Cooking for three growing boys has its challenges.  They may always be hungry, but having been raised up to this point on primarily convenient foods, they have a very limited idea of what is acceptable to eat.  Unfortunately for me, just about any vegetable that I consider to be amazing is not currently on that list.

After months of trying to accommodate their wants with a real need to get them to eat in something like a healthy manner, it has come time to put on my “Dad” hat and just start making the right foods, regardless of the amount of noise coming from the dining room when something green comes out of the larder.

What do you do to get your kids to eat better?  Do you have tricks for sneaking healthier alternatives into the mix, or do you just sit staunchly by until they finally cave in and eat what they should eat?  I’d be very interested to know what other parents are doing here, especially since I’m starting with kids that haven’t been eating my food for the last four years.

I’ll grant that the only nod towards health that this particular dish shows is the spinach itself.  This is not the world’s healthiest pasta dish, but I’m using sausage, butter and garlic as gateway foods to introduce healthier items like spinach and fresh basil. (They loved the basil… Not so much the spinach, but they ate some of it, so it’s a start!)

Another trick I’ve begun using is to decrease the amount of “the good stuff” in the dish.  While I more than likely would have made this a year ago with a pound of sausage and simply saved the leftovers, now I’ve cut it down to 1/2 pound, knowing full-well that the two older boys will not leave even the smallest meaty bit in the pan or on their plates, regardless of how little they touch the vegetables.

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By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Author of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes>

I would like to extend my thanks to Caitlin Price of FSB Associates for making this piece available to the readers of CBSOP.  It’s a valuable article and one that I hope you enjoy!

There is no more appropriate time than now to think about how and why we cook. Food is a way of connecting with the people who surround us. Through it, we communicate emotions like love, compassion and understanding, and there is no better opportunity to communicate with our children than at the table. It’s where we can discuss our values of life that are important to us as individuals, as a family and as a part of the world we live in.

As overconsumption and greed have come to haunt us, now is a time for reflection. We should be looking back at the generations before us to understand their approach to the table. Growing food, shepherding animals, foraging for the gifts of nature is all part of respecting food. Nothing needs to be wasted. Bread can be recycled and used in soups, casseroles, lasagnas and desserts. Water is carefully conserved as in the pasta recipe I share below where the same water in which vegetables are cooked is used to cook the pasta that follows, and then that is saved for soups or for making risotto.

When one respects the food we prepare, it also leads to a more sensible and balanced intake of proteins, legumes and vegetables.

So “waste not, want not” and make it delicious!

Excerpt from Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

FRESH CAVATELLI WITH CAULIFLOWER
Maccarun ch’I Hiucc

Serves 6

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, and I regret that many people don’t sufficiently appreciate its unique flavor and nutritional value. This is not the case in Molise, where it is cooked often and creatively, as exemplified by the following two simple vegetarian pasta dishes. The first recipe, maccarun ch’i hiucc, is zesty with garlic and peperoncino.

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for the pasta pot

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

7 plump garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

1/2 teaspoon peperoncino flakes, or to taste

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 large head cauliflower, cut in small florets

1 batch (11/2 pounds) Fresh Cavatelli (preceding recipe), or 1 pound dried pasta

1 cup freshly grated pecorino (or half pecorino and half Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, for a milder flavor)

Recommended equipment: A large pasta pot; a heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 12 inch diameter or larger

Fill the large pot with salted water (at least 6 quarts water with 1 tablespoon salt), and heat to a boil.

Pour the olive oil into the skillet, set over medium-high heat, and scatter in the sliced garlic. Let the garlic start to sizzle, then toss in the peperoncino and parsley; stir and cook for a minute. Ladle in a cup of the pasta cooking water, stir well, and adjust the heat to keep the liquid in the skillet simmering and reducing gradually while you cook the cauliflower and pasta.

With the pasta water at a rolling boil, drop in the cauliflower florets, and cook them for about 3 minutes, until barely tender. Drop in the cavatelli, stir, and return the water quickly to a boil. Cook another 4 to 5 minutes, until the cauliflower is fully tender and the pasta is al dente (if you are using dried pasta, it will, of course, take longer).

Lift out the florets and cavatelli with a spider or strainer, drain briefly, and spill them into the skillet. Toss well, to coat all the pasta and vegetable pieces with the garlicky dressing, then turn off the heat,

sprinkle over the skillet the grated cheese, and toss again. Heap the cauliflower and cavatelli in warm bowls, and serve immediately.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PARFAIT
Pane di Cioccolato al Cucchiaio

Serves 6

This recalls for me the chocolate-and-bread sandwiches that sometimes were my lunch, and always a special treat. And it is another inventive way surplus is used in Umbrian cuisine, with leftover country bread serving as the foundation of an elegant layered dessert. Though it is soaked with chocolate and espresso sauce and buried in whipped cream, the bread doesn’t disintegrate, and provides a pleasing textural contrast in every heavenly spoonful.

