About jacky grace

I grew up in an Italian house with big meals, big flavors and big voices. My husband comes from an even bigger Greek and Armenian house with even bigger food and voices. Here in our tiny city kitchen, we adapt our family recipes for our small space without sacrificing any of the flavors, traditions or love.

Stracciatella Soup

We just came back from a long weekend with both families.

That’s right, the Greek and Italians and Armenians wen away together and everyone came back alive!

The only problem is, I came back with more of me than I left with. Family gatherings always mean lots and lots of eating (and drinking). So I need to detox a little today.

When a light day is needed, I always turn to this easy and delicious soup.

Stracciatella is basically an Italian egg drop soup. It’s a few simple ingredients that, together, make a deliciously warming and filling dinner after a night or two of overindulging. It’s also a great meal when you are feeling a little under the weather.

You will need

  • Chicken broth
  • 4 eggs
  • Spinach
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Salt and pepper

Bring a pot of chicken broth to a slow boil.

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I used a box of low sodium broth. You can use as much broth as you need to fill as many bowls of soup as you plan on making.

While the broth comes to a bubble, crack four eggs in a bowl, add salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese to the eggs. I used 4 eggs figuring 2 eggs per person. Adjust the number according to your needs.

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Whisk the eggs and pepper and cheese until they are smooth.

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When the broth is boiling, use a wooden spoon and stir the broth so the liquid is swirling.

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As you stir, pour the beaten egg mixture into the broth, slowly.

The egg mix will catch in the broth whirlpool and the eggs will start to set in yellow, noodle-like strands. It only takes about a minute.

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Once the eggs are set, toss in the baby spinach and stir until it wilts.

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Season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

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Dish up into big bowls and enjoy on the couch in your pj pants.

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Chili Cheese Dip

 

 

 

This little creation comes to you from my Aunt Tina.

For the longest time I couldn’t make this anywhere but the beach because that’s where we always had it. But now that my fiance has had it too it’s in the normal rotation in our itty bitty city kitchen.

This is a fantastic dip for watching a football game. Or a hockey game. Fall’s in the air so it has me thinking of lazy Sundays cooking and eating while watching the game.

But this is also a fantastic summer side dish. All wet and sandy from the beach and starving after a day of swimming and playing bag-o but dinner still so far away.

This takes two ingredients and two minutes And will satisfy hunger pangs until dinner is on the table.

You will need pepper jack cheese and a can of hormel chili with no beans.

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Cut up half the block of cheese into cubes. You’ll only need half for each dip, so if you have a lot of people, buy two cans of chili and one block of cheese for two bowls of it.

Place the cubes of cheese in a microwave safe bowl. Pour out the chili into another, larger, microwave safe bowl.

Microwave the chili for about a minute. I suggest covering the bowl with a paper towel so you don’t have a mess.

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Take the chili out and microwave the cheese for about 30 seconds to a minute, until the cheese is melted. I’d start on the low end of the time because you don’t want to burn the cheese and all microwaves are different.

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Pour the molten cheese into the chili and stir. You can zap it in the microwave again if you feel it isn’t hot enough .

 

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There you have it. Two ingredients. And a fantastic dip. Dig in with some tortilla chips.

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Or, if you’re feeling especially indulgent, top hot dogs with the dip for a chili cheese dog night. Perfect meal for catching a Yankees game.

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Cavatelli and Broccoli – the right way

If you’re going to make cavatelli and broccoli the right way, you first need to learn to say it the right way.

Your eye scans the menu and your immediate response is oh! Ca-va-tell-ee! I haven’t had that in ages.

But say it with me now. Ga-va-deal.

What rules of pronunciation dictate that the ca becomes a ga?

I don’t know. But that’s the way my family says it. That’s the way I grew up saying it.

So I kind of cringe when I hear ca-va-tell-ee. Much the same way I cringe when I hear sauce instead of gravy or ca-know-lee instead of ga-nawl.

Is it the region of Italy we’re from? Is it the town in which we settled upon arrival to the States?

Shrug.

It’s probably just my family.

But I digress.

Cavatelli and broccoli.

The right way.

