"TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus," & "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Cookbook" - Pizza and Pasta for Oscar Night 2017!

Date I made these recipes:  February 26, 2017 – Academy Awards (Oscars) 2017

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus – Dinner and Drink Recipes Inspired by Films We Love by Tenaya Darlington and Andre Darlington

Published by Running Press

ISBN: 978-0-7624-6093-9/© 2016

Recipe:  Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Cream Sauce – p. 35 (Menu intended for the 1933 movie, "Female" along with a Vodka Tonic and Boozy Olives, the last two recipes not listed here.)

The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous™ Cookbook – Recipes and Entertaining Secrets from the Most Extraordinary People in the World by Robin Leach

Published by Viking Studio Books

ISBN: 0-670-84245-1; © 1992

Purchased at Barnes and Noble (Used) – Roseville, MN

Recipe:  [Wolfgang Puck's] Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant – p. 117

Sometimes it is a good thing to be woefully behind with these posts because it gave me the opportunity to talk about the kerfuffle at the end of this year's Oscars when the Best Picture winner was announced.

In case you missed it, here's what went down:  Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway (a/k/a Bonnie and Clyde, the movie of which is now 50 years old), came on stage to announce the winner of the Best Picture.  They read the list of nominees, then Warren opened the envelope but appeared puzzled by the envelope's contents.  After turning the envelope practically inside out, he showed it to Faye.  She thought he was stalling, said "You're impossible," and announced the "winner," the film La La Land.

And so there was much rejoicing and the La La Land crew came up to give thanks and a couple of them started their acceptance speeches.  Suddenly, the stage was filled with other people all looking at the envelope as well as some of the show's staff talking into headsets, and then the third speaker from the film finished up his speech by saying "We lost by the way."

What?  What was he talking about?  Turns out, there was an envelope mix up and the Best Picture went to Moonlight, not La La Land.  So the La La people cleared the stage, the Moonlight people took the stage, gave short and stunned acceptance speeches and then the program ended.

Immediately, people went to work figuring out what went down and it wasn't long before we learned that Warren and Faye were given the wrong envelope by the team representing the accounting firm, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the firm that has been tabulating the Oscar votes for the past 83 years.  Oops.  Turns out PwC keeps two sets of each "winning" envelope on hand which is a good idea, unless the envelope handed to Warren and Faye was the envelope of an already-announced award (Best Actress, Emma Stone), in which case it was a bad idea.

So okay, to recap:  Warren and Faye did not read the right name, PwC goofed with the envelope, the producer for La La Land took the bull by the horns and practically shoved the correct envelope into the camera showing that Moonlight won (way to take control of the situ, dude), the show ended, everyone went to the after-parties and so the end, right? 

Wrong.  Within hours, there was call for an "investigation" and I'm sorry, what?  This was not Watergate.  This was not a matter of national security, this is the Oscars folks. Oscars are about films.  And in the end, this incident, unintentional as it was, likely helped Moonlight more than it hurt.  Historically, most people have a hard time remembering who won Oscar's most prestigious award, but not this year.  This is the year that Moonlight made history on many levels (African-American picture, African-American cast and director of a movie about African Americans and LGBT issues), and to me, this boo-boo only ensured we will remember this film and so it's a win-win all around.

Still, this was not my favorite award show snafu moment, not by a long shot. In 2010, a very stoned (drunk? other?)  Elizabeth Taylor (she had trouble with pain meds and, apparently, alcohol) was selected to present the 2001 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and to this day, that debacle is my absolute favorite award-announcement-gone-wrong moment.

First, she thought the nominees were listed inside the envelope and so started to open it (the winner is inside the envelope).  When the audience clued her in, she said "Whaaaat?  I don't open this?" and then "I'm new at this.  I usually like to get them [awards]!"  Ha!

Then host Dick Clark stepped in to help her out saying "read the nominees first."   Then she said "What is this [envelope] for?  Oh I see."  Oh dear God.

So then she read the nominees (finally) and then opened the envelope and started pulling it apart looking for the name.  (I am laughing as I write this).  And finally, she said "And the winner is...and it's flashing 'envelope'." Yes, Virginia, she read the message on the teleprompter, the message that said "envelope" as in "Read it already" and seriously, I about slid out of my chair.

Finally – finally, she read the winner's name and the way she said "Gladiator" (Best Motion Picture – Drama) was hilarious. She sounded half surprised, half delighted and again, half out of it.  And as if that wasn't enough, she tried to close out the show, thanking everybody for coming and Holy Snort-able Moment, Batman, can someone get this woman offstage and quickly? Here's the clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGT-NUBNTZc

Naturally, and just like this year's Oscar debacle, this video went viral.  Saturday Night Live did a spoof of it as did an actor friend of mine who used to throw his arms out dramatically while at the same time saying "Glaaaaaaadiator."  You might have had to be there but it was hilarious.  Poor Elizabeth.  Still, every year without fail, I not only re-watch the clip, but I do my own imitation of her presenting the award.  Priceless!

So sorry, Warren and Faye, as good as this moment was, Elizabeth takes the day!

And now on with our story, (already in progress) - the 2017 Oscars and what I made on movie night.  Actually, we need to take another slight detour because one of the books I used on Oscar night was TCM Turner Classic Movies Movie Night Menus and Robert Osborne, long-time host of the TCM channel passed away last week at age 84. 

Turner Classic Movies was a start-up cable station that was owned originally by media mogul Ted Turner (thus, the name).  If memory serves, Ted initially wanted to colorize classic  black & white films, something that had the film community up in arms in two seconds flat.  You think this year's Oscar kerfuffle was bad, you ain't seen nothing!

At any rate, that idea went apparently by the wayside and today you can find a wide variety of classic films, in black and white and color, on this station with commentary and interesting trivia provided by Robert Osborn who signed on with TCM from the beginning (1994).  I loved Robert's commentary as he had great things to say about great films.  He also had insightful things to say about some not-so-great films as well. He'll be missed.

Unlike the other "dinner and a movie" cookbook I used for the SAG Awards, this one highlights only 30 films that have stood the test of time and then provides a menu for us to follow that is tailored to each movie.  Just like the other book, specialty cocktails are provided in every category.

