Chicken Alla Cacciatora

My daughters aren’t big on bell peppers, so my recipe is a bit different than the usual. I also do not bread the chicken breasts and I don’t use thighs.   I serve it over rotini and like the side dish of fresh green beans the best.

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breasts
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 Tbsp thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

• Slice the tops of the chicken breasts across, almost all the way through, spacing each gash about half an inch apart. Lay with the unsliced part down into a skillet over medium-low heat.
• In a medium bowl stir together chopped tomatoes and onions. Spoon equally over each chicken.
• In a small bowl, blend oregano, rosemary, thyme, pepper and salt. Spoon evenly over the chicken breasts.
• Using a press, press one half of a garlic clove over each breast.
• Spoon juices over the top while cooking. Once the underside is thoroughly cooked, turn chicken over – tomato mixture should stay beneath the chicken once turned.

Cannoli Filling

CANNOLI SHELL RECIPE

I am posting this recipe in two parts for a few reasons, primary because with the shells recipe and the filling, this becomes a grossu entry.  Also, if you are using store purchased cannoli shells, you won’t need to weed through the shell recipe to make filling.

The filling for cannoli has a very simple base recipe that allows you to get very creative.  After you create the base, you can fold in diced dried candied fruit – such as you would use for fruit cakes, chocolate chips, shaved candy bars – I prefer Andes mint shavings, minced nuts – like pistachio, spices – like cinnamon or nutmeg, liquor – such as Kahlua or brandy or rum, citrus zest – oranges work well, marachino cherries, or you can leave it plain.  Keep in mind that a cannolo is about five inches long and so your filling is four inches long by one inch diameter – in other words, a little goes a long way.

When filling cannoli, only do it right before serving, as the filling can make the shell soggy.  It is also best if you chill the filling in your pastry bag (or as you will see me use, a zip loc baggie) for about 20 minutes in the freezer before filling, so that it is very firm.

Ricotta should be whole milk, not even reduced fat.  The skim or low fat ricotta tends to have more run off which will cause the filling to be more runny – not a good thing at all.

You can dress up your serving plate with a powdered sugar dusted paper doily, drizzled melted chocolate, or powdered sugar.  I serve mine with a fork, but that is more for just scooping up any filling that falls out.  Cannoli was meant to be picked up and eaten as it is a carnival treat in Sicily.

Ingredients

1     15 oz. container of whole milk ricotta

3/4 cup powdered sugar

• In a large mixing bowl, blend both ingredients throughly on low speed with an electric mixer.
• Do not over beat, only beat until mixed.
• Using a spatula, fold in any selected add ins.
• Pack filling into an air tight container or pastry bag.
• Chill before using to fill cannoli tubes.

If using add ins, I have listed below the measuring amount that you want to use.  Remember for all solid add ins, to reduce the amount of each if you are adding in more than one:

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*
• 1 teaspoon liquor
• 1 tablespoon dried candied fruit, diced
• 1 tablespoon citrus zest
• 1 tablespoon semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon coconut, shaved
• 1 tablespoon pistachio nuts, minced
• 1 teaspoon ice cream sprinkles
• 1 tablespoon chocolate candy bar, shaved or grated

*McCormick makes a cinnamon spice with a built in grater that is awesome for grinding fresh cinnamon.  Each bottle is less than $2 and I absolutely love this!

Swedish Meatballs

This is a favourite at our house and was a family recipe that I have dressed up a little with my ‘secret’ ingredients.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup bread crumbs, seasoned

1/8 cup crushed graham crackers

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon allspice

• In a large bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly with your hands.
• Roll into 1 to 1.5 inch diameter balls.
• Place in a skillet over medium heat.
• Brown thoroughly.
• Add in your choice of mushroom gravy.
• Simmer over low heat.
• Serve over homemade egg noodles, or prepared packaged noodles.

Campanelle Casserole

This casserole has an Italian inspiration, but is purely a Tia creation.  I love ricotta cheese and like finding new ways to use it.  The flavour of ricotta is rich and the texture is very thick, but it doesn’t become a greasy mess that will stay with you for the next three days.  Campenelle pasta is also called riccioli and is basically an elbow style macaroni that is fluted at one end.  In Italian, it means literally bell tower.  This dish turns out a lot like a typical lasagne dish, excepting that it has no layers and is easy to throw together after a long day at work.

