GRANPA COOKS CIOPPINO FOR A DINNER PARTY

Having friends over for dinner is always fun. The first course was California salad with Italian dressing.
The second course was coloured tortellini with white sauce.
The main dish was my idea.
Barb obtained a couple of recipes for Cioppino- A San Francisco Italian Fish Stew from the Internet.( for those that like to follow a recipe by the letter, check out the Food Network-Giada De Laurentiis or Elise Bauer- Food and Cooking Blog).
I reviewed the main ingredients but then did my own thing.
The ingredients are:
The sauce- simple-
olive oil- enough to coat the pot
onion chopped
garlic buds- 4 chopped or diced very finely
some red pepper flakes- to taste
can of diced tomatoes with the juice
1 or 2 cups of white wine
salt and pepper to taste
The good stuff- PEI  mussels, clams, peeled shrimps, scallops, cut pieces of white fish of your choice.
Fresh is best. Although some frozen fish items are good too if fresh is not always available. These were my choices but any seafood items can be used according to your own taste. You can improvise on how hot you make like it. So the red pepper flakes can be optional.

Make the quick sauce, let it simmer then when ready with fresh or frozen seafood ingredients, cook them. Serve soon after they are cooked.

Barb bought some fresh long loaves of Italian bread. Making a butter garlic spread to make crunchy garlic bread in the oven. Fresh crunchy buns are goods too. Why? To dip in the the juice of the soup!
It is a good dish for those that are not eating meat or cutting back on their meat consumption.
The meal was delicious and a hit with our friends.
#seafood#ciopinno#sanfranciscorecipes#foodnetwork#elisebauer#giadadelaourentiis#dinnerwithfriends#garlicbread#tortellini#salad#3courses#granpalovestocook

ZUPPA DE PESCE FOR A FRIDAY NIGHT

I surprised Barb with a wonderful dinner on Friday night. Initially we were going to eat something simple. But a trip to a supermarket with good seafood. I came home with shrimps, scallops, white fish, mussels and clams. .

Chopping up some celery and onions, sauteing in some olive oil before adding the pieces of white fish.

Adding 1 can of tomato puree and 1/2 tin of tomato paste, letting it simmer for about 10 minutes- ecco la- zuppa de pesce/fish soup.

With some crunchy Italian buns from Grande Cheese and using up some Romaine lettuce to make a Caesar Salad, Friday night dinner was special. Barb had her usual glass of white wine.  She works hard for us. Besides when Granpa cooks for her, he gets to eat well too. Ho mangiato com'un porco!
#zuppadepesce#clams#granpalovestocook#italianbuns#tomatopuree#scallops#mussels#fridaynightdinner#cookingforBarbafterahardweekatwork#usingabigpotforzuppa

GRANPA LOVES TO COOK BECAUSE CHRISTMAS IS A GREAT TIME TO EAT

                                 One of my favourite dishes- Christmas Seafood Appetizer.
Christmas has different traditions for different people. So normally I do all the shopping but Barb loves Christmas so she went out Thursday to buy fresh fruit and veggies for the next few days. The clementines this time of year are so delicious and healthy. They balance all the chocolate and cookies and other goodies that are around. Barb knows my traditions so she bought me a flat of figs-she doesn't eat figs, some prickly pears and a pomegranates which she does eat. Last week she bought some small panetones for me along with the nougat treat called Torrone. The Torrone now come in so many flavours like lemon, chocolate. She found one with cranberries which she loves. I let her eat that one. I don't love cranberries. Christmas Eve seafood dinner will be just the two of us so I have added lobster to the meal.

The girls have their in-law obligations which is fair. We are so lucky to have them and the grandchildren Christmas day. So I will cook the Italian Christmas Eve dinner and Barb does the traditional Canadian Christmas dinner. But as everyone knows I will have to supervise.

2015 NEW YEAR'S EVE DINNER WITH SEAFOOD

Although the main seafood meal for Italians is the Christmas Eve Seafood dinner, we finished the year with a New Year's Eve  with a wonderful lobster, scallops wrapped in bacon and shrimp meal.

Barb set a nice table in the dining room for our New Year's Eve feast.
Using up the Christmas napkins was a good idea. Our little white butter pot to dip the lobster was close for us to use.

I boiled some brussel sprouts to finish cooking them in EVOO- Extra Virgin Olive Oil, chopped garlic and some hot peppers. Little button mushrooms were cooked in EVOO with some garlic.

Ready to be cooked.

On a nice platter on the table to be eaten with some white wine. A fresh bun was the carbs portion for the meal. No pasta!

The best part of the meal for the cook is sitting down and eating it. I bought a pecan cheesecake for dessert which was eaten later with an espresso coffee. Barb stayed up to midnight to welcome the New Year. I was asleep beside her in bed. She awoke me for a quick kiss and I went back to sleep. The year started well. A new year! A new chance to cook some old dishes but the cook may just be looking for some new ideas to add to the daily meals. Send me your ideas and I just may try them and add to my blog.

A NEW YEAR FOR COOKING-2015

Ended the 2014 year with lots of good eating and some cooking.

 

Plenty of seafood during the Christmas season. Of course turkey dinner on Christmas Day.

 

                                              
                                                Fried chicken for picnics or a quick dinner.

But the winter is a great time for soups and sauces. The aroma in the house is very appealing to Barb. She like to use her bread maker her mother gave her years ago to have some fresh bread in the house. The machine does all the work.  Winter is boring without the vegetable garden. I find the fresh vegetables at the stores something to be desired. So a soup that can use soggy or less than fresh veggies works supplying the needed healthy ingredients. Besides for those like myself, time to shed some pounds. Homemade soups without any preservatives or too much sodium can help with that process.

 

Don't tell Barb but I am looking forward to being dragged to those summer farmers' markets. I have to get through the long winter months. Yes I have been reading some good books and doing my soudokos but there is just so much time to spend indoors. With the purchase of some low priced eggs from Shoppers Drug Mart, maybe the girls will benefit from some homemade pasta. Idle Cook, idle Mind! Here's to a new year of good cooking!

CIOPPINO-ITALIAN FISH SOUP

Cioppino is not a Ciociaria dish. It is really from the Genoa area of Italy. You know home of Christopher Columbus before he sailed for Spain and Isabella! It is a hardy soup which originally used the catch of the day. I did some research on the soup because my card buddies at the Richmond Hill Italian Social Club were wanting a lunch one day so this dish seemed like a worthy adversary! If you like fish it is made with a variety of seafood items- shrimp, scallops, mussels, white fish( maybe cod or halibut or your favourite white fish) and clams. If you like crab and squid it can be used too. There are many recipes online and I actually used one for our lunch. So I must stay honest on this blog and only post my own recipes not others. Some more interesting tidbits- ciuppin in the Ligurian dialect from the Genoa area means to chop or chopped. So the seafood must be "chopped" as well as the vegetables that are cooked in the dish.  One of the ladies from the Club actually made lunch for us. Barb was at work so there are no pictures to illustrate the dish. Since we do love seafood, I may make my own batch someday to share with you.
Talking about soup- The National Post paper has a section entitled Gastropost. Barb entered my Minestra soup and it was one of the soup dishes featured November 10, 2012. For those of you who love to cook check out their weekly missions and as long as you get your item with a picture sent to the address mentioned on their page by 10:00 a.m. Wednesday mornings you may get a spot. So come on fellow cooks and bakers like Roy, Edna, Kathryn- try your hand on one of their missions that might contain an item you make- so I can see your name there too!
#ciopinno#Cioiaria#shrimps#scallops#granpamakescioppino#seafoodatitsbest#lotsofmussels