Filling

1 pound ground pork (approx. 80 % lean, 20% fat)

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

1 cup finely chopped water chestnuts

1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well just until combined.  Don’t overmix.

50 to 60 round dumpling wrappers

½ cup chicken broth or water for steaming dumplings

Spicy Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon chile paste such as Sambal Oelek*

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons finely sliced scallions

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and serve with potstickers.

*Add another ½ teaspoon if you like it very spicy.

Forming the Potstickers

Buy a package of round dumpling wrappers.* Keep the wrappers covered with a cloth as you work to prevent them from drying out.  Fill them as follows:

Place about 1 ½ to 2 level teaspoons of filling in the center of the dough in a slightly oval shape.  With your finger, very lightly smear a dab of water around the edge of the top half of the wrapper.

Bring up the edges of the dough and pinch together firmly in the center, forming a filled crescent.  Leave each end open.

Make a pleat on the side facing you.

Gather up the balance of the dough on the side away from you, pleating toward the center in 3 or 4 pleats.

Do the same with the other end, pleating toward the center.  This method of sealing the dumpling gives it a broad bottom.

As each dumpling is finished, place it on a lightly floured board and cover with a cloth to prevent drying out.

When ready to cook, heat 2 tablespoons of peanut or vegetable oil in a 10 or 11 inch skillet with a tight fitting lid..  When it is hot add the dumplings, bottom side down.  Don’t crowd the dumplings.  You may have to cook them in two batches or use two skillets.  Cover and cook about 2 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.  Pour ½ cup chicken broth or water all around the dumplings and cover as tightly as possible with the lid.

Cook over medium high heat until the water almost boils away, about 3 minutes, then turn the heat to low.  After about 9 minutes’ total cooking time, potstickers should be done.  If not yet well browned, turn the heat to high briefly.  Watch them closely and do not let them burn.

Transfer the dumplings from the skillet bottom side up onto a serving platter.  Serve spicy dipping sauce on the side.  Yield: about 50 dumplings

*Dumpling wrappers and other ingredients may be purchased at Asian supermarkets and at other well stocked supermarkets.

Photos by sweetpaprika

What memories I have of this classic Spanish masterpiece.  First of all, I remember this dingy little Spanish restaurant called El Faro on Greenwich Street in the West Village when I lived there in the 1960s .  Out of the way though it was, it didn’t take reservations.  People were lined up on the sidewalk awaiting their turn at the Paella Valenciana.  The serving was generous even for the two people it was designed to serve. It arrived in an enamelized cast iron Dutch oven and was the type of paella wherein all the flavors married.  The rice grains clung together and every bite tasted just like the bite before.

El Faro’s patrons loved it and evidently still do.  It is still holding its own since it opened in 1927 and is, in fact, the city’s oldest Spanish restaurant.  Still in business at the same location, El Faro hasn’t been updated in 85 years!  The faded paint on the walls and crumbling ceiling are part of its charm.

Then on a trip to Europe, I took a special side trip to Valencia on a quest for the real thing.  Paella Valenciana in Valencia—surely this would be a memorable meal.  Well, not so much. The primary thing I remember is how much sweeter lobster from the cold waters off the coast of Maine tastes than Spanish spiny lobster from warm waters.

In the 1970s I met Bert Greene, food columnist for the Daily News, proprietor of The Store at Amagansett and creator of the best Paella Valenciana I have ever had. Every time I come upon a paella recipe I compare it to Bert’s and it invariably falls short.  First of all, unlike El Faro’s, each seafood ingredient and chicken is seasoned and cooked separately so that they retain their identity.  The dish is composed at the end and gently anointed with a splash of Pernod. You don’t need a paella pan, just a large skillet.

Ingredients:

1  2-lb. lobster

 1 1/2 lbs. raw shrimp

2 dozen small clams

1 quart mussels

2 ½ – 3 lbs. chicken, cut up for frying

1 t oregano

1 branch fresh thyme or ¼ t dried

2 black peppercorns, crushed

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 ½ t salt

8-10  T extra virgin olive oil

1 t wine vinegar

2 sticks butter

1 ½ cups yellow onions, finely chopped

4 large shallots, finely chopped

1 ½ oz. salt pork, chopped (or bacon)

