Curry for Leftover Lamb or Beef

Adapted from Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Bobbs-Merrill, 1964)

This combination of meat, fruit, and vegetables is a delicious way to use up leftover lamb or beef.

Serves 4

1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 - 3 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
2 cups cooked lamb or beef, cut into medium pieces
2 teaspoons flour
1½ cups hot broth (I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base)
1 tablespoon curry powder (I use Sun Brand curry powder)
2 tart apples (Granny Smith are good), peeled and cut into wedges
1 tablespoon raisins (whatever color raisins you keep in the pantry)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup diced celery
Salt and pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter or oil in a sauté pan or saucier. Add the onions, and cook until tender and just beginning to brown.

Add the curry powder, and cook for about 1 minute to release its flavor, being careful not to burn it. Add the apples and celery. You want them to stay crisp, so cook for about 2 minutes, no more than that. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ingredients to a bowl, leaving behind any accumulated juices.

Add the additional tablespoon of butter or oil to the pan, if necessary, and brown the meat. Sprinkle the flour over the meat, and stir to coat thoroughly. Slowly pour in the hot broth, stirring the whole time.

When the sauce is smooth and boiling, return the apples, onions, and celery to the pan along with the raisins. Stir in the lemon juice, and season carefully with salt. The amount of salt in the broth you use will make a difference. Pass the peppermill at the table.

The 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking was my very first cookbook, an engagement present from a college friend named Helen Joseph. She was from Cincinnati — small and fierce, with a helmet of shiny dark hair. I’m sorry that over the years we lost touch, and I have tried to find her without success. She might be surprised to learn that giving me Joy (no pun intended) was the first step in my lifelong passion for cooking and collecting cookbooks. Thanks, Helen.

The latest revision of what is considered by many to be the quintessential American cookbook, Joy of Cooking, was published in 2019, but the 1964 edition is still my favorite. (As an aside, I think the quintessential American cookbook is the Twelfth Edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, the last edition with metric measurements.)

Lamb Salad with Pine Nuts

This is very good and an unusual way to use leftover lamb.

Lamb Salad with Pine Nuts

Adapted from The Frog Commissary Cookbook by Steven Poses, Anne Clark, and Becky Roller

Serves 4

Sweet Onion Vinaigrette

⅓ cup olive oil
⅓ cup light vegetable oil (I use grapeseed)
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons pepper
½ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ cup wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup minced red onion

Whisk together all the ingredients and refrigerate. This can be done up to 2 days in advance.

Salad

4 quarts loosely packed mixed salad "greens," such as spinach, arugula, watercress, or radicchio
1 cup red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch matchsticks
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound leftover lamb, cut into bite-size strips about ¼-inch thick
¼ cup black raisins
¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted in a skillet (watch carefully so they don't burn)

Wash and dry the greens thoroughly. Tear them into pieces, and put in a large bowl. Add the red peppers.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet that will hold the lamb in one layer. Add the lamb, and cook for 1 minute. Stir, and turn the pieces of lamb around for another 15 to 30 seconds. Turn off the heat, and add the raisins, pine nuts, and dressing all at once. Stir for about 15 to 30 seconds to let the dressing heat through.

Pour the contents of the skillet over the greens and red peppers in the large bowl, toss, and serve immediately.

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Roast Leg of Lamb

How easy can you get?

Roast Leg of Lamb

Adapted from From Julia Child's Kitchen by Julia Child

Serves 6 to 8

A 5 to 7 ½ pound leg of lamb

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove as much of the fat from the lamb as you can. The reason this is important is that lamb fat has a low melting point and will start to congeal on the plate at room temperature, accounting for the strong taste that people associate with lamb. It's not the meat; it's the fat. This is different from beef fat, which has a high melting point and makes the meat stay juicy and succulent while you are eating it.

Rub the lamb with the oil and soy sauce.

Place the roast on a rack in a roasting pan. Put the pan in the middle of the preheated oven, and roast for 15 minutes. Baste with oil.

Turn the heat down to 350 degrees, and cook for another hour. Remove the roast from the hot pan, and let stand on a board for 10 minutes before carving.

Leftovers are wonderful made into a lamb salad or turned into a curry.

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Orange Salad - For Bill

This is a good recipe to have on hand in the winter when navel oranges are in season and not much else is. It's bright and vibrant - a good change of pace to uninspiring winter salad greens.

I think Maldon Salt is the best salt to use in salads. If it's too coarse for your taste, you can crush it a little in your fingertips when you add it. This helps release the flavor.

Orange Salad

Adapted from The New York Times 60-Minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey and Craig Claiborne

Serves 2

2 large navel oranges
8 black olives, cut into pieces (use your favorite - I like Cerignola)
1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste (I don't always automatically use pepper in everything, but it's good in this recipe)
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Put the vinegar in a small bowl, add the salt, and let it steep while you proceed with the recipe.

In order to peel oranges so you remove all the pith, cut a slice off the top and a slice off the bottom with a knife. Then stand the orange up on one end, and cut down from top to bottom, curving around the shape of the orange. Go all the way around the orange until the skin and pith are completely removed. Do this carefully on a plate so you can catch any juice that might escape.

Cut the skinned orange into ¼-inch rounds, slicing parallel to the top and bottom slices you removed.

Put the orange slices on a platter and scatter the olives on top.

Whisk the minced garlic, oil, and pepper into the salt-infused vinegar. Pour over the oranges and olives. Sprinkle with parsley.

