditionally, cutlets alla Milanese are served on top of a bed of greens lightly dressed with a vinaigrette.  The acidity of the vinaigrette provides a nice contrast to the fried cutlets.

Whichever type of meat you choose for your cutlets, the preparation is always the same.  You dredge them in a little flour, dip them in some beaten egg and coat them in bread crumbs before frying them in some hot olive oil.  They can be a little messy, but they aren’t difficult at all to prepare.

Here’s how you do it:

You’re halfway there…..

See! That wasn’t so hard.

Just look at that beautiful turkey cutlet!  And, they are so, so good!  I only had one to photograph because we devoured the rest of them almost immediately.  I had to hide this one.  Shhh! Don’t tell.  I’m saving it for later.

As you can see, I served these cutlets over some nice, peppery arugula.  However, I highly recommend trying them with stewed tomatoes.  You’ll love them that way.  I promise.  Unless, of course, you don’t like tomatoes.  Then, I can’t help you.  I can pity you, but I can’t help you.

If you decide to serve turkey cutlets as part of your Thanksgiving dinner this year, they will go perfectly with all of the traditional trimmings, especially some creamy mashed potatoes and a nice cranberry chutney.  As a matter of fact, I have a recipe for a nice cranberry chutney for you.  But, you’ll have to wait for next time.  Patience is a virtue, you know.

Bon Appetito!

I’m really enjoying this new little group, French Fridays with Dorie.  So is Mr. SGCC.  He likes that I’m cooking real food, and not just sweets.  I like that too, but I also like that if I get really busy I don’t have to participate every week.  It takes the pressure off and allows me to enjoy the recipes I do make, because I choose to.

I couldn’t join in last week because I was in San Francisco for BlogHer Food.  So was Dorie.  Did I mention that I met her?  I did!  And, she was lovely.  That’s all I’m going to say about it now, because I haven’t posted my recap yet.  You’ll just have to be patient.  Patience is a virtue, you know. 

This week’s FFwD recipe is Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup.  I loved it!

Dorie’s soup has lots of bright, fresh flavors like ginger, garlic and chilies.  The base is made with chicken broth and creamy coconut milk.  I adore anything made with coconut milk!   Though not in the original recipe, I also added some Penang chili paste to my soup.  Chili paste and coconut milk are BFFs.  Everyone needs a BFF – even chili paste and coconut milk. 

I used thin Vietnamese rice noodles in my soup.  They’re the same kind that my favorite Vietnamese restaurant puts in its Phở.  I love Phở too, but it takes all day to make.  Dorie’s soup just as delicious, and only takes about an hour to put together.  That’s my kind of soup!

If you’d like to try this recipe for yourself (and you really should), you’ll have to buy Dorie’s Around My French Table.  You should buy it anyway, because it’s a fantastic cookbook.  If you’d like to see many, many more bowls of Vietnamese Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup,  stop by the FFwD web site and enjoy!

Mr. SGCC is not exactly what you would call a gastronome.  Don’t get me wrong.  He loves to eat and appreciates good food.  But, local and sustainable are words he doesn’t normally associate with with that food.  He doesn’t care if his chicken is free range or if his beef is grass fed. He can’t tell the difference between heirloom tomatoes and any other kind.  And, when it comes to Key lime pie, it’s Sara Lee all the way for him!  As long as whatever dish in front of him tastes good, he’ll eat it.

Mr. SGCC also travels a lot for work.  Several times each month, you’ll find him tooling up and down the highways and in and out of rural towns from Miami to Tallahassee.  Sometimes, he’ll tell me about a guy in Okeechobee he passed selling wild shrimp out of the back of his truck, or a farm stand in Ruskin selling ripe and juicy just-picked tomatoes.  I’ll ask excitedly, “Ooh!  Did you stop and get some?” The answer is always the same.

“Nope. I was in a hurry.  Besides, you can get that stuff here.”

Um….. No, I can’t.  Sigh…..

So, imagine my surprise when he brought a bag full of these home last week. 

In case you don’t recognize them, they’re avocados – Florida avocados to be exact.

Florida avocados are much larger than the more common Hass avocados from California.   And, while Hass avocados have a dark green, dimply skin, our local variety has a smooth, shiny, light green skin.   They’re also not quite as rich and buttery as the Hass.  But, since Mr. SGCC bought these avocados out of a laundry basket from a lady sitting in a lawn chair on the side of the road, I guess they’re about as local as you can get.

