I don’t know if you’ve ever tried or experienced “Sizzle Plate Cooking”, but it is awesome. Some very dear friends, Grace and Garth Pearce, introduced us to the technique about 10 years ago, perhaps a little less. Anyway, it does take some special kitchen equipment, which was gifted to us by the Pearces and we have enjoyed using it many times over these last years.

It always reminds me of the visits the Pearces would make when we were living in SE Georgia, near the coast. During one of those visits, the Pearces brought the sizzle plates and the wooden platters, absolutely necessary when serving, for the four of us. Sizzle plates can be used for all sorts of dishes. The secret to success and slicing and preparing all your ingredients ahead of time. One the cooking process begins, it goes in stages and is fairly fast. If you have smoke alarms in the kitchen, I would recommend having a fan nearby. You’ll be cooking at very high heat and releasing that heat and smoke every time you open the oven door.

One of the real advantages of sizzle plate cooking is the food stays warm throughout the meal. You just need to be careful not to touch the cast iron sizzle plates when they are placed in front of you at the table. If you’ve ever been to a Chili’s Restaurant or any place that serves Fajitas, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

This cooking method is fun and entertaining when your guests are in the kitchen. You can imagine all sorts of meat and veggie or just vegetarian dishes that can be prepared with this method. Just be sure that you keep your slices of veggies and meats, fairly consistent in thickness so that all will cook quickly and finish at the same time.

If you decide to invest in a set of sizzle plates, you can get them at Amazon, of course and I think they are also available at the Bed, Bath and Beyond. Some non-chain, local cooking shops also carry them. Be sure to follow the instructions for seasoning the plates before you use them the first time. Just like a cast iron skillet, you don’t want to “over clean” them.

Having shared with you one of my recipes for a Boston Butt on the rotisserie I thought it might be fun to share how we use some of the leftover pork. You can use either sliced or chopped pork. In this recipe I use chopped.

This recipe serves 2 and can be adjusted, depending on how many sizzle plates you have. If you have the extra rack and a convection oven, you can do 6 sizzle plates at once.

Pre time : 30 mins – Cook time : 15 to 20 mins

Ingredients

A cold glass of Sangria or a Spanish red of Chef’s choice

Large Flour Tortillas

1/2lb – Cooked, chopped pork

1/2 – Fresh tomato, diced small

1/2 – Lrg sweet oinion, thin sliced

1 – Red Bell pepper, or Yellow

1 – Shallot, chopped

1C – Sour cream

1 can – Old El Paso refried beans

1C – Rice

1T – Turmeric

Fajita Seasoning from Lindberg-Snider

1 Jar of your favorite Salsa

Making The Magic

Place your seasoned sizzle plates in the oven and heat to 450° while doing the rest of your prep.

Slowly heat the refried beans. I always like to add 1T of Bacon grease for seasoning. You can also use Olive Oil.

Mix the turmeric, salt to taste, chopped shallot, appropriate amount of water and rice. Begin cooking. I love using the InstaPot to make rice. I dump all the ingredients into the pot, turn it on and forget about it until I’m ready to serve it. It’s an awesome kitchen tool.

Now that the rice and beans are going and the sizzle plates are heating in the oven, prep the veggies and pork.

Slice the Red Pepper and Onion into 1/4″ slices. Coat with a small amount of Olive Oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Season the chopped pork with the Lindberg-Snider Fajita rub/seasoning.

Place the onions and Peppers onto the hot sizzle plate in equal portions. Close the oven door and cook for about 3 minutes.

Open the door and turn or flip the veggies. Then add the pork to the sizzle plate. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

Open the oven door and turn the onions, peppers and pork. Close the oven door and cook for about 2 minutes.

When the cooking is done, it’s ready to serve! No need to plate this since it cooks on it’s own plate! Don’t forget to use the wood platter that go under the sizzle plates.

Heat your flour tortillas if you like them warm. Plate the refried beans and rice. I love shredded cheese on top of the beans.

Build your own Fajita and enjoy the flavor explosion!

Variations To Keep It New

Sliced pork also works, but cut into strips. Steak strip or chicken strips also work great. Precooked, chopped bacon can be added to any of these meats, or can be the only meat. Sliced avocado is awesome. Guacamole is sensational, especially when mixed with the fresh tomatoes and sour cream. There are so many variations on this you could eat them every day and never grow tired of them.

Wines We Love With This

Merlot or Chianti or Sangria

Beer! is our favorite

Leftovers

Depending on what ingredients you have leftover, I really like taking everything and making a hash that you can heat and serve with scrambled eggs and hash browns. Another breakfast favorite is making the hash, scrambled eggs and creating some breakfast burritos!

Saludos y cervezas! ¡Come rico y disfruta!

Finding a good Marinara in a jar can be a real time saver when it’s one of the ingredients in your recipe. I found two that I like. Barilla and Classico make excellent sauces, but they both are a little sweeter than I prefer. Far less so than most of the others I’ve tried. So, when I want a basic Marinara, without any sweetness, and especially when it is the main dish that’s being served, I make my own.

I learned this one from my father, Ralph. He was a trained Chef, learning his profession before WW2, serving in the Merchant Marines. Dad used to tell us great stories about his travels in the Merchant Marines, but not so much about the war. He would talk about it from time to time, if we asked questions.

Dad loved cooking. With his skills, and my Mother being the best Southern cook I’ve ever known, well, I grew up thinking everyone ate that way. It wasn’t until later in life that I began to really appreciate the food we had in our home and the skill with which it was prepared. Dad had several variations on this sauce. He changed it, depending on what he would be using it for. This was his “stand alone” sauce, made to be served over pasta, as the main ingredient of the dish. This was my Grandmother’s favorite sauce, which my Dad taught her to make when he and my Mother were dating in Charlotte, NC. How a boy from New York ended up in Charlotte is a wonderful story.

Dad served in the Atlantic crossings during WW2, as part of the convoys that took troops and material to Europe. He made more than a dozen trips. When Germany surrendered, he volunteered to do the same in the Pacific, until Japan surrendered. My mother’s first husband, Tracy, died in France during the war. They had a quick “war time” marriage just before he shipped out, and Mom decided to volunteer for work in a munitions factory in California. At the end of the war my Dad was given a train ticket and told he had to report back to New York, his “Home Port” station. My Mom quit her job and decided to go home, back to Charlotte.

As my Dad boarded the train, he noticed a young woman struggling to get aboard with her luggage. Mom had a cast on her leg and there were no “Red Caps” or porters around to help. Dad jumped off and helped her, introducing himself, and as he put it, “falling in love the moment he looked into her eyes”. Mom always tells the story that he “pestered” her all the way across the country, insisting on having his meals with her, following her from one car to another, but also being very charming and “almost” irresistible. Mom got off the train in Charlotte, saying goodbye to my Dad before they arrived at the station. A Porter and Red Caps helped her with the luggage and she made it to the platform, only to turn around and bump directly into my Dad. Mom said he a “huge grin” on his face. When she asked, “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you had to be in New York!” Dad just shook his head. “Nope”, he said, “I’m staying in Charlotte until you marry me”. And he did, and they did, and that’s why me and my brother are here!

I heard this story for the first time, at least that I remember it, while the two of them were in the kitchen and Dad was making this sauce. That didn’t happen very often because they were both “kitchen sergeants” and usually got in each other’s way. It was special when they did share the cooking though. I don’t think of this story every time I make the Marinara, but I do think of it, and I love telling it, because it’s the kind of thing you hear and see in the movies!

This recipe will make about 8 to 10 servings. I’ve added meatballs to this meal, but I add those to the sauce I’m going to use for the evening’s meal, not to the entire pot of Marinara.

Prep time: 15 min. – Cook time: at least 1 hour

Ingredients

1 – Glass red wine for the Chef, I had Merlot this evening

1 – Lrg Can Tomatoes, whole, peeled

2 – Lrg Cans Tomatoes, Crushed, I prefer Cento because they are Italian tomatoes and I love the flavor.

2 – Onions, medium, finely chopped

5 – 6 Garlic cloves, halved lengthwise

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2C – White wine, dry

Oregano, dried

Parsley, dried

Salt, to taste

Black Pepper, to taste

Pasta of you choice

Making The Magic

If you haven’t had your first sip of wine, I’m going to stop until you do…..

Okay, Start with a large pot on the stove and begin to heat about 4-5T of olive oil to medium heat.

Finely chop your onions and set aside. Next, peel the garlic. The easiest way is to place the flat of your knife on top of the clove and whack it gently. The peel will pop open and you’ll be able to pull the clove out of the peel. Don’t worry if it’s slightly crushed. Now, slice the garlic cloves into halves and set aside.

