November 4, 2021 by chefpaulette

What I buy at SupermarketItaly.com

SuperMarketItaly.com is a great website with all sorts of food imports from Italy. If you don’t have one (or more) Italian food stores where you live, this place is a fantastic source! People often ask me what I buy there (Hi, Casey!), so here is a list. These are the things I go back for over and over– but while perusing the site I always find something else I want to try (and you will, too).

Kimbo is my favorite Italian coffee. This pretty white can has a screw top. And sometimes I buy the airtight packs and reuse these cans. Kimbo is a neapolitan brand and use it for my stovetop espresso pots. I also use the Kimbo espresso pods for our Nespresso machine. See below…

My favorite pasta is the shape: garganelli. It’s like penne but thinner, rolled on a diagonal, and often (or always) made with egg-based pasta. You can find it here! These are a couple of brands below.

Like hot peppers? Calabrian peppers are loved all over the world. Here are a couple of products I’ve tried (but there are others!)

I’m a fan of anchovies and these two are my faves. One with hot chili peppers (so good!) and one with anchovies wrapped around capers (yum!)

Baking? Whenever I do anything chocolate in baking or chocolate icing I always add a little espresso powder. It’s meant to be used as an “instant coffee” (don’t do that), but it’s much better as a flavor enhancer.

Still baking? Try this lovely imported orange extract– heavenly!

This fun beverage – San Bitter – tastes like Campari and soda but isn’t alcoholic. I love the upbeat bitter-sweet taste and used to cart back packages like this in my carry-on from Italy. Here, they’ll easily ship it to you! (And the bottles are adorable.)

AND there is so much more! During the holidays look for fabulous panettone. Check out all the other pasta. Candies, chocolates, more more more. I’ll try to do a Part 2. But also, next time, I’ll show you another great source for Italian products. 🙂

February 7, 2019 by chefpaulette

Make Mine Short-Order

I’m always looking for quick recipes. Sometimes I start a quick recipe and then realize — hey, this ain’t as quick as I thought. But I plod on — usually so absorbed and fascinated by each step that it doesn’t matter how quick it is.

I like to cook my meals because — I like to cook. But also, because I like to know what’s IN THEM. I love choosing each ingredient — knowing how I’m treating that ingredient, and leaving myself no mysteries. The mystery is usually a magic not entirely my own. Just the sheer alchemy of cooking. Molecules, ions, nuclei shuffling together in heat ….wow, a little bit of stardust in the food.

Which brings me (and how could it not) to the joy of watching a fast order cook at work. Talk about magic. Talk about seeing every ingredient go right into the recipe. Talk about deftness of hand aerobatics. Talk about concentration, follow-thru, and thoroughness.

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Okay, let’s talk about it. Growing up in NY, and being of an everyday-food persuasion, I have, for a long time, found myself in diners. I have trouble trumping diners with high-fancy restaurant fare (excuse that word over there). I just love diners.

In the old days, diners were everywhere in NYC. You either went around the corner. Or you decided to walk five blocks to another, because you liked the decor better. Or because you were meeting a friend who lived five blocks away. Or — who knows, maybe you needed a walk. Because there wasn’t much difference in the food from diner to diner. They ALL knew how to make that menu shine and it always shined. My faves: scrambled eggs soft, with home fries, and whole wheat toast. Diners in NYC include tea or coffee in the price of the breakfast (I’ve learned that’s not true everywhere).

Or get a grilled cheese with tomato (with maybe bacon?)

Or venture further for a club sandwich, a meat loaf dinner, some Greek specialties like: spanakopita, or shish kebabs. Most diners in NYC are run by Greeks. There are Lobster Tails (the seafood, not the pastry) and Fettuccine Alfredo and NY Strip Steak on the menu, too. Okay— I probably wouldn’t order those things… I like the traditional diner fare. But people do order those dishes. I’ve seen them go by on the way to another table. Riveting.

Wandering around NYC streets, you sometimes get hungry while you’re neighborhoods away from home….you can always be saved by a diner. Looking to kill 20 minutes before your appointment? Siddle up to the counter and have a hot tea and a toasted English muffin. Or maybe a corn muffin (you don’t see corn muffins in the South…cornbread, yes, but not the muffin). I used to LOVE the diner corn muffin. They’d cut it in half, toast it on the griddle and serve with butter on the side. Groan. Yum.

