To Slow Time Down

Oddly, one of the more unanticipated benefits of this adventure chez Doug, is the focus it provides when planting my herb & vegetable gardens - e.g. gotta make sure I harvest the zucchini blossoms for a "crisp-fried" recipe scheduled for next March, but almost certainly prepared months in advance. This recipe is the obverse - it presents a solution to a bountiful annual crop of onions. This frittata uses a lot of onions - onions, eggs, cheese and not much else. Simple ingredients; easy preparation, very good result.

The directions provide an option of adding vegetables, herbs, sausages or shrimp, but I chose to do it straight-up - at least for the first time.

The frittata mixture, all ready to go into the sauté pan. Marcella provides a couple of suggestions for cooking the top side of this recipe. I chose the broil option

Sorry no pic of the final result, but this is an ideal dish to make use of some of bounty of a summer garden. Highly recommended.

P.S. Tomorrow is Bill Clinton's birthday. Mine also. Happy birthday Bill.

Oddly, one of the more unanticipated benefits of this adventure chez Doug, is the focus it provides when planting my herb & vegetable gardens - e.g. gotta make sure I harvest the zucchini blossoms for a "crisp-fried" recipe scheduled for next March, but almost certainly prepared months in advance. This recipe is the obverse - it presents a solution to a bountiful annual crop of onions. This frittata uses a lot of onions - onions, eggs, cheese and not much else. Simple ingredients; easy preparation, very good result.

The directions provide an option of adding vegetables, herbs, sausages or shrimp, but I chose to do it straight-up - at least for the first time.

The frittata mixture, all ready to go into the sauté pan. Marcella provides a couple of suggestions for cooking the top side of this recipe. I chose the broil option

Sorry no pic of the final result, but this is an ideal dish to make use of some of bounty of a summer garden. Highly recommended.

Very easy preparation; very satisfactory result. A chicken, two lemons some salt & pepper and a hot oven. I mentioned this recipe to a friend. It has been a family favourite for many years, but she had never heard of Marcella. Perhaps this recipe, or quite similar ones, are quite well known. There was only one variation between my friend's preparation and Marcella's instructions. So it goes. (The last sentence is a literary reference. Anybody recognize it?)

An early direction has the bird breast-down in the pan. Then the chicken is turned over with the the encouragement to try not to puncture the skin. Unfortunately I was not able to accomplish this skill, so I didn't get to see the chicken swell up like a balloon. Too bad, but it didn't effect which was very good.

Another miscue on my part relates to the size of the lemons. They were too big for the cavity of the chicken. Next time I'll use smaller lemons.

Not much to add. Hey, you stick a couple of lemons inside a chicken and put it in the over. Pretty simple and very good result.

What I liked about this recipe:

What's not to like? A very simple and rewarding way to prepare a chicken.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

Nothing. I'll work on my bird-turning technique - gotta see the "balloon" effect.

Would I make it again?

Yes.

"Hey Doug, what did you make for supper last night?"

"I didn't ask how it smelled."

Well, actually I didn't make Stinco last night. I was unable to obtain the main ingredient - two whole veal shanks from the hind leg. I had to make a major modification and go with two pieces of veal shank, similar to the previous Ossobuco recipes, but as thick as I could find. I had to drive into Ottawa, well actually a suburb called Bells Corners, to obtain even those - at an excellent butcher shop called The Butchery.

Ingredients below include white wine, butter, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, anchovies, onion and garlic. The onion and garlic are from my garden. I am preparing my garden for winter, harvesting some vegetables that do well left in the garden until October - potatoes, onions, carrots, beets. I cooked some small beets as a veg to go with the veal.

I just planted my 2011 crop of garlic a couple of days ago. Garlic is very easy to grow. Plant in the fall, cover with a mulch, arrange the mulch between the rows in the spring to control the weeds, harvest in August, hang to dry in the shed, repeat in October.

Preparing this recipe is very easy - everything goes into one pot - thick-bottomed according to the instructions - and slowly cooks for a long time - two hours for the whole shank recipe, add a bit of water to the pot juices, boil away & pour the pot juices over the veal.

To repeat, the final result is NOT the Stinco recipe in Marcella's book. If I had been able to obtain the whole shanks I would have done so.

What I liked about this recipe:

1. Well, like many other recipes I've attempted, this was a novel experience for me - never cooked veal shank before.

2. Single pan recipe - a big check mark in my book.

3. Small list of ingredients.

4. Great aroma as it is cooking.

5. Excellent result.

6. Found an excellent butcher shop. I'll add The Butchery to my rounds when I go into Ottawa. I drive into the city every two weeks.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

1. The difficulty in obtaining the main ingredient was initially frustrating. Once I decided to go with the two pieces instead of a whole shank, my attitude improved.

2. Unfortunate name, don't you think?

Would I make it again?

Yes. It was excellent. Also, I am going to try the Ossobuco recipes in the book.

Well, now I can say I've peeled stalks of asparagus - never done that before. In fact I didn't know anybody did that, but there it is, direction #1:

1. Trim the asparagus spears, peel the stalks, and cook the asparagus as described on page 466."

One of the features of a lot of these recipes is Marcella's detailed directions on how to perform specific tasks - so it's not uncommon to be flipping forward or back in the cookbook to learn a technique that she initially covered with another recipe or as part of a general introduction to a chapter.

The ingredients, including some Marsala wine partly hidden behind the pepper grinder. I like quaffing most wine, but Marsala is an exception. I use it only for cooking.

This recipe took longer than I first assumed..... Oh, you mean I have to cook the asparagus first; then sauté the scaloppine before combining the two in a parchment-lined dish, covering with slices of Fontina cheese and sauce from the sauté pan; then baking the dish in the oven. Guess I didn't read the directions very carefully the first time.

Almost ready to go into the over:

The only difficult part of the directions to follow relates to the parchment paper. Marcella provides an option to use aluminum foil, but since I had the parchment paper, I went with that. However, the directions called for two sheets of paper crimped to provide a tight seal for the scaloppine before baking. I had difficulty getting a tight seal. Aluminum foil would likely be much easier to create the seal and it's what I will use next time.

The final result:

What I liked about this recipe:

Almost everything. Great result.
What I didn't I like about this recipe:

Preparation time a bit long & a bit picky (peeling asparagus stalks?) for me, but no real issues.

Would I make it again?

Yes - well, actually I already have. We served it to some friends a couple of weeks after I first prepared it. It was a big hit.

Want a recipe that's sure to impress? Try this one.

I knew this recipe was a winner as I was gathering the ingredients. I owned Marcella's book for a couple of years before embarking on this project. I had already prepared veal chops in this manner a few months ago. I like veal, but veal chops are not commonly found in the local supermarket. I get a lot of my meat for these recipes at The Butcher's Edge in Perth. I drop in at least once a week, usually on my way home from swimming over at the Perth pool. The people in the shop know about the Pomodori e Vino challenge and are quite helpful with some of my odder requests - even going so far as to refer me to another store close to Ottawa.