When the oil is hot, you should be able to smell the aroma of the olive oil rising from the pot or see the oil beginning to swirl in the pot, drop in one piece of the halved garlic. Does it sizzle? If it does, drop in the rest of the garlic and immediately reduce the heat to medium low. You want the garlic to brown slowly. It will begin to release it’s oils and will change as it cooks in the oil. The oil will absorb the garlic flavors and the garlic will change from a pungent flavor to a slightly sweet and creamy texture.

Just as the garlic starts to brown, ever so slightly, drop in the chopped onions. Swirl them together and let the new flavors begin to bloom in the oil as the chemical reaction between the garlic, olive oil and onions transforms them into little pearls of soft, savory, flavor.

When all of it is softened and the garlic has browned a little more, use your hands and gently crush and squeeze the whole tomatoes into the pot. Do it gently or you’ll end up getting splattered with tomato juice. Stir this thoroughly into the simmering onions and garlic.

When it’s fully blended, add a little salt and pepper and blend it into the mixture.

Take another sip of wine…..thank you.

Next add the two cans of crushed tomatoes and blend together. I use this combination to make the sauce a little thicker,

Now add a “handful” of oregano and a “handful” of parsley by filling one palm with the dried herbs and then rubbing your hands together and spreading it over the sauce. Take a deep sniff of your palms when you do this. You’ll love the aromas that are released as a result of your crushing the dried leaves between your palms. Mmmmm-mmmm that smells so good! Blend everything thoroughly.

Finally, add salt and pepper to taste and 1/2C dry white wine and blend again.

Cover and simmer for at least an hour. I usually allow 3 to 4 hours, because the longer this simmers the more intense the flavors will become. I would recommend tasting this as it simmers, every 30 minutes or so and decide if you want to add more salt.

For this meal I added meatballs after the sauce had simmered about 4 hours. I took out the portion I wanted to serve that evening and pout it into another, smaller sauce pan. I then added the meat balls to that sauce pan and let it simmer together for another 20 to 30 minutes.

While the meatballs were simmering in the sauce, I put on the pasta. We had Linguini with this. I also fixed a loaf of bread from Aldi’s to “sop” up the sauce.

When it was all ready, it was on the plate and to the table in two heartbeats. By the time it was ready, and I had been smelling it for several hours, I couldn’t wait to dive in!

Variations To Keep It New

This sauce is so versatile. Take the serving portions from the pot, or if it’s leftover and frozen in serving sizes, try these additions:

Red, Pepper Flakes

Italian Sausage

Meat Balls

Chopped Black Olives

Wines We Love With This

Merlot

Chianti

Valpolicella

Any red that’s medium bodied and doesn’t fight the spiciness of the sauce.

Leftovers

I always make enough to have leftovers. Freeze this sauce in one or two serving size portions. Then you can take out the portions you need and add anything you want, like sausage or meatballs.

Momma Mia, that makes my stomach so happy! Eat, enjoy!

Question

How did your parents meet? Do they have a favorite meal?

This is one of Suzanne’s all time favorite comfort foods. For many years, whenever we went out to an Italian Restaurant, I could always predict that Suzanne would order Chicken Parmigiana. It was a given, especially if we had a hard day and weren’t in the mood for trying something new, Suzanne ordered Chicken Parmigiana to help heal the battle wounds of the day. We’ve tried lots of variations in lots of places, so I had many examples to draw from when I came up with my own recipe. I probably did a dozen variations myself, but this is the one I’ve settled on, and the one that Suzanne seems to like best. I’ve added a secret little ingredient that changes the texture and the flavor, just a little. Unfortunately, Suzanne never asks to go out to an Italian restaurant anymore.

This recipe is for two. It’s easy and can be scaled up. I’m using a jarred sauce, Barilla Tomato, Onion and Basil, but I also like my own Marinara sauce. I just didn’t happen to have any when I made this. I usually make a couple gallons of Marinara and freeze it in two serving containers, between 2 1/2 to 3 cups, so I have it for these kinds of recipes. When we lived on our boat, Carolina, I had very limited freezer space, so I looked for and found two brands that have become my favorite pre-made sauces, Barilla and Classico. Easy to find and delicious to use.

Prep time: 20 minutes. – Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

A glass of wine for the Chef!

2 – Chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, butterflied

3C – Tomato sauce, homemade or your favorited jarred sauce

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 – Egg

1/2C – Flour, all purpose

1C – Italian Breadcrumbs

3/4C – Mozarella, shredded

1/3C – Parmigiana, shredded

3/4C – Parmigiana, grated

2 – Swiss cheese slices

Pasta – your choice, I used Barilla Thin Spaghetti this night.

Making The Magic

Start with butterflying your chicken breasts, ending up with 4 halves. Once cut, lay each one out on a cutting board, cover with plastic cling film and tenderize. I like using the side of a small plate to tenderize most meats.

Prepare your egg dip by beating the egg thoroughly in a shallow bowl.

Preheat the Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a large skillet, medium. Add a little butter if you like. While the oil is heating, get your chicken breasts ready.

Start heating your tomato sauce as well. You’ll be using this to assemble the Chicken Parmigiana, and for your pasta.

Preheat your oven to 400°.

Dredge each half of the chicken breast in flour. Coat it thoroughly and then knock off any excess flour. Next coat the flour dredged chicken with the beaten egg. When coated with the egg, thoroughly coat the chicken with the Italian breadcrumbs. Now the chicken is ready for the hot oil.

Place the chicken in the hot oil, reduce the heat if it splatters. Let the chicken fry in the oil so that it develops a crispy exterior. You want the chicken breasts to be golden brown when they are finished cooking in the oil. Usually about 4 minutes per side.

When they are browned on each side, remove from the pan and place them into a baking dish. The two extra chicken breast halves were unseasoned and made for Bandit, our pooch. He always gets a little something extra on top of his dry food every night, but almost never table scraps, unless it’s a tiny bit of leftover meat from someone’s plate.

Cover the top of each chicken breast with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.

On top of the tomato sauce begin to layer the cheeses and some additional tomato sauce. Start by spreading the shredded Mozzarella, then the shredded Parmigiana, and top that with the sliced Swiss. I know, some of you are saying, “what is he thinking!” I added this to my recipe because it adds a slight nuttiness to the flavor blend, and additional stringiness to the texture.

Top the Swiss cheese with about 1/4 cup of Tomato sauce. Finally, top all this with the grated Parmigiana.

Pop the baking dish into your preheated, 400° oven, and bake while you get your pasta ready, or at least 15 minutes. The baking will melt all the cheeses, and the flavors will blend and bloom inside that baking dish.

Get your pasta going and when there’s just a few minutes left on the pasta, switch the oven to broil. This will brown the top of the Parmigiana nicely. Just don’t leave it too long, or you’ll burn the top of your beautiful Chicken Parmigiana. It will still taste great though!

When the Parmigiana has browned to the color you like, turn off the broiler and remove the dish from the oven. Let it rest while you drain your pasta and plate it.

Once the pasta is plated, ladle a generous portion of your sauce over the pasta. Then use a large spatula and remove each chicken breast from the baking dish, plating it next to the pasta. Oh Mama Mia, this is so Delizioso! Your tastebuds, and everyone you serve this to, will remember the loving care and delight that went into this dish.

Variations To Keep It New

Replace the sliced Swiss cheese with sliced Mozzarella. Add a little red wine to the sauce. No too much or it will become too runny. Just enough for the red wine to bloom in the sauce and start to release it’s aroma.

Wine We Love With This

Merlot

Chianti

Valpolicella

Bardolino

Leftovers

I have to admit, that doesn’t happen often. When I have had leftovers I’ve reheated the chicken along with some additional sauce and just made fresh pasta.

“La vita e bella con greta cibo e famiglia!”

Question

Would anyone be interested in a recipe for Veal Parmigiana?

I love Cuban food and two of our favorite restaurants when we lived in Tampa, FL was the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. For the life of me, I cannot remember the name of the other one. I do remember the bread though. It was a dark bread that was not too dense, had an incredible flavor and perfect crust surrounding a soft warm interior. They brought this bread to the table almost as soon as you sat down. I think we went to this place about 6 or 7 times during the couple of years we lived in Tampa. Our dearest friends, Bob and Cecy Zaffuto went with us a number of times and I remember being introduced to Picadillo at this place. It was awesome! Combined with the bread, I couldn’t stop eating it. The only thing that did stop me was the fact that my plate was empty.