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Chicken Paprikás

Walter’s mother, Gizi, taught me how to make her chicken paprikás. Her version includes more tomato than most, which I assume reflects how she adapted her cooking after immigrating to the United States in the late 1930s. She never compromised on the paprika, which was always from Hungary—not Hungarian-style paprika. She got hers from Paprikás Weiss; I order mine from Kalustyan’s.

Traditionally, sour cream is stirred into the sauce at the end. I don’t do this because I usually have leftovers, and reheating the dish with sour cream added can make the sauce grainy. Instead, I serve the chicken napped in sauce and pass sour cream at the table for each person to add as they like.

If you prefer the more traditional paprikás, when the chicken is done, turn off the heat, remove the chicken from the sauce, and stir in 2 large tablespoons of sour cream until smooth and incorporated. Do not apply heat. Return the chicken to the pan, coat it with the sauce, and serve.

4 chicken thighs, skin removed (use a paper towel to pull it off)
About 3 tablespoons neutral oil (I use grapeseed)
2 green bell peppers, cut into strips (red or yellow can be used)
1 large onion, diced
1 14-ounce can tomato sauce*
1 cup broth (chicken or Better Than Bouillon vegetable base)
2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
Salt to taste
Sour cream (see headnote)

*I use a 400g can of Italian tomatoes put through a food mill.

Sauté the onion in the oil until it begins to turn golden—a whisper of gold is good, just shy of browning. Add the paprika and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute to bloom it, taking care that it does not burn.

Turn off the heat and add the tomato sauce to avoid splattering. Pour the broth into the empty can, swirl it around, and add that to the pot as well.

Return the heat to medium, bring the sauce just to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Taste for salt; depending on your tomato sauce and broth, you may not need any.

Slip the chicken into the pan, then scatter the peppers over the top. Do not stir them in at this point. Cover the pan slightly askew and simmer. After 20 minutes, stir gently to make sure nothing is sticking. If the heat is low enough, it shouldn’t be.

Check again after 10 more minutes. If the sauce is not thickening, remove the lid completely, raise the heat slightly, and continue to cook, watching closely, until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. It should have the consistency of heavy cream. After about 45 minutes total cooking time, skim off any accumulated fat.

Serve the chicken napped with the sauce and pass sour cream at the table.

I usually serve this with buttered nokedli (similar to spaetzle), blanched green beans tossed with olive oil and salt, and cucumber salad.

Note: When perusing Culinaria Hungary (Könemann, 1999), I realized there are two popular Hungarian chicken dishes made with sweet paprika and tomato: chicken pörkölt and chicken paprikás. They are nearly identical, except that paprikás includes sour cream stirred into the sauce. Since I make Gizi’s recipe with one small change—serving the sour cream on the side rather than incorporating it into the sauce—it is technically closer to pörkölt. But to me, it will always be paprikás.

Gizi 1937

Orange Sponge Cake

This is one of my go-to desserts. It's a delicious and not overly sweet cake that I found on Chocolate & Zucchini, the lovely blog written by Clothilde Dusoulier.

Clothilde is French and bakes by weight, and I recommend that when you make this cake, you weigh the ingredients too. Just to see if it makes a difference, if you have a scale, measure one cup flour by the scoop-and-level method without compressing the flour, then weigh it and see if it weighs the same 120 grams called for in the directions.

You can eat this cake plain, but my favorite way is with strawberries or raspberries macerated for a short time (30 minutes is fine) with a little sugar and topped with cream softly whipped and lightly flavored with Mathilde Orange Liqueur X.O.  It is softly orange with a slight somewhat caramel flavor, making it good to use as an ingredient and lovely to drink on its own.  You can serve a thimbleful in beautiful small glasses, which makes it quite festive, especially at Christmastime when I like the scent of oranges in the air.

Clothilde calls this cake Le Piège Gateau.

Orange Sponge Cake
Adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

Although this will keep, I like it best on the day that it's made.

1 large pat butter
1 heaping tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan generously with the butter, then coat the pan with a heaping tablespoon of sugar.

For the cake:

120 grams (½ cup plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened (really, really softened but definitely not melted)
120 grams (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
2 large eggs
1 medium organic orange, scrubbed
½ cup of juice from the orange - If there isn't enough from one one orange, juice another one.
120 grams (1 cup) flour
1 tablespoon baking powder (do not decrease this amount, but don't increase it either)
A generous pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter with the sugar,  then add the eggs one by one, and mix after the addition of each egg until completely combined.

Without going into the pith, grate the zest from the entire orange, and add to the bowl.  This is easy if you use the original Microplane grater; one pass over the orange will do it.  Juice the orange, and add ½ cup of juice to the batter.  If you don't have ½ cup of juice from this orange, juice another one or two until you have ½ cup of juice.  Mix until smooth.

Put the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.  Stir with a fork to mix together.  Sift this mixture onto a piece of aluminum foil, and then pick up the foil and fold it into a spout so you can easily pour  it into the mixing bowl.  Whist this mixture into the batter until just combined, and pour into the prepared 9-inch cake pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan.  With my oven 20 minutes is the right amount of time.

Let the cake cool on a rack for ten minutes - but no more than this or the caramel crust the sugar has made which is one of the delights of this cake, will harden and stick to the pan.  Turn onto a serving plate, and let cool completely before serving.

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Extra Rich Brownies

Adapted from La Maison du Chocolat: Transcendent Desserts by the Legendary Chocolatier Robert Linxe

These are very delicious - what I call my adult brownies. They are loaded with nuts, both ground almonds and lots of walnuts. They are best served cold.

