Recipes

(in no particular order and rhyme or reason....guess you'll just have to browse)

Join our NING site and your recipes can be posted here too!! It's easy, unobtrusive and fun!

Clean peppers, steam or let stand for about 5 minutes in boiling water. Do not cook.

In a large kettle, brown salt pork or bacon until crispy and rendered. Remove pieces leaving drippings. Brown the flour in drippings. Pour in tomato juice and broth, salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle in crushed red pepper. Let simmer while preparing stuffing for peppers. Combine meat, cooled rice, egg, onion, salt, pepper, crushed garlic. If desired, add diced bacon or discard. Mix thoroughly and stuff the peppers. If there is any of the meat stuffing leftover, shape into balls and place in juice to cook. Place peppers, meat balls (if any) and peeled whole potatoes in the juice mixture. Cook about 1 ½ - 2 hours over medium heat or until potatoes and peppers are done. Potatoes and peppers should be firm but easily poked through with a fork. If juice mixture is too thick add more broth or tomato juice. Spoon juice/broth mixture over cooked peppers and potatoes when serving.

Patrick asked me the other day if I ever cooked some of the "comfort" foods from our past. I know he does. Usually I don't, though often I make something that refers to some of those dishes, but I unconsciously update with flavors, herbs, etc. that are more part of my current cooking style. I do cook cagoots on occasion in the summer when ingredients from my own garden are fresh. And I've made shrimp creole once or twice. (You can see these and more great family recipes in our book "How I Taught My Brother To
Cook".) Anyway, while I was talking to Pat, I remembered escalloped potatoes with pork sausage patties. I don't remember my mother's recipe, but I bet this recipe would work just fine:

Peel and slice some potatoes thin.
Layer them in a buttered casserole, putting dabs of butter, salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of flour between each layer.
After you've used about half the potato slices:
Mix some ground pork with lots of pepper, maybe some sage, and some salt, and shape into patties. Brown them well.
Insert the patties into the casserole and then continue layering the potatoes, flour, etc.
Pour some whole milk into the casserole to just cover the potatoes.
Cover with some foil and bake.
When the potatoes are almost done, remove the foil and let brown.
The milk/flour combination should thicken nicely during cooking.
The thing I remember most about this dish is the pepperiness of the sausage.

CAGOOTS (From Johnny)

Fresh Romanesco zucchini and Roma tomatoes from the garden, boiling potatoes, onion, fresh basil, fresh parsley, fresh nepotella, garlic, chicken stock (water is OK).

Cut all vegetables roughly into large-ish chunks. Chop garlic and herbs finely.
Sweat onion in olive oil.
Add potato and brown lightly.
Add zucchini and brown lightly.
Add tomato and herbs and stir.
Add water or broth to cover vegetables.
Cover partially and simmer until everything is tender and fragrant.
Eat with bread.

Everywhere in this world that you go that has a seashore, you'll find the local version of fish soup. This one is from the Tuscan coastal town of Livorno. One thing just about all seafood soups have in common is that they're peasant fisherman style concoctions - they had to sell the more expensive sea creatures to the restaurants and rich people - and they therefore contain lesser appealing fish (not in flavor, but in appearance) and had to use just about every scrap.

Ingredients: tomatoes and/or tomato paste, red wine vinegar, onion, garlic parsley, broth (fish, chicken, and/or beef), fish carcasses or whole gutted fish (of the lighter/non-oily fleshed variety), any other seafood that you like (e.g. scallops, shrimp, chunks of a good cod, halibut, clams, mussels, etc.), hot pepper flakes, stale bread.

Put all the contents of the pot through a food mill into another pot, a couple of ladles at a time, emptying the bones, skin, etc. into the garbage each time.

Return the broth to a simmer. Taste for seasonings (and it should be somewhat hot - i.e. spicy).

Add the seafood to the simmering broth and cook only a few minutes until barely cooked though. (if you're doing clams, etc. you may want to steam them separately in some white wine and garlic until they're open.

