My Recipe: Chicken with Rice

Vinny’s Chicken with Rice

Ingredients:
6-8 chicken wings
1 3/4 cups Italian style rice
1 1/4 tsp. salt
pepper, parsley, parmesan cheese
Yield: four servings

Directions:
1. Fill a medium-sized pot with about 7 cups of water and bring to a boil. While waiting…
2. Wash chicken wings.
3. Cut the wing tips off.
4. Place wings in the pot.
5. When it reaches a boil, reduce to a simmer. Be careful it doesn't overflow. The fat will "foam up", but if simmering slowly enough, it will dissipate. Do NOT remove the foam. It provides much of the taste. While waiting...
6. Lightly rinse excess starch from rice.
7. After about 30 minutes, remove the chicken and spray with cold water. Do not discard the water in the pot.
8. Carefully separate the meat from the fat, bones and cartilage.
9. Ladle out about one third of the water in the pot and set aside (you may need some or all of it).
10. Place the meat back in the pot.
11. Place a chicken bouillon cube (or like powder) into the pot.
12. Put about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of rice into the pot.
13. Season with salt, pepper and parsley.
14. Simmer covered until rice is cooked, stirring occasionally.
15. Ladle out into bowls, sprinkle with more pepper, parsley and parmesan cheese if you have it.
16. Serve with garlic bread or bread sticks.

Notes:
1. If most of the water dissipates before the rice is fully cooked, stir in a bit of the reserve as you go along. The contents should be free of water when it's done.
2. Parmesan cheese is indispensable in an Italian household. I use it in many dishes--pastas and soups, for instance.

My Recipe: Meatballs

Vinny’s Meat Balls

Ingredients:
225 grams (1/2 lb.) ground beef
225 grams (1/2 lb.) ground veal
225 grams (1/2 lb.) ground pork
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup parmigiano (parmesan) cheese (reggiano if you can manage it)
2 tbs. of chopped Italian parsley (preferably fresh)
2 eggs, beaten
2-3 cloves chopped garlic
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 cup oil (in order of my preference: sunflower/canola/vegetable)
Yield: About 25 smallish meatballs

Directions:
1. Manually mix well all ingredients (except oil) in a large bowl.
2. Using palms, shape mixture into balls no larger than a golf ball.
3. If using in pasta sauce, do not fry. Place in sauce and simmer about 2 hours.
4. Pour oil into frying pan.
5. Set heat to medium high.
6. Place meatballs into pan allowing sufficient room to roll them around during frying.
7. Fry for about 5 minutes (from when sizzling starts), rolling them almost constantly to ensure uniform cooking and to avoid sticking.

Notes:
1. Do NOT fry until meatballs get scorched. If necessary, lower heat.
2. If using in pasta sauce, do not stir sauce very much to avoid disintegration.
3. Meatballs may be stored fried or uncooked in freezer until needed.
4. You can form marble-sized meatballs for use in soups such as chicken soup (do not fry, but be sure to simmer in soup sufficiently).

My Recipe: Lasagna

Vinny's Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 package (approximately 400 grams) of fresh lasagna or cannelloni/manicotti sheets
1 tub fresh ricotta
1 mozzarella ball
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 tbsp. oil
Italian parsley
salt

Note: Also requires meat sauce as per my pasta sauce recipe.

Directions:
1. Prepare pasta sauce using ground beef as directed in my pasta recipe.
2. Slice pasta with sharp knife or pizza cutter into about 2 inch wide strips.
3. Hard boil the eggs (about 5 minutes after boiling starts). While waiting for the eggs…
4. Pour oil into very deep baking dish or a large roasting pot. Using a paper towel, grease bottom 5. and sides of baking dish.
6. Put a little of the meat sauce into the baking dish and spread.
7. Shell, chop (not too small) and salt the hard boiled eggs.
8. Place ricotta into a dish, work in about 2 tbsp of water and some chopped parsley and salt to taste.
9. Shred the mozzarella and set aside.
10. Mostly fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil--reduce to allow a gentle boil.
11. Add 2-3 tsp. of salt (depending on size of pot) to water.
12. Place 2 or 3 pasta strips into pot, boil for several minutes (until it softens and expands)
13. Very, very carefully (try to avoid tearing) lift out each pasta strip and set aside until you are 14. able to handle it without burning your fingers, but not so long that it sticks onto itself.
15. Keep repeating steps 11-12. When you have enough to double layer the bottom of the baking dish…
16. Place two rows of pasta covering the bottom of the pan, alternating the direction, each row perpendicular to the previous, making a weave pattern. Be sure to overlap the edges of the strips so that it stays together when serving.
17. Spread a little mozzarella, then ricotta, then a little sauce, then some egg, and finally a little more mozzarella.
18. Place a single layer of pasta (again, in the opposite direction of the previous layer)
19. Repeat steps 17-18 until you are out of ingredients.
20. Place a little sauce on top of lasagna, sprinkle the parmesan on top and shake/sprinkle some parsley on it.
21. Cover with lid or tightly wrap with foil. Bake for about 30 mins in preheated oven at 350 degrees.

My Recipe: Pasta Sauce

Vinny's Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:
A few meatballs or a few pork ribs/and or a few ounces of stewing beef or a few skinless chicken thighs or substitute approximately 400 grams of lean ground beef instead of any other meat.
One 23 fl. oz. jar strained tomatoes
1/3 of a 5.5 oz. can tomato paste
1 small onion (or half of a large one)
One or two cloves garlic, depending on size and taste (not your size, the size of the clove(s) and not the taste of the garlic--your taste) ;)
3 tbsp. oil, preferably olive oil
1 tsp. chopped oregano, fresh preferably
1 tsp. chopped Italian parsley, fresh preferably
1 tsp. chopped basil, fresh preferably
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
3-4 shakes ground pepper (or to taste)

Directions:
1. If using ground beef, brown as usual, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
2. Finely dice onion and garlic and set aside.
3. Pour oil into medium-sized saucepan and set burner to medium heat.
4. Unless using ground beef, place meat in saucepan, salt lightly and stir frequently until well braised on outside.
5. Throw onion into saucepan and continuing stirring until it is about to change colour (about 2 minutes).
6. Throw in garlic and continue stirring until onion and or garlic start to caramelize.
7. Pour strained tomatoes into saucepan--save lid. Pour about 1/3 cup water into the strained tomato jar, secure lid and swish water around. Pour contents into saucepan and stir.
8. Set burner on simmer.
9. Scoop out tomato paste and stir into sauce.
10. Put all seasonings into saucepan and stir.
11. If using ground beef, place previously browned meat into saucepan and stir.
12. Simmer for at least two hours, if possible, stirring occasionally.
13. Check for saltiness/seasoning after about an hour and make appropriate adjustments.

Notes:
1. Depending on the amount of fat content in the meat, you may end up with excess oil sitting on top of the sauce. If so, slip a teaspoon in and scoop out excess.

2. Depending on how long you cook the sauce, it may become too thick due to evaporation. If so, add a little water and stir.