Lentil Soup

Featured Chef - Joseph Mironti

Cousin Joseph Mironti sent me this recipe.  It's for a large group of people because he shares it with co-workers!  Way to spread the weatlh and luck Joseph!  Joseph is another Mironti Boy who loves to cook.  Boy, we were lucky when we married these Italian boys.  Nothing like a husband who not only loves to cook but is good at it.  Joe owned a popular pizzeria up in Syracuse at one time but opted to sell it because it took too many hours away from his family once the boys came along.  Joe has a lovely wife Sharon and two handsome sons - Michael and Brandon. 

My mother makes her soup very similar to this - the recipe handed down from my grandmother.  We used to call it "Good Luck Soup."  My grandmother would make us eat it every New Year's Day.  Boy is it good especially with a piece of Italian bread in your other hand!

As Joseph stated to me it is very hard for us to write recipes.  Italian women in our families just talked about a pinch of this or that and that is how we learned.  I think it will be fine because really it's all about how you like your food to taste.    If you don't want this much soup just cut it in half.

Lentil Soup Ala Giuseppe

Ingredients

3 Gallons of water
1 tsp kosher salt
5 lbs of Dried Lentil Beans rinsed
2-3 lbs Kielbasa type meat chopped ( be creative ie : summer sausage, cheriso)
6 stalks of celery chopped
4 cups Carrots chopped
2 large Spanish Onions chopped
8 med size white potatoes peeled and chopped
2 cloves of fresh German garlic chopped fine
1/2 cup fresh Italian Parsley coarsely chopped
16 oz can of Tomatoes Puree
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Bring water to a boil in a very big pot. Add lentils and cook stirring occasionally for 45 minutes. While lentils are cooking fry chopped kielbasa in a separate pan about 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except puree and cook for 30 minutes. Add puree and salt and pepper to taste cook until the lentils crack open and it gets all nice and creamy.

Enjoy!
Thanks Joseph - we can't wait to try some!

New Year's Day SideKicks!

Featured Chef - Cindy Syracuse

Other than being my sister-in-law as we both married a Mironti Boy..... Cindy is married to Neno and has two handsome young Mironti boys of her own, Dylan and Tyler!  Cindy is an accomplished marketing executive for Burger King Corporation and has earned great accolades over the years with many successful projects and promotions.  Cindy travels not only the country but the world through her work for Burger King Promotions.  Cindy has a real knack for entertaining and can create great tablescapes too! 

Cindy sent me these two great sidekicks that would go great with ham or any entree on New Year's Day. 

Corn Casserole

Serves 8
Ingredients:
1- 16 oz. can creamed corn
1 -16 oz can of whole corn
8 oz. sour cream
1 egg
1 stick of butter - room temp
1 box of Jiffy corn mix
Directions:
Drain whole corn.
Mix softened butter and cream corn with sour cream and egg.
Beat in the corn and jiffy mix
Pour into pyrex dish
Bake covered - 45 minutes at 375 degrees, uncovered 15 minutes until brown.


Pineapple Souffle
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 can pineapple- not drained. (Cindy indicates when she makes the single recipe she uses
crushed, when she doubles the recipe, she uses crushed and whole
pineapple)
4 cups cut-up bread into cubes(1 loaf of bread)- with or without
crusts. You can substitute whole wheat bread for white
1 stick of butter room temp
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar in mix master, then add the eggs. Add
remaining ingredients. Will look syrupy.
Pour into greased 6x6 pan.
Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees

Thank you Cindy!  I can't wait to try these!

Retro Side #2

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I know - you are all saying oh yuck!  Don't turn your noses up yet.  Try this retro side with a plus that is a combo from an idea I got from my brother-in-law Neno Mironti and a little something I came up with.

Ingredients
Brussel Sprouts - fresh from the produce department - about 1 to 2 dozen
Red Onion - 1/2 medium onion
3 pieces of Bacon
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
A dash of Garlic Powder

Directions
Preheat oven on 375 degrees
Clean the brussel sprouts - cut off core, peel any loose or damaged leaves, wash and let dry
Cut the sprouts in half
Chop the onion
Cook bacon and set aside
In a baking dish cover the bottom with the olive oil - 2 or 3 turns of the dish
Add brussel sprouts and onion, a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder to the baking dish and bake until carmelized and becoming soft. (Approximately 20-25 minutes).
Remove brussel sprouts from the oven, crumble the bacon over the top for the last few minutes of baking.
Enjoy!

Retro Sides

In conducting a poll about the main event for Christmas Dinner it looks like beef and ham are very popular at Christmas time.  Those are both popular in my family as well, but ham is our favorite entree and over the years my mother has orchestrated wonderful side dishes to go along with the main event.

Here is a retro side dish that has been around a long time.  Give it a try!

Sweet potato puff
Ingredients
4 medium sized sweet potatoes
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup light cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bag mini marshmallows
Directions
Bake or boil the sweet potatoes
Drain or remove from skin
Place the potatoes in a bowl and mix in the 3 TBSP butter, light cream or milk, orange juice, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon.  Mix with an electric beater until smooth.
Melt the remaining butter in a bowl and mix in brown sugar.  Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potatoes and bake on 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  Take the potatoes out of the oven and place mini-marshmallows on top and cook until marshmallows are slightly browned.


Later this week - retro dish #2 on the way!

Mom's Turkey Soup

It may be too late for the Thanksgiving bird but many of you also eat turkey on Christmas Day so there's nothing better on a cold winter's day but to have some turkey soup!  So on the day after Christmas when you open the frig and the turkey carcass is staring at you pull him out and follow the recipe below:

Tear some of the turkey off the carcass and set aside.
In a large soup pot add about 32 oz of water and about 32 oz of chicken stock.
Place the carcass in the soup pot and make sure he is totally submerged (poor little guy)
Place a whole carrot, a few celery stalks and a half of an onion in the water also.
Boil for about an hour and a half.
Remove the carcass, strain the broth into a bowl and remove the celery, onion and carrot
Add salt and pepper to your liking if needed.
Put the broth back into the soup pot with the turkey you set aside.
Dice a couple of new carrots, celery stalks and a small onion and put in the broth and boil until they become slightly soft - do not overcook as there's nothing worse than soggy veggies.
If you want to flavor it up a little more Mom also like to put a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce.
In another pot boil some short cut pasta.  Mom likes to use Orzo but any short cut pasta of your liking will do such as Pastina or Ditalini or Elbows.  Use only about a quarter to a third of the box.  If you do not the pasta will take over the soup.  Believe me this has happened to me.  It grows and grows.  Cook the pasta until it starts to become slightly cooked.  Do NOT cook too long because again it will get too soft.
Add pasta into the soup and presto - a comforting soup on a chilly day!
Enjoy!

NYC Food and Wine Festival

As you can see we are all Foodies in my family.  Here is my son James with Tyler Florence.
It is tradition that my husband, son, mother and I go to the NYC Food and Wine Festival every year!