by Kathryn Shay
Lightly brown the bacon in the same skillet. Pour off most of the fat
Add onions, carrots and garlic. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add mixture to the meat.
Add wine, parsley, bay leaf and thyme.
Cover. Bake at 350º for 2 hours. Add onions and mushrooms. Recover and bake ½ hour longer.
Serve over noodles.
Grandpa Boneli’s Frittata
1 lb. ground sausage
4 potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes
2 green peppers, sliced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
6 eggs, lightly beaten
Cook sausage until done. Drain. Remove from skillet.
Brown potatoes, peppers and onions in same skillet. Add sausage back into the mixture. Heat through until hot. Add eggs, stir until scrambled but don’t overcook them.
Serve with crusty Italian bread.
Spanish Rice
350º for 45 minutes
This was comfort food as I was growing up. Piping hot, we had it on long, cold nights. My own kids loved this plain dish, served with salad and warm bread.
1 lb. ground beef
2 cups rice
1 28-oz. can of whole tomatoes, with juice
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
(If you want it spicy, add hot red pepper.)
Brown ground beef.
Cook rice and add to mixture.
Add tomatoes, crushed with a spoon. Add juice.
Cover and cook at 350º for 45 minutes.
Note: My husband spices this plain dish with hot sauce.
Potato Salad
Seriously, this is the best potato salad I’ve ever had. I think it’s the pickle juice. Once again, it’s from my sister Joanie who generously gave it to her little sister.
5 cups diced potatoes
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. salt or salt to taste
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup sliced sweet pickles
1 TBLS. pickle juice
¾ cup chopped celery
¾ cup mayo
1 tsp. mustard
2 eggs
Boil potatoes. Don’t let them get too soft. Drain.
Sprinkle potatoes with sugar and vinegar.
Add salt, onion, pickles and celery.
Gently mix above together.
Make mixture of mayo/mustard/pickle juice. Add to bowl.
After ingredients are well blended, cut up and fold in two eggs.
Chill.
Uncle Mark’s Easter Pie “Pastede”
325º for 1 hour
Every Easter my Uncle Mark made this pie for his family. My dad loved it, and we’d all go to his house (a block away) to eat. They’d baked many, many batches. When I got old enough, I made it for my dad when he’d visit. I was surprised at how easy it was to make, because as a child, preparation seemed so long.
2 (or 4) 9-inch pie crusts (I always use store bought but you can make it from scratch.)
2 lb. ricotta cheese, softened
6 eggs
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
1lb. cooked ham, chopped
½ lb. Genoa salami, chopped
¼ lb. prosciutto, chopped
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Place ricotta in a large bowl and add eggs one at a time, beating gently. Add mozzarella, ham, salami and prosciutto. Mix gently.
Pour equally into two pie pans, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over each.
OPTIONAL: Top with second crust, crimping edges and make steam vents. My uncle did not use a top crust and the pie is good either way.
Bake one hour.
Breads
Pumpkin Bread
350º for 1 hour
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 ½ cups flour
1 TLBS salt
1 TLBS cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 TBLS. baking soda in ⅔ cup water
1 cup cooking oil
2 cups cooked pumpkin
Cream sugar and eggs.
Mix together flour, salt and cinnamon, nutmeg.
Add to sugar and eggs.
Add baking soda mixture.
Add cooking oil.
Add pumpkin.
Mix well.
Cover bread pan with cooking spray.
Bake at 350º for 1 hour.
Ruocco Nut Bread
350º for 45 minutes
My Italian mother loved this simple bread and made it often. I bring it to church for Sunday School adult class, and it has become a favorite of church goers.
¾ cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
¾ to 1 cup chopped walnuts
Combine sugar, flour, baking powder. Set aside.
Combine egg and milk in smaller bowl. Add to the above mixture.
Mix in walnuts.
For this bread, I don’t use an electric mixer but beat by hand.
Pour into lightly sprayed bread pan. Let mixture stand for ½ hour.
Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Halfway through, you might want to slather some butter on the top so it browns.
