No that oldest profession---cooking. Cooking a meal for the family has to be even older
than getting married, having children and yes, the street walking profession as
well.
I’m a big time
foodie, so I watch a lot of cooking shows. I love Iron Chef. I then try (the
operative word here is try) to replicate what the Iron Chefs made. However, I
won’t attempt anything that involves organ meats or gooey duck. My favorite
things to cook is anything Italian.
Italian food is food inspired from the soul, simple to make, delicious,
nutritious and shared with family and friends with pride. Italian recipes are
handed down from generations of great cooks from the mother country.
Disclaimer: When I say recipes handed down, I’m not talking about the
traditional cook book, detailing ingredients and exact measurements.
I learned how to cook at a young age from my mom, who
was the best cook in the world. I know we all say that about our moms, but in
my case it’s true. She could produce a seven course meal without ever turning a
page in a recipe book or having state-of-the-art kitchen appliances or gadgets.
It was a right of
passage in our family (daughters and sons) to learn how to make homemade pasta
and tomato sauce. Emphasis on homemade. Heaven
forbid an Italian is caught with store-bought sauce or worse have a can of
Spaghettio’s in the cupboard. Open one of those babies and your FBI status
(Full Bloodied Italian) would be taken away.
My mom taught me
to cook using my senses; sight, touch, taste, smell, listen. The latter was
ultra important in our household. Always, listen to mamma.
I realize now that
the same techniques I
use in cooking I also apply when writing, adding a lot of love into my writing craft. Using all the
senses: touch, taste, sight and smell, creating characters, dialogue and plots
that will give the reader not only a visual experience of what’s happening, but
hopefully they can taste what the characters are tasting, smell the scents of
the scenery, close their eyes and hear the voices (not the ones in our heads,
that’s another story), but the tone of the characters, and most importantly
feel the passion I (and other writer’s) have put into creating a wonderful
story to draw the reader into a comical, suspenseful, mysterious and romantic
world.
I'm sharing a family favorite, easy to make, and I like to think of it as Italian Soul Food.
Pasta
e Fagioli Recipe
This recipe can be made and eaten the same day, but it tastes even
better if you make it a day ahead of time and serve it the next day, as all the
ingredients and goodness marinate together.
Ingredients:
olive oil
chopped tomatoes (or a can of
plum tomatoes)
cup onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
6 cups beef broth (or vegetable
stock)
1 can red kidney beans (drained and
well rinsed)
1 can white kidney beans (drained
and well rinsed)
1 can chick peas (drained and well
rinsed)
½ cup fresh basil (chopped)
**3 cups meatballs (use
your favorite meatball recipe and make them tiny bite sized) Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
Pasta (your choice: penne, elbow,
tubetti)
**Note: If you don’t
want to make meatballs, you can use ground beef, or skip the meat all together.
· Coat soup pot with olive oil and heat
oil on medium. Once oil is heated, add onion and cook until onion is
transparent, then add garlic and keep stirring until garlic is infused with the
onion.
· Add tomatoes and cook for about 5
minutes, stirring.
· Add broth and let cook (uncovered) for
45 minutes.
· Add red beans, white beans, chick
peas, meatballs or sauteed ground beef if you are using
meat, and let cook for 15 minutes
· In a separate pot, boil water and make
pasta according to packagae directions
· While the pasta is cooking, add the
chopped basil, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste and let the soup
keep cooking.
· Once pasta is cooked, drain it and add
it to the soup pot.
· Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle
with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil
just before serving.
Note: If
making soup the day ahead, then don’t add any pasta, make the pasta the day you
will be serving the soup.
Buon appetito!
About Selena
Robins
Selena Robins is the author of the contemporary romance, WHAT A GIRL WANTS.
Genre-defying, witty, humorous, suspenseful,
romantic and sexy— words used to describe Selena’s novels. A self-professed
foodie and chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush
and write in her PJ's. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter,
hockey, lively discussions and red wine (sometimes all at the same time). Selena
is a dragon slayer who enjoys reading and writing sassy heroines and hot heroes
(the ones your mamma warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in
her life).
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