The Talisman Italian Cookbook, or Il Talismano della Felicità, is perhaps the most complete, quintessential catalog of Italian specialties translated for the American kitchen. I found this in my grandmothers kitchen the last time I visited her in Florida. Originally written in 1929, the edition she had was adapted and printed by the Ronzoni Macaroni company in 1950. It was also bound backwards. This means when you open the front cover the first page you see is the last page of the recipe index upside down. Never the less, this miss print and marketing promotion aside, the book has some great traditional Italian recipes. In particular, a recipe for “Large meatball home style”. In Italian this is know as polpettone.

The polpettone is a mysterious dish because it is so huge it is quiet elusive to make well. Frank in the East Village does the absolute best one I have ever had. It is a real skill to figure out how to keep it moist, cook it through and crisp the outside all at the same time. My results were mense a mense. (mediocre in english). I kept it moist but it lacked a lot of flavor. Here is what page 93 describes you need to create this monster along with my on the fly modifications.

Large Meatball Home Style (polpettone)

1 1/4 lbs chopped beef (I used beef, pork and veal)
1/8 lbs prosciutto or lean bacon (I skipped this)
4 slices bread soaked in water and squeezed dry (I used milk)
1 egg
2 tbs grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp chopped dried parsley
1 tsp chopped basil ( I dumped this too)
1/4 tsp salt
8 cups water
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
1 fresh tomato, cut into pieces
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions: Modifications at the bottom
Mix the chopped beef, bread, egg, cheese, parsley, basil and salt together and shape into a large meatball. In a soup pan, put the water, onion, celery, carrot, tomato, parsley and salt and bring to a boil. When the liquid is boiling, immerse the large meatball and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours. Do not boil at high speed because the meatball will come apart.

After simmering for 2 hours, take the meatball our of the liquid and place on a platter, covering it with another platter so as to press it a a little. When cold, slice and serve with mayonnaise sauce. Save the liquid for a tasty soup. Serves 4.

Of course I did not put mayonnaise on it but used Italian gravy. Recipe here. Yuck. I am sure something was lost in translation there. Before I put the softball into the water I brown the sides of it. Then I simmer for a long time . More than 2 hours. To finish I put it in a separate pan cover in gravy and place under the broiler for 3 min.

This book was send to me by my friend Allen. I met Allen in LA for the first time. I was behind the wheel of a rented black, Chevy Yukon and he was standing in front of the Roosevelt Hotel on his way to the Yahoo! Grammy party. Our short drive up the Sunset Strip solidified a few quick lessons. We were both creative guys and we both expressed it through cooking. Arguably, the single most important thing he taught me came years later as we both stood in my Brooklyn kitchen after yet another one of our Yahoo! projects wrapped.  Now that might seem shallow but it’s not. The trick he showed me was how to heat up a tortilla. Put the stove top flame on med heat. Throw the tortilla directly on the flame. Flip in 5 seconds. Pull it. Stuff it. Eat it.

I had always heated my tortillas in a large hot pan. Not only did this dirty another pan in the cooking process but it took longer to heat the tortillas. So, why was this lesson so important? It is not about the tortillas as much it is about understanding a new or different way to do something. So often we look to solve problems from the perspective of what we have learned or how we were taught. Sometimes this is not the best or most logical way to do something. In this case, remove the middle man (the pan) and go directly to the source is more efficient in every way, not to mention it looks really cool. Apply this to creative thinking (in my case advertising) and watch out.

A few months back Allen took a trip to Mexico and happened upon a cooking class from famed Mexican chef Rick Bayless (Mexcian via Oklahoma). With our tortilla bond in mind, he picked up a copy of Rick’s latest book and sent it over to my BK kitchen. Inside are some fantastic sounding, delicious looking recipes. Picking one to cook was difficult. The night finally arrived last week, as the book was screaming at me from my kitchen counter, to pick a recipe and cook. I decided to go simple but with massive flavor punch. The Chipotle Beef Tacos with Carmelized Onions on page 169 fit the bill. Of course we had to throw some accoutrements in with the tacos.

We started with some chorizo and queso fresco.

And some homemade yucca fries for good measure.

To add some veggie to this meat mayham I modified a recipe out of the front of Rick’s book. Romaine, watercress, Fennel salad with lime cilantro vinaigrette. In Rick’s recipe he used jicama instead of fennel. The market didn’t have it :( I love jicama.

Chips and salsa with taco toppings staged the next course

Finally the Taco’s were built and devoured. Damn tasty.

