Scaloppine di vitello al Marsala

15 Jan 2011 3 Comments

by nonnax9 in Joe's Recipes, Pop's chicken soup

This dish is easy to cook. I try to use Boronia brand marsala, which is sweet and syrupy, but gives you should use a dry marsala. However I find that the sweet one gives the best results. Try it.

Ingredients:

Enough slices of veal scallopine to feed the numbers.. (Get the butcher to cut it for you if he doesn’t have it. Make sure that he doesn’t give you the scrag ends. I always ask to see each slice.) It is best to cut the veal into serving size pieces.
2 medium onions- finely chopped.
seasoned flour.
beef stock powder.
and of course, marsala
butter for sauteeing and frying.

Sautee the chopped onions very well(caramellise), and remove from the pan.

Dust the veal pieces with the seasond flour and brown in the butter – don’t over cook) As you fry just sprinkle a little of the beef stock powder on the pieces. It will blend with the meat juice and go sticky.

When all the meat is cooked put the onion back in the pan with the veal on top. Pour the marsala over the meat (it usually takes about half a bottle or so) and just simmer slowly for about 15 minutes, reducing the liquid to a syrup. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

MORE PASTAS.

15 Jan 2011 1 Comment

by nonnax9 in Pop's chicken soup

 

Joe the Cook in the middle

 

This is one of my favourites and really is good for you, all those peas.

Ingredients:

Shelled peas- fresh or frozen – I prefer fresh but sometimes I use a mixture – say about 1 kilo of fresh and a handful of frozen
1 onion finely chopped
Wee bit of oil
couple of ripe tomatoes or a can – chopped well
small pasta – I use a pasta called Ditali or Ditalilni but small elbow poasta will do – about 500 gms

So simple. Sautee the onion well and add the peas and quanity of water. Bring to the boil and add the pasta, stirring well. When it comes back to the boil add the tomatoes. Add sal and pepper to taste, will take quite a bit of salt usually. simmer until pasta is cooked. Serve with cheese of your choice.

Pasta with Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower – cut into small florets
a little olive oil
water pasta – small pasta again

Bring quanity of water to boil with cauliflower. Add pasta and a abit of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer until pasta is cooked

CHICKEN SOUP WITH MEAT BALLS

31 Oct 2010 1 Comment

by nonnax9 in Pop's chicken soup, Uncategorized

This is a dish that is hard to make in small quantities as it takes a lot of
chicken to get the flavour in the soup.
I use chicken pieces so that I have only the bits that everybody wants.
Several chicken pieces – say 4 drumsticks
6 wings
1 whole breast ( the bones are necessary )
and about 300 to 400 grams of giblets and
livers. These really give the soup a strong
chicken flavour.
2 carrots – sliced
couple of sticks of celery – sliced
couple of onions – finely chopped
couple of tomatoes – chopped ( I usually use canned tomatoes )
pepper to taste – just a sprinkle
parsley – several whole stalks
Put all ingredients in saucepan with plenty of water and bring to boil,
then reduce to simmer.
In the meantime, make the meatballs –
quantity of good minced beef – usually about 500 grams – this makes
about 18 meatballs.
About 4 slices of bread – crumbed.
About 1 or 2 cups of PECORINO cheese ( pecorino gives the best flavour –
not parmesan or romano although these will do in a pinch)
sprinkle of pepper
some beaten egg – 1 whole egg is usually too much and will make the
mixture too sloppy.
Combine all these ingredients well and make into meatballs – use your
hands.
When the soup is boiling well drop the meatballs into the pot carefully, a
few at a time and just give a gentle stir.
After about half an hour just try the taste and if necessary add some
chicken stock or about a dessert spoon of Vegemite if required.
About half an hour before serving transfer some soup without the solids
to a big saucepan and when it comes back to the boil add some small
pasta. Simmer well, stirring frequently, until pasta is cooked al dente.
Serve with meatballs etc.
a

POP’S CHICKEN SOUP – AND OTHER THINGS

31 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by nonnax9 in Pop's chicken soup

