The Proof is in the Pudding

by Melinda Wells

  In a large hot skillet, over medium heat, render the chopped pancetta until crispy. Add the onions and a splash (about 1 tablespoon) of olive oil. Cook over medium/low heat until the onions are transparent. Add garlic and red pepper. Cook 5 minutes.

  At this point: Bring a large pot of water to boil for the spaghetti. Add salt to water just before tossing the pasta into the boiling water. Cook per directions for al dente, usually 12 minutes.

  Back to the sauce: Add the chopped olives, capers, and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the wine, water, and seasonings. Simmer a few minutes. Now: Remove a cup of the hot pasta water. If sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of the pasta water.

  As soon as the pasta has reached al dente, drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce. Serve with the grated cheese. Serve (and cook) with a good sangiovese or chianti wine. Serves 4. (Leftover Pasta Caruso is delicious the next day, when reheated in microwave.)

  Della’s Italian Chicken Stew

  3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (or 6 half breasts) cut into big nugget-size pieces

  ½ cup olive oil

  Salt and (fresh ground) pepper for seasoning chicken breasts

  6 bell peppers: red, yellow, orange, sliced in 1-inch strips (don’t use green peppers)

  3 oz. prosciutto ham, chopped (packaged, in deli section of market)

  4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

  1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes

  1 cup white wine

  1 cup chicken stock

  1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

  1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves

  Only if needed: a little more salt and pepper, to your taste

  NOTE: If serving immediately, include the following two ingredients, but if making for next day only add them when reheating the dish:

  2 tablespoons capers

  ¼ to ½ cup Italian parsley (fresh and cut up with kitchen shears)

  Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. While heating, season the chicken breasts with the salt and pepper. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides. Remove from Dutch oven and set aside.

  Into the Dutch oven, put strips of pepper and prosciutto and sauté over medium heat until peppers are tender and prosciutto is browned, about 9 or 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for no more than 1 minute. Add tomatoes, wine, fresh thyme, and oregano leaves. Stir thoroughly to combine, including the browned bits from bottom of the Dutch oven.

  Add the chicken back into the Dutch oven. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover the Dutch oven, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until chicken is thoroughly cooked. (If you prefer chicken with the bone in, cooking to doneness will take longer, 20 to 25 minutes.) Taste to see if you need to add salt and pepper. (You probably won’t. Remember that the capers will add a bit of salt.)

  This dish is best if “rested” for a day. (Cooled to room temperature, and then stored covered in refrigerator overnight.) When getting ready to reheat to serve next day, add 2 tablespoons of capers (drained), and ¼ to ½ cup of chopped or cut up Italian parsley.

  Reheat in the Dutch oven over medium flame. When ready, serve with rice, or with boiled baby gold or red potatoes (skin on), or with mashed potatoes. I like to make mashed potatoes that are half potatoes and half cooked spinach, chopped.

  Penni Crenna’s Mexican-Style Chicken Kiev

  Penni Crenna, wife of actor Richard Crenna, always loved making meals for her family and doing the cooking when they gave parties. Her Mexican-Style Chicken Kiev was a great favorite with their guests. When I made it I understood why.

  Don’t preheat oven, because this needs time in the refrigerator before baking.

  4 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved

  1 large can (approximately 16 oz.) whole green chilies

  ¼ lb. Jack cheese

  1 cup fresh breadcrumbs (but you can also use prepared dry crumbs, unseasoned)

  ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

  1 teaspoon chili powder

  ½ teaspoon garlic salt

  ¼ teaspoon ground cumin

  ¼ teaspoon ground pepper

  6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

  Pound the chicken breasts between two pieces of wax paper until each is about ¼ inch thick.

  Slit the green chilies into halves lengthwise and remove seeds (unless you want this dish hotter), then cut into 8 equal pieces.

  Cut the Jack cheese into 8 fingers about ½ inch thick and 1½ inches long.

  Combine the breadcrumbs with Parmesan cheese, chili powder, garlic salt, ground cumin, and ground pepper. (Penni makes her own breadcrumbs: instructions below.)

  Lay a piece of green chili and a finger of Jack cheese on each of the chicken pieces. Roll them up to enclose the filling. Tuck ends under. Dip the bundles into melted butter, drain briefly, and then roll in the crumb mixture to coat evenly. Place bundles seam-side down without sides touching in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Drizzle remaining melted butter over all. Cover and chill at least 4 hours, or overnight.

  When ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

  Bake uncovered in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink when slashed. Remove to a serving platter. Serves 8.

