Family Secrets

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Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Easter Bread with 65 Eggs By Cece Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ For those of you who are interested, a little family background. We are first generation Italian. Our father emigrated to America around 1913. As in most Italian households food was the central theme around which our lives revolved. Marriages, weddings, baptisms, even deaths all had their traditional dishes as well as each major holiday and about a hundred minor ones too. Birthdays, graduations, engagements, job promotions all called for a celebration which called for special food. Even the days of the weeks had their own special dishes when we were growing up. We could always count on Friday being "fish day" because Catholics did not eat meat on Fridays. Monday was always homemade soup day because that was the day Mom did the washing and ironing and needed a dish she could put on the back of the stove to cook all day while she was busy. And so on through the week. While I have very fond memories of all the chaos of a large extended family with cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters coming and going, laughing, arguing, singing and dancing, my most vivid memories are of how the food always seemed to bring all the component parts of the celebration together. We always knew when Aunt Mary and Uncle Andy came up the front steps on Christmas morning, their beautiful tray of cookies would have the best (and possibly only) Mostaccioli in town. We only prayed that she would make them again for Easter. Just as we knew that Aunt Norma arriving from Ohio would have in hand the most delectable Fiadone in the family, but only at Easter. Easter looms large in my memory because it meant my mother would bake her annual batch of Piña, or as we came to call it ‘Easter Bread". I have searched for many years to find the origin of the word Piña, to no avail. There are many recipes for festive, holiday breads with similarities to Mom’s original, but none yield quite the same results as hers. All the women in our family attempted to bake it every Easter and some were good, some were acceptable, but Bertha was known to make the absolute best and everyone waited for it. We four kids were always slightly chagrined because we knew the tradition called for us to take the loaves to our neighbors, and family and friends on Easter morning as a gesture of goodwill and they would in turn visit us with their offerings which never, ever compared to Mom’s. She would keep a loaf or two of her own for us because we raised such a fuss about it but we watched most unhappily as she packed up loaf after loaf for delivery. As you can surmise, Mom is long gone but before she left us I went home and sat with her in the kitchen and wrote my version of her recipe. Then I took it to my home and worked with it until I got it scaled down "for mere mortals". You will understand this reference as you read over her original recipe which I am sharing with you now. This is taken from her handwriting and with her references as to weight and size. As you read it please remember that she had no special equipment for mixing or kneading - this was all done by hand, although she did have a large wooden tub that was only used for the raising of this bread. It was made by a local carpenter and had slanted sides and was approximately 3 feet long by 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. We also had a "MixMaster", electric mixer of average size. She would begin the process the day before the actual baking of the bread. Although she made this bread all of her life, we finally persuaded her to write her version in 1970. _______________________________________ Family Secrets #001 - Originally Published 01/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Mama's Easter Bread with 65 Eggs  65 eggs, beat with electric mixer and 5 lb of sugar.  1 box raisins.  3 glasses citron.  1 glass anise seed, 35 cent size.  2 glasses whisky (wine glass size).  1 lb melted Crisco (you can put 1/2 oleo if you like).  13 lb flour to start. If you have large eggs you will need about 3 lb more to mix, or less.  Set Your Yeast 1 hr before mixing.  1 qt and 1 cup milk in large 8 qt kettle. Warm and dissolve 3 cakes of 13 cent size.  Put in 8 or 9 handfuls of flour, enough to make a real light dough.  Let stand to ferment one hour.  Always preheat your oven about 1/2 hour before you start to bake.  Large loaves bake at 275 for 50 to 55 min, real small loaves for 30 to35 min. Ediberta (Bertha) Zara nee Buzzelli (1903-1972) Picture: 1948 That’s it folks. No mixing directions, let alone kneading times. No pan size, no direction on raising (once or twice?) and what does a "wine glass" mean to my mother who never drank? I will caution you now, try this recipe only at your own risk. I will publish my version of it next week. Of this I can assure you, from this bread memories are made. Family Secrets #001 - Originally Published 01/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Easter Bread for Mere Mortals By Cece Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ In my prior musings I promised you the updated version of "Easter Bread with 65 Eggs". After mom sent me her handwritten version I went to visit her on several occasions with advance warning, asking her to plan on spending the day in the kitchen baking this bread from her recipe. As she worked, I followed her around, measuring, estimating, and generally bugging her with questions. I returned to my own home and started experimenting. It took several months of repeated "bakes" and innumerable phone calls to finally come up with a recipe that I promptly entitled "Easter Bread for Mere Mortals". Since few of us have the time or space to deal with the 30 or so loaves that the original recipe yielded, my target was about six pounds of dough to make 3 large loaves or 4 medium loaves. This would be ideal - enough to give a loaf or two to a close friend and have one in the freezer and one to eat warm out of the oven. The most notable change I made from the original was to substitute real butter for oleo - my preference since I like the flavor of the real stuff in my baked goods. Also the proportion of fat to flour is higher in my version. I like the richness it adds. A note on giving this bread as a gift. As soon as it is completely cool, wrap well in plastic wrap and either give it to the lucky person within a day, or freeze it. To defrost, leave at room temperature with the wrap on it until completely defrosted then re-wrap in fresh plastic and it will be excellent. This bread makes simply grand toast or if you have some that has really staled, you can make the best bread pudding ever. Never happens in our house - it just disappears as breakfast toast, afternoon coffee break, or midnight snacks. Even though it was traditionally baked only at Easter when I was growing up, I’ve taken the liberty of baking this bread on any occasion I want to treat my family to something a little special. _______________________________________ Easter Bread for Mere Mortals     2 pkgs. dry yeast 1 cup lukewarm milk 1 tsp. sugar 3 or 4 handfuls of white unbleached Flour Add sugar to warm milk, then dissolve yeast in the milk. Whisk in flour by the handful until about the consistency of a thick pancake batter. Cover and set aside for an hour or until bubbly and about double in bulk. This is your starter.   8 cups white unbleached flour 1 cup raisins Family Secrets #002 - Originally Published 02/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets     The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. 1 8 oz container citron 2 cups sugar 2 Tblsp. anise seed 1 tsp. salt Mix all six ingredients together and put this mixture onto a large wooden table. Make a well in the center large enough to hold all of the starter plus the following wet ingredients.    8 large eggs, room temperature 4 oz melted butter, cooled 1/2 cup rum Beat eggs in electric mixer until light and foamy, add melted butter and rum and just beat to mix. Scrape starter into well of dry ingredients. Pour egg mixture in slowly while using a fork to start incorporating flour, making a soft dough. This will take a little time and a lot of patience because you do not want to collapse the flour walls while you have a very runny egg mixture in the middle. Once you have a soft dough working, start kneading vigorously using a dough scraper to help it along. The dough will be very sticky to begin with. Keep adding dustings of flour and kneading until it is soft and velvety, being careful not to add so much flour that it become hard or dry. This kneading will take about 15 min. Place in a large greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to double. It will take 2 or even 3 hours. Deflate the dough but do not knead it. Cover again and let rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces of about 2 lbs each. Roll each piece into a long log, working from the center out. Rotate working each piece, resting the others. This relaxes the dough and makes it easier to work with. When all are about the size of your wrist (this is definitely a Mamma measurement) form them into rings, pinching ends together well. Place on greased sheet pans, cover with clean towels and let rise about 1 to 1/2 hours until almost double. Preheat oven to 350. Brush each loaf with a mixture of 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tblsp. Milk just before placing in oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before wrapping. Altitude adjustments: None - the fat contributed by the butter and eggs in this recipe provides a dough that produces the same result at 8,000 feet as it does at sea level. Family Secrets #002 - Originally Published 