Dont be CORN fused

Feel a little bit like I am cramming for my Amish Homemaking final....and the Buckeyes and the Browns are not helping at all! Corn was a 'surprise' project. I had actually gone to the farmers market to buy more tomatoes, to finish the previous post. They were not quite as red or quite as beautiful as they were at the other spot...but this particular location was having a special on quantities of corn. The darling salesgirls knew a live one when they saw one (in church clothes). Did I want them to shuck the corn, too? Wow! The hardest part was now history, for the low, low price of 10 cents an ear, times 5 1/2 dozen ears.

So, with a(nother) false sense of kitchen confidence, I set the water to boiling and laid out the supplies. This is Lee's old kettle from the campground...it is big enough to hold all the Browns dropped passes. (But we're not bitter) I put in about a dozen ears at a time for just a minute or two, this is called 'blanching'. Using tongs, remove each ear and hold it over the kettle to drain, then lay the ears on an immaculately clean kitchen towel. By the time the last one came out, the first one had cooled enough to handle. I held them vertically, tip side down. Then I vertically cut several rows of kernels off at a time with a cheap steak knife, right onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Dont use your good knives here.....they will cut way too deeply into the cob. Cheaper knives work much better for this application.

After cutting the kernels from (about) four ears, I gathered up the edges of the parchment paper, just as you would a pastry bag, and gently shook them from the parchment paper into the ziploc bag. Then just squeeze out the air from the bottom up, and lay flat to cool.

You say 'tomatoes' we say 'Tomatoes'

Preserving tomatoes for making sauce is as much a part of our Italian culture as an 8x10 picture of the Pope hanging in the dining room. Growing tomatoes, harvesting and 'canning' is an annual ritual which most households participate in. You will see the whole process, start to finish, and you can learn as I am learning.


Different sauces call for the tomatoes to be preserved in various forms, for example 'salsina' vs. whole.

Viva l'Italia Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Andy (our youngest son) was headed back to the University of Cincinnati for his senior year, and I wanted him to start off with a full cookie jar. This is my spin on the classic chocolate chip cookie, but with the colors of the Italian flag. The flavor is really special with homemade vanilla, and real oats from the local farmer's market. Toasted pistachios add just the right crunch.

Viva l'Italia Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup pistachios, lightly toasted

Preheat your oven to 375*. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the oats.

Beat the softened butter and both sugars in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Turn mixer down to a lower speed, then add vanilla, and one egg at a time until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients that were sifted together into the mixing bowl, still running at low speed.

Fold in dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pistachios by hand.

Scoop or drop by spoonful onto prepared cookies sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until edges are just browned.

You can print the recipe by clicking on the title of the recipe or clicking here.

Zucchini 'Pizza'

Zia Elia came over to see our newly remodeled kitchen. My great aunt Elia is Aduccia's youngest sister. (You remember grandma Aduccia from the previous post) We were a little subdued because our bubbly Italian friend, Marie, had suddenly passed away. We especially enjoyed cooking together this day because 'Life is short'. Or as Zia Elia so eloquently quoted in her lilting Italian: 'Oggi insigura e domani sepoltura'

Zia Elia's versatile sidedish, Zucchini Pizza, can be served warm from the oven, or chilled in the fridge to carry off to a summer picnic. Aunt Elia suggests it as an antipasto, too. *Antipasto translates into 'before the meal', the first course. *

Zucchini 'Pizza' Squares

3-4 cups diced zucchini (very small dice)
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup chopped onion (very small dice)
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups Bisquick mix (heaping)

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add vegetable oil, cheese, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano. Mix well with a large wooden spoon. Add Bisquick and mix. Add zucchini and mix it in.

Pour onto greased cookie sheet with a lip, or a greased hotel pan. Carefully spread the mixture into a thin, even layer (about 3/8"). Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes until top surface is evenly golden brown. When completely cooled, cut into squares.