But my favorite part is getting the seat at the counter just behind the short-order cook. It’s the kind of show that could entertain me for days.

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Here’s where you will find some differences from diner to diner. Not in the competence of the cook or the menu, but in how the cook arranges things. What side of the grill is the bacon? How often does he scrape off the excess oil? Are the eggs all broken into a gallon-sized pitcher, ready for use? Or does he crack them as he uses them? Have the home fries just arrived to the griddle or have they been there for hours? (And hours.) Does he wear a baseball cap, a do-rag (du-rag?), a hairnet, or just hat-less, loose and free?

Doesn’t matter. The show must go on. The pressure of orders coming in fast keep the action of the story moving. WITHOUT a hitch.

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It’s even more fun when he’s cooking YOUR order. Watch closely — you’ll almost feel like you’re cooking it yourself. You can see every second and every morsel and every technique going into your plateful. Then it’s delivered. Live. In front of you on the counter, steam wafting, aromas poking your nose. Your fork poised, your diminutive diner napkin on your lap, your taste buds rushing forward, ready for sensations.

Time to EAT!

(Dessert? No other place has so many choices.)

March 18, 2018 by chefpaulette

Favorite Kitchen Tool Emporium

We all have one. That collection of kitchen tools that are in handy reach. Often used. Some historic. Some newly bought. Some falling apart, but still valued. We almost don’t realize we have created an important collection. Stop and think and look at them.

This is your team. Your pals. Your right-hand assistants. Your gals-friday. 🙂 They know you, too. And they’re pleased to be of service.

And when you’re out shopping— in a supermarket, or a TJ MAXX, or any food-related store or food-related department — it’s the cooking tool area/wall/shelves that somehow (how? you wonder) always draws you in.

I tick off each item as my eyes drink in the stunning toy-store-like array: yep, I have that, I have that, too, I don’t have that, but do I want it? (do I need it?), oh, look at those cute measuring cups…and spoons to match!, but I have measuring cups and measuring spoons…still, should I get another set?, oh! there’s a rabbit-shaped tea infuser…awwww!, but I have 3 tea infusers and I don’t use any of them, but here’s another large ladle…this one in red, so pretty!!….

Know what I mean? In other words: more toys to play with my food, please.

Back at home, my favorite toys bask in the spotlight of being favored stars. I use them over and over. I know their personalities. I know what I can rely on. And I know their limitations.

Here are some of my favorite gizmos. Not all of them. Just a handful of favorites. Are any of these on your list?

Wooden Spoons, Wooden Forks, Wooden Spatula

So common, right? I couldn’t move at the stove without them. I have plastic and metal spoons, too, but I can only make risotto with wooden spoons. I can only stir sauce with wooden spoons. I love sautéing with a wooden spatula. And I can only prevent boiling spaghetti from sticking to itself with a wooden fork.

On one of my cooking trips to Italy, we took a class at a beautiful hotel in Ravello. Our chef-instructor (Vincenzo) insisted we use nothing but wooden utensils to stir any of the dishes we were making: pasta, sauces, vegetables, fish. He believed that metal utensils had an affect on the taste of the food. (Hmmmm…maybe so.)

scissors

Scissors (2-3 kinds)

Scissors are like having sharp shears for fingers. I keep 3 kinds in the kitchen. The smaller blue-handled pair are for paper and string and non-food items. The bigger blue-handled ones are better quality and cut almost everything: cheese packaging, parsley leaves, fish portioning, pizza slice cutting, fat trimming, whole peeled tomatoes in the can cutting, mozzarella cutting, plus: you name it. The black-handled scissors come apart — I use them for meat and, in particular, chicken cutting: boneless chicken into pieces, whole chickens into pieces, etc. Then you can take apart the chicken-y scissors and clean them well.

