Remembering the Soprano's - A Ziti Pasta Casserole

Were you a Soprano's fan? I was the longer version of "fan", called "fanatic." My whole family was crazy for the craziness, hating ourselves for liking the bad guys, sucked into the television for every episode. We even went as far as having "Soprano Nights".

Ziti Casserole with Peppers and Mushrooms

Each person (above 12-years-old) would have a night to be in charge of the meal we ate before the show came on. One night, my middle son (about 17 at the time) was not comfortable enough to cook something up so ordered 4 giant Pizza and set up his boom-box with Italian music playing throughout the meal. It was so fun and we sang along while eating.

Every time someone on screen stopped into Vesuvios or Satriale's I got hungry.

(photo HBO promo)

The hardest thing to watch without drooling was when Tony Soprano would just reach into the refrigerator and pull out a great Ziti Casserole that Carmela had whipped up earlier. It was always there. That's when I started having Ziti Casserole in our refrigerator for the taking - anytime - lunch, dinner or in-between.In the last season of the Sopranos, my husband was in New York writing on "30 Rock" over at the Silver Cup Studios and got to sit in Dr. Melfi's chair, and walk through the sets of the show and even saw Tony (Gandolfini) with blood all over his face during a shoot (shooting?). Even though my husband is not easily thrilled by celebrities, seeing a Soprano gave him a rush, too. We were definitely fans. For his birthday, I bought him a brick from Satriale's in New Jersey. Can you say, "obsession"?It has been years, but for some reason my husband and I were talking about that casserole the other day and it seemed like a great one to share on my blog. It's an adaptation of a Sara Moulton recipe from way-back, and it's worth the bit of prep to have a few days of this golden pepper and mushroom cheesiness at my beck and call.

Ziti Casserole with Peppers and Mushrooms
(adapted from Sara Moulton)

1/2 onion (chopped)
2 yellow peppers (seeded and chopped)
2-4 garlic cloves (chopped)
1/4 cup olive oil (used as needed)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 red peppers (seeded and cut into thin strips)
2 orange peppers (seeded and cut into thin strips)
1 cup mushrooms (sliced)
1 pkg. Ziti pasta (cooked and reserve 1 cup pasta water to use if needed) salt/pepper
3-5 spring onions/scallions (sliced, including the green parts)
2 cups grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

1) In a large stock pot, cook the yellow peppers, onion and garlic in a drizzle of olive oil on low/med. heat, covered until soft. This should take about 20-30 minutes 2) Add the cream to the stock pot, stir together, add salt and pepper. Then puree with an immersion blender (or you can use a blender). Reserve this Yellow pepper sauce for later. 3) In a deep skillet with a drizzle of olive oil, cook the red and orange pepper slices with the mushrooms, salt and pepper on low/med until just cooked through (about 10 minutes). 4) Add the red pepper mixture to the yellow pepper puree, and include the cooked Ziti, the scallions and 1 cup of the cheese. Stir all together (use the reserved pasta water as needed.) 5) Pour this Ziti pasta and peppers, etc.. into a large casserole dish (or I made a pyrex 9x12 plus another 8x8.) Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake on 350F for about 20 minutes til heated all through and the cheese on top is golden. Serve or cool and hold in refrigerator.

This is SO good cold for a quick lunch or if you're a die-hard Soprano fan - an anytime snack.(photo HBO promo)

Grilled Corn with Romesco Sauce (made with Nut Butter) - Daring Cooks July '10

There's a goofy Southern insult that goes: "He was so bucked tooth, he could eat corn on the cob through a picket fence". Being the food-driven gal I've always been, when I heard that saying all I thought was, "Lucky guy, I love corn!"

Grilled Corn on the Cob
with Romesco Sauce
(made from Nut Butter)
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

This month's Daring Cook's Challenge was about making your own Nut Butter. Well, I can't imagine a more satisfying and yet simple food. There is essentially ONE step: Pulverize your choice of nuts into a smooth butter in the food processor.
If the nuts are dry (ie. almonds, peanuts) you'll need a drizzle of neutral oil (think canola, etc) to get it really smooth and spreadable. If the nuts have a lot of their own fats (ie. cashews, pistachios, etc) you can even skip that addition. Toasting the nuts first gives them a rich and sweet flavor.

In a matter of moments, you end up with not only a protein filled main event (sandwiches, fillings, etc.), but also an amazingly diverse addition to foods from South Africa to Asia, to South Texas, USA.

Part of our challenge was to use the nut butter in a SAVORY dish. I almost slobbered myself just thinking about all the SWEET dishes I could make with Nut Butter; That was easy. After a few minutes of mourning all the baked goods I was already tasting in my mind, I realized how many savory dishes could be knocked up a notch with nuts.
I chose an easy one (or my schedule chose it for me), and it reminds me of times when I lived in Houston, Texas. It seemed like everything had barbecue sauce, or chili peppers on it, and that was fine by me. I did a little "culinary upgrade" on the regular barbecue sauce and made ROMESCO; A warm, peppery, earthy Spanish sauce that needs to be on your "use with everything" list.

Romesco originated in Spain and often uses Ancho (pronounced Aahnn-cho) peppers, which are dried Poplano. You can make it spicier with Chipotle, or bring it way down, but hearty with roasted red peppers. Romesco gives fish, grilled veggies, soups, chicken, steaks, pasta and sandwiches a "mumble" factor. That's when something's so good, folks want to talk about it while they're chewing, so all they can do is mumble.
RECIPE: ROMESCO w/Nut Butter

3 Tbls. Nut butter (from 1/4 cup Almonds, and 1/4 cup peanuts)
2 Ancho chilis
2 pieces of stale bread, in pieces
3 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes
1 Tbls. lemon juice
1 Tbls. brown sugar
few sprigs of parsley
salt/pepper to taste
1/4 cup Olive Oil

1) Place the dried Ancho chilis in a cup, add boiling water, cover and soak to reconstitute for 30 minutes.

2) While they soak, place the tomatoes and peeled garlic cloves on a parchment lined pan and roast in the oven 350F, for 30 minutes. (Or use these from your MISTO FORNO in a previous post.)

3) Remove the chili from the water, seed and chop large. Let the tomatoes and garlic cool.

4) In a food processor, add the chilies, tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, nut butter, brown sugar and bread. Process til smooth.

5) Pour in the oil, continuing to process until you have a nice spreadable paste. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
GRILLED CORN on the COBB:

1) Remove silks, but replace husks on 4 Corns.
2) Soak the corn in water for 30 minutes.
3) Soak the skewers in water for 30 minutes (this is so they don't burn dry)
4) Grill the husk covered corn for 20 minutes in a covered grill on Med/High. Check often and turn to all sides.
5) Cool the corn, remove husk and cut into individual pieces.
6) Skewer each piece and slather on the Romesco Sauce.
Grill to reheat and warm up the sauce.
Serve warm.

One big bite of this Grilled Corn with Romesco and the tip of your tongue jumps up in attention, then is calmed by a little sweetness on the side. Ahhh, summer.