Meridith Kurtzman (well known in NYC restaurant kitchen circles) wrote a lovely nostalgic article in the weekend Wall Street. (October 15-17, 2019) about NYC luncheonettes, and more specifically a green minestrone that looks wonderful.
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I believe I had typed the ingredients for our Minnestrone, somewhere on this fórum … However, here is our family Italian Minnestrone.
2 Tblsps. Italian Evoo
1 large potato peeled and sliced into cubes
2 cups shredded Italian Cavolo black cabbage ( can use cabbage or kale of choice )
1 large carrot peeled and diced finely
1 fennel bulb with fronds
A SMALL COURGETTE OR ZUCCHINE
A SMALL AUBERGINE OR EGGPLANT
fresh herbs: parsely, basil, thyme, Rosemary ( a tiny sprig of each + fennel fronds
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 rind of Parmigiano Reggiano
1 onion or 1 leek and 1 shallot sliced finely
White Northern Beans (soaked over night – we do not use tinned or jarred beans) or White Navy Beans
(approx. 200 grams for 2 of us )
120 grams small shelled pasta or Ditallini = tiny tubes
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LA PERGOLA - ROMA, ITALIA and THE ITALIAN CUISINE WORLD SUMMIT 2018 DUBAI …
CHEF HEINZ BECK
THE WALDORF HOTEL
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Rigatoni alla Bolognese, with sauce from the freezer made following this recipe in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot):
Pasta was boxed De Cecco.
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So what are we looking at? Yours or restaurant?
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Bolognese sauce from the freezer again, this time with some fresh fettucine. This was my first time making fresh (Italian) pasta. I used a Kitchenaid attachment to roll it out and cut it. I used David Lebovitz’s fresh pasta recipe:
Which was quite easy to make with a stand mixer. It came out pretty well. I think next time with fresh pasta and Bolognese sauce I might try cutting the sheets manually with a knife to make thicker tagliatelle.
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Beautiful plating and presentation! There is nothing better than fresh pasta.
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Parmigiana, eggplant gratin - oven cooked aubergines layered with tomato sauce (dried, fresh and San Marzano conserve tomatoes) cheese (buffalo mozzarella, grated parmesan and pecorino). Repeat with 4 layers. Recipe from Ciro Cristiano.
A bit liquid, my fault! The 3 tomatoes sauce in the recipe asked for 2 hours of cooking, mine was less than an hour. The gratin tasted good nevertheless.
Mussels and clams - pretty straight forward, heated up casserole with oil, added mussels, stirred briefly. Added white wine, close lid, after 2-3 minutes, added clams and parsley. Cooked until shells were opened.
Grilled squids with parsley and white wine
Torta salata con zucchine, pancetta e pecorino - Zucchini tart with pancetta and pecorino
The version I made was the recipe of Skye McAlpine, inspired by the Venetian la Trattoria all Vignole.
Briefly cooked zucchini with pancetta, lined the vegetables on the partially cooked puff pastry, added heavy cream, whole eggs and grated pecorino. Cooked 25 minutes in a 200ºC oven.
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My lunch certainly didn’t look like your lunch! What a treat!
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Fuyu and purslane
Back for a repeat of my poor rendition of @afoodobsession peppers and sausage with onions and potatoes. This is really a comforting dish. You moosh the potato in the suave juices, sit back and sigh. Thanks again for this concept.
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I really like how you think. My older son has nut allergies, so I never bought, and never really made, any pesto at home for a long time. Then I had a light bulb moment a few years ago that I could do it at home and leave out all the nuts, and he loved it. Gobbled it up. Took it to school with bread multiple times a week. It made me so happy to know this delectable spread wasn’t off limits to him entirely. Interesting tidbit - when he had a repeat of allergy testing after that, it turned out that pine nuts and almonds were ok for him, so I added back in pine nuts. More to stretch the result than anything to do with flavor. But he still loves it. Thank you for making pesto accessible to your no nut friends! It’s a beautiful gesture.
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I use a bolognese recipe from my big yellow Gourmet cookbook, but it does ask for canned chopped tomatoes as well as paste. My no cooked tomato kid eats it happily, because I think the tomatoes are a small proportion of the total pot. But I’d be interested in trying a paste only version. Do you follow a recipe?
Mine is an adaptation from Mario Batali - no major changes, I just eliminate some of the extra fat he calls for by rendering the bacon/pancetta and using that to cook the vegetables rather than cooking them in additional butter/oil.
2 medium onions, ground in food processor finely chopped
4 celery ribs, ground in food processor until finely chopped
2 medium carrots, ground in food processor until finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, ground in food processor until until finely chopped
2 T. butter
1/4 pound pancetta or slab bacon, ground in food processor until finely chopped
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork (not lean)
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1.5 cup whole milk
1.5 cup dry white wine
1 cup water (if necessary)
1 teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
Grind vegetables in food processor; remove and grind bacon. Heat butter in large dutch oven and add bacon; cook over medium heat until rendered but not crisp. Add vegetables except garlic and cook until softened; add garlic and cook 2-3 minutes more. Add meat and cook until no longer pink, mashing with potato masher to break up lumps and create a finer texture. Add tomato paste and stir to incorporate, then add wine and milk. Simmer 2 hours or until meat is very tender, adding water as necessary to keep sauce from drying out. Season with salt and pepper.
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Emglow - for you and anyone else who braises chicken skin on (your photo just made me remember this question), do you eat the skin or discard it after cooking? I know everyone is excited about a crispy chicken skin. Not so much a flabby boiled one… Curious. If you do toss it, then what is the reason to cook it at all, rather than just remove the skin prior to cooking. Curious minds!! Thanks 
I eat the skin
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Talking about skin, my father worries that I would die young eating skin, and since I don’t listen to him, he asked my brother to put pressure on me. LOL.
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It’s time for a dose of Mrs. P’s fettuccine.
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