Comfort Foods and Indulgences

I am an A+ eater and a B- cook.  Sad, but true – I’d be so much better off if it were the other way around.  I have a couple of A+ dishes in my repertoire, but by and large, I haven’t had the time to hone my kitchen skills.  Having to bring home the bacon and cook it too is hard work!  So I’ve eaten out as much as I’ve eaten in for the last 20 years.  Nowadays, I’m trying to reverse the trend.

I began my career in Manhattan around the same time that many famous, formal temples of gastronomy like Lutece and La Cote Basque were being replaced in the hearts and wallets of many New Yorkers by small, unpretentious, artisanal restaurants that cared more about the content than the packaging.  So I consider myself very lucky to have been there when Trattoria d’Alfredo changed the rules of the game.  Alfredo Viazzi introduced New Yorkers to simple, inventive, Italian regional cooking, as familiar to us today as spaghetti and meatballs were then.  I loved how this gracious, Savona-born, WWII partisan fighter, writer and cook presided over his flock nightly; I loved that he opened a supper club nearby where his actress/singer wife performed; and I loved the exquisite mocha dacquoise cake made daily for the restaurant by James Beard’s partner, pastry chef Gino Cofacci.

Panna Cotta is one of those great desserts that you can make ahead of time.  It's so quick and easy and can be served in any pretty glass.  When I make this recipe, I always have some mixture left over and I pour the extra into small ramekins.  You can also pour this into coffee cups or espresso cups for a really fun presentation.

Panna Cotta means "cooked cream" in Italian and is a very adaptable recipe and  can be flavored with just about anything.  If you want to leave out the cocoa powder from this recipe, you can add some vanilla bean and have vanilla panna cotta.  Or add a touch of honey or a little pureed blueberries.  You really can flavor it any way you like.  

“So I’ve been eating butter.” I said this to some friends in Alexandria, Virginia the other weekend and they stared and laughed at me when I revealed this fact. Yes, I’ve been eating butter. I’ve sampled it plain, cold, room temp, melted, salted and unsalted, cooked and clarified. I have also scheduled an EKG, stat!

Growing up enthralled with all things pertaining to food, I have instinctively and educationally been instilled with the how’s, when’s, and why’s concerning butter. True, it IS a Southern staple, but every region and culture has a form of this delectable condiment and ingredient. The Brits, the French, the Danes and Italians all boast their own better butter and in my lovely corner of the world, I wanted to very well understand and comprehend why I like the butters I use.

I have watched Mimi, Mrs. Mary, and Mama throw in butter here and there, melt it down, dice and cube it for pie crust, garnish biscuits with pats of it, and even top off filets with a dab just before removing them from the iron skillet or grill. I have listened to Granddaddy’s stories from his childhood on milking the cows and churning said milk into butter. Butter “back in the good ol’ days” was moreover a country family’s chore or farming family’s answer to “what to do with all this fresh milk?” Cows had to be milked and nothing was wasted…butter could be consumed and stored for a bit. City and townsfolk had to buy their butter –those living in bucolical settings made it!

Panna cotta or "cooked cream" is a popular Italian dessert made from cooking milk, cream, sugar, and gelatin. It makes a luxurious dessert for Father's Day or any other special occasion. Be warned: panna cotta's silky texture and rich flavor will make even the manliest of men swoon. He may even say strange things like, "heavenly," "sublime," and "decadent."

This is normal. However, if this behavior continues for more than a few hours, don't panic. Turn your television on to the Speed Channel, gently lead your man to the sofa, and seat him there with a Slim Jim and a Coors Light. In a few hours he'll be making sense again.

There are myriad recipes for panna cotta, but I used Helen's (everyone's favorite tartelette). Helen claimed this panna cotta was "easy-peasy," and she wasn't kidding.