Although we lived in Tampa only a short time, I met two of my best friends living there, Dan Trammell and Bob Zaffuto. We worked together, played together, drank together, and ate together often. You can’t break bread with people that often and not come to cherish and love them. I miss both Bob and Dan, but I have this dish to help me remember them now.

Thanks to a more recent, and very dear friend, Ashley Cooper-Heath, I was reminded of this recipe when she responded to my post on Palomilla Steak. She asked me to put up a recipe for Picadillo. I honestly had forgotten that I ever had this until Ashley asked for the recipe. We didn’t experience a lot of Cuban cuisine once we moved away from Tampa. That was back in 1980 and 1981. In any case, THANK YOU Ashley Cooper-Heath for reminding me of this incredible Cuban dish.

This recipe will serve 4 and you can easily stretch it to 6, with some side dishes. There are lots of variations, but this is my favorite and the one I remember having for the first time in Tampa.

Pre time: 25 minutes. – Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 – 2 Glasses of the Chef’s favorite red or white

Extra Light Olive Oil

1 – Garlic clove, minced when you add it to pan

1 – Onion, small, chopped

1/2 – Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1lb – Ground Beef, lean

6 -10 Green Olives, Pitted and quartered

1/2C – Raisins

1T – Capers

8oz – Tomato sauce

1T – Cumin, ground

1t – white sugar

2 packets – Sazon Seasoning (I use Goya for convenience) about 3oz

Salt to taste

White rice – Use your favorite

Making the Magic

Start your rice cooking while you prepare the rest of this recipe. Making 2 cups of rice will serve 6 people. We use an Instapot to cook rice all the time. It’s so easy and always gets it right.

Once you have or while you are prepping your onion, bell pepper and garlic, preheat about 2T of Extra Light Olive Oil in a large pan. When the oil starts to swirl in the pan, add the onions and bell pepper, then the garlic, mincing it into the pan. If you mince the garlic and let it sit, it will develop a much stronger flavor. Stir the bell pepper, onion, and garlic in the oil, cooking it over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the veggies are softened. The garlic will start to bloom in the hot oil, combining with the onions and bell pepper. Salt to taste.

Push the veggies to the edge of the pan and crumble the Ground Beef into the center of the pan. As the Ground Beef starts to brown, stir and mix it together with the veggies. Cook thoroughly, about 7 to 10 minutes. Salt to taste.

Now you have your base prepared, it’s time to create the magic in the pan.

Stir in the olives and raisins, mix thoroughly. Now add the capers and the tomato sauce, mix thoroughly. Finally, blend in the cumin, sugar and Sazon Seasoning, salt to taste. Blend and stir thoroughly. Ummm, smell the cumin come alive in the pan! The Sazon and the raisins, enhance the flavors and increase the intensity of the spices because of the contrasts.

Cover and let simmer on medium low for about 5 minutes. You want this to reduce slightly to intensify all the flavors.

When this is almost complete, plate the rice so that it makes a bed for the Picadillo.

Now, spoon a portion of the Cubano Picadillo over the bed of rice and prepare yourself for a meal you won’t want to stop eating!

Cuban food is a cultural mixture of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. It’s an amazing blend of flavors and styles of cooking that takes simple ingredients to create gastronomic delights! You have to try this, at least once. But I’ll bet you keep coming back for more.

Variations To Keep This New

Try adding some Black Beans on the side, seasoned with bacon. Brussel sprouts, coated with olive oil and baked in the oven are also a great side to this dish. Substitute the raisins with sweet corn.

Wines We Love With This

A chilled Sangria works great with this dish.

Pinot Grigio

Reisling

Leftovers

Simply reheat. Is also awesome as part of a Taco Salad, or in Tacos.

Salud! Buen provecho!

Question

In what Cuban city did Michael Corleone kiss his brother Fredo!

Pork tenderloin is such an awesome cut of meat. It’s versatile, delicious and can be made in so many ways. I love pork tenderloin from the grill, in the oven, with sauces, dry rubbed, cooked in a pan, in sandwiches, with salads, well, you get the point. This recipe is one I found on the internet. I wanted something a little different and that would utilize the best lemons I’ve ever had. A long time friend of ours offered to give us a “few lemons” from the trees in their back yard. Having a bumper crop this year, they wanted to share. Wow, did they ever! We received a large shopping bag full of beautiful lemons, so many that I had to find a way to keep them long term and not have them spoil. These lemons are the same as those that are grown along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. The skins are not as thick, they have a slight orange tint, a hint of sweet, and can be eaten by themselves! The Amalfi Coast in Italy is famous for its lemon trees and lemons that are grown on every hillside and spot of land that isn’t occupied by a structure of some kind.

So, being inspired to make use of the lemons brought me to this recipe. I’ve made a few changes because the results were not as good as I had hoped. The problem may have been the chef, but I think the directions were a little off, in terms of timing.

This recipe will make 4 hearty servings and can be served over egg noodles, pasta or rice.

Prep time: 20 min – Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients

1 Glass of wine for the Chef

1 1/2lb – Pork Tenderloin

3 – Lemons

1 – Large carton sliced mushrooms

2 – Garlic cloves, crush when added to recipe

8T – Butter

2T – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2T – Heavy Cream

1/2 Can – Cream of Mushroom soup

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Egg Noodles

Making The Magic

Prep the pork tenderloin by slicing it into 1/2″ thick slices. Place about six of the slices into a large freezer bag. Pond the meat until it is thinned. I like to use the edge of a plate, not a meat tenderizer. The plate doesn’t pierce the bag and it keeps me from pounding too hard. You want to “thin” the meat into cutlets, not obliterate and separate! Season the cutlets to taste with the salt and pepper.

Wash the outside of the lemons. Cut one of the lemons in half, squeeze out all the juice from both halves, and set it aside for later. Discard the skin. Slice the other two lemons and set them aside.

Heat the Olive Oil and 2T butter in a large sauce pan or skillet. Bring the heat up to medium high. Add the pork tenderloin cutlets and brown on both sides. Don’t cook more than 1 1/2 minutes per side.

Remove the cutlets from the oil and set aside.

Begin to cook your egg noddles and let them finish while you do the rest of this.

Add 2T butter to the pan. Lower the heat to medium and drop in the mushrooms. Spread them evenly and allow them to cook, undisturbed, for a few minutes. Look for them to begin to change color, then stir the mushrooms to allow them to start releasing their moisture. DO NOT add salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, and then remove the mushrooms from the pan, leaving as much liquid as possible.

Add the garlic to the sizzling liquid and stir for a minute. Add the lemon juice and scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the garlic bloom in the pan and the lemon juice blend with the butter, oil and garlic. This takes about 3 minutes. The flavors will enhance each other and it begins to add a richness to the intensity of the flavor.

Add the pork and the mushrooms back to the pan. Layer the sliced lemons all over the pork and mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes. Don’t overcook the pork, or it will dry out. The original recipe said to cook for a total of 10 minutes, but that was far too long.

While this is cooking, drain the noodles and plate them.

Once the the pork, mushrooms and lemons are done, plate the cooked pork over the noodles. If any of the pork tenderloin is left, remove it from the liquids and set aside.

Add 1/2 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup to the liquids left in the pan. Once it comes up to medium heat add the 2T of Heavy Cream and mix thoroughly. This is your lemon butter sauce.

Ladle the sauce over the plated pork tenderloin and lemons. Sit down and be prepared for your tastebuds to tingle! The flavors are amazing!

Variations To Keep It New

Since this is the first time I made this dish I can’t tell you what I’ve had. I can share what I think would be good with this.

Try serving this over rice or with a pasta, like linguine. I’m thinking this could also be an awesome dish if you made it with oranges, instead of lemons. I would definitely serve it over Jasmine Rice if I did it with oranges. I’m also thinking that adding some raisins to this while the pork tenderloin, mushrooms and lemons are cooking together would be awesome.

Wines We Love With This

We had a nice Pinot Grigio

Also would be good with:

Chardonnay

Sauvignon Blanc

Leftovers

What we had, we simply reheated in the microwave. It was just as delicious as the first time.

So, when life gives you lemons…….make Lemon Butter Pork Tenderloin!

Question

What is your favorite recipe using lemons!

So, in most places around the country, Bar-B-Q is a verb, as in “let’s barbecue some steaks”, or “do you want to barbecue this weekend”, or “I lay in the sun too long and got barbecued!” However, in its proper use, in the south, it is always a noun. Bar-B-Q is something you eat, not something you do. You can grill steak, or grill chicken, or grill burgers, but not all things that go on the grill are Bar-B-Q. So having made this point, I’m going to share a recipe using a Western Style Bar-B-Q rub that is awesome. And it is something you eat, and by-the-way, it doesn’t go on the grill. Chicken thighs! One of my favorite “comfort foods” is oven baked chicken. I love it so much I could eat it almost every night, but I suspect it would not be as delightful every time, if I did.

