Pork Chops Italian Style Recipe

If you enjoy sweet Italian sausage, you will enjoy chops prepared this way. Serves six.

Ingredients:
6 1-inch thick chops from loin or boned shoulder
Pork fat or vegetable oil
2 T. brown sugar
Salt and pepper
2 t. thyme
1-1/2 cups small noodle shells

Sauce ingredients:
1 cup tomato puree
1 small can tomato sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 t. fennel seed
Chopped parsley for garnish

V.S.P. Glaze the chops in a large skillet with the fat or oil and the brown sugar. Salt and pepper them and sprinkle with thyme. Put chops in a casserole and add the uncooked noodles around them. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes, then pour it over the chops. Cover and bake 40 minutes at 325 degrees. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Traditional Italian Polenta Recipe

Ingredients:
4 cups yellow cornmeal
1-1/2 t. salt
3 quarts boiling water, or more, as needed

Procedure:
Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil with the salt in a large saucepan. Bring another quart of water to a boil in another pan; this will be needed later as cooking proceeds.  As soon as the water boils, add 2-1/2 cups of cornmeal, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Traditionally, the stirring is clockwise only. Reduce the heat. As the polenta thickens, add a little more boiling water. After 15 minutes, add the remaining cornmeal and continue stirring and cooking, adding water when it becomes too thick. The polenta should cook for about one hour; it will be more digestible and lose any underlying bitterness if the cooking can be extended that long. However, it is cooked when it comes easily away from the sides of the pan.

The polenta may be enjoyed soft and very hot, accompanied by any number of sauces or garnishes; or it may be allowed to cool and harden, cut into various shapes, sprinkled with butter and grated parmesan cheese, arranged in layers with various fillings between and baked, etc. The sliced, hardened polenta may be substituted for bread, especially when it is accompanied by a good gravy or a dish of braised meat. Served with your favorite pasta sauce and roast pork, this will be popular with the men.

Spaghetti alla Bolognese - Italian Meat Sauce Recipe

This very rich meat sauce is a typical Italian sauce. Serve 4 or 5.

Ingredients:
1 lb. spaghetti
2 T. butter or margarine
4 T. olive oil
1/4 lb. salt pork, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 strip lemon peel
1 bay leaf
4 T. tomato puree
10 oz. rich beef stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated nutmeg to taste
4 T. heavy cream
Grated Parmesan cheese
Butter

Step 1. Heat butter and oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan; add salt pork, onion, carrots and celery. Sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally until salt pork browns. Stir in ground beef and brown evenly, stirring continuously. Add lemon peel, bay leaf, tomato puree, beef stock and wine and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Step 2. Cover pan and simmer the sauce very gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lemon peel and bay leaf and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until sauce has thickened slightly. Add cream and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more.

Step 3. Cook spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente (firm to the bite, but not soft or mushy). Serve with Bolognese sauce and freshly grated Parmesan. Dot with butter.

Macaroni Leonardo Recipe

Easy to make and it will be enjoyed by the whole family. Serve 5 or 6.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. sweet Italian sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. salt
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1 28-oz. can tomatoes
1 t. oregano
1/8 t. black pepper
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions

V.S.P. Cut the sausage into 1/2-inch slices and brown them. Add the onion and garlic and cook until golden. Drain off the fat.

Add the salt, tomato paste and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes. Add the oregano and pepper ten minutes before the end of cooking the time.

Arrange the cooked macaroni on a serving dish and pour sauce over the top. Serve with a salad.

Marinara Sauce Recipe

This is an Italian seaman’s sauce and is usually made without using any meat.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 small onion, cut into rounds, about 1/2 cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups canned Italian-style tomatoes
1 small carrot, cut into rounds, about 1/2 cup
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 t. oregano
1 t. dried basil

Step 1. Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook the onion, carrot and garlic until golden, stirring occasionally.

