Auntie M’s Veal Potatoes and Mushrooms – Grandma Cenza Style

Ingredients: 

3 medium potatoes cut into ¾ inch cubes

1 lb of veal (can substitute 1lb of boneless chicken breasts) cut into 1½ inch pieces

1 lb. of mushrooms (cut lengthwise in half if small or into thirds if large)

2 cloves garlic

Italian parsley

1 hot cherry pepper (from a jar of vinegarized peppers) *secret ingredient*

Romano cheese

small can of Ital. tomatoes

oregano

salt/pepper

olive oil

Directions: 

Place first three ingredients into a large baking dish. Add sliced garlic, ½- ¾ head of flat leaf (Italian) parsley chopped fine, hot cherry pepper cut into small pieces, black pepper, big handful or two (lots) of Romano cheese, oregano, juice from small can of tomatoes (8½ oz size), plush a few mashed tomatoes from the can (if not Italian tomatoes, add a little sugar and balsamic vinegar after it cooks awhile). Then add olive oil to the entire baking dish.

Cook in a 325° to 350° oven (covered) until done.

This dish can be made in a frying pan on top of the stove. Cover, when made on the stove, but remove cover for a short while after all cooked.

 

 

Auntie M’s Spinach Pie – Grandma Cenza Style

Ingredients (for two pies): 

3 lbs of fresh spinach

1 small onion (thin crescent slices)

½ cup of olive oil

½ tsp of black pepper

3 cans of anchovy fillets

1 oz of pignoli (pine) nuts (enough to cover pie)

About two kid-sized boxes of dark raisins (one for each pie)

2 TBS of olive oil (sprinkled over cooked spinach mixture )

Frozen bread dough (defrost overnight, let rise in a bowl and punch down)

Directions:

Defrost bread dough in refrigerator over night. (Can let rise in a bowl and punch down, if needed.) Preheat oven to 350°.

Wash, drain well, and chop the spinach. Heat the oil and onions under a low light and sauté lightly. Add one can of anchovies (not anchovy oil) that has been broken up and let it blend in with onions. Add black pepper. Add the chopped spinach. Simmer the mixture in a covered pot until the spinach flattens out. Then stir all together to get flavors to mingle. Let cool.

On floured board, roll out bread dough into a circle (a ½ circle of the dough will need to fit on a cookie sheet). Cut off two pieces of wax paper, each twice as large as a cookie sheet (one for each pie). Place first circle of dough on the wax paper. Gently, slide the right ½ of the dough/wax paper onto the first cookie sheet (twice as much as will fit on cookie sheet; the other half of the dough/wax paper should extend off the cookie sheet to the left). Place cooled spinach on right ½ semi-circle of dough on the cookie sheet and spread it out evenly within an inch of the rim of the dough. Cover well with pine nuts, 1 box raisins, 1/2 of the remaining can of anchovy fillets per pie. Sprinkle approximately 2 TBS of olive oil over each pie (if you prefer more anchovy flavor, you could replace this with oil in anchovy can, but the oil quality is not as good). Fold the second half of the dough over the ½ on the cookie sheet. Cut off any excess dough from edges. Then turn bottom edge over the top and flute (in scallop pattern) with fingers to lock in contents. Using a fork, prick dough top light all over.

Put pie (on wax paper over cookie sheet) in preheated oven at 350° for about 35 minutes. Check bottom after 30 minutes to make sure it isn’t burning (should be a golden color). Remove from oven. Slide wax paper onto pie cooler and let cool. Gently remove the wax paper. Cut into 3-inch squares and serve.