Here's a sampling of some of the movies in this book:

• The Divorcee (1930)
• Grand Hotel (1932)
• The Thin Man (1934) - This film's menu featured a dry martini, naturally.  Nick and Nora fans will know what I mean!
• The Philadelphia Story (1940) I hate to say this but I never warmed up to this film despite it's A-list cast of Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant.
• Casablanca (1942) – "Round up the usual suspects."
• Adam's Rib (1949) – possibly my favorite Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie of all time.  Added bonus:  the hilarious actress, Judy Holiday, played Kate's legal client and she played it to perfection.
• The Sting (1973) – This movie is memorable to me because it was the first time I was asked out on a date to go to the movies.  I was 15 at the time, the guy, 16.  Unfortunately, and due to conditions of out of my control, the date never happened and it was years before I watched this movie.  (For the record, the boy was not the problem.  Just had to clarify that!)
• The Big Chill (1983) – "We took a secret vote.  We're not leaving.  We're never leaving."
• Moonstruck (1987) – Andy and I so loved this movie, we walked back up the aisle at our wedding to the tune "That's Amore."  This easily could have been a family documentary.

 So that's the sampling and I'm happy to say that I have seen 22 out of the 30 on the list which is not bad at all.  Alas, I did not see the movie, Female, associated with one of tonight's entrees – Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Sauce – but this film was released in 1933 and I am not quite up on my 1930's film viewing.  I'll have to see if I can find this and watch it sometime.

I am also happy to report that out of the list of 30 films, there are only a few of the ones I have seen that I don't like:  the aforementioned The Philadelphia Story (and also the musical that followed a few years later, High Society, staring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra); Giant (1956); and An American In Paris (1951).  Let's parse these!

It is rare that I hate on Katharine Hepburn, but I just did not like her character in The Philadelphia Story. She played the very snotty and spoiled Tracy Lord and I just could not deal.  That said, I did like the way she said Cary Grant's character name:  "C. K. Dexter Haven."  Nice ring to it, no?

Then there's Giant, a film staring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean, a movie that was sort of the precursor to the TV show, Dallas.  I read the book, Giant, by Edna Ferber, but just did not like it on the big screen.  Rock Hudson's character in particular just drove me nuts.  He played a Texas cattleman with an ego as big as the state of Texas.  At any rate, put me down for "no, thank you."

You may be shocked to see An American in Paris on the list but try as I might, I just cannot get into this story because there's just too much music and dance and this is hilarious because I like music and dance!  That said, the movie's music, written by George Gershwin, is the stuff of legend and I've performed many of the movie's songs both in my community band and as a vocalist at various and sundry performance venues.

I could go on and on also about some of the rest of the movies but we would be here all night so let's move on to the second featured cookbook, The Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous Cookbook by [the show's host] Robin Leach.

The title of the cookbook is the same title as this show that aired pretty regularly from 1984 to 1989, and then very sporadically until 1995 before disappearing from the airwaves.  The show was hosted by a Brit – Robin Leach – who brought us into the living room and lives of the rich and famous so we could all see how the other half lived, lucky us.

The thing that I remember most about the show was not who was showcased but Robin Leach himself.  The guy had a booming voice, prompting one comedian, I don't remember who, to mimic the guy in a sketch:  "I'M SHOUTING AND I DON'T KNOW WHY!"  I still use that line from time to time even though nobody ever knows what I am talking about!

Since it had been a long, long time since last I saw the show, I went to YouTube to reacquaint myself with Robin's intro and was surprised/not surprised to see it

featured a brief clip of a very young Donald Trump walking with a much younger Michael Jackson.  Wow.  Talk about doing the Time Warp again!  Indeed, this book is stuck in a time warp and so let's discuss the who's who and the what's what of my second featured cookbook.

The book's recipes are broken into categories, and within each category is a recipe submitted by someone a) rich, and b) famous because that's how this thing works.  Our categories for best rich and famous people's recipes are: "Extravagant Affairs;" "Casual Entertaining;" "Relaxing at Home," and "Favorite Recipes of the Rich and Famous."  I feel like I'm playing a special edition of Jeopardy!

Under "Extravagant Affairs," we have an entry titled "Congratulations Elizabeth and Larry," and what do you know, no sooner did I talk about Elizabeth Taylor above than here she is featured with her 8^th (and final) husband, Larry.....somebody.  (Had to look that one up.)  Actually, Larry Fortensky to whom our Liz was married from 1991-1996.  Larry and Liz's wedding feast was featured in the book and included "Fettuccine with Seafood" and "Roast Chicken with Morel Sauce."

Alas, Larry and Liz were unlucky at love as were two other celebrities listed in the "Casual Entertaining" section:  Ivana Trump, The Donald's first wife, and Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff. Wolfgang is known as the official caterer of the Academy Awards Governors Ball and up until they got divorced, wife and business partner, Barbara Lazaroff worked in the business with him.  No matter as Wolfgang's food is good and was a perfect pairing to go with the TCM Cookbook's pasta dish.

Another couple who bit the dust were the "Relaxing at Home" team of Bruce (now Caitlin) and Kris Jenner, and unless you've been living under a rock, you know how that whole story played out so no need to go there.  Also found under the "Relaxing at Home" category were former pro baseball player, Steve Harvey, and his wife Candace Garvey and wow, you want to read the saga of someone who "played the field" (sorry, I could not resist the pun), check out his bio on Wikipedia.  Let's just say the man had a lot of women and children in his life, plural.

Then we have "Favorite Recipes of the Rich and Famous," and I don't know why some of these people were listed here and not elsewhere in the book, but I did not write the book so there you go.  It is here we find recipes from actress Joan Collins, actors Jerry Lewis and Roger Moore as well as Regis and former TV show partner, Kathie Lee (now Kathie Lee Gifford).   Rounding out this category was a submission from The Beverly Hills Hotel that made me laugh because the book is all about rich and famous people and then, inexplicably, a building appears.

Given that tonight was a night celebrating movies, I really wanted to make a recipe from someone associated with Hollywood versus someone who made a name in another field, but that was somewhat hard to do as the latter outnumbered the former.  So I decided finally that Wolfgang Puck was close enough because of his famous Oscar party connection and so I was good to go.

