Chicken with Lentl and Cannelini Bean Soup

8 oz Stock ( Chicken )
2 oz Lentl beans
2 oz Cannelini beans
2 oz Fresh chopped garlic
2 oz Fresh diced carrot
2 oz Fresh diced onion
2 oz Butter
½ oz Flour
1 oz Fresh Italian parsley
1 oz Fresh basil
2 oz Grilled chicken
3 oz Extra virgin olive oil
2 oz Cooked orcchetti pasta or orzo

In large stock pot add the following items and cook on medium – low heat. Olive oil, garlic, shallot, onion, and carrot. Saute aromatics for 10 minutes or until slightly softened. Add butter, flour and beans and cook another 5 minutes or until flour is cooked out. Add stock and fresh parsley and basil and chicken and cook until soup reaches boiling temperature and cook for 5 minutes.

Roasted Sweet Pepper and Tomato Pesto

Basil
Garlic
Roasted Red Peppers
Roasted Yellow Peppers
Shallot
Garlic
Fresh Tomato
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Pecorrino and Parmigiano Cheeses
Pine Nuts

Place all ingredients in large food processor and pulse two to three times, once ingredients start to combine, slowly add in olive oil until texture becomes smooth but not pureed. Toss with hot pasta of your choice and garnish with more cheese

Tennessee Fresh Black Trufle w/ Cognac and Cream Baked Rigatoni

Fresh Black Trufles ( just a shaving  .025 oz )
Fresh Butter
Fresh Cream
Salt and Pepper
Cognac
Fontina
Peccorino Cheese
Rigatoni Pasta

Saute butter and trufles until butter turns light brown, add cognac and burn alcohol for one minute. Add cream, fontina and peccorino and let thicken into sauce. Toss in Rigatoni and coat all noodles well. Place in bake / serving bowl and top wit fresh crouton breadcrumbs and more peccorino cheese
Garnish with fresh Italian parsley and enjoy.

DO NOT GET YOUR CHOLESTEROL CHECKED THE NEXT DAY

Hand Rolled Ravioli with Stewed Chicken and Mushroom

This is an old recipe from my Grandmother Adeline.
3-3.5 fresh chicken
Stew / slow boil-braise whole chicken in aromatics until chicken is tender and meat starts to pull away from the bowl.
Strip all the chicken from the skeleton and combine with dry ricotta, fresh basil, roasted garlic and shallot, pecorino and parmigiano cheeses.
Take pasta sheets and fill only one side, then fold over the other side and fill again, fold over the remaining side over again.
Ravioli will have an S shape to it.
Bake ravioli for 5 minutes at 350 degrees or until pasta sheets slightly browns

To make the sauce:
Take butter, garlic, white wine and fresh cream.
Reduce all ingredients until garlic softens, and cream thickens.
Lace sauce across the top of the ravioli and top with more fresh grated pecorini and parmigiano and enjoy.

Gnocchi Portobello con Pollo Griglio
( gnocchi portobelllo with grilled chicken )

This dish from our lunch menu.
Garlic, olive oil, peccorino romano and parmigiano reggiano cheeses, fresh cream, broccoloni, chicken stock, portobello mushrooms.

Sautee garlic, broccolini and mushrooms in 3 ozs of olive oil for two-three minutes, add chicken stock ( 3 oz ) and cook another two minutes. Add 3 oz fresh cream and 2 oz of each cheese as well as gnocchi. Toss all ingredients together and cook until cheese and cream are combined into the dish.
( the gnocchi should be cooked for three minutes in boiling salted water before adding to the dish )
Add salt and pepper to taste and top with olive and fresh lemon rubbed grilled chicken breast )

When it comes to Cioppino, it all about FRESHNESS.
Fresh Seafood Stock
Boil shrimp peelings, fish bones, clam and mussel shells, onion, tomato, salt, pepper.
Once you stock is done, add your fresh fish.
If you like fresh seafood, you will LOVE this one.

 Gnocchi with Portobello and Parmigiano
Here is one that will stick to your bones.
Gnocchi is a potato based pasta made by mashing potatoes, combining them with flour and stock, then rolling them in flour and seasoning them with salt & pepper or whatever else you may want.
This one is also stuffed ( rolled with ) sauteed mushrooms as well.
Boil in salted water for 2-3 minutes.
The sauce is very simple.
Olive oil, butter ( very little ) white wine, parsley, garlic, shallot, mushrooms and finished with a dash of cream and a good handful of Fresh Grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Toss gnocchi in sauce and serve immediately as gnocchi will absorb sauce quickly.
A good hearty dish on a cold day.

Here is a menu item that we're adding just for New Years Eve!
Fresh Grilled Corvina with Fresh Vegetable Puree

8 oz of Fresh Corvina ( ocean fish that tastes a lot like sea bass, but has the texture of a salmon )
Simply grilled with Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Lemon

Vegetable puree is any 5 vegetables that you like. Simply roast them in the oven, then hand puree them to the texture that yo want. Saute the puree in butter, sat and pepper and use as the bed or garnish for the fish.
I would suggest using, at least one kind of potato as a base and then add you favorites from there.

Buon Natale - Today: PESTO!

Every pesto has it own identity.
So easy to make, so easy to mess up.

Ours has LOTS of BASIL
A little less Olive Oil
Pine Nuts
Salt
Pepper
Parmigiano Reggiano LOTS OF IT
Pinch of Peccorino Romano
Put the basil, pine nuts, salt, pepper and cheeses together in the food processor and pulse it . While you do that, slowly add the EVOO to the right consistency. You want it almost jelly-like, as it will expand and loosen up as you heat it.
If you like it velvety, add 2 oz hvy cream as you are heating it on the stove w/ a handfull of fresh diced tomatoes.

