Rustic Country Bread

Preparation:

Get a big ceramic bowl and oil the sides and bottom with extra virgin olive oil.  Set aside and have a clean linen towel ready.

I suggest that you go down to Home Depot and buy six large ceramic tiles and put them on the bottom rack of your oven for bread making.  They are a lot cheaper purchased this way then buying a baking stone for bread and pizza.

Bread Dough

2 tbl. of active yeast

Measuring cup and ¼ of tepid water

3 cups of all purpose unbleached flour

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of sugar

2 tbl. of heavy cream

1 pat of butter

¼ cup of water

You can cover the bread dough with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, etc. after the dough rises.  Just sprinkle a little on the counter and roll the finished loaf in the seeds.

Prove Yeast

Put yeast in dry measuring cup.  Add ¼ cup of tepid water.  Let sit for five minutes.  The water temperature is crucial to proving the yeast.  If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast and your dough will not rise. 

Put dough hook in food processor.  Add flour, salt and sugar.  Pulse.  When yeast is ready (it will look milky and smell yeasty, add the yeast to the flour mixture and pulse for ten seconds.  Add cream, butter and a couple tablespoons of water (room temp).  Pulse.  Add water accordingly as the processor turns the flour into dough.  Stop adding water when the dough is coming off clean from the sides of the processor. 

Put dough in prepared ceramic bowl and cover with the linen towel.  Allow the dough to rise for one hour.  Punch the dough down after first rise.  Roughly knead the dough and turn it over for second rise.   The dough should have risen to fill the bowl halfway.  When you punch down the bread dough, turn the dough over a few times and smooth it into a nice round ball.  Second kneading will be more important.

Kneading the Dough

Spread out a large linen cloth on your counter (if you don’t have marble or granite).  You do not need this if you are working on marble or granite.  You will need several cups of flour.  Spread some flour on your counter or your cloth.  Put the dough in the middle and knead the dough with buttered hands.  Add flour sparingly as you do this, just to keep the dough consistency correct.  Knead for about five minutes, until you have a smooth round ball of dough.  The goal here is to remove any large air pockets.  You want to press and roll the dough out at the same time, allowing the large air pockets to fill in as you work the dough.  Let the dough rest for a couple of minutes after kneading.

Heat  Oven to 350F

Boil Water

This sounds a little strange but have several cups of boiling water ready before you put the bread dough in your oven.

If you have a bread peal, have it handy.  Put bread dough on the bread peal and place it on the heated oven stones.  Throw a cup of boiling hot water in the bottom of your oven and quickly shut the door of the oven. (This step is totally unnecessary if you have a brick oven.)

Bake your bread for about 45 minutes to an hour.  Bread is done when the crust is golden and when you tap it, you get a nice crisp sound.  Or, you can stick a toothpick in it and if it comes out clean, bread is done. 

LENTIL SOUP

One of my favorite soups...easily made in a slow cooker.  This is the vegetarian version.  Progresso helps make this easy but you can substitute lentils for the lentil soup if you can find canned lentil beans

Ingredients:*

64 ounces of vegetable broth

2 cans of Progresso vegetarian lentil soup  or 4 cans of lentils

2 carrots, halved

2 stalks of celery, cut

1 large onion, peeled

1 can of tomato paste

2 bay leaves

16 ounces of fresh mushrooms

Put all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook all day.  Remove bay leaves before serving.  Serve with grated Italian cheese and a loaf of hearty bread

Slow Cooker Lasagna

This is a fantastic recipe in a rectangular slow cooker.   When you get back from your busy day, you walk in the house and smell an Italian kitchen!  Serve this with a good, crusty Italian loaf of bread and plenty of grated cheese.  (This picture is for demonstration purposes and does not show the lasagna cooked in a slow cooker.)

1 lb. of lasagna noodles (non-bake version)

2 cups of ricotta cheese

1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (Italian flavored)

Six eggs

1 cup of parmigiano reggiano

2 lbs. of cooked Italian sausage

20 ounces of thawed chopped spinach

salt, pepper and nutmeg

4 cups of spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup of freshly grated mozzarella

8 slices of provolone

Prep time for this recipe is a little longer than ten minutes.  The night before, put the frozen spinach packages in a pie plate to defrost overnight.  (I leave these on my marble counter but it works in the fridge.)   Before assembling this recipe, cook the Italian sausage for five minutes in your microwave.  You can either slice the sausages or use sausage meat.  Either way works.  Set the slow cooker on the counter while you prepare everything so you can just drop ingredients in as you go.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta, breadcrumbs, eggs, parmigiano reggiano and sprinkle in a little salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg.   