I was all set to make a Wolfgang pizza (he's famous for his pizza) and even selected one – "Black Forest Ham and Goat Cheese Pizza" - as that sounded delicious, but I started getting a nagging feeling I made that before, and sure enough, I did!  Check out my blog postings from February 2009 and there you will find it.

Since I knew I wanted to make pasta from the other cookbook, I just simply substituted another of Wolfgang's pizzas and it was a winner.  The recipe is for a Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant and it was great even if I did make a few adjustments that are noted in the recipe recap below.

And so, dear reader, we had ourselves a pizza and pasta Oscar-viewing night and it was grand but I have to tell you that I felt like I was dining out at a Sbarro restaurant.  Anybody remember Sbarro?  It was a fast-casual pizza and pasta place, popular in the 1980's and maybe early 90's.  And do you know what kids?  They are still operating!  And not only are they still operating, but apparently they are in the food court in the Rosedale Mall, a mall I just visited this afternoon.  I guess I don't get out much anymore.

This then concludes Oscar Night 2017 with its attendant trauma-drama as well as all the dirt that's fit to print about some of the celebrities involved in this and past Oscars.  Good times.

Until next year....

Bowtie Pasta with Spicy Vodka Cream Sauce – serves 2 – from TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Movie Night Menus

1 jar (12 ounces) roasted peppers in olive oil, drained (Ann's Note:  it would figure that the minute I needed to find roasted peppers in oil, I couldn't, not even from an Italian grocery store!)

1 small clove garlic

2 tablespoons tomato paste

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ cup vodka

½ pound bowtie pasta

¼ cup heavy ream

1 sprig fresh basil, leaves sliced into ribbons, for garnish

Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

(Ann's Note:  notice that tomatoes are nowhere to be found in this recipe.  Instead, it's red peppers and tomato paste.  I must say though, I thought it was refreshing!)

Puree the peppers and garlic in a blender until smooth, then pour the mixture into a saucepan over medium heat and add the tomato paste, pepper flakes, and vodka.  Stir.  In a separate pan, start cooking your pasta, according to the box instructions.

Simmer the vodka sauce for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the sauce tastes sweet-hot, without being too bitter.  (If it still tastes bitter, cook it a few minutes more or add a teaspoon or two of sugar.  The cream will also mellow it.)

Add the cream to the sauce and stir.  Heat gently.  Drain pasta and separate into warmed bowls.  Ladle sauce over the pasta and top with fresh basil and black pepper.

Whole Wheat Pizza with Chanterelles and Eggplant – serves 4 – Wolfgang Puck's recipe is from The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous™ Cookbook – Recipes and Entertaining Secrets from the Most Extraordinary People in the World

For the Whole Wheat Dough

Ann's Note:  I cheated an purchased an already-made and non-whole wheat pizza dough to save time, but if you like to make dough, then rock on.

1 enveloped active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup cool water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

Pinch salt

3 ¾ cups whole wheat flour

For the topping

1/3 cup olive oil

2 medium eggplants, trimmed and sliced ¼-inch thick

Salt and freshly ground pepper

½ pound chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and sliced ¼-inch thick

2 cups freshly grated mozzarella cheese

¼ pound fresh goat cheese, cut into ¼-inch cubes

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium leek, cleaned, trimmed, and thinly sliced

4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

Fresh thyme sprigs

Ann's Note:  As you'll see, the recipes calls for you to sauté only the eggplant and mushrooms, but I took it up a level and sautéed all but the tomatoes and I loved the result.  Leeks are great when softened and I wasn't sure I wanted that full flavor that raw ones bring.  It's up to you but I think you'll like the result. That said, the by-the-book instructions follow.

To make the dough

In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let proof for 5 to 10 minutes.  In a separate bowl, combine the cool water with the olive oil, honey, and salt.  Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor.  With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil mixture, then the yeast through the feed tube.  Process until the dough forms a ball around the blade.  Transfer to a buttered bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk. 

Punch the dough down and knead it on a lightly floured work surface for about 1 minute.  Divide into 4 equal parts and roll into tight balls.  Place on a tray, cover with a damp towel, and let rest for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Ann's Note:  Hmmm....interesting that he suggested to refrigerate overnight because here's what often happens:  chilled dough does not roll out very easily. Ours was refrigerated when I bought it and then got stored overnight in the fridge and Andy had a hell of a time rolling it out.   This is not the first time this has happened and after this, I will make a mental note not to do that.   If at all possible, buy it fresh or make it fresh. 

Roll or stretch each ball into a circle 7 to 8 inches in diameter.

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F.  Lightly dust a wooden pizza paddle with flour or semolina.  Working with one circle at a time, place the pizza dough on the paddle. Ann's Note:  Okay....no.  We don't have a pizza stone and we most certainly don't have a pizza paddle, are you kidding me, Wolfgang?  So here's what we did instead:  we set the oven to 450 and cooked the pizza 10-12 minutes (Wolfgang's cooking time for the whole thing), and then we lowered the temp to about 350 and baked it another 10 minutes or so.  And we used a "regular" pizza pan because that's what is in most people's kitchens.  Worked fine.

One final Ann's Note:  My grandmother used a boxed hot roll mix for her pizza dough and to this day, I can still taste how glorious that crust was.  It still contained yeast but the dough ended up being thick without being deep-dish thick and I loved that.  She was also a master at spreading that dough out on the pizza pan; I am most decidedly not a master at that.  In fact, so frustrated do I get by that endeavor that I turn that job over to Andy who does a much better job with it. 

"Dinner and a Movie - 12 themed movie nights with recipes to share and enjoy" - Popeye [Spinach] Pies for the SAG Awards

Date I made this recipe:  Sunday, January 29, 2017 – Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) Awards

Dinner and a Movie – 12 themed movie nights with recipes to share & enjoy by Katherine Bebo

Published by Ryland Peters & Small

ISBN: 978-1-84975-441-5; © 2013

Recipe:  Popeye [Spinach] Pie – p. 102

Well our TV and movie awards season is underway, and this past Sunday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were handed out and a good time was had by most (exception:  those who did not walk away with an award).  I like the fact that the SAG Awards are handed out at a dinner (dinners are way more relaxing) and that they are brief.  Kudos to the producers who bring that sucker in at two hours and change, something the Academy Award producers have yet to achieve. In fact, I do believe they are close to wrapping up last year's Oscar production and whew, in the nick of time too, as the 2017 Oscars will be held on the fast-approaching date of February 26^th. 

