PARSLEY/PREZZEMOLO-AN ITALIAN COOK'S STAPLE

Parsley can not be made into an individual dish. It is an ingredient that is added to so many dishes.

I like to grow some in my summer garden to use it fresh in dishes. Drying the excess allows a nice stash in the house. Although now, it is possible to buy bunches of parsley fresh year round. It is a staple in Italian cooking as it is added to my sauce, soups, stew and even the Easter Canascione for a little colour and taste. Barb adds it to her devilled eggs as a garnish on top and her turkey bread stuffing. It even adds some calcium to the meal. It is a rather an understated vegetable or is it a herb? 

This post may warrant some research about parsley. Barb asked me. Where did it originate? Why do Italians use so much of it in their cooking? I just know that it is one of my staples in the kitchen.

THANKSGIVING CANADIAN TURKEY STUFFING

I do love to cook. However, Thanksgiving dinner belongs to Barb. Italians did not celebrate Thanksgiving until they came to Canada. Initially, I was not too fond of a Turkey dinner. It is not the most difficult meal to prepare but it is very tasty. Barb wanted to put her Bread stuffing on my blog. She learned to make it from her mother.

Barb says:
My Mom or Nana's Bread Turkey Stuffing was always a part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas festive dinners. Some Italians in Canada try to claim that a rice stuffing is better in the turkey. Rice stuffing belongs in a duck or cornish hen dish. For me, why try to reinvent a dish that is a great Canadian tradition.

BREAD STUFFING

1 loaf of white Canadian bread.
1/2 loaf of brown or whole wheat Canadian bread.
2-3 Garlic buds.
2 or 3 celery stalks- keeping the leafy middle pieces.
1 onion. White cooking onion or the red onion depending on  your choice.
Fresh parsley. The leafy portion
Sage.
Butter or Margarine- 2 or 3 tablespoons
Salt and pepper to taste.

Once you have decided what time you want to put the turkey in the oven. Make the bread stuffing about 1/2 hour prior.

DIRECTIONS

Washing your hands well before preparing the dish, it is important to wash all the vegetables to be used.

Get a large bowl to mix the ingredients.

Break the bread into bite size pieces mixing the two types together.

Finely dice the garlic buds. You can add more to the mix if you want.

Finely dice the celery stalks and the leafy middle pieces. The leafy pieces help to keep the stuffing together.

Finely chop the onions.

Finely chop the parsley. Use the leafy pieces not the stems.

Mix all the ingredients together.

Add sage- couple of teaspoons  and again mix in the dish. You can add more if you want. Again to taste.

If using butter, cut a few cubes of butter or use a few tablespoons of margarine and place on top, middle and bottom of the mixture.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Put aside.

Take the Turkey- Fresh or Frozen-which should be thawed and rinse out the cavity of the bird.  Put it in the roasting pan. Wash your hands.

Take your bread stuffing and forming handful balls put it in the cavity of the turkey, pushing and really packing it in there. I also put as much as I can in the backside of the bird.

If I can not sew or tie the legs together to keep the moisture of the stuffing intact while cooking, I place tin foil over the stuffed cavity.

Since my children and families love my stuffing, I often double up the recipe ingredients so I have more stuffing than room in the turkey.

I use a casserole dish to cook the extra stuffing. I add some of the beginnings of the gravy being slowly cooked on the stove with the turkey neck, organs for flavour.

The trick to good stuffing is it absorbs the flavour of the turkey while cooking inside so when there is extra stuffing that is cooked separately it does not get the same flavour and can be dry. So mix the stuffing from the bird and the extra together when serving to try to solve that problem.

I also have bought extra turkey thighs to cook. This is another way to cook the extra stuffing. In a casserole dish or separate pan, put the stuffing in the middle with the turkey thighs on the side, again packing them closely, putting on the lid or covering with tin foil to keep the moisture intact.

Depending on the size of the turkey, it is cooked until done. The stuffing is scooped out of the cavity and served in a bowl.

It is one of the main dishes at Canadian Thanksgiving dinners. Adolph and my girls love it so I would not make it any other way!!
#CanadianThanksgiving#breadstuffing#turkeydinner#recipeforbreadstuffingintheturkey#sagemakesthetaste#oldtimeCanadianrecipe

A MOIST MEATBALL OR HAMBURGER PATTIE

Barb's cousin Roy reads my blog regularly- thank you! He commented previously about making a moist meatball- he said his were always a little dry. So I thought I would provide a simple recipe for a basic meatball or hamburger pattie.

INGREDIENTS

2 Lbs( 1 kg) of ground meat- 1/2 beef and 1/2 pork. You can just use all beef if you want.
2 garlic buds.
Parsley-about 5 fresh sprigs. You can use dry parsley but fresh is better.
1 egg.
Salt, pepper.
Olive oil.
1/2( 100 ml) cup bread crumbs.

DIRECTIONS

Put the ground meat in a bowl. If two kinds of meat, mix with clean hands.

Dice or chop garlic buds.

Chop washed parsley into fine pieces.

Add the egg to the mixture. You can beat it prior if wanted but just adding and mixing in the meat is okay.

Add the diced/chopped garlic and parsley.

Add a handful or the 1/2 cup( 100 ml)  of bread crumbs or enough to help hold the mixture together.

1 tsp(5 ml ) salt. 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml ) pepper.

The meat can be flattened into hamburger patties to be used fresh or frozen. Or rolled by hand into meatballs.

You can fry the meatball in a frying pan with just olive oil covering the bottom of the pan. When finished, dab off the grease with a paper towel. Or like the hamburg pattie put on grill in the oven to cook. The hamburger pattie is very tasty cooked on a summer barbecue. Meatballs can be used in spaghetti and meatballs or like the picture as a meat dish in a mixed grill meal.

Tip to making a good meatball- When you roll the meatball do not make them too big. Roll them about the size of a golf ball. If they come out too dry like Roy's, you can always tee them up and use them on a driving range!
#amoistmeatballe#ahamburgpattie#makingagoodmeatball#makingagoodhamburgpattie#cookinggranpastyle#granpalovestocookmeatballs#granpalovestocookhamburgpatties

MY CANADIAN VEGETABLE GARDEN-GIARDINO ITALIANO

Good meals come from good fresh food. Italians always use the vegetables and fruit in season to make their meals. I have been busy- digging then planting my summer vegetable garden. So I am Italian and need tomatoes. I planted several different kinds. Lettuce, beans, eggplant, cucumbers and swiss chard are some of the other vegetables in my little plot. My herbs- oregano, rosemary,basil and parsley are in my little pots. Over the next few months I will share my summer recipes with you. It will be fun showing you the fresh vegetable then the dish it will become. For today, I want to rest my sore old muscles from all the gardening activity. Maybe a nap or two! Il bello giardino! Troppo lavoro! Sono stanco!