Follow Patrick's "Meatballs ya' Bastard" recipe, except eliminate the fennel seed from the meatballs, and add either mint or nepitella.
Shape lightly into say golf ball sized balls.
Bake in oven until browned but not totally cooked through.
In the meantime make a light sauce of sweated onion, tomato puree, garlic, basil, and parsley. (if you want you can ad some mint or nepitella to the sauce, too)
Add meatballs to sauce and cook through.
Cook spaghetti, drain and put in a large serving bowl.
Pour over sauce and meatballs.
As our Grampa Napoleone would have done, the server (Grampa or the cook), gives each person just enough for the first serving to ensure they can eat it all. If they can, they get a little more.
Each person can grate some parmigiano if they want.

Ingredients: Yellow cornmeal, saffron, white wine, egg yolk, sugar, flour.

Mix a cup of flour, a cup of cornmeal, a half cup of sugar together.
Stir in beaten egg yolk, a cup of white wine, and some crushed saffron.
Stir until all is well incorporated and smooth. It should be a slightly thick batter. Add wine as necessary.
Put into a smallish, rectangular buttered loaf type baking pan. Samll enough so that the batter is at least an inch or more deep in the pan.
Bake for about an hour in a medium oven.

Traditionally, confectioner's sugar is sprinkled over as a topping, once the cake is cooled and um-molded.
I like to pour over some kind of sauce, like maybe some berries stewed with sugar, and cooled

In most Mediterranean areas some sort of red pepper, eggplant, zucchini, tomato casserole is a summer staple. Odori are usually garlic and parsley. Here's one that I made up that kinda takes from a grilled vegetable "Napoleon" I learned from Eric Vedel, a little of the "soul" of my mother's cagoots, the Provecal classic of Julia Child's book, and the rendition created by a rat in the movie "Ratatouille".

I only use smallish eggplant (Italian are best), small zucchini (Romanesco are best), fresh tomatoes, red bell peppers, fresh parsley, garlic, and a little lemon juice.

Make a vinaigrette of salt, lemon juice, pureed garlic, Dijon, and olive oil. (and some powdered cumin if you want)
Slice eggplant and zucchini very thin (I mean very thin) the length of the vegetable.
Dry roast the slices on a ridged (or flat if that's all you have) heavy cast iron skillet.
Roast peppers and peel. Slice into strips.
Grate whole tomatoes against a cheese grater, and stew the puree with some sweated onion, and chopped garlic and parsley.
Chop some extra parsley.
Creating individual sandwiches, alternate the peppers, zucchini, and eggplant brushing each layer with the vinaigrette and some chopped parsley.
Spread some of the tomato sauce over the bottom of a baking dish.
Place the sandwiches on the sauce.
Drizzle some more sauce over the sandwiches.
Tent the dish with parchment or foil and bake until everything is well-heated through and sauce starts to simmer.
Remove from oven and let cool slightly or to room temp.
Drizzle some more vinaigrette over and sprinkle a little more parsley.
Each person gets a sandwich and a little extra sauce.

This not a spicy dish, and should not get any grated cheese. It should be light and have the aroma of the grilled vegetables. I prefer it at room temp. In the hot climes that this dish comes from, the summers are hot enough. The food shouldn't be.

This improvisation combines the new and old worlds, two universes that many of us (including Pat and me) inhabit - "culinarily". Succotash is quite probably an American Indian dish combing corn and beans, that the early European settlers adopted as a summertime food staple. The gratin part is notably a French style of making casseroles using cheese and cream sauces. I think that this idea can also be migrated to "macaroni and cheese" type dishes, whereby non-traditional cheeses and flavorings can be used instead of the American classic versions.

Ingredients: Onions, string beans (of any color, bush or pole), butter, milk, cheese (I used Ementhaler and sharp cheddar), flour, fresh corn on the cob, garlic and anchovies.

Sweat the onions, garlic and anchovies in oil and butter. Anchovies will "melt" and infuse with the other ingredients.
Make a balsamella (basic white sauce or béchamel) with flour, butter, and milk. (I simmered the milk with some thyme sprigs, dry mustard, and bay leaf before straining and whisking it into the cooked flour and butter) and when the sauce thickens, stir in grated cheeses until smooth.
Strip kernels from cob using a sharp heavy knife.
Roughly chop beans.
Blanch beans and corn together until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain well.
Make a layer of the onions on the bottom of a casserole
Salt and pepper the corn and beans and spread them evenly over the onions.
Pour the sauce over evenly, and let it seep into the vegetables by shaking the casserole or working in with a spoon.
Bake in a medium/hot oven for about half an hour until the top starts to brown nicely.
Remove from oven and let rest and cool slightly before serving.