Ingredients

1 pound campanelle pasta, boiled til firm

1 pound ground sausage or ground beef

16 ounces ricotta cheese

8 ounces fresh mozzarella, shredded

16 ounce can stewed tomatoes

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 teaspoon fresh ground Oregano

1 teaspoon ground rosemary

1 teaspoon ground thyme

Directions

• Over medium heat, crumble and brown sausage or ground beef, add in seasonings while cooking.
• Add in onion and garlic and remove from heat.
• In a medium mixing bowl, add one half of mozzarella to ricotta and stir until blended.
• Stir cheese and meat mixture together thoroughly.
• In large casserole dish, blend meat and cheese mixture with cooked pasta.
• Top with tomatoes, do not strain.
• Stir well and cover with remaining mozzarella.
• Bake at 250 degrees F for thirty minutes.

Grape Salad

I don’t know if this recipe was my grandmother’s or if she got it elsewhere, she was a very creative cook; but it was one of my favourite fruit salads she would make and every time I make it people tell me how much they love it and ask for the recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups of seedless grapes*
8 oz tub whipped cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup whipped topping
1/4 cup powdered sugar
*I like to do half red and half green but my dad had written down just green, I seem to recall grandma using both colours.

• In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, sour cream, whipped topping and powdered
• sugar.
• Thoroughly wash and remove stems from grapes. Drain and shake dry.
• Fold grapes into cream mixture and transfer to serving dish.

Irish Stew

We go to a Celtic Festival each year locally and I tried getting the lady at one of the vendor stations to give me her recipe for this and she flatly refused. Her husband winked and began explaining how it is made, butchering it thoroughly. She got agitated with him and began telling me the correct recipe. He gave me a wink, and she gave me the recipe and man is it delicious!  I love beef stew and this stew has such a rich flavour and is just so filling. It really is a meal unto itself and I serve it with biscuits unless the store has soda bread for once – I can’t bake bread.

Ingredients

2 lb beef, cubed*
10 large potatoes, cubed with skin on
1 lb carrots, sliced to 1/2″ thick
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 bottle Guinness
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 cans Campbell’s beef stock
water

*I usually use a roast or if there is a good deal on sirloin, I will buy steaks for this

• Using a large skillet, place over medium to high heat for about 3 minutes. Lay beef cubes in skillet and vigourously shake the skillet to prevent them from sticking. After thirty seconds, turn them over and then drop them into the cooking pot. For the majority of this cooking, you will use a crock pot or a large pot over very low heat. If you are using a pot over direct heat, you will want to stir it occasionally.
• Pour in the bottle of Guinness, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock. Allow to cook for two hours over low heat.
• After two hours, add chopped onion and carrots to the pot and add only enough water to cover the tops of the foods in the pot. Cook for two more hours over low heat.
• After two hours, add potatoes and add only enough water to cover the tops of the foods in the pot. Cook for two more hours over low heat.
• Serve steaming.

Chocolate Ravioli

When I was a little girl, my parents would get Nutella quite often and I absolutely loved it.  But after moving to the states, we didn’t get it any more and it wasn’t until after I had children of my own I spotted that amazing little jar of goodness on a shelf at the grocery store when I was reaching for peanut butter.  It was the equivalent of spotting the Holy Grail for me.  I picked it off the shelf, debated on grabbing more, in case this was a one time stocking.  If you have never tried it, this recipe is a great excuse to try out the blend of chocolate and hazelnut, blended to the texture of a thick peanut butter.

Serve warm alone or with a side of your favourite ice cream.  These can be made 1=2 days in advance if preparing for a party.  Just reheat in the oven at 150 degrees F for about 15 minutes before serving.

(I apologize for the dimness of some of these pictures, my daughter didn’t realize the soft flash setting was on so they came out a bit yellowish on a few shots.)

