Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare

I could eat spaghetti and meatballs every night of the week. Of course my laundry bill would be astronomical. There are cleaning products for removing every possible stain including wine, coffee, ink and blood, but no one has invented a product to remove spaghetti sauce stains. Not yet anyway.

This recipe came about as part of my effort to "eat down the freezer." I had a package of two Italian sausages and some ground beef on hand, but neither were really enough to make a meal. The secret to these meatballs is a combination of pork and beef and also what you use to stretch the meat, plenty of bread and milk. The bread and milk create a very tender texture. Italian sausages have lots of seasoning and fat so you really don't need to add much more in that department though some fresh herbs are nice. I do like using dehydrated toasted onion flakes. I get them from Penzey's and they are great in dishes like this where normally I would want to saute fresh onions. They have good flavor and are a real time saver.

The bounty from the berry bushes in my backyard has been great this year. I was able to make another quart of red currant jelly just like last year. The raspberry bushes yielded so much fruit that the options for consumption were unlimited. I wanted to make something more special than jam and it was impossible to eat all the berries fresh. I decided upon making a trifle, one of the most elegant and almost bake-free deserts. Instead of one big trifle, I made six individual trifles for a light dessert to end a recent summer gathering. These personal-size trifles are perfect for those who don't like to share dessert and since there are no seconds, they're guilt-free too.

I had never eaten nor ever heard of a trifle until I traveled to England. Once I had a taste of it there, I immediately became a fan. A week wouldn't go by without a need for me to satisfy my craving for the beautifully layered treat. So I ended up becoming a die-hard devotee of store-bought trifles from Marks & Spencer. Sold in little sealed cups, they were the ideal dessert for me who was always on the go. Every time I passed by a store I would be sure to stop in for either a raspberry or strawberry trifle. I was quite the trifle addict.

There is something indulgent about starting the day with a cup of rich dark coffee, (no cream or sugar, thank you), and a big, warm, moist scone that is loaded with dried apricots and a generous amount of big chunks of nuts and maybe, sometimes, still-soft morsels of dark chocolate that melt on the tongue with each bite.

But, the coffee must be aromatic and wonderful. These days, my morning coffee is French press. And the scone, well, it can’t be just any old scone.

The scones I eat must be my own homemade variety. Yes, they are full of fat. That’s why they are pure indulgence. And, that’s why I make them only as a special treat once in a while. But, it is the fat that makes them so moist and flavorful.

In soups or stews, when grilled or braised, or when poached or seared, halibut is a wonderful fish no matter the cooking method. Its white sturdy flesh holds together very well in different preparations. It has a meaty texture much like chicken and a subtle fish flavor.

A preparation, like this Italian poached recipe, is the perfect way to show off halibut in all its glory. Poaching the fish in a flavorful broth makes it a very appealing dish for a chilly fall day. There's a story behind the name of this recipe: acqua pazza in Italian means crazy water. Neapolitan fisherman would poach their catch of the day in a spicy, briny broth flavored with wine and herbs. More often than not, they would use seawater as the stock base. A few years ago I tasted a wonderful rendition of monkfish in acqua pazza at the now-closed Lunetta. I've had the inclination to make it at home ever since.

My recipe takes traditional acqua pazza and gives it an Asian twist. Inspired by the cuisine of Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who is well known for fusing classical French technique with Asian flavors, I create a recipe that builds flavor upon flavor.