Yesterday morning I was having coffee with my 93 year grandfather and I asked him if he wanted anything for breakfast. "How about some fried pepperoni and eggs?", he replied.
Growing up in my house that dish was common, but I have not made it or have had it in quite sometime. Let me tell you, few things are better.

Fried Pepperoni and Eggs
The needed items:
Well seasoned cast iron skillet
Good quality Italian Pepperoni ( Best if purchased in our Italian Market )
Pecorino Cheese
Onions
Eggs
Olive Oil ( very little )
Salt
Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
Day old Italian Bread ( Toast it in the oven )

In the skillet, once it is hot, add the 1 oz of olive oil, 1/2 stick of thick cut pepperoni ( 10-12 pieces )
Let pepperoni start to cook and render out some of its liquid
Add 1/2 small onion diced very fine
Let these items cook for two minutes
Add 6-8 scrambled eggs with S/P and pepper flakes, keep stirring items until eggs are almost cooked through
Remove from heat and add 3 oz of pecorino cheese and finish cooking with left over heat in pan
Serve with hard toasted Italian Bread and Coffee

I get asked many questions about how to keep stuffed chicken breast from drying out.
Here is a great recipe that works well.

Chicken Ricotta

Fresh chicken breast / 5 oz portions
Pound chicken until evenly flattened
Season with salt/pepper

Combine grilled eggplant, zucchini and sweet roasted peppers with fresh dry ricotta and one egg. Make sure you let the vegetables drain and cool before you chop them and combine them with the cheese and egg
Spread mixture evenly over the chicken breast and roll chicken breast from smallest end to largest end
After chicken breast is rolled, wrap the chicken with Pancetta, and drizzle Olive Oil over the breast. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees

The pancetta will shrink as it cooks, thus tightening around the chicken to keep it from falling apart, the drippings from the pancetta will also keep it moist.
Serve with grilled vegetables or pasta tossed with left over filling.

Events at 912 Regency Plaza / Mi Famiglia

Nov 14th         Wine Women Wellness
Nov 19-20-21   Mi Famiglia Downstairs    GREAT THEATRE Presents RENT After Party   9:30 pm

Check our Events calendar @ mifamiglia.com

Papparedelle Carbonara

This is a recipe from my Grandmother Adeline ( my mothers mom )

Start with thick hearty noodles ( pappardelle )

The sauce:
Eggs
Pecorino cheese
cream ( very little )
butter
garlic
pancetta bacon
sweet peas
hint of lemon
splash of white wine ( very little )

Try this dish in the restaurant this weekend, we're pairing it with fresh smoked salmon!

The Dueling Piano's Dance Show
October 30th Mi Famiglia Downstairs
doors open at 6:30 pm
show starts @ 7:30 pm

Spaghetti Sciotone
 
Fresh pasta steeped in wine
As the weather gets colder I always remember my Grandmother ( Mary ) making Sciotone.

Take two pounds of FRESH pasta, boil in salted water, chicken stock and red wine. ( Montelupciano d Abruzzo )
Cook until al dente, drain, do not rinse, immediately toss in olive oil, with garlic and red pepper flake ( make sure the oil and garlic are at the same room temperature )
When pasta is completely coated and oil and garlic release their aromas, add 2 oz of pasta water.
Cook for another 45 seconds- minute.
Place in large bowl and shave fresh Piave cheese over.
Serve with Montelpulcinao d Abruzzo wine.
 
This dish is very rustic and very Abruzzo in history.....

Risotto

I get asked a lot about how risotto should be cooked.
Keep in mind there are many many variations of risotto and methods of cooking them.

Arborrio rice ( Italian short grain rice )
Stock ( beef, chicken, seafood, vegetable )
Garlic
Onions
Salt
Pepper
Saffron
Pecorino Cheese
Cream
Butter
 
Lightly toast the rice in butter for about 3 minutes, add the aromatics and enough stock to just cover the rice.
Cook over medium low heat, stir every 2 minutes.
DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE PAN.
 
You will need to continue to add stock as it reduces.
The rice will let you know when its done as it will not absorb any more liquid  (15-20 minutes)
Add cheese and cream and serve immediately.

Veal Pecorino Parmigiano
 
Fresh milk fed veal ( pounded to 1/8 inch thin )
Egg wash with imported Italian ...............mixed in it
Seasoned flour
Fresh Seasoned Fresh Breadcrumbs
 
Dredge veal in eggs, flour, breadcrumbs ( let sit for a period of no less than 1 hour )
Pan fry veal in Extra Virgin Olive Oil until tender.
Stew veal in Mi Famiglia Sauce until veal reaches fork tender doneness.
Plate with a side of pasta, and shingle frsh tomatoes,basil and Pecorini and Parmigiano cheeses on top.
 
No need to melt ANY type of cheese, that is not how it is designed......

Mangia.....

Stuffed Mussels Salsiccia alla Famiglia

This dish was created for our monthly food and wine dinner we just did on Wednesday night.
YOU WILL NEED PLENTY OF PREP TIME!

Fresh North East Mussels
Uncle Matty's Salsiccia
Tomatoes
White Wine ( Sicilian )
Olive Oil ( Sicilian )
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt Pepper
Basil ( Fresh )
Garlic
Pry open each mussel and stuff them Uncle Matty's Salsiccia
Arrange them in a deep and wide stock pot in a circular pattern
Cover them with Olive oil, tomatoes, basil, red pepper, salt, pepper, garlic and white wine.
You will also need to place a weight on top of the mussels to semi close them again.
Cover with foil or lid and poach for 5 minutes or until mussels are tender and salsiccia turns light pink / white in color.
Serve with grilled crusty Italian bread and a GOOD GLASS OF WINE........

Eat Like The Sopranos-MIX 94-9-071709.mp3