Happily, when it comes to awards shows, I have "themed" cookbooks at the ready and this is one of them.  Granted, the SAG Awards go to both TV and film actors, producers, directors et al., but I have yet to find a cookbook compilation that addresses only TV shows. It stands to reason as movies were around before episodic TV but maybe some day soon, someone will join together as "man and wife," recipes from a number of TV shows, rather than just producing one per TV show, such as the I Love Lucy Cookbook, Edith Bunker's All In The Family Cookbook, or The Walton Family Cookbook (all of which I own), and the like.  Food for thought (pun intended).

Now normally, I tell my readers a bit about the book and then add some pertinent stories and then finish it up with the recipe.  But because there is so much about and in this book to discuss, I'm going to tell you right now that the recipe for the Popeye [Spinach] Pie is way down at the bottom, and if you want to skip there, be my guest.  I made this recipe (from the "Comic Book Hero" chapter) because my husband loves Popeye.  Loves him, loves the movie with Robin Williams and Shelly Duval, loves the whole shebang.  In fact, he wears often a Popeye bicycle jersey when out and about, and after I bought him a Popeye bendable figuring, he installed it on one of his bicycle handlebars which of course, generates a lot of conversation from fellow riders.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it and so if you want to bail on me now, please continue to scroll down.  For those who want to see what this book is all about, follow along with Mitch as we discuss the Dinner and a Movie cookbook.

The Dinner and a Movie cookbook is comprised of 12 themed movie night menus.  At the beginning of each "chapter" or menu, there's a list of about 20 or so movies that fit that genre.  For kicks, I decided to see how many movies of each genre I have seen; my "scores" are listed below.  Each chapter contains also a cocktail befitting the genre, a popcorn befitting the genre, and a handful of other recipes that also work well with the theme.

Okay then, here are our 12 movie night menu "nominees:"

1. Girl Power
2. Fright Night
3. The Big Apple
4. Best of British
5. Western
6. The Golden Age
7. Mob Squad (not to be confused with the TV show, the Mod Squad!)
8. Sci-Fi
9. Action-Adventure
10. Comic Book Heroes
11. James Bond
12. Bollywood

All right then, let's get going and so "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"  (Bette Davis, in the movie, All About Eve.)

Girl Power

• Girl Power movies include: Thelma & Louise; 9 to 5; Steel Magnolias; The Devil Wears Prada, and Bend it Like Beckham.  
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  I've seen 18 out of 25 "Girl Power" movies which is amazingly high. So...I guess I like "chick flicks?" 
• Girl Power food and beverage "highlights:" "Silk Stocking," (a cocktail); "Butter Toffee Popcorn," and "Mean Girl Muffins."

Fright Night

• Fright Night movies include: Carrie, Jaws, The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, and Sixth Sense.
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  I am not a horror flick chick and so my total number of movies viewed is a measly 8 out of 23.  I would like to point out though, that in the early 80's, some friends and I went to a late-night double feature of two movies included in this list, Eraserhead (what an odd, odd movie), and Night of the Living Dead so there's that. 
• Fright Night food and beverage "highlights:" "Bloody Mary," "Paranoia Popcorn," and "Coffin Sandwiches."

The Big Apple (movies about NYC)

• The Big Apple movies include:  When Harry Met Sally, Taxi Driver, King Kong, Gangs of New York, Breakfast at Tiffany's.
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  All told, I've watched 18 out of 26 "Big Apple" movies, although this list did not include movies like You've Got Mail which is too bad since my husband and I were in NYC when it was being filmed.  In fact, I went to Zabar's (Deli and grocery store) the day before they shot the scene where Meg Ryan stands in the "cash only" line despite not having cash.  And let me tell you from personal Zabar's shopping experience, that scene was not a work of fiction.  The sign at the register says "Cash only" and they mean it, dammit! 
• The Big Apple food and beverage "highlights:" a "Manhattan" [cocktail] (of course!), "Raspberry and White Chocolate Popcorn," and a "Rollin' Reuben" sandwich.

Best of British

• Best of British movies include:  Bridget Jones's Diary. Watership Down, A Fish Called Wanda, Mary Poppins, and Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  I've seen 13 out of 25 which is not too bad considering I am not even remotely British.
• Best of British food and beverage "highlights:" "Nutty Popcorn," "Posh Pimms," (a Pimms cup is the summer go-to drink for all of England.  Or so I read), and "Sausage Rolls."

Western

• Western movies include:  True Grit, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, City Slickers, and Back to the Future Part III. 
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  My viewing score in this category is a pathetic 6 out of 20.  Well, I was never fond of horses so....  As a note, one of the movies in this category is The Magnificent Seven which is  great movie based on a Japanese movie, Seven Samurai, directed by the late but legendary Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa.  Andy is a huge fan of his films, and when we first started dating, we watched a few of them on our own "Dinner and a Movie" night. 
• Western food and beverage "highlights:"  "Lynchburg Lemonade," (a mix of lemonade and Jack Daniel's), the popcorn is "Popcorn Nachos," and, in a hilarious nod toward the movie, Blazing Saddles, "Blazing Backed Beans." (Yes, especially when watching that scene.)

The Golden Age

• The Golden Age movies include:  Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Singin' in the Rain, Holiday Inn, and a Streetcar Named Desire (I just have to:  "Stellllllaaaaaaaaa"). 
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score: I am pleased to report that I've seen 18 out of 20 of the movies listed here.  What can I say except I am an old soul who loves classic and timeless movies?
• The Golden Age food and beverage "highlights:"  "Casablanca Cocktail" made with gin, likely because of this memorable line in the movie, Casablanca: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." The popcorn option is "Lover's Popcorn," (made with vanilla bean), and a sweet treat option is "Sparkling Diamond Cupcake" (The movie reference is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the song "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.")

