Posted on 06/22/2016 4:01:36 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
One of my favorite television chefs is Nick Stellino. He has a wonderful, warm presence and engaging presentation - the sort of person who, when you watch him on television, makes you feel as if you've known him forever; and he manages to pack a LOT of information into a very short video without becoming boring or didactic.
This recipe is from what I believe was his first book 'Cucina Amore', in which each recipe is accompanied by family memories of his youth in Sicily. I wanted to try the recipe this week and didn't have time; but I will soon, and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, the combination of ingredients is intriguing, especially to those of us who are fans of 'sweet-and-savory'. At the end there's a link to a video of Nick preparing Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs.
Mixed-Up Cauliflower (Nick Stellino)
Serves 4
5 tablespoons raisins
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound fresh cauliflower florets, cut into 1-inch pieces, parboiled and patted dry
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups Tomato Sauce
1/2 cu water or Chicken Stock
1/16 teaspoon saffron powder
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Place the raisins in a bowl of hot water to plump fo 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a large nonstick skillet and heat on high until the oil is almost smoking, about 2-3 minutes. Add the cauliflower florets and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the garlic, stir and cook for 2 minutes more. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Wipe the pan clean, raise the heat to medium-high, add the remaining oil, drained raisins, pine nuts and red pepper flakes and cook for 3-4 minutes, Add the remaining salt, the tomato sauce, water or stock, saffron, balsamic vinegar-sugar mixture and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil and simmer until most of the sauce has been absorbed, about 4-5 minutes.
Serve with slices of hearty Italian bread.
Here is Nick's website, with lots of recipes:
and one of his videos, where he does Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MhHp6YZA4Q
-JT
This week: Italian! including ‘Mixed-Up Cauliflower’, and Spaghetti and Meatballs.
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking ping list, please send a private message.)
-JT
Thanks for the ping!
Hoping someone will post a recipe for Sunday Gravy as we are expecting a bumper crop of tomatoes.
:)
Would like a nice homemade lasagna recipe. I mean like from grandma’s kitchen.
Lots of recipes come up in a google search, all slightly different.
It sounds like what my husband’s Italian family in Pennsylvania called ‘Christmas Sauce’, which included a cubed chuck roast, sweet Italian sausage, and pepperoni - in the home-made tomato sauce. The meats get browned in a cast-iron pan, while you’re heating up the sauce that you made last summer; they get dumped into the sauce (along with all fond) and simmered for hours.
When we first married and had our first extended visit with The Family as a couple, they made Christmas Sauce out-of-season for me - which was a special honor, and Wonderful!
(Husband just told me that he had to learn from a New Yorker that they call it ‘gravy’ there ;-)
-JT
Sunday Gravy sounds like quite an adventure. Something you should do on Saturday.
I just saw this recipe yesterday ..... it’s called “Sunday Sauce”. It’s also crockpot, which is nice. This is a hearty red (tomato) sauce with meat ... it looks delicious in the pictures.
Crockpot Sunday Sauce
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/crockpot-sunday-sauce/
That looks very good! And very nice that it is done in a crockpot.
-JT
I would like one, too. We keep buying the Stouffer’s when my husband gets a ‘yen’, and I’m always thinking that we could do as well or better ourselves, probably for a lot less money - and freeze it; but it’s something that I’ve never tried.
Anybody have a great Lasagna recipe?
-JT
Stouffer’s is sorta okay but home made with sauce simmering all day before baking ....
Nick's Bread Fritters / Frittelle Di Pane / serves 4-6
METHOD Mix 4 eggs, 6 tb Italian Bread Crumbs, 4 tb ea Parm, grated Provolone or Romano, s/p. Heat 3 tb ol/oil sizzling on med-high 2 min. When ready, reset to med.
Carefully spoon 6-8 generous tb bread mixture into hot pan. Flatten each cake slightly w/ back of spoon; fry 1 1/2 min per side. They'll cook quickly and rise slightly.
Drain on p/towels. Repeat w/ rest of batter cooking in 3 tb ol/oil.
One of our sons, a former chef and now a cellar master and winemaker, grilled Flatiron Steak for Father’s day. He, also, grilled onions, corn on the cob, thick asparagus spears on my new combo propane/charcoal grill.
We had never had Flatiron steak, and it is excellent with nice chewy texture and real steak taste.
He marinated the steak in a flat glass baking dish, with Olive Oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and fresh chopped rosemary for about an hour. Then, he grilled the steak on close grill for about 5 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the index figure push test. He lets the meat sit covered for about 5 minutes while finishing the veggies. He sliced the meat at an angle and it was rare about a 1/4 inch into a medium rare center.
He served it with one of his cabs.
Only problem, there was no left overs. So my wife and I bought some thin sliced flat iron steaks to marinate and to quick grill, tomorrow, to go with fresh corn on the cob, grilled/sliced eggplant, and a Kale/oven baked fresh beet salad.
Tonight, I will grill fresh Sockeye Salmon, corn on the cob,
and broccolini and fresh greens from a local farmer.
Blueberries, strawberries, black berries, peaches and apricots are in season for dessert with a splash of cab or pinot grigio.
That is a great cookbook. I love sweet and savory dishes as in Sicilian dishes. I will make the cauliflower dish-it sounds wonderful.
We had fresh caught Alaska halibut last week and I made this old favorite;
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pacific-halibut-in-a-sicilian-sauce-recipe.html
Yes. He’s not quite the ‘dandy’ that Gay Talese is, who has always kept his weight steady so that he can continue to wear beautiful suits purchased decades ago:
http://thedepartmentofstyle.com/2014/03/09/gay-talese-one-of-the-finest-style-icons-weve-ever-met/
But Italian men do appreciate nice clothes (I’m married to one; even the Dickies Painter Pants have to be perfect ;-)
-JT
Good post.
I will show that to my husband! He’s always trying to make good steaks, and I don’t think he’s tried ‘flatiron’; he thinks it might not be available locally, or he’d have seen it.
-JT
One of our butchers got us on boneless rib eye steaks decades ago.
However, when the charcoaling season comes in the boneless rib eye price can increase by 40 to 50%.
So our son introduced us to flat iron steaks, and we will probably buy them until this fall as our main steak.
Italian! I love Italian cooking, could eat it every night.
Here’s a mess I like to make up:
Brown a pound of Italian sausage (no self-respecting Italian cook uses hamburger) along with finely chopped onion.
In a separate pot, simmer the tomato sauce, tomato paste and seasonings (oregano, thyme, sage, basil, rosemary, garlic, red pepper, bay leaf). The amounts are a matter of guesswork and estimation. Don’t ask for anything exact from me, you have to try your own blend.
Mix the browned meat and onions. Go watch a Cubs game or Formula 1 race and let it simmer.
Cook some penne or rigatoni, spread in the bottom of a baking dish. Smother with the sauce, cook at 350 for 40 minutes, cover with layer of shredded mozarella for the last five minutes.
For fun, add some Schwanns cheese stuffed shells to the rigatoni/penne layer, add some meatballs to the sauce or substitute same for the Italian sausage.
Then stuff yourself.
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