COOKING SICILIAN

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Sfuogghiu Sausage Ricotta Tart Sicily Ragusa

Sfuogghiu Ragusana

SFUOGGHIU

SICILIAN SAUSAGE & RICOTTO TART

alla RAGUSANA

SAUSAGE & RICOTTA TART alla RAGUSANA

RAGUSA, SICILY

SCACCE RAGUSANA

SICILIAN STUFFED PIZZA

SCACCIA RAGUSANA

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Pasta Googootz Cucuzza Recipe Sicilian Sicily

Growing Cucuzza in your backyard .. An Italian-American time-honoted Traditon ..

PASTA con CUCUZZA

Pasta & Gagootz !!! Pasta & Gagootz is a long time favorite with the Bellino Family. Cucuzza, a.k.a. Gagootz is oh so Sicilian, and third only to Eggplant (Melanzane) and Artichokes, as the most popular and loved vegetable of all. Well yes there’s tomatoes and we love cauliflower quite a bit too, but Gagootz? Yes Cucuzza is the big Italian Squash eaten mainly by Italian-Americans, and mostly those of Sicilian and Neapolitan origins. Even in the Italian-American community, still not many know of this amazing Baseball Bat sized vegetable that most Sicilians do. So yes Cucuzza is ours, we Sicilians and other Southern Italian peoples, but not everyone you see. Hey, we love to share, but once in a while we like to keep a few things to ourselves. Doesn’t everyone? My mom used to make this often, along with Zuppa di Cucuzza from her mothers traditional recipes from Lercara Friddi. The recipe is oh so Sicilian, tasty and whimsical too. If you make it, you and your guest are sure to love it, as we Bellino’s have for more than 100 years now. Mangia Bene!

RECIPE : PASTA GAGOOTZ

1 large Cucuzza (Italian Squash)

1 medium Onion, peeled and chopped

¼ cup Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

4 cloves Garlic, peeled and sliced

1 – 28 ounce can "Best Quality" imported ITALIAN Tomato Passata

2 medium Potatoes, peeled and diced 3/4" cubes

1 pound Green Beans, cleaned and cut in half

¼ cup fresh Basil leaves torn in half

8 ounces Ditalini or Anelli imported Italian Pasta

1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

Peel the Cucuzza with a vegetable peeler and scoop out an large seeds if there are any and discard.

Cut the Cucuzza (Gagootz) into 1 ½” pieces.

Place Cuccuzza and olive oil in a 6-quart pot and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

Add onion and cook for 4 minutes more. Add garlic and cook on low flame for 2 minutes.

Add red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute while stirring.

Add tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

While the sauce is simmering cook the green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water for 3 minutes.

Add the potatoes.

Drain the beans in a colander and put in the pot of sauce after it has been simmering for 12 minutes.

Continue cooking for a total cooking time of 40-45 minutes for the sauce. Add basil and cook two minutes.

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

When finished cooking, drain the pasta in a colander, reserving about 7 tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.

Put the pasta back in the pot it cooked in. Drizzle on a little olive oil and mix.

Add 1/3 of the sauce to the pot with the pasta and mix. Divide the pasta among four plates.

Top each plate of pasta with a little more of the sauce.

Give a plate to each guest, pass the grated cheese and enjoy.

Pasta Gagootz ...

Excerpted form GRANDMA BELLINO'S ITALIAN COOKBOOK

by Daniel Bellino Z

NONNA BELLINO'S COOKBOOK

AMAZON.com

PASTA GAGOOTZ

This and other Great Sicilian Recipe

in GRANDMA BELLIO's ITALIAN COOKBOOK

by Daniel Bellino Z

Stewed CUCUZZA

a.k.a. GAGOOTZ

SEGRETO ITALIANO

SECRET ITALIAN RECIPES

PASTA CUCUZZA & SOUP

GINO'S PASTA SEGRETA "SECRET SAUCE"

LASAGNA - MARINARA

And Much More ...

AMAZON.com

PASTA CUCUZZA - VIDEO RECIPE

PASTA con CUCUZZA SICILIANA

PASTA CUCUZZA

PASTA con CUCUZZA

"GAGOOTA" !!!

ONE MORE RECIPE

PASTA GAGOOTZ !!!!