Mob Squad

• Mob Squad movies include:  The Godfather Trilogy; Goodfellas; Married to the Mob; Pulp Fiction; The Usual Suspects. 
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  If the author would have separated each Godfather movie instead of grouping them as a "trilogy," I would have done better in this category, but since she didn't, I've watched only 9 of 25 (some of them through my fingers because of the violence).
• Mob Squad food and beverage "highlights:" "Espresso Martini" made with espresso (coffee) and vodka, each of which I like separately but cannot envision enjoying a mix of the two in a martini glass. The popcorn is "Public Enemy Popcorn," made with dried mushrooms and some black truffle and that's a yum, and who wouldn't love "'Got a Beef' Lasagna?"  I almost made that one but switched it up at the last minute.  Let me just also add that all the food in this category was Italian (not that popcorn is Italian) and I could have made every single recipe.  Still might!

Sci-Fi

• Sci-Fi movies include:  Avatar; WALL-E; Independence Day; Alien; Planet of the Apes (probably the original).
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  This category was a challenge because there are movies that I think I've seen but probably haven't (like The Terminator) and so I'm going to err on the side of caution and say I've watched 10 out of 25.  The movie, The Matrix, is in this sci-fi grouping and I will confess to being one of those people who enjoyed the movie even if the whole concept of "human" artificial intelligence was too much for me! "Wait...what just happened?  Who are they again?  What?!"  I will also tell you that I saw the movie Spaceballs eons ago while traveling with a friend to Chicago on an Amtrak train.   And you know what, when you're "trapped" on a train or a plane, suddenly some of these movies don't seem so bad or so corny – like this one!  (Love me my John Candy, may he rest in peace.)
• Sci-Fi food and beverage "highlights:"  a "Blue Moon" cocktail made with tequila, blue Curacao, lime juice and lemon sorbet, our popcorn is "Gremlin Popcorn" and there's a recipe for "Death Stars" cookies, guess where that idea came from? (Hint, it contains the famous line  "I am your father," which by the way is the actual movie quote and not, as many believe, "Luke, I am your father." But seriously, doesn't the latter quote sound better?)

Action-Adventure

• Action-Adventure movies include:  Indiana Jones; Mad Max; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter; Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. 
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  Ugh.  I've only seen 6 out of 24 of these movies.  I guess I'm not into swashbuckling, either.  That said, one of my favorite concert band pieces to play for all time is music from the Pirates of the Caribbean.  But have I seen any of the "Pirates" movies?  No, reader, I have not. But the music is boss!
• Action-Adventure food and beverage "highlights:"  "Paradise Island Punch" is a nod toward the Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Beach.  Your popcorn is "Peanut Butter Popcorn," (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) and then there's Hannibal's Jalapeno Poppers for the 1983 movie, The A-Team featuring actor Mr. T, he of the "I pity the fool" fame. 

Comic Book Hero

• Comic Book Hero movies include:  The Avengers; Iron Man; Popeye; X-Men; The Incredibles.  When I was in my community band, we played music from The Incredibles for one of our summer concert series and it was a big hit.  It's also very fun to play.
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score:  At first blush, I don't think I'm going to do very well in this category but let's count and... nope.  As expected, I've seen a big 5 out of 26 movies and my only excuse is "I'm not a guy."  My husband read a lot of these comic books that were made into movies, whereas I read Archie, Ritchie Rich, Nancy, and every once in a while, Superman, and with the exception of the Archie comics, I read all the rest when visiting my grandma.  Grandma lived with my aunt and uncle and their family, and my cousins had quite the stockpile of comics that I read and re-read and re-read again every year while visiting. It was my very favorite thing to do as soon as we got there with the exception of hugging grandma, of course.
• Comic Book Hero food and beverage "highlights:" "The Hulk's Smash" (tequila, Midori, Cointreau and lime juice), your popcorn is "Captain American Popcorn" (red, white, and blue), and the "entree" is the recipe I made for tonight's dinner, "Popeye Pie."  My husband loves Popeye.  Loves him, and this movie with the late Robin Williams is one of his favorites.  And so as tempting as some of the other dishes were (well, pretty much all of them), this was what I had to make. 

James Bond

• James Bond movies include: Dr. No; Goldfinger; Casino Royal; The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy, and 21 other James Bond movies and only James Bond movies, go figure!
• Ann's Movie-Watching Score:  I've seen ummm...2 out of 26?  Again, I'm not a guy.  Guys are mostly (although not always), the ones to watch James Bond movies.  But this gal loves her martini ("Shaken, not stirred") and will even put aside the fact that the "007 Martini" calls for a "dash of vermouth."  I like my martini really, really dry which is to say even a "splash" is overkill.
• James Bond food and beverage "highlights:" "007 Martini," "Coconut Popcorn," which I gather is a nod to all the coconut [suntan] lotion-covered bathing beauties in these movies who emerge from the sea looking perfectly tanned, perfectly "not-drenched" with salt water, and with nary a hair out of place.  I wish.  And then there's "Diamonds Are Forever Steak."

Bollywood

• Bollywood movies include:  Salaam Bombay!; Slumdog Millionaire; Bend it Like Beckham; Monsoon Wedding, and Bride & Prejudice. 
• Ann's Movie-Viewing Score: This is the final category, and seeing how "Bollywood" movies have only been a "thing" for the past couple of decades, I think I can be forgiven for not cleaning up in this category.  My score here is only 4 out of 25, but I absolutely loved all four:  Slumdog Millionaire, Bend It Like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding (loved, loved, loved), and Bride & Prejudice. 
• Bollywood food and beverage "highlights:" a non-alcoholic "Rose Petal Drink," "Bombay Popcorn" that contains ghee (clarified butter), curry and mango chutney, and there's also "Chicken Tika Masala" for your Tika Masala fans.

So that concludes tonight's 2017 SAG Awards movie review, and now let's get on with the "show" and talk about the recipe – Popeye [Spinach] Pie.

Andy and I love spinach but prefer it to be mixed in with something rather than eaten "raw" in a salad.  In fact, Creamed Spinach is a favorite of mine even though I never had it growing up. 

The recipe is really simple:  use a store bought crust, fill a muffin tin with the dough, add the filling, add a raw egg in the middle, top with more crust and bake.  This pie's spinach filling, a mix of spinach and arugula, was divine, such that I kept eating it instead of putting it in the pie. 

Here's what didn't quite work though:  the egg in the middle of each pie was almost overdone and the crust needed a bit more time in the oven. But of course, had I left them in longer so the crust could brown, I might have incinerated the filling and who wants an incinerated spinach filling besides nobody ever?