Extra Rich Brownies

Adapted from La Maison du Chocolat: Transcendent Desserts by the Legendary Chocolatier Robert Linxe

Makes about 20 small brownies

2-1/2 cups walnut pieces
1/2 pound highest quality bittersweet chocolate
7-1/2 ounces unsalted butter
4 eggs
1/4 cup ground almonds
Scant 1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 9 x9-inch baking pan, and dust the pan with cocoa powder.

Coarsely chop the walnuts. Break the chocolate into pieces, and place the pieces in the top of a double boiler to melt. Do not let the bottom of the double boiler hit the water in the bottom. Add the butter, and stir to blend as the butter melts. Alternatively, do this step in a microwave, but be cautious about overheating it. Once melted set the chocolate aside, away from any heat.

Combine the eggs, ground almonds, and sugar in a separate bowl. Add to the melted chocolate mixture, and stir to blend. Then put the baking soda and flour into yet another bowl, and stir with a fork to combine. Sift this into the chocolate mixture, and blend. Add the walnut pieces, and stir again.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then unmold into a cooling rack. Cool completely, then cut into 2-inch squares. Refrigerate until serving.

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Raised Waffles

Adapted from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987)

Makes about 8 waffles

These waffles are very crisp on the outside and delicate on the inside. They are absolutely scrumptious and easy to make because most of the mixing is done the night before. All you have to do in the morning is add two eggs and a little baking soda before the batter is ready to cook.

I have made these in a regular waffle iron, which Kim Severson of The New York Times recommends for this recipe, and I have also made them in a Belgian-style waffle maker. I prefer them Belgian-style, but that is probably because it is the first way I made them.

I use SAF Red Instant Yeast, so I weigh the amount.*

½ cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (¼ ounce or 7 grams)*
2 cups milk, warmed
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour

Added later:
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon baking soda

The batter will double in volume, so use a bowl large enough to accommodate that.

Put the warm water in the bowl, sprinkle in the yeast, and let stand for 5 minutes to dissolve.

Add the warmed (not hot) milk, melted butter, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth and blended.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature.

Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs. Add the baking soda and stir until well mixed. The batter will be very thin; this is as it should be.

Penne with Balsamic Vinegar and Tomatoes

This recipe is from Marcella's Italian Kitchen. It's not Marcella Hazan's most well-known book, but it is excellent, one of my favorites, and a good addition to your collection.

I'm not fond of balsamic vinegar in salad dressing, but used as a flavor enhancer, as it is here, it can add tremendous, almost elusive, depths of flavor. This dish is really different and wonderful.

If you happen to have very high quality, aged balsamic vinegar, now is the time to use it. I got this vinegar

from DiPalo's at 200 Grand Street, between Mulberry and Mott, a treasure trove of Italian food. If you live in NYC or are visiting, this is definitely worth a visit. If you can't get there, check out their website, DiPalo Selects.

Marie DiPalo with balsamic vinegar and farro

Penne with Balsamic Vinegar and Tomatoes

Adapted from Marcella's Italian Kitchen by Marcella Hazan

Serves 4

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 or 4 cloves garlic, sliced very thin
2 springs fresh rosemary, about 4 to 6 inches long, or 2-1/2 teaspoons dried leaves, chopped
2 14-ounce cans of Italian peeled plum tomatoes or 1 cup of plain homemade tomato sauce

Salt
Black pepper
1 pound penne, cooked in boiling, salted water until very firm to the bite
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Put 2 cups of whole tomatoes, exclusive of their juice, in a bowl. Using your hands, break up the tomatoes. Some juice will come out of the tomatoes. You want to use that juice (as opposed to the juice left behind in the can).

Put the olive oil and garlic into a saute pan or saucier large enough to hold the sauce and the pound of cooked penne. If you're using fresh rosemary, add it now.

Turn the heat under the pan to medium. As soon as the garlic begins to sizzle, add the ingredients from the bowl of tomatoes, and salt to taste. If you are using dried rosemary, which you have chopped, add it now.

Cook the sauce until the oil separates from the tomatoes. This usually takes between 10 and 15 minutes, depending on the liquidity of the tomatoes you start with. Turn off the heat.

While you are making the sauce, you want to cook the penne in lots of boiling salted water timing it so it is al dente - very firm to the bite - at the same time the sauce is done. Drain the penne, and transfer it immediately to the pan containing the sauce.

Turn the heat back on to very low, and toss the pasta with the sauce for about 1 minute.

Turn off the heat again, and make a well in the middle of the pasta. Pour the vinegar into the well, draw the pasta through the sauce, and mix for a few seconds until it's well coated. Add some black pepper and mix again.

Serve at once.

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Mozzarella in Carozza

Sometimes Nanny used to make this for me on Saturday mornings for breakfast. Pepperidge Farm Sandwich Bread works okay, but now that there are so many fabulous artisanal breads available, try any bread you like.

Whenever I have to coat anything with egg, I strain the beaten egg

to make it smooth.

Mozzarella in Carozza

Adapted from The New York Times Cookbook (1961 edition) by Craig Claiborne

Serves 4

8 slices white bread (I usually use Pepperidge Farm Sandwich White)
Flour
4 slices mozzarella, ¼-inch thick
2 eggs, beaten and put through a strainer to make smooth
Oil
Salt

Remove crusts from the bread, but skip this step if you like.

