Apple Crisp

October = Apple picking.

 

At least for every single person I know on Facebook it seems, its a time for the obligatory apple picking photo-ops: pictures of tots holding pumpkins and sitting in wagons and adults modeling their favorite fall sweaters.

 

But what do you do with those huge bags of apples now that you've brought them home ?

 

 

May I suggest this simple recipe for apple crisp.

 

Where many recipes call for multiple spices and added ingredients like nuts and oatmeal, this recipe pays respect to the apple with just a light toss with cinnamon and a simple buttery, crumb topping.

 

This recipe comes from a departed, family friend. My mother said she likes to make it and think of old times when many afternoons were spent at her house. So, I dedicate this post to Mrs. A.

 

 

Ingredients:

8 medium baking apples (I used Fiji)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter

 

 

Pare and core apples. Cut into slices.

 

 

 

 

Mix apples with water and cinnamon and put into a greased 1 1/2 qt baking dish.

 

 

Crumble the rest of the ingredients together. I find it best to cut the butter into pieces and then mix together with my fingers, breaking the butter into smaller pieces.

 

 

Buttery crumble

 

Spread on top of the apples.

 

 

 

 

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

 

 

 

Serve warm.

 

Great with vanilla ice cream!

 

 



Stir-Fried Rice Noodles

Before the Food Network, if you wanted cooking lessons you would tune into PBS to watch people like Julia Child or Jacques Pepin or if you were lucky enough to be friends with my mom, you could learn right in her kitchen.

 

We had Filipino neighbors who lived down the street and in the 80's my mother asked one of the ladies of the household to come do a cooking lesson for her and her friends. This stir-fry quickly began a hit in our house and still is today.

 

It is very versatile as you can use whatever veggies and proteins that you wish. The original recipe called for Chinese sausage that is a bit hard to find. I substituted shrimp here but tofu, pork or chicken would work well too.

 

 

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. peanut oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 carrots, cut into strips

2 stalks of celery, sliced (including tops)

1 pkg mushrooms, sliced

3 scallions, cut into thin strips

2 cups Chinese or napa cabbage, cut into strips
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and cut into thirds

1 pkg rice noodles

3 tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp. fish sauce

14 1/2 oz can of chicken broth

 

 

 

Begin by preparing the rice noodles as directed - by either soaking then in hot water or boiling for 3 minutes. Drain and put aside.

 

Heat the peanut oil in a large wok. Add the garlic, carrots, celery and scallions and stir-fry until just beginning to soften (about 3 min).

 

 

 

Add the mushrooms and continue to stir fry until mushrooms are soft.

 

Add the shrimp and cabbage and stir-fry until the shrimp turns pink (about 3 min).

 

 

Season with the soy sauce and fish sauce and mix well.

 

 

Add the chicken stock.

 

 



 

 

 Add the noodles and cook until the liquid is absorbed.

 

 

 

 

 



Tomato Basil Soup

 

 

Nothing tastes like summer to me more than a bowl of tomato basil soup (except maybe Stuffed Zucchini). And no better tomato to make it with than Jersey's finest. Anyone from New Jersey knows that there is nothing better than late August Jersey tomatoes (and corn!). No sooner have they ripened on their vines than I make this soup...over and over and over, until alas they disappear for another year.

 

We grew an abundance of tomatoes in our garden growing up. I used to love eating them right off the vine or in a cold gazpacho or creamy, crunchy BLT - pleasures reserved for the way-too-short tomato season. The nice thing about this soup is that it can be frozen before adding the broth and thus enjoyed all year-round.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. margarine
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 large ripe tomatoes
1/2 cup packed basil
salt to taste
3/4 tsp sugar
14 1/2 can of chicken broth
1 tbsp. Pastina

 

Start by preparing the tomatoes. Score the bottom of each tomato with a cross. This will make removing the skin much easier.

 

 

 

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water until you see the skin beginning to pull away (3-5 minutes).

 

 

 

 

Remove the tomatoes and rinse under cold water or let cool until you can handle them. Remove the skins and then coarsely chop.

 

 

 

 

In a large pot, melt the margarine and sauté the onions and carrot until the onion is limp.

 

 

 

 

Stir in the tomatoes, basil, salt and sugar.

 

 

 

 

Bring to a boil and simmer until tomatoes are mushy - about 20 min.

 

 

 

 

Cool and puree in blender.

