Posts filed under 'cucina americana'
Photos for this post will be added as soon as possible.
This is what chicken and dumplings looks like when it is cooked but not yet arranged on a serving dish.
This version of chicken and dumplings is a dish that derives from very early times in the American colonial period. I learned it from my mother and she from hers. I remember my mother telling me that my grandmother had herbs at her kitchen door that went into this and other dishes and lilacs that perfumed the kitchen and were a place to dry the kitchen towels. That was an image so firmly in my mind that when I looked for a home I looked for herbs and a lilac by the kitchen door.
I don’t have a kitchen door now, but I grow the herbs my grandmother, whom I never knew, grew in Maine and some she could never have grown there. I can see the lilacs from the kitchen door, but they are too tall in this warm country for drying towels.
When she was a little girl, this was eg’s favorite dish and when she was asked on her birthday what she wanted to eat, it was chicken and dumplings. She feels differently now. I might convince her to love it again if I had a pot with a glass lid so she could see the dumplings plump up… what do you think?
Through the years that I have tasted foods from other American ethnic groups, many if not most of them included a version of chicken and dumplings. They often had a different name, but this is what they were. I liked them all. That is my tragedy…. I like almost all of the homey dishes that are made in kitchens next to the family kitchen garden.
If you look at these recipes you’ll see that the typical farm or small town home could provide most of the ingredients, even in winter. Except for the baking powder and flour, everything else might grow right outside the door. That’s really homemade! It’s also a stretchable meal. If you only have 3 pounds of chicken and someone wants to bring a friend or two over for supper, this works. Cut the chicken pieces in half or even smaller. You can just add more vegetables in the same proportions, more salt, of course, and lots more dumplings. Split the stew into two pots so the dumplings will have room to expand. You might even make two versions of them, one plain, one with cheese or herbs, or one with and one without eggs. Both the dumpling recipes are straight out of a 1960 edition of Betty Crocker Cookbook. Remember her?
This dish takes about an hour to make. It might take a lifetime to forget.
La ricetta in italiano segue la salta.
Chicken and dumplings
NB all metric measurements are in the Italian recipe version
Serves 6 to 8
Chicken in pieces — enough to feed your family. I skin mine.
1 large onion in chunks
1 or 2 carrots in chunks, depending on size
2 legs of celery in chunks
optional a splash of Sherry or Marsala
1 quart of water
salt—about 1 teaspoon per 1 pound or .5 kilo of meat and vegetables, start with 1.5 teaspoons
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried tarragon or a different herb if you like
1 pound of potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
In a large pot, like a Dutch oven, with a good lid, heat some oil, or like me you can fry a bit of the fat removed from the chicken to render some fat. Brown the chicken pieces in the fat you are using. When the pieces are all browned on both sides, toss in the wine if you are using it, then add the onion, carrot and celery chunks. Scatter the herbs over all, then pour in the water. Add about 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt. Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste for salt and correct.
Add the potato chunks, cover again and simmer 10 minutes. While the potatoes are parboiling, start making the dumpling batter:
And this is how it looks when you have just scraped the dough onto the stew. All that sparkle in the middle is the quickly boiling gravy bubbling up.
Dumplings 1
1-1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons oil
¾ cup milk
optional 3 heaped tablespoons of grated dry cheese like grana, Parmigiano or any well-aged hard cheese OR 2 teaspoons of dried herbs.
Put the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir together. Put the liquid ingredients in a measuring cup and stir. Add the wet to the dry and stir with a fork until it makes a lumpy batter. Uncover the chicken stew. Using a big spoon, scoop up some batter and scrape it off onto the chunks of vegetables and meat—not into the liquid. Use all the batter. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, cover the whole thing and cook 10 more minutes without peeking. DO NOT PEEK! When you remove the cover it’s there.
Remove the meat, vegetables and dumplings to a serving bowl or platter and check the gravy for salt. You can thicken the gravy quickly if you like, but work fast so your dumplings will be light and fluffy when they get to the table. Just the cooking of the dumplings in it will thicken it a bit.
Grind some fresh pepper over the dish and serve really hot. I like to eat it in a soup bowl because I don’t thicken the gravy and that allows the dumpling to get lots of savory sauce.