This recipe is baked in the oven along with the veggies. it’s also very easy to scale up or down. Making it all in one pan, especially lined with foil, is simple and quick, and the clean up is easy. If you’re making a lot, you can make two or three pans all at once. This recipe will serve four normal appetites or two “chow hounds”. I always have left overs when I make this. I love using the veggies in a breakfast bowl. The veggies soak up the chicken juice and the olive oil, and make for an awesome flavor when combined in a breakfast dish.

Prep time: 20 min. – Cook time: 30 min

Ingredients

1 Full pour of the chef’s favorite wine

4 Chicken thighs, bone in, skin on

3 – 4 Potatoes, medium to small

1 – 2 Onions, sweet work best

3 Carrots, large or 10 or so baby carrots, cut in half

Olive Oil

Italian seasoning mix – your choice

Bar-B-Q spice dry rub – your choice. I use a western style rub for this recipe. It’s awesome. Red Baron Barbecue Spice. It comes from Lindberg-Snider in California. They’ve been making rubs, spice blends and marinades for about 50 years. Their website is currently being totally renovated, but I’ll let you know when it is back up and running.

Making The Magic

Preheat your oven to 450°.

Line a large baking pan with aluminum foil. It makes clean up so, so easy compared to scraping and soaking the pan.

Whew…..sip some wine.

Cut your potatoes into 1/2″ cubes and toss into a large mixing bowl. Cut your onions into small wedges and separate the onion layers. Toss them in with the potatoes. Cut the carrots into 1″ pieces, 1/2″ thick or less. Add those to the potatoes and onions.

Pour 3 or 4T of Olive Oil over the veggies. Sprinkle to taste. I use about 3T of Italian Seasoning. Toss everything in the bowl until the veggies are fully coated with the oil and the seasoning.

Pour your veggies from the bowl into the foil lined baking pan and spread them evenly over the pan. Then push some of the veggies aside to make room for the chicken thighs you’ll be adding.

Time for another sip.

Pat the chicken thighs dry and place them skin side down in the bowl you used for the veggies. Add some olive oil and rub the thighs around in the bowl to completely coat them with the olive oil. Sprinkle a generous amount of your favorite Bar-B-Q rub and completely coat both sides of the thighs. Don’t be stingy with your rub. It doesn’t do you much good sitting on the shelf in the bottle!

Once the thighs are well coated with rub, place them in the baking pan along with the veggies. These juices and flavors of the chicken will blend and be absorbed by the veggies as everything bakes together. The result is awesome.

Take another sip of wine, you deserve it!

Slide the pan into your preheated oven and let bake for 30 minutes. Relax, finish your glass of wine and get ready for an amazing dish. The flavors will zing in your mouth.

The chicken will be dark, the potatoes slightly browned, the carrots tender, the onions sweet, soft and some charred and the combined flavors will be a mouth full of happiness. When you make this for someone, you’ll be putting a huge smile on their face. Plate your dish and enjoy.

Variations To Keep This New

I never get tired of this combination, but it is nice to change it up from time to time. I like to add veggies that are in season. Try it with halved Brussel Sprouts, cubed sweet potatoes, whole button mushrooms can be added for the last 10 minutes or so, broccoli or cauliflower is also great with this.

I’ve also made this with chicken legs, but they can overcook before the veggies are ready, so watch them. Whole, bone-in, or boneless chicken breasts are great, but with the skin on. They will dry out and can get tough if you don’t have the skin on them.

Wines We Love With This

Southern Table Wine (you tell me what you think this is)

Pinot Grigio

Chardonnay – I prefer a stainless aged one with this dish

Dry Rose

Leftovers

I always have left overs with this, if I’m cooking just for the two of us. The veggies are awesome when pan fried and part of a breakfast bowl. Leftover chicken, which isn’t often, can make a great chicken salad with Dukes mayo, grapes and walnuts. I’ve reheated this for a light lunch and also served it cold with a fresh salad.

When you are making this dish for others, tell them…

Come hungry, eat hardy, enjoy the company and let your taste buds dance!

Question

Who made the best chicken recipe you’ve ever had? Do you remember it?

Growing up in Charlotte, NC; Brooklyn, NY; Miami, FL; and other places far-flung, my brother and I learned a lot about adapting to new places and people. We got to try new foods, not that our parents didn’t already expose us to loads of things. The variety was awesome. Most of the time it was exciting, but my brother Don was always a little hesitant and sometimes completely refused to eat what he didn’t know. That’s no longer a problem for him. He’ll eat anything and everything you put in front of him. I always have!

The one dish my mother could always count on getting my brother to eat, was pan fried chicken. That was pan fried, in Crisco, iron skillet, flower with her own “secret ingredient” and loaded with love. Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, that chicken was so damned good. Her method, the proper southern style of cooking it, took what seemed like forever. I remember Mom spooning large globs of the purest white Crisco into the skillet and turning up the burner as it would melt. A drizzle of flour told her when it was hot enough. She would then slowly, and lovingly ease each flour and seasoning coated piece of chicken into the hot melted Crisco. Never crowding the pieces, Mom would gently adjust each piece so they could sizzle on their own. Gradually Mom would lower the heat on the stove so the chicken did not brown too quickly. I learned to equate that sizzling, frying chicken in the pan to a delicious and traditional Sunday dinner in our house. Sunday dinner was usually around 3:00pm, so there would be time for our meal to settle and then snack on the leftovers that evening, just before some incredible dessert my Mom would make from time to time.

After we ate, we’d settle down in front of the TV and watch our favorite Sunday night TV show, “The Wonderful World of Disney”. The excitement, the anticipation, and the joy of what was to come on every Sunday night was almost beyond the ability of a 12 and 9 year old to contain. It was a family event for us. Something we all did together, without complaining or wishing to be anywhere else, or doing anything else. The episodes that were my all time favorite were the ones about Davey Crockett. He was the coolest thing a 12 year old had ever seen! His “coon skin hat”, with the raccoon tail hanging down the back of his neck was something I HAD to have. I’d lay in bed those Sunday nights, trying to get my 12 year old brain to figure out how I could convince my parents to “get me one”. Hatching all sorts of schemes, every one of them failing, taught me a valuable lesson. As the song goes, you don’t always get what you want…..but you get what you need. Harsh for a 12 year old! Imagine my total shock and surprise at the age of 46, learning that Davey Crockett was a distant relative, by marriage, from my Mom’s side of the family. I learned about this from a small, paperback book, that my Great Uncle Clyde loaned to me. Oh my God, I so wish I had made a copy of it when I had the opportunity! It looked like it had been published by a small, local company, that is no longer in business. VERY boring to read. It was a recitation of the lineage of our family going all the way back to when they first immigrated to America in the 1750’s. As I slogged through the book, skimming a lot of it, a name popped out on the page, “DAVEY CROCKETT”. What! My mind screamed. I went back several pages and carefully read what lead up to this improbable linking of myself, a 46 year old man who still idolized Davey Crockett, to some degree. Still no hat though! Apparently, ole Davey took himself a Cherokee wife, he was known for having several wives, and she was a sister of one of the Whiteside Cherokees, who is an ancestor of the Whitesides part of my family. My mother’s maiden name is Whitesides. I know, it’s a razor thin relationship, but hell, Davey Crockett! Are you kidding me! Davey….Davey Crockett….king of the wild frontier….well you know the rest, maybe. Doing some research several years ago I learned that the Whitesides are descendants of family members who are still part of the Deer Clan of the Eastern Band Cherokee. I’m sure my mother probably never knew about this. Her Dad, my Grandfather Earl Regan Whitesides, aka Speedy, was probably unaware as well. I’m sure he would have told us stories about it when we were growing up, because Speedy loved to tell stories. I get that from Speedy and my Dad.

To bring all this back to the point, chicken, it’s something I love to fix in many different ways. Chicken is so versatile and it’s affordable, so it’s in a lot of our dishes at home. Now, I still absolutely love pan fried chicken. Especially when it’s fried in Crisco, but it’s not the healthiest combination, so it’s a rare treat. Having said all of this, I’m always trying to find ways to change it up, spice it up and make it an adventure for the palate. That’s where this recipe comes from. I saw a similar recipe on line and got to thinking about how to make it with some jazz and pop that your tastebuds will remember. This recipe will serve two, but is very easy to scale up.