I saw some fresh fennel at the farmers' market and had just bought some fresh Coho salmon at my favorite grocery store. Got home and the two seemed destined for each other. I've often poached salmon in a court bullion, or seared it and brushed with a vinagrette, but this new method my be my favorite. It was an instant hit with guests - especially the kids.

Ingredients: Fresh wild salmon fillets with skin intact, fresh fennel bulb, onion, white wine.

Saute sliced onion and fennel lightly in olive oil and butter.
Add a little white wine, but not so much that it covers the vegetables.
Place salmon fillets flesh side down (skin side up) on vegetables.
Cover and braise just enough to barely cook salmon through.
Invert the salmon fillets onto a serving platter and strew the vegetables on top.
Add some pepper and a little salt.

Our mother always talked about beans and greens (obviously an Italian peasant dish) but I never actually remember her making them for us. But like the polenta spread on the table she ate when she was a kid, this was one of those things that she remembered fondly from her past. I've made this up using what is probably a Tuscan (not an Abbruzzese) bean style recipe, and some chard from our garden (rather than 'scarole which my mother recalls eating).

Ingredients: Greens, dried white beans, pancetta, olive oil, carrot, garlic, broth.

Blanch the greens, drain, plunge into cold water, drain again.
Saute chopped garlic, carrot and pancetta in oil.
Add soaked and drained beans, and broth.
Simmer until beans are tender, adding broth as necessary to reach a final consistency that is a little thick, but not too thick. (sometimes Tuscans puree all or some of the beans and add them back to the soup for a creamier consistency)
Saute the drained greens in some oil with chopped garlic, and add a few drops of lemon if you want.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with greens.
Add some fresh pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

It's said that Marco Polo brought noodles back from Asia to Italy hundreds of years ago. I'll go with that myth, for the purpose of naming this concoction. I dreamed it up because I had some soba (fresh buckwheat noodles) in my fridge from my Asian market, and a whole bag of limes I'd picked up at Trader Joe's that were going to waste (one can only drink so many Margeuritas). Just to show how we combine our Italian peasant roots with Asian peasant roots.

Ingredients: Fresh buckwheat noodles, fresh lime juice, hot chilies, Thai fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic, peanut butter.

Cook noodles and drain.
Combine chopped garlic and all the other ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Add more of whatever you think it needs to hit a flavor you like, and a pourable consistency.
Pour over the noodles in a serving bowl and mix.
Sprinkle some green onion on top if you like, and pass some lime wedges for a few extra squirts for each serving.

Nancy sprinkled some seeds from a packet into my green been raised bet when I wasn't looking, and up popped what she said were some kind of Asian style green. Well, i cam eup with something to go with Marco Polo Noodles, that's what!

Ingredients: Some kind of "Asian" noodles, hot shillies, soy sauce, canola oil, sesameoil, garlic.

Blanch the greens in boiling water, drain, plunge into cold water, and drain again.
Add some canola oil to saute pan, and a few drops of sesame oil.
Warm up oil and add slit chillies and chopped garlic. Saute a a minute or so.
Add greens and warm through.
Add some soy sauce and serve.

I only eat shrimp, yellow lake perch and canned tuna as far as seafood goes but it was my wife's birthday and family "law" dictates that the birthday person gets the meal of their choice. Since she lives for seafood, this was her logical choice...UGH! So, I bought my ingredients and concocted this dish using various Italian recipes for reference and came up with this. Needless to say, I did NOT taste it but the wife loved it so I guess it turned out fine.

Sauté your aromatics (chopped coarsely), celery, onion, carrot and some whole garlic along with some peppercorns, salt and lemon thyme in some olive oil in a big stock pot. Add a WHOLE non-oily white fish (in this case I used a red snapper) that has been gutted and scales and gills removed. Cover with cold water and simmer for a couple hours. The fish will fall apart. Strain the stock through a coarse sieve to remove all the solids then strain the stock again through cheese cloth or a very fine sieve. Set aside.

Rinse the stock pot out and now add olive oil, garlic and white wine. Heat to cook off the alcohol and start adding your seafood ingredients. In this case I used mussels, clams, lobster tail, scallops, shrimp and cod. Put the stuff that requires longer cooking in first and the other stuff at the end. Add a little of the fish stock and let simmer until all is done.

