Stuffed Artichokes

This past weekend we hosted a nice family dinner for my mom’s birthday. I decided to serve a special dish that my mom always enjoyed, stuffed artichokes. My grandmother would make them and send them over to my house a few times a year when I was younger. It has to be at least 25 years since we’ve had them last, so I knew that they would make for a special birthday dish. I searched out a bunch of recipes and found a great one on italianchef.com. The recipe was simple enough to follow, and contained the perfect combination of flavors. What made this dish even more special was that it was almost the exact same recipe that my great grandmother (my mom’s grandmother) would use. It was the perfect birthday treat.

There are many more great, authentic recipes at italianchef.com, I highly recommend you check it out! I also placed a link under the Recommendation section. Special thanks to Chef Paolo Torre for allowing me to share his recipe.

STUFFED ARTICHOKES
(click here for link to original post)

Serves 4

1 cup bread crumbs
½ cup grated Pecorino-Romano Cheese
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 artichokes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1. Combine bread crumbs, Pecorino-Romano Cheese, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium bowl. Mix together well.

2. Cut stems off artichokes, flush with bottom. Cut pointy leaves off the top of the artichokes. Spread leaves of each artichoke out and push stuffing in between them. (I also scooped out and discarded the hard, purple leaves in the center of the artichoke prior to stuffing).

3. In a pot just large enough to fit the artichokes, add the sliced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the artichokes. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the top of the artichokes.

4. Turn heat on to medium and cook until sizzling about 1-2 minutes.  Add water to reach half way up the sides of the artichokes.

5. Cover and cook until the artichokes are tender and a leaf is easily pulled out, about 45 minutes.  If liquid is evaporating too quickly add a little more water.

6. Transfer to a serving platter, drizzle a little of the liquid from the pot over the artichokes and serve.

Pork Chops Italiano

Whether you’re grilling, pan frying or shaking and baking, pork chops always make for a nice meal. My favorite way of preparing chops is marinating, then baking or grilling. Marinades always work well with pork chops. They add lots of great flavor and your chops won’t end up dried or leathery. You want to be sure to let the chops marinate for at least 2-4 hours.

One of my go-to marinades is Italian dressing. It’s loaded with spices and herbs and is available in a nice variety, from light and creamy to zesty and robust. It works well with pork, chicken and fish.

Soy sauce also makes for a terrific marinade base. You can then season the soy sauce with all different kinds of spices and herbs and take the flavor in all kinds of tasty directions. Some spices that I like to add for pork are ginger, allspice, honey, sesame oil and brown sugar (more on that in another post).

For this recipe you’ll want to use an oil-based Italian dressing (not Creamy Italian). To help kick it up a bit, I like to top the chops with some thin sliced onions and roasted red peppers. Serves well with rice, noodles or couscous. And don’t forget the applesauce!

PORK CHOPS ITALIANO

4-6 chops (your choice of thickness)
1 bottle of oil-based Italian salad dressing (not creamy Italian)
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 jar roasted red peppers, sliced

Pierce pork chops with a fork to allow dressing to soak through. Place chops in a plastic baggie, pour dressing over chops and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 2-4 hours.
Heat oven to 350º. Remove chops from marinade, making sure that some marinade stays on the chops. Place chops in a 13×9 sprayed baking dish. Top chops with thin slices of onion and roasted red peppers. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Gently puncture the foil with a fork in a few spots to allow steam to escape. Bake for approximately 45-60 minutes, depending on thickness of your chops. Thinner chops will be done at about 35-45 minutes, thicker chops will take longer, around 60 plus minutes. Chops will cook faster without aluminum covering, but will lose moisture and may end up dry. Gauge timing and method to your likeness, just be sure to check chops accordingly and make sure that chops are no longer pink inside.

* The Italian dressing adds plenty of flavor, so adding the onions and /or peppers is not necessary of you’re not a fan of either taste.

Grandmom Dora’s Meatball Stew

It’s the dead of winter, cabin fever is kicking in, and everyone seems to be singing ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside.’ For those of you living up here in the northeast, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s been a BRUTAL winter so far, and we’re only a few weeks in! What better time of year to enjoy a nice, warm, hearty meal?

One dish that we always turn to is Meatball Stew. This recipe comes from my wife’s grandmother, Dora D’Ottaviano. This dish is one of her many specialties, and one that my wife would forever brag about. We’ve been making this dish on our own for quite a few years now. It makes for a nice Sunday meal, can be cooked in either a stove-top pot or a slow cooker* and goes great with a nice glass of wine or beer and a loaf of crusty Italian bread.

MEATBALL STEW

6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 16-oz package frozen peas and carrots
1 29-oz can tomato sauce
1 can (29 oz.) of water (use the tomato sauce can to measure)
1 beef boullion cube
Salt and pepper to taste
(optional spices – chili powder, crushed red pepper)
1-lb cooked meatballs, rolled small

In a large pot, heat up 1 tablespoon olive oil, add cooked meatballs. Remove pot from heat. Add tomato sauce, boullion cube plus one can of water. Sauce and water should cover the meatballs by about 2 inches. Return to heat, bring sauce to a boil. Add peas and carrots and potatoes, stir. Bring to a boil again. Add salt and pepper and optional spices to taste. Cover slightly and simmer slowly for about 1-1/2 hours, or until potatoes are soft.

*Note – allow a good 6+ hours if using a slow cooker, as the potatoes take a while to get soft when slow-cooked.

Christmas Eve Recap/Baked Orange Roughy, Italian Style

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010! I thought it would be appropriate to start of the new year of posts with a nice little recap of my favorite end-of-year dinner, the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes.

My family has been celebrating this tradition for as long as I could remember, and of course many years before that. While we still stick with many of the traditional dishes (baccalá soup, whitefish, smelts, stuffed calamari, fried shrimp), we have been slowly introducing some more modern dishes to the line-up. My brother and his wife are always good for a wild card dish, and this year they didn’t disappoint with pan-seared scallops. Unbelievable!

I’m usually the one responsible for crab cakes, but this year we went with Bobby Chez crab cakes (very good, by the way!). Instead, I was given orange roughy duty. If you’re not familiar with orange roughy, it’s a very flaky fish, similar to tilapia or flounder. It’s got a very mild taste, so it’s a good dish for those who aren’t into a real ‘fishy’ dish. I did some research and found a recipe for ‘Baked Orange Roughy, Italian Style’ at allrecipes.com. It makes a nice, flavorful parmesan-garlic based coating. I decided to give it a try and I’m happy to say it was a home run! Everyone enjoyed it and I’ve already been given the honors for next year as well. The recipe is very simple (it will also work very well with flounder and tilapia), and I liked the fact that the recipe calls for the fish to be baked instead of fried (believe me, the deep fryer was in high gear for most of the other dishes that night).

Below is the recipe for 4 servings, but be sure to check the original link if you want to adjust the serving sizes/measurements.

BAKED ORANGE ROUGHY, ITALIAN STYLE

1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 pound orange roughy fillets
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Coat a medium baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
In a shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic powder, and salt.
Brush both sides of orange roughy fillets with butter, and dredge in the bread crumb mixture. Arrange fillets in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with parsley.
Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.