Simple Delicious Poundcake

Lucky me I have so many talented friends and colleagues in the food world. When I started this blog I reached out to many of them and asked if they would be willing to contribute content that I could share with you and they all said absolutely! Sibby Barrett @onioncreekkitchens and I have been friends for decades, actually, there are photos of us wearing Spandex pants…. scary I know. Dallas Affaires Cake Company was Sibby’s bakery for 32 years, creating some of the most breathtaking wedding and speciality cakes that I had ever seen, truly magnificent works of art (and they tasted good too). Today she lives in the Texas Hill Country and runs a cooking school and B&B and is still creating and teaching her incredible recipes. When she asked me what was the first thing I wanted to have her write about I selfishly said my all-time favorite, pound cake. Not too sweet can be dressed up or served simple and in my humble opinion is just the best dessert! Sib also included a glaze and ganache recipe as well, trust me this will be your forever go to pound cake!

Poppy’s Ricotta Pie

Easter was always a big holiday in my family growing up. My grandmother would begin a week before making the traditional bread and pies for the holiday. When she got older and really didn’t want to do it anymore my father who was known to the grandkids as Poppy, happily took over. Dad loved cooking and baking, he and my mom were both great bakers, mom was more of a precise by the book baker, and Dad well he was the great improviser which drove my precision baker mother crazy! Then there is me, baking? not so much. I have never really enjoyed it and I would much rather cook something than bake something.

This year though I decided that I would try one of Dad’s traditional Easter pies because I do remember how good they were. My favorite was the ricotta pie, probably because it’s more like a cheesecake which I love. I even made the crust from scratch and trust me, if you know me you would be applauding me right now! This is Dad’s original recipe written in his horrible handwriting which he lovingly passed down to me. I followed Dad’s recipe precisely with the exception of substituting butter instead of margarine and I also added a 1/4 tsp of King Arthurs Fiori di Sicilia in the filling (thank you Sibby Barrett), this stuff is the bomb, I’m tempted to start dabbing it behind my ears it’s so fragrant! I could not believe how simple this was to make and how really delicious it turned out. The crust is more like a shortbread dough and was so simple and easy to work with and the filling is just delicious. Rich creamy and packed with flavor, this filling would be perfect for cannoli too. If Poppy were here today he would have a big smile on his happy jowly face and say “great job kid”. He loved that I was a chef, he loved all things food-related. Long ago he even had his own roadside stand which he was very proud of. Here’s to you Pops, we miss you every day.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil-Nectar of The Goddess

I am so fortunate to have so many talented friends and colleagues in the culinary business. Most of these relationships go back over 25 years. One such friend is Aimee Padden who has been in the business of importing glorious foods for 25 years and I was one of her first customers! Aimee is a veritable encyclopedia of everything from olive oil to spices, chocolate to charcuterie, and all things gourmet food-related. I asked her to do a simple Q& A with me about olive oil, so many on the market these days, and the choices can be daunting. Her theory is to keep it simple, find a brand you love, and stick with it!

Phil: What would you tell us to look for when buying olive oil? Anything in particular on the label that we should pay attention to?

Aimee: EVOO is the staple in my kitchen. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a great product but I also don’t skimp here. A great EVOO will run you about 25.00 a bottle/liter. Educating yourself by investigating brands is key.

Phil: There has been a lot of talk in recent years regarding scandalous olive oil practices. How can we know if we are buying an inferior product at a premium price?

Aimee: EVOO is a 16 billion dollar business worldwide. Fraud in the industry can be traced all the way back to Roman times. Again, I stress doing your homework and finding a reputable brand and flavor you like.

Phil: Out of all the many regions that produce olive oil, what’s your favorite?

Aimee: My favorite EVOO’s are from Sicily and the South of France. Sardinia also produces some great oils. Spain is another big producer, Spanish EVOO tends to have a bit more bitterness. It’s all about personal taste. Some of the best EVOO’s are from very small farms and never make it to export. However, there are some great and affordable options for the American consumer that do make it to export.

Phil: And last but not least what is your favorite go-to olive oil in your kitchen?

Aimee: Frantoia Barbera produced in Sicily is my “go-to” for everything. It has the perfect balance of buttery and peppery flavors and it also has a higher burn point so it can be used to saute. San Giuliano from Sardinia is another of my favorites.

Lucky me, Aimee sent me a bottle of the Frantoia Barbera, and let me tell you, it’s delicious! In 25 years she has never steered me wrong with a product and this one is no exception! Thanks, Aimee! Available at some import groceries and of course, online.