The ingredients below - that's flour in the glass bowl to coat the chops - think it helps to keep them moist.

A sauté pan, large enough for the 4 chops. This pan is used in a lot of recipes.

The final result, with anchovy and parsley sauce on top.

This recipe is very easy to follow with excellent results - all in well under an hour.

Tomorrow is the birthday of our twins, Stephen & Meredith. The will be 29 years old. Happy birthday guys.

What I liked about this recipe:

Everything.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No issues for me.

Would I make it again?

Of course. I'll make it lots of times.

I am very impressed by my cohorts on this project - by the knowledge they bring to these recipes, their culinary skill, very good photography, and by many of their narratives, with an especial nod in the direction of Jerry's contribution on October 30. I don't have a lot to say about many of the recipes I've prepared. I try to follow the directions as close as possible and I am candid in my comments, but I don't bring much extra to each recipe. I don't have much experience with Italian cooking - in fact the novelty of almost all of these recipes is the best part of the project from my perspective.

Today is a good example of my difficulty in expanding on the basic narrative. The title pretty well says everything you need to know and I forgot to take a photo of the final product.

The ingredients: sirloin steaks, olive oil, salt, pepper, Marsala wine, red wine, garlic, fennel seeds, diluted tomato paste, hot red chili pepper, parsley.

I cannot remember the last time I pan-broiled steaks. Got some steaks to cook? That's what barbecues are for, isn't it?

The directions are pretty specific and easy to follow. The only tricky part for me came when I had to keep the steaks warm while a couple of other dishes were being prepared. I should have had everything else ready before starting to cook the steaks.

What I liked about this recipe:

Quick and easy.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No issues for me.

Would I make it again?

Ah, there's the rub. We don't eat steak very often. I might use this recipe again, but likely not very often.

Amarone wine? Well, that's a bit of a step up from my usual cooking wine - Rumpole's Chateau Fleet Street or a screw cap plonk from Argentina or Chile are my usual choices. I was tempted to save a few bucks but eventually headed over to the LCBO & sprang for 32 bucks for a bottle of Amarone.

My wife, known to all and sundry on Slow Travel as BW (Beautiful Wife), is a big fan of Marcella's. I prepared this recipe on a Sunday a few weeks in advance. BW mentioned that she had a roast she wanted to cook. I jumped in and said that I had to make a pot roast for this project and I would take over. No problem for her. Do you think she looks ahead at my assignments and drops comments to get out of preparing some meals? Just asking.

Ingredients below including pancetta, olive oil, roast, onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, wine.

The roast braises for three hours in a heavy bottomed pot. I used a sauté pan - seemed to work OK.

The final result with a side of a cabbage dish. Both were excellent.

What I liked about this recipe:

1. No stress recipe -pretty easy directions, not a lot to do while the roast is braising for three hours.

2. Another one-pot recipe - a big plus in my book, as I've mentioned before.

3. An excellent option for a Sunday dinner. Great result.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

Well, the wine was a bit pricier than my usual options. I might not always use Amarone wine, but don't tell Marcella.

Would I make it again?

Yes. This is the best pot roast recipe I've ever tried.

My wife and I spent two weeks in Tuscany in May 2004, based at Villa Nottola, just down the hill from Montepulciano. The weather was terrible - not much Tuscan sun - but we had a great time. My Trip Report of our time in Tuscany - Tuscan Rambles - led to my first pick in the 2006 Slow Travel contest. I chose a week - which we extended to twelve days - in an apartment in Rome, which we took in September 2007. We were able to invite our two sons to accompany us to Rome - our two daughters were otherwise engaged. We treasure our time in Italy with our two sons - Roman Holiday.
So we have fond memories of our time in Tuscany, despite the poor weather. Another reason for our pleasant recollections is the food we enjoyed. We had several very good meals, including three at the well-known Trattoria Latte di Luna in Pienza. Much of the food we enjoyed was in the style of cucina povera . While Marcella does not make the connection, I am pretty sure that this recipe is in the same tradition.

Wow! - a lot of ingredients in this recipe. Bread, milk, ground beef, onion, salt, pepper, prosciutto,parmigiano-reggiano cheese, garlic, egg yolk, bread crumbs, butter, vegetable oil, white wine, porcini mushrooms, plum tomatoes. See below.

Most of the ingredients are mixed with the meat, which is then shaped into a salami-like roll about 2 1/2" thick, then rolled in the bread crumbs & cooked in an oval pot for about an hour along with the tomatoes and water from soaking the porcini mushrooms. I should have taken a photo of this step but I forgot. Sorry about that guys.

OK, if you haven't figured this out already, this dish is basically a meat loaf with a tomato sauce. Final result below.

What I liked about this recipe:

Well, what's not to like? Aside from the procini mushrooms, everything was close at hand. No problems.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

The directions called for me to flip the meat roll several times in the pan. I had some difficulty at first, but my technique improved with practice.

Would I make it again?

Hey, why not? Inexpensive dish to prepare with excellent results. Great meat loaf! I'll likely make it many times.

When my vegetable garden was in full production a few months ago, I looked ahead at the recipes for which I was responsible and prepared some well ahead of time if I could use just-picked produce a few steps from my kitchen door. Somehow I missed this recipe. I suppose I paid more attention to the main ingredient - lamb - and not much to the green bean component; or perhaps it was one of those recipes that I assumed I would get around to - but never did. Either way, I ended up in the position of having to purchase some vegetables in November that I would have tossed on my compost pile in July. Ah well, nobody ever said that living in Canada is an unalloyed joy.

My personal issue with this recipe is the main ingredient. We live across the road from a dairy farm, but our nearest neighbours are actually a flock of sheep, living in a blue barn just over the fence. Each spring I enjoy seeing the new lambs taking their first steps outside, not venturing far from the ewe. I have taken our children, and now our grandchild, over to see the new lambs for over 30 years. I always know when the lambs have been taken away to be processed from the plaintive bleating of the barn full of ewes. Lamb is never high on my list of food options.

Ingredients pictured below - green beans, olive oil, lamb shoulder, onion, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar. The lamb shoulder is cut into 2 " cubes.

Cooking time is over 1 1/2 hours until the meat is very tender, with everything in the same pot. Pretty simple.

The final result shown below. I must admit that this dish did not conform to my preconceptions of a "stew" - you know, like a beef stew with a mix of vegetables including potatoes and carrots swimming in a thick liquid.

What I liked about this recipe:

It expanded my idea of what constitutes a stew. Also, pretty easy preparation.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

I'm not a big fan of lamb.

Would I make it again?

Well, one member of our family liked the lamb stew a lot - see below. I might make it again, but only if he's around.