And true to form, these avocados were HUGE!  In fact, I’ve has a pretty hard time using them up before they go bad.  I made guacamole, salads and even ice cream with them, and still had some left.  I got a great tip from Elise and also made this recipe with some of the salmon I brought back from Seattle.  (Don’t fret. The ice cream and salmon dish are coming soon!)

Finally, I was down to my last avocado half.  To be honest, as much as we love avocados around here, we were getting a little sick of “avocado-centric” dishes.  So, I decided to mix things up and make a dish that would be complemented, instead of dominated by some avocado.

One of my favorite Mexican dishes is Enchiladas Suizas.  Usually filled with chicken, these enchiladas are smothered with a creamy, dreamy, cheesy sauce and baked, casserole-style.  Suiza means Swiss, and in Mexican cuisine is used to describe a dish is topped with a white, dairy-based sauce.  I had tried my hand at making Enchiladas Suizas before and was less than thrilled with the results.  Mine always turned out a little bland and too creamy (if there is such a thing).  So, I grazed a bit around the web and nibbled on a little of this and a bite of that to come up with a few ideas to spice up my enchiladas.

Here’s how I made them.

The first thing I did was buy a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket for my enchilada filling.  You heard me. This recipe calls for shredded, cooked chicken. Why spend time cooking up chicken at home when you can buy  it already done for you?  Plus, an average-sized rotisserie chicken will yield perfect amount of meat needed for this filling. So, do yourself a favor.  Buy a rotisserie chicken and get over it.

Next, you have to make the suiza sauce.  There are several ways to do this.  Some recipes start with a béchamel and add cheese and tomatillos.  Others simply use a puree of tomatillo sauce and Mexican crema or sour cream.  On a Thursday night I’m all about the simple, so I went with version two.  My little twist here is that I also added some roasted poblano peppers to the puree for a little extra zing.  If you don’t feel like roasting poblanos, you can also use a few cans of fire-roasted green chiles.  It doesn’t pack quite the same punch, but it works.  I’m here to make your lives easier.  I’m considerate like that.

If you do feel up to roasting some peppers, there are a few different methods you can use.  If you’re lucky enough to have a gas stove, you can roast them right on top of one of the burners.  Here is the link to a quick video that shows how to do it.  If you’re like me and stuck with electric, you can also roast the poblanos under the broiler.  First, turn on the broiler and place the poblanos on a baking sheet lined with some foil.  I like to rub a smidgen of oil on them to help things along.  Put the peppers in the oven, about 4-5 inches from the the broiler element. They will deflate and the skins will blister and turn black. Turn the peppers as needed to char all sides evenly.   Then, remove the roasted poblanos from the oven, place them in a paper bag and seal the bag.  Allow the peppers to sweat in the bag for about 10 to 15 minutes. When you remove them from the bag they will be easy to peel.  Peel the skin off of the poblanos and remove the seeds and stem.  Then all you have to do is dice them up.

After your sauce is made, it’s time to prepare the filling.  Sauté the chicken with diced onions.  I threw some of the poblanos in there too.  Add a little chicken broth and crema to moisten it up.

The filling should look like this – nice and creamy, but not too wet.

Then, fill some tortillas with some filling and roll them up.  You can use either flour or corn tortillas.  I used flour because the tortilleria near my house had just made fresh ones.  You just can’t beat homemade, still-warm-from-the-press tortillas!

Line ‘em up in a baking dish, pour on the suiza sauce and sprinkle with lots of cheese.

After you bake them, they should look something like this.

Mmmm! Muy delicioso!

Now, you’re probably wondering where the avocado fits into all of this.  Well, I made a jaunty little salsa with it to top the enchiladas.   It was the perfect complement too.  The acid from the lime juice and the punch of the cilantro really offset the richness of the suiza sauce.

Let me tell you, people.  These Enchiladas Suizas were the best I’ve ever eaten – even in a Mexican Restaurant!  They were seriously To. Die. For. You absolutely have to make them for yourselves.  And when you do, don’t bother to thank me.  Your happiness is thanks enough! 

Enjoy!

Every family has its own unique set of traditions.  These traditions are the glue that binds one generation to another.  Those revolving around food are often the ones that seem to stand out the most.  It’s no wonder. Food nourishes not only our bodies but our souls as well.  The family table is where relationships are forged, bonds are strengthened and memories are made.   One of the goals I had when I started this blog was to celebrate my Italian heritage by featuring the marvelously homey and delicious dishes I grew up eating and the loving hands that prepared them.  I wanted to show how the relationship between food and family plays an integral part in shaping who we are by sharing some of my own memories, musings and experiences.  As I said then, “I have many interests in my life, but I’ve realized that food is the fabric that holds families together. The memories of preparing a meal together and then sitting down to enjoy it with my own family are my most treasured.  Although I am merely a humble home cook, I hope that, through this blog, I can inspire some of you, as I have been inspired, to make some memories of your own.”

