Four Generations of Minestra

So, the dreaded winter cold visited our house last week and all of us fell victim.

In an effort to make us all feel better, I decided to learn my father’s recipe for Minestra (Min-est) – a feel-good soup of ham-based meats and greens. It was the best idea I ever had. It’s quite an expensive soup to make. My dad’s version requires pepperoni (2 smaller sticks or 1 large), hot Italian turkey sausage (1 package), smoked ham-hock, a daisy ham, escarole (3 heads), cabbage (1 head), salt and pepper.

There’s not much to it!

My dad would always make it around Superbowl time. It’s the perfect winter soup; and since there aren’t any additional flavors aside from the meat and greens, it pleases pretty much everyone. I’m not a ham eater – although I am a pepperoni fan – but the broth and greens are the best comfort food I can think of. The thing about this soup is that it’s also time-consuming. I’ll share the recipe with you, but you need to promise that when you make this for you and your family, you keep in mind that this particular recipe has been handed down four generations. I’m the fifth; and I will be teaching it to my kids…if I decide to have them. If you don’t like the finished product, I can only apologize and say that you’re missing out; this soup is by far one of my favorites. But, I’m sure there are ways you can play around with it and make it your own as well.

Step One – The Prep:

Take the pepperoni and sausage and cut into 1/4-inch slices. (This is just my rough estimate. You can go as thick or thin as you please. Just remember it’s going to be cooking for a few hours so don’t make it too thick or thin as it may not cook properly.)

Cut the daisy ham into chunks. The ham-hocks you can leave whole. My dad usually uses one large (and I mean LARGE) one. I was unable to find sizable ham-hocks at my store, so I settled for a package of four small ones. They are what really flavor the broth.

As for the greens, cut them down into larger-scale bite-sized chunks. Because these will wilt down, you don’t want to cut them too small. I just gave the greens a good ol’ rustic chop with my knife and called it a day. Once they’re cut, soak them in cold water to clean them. They will stay in the water bath until you’re ready for them.

Step Two – Making the Stock and Cooking the Meat

These two steps are done at the same time, which is quite convenient.

Add all of the meats – the sliced sausage and pepperoni, the daisy ham chunks and the ham-hocks to the stock pot. Cover the meats with water. MAKE SURE YOU PUT ENOUGH WATER THAT THE MEAT IS COMPLETELY SUBMERGED AND THERE IS ABOUT AN INCH TO TWO INCHES OF WATER ABOVE THE MEAT. This is important. Some water will evaporate and you don’t want anything to dry out.

Boil the snots out of the meat until the ham-hocks are are tender and start to fall apart. By this point, you will want to take the ham-hocks from the pot and remove the bones and fat. Once cleaned, the meat can go back into the pot and rejoin his friends.

This step usually takes just over an hour.

Step Three – Add the Greens

Once the meat is all cooked and the bones and fat are removed, it’s time to add the greens; which have been soaking in their water bath. Drain the greens as well as you can and start adding them to the pot. Once all the greens are in, add a palm-full of salt and a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Yes, the meats are quite salty, but you also want to season the greens. Nothing worse than greens that have no taste…

Cover the pot and let boil until the greens are wilted and cooked through. You want them soft but not falling apart. When I made this, it took about two hours for all of the greens to cook through.

That’s it! The entire process takes anywhere from three to four hours but it is so worth it! The broth takes on a nice smoky flavor from all of the ham and the pepperoni and black pepper give it a nice kick – without making it super spicy. This is the kind of soup that you can feel warm your whole body.

So. Good.

This recipe will leave you with enough soup for four adults and plenty of leftovers (assuming you don’t all eat it at once).

Please, enjoy.

International Attempt #1: Korean Barbeque

BitchyBuddha had a great idea, “feature a cultural cuisine from a certain region each month…”

I’m a weird picky eater. I don’t like every day staples like pork chops and cheese, but if it’s from the ocean I’ll eat it. I also have no fear in trying different things from different cultures, even if the dish includes items that I don’t necessarily enjoy. Sometimes I don’t mind these particular items as much if they are cooked in certain spices or if it is just one item in a list of other ingredients that I do enjoy.