Pasta Scoop

This isn’t just a colander. I found it at TJ Maxx. It’s an Italian import and according to the label was intended for scooping gnocchi. I love that it’s not round. It’s elongated a bit, so it fits in the pot of boiling pasta (or gnocchi) easily, so you can lift and drain. I take it wherever I go cooking. 🙂

zest and juice

Lemon Squeezer & Microplane

I resisted the lemon squeezer. For years I squeezed a lemon half with one hand, into my other hand, letting the juice fall through fingers, and pits get stopped in my palm. But one of my cooking class students brought me a bright yellow lemon squeezer (thanks, Karen!). Once I started using it, I take it out for every lemon, lime or orange. And each time I appreciate the counter-intuitive “put the lemon half in the other way.”

And thank you, carpenters, for this rasp with a handle called a microplane. Yes, instead of shaping wood it works great for making lemon zest, orange zest, lime zest, grating fresh ginger or garlic, or grating a bit of cheese, or a nut of nutmeg.

fluted wheels

Fluted Wheel

If pastry is in your repertoire you know how fun, and often necessary, fluted wheels are. You can cut a straight line, but better yet, cut a beauty-wiggly line. Mine are used mostly for pasta: ravioli, farfalle, lasagna sheets, tortellini, more and more. I love fancy edges.

Offset Spatula & Flat Whisk

How did we ever manage without the offset spatula? I knew nothing about these babies until they populated my tool kit in culinary school. I have a small one (and have added more) and a large one. Smooth cake batter, ice the cake, frost the cupcakes. And I’m also in love with flat whisks. They do the same job as a balloon whisk, but they bend and can scrape the inside edges of your bowl.

French rolling pin

French Rolling Pin

My mom had a French pin first, then gave it to me. She used to have a rolling pin with handles. Then the handles fell off (a very old pin), but it was perfectly usable without handles. Somewhere along the line she got the French one. And somewhere along the line, I ended up with it (I think she still uses the handle-less old pin).

But the French pin has tapered ends and that makes all the difference in the world. You can use the ends to press out a small area of dough that may be thicker than the rest of the dough you’re rolling out, or even out the edges of circle. (I just found another one at Home Goods.)

Tongs

As far as I’m concerned you can do nothing at the stove if you don’t have tongs. Turn browning cutlets, lift searing meat, turn wilting greens, pull out the already golden garlic. I never have enough tongs. I can’t stop buying them! I’m afraid I might leave one or two behind at an on-the-road cooking party and I never want to be without. Pet peeve: tongs with locks. Oy. Why do they have to lock? Then you have to unlock them. Tongs are meant to be grabbed and go-ed.

nut chopper

Nut Chopper/Cruncher

Someone gave me a gift card for King Arthur Flour and after combing the website I couldn’t resist this nut cruncher. Its most endearing features: 1. majorly low-tech (no wires, no electric), and 2. cranks like a jack-in-the-box. And the job it does: turns nuts into crushed nuts with a few likable chunks.

Silpat

Another convenience I avoided for years. There was a drawer of them when I taught at Viking. I always resisted them, and dragged out the parchment paper instead. It’s their texture, kind of clammy, that put me off. Until one day at Costco a set of 2 half-sheet pan silpats and 1 quarter-sheet silpat was boxed with a price of only $22. That’s pretty cheap for silpat. So I bought it. And got hooked. Now when I take out those clammy-feeling liners and think: yippee! (Just bought the circle one for a 9″ cake pan!)

Leave me a list of your can’t-do-without or particular lovelies!

Then stay tuned for my favorite Italian cooking tools (or regular tools co-opted for Italian cooking), i.e. pasta machine, gnocchi board, potato ricer…

August 27, 2017 by chefpaulette

My Favorite Tomato

among the last sweethearts

They’ve been coming fast and fabulous for most of the summer. And now they’re getting close to their last hurrah. Get ‘em while you can. They’re planning their winter vacations now. Precious. Juicy. Jewels.

aren’t they gorgeous?

We planted just 4 tomato plants in the backyard, in a raised bed, and we didn’t know what we were doing. We planted them too close. So when they grew (who knew tomato plants like to reach eight feet?) and sprouted millions (I didn’t count, but I think it was millions) of tomatoes, we had a tomato jungle spilling all over itself.