I strayed.

The very first of my own recipes that I posted on SGCC was based on my grandmother’s Sunday meat sauce.  That was almost three years ago. Back then, I knew nothing about how to write a proper recipe, and even less about how to take a decent photograph.  But I did know how to tell a story, and I often peppered my posts with them.  As time passed, I was seduced by simplicity and beaten down by time.  In my zeal to crank out frequent posts while keeping up with my other writing gigs, the stories and my cherished family recipes became fewer and far between. I’ve also become so inspired by the plethora of excellent food blogs on the web and and the talented and creative bloggers behind them. Every day I find so many new recipes from all different cultures, and I want to try them all!  There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve loved stretching my culinary wings and trying new things.  That’s how we grow, enriching ourselves and hopefully, others.  It just wasn’t what my original vision for SGCC was.

So, I’ve reached a compromise with myself. While still carrying on with SGCC the way I have been, I am also going to try to set aside one day each week to get back to my culinary roots.  Sunday is going to be La Tavola della Famiglia or The Family Table day.  Why Sunday?  Because in my family,  Sunday was always the day when we all gathered together at my grandparents’ house for a long, leisurely food fest – no matter how busy anyone was.  And, since no Sunday was ever really Sunday without a huge pot of ragu simmering on my grandmother’s stove, brimming with various kinds of meat, I’ve decided to kick off my La Tavola della Famiglia series with this Fettuccine al Sugo di Pollo e Funghi – Fettuccine with Chicken and Mushroom Sauce.  

Fettuccine al Sugo di Pollo e Funghi is a riff on my family’s traditional Sunday meat sauce.  Instead of being filled with meatballs and various cuts of beef and pork, chicken and earthy, meaty mushrooms are the stars of the show.  Chicken was a big favorite of my dad’s, so both my nonna and my mother used to make this dish often.  The sugo only needs to be simmered for an hour or so, or until the chicken is cooked through.  Because of the shorter cooking time, it tends to be a lighter and brighter sauce, with an almost sweeter quality to it.  And, since you don’t have to slave over a hot stove all day to prepare it, you’ll have lots more time for other fun, family activities on a Sunday afternoon.

Here’s how you make it:

Mmmm!  Can you smell that onion and garlic sizzling?  I could just dab some of that stuff behind my ears instead of perfume!

One thing that I do differently from the original recipe is to remove the cooked chicken from the bones and add it back to the sauce.  It’s a lot easier to eat that way, plus, you get a bite of chicken in every forkful.  Another thing I like to do is use a blend of different kinds of mushrooms. I think it gives a nice variety of textures to the dish.  Here, I added a mixture of portobello, porcini and shiitake mushrooms, but any combination works.  When it comes to mushrooms, the more the merrier!  Back in the day, regular old button mushrooms were the only ones readily available, so that is what my mom and grandma used.  I don’t think my nonna ever even heard of shiitakes, much less cooked with them.

So, here you have it. Fettuccine al Sugo di Pollo e Funghi, dalla tavola della mia famiglia alla vostra – from my family’s table to yours.

Buon Appetito!

Enjoy!

My Uncle Vinnie was one of the coolest guys I ever knew.  He worked for the New York City Department of Sanitation.  He was a “garbage man”, and when I was a little girl, I wanted to be just like him.  He got to ride up and down the streets all day, hanging onto the outside of a big truck. He got to wear a nifty uniform that didn’t involve plaid jumpers or navy blue oxfords.  He got to get as dirty as he wanted, and didn’t have to wash his hands every five minutes.  And, he got to cart home all kinds of loot that he’d found on his route.

And, don’t you even think for a minute that because my uncle was a sanitation worker he didn’t have a keen mind and a sharp wit – because he did.  He was more well-read and up on current events than almost any other adult I knew.  You could talk to him about anything, from politics to opera, and he would always come up with some nugget of information that no one had ever known before.

Uncle Vinnie and my Aunt Yolanda didn’t have any children back then. When my cousins and I were kids, we would all take turns spending the weekends over at their house.  It was great for our parents, because they got to get us out of their hair for a few days.  It was great for us kids, because Uncle Vinnie and Aunt Yolanda were a fun young couple.  They were groovy.  They were hip.  They played bossa nova records on their old Zenith console.