Prep time: 20 minutes – Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 or 2 – Glasses of wine. Chef’s choice

1 – Chicken breast, boneless, skinless, butterfly’d

1C – Mayonaise, Dukes – I know I’m starting an argument here, but in my humble opinion, Dukes is the very best mayonnaise you can use. It’s not sweet and not too tart. It’s creamy, but not cloying in the mouth. If you can’t find Dukes, just don’t substitute with Miracle Whip. I won’t say any more about that.

1/2C – Parmesan, grated

2 – Cloves of Garlic, peeled and crushed, just before you mix with other ingredients

1T – Rosemary, fresh, chopped, make it a heaping tablespoon

1/4t – Cayene pepper

3/4t – Paprika, smoked Spanish is awesome, but not required

Salt – to taste

Pepper – to taste

Making The Magic

Preheat your oven to 350°

Finely chop the fresh Rosemary. Combine it with Mayonnaise, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika (smoked Spanish if you have it), salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly. Crush the garlic cloves and mix into the mayo blend. When you crush the garlic a chemical reaction begins to take place almost immediately. The longer it is allowed to change, the more pungent and stronger the garlic flavor will become. Mixing it into the mayo right away, minimizes the change and keeps the garlic flavor from becoming bitter. Once all is mixed, set aside.

Butterfly your chicken breast so you end up with two relatively equal halves. Pat each half dry and place the breast meat in a baking pan or in the air fryer basket. Air frying will take less time, but these directions are for a convection bake oven. Coat each breast with the mayo mixture and don’t be stingy. Once each breast is covered, sprinkle 1/4C Parmesan over each chicken breast, covering it completely.

If you use an air fryer this will cook faster. In a convection oven this will take about 20 to 25 minutes. In a regular oven, figure on 30 to 40 minutes. Place the chicken in the oven and bake. The last time I made this it went into the convection bake small oven.

The last time I did this, I kept watching it in the oven, and it looked great, until the last 5 to 10 minutes. At that point, all the toppings slid off the chicken, into the baking pan. It happens sometimes. If your’s does the same thing, don’t worry. When I took it out of the oven, I spooned the toppings that slid off, back over the chicken. It doesn’t seem to affect the flavor at all! This is one of the things I love about cooking. You can use your imagination and improvise as you go.

When the chicken is finished, plate it with your side dishes and enjoy. It’s just another variation on something my mother taught us to love as we were growing up.

We served this with pan cooked fresh Spinach, takes less than 5 minutes, and Butter Beans.

Variations To Keep This New

Add 1/4C Panko Bread Crumbs to the Parmesan Cheese. It will add some crunchiness to the finish. The breadcrumbs will darken more quickly as well.

Italian Bread Crumbs, about 1/4C, added to the Parmesan Cheese adds another level of flavor and crunchiness.

Increase the amount of Cayenne pepper if you want to heat things up a bit.

Adding a little Dijons Mustard, 1T, to the mayo mix will make it more tangy and adds a little heat.

Wines We Love With This

Any dry wines, except for big, bold reds go great with this dish. I like dry whites in the summer and light reds in the winter. I guess it depends on the mood at the time and what I was drinking when I started to make it!

Leftovers

If you have any, cut the remaining chicken into small cubes, or shred it, keeping any toppings that remain. Mix this with more Duke’s mayonnaise, sliced celery, red onions and halved seedless grapes. Serve it on a bed of lettuce for lunch or a light dinner.

As my Grandmother Gracie used to say:

“We may not have much, but you will never leave my table hungry!”

Question

What is your favorite chicken recipe? Do you make it often?

This is a Cuban dish, Bistec de Palomilla, that is so simple and quick. Plus, it delivers a great flavor on a very low budget, cut of meat. Suzanne and I lived in Tampa, Florida in the early 1980’s and I discovered an awesome little Cuban market a few miles from the house. The guys behind the meat counter were really helpful. When I went in to look for a kind of fish I had seen in a recipe, I started asking about some of the specialty items they had in the meat case. There was a thinly cut piece of meat, between 1/8″ and 1/4″, beautifully laid out in slices, offset, one on top of the other, like a stack of cards that had been fanned out. Each slice was about twice the size of my hand. I asked what it was. The butcher explained it was a thinly sliced top sirloin. I looked at it, thinking it would be impossible to grill it or even broil it! So I asked what was the best way to fix it. Suzanne and I loved steak, but found it was usually outside of our budget at the time. You know the saying, “champaign taste on a beer income”, so finding a “steak” recipe that was affordable and delicious was like hitting the lottery to us. The recipe he gave me is one we still use to this day.

There are a number of variations, but I’m going to share our favorite recipe and suggest you check out all the variations that you’ll find on line. You’ll see recipes made with cubed steak, flank steak and top sirloin, so there are many ways to get creative with this dish. Hint – thin and barely cooked is the most tender and the tastiest!

This recipe will serve two and is easy to scale up or down. Like I said it is very simple and quick to prepare and since the cuts are so very thin, it’s also a great last minute, “oh crap, I forgot to take something out of the freezer” life saver. I always vacuum seal any cuts of meat that I bring home, unless they are going to be used within a couple of days. Vacuum sealing will allow you to keep meats for up to two years or more in the freezer. We try to buy things on sale and in bulk. That keeps our freezer stocked and we tend to get better cuts of meat. The point of this is it allows you to fast defrost meat by dropping it into a pan of water. The laws of thermodynamics really work. Heat and cold transfer happens very quickly in water, so dropping a steak into a pan of water to defrost it will result in a completely defrosted steak in less than 1 hour. Of course, the water will ruin the cut of meat if it’s not sealed. Vacuum sealing works great because the meat will stay submerged. Without vacuum sealing, even if the supermarket packaging doesn’t leak, the meat will float at the top and the foam packaging acts as an insulator. Okay, enough about thermodynamics.

One of my best and lifelong friends, Dan Trammel, had this meal with us several times and it always put a smile on his face. Dan lives in Germany now, with his lovely wife Irene, and has two beautiful daughters. I so wish we could see them, but I think of Dan every time I fix this dish for Suzanne and me. When we sit down to eat it, I half expect Dan to pop through the kitchen door and ask, “Hey, what’s for dinner?”

Prep time: 5 minutes – Cooking time: 2 minutes

Ingredients

1 – Glass of wine, maybe Sangria, for the Chef, a nice merlot

2 – Slices Palomilla style top sirloin

2T – Mustard, spicy brown or Dijons

1C – Italian bread crumbs

3T – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2T – Butter

Salt – to taste

Pepper – to taste

I got this Palomilla Steak at our local Publix. It’s a thinly sliced top sirloin. About 1/8″. Went to the meat counter and started to tell the butcher what I was looking for. Ended up, he is Cuban and knew exactly what I wanted. I bought 3 pounds and it will make about 6 or 7 meals for Suzanne and me.

Making The Magic

In a large pan, preheat the Butter and Olive Oil on Medium. Heat until the butter starts to sizzle when you swirl the combination in the pan.

Salt and pepper to taste, one side of the steak. I don’t usually add either because the mustard and bread crumbs have so much flavor, but some like to add both.

Spread the mustard over one side of the steak. Coat the steak with Italian bread crumbs.

Flip the steak, and coat the second side with the bread crumbs. if you want more mustard flavor, spread some on the second side.

Drop a couple of bread crumbs into the oil and look for them to sizzle in the oil.

Once the oil is hot, drop the steaks in the pan and let sizzle just long enough to brown a little on each side. No more than 2 minutes total for both sides.

The high heat and the bread crumbs will help to sear each side of the steak. If you overcook this, it will still be tasty, but will get chewy very quickly.

Take it out of the hot oil right away and plate your Palomilla Steak.

This is delicious with buttered Rice and buttered Green Beans.

Variations To Keep This New

Add some Panko Bread crumbs to the Italian Bread Crumbs to give it a little crunchiness. Try different mustards, hot, sweet, yellow. Serve it with Black Beans. Marinate the steak in garlic, lime juice, salt and pepper.

Wines We Love With This

Merlot

Chianti

Dry Rose

Leftovers

Never had any!

“Buen provecho!”

Question?

What was the Cuban dish in the movie, “Chef”, that started his comeback?

Like several recipes that are my favorites, this one also comes from Nick Stellino. His cooking show still runs on PBS and I try to record every one of them so I can watch and rewatch each show. Nick is a great Chef and an awesome storyteller. This recipe reminds me a lot of a very basic Southern meal we had when visiting my Great Aunt Hallie Dellinger, only with an Italian twist.