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This recipe calls for small amounts of two wines - Marsala and one of a Piedmontese Barbera or a Valpolicella or any young red from Central Italy, e.g. a non-riserva Chianti. I didn't have any of these wines around the house - only have Marsala for cooking purposes & not much of a fan of most Italian wines in general, but I do have a fondness for Valpolicella. So off for a visit to the LCBO - the Liquour Control Board of Ontario - a unique distribution/regulatory government-controlled entity found only in Ontario. The LCBO was started in the 1930's & reflects the conservative nature of much of Ontario society, at least until fairly recently. It is also a great money-maker for the provincial government and provides for a wide selection of alcoholic beverages, if not low prices. The LCBO is the world's largest purchaser of alcoholic products.

I bought a 1.5 litre bottle of Valpolicella because it was on sale.

The rest of the ingredients are close at hand. Nothing very unusual - pork chops, garlic, tomato paste, flour, olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic, parsley, salt & pepper - simple ingredients as is typical of most of Marcella's recipes.

Following the directions of this recipe was quite easy. The first few steps only take a few minutes ... and then, whoa, an hour. "Braising" is just a word that means its going to take a while. The only issue I encountered was the relative size of the larger of my two sauté pans vis-a-vis the size of the pork chops. It was a tight fit.

The whole dish takes about an hour and a half from start to finish. Well worth it. The humble pork chop never tasted better - see below.

Oops, forgot to add the parsley before I took the pic. Well, you know what Ogden Nash said about parsley ....

What I liked about this recipe:

Hey, any recipe with two wines can't be all bad, right? Actually, I liked almost everything about this recipe.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

Only issue - one tablespoon of tomato paste? What do I do with the rest of the can. Oh, I know, I can freeze it until the next time.

Would I make it again?

Yes - it was very good. My problem with a lot of pork chop recipes is that ... well they taste like pork chops. This one is a couple of steps above.

Well, I've been doing this for a few months now & I've figured out my favourite part of preparing all these recipes, aside from sampling the end results, of course. It's just before I start to cook - you know the stage when all the ingredients are gathered together and the next hour or so is going to be a novel experience - optimism reigns. I suppose that's why I always include a photo like the one below - onion, olive oil, garlic, carrot, celery, tomatoes, pork sausage, black-eyed peas, salt and pepper. Most of the time everything has worked out fine.

BTW, the onion, carrots & garlic are from my summer vegetable garden. I have onions, carrots, potatoes and cabbages in a cold storage room in my basement, along with my hanging garlic. The potatoes & garlic should last until next summer. The carrots are stored in sand & will likely last most of the winter. I'll run out of the onions & cabbage by Christmas

With several of these recipes there have been one or two ingredients that have presented a bit of a challenge, due in no small part to my location - things like pancetta, fresh mackerel, cranberry beans, veal shank are not on the shelves at my local supermarket in my small town in Eastern Ontario. At first glance, this recipe did not present any similar issues. Black-eyed peas? I picked some up at the Bulk Barn in Kanata on one of my bi-weekly trips into Ottawa. BUT, Marcella's directions for the sausages are at the same time descriptive and mysterious. The descriptive phrases include "mild" and "no herbs or strong spices". Mysterious? Are the sausages supposed to be large, small, bangers, Italian? Nary a clue. After reading ingredients on more sausages than I care to remember - and I can assure you that most sausages have a LOT of ingredients, unfortunately, I suppose - I settled on the ones in the photo - about 7" in length with a long list of very bland ingredients.

Preparation was pretty simple - another one-pot recipe - but took over two hours. First the onions, garlic & veggies are lightly cooked, then the sausages are added for about 15 minutes, followed by the tomatoes and finally by the soaked black-eyed peas. Everything is covered with water & simmered for about an hour and a half. Final result below.

This recipe & it's simplicity of ingredients remind me of one of our family favourites - baked beans with steamed brown bread. The peculiarities of this recipe originated with my wife's grandmother and go back about 100 years, originating in New Brunswick. It was a Saturday staple in my wife's family when she was growing up and started the night before when the beans were left to soak overnight. The dish is cooked in the oven a bean pot.

What I liked about this recipe:

Everything. This has been one of my favourite dishes that I have prepared for this project. An excellent, economical and simple family meal when the weather is a bit unpleasant outside - and we have plenty of those days here in Canada. We even have a name for them - winter.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems for me. I might experiment with different sausages from time to time, but the ones I used were fine.

Would I make it again?

Of course. Actually, I already have.

Hooray!

I've had Marcella's book for a few years, and undoubtedly the best aspect of taking part in this project is the opportunity of preparing new recipes, as well as reading about the experiences of my fellow conspirators. But, I should also add that when I got my list of responsibilities, one of the first things I did was look for any familiar titles. Alas, nothing that I recognized. BUT I had to drop one of my recipes - unable to locate a source for a main ingredient. Deborah came to my rescue & we swapped recipes. And I got one that has been a favourite chez Doug for a while. And this is it.

The happenstance that it is in the dreaded "Variety Meats" chapter is an unexpected bonus.

I know many people don't care for liver, but we like calf's liver and have prepared it for over 35 years, from time to time trying a new variation. Marcella's recipe is the best.

Ingredients include vegetable oil, butter, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, lemon and calf's liver. I used to buy fresh calf's liver, but have recently discovered that it is also available frozen at the local butcher shop, which makes it easy to request the desired 1/4" thickness.

Preparation is quick and easy and the result is great! Final result below with a lemon wedge and some Brussel sprouts. Delicious.

What I liked about this recipe:

Everything.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems for me.

Would I make it again?

This is a regular menu item chez Doug

My mother was born in England. Her family emigrated to Canada in 1919, with my grandfather and his family receiving free passage because of his service in the British Army in World War I. My father's ancestor also came from England, as a Sergeant in the British Army, but more than a century earlier, in 1799. He was posted on the Niagara Frontier and as a result of his service, including holding back the invading Americans in the War of 1812, received a land grant in Eastern Ontario, where I live. And I do not have any relatives whose surname ends in a vowel. In other words, I am about as far removed from any family connections to Italy as possible. I am absolutely positive that I am the first, last and only member of my extended family to have prepared and consumed tripe.

But this was not my first time eating tripe. I had it on our last night in Rome in Trastevere in September 2007. I wasn't really sure what it was when I ordered it - I tend to try unfamiliar menu items in a different setting (cf. cuttlefish in an earlier post). I ate all of it, but wasn't impressed - tasted like raw calimari in a tomato sauce, and that's being generous.

One clue that this is a "variety" meat is the number of ingredients. In addition to the tripe, the recipe calls for butter, vegetable oil, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, parsley, rosemary leaves, white wine, plum tomatoes, hot red chili peppers, salt, pepper, beef broth, parmigiano-reggiano cheese - See below.

What exactly is honeycomb tripe, you may ask - as I did. Well, it is made from the reticulum, the second of a cow's three stomachs - lovely image, eh?. The source of the appellation "honeycomb" is obvious:

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the most difficult ingredient for me to source was not the tripe - The Butchery in Bells Corners came through again - but the "hot red chili pepper" - not in season at this time of the year. Instead of opting for a hot green pepper, I chose to go with dried red pepper flakes. Marcella's directions calls for the chili pepper "to taste", so I would have been justified in omitting it entirely - but I always try to assuage Marcella, as readers of this blog can attest - so the dried version it was.