We scrambled for makeshift stakes. We criss-crossed with twine & string until we ran out. Then we used shiny pink ribbon (what was in the house). The fence did its part (great lean-to & lean-on). All these partners worked at keeping those prolific tomato plants upright. So we managed. And the funnest part: every day, first thing in the morning, all we wanted to do was look out to see what was going on.

These plants-in-a-tomato-jungle were the equivalent of one of those see-through ant farms. The ones where you can watch the ants strolling along the lanes carrying 60 times their body weight in food or building materials. This city of tomatoes was equally busy. Flowering, leaving, pulping up with green toms, turning pink, turning orange, turning red.

The endless supply of tomatoes landed in our kitchen. Grape and cherry toms hang out in the plastic colander we used to collect them, and sit on the counter day and night. It’s our candy dish. Two or three are popped in the mouth each time we pass by.

Then there are the not actually ruby red ones, sitting on the window sill, waiting for more red. And the bowl of deep red babies ready for slicing, wedging, or whatever we come up with.

My most favorite recipe for these slicing tomatoes is Tomatoes on Toast. I’ve eaten this toast almost daily since our crop’s been abundant.

Toast a slice of your favorite bread. Spread a layer of mayo.

Slice your wonderful tomato into thin slices (or thick if you like). Lay them out on the mayo-ed toast. Sprinkle with salt.

That’s it.

That’s all you need.

Since I spend time in the kitchen (a lot) my imagination reaches for more. Like a grated fresh tomato sauce…

4 large ripe tomatoes, 1-2 garlic cloves, drizzles of olive oil, 2 sprigs each fresh basil, oregano, sage, salt & pepper to taste

Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the tomatoes. Just start grating with the whole tomato (opposite end of the stem). The grater will cut through the first skin and then grate the flesh, leaving you with outer skin. Throw away skin. Peel the garlic, smash it flat, add to the grated tomato. Drizzle a little olive oil in tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the herbs. Let stand for at least 15 minutes for the flavors to combine and add to your favorite pasta. It will be a thin sauce, but the flavor is wonderful.

*****

Or a roasted cherry tomato sauce…

2 pints cherry or grapes tomatoes, 2-3 cloves garlic (smashed), 1/4 cup olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons white wine or dry vermouth, fresh herbs: parsley, thyme, sage, or mixture, salt & pepper to taste

Line a sheet pan with foil. Toss tomatoes and garlic with oil and wine. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with herbs. Roast in oven for about 1/2 hour-40 minutes until tomatoes are tender.

******

Or a technicolor tomato-beet salad…

4-5 red or golden beets (or combination)

2 ripe red tomatoes, cut into thin slices

2 ripe golden tomatoes (or 1 pint grape tomatoes), cut into thin slices, grape toms halved

1/2 cup walnuts, broken into small pieces

1-2 sprigs, fresh mint, leaves only, torn into small pieces

2-3 sprigs fresh parsley, leaves only, torn into small pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 teaspoons mild vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled into small pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Rinse beets of any dirt. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour until tender. (Test with a paring knife.) Let beets cool enough so you can handle them. Use a paring knife to peel off skin. Then cut into thin slices. Place beets and tomatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add herbs and walnuts. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt & pepper. Toss gently to combine. Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles.

******

Or a sweet tomato tart…

2 medium tomatoes, sliced into 1/4” half-moons

salt for sprinkling

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons Demerara sugar, divided

3 tablespoons white sugar, divided

2 tablespoons sparkling finishing sugar

1 egg for egg wash

5-6 basil leaves, torn

For the pastry dough:

1.5 cups flour

1 teaspoon sugar

pinch salt

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)

1/4 cup cold white wine

Make the pastry: Add the flour, sugar, & salt to the bowl of food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter, pulse until the mixture is crumbly with small chunks of butter. Add wine (or same amount of ice water). Pulse until mixture comes together as a dough. Turn dough out onto a work surface and press together into a thick disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes-1 hour.

Meanwhile, salt the tomato slices and let drain in colander for about 1/2 hour.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about a 1/8” thick circle. Move to a parchment or silpat-lined sheet pan. Drizzle honey evenly over surface.

