Minestrone & Rosemary Focaccia
Mom (pouring the milk) with her mother, my Nonnie, and her brothers. Mom learned from the best, Nonnie was another amazing, glamorous hostess! Also, who was the art designer on this?! That cutout is so random.
As indicated by this website title, my mother was an amazing hostess. She was always thinking of ways to make people feel comfortable and at home. If a vegetarian was invited to dinner, she would make something delicious that would not only suit their dietary needs but would more than satisfy everyone else. Once one of my Dad’s friends spilled his dip cup (yuck - for those of you who don’t understand this, a dip cup is where you spit your chewing tobacco residue) on our new seagrass rug in the breakfast room. Mom waved it off as no big deal (it was a big deal, we had just bought that rug) and then set to painting a TOBACCO COLORED border on the rug to disguise it. Genius!
We had lovely touches all over the house, like an assortment of snacks on the butcher block and crochet bordered hand towels in the bathrooms. Mom was big on towels. When I was just out of college, Mom gave me a set on which she had patiently hand-embroidered my monogram. (Just what a 22 year old living in a 5th floor walkup in the East Village needs! No, seriously, they were much appreciated.)
Mom’s hosting extended outside of her house as well. Whenever we vacationed somewhere, menus were planned. A day at the lake with friends called for a variety of sausages & grilled peppers or summer spaghetti (which I’ll post later). Speaking of sausages, as I mentioned in my speech at her funeral, one of my favorite Mom stories was when she cut her hand badly and went to the emergency room. They asked what she had done to get there and she said, cool as a cucumber, “I was wrestling a recalcitrant salami”. Classic Mom!
The summer I turned 16, we rented a house with friends for a few weeks in Follina, Italy, just outside of Venice. What did Mom do? She brought a freaking country ham over in her suitcase so she could cook our friends a proper Southern breakfast. I mean, being the land of prosciutto and all, there’s plenty of ham in Italy, but Mom had a method to her madness (and a need to get rid of country ham). You see, my Dad’s father was one of the few surgeons in his area of East Tennessee and often got paid in unorthodox currency, like ham and pies. Consequently, we usually had a gross looking country ham wrapped in burlap lying around our house, often in our guest bathtub. (This served as kind of a counterpoint to those classy crocheted towels.) I don’t remember if she brought grits to Italy or subbed them out with polenta (same diff), but I do remember the airport guy’s eyes when he opened the suitcase and saw her stowaway ham!
Riffing on memories of this Italian summer, I figured I would post a couple of Mom’s Italian recipes. Her minestrone is perfect comfort food for this time of year, she would dump TONS of parmesan in when serving. In addition to loving fancy towels, mom loved dairy products!
MINESTRONE
serves 6-8
1/2 c. olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
1 c. thinly sliced onions (1 large)
1 c. diced carrots (about 3)
1 c. diced celery
2 c. peeled, diced potatoes
1. c. diced green beans
3 c. shredded cabbage
2 c. canned beef broth mixed with 4 c. water (sub vegetable broth if desired)
1 1/2 c. canned cannellini beans (white)
2 c. diced zucchini
1 or 2 c. of noodles if desired (macaroni works well)
crust from a piece of parmesan scraped clean
2/3 c. canned Italian tomatoes with their juice
1/3 c. fresh parmesan
Melt butter, add oil and onions. Cook til wilted and pale gold. Add carrots and cook 2-3 min. Do the same with celery, then potatoes, then zucchini, then green beans. Add cabbage and cook 6 minutes.
Add broth, cheese crust, tomates & juice, and a little salt. Cover and simmer at least 3 hours. And cannellini beans and noodles (if desired - macaroni works well). Add cheese at end and correct for salt.
Good with pesto in it. Serve with extra parmesan.
ROSEMARY FOCACCIA
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast
5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Stir together 1 2/3 cups lukewarm (105 to 115°F) water and yeast in bowl of mixer and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups flour, 1/4 cup oil, and 2 1/2 teaspoons table salt and beat with paddle attachment at medium speed until a dough forms. Replace paddle with dough hook and knead dough at high speed until soft, smooth, and sticky, 3 to 4 minutes.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in 1 to 2 tablespoons more flour. Knead dough 1 minute (it will still be slightly sticky), then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap, at warm room temperature, until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Press dough evenly into a generously oiled 15- by 10- by 1-inch baking pan. Let dough rise, covered completely with a kitchen towel, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Stir together rosemary and remaining 3 tablespoons oil. Make shallow indentations all over dough with your fingertips, then brush with rosemary oil, letting it pool in indentations. Sprinkle sea salt evenly over focaccia and bake in middle of oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
Immediately invert a rack over pan and flip focaccia onto rack, then turn right side up. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Note: If grains of coarse sea salt are very large, you may want to crush them slightly before sprinkling over focaccia.
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