Dumplings 2
1 cup flour
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 egg
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Make them exactly as you made the previous dumplings. I like these even more, but I didn’t make them, because I made half a recipe and I didn’t want to waste half an egg.
So how was it? I have just finished eating chicken and dumplings for breakfast, because early morning is when I usually work on food. It gives me the chance to clean up and wash the floor if I’ve been messy. While I wouldn’t recommend this for breakfast, it was excellent.
I had not made dumplings in decades, so I wasn’t sure the first effort would be publishable, but they are so simple to make that they came out perfectly. The only rule is do not open the lid of the pot for that last 10 minutes so they can rise and become dry and fluffy inside their moist skins. I even liked the carrots with their hint of chicken and herbs.
Chicken and dumplings could easily be made ahead a few days without the dumplings, and then when you want them make the dumplings and cook them on the reheated stew. That would make it a really hearty winter or autumn dish that could be ready 30 minutes after you and the family walk in from work, sports, errands. I don’t know for sure, but I think you might be able to reheat dumplings in the microwave. Someone please try it and tell me?
What NOT to do: Do not make this from skinless chicken breasts. You will never get a broth worth basing a whole meal on from them. Do not leave out any of the three first vegetables, because they are there as much to develop the broth as to eat. You don’t have to eat them, but use them. Don’t be afraid to change to herbs you prefer. There are some strong ones I probably wouldn’t like much, but if your family does, use them.
Questi sono gnocchi tipo americano. Li fanno le mamme americane come piatto unico con una stufata di solito di carne o pollo, ma anche con una stufata vegeteriana.
E’ un piatto più apprezzato nel autunno o inverno. A noi ha un carattere che fa caldo, ma anche è fatto delle verdure del inverno più rigido che quello italiano. Le patate, cipolla e carote, il sedano sono le verdure che conservano bene in fondo e una volta facevano quasi tutto di che cosa c’era d’inverno.
Anche se è fatto con manzo o agnello, il pollo è la carne più comune ed è la carne ho cucinato io. Quando è stata una bambina, quest’era il piatto preferito della figliola. L’ho cucinato innumerevole volte per lei. Lo cucinerà ancora ogni volta lei mi chiede.
Pollo in umido coi gnocchi americani
6-8 persone
Pollo a pezzi, quanto basta per la tua famiglia—il mio faccio senza pelle
Una cipolla grande a pezzi grandi
1 o 2 caroti, depende la taglia, a pezzi grandi
2 gambe di sedano, a pezzi grandi
un pò di Marsala
1 litro acqua
sale qb
2 cucchiaini timo
2 cucchiaini drogoncello o un altro profumo preferito
500 g patate, perlate e tagliate a pezzi grandi
In una casseruola grande con una coperchio stretto, riscalda un pò d’olio con un pò del grasso che hai tagliato del pollo. Arrosolare il pollo a tutti lati, e poi aggiungi il vino. Aggiungi la cipolla, la carota e il sedano. Aggiungi I profumi sopra, poi l’acqua. Aggiungi il sale circa 1.5 cucchiaini. Porti a bollizione, e poi coptilo, riduci la fiamma a sobollire and lascia cucinare fino a è cotto il pollo. Con un pollo giovane, ci vuole circa 30 minuti. Assagi e coreggi il sale.
Aggiungi le patate e ricoprilo per 10 minuti. Mentre cuocono le patate, fai la pasta dei gnocchi.
Gnocchi 1
200 g farina 00
2 cuchiaini rasi lievita in polvere
¾ cucchiaino sale
2 cuchiai olio di semi
165 ml latte
se vuoi, anche 3 cucchiai colmi di grana gratugiatta o 2 cucchiaini erbe profumate secchi
Mette gli ingredienti secchi in una ciottola e mescolargli. Mette gli ingredienti fluidi in un fiasco di misura e mescolargli.. Aggiungi gli ingredienti del fiasco sugli ingredienti nella ciottola e mescolargli con una forchetta solamente fino a sono inumidati. NON mescolargli troppo! Ci rimangono chicchi. Va bene così, ti giuro. Scopri la stufata e usando due cucchiai, prendi qualche pasta e togli e fai cadere sulle verdure e la carne, non nella’acqua. Usi tutto la pasta. Cucini scoperta per 10 minuti, e poi coprila e cucini un’altra 10 minuti—rigorosamente senze do scoprila! Se toglie il coperchio troppo presto saranno falliti I gnocchi.