The recipe suggests using ready-made shortcrust pastry, but when I Googled it to find out what it was (basically, a pie crust), I found a very easy recipe to make at home and so went with that.  Since I had already decided to make just half the recipe, it seemed easier to just make half the crust as well.

The thing that I loved about the recipe in general is that you use a muffin pan to make your individual pies and that was fun.  And I can easily see making these in a mini muffin pan for party appetizers, sans the egg but double the filling.  This one is going into the tickler file.

The instructions to tell you to bake the pie in the oven "for 10 minutes until the egg is just set and the pastry is just cooked," but as I alluded to above, these two items did not play well together in the oven and so the egg was almost cooked through instead of "just set," and the crust was a tad underdone.  Not that we didn't eat it anyway, but next time around, I'd like to get it right.

Here then, is your recipe:

Popeye [Spinach] Pie – Makes 8 pies

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to glaze

1 small onion, finely chopped

8 oz fresh spinach

1 cup ricotta

4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan

2 ½ cups rocket/arugula, finely chopped

1 teaspoon freshly chopped tarragon

Freshly grated nutmeg

1 lb ready-made shortcrust pastry (Ann's Note: this is basically a ready-made pie crust.  I made my own pastry crust; recipe is below)

8 eggs

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

You will also need a large, heavy baking sheet, a round cookie cutter, and two 4-hole muffin pans.

Preheat the oven to 425F.  Put the baking sheet in the oven to heat for at least 30 minutes.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until golden.  Let cool.

Steam the spinach until just wilted, refresh in cold water, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible and roughly chop.  Beat the spinach and onion into the ricotta with the Parmesan, rocket/arugula and tarragon.  Season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Roll out the pastry on a clean, lightly floured work surface.  Cut out 8 circles with the cutter.  Use these to line each muffin cup.  Fill each pie with some of the ricotta mixture.  Ann's Note:  to make your own short-crust pie dough, see below.

Make a small dent in each filling.  Break the eggs one at a time, separating the yolks from the whites.  Slip a yolk into the indent of each pie.  Season with salt and pepper.

Roll the pastry offcuts into long, thin ropes an cut into 16 lengths.  Use these to make a cross on the top of each pie, sealing the edges with a little water.  Brush lightly with olive oil.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the egg is just set and the pastry cooked.  Ann's Note:  I think we are missing an instruction here.  The recipe calls for you to put a baking sheet in the oven to heat for at least 30 minutes, but then never again mentions what you are to do with it!  My guess is that you put the muffin pans on top of the [heated] baking sheet but that is only a guess.  I did not do that so perhaps that is why my pie crust was a little underdone...or not!  We will never know.

Serve hot.

New York Time's Basic Short-Crust Pastry https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12884-basic-short-crust-pastry

145 grams all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter (1/4 pound), cut into 1/8-inch pieces

3 tablespoons ice water

Put flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor.  Add butter and quickly cut it into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add ice water and mix briefly, about 30 seconds, to form a soft dough.  Remove dough, shape into a thick disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  Bring to cool room temperature before rolling.

To roll, lightly flour dough and counter.  Roll out gradually, periodically letting dough rest for a moment before continuing.  This makes rolling easier and will keep dough from shrinking back during baking.

Ann's Note:  at this point, the instruct you to roll out the dough so it will fit in a 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan but you will be using a muffin pan so adjust your dimensions accordingly.  The author also suggests you chill the dough for an hour before baking; we did not do that.

"The Wiseguy Cookbook - My Favorite Recipes From My Life As a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run" by Henry Hill - Sunday Gravy with Aunt Milly's Meatballs and Aunt Nina's Caponatina (eggplant) appetizer - Christmas Eve 2016

Date I made this recipe:  December 24, 2016 – Christmas Eve

The Wiseguy Cookbook – My Favorite Recipes From My Life as A Goodfella to Cooking on the Run (Recipes You Can't Refuse – From America's Most Famous Wiseguy) by Henry Hill and Priscilla David; foreword by Nicholas Pileggi

Published by New American Library

ISBN: 0-451-20706-8; © 2002

Recipes:  Aunt Nina's Caponatina (a/k/a Caponata, an eggplant appetizer) – p. 32-33; Sunday Gravy [Meat Sauce] – p. 33-34; Milly's Meatballs [Brooklyn, 1950] – p. 38-39; Basic Tomato Sauce – p. 13-14

In case you didn't know, a "wiseguy" is a person who belongs to the Mafia or is a smartass.  Sometimes they are one in the same thing.

One of my father's frequent sayings was "What are you, a wiseguy?"  I'm pretty sure he meant the later definition seeing as how he often directed it at me or my brother or other younger family members when we were smarting off.  But given that he was 100% Sicilian American, he might have also been talking about a wiseguy as in a member of the Mob.

That's a stretch though – kind of.  Not that dad was in the Mob (perish the thought!) but he was born and raised on the east coast, your unofficial HQ for all things mafioso.  And his aunt, my great-aunt, Antoinette, used to joke all the time that she was the "Godfather's godmother."

So we're sticking with "wiseguy" as in "smartass."

"Henry Hill" though, was a wiseguy as in mobster, and possibly a wiseguy as in smartass, and this cookbook tells about his life on the run (from the law) where the real punishment was lack of access to his favorite Italian foodstuffs.

I have to tell you, that would get to me as well.  I mean, to not have pasta or sauce is a sacrilege.  To be without the other accoutrements such as meatballs or sausage or Italian cookies would render me useless.  And so I feel this man's pain! 

The Wiseguy cookbook is a good read as Henry tells us all about trying to cook while in prison and later, the Witness Protection Program.  His life of crime was chronicled in the book Wiseguy:  Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi (who wrote the cookbook's foreword) and this book became the basis for the movie, Goodfellas.  Actor Ray Liotta played Henry's character.  And so now, of course, I want to watch the movie again just to pull it all together. And to check out the food of course, because there are some great food scenes.

And there are also some great recipes in this book and I say "great" without having tried them all because I can pretty much tell by the ingredients that many of these dishes could have graced my family's table with just a few tweaks here and there.  And of course, my family dishes are the best and if you say otherwise, I may have to take you out and I do not mean to a restaurant, capisce?