Preparation time was longer than usual - upwards of 3 hours from start to finish. And even at that, I lengthened it for a day. Well, Marcella said it tastes even better the second day - and besides we met with some friends at the Brigadoon in Oxford Mills last night. So I had to take it out of the 'fridge, reheat it and add some butter and the Parmesan cheese. Here's what it looked like:

And I ate all of what you see in the pic. - but I was alone. BW had some soup & nobody else was around.

One week I get an all-time favourite, the next week I get to eat a cow's stomach. And so it goes.

What I liked about this recipe:

Three things:

1. BW said, "Well, it smells OK."

2. Aside from the tripe, very common ingredients.

3. It was better than the tripe I had in Rome in September 2007.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

Well, first of all, it's a cow's stomach .... Actually, that's enough, don't you think?

Would I make it again?

No.

Well, that was close.

Like a couple of my fellow conspirators I didn't make this dish when artichokes were fresh and plentiful last spring and summer. I did manage to obtain some a couple of weeks ago at my local supermarket, but they spoiled before I prepared the recipe. I thought I was going to have to used the canned variety, but I got lucky. On my bi-weekly trip into Ottawa on Monday, I stopped into Nicastro's on Merivale Road, and there they were - a lot of artichokes. The recipe calls for 2 large globe artichokes or 4 medium size. The ones available were pretty big to my untrained eye, but I got 4, just to be sure. The other ingredients included potatoes, onions, lemon, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, butter, salt & pepper - see below:

I'm glad I got 4 four artichokes - a lot of the body is discarded when preparing an artichoke for cooking.

I also picked up some ingredients for Bean and Red Cabbage Soup, prepared by Beth last May, which I think will be a great soup to make at this time of year. I managed to get the correct type of sausage (not the type I used three weeks ago in my Pork Sausages with Black-Eyed Peas and Tomatoes recipe), along with pork rind, panchetta and cannellini. I have prepared several recipes ahead of time, mainly from the Vegetables chapter, and I have been looking back over some earlier recipes from others or prepare some of my own for a second or third time. Generally, I do a better job the second time around - not surprising is it?

In fact, I suspect that I cooked it a bit too long - think maybe it came out of the oven a bit darker than it was supposed to. But how would I know for sure? This was my first time with this recipe..

The final result:

What I liked about this recipe:

1. Well, this was the first time I've worked with artichokes - a bit fussy, but interesting - and I enjoyed the novelty of the experience.

2. Another way of making the potato a bit more interesting.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

Yes, but I'll do it when artichokes are in season. I think for the work involved in preparing the artichokes, they should be at their best - although that could be said about any ingredient in any recipe, n'est ce pas?

We like asparagus & have it fairly often. I have tried to grow it in the past, without much success. It is one of the few vegetables that we buy at the store year round, although there are definitely better times of the year to go shopping for asparagus.

A small number of ingredients - asparagus, salt, butter and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. And a very simple recipe to prepare. The asparagus is trimmed, boiled .....

and then baked, dotted with butter and topped with the cheese.

Ready for serving.

A very short post this week - not a lot to add.

What I liked about this recipe:

Well, this must be one of the easiest recipes to prepare in the book. Hey, I think somebody likes me. OK, OK, I know it's not Marcella, but somebody does.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

Yes, always great to have another way to prepare asparagus

I have always grown beans in my vegetable garden. They grow well and we like them. The only problem I have had are groundhogs eating the young plants when they are only an inch or two high. So I plant two rows of beans between two rows of peas which I provide with a chicken wire fence on which to grow. I close off the ends of the 4 rows until the bean plants are well established. I actually prefer yellow Rocdor beans, but this recipe calls for green beans, so that's which I picked. Bean plants are heavy producers. I picked these beans early in the season last July when they are best, in my opinion.

Marcella explains the meaning of pasticcio - similar to the French pastiche - you know, a bit of a mess. In cooking it refers to a mix of cheese and vegetables, meat or cooked pasta, bound by eggs or béchamel, or both. No meat or pasta in this recipe, but all the rest are present - ingredients below.

The directions were pretty straightforward and easy to follow, with only one glitch. The beans are cut into 1-inch lengths and cooked in a sauté pan with butter and some water. Marcella's instructions call for a sauté pan that can contain all the beans snugly, but without overlapping. I have two sauté pans, but neither of them will accommodate 1 pound of beans cut into 1-inch pieces without overlapping. Marcella must have some big pans.

The final result was excellent.

What I liked about this recipe:

A great way of using some of the bounty from my garden. And a bit of a classy way of serving up the humble green bean.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

Well, that was a subject of some discussion chez Doug. While this recipe is fine, fresh green beans on their own are also excellent and an anticipated crop from my garden. "The beans are ready!", is a sure sign of summer and means at least a couple of months bypassing most of the vegetable section of our local supermarket, as other crops ripen in the garden.

So, while I will make this recipe again, it will probably not be very often - perhaps when we have some friends over for dinner.

Our younger son Brad prepared this recipe.

My wife and I have 4 children - Kelly, Steve, Meredith and Brad - our attempt at immortality. Kelly's son, Liam, has made an appearance in this project - we see him a lot - lucky us. Kelly is a teacher, married to John, & is only about 15 minutes away; Steve is a Mechanical Engineer, engaged to Kate, & lives about 3 hours away - see below at Yankee Stadium; Mere lives in Ottawa & works for the federal government- her life is an adventure and we're along for the ride; Brad is continuing his education in the Toronto region and likes to cook - so, why not?

Ingredients below - pretty bland looking - cauliflower, parmigiano reggiano cheese, flour, salt, milk, nutmeg, butter. The milk, butter, flour and most of the salt are used in making the Béchamel sauce.

Everything in a buttered baking dish, ready to go into the oven.

The final result - not much more to say.

What I liked about this recipe:

Well, pretty easy - especially since I didn't have to prepare it. But, actually I liked the opportunity to consult with one of my children about this dish - so, it was a winner.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

Yes.

When I was planning my vegetable garden last spring, I looked over all the recipes for which I would be responsible and planted as many ingredients as possible - both vegetables and herbs. Of course, many were familiar plantings - tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplants, zucchini, onions. But a couple were new to me - radicchio and Swiss chard. They both proved very easy to grow. Below, some of my Swiss chard, early in the growing season. Swiss chard is a great producer and, unlike some vegetables, it retains its culinary virtues over a long period. We used the Swiss chard over 3 months.

This is a very simple recipe to follow and includes stalks of Swiss chard, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt & pepper. The longest part of the preparation is soaking the stalks in cold water before combining with the hot oil and garlic in a sauté pan. The end result is well worth the modest effort. I will be sure to continue planting Swiss chard in my garden.