Place tomato slices in an overlapping circle, filling in the center and leaving about a 2-inch border of dough. Sprinkle with Demerara sugar, and white sugar. Fold in edges of the dough. Brush dough with egg wash. Sprinkle more of both sugars over dough and add the sparkling finishing sugar. Bake for about 35 minutes until golden. When cooled, sprinkle with basil leaves.

******

But my favorite recipe— and my favorite “tomato” is Tomato Toast…

It’s strange passing by all the tomatoes in the supermarkets — and even farmers’ markets. We don’t need any tomatoes from the store. At least now we don’t.

But that will change. I can’t imagine eating any other tomato than the ones coming from the yard. But I know I’ll probably give in to the store-bought by the time we reach December. I hope I don’t forget the difference when I taste a winter tomato. But even if I do forget— the memory will race back next summer. When we plant 4 more (or maybe more) tomato plants.

Come summer!

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July 3, 2017 by chefpaulette

Travel to Italy While Staying Home

Modica, Sicilia

When I’m not in Italy, I’m in Italy in my dreams, in my imagination, in my thoughts, in my kitchen, and in my paintings. The country is part of my whole being and inspires so much of what I do.

When I am in Italy I snap images, and take video, in an effort to bring home “a little bit of Italy.” Here are two videos I put together with those images. One is a short compilation of the beauty of Venice…

The other is a short tour of Palermo’s Capo Market…and then a peek into the cooking class my group took on a yacht in Palermo’s harbor…

Later this year I’ll be visiting Assisi, Siena, Florence & Rome. I’ll bring back some more Italy for you. (And me.) In the meantime, visit Italy right now from home…and then, if you can, visit Italy.

January 5, 2017 by chefpaulette

Lobster fra Diavolo

Lobster fra Diavolo

One of my most favorite things about the Christmas season is Christmas Eve dinner. It’s the best meal of the whole year. And that’s because of the Italian inspiration called: the Night of the Seven Fishes.

Believe me, every year I try to get SEVEN fishes on the menu. But I usually end up with about 5. This year, we felt relaxed and casual and only had 3. But what a THREE.

My mom, sister and I decided to go to Costco on Christmas Eve morning (Duane resisted the Costco Christmas merriment–read: crowds). We knew they would have their impressive holiday fish island, piled with ice, and piled with great seafood. We thought: whatever looks good, we’ll buy it, then figure out our menu.

We rushed our huge carts up the wide-wide aisle to the seafood oasis. (One year, we got there late and watched 2 of the last 3 bags of clams go…arrggh!) We reached the icy array and there was plenty of sea creatures still available. We grabbed a big bag of little neck clams from Cedar Key, FL. We got a big bag of mussels from FL, too. Then we couldn’t resist the freshest, most beautiful lobster tails we’d ever seen. Pale, marbled brown and grey, with specks of orange. These were from Honduras. We got 4 tails, about 1 lb. each. One for each of us.

I’ve always found Costco’s fish & seafood quality to be pretty top-notch. Each of our seafood treasures had the fresh scent of the salty sea. We took it all home, chatting in the car about how we’d cook it up.

this year’s three fishes

We decided to really keep it simple with favorites we knew well and love more.

We cooked Clams Oreganata…

baked clams oreganata

…Steamed Mussels with wine, garlic & herbs…

steamed mussels

…And Lobster Fra Diavolo–the Holy Grail of Italian seafood dishes. I’ve only had it a handful of times in my entire life. I remember my family making it on Long Island one year. I remember something like it in Italy. I may have tried once or twice on my own many years ago but the memory is blurry, watery, like bobbing up and down along the surface of the green-blue Atlantic.

get me near an ocean and all’s right with the world

Of course, Maine lobster is the only lobster I knew growing up. In NY, our lobsters were from Maine. (Altho, my mom tells stories of family members fishing for lobster off the shores of Brooklyn where the Verrazano Bridge now stands.)