Step 2. Pour the tomatoes the tomatoes through a sieve, pushing the pulp through with a wooden spoon. Discard the seeds. Add the pureed tomatoes to the vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste. Partially cover and simmer 15 minutes. Put the sauce through a sieve, pushing the solids through with a wooden spoon. Return the sauce to the skillet and add the remaining ingredients. Partially cover and simmer 30 minutes longer. Serve with your favorite pasta.

You can also add your favorite fish filets or small shrimp during the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

The flavors of fine fresh pork and aromatic fennel seed combine to make one of the most distinctive of the world’s fresh sausages. Makes 2-3/4 pounds.

Ingredients:
3 t. kosher salt
1 T. fennel seed
1/4 t. black peppercorns
1 small dried red pepper, seeds removed
1/4 t. finely minced garlic
1/4 cup ice water
2 lbs. lean, trimmed pork, cut into 1-inch cubes, chilled
3/4 lb. fresh pork fat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, chilled

Step 1. Combine the salt, fennel, peppercorns and red pepper in a spice mill or mortar and grind to a coarse texture; do not powder. Mix with the garlic.

Step 2. Combine the spice mixture, water, meat and fat in a large bowl.

Step 3. Put the meat mixture through the coarse blade of your grinder. Once the meat has been through the grinder, knead the meat, in small batches, with your hands to mix thoroughly, then cover and refrigerate for about 12 hours.

Step 4. If you plan to use your sausage stuffer, follow manufacturer’s instructions and tie these off in 5-inch lengths. If the room is cool, hang the sausages for a few hours, or until they are just dry to the touch, then refrigerate them. If it is too humid to hang the sausages, simply refrigerate them, uncovered, for a maximum of 12 hours, being careful not to contaminate other foods. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage.

To cook: Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes and serve with your favorite tomato sauce and pasta. The Kitchen Mouse’s “gremlins” like these grilled with sliced green peppers and onions.

Frittata con Cipolle - Onion Frittata Recipe

This omelet is from Italy. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1/4 lb. butter or margarine
1 T. olive oil
1 lb. onions, peeled and thinly sliced
6 eggs, well beaten

V.S.P. Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, add oil. Add onions, cover skillet and simmer about 15 minutes until thoroughly wilted. Remove cover, increase heat and sauté onions until delicately brown. Add eggs, salt and pepper to taste. Distribute onions evenly, and when omelet has formed, place under broiler until golden-brown. Cut as a pie and serve with potatoes and a green vegetable.

Frittata di Asparagi - Asparagus Frittata Recipe

This is the right time of year for this recipe from Sicily, since asparagus is available in the locals markets. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
12 asparagus spears
1/4 cup olive oil
5 eggs, well beaten
2 crushed chili peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

V.S.P. Sauté asparagus in oil until tender and delicately brown. Add eggs, with peppers and garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Distribute spears evenly. When omelet has formed, place under broiler until golden-brown. Cut as a pie and serve.

Uova in Purgatorio - Recipe

This dish is from Campania, Italy. Translated, it means eggs in purgatory. Serves four or five. Great for lunch.

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 T. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 cups cubed tomatoes (canned is ok)

V.S.P. Sauté onion and parsley with salt and pepper in oil 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer 30 minutes, stirring often. Bring to a boil, then carefully drop in the eggs, one at a time, to poach. Serve on buttered toast.

Fish Marinara Recipe

This is an Italian recipe which is very popular with fisherman of that nation.

Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 T. dried parsley
3/4 t. dried basil
1-1/4 t. dried oregano
1/8 t. cayenne
1 t. sugar
1 T. dried minced onion
Large (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 lb. frozen fish filets or small shrimp
Hot cooked rice or pasta

V.S.P. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add celery and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add seasonings, onion and tomatoes. Cook over low heat 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add defrosted fish or shrimp about 8 to 10 minutes before sauce is done. Serve over hot rice or pasta.

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe

This is the Italian idea of chicken served “hunter-style.” This has always been a favorite recipe with our children and we usually plan on serving third helpings. On several occasions The Kitchen Mouse’s five sons have managed to consume three or four chickens when it was served in this manner. (Editor’s note: The Kitchen Mouse’s grandchildren love boneless, skinless thighs in this recipe. The vegetables can be varied - try adding some zucchini, green beans or even corn. Use what you have on hand - hunters cooked whatever they caught or gathered.)