  NOTE FROM DELLA: Penni served this with black beans, rice, and tortillas. I like to add salsa and guacamole.

  FOR PENNI’S HOMEMADE BREADCRUMBS: She takes the crusts off slices of white bread and chops the slices in the food processor. Then she mixes these crumbs with the spices listed in the recipe above.

  Seana Crenna’s Quiche

  Seana, actor Richard Crenna’s daughter, grew up in Hollywood, but instead of going into show business, she earned a Masters in Psychology and went to work with troubled adolescents in residential facilities. When I asked her how she handled them, she said, “Bring homemade Goody Bars and the kids will do anything.”

  This quiche is an easy main course for a luncheon or for a light dinner. Seana says she usually serves it with mini muffins and Caesar salad.

  1 single piecrust: refrigerated, frozen or homemade (see note below)

  2 cups cottage cheese (low-fat and small curd)

  3 eggs (room temperature and beaten)

  ½ cup shredded Swiss cheese

  ½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese

  2 or 3 green onions (white and green parts) finely chopped

  1 cup French-fried onion rings in a can (crushed with your fingers)

  Salt & pepper to taste (I use about ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper)

  Prick the bottom and sides of the unbaked piecrust and bake according to the package directions. (Or the directions in your cookbook if you make the crust from scratch.) When the crust is light brown, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  In a large mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, eggs, cheeses, green onions, salt, and pepper. Hand mix until thoroughly combined.

  Pour mixture over cooled piecrust and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the quiche has puffed (about ½ inch).

  Pull out the oven rack beneath the quiche and cover the quiche with the crushed onions. Then continue to bake until the onions appear lightly toasted-about 5 more minutes.

  Remove from oven and cool for 5 or 10 minutes before serving.

  NOTE FROM DELLA: For homemade crust, I recommend the standard pastry recipe for an 8- or 9-inch one-crust pie in Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.

  Penrose Anderson’s Tomato Soup

  This recipe is from British author Penrose (Penny) Anderson. She wrote for Thames Television in London, is a published poet, and is also a voice-over actress. She said her favorite voice job was in Warhammer, a fantasy video game in which she got to play both the High Elf and the Dark Elf, contrasting characters she described as the “video game’s version of Jekyll and Hyde.” When Penny’s not providing the voice for various animated characters, she’s working on a novel.<
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  2 tablespoons butter

  1 large white onion, finely chopped

  1 clove garlic, crushed

  5 red ripe tomatoes

  1 tablespoon tomato paste

  4 cups chicken broth

  1 bay leaf

  1 teaspoon basil (or 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, if you have them)

  Juice of ½ lemon

  Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

  2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped, to garnish

  Sauté onion and garlic is hot butter for 3 minutes, until softened. Add quartered tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, bay leaf, and basil (or herbes de Provence). Put into a blender. Pulse briefly so as not to liquefy, but to have bits of tomato visible. Pour into saucepan. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Return soup to simmering point. Garnish with chopped parsley. (Della’s note: I like Italian flat leaf parsley.) Serves 6.

  Charlotte ’s Irish Soda Bread (Irish Scone/Pan Bread)

  Richard Fredricks is a former Principal Baritone of the Metropolitan Opera, television, and musical theater. Before show business, he was a sonar man, in the Submarine Service. Richard was kind enough to share this recipe from his mother, Charlotte, who was born in Londonderry, Ireland.

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  1½ teaspoons baking soda

  1½ teaspoons salt

  4½ cups unbleached flour

  1½ teaspoons nutmeg (to taste)

  ½ cup currants (some cranberries are nice for variety)

  ½ cup raisins (or just a wee bit more)

  2 handfuls of chopped walnuts

  2¼ cups 2% buttermilk

  Lightly flour a dry, cured 10-inch iron skillet and set over a low flame to preheat.

  In a large mixing bowl, sift together all dry ingredients four times. Add currants, raisins, and chopped walnuts and fold them until coated with dry mix.

  Make a well (hole) in the center and add all the buttermilk at once. Fold together (with two large, strong spoons) until thoroughly mixed, adding buttermilk as necessary to make it moist, but not overly wet.

  Make a big ball of the dough (pushed away from the sides of the bowl with the spoons) and lightly flour the top and sides, lifting and working the flour under the ball as you rotate the bowl. Lightly flour as needed to be able to transfer the moist mix to the hot skillet.

  When the entire surface of the ball is lightly floured, place it in the center of the heated pan and gently flatten it out until the entire pan is filled to the edges.