Ladle the seafood into bowls with some fish stock and start eating. I served this with homemade bread.

Sloppy Joes was one of my earliest creations (going back, say, 35-40 years) as a kid and I still make it today about 4-5 times a year.

The recipe:
about 1 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped up
1 stalk of celery chopped up
about 1/4 cup brown sugar
about 1 cup ketchup (or canned tomatoes)
about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp DRY mustard
some Worcestershire sauce
juice of about 1/2 lemon
small dash of cumin or chili powder
salt & pepper
olive oil

Sauté the celery & onion in the oil. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Spoon off excess fat. Add the rest of the ingredients and slow simmer for about 1/2 to 1 hour (the longer the better), stirring around every so often as needed. Leave the top off the pan and let it reduce to your desired thickness. Serve with Cole Slaw ON the sandwich or on the side.

The name of this interesting dish is actually derived from the Italian word for "whore". The flavor speaks for itself. Earthy, pungent, sensuous, and salty.

Ingredients: Chopped tomatoes (or tomato puree, or tomato paste), garlic, capers, un-pitted black imported olives, anchovies (packed in salt are best), parsley, hot chili peppers, spaghetti.

Warm up quite a bit of olive oil (this should also be a fairly oily concoction) in a skillet or sauce pan and add chopped garlic and anchovy fillets.
Stir until anchovies disintegrate. Do not fry or burn the garlic or anchovies.
Add chili pepper flakes and briefly saute.
If using tomato paste, stir it in and cook it for a few minutes. Then add water and stir until you reach a saucy consistency.
If using tomatoes, add to oil, stir and simmer until it becomes a nice sauce.
Slice meat off olives, chop roughly and add to pan.
Drain capers and add.
Continue to simmer while you boil the spaghetti.
Drain pasta and put back into pasta cooking pot.
Dump sauce into pasta pot and combine the sauce and pasta well.
Let it all simmer together very slowly, stirring until everything is well blended.
Stir in some fresh chopped parsley just before serving. Do not add cheese to this dish!
This is a dish that should taste quite salty. You don't have to eat it that often, so don't worry about your blood pressure for once.

I use one large leek and one red pepper and a clove of garlic. Sautee until soft (in cask iron skillet). I whisked 4 eggs with, let's say, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and added that and stirred it around and added chives and tarragon. Smoothed out the top and sprinkled goat cheese. Put in oven for 15 minutes or so to set and brown the top.

Put some peppers on your grill and cook until skins are well charred. Remove to a bowl to cool covered with plastic wrap. Once cooled enough to handle, remove the skins which should peel away very easily and remove the core and seeds. Do not do this process under running water as it will wash away wonderful cooked flavors of the peppers. Use the peppers however you wish.

Ravioli con erbette e' ricotta: This is basically a classic from the region of Emelia-Romagna (the Italian district just north of Tuscany). We know about the cooking of Sicily and Calabria because just about all immigrants to America came from these regions. Pasta puttanesca, pasta with sardines and pine nuts, mozzarella cheese, and so on. And the region of Tuscany because that has become the ""nouvelle" Italian cooking of America because of it's simplicity and dare I say, trendiness, in the last 20 years or so. Bistecca alla Fiorentina, cannellini beans, tortellini and so on. But many would call Emelia-Romagna the seat of Italian "high-cuisine". It was the birthplace of French high-cuisine when Catherine de Medici took its recipes to Paris. It is a dairy region and it's use of cream, butter, and parmigiano cheese is legendary. Not to mention prosciutto di Parma. This style of cooking is just a little too "fatty" for current Anerican tastes, much the way French style cuisine is not the rage here in the States.

Ingredients: Flour, eggs, chard, butter, sage leaves, parmigiano, nutmeg, ricotta, breadcrumbs.

Melt a lot of fresh butter in a skillet and briefly sauté some fresh sage leaves - chopped or whole. Reserve and keep warm.
Mix well drained ricotta, cooked and chopped and well drained chard, fresh ground nutmeg, beaten egg, grated Parmigiano, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
Prepare fresh pasta.
Prepare ravioli using a mold or some kind of "cookie cutter" like a glass for example. Seal edges well.
Simmer ravioli in a shallow pan until they float.
Remove with a slotted spoon and place on serving plates.
Spoon sage butter over the ravioli.
Add some grated parmigiano and pepper.
Soak up butter sauce with bread.