A few months back, my boyfriend and I went to this all-you-can-eat Korean Barbecue joint down the street from his house called Sura. I’m a three-year old at heart and love to have fun with my food, so this place was great. There is a grill in the middle of the table. You choose meats and fish from the menu, the waitress comes out with a platter of the raw meats and you get to cook it yourself on the grill. It’s awesome. We had shaved cow tongue (which tastes like beef chips if cooked well enough), octopus and bulgogi, which is a pork and squid combo marinated in pear juice, red chili paste, ginger and garlic and sesame oil. We loved it so much, that we decided that we wanted to try it ourselves at home – along with a few other Asian inspired items.

We made:

octupus

Bulgogi

Peking Duck

Frog’s Legs

Let me tell you, shopping for these things was an adventure in itself. We traveled to an Asian Market that is known for selling a variety of items such as bottled sauces, fish, frozen ducks – heads and all – and tarantulas. No thanks. Luckily for me, there weren’t any spiders in the building when I walked in. If there was, I can’t promise that the store would still be standing.

Octopus
We didn’t eat the whole octopus. I removed the head just below the eyes and made sure to remove the beak from the cavity in the middle of the body. Although my boyfriend was grossed out by them, I had fun with the octopus. They were slimy and when intact, looked like something out of Alien.

The hole is where the beak is…

Using a butcher’s knife, I cut the body in half to make it easier to chew. No matter how long you cook octopus for, unless it’s sliced very thin, it is very chewy.

We then marinated them in a mixture of hoi sin sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. We marinated it for about an hour before grilling on a flat top (which was on as high heat as possible). As soon as the octopus hit the grill, their legs began to curl and it looked as though it was still alive. Very cool.

For having such an issue with texture, I’m surprised I love octopus so much. However, the sauce we marinated them in was a little too bitter for my taste.

Bulgogi
For this dish, we sliced pork rib and squid super thin and marinated together in a jar of bulgogi marinade. Again, bulgogi marinade is pear juice, red chili paste, ginger and garlic and sesame oil. This also sat for about an hour before being cooked on the grill. We cooked the bulgogi and octopus together at the same time…

The bulgogi (front) kind of looks like innards…but I promise you it’s good.

Because I’m such a big fan of spice, I liked the taste of this portion better than the octopus. Maybe next time I’ll do octopus in this marinade. For those who are iffy about the squid, it’s cut so thin you don’t even realize what it is and it pairs nicely with the barbecue flavor of the pork.

Peking Duck
Luckily for us, the duck came already gutted so we didn’t have to go through that horrible task. Because I have a soft spot for Daffy Duck, I let my boyfriend take care of this one…

First he cut hash marks into the flesh of the bird so the fat renders out. If you skip this, then the skin won’t crisp up and you’ll basically be eating a sponge. He then seasoned just the outside of the bird with salt, pepper, garlic powder, ground ginger, hoi sin sauce and sesame oil. Are you noticing a trend in the spices, yet?

To cook the duck he placed it on a roasting rack – breast side down – and placed it in a 400-degree oven for two and a half hours. ***Note: in order to make sure the skin crisped evenly, he flipped the duck every thirty minutes.***

!!!!!!!!!For sensitive people, this picture shows the whole cooked duck – head and all!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, Daffy….

I only ate it once the head was removed. Something about my dinner staring back at me freaks me out. But the skin was crispy, the meat was juicy and well seasoned. It was absolutely delicious.

Frog’s Legs
I’ve tried frog’s legs once before and wasn’t thrilled with them. Yes, they do resemble chicken wings, but are a little too game-y. They are a little too sweet for my taste and are a much softer meat than chicken. Not much chewing is involved. My boyfriend, however, loves them.