Ingredients

1 package wonton wrappers

1 egg, well beaten

1 jar Nutella

Powdered sugar

4 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

• Lightly dust a working surface with powdered sugar.
• Lay out one wonton wrapper.
• Spoon in one spoonful of Nutella into the center of the wrapper.
• Using a basting brush or your fingers, paint on a light coating of egg around two edges of the wrapper that form a corner.
• Lift the opposing corner over and press firmly to seal the wrapper.
• I lightly dust a glass dish with powdered sugar to stack my uncooked ravioli, but wax paper will work as well.
• In a skillet over medium to high heat, heat vegetable oil.
• One by one, lay ravioli into the skillet and cook until a light golden brown, on each side.
• Remove from pan and place into a glass baking dish.
• Sprinkle hot triangle ravioli with a few pinches of  powdered sugar or use a sifter to shake a bit on the tops.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm.

Whipped Cream

If you’re a fan of Cool Whip, you should know there is no cream or milk but rather oils and preservatives and lots of air.  I will say that at least Reddi Whip includes cream along with vegetable oil.  But real whipped cream is simply cream and a little sugar.  And the taste is miles better than anything you’ll ever find at the grocery store, and when you consider that it takes almost no time to make it – there is no reason not to.

Ingredients

1 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract*

*not flavouring

Directions

• Chill mixing bowl and beaters in freezer for ten minutes.
• Pour in cream and begin to beat at a medium speed.
• Add in sugar.
• Beat until peaks form.
• Voila!  I told you it was easy!

Elotero

I lived in the western suburbs of Chicago and one of our first trips into the city I got introduced to so many scents and sounds that I miss still.  I don’t think anything compares to fall in Chicago.  It was a few weeks before Halloween, we hopped a train into the city and rode the L from one end to the other, avoiding the tourist stops like Sears’ Tower and instead finding little holes in the wall on parts of Michigan Avenue that aren’t in any travel guide.

On that first trip I crinkled my nose as my companion insisted I try an aluminium foil wrapped treat off of a vendor’s two wheeled cart.  It sounded nauseating.  Mayonnaise on corn on the cob?  Yuck.  But I actually enjoyed it and it is one of those rare little treats that has never tasted as good anywhere else.  But this is as close as my gringo self has been able to replicate it.

Ingredients

1 ear of corn, husk still on

1 Tablespoon mayonnaise – not salad dressing or Miracle Whip crap

1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 Lime

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Pull back the husks of the corn, being careful not to remove them.  Tear out corn silk and wash corn and husks thoroughly.
• Shake dry.
• Cut lime and squeeze one half over the length of the corn cob.
• Smear mayonnaise over all exposed corn kernels.
• Blend Parmesan and cayenne together and cover corn.
• Bring husks up to cover kernels.
• Lay on a sheet of aluminium foil.
• Squeeze other lime half over husks and then close foil around corn cob.
• Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.
• Remove foil and husks and serve hot.

Pork Bruschetta

Crespelle

Often when we think of crepes, we think of lacy thin pancakes with fruit syrups and whipped cream toppings.  This delicious appetizer puts an end to these thoughts.  This is a classic Italian dish server during Lent, when meat is to be avoided.

As with a lot of Florentine dishes, it includes the standard of spinach, though I prefer to kick it up a notch with Arugula leaves mixed in as well as a few sprigs of Italian parsley.  Arugula is a Roman spinach leaf and isn’t always easily found in your local grocery store.  Often you will have to scour the organic section to locate a nice bag.  If your climate allows, you might give growing it a try, as once you start, it takes hold and is rather reproductive.

This dish also includes ricotta cheese and I suggest not using a low fat one as there tends to be a good deal of liquid run off and can make your crepes soggy.

Typically I segregate the recipes when we are stuffing a separate component, but this crepe recipe is unique to this recipe and not the same you would want to use for your Sunday morning sweet tooth.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 3/4 cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup flour, unsifted

1/2 teaspoon iodized salt

3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

~

1 pound fresh spinach leaves, washed and finely chopped

1/2 pound fresh Arugula leaves, washed and finely chopped

1/4 pound fresh Italian parsley, washed and finely chopped

1 cup boiling water

1 egg

1/2 cup fresh Romano cheese, grated

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/ teaspoon ionized salt

1 15 ounce container ricotta

• In a medium mixing bowl, blend 3 eggs, milk, melted butter, and flour until well blended.  Mixture should be rather thin, like a pancake batter.
• In a non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.
• Pour in batter by 1/4 cup ladles at a time, cooking each until lightly tanned.
• Set aside.
• Preheat oven to 150 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine green leaves.  Pour boiling water over leaves and drain into a collander promptly.
• In a dry large bowl, beat egg, ricotta, Romano, salt and nutmeg until well blended.
• Stir in leaves.  Blend well.
• Drop 1 – 2 spoonfuls of filling onto each crepe and roll up.  Secure with a toothpick.
• In a large baking dish, prepared with non-stick spray or a little olive oil, arrange filled crepes.
• Bake for fifteen minutes or until crepes are crisped.
• Remove toothpicks and serve warm.