1 green pepper, cut in strips

1/2 t ground coriander

2 t capers

5 Spanish chorizos, sliced

3 slices ham, ½ inch thick, cut in strips

4 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 T chopped fresh basil

2 1/2 cups raw short grained rice, unwashed

½ t saffron

4 cups chicken broth, boiling

1 white onion, chopped

½ lemon, sliced

Parsley sprigs for poaching broth

1 Turkish bay leaf

2 cups white wine

2 lbs. any white fleshed fish boned and cut up (such as cod or flounder)

1 10-oz package of frozen peas, thawed

1 small can Pimientos

1 cup Moroccan black olives, pitted

2 oz. Pernod

Chopped parsley for garnish

Procedure:

Remove meat from lobster.  Break claws and leave the claw meat inside.  Shell and devein the raw shrimp.  Wash and scrub clams and mussels and keep in cold salted water.

Cut up chicken into medium sized pieces. Combine oregano, thyme, peppercorns, garlic, salt, two tablespoons of oil and vinegar and mash it all together until it becomes a paste. Smear chicken pieces with this and let stand half an hour.

In a large skillet, melt ½ stick of butter and an equal amount of olive oil.  Add ½ of the onion /shallot mixture and cook until golden.  Quickly add chopped salt pork and then the pepper strips.  Stir over medium heat and add the shrimp, coriander and capers.  Cook, stirring steadily until the shrimp turn bright pink in color.  Set ingredients aside in a serving dish and wipe out skillet lightly with a paper towel.

In the same skillet, place cut-up chorizos and sauté until brown.  Add chicken pieces with enough oil and butter to sauté until golden brown on both sides. (This will take about 10 -15  minutes.)  Put in ham strips and stir until they are well coated with sauce.  Add chopped tomatoes and fresh basil and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  Set aside.

In a large kettle, melt a stick of butter.  Sauté the remaining onion/shallot mixture until golden.  Add unwashed rice and crushed saffron and stir until rice becomes first translucent and then almost milky in color.  Add boiling chicken broth.  Stir once, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

In a s kettle, place cut-up white onion, sliced half lemon, parsley sprigs and bay leaf.  Pour in 1 ½ cups white wine and bring to the simmer.  Add mussels and clams first and then pieces of fish tied up in washed cheesecloth to hold their shape.  Mussels and clams take about 10-15 minutes to steam.  Fish will poach in about 7-8 minutes.

Arrange a bed of rice and garnish it well with chicken pieces, lobster, ham, chorizo and remainder of ingredients in the serving dish.  Imbed the fish pieces and make another layer.  Stuff the clams and mussel shells with rice and arrange over rice.  Decorate with peas, pimientos and olives.

When dish is composed, dip a large piece of washed cheesecloth in white wine and place over the paella.  Sprinkle with Pernod and dot with bits of butter.  Bake the dish in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes until piping hot.  Remove cheesecloth and garnish with chopped parsley.

Photos by Michael Kirigin

The glass cases were lined mainly with molded solid chocolates in the shape of little animals. But what caught my eye were the chocolate dipped candied orange slices.  “What is the price of your chocolates?” I asked the smiling clerk.  “$88 a pound.”  Oh, my God.  And I thought Godiva chocolates were expensive. Alright, I have no resistance, not an iota of will power when it comes to chocolate.  It’s in my DNA.  It runs through my veins.  I actually bought three tiny chocolates.  She handed me a weightless bag in exchange for $5.75.  They were melt-on-your-tongue-and-savor good, but $88 a pound???

What I really longed for were those orange slices.  I knew it was time to try my hand at them.  Off to the Internet for some research.  Not a lot out there, but finding a good tip here and another there, this is what I did.  You’re going to need a couple of days to turn these out, but there’s actually very little work and they’re quite easy.

Ingredients

 2 navel oranges

¾ cup water

1 ½ cups sugar

8 oz. dark chocolate

½ cup sugar, preferably raw

Procedure

Cut navel oranges in half through the stem ends.  Turn each half cut side down and cut about 1 inch off both ends.  Cut halves into ¼-inch slices. Don’t use ends.

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a 12-inch high-sided sauté pan.  When the sugar has dissolved completely and mixture is bubbling, lay in each orange half, keeping them as separated as possible.  From this point on, don’t stir. Just press the oranges down from time to time.  Adjust the heat so that the orange slices are cooking at a low bubble.