02/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Cheese Bread By Ray Zara, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ I can remember at Easter, mom baked a special bread especially for my father. Although he and the rest of the family enjoyed her traditional Easter Bread, he was extremely fond of "Pane al Formaggio." The English translation, cheese bread, says it all. This is definitely a bread for the person who has a taste for aged, sharp, hard grating cheeses. Not only was this flavorful bread baked at Easter, but also in late summer when the grapes on dad’s arbor were decadently sweet. The grape arbor we had in our back yard was elevated about 8 feet and covered approximately a 20x20 foot area. Six vines intertwined to form a shaded area where I spent a lot of time with my father relaxing and cooling off after working in the garden for 2 or 3 hours. I can still remember him sitting with that old sweat stained fedora hat, telling me to go to the wine cellar and draw a pitcher of wine, then asking mom to bring out the chilled grapes and the cheese bread. His favorite grapes to eat were a deep purple Concord type that he had picked and washed in the morning. On these hot summer days our mid-afternoon snack was chilled grapes, a thick slice of cheese bread and a glass of home-made dry red wine. Life was good. _______________________________________ Papa's Cheese Bread Pietro (Pete) Zara (1895-1972) and son Ray Picture: 1941 One of the variables in this recipe is the quality and type of the cheese that will be used. At the number 1 position would be Reggiano Parmigiano. However any good quality Parmesan, Romano, Pecorino Romano, or any hard aged cheese that you might use freshly grated on a nice dish of pasta will work. Pre-grated cheeses that you might find in the supermarket in cardboard dispensers and glass shaker bottles will not work. Total ingredients:        6 large eggs - well beaten and at room temperature 1 cup milk - scalded 6 oz. Crisco melted and cooled to room temperature 8 oz. freshly grated hard aged cheese 1/2 tsp. salt 5 cups flour 1 pkg. instant dry yeast Family Secrets #003 - Originally Published 02/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Step One: the Sponge In a bowl place 11/4 cups of the flour, 1 Pkg. of Instant dry yeast and 1 cup of scalded milk, now at room temperature. Mix well, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hr. Step Two: Mixing and Kneading In your mixer bowl measure 3 cups flour, (you should have 3/4 cup now in reserve), add the eggs, Crisco, cheese, salt and the sponge. Mix well and turn out on a well floured board. Knead by hand adding flour as necessary to achieve a smooth supple dough that is just dry enough not to stick to the kneading surface. Step Three: Scaling and Proofing Divide the dough in half and place in two lightly greased standard loaf pans (9x5x21/2), cover with a clean kitchen towel and let raise for three hours, or until the proofed dough reaches the top of the pan. Bake in a 300 degree oven for 50 minutes. The yield is two loaves. If you would like to freeze one loaf, make sure it is double wrapped with plastic wrap and defrosted with the wrap on. This bread freezes very nicely. You will undoubtedly notice a couple of things that are different about this bread. First of all there is no sugar in the recipe and secondly there is no "first" rise. You will also notice that the two pans when first filled with the un-proofed dough will look very skimpy. Not to worry. By using the sponge method the yeast will get into high gear feeding from the milk and flour for the 1 hour wait, therefore the lack of sugar will not inhibit the growth of the yeast structures. The elimination of the first rise, or fermentation stage, and going straight to proof further enhances the development of the yeast with no effect on the texture of the finished product. Altitude adjustments: At 8,000 feet we reduce the proofing time to slightly over 2 hours, increase the oven temperature by 25 degrees, and shorten the cooking time by 5-10 minutes. Altitude adjustment should begin at 2,500 feet at one-third the amount shown here, two-thirds at 5,000 feet, and the full amount at 7,500 feet. Scale similarly every 2,500 feet if you're really in the clouds. Family Secrets #003 - Originally Published 02/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Fiadone By Cece Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ Continuing on with the Easter theme of the past few columns, I began to think about why Easter was such an important holiday in my life. Of course growing up in a Roman Catholic Italian family and community it had enormous religious significance. Next to Christmas, Easter was awaited with huge anticipation. The religious preparation began with Ash Wednesday, continued through Lent with its penance and fasting (and so very many good intentions!) and culminated with Easter morning Mass. In a sense the secular part of the celebrations mimicked the religious. After the cold, wet, snowy months following Christmas we looked forward to the first part of April, its teasing days of lengthening light and occasional bursts of warmth and new greenery poking up here and there. We celebrated the arrival of Spring and the rebirth of nature with our own awakening. Shopping for new spring clothes, especially your Easter outfit, was a ritual that all the woman in the family (and even a few of the men) participated in with as much abandon as our budget would allow. Hats were a passion back then and my mother’s attic had a room dedicated to my hatboxes. Each year it seemed they got more outrageous. Norma Marchionna nee Buzzelli We also looked forward to this special season for another reason. It meant that the (1906-1975) Ohio and Detroit arms of our family and ourselves would now be free to exchange Picture: 1926 visits. Back then an auto trip of three or four hours from Ohio to our home in Western Pennsylvania was a major event and never undertaken in the winter months. We anxiously looked forward to seeing our cousins and aunts and uncles and sharing not only Easter dinner but all of the special dishes of that weekend. Of course they never arrived empty-handed. Uncle Ray would always have a bottle or two of his red wine, which was recognized by all as THE BEST of the homemade wines. I don’t believe my parents ever bought a bottle of wine. Every family made its own. There were always trays of homemade cookies, and loaves of Easter Bread, some with colored eggs baked into them. But the one I waited for was Aunt Norma and Uncle Joe because we all knew that she had “the hand” for Fiadone. This was a special Easter-only treat that all our families made, but each one had a slight variation on the theme and it was Aunt Norma’s that was recognized as the tastiest. While researching the name of this recipe, I came across a savory variation of it in Italian Regional Cooking by Ada Boni, translated from Italian in 1969. She included it in the section from Abruzzi. It uses Scamorza cheese and grated Parmesan and includes olive oil in the crust - definitely not a dessert pie. Further reading took me to The Food of Italy by Waverley Root, published in 1971, in which he describes a dessert from the Valle d’Aosta called Fiandolein. It is a cream made from milk, eggs, and sugar and flavored with lemon and then poured into a cup over bread broken into small pieces. It seems to me that this is a more likely precursor to our family version than the savory recipe. Our Fiadone is the equivalent of a cheese torte. It is neither a cheesecake nor a cheese pie but somewhere in between the two. In the traditional Italian style it is only slightly sweet. It is, however, very rich, and should be served in thin slices. Only the finest fresh whole milk ricotta should be used in this recipe. Family Secrets #004 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. _______________________________________ Aunt Norma's Fiadone Makes one 10” pie. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour the pan. Dough Ingredients:       1 1/2 cups flour 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. anise seed 2 eggs 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled Sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add the anise seed. Beat the eggs lightly, add butter, then add this mixture to the flour and work into a soft dough, keeping an additional 1/4 cup flour ready to add as necessary. The consistency will be that of a soft cookie dough. Add only enough additional flour to keep from sticking. Chill until ready to bake the pie. Filling:       2 lbs. fresh whole milk ricotta 1/4 lb. citron 1/4 cup raisins 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 2 eggs, lightly beaten Glaze:  Egg wash made with the yolk of an egg yolk and a Tblsp. water Mix filling ingredients in the order given. Roll out dough 1/8” thick. Place in pie pan and cut off excess. Flute edges. Reroll the trimmings to make the lattice top. Pour in the filling, cut six lattice strips about 3/4” wide and place three in each directions over the top. Brush with the egg wash and bake at 350 for one hour until set. Cool completely before cutting. Altitude Adjustment: At 8000 feet I had to increase the baking time to 1 hr. and 10 min. Altitude adjustment should begin at 2,500 feet at one-third the amount shown here, two-thirds at 5,000 feet, and the full amount at 7,500 feet. Scale similarly every additional 2,500 feet. Family Secrets #004 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. White Pizza By Ray Zara, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ A ritual from years gone by used to occur without fail on Uncle Andy's birthday. Aunt Mary not only baked the traditional birthday cake, but also baked a pizza faithfully on this occasion. The cake was for the guests, the pizza was Uncle Andy’s treat. More