Spending time at my aunt and uncle’s house was a little like Christmas.  There were always some brand new, still in the box toys, games, books, records and other assorted “treasures” to sift through.  Seriously, I’m talking about merchandise still sealed with the store tags on!  I can remember asking Uncle Vinnie why people would buy perfectly good things and then throw them away without even opening them.  I mean, even if they were unwanted gifts, you could still give them away or donate them to charity.  He would smile and say “People are funny. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

I was reminded of that phrase as I was preparing this Pasta con le Regaglie.  At first glance, it looks like a lovely bowl of pasta dressed with a rich, chunky, meaty sauce.  And, that is exactly what it is. Except, that the meats in question are chicken livers, gizzards and hearts.  That’s right – livers, gizzards and hearts- better known as offal and more delicately referred to as giblets.  And, do you know what?  They are delicious!  Now, before you click away in horror, hear me out.

People didn’t always buy their meat in plastic containers covered with shrink wrap.  Once upon a time, people actually raised their own chickens, cows and pigs. And, those who didn’t probably bought their meat from those who did.  Back then, it was unthinkable to waste any part of an animal that was edible. Most people couldn’t afford to!  So a lot of diligent home cooks came up with creative and tasty ways to use offal or giblets or whatever you want to call them. Even today, in many cultures, these foods are commonly eaten, and enjoyed with gusto.

In Italy, this concept of cooking and eating is called “cucina povera” or “cooking of the poor”. Cucina povera was a natural progression resulting from the devastation of two world wars and the shortage of food they created in their aftermath.  It was born of necessity and relied on the use of every bit of every ingredient from the garden, barnyard, woods and sea, with as little waste as possible.

I remember my father telling me how, as a boy in occupied Italy during World War 2, one of his most vivid memories was that of being hungry.  He lived on a farm in the countryside about halfway between Anzio and Monte Cassino.  As the Nazis infiltrated the area, they took over all of the crops and livestock, using them to feed their troops.  The families who lived there were turned out and basically lived in the woods for the duration.  Dad recounted how they would forage for food, often rooting through the garbage in the dead of night, looking for things that could still be used to fill their bellies.  They would often take corn cobs, grind them up and cook them down with water to make a kind of gruel.  Can you imagine?  What a compelling example of how one man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure!  Even fifty years later, whenever he would talk about it, the look of pain and sadness in my father’s eyes spoke volumes more than any words ever could.

Pasta con le Regaglie is a dish that my grandmother used to make, just as I’m sure her grandmother did before her. It is common to the area that my family comes from as many of the families there raise chickens. It was also a dish that my father always enjoyed.  Pasta con le Regaglie, or Pasta with Giblets, is a very hearty and rustic “povera” dish packed with lots of great flavors. In addition to the giblets, it also contains all of the other ingredients that make up a great pasta sauce- tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, herbs and spices.  If you didn’t know that the giblets were in there too, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell. And, even if you could, the dish is so good, you wouldn’t care.

The most challenging part of preparing the regaglie sauce is cleaning and trimming the giblets, especially the gizzards.  I won’t lie. Cleaning the gizzards is a pain in the a$$! You need to trim off all of the tough outer membranes and peel off any silver skin before cutting them into small chunks.  It’s tedious, but you can do it.   I have confidence in you.

Once your giblets are ready to go, you can begin cooking.  I’ve used pancetta in my version of the sauce, because I wanted to fancy it up a little.  You don’t have to.  I’m pretty sure that my ancestors prepared this dish without it.

First, sauté the pancetta. Then make a battuto with the onions, carrots and celery. A battuto is the Italian version of a mirepoix, and is the base for many, if not most Italian dishes.  Add the giblets and cook for a while.  Sauté in some mushrooms, garlic and fresh herbs, splash in some red wine and cook it down until the wine has reduced.

Next, thin some tomato paste with more red wine and add it to the pot with chicken stock and crushed tomatoes.  Finally, simmer the sauce for a good, long time until it is thick and rich.

You can serve this robust regaglie sauce over pasta, rice or polenta – or just with a crusty loaf of Italian bread.  I used a nice spinach fettuccine. Doesn’t it look wonderful?  I can assure you – it is!