Henry divided this book into two sections:  Section One:  Brooklyn and the Mob, and Section Two:  On the Run (in Omaha, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Seattle and Washington State and California – man the guy got around!)  And stories, like the one I'm telling you, accompany the recipes and I swear to you, a lot of them sound like my family stories save for the part about being in the mob and all.

Now there were many, many things I could have made from this book but I was on a mission and that was to find a pasta recipe to serve up on Christmas Eve.  It was tradition in my immediate family to make spaghetti and meatballs before going to Christmas Eve mass and even though my parents are gone, I still carry on the pasta tradition in my house.  In the years where we weren't allowed to eat meat, we skipped the meatballs.  Some years (early on) we even had to fast which was ridiculous.  I mean mass goes long on any given Sunday and ridiculously long on Christmas Eve, and does the Lord really mean for us to pass out from hunger?  No.

This year, I decided to keep things simple and make the recipe for "Sunday Gravy," otherwise known as sauce, and to be clear that means "red sauce."  There is no other kind of sauce if you are southern Italian or Sicilian. "White" is not a sauce, it's a....something else.

Now plenty of east coast Italians refer to their red sauce as "Sunday Gravy" but I don't know why that is.  Maybe it's a translation thing?  And then there's your "macaroni" which is how most Italians referred to the vehicle for the sauce, that morphed overnight into the slightly more snotty "pasta, this the result of the homemade pasta craze of the 90's.  I have only ever made homemade "pasta" in cooking classes.  If boxed pasta was good enough for my family, it was good enough for me.  (Back in the day, we were always "Buitoni" brand people and failing that, Creamette® which was everywhere—still is!)

So "pasta" + "Sunday Gravy"/red sauce was the dish of the day.  Although I'm including the cookbook's recipe for a basic tomato sauce, I made my family's version to which I  added meatballs and Italian sausage.  I decided to give Henry Hill's meatball recipe a try and it was quite good, but I purchased the sausage rather than try my hand at grinding my own meat and adding my own seasoning.  Tis the season to draw the line on a few things in the interest of time.

On a side note, there is another Christmas Eve tradition mostly enjoyed by your east coast Italians called the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Since we couldn't get our hands on a lot of fish or seafood where I grew up, we never "observed" this feast.  And I don't think my extended family on the east coast did, either.  As you might have surmised, seven separate fish dishes are made and eaten on Christmas Eve.  Given that we are only a two-person household, and I am not that fond of fish, I have never had the urge to make seven fish dishes because I'm picturing leftovers for days and that will simply not do. (And we all know the classic rule, right:  Thou shalt not reheat fish in the microwave, particularly at the office, or there will be consequences.)

And so Sunday Gravy and pasta in four parts:  make the sauce, make the meatballs, make the gravy, boil the pasta – piece of cake.  Well, except there are always little hiccups and this time, the hiccup was otherwise known as a "meatball."

The meatball recipe calls for you to fry the meatballs but I haven't fried a meatball in who knows how long, preferring instead to bake them (or sometimes put them in the sauce to "poach").  And so I decided to bake these and then I thought myself to be some kind of genius for using a mini-cupcake pan for the meatballs as the size was just perfect. Normally, I just put them on a baking sheet and have at it.

So I put the meatball mixture into the pans, turned on the oven, set the timer and almost over-baked them; the word "crunchy" comes to mind.  Well, crap, now what?

So channeling The Grinch, I decided "I must save these meatballs, but how?"

I'll tell you how:  you "reconstitute" the meatballs by giving them a broth bath. I used chicken broth as I had that on hand but you could use beef as well.  Lucky for me, I decided to make the meatballs the night before so I put the meatballs and broth in the refrigerator and the next day they were perfect.

So that's the whole Sunday Sauce/Meatball thing and now let's talk about a bonus recipe - Aunt Nina's Caponatina.  To clarify, this is not my Aunt Nina as I don't have an Aunt Nina, and "caponatina" is a diminutive of the word caponata which is an eggplant appetizer that I love.

This recipe promises to come close to the Progresso brand caponata my family grew up eating.  And it was good attempt to be sure, but believe it or not, the canned caponata won the day.

I think it comes down to this:  the eggplant was a bit too crunchy in the homemade version, and the Progresso brand was slightly sweeter and this is necessary to offset the tartness of the red wine vinegar.

In all likelihood, the sweetness is what caused us to inhale this stuff the minute my mom put it out on a tray table, along with other snacks, during Christmas week.  We inhaled this stuff such that mom finally figured out to stock up rather than deal with the proverbial "Is there any more?"  "No?"  "Waaaaaaaaaaa."

During the early years of my childhood, Progresso's caponata was included in a care package my grandma put together during our summertime visits, along with canned tomatoes, boxes of dry pasta and Stella Doro cookies and biscotti.  The trunk of our car always rode ridiculously low to the ground on the way back from New Jersey but it was worth it, save for the times the muffler fell off (almost annually and almost always in Pennsylvania on our way home) in which case, dad had to unpack all those heavy bags to get at a coat hanger to rig up the muffler until we got to a gas station.  I feel like Facebook with its "Like" and "Share" if this ever happened to your family (the muffler falling off, that is). (Every time this happened, my dad, of course, just about went ballistic, but every year thereafter on our road trip back east, he would laugh when my brother and I commented, upon seeing the "Pennsylvania Welcomes You" sign,"It's about time for the muffler to fall off, don't you think?")

So anyway, now that I have this homemade recipe under my belt, I'm going to recommend that you find some way to slow-cook the eggplant so that it's very soft, almost mushy.  This might be as easy as cooking it longer on the stovetop but you're going to have to play with the liquid ratio so it doesn't dry out. And I would probably not peel the eggplant because it seems to me that Progresso didn't although I could be wrong.  I also think you need to add more cooking time to the celery and onions so that they too, become very soft. Finally, instead of regular sugar, substitute brown sugar as I think it brings the flavor closer to that of the canned product.

So that's the word on Henry Hill and his recipes and this cookbook.  Had I the time, I could certainly eat my way through the rest of the book as his recipes are making me both hungry and nostalgic.   My dad always called us to the table with an "A mangia" (Basically, "let's eat") where we inhaled our "spaghets" (dad's term) and our caponata and life was good.

PS—It looks like Progresso no longer makes caponata and damn it all, why not?  And two years ago, Jane Parker, an A&P grocery store brand, discontinued it's fabulous fruitcake.  To quote my mother, "What is this world coming to!"

