Cooking
When setting up the menu for the month, I decided to try out a recipe for Romaine Salad with Avocado "Caesar" Dressing (which, ultimately, wasn't anything exciting). I wanted something kind of traditional to go with, and started hitting the 'retro/oldies' cookbook shelf for ideas. Matt & I thought pasta with a basic sauce would be perfect.
After paging through three or four volumes, without inspiration, I turned to Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah, Dinah Shore's Personal Cookbook. A collection of recipes from family, friends, and guests on her hit show. It's a very down-to-earth book, and clearly a product of the times (published in 1971). Some dishes are interesting, some appealing, and others...I wouldn't touch no matter how much cash you offered.
Dinah loved to cook, and had regular cooking segments on her television show. There's some from her mom (Mother's Borscht & Mother's Chili Con Carne), some from restaurants (Rice Pudding from the Riviera Hotel), and others from her more well-known friends. The Benny's Roast Chicken (yes, that Mr. Benny), or her pal Bill's Marinated Hawaiian Steak (that would be William "Bill" Holden), or our spotlighted recipe, Frank's Fresh Tomato Sauce for Spaghetti.
Yeah. Dinah's buddy Frank. Maybe you've heard of him? He used to be a big star. Did a little singing, a little dancing, and even pulled off a career as an actor. Maybe you caught him in the original production of "The Manchurian Candidate", for example. Or a little film called "From Here to Eternity"...
Apparently, Frank also liked to cook. And one day, on Dinah's program, he made tomato sauce.
It's a pretty standard pomodoro sauce, which is exactly what you want for a dish like this.
Onion, tomatoes, pepper & salt, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic. Spaghetti...no other pasta will do...finished with some grated Romano and a dash of red pepper flakes.
No surprises here. A recipe without the bells & whistles, but with a solid foundation. Good flavor, with a pinch of nostalgia...
And yes, I did put in one of Frank's CD's during dinner. Mwah!
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Vegetarian + Pasta + Spaghetti + Tomatoes + Celebrities + Cookbooks + Dinah Shore + Frank Sinatra
- Spaghetti With Walnuts And Anchovies: Recipe
Conventional wisdom says a good cookbook is one that allows you to reproduce a given recipe with consistently successful results. Another opinion is that the recipes should be really special, not run-of-the-mill or the best versions of classics. I may...
- Pasta Puttanesca: Recipe
It's not often that my other half requests pasta for dinner. If he did, we would probably eat pasta every day. Even the family I lived with in Italy was amazed at my appetite for it. Though we lived in Florence, we ate risotto and soup as a...
- Eggplant Parmesan Recipe
There are many versions of eggplant parmesan. I probably like them all. The earthy sweetness of the eggplant and tomato sauce, the gooey mozzarella, and the sharpness of the parmesan all come together to make something delectable. Eggplant parmesan was...
- Pastry & Pasta & Egg & Meatball & Cheese &...
One of the strangest dishes I've ever made... Timpano a la Big Night, from Michael Chirarello. I happened to leave the TV on one evening, and found myself on the Fine Living Network. I don't really watch that channel...I mean, somewhere out there...
- Croatian Wine Country Travels
My friend Frank sent out a link to his business's new blog, which chronicles the travels of Blue Danube's web designer and his friend through the wine country in the Balkans. Blue Danube is an importer, wholesaler, and retailer, so I imagine the...
Cooking
Dinner with Frank & Dinah
When setting up the menu for the month, I decided to try out a recipe for Romaine Salad with Avocado "Caesar" Dressing (which, ultimately, wasn't anything exciting). I wanted something kind of traditional to go with, and started hitting the 'retro/oldies' cookbook shelf for ideas. Matt & I thought pasta with a basic sauce would be perfect.
After paging through three or four volumes, without inspiration, I turned to Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah, Dinah Shore's Personal Cookbook. A collection of recipes from family, friends, and guests on her hit show. It's a very down-to-earth book, and clearly a product of the times (published in 1971). Some dishes are interesting, some appealing, and others...I wouldn't touch no matter how much cash you offered.
Dinah loved to cook, and had regular cooking segments on her television show. There's some from her mom (Mother's Borscht & Mother's Chili Con Carne), some from restaurants (Rice Pudding from the Riviera Hotel), and others from her more well-known friends. The Benny's Roast Chicken (yes, that Mr. Benny), or her pal Bill's Marinated Hawaiian Steak (that would be William "Bill" Holden), or our spotlighted recipe, Frank's Fresh Tomato Sauce for Spaghetti.
Yeah. Dinah's buddy Frank. Maybe you've heard of him? He used to be a big star. Did a little singing, a little dancing, and even pulled off a career as an actor. Maybe you caught him in the original production of "The Manchurian Candidate", for example. Or a little film called "From Here to Eternity"...
Apparently, Frank also liked to cook. And one day, on Dinah's program, he made tomato sauce.
It's a pretty standard pomodoro sauce, which is exactly what you want for a dish like this.
Onion, tomatoes, pepper & salt, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic. Spaghetti...no other pasta will do...finished with some grated Romano and a dash of red pepper flakes.
No surprises here. A recipe without the bells & whistles, but with a solid foundation. Good flavor, with a pinch of nostalgia...
And yes, I did put in one of Frank's CD's during dinner. Mwah!
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Vegetarian + Pasta + Spaghetti + Tomatoes + Celebrities + Cookbooks + Dinah Shore + Frank Sinatra
- Spaghetti With Walnuts And Anchovies: Recipe
Conventional wisdom says a good cookbook is one that allows you to reproduce a given recipe with consistently successful results. Another opinion is that the recipes should be really special, not run-of-the-mill or the best versions of classics. I may...
- Pasta Puttanesca: Recipe
It's not often that my other half requests pasta for dinner. If he did, we would probably eat pasta every day. Even the family I lived with in Italy was amazed at my appetite for it. Though we lived in Florence, we ate risotto and soup as a...
- Eggplant Parmesan Recipe
There are many versions of eggplant parmesan. I probably like them all. The earthy sweetness of the eggplant and tomato sauce, the gooey mozzarella, and the sharpness of the parmesan all come together to make something delectable. Eggplant parmesan was...
- Pastry & Pasta & Egg & Meatball & Cheese &...
One of the strangest dishes I've ever made... Timpano a la Big Night, from Michael Chirarello. I happened to leave the TV on one evening, and found myself on the Fine Living Network. I don't really watch that channel...I mean, somewhere out there...
- Croatian Wine Country Travels
My friend Frank sent out a link to his business's new blog, which chronicles the travels of Blue Danube's web designer and his friend through the wine country in the Balkans. Blue Danube is an importer, wholesaler, and retailer, so I imagine the...