Now this is something I don't normally do - follow a step in a recipe that I don't understand at all. But I have made this recipe for a million years and have always done it this way. Flour the mozzarella lightly (I use Wondra). Place each slice of cheese between 2 slices of bread.

Put oil in a skillet, and heat. (I have always used a light vegetable oil, which now for me would be grapeseed. I imagine in Italy olive oil is used in this dish.)

Dip the sandwiches in the beaten, strained eggs, and fry in the hot oil, turning once, until the bread turns pale gold, and the cheese starts to ooze. Sprinkle lightly with salt, and eat hot.

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Carrot Vichyssoise

On my recommendation in 1974 Bill got Polly a copy of A Treasury of Great Recipes - before I had even met her - and this began many years of cooking and eating together in Atlanta, Mobile, Washington, and New York.

This is elegant and easy. The original recipe calls for chicken or vegetable stock. I always use chicken, but vegetable stock would make it a vegetarian (not vegan) dish.

It's so rich that it would be appropriate to serve it in demitasse cups as a tiny starter.

Carrot Vichyssoise

Adapted from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price

Serves 4 to 6

2 cups peeled and diced baking potatoes
1-1/4 cup sliced carrots
1 leek white part only, sliced*
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
Salt
Shredded raw carrot or minced fresh chives for garnish

Put the potatoes, carrots, leek, and chicken broth into a large saucepan. Heat until the contents of the pan come just to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer until the vegetables are tender - about 25 minutes . Remove the pan from the heat, and let cool for 15 minutes.

Puree the contents of the saucepan in a food processor or blender. If you use a blender, do this step in two batches, half each time, so the soup doesn’t erupt out of the blender. I have never used a hand-held stick blender for this myself, but if it purees perfectly, it could work here.

Refrigerate in a covered bowl until cold. You can hold the soup at this point for one to two days.

Just before serving, stir in the heavy cream, and add salt to taste. Serve icy cold with a topping of shredded raw carrot or minced fresh chives.

*You need to thoroughly clean the leek. First, wash the outside of the leek. Then slice off the green part. Cut the white part of the leek in half all the way down to the root, but don't cut all the way through the root. Spread the leek apart, and clean both halves under running water to remove any accumulated dirt. Once washed, slice off the root end, and cut the two halves of the leek across into half moons.

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Pesto Torta

Adapted from Beyond Parsley: Food for the Senses by the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri (Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri, 1987)

I once made this for one of Walter’s birthday parties, and Marsha took one bite, thought for a second, and looked at me and said, Cream cheese AND butter? That should give you some idea how rich this is.

This recipe can be cut in half. It can also be frozen, so instead of making one large torta, you can make two and freeze one.

Cream Cheese and Butter

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound unsalted butter, room temperature

Beat the softened cream cheese and butter with a spoon until smooth.

Pesto

¼ cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
1 cup fresh spinach, tightly packed
1 cup fresh basil, tightly packed
½ cup fresh parsley
½ teaspoon salt or less
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Sun-dried tomatoes (optional, for decoration)

Roast the pine nuts at 325°F, watching carefully so they do not burn. Alternatively, toast them in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Purée the toasted pine nuts, garlic, spinach, basil, parsley, and salt in a food processor. Add the olive oil and blend. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and butter and pulse briefly, being careful not to overblend.

Torta

Cut an 18-inch square of cheesecloth; moisten it, wring it dry, and use it to line a 6-cup plain or charlotte mold, smoothing it as evenly as possible and draping the excess over the rim. (I once used a flowerpot-shaped glass mold, and it was perfect.) If you are making a half recipe or two smaller tortas, adjust the size of the mold accordingly.

On one piece of wax paper or foil, make six mounds of the cream cheese mixture; on another, make five mounds of the pesto.

Use separate spatulas for the cream cheese mixture and the pesto. Starting with the cheese mixture, spread one mound evenly over the bottom of the mold, extending it to the sides. Top with one mound of pesto and spread evenly. Continue layering in this way, keeping the layers even and extending them to the sides. If your mold is wider and you have fewer layers, that is fine, but always finish with a layer of the cream cheese mixture.

Fold the overhanging cheesecloth over the top and press lightly to compact. Chill for several hours or overnight.

About 30 minutes before serving, gently loosen the torta from the mold but do not remove the cheesecloth. Open the folds to expose the bottom, place a serving dish over it, invert, and then remove the cheesecloth.

If you like, decorate the top with sun-dried tomatoes arranged in a fan shape.

Serve with crackers of your choice (I used to use Carr’s Traditional Water Crackers) and/or thin slices of baguette.

To store, remove the cheesecloth and wrap airtight in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. The torta can also be frozen.

Sweet Potato Puree - For Bill

Adapted from Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook by Alfred Portale

Serves 4





This is really, really good and really, really easy. You can even make it ahead of time and heat it up in the microwave just before serving. You don't even need a mixer to mash the sweet potatoes, they are so soft that a hand masher works. This will become one of your favorite and most useful recipes because it goes with so many dishes, and you can easily increase the amount you make.

4 large sweet potatoes (2 pounds total), a thin slice cut from one end of each potato (to avoid exploding in the oven)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon maple syrup (I like Grade A Dark Amber or even Grade B because they are dark and flavorful)
Coarse salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender when pierced with a cake tester or fork. This will take about 1 hour.

When done, remove the potatoes from the oven, slit them open.

If you are going to serve them quickly, scoop the flesh into a medium saucepan. Add the butter and maple syrup. Mash or stir (because they should be very soft) the potatoes over very low heat until they are smooth, and the butter is incorporated, about 1 minute. Season with salt.