Banana Bread
350º for 1 hour.
My Mom’s recipe which is a lot more complicated than the other breads. But it’s wonderful. Note: you must use ripe bananas or bread turns out sour.
1 cup sugar
½ cup shortening
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
3 TBLS. sour milk (to sour, add 1 tsp. white vinegar to regular milk)
1 cup nuts
Use electric mixer.
Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs; beat well. Add bananas. Fold in.
Sift flour, baking soda and salt together.
Add to mixture alternately with milk, stirring in between.
Bake in lightly sprayed loaf pan at 350º for 1 hour. Test doneness with knife inserted into middle. If it comes our wet, bake more.
Monkey Bread
350º for 45 minutes
A Bundt pan or Angel Food Cake pan is needed.
1 ¼ cup sugar (split up into ¾ cup and ½ cup)
2 tsp. cinnamon
32 refrigerated biscuits cut into quarters
1 stick butter
Mix ¾ cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Toss biscuits into mixture.
Place in an ungreased Bundt pan.
Melt butter, add ½ cup sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil.
Pour over biscuits in pan.
Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Turn Bundt pan over onto a plate and serve.
Desserts
Anise Toast
350º for 30 minutes, then at 400º for 10 minutes
Aunt Rosie’s recipe, was given to me in terms of “a sack of flour, half a sack of sugar, etc.” and I had to determine the exact amounts! Italians made these by the barrel (literally, I saw the barrels), and when the cookies hardened, my ancestors dunked them in coffee. Also, this is another recipe where I beat the batter with a wooden spoon, not with an electric mixer.
1¼ cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
5 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 TBLS. anise extract
Mix together dry ingredients and make a well. Add eggs, oil and anise. Mix well.
Bake in lightly sprayed 9x13 pan at 350º for 30 minutes
Remove from oven. Cool slightly. Cut into 3 long vertical strips, then cut diagonally into smaller bars.
Gently remove the bars from the pan and place on unsprayed cookie sheet, separating strips as much as possible.
Bake at 400º or 10 minutes.
Cool on rack.
Note: The botto
m of the cookies burn easily at the high heat. Watch them so this doesn’t happen.
Italian Biscotti (the Ruocco—my family—way)
350º for 10 minutes per pan
This has become a staple in my family. The cookies began to be called “Eric’s Cookies” because one of my nephews loved them so much. And of all the Ruocco sisters (4) I make these the best!
1 stick of butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
6 eggs
1 TBLS. vanilla extract
2 TBLS. baking powder
2-4 cups flour
Cream sugar and butter.
Add eggs and vanilla extract. Add baking powder and flour. You’ll be able to use the mixer until the dough gets too thick to do so.
Add flour and mix the rest with your hands.
When you have firm dough, knead by hand for about 3 minutes.
Cut in chunks off the end of the dough, roll into a two inch long piece (like a cigar) and then press into a knot. The cookie should be about 1 inch in diameter as a knot and as thick as you want. Remember, the dough doubles in size when baked.
Place on a floured cookie sheet and bake 10 minutes.
Makes about 3-4 dozen.
Frosting for Biscotti
1 stick butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Milk (determined by consistency)
Confectioner’s sugar (determined by consistency)
Soften the butter, add two teaspoons of vanilla extract, and start by adding a half cup of milk and a cup of confectioner’s sugar. Mix with electric mixer until blended. Keep adding milk and sugar until you get the desired amount for the number of cookies you made. Make sure it’s thick enough.
Frost cookies and shake colorful sprinkles on them. Be sure to use the sprinkles for every four-six cookies you frost because if the frosting dries, it won’t take the sprinkles.
Pizzelles
Another recipe made by the barrel, these cookies last weeks. The old tale goes that after you put the batter in the iron and close it, you say 3 Hail Marys and they’re done.
Pizzelle Iron Required
½ cup butter
⅔ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
Cream together butter and sugar.
Add vanilla extract.
Add eggs.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
Add to egg mixture.
Grease iron with spray. Let it heat well.