The syrup will slowly thicken and the oranges will soften.  Cook until oranges soften to the point of almost falling apart.  Take off the heat and let sit about 10 minutes.  Remove each one with tongs and place on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet to catch drippings.  Let dry in a cool place (not the refrigerator). This will take at least 24 hours.

Cut 10 oz. of dark chocolate into small pieces. Put a couple of tablespoons aside. Melt in a double boiler. When smooth, check temperature with a candy thermometer or laser thermometer. Stir in additional small pieces of chocolate to bring the temperature down to 88 degrees.

Spread out sugar on a plate.  Using tongs coat each orange slice on both sides with sugar.  Shake off excess.  Hold a slice on the rind at the top of one edge with tongs over double boiler and spoon chocolate over half of orange slice. Place on a baking  sheet  lined with waxed paper to set up. Wow all the chocolate lovers in your life!

Photos by Michael Kirigin

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 23,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 9 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Much has been written about the origin and history of the martini.  Perhaps the most well documented is its first appearance at the old Knickerbocker Hotel in New York in 1910, the creation of its head bartender Martini di Arma de Taggia. Its first imbiber is reported to have been John D. Rockefeller. A British journalist, John Doxat, having made an exhaustive study of martini history, asserts also, that the mix at that time was half gin and half dry vermouth.

The concoction became highly popular and other bartenders began to invent their own versions of the drink.  Its evolution saw drier and drier combinations until today, the popular mix seems to be 5 parts gin to 1 part dry vermouth.  There are those, preferring the “driest” martinis, who are content to whisper the word “martini” across the glass.  Winston Churchill used to simply bow in the direction of France when he made his martini. True aficionados, however, insist upon at least a modicum of dry vermouth.

In addition to Winston Churchill, many famous historical and fictional figures are associated with the martini—Ernest Hemingway, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Cary Grant, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman Capote and the list goes on.  Clearly the most famous fictional character to prefer the martini is James Bond, whose martini was not a martini at all, but was made with vodka and “shaken, not stirred,”  in the movies, anyway, although not in Ian Fleming’s books.  Purists would call this a “vodkatini.”

What is the proper way to make a martini?  First of all, chill the martini glass and the mixing glass.  Place ample ice cubes, never crushed ice, in the chilled mixing glass.  Pour in 2 ½ oz. gin and ½ oz.dry vermouth. Stir at least 30 seconds.  Strain into the martini glass and add a high quality green olive or a twist of lemon peel.  This is by no means the definitive classic martini.  As I mentioned, some like it shaken, some stirred; some like it drier or wetter, and then there are the many newer, sometimes neon colored variations sporting fruit juices, liqueurs and aperitifs.

Whatever your plans for New Year’s Eve, remember to drink responsibly and have fun. Bill and I wish you a New Year filled with the very best. Cheers!

Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm

This lovely golden egg-rich and light-textured bread is prepared much the same as the dough for traditional white bread, but it is a stiffer dough and is baked on a cookie sheet rather than in a loaf tin.

The only trick is in the braiding, but a “trick”, of course, is just knowing how to do something.  Invariably, instructions on braiding bread tell you to lay three ropes of dough on a work surface and braid them horizontally, much as you would braid a pigtail.   This technique is very likely to produce a long skinny loaf as there is a tendency to pull on the ropes as you braid them.

The technique suggested here, which I learned from Chef John Clancy, calls for four ropes rolled out slightly higher in the center and tapered toward the ends.  The braiding is executed in an upward vertical manner and the loaf is then flipped on its side for that picture-perfect plump loaf.

.

Ingredients:

2 packages rapid-rise yeast (about 5 teaspoons)

1 tablespoon sugar

5 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Procedure:

1. Mix yeast, ½ teaspoon sugar, and 1 cup warm water in a 2-cup glass measuring cup.  Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. Mix remaining sugar, flour, and salt in large bowl of electric mixer; add eggs, butter and yeast mixture.  Using dough hook attachment, knead at low speed until smooth and satiny, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. Form dough into a ball and let rise in a large, lightly buttered bowl covered with a damp towel until approximately doubled in size, about 1 hour.  Deflate to original size, re-form into a ball, cover, and let rise again until doubled in size.
4. Deflate dough again and turn onto a lightly floured work surface.  Press dough into a rough square and cut into 4 equal pieces, preferable with a blunt object to seal in gases (a wooden spatula works well. Let rest for 10 minutes.
5. Roll each portion of dough into an 18-inch rope that is thicker in the middle than at the ends, stretching dough as you roll.  Place ropes on a large work surface to form an X and pinch in the center to seal.  To finish the braid, follow the illustrated steps.
6. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.  Place braided dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet; cover with damp cloth and let rise until almost doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.  Beat yolk with milk; brush entire loaf with this glaze.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake until bread is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer registers between 190 and 200 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes.  Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool.
7.    Braiding technique:

   

   Drawing #1

   [Drawing #1]  Make four ropes of equal length and lay them out in the shape of a four-pointed star; pinch them together in the center to seal.  Think of the points as numbered one to four.  Starting with point one fold it directly over the center, so that it lies beside point three.  Then fold point three directly over the center, again creating a four-pointed star.

   1. 

      Drawing 2

   [Drawing #2] Now fold point four directly across the center so that it lies parallel to point two; then fold point two over the center, again creating a four-pointed star. Continue this one-side-to-the-other braiding, making sure to keep the bread upright until all the lengths have been folded.  As you work, give the ropes a little slack when you reach the center and braid a little more tightly toward the ends.  This will give the baked loaf the characteristic high in the middle shape.

   1. 

      Drawing #3

   [Drawing #3] Continue this one-side-to-the-other braiding, making sure to keep the bread upright, until all the lengths have been folded.

   1. 

      Drawing #4

   [Drawing #4] Pinch the end pieces firmly together at the top.

   

   Drawing #5

   [Drawing #5] Lay the finished bread down on its side on a lightly oiled baking sheet, cover with a towel and let rise 30 minutes.  After this third rising brush entire loaf with the egg yolk and milk glaze, dip a finger in the glaze, then in the poppy seeds and gently roll your finger over the loaf for an even topping.  I  just learned this technique from Maya of chaitimeblog.wordpress.com.  As you can see from my photos,  just sprinkling on the poppy seeds gives an uneven finish.  Bake in the middle of a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the crust has turned a shiny golden brown.  Place on a rack to cool.  Happy Hanukka!

   Variation:  Add 1/8 teaspoon saffron threads dissolved in one teaspoon hot water in step one for a more golden color.

   My recipe appeared in the March/April issue of Cooks Illustrated, 1994

   Photos by sweetpaprika
   

Gratins are wonderfully simple side dishes that welcome experimentation. For example, play around with the infusion of milk/cream. Instead of (or in addition to) thyme, try sage or rosemary or add the white part of a roughly chopped leek to the mix.  Breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan can be added just before broiling.

In addition to the potatoes here, you could add some peeled, thinly sliced squash, turnips or sweet potatoes for some great color. For a garnish, try some chopped chives. (Serves 4)

Ingredients

 2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

2 whole cloves peeled garlic

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg

½ t salt and ¼ t freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for layering potatoes

3 large russet potatoes (or comparable amount of Yukon Gold), peeled and thinly sliced (no thicker than 1/8-inch)

4 oz. Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated

1 T butter cut into a dice

1 T chopped parsley

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large saucepan, add milk and cream, garlic, thyme springs, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Bring to a simmer.

3.  Add potato slices and continue cooking on low heat for 5 minutes.  Don’t allow the mixture to boil.

4. Generously butter a 9 by 12-inch gratin dish.

5. With a slotted spoon, add 1/3 potato mixture to baking dish. Add additional salt and pepper to each layer and 1/3 cheese.

6. Continue layering potatoes and cheese, discarding garlic cloves and thyme.  Spread out and press down.

7. Pour in enough of the milk/cream mixture to come just below the top layer of potatoes, reserving any remainder. Dot with butter.

8. Cover with aluminum foil and place in oven for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are very tender when pierced with a fork.

9. Remove foil.  Add more of the milk/cream mixture if top layer looks dry.  Place under the broiler for a few minutes just until lightly browned on top.  Serve in the baking dish, garnished with chopped parsley.

Photographer Bill Brady

I have made two changes from Christopher Kimball’s chocolate cake in The Cook’s Bible.  First I have substituted an extra ¼ cup of cocoa for ¼ cup of flour to make it more chocolaty.  Secondly,  I have used a technique I learned from cake decorator Scott Woolley for helping to assure a moist cake.  Instead of allowing the cake to cool off when removed from the oven and thereby losing moisture, he wraps the layers immediately in aluminum foil and places them in the freezer.  This also makes frosting the cake easier as there are no loose crumbs.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups cake flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa

2 t instant espresso powder

¼ t baking powder

½ t baking soda

½ t kosher salt

12 T unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 egg white, room temperature

1 ½ t vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Procedure

1. Grease the bottom of two 8-inch baking pans.  Line with parchment paper.  Grease paper (I use butter) and flour pans.  Turn pans upside down and lightly tap  to remove excess flour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place oven rack in the middle position.