You can keep the potatoes warm for a little while placing the saucepan in a skillet of simmering water over low heat.

If preparing ahead of time, place the flesh in a bowl. Add the butter and maple syrup. Mash or stir the potatoes until the butter is incorporated, and the texture is the way you like it. Cover and set aside.

When ready to heat, put a plate on top of the bowl (because you do not want to heat plastic wrap), and heat for 3 minutes in microwave. Stir again, and serve.

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Pasta Shells with Sausage

Adapted from Marcella's Italian Kitchen by Marcella Hazan

Marcella recommends shell shaped pasta here, and she's right about this - the bits of sausage nestle inside the shells perfectly. I use the shell shape of Faella pasta called Tofe, and I get it online from Gustiamo.

The first time I ever ate this, Tracey and I cooked dinner together at what was then her new house. We sat in her kitchen, which was surrounded by windows on three sides, and it was like sitting in a little treehouse. When we started to eat this pasta , we literally did not say one word. It was so good we were speechless!

Sausage Removed from Casing and Flattened

Pasta Shells with Sausage

½ pound mild pork sausage 
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
⅔ cup canned Italian peeled plum tomatoes, cut coarse, with their juice
¼ cup or a little less of heavy cream
Salt
Black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Enough for 1 pound of pasta shells
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

If the sausage is in a casing, squeeze it out onto a plate. Break the sausage meat into pieces about the size of a walnut and flatten them a little.

Heat a sauté pan or saucier, and two tablespoons of olive oil. Let the oil get hot, and add the nuggets of sausage meat. (If you add the sausage to oil that is already hot, it won't stick.)

After the sausage meat is lightly browned, add the garlic, and cook briefly - for about 30 seconds. You want the garlic to color a little but not brown. Add the tomatoes, stir, and cook at a gentle simmer.

After about 20 minutes, when the fat separates from the other juices and floats free, add the cream, and turn up the heat. If you don't like to use cream, you can add just a tiny amount or leave it out, but a tiny amount does improve the dish. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring frequently until the cream is incorporated and reduced. Add salt. Turn off the heat, and stir in the chopped parsley.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta to the al dente stage. Drain the pasta, add it to the pan the sauce is in, and toss with the sauce. Turn off the heat, and add the freshly grated cheese; toss again, and serve immediately. Let everyone add freshly ground pepper to taste at table, if desired.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers

Peggy, who is from Charleston, South Carolina, is the master of all shrimp dishes.  She introduced me to this dish, which I instantly added to my repertoire. I think you will too. These are delicious.

Grilled Shrimp Skewers

Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Serves 6

2 pounds medium or large shrimp, unshelled weight
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (estimate)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (estimate)
⅔ cup fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs (estimate)
½ teaspoon garlic chopped very fine
2 teaspoons parsley chopped very fine
Sea salt and pepper
Lemon wedges (optional)

Shell the shrimp. I never remove the vein but prefer to leave the shrimp whole, but you can certainly devein them if you prefer. Put the shrimp in a bowl, and add as much oil and as many breadcrumbs as you need to to coat the shrimp lightly but evenly all over. Marcella specifies that you use olive oil and vegetable oil in equal parts; and you might want to try that because she probably has a reason. However, sometimes I only use olive oil and just glug it in until it feels right - enough so when you add the breadcrumbs, they coat the shrimp evenly.

Add the chopped garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper.  Toss thoroughly to coat the shrimp well. It's best if you let them to steep in their coating for 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature, but I have cooked them right away with good results.

Don't be tempted to add lemon juice to the marinade; it will start to cook the shrimp.

I cook these on a preheated electric grill that is part of my stove. If you are going to cook them over charcoal, light the charcoal in time for it to form white ash before cooking. If you are going to cook them on a gas grill, preheat it first.

Skewer the shrimp tightly, curling one end of each shrimp inward so that the skewer goes through the shrimp in three places. This prevents the shrimp from spinning around as you turn the skewer over.

Cook the shrimp close to the source of heat until they have a thin, golden crust. I cook these longer than you might think - usually for a total of 7 minutes.  Even though I don't like my shrimp overcooked - who does? - I have found that undercooking these takes away from the flavor.

Serve piping hot, optionally with lemon wedges.

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Fried Red Peppers

Adapted from Cucina Fresca by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman (Harper & Row, 1985)

Serves 4 to 6

“You will be amazed that so simple a preparation yields such tasty results.”

This is a miracle recipe. Make the peppers while you’re hanging around the kitchen so you can afford to be patient and not hurry them along. The slower they cook without burning, the sweeter they become.

If you make them in advance, be sure to serve them at room temperature, not cold.

I often serve these as a starter with Nanny’s Stuffed Mushrooms and a green bean salad. They are also wonderful on top of asparagus vinaigrette. Margaret likes them with anchovies.

4 to 6 red bell peppers
Olive oil

Cut the tops and bottoms from the peppers. Remove the seeds and white ribs, then cut the peppers into ½-inch vertical slices.

Cover the bottom of a skillet or saucier with a light coating of olive oil and place over medium heat. Add the peppers and stir to coat. When the peppers are hot, reduce the heat to moderate and cook them slowly until very soft with a few browned edges.

Nanny''s Stuffed Mushrooms

Makes as many as you want

These are very, very good. When my mother told me this was how Nanny made them, I was sure she was wrong. She wasn’t. Please read the whole recipe before you start.