You can print out this recipe by double-clicking on the title or right here

Zucchini di Aduccia

Back in the day (late 1950s early 60s), friends and relatives used to bring my Grandma 'Aduccia' the surplus zucchini from their gardens. She made this version quite often, because it was her husband Marshall's favorite. Though grandma's been gone for 33 years, her daughter Donna (my mom) helps us revisit those times by making her recipe for us. These zucchini were so fresh from the market that mom said you could have cut them with a butter knife.

Zucchini di Aduccia

3 zucchini (approx 1 ½ lbs), sliced
1 small yellow onion, peeled and sliced thin
1 egg
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon butter (unsalted)
1 Tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Saute the onion in the butter and vegetable oil over medium heat. When onions become translucent (not brown) remove them from the pan and set them aside.

Add sliced zucchini to the pan and stir gently, coating them with the butter and oil in the pan. Reduce to medium low heat and cover.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, checking and stirring, and turning them in the pan a few times until tender. Season zucchini with salt and pepper, and return the onions to the pan.

In a small bowl, beat egg with fork, adding 1 Tablespoon of milk and 1 teaspoon of Parmesan, then add scrambled egg mixture to zucchini and onions.

Continue to stir, quickly but gently, until egg is cooked, less than 1 minute.Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese on top and serve.

You can print the recipe by clicking here: Zucchini di Aduccia

Pickled Peppers

This first post was going to be highly sentimental....my mom making her mothers favorite zucchini recipe. I spent the morning expectantly searching each stand at the farmers market for just the picture perfect-looking zucchini and onion. Came home, photographed the ingredients, even texted my sister on this auspicious occasion. Called Mom, ....and left a message. She wasn't home!

OK-Plan B. We grew some banana peppers in our own garden this year. Lee thought they were easy to grow, and that we could 'pickle' them. (Neither one of us has ever pickled anything in our lives) While at the market, I got some to supplement the ones at home, ready to pick (exactly 4). This afternoon I confidently, ignorantly, boiled the jars and sliced up the peppers. Winging it, I added boiled vinegar and water, a pinch of salt, a few peppercorns, a dash of sugar, mustard seed and some celery salt to each jar. They look pretty good. You can print out the recipe by clicking here: Pickled Peppers di Pietro

We'll take another stab at the pickled peppers next week: my Aunt Elia has promised to find Aunt Thelmas recipe....maybe Mom will make the zucchinis tomorrow.

Julie

Andiamo...Getting started

Buon Giorno!

There are a lot of simple truths about your life when you are Italian. You go to church. (There is only One) You obey your dad. You eat pasta. LOTS of pasta.

My name is Julie Scalzitti Krueger Massey. I am a first generation American...both of my parents, Frank and Donna (Gigliotti) Scalzitti, were born in Montenero, Italy. They immigrated to the United States in the early 1940s. Many of the 'Montenerese' settled around the Great Lakes after coming through Ellis Island: good jobs were obtainable in the steel mills and on constructions sites in the growing suburban areas of the PostWar era. The Italian Americans made a new home for themselves and their families around the neighborhood Catholic churches and markets in heartland cities such as Erie, Pennsylvania, Lorain, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. (I was born in Lorain, Ohio in the summer of 1963)

The 'paisano's spent many hours together in their new country. In fact, the people from Montenero formed a social club in the 50s aptly named 'The Montenero Society'. As I grew up, I enjoyed a wonderful bond with a very large, very boisterous (some would say 'loud') very emotional and very involved extended family. We laughed altogether, cried altogether, prayed altogether and shared our lives.

One thing that really was not shared were recipes. Not because of trademarked secrets, but just because most everyone grew their own tomatoes and other vegetables and prepared their own meals at home, eating out was highly unusual, and even suspect. Cooking all day, canning tomatoes, certainly eating with the family on Sundays, were an accepted part of everyday life. No big deal.

I think it is a very big deal. I felt loved and cared for and special because of it.

So.....that is why I wanted to compile this cookbook. I wanted to express to all the Montenerese, those who loved me so dearly, those whom I knew so well, and those whose spirits I will meet one day, this common bond of our culture.

Mangia!

Baci, Giulia