3. Sift flour, cocoa, instant espresso, baking powder, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.

4. Add butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 1 minute or until light-colored.

5. Add sugar gradually and beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until mixture is very light-colored and fluffy (scrape down 2 or 3 times).

6. Add whole eggs and egg white one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.  Add the vanilla and beat for 10 seconds.

7. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternately with the buttermilk.  Beat on low speed after each addition and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Do not overbeat.

8. Pour batter into pans and bake 25-30 minutes.  Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick.  It should come out clean.

9. Now here’s the part that might surprise you.  Don’t let the cake cool. Instead, wrap well in aluminum foil and place in freezer.  This will help to insure a moist cake that will be easy to frost.

Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

¾ cup milk

3 egg yolks

1 ¼ cups confectioners sugar

¾ lb. unsalted butter (3 ticks) softened but cold

2 T instant espresso

Procedure

1. Place the egg yolks and sugar  in a heavy sauce pan and with a wooden spoon, mix them together until well blended.

2. Put the milk in a small saucepan and heat it over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan.

3. With a wire whisk, beat hot milk gradually into sugar mixture.  Cook on low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon.*

4. Place the hot yolk mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat on high speed until double in volume and down to room t temperature.  Add the instant espresso.

5. Turn the mixer down to medium speed and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time.**

6. After all the butter has been added, turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for about 2 minutes until the buttercream becomes light in texture and forms soft peaks.

7. Remove cake layers from freezer.  Place one layer on the pan it was baked in turned upside down.  The cake and the pan will line up perfectly thereby allowing you to frost the sides and transfer the cake to a platter without any mess.  Spread frosting on the top of the layer.  Then place the top layer on. Spread frosting on the top of the cake and then the sides.  Allow the cake to rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Optional: Make a syrup of 1/3 cup cold water and 3 T sugar. Stir and cook until sugar dissolves, 4 to 5 minutes.   Add 2 T Amaretto or Kahlau liqueur to syrup and brush on cake layers.

*The way I tell that the mixture is thick enough is that it begins to thicken on the bottom of the pan.  At that instant, scrape it into bowl of mixer.

**At this point the frosting will look gloppy, to use a technical term, but fear not.  It will come together and become glossy when beat at high speed.

Photo by sweetpaprika

2 lbs. Italian sweet sausage, cut into ½“ slices

½ stick sweet butter

1/3 cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, sliced

5 large shallots, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, mashed

½ lb. string beans, sliced lengthwise (Frenched)

2 green peppers, seeded and cut in strips

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

5 ripe tomatoes (seeded), roughly cut

½ t sugar

1 packet G. Washington beef bouillon powder

Dash of dried hot pepper flakes

4 zucchini squash, thinly sliced

2 T chopped Italian parsley

Optional: Freshly grated Fontina Cheese

Rub a large skillet with oil.  Heat until it is very hot.    Add sausage and sauté quickly.  Remover sausage and drain on paper towels.

Add butter and oil to skillet and sauté the onion, shallots and garlic until transparent and golden.  Add sliced stringbeans and pepper strips.  Season with salt and pepper and stir-fry.

Add tomato pieces.  Correct seasoning with a sprinkling of sugar (to caramelize the tomatoes) and bouillon powder (to fuse the flavors).  Add a dash of dried hot pepper flakes.  Cook over moderately high heat for about 8 – 10 minutes, until tomatoes soften.

Stir sausages into vegetables.  Add zucchini and toss well for about 6 – 7 minutes longer.  Serve garnished with chopped parsley and/or freshly grated Fontina cheese.  Serves 4 – 6.

Photos by sweetpaprika

The perfect first course for a cool brisk autumn day is this golden savory roasted yellow pepper soup.  A light soup, yet bursting with the heady flavor of sun-ripened peppers, it’s quite easy to make.  The secret is the roasting of the peppers.  Bring them to a blackened char and soft interior in the oven and by no means dilute their flavor by taking the peel off under water.  A crusty ciabatta, delicate salad and grilled meat will add up to a wonderful meal.