Okay before I can tell you how to make it, I have to let you in on the little inside joke about making it the right way.

My Grandma Grace (my mom’s mom) is one of four sisters. She had brothers too, a big Catholic Italian family, but it’s the sisters that are important in this story.

I grew up with a very Italian grandma and three very Italian great-aunts.

My mom grew up with a very Italian mother and three very Italian aunts.

When I say very Italian what I mean is very loud, very bossy, very opinionated, very loving, and did I mention very loud?

One louder than the other.

I laugh when my Auntie Anna calls me and says “Jacky, it’s your Auntie Anna.” Oh trust me, Auntie Anna. I know it’s you.  I would know that voice anywhere.

These aren’t your average hard-headed and head-strong Italian women. These are Romano women. They are a breed unto themselves.

When my great grandmother was told she could no longer go to Florida by herself, she shrugged and said, fine, then I’ll die.

And guess what, despite her good health, she did.

She willed herself to die. Stubborn woman.

The Romano women are the strongest most independent women I have met in my life and I am grateful to count them as family and as role models.

They taught my mom, and later me, how to run a household, how to stand on your own two feet, how to hold your ground, how to support yourself, and how to curse.

They also taught us how to cook. It’s their recipes that I turn to most often.

So the cavatelli.

My mom always cooked for the whole family for Christmas. Aunts, Uncles, Great-Aunts, Great-Uncles, Grandparents, they all piled into our house.

And our house shook with their voices.

And I usually hid upstairs in my room. (Only child, remember?)

Christmas dinner starts at 2 O’clock with antipasti, moves onto pasta around 4 O’clock, continues with Turkey and the trimmings around 6 O’clock and concludes with coffee and dessert some time around 8 O’clock. There is copious amounts of wine necessary in between.

After the marathon of eating, and the even more intense marathon of cooking required to turn out the spread, everyone would contentedly sit back and thank my mom for the meal.

With one exception.

My Aunt Josie was the oldest of my grandma’s siblings. She never married. She worked as a waitress and had a big old house in Orange that everyone at one time or other lived in and that she later rented out to boarders.

She was a pip.

(When we went through her house when she sold it to downsize, there was a sign in one of the drawers that said “Keep the F* out. This means you.” My mom laminated and has it in her office now.)

She looked at my mom one Christmas, after my mom had slaved away over four courses of delicious food, and said, next time, if you want to make the cavatelli the right way…

The right way!

My mom and I will always and forever tease each other and ask the other if she is making the recipe the right way.

Recently I asked her, what is the right way?

She didn’t know.

I called my Grandma. Grandma, what’s the right way to make cavatelli?

Well, this is how I make it, was her response.

Meaning, well, my way is the right way.

I don’t think any of us know the right way to make it anymore, since Aunt Josie left us a few years ago. Maybe she’s making it the right way for St. Anthony. Maybe if we pray to St. Anthony we will find the right way to make it.

(For you non-Italians, Anthony is the Saint you pray to when you lose something. Don’t believe me?  Next time you lose something, say “”St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around. Something’s been lost and cannot be found.” I lost the bracelet my boyfriend gave me for our one year anniversary (twice, once in Port Authority and once in Duane Reade) and after praying to St. Anthony, I got it back (twice).

But I don’t want to bother him about the recipe.

Instead, I’ll make it Grandma’s way and I’ll call it the right way.

This is a fantastic recipe for those nights when you think take out is the only option. It’s super fast and pretty much fool proof. And because it can be served hot or cold, it’s also a great recipe to make ahead if you know it’s going to be one of those weeks where you’ll be lucky to get out the door with two matching shoes. You can also dish this out into Tupperware for a grab and go lunch.

For cavatelli and broccoli you will need:

  • Cavatelli
  • Broccoli
  • Olive Oil
  • Garlic

See, four ingredients. Super easy. You can add parmesan cheese at the end if you want, but that’s entirely up to you.

Also, this is a one pot meal since you’re going to cook the broccoli and the cavatelli in the same water.

So bring a pot of water to a boil.

Chop the broccoli into bit-size florets and drop into the water once it is boiling.