In the bottom of the slow cooker, spread about one cup of sauce.  Layer with noodles.  Cover with cheese mixture.  Add a little sauce.  Add another layer of noodles, the cheese mixture and the sausage.  Cover with more spaghetti sauce and another layer of noodles (save last cup of sauce for top).  Cover the final layer with sauce, mozzarella and provolone.  Lowest setting on slow cooker.  The slow cooking process will gently caress the hard noodles turning them into a delicious lasagna dish.

Hot Dog Stew

My brother, Carl Piermarini, is a good cook.  This recipe has had many lives.  Everyone in the family makes a version.  I like Carl's version the best.  When I make this, I use Kayem Old Time Franks in natural casings. You can do a vegetarian version using vegetarian hot dogs and vegetarian beans.  The cowboy music is Carl's personal choice but it does seem perfect with this humble dish.

Set your slow cooker to the lowest possible setting (warm is fine).  You can brown the onions and hot dogs the night before if using the slow cooker.  

1 lb.  pkg. beef franks,  {sliced into I/2 inch thick

pieces)

1 med. onion (diced)

1 large can of baked beans

½ cup of ketchup

2 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

I tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

In a large frying pan on medium heat, add the oil, butter and diced onion. Cook onions, stirring occasionally until they start to brown lightly. Add the sliced franks and cook (and stir) until they are browned around the edges. Be careful not to burn franks at this point. Now add the baked beans and the ketchup, stirring until all ingredients are well blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with some brown bread, or better yet, corn muffins listening to cowboy music!        Carl Piermarini

Swedish Meatballs

This is my second favorite meal that my mother made.  Cooking for a large family meant stretching your food dollar as far as it could go.  She served this very simply over cooked white rice, adding the sour cream at the very end of the cooking time.  Doing this in a slow cooker means stirring in the sour cream very, very carefully, tempering it with a little of the hot sauce from the slow cooker.  You can brown the meatballs the night before if you choose to brown them.  (Alternatively, you can buy frozen meatballs but your own taste better.)

Ingredients:

1 lb. of hamburg

1 lb. of ground pork

½ cup of chopped onion

¾ cups of breadcrumbs

1 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce

1 tbl. minced parsley

1 ½ tsp. of salt

½ tsp. of pepper

1 egg

½ cup of milk

2 cups of broth

1 container of sour cream

Mix all ingredients except broth and sour cream.  Shape into balls.  If you choose to, brown in vegetable oil.  Remove the meatballs from the frying pan and put them in a bowl.

In the same frying pan, add ¼ cup of flour, 1 tsp. of paprika, a dash of salt and a dash of pepper.  Make a roux by simmering over lowest heat.  Remove from heat.   Alternatively, beat these ingredients in a bowl with a fork before adding to the slow cooker.    This becomes the roux or thickening agent.

Transfer the meatballs and roux into a slow cooker.  Add 2 cups of stock and sour cream.  Serve over noodles.

AMERICAN CHOP SUEY

AMERICAN CHOP SUEY

My mother, Rita Brosseau Piermarini, was a cook by default.  With five children and a hungry household, she prepared simple hearty food.  (Living next door to my grandmother, who was an outstanding cook, must have been intimidating.)  This recipe always confounded me---not because my mother did a great take on it---the history of it was always elusive.  This popular New England staple has almost no relationship to the Chinese dish and it is almost exclusively a regular item in New England diners.  Delicious!

  

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

Dash of salt

Dash of pepper

1 jar of Ragu meat sauce

1 lb. of cooked elbow macaroni

Brown beef and onion.  Add celery and just enough water (2 tbl.) to make the celery get tender.  Add remaining ingredients.  Simmer for ½ hour.

Eggplant Parmigiana

EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

Eggplant is probably one of my favorite dishes to make and to eat.  When freshly harvested, this simple vegetable offers a variety of preparations.  This is my ultimate vegetable dish! 

Preheat oven to 350F

Ingredients:

2 to 3 small eggplants

Italian breadcrumbs

3 eggs

Grated parmigianno regianno

Grated mozzarella cheese

Skillet with extra virgin olive oil

Cooling rack

Lay out several paper towels and put cut slices of eggplant on the paper towels to absorb extra water.  In a pie plate, pour flavored breadcrumbs.  In another pie plate, place three eggs, a little garlic powder and a teaspoon of grated cheese (parm).  Toss these with a fork.  Dip slices in egg mixture and then coat with breadcrumbs. 

