Cioppino

Not a cheap dish to make – a little complicate – takes a little while.  But, it will match any ciopinno from any fancy fish restaurant!  You can guild the lily and add langostino.  Be sure to have lots of crusty good bread to soak up the sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c fresh marjoram, chopped
  • 2 Tab fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 2 Tab fresh sage, chopped
  • 2 Tab fresh thyme, chopped
  • 2 Tab fresh basil, chopped
  • 1/2 c fresh parsley, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 small re peppers, finely chopped
  • 8 c Swiss chard, coarsely chopped
  • 40 raw cockle clams
  • 2 large crabs, cooked, cleaned and cracked
  • 36 raw prawns, 12-20 count
  • 2 lbs sea bass, rock fish or etc.
  • 3 cans solid packed tomatoes (29 oz each)
  • 3 cans tomato paste (6 oz each)
  • 3/4 c olive oil
  • 2 Tab salt
  • 2 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1 c dry white wine

Directions:

  1. Combine marjoram, rosemary, sage, thyme and basil.
  2. Add parsley, garlic and chopped ed pepper.
  3. Toss all together with the Swiss chard.
  4. Arrange clams in the bottom of a large, heavy 8 qt kettle with a tight fitting cover.
  5. Sprinkle part of the Swiss chard mixture over the clams.
  6. Put the cracked  crab in next.
  7. Sprinkle with more Swiss chard.
  8. Add the prawns and more chard.
  9. Arrange the sea bass on top.
  10. Mix together tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, salt and pepper.
  11. Pour over all.
  12. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
  13. Pour in the wine and simmer 10 minutes longer.
  14. Serve in big soup bowls with plenty of sauce.  Be sure to dip down to the bottom of the kettle for the clams.

Serves:  12 (not worth all the work for fewer people!)

Source:  Sunset Cookbood

Angela Pia

Once upon a time (in the 50’s-60’s) there was a restaurant in San Francisco – Pietro’s 311.  One of  a multitude of North Beach/produce district hangouts, this one served a wonderful dessert –  Angela Pia.  And they would share the recipe.  It is a bit “fussy” but worth the effort.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Eggs, separated
  • 1 c Cream, whipped
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • ½ c Sugar
  • 1 oz Brandy
  • 1 oz Rum
  • 1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (1 envelope)

Instructions:

  1. Soak gelatin in ¼ c cold water for 5 minutes.
  2. Stir over hot water until dissolved completely.
  3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until lemon colored.
  4. Add rum and brandy.
  5. Whip cream to soft peaks.
  6. Add vanilla
  7. Beat egg whites.
  8. Stir gelatin into egg yolk mixture.
  9. Fold beaten egg whites, whipped cream, egg yolk mixture together.
  10. Pour into individual dishes.
  11. Refrigerate.

Serves: 4 – 6

Notes:

  • Keeps only 24 hours.  Turns rubbery.
  • You can double but not triple (don’t know why, but it doesn’t work)

Source: Pietro’s 311, 311 Washington St, San Francisco  (Telephone Yukon 6-0605)  Long Gone, too bad.

Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini

The original dish is named after the Italian opera star Luisa Tetrazzini. It is widely believed to have been invented circa 1908–1910 by Ernest Arbogast, the chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, where Tetrazzini made her American debut at the Tivoli as Gilda in Rigoletto on January 11, 1905.

A perennial comfort food. And, by its nature, it begs for tinkering to the ingredients on hand, including seasonings and (even more often than chicken) a post-holiday turkey carcass.

Ingredients:

  • 1½ Chickens (fryers)
  • Water (to cover in the pot)
  • 1 tsp. Onion Salt
  • ½ tsp. Celery Salt
    ——
  • ½ lb. Vermicelli (or similar spaghetti-like pasta)
  • Salt
    ——
  • 6 tbsp. Butter
  • ¾ lb. Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
    ——
  • 2 tbsp. Flour
  • ½ tsp. Paprika
  • ½ tsp. Pepper
  • ¼ tsp. Nutmeg
  • 1 c. Milk
    ——
  • 1/3 c. Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Chicken:  These steps may already have been done (e.g., having a Thanksgiving turkey already broken down and broth made from the scraps and bones; see Notes below for more on this).

  1. Place chicken, salts, water in large pan. Simmer covered 30 min, until tender.
  2. Remove chicken, save broth.
  3. Cool chicken, remove meat from bones, refrigerate.

Pasta:  Reserve 2½ cups of broth from the previous step if that’s when you made the broth.