The people of this region drink almost exclusively wine called Lambrusco. It is normally a little "frizzante" and cuts the creamy, buttery sauces of the region with it's lightness and sparkle. It's hard to find good selections of the wine here, because it is not the Chianti or Barolos that we prefer.

Ravioli all ossobuco: As far as I know this is an improv on my part, and I'm proud of it. I used leftover lamb shank ossobuco as a basis for the filling, and the braising liquid reduction as a sauce.

Ingredients: Leftover lamb ossobuco and it's braising liquid. Flour, eggs, Parmigiano.

Grind up the leftover ossobuco meat with a food processor or meat grinder.
Mix it with some beaten egg, breadcrumbs, and parmigiano.
Make fresh pasta.
Make ravioli.
Simmer in a shallow pan.
While preparing ravioli, boil down braising liquid to a thick reduction.
Lift ravioli from water with slotted spoon and place in serving dishes.
Spoon some reduction over the ravioli.
Add some fresh grated parmigiano and pepper.

These baked beans were purchased at a local small store's deli counter before we headed out fishing as kids with out father. The store made their own baked beans and were ideal for the bean sandwiches we would make and take for our fishing trip lunch. I recreated this from memory based on sight and texture and taste...without any knowledge of how they were actually made. These do taste just like the baked beans we got over 30 years ago so I guess I "done good".

Great Northern or cannellini or similar white beans, meaty pork or ham bones, bay leaves, salt, pepper, celery, onion, molasses, olive oil and water.

Soak the beans over night. Boil them with the meat bones, bay leaves and some oil for about an hour. Drain but reserve some of the liquid.

In a heavy cast iron pot with lid, sauté the minced onion and celery in the oil. Add the drained beans (meat and bones removed). Add a splash of molasses, salt and pepper and stir. Add some of the reserved water so the beans have some liquid to simmer in. Cover and put in 300 degree oven. Check every 15 minutes or so to stir and see if you need to add more reserve water. Cook until beans are VERY tender with the top slightly ajar to let the liquid cook off and the mixture to reduce to a thick consistency. (no al dente here), Remove from oven and eat warm or let let cook completely in the refrigerator for sandwiches.

I am not allowed to cook often (touch the stove) so this was a rare treat. This is zucchini from the garden (of course). We only grow the Italian zucchini (of course). The type is Romanesco and has raised ridges. It is not as prolific (a good thing) as regular green zucchini and has a much nicer, nuttier flavor.

So I cut them in half, scooped out the pulp with a spoon and diced it with garlic, shallots, hot pepper and carrots. Added various herbs, basil and mint. Sauteed in a little bit of olive oil. I like the low fat approach. De glazed with a little white wine. Then added some bread crumbs, a duck egg (I am allergic to chicken eggs), some cheese and stuffed the scooped out shelled. Put on a jellyroll pan with some water and put in a hot oven. Baked for a while. It was really good.

Used the recipe for Pane di Napoleone but changed the flour to a super fine high gluten flour ONLY.

Ingredients: Beets, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil.

Boil unboiled beets until just barely tender in the middle. (leave a little of the greens on to prevent colot leaching)
Cool in cold water and rub skins off.
Quarter and slice.
Boil balsamic vinegar down by about 75% - until thick and syrupy.
Cool syrup a little, piur over beets, and mix.
Sprinkle with shredded basil.

This reduction is also good on fresh fruit such as strawberries, peaches etc.
Also very good on fritatte.
The improvisation is to try it with other foods that thrill to the complement of a slightly sweet but tangy glaze.

I've heard a million different variations on the theme of people's favorite store-bought or home made barbecue marinade/sauce. So this may be one of the leading candidates (along with pizza, ravioli, or soup) for the most improvise-able food. For myself, I never buy store concoctions - and I never make the same thing twice. I always just make something up at the last minute. The cooking technique is the important thing. Here's one I did for Labor Day weekend 2007, with a few friends over. One, a self-described "wing expert" thought my version was pretty great and asked how I did it. The sauce worked for both the wings and the ribs, as well as the whole grilled fish.