What I liked about this recipe:

Hey, something else to plant in my garden that I can use over a long growing season is a winner with me.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

Of course I will.

Eggplant is the rather prosaic English name for this generally purple vegetable; aubergine is the much more elegant French name; in Italy it's called melanzane.

Melanzane??? Oh, oh, I've got to be careful here. Back in August 2007, I reported on a recipe from a book by Tessa Kiros in a Slow Travel premium forum. My modest contribution stimulated a heated discussion, known to some of us as The Great Slowtravel Melanzane War, a summary of which can be found here.

In truth, I have developed a fondness for eggplant. It is something that I never knew much about or planted in my garden until we started our annual trips to Europe. I think I knew that it was the basis of moussaka, which I had a couple of times in restaurants, but that's about it. However, our trips to France, Italy and Portugal stimulated me to broaden my cooking resources beyond The Joy of Cooking, Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book or the Looneyspoons trilogy - the last reference may make sense only to fellow Canadians. I began acquiring cookbooks by authors with a European sensibility - Elizabeth David, Kate Hill, Patricia Wells, Julia Child, Ina Garten, Sarah Leah Chase, Richard Olney, Mireille Johnston, and, of course, our own Marcella Hazan.

And the plantings in my garden have evolved also, with the most obvious addition being a row of two or three varieties of eggplant. I have my favourites - I don't care for the Sicilian variety or the off-colours - and I still don't make use of all the eggplants I produce, but the sight of a row of these purple vegetables suggests that my culinary horizons have expanded.

In addition to the eggplants, I was also able to use my own parsley and garlic.

All of the ingredients, including bread crumbs, an egg, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, salt, pepper, vegetable oil, and flour in addition to the eggplant, garlic and parsley.

The most time-consuming part of this recipe is the first stage that involves baking, peeling, slicing and draining the eggplants before combining most of the ingredients together and shaping in the patties.

Then the patties are fried in the vegetable oil.

The final result with fresh green beans from the garden.

What I liked about this recipe:

Another great recipe from Marcella's book - a novel way of preparing eggplants.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

The trickiest part, to me anyway, was getting as much liquid as possible out of the sliced eggplant. I improved with practice.

Would I make it again?

Yes, this recipe is a winner! I made it a few times last summer & will do so again.

Well, I've had a run of pretty quick and easy recipes, but that ends today.

- First, I have to prepare two dishes.

- OK, I thought, I'll just do one, then add some ingredients and do the second one.

- Not possible I discovered. I have to start both from the beginning.

- Ah well, I'm just sautéeing some mushrooms, shouldn't take very long.

- Not exactly - well over an hour to prepare both recipes.

.... Actually, I'm exaggerating a bit. Each of these recipes is pretty simple, but I have to do something to add a bit of drama.

Ingredients below - cremini & dried porcini mushrooms, garlic, olive oil, parsley, salt & pepper. One recipe only uses the cremini mushrooms, the other uses both kinds. Instead of doubling the amount of cremini mushrooms to prepare each recipe as described, I halved the amount for each recipe & made a few additional adjustments.

The first method uses only the cremini mushrooms and can be served warm with a meal or allowed to cool and served as an antipasto. I chose the latter.

The second method includes a reconstituted package of porcini mushrooms. This method also takes significantly longer than the first one. I served this with a pork chop recipe prepared by Irene back in November.

What I liked about this recipe:

I like mushrooms.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

Of the two methods, I much preferred the second one, with the porcini mushrooms. I thought it was well worth the extra effort, compared to the first method, which I found a bit dry - but maybe that's because I served it as an antipasto.

Would I make it again?

Well, if I am ever looking for a mushroom recipe, I will be inclined to select the second method with the porcini mushrooms.

Well I put this off as long as possible. I have never prepared mashed potatoes before in my life. I haven't eaten mashed potatoes in, oh, likely more than twenty years. I don't care for mashed potatoes. I think this is the only mashed potato recipe in the book - and I get it.

This mashed potato recipe is very easy to prepare. Ingredients below, including some Parmesan cheese and a bit of nutmeg.

The recipe calls for the use of a double boiler. The potatoes are cooked, put into the top part of the double boiler over the melted butter and mashed. I used a potato ricer. Hot milk is added in small amounts as the potatoes are whisked; the Parmesan cheese is added, then more milk until the potatoes become fluffy, but before they become thin & runny. Add some salt & nutmeg and serve at once.

The final result below. Fluffy enough, for you?

What I liked about this recipe:

Ho, hum. Gotta be one of the easiest recipes I've prepared.

I should also add that my 92-year-old mother-in-law liked the final result a lot - and she's prepared tons of mashed potatoes in her life.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

It's mashed potatoes.

Will I make it again?

Well, I will if I am asked, as I almost certainly will be.

Marcella is always full of surprises and she makes sure you read her directions carefully. Take this recipe - pretty simple, eh? Potatoes, olive oil, butter, anchovies, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper cooked in a sauté pan. What could be easier?

Well, actually, this recipe is pretty easy - another one-panner coming in under an hour with pretty common ingredients. BUT, the tricky part is the garlic. In every other recipe I've prepared for this project, the garlic is added at or very near the beginning of the process, but here it is added at the final step, likely (I'm guessing here) to make sure the distinctive taste of the garlic comes through.

Final result below.

What I liked about this recipe:

Excellent results! - adds some class to the humble spud.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Will I make it again?

Yes

I made this recipe last July with zucchini from my garden. There was less than 10 minutes from picking the vegetables to the start of preparation. At an early stage the zucchini is sliced into 1/4 inch widths, sprinkled with salt and left to drain for 30 minutes.

Then coated with a dusting of flour and fried in very hot vegetable oil:

The final result, with garlic, vinegar and pepper added to the fried zucchini.

What I liked about this recipe:

This recipe is a great option to use more of the produce from my garden. Zucchini is a quite bland on its own, but the addition of garlic, vinegar and pepper gave it some zing.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems.

Would I make it again?

I will definitely use it again when my zucchini is ready.

Well, those were pretty good.

This was my first time frying zucchini blossoms, but not the first time indulging in them. My wife and I first had fried stuffed zucchini blossoms at a restaurant in St. Saturnin-les-Apt in the Luberon a few years ago and the entire evening remains a very pleasant memory.

While this recipe appears in March, I actually prepared it last summer when I could harvest the blossoms from my garden. Thanks to Marcella I knew which blossoms to select - the male blossoms with the stem (on the left on the pic below). The female blossoms (on the right) on the zucchini are inedible.

No problem getting a dozen blossoms from my few plants.

The zucchini blossoms ready to be dipped in pastella, a simple flower and water batter.

Frying in vegetable oil:

The final result with a sprinkling of butter. I can assure you they were delicious.

What I liked about this recipe:

Everything. It was quick and easy to prepare, the result was great and I was able to use produce from my garden. Plus, I learned more about how my garden grows.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

Everything OK with me - no problems.