Writing these recipes down is a labor of love – my love of food, rough cooking, and you who will read them. They are the sort of dishes my mother and grandmother made without referring to recipe books, and without measuring any ingredients. Some I have developed over the years usually from books, but I never seem to have the right ingredients on hand, so I have had to modify and experiment, and sometimes adjust the ingredients to include what I like and exclude what I don’t like. Some recipes were developed with your mother, and I am pleased that everyone has grown up liking them although you really didn’t have much choice.
Don’t necessarily stick to the recipe, but add or subtract as you like. No dish I ever cook turns out the same way twice. If you don’t get the right result it will usually be edible anyway, or you can have beans on toast
You will realise that I don’t like Nouvelle Cuisine, and that most dishes are quick but traditional. Don’t be stingy when you cook or serve food, and use the best ingredients you can afford. Not much food ever got thrown out in our place so leftovers are not a worry – fry it up for breakfast, you know how nice vegetable fritters are. The pasta recipes are meant to be fast food, quick to cook. Pasta is religion with me and I like it with almost any kind of sauce (except seafood). My mother spent every Sunday morning making tomato sauce for pasta, boiling up kilos of tomatoes in a big boiler, and reducing the sauce until it was thick. And then she would often make fresh pasta which would be hung all over the kitchen and dining room to dry. Thank God for canned tomatoes and fresh pasta from the shop. (Although I don’t think it tastes the same).
And if we didn’t have pasta for Sunday dinner (lunch) we had baked
dinner – lamb or beef or we went for a picnic and had steak and breadcrumbs and salad. Always. And then we got to take the leftover steak and breadcrumbs to school for lunch the next day – woggy food – dagoes but the other kids didn’t mind scrounging it in preference to their soggy tomato sandwiches, after they had called you all the appropriate names of course. No way! But in fact a lot of the things we took to school for lunch weren’t woggy, just different, because my mother grew up in the bush and that was the way it was done. Cornish pasties, home made pies, bacon and egg sandwiches, pig’s trotters, and of course salami and mortadella, and Italian sausage and even bread and cheese. Beats peanut butter and vegemite. Although I did like grated Kraft cheese mixed with tomato sauce on my sandwiches. Still do, and Camp pie.

Just a few tips.

In general, the recipes that follow don’t give specific quantities – I don’t worry about this as I use whatever is available, and cook for the moment, i.e., I cook according to the crowd and conditions. If you have any leftovers don’t worry, it will be eaten tomorrow- or sometime, so buy a lot, cook a l0t, and eat a lot.

Where I mention pecorino cheese this is pretty important. Pecorino is made from sheep’s milk and is sharper and stronger than parmesan or other grating cheeses. It comes in several types but I always try and get soft fresh cheese if I can.
Try not to use packet grated cheese as it is not a nice. Some Continental deli’s will grate it for you, this is OK. Also pecorino cooks without going stringy.

When you make a chicken or meat soup try and make it the day before and leave it in the frig overnight. Then you can skim any fat off the surface before finally cooking it, and leaving it adds to the flavour. When you make chicken soup it is hard to trim all the fat off the chicken pieces so leaving it overnight makes it easy to skim the fat off.

Pop’s Chicken Soup and other things

30 Oct 2010 Leave a comment

by nonnax9 in Nonna's Recipes, Pop's chicken soup, Uncategorized

While my brother says that writing down the recipes is a labour of love this is going to be a greater labor of love. How to get his book into my blog. My brother Joe loved food with a passion and really it was this passion the took him to an early grave. He wrote this book for the family. I don’t think Blogs were available when he was alive or if they were he didn’t know about them but I feel sure he would be pleased a punch having it put here for all and sundry to view and enjoy. I just have to work out how to do this. I am sure there is a way without having to type it out myself. I can’t get the scanned copy to come across but I will persevere. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
Stay posted….

You will might notice some of his recipes are similar to mine or have the same name. I have modified mine now to suit the busy cook and I don’t always have the same ingredients. They are still the family favourites, certainly my family anyway. I use Campbells chicken stock instead of boiling up bones etc to make stock. Joe is probably turning in his grave. It is your choice which way to go.