So please, please, please don’t be put off by offal.  At least try it before you decide it’s “trash”   You might be pleasantly surprised to find that Pasta con le Regaglie is actually quite a “treasure”!  I think so. My dad thought so. And, my Uncle Vinnie did too.  I wish I could have shared some with them.

Pasta con le Regaglie (Pasta with Giblets)

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra if needed
1/2 cup diced pancetta
1 large sweet onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and finely diced.
1 stalk celery, finely diced
2 pounds chicken hearts, gizzards and livers, rinsed and trimmed of tough tissue and silver skin, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons  minced flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
1 bay leaf
3-4 fresh sage leaves
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 cups red wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups chicken stock
1 28 ounce can crushed Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
Salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino-Romano cheese

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a heavy 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and saute for a few minutes until the fat begins to render.  Add the onions, carrots and celery and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes, or until they begin to brown.  Add the hearts, gizzards and liver and sauté them for about 10 minutes, also stirring occasionally.  Add a little more oil if the pot gets too dry.

Stir the mushrooms, garlic, parsley, bay leaf and sage into the pot and sauté another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the wine to the pot. Deglaze by scraping  up any brown bits on the bottom.  Raise heat and bring wine to a boil. Continue to boil until wine is reduced by half.

Whisk the rest of the wine and tomato paste together in a small bowl.  Add to the pot along with the stock and crushed tomatoes. Bring up to a boil and then reduce down to medium heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour, until the sauce has reduced and is nice and thick.

Add salt, pepper and grated cheese to taste.

Serve either with a loaf of crusty Italian bread, or over pasta, rice or polenta.

Enjoy!

Though I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting any of his restaurants, Thomas Keller certainly needs no introduction to me.  I’ve been hearing about and reading about his genius in the kitchen for years.  His multi-award winning, three Michelin star rated flagship restaurant, The French Laundry, is legendary. The rest of his fleet, Bouchon, Per Se and ad hoc are no slouches either.

A few weeks ago, I was watching Tony Bourdain’s No Reservations on TV. This particular episode was all about cooking techniques, and had several famous chefs demonstrating how to make various basic dishes, such as omelets, pasta and burgers.   Thomas Keller was on board to show his method for making the perfect roast chicken.  As soon as I saw him on the screen, I sat up and paid close attention.  I just knew that there were going to be some fancy bells and whistles involved.  Except, there weren’t.  Thomas Keller roasts a chicken pretty much the same way most of us do – very, very simply.  In fact, the only thing that I usually do that Keller doesn’t is rub a little fat on the bird before roasting.  He explains that while it is perfectly acceptable to do so, he doesn’t because he feels it adds extra steam to the oven, making the chicken’s skin less crispy.  Okay.  That makes sense.  Besides, who the heck am I to argue with Thomas Keller?

Keller also explains that the key to perfectly roasted chicken with an impossibly crispy skin is to make sure that the chicken is completely and indisputably dry before putting it in the oven.  Oh, and you also need to use lots of salt – way more than I ever use.

To recap:

1. No added fat on the bird;

2. Thoroughly dry the bird before roasting; and

3. Don’t be stingy with the salt.

When Keller’s chicken came out of the oven, I think my heart skipped a little beat.  It looked fabulous!  An unequivocal poultry masterpiece!  As he cut into that chicken, its impeccably burnished skin gave way to some of the juiciest, most succulent meat I’d ever laid eyes on.  For days, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I had to try his chicken roasting technique for myself.

I was also planning to roast some potatoes to go along with my chicken dinner, when I remembered the way I’d seen it done at a market in Paris.  There, the chickens were roasted on spits in a big glass oven.  Huge pans filled with potatoes were placed to cook underneath the chickens. As the chickens roasted all of their luscious drippings and juices would rain down onto the potatoes, infusing them with the most amazing salty, chicken-y flavor.  Oh, yeah!  I decided to try to get the same effect by layering some thinly sliced potatoes and onions on the bottom of my pan and roasting my chicken on top of it.

So, let’s roast a chicken (and some potatoes) a la Thomas Keller!

First, get yourself a nice, free-range, organic chicken. Keller says to look for one weighing between 2 and 3 pounds, but unless you’re planning a dinner for one, I’d recommend a 3 to 3 1/2 pound bird. This guy below was a 3 1/2 pounder, and three of us picked it clean.

Melt some butter in your roasting pan.  I used an unsalted cultured butter.

Arrange a layer of thinly sliced potatoes all around the bottom of the pan.  I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes.

Scatter some thinly sliced onions on top of the potatoes.

