Have a wonderful Sunday

 

Paccheri con salsa di stufato

 This recipe is for what old time Italian Americans used to call Sunday gravy. This was when pasta was still called maccheroni. There are many versions but this is the Sicilian one as my dear mother used to make. Stufato means stew.

The ingredients are: some sausage, a few bracioli, a piece of unprocessed slab bacon with the rind and some pieces of beef chuck. You also need a bottle of passata di pomodoro or a large can of tomato puree, a small onion, a few leaves of fresh basil and two cloves of garlic. The traditional Sicilian recipe calls for some cinnamon and a few whole cloves. You also need peeled potatoes.

PROCEDURE: Take a deep pot and coat it's bottom with good EVO. Add the onion along with the garlic whole. A few laves of basil and some peperoncino are nice too. Let simmer in low heat for a few minutes making sure that the garlic is not burned. Add the meat and increase the heat. Let the pieces brown on all sides and the place in a dish. Add the tomato puree and half a glass of good red wine. Season for salt. Stir for about 5 minutes and then return the meat along with any juices that are in the dish. Cook in medium heat for about 45 minutes making sure that nothing sticks to the bottom. If the sauce gets too thick add some hot water or more wine. Now add the potatoes and continue cooking until they are tender. Some potatoes take longer than others. Once the potatoes are done add some nutmeg and some more basil. Turn off the heat.

Cook either rigatoni or penne rigate. I used pacccheri De Cecco but any cut pasta will do. It's a rather time consuming recipe but it's worth the effort. The pasta is the first course and the meat and potatoes are the second. I usually add a potato in the pasta dish. Try it this Sunday. It's to close to the usually filling Thanksgiving dinner to make it today, Saturday. It's a great cold weather dish. In the old days, on the so called "other side,"  sun dried tomato paste was used this was called strattu or extract. Tomato paste can be substituted but it's not the same. A good pecorino cheese is a must. I took the photo prior to this for clarity.

Buon appetito

 

My beautiful Louisiana Catahoula Leopard dog

 The Catahoula is a water dog and he really enjoys puddles and all sorts ow wet places. Here he has just come out of a large puddle. You can notice that he is very content.. 

Tomorrow I will post a recipe of my Sicilian stufato. No left over turkey recipes here. Stufato is a thick neat sauce usually served during cold weather. Stay tuned.

Happy Thsnksviving Day

 There will not be any recipes on left over turkey because I do not eat turkey or any poultry. A great way tp stay healthy, in my humble opinion.

Just a memory

 

For me New York will never be the same again

A simple and delicious contorno

Contorno means side dish but this can actually be a nice dish on it's own. It's a Sicilian dish so it calls for those round and light purple Sicilian eggplants but the regular ones will do fine. The trick is to know how to select the good ones. The top crown should be green and the body should be shiny and not too hard to the touch. The color should be a uniform purple free from greenish spots.

Once you have your perfect eggplant (a medium size one will do fine) wash and dry with a paper towel. Cut it  in small cubes and fry them in a mixture of corn and regular olive oil. Place in a dish and put aside. In a separate deep skillet, coat the bottom with good EVO and add a clove of garlic coarsely cut up and a few red pepper flakes. Heat on a low flame and when the aroma becomes heavenly, add a third of a can of good diced tomatoes. You may want to dice them a little more before adding them. Cook in medium heat for about ten minutes making sure that there's enough liquid. At this point add the fries eggplants cubes. Stir and add a touch of wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Continue in medium heat for about another.10 minutes. Chop one garlic clove very fine and cut up a few leaves of basil by had, ad to the eggplants, stir an shut off the heat. The plate is ready. The aroma is now intoxicating while the flavor will delight you. This is an economical, nutritious and healthful dish.

Buon appetito

The view from my old studio

 This shot dates from the early seventies and it's 135 East "6 Street across from my studio at 132 East 36 Street, Manhattan. I love the colors and the composition. A tribute to Kodachrome II, my Nikon F and my Nikkor 105 F 2.5. What a winning combination.

Have a great week