The first time I took Suzanne to meet my Aunt Hallie and Uncle Dorse, we were visiting with my Grandparents, Speed and Grace Whitesides, in Charlotte, NC. I called ahead of time to be sure it was convenient for them. God bless my Aunt Hallie, she lost a lot of her hearing as she got older and tended to talk extremely loud. When I got her on the phone, I held the receiver at least 12 inches from my ear and could still clearly hear everything she said. Aunt Halley said she was “tickled” to have us out, and said she would “make a little something for lunch”. I knew what that meant, so I pleaded with her not to make a fuss. She insisted she would not and said, “Ya’ll come on now. We’ll have a nice visit and a little lunch.”

It was a very memorable visit, one of my last with her before she passed away. Of course, her “little something” was, pan fried pork chops, pinto beans, white rice, bacon seasoned green beans, country fried steak, fried chicken, fresh corn, cut from the cob, turnips, butter beans, scratch made buttermilk biscuits, sweet potato pie and pecan pie. Pitchers of “sweet tea” and home made jam for any leftover biscuits. That was Aunt Hallie’s way of saying, “I love you Darlin'” and she said it often.

Funny how I connected Nick’s recipe to this memory when I ate it for the first time, but it probably was triggered by Nick sharing how this dish was one his mother often made.

So, this recipe is good for two people and can be scaled up for more servings.

Prep time: 6 Hours – Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 – Glass of favorite wine for Chef

2 – Pork chops

1 15oz – Can Cannellini Beans, drained

4 – Garlic cloves, chopped

1 – Onion, small, chopped

2T – Rosemary, fresh, chopped

2T – Basil, fresh, chopped

1/2Can – Tomatoes, about 14 oz of 28oz can,San Marzano are best, peeled, chopped, save 1C of the juice from the tomatoes

1/4t – Red pepper flakes

2T – Pork chop rub, your favorite

3T – Salt

3T – Sugar

2C – Water

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2T – Butter

Making The Magic

The secret to making these pork chops tender and juicy is the majority of the prep time. It may take 6 hours, but you get to sit or do something else for most of that time. We’re going to brine the pork chops for at least 5 to 6 hours.

Combine the water, salt and sugar, in an air-tight container or plastic bag, stirring until dissolved. Drop in the pork chops and let them marinate in the brine for at least 5 to 6 hours in the fridge.

About 20 minutes before you want to eat, begin prepping the rest of your ingredients.

Chop the onion, garlic, fresh basil and fresh rosemary.

Drain the tomatoes, saving 1C of the juice. Save the remainder of the juice if you want to store the leftover canned tomatoes in the juice. Finely chop the tomatoes, set aside.

To make the “Ucelleto” add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a large sauté pan and heat to medium. When you see the oil start to swirl in the pan add the onions and garlic. Sprinkle some of your favorite pork chop rub into the mixture and continue to cook the onions and garlic. Next add the chopped Basil and Rosemary, stirring constantly and cooking until the onions are translucent. At this stage the fresh herbs, garlic and onions start to release their flavors and aroma. Take a deep breath and enjoy it! Add the Red Pepper flakes and stir in. Once it’s all blended add the chopped tomatoes and the beans. Stir all of it thoroughly. Finally add the tomato juice that you set aside. Bring it to a fast simmer, then move it to a back burner and reduce the heat to let the Ucelleto simmer while you cook the pork chops.

Preheat some extra virgin olive oil in another pan. Take the pork chops from the brine and pat them dry. Rub the dry pork chops with olive oil and then sprinkle your favorite pork chop rub over both sides of the pork chops. Pan fry the pork chops on medium heat for about 2 minutes per side. Add the butter to the pan. Once melted, spoon the butter over the pork chops, coating them thoroughly, letting the butter glaze the pork chops and helping them to finish the cooking in the pan, about 2 more minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Bring the simmering Ucelleto back to the medium burner and move the pork chops to the pan. Gently settle and push the pork chops into the Ucelleto and let them cook, covered, for about 5 minutes.

Remove your sauté pan from the heat. Rest it for about a minute, then plate your dish.

I love this dish with rice. It stretches the meal and gives you a nice combination for leftovers.

Variations To Keep It New

Try different types of beans to change the texture. Add more or less Red Pepper flakes. Serve with steamed cabbage.

Wines We Love With This

Pinot Grigio

Chianti

Merlot

Dry Rose

Leftovers

This dish is great when it’s reheated and it doesn’t make the pork chops tough. The brining works!

Momma Mia, questo é cosi delizioso!

Question

Would you try this dish with pasta?

Nick Stellino has been one of my favorite Chefs for many years. Nick and Vicky Saman, friends we made while living in London, introduced us to his cookbooks and style of cooking in the mid-1980’s. Suzanne gave me one of his cookbooks in the late-1990’s. “Mediterranean Flavors” has been one of my favorites ever since. I remember the first time I made one of the recipes. We were living in Havre de Grace, MD. We had purchased a town house that was built on a point of land that stuck straight out into the Susquehanna River. It was a beautiful location. We were the top two floors of a four story townhouse. From our dining room and living room balcony you could drop a fishing line right down into the river. The wild life was incredible to see. Being on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay, the area was home to Osprey and Bald Eagles in numbers we had never seen anywhere else. Our kitchen, living room and dining room was a large, open floor plan, allowing us to be in the kitchen and have an incredible view, straight up the river.

Moving to Havre de Grace also moved us closer to getting back to one of our passions, sailing. But that is another story.

The recipe I’m sharing with you originally comes from Nick Stellino’s cookbook, “Mediterranean Flavors“. He calls this recipe Chicken with Garlic Sauce. I’ve added my own twist to this, but the original recipe needs no improvement. When you take the first bite be ready for such an intense combination of flavors it may blow your mind! Suzanne and I had this a week ago. When I finished the last bite, I put my fork and knife down and said, “It’s a good thing there’s nothing left on my plate. I am stuffed, but I couldn’t stop eating this.” Momma Mia, what an incredible mix of flavors and textures. There’s a crunchiness to the chicken skin, a moist tenderness in the chicken meat, a buttery smooth texture to the sauce and a creaminess to the garlic that you won’t believe, and NO bite in the garlic!

Prep Time: 20 min. – Cook Time: 25 – 30 min.

Ingredients

This is one of those dishes where doing all the prep up front really helps. Start by getting everything you’ll need together.

1 – Large glass of wine for the Chef!

2 – 3T – Flour

1 1/2t – Sage, finely chopped

1 1/2t – Rosemary, finely chopped

3/4t – Salt, I prefer sea salt, but plain salt will do just fine

1/2t – Black pepper

4 – Boneless chicken thighs, skin on. If you can’t find these at the market, thighs are easy to bone yourself.

3+T – Extra Virgin Olive Oil

20 – Garlic cloves, peeled, do not crush, cut in half, lengthwise (YES! don’t skimp here. You’ll be amazed at how the garlic is transformed as you cook this dish.

1/4t – Red Pepper flakes. You can skip this if you don’t like any heat at all, but this won’t add very much. It does add another dimension to the flavors!

1/2 – White onion, chopped

1/4C – White wine, dry

1 1/4C – Chicken Stock, try Chicken Bone broth too!

1T – Butter, softened, mixed with 1T Flour. This makes a wonderful beurre manié (kneaded butter). The general rule is this mixture for each cup of liquid you want to thicken. You can make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge, or even freeze the cubes for later use, any time you need a thickener for soups, sauces, etc.

3T – Italian parsley, chopped, fresh

Making The Magic

Once the chicken is in the oven, you’ll have time to make your Garlic Sauce, but be sure you have all the ingredients prepped. For me, having them ready to go means I can focus on the music of the cooking. Bringing the ingredients together at the right time and in the right way to create the flavors that will make your tastebuds sing.

First, did you pour yourself a glass of wine? Take a sip and begin.

Preheat your oven to 325°.

Combine and thoroughly mix the black pepper, sea salt, rosemary, sage and flour. Spread your mixture on a plate. Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet/pan, medium high. Dredge your chicken in the herbal, flour mixture. Drop the chicken into the pan of hot olive oil, skin side down. Reduce the heat slightly. Cook the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side. Wait…take a moment and smell the incredible aromas coming up from your pan! The mixture of the sage, rosemary, salt and pepper, transforms itself as it blooms in the hot olive oil. Enjoy it! When finished, transfer the chicken to a foil lined baking dish and pop in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Take another sip of wine and begin making your sauce while the chicken is in the oven.