In a skillet, put extra virgin olive oil.  Keep heat on medium or everything will burn.   Fry coated eggplant slices on both sides.  Cool on a rack covered with brown paper. 

Put slices in baking dish.  Cover with sauce and cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Chicken Soup

CHICKEN SOUP

Chicken soup is easy, tasty and satisfying.  My grandmother usually made chicken soup with a fowl.  She always had the fowl well cleaned out and reserved the neck and the edible organs (which she froze for other dishes).  The stock would simmer for what seemed like forever...she added only whole onions, celery with leaves and carrots, washed and trimmed of greens.  When the broth had turned a golden yellow, she removed everything by straining the broth into a colander over a large bowl.  She allowed the ingredients to cool while she placed the broth back onto the stove, adding fresh spinach or kale and red or white beans or cooked pasta or rice to the broth.  The result was delicious!

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken or fowl (remove insides; reserve neck and freeze everything else)

cold water

1 to 2 large white onions, peeled

2 to 3 stalks of celery, washed and white base removed but leave leaves

3 carrots, washed and greens removed

Place the chicken and neck in a slow cooker.  Cover with cold water.  Add other ingredients (cut up to fit slow cooker).  Simmer until serving time.  Take chicken and vegetables out of pot and put into a bowl to cut up.  Add any leftover pasta or rice (warmed up) and 10 ounces of frozen kale or spinach (thawed out).  Allow those to warm up a bit.  While that is happening, remove chicken from bones, cut up veggies and then serve by putting those back in the pot.  Lots of grated cheese and a crusty loaf of bread make this a hearty meal! 

TRI PIE

TRI PIE

This is a triple berry pie.  Make your own crust or use a store bought version.  Preheat the oven to 375F (if using a glass pie plate) or 400F with anything else.  Easy recipe...just choose three berries.

Ingredients:

6 cups of berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.)

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tbl. of cornstarch

1 tsp. of lemon juice

Mix everything in a deep bowl.  Line the pie plate with the bottom crust.  Add berry mixture.  Dot with butter.  Add top crust and seal the crust edges.  Bake for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes until crust is golden brown.   You can also choose fresh peaches instead of a berry, just measure carefully.  You may need to make this a deep dish pie if you have a lot of fruit, or two smaller pies.

BEEF STEW

This is my mother's recipe.  It is perfect for a slow cooker.

2 or 3 lbs. of beef (she used chuck)

2 to 3 onions, halved

2 stalks of celery with tops on, chopped

2 to 3 carrots, cut in bite size pieces

Water and beef bouillon (I use beef consommé when I make this …either works)

Just put everything in the crock pot and let simmer until beef is tender.  Salt and a little pepper work too.  

If you use beef consommé, four cans is good.  Or, use good beef stock (4 cups).   My mother-in-law also made a good beef

stew, adding tomato paste and peas (as seen in picture).  She used the tiny frozen onions instead of fresh.  Your choice. 

BEEF AND BARLEY SOUP

This soup is really delicious. 

Ingredients:

3 to 4 beef marrow bones

4 to 6 beef ribs or chuck pieces for stew (if you use ribs, leave on the bone until just before serving time…I really prefer the ribs because they provide better flavor)

2 stalks of celery (chopped with leaves on)

2 carrots, chopped

2 onions, halved

4 cans of beef consommé

(or 32 ounces of beef broth)

2 bay leaves

Salt & pepper to taste

Garlic powder (optional)

1 cup of cooked barley (I use fast cooking barley if I can get it)

Throw everything in the crock pot and walk away.  Allow this to simmer for eight hours

VEAL STEW

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of veal meat

1 carrot, diced

1 onion (peeled)  and one sprig of fresh rosemary wrapped in cheesecloth and well tied

1 can of tomato paste (with basil)*

1/2 cup of wine**

1 lb. of exotic mushrooms (fresh)

bay leaf

32 ounces of chicken stock

Everything goes into the slowcooker.  Veal doesn't have a lot of flavor so you need to add flavor to it.  If you have demi glace, add some.  Remove bay leaf and cheesecloth ball before serving.   You can choose to garnish with fresh parsley but for a weeknight dinner, why bother...just set out the cheese for grating and enjoy!

*Note about tomato paste:  buy Cento...it's the best

**Do not use cooking wine.  Even little bottles of wine are sold now everywhere so if you have no wine bottle open, buy real wine.