Making them wasn’t as involved as the other dishes. When you buy the legs, they come with the toenails still attached. So he clipped them before he breaded them. He used regular bread crumbs. Then he deep-fried them and covered them in hoi sin sauce.

Gross, right?

Overall, I feel my first international attempt was a success. It’s definitely a different experience but I would make these again and recommend each of these dishes to anyone.

Oh, For the Love of Meat…Pie

Not many people know this, but I am French Canadian. Most people assume I am 100 percent Italian because of my cooking style and preferences. Truth is, I am actually a “mutt.” I’m Italian, Irish, French Canadian and Portuguese.

As part of my culinary adventure, I want to explore and experience ALL of the traditional cuisine of my heritage. Sharing food, in my opinion, is the best way to experience a culture or a person’s heritage and so far I’ve had tunnel vision.

My first attempt was my Great Mémère’s meat pie. I am not a big meat-eater, but my mother, her two brothers and my boyfriend – who is also French Canadian – love it; so I thought I’d give it a try.

You hear “pie” and think it’s going to be this complex baking recipe, but this couldn’t have been any easier. You will need:

1. One box of Pillsbury unroll and fill pie crust. There are two crusts per box.

2. One large white onion

3. 2 tsp. ground All Spice

4. One cup Mashed potatoes. My family always has the Instant Garlic Mashed on hand, so I just used that. But for the natural option, approximately one or two potatoes (depending on the size) makes one cup mashed.

5. One pound ground beef

6. One pound ground pork

7. 2 tbsp cooking oil

8. 1 tsp salt

9. 1/4 tsp black pepper

10. Optional: One egg

Because my oven takes a while to heat up, my first step is to always have it preheat. In this case, to 375 degrees. While the oven was doing its thing, I began finely dicing the onion.

Onions and I don’t get along. I don’t cry when chopping them, I full-out bawl. My vision goes blurry, my eyes turn red…somtimes it’s even so bad that I can’t even be in the same room as an onion is being cut. Needless to say, this step wasn’t fun. In fact, I hated every minute of it.

I also decided to get the mashed potatoes out-of-the-way at this time. Luckily the boxed potatoes provide you with a set of instructions. But if you are using all natural potatoes, chop the potato(es) into cubes and boil until they are tender – or until you can easily stick a fork in them. Once tender, drain and mash with butter and milk.

I placed a large skillet over medium heat and sautéed the onions in the cooking oil until they were tender. An onion will usually let you know when it’s done, as it becomes transparent in color. Once they were cooked through, I placed them in a bowl and set them aside.

I browned both the beef and the pork at the same time. Because the meats weren’t frozen, it only took about twenty minutes for it to brown all the way through. Frozen meats could take double that time, depending on how thawed they are when they go in the skillet. The meat was drained and combined with the cup of potatoes, seasonings and onion.

Appealing, isn’t it?

I will admit I was willing to try this concoction up until I added the all spice. There is something about the smell of the seasoning that I just can’t get past. The best way I can describe the smell is that it is licorice-like and it tastes exactly like how it smells. I’m curious, though, if garlic powder would make for an OK substitute. Then I’d eat it.

I used a 9″ pie plate when putting this together and found that the crust fit nicely without having too much excess around the edges. I filled the pie plate with the meat mixture then covered with the second crust. The edges of the crust had to be fluted together almost as though I was baking an apple pie and I cut four air slits into the top crust.

Ready for the Oven

I beat the egg and brushed it on the top of the pie. This was the last step before sticking it in the oven. It’s optional, but helps give the crust that nice golden color. The pie only bakes for 30-35 minutes and serves between 6 – 8 people.

Look how pretty that is 🙂

I can’t tell you how it came out, since I didn’t have any. But my boyfriend loved it and my mother says it came out exactly like her Mémère’s, so I was pretty proud of myself.

This pie can be eaten with mustard, ketchup or gravy. But if you ask my uncle, the most traditional way to eat it is to lift the top crust and layer the meat with ketchup. If any of you try it, let me know how it turns out.