  Cook approximately 20 minutes on the first side. With a large pancake turner or spatula, gently left the scone to see that it is sufficiently well browned, then turn it over by tilting the pan to meet it as it is gently “flipped.” The second side takes approximately 18 to 20 minutes.

  Pierce the center with a knife to determine when the soda bread is done: dry to slightly moist, nice light to moderate brown crusting.

  Remove from heat, wrap in terry-cloth towel, and place on a rack for cooling (the oven rack is fine with the door open) until just warm. In half an hour or so, you can slice off a piece or three and begin to enjoy one of the simple but elegant pleasures of Ireland, complemented by a lovely cup of tea, with milk and honey. Refrigerate the scone in a large Ziploc bag with as much air removed from it as possible. To reheat, slice off pieces in ½ inch slices and warm in the toaster or toaster oven.

  Richard says, “Oh, such a delight, delicious-plain or with butter, jam, or both, or a smidgen of marmalade.”

  Betty Pfouts’s English Plum Pudding

  ½ cup brown sugar

  1 egg, well beaten

  ½ cup softened butter

  ½ cup milk

  ½ cup currants

  ½ cup raisins

  1 cup flour

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1½ teaspoons allspice

  1½ teaspoons cinnamon

  1½ teaspoons nutmeg

  1¼ teaspoons cloves

  1½ teaspoons salt

  ⅓cup dark molasses

  ½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

  Put 5 cups of water into pressure cooker with rack in the bottom.

  Combine sugar, egg, and butter, mix until smooth. Add milk, currants, and raisins. Sift together all dry ingredients and add gradually. Mix batter well. Add nuts.

  Turn into a buttered bowl or mold that may be set loosely in cooker. Cover the bowl with wax paper, securely tied. Place the bowl on the rack with water in the cooker. Close the cover on the pressure cooker securely. Allow steam to flow from the vent pipe for 20 minutes. Place pressure regulator on the vent pipe and cook for another 40 minutes. Let pressure drip on its own accord. Serve warm with Brandy Hard Sauce. (Recipe follows.) Serves 6.

  BRANDY HARD SAUCE

  ½ cup butter

  2 cups powdered sugar

  ⅓cup (about) brandy

  Cream butter with sugar, add brandy, and blend to taste and form. It should be firm, not stiff, at room temperature. It softens on warm plum pudding.

  NOTE: If a Lemon Sauce is preferred, substitute the juice of a lemon and a pinch of salt for the brandy.

  Della’s Italian Pot Roast (in a Crock-Pot)

  4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 6 pieces each

  1 package fresh baby carrots (approximately 4 cups)

  1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces, including the leafy tops

  2 diced Roma plum tomatoes, with seeds removed

  2½ lbs. boneless beef chuck roast

  ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  2 cans tomato soup (10¾-ounce can-I prefer plain Campbell ’s tomato soup)

  ¾ cup water

  1 bulb of roasted garlic (see method below)

  1 teaspoon dried basil

  1 teaspoon dried oregano

  1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

  1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar (ONLY white distilled)

  TO ROAST GARLIC: place a whole garlic bulb on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle over it a little extra virgin olive oil and wrap it up. (Twist top of foil to make it look like the garlic bulb is in a little sack.) Roast in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. When it’s soft, open the garlic bulb enough so that you squeeze the roasted garlic out onto a little dish or piece of wax paper or foil. Discard the casing.

  Place the potatoes, carrots, celery, and diced Roma tomatoes into the bottom of a Crock-Pot slow cooker. Season the roast with the fresh ground black pepper and place roast on top of vegetables.

  In bowl, mix together the tomato soup, water, garlic (squeezed out of the roasted bulb), basil, oregano, parsley flakes, and distilled white vinegar. Pour over the meat and vegetables in the Crock-Pot.

  Cover and cook on LOW for 12 hours.

  After 12 hours, remove the roast from the Crock-Pot and let it rest for at least 20 minutes before carving. It should be pink inside. I pour the vegetables and the juice (sauce) into a saucepan and reheat just before serving. I ladle some of the hot liquid over the slices of pot roast and vegetables. Serves 6.

  NOTE #1: There are likely to still be vegetables and sauce left over after the meat has been consumed. I heat this up in a saucepan and serve in wide-brimmed bowls, like pasta bowls, as a hot vegetable soup lunch, with thick slices of bread for sopping.

  NOTE #2: There is, intentionally, no salt in this recipe. There is some salt in the tomato soup, but I don’t salt the roast. When the pot roast slices and vegetables are served, if you feel you want a little salt you can add it then, but taste it first to be sure.

  Melinda Wells

  ***

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