Funny Italian Lesson

No gains, only pains

When in the mood, I try to practice Italian around Michele…so when we were shopping over the weekend, and I tried to say “100 dollars” in Italian, which is “cento dollari”

Michele’s reply was that it sounded like I said “cento dolori”, which is “100 pains”…painful indeed to buy one Anthropoligie skirt for a stay at home housewife! Recently, it’s just been no cash gains, only growing pains… funny how in Italian, dollar sounds like pain! ( dollari vs dolori)

However, the other day, Michele tried to say to my mom, over the phone “我愛 Chin”, (which is “I love Chin”. Not that he was showing off his affection for me, just because it’s probably the only few words he knows in Mandarin), but instead my mom thought he said”我愛錢”, which is “I love money”…And that is true, in both cases!

herb n cheese stuffed pork cutlets

Basil, rosemary and cheese, all wrapped together...

Impress your guests or loved ones with herb and cheese stuffed pork cutlets! It's easy to make, looks fancy, and is just a cute little symphony of all food groups wrapped together. Dairy, Greens, protein... and hitting it with some tomato sauce brightens this whole dish altogether!

Cutlets for 4:
Ingredients:

fresh basil leaves ( two bunches)

fresh rosemary ( one sprig)

asiago cheese ( 1 cup)

pork cutlets, pounded thin (4)

salt & pepper

chopped garlic ( 4)

tomato sauce ( 1/2 can)

red wine ( 2 tablespoons)

olive oil ( 2 tablespoons)

Pound the pork cutlets thin and season with salt and pepper. Lay 2 basil leaves, several rosemary leaves and shredded asiago cheese on top of the cutlet, and roll the cutlet , fastening with toothpicks. ( Be sure not to overstuff the cutlets, or else the cheese will ooze out when being seared)


In a saute pan, pour in olive oil and add chopped garlic. When you see small bubbles, lay the rolled pork cutlets and sear until one side is golden grown, then turn to another side. When the pork is fully cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Leave all juices, oil and garlic in the pan.

Return to the pan where the pork juices, oil and garlic remainings, and turn to medium heat. Add tomato sauce and also the wine. sprinkle a little bit of salt, stir and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove the toothpicks out of the pork, and serve the garlic tomato sauce with the rolled cutlets. Use basil leaf to garnish. Bon Appetito!

Spicy tomato sauce on brown rice

Feel like something spicy and tasty but don't want to ruin the momentum of a eating healthy?

Here's an easy recipe: Spicy tomato sauce on brown rice. It's sour, tart, real spicy with bold flavors. The color is beautiful, too!

ingredients:

tomato sauce ( 1/2 can)

one potato ( cut into chunks)

2 carrots ( cut into chunks)

8 pearl onions

beef stock

asian chili sauce

soy sauce 2 tablespoons

pepper

olive oil

concentrated beef stock

Preperations:

In a pot, heat olive oil and suate the pearl onions. Add the chunks of potato and carrots. Cook for 10 minutes, occasionaly stirring to avoid sticking to pot. Add soy sauce, pepper, asian chili sauce and stir. Add beef stock and stir. Pour tomato sauce and bring to simmer. Cook until it becomes a thick paste, and serve over brown rice. We just happened to have some leftover roasted duck take out, so I stir-fried that with celery sticks.

Pasta with love

Pasta Panna e salmone ( Smoked Salmon Cream Pasta)

Chef Panico made his famous smoked salmon cream pasta this weekend. For me, it's a very romantic dish, because it reminds me of the first couple of times he cooked for me.

The first time Michele made this was when we just started to date each other. We were hanging out at his apartment at Sherman Ave, Evanston. I remember it was a late night and we were hungry so he whipped out his culinary skills and cooked a late night pasta. And boy, do I mean "whipped"...it was the first time I watched someone fervently stir flour into cream to create a thick sauce! Lots of love and attention is put into making a really creamy sauce!


Usually you can pair smoked salmon cream pasta with farfalle ( bow tie pasta), or with penne, because short pasta sticks better with creamy sauce. This time we used Casareccia, which is a twisted/ wrapped short noodle. It's sort of like a short ribbon with gaps, which is great because the cream gets stuck in between the noodle.

Ingredients:

one pint of half & half cream

flour ( 3/4 cup)

smoked salmon ( one pack) , cut into small pieces

chives ( one bunch, sliced into small pieces)

Casareccia pasta, or bow tie/ penne

salt & pepper

non-salted butter ( 2 tablespoons)

Preparation:

In a large boiling pot of water, add salt and cook the pasta.