Large cultivated white mushrooms (If you can find the very large ones packaged specifically for stuffing, get them.) or cremini mushrooms
Plain dry breadcrumbs (NOT seasoned)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of dried oregano
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and coarsely chop them. Place the chopped stems in a bowl and add plain dry breadcrumbs. The amount of breadcrumbs is scant — about ¼ cup for a large package of mushrooms.

Add a little salt and pepper and a pinch of dried oregano, crushing the oregano with your fingers as you add it.

DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID INGREDIENTS. DO NOT COOK THE STUFFING.

Arrange the mushroom caps open side up in a baking pan. Fill the indentations with the stuffing mixture, which will seem much too dry and will fall out a little. This can be prepared in advance to this point.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil. The mushrooms do not need to be coated with oil.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until sizzling and lightly browned. The amount of time will depend on the size of the mushrooms.

The cook gets to eat all the little crunchy bits in the bottom of the pan.

Chicken & Pear Salad

Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

Serves 4 to 6

The original recipe actually calls for duck,* but I always use chicken. It's a good dish to eat in the summer, especially in the country when we're sitting around the picnic table. I serve a plate of sliced mangoes strewn with blueberries with this salad.

2 chickens roasted and cooled
3 cups wild rice cooked (recipe follows)
1 cup chopped celery
4 scallions, cleaned and cut diagonally into ½-inch pieces
Grated zest of 1 organic orange
Salt
3 ripe but firm eating pears
1 cup lemon juice
½ to 1 cup blueberries
Mango Chutney Dressing (recipe follows)

Roast the chickens the way you usually do, making sure the chicken is cooked all the way through, because who doesn't hate pink chicken. But remember, for this dish it doesn't matter if the skin is as crispy and delicious as you normally like, so you don't have to blast your kitchen with a high-heat roasting method if you don't want to. Also, you don't want to be tempted to eat the chicken as soon as you pull it out of the oven so restrain yourself. Please. I know some of you will want to poach chicken breasts, and they would well here, but the dark meat is so delicious in this recipe, I, personally, would never do that. Cool the chickens completely before proceeding, so, obviously, you can do this step a day in advance, refrigerating the chicken once it cools down.

Toss the cooked wild rice in a mixing bowl with the celery, scallions, and orange zest. Add salt to taste and toss again. Put this mixture on a large platter. Shred the cooked chicken into pieces and salt lightly, tossing it with your fingers to disperse the salt. Strew the chicken over the wild rice mixture on the platter.

If the skin of the pears seems too thick or spotty, peel the pears. Otherwise leave the skin on. Quarter, core, and slice the pears thinly. Put the lemon juice into a bowl, and drop the pear slices into that bowl as you go along, and toss to coat the slices with the pear juice. This will prevent the fruit from begoming brown. Don't do this ahead of time - just do it when you're done with everything else and about to serve the salad, pear by pear until all three pears have been sliced and tossed with lemon juice.

Arrange pear slices in a decorative fan across the top of the duck salad, and serve immediately.

Either pour Mango Chutney Dressing over the top, or serve in a bowl on the side.

*The recipe calls for 2 ducklings, not chickens, cooked medium-rare, so you might want to do ducklings. The recipe says to roast the ducklings at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and at 375 degrees for another 20 to 30 minutes, and, of course, to cook longer if you prefer ducks well done.

Wild Rice

I personally don't find much difference in the taste or texture of cultivated wild rice or real "wild" rice, so use what you prefer.

3 cups light-bodied chicken broth
1 cup wild rice (if really "wild," rinse and pick over for foreign particles)

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Gradually stir in the wild rice. Cover the pan, and simmer until the grain of the rice is tender and moist.  This will take 40 - 50 minutes. All of the broth might not have been absorbed.  See if the rice needs salt, but season carefully because the amount needed, if any, will depend on how much salt was in your chicken broth.

Mango Chutney Dressing

Makes 3 cups

1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I prefer Edmond Fallot Dijon Mustard)
¼ cup blueberry vinegar*
⅓ cup mango chutney
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt
2 cups light vegetable oil

Combine whole egg, egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, chutney, and soy sauce in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Season to taste with salt, and process for 1 minute.

With the motor running, dribble the oil in in a slow, steady stream. When all oil has been incorporated, shut off motor, scrape down sides of processor bowl, taste, and correct for salt.

Transfer dressing to storage container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

*I have actually always used the blueberry vinegar called for in the recipe, hence my addition of blueberries to the plate of mangoes. However, I think you can mess around with what kind of vinegar you use, and if you change this, leave the blueberries in or out as you choose. They are, however, very pretty. But if you try it with raspberry vinegar, which is more readily available than blueberry, you could strew the mangoes with raspberries, and that would be very pretty too.

Print recipe

Open-Face Ice Cream Sandwich

Adapted from Desserts and Sweet Snacks – Rustic Italian Style by Viana La Place

Serves 1

"The combination of bread and ice cream may sound strange, but it is a time-honored custom in Italy" where people eat gelato on brioche for breakfast in the summer. How good is that? Definitely try this; you will be surprised at how delicious it is.

Lemon marmalade
1 slice firm crusty bread
Vanilla ice cream

Spread lemon marmalade, including bits of peel, thinly on the untoasted bread. Then spread your own or the best quality ice cream you can find generously over the marmalade. Eat immediately.

Cauliflower Gratin

Adapted from More Vegetables, Please by Janet Kessel Fletcher (Harlow & Ratner, 1992).

