Roasted Peppers

Ingredients:
Bell peppers (any color)
Olive oil
Fresh garlic, minced

There are many techniques for roasting peppers. In the old days, they would hold them over the open fire of a wood stove. The modern equivalent would be the open flame of a gas stove (using tongs of course). A much simpler way is to lay them flat under the broiler.

 

Cut the top off of the peppers, cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place skin side up on a cookie sheet and press down so that they lay as flat as possible. 

Broil on high until the skin becomes mostly black and blistered. WATCH THEM. They should take between 5 and 10 minutes.

Remove from the broiler and place them in a paper bag. This will allow them to steam and the skin will come off much easier. Wait 15 minutes, remove from bag and rinse under cold water while rubbing the skin off with your hands.

 

Cut the peppers into slices and toss with garlic and olive oil. Refrigerate over night.

Martorana Cooking Weekend

Eat, Play, Love

 

That's exactly what I had the pleasure of doing one recent weekend this summer with my Mom and her 4 siblings. My Aunts Marian, Martha and Jane and Uncle Frank all travelled to my parent's house on Cape Cod for a weekend of cooking, storytelling, eating, drinking and even a little impromptu dancing.

 

They don't look much different now (Jane, Carolyn, Frank, Marian and Martha)

 

The weekend began with a review of the menu (in case anyone thought they would get out of actually cooking).

 

 

Everyone was eager to start and so I handed out some "I'm Italian" aprons and we got to work.

 

 

 

 

We shared and cooked some of our favorite family recipes telling stories about the past and their place in our family lore.

 

We cooked our way right through the weekend with some time off for shopping and the beach on Saturday and a little more shopping on Sunday (after which we may have also stopped for a cocktail- c'mon we worked hard!) 

 

 Cooking my way through these family recipes can be a bit of a lonely process and I've been happy to share them with guests and co-workers on occasion. But to be able to cook them alongside family and learn from those who have helped pass them down ? Priceless.

 

Thanks to my Mom, Carolyn for being the logistics-queen that she is and for doing all of the shopping and lending her kitchen, to Marian for her Italian-cooking expertise and her home-canned tomatoes, Martha for her humor and plethora of stories, Jane for her sous chef skills, pictures and family history and Frank for spending his weekend with a bunch of woman and doing the least popular job of manning the deep fryer. Thanks also to my Dad for putting up with all of us and for of course, tending bar.

 

I look forward to sharing the results of our labor on these pages and keeping the Martorana culinary quest alive.

 

Thanks again to Team Martorana - I had a blast !

 

 

 

Stuffed Zucchini

Late summer means lots of great vegetables from the garden or farmer's markets. My father had a huge garden in our backyard in Glen Rock. He always grew tomatoes, peppers, string beans and zucchini among other things. He has an equally large garden today at my parent's house on Cape Cod. He tends to it like a delicate piece of art resulting in beautiful, colorful and delicious produce.

 

This is one of many zucchini recipes made in the Schmitt household and the one I make at the first sign of local squash. The zucchini is hollowed out and stuffed with onion, tomatoes and cheese - it tastes like summer !

Ingredients:
1 medium zucchini
1 small tomato
1 small yellow onion
salt and pepper
1 oz Swiss cheese, grated or cut into small pieces
Parmesan cheese, grated

Local is best

 

The first thing you need to do is hollow out the zucchini "boats". Cut the ends off the zucchini and then in half length wise. Using a small spoon, scrape out the soft pulp and seeds. Chop the flesh into small pieces and set aside.

 

 

Blanch the zucchini halves in boiling water for 3 minutes and remove.

 

 

Meanwhile, chop the onion and tomato.

 

 

 

 

Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet. Add the tomatoes, onion and zucchini flesh and sauté until the onions are just beginning to brown.

 

 

Turn off the heat and add the Swiss cheese until just beginning to melt.

 

 

 

Spoon the mixture into the zucchini boats and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly brown.

Captain Ed's Boat Salad

My father is a great dad and almost as good of a sailor.

 

Water was a constant theme when we were growing up - whether playing in the brook behind our house or trips to the Jersey Shore and Cape Cod. We have all re-located from our home town of Glen Rock but one thing is consistent: we all still live near the water. From Maine down to Virginia and points all over the globe, we play in it, eat from it and in my sister Catherine's case, write about it.

 

I have a quote hanging in my office written by "Anonymous" that I reference often:

 

"The point is, to be in the water, by the water, or on a bar stool with the water splashing gently at your feet"

 

One of my fondest memories is going out on my Dad's sailboat 

 on the Long Island Sound and Buzzard's Bay.

 

 

You could never predict how the winds would be on any particular day but you could always count on 3 things: good company, great tunes and my Dad's famous "boat salad".