In a small pot, pour in cream and put on medium heat. When the pot becomes hot ( before it reaches a boiling point), stir in 1 tablespoon of flour, and keep stirring until it dissolves. Once it dissolves, stir in another tablespoon of flour. Keep stirring in the spoons of flour, one by one, to avoid chunks of flour that may cake up. This may take time and you really have to tend to the cream. Add salt & pepper to cream for seasoning. When all of the flour is added into the half & half, it gradually becomes a think cream.

At the same time, put butter in a skillet and then add the chopped smoked salmon. Stir fry a bit and then add the cream mixture, and adding more salt & pepper to taste. Stir in chives, and then add the drained pasta into the smoked salmon cream mixture. Fold gently inside the skillet.

Enjoy! It's very comforting and filling and full of love...

Parent and child over rice: Oyakodon

Chicken 'n eggs is what's in a Oyakodon, a poetic way of saying parent and child. A traditional, homey dish, it's great for lunch or dinner, and anytime of the year.

Oyakodon for 4

Ingredients:

4 cup steamed medium grained rice
3/4 lb chicken thighs, cut into chunks
sesame oil ( 2 tablespoons)
1 2/3 cups soup stock (dashi)
7 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar

slices of ginger
4 eggs, beaten together

Steam rice and when it is cooked, leave it at warm and start preparing below.

Here, I conveniently used pre-made Oyakodon sauce, which is a mixture of the dashi, soy suace, mirin and sugar. However, you can also create your own, which is easy and very tasty.

In a pan with sesame oil, add thinly sliced ginger and sear. Add the dashi then add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in the sauce, for a couple of minutes. Put chicken in the pan and simmer on low heat for a few minutes.

Bring the chicken and sauce to a boil, then pour the eggs. Turn the heat down to low and put on a lid and let the mixture sit. After one minute, turn off the heat but leave it to simmer a bit.

In a deep bowl, fill halfway with rice packed inside. Place the chicken and egg mixture on top. Sprinkled some japanese chilli powder on top, and some greens ( asparagus) on the side. Serve warm!

Qui, qua? Li, la?

Here, there, ...where?

The first couple of months I met Michele, I remember asking him instructions for something, and he would say, "you put theez here, and then thatta over there...and then theez thing goes into thatta thinga,"... and the patience in me would get all agitated, and without realizing how rude I was, I'd explode. "What? what here, what there? what this and that? Can't you use left and right, and descriptions instead of using 'here' and 'there'? Can't you be more specific?"

Only until I met my current Italian teacher, Cristina, did I start to forgive Michele =p

Our lovely, petite, very stylish instructor/ professoressa Cristina at the end of class, would use her finger, point to a page, and just simply say,

" for homework, write a little bit about here."

And our fellow American students, would ask, " Sorry, which page? which part?"

We are so used to being given clear instructions, clear step- by- step to dos. Which book, which page, which section, which number? Write how long - how many sentences, or paragraphs?

With directions, we are used to saying: head north or south, turn right in two blocks...make a left turn at the stop sign...etc

But in Italian, if you are asking for directions, you can just point and ask:

è di lì (and point your finger to one direction) o di là ( point to the oppisite direction)? ( li = here, la = there)

Or è di qui o di qua? (qui = here, qua = there)

Meaning, "is it here, or is it there", or in other words, "is it this way, or that way"?

I always tried to be specific, and I also preferred clearer instructions, because I was taught that that was the better way of speaking. I remember my dad used to make me ask clear questions, so I would have to formulate the question very logically in my head, before I asked. He would also very condescendingly say that some people rely on hand gestures to talk because they cannot clearly and accurately use words to explain. Thus they relied on hands and pointing.

However, I am starting to understand the Italian language and culture more after taking Italian classes. Quite to the contrary, Italians are expressive communicators. They are more emotional and demonstrative, as they they tend to use facial and hand getures to prove their point. And Italians are intuitive., and you sort of have to "get it" It's just a part of culture to talk in a way that requires you to use your body to express your feelings. At the end of the day, they understand each other perfectly. Maybe its us that's being too anal.

Lima beans penne pasta

This is a garlicky and herby Lima bean pasta dish. It's very filling and satisfying!

Ingredients:

3-4 chopped garlics

2 bunches of fresh basil , coarsely chopped

half can of Lima beans

two tablespoons of diced tomatoes from can, ( can also use fresh cherry tomatoes, or in this case we used the leftover tomato Osso Buco sauce. This is to add slight flavor and color to the dish)

penne pasta

olive oil

salt and pepper

red chili flakes

lemon zest

In a pot of boiling water, add salt and cook the pene until al dente ( usually 13 minutes)

In a pan with olive oil, saute chopped garlic until the aroma comes out, and add Lima beans, salt and pepper, and red chili flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes and add tomato sauce, stir well and then add basil leaves. Drain the cooked pene, toss with the Lima beans, and then sprinkle lemon zest on top.

Garnish with basil leaves and serve!