Serves 4

If you think people don’t like cauliflower, make this. You’ll be surprised at how fast it disappears.

¼ cup olive oil
1 medium cauliflower
Salt and pepper
2 cups soft fresh breadcrumbs
¾ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Cut the cauliflower florets from the thick stem, leaving the florets in large pieces. Steam the florets over simmering water for 3 minutes. Essentially, you want to just moisten them, not really cook them, because you are going to finish them in the oven. Cut the large steamed florets into smaller florets.

Liberally oil a baking dish with low sides that is just large enough to hold the cauliflower florets in one flat layer with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange the cauliflower florets in one layer in the baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine the breadcrumbs with the cheese and parsley. With your hands, pat the mixture on the cauliflower, pressing it down. Drizzle the top with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and bake until well browned and crusty, about 30 minutes.

Spaghettini Aglio e Olio - For Bill

Adapted from The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan

Serves 4

Being able to whip up this recipe any time is a good reason to always have a bunch of parsley standing in water in a glass (like a bouquet of flowers) in the refrigerator at all times, as well as really fresh garlic. Sometimes I serve this with an egg fried in olive oil, with the white cooked and the yolk runny, on top of each serving. It's delicious to cut up the egg and mix it in with the pasta. I often use penne instead of spaghettini.

Spaghettini Aglio e Olio
Adapted from The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Guiliano Hazan

1 pound dried, store-bought pasta, spaghettini (thin spaghetti) or penne
1/4 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt

For one pound of pasta, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and all the pasta, stirring until the pasta is submerged.

Put the olive oil and the garlic in a saucier or sauté pan over medium-high heat. As soon as the garlic begins to change color (and this means light gold, not brown), add the parsley, red pepper flakes, and some crunchy Maldon Salt. Stir well, and remove from the heat immediatly.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, return the pan with the sauce in it to a low heat, drain the pasta, and add it to the skillet quickly so that a little of the water is still adhering to the strands. Toss until the pasta is well coated with the sauce, correct for salt and spiciness, and serve at once.

Fresh Margaritas

If you are not already a subscriber to Cook's Illustrated Magazine (which I imagine to be very unlikely), I highly recommend your subscribing to www.cooksillustrated.com because you have access to all the old issues and will have lots of fun checking the site out.

This is a very loose adaptation of a recipe from Cook's Illustrated magazine. This is really, really good; The biggest problem is these margaritas do go down very easily.


Fresh Margaritas
Adapted from the July-August 2000 Issue of Cook's Illustrated Magazine

4 limes, juiced
2 lemons, juiced
1 small orange, juiced
1 cup Reposado tequila (I use Hornitos)
1 cup Triple Sec (I use Bols and never substitute Cointreau)
Glug of Rose's Lime Juice (optional)
Simple syrup*
Salt to rim the glass (optional)

Mix all of the above in a pitcher. Add simple syrup* to taste; the amount you add will depend on how tart the fruit is and on how sweet you like your drink. Remember, the Triple Sec is sweet, and the Rose's Lime has sugar in it too even though it imparts that sweet/sour taste.

At this point, taste a little of the mixture to make sure it's sweet enough - you can always add more simple syrup until you get it right, but you don't want it too sweet.  After all, this is a drink for grown-ups.

In batches (because it won't all fit), shake the above mixture from the pitcher in a metal cocktail shaker filled with ice until the shaker is frosty. Serve over ice cubes in old-fashioned glasses or large wine glasses.

Personally, I do not rim the glasses with salt and never use margarita glasses, but if you must, feel free.

*Simple Syrup

Bring equal amounts of sugar and water to a boil, just until the sugar dissolves. This will keep in a jar in the refrigerator. It's good to have on hand in the summer for iced tea, lemonade, and refreshing cocktails.

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Guiliano Hazan's Tomato & Onion Sauce

Adapted from Every Night Italian by Giuliano Hazan (Scribner, 2000)

This adaptation of his mother Marcella’s famous Tomato and Onion Sauce is better than the sum of its parts. The difference between this and Marcella’s version is that her son thinly slices the onion instead of halving it. A simple change, yes, but one that alters the sauce’s texture and flavor. You’ll probably want both in your repertoire.

Because Italians sauce their pasta very lightly, this is enough for 1 pound of pasta. I like it with spaghetti or rigatoni.

1 cup very thin yellow onion slices
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
One 400g can Italian whole peeled tomatoes, with their juice, crushed with your hands
Salt
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or half Parmigiano and half Pecorino Romano, if you like its sharpness)
Freshly ground black pepper, optional

Put the onion and butter in a sauté pan or saucier over medium-low heat. Sauté the onion slowly—very slowly—until it turns a light caramel color. This will take about 10 to 12 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and season lightly with salt, keeping in mind that you’ll add cheese at the end. Raise the heat slightly so the sauce simmers gently. Cook until the butter begins to separate from the sauce and small pools form on the surface, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring at least 6 quarts of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and immediately toss with the sauce. Mix in the grated cheese and season with pepper, if using. Serve at once.

Cacik (Turkish Cucumber Salad)

Adapted from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson.

We haven't discussed Nigella yet. Nigella is "my girl." I love her recipes; I love her book How to Eat; I love her sense of decadence and fun about food; I love that she doesn't take herself too seriously. If she invited me to come to her house to hang out, I would be there in a split second.
This is a Turkish cucumber salad, which according to Nigella is pronounced "jajek." Make it close to the time you want to serve it otherwise the cucumbers can get watery, and the garlic can get too strong. If you make it a little ahead of time, add the garlic and olive oil just before serving.