Then, place your well-seasoned bird on top of the bed of potatoes and onions.  Don’t make fun of my crappy trussing job.  I can never get it right!

Put it all in a 450 F. oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through.

Hmmm. Let’s get a closer look at that crispy, roasted skin…..

Mmmm!

There’s a lot of Sandra Lee bashing that goes on in the “Foodie” world.  Come on, admit it.  We’ve all snickered at her cute little outfits that she matches to her kitchen decor in every episode. We’ve giggled at her seemingly unnatural preoccupation with fancy, fruity cocktails. We’ve chortled at her oh, so perfect “tablescapes”, because after all, who has the time to run around collecting all of that flotsam and jetsam, much less arrange it into a cohesive backdrop to show off a bunch of desserts made from store bought angel food cake and pudding cups.  And, most of us have downright sneered at her proclivity for concocting dishes out of boxed, canned, prepackaged food products.  Personally, I absolutely cringe every time I hear her mispronounce mascarpone. (That’s right, Sandra. It’s MASCARPONE, not MARSCAPONE. Got it? Thanks.)

Yes, indeed.  We’ve all had our fun at Sandra’s expense.  Yet I must confess, she kind of fascinates me.  While I’ve never been that kind of cutesy, matchy, crafty person, I secretly wish I could be.  I’d love to be able to whip up a lovely, themed buffet table out of pine cones, plastic flowers and pipe cleaners! And, though I don’t use a lot of processed foods in my own cooking, I can certainly appreciate Sandra’s creative energy and resourcefulness in hers. She fills a pretty wide niche for those who don’t have the time or inclination to spend hours in the kitchen.  In fact, I have tried a few of her “Semi-Homemade” recipes, and they were pretty tasty.

Case in point: A few days ago, Sandra did an episode on “tropical food”.  One of the dishes she made was a sort of Thai chicken curry with a peanut sauce, and I have to say, it looked good.  So good, that I decided to try it for myself – with several tweaks.  In her recipe, Sandra uses chunks of chicken breast.  I went with chicken thighs, because they tend to stay moister when cooked in small pieces.  She also relies on frozen vegetables.  I used fresh, because it only takes a few extra minutes to chop up a few peppers and some green beans.  Sandra also omits garlic in her version. I think that is a sin, so I added some.  I included sliced onions, scallions and a splash of fish sauce in the dish as well, because I like them.  I also made this a one pot dish by sautéing the chicken and vegetables separately, removing them, making the sauce in the same pan and then adding it all together.  Oh yes, and I also toasted the red curry paste before adding it to the peanut curry sauce.  I know it sounds like a lot of changes, but it really isn’t.  I used all of the original ingredients in the recipe. I just added a few extra and put them together a little differently.

First, you need to chop up your chicken.

Then, slice up your vegetables.

Heat the oil. (Doesn’t it look like a cute little sea creature?)

Brown the chicken and vegetables.

Look at that curry paste sizzle!

Mix up the peanut sauce and toss it all together.

Let me tell you, people, this dish was beyond fabulous!  Seriously! No one was more surprised than I was.  My little family of three ate the whole, entire batch! Mr. SGCC and Mini SGCC were actually fighting over the last few grains of rice left in the bowl!  That peanut curry sauce was so delicious. It had it all – heat, spice, salt and sweet. And, it was ready to eat in under an hour.  I served the chicken with some coconut rice (not instant) and a nice, tossed salad (not frozen).  This is one dish that I know I will make again and again.  My hat is off to Sandra for creating it.  I’ll definitely think twice before I criticize another one of her recipes without trying it first – and I hope you will too.

Chicken with Peanut Curry Sauce
very liberally adapted from Sandra Lee

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper
1 medium sweet onion, sliced thinly
8 ounces fresh green beans cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
3-4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 scallions, thinly sliced

For sauce:
2 heaping tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth,
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
Lime wedges for garnishing
Cilantro sprigs for garnishing

Directions:

1.  Toss chicken and cornstarch together in a bowl until well mixed.  Season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken sauté until lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. Remove to another container and set aside.

2.  Add onion, pepper strips and green beans and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.  Remove to the same container as the chicken.

3.  Make the peanut curry sauce. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all sauce ingredients except curry paste.until smooth.  Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in the frying pan and add curry paste, smushing it into the oil.  Cook curry paste for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients into the pan, mix well and bring to a boil.  Add the chicken and vegetables and stir to combine. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce thickens slightly, about 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in scallions and serve over  steamed rice.

Serves 4.