Ingredients

6 medium sweet yellow peppers

2 T unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, cut into a small dice

1 t salt (1/2 if using salted chicken broth)

¼ t white pepper

1 t freshly roasted and ground cumin

2 cloves garlic, mashed and chopped

2 T flour

4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable)

2 cups whole milk

Crème fraiche and roasted red pepper powder for garnish

Procedure

1. Rinse and dry peppers and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Roast in a 400 degree oven until blackened, turning from time to time.

2. Remove from oven and place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap while proceeding with recipe.

3. Melt butter in a large pot and add onions, salt, pepper and cumin and cook until translucent.

4. Add garlic and continue to cook until fragrant. Sprinkle on flour, stirring and cooking for two minutes.  Stir in chicken broth and bring to a simmer.

5. Pull the skins off the peppers (not under the faucet) and discard seeds, membrane and stem.

6. Roughly chop peppers and add to pot.  Simmer 10 minutes.

7. Stir in milk.

8. Puree in food processor.  Pour back in pot and heat gently.

9. Serve in heated soup plates with a garnish of crème fraiche and a light sprinkle of roasted red pepper powder.  Serve 5 – 6.

Victor Talks Peppers

Being raised in a strong tradition of Southern Italian cuisine, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the most creative uses of nature’s simplest ingredients.  Peppers were most assuredly one of them.  Green and red bell peppers, slender fryers – both hot and sweet – pepperoncini, you name it.  They all made an appearance on my mother’s dinner table in the most luscious ways imaginable.

Where to start?  Well, one of my favorites was stuffed peppers.  Mom actually had two versions in her culinary repertoire.  When using sweet, red bell peppers she would stuff them with a mixture of ground beef, onions, garlic, parsley, Parmigiano and rice.  Covered with a bit of marinara (simple red sauce) they were popped into the oven until tender.  Really nice.  My favorites, though, were the long fryers.  She’d split them in half and stuff them with a mixture of breadcrumb, garlic, parsley, Parmigiano, anchovies and olive oil.  They were then baked until the breadcrumb was nicely browned.  I ate copious amounts.  Still do.

Another favorite growing up was what my mother’s mother called giambotta.   Most definitely a peasant dish, this is a simple stew of red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, onions and potatoes which is served as a side dish.  I’ve actually called it dinner, with lots of crusty bread and a good Chianti.  Another one of Nonna’s best dishes were roasted red peppers.  She would char them whole on the stove top burner.  When they were done, they went into a paper bag to steam off the blackened skin.  Then they were seeded, sliced and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and parsley.  Simple, yes.  Exquisite, most certainly.

Of course, no Southern Italian summer menu would be complete without the addition of sausage and peppers.  There are so many ways to prepare this.  My preferred method is to grill the sausage, cut them into bite size pieces and keep warm.  I then sauté red or green peppers with lots of onions and garlic until tender, and combine the sausage into the mixture.  At this point, you may add some tomato sauce and bake for a while – as the Neapolitans are wont to do.  I keep it simple and serve as is.  Nothing like it.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Enough with the Italian stuff.  Yes, it’s true.  Italians don’t own peppers!  And, being the consummate foodie, I enjoy them in any cuisine.  Asian, for instance.  What would a good stir fry be without the addition of peppers?  Latino cuisine as well.  I mean, without peppers a good sofrito wouldn’t be very good at all.  And I don’t know where Mexican cooking would be without the pepper – especially chiles.  But we’ll explore that in another blog.  Even our own American fare makes use of sweet peppers.  We include them in our salads, stews and good old fashioned home fries.  We even add them to omelets for color and depth of flavor.  As for pepper soup?  Why not!  Try Phyllis’ recipe above.  It’s a winner.

So what is it about the pepper that makes it so coveted by so many lovers of the culinary arts?  When working with the red bell, I believe it’s the inherent sweetness it possesses.  As for the green bell, it imparts a nice freshness and aroma that is reminiscent of a home garden.  The spicier varieties appeal to the more adventurous.  But more than that, I believe is a textural thing as well.  In their cooked state, peppers are somewhat meaty and add nice body to any dish.  In their raw state, it’s the crunch that I look for.  I’m sure you do as well.

Photographer Bill Brady

Written by Victor Ribaudo