Author DANIEL BELLINO ZWICKE

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe by Bellino

CHICKEN CACCIATORE

alla BELLINO

From La TAVOLA

CHICKEN CACCIATORE

Ingredients :

4 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 large Onion, peeled and sliced thin

6 Chicken Thighs & 6 Legs

8 pieces of whole San Marzano Tomatoes

1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced into 12 slices

3 cloves Garlic, peeled and cut into 4 pieces each

10 ounces Button Mushrooms, washed and cut into quarters

1/2 teaspoon each of Salt & ground Black Pepper

1/2 cup dry White Wine

2 Bay Leaves

2 sprigs fresh Rosemary (optional)

(Optional) You can add some Olives to the dish if you like. Some people like to, some don’t. We prefer without, and are happy with the peppers, onions, and mushrooms. If you do want to add Olive, get any Italian Greens Olives you like, and add into the dish in last 10 minutes of cooking. Basta !

Preparation :

Pat dry all of the chicken. Season each piece with salt and black pepper on both sides.

Place the olive oil in a large frying pan and turn heat on to a medium flame.

Add half the chicken and brown on both sides until nicely browned. about 3 minutes on each side.

Remove the browned chicken and set aside on a plate. Brown the remaining chicken in the same pan, then set aside with the other chicken.

Add the sliced peppers to the pan and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the onions and continue cooking on medium heat for 5 minutes, mixing with a wooden spoon as you cook. Season the peppers and onions with salt and black pepper and mix. Add the garlic and cook on low heat for 3 minutes.

Add all the chicken and the juices from the plate back into the pan. Add the white wine and cook on medium heat, until the wine is reduced by half of its original volume.

Add the tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes with a wooden spoon to break into pieces. Turn the heat to high, and cook for 5 minutes, as you mix the tomatoes into the pan. Add the bay leaves and rosemary. Cover the pan with a lid if you have one, and cook on low heat for 35 – 40 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

Once the chicken is cooked through and is tender ( 35 – 40 mins.), turn the heat off, and let rest for 8 minutes before serving.

To serve. Give each person 2 – 3 pieces of chicken with some mushrooms and pan juices on each plate. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top, and drizzle a little olive oil across the chicken. Serve with a salad or whatever vegetable that you like on the side, or serve the chicken on its own.

Enjoy !

… Daniel ….

The above Recipe is Excerpted from La TAVOLA, courtesy of the author Daniel Bellino Zwicke

La TAVOLA

ITALIAN-AMERICAN NEW YORKERS

ADVENTURES of The TABLE

“La TAVOLA”

AMAZON.com

Author Daniel Bellino Zwicke

VERONA, ITALY

Books on Amazon

Favorite Sicilian American Cookbook – Nonna Bellino’s Cookbook by Daniel Bellino

GIUSEPPINA SALEMI BELLINO

“NONNA BELLINO”

NONNA BELLINO’S COOKBOOK

GRANDMA BELLINO ITALIAN COOKBOOK

“RECIPES FROM MY SICILIAN NONNA”

by Daniel Bellino Z

AMAZON.com

NONNA BELLINO’S COOKBOOK

Daniel Bellino Z

Grandma Bellino’s Italian Cookbook – Recipes From My Sicilian Grandmother is the latest book from Best Selling Cookbook author Daniel Bellino-Zwicke. The book is a collection of recipes from Daniel’s maternal Grandmother (Nonna) Giuseppina Bellino. Most recipes are from Giuseppina, but not all. There are a few recipes from other Bellino family members, as well as from close friends. And as the recipes in the book are mostly Sicilian, there are recipes from other regions, like; Campania (Neapolitan), Apuglia, and Rome (Lazio) as well.

If you’re and avid fan and of Italian Food and Italian Cookbooks and are looking for both well-known and popular Italian dishes as well as rare and obscure ones that offer something new from the everyday, then you’re sure to love this wonderful new Italian Cookbook. Grandma Bellino’s Italian Cookbook makes a great addition to anyone’s cookbook library, especially a Italian one and more specifically a Sicilian one.