often a white pizza was done instead of the traditional pizza with tomato sauce. My mom and Aunt Mary seemed to have the inside track on baking this very simple, but very tasty version of a pizza pie. Later in life, I remember passing some Sunday afternoons at the local Sons of Italy Lodge, and large trays stacked high with white pizza cut in squares were passed up and down the bar. I’m quite sure this salty treat increased beer sales dramatically, as it was designed to do. The fact that Uncle Andy was also Venerable of the local SOI accounts for the “white pizza connection.” When Mom and Aunt Mary were baking their white pizzas no one in the family at that time gave much thought to protein levels of flour, so both pizza and bread were baked from the very same simple recipe that really was quite adequate for those times. When our family wanted a loaf of European style bread, it was a short block and a half Dante Biordi walk to the European Baking Company. There you could buy a great loaf of Vienna bread, (1904-1969) wonderful hard rolls and the best lady fingers on the planet. This bakery was so handy that Picture: 1938 mom only occasionally baked bread at home. Not only was her bread a real treat for us, but the pizzas that were baked on the same day, especially the white pizza, will remain fond memories forever. _______________________________________ Uncle Andy's White Pizza Total Ingredients:         2 cups water 6 cups all purpose flour 1 pkg. instant yeast 1 Tblsp. salt 1 tsp. sugar 1/4 cup melted and cooled Crisco Shaker of salt Fresh ground black pepper Step One: Mixing and Kneading Place first six ingredients in the mixer bowl, mix with dough hook attachment at low speed until the dough begins to form. Increase speed and mix for 5 minutes. Turn onto lightly floured board and knead till dough is smooth and supple, dusting with flour if necessary. Family Secrets #005 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 RZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Step Two: Proofing and Retarding Divide dough into three 16 ounce dough balls. Place 2 of them in well oiled bowls and cover tightly with plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for use at a later time. It will keep for three days under refrigeration, or you can double wrap with plastic wrap and freeze. Take the remaining dough ball and put in well oiled bowl and cover with clean kitchen towel until the dough is proofed, about 2 hours. Step Three: Pan and Bake Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove proofed dough ball and place on floured board. Using the flat of your hand press down on the center of the dough in a circular motion, creating a flat circle with a ridge around it. Using both hands in a circular motion stretch dough to 14” in diameter, and with your thumb and forefinger form the crust on the outside of the circle. Lightly spray a 14” pizza pan with vegetable spray and place dough on pan. Using the tines of a fork "dock" the whole bottom of the pizza, pricking the dough so it doesn't blow up like a balloon. Drizzle approximately 1/4 cup olive oil on the bottom of the pizza and using a pastry brush spread evenly and brush the crust. Using your first three fingers dimple the bottom of the pizza. Be generous with the olive oil , if you have a few puddles on the bottom, so much the better. Shake a generous amount of salt over the pizza and sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper. Place in the pre-heated oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Check after 1 minute for air bubbles, if any appear pierce immediately with the tip of a sharp knife. Step Four: Cut into 8 slices, open a bottle of your favorite beer and enjoy!! At one of the restaurants that I owned we offered a modern variation of white pizza that you might like to try. It is very straightforward to do and it makes a very interesting pizza. White Pizza Deluxe To make the dough, substitute high gluten flour for the all purpose flour. Use olive oil instead of the Crisco, and everything else remains the same. The main difference is in the topping, which is as follows: In a small bowl place 1 teaspoon each of dried parsley, dried oregano and dried basil. Add 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese. Add olive oil to make a thin batter. Spread mixture generously over bottom of the formed pizza and brush the crust with olive oil. Slice a good sized fresh tomato into 8 slices and place in what will be the center of each slice, put a heaping teaspoon of ricotta cheese between the tomato slice and the crust. Sprinkle very lightly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake the same way as the above recipe. When the pizza has about 1 minute left place 1 anchovy filet across each slice of tomato. Altitude Adjustment: At 8000 feet the only adjustment necessary for both of these recipes is to reduce the proofing time by 1/2 hour. Altitude adjustment should begin at 2,500 feet at one-third the amount shown here, two-thirds at 5,000 feet, and the full amount at 7,500 feet. Scale similarly every additional 2,500 feet. Family Secrets #005 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 RZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Focaccia By Ray Zara, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ Focaccia - is it a trendy, fashionable recent arrival on the artisan bread scene or has it been lying dormant since ancient history? The truth of the matter is that this bread is as old as recorded history. The name Focaccia is a derivative of a Latin word meaning hearth. Before ovens became common, this flat bread was baked on a hot stone under a mound of hot ashes, sort of an ancient hearth. The tastiest ingredients available at whatever time of year were incorporated into this rustic flat bread. Bakers with a lot of imagination over the years have elevated this bread to its present status. If you search enough books on the subject you will find recipes for focaccia with olives, with cheese, with sea salt, from all different regions of Italy, and on and on. The recipe that follows is my personal favorite. _______________________________________ Aromatic Focaccia To obtain the best results there are two items that require special attention. The first is the flour to be used. “High gluten” flour will give the best results for this bread, though reasonable results can be achieved by using “bread flour”; but I would not use a general all purpose flour. You should strive to use a flour that is as close to 14% protein as possible, do not use flour that is under 12% or you may not be satisfied with the results. Herbs are the second item for special attention. Basil, thyme and rosemary are the three aromatic herbs that are used in baking this bread. Try to use fresh herbs if at all possible, though you can use dried thyme and rosemary if fresh is not available. Do not substitute dried basil for fresh in this recipe, you will not be happy with the results. Total ingredients:        6 Tblsp. olive oil 1 large onion, diced fine 2 large cloves of garlic, mashed 1/4 tsp coarse ground pepper 1 Tblsp. chopped fresh (or dried) thyme 2 Tblsp. chopped fresh rosemary, 1 Tblsp. if dried 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves  7 cups high gluten flour  1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to room temperature  1 1/2 cups cool water  1 Tblsp. salt  1 pkg. instant dry yeast  1 1/2 Tblsp. coarse salt, kosher or sea salt 2 Tblsp. coarse grind corn meal Step One: Sauté Place 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in medium sauté pan, add finely diced onion and mashed garlic. Cook over medium heat till onions become translucent. Shut off heat and add basil, thyme, rosemary and coarse ground pepper. Toss well and let stand 5 minutes. Step Two: Mixing and Kneading Family Secrets #006 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. In the mixer bowl put contents of the sauté pan, then add the cool water and scalded milk. Mixture should be warm, but not hot. Add flour, yeast, regular salt. Mix at low speed for three minutes, then increase speed slightly for another 5 minutes. Turn out onto floured board and knead for another 5 minutes. Add flour as needed to achieve a smooth, supple, elastic dough. Cover dough with a bowl and let rest for five minutes. Finish kneading and form into a tight smooth ball. Step Three: Retarding Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator overnight. Make sure when you place dough in bowl to turn once so you will have a slight coat of oil on the top. Step Four: Pan, Proof and Bake Turn dough out onto lightly floured board. Using your fingers deflate dough while stretching the dough on the board to a length and width that approximates the size of a sheet pan (17”x13”). Sprinkle coarse ground cornmeal on bottom of sheet and lift dough onto the pan. Stretch dough till pan is evenly covered. Make sure dough is into all corners and is as level as possible. Cover with several kitchen towels and proof for about 2 1/2 hours. Brush top of dough with pastry brush with the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Dampen your first three fingers with olive oil and dimple dough in even rows. Push hard enough while making dimples to feel the bottom of the pan, being careful not to tear the dough. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and place in pre-heated 425 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes You might slip the dough out of the pan and onto the oven rack the last five minutes of baking to even the browning. Place on cooling rack until room temperature is reached Notice the short rest the dough is given while kneading. This technique is desirable on most bread dough, and you will notice a distinct difference in the feel of the dough when you come back to it after the rest. Also the slowing down of the first rise by retarding it in the refrigerator overnight has a positive effect on the texture and flavor of the bread. This retarding technique is not used on sweet dough's. The pan of focaccia that was just made will yield a loaf weighing close to 4 lbs. It will cut into 12 generous portions for sandwiches, bread service, or the best bruschetta that you ever had. You can individually wrap and freeze this bread by the portion, or cut in half or quarter the loaf, freezing whatever you wish. Serving this bread cut into strips to be dunked in either plain or flavored extra virgin olive oil for an appetizer course will also work very nicely. Grilled Portabella on Focaccia Here is an idea for a great sandwich. Marinate a whole Portabella mushroom at least 30 minutes in olive oil and some fresh herbs of your choice. Broil the mushroom until done. Split one of the 12 portions of focaccia, brush lightly with olive oil and brown under broiler until golden brown. Spread a little sundried tomato mayonnaise lightly on both sides of the focaccia. Build the sandwich as follows, put mushroom on the bun, top with a nice piece of roasted red pepper, top that with 2 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, top that with a nice handful of fresh Arugula tossed in a vinaigrette, put lid on and mangia. Altitude adjustments: There is no need to adjust this recipe for high altitude. Family Secrets #006 - Originally Published 03/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Fields of Green By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ The rites of spring are many and repeated throughout the country: the Easter shopping spree, the Maypole dance, sighting the first robin, shucking that heavy winter coat for a sweater, to name a few. This morning as I was cleaning out the last of the Rapini from my winter greenhouse, I looked out the window and noticed the first greening of the land, delicate and barely perceptible. I walked out the front door and looked in the mulched flowerbed and there it was - my harbinger of spring. Bane of gardeners everywhere, the major pest of the perfect lawn, but the delight of foragers across the country - the dandelion. As a youngster, it was our dad's favorite walk in the country. He had a perfectly manicured garden every summer with not a weed in sight, but he dearly loved to forage in the early spring for dandelions and cress. Most often he took my brother Raymond with him because this was hard work, bending and digging up the plant with a bit of the root attached. You never just cut the leaves because they would wilt before you could deal with them. Occasionally he would let me accompany him, and that was always a very special day for me. We would leave early in the morning while it was still cool and the grasses dewy. We wore boots and sweaters which we would peel off as the sun warmed us. The object wasn't just greens for dinner, it was baskets and baskets of greens because we knew that they would only be pickable for about a week or two. Once the yellow flower blossomed, the greens were too tough and strong to eat. We picked the young greens not just for our household, but for my sister, aunts, and neighbors. We always drove out of town awhile to find the most pristine meadow he judged suitable. This would be land where there were no horses or cows grazing and hopefully away from well traveled roads and auto exhaust. Guiliamo (Bill) Zara (1921-1995) Picture: 1951 We picked the dandelions first, then as the sun got warmer, we headed off to the streams to search for the cress that grew on the banks. After hours of this, we headed home to face several hours of cleaning and washing and rewashing the harvest. What we didn't divide up among our relatives and friends, our Mom would either set aside for us to eat as salad or would cook and freeze. It was our oldest brother Bill, however, who would wait for the fresh dandelion salads. He was a big man, over 6 feet and a good 200 lbs. He never developed the love of the outdoors or any of the activities associated with the harvest. He would rather put on a beautiful suit and fresh white French-cuffed shirt and take his girl dancing. But he did love eating those greens! He could make a meal out of it. We could never talk him into foraging with us, but at least he would help deliver them to family and neighbors, and then come home to eat them in unforgettable quantities. While there are many wild greens that are edible, dandelions are universal. Other than in the most arid desert, they are found in every region of our country, perhaps even the world. Just remember to pick them young, before the yellow bloom appears and to forage in the least traveled area (whether by man or beast). ______________________________________ Family Secrets #007 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Fresh Dandelion Salad This will serve one very big eater or two normal diners    Four cups well washed and coarsely chopped dandelions greens (roots cut off) Two four-minute boiled eggs Vinaigrette (recipe follows) Place greens in serving bowls. Toss with enough vinaigrette to dress the greens but don't swamp them. Top with peeled eggs and serve with a chunk of crusty bread. Salad Vinaigrette Makes approximately 2/3 cup       1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I love oil from Tuscany for its peppery flavor) 3 Tblsp. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. dry mustard 1 large peeled and smashed garlic clove Freshly ground pepper Root is shown as cut when harvested. Root is cut off later just before use. Put all ingredients into a jar with tight fitting lid. Shake well and let steep at least an hour before use. This will keep under refrigeration for a week. Bring to room temperature before using. You may wish to add a sprig or two of fresh herbs as available. Occasionally substituting fresh squeezed lemon juice for the vinegar makes a pleasant dressing, especially in the summer. Cooked Dandelion Greens Cut the roots from the greens and discard. Wash well in cold water. Bring a large pot of water to a full boil and put the greens into the water by the handful. Bring water quickly back to the boil and cook just until wilted, two or three minutes. Drain and run cold water over to stop the cooking. Squeeze as much moisture out as possible. At this point you may wrap well in plastic wrap and freeze for future use, 8 to 10 ounces per package is a useful size. These greens may be used as a substitute for spinach or Swiss chard in any number of recipes, from ravioli or lasagna fillings to a simple sauté in olive oil with garlic as a side dish. Altitude Adjustments: At 8000 feet it takes 5 minutes to make a 4 minute egg! Family Secrets #007 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Homemade Pasta Then and Now By Ray Zara, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ I began my education in pasta making while in the third grade at the Purification BVM grade school in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. It was at this time that my mother volunteered my services to the local parish priest to serve as an altar boy. Little did I know that I was to serve the 6:45 a.m. Mass every day for the next three years! She would wake me about 5:00 a.m., make sure I was dressed properly, feed me some breakfast, and take me by the hand to walk approximately 1 mile to the church. We followed this routine, rain or shine, daily for the better part of three years. Everybody in the family looked forward to Sundays because that was pasta day in our home. More often than not the pasta was homemade by Mom. I guess it was because I was such a good boy to serve all the Masses that she actually let me help in making the pasta on Sunday mornings. Looking back, I realize this was quite a reward because nobody ever dared to invade Mom's kitchen. She would let me knead the dough, turn the crank handle on the pasta roller/cutter machine, and even let me hang to dry some of the finished product. Pasta for ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti, linguine and angel hair were homemade. Shaped pastas such as rigatoni, bow ties, ziti, and fusilli were purchased from our local Italian market. Many years later, while enrolled at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, I made my first trip through the cafeteria line. You have to understand that this was my first experience living away from home. Wednesday, not Sunday, was pasta day and it was one of the first lessons I learned at college. I can remember it like it was yesterday, looking down the food Raymond Zara (1938- ) line and seeing a huge tray of spaghetti and meatballs. I thought to Picture: 1947 myself, life is not going to be too bad here, they have spaghetti and meatballs. After having my plate filled, I quickly sat at a table anticipating the same pleasure I enjoyed so many times at home. Needless to say, what I got was a plate of overcooked, mushy, starchy pasta coated with the most horrible sauce that I have ever eaten. The meatballs were no better, tasting like they were loaded with sawdust. I knew at once not to do this again, and further thought, if mom were here she could teach the graduate program in pasta making. Family Secrets #008 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. _______________________________________ Homemade Pasta Total ingredients:     1 1/2 cups semolina flour 1 1/2 cups all Purpose flour 5 large eggs (room temperature) 1/4 tsp. salt Step One: Blend Dry Ingredients In a large bowl place the semolina flour, the all purpose flour, and the salt. Blend well. Step Two: Mixing and Kneading Place contents of the bowl on work surface. Using your hands or a dough knife, form a circle with a well large enough to hold all the eggs comfortably in the middle. Add the five large eggs in the center of the well. Using