Verrazano Bridge

In my 30 years of NYC living there were quarterly treks to one of 3 Spanish restaurants in Manhattan that each served special lobster dinners. These started at $12.95 for a pound and a quarter lobster (steamed or broiled) with a salad and side (rice pilaf or sliced roasted potatoes).

ancient picture I found online of one of our faves on Bleecker Street

I had a circle of girlfriends who drooled on cue when these quarterly adventures came up on our calendars. At the table, over our first glass of wine (or Sangria–it was a Spanish restaurant, remember), we argued for half an hour over steamed or broiled (even tho we had each already decided how we wanted our lobster cooked on the subway ride over). Then we argued, while eating, as to which parts of the lobster should be eaten first. I go for sucking on the legs, then the cracking the claws, then eating any other shreds of meat in the body along with the tomalley, and saving the tail for last (with melted butter). These were 3-hour-long sittings because the other thing on the menu was a large quantity of laughter. Eventually, the dinners would jump in price to $13.95, $15.95, $18.95, until someone moved away, or we started to lose touch, or we just stopped going. (Sad face.)

Friends of Duane–Donna and Mike Dion–who actually live in Maine (and grew up there) treated us to a lobster feast a couple of years ago. They had a huge pot outside for steaming them. (Mike also grilled a few steaks and some corn, & Donna steamed a whole side of salmon, and heated a huge pot bubbling with steamers.) THAT was the best lobster I ever EVER tasted. Just caught that day. Probably from down the road.

the Dion’s lobster feast

But back to Costco, Honduras, and Christmas Eve. Explosive special moments happen whenever/wherever/however lobster is served.

Fra diavolo means from the devil. Which means the dish is hot and spicy. We use crushed red pepper flakes, but feel free to go crazier with heat. If your eyes water while you bite into the tail that’s okay. We don’t get that hot here, but you’re welcome to do so. We’re afraid of losing any bit of that LOBSTER taste. So we go easy with the hot. It’s more like an elbow poked in your side, and less like an elbow poked in your eye.

Lobster Fra Diavolo (for 4)

4 1 lb. lobster tails

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon fresh parsley leaves, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 lb. spaghetti or linguine

salt & black pepper to taste

Put a pasta pot of water on the stove to heat.

Using a good pair of kitchen shears, cut the inner shells of each lobster tail in half, lengthwise. Then cut the outer shells, and the meat, in half lengthwise. Now you have 8 cleanly cut halves of lobster tails (see photo below).

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan till hot. Add the lobster tails. Cook on a lively heat, turning them occasionally, until the meat turns opaque white, about 5-6 minutes. Remove tails to a bowl, and set aside.

Add garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano and parsley to the pan. Cook on a lively heat, stirring, until the garlic begins to soften and turn color lightly, about 2-3 minutes. Add the wine. Let the wine sizzle while you scrape to unstick any bits that have stuck to the pan. When the wine has evaporated by half, add the tomatoes. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes.

When the pasta water has come to a boil, season generously with salt. Add the pasta, stir to keep strands from sticking until pasta water boils rapidly. Cook to al dente. Half way through cooking the pasta, add the lobster tails (and any accumulated juices) to the tomato sauce. Cover askew and let simmer 5 minutes.

Drain pasta. Add to a serving bowl. Add tomato sauce to coat. Serve each person 2 halves of lobster tail with a nice serving of pasta. Drizzle some extra sauce on top.

cutting tails in half

sautéed tails

Lobster fra Diavolo

the shells

August 10, 2016 by chefpaulette

My Crazy Breakfasts

biscuits and butter

I live in the South and for breakfast I sometimes have biscuits. And sometimes I have grits. (Not on the same day.) This is not new to my new Southern living. When I lived in NYC I often ate biscuits for breakfast. And sometimes made grits. I love biscuits. And I love grits.

So my biscuit roots and my grits roots are not Southern roots. My favorite biscuit recipe is from Betty Crocker’s 1950 cookbook, a book my mom had when I was a baby and so I have it, too.

Betty Crocker

My mom was born and raised in Brooklyn and she made Betty Crocker’s biscuits. That’s how I learned it.

My grits recipe snuck into my repertoire somewhere in the 1990’s while living on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and followed me to Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx and has followed me to the South. (Sorry, everyone, I use instant grits…what do you expect a New Yorker to do?) I call my breakfast grits “crazy grits” because they are certifiable.