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

8 ounces country-style white bread, crusts removed

1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso

2 tablespoons dark rum

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups chilled heavy cream

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Recommended equipment: A large rimmed tray or baking sheet, such as a half-sheet pan (12 by 18 inches); a spouted measuring cup, 1 pint or larger; 6 parfait glasses or wineglasses, preferably balloon-shaped

Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl set in a pan of hot (not boiling) water. When the chocolate begins to melt, stir until completely smooth. Keep it warm, over the water, off the heat.

Slice the bread into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and lay them flat in one layer, close together, on the tray or baking sheet.

Pour the warm espresso into a spouted measuring cup, stir in the rum and sugar until sugar dissolves, then stir in half the melted chocolate. Pour the sauce all over the bread slices, then flip them over and turn them on the tray, to make sure all the surfaces are coated. Let the bread absorb the sauce for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, whip the cream until soft peaks form, by hand or with an electric mixer.

To assemble the parfaits: Break the bread into 1-inch pieces. Use half the pieces to make the bottom parfait layer in the six serving glasses, dropping an equal amount of chocolatey bread into each. Scrape up some of the unabsorbed chocolate sauce that remains on the baking sheet, and drizzle a bit over the bread layers. Next, drop a layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using up half the cream. Top the cream layer with toasted almonds, using half the nuts.

Repeat the layering sequence: drop more soaked bread into each glass, drizzle over it the chocolate sauce from the tray and the remaining melted chocolate. Dollop another layer of whipped cream in the glasses, using it all up, and sprinkle the remaining almonds on top of each parfait. This dessert is best when served immediately while the melted chocolate is still warm and runny.

©2010 Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, authors of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes

Author Bio
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, coauthor of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipe, is the author of five previous books, four of them accompanied by nationally syndicated public television series. She is the owner of the New York City restaurant Felidia (among others), and she lectures on and demonstrates Italian cooking throughout the country. She lives on Long Island, and can be reached at her Web site, www.LidiasItaly.com <http://www.lidiasitaly.com/>

Tanya Bastianich Manuali, Lidia’s daughter and coauthor of Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipe, received her Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history from Oxford University. Since 1996 she has led food/wine/art tours of Italy. She lives with her husband and children on Long Island.

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Fettuccine Alfredo is one of Italy’s most wondrous exports. A perfect pairing of rich, creamy sauce and perfectly cooked pasta that serves equally well as a main dish or as a side to nearly anything you feel like serving with it.  It’s complex yet simple,  filling and decadent.  What could be more wonderful?

Now what if I told you that every recipe that you’ve probably ever seen for Fettuccine Alfredo was wrong?  What if I told you that it was probably the most simple dish in the world to make?  What if I told you that Mr. Alfredo’s Fettuccine has been done a glaring disservice by a million cooks, including renown chefs around the world.  Would you believe me?

If you won’t believe me, would you believe Saveur magazine? Their May issue features an article by Tod Coleman titled “The Real Alfredo”, which details the history and creation of this iconic dish from its birth just after the turn of the century.  Alfredo, it seems, created the dish for his wife, who had lost her appetite after giving birth to their son.  His modified Fettuccine al Burro featured far more butter than the original, a combination that “…neither his wife or his customers could resist.”

While most versions I’ve seen are fairly complex and require a fair bit of attention to detail, the original Fettuccine Alfredo has just four ingredients and takes mere minutes to make, but results in a dish far more complex and wondrous than any Alfredo I’ve ever eaten in an Italian Restaurant anywhere… Ever. And I’ve eaten a lot.

So please be so kind as to take a moment to meet the real Alfredo.  You’ll never think of this dish the same way again.  But you may find you eat a lot more of it.

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Every now and then I crave something that I’ve eaten a long time ago, but haven’t seen or heard of in a while. It doesn’t matter what it happens to be.  It can be something my mother used to make, my father’s chili, a food that reminds me of somewhere I’ve visited or just something attached to a memory of some time in my life.  Whatever it is that causes me to want that particular dish, once the idea is planted, it stay with me until I give in.  If ignored long enough it overwhenles me completely. This dish began with an inspiration like that.

My first real cooking job was as a line-cook (Or chef de partie) at a chain restaurant called Lyon’s, a California chain sort of like an up-scale Denny’s. It was the very early 90’s.  pasta was served with a blob of somewhat-Italian sauce on top, salad’s were huge and healthy meant you added chicken (cooked with butter.) In the winter, the side vegetables were always broccoli and caulflower.  In the summer we cooked zucchini and Yellow squash.  There were no other vegetable options.