Servi la stufata nei piatti fondi caldo fumante.
Gnocchi 2
130 g farina 00
1.5 cuchiaini rasi di lievita in polvere
.5 cuchiaino sale
2 cucchiai olio di semi
1 uovo
90 ml latte
2 cucchiai prezzemolo tritato
Procedi precisamente come i gnocchi 1. Mi piacciono anche più i gnocchi 2, ma perchè volevo fare la metà di la ricetta e la metà d’un uovo fa fatica, ho fatto gnocchi 1. Ma I gnocchi 2 sono più ricchi.
Come era? Buonissima! Davvero un piatto per I giorni che fa freddo, che tira il vento, che piove a fa buio permanente. E’ anche un piatto che piace ai bambini. Per I giorni impegnati, fai la stufata un’altro giorno, e poi riscaldila e fai I gnocchi proprio prima del pasto. E’ anche un piatto elastico, che se venga qualcuno in più si può taglieare I pezzi di pollo più piccoli e fare più dei gnocchi. In America quella qualità è stata importante, perchè a casa nostra sono venuti gli ospiti inaspettati.
Cosa non fare: Non fare questo piatto dei petti do pollo senza pelle. Non raggiunge mai un brodo saporito così. Non omettere niente dei profumi, anche se non vuoi mangairli, fanno il brodo. Non hai paura di cambiare l’erbe profume secondo gusto tuo.
October 3rd, 2008
Not my mom’s, but Michelle’s mom’s. Just think, it is only six months until beach picnics begin. I’m ready.
Anyway, potato salad is good any time there is a ham, or hotdogs or, or, or…
September 26th, 2008
This week Cherrye Moore, innkeeper estraordinaria and faithful blogger has prepared a favorite American dish that may conquer Calabria. Considering how very popular the potato is in Italy, it has always interested me that they don’t eat them baked and stuffed. Maybe they now will?
September 19th, 2008
Mary of The Flavors of Abruzzo has made us her version of potato salad. With temperatures scratching the 90s, it’s a timely choice and a very interesting recipe, too.
It may look like the page isn’t going to load, but give it a few seconds and it does show up. There is a file problem on her blog that hasn’t been solved yet, but after a couple of color changes, the article showed up for me.
Thank you, Mary, for taking time from your new boy to cook for us.
We’re very sorry if the link to Mary didn’t work for you. Her server has unresolved issues, but I have changed the link now to one that works.
September 12th, 2008
That is the beginning of plum syrup I made experimentally and tried yesterday on pancakes. Yes, pancakes. I don’t like pancakes, but I know a lot of people do, so I figured I’d better try it out the way others would. I liked the syrup very much, the pancakes, not so much. I love crepes, but all the things people say about pancakes: light! fluffy! ethereal! cloudlike! are the things I don’t like about them. I like chewy, dense, tender and eggy. What you see above is wild plums. There are three kinds here: sloes, red ones and these blueish ones. These have a acerbic quality I love and rarely find that reminds me of chokecherries, another thing I can’t explain. I have never seen them again since I left Maine. What the heck are they and where else do they grow? The point is, though, that very likely wherever you live there is a wild fruit like this. It’s something most would not eat alone and raw. Like a cranberry or a lingonberry. It is sour and makes the inside of your mouth pucker all over. That, my friend, makes incredibly good syrup that you can use in lots of ways. These fruits are also generally jammed with vitamins, which is probably why we have to fight the birds for them.
The next thought is that tomorrow, September 5, 2008, is the first day in which you can email your entry to Alec to win the soup contest. I wish I could enter! While listening to friends discuss what might make a good entry, I thought of about 30 soups I would enter if I could. Hah! Fodder for this blog through the winter, eh?