There are recipes for some of the most popular and beloved dishes with recipes for Lasagna, Stuffed Artichokes, Grandma’s Tomato Sauce, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Rice Balls, and Stuffed Artichokes. Then there are some recipes of rare and unique dishes like; Melanzane Beccaficio (Savory Stuffed Eggplant), Maccheroni with Cauiflower, Timballo di Aneletti and more.

Daniel is well known for his stories of the Italian Food, Italy, Italian-Americans, and rituals of the table, of which this book has many. There’s even a chapter on how to make Espresso at home in the famed Italian Coffee Pot the Napoletana. Grandma Bellino’s Italian Cookbook is a pure delight and sure to please all who love Italian Food and cooking it, and for those who want some great history and recipes of Sicilian Food and the wonderful story of Sicilians immigrants families in America.

The BELLINO’S

LODI, NEW JERSEY

Circa 1939 – 1942

L – R – FILLIPO, LUCIA (My Mother)

TONY & GIUSEPPINA

Giuseppina Salemi Bellino

Of Lercara Friddi, Sicily

New York City & Lodi, New Jersey

NONNA BELLINO

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Author SUNDAY SAUCE – The RAGU BOLOGNESE COOKBOOK

And GRANDMA BELLINO’S ITALIAN COOKBOOK

aka The NONNA BELLINO COOKBOOK

Amazon.com

Nonna Makes Pork Rib Ragu and Homemade Pasta

NONNA NINA

MAKING RIB SAUCE

With HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI CHITTARA

“So GOOD. LOVE IT” !!!

NONNA Makes RIB SAUCE

With HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI CHITTARA PASTA

“So GOOD” !!!

NONNA NINA

NONNA’S COOKBOOK

NONNA BELLINO’S COOKBOOK

RECIPES FROM MY SICILIAN NONNA

DANIEL BELLINO Z

AMAZON.com

RIB SAUCE

Recipe :

Ingredients –

3 pounds Pork Spare Ribs (cut into individual ribs)

1 small Onion, peeled and chopped fine

2 cloves Garlic, peeled and chopped

8 tablespoons Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

2 – 28 cans whole Italian Tomatoes – we recommend Mutti

1 – 32 ounce jar Tomato Passata (Mutti or other Italian Brand)

1 cup water

3 tablespoons Tomato paste (optional)

1 tablespoon each Sea Salt & ground Black Pepper

1 Bay Leaves

1 small bunch fresh Basil (torn into small pieces

1). Pass the whole tomatoes through a food mill if you have one (discard the leftover pulp). If you don’t have a food mill, crush the whole tomatoes by squeezing with your hands. Set aside.

2). Add the olive oil and onions to a large pot. Turn heat to low and cook the onions 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes on low heat.

3) Add the Red Pepper flakes and cook 1 minute.

4) Add half of the whole tomatoes that have been crushed to the pot.

Turn heat on to high, and cook while stirring with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes, then add the second half of the whole tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes on high heat.

5). Add the remaining tomato pasta (puree), the salt, black pepper, water, and bay leaves to the pot. if using tomato paste, add as well. Cook on high heat until everything starts to bubble and boil. When everything is bubbling, lower heat to very low, and let simmer on low heat.

6). In a large frying pan brown the Pork Ribs in additional Olive Oil in a large frying pan. Do this in 3 or 4 batches at a time. Brown the ribs on medium high heat. Season with a little salt and black pepper over the ribs. Brown until nicely browned, then turn each rib over and brown on the other side, about 3 minutes to the side.

7). When the ribs are nicely browned, add to the pot with the tomato sauce. Continue growing the rest of the ribs until they have all been browned, and add into the pot of tomato sauce.

8). Cook the sauce slowly on low heat until the ribs are tender, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Be sure to occasionally stir the bottom of the pot scraping with a wooden spoon every so often, to keep the sauce from sticking and burning.

9). Add the fresh Basil to the pot, after the sauce has simmered for an hour.

10). Once the Pork Ribs are tender, after about cooking 80 to 90 minutes, turn the heat off, and let the sauce rest a few minutes while you cook the pasta.

11). Use whatever pasta you like. We like short maccheroni best – Rigatoni, Paccheri, Gnocchi, or whatever you choose. Cook the pasta according to directions on package, reserving a half cup of pasta cooking water to mix a little into the sauce. Drain into a colander when the pasta is finished cooking.