Will I make it again?

Definitely. I can't wait to harvest this year's blossoms from my vegetable garden.

Well, that was an unexpected treat.

A very simple list of ingredients, sunchokes, spinach, salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

But the first ingredient, aka Jerusalem artichokes, was unfamiliar to me and proved impossible to locate within a 50-mile radius of where I live in eastern Ontario. However, one of my co-conspirators, Jerry, came to my assistance, bought some at the Saint Lawrence Market in Toronto & mailed the sunchokes to me. Thanks again, Jerry.

The sunchokes are soaked, cleaned & sliced. The baby spinach is washed, spun-dried and torn into smaller pieces. Both ingredients are combined & mixed with some olive oil, salt, pepper & red wine vinegar.

The final result. A very good simple-to-prepare salad.

What I liked about this recipe:

Sunchokes were a novel experience for me - a big plus in taking part in this project.

The combination of textures worked very well.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

The difficulty of obtaining the sunchokes was a major issue - but not a problem with the recipe itself.

Would I make it again?

Well, actually I already have. Jerry sent enough sunchokes for another salad, which we enjoyed a couple of days after the first one.

And, more significantly, I have recently discovered that one of my brothers has sunchokes growing along a fence line on his property. I'll plant some in a couple of months and have my own supply from now on.

I thought this was an excellent salad.

Pretty simple and and pretty good salad, with only one hitch.

Radicchio, cranberry beans, olive oil, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar. Marcella provides 3 options for the radicchio, even including Belgian endive. I had no choice - only the rounded radicchio was available.

The final result below. I'm not sure how you think it looks, but I can assure you the salad was very good.

What I liked about this recipe:

Hey, it's pretty easy to make & the result is very good. The taste of this salad is unique in my experience.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

You can't make this at the last minute, if using dried cranberry beans - & I've never seen fresh ones. The cranberry beans have to soak overnight.

Would I make it again?

Yes, I probably will in summer or early fall, using radicchio from my garden. It gives me a reason to plant a flat of radicchio this year.

I prepared this salad last July with fresh Swiss chard from my garden. I had never planted Swiss chard previously, but saw it was an ingredient in a few recipes. Pretty easy to grow.

I was able to select plenty of mature chard with broad stalks, although likely not as broad as suggested by Marcella. The Swiss chard keeps growing and the stalks keep getting bigger throughout the summer.

I cut the stalks into 1/2" x 4" sections, boiled them for a few minutes on their own before adding the leaves & some salt. After a few minutes, I drained the chard, let it cool a bit before tossing with olive oil, salt and some lemon juice.

What I liked about this recipe:

Pretty simple and pretty good. Not much more to add.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

A bit bland - but the olive oil, salt & lemon juice added at the end gave it some zing.

Will I make it again?

Yes. It's another summer vegetable option, with the added benefit of helping me pretend I'm in Italy. I'll keep planting Swiss chard in my garden.

Well, here we are into Desserts and I have the responsibility of leading off the chapter.

But I blew it.

Ingredients are pretty simple - almonds, sugar, vegetable oil, a sheet of aluminum foil and a potato. A potato? Yes, a potato.

I followed Marcella's directions as to how to skin the almonds; made sure the melted sugar reached a "rich tawny gold"; spread the vegetable oil on the aluminum foil; used the potato as per Marcella's instructions. BUT I deviated from one of Marcella's directions which likely created my problem with this recipe. Marcella indicated that the almonds are to be chopped very fine using a knife, not a food processor, into pieces about half the size of a grain of rice. Well, I didn't use a food processor, but I didn't use a knife either - I use a hand-held food chopper, which likely resulted in too many very small pieces i.e. crumbs.

The end result (below) was not like praline, more like a very sweet granola. The ingredients didn't bind together.

What I liked about this recipe:

Well, I like almonds and the list of ingredients is very small.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

Since I didn't follow one of the directions, I suppose I had a problem with that - couldn't see myself chopping all those almonds into very small pieces.

Will I make it again?

No. I don't think the effort is worth the reward, or is even a good idea for that matter. I am pretty sure I could do a better job on a second attempt, but I decided I didn't want to make it again. About the last thing I need to be doing is making and eating more candy. I'm consciously reducing my sugar consumption - will reserve my splurges for other recipes in this chapter.

This recipes is full of surprises.

1. First, it stretches over 3 pages in the book. Hey, must be complicated, right?

2. Not exactly, because the recipe starts with a store-bought pound cake.

3. And some of the length is due to different options for the cake frosting.

4. But, I found it impossible to buy a plain pound cake. Sara Lee used to make one, but it has been delisted, according to Brian at the local supermarket.

5. And no luck trying to buy a pound cake at a couple of specialty stores in the area.

6. But, BW came through (again) and made a pound cake.

7. Everything was going fine - well, not exactly but I'll explain later - when, WHOA! the preparations stretches over two days. Guess I should have read the directions more carefully the first time through.

...The last surprise, I'll leave to the end.

The ingredients below include some expresso coffee, semi-sweet chocolate, a 16-ounce pound cake, some sugar, water, a few eggs, a bit of butter, a small amount of whipping cream and, oh yes, some rum. Marcella also suggests a garnish of fresh berries or walnuts and candied fruit, but I skipped the garnish this time.

A nine-inch rectangular pan, lined with damp cheesecloth provides the structure for the dessert. The pound cake is cut into slices; the individual slices are soaked in a rum & coffee mixture; then line the bottom of a nine-inch pan. A filling of chocolate, egg yolk and a bit of sugar is spread over the layer of pound cake; then a second layer is placed on top. The cheesecloth is folded over the top and the pan is refrigerated until the next day.

A chocolate frosting is made the next day. Marcella also provides an option for a whipped cream frosting, but how much chocolate is too much?

What remains of the initial servings. The white spots on the cake are where I missed with the rum & coffee soak. The soak was the trickiest part of the preparation - too wet and the pieces fall apart.

What I liked about this recipe:

This turned out great the first time I tried it a few months ago & I have improved the esthetics in subsequent efforts. I received many compliments on my initial preparation from an international audience - well a couple of my son-in-law's relatives from Scotland were at the dinner.

And, by the way, I did locate a source for a store-bought Sara Lee pound cake for the recipe & used it once - but the scratch cake is a lot better.

What I didn't I like about this recipe:

Well, I wasn't thrilled that it stretched over two days, but that was my problem. Also, the initial difficulty in locating a main ingredient (the pound cake) was an unexpected hurdle.

Would I make it again?

Yes, this is the best dessert I have ever made. This is a great recipe. I have made it a few times and it always impresses. It is equal to, or better, than any restaurant dessert in my experience. It is the most professional result I have achieved in this project.

This dessert is at the top of my favourite recipes I've prepared for this project - the final surprise.

