January Newsletter 2006

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I have been giving some thought as to what to do that makes sense for recipes this coming year. After physically restructuring my recipe library this past week (What else can one do during long holiday weekends?) it occurred to me that it might be interesting to do a different nation's recipes each month.

This month, January 2006, I am going to provide Italian recipes, actually a menu. Next month, maybe German followed by, perhaps, French, etc.

No, I won't be traveling all over Europe this year. I do that and I tend to eat too much, too well.

So, toward the end of this newsletter you will find three or four Italian recipes prefaced with some interesting comments from a really old booklet I came across from Locatelli, Inc. They used to be in business eons ago in NYC but I can find no trace of them. Locatelli Cheese, yes, but not the company. It was, at the time, located at 24 Varick Street, NYC.

The cook ware business was pretty good this past holiday shopping season. I had hoped that it would be and, with the promotional prices my supplier afforded me for November - January, I took a serious inventory position.

I now find that I still have an inventory position (Read what you wish into that!) and believe that I am the only seller in the country with Bourgeat boxed sets on hand. After these are gone delivery will be pushed to mid-February.

I will honor my current prices through the end of January whenever delivery might be made but for the time being shipping is good and current. If you've had any intentions about buying copper from my site, now would be a good time.

RECIPES - A preface:

"Americans, as a whole, are fond of Italian dishes, but they are invariably led to believe that their preparation requires an exceedingly long time and a great deal of knowledge.

The firm of Mattia Locatelli is happy to offer this booklet, especially prepared for American housewives who want to try their hand at preparing some tasty Italian dishes by methods both easy and rapid.

All these recipes, unless otherwise specified, are given for four (4) adults, and your success will be largely determined by the quality of the ingredients you will employ. We strongly recommend the use of genuine Italian products, same as can be procured at all Italian stores all over the country.

We wish to lay particular stress on Cheese and Olive Oil. There are no worthy substitutes made in America, or elsewhere, for the exquisite Italian Reggiano (Parmesan) or of the highly flavored Romano Pecorino. Nor are there any for the typical Italian Provolone cheese and for Gorgonzola. Likewise it is impossible to find an edible oil, be it straight or compounded, which can take the place of delicious Italian Olive Oil in salads, mayonnaise, in fish and meat sauces or for frying.

We cherish the hope that this booklet will come in handy whenever you plan a genial change in your daily menus, and that it may prove both useful and practical." Locatelli, Inc. 1950. Founded 1860 in Italy, established 1904 in the U.S.A.

NOTE: I find this a statement worthy of quoting and passing along. Whoever wrote it, whenever, was amazingly prescient. Don

RECIPES -

EGGS FLORENTINE (Uova alla fiorentina)

6 eggs
1-1/2 lbs fresh spinach
1/4 lb butter
Locatelli grated Parmesan cheese (Or the best you can find.)
Salt and pepper

Wash spinach in several changes of water, and cook in the water left on the leaves. When cooked, drain and pass through a sieve. Add salt and pepper and moisten lightly with cream or milk. Put back on the fire and poach the eggs separately.

Put the spinach on a pyrex platter, and place the poached eggs on top. Melt the butter and pour it in the platter. Add salt, pepper and Locatelli grated Parmesan cheese. Put the platter in the oven for a few minutes and serve.

VEAL CUTLETS MARSALA SAUCE (Scaloppine al Marsala)

Use thin cutlets and pound them well. Put them in a frying pan with a little butter. When the butter has been absorbed, add broth, a little at a time, just enough to keep the meat moist until it is cooked. Add salt and a little pepper. Sift a little flour over the cutlets, and when the flour is browned, turn the cutlets on the other side and repeat the operation.

Then, add half a glass of Marsala or dry Sherry wine. Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley, and serve with the juice left in the pan.

SPAGHETTI FARMER'S STYLE (Spaghetti alla rustica)

2 cloves of garlic
4 or 5 sprigs of parsley finely chopped together
6 or 7 fresh tomatoes (if not in season use tomato paste)
8 tablespoons Locatelli Olive oil

Place oil in frying pan, and start frying. Add garlic and parsley, and fry until garlic turns to golden brown, then add tomatoes or tomato sauce (paste). When fully cooked, add salt and pepper, strain and put back over fire for a few minutes.

As soon as spaghetti is cooked, turn it into a platter then, cover it with the sauce, adding Locatelli grated Parmesan. Mix, and serve while hot.

STUFFED PEACHES (Pesche ripiene)

6 large peaches, not very ripe
2oz. almonds and 3 peach kernels
5 lady finger biscuits
1/2 oz. candied fruit
3 oz. granulated sugar

Cut peaches in half, remove pits and enlarge cavity somewhat, using the point of a knife, a spoon or melon baller.

Mix the peach pulp thus extracted with the almonds and peach kernels (after having skinned and ground them). Add 2 oz. sugar, the lady fingers crumbled and the candied fruit finely chopped. Mix well and fill each half peach with a spoonful of this mixture. Put the twelve halves, filled part up, in a baking tin, sprinkle remaining sugar on each peach and bake in a moderate oven.

ANOTHER NOTE:
These recipes are taken verbatim from the Locatelli booklet, it is very old, so be flexible. If you cannot find Locatelli product then use the very best you can find at your specialty food store. If in doubt, try this link, they have everything wonderful: igourmet.com.

I hope you had a Happy New Year. I certainly wish you one.

Sincerely,
Don Shipman,
MyChefsFavorites.com