Tuna Fish Patties

Ingredients:

  • 1 can 6 1/2 ounce tuna fish, drained
  • 3/4 cup mashed potatoes
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup bread crumb flour

Mix all the ingredients together, form into patties (about 2″ in diameter), dip in flour and fry in small amount of olive oil.

This is my own recipe.  I guess I just made it up one day when I wanted to use up some leftover mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I make them into little balls and the kids serve them at parties. They’re like the cauliflower fritters – they get eaten up really fast.


Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken breast (see below)
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
  • 4 cups cubed bread
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • eggs, flour, seasoned bread crumbs

Mix together all the above ingredients except the chicken, eggs, flour and bread crumbs.

Skin and bone a whole chicken breast. Cut the breast in half. Flatten (not too thin) between wax paper. Stuff both breast with filling. Roll jelly-rOll style. Tie up with string.

Before frying roll in flour, dip in beaten egg and then roll in seasoned bread crumbs. Fry in olive oil until lightly brown and then cook on low heat until done (about 20 minutes.)

I have always enjoyed learning new recipes.  This is one that I saw in the newspaper many years ago.  How many?  I don’t remember but I think I’ve been making this since I lived in Pennsauken so it’s about 15-20 years old.  I don’t make it anymore.  It’s too much work, but I taught JoAnn  how to make them and maybe she’ll keep the recipe going.  I used to make it on Sundays and serve it as a main dish or with spaghetti.


Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 large onion, sliced and diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 28 ounce can tomato puree
  • 1 18 ounce can tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed anise (or 1/2 teaspoon whole)
  • 3 tomato paste cans of water (see note)

Saute onions and garlic in oil in a large pot. Cook until golden. Add rest of ingredients. After sauce starts to boil, lower heat to simmer. At this time add a pinch of baking soda which will cause sauce to foam. Remove foam with spoon. Cover pot and let cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Recipe can be doubled and then frozen for future use. Add meats such as meat balls, pork or Italian sausage for flavor. If using ground beef, cook separately and drain off fat and then add to cooking sauce.

NOTE: More water may be needed if sauce becomes too thick .

When my mother used to cook she never measured ingredients.  She would just add a pinch of this or a pinch of that  and it always tasted good.  I began to measure and write down my recipes when my family started to ask me how I made certain things.  Of course this recipe can be changed to adjust to the tastes of the cook.  I usually do not like to freeze things but I have found that sauce is one thing that seems to taste better after it has been frozen.


Sauce with Cauliflower

Ingredients – Sauce

  • 6 cups of Italian tomato sauce
  • 3/4 cups of ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup raisins

Saute ground beef in hot olive oil. Drain off extra fat. Add to sauce and cook for one-half hour. Add raisins.

Meanwhile parboil cauliflower for 4 or 5 minutes then break into even smaller florettes. Add to sauce mixture and cook another 15 minutes. If sauce is too thick, add water from cauliflower.

Serve over spaghetti such as Perciatelli. Top with fried bread crumb mixture (see below).

Ingredients — Fried Bread Crumbs

Toast 2 cups of bread crumbs in butter in a small frying pan until desired color. Add salt to taste.

For some members of the family this is probably their favorite spaghetti dish I make.  This was my mothers recipe.  We used to call it Pasta in Carrozza.  It means Pasta in a Carriage. I don’t know why we called it that.  In this pasta there is something from all the food groups, like raisins for fruit, cauliflower and tomatoes for for the vegetables, pasta and breadcrumbs for the grains, beef for meat and butter for dairy.  The Perciatelli is a good spaghetti to use but you can also use any thick spaghetti.


Rice and Veal Stew

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound veal cut into 1″ cubes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
  • 1 cup white rice
  • 2 cups water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Fry meat in hot olive oil until almost brown. Add sliced onion and continue cooking till onion is golden. Add salt, pepper, the tomato sauce, rice and water. Cover. Cook 20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked

Now this is a really old recipe, one that I made in Youngstown.  It’s very easy to make but I don’t think I’ve made it in fifty years or more!