While a side of squash might sound very healthy, the cooking method we used back then gave a lot of flavor, but definitely didn’t do anything to improve the health of our diners.  Several handfuls of squash were tossed into a saute pan with a serving ladle full of butter and tossed until soft, seasoned with salt and pepper, then served hot. Not what we’d call healthy in today’s world.

Unfortunately, it was this dish that taught me to love squash. It was cooked on my station.  I made a ton of this stuff every day, but I hadn’t thought of it in years.  Then the other night I was talking with my wife about old jobs we’d had and the memory of simple squash simmering in butter hit me like a brick.  I could smell it, I could taste it.  I had to have it, and nothing was going to get it out of my head until I made it.

Even though the memory of the original has a special place in my heart, I just can’t bring myself to use an entire stick of butter to cook two squash. I know better.  My cholesterol levels know better.  My family means more to me than that.  So I had to find a way to get the same flavor without all the fat.  I also had to keep it simple, because this side was never meant to be complex.

In the process, I needed a full meal to go with it, lest I sit and simply eat the entire pan of butter soaked veggies on my own, then be relegated to a diet of water and broccoli for the next month so that I can get my checkup without having the good doctor go insane.

In the end I decided on a combination of butter and olive oil and a bit of fresh red bell pepper to up the flavor that would be pulled out by the lack of fat.  The combination is wonderful and I highly recommend it the next time you’re looking for a simple side dish for a meal.

For the rest of the meal I added simply cooked turkey cutlets and an orzo and spinach salad that were both simply divine, if not paired perfectly. (serve the orzo on the side or in it’s own dish and you’ll be happier.  The squash and the Turkey are perfect together.)

Now that this trip down memory lane has reached an end, I feel invigorated and renewed.  Many of the things that I used to cook there are fresh in my memory and ready to be modernized, which is just the kick in the rear that my inner-chef has been lacking over the past few weeks.

Please give this dish a try and let all of us know what you think.  It’s dear to me in a strange way and I’d love to hearyour thoughts.

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I’ve recently fallen completely in love with seared tuna.  Not just because it’s healthy, but because the flavor of this fish is really quite nice, even when purchased frozen. (The safest bet when you live nearly 400 miles from the nearest ocean.)  cooking time is minimal, the family loves it, and it’s versatile without being terribly expensive.  What’s not to love about it?

This is a second try of a recipe that I originally made with pouched tuna, but the texture of that particular dish was off, even if the flavor was good.  I wanted to try a riff on the concept with fresh tuna instead, and I’m incredibly glad that I did, it was worth the second try without a doubt, as this version had far more flavor and a more pleasing texture by far.

If you’re looking for a lovely little introduction to spring, you can’t go wrong with this one.

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From the lost recipe files:  I found the pics for this hanging out in a folder from JUNE!  Luckily, I still remember how I made the dish.

As Italian chefs the world over will tell you, the key behind a great pasta dish is that no one ingredient ever overloads any of the others, and that the pasta is truly supposed to be the star of the show.  This is one dish that follows those guidelines, even with the strong flavors of bacon and greens tossed into the mix.

The secret with this or any other pasta dish is to make sure that you add just enough sauce to coat the pasta, not drown it. This may go against the American tradition of dumping a full three cups of sauce over the top of a quarter pound of noodles, then topping it with some form of meatball, but believe me, it’s worth the restraint.

Let’s revisit summer, shall we?

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If you’re looking for something a bit different, completely savory and sumptuous and more than a bit over the top, this is the meal for you.  Preperation is relatively simple and the flavors are something that most only experience in high-end establishments, thinking that something of this calibur could never be prepared in a home kitchen.  While there is a bit of long-term preparation involved the process really isn’t all that hard, it’s just the big fancy name that makes it sound daunting.

To quote the Grand Dame of the American Culinary Revolution:

“Noncooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.” ~ Julia Child

For most people, confit automatically brings to mind images of something cooked in duck or goose fat.  While this is the current trend, confit is actually a much simpler premise than that.  The definition of confit is quite simple:

Confit: [kohn-FEE] A meat slow cooked in its own fat with spices. Or a jam-like sweet spread.

In using this definition, anything cooked in its own fat is a confit, and to be tied to only using duck or goose fat would be a crying shame, since chicken confit is probably the simplest of all to make with just ingredients from your local BigScaryMegaMart, namely chicken leg quarters.

You know the ones.  You’ve seen them before.  They sit in the poultry section in a forlorn ten pound sack, partially packed in an impotent brine. These are the byproducts of the American love of the boneless-skinless chicken breast, cast off to obscurity because someone convinced an entire nation that white meat was the best meat.  In this case their loss is our gain.