Eccociqua! We’re back! Starting Friday a whole new series of great American food as it can be made in Italy. Every recipe will as always be in English and Italian. It’s like the first day back at school for us, and we are standing here in our new shoes and with our new pencils ready to go. We’ve been batting around and sharing out a list of some of the most delicious American dishes there are, besides us, of course.
A reminder: if you would like to join us and can translate your recipe into Italian, we’d love to have you.
Hot under the collar:
Want to read some of what I think about this importantissimo election in the USA? Here, here and here are some articles that say it better than I can at the moment. My throat is too full of bitter gall to make sweet sense. Bleeding Espresso has also had some well-weighed words to offer.
September 11th, 2008
Maybe not, but it feels that way. I have never seen them for sale anywhere in the whole country. To have them I have to get the right cucumber seeds from Germany, dill seeds from wherever — these are a gift from Canada — and grow them. I had a hard time getting the large number of cucumbers and the dill seedheads at the same time. The cucumbers slowed down when the dill was just blooming.
Once you get those things out of the way, however, the pickles are dead easy. What you see is a big jar of dilled cucumber pickles, and another jar of pickled green tomatoes, because they were there and the cucumbers weren’t.
Pickling, like jams and salting, is safe to do. You might occasionally lose a jar of product but you can’t kill anyone like you can with some kinds of canning. I find that reassuring and inspiring.
Kosher Dill Pickles
smallish cucumbers up to 4″ long
peeled garlic cloves — 2 per jar
chili pepper — 1 per jar
dill heads — 2 per jar
grape leaves or a piece of alum the size of a grape (I don’t even know the Italian word for alum and I do have grapevines, so that’s what I used.)
Brine:
250 ml (1 cup) apple cider vinegar
500 ml (2 cups) water
1 tablespoon or soupspoon of coarse salt — do not use table salt!
Wash and trim the cucumbers, then soak them in cold water overnight.
Mix the brine and bring it to a boil in an acid proof pot.
Clean very well and sterilize the number of jars and lids you need. Take one out and pack the garlic, the chili, the dill and the cucumbers in it as tightly as you can. Add the grape leaf or alum, then using a funnel, pour the hot brine over it all until the jar is full. Screw the lid down onto the jar and leave it upside down on a towel on the counter to cool. They’ll be ready to eat in a couple of weeks.
If you use tomatoes, I think you need to cut them in half lengthwise for the flavor to penetrate. The rest is exactly the same. I would happily also pickle celery chunks, blanched cauliflower, carrot or lots of things, but how many pickles can I really use? I am thinking of making my grandmother’s mustard pickles which were my real favorite as a kid. It all depends on the cucumber vines now.
September 2nd, 2008
Well, it turns out that eg is not nearly as normal as I thought. She sometimes does photograph her food. She sent a picture of her peppers.
She did not send the recipe.
She also sent this one of zucchine frying, a photo in which you can admire her unusual choice in kitchen color. Yay, eg!
I appreciate boldness. I especially appreciate boldness in relatives.
Anybody else have photos of their food that they are proud of?
Today is the first day that I help Alex a bit with Food and Wine Friday at Blog from Italy. We are hoping to have something different to say from the usual about Italian food and wine, who eats it, what they think of it and where to get it. Today he is all over gelato. Go slobber on your monitor!
August 1st, 2008
You can get lucky and buy hotdog and hamburger buns as good as anything you are used to. Or you can buy an innocent looking package of buns and they will be as sweet as Italian breakfast brioche. That really bothered me. So I wandered around the internet and found a recipe to make them at home, then of course had to alter the recipe to be made with Italian ingredients.
I made these miniature. I had just found packets of tiny hotdogs that were 25 grams each, four to a 100 gram package. I thought they were really cute, so making the buns for them was even more apt. This recipe made twelve each of tiny buns. If you made them normal sized, I think you could make sixteen of them. Naturally, most people will want to make all one kind, not both kinds.
These are a bit firmer and breadier than buns I bought in USA supermarkets. I would not hesitate to use them for any sandwich for which a soft bun is all right. That would include lobster rolls (oh sigh) or crab or shrimp rolls (which we can do here depending on if crab meat is available. It’s real bread, just a soft bread without a crunch crust.
