We lived in Miami Beach for a couple of years when I was in the 7^th and 8^th grade. I remember the morning Mom and Dad told us we were moving to Florida. We lived in a small 2-bedroom house on Avalon Avenue in Charlotte, NC. It was only a few blocks from my Grandparents, Gracie and Speedy. For maybe the 10^th or 11^th time in our young lives, we were moving, and we were excited. BEACHES, are you kidding me! We’re going to live in Miami Beach! My brother and I were thinking, “hey, we’re going on permanent summer vacation!” Of course, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Before we moved, Dad invited some neighbors over and made this dish for everyone. He had several variations on it and I’m sharing the one I think I remember best. He also made this for John Hertz Jr. The son of the founder of Hertz Rental Cars. Mr. Hertz owned a huge mansion in Miami and hired my Dad away from the Fountainebleau Hotel because he had this dish at the hotel one night. Well, the old king of rental cars decided he would have the Chef at his house. That’s a whole ‘nother story.

I remember all the Oooo’s and Ahhhhh’s when Dad brought this dish to the table on a huge platter. It was heaped high and steaming. The presentation was awesome, and it smelled wonderful. Of course, the kitchen was a disaster, and my Mom didn’t join us right away. Dad always said that “Great Chefs don’t clean, they create!” My Mom always responded, “You might be a great Chef at the restaurant, but here, you’re just a damned cook. Clean up after yourself!” Of course, he didn’t, so Mom always did as much as she could before sitting down. She didn’t want to face all the pots, pans and dishes after a great meal. Sometimes she would wink at us, and whisper, “The mess is worth it. But don’t tell your Dad I said that.”

This recipe will serve 6 to 8 people, fewer if you eat like me!

Prep time:  30 minutes – 1 hour depending on the shrimp you buy

Cooking time: 40 – 60 minutes

Ingredients

1lb – shrimp, peeled, deveined, tailed

7C – chicken broth, maybe 7 1/2 C

2C – Arborio rice, must be constantly stirred when cooking.

1 1/2C – Parmesan cheese

1C – Italian parsley, chopped

1 – small, sweet onion, finely chopped

4 – garlic cloves, finely chopped or mined

8oz – tomato sauce or purée, canned, I prefer Cento.

1/2C – white wine, dry

Olive Oil – My favorite olive oil comes from The Natural Olive in Hickory, NC. It’s an awesome shop to visit. The aromas, when you walk in, will transport to you. If you can’t visit, they do ship. Check them out at www.naturalolivehickory.com

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Making The Magic

Start warming your broth in a pot, over low heat.

In a large pan add about 2T olive oil, heat to Medium. Drop in a 1T of butter, melt and swirl in the pan to mix the oil and the butter. Lay your shrimp in the pan and cook on one side then flip to the other, just getting the shrimp pink and cooked through. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and stir in about 5 to 6T of the tomato sauce. Enough to thoroughly coat the shrimp, not swimming in it. Lower the heat to warm and cover. Don’t want them to continue cooking, just keep them warm.

In a large sauté pan, pot or Dutch oven, melt 2T of butter at Medium heat. When the butter starts to sizzle, drop in the onions and the garlic. When the onions are soft and just start to brown up, add the rice. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly (you might as well get used to stirring) making sure the rice is well coated.

Next, pour in the white wine. WHAT, you drank it already! Okay, get more, and pour in ½ C of dry white wine. Continue cooking the rice. Stir, stir, stir. Scrape the bottom of the pot to make sure nothing is sticking at this point. Reduce the heat a little and continue cooking until the wine is gone. NO, not by you drinking it!

When the last of the wine is absorbed and cooked into the rice, start ladling your heated broth into the pot. Continue stirring as you add one ladle at a time, letting the liquid almost disappear before you add the next one. Repeat, over and over again. This is a gradual process that is the essence of risotto’s creaminess and making its own sauce. The starches are slowly released with each ladle of broth and it slowly builds throughout the process. Stir, stir, stir. I know it’s hard, but you are given permission to use the other hand to pour yourself another glass of wine and enjoy. It’s a lot of work and it will take about 15 to 20 minutes. It’s like Tom Hanks says in the movie, A League of Their Own, “Baseball is supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it.” Well, great Risotto is supposed to be hard….  You want a gentle simmer during this process, not a hard boil.

You may, or may not, add all the broth. Start sampling the rice after 10 or 12 minutes. It will be a little crunchy. Keep testing it and you’ll know the rice is done when its like porridge, gruel if you grew up in an orphanage, and a little bit chewy. When you reach that point, turn off the heat and have a sip of wine.