The chicken sold in bulk bags is mostly from roasting chickens.  Roasting chicken are larger birds with a higher fat to body mass ratio and because of this have become less popular in todays marketplace.  Bulk chicken is also not trimmed for excess fat, it’s just sold by weight, meaning that the producers are not interested in making it look pretty.  It’s perfect for confit and it usually costs around $4.00 for 10 lbs of chicken!  The rest is almost blissfully simple.

So step out of your comfort zone for a moment and take a journey with me to the land of gourmet, where with just a bit of time and effort the most humble ingredients transform themselves into something more than you could have ever imagined where flavors and aromas transcend the parts that make up the whole and become something entirely wonderful.  The experience may only last a few moments, but it is very much worth the effort.

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If you’re looking for a quick, simple pasta recipe that won’t let you down, this is the one you’ll want to keep handy. We used gemelli for this dish, but it would work equally well with rotini or any other full bodied pasta.  Gemelli just happens to be our recent new favorite, os we’re doing a lot of experimenting with it.

This particular recipe came about from the need to get something on the table quickly. my wife called and announced that she would be coming home for lunch on this particular day, even though she was supposed to be having a lunchtime meeting.  The result…  Well, in a word it was fabulous.  Or to quote Billy Crystal as Fernando, it was “Simply Maaaahhhvelous”.

This recipe is also my entry for the ninth edition of the Frugal Fridays food blog event, where myself and several other very talented people, including Ben, from What’s Cooking?  There are others working on the project with us, but I’m not at liberty to discuss them just yet.

The purpose of Frugal Fridays is for foodies or food bloggers to create a recipe that costs $10.00 US or less that will feed a family, and this recipe falls so squarely into that category that it really should be a crime.

But without further discussion or ado, I present to you…

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Welcome to the very first installment of Frugal Fridays, where I (and hopefully other bloggers) aim to prove that you can eat very well and still manage to keep a few dollars in your pocket book for good measure.  The Challenge of Frugal Fridays is to create a meal that will feed a family of four for $10.00 or less.  While I’m not expecting gourmet fare for this amount, I know that if anyone can whip up a meal on a budget that still tastes phenomenal, it’s a bunch of food bloggers.

This dish was a flash of inspiration from a conversation I had with my wife a few days ago.  She mentioned that her favorite seafood was crab and I had an immediate burst of inspiration on what to make. The dish itself is simple, promised great flavor and was planned to make my wife smile. What I didn’t know was if I could do it for under $10.00. It sounded like the perfect Frugal Friday challenge.

My first thought was to use lump crab meat.  Unfortunately, in this part of Texas a pound of decent looking lump crab would have used up my entire $10.00 budget.  I was stuck with using the best canned crab I could find.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have preferred the lump crab meat, but we’re going for a filling meal here, and I didn’t think 2 oz. of crab would do it.

The rest of the ingredients were straightforward and very inexpensive, including the shallot wich I admit took me by surprise.  As I’ve said, for a $10.00 the assumtion has to be made that there are some basic cooking ingredients available, such as oil, butter, salt, spices, etc. so that’s the premise I ran on. In the end I came in well under budget and made a remarkably tasty dish that would easily feed 4 to 6 people to the point of comortably full.

Just to prove that this came in under budget, here’s the complete list of what was purchased:

• Linguine – $1.09
• Crab Meat: – $4.17
• Mini French Loaf – $0.75
• Lemon – $0.59
• Shallot – $0.51
• Garlic – $0.30
• Parsley – $0.49
• ————————
• Store Surcharge – $0.40
• ————————
• Grand Total – $8.30

Not too bad for a seafood dinner for four with bread, eh?  I could have sprung for a salad, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

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This sauce was originally inspired by the classic Italian Bolognese sauce with a dash of my mother’s own ragu from my childhood. the result is neither one or the other, but has become my own unique creation over the years. For me this thick, deep and ever-so-rich meat sauce is one of the ultimate comfort foods, one I will pass on to my children and the powers that be willing, their children as well.

Just the smell of this sauce cooking is enough to give my wife hunger pains. While not as intensive as the classic 7 hour Bolognese, the simmer time of just about 2 1/2 to 3 hours is more than long enough to fill our entire home with the aromas of tomato, basil, oregano and thyme. Just after that the sausage begins to give off the wonderful scent of fennel, all in a wondrous symphony for the senses, and the resulting sauce does not dissapoint.

I prefer to cut links of sausage into roughly 1/2 slices for this dish rather than crumble it in. This gives the meat a bit more tooth, somewhat like tiny meat balls rather than just using meat as a component. Vegetarians may of course substitute an equal amount of cooked bulgar or mushrooms for the meat and use vegetable stock or mushroom stock instead of the chicken stock. I’ve made this combination and it works wonderfully.

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