Braising sauce ingredients: Soy sauce, a southeast Asian (Indonesian maybe) hot chili and garlic paste.
Basting sauce ingredients: Soy sauce, maple syrup, Mexican chipotle sauce (hot).

Meat: Baby back ribs (cut into say 6" serving size lenghts), chicken wings (wing tips removed and frozen for broth, and rest of wing cut in two at the joint)

Braising: Line bottom of two cookie sheets (ones with raised edges) with foil.
Place ribs in one layer on one sheet, and wings in one layer on the other.
Pour braising sauce over both trays.
Seal both trays with another layer of foil.
Place in a slowish (say about 250F) oven for a few hours.

Light a charcoal grill, and when coals are hot, push them to the sides and place braised ribs in center, for indirect cooking.
Brush with basting sauce.
Put cover on grill with vents open top and bottom.
Cook until will browned or blackened as you like them, turning once or twice.
Place ribs back on a clean sheet of foil, cover with another sheet, and put back in a warm oven.
Add some fresh charcoal to the embers, and do the same procedure with the wings, placing them between clean sheets of foil in the oven when done.

Fresh heirloom tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. Unpeeled small red boiling potatoes, boiled and cut into quarters and cooled, drizzled with some dry vermouth and some fresh lemon vinagrette, and topped with some fresh scallions. Fresh, bright green cured olives.

Braised, covered in a skillet with a little water, dry vermouth, bay, and fresh thyme, and butter. When tender, cover is removed and water boiled away leaving a nice butter sauce. Brown slightly if you wish.

Basting sauce ingredients: Soy sauce, maple syrup, Mexican chipotle sauce (hot).

Whole striped bass (gutted and scaled with head left on)

Light a charcoal grill, and when coals are hot, push them to the sides and place braised ribs in center, for indirect cooking.
Brush with basting sauce.
Put cover on grill with vents open top and bottom.
Cook blackened as you like them, turning once, basting with sauce.
When bass is done, place on the table and eat.

I never stop experimenting with fish - especially fresh local salmon and tuna, because they're both so plentiful and affordable here in the NW. This little rendition is quite good, and the strong glaze does not overpower the distinctive flavors of either salmon or tuna

Ingredients: Fresh, wild salmon fillets; balsamic vinegar, brown sugar

Simmer balsamic and a pinch of sugar down to a glaze in a skillet
Place fillets skin side up in skillet
Pan roast for a couple of minutes, then flip fillets over
Put pan in a hot oven to finish
Inside of fillet should be barely cooked - even a little undercooked - and remain moist (nothing worse than over-cooked salmon or tuna)

I served this with a little sweet mango chutney

This is a slight improv on a traditional Sicilian recipe. The original recipe is call Pasta alla Norma, didn't use zucchini, and used feta cheese.

Ingredients: Perciatelli, fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion, fresh basil, a small Italian eggplant, small zucchini, pecorino.

Crate fresh tomatoes on a cheese grater
Saute onion and garlic in oil
Add tomato puree and basil, and simmer into a sauce.
Cut zucchini into thick rounds and eggplant into french fry size pieces.
Fry each in a separate pan with olive oil, so the flavors don't mingle.
Cook and drain pasta.
Mix sauce into pasta.
Top with zucchini and eggplant.
Grate pecorino over.

This is derived from what our father used to make known as Pepper Steak. He would take a London Broil cut, coat both sides in fresh crushed black pepper and broiled it. After which he would add cooking sherry to the drippings in the hot pan and reduce the liquid for a great juice to dunk bread in. Since I rarely broil steak (and never use cooking sherry) but rather grill it I created this version for the juice.

Fry the trimmings in the little oil and render the fat as well as juices from the meat. Add wine and reduce. Pour through fine strainer to remove solids. Serve with plenty of fresh baked Pane di Napoleone.

1 pound of great northern/navy beans, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves, salt & pepper and ham pieces or bones.

Soak the beans over night. Rinse the next day and let drain. Chop up onion, celery, carrots and sauté in some olive oil. add the beans, ham pieces/ham bones and bay leaves. Cover with cold water and add S&P. bring to boil and simmer slowly for a few hours until beans are softened and soup as become slightly thickish.