Right away (after the sip of wine) stir in the grated parmesan cheese and up to 3 or 4T of the remaining tomato sauce. Add a little bit at a time. If you add too much tomato sauce it will make your beautifully hand-crafted risotto soupy. Stop when you like the texture and the flavor. The tang of the tomato sauce will blend beautifully with the Parmesan. Stir in about half of your chopped parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

Plate this dish right away. For a beautiful presentation, use a spatula or large serving spoon to create a spiral swirl in the plated risotto. Then, drizzle in a thin line, a small amount of the remaining tomato sauce in a spiral on top of the risotto. You can use a small pastry bag and tip to get the right effect. Top the risotto with your shrimp. Sprinkle everything with the remaining parsley.

Wines we love with this…

Wines have become a subjective thing when it comes to preferences and what dishes to pair them with. We tend to favor whites in the summer and reds in the winter, but we don’t restrict our choices because of the temperature. I like to imagine the flavors and acidity of the wines, compared to the same things in the dishes. That comes from experience, so thirty years ago I sort of followed the conventional wisdoms. My point is, drink what you like. Just enjoy it!

Riesling

Moscato (yes a sweet wine with dinner! It’s allowed!)

Chardonnay

Frascati

Rosé

Variations to keep it new….

If you make this so often that you need to do variations, you’ve got a lot of patience and love to share with your friends!

Scallops, sautéed in butter and black pepper are awesome with this dish. Don’t add the tomato sauce to the scallops when cooking.

Tilapia, sea bass or orange roughy is perfectly matched for this dish. Broiled, sautéed or grilled, definitely not fried. Do not add the tomato sauce to the fish when cooking.

If you feel like splurging, steamed lobster is incredible. It’s also very rich and the combination of the risotto Adriatica and lobster will leave you STUFFED! Tomato sauce added to the lobster is optional.

Buon Appetito miei cari!

Here’s a question – Is there a special dish or meal that triggers a favorite memory for you? What is it and when’s the last time you shared it with people you are close to?

There are times when leftovers kind of pile up in the fridge and there’s just so much soup you can make with leftovers. Another thing I like to put together is a hearty breakfast bowl that can hold you all day long, even if you’re active all day. There are lots of variations and I’ll bet you can come up with some awesome ideas yourself. This recipe uses some ingredients we frequently have, but don’t hesitate to try your own combinations.

The first time I did this one, I was sitting in the sunroom on a Sunday morning, just getting into my second cup of coffee, when this idea sprang into my head. I was thinking about a small restaurant that was our favorite place for breakfast in Raleigh, NC back in the early 90’s. We went there on Sunday mornings, along with half the city of Raleigh. I think the name is Brigs, Great Beginnings. The breakfasts there were awesome, and we frequently met up with close friends. There was a bustle and buzz throughout the dining room. It always took a while to get your food. We shared stories with each other about the week or since the last time we saw each other, sipped coffee, and felt the warming rays of the sun streaming through the large windows all around the restaurant. The anticipation just added to the growing appetite and by the time I’m thinking, “I’m starving, where’s my food”, our server was bringing out the breakfast skillets we had ordered. I can still taste the flavor combinations. 

So inspired, I came up with my own dish and I hope you’ll enjoy this variation yourself. This will serve two with a hearty appetite.

Prep Time: 10 minutes. Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Leftover veggies from my Comfort Baked Chicken

½ lb Bacon

2 Sandwich sized slices American cheese

2 Sandwich sized slices of Swiss cheese

4 Eggs

4 T Butter

3 T Oliver Oil

1 Chopped green onion

Salt

Pepper

Making The Magic

Slowly pan fry the bacon until crispy throughout. I like to put the strips of bacon in the pan and heat to Medium High. After I have a sizzle going, I like to reduce the heat to Medium or less. Cook it slow, have patience. I usually flip the strips two or three times during the cooking, just to be sure they are cooked thoroughly and evenly. Once the bacon is done, remove it and place it on a paper towel to soak up the excess grease. As it cools, it should become stiff and crispy.

In the same pan, add 1 T of the butter to the bacon grease on Medium High. As the butter starts to sizzle, drop the leftover veggies into the hot pan. When the pan comes back up to temperature, it will be sizzling again, lower the temp slightly. You want the veggies to develop a crust, or at least dark brown, but not burn. DO NOT stir or turn the veggies until the browning or crusting has started. 10 minutes is usually enough time, then turn the veggies and brown on the other side.

When the veggies are almost done, in another pan or skillet, melt 2 T of butter and add 1 T of Olive Oil. Once hot, cook your eggs to taste, over easy, over medium, sunny side up, whatever makes your mouth water. I like the yokes runny, so they mix with the rest of the dish when I cut into them. Just before the eggs are done, turn the heat off.

Plate your cooked veggies in a large soup bowl, wide and shallow. Lay a slice of the Swiss and the American cheese over the veggies. Crumble the bacon over the top of the cheese. Add the eggs to the top of the pile. Salt and Pepper to taste. Finish it off with the chopped green onions.