 

(This is the point at which you can freeze the mixture)

 

 

 

To serve: boil 1 can of chicken broth, add the Pastina and cook until pasta is done.

 

 

 



Stir in the tomato mixture and heat (do not boil).

 

 

Eat while dreaming about summer....its only 279 days away.

Stuffed Clams

 

 

The Martorana siblings were not the only ones who did some cooking up at Cape Cod this summer. After my aunts and uncle left and the house quieted down a little I spent a few more days with my parents doing are usual Cape Cod summer rituals like shopping, going to the beach, biking, waterside dining and of course, eating some clams.

 

We always get steamers at Cape Cod in the summer and this year I added a special request for my father's stuffed clams.

 

My father and his family spent their summers in Breezy Point, NY. In the late 1940's, the water in Jamaica Bay had not yet become polluted as it is today. My father and his sisters would walk along the tidal flats at low tide looking for little air holes and then dig up the unsuspecting clams below with their shovels, bringing home a pail full of them for my grandfather to steam.

 

Breezy Point, 1940's
(Mary, Ann Marie, Edward and Margaret Schmitt)

 

Cape Cod, 1970's
(Me and my brother, Ed)

 

 

We still eat them the same way they did back in their bungalow, rinsed in clam broth to remove any sand, dipped in butter and then eaten with a bite of buttered toast.

 

 

 

 

Stuffed clams are made with the larger, hard-shelled cherrystones. Though any hard-shelled clam will work, you probably don't want to try stuffing those little guys on the right.

 

 

 

 

My dad's family often made the recipe that follows, reminiscent of the baked clams they would get as takeout from Lundy's in Sheepshead Bay. My father enjoyed making the trip with his dad and sitting at the bar waiting for their order to be ready, a beer for grandpa, a ginger ale with a cherry for dad. Likewise, I enjoyed making and eating these with him.

 

 

That's not Opie, it's my Dad!
(and my grandfather, Henry Schmitt)

 

 

Ingredients:

24 Cherrystone Clams

1/2 cup onions, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup green pepper, diced

1/4 cup pimentos, chopped

1 stack Ritz crackers

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup butter, melted

bacon, cooked halfway (optional)

 

 

Steam clams in a large pot until the shells pop open. Remove from shells and chop. Reserve the shells and some of the residual clam water.

 

 

 

 

Pulse the Ritz crackers in a food processor to turn them into crumbs.

 

 

 

 

 

Mix with the clams and the other remaining ingredients and enough of the clam juice to moisten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoon the mixture into the clam shells and top with a bacon strip.

 

 

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy on the back deck with a nice cold beer (or a Ginger Ale and cherry).

 







Peasant Food

  

 

My mom and I always joke that some of our favorite dishes are mere peasant foods.

 

Peasant foods, or Cucina Povera in Italian (meaning poor or frugal cooking), are those dishes made from humble ingredients but hearty enough to be called a meal. Usually one-pot dishes, they were popular during hard economic times in many countries including during the Great Depression here in the United States.  Every nationality has their own version of peasant foods such as tacos in Latin America or succotash here in North America. In Italy, meat was often reserved for Sunday's meal and so during the week, dishes made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients filled the menu. Panzanella made great use of leftover bread and Minestrone cleaned out the vegetable bin.

 

 

The funny thing about peasant foods is that even during better times, they are still enjoyed as representatives of the cultures that gave birth to them.

 

A visit to my parents house is always an excuse for my mom to whip up some of our family's favorites: macaroni and anything - like macaroni and peas (above) or Broccoli and Macaroni - or String Beans and Franks.

The latter two were enjoyed during the The Martorana Cooking Weekend despite times being good....and I mean very, very good.

String Beans and Frankfurters

 

 

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1 pkg beef hot dogs (can substitute turkey or veggie)

1 lb string beans, ends snapped off

1 large can plum tomatoes

1 cup basil (whole leaves)

 

 

My mother used to make this in a pressure cooker. Today, we both use our crock pots but it can also be made in a regular, large pot.

 

Saute the onions until translucent.

 

Add the remaining ingredients.

 

 

 

Cook until string beans are nice and soft (about 4 hours in a crock pot).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Broccoli and Macaroni

Ingredients:
1/2 lb Ditalini pasta
1 large head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
Garlic salt

Begin by cooking the pasta according to directions.

When its about half way done, add the broccoli and cook until pasta is done.

Spoon into serving bowls including some of the cooking water.

Season with garlic salt.