Ingredients:
3 lb. chicken pieces
2 T. olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup celery, diced
2 green peppers, chopped
Large (28 oz.) can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 T. parsley flakes
1-1/2 t. dried basil leaves
1/4 t. or more oregano
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

V.S.P. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, brown chicken pieces on all sides in hot oil, about 10 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. In remaining oil, sauté onion and garlic for a minute. Add celery and green peppers and sauté 3 to 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes and return chicken to pan. Season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients and continue cooking about 15 minutes longer or until chicken is tender. Serve over pasta.

Florentine Rice Recipe

Italian spinach with rice. Serve this with your favorite roast or chops. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1/2 t. salt
1 T. lemon juice
1/4 lb. fresh spinach, well rinsed and drained, chopped
1 T. butter
1/2 t. dried basil
1/8 t. garlic powder
Dash black pepper
Parmesan cheese for garnish

V.S.P. In covered saucepan, cook rice in 1-1/2 cups boiling water with salt and lemon juice. Just before rice is tender, add chopped spinach. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes more. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Serve hot with parmesan cheese.

Sicilian Tomato Salad Recipe

Serves 5 or 6. Easy on the purse, the plate and the eye.

Ingredients:
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 t. paprika
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. basil
1/2 t. ground black pepper
Dash of garlic powder

V.S.P. Wash tomatoes and cut in half. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over tomatoes. Chill about 30 minutes. Serve over your favorite salad greens.

The Kitchen Mouse - The Corn in the Cornucopia

Originally published March 19, 1984

There were exactly 100 aboard the Mayflower when she left Southampton, England and two more were born on the nine week voyage. During the first 90 days in the new world, half their number were lost due to scurvy, starvation and illness.

What pulled the survivors through was Indian corn, the maize developed through trial and error by Indians from a wild grass native to the highlands of southern Mexico. Corn had been brought north by generations of pre-Columbians.

The colonists found a great store of corn left behind by some Indian tribe which had pulled up stakes and forgotten or forsaken a cache buried underground.

To grow their own corn, the Pilgrims learned agriculture Indian-style, which did not require felling trees or plowing earth. The Indians simply cut a strip of bark all the way around each tree where they wanted to grow corn. The trees died, so no leaves grew to block the sun. Instead of plowing, the Indians made a few scratches in the soil with pointed sticks and dropped their seeds (kernels left from previous harvests). Nobody bothered much about weeds. As for pests, the Indian boys made whistles and hung them on poles; when the wind blew through the whistles, the sound frightened away any birds and mice (mice? Oh gosh!) which might eat the seeds.

From a friendly Indian, the Plymouth colonists learned how to plant corn “when the oak trees’ leaves are as big as mouse ears” he said, “plant the kernels of corn. Put a small fish in between them. Round the soil into a little hill.”

The fish, probably menhaden, decomposed and fertilized the soil. For forty days after planting, every dog in the colony had a forepaw tied to it’s neck so it did not dig up the fish. Following the Indians counsel, the Pilgrims planted four kernels close together in a circle. Plantings were in small mounds a yard or more apart, the mounds running in rows a yard apart.

Fields planted Indian-style often yielded over 200 bushels of food per acre, five times the amount grown in English fields. But it was some years before the harvests were bountiful enough to eliminate hunger. New groups of colonists arrived and had to be supported. In the fall of 1621, 35 new people arrived. Some 67 came in 1622 and another large party in 1623. Each new arrival forced the earlier colonists to go on short rations.

The first corn was not ready for months. Several members of the Plymouth Colony were publicly whipped in the summer of 1622 for picking corn and eating it before it was ripe.

This Indian corn quickly became the mainstay of the colonies, both in Virginia and in Massachusetts.

The Kitchen Mouse’s first introduction to cornmeal was when he was served polenta at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York back in 1939.

Today's recipes:

Traditional Italian Polenta

Canadian Johnny Cake 

Indian Meal Pancakes