NOTES: Use about 2 each of carrots, celery and onion plus 2 bay leaves. As it cooks mash some beans against the side of the pot. This will act as a thickener. Stir frequently. If the ham bones don't have sufficient meant to pull off to add to the soup for eating after cooking then you can add ham pieces usually found in the meat section of the store that are typically "ends" leftover from the deli department. A small ham steak can also be used. Be sure to cut up the meat into small chunks.

Ingredients: Small pumpkin, cooked or canned cannellini, fresh rosemary, garlic, hot chili, lemon juice, bread

Split the pumpkin, scrape out the seeds, and roast cut side down on some foil
Scrape pumpkin flesh into food processor.
Put cannellini into processor
Add chopped fresh rosemary
puree garlic in lemon juice and salt - then add half to processor
puree
put into saucepan and add enough chicken broth to make soup the consistency you like
blanch kale until tender, drain and plunge into cold water (this keeps the kale bright green)
drain and chop kale finely
finely chop chili and add to kale
add rest of garlic and mix well
toast slices of old bread
heat soup
put a crouton in each bowl
ladle soup over crouton
dollop on the chopped kale
salt and pepper to taste
drizzle on some olive oil

Ingredients: White flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, honey, salt, anchovies, onions, garlic, un-pitted olives.

Make no-knead dough using 2 parts white to 1 part whole wheat flour.
Slice onions thin and saute them (in olive oil).
Add chopped garlic and anchovies.
Saute gently until anchovies "melt" into the onions.
Slice tomatoes thin (drain them if the have too much juice.)
Make pizzas about 9 - 10 inches wide each.
Spread onion mixture on pizza,
Cover with a layer of tomatoes.
Strew some olives on (not canned olives).
Bake on a stone in the hottest oven you can reach until will crisped around the edges.

3" of prime aged porterhose (4#) dry-brined for an extra week with kosher salt.
Grilled over hot mesquite coals until well-blackened and very, very rare inside.
Throw some seas salt on the finished steak, and a grind or two of pepper.
Slice vertically across the grain

Patrick invited me to Christmas dinner at his house, and told me to come prepared to cook. I brought an idea and a few flavors, part of the point being to contribute to the table something that could be a vegetarian entree alternative to the featured roast beef for me, and a side dish for everyone else. Using a basic recipe that I think I first found in a Deborah Madison book, but which is easily adapted to any ingredients on hand, I whipped up a gratin of rice and lentils with winter squash and Swiss chard. Brown rice and lentils can evoke the worst of vegetarian cooking-- wholesome and earnest but bland to the point of monkishness. With this dish I like to thumb my nose at the stereotype by creating something rich and intense, that happens to be totally nutritious. For this occasion, I made something very classic-American-comfort-food, but you could easily take this dish in a more exotic direction.

Simmer a cup of brown rice and one-half-cup of lentils in 3 cups of dilute vegetable broth for thirty minutes. Don't overcook, because you'll have to be able to toss them with other ingredients without smushing. Take a small (or half a large) buttercup squash (AKA Kabocha), which have a deeper flavor than the more usual butternut, and peel, dice and steam it until tender but still firm-- it'll have to be tossed without smushing too. Wash some chard leaves (or other tender greens), and blanch, steam or sauté briefly. Now make a béchamel sauce using your favorite method with some chopped onion and one-and-a-half cups of milk. When nicely thickened, melt in about a scant cup of shredded cheese, something with a little bite-- I used some aged Swiss and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and some a little sage and nutmeg. Stir in the greens so they're well-lubricated. Throw everything in a large mixing bowl and stir/toss until just combined, and pile it in a casserole. Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until a little browned on top.

Substitute white rice (maybe leftover from Chinese takeout?) instead of brown, toasted nuts instead of lentils for more crunch, and any one or two vegetables. Mushrooms would be nice. Other herbs and spices, other cheeses.

Ingredients: One rack of lamb, broccoli, sweet potato, thyme, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, butter, white wine.

Rub lamb with chopped garlic and fresh rosemary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place in baking dish.
Sprinkle remaining rosemary and garlic over rack and and bottom of dish. Drizzle some oil over the whole thing.
Roast in a hot oven until done to your taste. I prefer rare. Put on serving platter and pour some roasting juice over.
Slice into individual chops at the table.
I like a little Dijon mustard as a condiment.