 

Inspired by a lunchtime favorite when my Dad worked in Midtown, Manhattan, Boat Salad was always a staple aboard "About Time". My dad said  "Most people who have joined me on the boat will say that they are not sure about the sailing but the "Boat Salad" was great". I disagree.

 

Passengers were always put to work: steering, tacking, anchoring. But the pleasure of being on the water, the peacefulness and the time spent with family and good friends made it a pleasure. And The Captain made it so. Boat Salad was merely the delicious side dish.

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of pasta mini shells or rotini

8 oz frozen peas

8 oz imitation crab, flaked

4 tbsp. mayonnaise

fresh cracked black pepper

 

 

Cook the pasta al dente and mix with the remaining ingredients.

 

 

 

Set sail.

 

Relax.

 

And let the wind carry your sails.

 

(Happy Father's Day!)

 

 



Chocolate Ladyfinger Torte

For someone who often claimed to be "not a baker", my Mom has made some great homemade desserts. Sure, you could cheat and make this with instant pudding and cool whip but I promise you, this tastes much better. This is a great warm weather dessert as it is nice and light and requires no baking. I think it would also be great with some strawberries.

The glue to this dessert is the lady fingers (the soft kind). When I was little I always remember giggling a little over that name - "lady fingers" - because they look like anything but. Man fingers, maybe, but not a lady's. Turns out, many countries originally called them "cat's tongues" which is more descriptively accurate to their size. I wonder why that didn't stick ?

A special shout out to my great friend Lisa for her assistance on this one. Turns out, its a lot easier to take pictures when someone else is doing the cooking !

Ingredients:
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
3 tbsp water
4 eggs separated
1/4 lb margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
10 double ladyfingers

Mix 7 oz of the chocolate (save the additional ounce for garnish) with the water in a mixing bowl and melt over a pot of hot water (double boiler).

Remove and beat in egg yolks one at a time. Add vanilla.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and gradually add sugar.

Fold meringue into chocolate mixture.

Beat 1 cup of cream until stiff and fold in.

Yum!

Stand ladyfingers around buttered 8" spring pan.

My Sous Chef, Lisa

Spoon in filling.

Chill overnight. Top with remaining cream (whipped) and grate chocolate over the top.

Cucumber Zucchini Soup

I love soup any day of the year but my favorite soups are the ones my mother made with vegetables from our garden. Now that the farmer's markets have re-opened in Hoboken, I look forward to making huge pots of these to enjoy on even the hottest of summer days.

This particular soup solved an ongoing dilemma in the Schmitt household - what to do with the onslaught of zucchini plucked from my father's garden. In particular, what to do with the extra-large ones that were left to grow a bit too long. Because of their large, inedible seeds, they were assigned to dishes like this one by discarding said seeds and using the flesh alone.

Choose your weapon

Ingredients:

3-4 medium zucchini (or 1 jumbo!), sliced

1-2 medium cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and sliced

3 ribs celery, sliced

2 scallions, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

4-5 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 tsp thyme

Salt & pepper

1 cup heavy cream (or milk, yogurt, sour cream)

Simmer zucchini, cucumber, celery and scallions with herbs in broth until soft.

Before

After

Let cool slightly. Puree in blender or food processor.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in cream.



My Favorite Chef

Most of the food I make I learned from my mom. I remember clearly the first thing she taught me to make on my own was scrambled eggs (with a dash of milk and salt & pepper). From a small age, wearing our mother/daughter matching aprons, to present day, I was always eager to help in the kitchen and learn from the Master herself.

 

My mother cooked a balanced meal every day of the week (except for an occasional pizza Friday) and never made the same thing 2 weeks in a row. There were no chicken nuggets or Lunchables in our house - only roast chicken, homemade tomato sauce, brie sandwiches (!), meatloaf, etc, etc.

 

Yet, sometimes its the littlest things that stick with you - little tips and tricks that you learn from Mom. I'll never be as good of a cook as my mom. Everything she makes just seems to taste so much better ! But I like to think there is a little piece of her in everything I whip together.

 

Like a simple grilled cheese sandwich made the way her mother made it with a little bit of mayo spread on the inside of the bread.

 

Or her famous Egg on Bread (which my nephew confirms that she makes better.)

 

 



 

 

Even her tuna fish salad tastes better (onion, celery and a dash of milk!) and always made in the same little bowl that my grandmother made it in.

 

There is something about Mom's cooking that soothes the soul and warms one's inner being. The recipes I've been documenting here are no doubt delicious, but its their passing from mother to daughter - from my grandmother, to my mother, to me - that makes them extra special.

 

Happy Mother's Day to My Favorite Chef !