Throw away first four cookies. Some people give them to the dog.
Place a rounded spoonful of dough in the center of each griddle. Close lid. Cook 45 seconds, or say 3 Hail Marys, then remove. Be careful when removing because they can fall apart. Cool before handling so they stiffen up.
Store in a tin or on a plate covered with foil. Do not put them in plastic containers or they go soft.
Italian Spice Balls
375º for 10 minutes
1 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1TBLS. cinnamon
1TBLS. crushed cloves
1 TBLS. Nutmeg
¾ cup cocoa
2 TBLS. baking powder
5 cups flour
Cream vegetable oil and sugar.
Add eggs and milk. Beat at medium speed.
Add vanilla extract, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Beat at medium speed.
In separate bowl, blend cocoa, baking powder, flour together. Beat into wet mixture gradually.
Roll into ¾ the size of golf balls, no larger.
Bake at 375º for 10 minutes. Cool. Glaze with confectioners’ sugar and water mixed together.
Note: Notice how large the recipe is. Again, Italians “in the old country” made barrels of cookies and shared them with family and neighbors. The recipe is easy to halve.
Italian Fruit Bars
350º 10-15 minutes each for long bars
I haven’t seen a recipe like this other than my own. It took me days to convert Aunt Rosie’s directions (a sack of flour, a box of raisins…) and some trial and error. Again she made these by the barrel. This recipe could feed an army, as my aunt said. I usually cut it in half. They take a lot of work, will remind you of fruitcake, but they’re well worth the trouble.
4 cups sugar
1 lb. shortening (if you use butter, use 4 sticks)
2 TBLS. baking soda
5 eggs, slightly beaten (4 for mixture plus 1 for brushing on top)
1 cup water
1 cup molasses
12 cups flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves. NOT the whole ones, or the cookies will be inedible.
1 tsp. salt
1 large jar mixed fruit (the kind that looks candied)
2 cups raisins or smaller currants
2 cups walnuts chopped up
Soften shortening and add sugar. Beat gently.
Add baking soda, eggs, water, molasses.
Stir in ½ of flour.
Add all spices. Mix.
Add fruit, raisins and nuts. Mix.
Add rest of flour to make a sticky dough. (I have to knead the dough by hand and it’s hard.)
Form into vertical strips about 3 inches wide and a foot long. Flatten with hand. Don’t make these strips too wide or to thick or cookies won’t bake through.
Brush each strip with a beaten egg.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350º for 10-15 minutes. I fit 2 strips on a regular cookie sheet. The dough expands quite a bit.
Cool. Cut horizontally in strips to make bars.
Elephant Ear Cookies
450º for 6 minutes on one side, 3 minutes on other side
I used to make this with my kids when they were little ones! The name alone fascinates children. How cute!
¼ cup butter or shortening, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar (you will use in ¼ cup portions)
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
⅓ cup milk
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Heat butter until melted; set aside.
Blend together flour, ¼ cup sugar, baking powder, salt.
Blend together ¼ sugar with cinnamon.
At medium speed, in a medium size bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk and 3 TBLS. melted butter until dough forms.
Sprinkle a surface lightly with flour; turn dough onto surface. Knead 15 times.
Roll dough with a rolling pin or pat with hands into a rectangle, 9x5 inches. Brush with remaining melted butter using a pastry brush. Then sprinkle with mixture of ¼ cup sugar and the cinnamon.
Roll dough up tightly, beginning at narrow end. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Cut into 4 equal pieces with sharp knife. Place cut sides up on cookie sheet; pat each into 6-inch circle. Sprinkle with more sugar.
Bake at 450º for 6 minutes on one side, 3 minutes on other side. Immediately remove from cookies sheet with a spatula. Cool on wire rack.
No Bake Cookies
This is a recipe from my husband’s side of the family, who make them better than I do. There is a trick to this one: don’t boil the first ingredients too long, but if you don’t boil them long enough, the oats don’t cook.
½ cup water
½ cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
2 cups sugar
2 TBLS. Cocoa
½ cup peanut butter