PASTA CUCUZZA con PATATE

Sunday, December 10, 2023

Sinatra Artichokes Recipe

STUFFED ARTICHOKES

alla SINATRA

STUFFED ARTICHIKES alla SINATRA

RECIPE :

4 large Artichokes

2 tablespoons Black Olives, chopped

3 tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 Garlic clove, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped Capers

2 tablespoons fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 teaspoon dry Oregano

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

1/4 cup Italian Olive Oil

PREPARARTION :

Rinse Artichokes under cold running water. With a sharp Knife, remove the stem, and cut 1 & 1/2 inches from the top of the artichoke. Pull the center leaves apart, and with a spoon, scraped the fuzzy choke from the center.

Place the Olives, Cheese, Salt, Capers, garlic, Parsley, Red & Black Pepper, and Oregano in a large mixing bowl.

Gradually add the Olive Oil to bread crumbs, stirring to mix, and mixture is moistened. Spoon the bread crumb mixture into the center of the Artichokes and in-between the leaves.

Place the Artichokes in a baking pan. Add 1 cup of water to the pan, Drizzle a 1/4 cup Olive Oil over the artichokes. Cover the artichokes with aluminum foil.

Bake the Artichokes in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Remove the foil from the pan. Turn heat up to 400 degrees and bake for about 12 minutes.

Serve the Artichokes. Place each artichoke on a plate, and pour pan juices over the Artichokes.

Serve and Enjoy !!!

NONNA BELLINO'S COOKKBOOK

RECIPE - ARTICHOKES alla SINATRA

RECIPES of GIUSEPPINA BELLINO

Of LERCARA FRIDDI - SICILY

The SICILIAN TOWN WHERE The SINATRA

FAMILY is From

AMAZON.com

SINATRA EATS

On The Set of MAGAMBO

With GRACE KELLY, AVA GARDNER

And CLARK GABLE

And Director JOHN FORD

Shot on Location in Equatorial AFRICA

1952

Note : Frank Sinatra was not in this movie. He was visiting his wife Ava Gardner

on the set.

FRANKIE

by Peter Max

Look for "SINATRA EATS"

A Biographic Cookbook by Bestselling Italian Cookbook Author

Daniel Bellino Zwicke

Right Now, the Closest Thing to a SINATRA COOKBOOK

is - GRANDMA BELLINO'S COOKBOOK -

"Recipes From My Sicilian Nonna"

by Daniel Bellino Zwicke

FLIGHTS & HOTELS WORLDWIDE

EXPEDIA.com

HOTELS WORLDWIDE

AMAZON.com

Friday, November 3, 2023

Chicken alla Sinatra

CHICKEN SCARPARIELLO

CHICKEN with SAUSAGE and PEPPERS

SHOEMAKERS STYLE

RECIPE

HOW to MAKE CHICKEN SCARPARIELLO

SHOEMAKERS CHICKEN

RECIPE

CHICKEN SCARPARIELLO

MY SHOEMAKER GRANDFATHER'S RECIPE

And GREAT SICILIAN RECIPES

AMAZON.com

Yes, my Grandfather Nonno Filipo Bellino was a Shoemaker in the town of Lercara Friddi, Sicily,

40 minutes south of Palermo. Frank Sinatra's father Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra was born in Lercara Friddi and his father was a shoemaker in the town. You might recognize another famous name of someone born in Lercara Friddi, and that would be Salvatore Lucania, better known to millions as Charles "Lucky" Luciano.

Anyway, my grandfather was born and raised in Lercara Friddi where he was a shoemaker, and you can bet money that Frank Sinatra's Shomaker Grandfather knew my shoemaker Grandfather

Filipo Bellino. They were both around the same age, give or take a few years.

My grandfather immigrated to America through Ellis Island, New York in 1902. Filipo then

settled in Lodi, New Jersey where he set up a Shoemake Shop on Main Street, marrying

Giuseppina Salemi. Filipo and Giuseppina lived upstairs from the Shoemaker Shop and had 4 children, my Aunt Lilly was born first, then Uncle Jimmy (James) veteran of WW II and recipient of the Purple Heart in The Battle of The Bulge, Uncle Frank was the 3rd child. Frank Bellino was in

The United States Marine Corps during World War LL, in the Pacific Theater. Then came Uncle Tony who was also in the US Army in WW II where he was head of The Officers Club at

The George V Hotel in Paris after the Allied Forces Liberated the city.

My mother Lucia (Lucy) was the youngest, born in Lodi 1923 ...