Half crowns of broccoli and place cut side down in a skillet.
Add some oil and butter to pan.
Add salt and pepper and little water and/or wine.
Cover and steam until done to your liking. I like it a little crunchy and before it loses its bright green color.
Remove cover and reduce liquid, and pour over broccoli on serving dish.

Peel and slice a large sweet potato.
Melt some butter in a baking dish.
Overlap slices in a baking dish.
Sprinkle on chopped fresh thyme, salt and pepper.
Sprinkle on some olive oil.
Add a little wine to dish.
Put in oven until potato slices are caramelized and the edges well browned.

Ingredients: A firm non-oily fish fillet (like cod), parsley, chilies, tomatoes (canned - diced or crushed), garlic, onion, star anise.

- Saute' the onion, garlic, and chilies in some olive oil

- Add tomatoes and star anise and cook until the tomatoes are done (20 minutes or so)

- Add chunked up fish fillet and parsley just a few minutes before serving.

Good served over rice with a braised green on the side

Ingredients: Corn (canned, frozen, or fresh), white (or pinto) beans (canned or dried), tomatoes (fresh or canned), onion, garlic, cilantro, paprika (or chipotle chili powder), cinnamon, cloves, cumin seed, oregano, pumpkin or winter squash (fresh or canned - not pumpkin pie filling).

Soak beans over-night (drain and rinse). Put in pot with fresh water and cook until tender.
Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds, and roast cut side down in the oven. Scoop out cooked flesh and puree.
Dry toast cumin, oregano, cloves, and crushed cinnamon stick in skillet. Grind.
Sweat chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.
Grate fresh tomatoes on cheese grater.
Add cooked beans and their cooking water, tomato puree, corn, spices, paprika (or chipotle).
Simmer until all flavors and ingredients are well blended.
Using a hand blender lightly puree the mixture, but keep it slightly chunky. (or puree some of the mixture in a blender and add back to pot)

Garnish with some cilantro.

Obviously the Quick Fix version uses canned corn, beans, pumpkin, and tomatoes. Toasting and grinding the spices is not necessary - instead you can use these in powdered form right out of the bottles. The slow cooking method (including toasting the spices) with fresh roasted pumpkin, and slow-cooked beans with fresh tomatoes has a richer flavor, but the quick version is just as satisfying.

One head of red cabbage, 1/2 C cider vinegar, 1/2 C sugar, 1/2 C water, 1 Tsp salt, some flour

Slice up the cabbage and remove the core. heat the vinegar, sugar and water in pan. Add the cabbage and cook for about 15 minutes. Mix some flour and water together and add a little at a time to the cabbage to thicken as desired. Goes well with a beef dish.

Most (certainly not all) paellas contain some sort of seafood, or meat (usually chicken or rabbit), or sausage (pork - usually chorizo). Also some chicken or fish broth, saffron, onion, garlic, and tomato. And of course arborio (risotto style) rice. Often you see some artichoke hearts and some bell pepper. Paella was cooked in the fields where farmers worked, over a fire in a large flat pan.

I used octopus, fresh hot chili pepper, chicken broth, canned tomatoes, frozen artichoke hearts, saffron, onion, garlic, parsley, and arborio.

Simmer the octopus (whole or the tentacles) in well salted water for an hour. Drain and cool. Cut tentacles (and the head if you wish) into bite size pieces.
Saute onion in olive oil in a large flat pan. Add some garlic and the chili pepper.
Add arborio and stir to coat and heat through.
Add octopus and brown slightly.
Add artichokes and brown slightly.
Add tomato, broth, and saffron.
Stir to mix everything up and then let simmer until the rice is al dente, the broth is absorbed, and the rice crusts on the bottom.
Sprinkle with some parsley and serve.

Ingredients: raw potatoes (cubed small), ham bone with meat, onions (chopped), bay leaf, butter, parsley, pepper, flour, olive oil, water

Boil the ham bone in some water with bay leaves. *the ham used is generally left over from another meal, such as Easter or whatever and you should remove whatever good meat prior to boiling which you will use later. Sauté onion in some butter & olive oil. Add cubed ham and sauté some more. Add some flour to form a rue. Begin adding strained ham bone water to achieve a thickish chowder/soup consistency. Add the potatoes, parsley and pepper. let simmer, covered until the potatoes are tender. Serve.