I have always preferred the style of hotdog buns with smooth top and bottom and rough sides. Before making these I had no idea I had any sentiments about hotdog buns, but I apparently do. Anyway, I put them close together so they would come out that way.
Hotdog or hamburger buns
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (250 ml) milk
1/4 cup (125 ml) water or you may need a bit more
1/4 cup (50 g) butter
2-1/4 cups (300 g) 00 flour, farina di grano tenero
1-1/2 cups (200 g) bread flour, farina di grano duro, or farina di Manitoba
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast which is also, handily, 7 g just as you find it in Italy
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 egg for egg washing
DIRECTIONS:
In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup (230 g) flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. You might need a bit more water if the weather is dry or the flour is. I use the dough hooks on my Braun multi-mixer. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, or you can do most of it with dough hooks and just do the last bit by hand.
Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on an oven paper covered baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 30 to 45 minutes. It may be the difference between all purpose US flour and the mix of two Italian flours, but mine definitely needed more rising time that that predicted by the recipe.
Make an egg wash of an egg and a bit of cold water, then brush it over the surfaces before putting them into the oven. That’s how you get that shiny, golden crust.
Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
For Hot Dog Buns: Shape each piece into a 6×4 inch (10 X 15 cm) rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly, and pinch edges and ends to seal. Let rise about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake as above. You could also make Philly steak sub rolls, but I think it would make about 6 and take from 12-15 minutes to bake. Try and tell me what you get—- I am on a DIET and cannot do it.
It takes less than 1.5 hours, and for most of that you are doing nothing. This is a worthy project! At my market prices, it costs about one euro, too. Stick them into a plastic sack and tie it tightly with a twistie and in the freezer they’ll stay fresh at least a month.
Gnam gnam!
In Italiano:
Questi sono i panini per hamburger e wurstel come sono dalla vera cucina americana. Non somigliano tanto quelli venduti nel supermercato. Provateli!
Panini per hotdog e hamburger
ingredienti:
250 ml latte
125 ml acqua (o possibilmente di più)
50 g burro
300 g farina 00 di grano tenero
200 g farina di grano duro
una bustina (7 g) lievita di birra in polvere
2 cucchiai di zucchero
1 cucchiaino di sale
1 uovo
1 uovo per la glassa
Preperazione: circa 15 minute e poi 40 lievitazione e poi 12 minute di cottura. Meno di 1.5 ore per un pane buono, morbido e sano!
Riscalda in una piccola padella il latte, l’acqua e il burro fino a 50 gradi.
In una ciottola grande, mette 230 g di farina e aggiunge il liquido, battendo fortamente. Aggiunge l’uovo and mescolare bene. Man mano, aggiunge il resto della farina, battendo ogni volta di incorporarla bene. Poi, su una superficie spargata di farina, lavorate la pasta fino a è lisce e elastica.
Per panini di hamburger, dividete la pasta in 16 pezzi, facendo palle. Distribuiscete i panini sulla carta da forno su una placca. Copriteli e lasciateli a lievitare 30-45 minuti.
Quando sono pronti, riscalda il forno a 200° C.
Mescolate l’uovo che rimane con un po’ di acqua con una forchetta per fare una glassa e poi con un pennelino aplicatela su i panini. Infornateli per 10-12 minute, fino al sono dorati.
Per fare i panini do hotdog, dividete la pasta in 16 pezzi, e fa un rettangolo di 10X15 cm. Iniziando da lato più lungo, rottolarli stretti e poi sigillarli bene gli estremità sotto il panino. Finite e infornateli come di sopra.
Sono ottimi per il congelatore, metteteli in un sacco di plastica, siggilatela con i twistie, e i panini rimangono freschi per almeno un mese. La ricetta costa circa un euro qui in Umbria.
June 27th, 2008
Mary of Abruzzo Flavors was to have published our Made in America recipe this Friday, but she went off and delivered a little boy instead. That would be Luigi and I know he is a very welcome new little Italian, and also a very welcome new little American!
So Friday, the Made in America recipe will be right here. It’s perfect timing, because it is something you can use for the 4th of July.
June 25th, 2008
My Italian friends don’t see the point to it, but Barb has delighted her friends just a few miles south with this recipe for cole slaw. Mangiate!
June 20th, 2008
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