Meatballs

Ingredients:

  • 1 Ib ground beef
  • 3/4 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup grated Italian cheese (preferably aged Locatelli)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 cup Olive oil

Mix together all the above ingredients. Roll into small meatballs (about 1 1/2″ in diameter). Fry in olive oil until cooked. Keep turning balls. Do not let the oil get too hot. Drain on paper towels and add to spaghetti sauce. One pound of meat makes 18 meatballs.

I probably add meatballs to spaghetti sauce more than any other meat.  Sometimes I also add sausage or hamburger for flavor.  A little trick I have learned when making the meatballs is to put a lid on them after they have browned.  I find this seems to make them come out more tender.


Homemade Rolled Noodles

Ingredients:

  • 1 small box of farina
  •  pound of flour
  • 2 cups of water

Mix together all the above ingredients. The dough should be rather hard. Let it rest 1/2 hour.

Knead until smooth.

Roll into 1/4″ circles, the size of a pie. Put each layer on top of one another and brush each one with oil. Cover wi th a cloth.

Cut each circle into 2 inch strips and then into more narrow strips about 1/4 inch. Roll each small piece with buzze needles and then layout to dry or place in a small pan to dry. While first circle is freezing, rollout another circle .

 This is another recipe I used to make long ago.  I can’t do it anymore because of my hands.  I always made them for Eileen’s birthday.  She lives them.  They took a lot of time.  I doubt if any members of the family will ever make them because you have to use a special rolling tool called a buzze needle.  These are really long reeds of grass that come from Italy.  I still have the ones my sister Josie got from Italy.

 


Escarole and Pasta

Saute one onion that has been finely chopped. Add one 14 ounce can tomatoes. Season with salt. Cook until tomatoes are very dry. Add enough water to cook desired amount of pasta. Use spaghetti that has been broken into approximately 1″ pieces.

Cut about 1 pound escarole into small pieces.  Cook in above water and then add pasta and cook until tender.

I probably got this from my mother.  This is a very inexpensive meal to make so I used to make it when the kids were little.  I haven’t made it in many, many years.


Chicken with Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken, cut up in small pieces
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cups sherry wine
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • oil
  • salt and pepper

Saute onion and garlic in a little oil. Add chicken and sherry. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and let simmer one-half hour. Add soy sauce and cook another 15 minutes. Uncover and cook until dry, reserving some of the juice.

Serve over hot, white rice .

This is not really my own recipe.  When my granddaughter Janice visited me in 1971 she made it and I made it for many years after that.  It is very easy and tasty.


Chicken with Potatoes

(Quantity of chicken and potatoes depends on the serving sizes. )

Put cut-up chicken (with or without skin) in a roasting pan. Add cut-up sweet and white potatoes.

Cover and put in oven preheated to 350°. When half cooked add seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder or whatever you prefer) and a little olive oil. Return to oven and cook uncovered until done .

The only thing I remember about this recipe is that I used to make it in Youngstown when my kids were little.  My oldest is 76 and my youngest is 70 so that tells you how old it is.


Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients:

  • flour
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 3/4 cup grated Italian cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • I clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 lb chicken breasts sliced thin, cutlet style

Dip chicken (you can also substitute veal) in some flour, then in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs that have been seasoned with cheese, salt and chopped garlic. You can add dried parsley for color.

Fry in approximately 1/2 inch deep olive oil. Add a few pieces at a time. Do not let oil get too hot or cool down.

Drain on a paper towel to remove extra oil .

 I have no idea where I got this recipe.  I guess I just made up my own.  I used to make it with veal but I realized it was just as good with chicken breasts.  The secret is to make sure the cutlets are nice and thin. Keep the oil at the same temperature by always adding a cutlet as you remove one.  Sometimes when I’m making them and a member of the family is around, they try to eat them as I remove them from the fry pan.  I guess you can say they’re a favorite with everybody.