by J. D. Griffo
24 large toothpicks
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Rinse the calamari tubes and pat dry.
In a large bowl, stir onions, 6 cloves garlic, shrimp, crabmeat, and lemon juice.
Spoon some of the mixture into each calamari tube—Don’t overstuff!
Seal the ends of the tubes by sewing with large toothpicks—Some tubes only have one open end
Arrange in a single layer in a 9x13-inch baking dish
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat; stir in cream cheese and 2 cloves garlic
Gradually whisk in the milk and cook until heated
Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan and pepper
Pour over all of the calamari tubes
Sprinkle 2 tbs. of Romano over each one
Bake uncovered for 20 minutes
While calamari is baking, boil lightly salted water and cook linguine until al dente, approximately 8 minutes
Place linguine on plate, top with stuffed calamari, and pour the sauce over everything
FATHER SAL’S MARINATED ANCHOVIES
Ingredients
2½ lbs. small to medium fresh anchovies—If you ’re like Alberta you will clean and scale them on your own—if you’re smart, you’ll have your fishmonger do it for you!
The juice of 4 lemons
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
4-5 fresh basil leaves
Sea salt, fine
Directions:
Remove the heads from the anchovies—Do it quickly and it isn’t so bad.
Rinse and transfer to container.
Season generously with salt—If you’re on a low sodium diet, eat these on a cheat day or avoid them altogether.
Pour lemon juice over the anchovies juice.
Cover and refrigerate for 5–6 hours. You can keep them in the fridge for a few days, but the longer you keep them, the more acidic they’ll become.
To serve, remove the anchovies from the lemon juice and transfer to a tray.
Drizzle on the olive oil and place basil leaves over the fish.
JINX’S GLUTEN FREE STRUFFOLI
Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose gluten-free flour
¼ tsp. pink Himalayan salt
1 cup almonds, finely chopped
1 cup raw honey
¼ cup coconut oil
Liquid vanilla Stevia or regular sugar
Gluten free vanilla extract
½ tsp. cinnamon powder
Cooking oil—keep it Italian and use olive oil
Sprinkles
Directions:
For the Dough:
Heat about 3-4 inches of cooking oil on medium-low heat in an 8 oz quart pot
While oil is heating, sift flour and place in large glass bowl
Beat 3 eggs and mix with flour—If the dough is sticky, add another egg
Knead dough and let it rest for 5-10 minutes
Take small pieces of dough and roll into small balls the size of malt balls
Deep fry in oil until lightly golden brown and drain well
For the Topping:
In the same pot mix the honey, oil, liquid sugar, almonds, cinnamon on low heat to simmer
Turn off heat and let mixture thicken
Don’t wait too long to pour in the fried dough pieces and mix together
Pour the honey balls into small bowl and sprinkle with Sprinkles!
VINNY’S CHOCOLATE PANFORTE
Ingredients:
½ cup all-purpose flour—You can probably use gluten- free flour like Jinx would, but I don’t know how that’ll affect the recipe. Sorry!
½ cup honey
½ cup of each of the following: walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds
½ cup of each of the following: dark chocolate, candied lemons, candied oranges, candied cherries, candied figs
1 pinch of each of the following: cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg
1 sheet rice paper wrapper—You have to use edible paper otherwise the recipe won’t be ... edible.
220 g, icing sugar
Directions:
Toast and chop the nuts
Mince the figs and candied fruit
In a large bowl, combine nuts, candied fruit, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, flour
Cut chocolate into bits and add to mixture
Heat icing sugar, honey, and ½ oz. water in small pan to boil
Remove from heat and add in mixture of fruit, spices, and chocolate
Cover the bottom of a cake pan with edible rice paper and pour in the mixture.
Coat your hands with the flour and spread the mixture on the paper
Preheat oven to 300 degrees, cook for an hour
Remove and cool, then sprinkle with the icing sugar