Variations To Keep It New

The possibilities are limitless with this dish. Here are some of the alternative ingredients that I’ve used to change the flavor and texture of this meal.

Thinly sliced steak, crumbled sausage, avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, hash browns, potatoes O’brian, feta cheese, cheddar cheese, Italian seasoning. Mix and match to your own taste!

Breakfast Drinks Anyone

Bloody Marys, made with Zing-Zang are great with this.

Also, Mimosas are good.

Share what you come up with so we can all try it. As Julia always used to say “Bon Appetit”. And we like to say in the south, “Bon Appetit Ya’ll”.

I love making this dish because it is so easy and has a tangy zest. This recipe is a little different than most because I cut the chicken into bitesize pieces. The smaller pieces have more of the lemon sauce and every bite burst with flavor.

This recipe is for four, but it’s easy to scale up or down. Like with any recipe, easy or complicated, it’s always better if you measure, prep and stage all your ingredients before you start to cook.

One of my fondest memories around this dish is tied to an annual high school reunion I attend almost every year in October. Missed the one in 2020 and probably will in 2021 because of COVID, but I can enjoy the meal and think of the people I’m missing. Yes, I did say annual. It’s a reunion that’s been going on for more than a decade and includes all the classes of the 1960’s from two rival high schools in Charlotte, NC. Harding High (Go Rams) and West Mecklenburg High. Around 350 people show up for the long weekend every year. One year, I made this dish for six of us sharing a condo we rented for the weekend. I think we finished 6 bottles of wine that night! Sharing stories about the year since we last saw each other and catching up on the good and the bad. It seemed to get easier as each bottle of wine emptied. As I sat there watching everyone talking, laughing, it dawned on me that I had known these people most of my life, since the age of 6 or 7. I never would have imagined back then I would be making a meal for all of us more than 60 years later. It was hard to hold back the tears as I thought of how very fortunate I was, we all were, to still have each other.

Prep time: 20 minutes. – Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 – boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 C – chicken stock

1/3 C – lemon juice

½ C – capers, drained

½ C – white wine (nothing sweet)

¼ C – grated Parmesan cheese

½ C – all-purpose flour

¼ C – olive oil

3 T – butter

Garlic salt pepper mix

Angel Hair pasta (Substitute whatever pasta you like, but remember this is a delicate sauce and thicker, heavier pastas will dilute the flavor of the pan sauce and chicken.)

Making The Magic

Butterfly the chicken breasts, cutting them all the way through. You should end up with 4 halves. Take each half, one at a time, lay them on a cutting board and cover them with piece of cling film (plastic wrap). Use a small plate and use the edge of the plate to lightly pound the chicken breast on one side, flip it and do the second side. Not too hard. You don’t want to pound all the way through the chicken, and you don’t want to break the plate! This process breaks down the connective tissue and creates crannies for the seasoning and the sauce.

Slowly preheat a large pan, nonstick or stainless is best, with the olive oil and butter. While the butter is melting do the following step. Don’t overheat the butter. You don’t want it to brown. Once the butter melts, swirl the pan to let the oil and butter mix. 

Once the halves are tenderized, season them with garlic salt pepper mix. Slice at an angle, into bite-size pieces, and put them into a container to toss with the flower. Add the flour and coat the chicken. Drop the coated pieces into your preheated pan with the olive oil and butter.

Cook the chicken until lightly browned. Turn each piece and brown on the second side. You may need to add more olive oil.

When the chicken is browned, remove it from the oil and set aside. Pour in the chicken stock and scrape the brown bits left in the pan until all the leavings are mixed into the stock. Add the capers and stir in. Add the lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Add the white wine and stir in. Let the sauce simmer and return the chicken to the pan. Be sure each piece is covered with the sauce in the pan. Cook down until the sauce starts to thicken.

While the chicken simmers, cook your pasta. Angel hair cooks in 4 minutes. Some pastas take as much a 18 minutes, so time it accordingly. Hint: Don’t use too much water. Most folks think more water in huge pots is better. When your pasta is cooked, drain and plate the pasta.

Spoon the chicken and piccata sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle Parmesan over the plated dish, if desired.

Variations to keep it new

I’ve added Lion’s Mane Mushrooms for some different texture and flavor. You can also add canned mushrooms, drained.

Top with chopped green onions, just a few.

Sprinkle some raisins over the top. The combination of the lemon sauce and the sweet raisins really changes the flavor.

Wines we love with this

Pinot Grigio

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Leftovers

There is seldom any leftover, but if you do have some, it is great to just simply reheat in the microwave. I usually reheat things at power level 8 and no more than 2 minutes at a time, until hot.

Question

What would you think of adding pine nuts to this dish?