a fork lightly beat the eggs and incorporate the flour mixture slowly, working around the circle. When the mixture thickens to the point the fork becomes useless, use a dough knife (dough scraper) to keep inverting the mixture until the eggs are absorbed. Use your hands to bring mixture together as a rough dough. Knead vigorously till the dough becomes somewhat smooth. Cover with a bowl and let rest for 5 minutes. Continue kneading until dough is smooth. Form into a log about 3 inches round. The dough at this point should weigh about 1 lb. 8 ounces. The color of the dough should look like a golden field of wheat ready to be harvested, and the dough should be very dense. This is totally unlike bread dough and should feel only moist enough to stay together. It should be stiff and dense. Step Three: Rolling and Cutting ...By Hand: For this size recipe you can cut the log in half and with the palm of your hand flatten one of the pieces as flat as you can and shape into a rectangle, while keeping the other half under a bowl to keep it moist. Use a heavy rolling pin to roll and shape the rectangle until you get the desired thickness of the pasta. Take the short side of the rectangle and fold it over about 2 inches. Repeat the folding process until the rectangle is completely folded over. Using the knuckles of one hand as a guide and a sharp dough knife or chef knife cut cross ways until the whole fold is cut. Repeat the process with the other piece of dough. This will result in extra long strands of pasta. If you want the pasta a little shorter you can fold the rectangle from the long side and the result will be a little shorter strand. Though my mom had a hand cranked roller and cutter, she used this method from time to time. The drawback of this method is that you can end up with uneven pasta. With practice you can get a uniform thickness and an even cut, and do it faster than if you use a pasta roller/cutter. ...By Machine: A pasta roller/cutter machine will produce a pasta of even width and thickness and let you quickly cut it to whatever length you desire. To use this machine simply cut about 1/8th of the log, then Family Secrets #008 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. use the palm of your hand to flatten it on a lightly floured board. Set the machine on the thickest setting and crank the dough through. Set this strip on the table and repeat with two additional cuts. Set the machine to the next thinner setting and crank all three strips through. Repeat the process, setting the machine to the next setting until you reach the thickness you want. Place the cutter on the frame and insert the handle, or motor if you have one, and cut the three processed strips to the width you want. This size recipe should be done in 8 strips. Step four: Drying the Pasta As each strip of pasta is cut, lightly sprinkle some flour over it and spread some on your work surface where you will place the cut pasta; or hang the cut pasta over a clean broom stick straddled between two chairs. When drying pasta on a work surface use your fingers to swirl each handful of cut pasta into a random pattern - trying to lay them out as straight strands will generally cause them to stick together where they overlap. In an hour or two the dried weight of the pasta will be about 1 lb. 5 oz. At this point you can proceed to cooking, or for later use, loosely place the pasta in a large brown bag and store in a cool, dry (not the refrigerator) spot. Step five: Cooking the Pasta In a large pot, bring to a boil at least 1 gallon of salted water. Place the pasta in the boiling water and stir constantly until you achieve the al dente (to the teeth) degree that you desire. Drain cooked pasta in a large colander, sauce, and serve immediately. The cooked weight of the pasta should be 2 lb. 10 oz. Depending on serving size, you should serve four to five. _______________________________________ Pasta made the old way by our family only had one basic change. Semolina flour was not readily available years ago and the pasta was made entirely of regular all purpose flour. This made it Family Secrets #008 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. necessary to rinse the pasta after draining it in the colander because of the higher starch content of the flour. Keep this in mind if for any reason you choose to make paste without semolina. Notice the absence of water in both the old and new pasta recipes. The enemy of a great pasta is water. If you are using an automatic pasta machine that extrudes the pasta by the addition of water, you are wasting your time and effort. You might as well go to the grocery store and buy boxed pasta because that is how they make it. My advice to you if you have one of these machines is to get rid of it, because cut pasta is far superior to extruded. The pasta roller/cutter machines are only a fraction of the cost of an automatic extruder type pasta machine. They are available at any good kitchen supply house and through a variety of mail order catalogs. My sister and I have several pasta roller/cutter machines equipped with catalog-bought, add-on motors. When we make a large batch of pasta we set one machine up to roll, the other to cut. In our particular circumstance the savings in time and effort warrant the investment. Making a big batch of homemade pasta can be a very rewarding family-day weekend project. I guarantee it will give you a whole new outlook on how good pasta can really be. As your proficiency increases you can begin to make a few stuffed shapes as well, such as tortellini and cappelletti. Altitude Adjustment: The cooking time for pasta requires some adjustment. At 8,000 ft. water boils at 196 degrees, requiring a slightly longer cooking time. The boiling point of water at sea level is 212 degrees resulting in the shortest cooking time. Contrary to popular myth, a pressure cooker should never be used to cook pasta at any altitude. Family Secrets #008 - Originally Published 04/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Polenta By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ Until the late 1970's I refused to eat in an Italian restaurant. The few times that we had tried, we were faced with the standard mushy spaghetti, tasteless meatballs, and the ever-present pizza. It was much better to eat "Italian" at home. But several things happened in the 70's. First, the public became much more sophisticated in their taste for foods of other countries. As a result, chefs across the country responded by presenting well researched, well cooked ethnic food. Secondly, we all became much more aware of proper diet and good nutrition. It seemed like overnight we were bombarded with the blessings of a Mediterranean diet based on grains, fruits and vegetables, with small amounts of protein in the form of fish, poultry and meat. This information continues to develop today even to the point where the traditional food pyramid we all learned in school has been rearranged to put grains at the top. Our parents were not particularly learned about nutrition, but rather had an intuitive understanding of a well-balanced diet. That, combined with the basic frugal nature of our household, led us to eat in a fashion that is now considered "healthy". Ediberta (Bertha) Zara nee Buzzelli (1903-1972) It wasn't until I moved away from home that I Pietro (Pete) Zara (1895-1972) realized that mama had several old standbys for Mama and Papa: 1922 when the dollar was short. None of us kids ever felt shortchanged at the table. The food was plentiful and delicious and, although we didn't know it at the time, also healthy. In addition to those benefits, it was often cheap because of the use of lots of pasta, grains, and vegetables. You can't get much better than that. The first time I spotted polenta on a San Francisco menu in the ‘70s, where my husband and I lived for 25 years, I was elated. This was definitely one of Mom's standbys and one of my "comfort" foods. I never imagined that I'd see it in a fashionable big city restaurant. Then I took a look at the price and couldn't believe my eyes. For that whopping $8.95 I could cook up enough polenta to serve an army. But it was now "discovered" along with a satisfying range of other authentic Italian food. And so, while we did occasionally pay to eat in upscale fine Italian restaurants, I still cooked my polenta at home. In Italy it is the northern region of Lombardy where polenta is the most popular. The Etruscans passed it to the Romans in central Italy, but since the Etruscan influence was barely felt in the northern regions it was most likely introduced there by the Romans. According to Waverley Root in his book "The Foods of Italy" Lombardy grows much maize which has proved ideal for polenta. It is so important to that region that every properly equipped kitchen owns a special copper pot reserved solely for the making of polenta. Family Secrets #009 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Polenta is truly rustic food at its best. A cupful or two added to boiling water or stock and finished with a pat of butter, a handful of grated Parmesan and topped with a ladle of homemade tomato sauce will feed four deliciously. Make twice as much and pour the extra into a well-oiled loaf pan and chill overnight. Now you can unmold and slice it, slide the slices into a frying pan with some melted butter and serve for breakfast with maple syrup. You could also slice it, brush it with olive oil and grill it for a side dish with grilled meats for dinner. Wonderfully versatile, you can trick this humble dish into all sorts of presentations limited only by your imagination. Sausage or game added to a tomato sauce is superb with hot soft polenta. Sautéed wild mushroom are a quick and easy addition to tomato sauce if you do not wish to add meat. The meat juices from a roast