You don’t want to overcook the broccoli here. You want it to still be crisp. Give it 30 seconds to a minute tops, then scoop out of the water and into a big bowl.

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Set aside the broccoli and add the cavatelli to the boiling water.

There is a lot of debate surrounding pasta water. To salt or not to salt?

I’ve seen Scott Conant rip chefs to shreds on Chopped when they don’t salt the water.

So I am going to quietly and quickly say that I don’t salt my water, but it’s because my grandma doesn’t either.

Scott, you can’t yell at my grandma. And you can’t yell at me because I am making this dish her way.

While the cavatelli cooks (follow the instructions on the packet for time), dice up two or three cloves of garlic. We’re not cooking the garlic, so you want as small a dice as possible.

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When the cavatelli is cooked, drain and pour the hot pasta over the broccoli.

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Drizzle with olive oil to coat and then add the garlic. A few grinds of black pepper can be added, too, if you wish.

Toss to combine. The pasta will warm the olive oil and the garlic and form a sauce that will coat the crisp broccoli and the tender cavatelli.

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If you want a burst of freshness, you can squeeze half a lemon over the warm pasta. Or, you can sprinkle over a handful of parmesan. Or you can get crazy and do both.

Serve hot, immediately. Or refrigerate for a cold dish later.

Much as we joke about there being a right way to make the dish, the truth is that the beauty of cooking is that you can take your family’s recipes and make them your own. Adjust seasonings to suit your tastes. Add a twist that’s uniquely yours.

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If anyone gives you trouble, you just channel Frank Sinatra and say, Hey, I did it my way!

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

If you ask my dad, he’ll tell you that pasta should come one way – topped with gravy and a meatball.

He doesn’t go for vegetables or shrimp or cream sauces. Gravy. End of story.

Thankfully, my fiance is less picky than my dad.

This is one of our favorite gravy alternatives for pasta.

Roasted butternut squash pureed into a rich and creamy pasta topper.

You will need a medium squash, two cloves of garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. You can also add some heavy cream for some richness and creaminess.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise.

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Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds.

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Drizzle olive oil over the cut side and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

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Place the squash, cut side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet.

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Roast the squash until it is tender, about thirty minutes or so. Flip the squash over and roast for an additional ten minutes, cut side up.

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Really important. Let the squash cool completely! This is not the time to be a hero. It’s hot. Really hot.

When it is completely cooled, scoop out the insides and drop the squash chunks into a large pot.

Add a little olive oil and two cloves of garlic, chopped.

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Cook over medium for a few minutes to cook the garlic a bit. The add enough water to the pot to cover the bottom.

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Cover and let the steam soften the squash some more.

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Using a potato masher if you want a workout or an immersion blender if you’re less of a masochist, blend the sauce until it is smooth. You can also dump the mixture into a blender or food processor.

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Toss your favorite pasta in the sauce. I used penne.

You get a rich creamy sauce coating the pasta with notes of sweetness and spice from the garlic and pepper.

It’s still summer, but this dish is fall in a bowl.

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Escarole and Cannelini Bean Soup

It’s kind of gray and drizzly outside today.

There’s 85% humidity.

But that doesn’t matter. Sitting on the couch in the apartment and looking outside at the clouds and the raindrops on the window, I feel a little chilly.

It’s totally in my head. Well aware of that. But still, I feel that chill that rainy days can bring.

And I feel like the only answer is a bowl of soup. And let’s be honest, what’s easier or more itty bitty city kitchen friendly than a one pot meal like soup?

One of the easiest soups I know how to make is the classic escarole and cannelini bean.

I’m a huge fan of escarole. I love it sauteed in olive oil and garlic as a side dish, so I played with that idea and turned the side of greens into the main attraction in this soup.

In a large pot drizzle some olive oil. Toss in half a white onion, diced and two cloves of garlic, diced. To that, throw in a head of escarole that you’ve washed and cut up into manageable pieces. The escarole will take over the pot, but it’s like spinach – it will wilt down a lot.

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Cook the escarole, onions and garlic over medium heat, stirring occasionally to rotate the escarole in the pot. Add a mess of black pepper and some salt.

