Italian paste

I never ate the paste in kindergarten. But I will admit that there was something about those squat little jars with the stick in the orange lid (that was actually worthless for spreading the paste) that always warranted a deep lingering sniff. I also love the smell of crayons. Perhaps my paste-eating compatriots were merely confused by growing up in a home with recipes like the following:

ITALIAN PASTES (from Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, 1918, vol 1)

To produce the Italian pastes, the wheat, from which the bran has been removed, is ground into flour. This flour is made into a stiff dough, which is rolled into sheets and forced over rods, usually of metal, or made into a mass and forced over rods, and allowed to dry in the air. When sufficiently dry, the rods are removed, leaving slender tubes, or sticks, that have holes through the center. Because of the manufacturing processes involved in the production of these foods for

market, they are higher in price than some cereals, but their value lies in the fact that they are practically imperishable and are easily prepared and digested.

MACARONI WITH EGGS.--Since macaroni is high in protein, it takes the place of meat in whatever form it is served, but when it is prepared with eggs it becomes an unusually good meat substitute. Therefore, when eggs are added as in the following recipe, no meat should be served in the same meal.

MACARONI WITH EGGS

(Sufficient to Serve Six)

1 c. macaroni

2 qt. boiling water

2 tsp. salt

1-1/2 c. milk

2 Tb. butter

2 Tb. flour

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

4 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 c. crumbs

Break the macaroni into inch lengths, add it to the salted boiling water, and cook it until it is tender. To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, salt, and pepper, stir until smooth, and gradually add the milk, which must be hot, stirring rapidly so that no lumps form. Cook the cream sauce until it thickens. When the macaroni is tender, drain it and arrange a layer on the bottom of a baking dish, with a layer of sliced, hard-boiled eggs on top. Fill the dish with alternate layers of macaroni and eggs, pour the sauce over all, and sprinkle the crumbs over the top. Then place the dish in the oven and bake the food until the crumbs are brown. Serve hot.

My mother: "I think that in the past, food really didn't have much flavor."

Chicken and Noodles

Chicken and Egg Noodles

No South Beach diet here. This needs to be served over mashed potatoes with a side of hot rolls. This family starch-fest is served when relatives visit. It’s an affordable way to serve up vats of comfort food to the 20 or more people that turn up at my folks’ house. I made sure to corner my mom and write this one down on the inside back cover of my cookbook.

Noodles:

Eggs

Salt

Flour

For each three servings, beat one egg with a pinch of salt. Add enough flour to your eggs to form a wet dough. Knead with lots of flour on a board. Roll it out thin, fold in half, repeat, flouring between the layers if necessary to be sure they don’t stick, until rolled very thin. Cut into strips. Dust with more flour and lay out on waxed paper to dry.

Chicken:

Chicken

Chicken bullion

Meanwhile, boil a chicken in chicken bullion until tender. Cool, debone, and chop. Save the broth. You’ll need a cup or two of broth for each three servings so you may need to add prepared chicken bullion to get that amount.

When ready to make dinner, reheat broth to a simmer. Dump the floured noodles into the broth and cook for 20-30 minutes until tender, stirring frequently. Add the chicken to warm through. The noodles will cook best and make their own thickened gravy if cooked slowly and gently rather than on high.

Fancy it up with sliced mushrooms, peas, or corn thrown in the pot. We always argue about whether or not the innards should be boiled up and added too. I am not a pro-innards girl, fortunately my sisters love them and fight over who gets the liver. Consequently, someone always sneaks over to the stove and eats it before it gets added to the pot. Yech!

Browsing the pages

I enjoy flipping thru the glossy pages of a new cookbook or magazine as much as the next person, but my first love is old cookbooks that are falling apart and over-stuffed files of vintage recipe cards. There you will find the handwritten notes in the margins, the yellowed newpaper recipes paper-clipped to a page, the editorial notes about quality, quantity, or even who's favorite it might be. Perhaps these messages make me feel connected to other cooks from the past: other women in other kitchens, doing their best for their families; perhaps in a world swimming with foodie opportunities they help identify what's actually worth trying (so many recipes, so little time); or perhaps they justify my own compulsive need to editorialize whenever I give out a recipe. Whatever...here they are, recipes and notes from myself and numerous anonymous cooks who have left their marks in the margins of my collection.

First Up...

Alfredo Sauce

You can substitute Neufchatel cheese for the cream cheese, and use skim milk, to make a—ha!—lower fat version.

1 stick butter

1 cup milk

1 pkg. cream cheese

1 cup freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese

Nutmeg to taste.

In a saucepan on med.low heat, melt butter in the milk, bring to a low simmer. Cut the cream cheese into chunks and melt it in the milk mixture, stirring frequently. Slowly add the cheese, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Sprinkle with nutmeg to taste. Serve over pasta, or try it on a baked potato. Also good with diced ham and peas, bacon, grilled chicken and/or chopped salami mixed in.

This recipe was given to me in the 1980s on a 3x3 piece of scratch paper by a friend who originally got it from a newspaper who originally got it from a local restaurant. Afraid I'd lose it, I copied it into a new journal I had picked up for a trip to Saudi Arabia to visit my parents and siblings. It went to the other side of the world with me, fed my family, and came back home again. I made it for my ex-husband the first time he ever came over to my house. I think he married me for it. Of course, you can’t make a sauce of love and then put it over plain old store bought pasta; try making your own fresh.