Ode To Stanley: Part 1

My love for Stanley Tucci began many years ago when my father called to tell me about this great movie he watched called The Big Night. Dad also loved Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub who plays his brother in the film. So off I went to Blockbuster to rent the film, remember when we did that? Interestingly enough, Netflix launched a year later in 1997. This year will mark the 25th anniversary of this cult classic written, directed, and starred in by my beloved Stanley. While Tucci and Shalhoub were the main stars of this film I think the real star was the iconic dish that they created called a Timpano. This dish is also known as a Timbale or Timballo, it all means the same thing “drum”. I was so inspired by this movie that I started teaching “Big Night” cooking classes at my studio. We played the soundtrack, had the film showing on the TV, and made the Timpano, the students loved it and this class was always sold out!

Many years later I was pitching my Italian product line to Nieman Marcus and decided to do a take on this dish. Of course, we modified it a lot and put our own spin on it and the folks at NM just loved it! Our version is a bit less laborious and more user-friendly it is also more similar to the Timbale’s that were recently featured in Stanleys show “Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy” in the segment on Sicily. There are no rules when making this dish, you can use whatever filling you like, pasta, meat, vegetables, and cheeses, it’s all up to you. The only rule when making this dish is you should enlist the help of a friend or friends because it is a rather labor intense dish and it’s way more fun to share the experience with someone. For this, I enlisted the help of my friend Anita Nasuto the creator of the wonderful Nini’s Sicilian Salsa that is so popular up here. I always say that this salsa would make an old shoe taste good!

Last summer while on lockdown Anita invited us to her beautiful porch for a 6 feet apart socially distanced dinner and she served a layered vegetable dish that I just flipped for and I thought wow this would be delicious wrapped in some pastry dough and the recipe I’m about to share with you was born!

1 medium eggplant, sliced

1 medium or 2 small zucchini sliced

3 red bell peppers cut into strips

1 C red sauce, you can use a marinara or a meat sauce

1/2 C Nini’s Sicilian Salsa (drain about 1/2 the oil off)

Batter and quick fry the eggplant and the zucchini (I use egg and breadcrumbs)

Roast the peppers in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes

Spray the springform pan with non-stick spray, cut a piece of parchment, and line the bottom of the pan. I learned this the hard way, so take it from me you’re going to want to take this step. Roll out one sheet of puff pastry dough and line the pan bottom and sides with the dough. If one sheet of dough is not enough to line the entire pan (bottom & sides), use11/2 or 2 and layer them together, this dough is very forgiving and will seam together nicely. Begin with a layer of eggplant, drizzle with some sauce and a spoonful of the salsa, then add a layer of zucchini, sauce, and salsa, add a layer of peppers, more sauce, and salsa, and repeat until you get to the top, mine was three layers of each. Wrap the layered vegetables with the pastry. Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 30 minutes or until nicely brown. I suggest placing the Timbale on a sheet pan to catch any drippings while baking.

Once the Timbale is completely cooled then and only then flip it onto a plate and remove it from the pan. Don’t rush this, I knew someone once who did…….and she used a lot of swear words. Serve at room temp or put back in a warm over for just a bit if you prefer. My idea of a perfect dinner party is to make a Timbale with friends drink some great wine and watch The Big Night!

Black Pepper Fennel Biscotti

Several years ago when I owned Philomena Food Company I decided that I wanted to bring the traditional Italian salt and pepper biscuit into my line of products. Now my grandmother probably made the best and most beautiful version of this traditional biscuit that I have ever seen. She painstakingly braided hers into little wreaths. No problem, I thought! I mean what could possibly go wrong? I watched her make them a million times. So off I went to the kitchen I was renting at the time to make several batches of these delights to sell at the local farmers’ market. After about an hour had passed and my kitchen assistant and I had realized that we had made maybe a few dozen of these biscuits and used every swear word that we knew, we realized that this braiding thing was not going to work for us, Grandma had all the time in the world and she wasn’t making these to sell so she could sit and braid all day long, us not so much.

This conundrum got me thinking about the beautiful sweet dunking biscotti that my mom made and so we decided we would take Grandma’s savory recipe and make them look like Mom’s sweet dunkers, genius! We tried it and boom, the perfect marriage! Eventually, we sold them to Whole Foods and Nieman Marcus for their holiday catalog, thank goodness we stopped all that braiding, or I’m pretty sure I would still be there! Anytime I make these everyone goes nuts for them, they are easy and such a wonderful addition to a cheese tray or just alone. I like to spread them with a little goat cheese and sip some Vin Santo, talk about good! A full recipe will yield a lot of these so feel free to cut the recipe in half, which will yield about 4 dozen, give or take. And remember this is a hand-made savory biscotti, they will not all look exactly alike and that is fine, you may also have some of what I like to call “crumb casualties” no problem, use them for croutons (especially the ends) or bread crumbs. Cutlets made with these breadcrumbs will rock your world! And remember a really good bread knife is your friend, I highly recommend the Offset Bread Knife, available @kingarthurbaking.com life-changing!