can be spooned over grilled sliced polenta as a side dish. Rosemary or sage-infused oils add yet another dimension. When mama made this years ago she always used plain water as the cooking medium. Over the years I have experimented and found that a light chicken stock makes a delicious variation, giving the final outcome a kick of flavor. This is one of the few times that you really do not need to use a rich homemade stock. I often use a low-salt canned chicken stock diluted with water and it works just fine. A word on the grain itself. I have read recipes that claim you can use regular cornmeal. If you substitute cornmeal for actual polenta you will have grits or porridge or mush, but not polenta. Every Italian grocery or deli, and some natural food stores that carry a supply of bulk grains, will have polenta. It should be coarse in texture and a deep golden color. The "instant" polenta is not worth the extra money. It cuts down the cooking time by a few minutes but has no other advantage and is much more expensive than bulk grain. Finally let's talk about serving methods. You can of course serve in individual shallow bowls, or family style in a large lipped platter. But the most fun is the "table" method. You must have an immaculately clean wooden table. You pour the hot polenta in a circle in the middle and by the time you've topped it with the sauce and called everyone to dinner it has set enough. Each person marks off their wedge and eats. Mama always put a few meatballs at the center to reward the fastest eaters. I wouldn't recommend this method when entertaining the boss, but it is great for family and friends. Mangia! ______________________________________ Soft Polenta To serve four generously:      2 cups polenta 8 cups boiling liquid, half chicken stock and half water 2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 2 Tblsp. butter Use a large heavy bottomed pot. Add salt to boiling liquid. Pour the dry polenta in a slow steady stream into the boiling liquid, stirring with a wooden spoon the entire time. Turn heat to medium to reach a slow boil. Continue stirring, reaching all parts of the sides and bottom of the pan. The polenta will gradually thicken and requires constant stirring (very important). Cook 15 to 20 minutes in this fashion until the polenta is thick. Turn heat off, add butter and Parmesan, give a final stir to incorporate and serve immediately topped with sauce of your choosing. Altitude Adjustment: At 8,000 ft. water boils at 196 degrees, requiring a slightly longer cooking time; and more like 10 cups of liquid is needed. Family Secrets #009 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Spaghetti Sauce - Red and Marinara By Ray Zara, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ Spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, salsinna, gravy, plus I don’t know how many more names refer to the magical red stuff that accompanies traditional pasta dishes. How to make it and what is correct and what is incorrect has been debated among pasta lovers for centuries. It is safe to say there is no right and wrong as long as the sauce has a tomato base. Although there are many ways to sauce a dish of pasta, the traditional red sauce is the most popular and the most controversial. Let me begin by saying that when I make a batch of spaghetti sauce, I make a big batch. I will use what is needed the day that it is made and put the rest up in multiple freezer containers. I usually put enough in the freezer to prepare 3 to 4 meals for 4 diners each. In years gone by, my mother made the proper amount of meatballs in proportion to the amount of sauce. She browned the meatballs in an old black iron skillet and finished them in the sauce. The sauce she made was excellent, however the fats from the cooking meatballs were infused into the sauce. Some families did not brown the meatballs, preferring instead to put them into the sauce directly. This also resulted in a high fat sauce but produced a softer meatball. I prefer to do neither of the above. I make meatballs in large batches, cook them off in the oven, cool them on a wire rack so as much fat as possible drips off, and then bag them in portions that are frozen for use at a later date. Armed with sauce in the freezer and meatballs in the freezer a nice spaghetti dinner can become a rather simple chore. Color, viscosity and flavor are the three important goals to accomplish in order to make a superior spaghetti sauce. Three items that are very popular in many sauce recipes are sugar, wine and tomato paste. I use none of these in my sauce recipe. Sugar will slightly darken the sauce as it caramelizes during the cooking process. Using a good grade of tomatoes with the proper blend of vegetables and herbs makes the artificial use of sugar in the sauce unnecessary. Spaghetti sauce that is cooked properly will not need to be thickened by using tomato paste, which has a bitter, pungent taste. While I enjoy wine with spaghetti, I prefer it in a glass, not in the sauce. The tannin in red wine will darken the sauce considerably. The addition of a small amount of a dry white wine is an option that you can take if you feel that the finished sauce needs it. One of the kitchen implements that I use to prepare my spaghetti sauce is a food mill. For those of you who do not have this kitchen tool, I will give instructions on how to make the same sauce using a food processor. The advantage of the food mill is that it removes the fibrous membranes from vegetables as they pass through. It is also faster and less messy than dealing with the food processor. _______________________________________ Family Secrets #010 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Raymond's Spaghetti Sauce (Approx 4-5 qts.) Total ingredients:            6 Tblsp. olive oil 2 medium onions, quartered 9 cloves garlic, whole 2 stalks celery, cut in half 2 medium carrots, cut in half 1 lb. beef shortribs 20 whole bay leaves 1 #10 can whole tomatoes ( 6 Lbs. 6 oz. size) 1 can crushed tomatoes (1 Lb. 12 oz. size) 2 cans Hunts tomato sauce (1 Lb. 13 oz. size) 1 tsp. salt Step One: Sauté Place the first five ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pan, 8 quart capacity or larger. Sauté over medium heat until the meat is lightly browned and the vegetables begin to soften. Step Two: First Simmer Add the bay leaves, the # 10 can of whole tomatoes and the can of crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to maintain a medium simmer. Stir frequently and hold simmer for 2 hours. Step Three: Second Simmer Add the two cans of Hunts tomato sauce and the salt. Without changing the heat source bring back to a simmer and hold for another hour. Commercial tomato sauces are all spiced differently. I specify Hunts because their flavor is an integral part of the sauce we are making. Step Four: Pass Through the Food Mill Remove the short ribs from the cooked sauce and while the sauce is still hot place your food mill over another sauce pan. Fill the food mill with the cooked sauce and crank the mill clockwise and counterclockwise until the mill is empty. Keep repeating this process until all the sauce has been passed though the mill. You will notice at this point a substantial amount of fibrous material clinging to the bottom of the mill plate. You do not want this in the sauce. The short ribs becomes the “cook’s lunch.” Using a food processor Step One: Puree the Vegetables With the blade attachment, puree the onions, carrots, garlic and celery. Step Two: Sauté Vegetables and Short Ribs Place the vegetables in a large sauce pot and add the short ribs, sauté until ribs are browned. Family Secrets #010 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Step Three: Process Whole Tomatoes With the blade attachment in, load the processor with whole tomatoes and pulse very lightly. Take great care that you don’t over process the whole tomatoes. All that is necessary is a couple of pops on the pulse button. If you notice a change in color of the tomatoes you have over done them. Continue processing until you have all the tomatoes done. Place the tomatoes into the sauce pot including all the juice from the can. Step Four: First Simmer Wrap the bay leaves in cheesecloth forming a small garni bag, add the can of crushed tomatoes and bring mixture to a medium simmer. Hold simmer for 2 hours stirring often. Step Five: Second Simmer After two hours add the two cans of Hunts tomato sauce and the salt. Again, Hunts is spiced for the flavor we are looking for in this sauce. Let the sauce return to a simmer and let cook for another hour. Remove the short ribs and the garni bag containing the bay leaves. The sauce is now ready to serve Marinara Sauce While we are on the subject of red sauces, we might as well cover another all time standard called “Marinara Sauce”. The name is loosely translated as the sauce of the mariners. It is a meatless sauce that was used extensively on sailing ships before the advent of refrigeration. The absence of meat and the simplicity of the sauce was especially appealing to the cooks on board because the high acid content of the sauce and the lack of fat resulted in a sauce that resisted spoiling. The marinara sauce that we will be making here is a very light sauce. It cooks for a short time because little reduction is needed. Reduction is accomplished in the pan depending on what application you want to use it for. I use this sauce as a basic mother red sauce and its uses range from saucing a dish of angel hair to deglazing a sauté pan with Madeira wine. When using madeira wine to deglaze a sauté pan, a tablespoon or two of this sauce adds a nice touch to the end result. Reduction is also accomplished in the pan when making dishes such as shrimp marinara or mussels marinara. One fault I have found with a lot of cookbook recipes for this classic sauce