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When the escarole is wilted, add a can of cannelini beans, rinsed and drained, and stir.

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Add enough water to the pot to cover the escarole and the beans. You can use chicken broth or vegetable broth, too, but I like to keep it simple and use water so that the flavors in the soup really come through. That’s why I used a mess of black pepper. The onions, garlic and the pepper are seasoning the soup.

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Let the soup simmer, covered, for fifteen minutes. Dish up in bowls and top with parmesan cheese.

It may not be cold out, but this will chase away the rainy day blues.

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Chicken Cacciatore

I wasn’t feeling very well, which is why I haven’t posted. Sometimes when I’m under the weather I go into cooking overdrive. Other times, I just totally shut down.

I was definitely in shut down mode.

So I knew I needed to make something hearty and restorative.

Most people would go for chicken soup.

But I’m not most people.

When I’m feeling a little eh, one of my go to meals is chicken cacciatore.

Cacciatore means hunter in Italian, so this dish is sometimes known as a hunter’s stew. There’s tons of variations, but it generally has onions, tomatoes and herbs and some kind of meat – chicken or rabbit depending upon where in Italy you are.

I’ve been fiddling around with my recipe and this is my favorite variation.

You will need

  • Chicken (I’m using skin on bone in thigh meat but you can use boneless, skinless breast, or breast with the skin on, or whatever you want. I go with one healthy piece per person.)
  • 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 1 container white button mushrooms
  • half a white onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, diced
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • red pepper flakes

Preheat the oven to 400.

Place the washed and dried chicken in a foil-lined baking dish and season with olive oil, salt and pepper.

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Toss the chicken in the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through (juices run clear).

Meanwhile, in a heavy-bottomed pot, toss in some olive oil the diced onions and the diced garlic. Also add in the sliced white button mushrooms and cook over medium heat until the mushrooms are browned.

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This right here is the best smell ever. I know I say it every time, but it’s so good every time.

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When the chicken is just about done, add a little pat of butter to each piece and put back in the oven so the butter melts over the chicken.

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While the butter melts, pour the can of whole peeled tomatoes into a bowl and break up the tomatoes with your hands. Yes, you can buy a can of diced tomatoes, but 1. this is more fun and 2. after trying it with both, the whole tomatoes make a better cacciatore.

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Dump the tomatoes and the juices in with the mushrooms and stir.IMG_0934

Take the chicken out of the oven. Now, see all those juices in the foil? This is super important. Take the chicken out of the pan and put it on a plate or cutting board to be shredded up. Those juices go in the pot with the tomatoes and the mushrooms. Don’t skip this step. You won’t be happy if you do.

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Add the shredded chicken to the pot and let everything simmer together on low for a few minutes before stirring.

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Dish up in bowls, pour a glass of wine and get a hunk of crusty bread ready to mop up all those juices.

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Mangia!

Grape Leaves – Part 2

Now that we’ve made the stuffing, it’s time to get to stuffing!

Or, more accurately, rolling.

You are going to need a large pot and a lot of grape leaves. We’re using the ones from meme’s back yard. To prepare the grape leaves, you will need to boil them first, just slightly, and remove the stems. Meme did this before we got there, so I can’t tell you how it’s really done.

Hey, a woman’s entitled to keep some secrets!

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Get a comfy chair, some music and some friends. You will be here for a while.

Here’s the first secret from meme when rolling grape leaves. Feel the leaf. Look for the side with veins that are more raised. That will be the inside of the grape leaf, so it should be facing up.

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Drop a little bit of the meat mixture onto the leaf down near where the stem was. Be careful not to put too much. Remember the rice isn’t cooked yet and it will expand.

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Take the two sides next to the meat and fold them in so they are covering the meat mix.

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And then roll the leaf up like a little burrito. Don’t put too much meat in and make sure you roll it right. Or meme will be mad.

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But if you roll it right, you will have a happy meme!

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I should give credit here where credit is due. The master roller is really pepe. Here’s pepe telling Christopher how to do it the right way.

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Pepe is way fast at rolling grape leaves.

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Chris and I are taking our time, making sure we get it right.

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This is the time when you start telling family stories. A lot of good stories can come out while you’re sitting around the table, rolling grape leaves.