Add some extra virgin olive oil to the drippings in your pan. Bring the heat back up to medium high. As the oil begins to sizzle, add the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Reduce the heat to medium. Gently stir, mix and blend the ingredients in the oil for 3 to 4 minutes, just long enough for the onions to begin softening. The garlic will start to brown slightly. You want to be sure not to cook this too quickly. If the garlic starts to darken quickly, remove it from the heat and let the temperature drop. Overheating the garlic will turn it bitter. Cooking it slowly will turn it creamy and sweet. Once you taste the result of this you won’t believe you’re eating garlic. After 3 to 4 minutes, slowly stir in the wine. Scrape the bottom of your pan to loosen the bits and drippings from the chicken. This adds a whole new dimension to the flavors. Now bring the heat up and let the wine boil for several minutes. The goal is to reduce the liquid by half. Once reduced, add the chicken stock, bring back to a boil and let the liquid reduce by half, again. This can take anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes. Once reduced, remove the pan from the heat and add your flour/butter mixture, the beurre manié. Stir this into the sauce until it has melted completely, then return the pan to the heat. Stir for a minute or so, allowing the sauce to thicken. Reduce the heat to low, just to keep the sauce warm.

Take another sip of wine and refill the glass! It’s time to plate the dish and enjoy!

We love serving this with rice and for this meal I also did a fresh, butter and cream spinach.

Plate the rice, lay your beautiful chicken thighs on the plate, along side the spinach.

Now, spoon the most amazing garlic sauce you’ll ever have over the chicken and the rice.

Momma Mia! I can still taste the flavors as I write about this.

Thank you Nick Stellino for sharing this incredible recipe with us! I’m so going to enjoy this! Like I said, it’s a good thing I ran out of food on my plate, because I just couldn’t stop eating this!

Variations To Keep it New

Like I said before, I don’t think this can be improved, but a little variation might be fun.

Nick uses boneless chicken breasts with the skin on. Just be careful not to overcook the chicken breasts. They can get tough and dried out if you overcook them. You may need to debone them yourself. I’ve never found boneless chicken breasts with the skin on at the market.

This may sound a little strange, but adding some raisins to the sauce, for the last minute or so of the cooking, will give a contrast to the savory blends already in the sauce.

You might want to try serving this with Ginger Glazed carrots and Angel Hair pasta.

Wines We Love With This

Sauvignon Blanc

Cabernet Franc – a Nick Stellino recommendation

Frescati

Leftovers

If you do have any leftovers, reheating in a microwave works great. I have saved some of the rice that goes with this and reheating in the microwave at power level 8, doesn’t overcook the chicken or rice.

Make your taste buds dance and sing with the music and love from your kitchen!

Question

Do you have any favorite garlic recipes?

This is a great dish, loaded with flavor and very easy to make. I fell in love with Basil and Pesto many years ago and I’m always looking for ways to incorporate either of them into any dish I make. I used to make my own Pesto and found I wasn’t having it nearly as often as I wanted to. It’s not that making Pesto is difficult or complicated, it’s about when basil is available, and when I have enough of the various ingredients in the house. So, after missing many opportunities to make the dishes I wanted, I searched high and low for an off-the-shelf product that would match my preferences in taste and ingredients in Pesto. There are some really good ones out there, but the one I finally settled on is from Costco. To me, it has a perfect balance of Olive Oil, Basil, Parmesan, Garlic and Pine Nuts. Pesto originated in Genoa, Italy. It’s found in many places around the world today, and the quality can vary quite a bit. The Costco brand uses Basil imported from Italy and I think it does deliver an authentic flavor. I usually buy 4 or 5 jars, they’re plastic, and I freeze them so I can replenish when I empty a jar.

It takes very little time to prepare and make this dish. In this recipe, I cook the chicken in our air-fryer. It cooks very quickly without drying the chicken out. Chicken breasts can dry out, become rubbery or chewy if you’re not careful. You can also cook the chicken in a frying pan, on the stove top and of course, you can cook it in a conventional oven. There’s nothing complicated about this recipe and it’s so simple, you can try different methods until you find what works best for you. This recipe is for two, but is very easy to scale up or down.

Prep time: 15 minutes – Cook time: 10 to 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 – Glass of wine for the Chef, Chef’s choice

2 – Large chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

1 – Plum tomato

Pesto

2 or 3 – Slices Swiss cheese

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Angel Hair Pasta

Making The Magic

Preheat your oven to 375°. Preheat your skillet or frying pan to medium, if you cook the chicken on the stove top. The oil should be hot when you place the chicken in the pan.

Put a pot of water on the stove for your pasta. Most folks, including myself for years, used too much water to cook the pasta. Use a stock pot or sauce pot, large enough for the pasta and fill about half way with water. Add plenty of salt and start warming the water. You want it to come to a boil just when you are flipping the chicken.

Slice your tomatoes, lengthwise. You should be able to get 4 slices out of the tomato.

Pat the chicken breasts dry. Butterfly the breasts so you have 4 pieces. Set the “underside” pieces aside for another recipe. Coat and rub both sides of the “topside” pieces, the pieces with the smooth side, with Olive Oil. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Cook the chicken in a pre-heated oven, or skillet. 375° in the oven, for 5 minutes. Medium heat on the stove, about 7 minutes.

Half way through the total cooking time, flip the chicken.

Cook for another 5 minutes, 7 if you are cooking stovetop. When you have about two minutes left, spoon some pesto over each chicken breast. Layer the sliced tomatoes over the pesto. Layer the cheese slices on top. Finish cooking.

We love serving this with Angel Hair pasta and Pesto. While your chicken is cooking, bring the water in your pot up to boil. Drop the Angel Hair pasta in the water with about 4 minutes left on the chicken. Al Dente Angel hair pasta takes about 3 minutes. I usually cook it for about 3 1/2 minutes. Drain it when it finished.

Plate your finished dish and enjoy!

Variations To Keep It New

You can also sprinkle some Romano or Parmesan Cheese over the Swiss cheese and turn the broiler on for a minute or two, just enough to start browning the cheese.

Adding a strip or two of cooked bacon, on top of the pesto, under the tomatoes, is incredible.

Wines We Love With This

Frescati

Chardonnay

Pinot Grigio

Sauvignon Blanc

Leftovers

This chicken is absolutely delicious with scrambled eggs, especially if you do the variation with the bacon!

Great meals don’t have to be complicated, they just have to be made with love!

Question

Do you have a favorite Pesto, either off-the-shelf or home made?

This meat sauce is my absolute, goto, comfort food and I love making it every time. It is the first thing my Mom taught me to make when I was 12 or 13 years old. We had a very small home in Charlotte, NC and the kitchen was tiny. I am amazed at the wonderful things my Mom and my Dad would cook in that little kitchen. They always did it with love and I would sometimes just stand in the doorway and watch as the magic would happen. One day I asked Mom if she would show me how to make the “Spaghetti Sauce” she was starting. “Sure baby, but you have to promise me one thing. You will always clean up after yourself. Don’t make a mess like your father. I don’t want to have to slap you in the head.” I took that to heart, and to this day I always “clean as I go”. I’ve developed the technique over the years and it makes for a really enjoyable meal for everyone, because no one is facing all the clean up at the end of the meal. We spent two or three hours, chopping, crushing, browning, mixing and seasoning. My Mom was a very patient teacher and she loved to cook. That love was always in whatever she made. Like my Dad, she always wanted folks to find joy in what she served. I always think of them whenever I’m making this dish.

My mother gave me this basic recipe, and my father gave me his ideas on how to change it and make it different in at least two dozen ways. This recipe makes about 20 servings. I freeze the leftovers in two serving containers. I use a 30 Qt Stainless Stock pot, with a lid and it’s just over 1/3rd full with all the ingredients. An 11 or 12 Qt pot will just hold it. Of course, you can reduce the ingredients and make less sauce. You’ll need a long spoon because you’ll be stirring and mixing a lot.

The absolute first thing you need to do, so you can get this recipe right, is open a bottle of your favorite red wine and pour yourself a glass. If you feel it’s too early in the day, at the very least, put on the CD or tell Alexa to play the “The Three Tenors”. There’s nothing like sipping a good red wine and listening to great Italian arias as you make this sauce.

Prep Time: 45 minutes – Cooking Time: 1 to 6 hours

Ingredients

5 lbs – Ground chuck or leaner ground beef. I like the sauce meaty.