I first made this recipe ten months in advance of the schedule. I like pears. In fact, I try to grow pears - with very limited success I should add. I was curious how a pear tart would turn out. Marcella's comments and directions are straightforward. Her only caveat is a strong suggestion to use Bosc or Anjou pears instead of the Bartlett variety.

The ingredients below, with three large Bosc pears:

In her directions, Marcella recommends a 9-inch round pan. The closest I could get was a 10-inch springform pan. One advantage of using a springform pan is the ease of removing the tart from the pan.

The final result, just out of the oven, with the springform side removed.

Marcella comments that this tart "is very nice served while still a little warm." Agreed.

What I liked about this recipe:

Everything.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems for me.

Would I make it again?

Well, actually I've already made it a few more times. Trust me, this is a very good dessert.

Pretty simple recipe, but one I put off until the last moment. Ingredients include egg yolks, flour, milk, confectioners' sugar and lemon peel.

Marcella includes some very specific directions, as usual. Most of the mixing is done off heat and I followed her option of using a double -boiler to reduce the possibility of the formation of lumps.

Egg yolks, sugar and flour mixed in the top half of the double boiler.

Hot milk is mixed slowly into the egg yolk mixture. A wooden spoon is used to stir the mixture. When the custard clings to the spoon "coating it with medium density", the desired consistency has been obtained.

The cream is cooled in ice water. The final result below - no lumps, tastes good. Success.

What I liked about this recipe:

Hey, I can make crema - never would have tried it before. I think the the lemon zest added a lot to the recipe - likely pretty bland without it.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems for me.

Would I make it again?

Yes, almost certainly as a filling for some other recipe.

This recipe has been lurking at the edge of my consciousness for quite a while. Ricotta fritters = fried cheese??? Well that can't be very good for you, right?

But, OK Marcella, I'll give it a go.

Simple ingredients, as has been common with almost all of these recipes - flour, salt, eggs, honey, lemon peel, butter, vegetable oil - only had to pick up some ricotta cheese at the store.

All of the ingredients, except for the oil and honey, are mixed into a batter and set aside for between 2 and 3.5 hours.....

.... then fried in very hot oil in dollops of 1 tablespoon. The fritters puff up after a short time cooking on both sides and are then removed to a cooling rack to drain .....

..... then put on a plate, dribbled with honey and served when still very warm.

What I liked about this recipe:

This was a new experience for me - never made fritters before - although it's a lot like making doughnuts, only simpler.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

No problems, except I wasn't thrilled with cooking with such hot oil to make a dessert at the end of a meal.

Would I make it again?

Well, I've thought about that quite a bit. It's likely not a dessert I will prepare on a hot evening in July, but I can envisage making it to impress some dinner guests mid-winter. And before I do that, I will experiment with preparing the fritters earlier and reheating just before serving. So, yes, I'll probably make it again. The novelty value, at least chex Doug, make it a winner.

Well, where do I start?

• When I signed on for this project over a year ago, I received a colour-coded Excel list of the recipes in Marcella's tome. I am Wednesday - purple recipes.

• Some big challenges; many current family favourites; several veggie recipes which made use of my garden and which will shape my planting as long as I garden; dozens of unexpected delights.

• But, when I looked over "my" list, this was one of the easy ones - fruit, sugar, milk, ice, Maraschino liqueur - sounds like what I imagine a "smoothie" to be - I'm a wine & beer guy, never had one.

• Maraschino liqueur? Cherries, right? I read Marcella's note back on p.580 - the recipe appears on p.609, but when I went to my local LCBO - Liquour Control Board of Ontario, the world's largest purchaser of alcoholic beverages and a significant asset to the economic well-being of my province - the closest I could find was Schloss Kirsch, an Austrian cherry liqueur.

• Ah well, close enough, I thought - until I read Beth's post on May 8.

• Oh, you mean all cherry liqueurs are not created equal? According to Marcella, "Maraschino is a fine Italian liqueur made from the pulp and crushed pits of the marasca cherry."

• Ok, I'm always trying to be faithful to Marcella's directions - pause for Marcella's outraged interjection - so I searched on the LCBO's web site for a source of the correct liqueur

• Hey, guess what? I found one - LUXARDO MARASCHINO ORIGANLE LIQUEUR - figured I could post a mea culpa on the site until I got the correct ingredient.

• But, whereas I have traveled more than an hour to locate an ingredient in one of my recipes and have been rescued by co-conspirators more than once, in this case I was stumped. While the liqueur is on the provincial list, it is NOT available at any outlet anywhere in Ontario - an area more than three times the sq. km. of Italy.
  

So this is my photo of the ingredients sans the crushed ice - I chose raspberries as the fruit:

A blender is the only "cooking" implement used.

The final result, pour deux:

What I liked about this recipe:

Hey, throw everything into a blender, turn it on for a few seconds and dessert is ready.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

Well, the impossibility of obtaining a main ingredient became a huge problem.

Would I make it again?

Probably not, since it is unlikely that I will ever be able to obtain the recommended liqueur, unless I bring it back from one of our trips.

As I was in the process of preparing this dessert recipe, visions of my misadventure with tortellini danced in my head.

Tortellini??

Yes, tortellini. When I prepared tortellini last year, it was my first experience with making pasta from scratch and also my first experience with a pasta machine. The final result was so disastrous that I had to do it again so I wouldn't completely embarrass myself with my fellow conspirators.

This recipe calls for preparing a sorbet from scratch using an ice cream maker. I didn't have an ice cream maker and spent several months asking every casual acquaintance if I could borrow one. No luck; nobody had one. I even thought of buying one, but whereas a pasta maker was quite reasonably priced, an ice cream maker was double the cost. And, while I reasoned that a pasta maker would likely be used occasionally, I didn't figure that I would wear out an ice cream maker. I even considered trying to swap recipes with another day of the week (I am fondly known as "Wednesday" among the PeV crowd), but I was reluctant to do that.

I finally located a source for the ice cream machine - a childhood friend who I am sure is amused that I am taking part in this project.

Below are all the ingredients, sans one. Present are the sugar, tangerines, lemon, orange, egg and rum, along with the elusive ice cream maker. Absent are the sprigs of mint used as a garnish atop the final product.

The first step involves slicing off the tops of the tangerines and extracting the fruit, using your fingers according to Marcella's directions, while being careful not to tear the fragile tangerine rind. I was somewhat skeptical that my fingers could do the job without wreaking havoc with the rind. Everything worked out fine. I was a bit tentative at first, but my extraction technique improved quickly. The shells and tops are then frozen for at least 2 hours.

The next stage involves making the sorbet. A syrup is prepared of sugar, water, lemon and orange peel, and tangerine, orange and lemon juice. After the syrup has completely cooled, a lightly beaten egg white is mixed in and everything is put into the ice cream maker. Follow the directions.