4T salt

6T pepper

5 T fennel seed

1 1/2 C oil ( I use olive)

2 C warm water

1/2 oz yeast

8 C flour ( I am partial to King Arthur)

1/2 tsp sugar

Measure dry ingredients in bowl and mix. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Add oil and let rise until double. Sidenote: if the dough seems dry just add a bit of water until it holds together to form the ball.

Once the dough is ready, separate dough into balls, 6 if full batch, 3 if half. Roll each ball into a log that is about 12″ long and about 3′ wide just like you would a sweet biscotti. Bake logs @ 375 for about 30 minutes until lightly brown. Cool completely, I like to leave mine out overnight uncovered and slice and toast the following day. With a very sharp bread knife slice each log into 1 1/2 to 2” slices, lay on a sheet pan, and toast @ 375 for 10-12 minutes on each side or until you get the desired toasty color you like. Set a timer so they don’t burn, I know someone who had to learn that the hard way……

Sauce Bolognese

Bologna is the capital and largest city of the Emilia Romagna region in Northern Italy. The Bolognese people take the making of this sauce very seriously, but show me an Italian that doesn’t take their food seriously…..they simply do not exist! Typically the Bolognese make their sauce slightly different than the recipe I make and are about to share with you. That is a-ok, no hard and fast rules, it’s all about what you like and honestly, both ways are simply delicious. This sauce is part of what I refer to as the “fab five” these are five sauces that we cannot live without in my house and I promise we will get around to all of them.

The base for this recipe is a simple Italian “sofrito” which is the kissing cousin to the French cooking base “mirepoix” Italians sometimes also refer to this as the “holy trinity”. These are all fancy names for three simple ingredients, chopped carrots, celery, and onion. That is where we begin.

Start with about a Tbs of olive oil in a heavy saucepan, add the sofrito ( 1 medium carrot, 1 celery rib, and 1 medium onion ), and about 2 ounces of thick-sliced pancetta or prosciutto all finely diced. Cook about 8-10 minutes until softened but not browned. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and set aside. Now it’s time to add the meat, add 3 Tbs more olive oil to the pan, and add 3/4 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb ground pork and cook until just pink. Add the sofrito back into the pan and add 2-3 cloves chopped garlic. Cook about a minute and add 3/4 C white wine. Let simmer until wine is almost evaporated. Add 1 28 oz crushed tomatoes, you can also use plum tomatoes and crush them through your hands if you like a chunkier sauce. Add 1 C chicken stock and two bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook partially covered over medium heat for about 1 hour. Remove bay leaves and slowly stir in 1/4 C of heavy creme, half and half will do as well. I also like to add just a dash of nutmeg. My favorite pasta to serve with Bolognese is Bucatini or Penne. This sauce is also terrific for making Lasagna. If you prefer the more traditional Bolognese-style sauce, simply omit the tomatoes. This is such an impressive sauce to make for company and it’s so easy.

Stuffed Artichokes

Artichokes also know in Italian as “carciofo” have been a staple in my life since I was a kid. My grandmother made them for every holiday dinner and I can still see her walking into the dining room with that huge pan full of those beautiful stuffed creations. It seems like back then it was not all that hard to find beautiful artichokes but unfortunately, these days I find that the really gorgeous ones are few and far between. When I do find them I snatch them up immediately! These beauties came from Trader Joe’s.

When choosing an artichoke look for a “big bottom” heavy with pretty leaves that are not thin and pointy. They need to be firm to the touch with no tinted brown leaves. If they feel light and hollow, don’t waste your money. They need to look like this beauty in the photo below. The first thing I do is soak them in a bowl of cold water with about 1/4 C of lemon juice. I leave them in the bath for about 30 minutes. This cleans any dirt that may be on them and also helps to soften and make removing the center easier. Once I trim the leaves I cut about 1/4 in off the top and pull out the center leaves which tend to be spikey creating a nice space to house the delicious stuffing. I was a bit surprised to learn that some folks do not stuff the center just the leaves, but once you taste my stuffing you will surely want to get as much of it as possible!