To Serve – Add the cooked pasta back in the pot it cooked in. Add a some of the tomato sauce to the pasta with a drizzle of olive oil and mix. Plate some pasta on each guests plate. Top with a little more of the tomato sauce. Add 3 Pork Ribs to each persons plate and serve.

Serve with grated Pecorino or Pramigiano Reggiano Cheese on the side.

Serve and Enjoy. “It’s so Good” !!! Everyone well Love it. Guaranteed.

“Daniel”

Italian Wedding Soup The Greatest Soup Ever Made – Recipe by Bellino

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

The GREATEST SOUP EVER !!!

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

The greatest soup ever made! The greatest soup ever made, that’s quite a statement and it’s debatable, and though I’m saying this I know that it may not be, but everyone has their own taste and though I love any number of other wonderful soups, which includes – Vietnamese Pho, Chinese Roast Duck & Wonton, good old American Chicken Noodle Soup and others, if I was forced to pick one as my # 1 very favorite soup of all, it would have to be this, Italian Wedding Soup. So if it’s not the World’s greatest soup of all (Vietnamese Pho maybe) then it is without question one of the greatest anyway. And how can it not be great, made of tasty chicken broth with escarole and the thing that puts it into the greatness category, the little Meatballs? An Italian Soup that has Meatballs in it, what’s not to love? Well, I guess it depends who you ask, but if you ask an Italian-American, guess what? “Italian Wedding Soup is the greatest soup of all!” The combination of fresh homemade chicken broth, with pieces of chicken, escarole and of course those yummy little meatballs that every Italian holds so dear, that’s Italian Wedding Soup, and the first bowl I ever had, wow! I was a little boy and my mom made it for us. “Here Daniel, Italian Wedding Soup, it has little meatballs in it,” Mommy said as she placed the bowl of soup down before me. I couldn’t believe my eyes, little meatballs in soup, what could be more magical to a young boy of just five? Yes, I remember that first bowl, and I don’t know how many hundreds of bowls of this most pleasing soup I’ve had since then, too many to count. Al, oh so tasty. It’s the Meatballs, it’s Italian Wedding Soup and there’s not any soup that’s better. I just love it. How about you?

MOMMY’S ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

Recipe :

1 & ½ pounds ground Beef

1 cup grated Parmigiano

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1-3 lb. Broiler Chicken

6 whole cloves garlic, peeled

10 cups water

1 medium Onion, peeled and chopped

2 Carrots, peeled and chopped

1 head Escarole, finely chopped

4 ounces Ditalini or other short pasta

PREPARATION:

Combine the ground beef, eggs, parsley, minced garlic, and Parmigiano. Season with salt & black pepper. Shape into Meatballs, about the size of a large Marble. Set aside.

Place whole chicken, with the onions, carrots, whole garlic, bay leaf, and water in a large pot and bring to the boil. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Cook the Ditalini according to directions on the package. Drain and set aside until later.

Place meatballs in a lightly oiled baking pan and cook in a 350 Degree oven for 6 minutes.

Remove chicken from the pot and set aside to cool.

Remove chicken meat from bones and dice.

Add the meatballs, diced chicken, and pasta to the broth and simmer at the lowest flame for 12 minutes.

Add escarole and cook for 10 minutes at medium heat.

Ladle soup into bowls, giving everyone at least 5 little meatballs. Pass the Parmigiano and Mangia Bene.

Note: You can substitute Sausage for the Meatballs, which is how some people make this soup. It’s just as tasty and cuts down on some of the work. If doing so, substitute 1 /2 pounds of Italian Sweet Sausages for the meatballs. Lightly brown the links of sausage over low heat for 6 minutes. Remove from pan and cut each link into 6 equal size pieces, then add to soup in the same point (step 6) and cook over low heat in soup for 12 minutes.

This Recipe has been Excerpted from Daniel Bellino’s Bestselling Italian Cookbook – SUNDAY SAUCE

Available on AMAZON.com

AMERICA’S FAVORITE ITALIAN COOKBOOK