The final result below, after some rum has been added to the sorbet, the mixture frozen and spooned into the frozen tangerine shells. The mint leaves are a bit limp. Fresh mint was not available from my garden in April when I first prepared this recipe - so I had to buy some at the store, NOT my preferred source. Also, Marcella indicates that the filling should extend to just over the rim, but I was a bit light in the volume of the sorbet. The list of ingredients calls for 6 large or 8 small tangerines; my 8 tangerines were pretty big. Next time I'll increase the amount of the ingredients to account for this. It's just as easy to fill 8 large tangerines as 8 small ones.

What I liked about this recipe:

Using an ice cream maker was a novel experience and the result was excellent in both appearance and taste. Well worth the effort.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

Well, it took a long time - several hours from start to finish.

Will I make it again?

Yes. This is an impressive dessert to serve to friends and family. However, in the future I would prepare this at least a day ahead since it is quite time-consuming.

This is one of the best and most rewarding recipes I have prepared for this project, right up there with the Diplomatico chocolate dessert from a few weeks ago. Very highly recommended.

I prepared this simple recipe several months in advance following a visit to Nicastro's Italian Food Emporium in Nepean, where I purchased some of the ingredients, including "00" pizza flour and buffalo-milk mozzarella. The ingredients weren't the problem but one of the implements was. While I do have baking stone, I don't have a baker's peel & had to make do with what was on hand.

Below are the ingredients for the pizza dough ....

Followed by the topping ingredients for two 12-inch pizzas - mozzarella, olive oil, anchovies, basil, parmigiano-reggiano cheese and salt.

My first kick at this can - not the greatest esthetics, and I think my crust is a bit burnt, but the taste was OK - a nice light pizza.

What I liked about this recipe:

Pretty simple.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

No problems.

Will I make it again?

Yup.

.

OK Marcella, you got me again.

I've made non-breadmaker bread many times, albeit a few years ago. So I wasn't expecting any glitches in making my ultimate recipe for this project - figured I could whip it up the day before, take a few pics, post my report the evening before & schedule it to appear early the next morning. Easy peasy.

Pretty simple ingredients - unbleached flour, olive oil, olives, salt, yeast. Well, after all it is bread. What could be simpler?

OK, gotta make a starter - called a biga - some yeast, water, flour, olive oil. Oh, oh, it's supposed to rise 14 to 18 hours - so that's why this recipe didn't appear earlier today. Also there's a big mystery concerning the biga, which I will explain later.
The risen biga below:

The bread dough below, including water, yeast, half the biga, some of the flour, the salt, the rest of the flour, some water & the olives. I used a wooden spatula to mix the ingredients together.

One of Marcella's directions calls for occasionally lifting the dough out of the bowl with the spatula & slapping it back in. I liked that part.

After rising for a few hours, the dough is flattened and lightly kneaded. Then it is shaped into a ball and allowed to rise again under a bowl. before baking in the oven at differing degrees for about an hour.

The final result. Best olive bread I've ever made - also the first.

The biga mystery? Well, the directions call for using half of the starter at an early stage, but no mention of the other half. I read & re-read Marcella's directions several times to see if I missed something. So the final result is a very good loaf of olive bread & half of the biga.

What I liked about this recipe:

It's been a long time since I've made bread - enjoyed the experience. Also, I liked using my wooden spatula, keeping the hand kneading to a minimum.

What didn't I like about this recipe:

Two days to make a loaf of bread?

Will I make it again?

Perhaps. The final result is very good.

I was not a volunteer on the Pomodori e Vino blog. Rather, I was conscripted by Deborah in May 2010 when an original member had to drop out. I had already made comments on the blog revealing that I possessed a copy of Marcella's book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I was intrigued by the project; had already met Jerry, Sandi, Jan and Palma at Slow Travel GTGs in Toronto and North Carolina; and thought it would be a great way of expanding my culinary horizons.

But I must confess that I was a bit intimidated. I had only prepared one of my assigned recipes previously and several of them called for unfamiliar ingredients or implements. I would never consider myself more than an enthusiastic cook and I knew that at least some of my cohorts are very accomplished and expert in the kitchen. Plus, I wasn't really a great fan of Italian cooking. Most of my travels in Europe have been based in France, that most civilized country - and my culinary interests, such as they were, centred around French cooking.

Early on, I decided to conclude my account of preparing each recipe by addressing three issues:

1. What I liked about the recipe.
2. What I didn't like about the recipe.
3. Would I make it again?

I thought such an approach would keep me honest about the recipe and might be of some assistance to followers of the blog. It was the best decision I could have made.

How is my life different from having participated in this project?

• I don't skip over a recipe because it might seem a bit complicated or call for a novel ingredient.
• I am a familiar face in some specialty food stores in the Ottawa area.
• I do more shopping at butcher shops.
• I assemble all the ingredients for a recipe in front of me before starting.
• I plan my garden with specific recipes in mind.
• I prepare many more meals than before.
• I seldom use the "Defrost" setting on the microwave.
• I am much more confident in the kitchen.

Those are a few of the more obvious changes, but I know it goes deeper than that.

Recipe prepared most often:

Stuffed Spaghetti Frittata with Tomato, Mozzarella and Ham. This is a great recipe, a favourite with friends and family - quick and easy and delicious. Everybody asks for the recipe.

Biggest surprise:

Sunchoke and Spinach Salad. I had difficulty obtaining the sunchokes - Jerry came to my rescue. I have planted sunchokes on my property. This simple recipe was my favourite salad.

Forever favourites:

Shrimp with Tomatoes and Chili Pepper. Easy to prepare with my favourite shellfish as the main ingredient.

Fricasseed Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon Juice. Now I much prefer starting with a whole chicken, fresh from a butcher shop, rather than parts wrapped in plastic and laying on a styrofoam tray.

Veal Scaloppine in Parchment with Fontina Cheese. Sure to impress, this is the first recipe I prepared that I thought approached a professional standard.

Tuscan Meat Roll with White Wine and Porcini Muchrooms. A big leap up from the humble meat loaf - economical, easy to prepare and a great result.

Crisp Fried Zucchini Blossoms. A seasonal treat not to be missed. The main reason to plant zucchinis in my garden.

Eggplant Patties with Parsley, Garlic and Parmesan. Another summer treat using fresh produce from my garden.

Diplomatico - A Chocolate Dessert with Rum and Coffee. A great dessert, as good or better than the best you can recall. Guaranteed.

Frozen Tangerine Shells Filled with Tangerine Sorbet. This takes a while and requires an ice cream maker, but the final result is well worth the time and effort.

When I joined this group I owned Marcella's book, but I had never really heard of her. I had no idea of the place that Marcella Hazan occupies in the pantheon of cooking icons. A couple of weeks ago I read her memoir, Amarcord and got a better understanding of the person behind the inspiration for this project and her generally positive comments on this blog.

Thank you, Marcella, for your faithful attention to our efforts.

And thank you to all those who have contributed comments.

And thank you to Beth, Irene, Cindy, Sandi, Jan, Jerry, Palma, Kim - my fellow travelers on this journey.

And thank you, especially, to Deborah who invited me along for the ride.