I begin with stale bread (remember that stale bread drawer we talked about in a previous post?) homemade bread cubes are the ticket for any stuffing. I begin by sauteeing 4 cloves of chopped garlic in about 1/4 C olive oil. Then I add 1/2 C Kalamata olives chopped and 1/4 C capers. To that, I add a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper and healthy a pinch of Italian seasoning. Now add 11/2 C chicken or vegetable stock and about a Tsp of lemon juice. Let that all hang out for a few minutes, turn off the heat and fold in those fresh bread cubes, about 21/2 cups. Add 1/2 C Parmesan or Romano cheese and about a Tbs of fresh Italian parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. You should have a beautiful and very moist stuffing, enough for 4-6 chokes depending on how large they are and how much you use. I stuff the center and the first row of surrounding leaves, but you can do it however you like.

I wrap each choke with foil and set them in a deep skillet or pot with about 2 C of water on the bottom, I top each one with more parm cheese, loosely close up the foil, cover the pot and simmer for about 1 hour. This steams them rather than bakes them and I personally find the finished product to be fantastic and super moist and tender! And here’s the best news, not only are these big bottom beauties delicious but artichokes are number 7 on the USDA list of the top 20 antioxidant-rich foods. Always a crowd pleaser and healthy too!

Comfort Food

So many dishes could come under the heading of Comfort Food. After the last several years of living through a political nightmare and segueing into a pandemic I think we can all agree that food has been and still is a great comfort to us all. I have to chuckle at all of my friends talking about how they cannot fit into their jeans and elastic waist bands have become our new attire. I wore jeans for the first time yesterday and I must admit they were a bit snug and I could not wait to get home into my “soft clothes”.

Ok so we all gained a few but honestly, we have been through hell as a nation and like it or not my friends, cooking and eating great food helped a lot. I mean is there anything betting than drowning our sorrows in a steaming bowl of something delicious? I think we all know the answer to that question!

I remember when I was a kid one of my favorite dishes was Pasta Fagioli, this was a meal that I never wrinkled my nose at and to this very day, it’s one of my all time favorites. In this house we have it at least once a week and I vary the ingredients from time to time depending on what I have in the house. This is another of those wonderful ‘peasant food” dishes so there is a lot of room for playing around with it.

Some of my friends add sausage or pepperoni, both delicious. Sometimes I will add a little dicedprosciutto, this gives the soup a hint of a smokey flavor which I love. This meal is simple to prepare and can be made in about 20 minutes. Serve with some crusty bread slathered in butter ( because who cares the pants are snug anyway) and you have a perfectly delicious and oh so comforting meal!

Pasta Fagioli Phil Style

Begin with a generous amount of olive oil in your pot, add 2 cloves chopped garlic, half of a medium sweet yellow onion, 2 carrots, and two stalks of celery all chopped. At this point I add about a tsp of Italian seasoning and tsp of crushed red pepper and let that cook for a few minutes. If you were going to add the diced prosciutto this would be the time. Once this cooks down a bit I add 1 can of navy or cannelini beans and 1 can of garbanzo beans and let them season for just a few minutes. If you have some parmesan rinds in the fridge, throw them in now. Add one cup blistered tomatoes (see side note below) and you can also use some marinara if you have it, about 1/2 cup. I like a red broth. Add 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock and let it all simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper and add 2 generous spoonfuls of pesto. Add some grated parmesan cheese and you are ready to serve.

Sidenote: I cook my pasta separately and let it cool before adding to the soup, this keeps it from sucking up all of the broth. I like Ditalini, or Orzo.

Sidenote: I have a huge obsession with roasted/blistered tomatos this is super easy to do and so worth it. Just toss cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven on 375 until they blister and get a beautiful roasted look to them. For this soup I used about 12 tomatoes and about a half cup of my marinara which is a staple in my fridge.

Try not to get bogged down in the details with dishes like this, remember peasant food really has no rules and that is precisely why these types of dishes are my absolute favorites to prepare. Enjoy!

Cowboys and Beans

I love beans, pretty much all kinds of beans I think white beans or navy beans are amoung my favorites. This was not always the case, as a kid my grandmother would make a dish called “pane e fagioli” which simply means bread and beans. This dish was part of the Aceto family peasant food repertoire. The bread used in this dish was always retrieved form the stale bread drawer that I swear was in every Italian household. Whenever my grandmother would bring it to the table I, being the picky pain in the butt eater that I was (still am) would turn up my nose and shut my mouth really tight. My brothers on the other hand well….. my father would tell them that it was cowboy food along with some nonsensical tale of how this is what they would be eating if they were out on the range. Pretty certain we didn’t have a “range” in Schenectady but being the wanna be cow pokes that they were, well they just gobbled it up because if it was good enough for the cowboys out on the range, then it was good enough for those two clowns! I however had no interest in being a cowboy or cowgirl for that matter. These days it is one of my favorite dishes and I can feel my grandmother, the original Filomena smiling down on me every time I make it.