Sunday Gravy (Meat Sauce) – serves 8-10 generously

6 cups Basic Tomato Sauce (p. 13 or below)

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 hot sausages or 2 hot and 2 mild (about ½ pound)

1 recipe Milly's Meatballs (p. 38 or below)

2 pounds cooked pasta of your choice

Begin preparing Basic Tomato Sauce. While it is simmering, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.  Poke holes in the sausages with a fork and put in the pan.  Cook on low to medium heat, turning occasionally until lightly brown, about 8-10 minutes.  You don't have to cook them all the way through because they'll cook more in the sauce.  Drain on paper towels.  Cut in half and add to tomato sauce.  While sauce simmers, prepare meatballs.

When meatballs are browned, spoon them carefully into the sauce.  Continue simmering until meatballs are cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.  Adjust seasoning.  Serve family style over pasta in a large bowl.  Have plenty of bread to sop up the sauce.

Basic Tomato Sauce  – Makes 3 cups of sauce (enough sauce for 4-6 people) (Ann's Note:  I made my own family's recipe.  If you don't want to make it, a basic store-bought tomato basil sauce will do)

6-8 cloves garlic, minced or thinly sliced (about 2 tablespoons)

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup chopped brown or white onions or shallots

2 28-ounce cans peeled plum tomatoes with basil, drained, reserving juice

12 large basil leaves, torn in large pieces, or 1 tablespoon dried

¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley, or 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon dried parsley

½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

In a large skillet or medium-large wide pot, cook garlic briefly in olive oil over medium-low heat.  Do not brown, or it will get bitter.  If using optional onions, cook them 3-5 minutes in olive oil, then add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add the juice from the canned tomatoes to stop the garlic cooking.  Crush tomatoes with your hands or chop well no a cutting board and add to the pan.  Add basil, parsley, and ¼ teaspoon each of the salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, stir thoroughly once, then reduce heat to a low simmer.  As the acid from the tomatoes flows to the top, skim it off every 10-15 minutes.  Sauce is ready in half an hour, but cook up to 1 hour if you want it thicker. Check for seasoning and add the rest of the salt and pepper, if desired.

Milly's Meatballs [Brooklyn, 1950] – serves 6

1 ½ pounds ground beef + ½ pound ground pork – OR – 1 pound ground beef + ¾ pound ground veal + ¼ pound ground pork

2 eggs

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil

¼ cup chopped white or brown onions or shallots

3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

¼ cup grated fresh Romano or Parmesan cheese

½ cup dried, seasoned bread crumbs (Ann's Note:  if you only have plain breadcrumbs, add a bit of the following to it to make "seasoned" crumbs – garlic salt, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano and/or a bit of Italian seasoning spice mix)

½ teaspoon each salt and pepper (to taste)

2 tablespoons chopped canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or Basic Tomato Sauce (optional)

3 tablespoons olive oil (or more if needed)

Combine ground meats in a large bowl and mix together well with your hands.  Add in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add in all other ingredients except tomatoes or sauce and olive oil, and combine to form a mixture that is soft but still sticks together.  If meatballs are too hard or dry, add chopped tomatoes or sauce.

Heat olive oil in frying pan.  Place a small bowl of water and a plate near meatball mixture.  While oil is heating, roll approximately 3 tablespoons of meatball mixture at a time into walnut-size balls in palm of hand, adding a small amount of water if they don't roll well.  Place each completed ball on the plate.  Continue forming until all meatballs are done (you can place them on top of each other like a tower).  Test the oil temperature – a drop of water should sizzle when it hits the oil.  Fry meatballs in batches, turning until browned on all sides and cooked through.  Drain on paper towels.  Can be served plain, as main dish in any tomato sauce, on an Italian roll with Parmesan, provolone, or mozzarella as a sandwich, or sliced and put on pizza.

Variations:

1. Add ½ cup golden raisins.  This is from Tommy DiSimone's father.  This makes a sweet meatball.  Ann's Note: Sicilian meatballs often contain raisins although nobody in my family does that.
2. Add ¼ cup chopped pine nuts. Toast them lightly if you want, but keep in mind they'll also get cooked when the meatballs do.

Ann's Note:  to fry or not to fry, that is the question.  I used to fry my meatballs and then quit doing that in favor of baking them as it's far less messy.  As I mentioned above, I baked them at either 400 or 425 (I can't recall), for either 20 or 25 minutes (I can't recall that either!).  But since I almost incinerated them, check for doneness after 15 minutes.

Aunt Nina's Caponatina – makes about 3 cups (Ann's Note:  even a half recipe made quite a bit of "caponata")

2 tablespoons salt

2 medium eggplants (about 1 pound each)

½ cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

3 stalks celery, thinly sliced (about 1 ½ cups)

½ cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons sugar (Ann's Note:  I recommend brown sugar)

2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¾ cup tomato puree

¼ cup chopped pitted black olives

½ cup capers

Fill a large bowl two-thirds full of water, add salt, and stir to dissolve.  Peel and slice eggplant into ½-inch slices.  Place slices in  the bowl and let soak for 1-2 hours (weight them with a pan or plate so they stay in the water).  Drain off the liquid and pat dry with paper towels.  Cut slices into ½-inch thick cubes.

Heat ¼ of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Fry eggplant 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, and drain on paper towels.  Cook, stirring occasionally over low to medium heat until soft, approximately 10 minutes.  Add wine and cook until wine has almost evaporated.  Return eggplant to pan.

Dissolve sugar in the red wine vinegar and pour over eggplant.  Add tomato puree, olives, and capers; stir and add salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer over low heat 5 minutes, until well-blended.  Cool to room temperature and serve.

Refrigerated, this will last up to two weeks.  If it's not gobbled up sooner.

Ann's Notes:  The jury is still out on whether or not pre-soaking the eggplant in a salt bath makes any difference in cooking but I was a good solider and followed the directive.  I can't say it made any difference though, as it still took a long time to soften and I did not achieve the nearly-mush texture I wanted (or was used to).  The vegetables (onions and celery) also need more time.  They need to be just on the shy side of "soft."  And as I already mentioned, were I to make this again, I think I would use brown sugar instead of regular as it more closely approximates the Progresso brand I know and love.