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See, that’s me listening to a story. I can’t share them with you though, because what happens at the kitchen table rolling grape leaves, stays at the kitchen table rolling grape leaves.

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This is serious business. Pepe has his glasses on. See. Serious. By the way, see all that meat? Yup, that all needs to get rolled up.

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We’re still rolling…

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and rolling

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As you get piles and piles of grape leaves, start placing them in the pot, packed closely, like this.

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Jeff took that job.

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Add a sprig of thyme to the pot when all of the grape leaves are complete.

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We still had a lot of meat mixture left, so we stuffed some vegetables too. Remember when we made the mix and we used the scooped out insides of the tomatoes? Well, there’s the tomatoes. The perfect little container for some stuffing.

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We also did some peppers and some eggplants. And some cabbage leaves. And yes, we needed two pots.

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Basically, keep hollowing out vegetables and stuffing them until all the meat is gone.

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Meme does this by herself most of the time. Think about that. Her and pepe. rolling all those leaves. And stuffing all those vegetables. I think she was happy to have four extra sets of hands!

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Okay, now it’s time to cook the dolma and go have a glass of wine to relax.

Fill the pot about three quarters of the way with chicken broth. Add two tablespoons of butter on top.

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Place a heavy ceramic plate on top of the vegetables.

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Then put a rock on top of the plate. A clean rock.

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The rock and the plate will keep everything nice and compact, so the rice doesn’t expand and undo all that hardwork of rolling.

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Cover with a lid. Let cook over low heat for about one hour. I think we ended up letting the pots go for about one hour and fifteen minutes because there was too much liquid still in the pot. So she took off the lid for about fifteen minutes or so and let the extra moisture escape.

And then, after the chopping and the mixing and the rolling and the rolling and the rolling and the stuffing and the hour of the simmering and the smell wafting through the house…

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You sit down with a heaping plate

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and a drink

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And you eat dolma!

Look, everyone is happy when they eat dolma!

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Open up and say yum!

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Grape Leaves – Part 1

Remember a few weeks ago when I showed you meme and pepe’s grapevine? And remember how I teased you with the promise of how to make grape leaves?

Well, I’m making good on that promise.

You know that show on Cooking Channel, My Grandmother’s Ravioli? Well this is sort of like that.

Except she’s not my grandmother- she’s my fiance’s. And she’s not a grandmother- she’s meme.

And it’s not ravioli – it’s dolma.

So Meme’s Dolma!

Dolma is the term for vegetables or cabbage or grape leaves stuffed with a seasoned meat mixture. We came over to meme’s to learn to make grape leaves, but what she does is make a big bowl of the seasoned meat mixture and then stuff grape leaves, cabbage leaves and vegetable like tomatoes and eggplants and peppers.

This post is going to cover the meat mixture. The next one will walk you through rolling grape leaves.

I am going to try my best to write this out properly, but meme is not easy to follow.

Like most grandmas, she cooks by taste and by feel. She knows what it should look like.  She knows what it should taste like. She’s made this a million times, so it comes easy to her.

But here it is, the stuffing for dolma.

I suggest having everything out or having another person on hand to pass you things.

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Meme is directing. Pepe is cleaning.

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I’m taking pictures, while Sam and Chris write it all down.

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Jeff’s capturing it all on video.

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Okay. Here we go. In a large bowl, pour in two cups of medium rice which you’ve rinsed thoroughly. Meme said medium rice. Not long. Medium.

IMG_0838 Next add in one large white onion, diced and the scooped out insides from a few tomatoes. To get the scooped out insides, cut the top off of a tomato and dig out the insides with a spoon. (Don’t cut through the tomato all the way. You want to turn the tomato into a container to hold the meat stuffs later) I asked meme how many tomatoes but she kind of shrugged. I’m guessing 3 or 4.IMG_0842  IMG_0844IMG_0843

To the bowl add flat leaf parsley chopped up. Again, no precise measurements but I’m going to guesstimate a cup and a half to two cups.

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Right? That looks like two cups?