Mince the garlic by hand, or use a Microplane grater, whichever you prefer. It's delicious made with Greek full fat yogurt, which is what I always use, but I imagine if the fat police are on your trail, Siggi's Skyr Plain Yogurt would be good too. It'sreally thick and has no fat.

This is expecially good served with grilled or roast lamb, pork, or chicken.

1 small container thick, plain yogurt
1 large cucumber or 3 pickling size
1 teaspoon dried mint
Salt to taste
Leaves from a few sprigs of fresh mint, chopped (plus a few extra for garnish, optional)
1 - 2 cloves garlic, depending on size and intensity
Extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle over

Put the yogurt in a bowl. Peel the cucumber(s), and cut it (them) in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a pointy spoon, and dice the cucumber flesh. Add it to the yogurt, and mix. Stir in the dried mint, salt to taste, and the chopped fresh mint. Add the garlic, and mix it in. Drizzle the top lightly with olive oil. Add some extra mint leaves for garnish if you like.

Coronation Chicken

Adapted from Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret by Jane Garmey (Random House, 1981)

Serves 4 to 6

Coronation Chicken was created for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. It is really a curried chicken salad with a very British combination of mayonnaise, cream, chutney, and curry powder. According to Jane Garmey, during the famously long ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the Queen and her ladies-in-waiting were said to have slipped away briefly for a quick helping.

1 cooked chicken (about 3 pounds cooked chicken), chilled
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
½ cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons ketchup
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons mango chutney
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup heavy cream, whipped

Shred the chicken into bite-sized (but not tiny) pieces and set aside.

Cook the onion in the oil in a saucepan over low heat until soft and translucent but not brown. Add the curry powder and cook for a few minutes. Add the stock, ketchup, lemon juice, and chutney. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes.

Let the mixture cool slightly, then purée it in a blender or food processor. Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely. Fold in the mayonnaise and whipped cream. Chill the sauce.

Arrange the chicken on a serving dish and spoon the sauce over it.

NOTE: The original recipe calls for tomato purée, an older canned tomato product that is now harder to find in American supermarkets. I use ketchup here, which gives the same gentle sweetness and soft tomato note the recipe seems to want.

Creamed Lima Beans

I have a cousin, Bill, who grew up in a small town in Illinois where I, a New York City kid, got to go for my childhood summers. It’s near the Mississippi, which really is mighty, and Bill, his sister Barbara, and I spent many happy and carefree hours on that amazing river. On Sunday mornings we would head out early with a large basket filled with the fried chicken and coleslaw that Aunt Rita had made on Saturday night. Bill and Barbara and I would spend the day boating and swimming and picnicking. Pepsi, not Coke, was the drink of choice, and we were allowed to eat a whole bag of the always-forbidden-in-my-house potato chips.

The fields in the area are rolling and from the plane look like a patchwork quilt. The sky is big. The earth is black and rich and fragrant. There are family-owned pig farms in the area, and the air near those farms is strong and pungent, in a pleasing earthy way. Fried pork chop sandwiches are a regional specialty. The street is called Main, and the Post Office still had a WPA mural painted during the Franklin Roosevelt administration the last time I was there.

I hope it still is.

It is the Midwest of Carl Sandburg and Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln.

My cousins love good food. They grew up eating excellent meals at home because their mother, my Aunt Rita, was a terrific and enthusiastic cook. I always thought Bill (but not Barbara) would like this recipe. I'm sorry I never got to cook it for him.

Recipe Notes: Even if you think you don’t like lima beans, try this. It goes with many things, and everyone loves it. If you make this once, I think you will make it again and again.

Maldon Salt is organic salt that is hand-harvested from the sea on the east coast of England. Instead of being in crystals, it is in beautiful flakes that you pick up and crush with your fingers over your food. I keep it in a small covered bowl on my counter because I use it all the time. I'm sure by now you've discovered Maldon, but if not, now is the time. 

This dish is excellent served with rigatoni topped with what I call Marcella's Miracle Sauce  - her justly famous tomato sauce made only with tomatoes, onion, and butter.  I usually serve them on the same large white dinner plate.  

Creamed Lima Beans

1 package frozen lima beans (Fordhook are best, but baby limas are okay too)
½ pint heavy cream
Salt for water
Maldon Salt to finish

Put the contents of the package of frozen lima beans into a 2-quart pot. Add as much water as you can, leaving room so the water doesn’t boil over. Salt the water lightly. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, and simmer until about the beans are three-quarters of the way done. Taste like you would spaghetti or green beans to check for doneness. Drain the water when there’s just a little resistance to the bite.

Put lima beans back in the pan and add the heavy cream. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook at a steady simmer until the cream thickens into a sauce.

If you keep cooking, the cream will essentially “disappear” and coat the beans like butter. Don’t go this far. You really want them creamy. Add Maldon Sea Salt to taste by picking it up in your hand and crushing it a little as you sprinkle it on the beans.

An added bonus to this dish is that leftovers (if you have any) can be made into a delicious puree.

Just heat the leftovers in the microwave for one minute to loosen slightly. Then put into a food processor, and run while adding more cream until the puree reaches the desired consistency. Then put the puree into a bowl, and heat in the microwave. I assume if you put the puree through a tamis - or strainer - it would become silken rather than just smooth, but I have never bother to do that.

Leftover Lima Beans in Cream Turned Into Puree