Pumpkin Pie

The best recipe for pumpkin pie is from the back of the can of Libby’s Pumpkin.  However, I use fresh pumpkin — the big, round orange ones — so this is my recipe now! The middle one is the pumpkin pie.

Ingredients:
1 classic pie crust, unbaked — use the same one you use for apple pie.

Filling:
3⁄4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
12 ounces evaporated milk
2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
1⁄4 teaspoon cloves
1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Prepare pie crust recipe. Do not bake.
If using fresh pumpkin, boil until soft. This makes it easier to peel and puree. Drain well before putting in blender to puree.
Put all filling ingredients into a blender and blend on high until combined and smooth. Pour into pie crust.
To keep the crust from burning, cover the edges with aluminum foil.
Bake at 425F for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350F and bake for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack and then refrigerate.
Great with a dollop of whipped cream!

Tiramisu or Pull Me Up

If you're fearful or just find raw eggs schivo, here's a great tiramisu recipe. Thanks to my friend, Rosanna Sarno who taught me how to make this while we both were living in Central America where you couldn't count on the cleanliness and freshness of food.


Ingredients:

1 16oz (500 gram) container of Mascarpone
1 16oz (500 gram) container of whipping cream (panna da montare in Italy)
2 Tbs sugar
2-3 cups espresso cooled
1 TBS Baileys liquor, or other flavorful liquor like amaretta
1 package Saboiardi cookies (lady fingers)
Cocoa powder

Whip cream with sugar until soft peaks form, add mascarpone and beat to blend well.
In shallow bowl, combine espresso with liquor.

Spread a thin layer of cream/mascarpone on the bottom of a 9X13 glass deep-dish pan.
Dip each cookie into the espresso and place on top of cream
Continue with a layer of cream, a second layer of cookies dipped in espresso and finish with a layer of cream. Sift cocoa powder to cover the top. Put in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Serve chilled.

This makes enough for about 10-12 good size servings.

Photo to follow.

Welcome to Just4Family Cookbook blog!

Hello and welcome!

This Monfiletto family cookbook is a work in progress.  I'll be posting as I cook and bake the family recipes myself and take photos of them as they come out of the oven or pot.  I hope you'll enjoy taking this journey with me as I document our family history through dinners, desserts and holiday traditions, which I painstakingly try to uphold, under the watchful eyes of my mother Ann and grandmother Rose from above.    

All four of my grandparents emigrated from Italy to America at the turn of the 20th century. They brought with them all of their recipes -- in their heads and hands. Nothing had ever been written down. But once they settled in America, something wonderful was always coming out of the kitchen. It was magical. 

Years ago, my mother wrote some of these recipes down for me and my four sisters.  I’m including most of them exactly as she wrote them. I wrote more of these recipes at the request of my own children, who prefer measuring ingredients instead of using the eyeball-and-handful method passed down to me.

Just a note: I've shared our family recipes from time to time and have even been accused of withholding an ingredient or skewing a measurement to ensure that no one makes it as well as we do. This is not true! I wrote these recipes to the best of my ability -- turning eyeball-and-handful measurements into real world cups and tablespoons.  Sometimes you just have to adjust for taste.

Recipes aside, I learned to make many of these family specialties with my grandmother behind me, waving a wooden spoon and saying, “That’s not-a-right. Do some more.” The best advice I can give, for those who want to give it a go -- and who don't have an Italian grandmother handy -- is to make things a few times, until you get the consistency right and you're happy with the end product. As my mother always said, "Practice makes improvement -- no one ever truly achieves perfection."

 Here's a photo of the family cookbook my mother gave to me:

And here's the handwritten note my mother put in the cookbooks. (I'm fully aware that she addressed each of us as "My best daughter." )

Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or used publicly without express written permission from the author.  Marlene M. Nice 

Ragu or Bolognese -- a keeper from our time in Italy

After a successful ravioli party, where I made Bolognese sauce instead of the usual gravy with meatballs and sausage, we decided this is a keeper.  I created the recipe after reading several recipes in magazines and cookbooks. 

Ingredients: 

4 Tbs olive oil

1 large white onion finely chopped

1 large carrot finely chopped

1 stalk celery finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic finely chopped

2/3 cup of pancetta or guanciale finely chopped

1 pound of chopped beef, seasoned like meatballs (1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp parmesan cheese, 1 tsp parsley, 1 egg -- mix together with hands until well blended)

6 Italian sausage links, meat removed from casing

1 cup dry white wine

2 cans or bottles of tomato puree (I like to use the chunky or rustica)

salt and pepper to taste

Basil (12 leaves of fresh basil or 1 Tbs dried basil)

2 dried bay leaves

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper 

2 Tbs balsamic vinegar

4 Tbs light cream

Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan or dutch oven.  Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and pancetta/guanciale and fry over low heat until the veggies soften and the pancetta/guanciale is crisp, about 7-8 minutes. Add prepared beef and sausage meat and cook until brown, breaking pieces apart, about 8-10 minutes. Add wine and let simmer until it reduces by half, about 6-8 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, bay leaves, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring often, until thickened, about 1 1/2 hours.  Stir in the balsamic vinegar and the cream. 

Serve over pasta. 

Photo to come 

The Ravies -- It takes a village

Several years ago, we started the Christmas day ravioli tradition. We love to have them for our main dish for Christmas, but we also love the activity that brings the family together to roll the dough, fill and cut the ravies and of course, the forking -- sometimes viewed as the entry level job but in fact, the most import part of the process -- sealing the raviolis and quality control.

Another reason we do this at Christmas is because you need several people to form an assembly line. So in addition to Christmas, each of us in the Monfiletto-Nice branch of the family has a hand-crank ravioli roller. We use them for parties around the world, bringing family and friends together for ravioli parties. 

Here's the recipe that makes enough for about 10 people (and probably a bit left over):

8 cups flour

8 eggs

1 Tbs salt

1 cup warm water

Sift flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs, slightly beaten. Add the water and knead until the dough is smooth and soft.  Add more flour as needed. Set aside. 

Make filling: 

3 pounds or ricotta cheese

3 eggs

1 Tbs salt

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 Tbs chopped or dried parsley

1 tsp black pepper

Mix all together. 

Cut the dough into sections and run through the pasta roller to create long strips of dough. Use flour so it doesn't stick. 

Drop filling by rounded teaspoons in a line across the dough. Cover with a second strip of dough. Cut circles just bigger than the amount of filling. 

Don't forget to fork, fork fork! Press around the edges of each ravioli to seal them, but don't puncture the filling. 

Place them on floured trays until ready to cook. 

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add raviolis, return to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes.  You'll have to test them to see if they're done. 

Drain and serve with the delicious four-hour gravy!! 

Note: In Italy, there are so many different fillings for raviolis. In fact ricotta and spinach is considered traditional. 

We also like adding a tablespoon of lemon zest (grated lemon peel) to the ricotta and serve them with butter and herbs. 

Or fill them with cooked cicoria or pesto.
Recently we added a pinch of truffle sauce to each ravioli as we filled them with ricotta and they were fantastic!

Note: You will likely have leftover ricotta filling after you finish the dough. You have two options -- make a smaller amount of dough to finish it off or put the ricotta in a pie plate and bake it for about 30 mins for a good side dish.  

Photos to come!