These are both breakfasts I eagerly look forward to. Mondays are usually grits mornings (Duane says it’s his favorite breakfast). For a while I refrained from making biscuits at all because we were trying to lose weight and bready, starchy things are weighty. But just this past Sunday morning I threw diet to the wind and made biscuits. I could (literally) eat the whole batch, but I didn’t. But I wanted to.

Page 67. That’s the page Betty Crocker’s biscuits are on. Even if I think I have it memorized I take out the book (red Pennsylvania Dutch pattern with a missing spine) and go immediately to page 67 for the recipe.

page 67

This past Sunday, tho, I just went with my whimsy (and left the book on the shelf). A cup and a half of flour. A teaspoon and a half of baking powder, a large pinch of salt, a bit of aleppo, 4 tablespoons of butter, cut in with a pastry cutter. Betty then adds milk. I was feeling devil-may-care. I had a leftover 1/4 cup of ricotta. And a leftover 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Oh yeah.

I barely knead it. Just push together to stick and pat into a thick disk.

cut biscuit dough straight down. no wiggling.

just baked biscuits

Over easy eggs. A few chorizo sausages chopped up. Some summer sliced tomatoes. And biscuits and butter.

breakfast of champions. or silly people. or both.

On Monday… the grits. Here’s why they’re crazy. I top them with a sauté of vegetables (etc) that are hanging out in the refrigerator. This time there were 3 kinds of tomatoes, 2 kinds of peppers, mushrooms, onion, scallions, arugula, and some more chorizo. I sauté these up in a medium fry pan, while the grits simmer in a medium saucepan. I add salt, parmigiano, cumin and some aleppo to the grits. I add cumin, salt, pepper, turmeric (just a tad) to the veggies. Sometimes I splash a bit of vermouth.

vegetable saute

The grits go first into the bowl and then the tasty chopped wonders on top. Duane adds one of his hot toppings: ghost pepper sauce, tabasco, or sriracha. I just take it straight.

grits for me and Duane

grits for me

Breakfast. Break that fast with delicious. Nothing much Italian about these dishes, but a palate must roam.

my friend, the biscuit

June 13, 2016 by chefpaulette

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger!

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger

Murray’s Cheese Shop is on Bleecker Street in the NYC’s West Village. It’s a NY institution where you can find ANY cheese you may be looking for at great prices. New Yorkers LOVE Murray’s Cheese Shop.

BUT Murray’s is also (inexplicably and astonishingly wonderfully) in most Kroger stores in the Nashville area.

Murray’s at Kroger

A nice-sized Murray’s kiosk just off the produce section is packed with exotic & familiar, domestic & international cheeses. Go look. It will knock your socks off. They have cheese section titles like: “grate & crumble,” “melting,” “blue & bloomy rind,” “washed rind,” and more.

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger

You can taste any of them (the people behind the counter are helpful and know their cheese). So when it’s hard to decide what to get, get a taste.

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger

I love the manchego cheese (young & aged). I love the blue cheeses. They have true parmigiano reggiano. They have several pecorino cheeses. Cool Scandinavian cheeses. Lots of goat cheeses. Lots of good gouda cheese. Soft & fatty cheeses. Aged deep orange cheeses.

There are also small bins nestled in the cases filled with smaller chunks under $5.

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger

You can’t go wrong. You want to buy everything.

Just next to the cheese kiosk is a refrigerated stack of shelves with more goodies you can’t find everywhere, like: wild boar salami and parmigiano butter.

Not every Kroger has a Murray’s Cheese, but you’ll know when they do because they post a Murray’s sign outside.

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger

The yes places I know about: Kroger on HWY 70S in Bellevue, Kroger at HWY 96 in Franklin, Kroger Green Hills.

Get thee to the cheesery!

May 5, 2016 by chefpaulette

Fav Nashville Eats: Mangia Nashville

porchetta sandwich on black carbon bread

I’ve got a new favorite sandwich. Porchetta (I’ll explain), broccoli rabe, caramelized onions, on black bread. Yes, black. Not pumpernickel. Black. As in carbon charcoal black bread. Good? YES! It’s only at Mangia Nashville.