  1. Add water to remaining broth to fill the pan (if the both had previously been made, add a cup of the broth to the pot for making the pasta).
  2. Add 2 tbsp. salt.
  3. Bring to boil, add pasta. Don’t fully cook; leave it a bit al dente (the pasta will absorb the sauce in the oven).
  4. Drain, return to pan or a large bowl.

Mushrooms:

  1. In frying pan, heat 3 tbsp. butter.
  2. Add mushrooms, sprinkle with lemon juice, ½ tbsp. salt.
  3. Sauté until soft but not brown.
  4. Put with pasta.

Sauce:

  1. Melt 3 tbsp. butter in pan.
  2. Stir in flour, paprika, 1½ tsp. salt, pepper, nutmeg. Cook 5 minutes.
  3. Slowly stir in reserved broth. Cook until it boils (it will be thin).
  4. Add milk.

Put it all together:

  1. Mix the pasta, meat, and mushrooms into a large bowl (or a pot you already used).
  2. Put the mix into a 9×13 buttered/sprayed baking dish.
  3. Pour the sauce over the the dish, wetting everything. The sauce will fill about half or more of the pan. (The pasta’s going to such that up.)
  4. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Place in a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese.
  5. Bake covered at 400F for 20 minutes.
  6. Uncover, add more cheese, before baking another 10 minutes.

Serves: 8-10 if half are ladies. On the other hand, a family of four can polish it off without much trouble.

Prep time: 1:30

Notes:

  • This will keep two days refrigerated. Oven heat from the fridge 45 minutes to an hour, until bubbly. Freezes well. As with most casseroles, many folks consider “aging” in the fridge or freezer an improvement over “fresh.”
  • If you are dealing with an existing carcass (chicken or turkey), pick the (presumably cooked) carcass from the bones. Use the (meaty) bones in water with with some celery, onions, maybe garlic salt and pepper, to simmer as described to make the broth. The amount of meat you pick off first will determine proportions on the recipe. You can also substitute chicken tenders or boneless breasts.
  • Yes, it’s spelled “Tetrazzini,” not “Tetrazini.”

Source: Ann Kleerup Coombs, as tweaked on more than one occasion by Margie.

Lasagna

Make sure you use teaspoons, not tablespoons, of fennel, otherwise you’ll end up with “Dave’s Infamous Fennel Lasagna.”

Ingredients:
½ lb Lasagna Noodles, Cooked
1 lb Mozzarella Cheese, grated
¾ c Parmesan Cheese, grated

Meat Sauce
1 lb Italian Sausage
½ lb Ground Beef
2 c Onion, chopped
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Salt
1½ tsp Basil
½ tsp Fennel Seed
¼ tsp Pepper
28 oz Tomatoes, canned
12 oz Tomato Paste
1/4 c red wine

Ricotta Mixture
1 Egg, beaten
15 oz Ricotta Cheese
1 tbsp Parsley Flakes
1 tsp Salt

Directions:

  1. Brown meat.
  2. Saute onions, garlic
  3. Combine Meat Sauce ingredients and simmer to taste.
  4. Mix up Ricotta Mixture.
  5. In a 9×13 baking pan, put a thin coat of meat sauce on the bottom, then layer 3x (i.e., use 1/3 of ingredients in each layer) the following:
    • Lasagna noodles
    • Meat Sauce
    • Ricotta Mixture
    • Mozzarella
    • Parmesan
  6. Cover with foil; bake at 375° for 25 minutes.
  7. Uncover, bake another 25 minutes.
  8. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 2 hrs
Serves: 8
Source: “Mama Creamette” (modified)

Italian Chicken Stew

This is an old favorite of Dave’s, and great for company. Upping the pepper in the flour mixture makes it spicier. As with most stews, it’s better the second day.
Ingredients:
6 lbs. Chicken Breasts
¼ c Flour
2 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper
6 tbsp Olive Oil

12 small Carrots, cut into strips
2 c Celery, cut diagonally
4 mdm Onions, cut in eights
6 cloves Garlic, minced
4 Green Peppers, chopped
2 lbs Stewed Tomatoes
2 c White Wine
1 tsp Basil, crushed
½ Bay Leaf
Salt, to taste
Directions:

  1. If using whole chicken, cut into serving pieces.
  2. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and dredge chicken in mix.
  3. Heat oil in Dutch Oven, and brown chicken.
  4. Drain (leaving in little crispy bits), then add the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Simmer 1-1½ hours, until chicken is tender.

Serve over buttered noodles or rice.
Prep Time: 2 hrs.
Servings: 8
Source: LA Times