2 – large onions, chopped

8 – Garlic Cloves, finely chopped, or use 4t of jarred minced garlic

4 – 28oz cans Tomato Sauce or Pureé

2 – 28oz cans Crushed Tomatoes

2 – 28oz cans Diced Tomatoes

2 – 28oz cans Whole Tomatoes – San Marzano are incredible. Us them if you can get them

2 – large cans of Tomato Paste

2 – 14oz cans of drained sliced mushrooms or mushroom pieces

1/2 – 3/4 Bottle of CRR (cheap red wine) Dry

Olive Oil – the olive oil I use comes from a shop in Hickory. The quality of olive oil in recipes makes a HUGE difference in the results. I get mine at www.naturalolivehickory.com They do ship.

Dried Basil

Dried Oregano

Red Pepper Flakes – you can leave this out and add it to your smaller servings later, if you prefer.

Salt

Pepper

Pasta

Parmesan, Romano, Pecorino – any or all of these, grated or shaved

Making The Magic

Did you pour the glass of wine yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Love the process, love the food, love the people and a little wine always helps! Add 4 to 5 T of Olive Oil. Heat the pot to Medium High and just as the oil starts to swirl, drop the onions into the pot. Let them sizzle and stir them to coat everything in your Olive Oil. Add oil if you need to. The quantity doesn’t need to be precise. Reduce the heat to Medium.

While this is cooking I like to start opening all the cans that I’ll be using.

Doesn’t Pavarroti, Domingo and Carerras sound great?

Once the onions start to soften, stir in your minced or chopped garlic. Stir a bit to let the flavor of the garlic and onions continue to infuse the oil. Salt and pepper should be added. Things should still be sizzling. If not, increase the heat slightly.

Smell the air in the kitchen! My favorite smell when cooking, onions, garlic and olive oil.

After about 3 minutes, lower the heat. In a large pot add 1T Olive oil and start crumbling the ground beef into the pot. Leave some of it in chunks. Stir and toss the ground beef so it mixes with the salt and pepper to taste. Continue as you stir in more and more of the ground beef. Cook all the beef thoroughly, removing any liquid that cooks out of the beef. I like to use a splatter screen over the top and then pour the liquid into a disposable jar. When the majority of the liquid is removed, you’re ready for the next step.

Take another sip of wine. If “Nessun Dorma” is playing, lower the heat and just stop. Listen to this incredible aria. You don’t need to understand a single word, but I guarantee you will have goose bumps and tear up, not because of the onions either.

Add your cooked beef to the pot with the onions and garlic. Mix thoroughly. Turn up the heat to Medium. Next add the 4 cans of Tomato sauce and let the heat come back up. You may want to increase the heat to Medium High until everything is added. Just mind the splattering and reduce the heat if it gets out of hand. Next add the Crushed Tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir everything in and make sure you stir deeply to bring the bottom to the top.

Okay, now you want to add the drained mushrooms and stir them in.

Add a couple of Tablespoons of dried basil. Rub the basil in your palms and crush it into the sauce. Add a couple of Tablespoons of dried oregano. Again, rubbing the herbs between your palms and crushing it into the sauce. Smell your hands. Delicious! Add Red Pepper flakes to your taste, or don’t add any at all. A tablespoon will give this enough heat to buzz the back of your throat. Not overwhelming, but enough to let you know it’s there. Stir in thoroughly and deeply.

Take another sip of wine.

Add the Diced Tomatoes and Whole Tomatoes. If you can get the San Marzano whole tomatoes from Cento, these are by far the best. Mash and break the Whole Tomatoes up. I know, why add whole tomatoes if you’re going to break them up? Well, the larger chunks add texture and the juices inside the tomatoes will add a prefect balance of acid, sour and sweetness to the flavor. Salt and Pepper to taste. Stir thoroughly and deeply.

Finally, add the Tomato Paste. Stir in thoroughly. You want to spread the thick paste through out the sauce. It helps to thicken the sauce and the intensity of the paste adds a richness to the flavor. I sometimes add more.

Add another 2 Tablespoons each of dried Basil and Oregano, following the same instructions above.

Take another sip of wine and add the final ingredient.

Pour in 1/2 bottle of wine (CRW) or more, as long as you leave about an inch or so in the pot. Stir thoroughly.

When you see the sauce start to bubble at the top, reduce the heat to low and cover. You want the sauce to simmer for at least one hour, the longer the better. I usually have mine on simmer for about 6 hours. When I give this a long simmer I will uncover the pot and raise the heat to Medium Low for about an hour, at the end. Come back once every hour or so and gently stir the sauce. Keep mixing the flavors. Love what’s going on in that pot as the acidity and flavor of all the different tomatoes, the beef, the onions and garlic, the basil and oregano, the red pepper flakes blend and build on top of one another. If you find your sauce is too hot from the red pepper flakes, add sugar to reduce the heat.

Don’t be afraid to taste it. Adjust your seasonings as you go, depending on your tastebuds.

Minutes before you’re ready to serve, cook your pasta. Just before you’re ready to serve this, put on a pot filled half way with water and add plenty of salt. DO NOT add olive oil or any oil to your pasta water. The oil coating on the pasta makes it difficult for the sauce to cling to the pasta. I learned this from my wife, Suzanne. She kept telling me for years, “Don’t put oil in the water.” I didn’t understand why until she showed me how the sauce wasn’t clinging to the pasta. Duhhh!

When the pasta is done, I prefer al dente, so the pasta has a firm texture, drain it thoroughly and plate it. Lovingly ladle the sauce over the pasta. Remember this sauce has been bubbling for 1 to 6 hours and the flavors have been blending and introducing themselves to one another, so ladle with love. Serve this with a warm, crusty bread and butter. Have the grated or shaved cheeses on the table to sprinkle as you eat. I like to add some at the beginning of the meal and pile on more as I go.

Consider restarting the “Three Tenors” CD, or asking Alexa to replay it, when you sit down to eat. You got to listen to this beautiful music while you were making your masterpiece, now share it!

Bread – I’m a miserable failure at baking bread. Baking perfect bread is a science and an art. I’ve tried numerous times and just can’t get it right consistently. I have, once or twice, but I’ve had so many failures I decided to hunt for a bread I could rely on. In late 2019 I found the perfect bread. We don’t have any bakeries here in Hickory that make the kind of bread I love. A hard, crunchy, crusty exterior and a chewy, airy interior are perfection. When I pull the bread apart I want it to tear jaggedly and irregularly and the crust crunch and pop. Crumbs need to fly everywhere! After many experiments, I found it. At Aldis grocery stores they sell “Specially Selected – Artisan Italian Bread” and “Specially Selected – Artisan French Baguette”. I keep several loaves of each in the freezer and pull one out ahead of time to let it thaw. You have to finish the baking of this bread. It is as close to what we used to buy, from a little French bakery in London, as anything I’ve found in the US. I bake it for the longest time suggested on the directions and even a little longer, sometimes. Either of these are great with this dish. The Italian one is more loaf like. The French one is a Baguette, long and skinny. You can’t go wrong with this bread!

Variations to keep it new…

You can do any of these variations with the leftover servings that you’ve frozen. That keeps the recipe basic and allows you to use it in a whole lot of ways.

Sometimes I like to pan fry some sweet or mild Italian sausage and add that to the recipe. I don’t add them whole, but cut the sausages into 1/2″ pieces after they are cooked.

I’ve also added leftover pork tenderloin, especially if I’ve grilled it with my Italian Seasoning rub. I cut it into 1/2″ thick slices and then the slices into quarters.

Leftover chicken, chopped and added to the sauce is also a great way to add texture and stretch the meal.

Use this sauce when making Lasagne. It’s awesome!

Wines we love with this…

It often depends on the mood and the variation that I make but here’s a list that we like. If you have a favorite, go with it. I would recommend a dry red. Whites won’t stand up to the acidity and spiciness of this sauce.

Barolo

Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Gattinara – Travaglini is my favorite vintner of this wine, but it is hard to find and not just a table wine. This is my absolute favorite dry red of any and all reds.

Zinfandel

Chianti – Of course!

Leftovers

Unless you are feeding a really large party with this dish, you will have leftovers. I freeze this sauce in reusable containers that are large enough to hold two servings in each. A serving is 1 1/2 to 2 ladles of sauce per person. It’s always handy for when you forget to take something out for dinner, or just need some for quick preparation. It’s also great for other recipes. The flavors only intensify when you thaw and heat this sauce a second or third time! I’ve used this in Lasagne, when I make a Timpano, Baked Ziti, for Steak Pizzaiola, in a Beef Braciole, well you get the idea.

I hope you enjoy this. Remember, make it with love, make it with care and care for the ones you love!

Cento di questi giorni! Salud! Cin cin!

Question of the day – Do you have a favorite table wine? Defined as one that you enjoy and drink fairly often, maybe daily, and isn’t too expensive.

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?