is that they become too complex. The beauty of this sauce is its simplicity. Our goal is to make a sauce where the natural taste of good tomatoes is the dominant taste. The classic marinara is made with the best of the season’s fresh tomatoes. Lacking these, an acceptable marinara may be made using canned tomatoes, but it will not approach the “taste of summer” as if made with fresh. Family Secrets #010 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Raymond’s Marinara sauce Total ingredients:      5 Lbs. vine ripened fresh tomatoes or 1 No. 10 can whole tomatoes (6Lbs. 6 oz. size) 1/4 cup olive oil 9 cloves of garlic, mashed 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil 1 Tblsp. salt Step One: Prepare Tomatoes If fresh, finely chop in processor or by hand. If canned, pass the tomatoes through a food mill or gently pulse them until coarsely chopped in food processor. Step Two: Prepare Oil and Garlic Put the olive oil and mashed garlic in heavy bottomed sauce pan and sauté lightly. Do not burn garlic or it will be bitter. Step Three: Add Tomatoes Add tomatoes and juices to the sauce pan and bring to a boil. Slowly simmer for ten minutes. Step Four: Finish Add chopped basil and salt. Stir well and remove from heat source. Let steep for 15 minutes. This sauce will freeze well and will keep for at least a week under refrigeration. It is a study in simplicity and doubles not only as a mother red sauce, but also as a tasty sauce for pastas and marinara type dishes. Altitude adjustments: Add 20 minutes cooking time at 8,000 feet. Family Secrets #010 - Originally Published 05/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 REZara - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Ravioli and Lasagna By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ A plate of homemade spaghetti and sauce is a delightful meal, but take it a step further and add a filling and you have a truly special dinner, appropriate for any celebratory occasion. Every Sunday in our home was homemade pasta day. Enough was always made so that there would be leftovers for my father's lunch for the next two days. This was a given because he simply could not get through a week without pasta being on his plate at least two or three times. The usual was simply spaghetti, but when there was a little extra time on Saturdays, or if a visitor was coming, my mother would make up the filling for lasagna or ravioli. The filling was the same for both. It was what she learned as a girl and what my father preferred above all the variations with which one can fill pasta. Whether it ended up being served as lasagna or ravioli depended on the amount of time available and the "specialness" of the occasion. Sister Gloria DeTullio nee Zara (1923-1995) Picture: 1944 Mom's way of making ravioli was "big". The bigger the better! My much-older sister, Gloria, never changed Mom's recipe for lasagna or the filling used in both, but she definitely improved the ravioli!. They got smaller, more delicate, more refined. Dad preferred the "bigger is better" type, three to a plate and you were full. I preferred the smaller, more delicate version my sister made, and I still make them this way today. What size you make them and what shape depends only on you and your patience. It was my sister that taught me the patience to make cappelletti. These are made from the same pasta and filling, but are formed differently, ending up resembling little peaked hats, which is what cappelletti means in Italian. . We would spend hours wrapping the homemade filled pasta around our little fingers, chatting and laughing. In the future we hope to explore other various shapes of filled pasta, including tortellini. The recipe for the filling that follows is not the only authentic Italian recipe. If you are a student of gastronomy you will know that each region of Italy has its own specialties for filled pasta. They range from alla genovese with veal, sweetbreads and brains to ravioli di San Giuseppe which are stuffed with marmalade or marzipan! Along the seacoast you will find fillings utilizing seafood and then there are ravioli magri which are strictly vegetable fillings. Let's not forget con formaggio which is strictly cheese. When the four of us kids left home we all experimented - trying other fillings and enjoyed many of them. But when we want to put forth our best we always fall back on mama's recipe. If you choose to make this into lasagna, invest in a good looking, proper size lasagna dish. To serve six you will need a rectangular dish about 3 inches deep by 14 inches long by 10 inches wide. I prefer a plain white ceramic dish that can go from oven to table but a heavy duty stainless pan works quite well if you plan to plate the food and not bring the pan to the table. If you are making ravioli you have two reasonable options. You may purchase a ravioli mold at any decent cookware store or you may form them by hand. The mold is a two part metal affair, is relatively inexpensive, and will result in very uniform ravioli. I find them more bother than they are worth and prefer to make them by hand. For this method you will need a crimper, which is simply a small serrated wheel with a handle, to seal the packets. The slight irregularity that results from forming each individually only adds to the charm of the finished product. In either case you will want to roll your pasta as thin as Family Secrets #011- Originally Published 06/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. possible without tearing it, both for lasagna and ravioli. Getting it this thin is worth the effort, resulting in an ethereally light lasagna or wonderfully delicate ravioli, something I have yet to find in any restaurant. For saucing, the lasagna requires a homemade tomato sauce (see Family Secrets #10). Ravioli may also be served with this same sauce, which is the only way we ate it at home, or you can substitute anything from a brown butter/sage sauce to an herb infused cream sauce, or even serve them in brodo which is in a light chicken broth. A note on the cooked greens called for in the recipe. Originally this recipe used only fresh spinach, but if we had Swiss chard, or even dandelion greens available we used those. I have also used fresh rapini for an extremely interesting variation. In any case, whatever greens you choose they must be first cooked in boiling water, squeezed as dry as possible, and finely chopped. Naturally each different green will give you a slightly different flavor. The spinach is the most delicate, the chard is earthier, the dandelion is slightly bitter, and the rapini is slightly spicy. In an absolute pinch you can use commercially frozen greens, but after going through the trouble of homemade pasta and sauce, this seems a bad choice. It's much better to cook and freeze your own greens when they are plentiful and have them available. Both of these dishes lend themselves very well to advance preparation. I actually prefer to make the ravioli a day ahead and freeze them. They are much easier to handle when cooking and only add a minute or two to the final cooking time. The lasagna can also be made ahead and frozen if you wish to hold it more than two days. If you are going to serve it within that time you can simply refrigerate it. In addition to being elegant and delicious fare, you have the added advantage of very little last minute cooking. You might serve individual antipasto plates for a first course or simply a green salad and finish with fruit and cheese for a very Italian meal. _____________________________ Lasagna and Ravioli Filling Serves lasagna for six or makes approximately 50 small ravioli (serving six at 8 per serving)            1 -1/4 lb. lean ground beef 8 to 10 oz. chopped cooked greens of your choice 1 medium onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped 1 extra large egg 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (please use Reggiano) 1 Tblsp. finely minced fresh oregano, or 1 tsp. dried 2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper olive oil Film a large sauté pan with olive oil. Over medium heat, add the chopped onion and sauté until limp but not brown, four or five minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Crumble the beef into the pan and sauté until cooked and no red is visible. Turn heat to high and boil away as much of the liquid thrown off by the beef as you are able to in 5 minutes. Turn into a strainer and discard all fat and any liquid left. Return meat mixture to sauté pan and add the chopped greens, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Toss and stir until well combined and heated through, 3 or 4 minutes. Turn into a bowl to cool slightly. Add egg and cheese and mix well. Cover and chill at least one hour. May be made one day ahead. Lasagna  Large pot of boiling, salted water, at least 8 qt. capacity Family Secrets #011- Originally Published 06/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets    The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Large bowl of iced water 3 cups homemade tomato sauce Homemade pasta using the recipe in Family Secrets #8 - with 5 eggs and 3 cups of flour. This amount will give you plenty of leftover trimmings for the cook's lunch. Roll pasta (Family Secrets #8) as thin and as wide as possible, but at least two inches in width. Roll three pasta strips, drop them into the boiling water and cook until pliable, one to two minutes only. Immediately remove with tongs and drop into iced water. Remove from iced water and place on paper towels and pat dry. Film the bottom of the lasagna pan with tomato sauce, place a single layer of pasta on the sauce, trimming the pasta to fit the pan. Save the trimmings for lunch! Using a fork and spoon, or your very clean hands, pat a thin layer of filling over the pasta. Roll out three more pasta strips. Cook as above, cool in ice water as above and place over the filling. Do Not add more tomato sauce. Layer pasta and filling until you have three layers of filling. Top with a final layer of pasta. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook. Remove from refrigerator one hour before cooking. Spread remainder of sauce on top. Grate a little Parmesan over this. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, put the lid on if you have one or cover tightly with tin foil if you don't. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil and plastic and let sit 5 minutes. Cut and plate. Ravioli (by hand) Roll pasta at least two inches wide and as thin as possible. Work with one strip at a time unless you have help. With the strip of pasta in front of you, working from one end, place a heaping teaspoon of filling about an inch up, flip the end over, press with your fingers, and run the crimper around it to seal completely. You should have a shape that looks like a half circle - not square. Place each ravioli side-byside, not stacked, on a sheet pan lined with waxed or parchment paper. As the pan fills, place it in the freezer, unwrapped. Continue until all pasta and/or filling is used. The ravioli will freeze solid in about 20 minutes. Remove them from the sheet pan and bag them in plastic bags of a size to suit you. I like them ten to bag so I always know what I have. If you have a large (14" at least) straight sided pan at least 4 inches deep, it would be perfect. You can cook about 15 or 20 at a time this way. If not, use large stock pot filled about 2/3 with water. In either case, bring to a full boil and salt. Heat the sauce that you choose to use. Drop the frozen ravioli in the salted boiling water, bring back to a boil as quickly as possible, turn heat down and keep at a low boil. Cook for four minutes and then test one. They should not take more than four to six minutes depending on the thickness of your pasta. Remove with a slotted spoon or skimmer, pat dry with a paper towel, sauce as you wish, and serve immediately. I prefer to plate my ravioli so while I'm saucing and serving the first few dishes, the next batch is cooking. Altitude Adjustment: There is no change in the baking time of the lasagna. For boiling pasta, at any altitude over 5000 feet you must be careful to use plenty of water at a full boil and bring it back to a boil after dropping your pasta in as quickly as possible. Because this is homemade and not dried store bought pasta, it will need only a minute or two additional cooking at high altitude. Family Secrets #011- Originally Published 06/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Gnocchi By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 575-586-2286, [email protected] _______________________________________ Every culture has a dumpling somewhere in its cuisine. The basic dumpling is nothing more than starch (flour, potatoes, semolina, etc.) and water in the correct proportions and cooked in any liquid from water to broth. Most dumplings are used as an adjunct to the main dish, as in the great American chicken and dumplings. In Italy, gnocchi (the Italian dumpling) are generally served alone, replacing the pasta course. As part of a large or more formal meal, you would follow this course with a meat and vegetable plate, but in our home both when we were growing up and yet today, they are so beloved that they are always the star attraction, the main course of the meal. While gnocchi have been enjoyed in Italy at least since the Middle Ages, they take many different regional forms. Authentic gnocchi may be made from potatoes, semolina, ricotta, and may even be made green with spinach added to the dough. It just depends what part of Italy you are from. We grew up with potato gnocchi, although I do remember all the women in the family experimenting with ricotta replacing the potatoes at some point. My father never acquired a taste for this variation and neither did I. Some members of the family continue to use this variation claiming it makes a lighter dumpling; but if properly made, my experience is that potato gnocchi should and can be light and fluffy. Picture: 1918. Clockwise from top left: Filomena (Min) Buzzelli (1900-1996) Renato (Ray) Buzzelli (1904-1980) Ediberta (Bertha) Buzzelli (1903-1972) Norma Buzzelli (1906-1975) Mary Alice Buzzelli (1913-1987) Elizabeth (Beth) Buzzelli (1910- ) The beauty of this dish is that it is extremely versatile, taking happily to many variations of sauce. It is also fairly quick to put together and cooks in minutes. Make the gnocchi hours before dinner, have your salad chilling until time to dress it, and do a make ahead dessert like poached pears and you have not only a delicious dinner made without opening a single can, but time to enjoy a glass of wine with your family and friends before dinner. When I say that these are quick to make, I will qualify that slightly. They are fast once you've had a little practice with them and if you take to heart a few tricks that I'm about to offer. First to consider is the potato. Do not use red or white skin potatoes or any of the fancy new varieties like Yukon Golds or purples. Use plain old russets. Traditional recipes call for boiling the potatoes in their skins until tender, but I get much better results baking them until thoroughly tender. Baking instead of boiling results in a drier, fluffier potato needing less flour to hold together and making a light gnocchi. When each of us made our very first batch alone with no helpful hints and a bare bones recipe, you usually ended up with the distinct feeling that you had a load of lead sinkers in the pit of your stomach! But don't be deterred. With the following recipe and these pointers your first batch should be as light as air. The next consideration is equipment. Please use a ricer on the potatoes, not a masher and not the food processor or blender or mixer. The ricer achieves the correct consistency to keep the final product light. Lacking a ricer, a food mill will make an acceptable substitute. However a ricer is a relatively inexpensive piece of kitchen gadgetry and one will last a lifetime. Family Secrets #012- Originally Published 06/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/ Family Secrets The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended ItalianAmerican family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants. Finally, consider the saucing possibilities. Growing up we always had them with a traditional tomato sauce (see Family Secret #10). They were wonderful that way; but this dish lends itself to endless possibilities. A few include pesto, especially nice in the summer when our gardens and markets are full of fresh basil, or a Gorgonzola cream sauce which is rich and warming in the winter, or a simple butter and fresh sage combination topped with a handful of grated Parmesan. Some of these sauce recipes will be featured in upcoming Family Secrets. _____________________________ Gnocchi Serves four generously      2 lbs. russet baking potatoes 1 cup all purpose white flour 1 whole egg 1 egg yolk 1 tsp. salt Bake the potatoes until thoroughly cooked and tender. Allow to cool slightly until you can handle them. Peel and put through a ricer while still slightly warm. Blend with 3/4 cup of the flour, setting aside remainder of flour. Add slightly beaten egg and yolk and salt. Mix gently with a wooden spoon or your hands to form a soft dough. Flour a wooden board lightly with some of remaining flour. Place the dough on it and knead lightly and quickly, keeping the dough soft. Do not over knead. Add only enough of the remaining flour to keep the dough from sticking. Roll into sticks about 1 inch thick and 10 to 12 inches long. With a very sharp knife cut into 3/4 inch pieces. Keeping your board and your hands lightly floured during this process will make it easier. While the next step sounds complicated it simply takes a lot of words to explain, and after you do it a couple of times you will accomplish it in a matter of five minutes. The object is to dent each gnocchi slightly so the sauce will have a place to stick. You can accomplish this two different ways. The old way is to use your thumb to very lightly roll each piece toward you exerting a slight pressure to indent it. I believe the easier way is to use the back of the tines of a fork. Hold the fork with the back of the tines facing upward. Roll each piece lightly down it, indenting them lightly with four-or-so tine ridges. Once you get the feeling for this, it goes very quickly. Remember to keep your hands, the fork, and the board all lightly floured. Place the finished gnocchi on a clean floured kitchen towel or floured waxed paper until ready to cook. Using a six quart pot, fill 3/4 full, salt lightly and bring to a full boil. Drop in the gnocchi about 2 dozen at a time and bring back to a slow boil. Once they float to the surface (a matter of 2 or 3 minutes) cook for an additional 10 or 15 seconds, then lift out with a skimmer or slotted spoon and transfer to a serving platter. Season with a bit of your sauce. Repeat the process until all are cooked. Finish saucing and serve immediately. Altitude Adjustment: Because water boils at a lower temperature at high altitudes, you must take care to use plenty of water and bring it to a full hard boil before dropping in the gnocchi, and then getting it back to a boil as quickly as possible. Over 5,000 ft will add a minute or two to the final cooking. Family Secrets #012- Originally Published 06/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens ©1998 C Dove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only. Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - [email protected] La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 575-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/