Beans have always been a staple in the Italian diet, part of the peasant food dishes that we all ate growing up. You will see as time goes on that I will post many bean recipes that are easy and so good. Beans of course are also a great source of protein and can be made into a delicious main dish or appetizer in no time.

Last night I needed a quick and easy appetizer to take to a neighbors house who was hosting us for dinner so I made one of my favorites. Sort of my version of “cowboy food” but better!

White Bean Crostini wirh Lemon & Capers

2 15 oz cans navy or cannelini beans drained (you can of course use dried as well)

2-3 cloves garlic smashed

12 cherry tomatos halved

1 generous Tbs of capers ( I tend to over caper things because I love them)

1 Tbs lemon zest ( I also tend to over zest things because I love lemon)

1 tsp Italian seasoning

S & P to taste

Saute garlic in olive oil, add beans and saute for about 10 minutes, add cherry tomatos and Italian seasoning and cook until tomatos are soft. You can also pre blister the tomatos and add them in (I love blistered tomatos) White bean dishes can be very dull looking, the tomatos, capers and zest add more layers of flavor and some color because nobody likes a drab looking bean dish! Add salt, pepper and fold in the capers and the lemon zest. Serve with a rustic bread like sourdough or Italian that has been toasted to a nice crunch.

The medly of these flavors especially the lemon and capers make for a delicious and super easy appetizer, it was a big hit last night!

It’s all in the memories

One thing I have noticed about being a chef is that we create quite a bit of buzz. Everyone wants to talk to me once they find out that I am a chef. This is because I represent a universal source of happiness…..food. People just love talking about food and apparently cocktails. This was beautifully demonstrated on December 21 of last year, when I had knee surgery.

My surgeon came by to chat and let me know that I would be given something for pain, I responded ” really, I would love a shot of good Bourbon” He looked up from what he was scribbling and said ” oh so you like whiskey do you, do you like Manhattan’s”? ” do I like them???? well that’s my signature cocktail”! At that moment he put down his papers and proceeded to tell me a 10-minute story of how his uncle made the best Manhattans and proceeded to explain the technique to me!

The next thing I knew, the entire surgical team was huddled around my little cubical talking cocktails! This conversation continued into the surgical suite where I had opted to stay awake for the procedure. The entire time my knee was being repaired, we talked about food. Being 4 days before Christmas, lots of questions were asked about holiday foods, particularly on the subject of dry brine VS wet, this went on for an hour with everyone sharing their brine recipes and techniques.

The PA to my immediate right bent over and whispered in my ear, “are you familiar with the restaurant Alinia”? of course I said! He then proceeded to whip out his phone and show me photos of his dinner there which he told me almost bankrupted him, but he said it was so worth it!

Think about it, food is the great connector and the great comforter. The number one thing food-centric folks like to talk about are family recipies, how mom made this, or grandma made that, it’s like when we talk about our memories around food, we go right back to that place of when we first tasted that wonderful dish. I will always remember how my students would come to a class at my studio and share so many wonderful stories about their families recipes. They would walk in as 8 strangers and leave as friends, exchanging numbers and emails. That is the connector aspect of food. A group of folks in a kitchen together cooking, sharing and eating. Doesn’t get much better than that. Food connects us.

Comfort, well who can’t use more of that these days? People die, we eat, people get married, we eat, we’re sad we eat, we’re happy we eat. Just about any time we need comfort or to feel a sense of goodness, we eat. I remember as a kid the lady who lived across the street from us would always bring a pot of fresh coffee to a house where someone died. Whenever we saw Jenny, we knew death was in our midst. My grandmother would always make her famous sponge cake and bring that to the bereaved house. In the South where I lived for many years, it was casseroles, fattening, gooey, starchy casseroles. In the Northeast where I was raised and currently reside, it’s trays of cold cuts and vats of baked ziti. Food comforts us.

Food is non-confrontational, nonpolitical, non-judgemental, and doesn’t care what color or nationality you are. Food is for everyone and everyone has memories that are steeped in food. The number one thing food-centric folks like to talk about our family recipes, how mom made this, or grandma made that, it’s like when we talk about our memories around food, we go right back to that place of when we first tasted that wonderful dish. It seems like every time I am with friends or family, we always end up talking about food and reminiscing about food. Food is love, it’s security, its memories that we piece together in our minds, one bite at a time.