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Next add in 1 teaspoon of coriander, 1 teaspoon of the armenian red pepper that I still don’t know how to spell (Chris’s writing looks something like halibebebae – when they say it, it kind of sounds like holla baby bear) and 1 teaspoon of salt.

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Next we add 1 cup of really good Greek olive oil. Meme said one cup, but then she handed Sam that coffee cup. She says she measured it out in a measuring cup, but we’re skeptical.

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Now comes the meat. Meme used about a pound of ground sirloin and then another pound total of a veal, pork and beef mix. The right way to do it is to use lamb. I used to not like lamb, so meme switched it up for me. (I do like lamb now though so next time we will do it the right way).

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You really need a big, big bowl for this.

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To the meat, add in two thirds of a cup of tomato sauce (I think it’s just tomato puree) and a little less than a third of a cup of fresh lemon juice.

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Here is the most important part. I’m quoting meme directly now. “No garlic, no dolma.” You need two “blobs” of minced garlic. From what I gather, a blob is less than a heaping tablespoon but more than a regular tablespoon.

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When you have everything in the bowl, it’s time to wash your hands…

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… and dig in.

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And get to mixing!

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Pause for a family picture!

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And then get back to mixing. Changing of the guard here as meme tells Chris how to mix it right. IMG_0862

And then as I tell him how to mix it right.

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And then he finally mixes it right.

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And then his arms started hurting.

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But thankfully the mixing was done.

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So there you have it. The stuffing for dolma. Next, a lesson in grape leaf rolling.

Three Ingredient Nutella Brownies

Like you I was skeptical.

3 ingredients? brownies?

But I was intrigued. You had me at Nutella.

I’d seen a ton of other bloggers posting about this magical concoction and I’d seen even more comments people had left saying how delicious they were.

So. I tried it.

I had to.

For research purposes.

And I have to say, they are just as amazing as everyone says.

I thought my peach cobbler I made yesterday was easy.

This may have it beat.

Preheat the oven to 375.

You will need

  • 1 cup Nutella
  • 10 TBSP flour
  • 2 eggs

In a large bowl, add in the Nutella and the eggs.

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Stir until combined.

Add in the flour and stir until there are no lumps. The mix will look like regular old brownie batter,

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Pour into a greased baking dish and bake for about 25-30 minutes. You can also line a muffin pan with cupcake papers and make little individual brownies if you want.

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I made these for a party and they were gone as soon as I told people what they were.

Hence the lack of final product pictures.

You’ll have to make them yourself to see what they look like.

Peachy Keen Cobbler

I’ve been in a baking mood lately.

Not like all from scratch, make your own bread kind of baking. More like, simple and yummy desserts that I can whip up and toss in the oven while I’m preparing dinner.

This little concoction is one of my most recent favorites.

Peaches are one of the best parts of summer. Those fresh, fragrant piles of them in the store are so tantalizing.

But, canned peaches are good too and totally have their place in the kitchen.

This cobbler starts with a can of peaches, drained.

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Look at those peach slices! Don’t you just want to devour them?

To begin the transformation of canned peaches into an awesome cobbler, layer half of the peaches in each of two small ramekins.

When it’s just the two of us, I like making little individual-sized desserts. Maybe it’s the only child in me that doesn’t want to share, or maybe it’s the little kid in me that gets really excited about being able to eat the whole thing.

You can also make just one of these if you’re home alone.

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Either way, he gets one and I get one.

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In a bowl mix together

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons butter, diced

a mess of cinnamon

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Combine the ingredients. I used my hands so I could crumble the butter and the brown sugar into nice sized crumbs.

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Divide the mixture in half and sprinkle over each ramekin.

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To make baking easier, place the ramekins on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. This way, you only have to remove one thing from the oven. The pan will also catch any spillover so you don’t have to clean your oven.

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Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes. The butter will melt into the peaches. The crumb mixture will get all crunch and gooey. The peaches will release their juices, forming a sticky syrup in the ramekin.

Add a dollop of whipped cream for some extra indulgence.

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The fruit and the nuts you use are entirely up to you. I can imagine a strawberry and blueberry cobbler topped with hazelnuts. Or apples with pecans.

Let me know if you come up with some yummy combos!