Nick Pellegrino started Mangia Nashville while hitching a ride at the Cool Cafe in Franklin. On Friday and Saturday nights he’d take over that meat n’ 3 restaurant to stage an elaborate Italian multi-course feast complete with feet-tapping music (and indeed, everyone gets up to dance) while Coppola’s The Godfather played on the screens. Each course was served family style with 2 or 3 offerings of appetizer, main course, and dessert.

Wonderful success. So wonderful, he’s moved his happiness-generator to Melrose. Now, the place is all his. Mangia Nashville on Craighead just off of 8th Avenue still jumps every Friday and Saturday night with a seasonal fixed course menu of spectacular, authentic Italian dishes.

BUT! During the week, for lunch or for dinner, you can wander in and enjoy his special menu of panini, focaccia, and spuntini. Huh? Panini (sandwiches); Focaccia (thick, individual pizzas); Spuntini (favorite appetizers from across Italy).

One ingredient really stands out…it’s the killer (as in: “how do you make it taste so good?”) porchetta. Prochetta is a pork roast filled with herbs and garlic. Traditionally it is the young suckling pig, skin and all, but Nick’s is pork-belly-wrapped shoulder (including crispy skin). It is so moist and yummy.

My first run-in with porchetta was in Rome in the 1970’s. There’s a huge flea market there on Sundays at Porta Portese. I was making my way through the crowded market, buying scarves & shoes at great prices, hanging with my family…

1974 trip with family at the Porta Portese Sunday flea market

…and there in the middle of the market was a man with a simple cart and a huge roast porchetta. He was selling sandwiches. Carving porchetta onto Roman rosetta rolls. The sandwich remained my Dad’s favorite food of Rome. Juice dripping down our arms while vendors shout “Saldi! Sadli!” (Sale! Sale!).

At Mangia I had porchetta on a roll of black bread. That bread was way too intriguing to pass up. And it’s delicious– it doesn’t taste like the carbon that makes it black…it just tastes good! And this carbon ingredient is supposed to be healthy for you, too. So why not?

Nick told me he was inspired by black carbon bread he had in Rome. He asked the Roman who served it how to make it and got an incomplete answer. So he came home and figured it out himself. Success! (And Yay for us.)

Mangia Nashville’s focaccias are about 8 inches — white or black bread. And the choice of toppings read like an encyclopedia of all luscious Italian tastes: arugula, mozzarella, prosciutto, artichoke hearts, sausage, swiss chard, pesto, roasted tomato, pancetta, ricotta salata, roasted garlic, and on and on….(drooling).

verdure focaccia

I also tried the pannelle. This from the list of “spuntini” appetizers. Panelle are Sicilian chickpea flour fritters. I make them in class sometimes. The version at Mangia is soft and decadent served with a chili sauce.

panelle

So, yes, come to enjoy the big weekend parties (reservations please). Or go during the week. There’s a full bar with great selections (and, of course, Italian beer, too) (AND–NY throwback–Manhattan Special espresso soda). Lunch, dinner, drinks and a hang. There aren’t too many sincere & authentic Italian joints in town. I highly recommend this one!

April 14, 2016 by chefpaulette

Dreaming of Positano

Positano

Maybe it’s the weather. Spring. That fresh air. Carrying the scents of baby leaves, buds about to burst, the planet’s new tip toward the sun.

But I’ve got Positano on my mind.

Positano

There is only one place like it. Adjacent towns along the Amalfi Coast are not exactly Positano. They all have their own secret charm. But only in Positano do the buildings pile up so high.

Positano

Does the beach draw you to the sea. Do the meandering, circling, serpentine streets take you from the top…

Positano

…to the bottom and back again.

Positano

And every storefront, hotel, restaurant, cafe along the way is where you want to spend hours–

Positano

each place — one at a time…

Positano

— so that you stay in Positano for an unlimited amount of days. Yes, that’s what I want.

Positano

Chef Paulette

A little bit of Italy at home.

favorites

What I buy at SupermarketItaly.com

Make Mine Short-Order

Favorite Kitchen Tool Emporium

My Favorite Tomato

Travel to Italy While Staying Home

Lobster fra Diavolo

My Crazy Breakfasts

Murray’s Cheese at Kroger!

Fav Nashville Eats: Mangia Nashville

Dreaming of Positano

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