Entenmenn’s chocolate cake made an appearance for dessert

As did Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby

This recipe was fantastic. I don’t cook much Mexican nor do I frequent many Mexican restaurants in NYC because I find they are not very authentic. I don’t think this has changed my mind on Mexican restaurants but I am certainly going to try a few more Bayless recipes and hopefully develop a few Mexican favorites to put in teh arsenal. Thanks Allen for the book and thanks Rick for the inspiration.

Page 169′s Chipotle Beef Tacos with Carmelized Onions
One 7 ounce can chipotle chiles en adobo
1 lbs skirt steak
3 tbs olive oil
2 medium white onions slices 1/4″ thick
Salt
12 warm corm tortillas
about 3/4 cup smokey chipotle salasa (page 149) or bottled salsa

Turn oven onto its lowest setting. Open the chipotle and blend in a food processor until smooth. marinade steak with chipotle. In a large skillet cook the onions in the oil until crunchy. Remove onions from pan and ass the steak. Brown on both sides (3 minutes per side). Let is rest in the oven for 5 minutes then slice into 3 inch lengths. Toss with the onions and season with salt. Build tacos with tortillas, salsa, hot sauce and steak/onion combo.

I met Cathy last year at SXSW in Austin. She was speaking on a panel about how to be a successful food blogger. Interestingly enough, this was before Forking Tasty had launched. After the session I went up to introduce myself because I loved her blog, we had a mutual friend and we called the same borough home. Since that moment last March I have competed against her, cooked with her and ate next to her on various occasions.

Last week an advanced copy of her book arrived at my door. Her blog, Not Eating Out In New York, had been translated into a memoir/cookbook of her two years not eating in restaurants. How she did this I am still not sure. Even as an avid reader of her blog and 7 chapters into her book, The Art of Eating In, I still can’t believe her discipline.

With inspiration from chapter 7, (Not ordering in: less haste, less waste) I attempted a recipe from the end of the chapter. In this chapter Cathy mentions the 45 billion disposable chopsticks used once and discarded every year. This is a gross travesty and the same forest raping, landfill filling disaster the pizza box produces. Because of that I decided to make her kale, radicchio and sausage pizza and do my part to keep one more used pizza box off of Staten Island.

My trepidation of buying the dough from my local pizza shop and attempting to recreate that famous NY slice was a little less than Cathy’s. I thank the vowel at the end of my name for that.

Although I had made pizza many times before I had never thought to top it with kale or radicchio. I opted for mini pies since I have not used my mini-pizza pans in over a year. Usually, a single use item like this would find its way out of my kitchen and into the salvation army box but for some reason these pizza pans I have always hung onto. After digging deep into the seldom-used-kitchen-tool drawer and extracting the pans, I got to the fun stuff, stretching the dough. I love the throwing, spinning and stretching part of making pizza. My mother would argue this is because I LOVE to make a mess in the kitchen. Secretly she is right. It shows accomplishment and good work ethic.

On went the toppings that I prepped before stretching the dough and into the pre-heated 400 degree oven slide my pies. In the 20 minutes it took for these bad boys to bake I chose a delicious meritage from my wine storage and cracked it open to breath. The alarm on my kitchen timer rang and I pulled the fragrant and crispy pies from the oven. The pizza cutter sliced through the pies releasing echos of breaking crust and smells of Italian sausage and greens through my apartment. A quick drizzle of extremely good olive oil was my final touch. With my pizza hot and wine opened up, I sat down at the table and started into chapter 8. Both the pizza and the book were outstanding. Thanks Cathy.

For the full recipe and the rest of Cathy’s story of not eating out in New York pick up her book.

But they are good for something. That something is new ideas. Recipes help me create new dishes, learn how to use new ingredients and find new cooking methods. As much as I say I never cook from a recipe I do still own several strategic cookbooks that help me get through a stumbling block when cooking. More on that in a future post.

Lately I have been given a few cookbooks because of this blog and my obvious love of food. I’ve decided that a nice way to say “Thank You” as well as learn some new methods is to try a recipe from the books I receive. Now this is not an open invite to start sending us books. My apartment, although spacious, still resides in NYC and space is at a premium. And, Ant lives on a ship. Even less room there. If you really must send us something, send a note and we will get you the address.

Of course a ‘lil series on this blog isn’t a series without a kitschy name. Just like “P.I.E. WITH” or “Forking Nasty” this series needs some playful nomenclature. I will start the series a little later today under the title; Freshipes. Get it? Fresh Recipes.