Chicken Dumplings

My husband calls these sliders, which may just be a regional thing because to me sliders only come from White Castle.  And this is his favourite meal, hands down.  Every year on his birthday, this is his meal of choice.  For this recipe you basically are adding biscuit dough to a chicken noodle soup, minus the noodles.  The one great thing about homemade soup is it is loaded with flavour and lots of healthy vegetables and you can literally taste the freshness.  Canned vegetable soups have mushed veggies, that have lived way past their prime in a preservative bath.  That just isn’t the case with homemade soups.

Ingredients

1 pound boneless chicken breasts, chopped

3 stalks celery, with leaves, cleaned, sliced thin

4 carrots, peeled, sliced thin

1/2 medium white onion, chopped

32 ounces chicken broth

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

~

2 cups flour, unsifted

3 teaspoon baking powder

4 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon iodized salt

• Add chicken chunks to broth in a large stock pot over low to medium heat.  Cover.  Allow to cook for about 1 hour, or until chicken is well cooked.
• Add in celery, carrots, onions and seasoning.
• While the soup stews, begin your dumpling mixture.
• In a medium mixing bowl, blend flour, salt and baking powder.  Whisk until well blended.
• Using case knives, cut the butter into the dry mixture until clumps form.
• Add in milk, stirring with a fork until well blended.  It should have the consistency of a slightly liquid dough, but not runny.
• Turn the heat on your soup up to medium to high heat, bringing it to a simmering point.
• Drop by large spoonfuls your dough mixture into the soup.
• Cover and allow to cook for at least 5 minutes.
• Serve.

Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a really unique tasting Italian pasta that can be prepared in so many various ways.  You can store buy prepared gnocchi, but I just don’t think it compares.  This recipe will make enough gnocchi for about 4 servings and can be doubled or multiplied, but not really reduced.

Ingredients

5 medium to large russet potatoes (about 2 pounds)
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon ground sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Poke potatoes with fork and bake about 1 hour.
• Skin potatoes and quarter.  Drop into a large bowl and mash well.
• In separate bowl, stir yolk, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• Mix in egg yolk, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• Pour yolk mixture over potatoes and stir thoroughly.
• Spoon in flour to form a dough texture.
• On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough out.
• Break it into quarters.
• Using your palms, roll the dough out gently into a rope form about 1/2 inch thick.
• Cut into half inch pieces.
• Use a fork to lift each piece, making gentle grooves into the dough piece with each.
• Lay out on a floured baking sheet to air dry for about one hour.
• Repeat with reserved dough quarters.

When ready to prepare gnocchi, gently drop into a large pot of water at a rolling boil and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until it floats to surface.  If you allow them to boil too long they will become gummy and chewy.

The gnocchi can be frozen before cooking the dough pieces for later use.  Freeze baking sheet and then pack into airtight container or zip lock baggies for later.

Pollo Florentine

Ask anyone what Florentine means and they’ll say it means spinach; except Italians.  The association of spinach and Florence, Italy actually originated in England.  When Catherine de Medici introduced spinach to English cuisine, since she was from Florence, spinach and egg or cheese mixtures became known as Florentine.  Actual Florentine dishes usually are seafood rich with olives and squashes and potatoes.

This dish uses prosciutto, which is an uncooked Italian ham, chicken and a spinach and cheese blend.  Even though prosciutto is salt cured, I guess I am a bit of a worry wart in that I always cook it anyhow.  I also use fresh mozzarella for this recipe, it blends much better with the ricotta than the shredded type that has drying agents applied.  The extra spinach mixture I bake for twenty minutes in a separate dish and serve with the chicken.

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic

1/4 pound Italian parsley

1 pound fresh spinach

1/4 pound fresh mozzarella

1 egg

1 cup ricotta

4 slices prosciutto

4 boneless chicken breasts

2 Tablespoons bread crumbs

Directions

• Chop parsley and spinach, combine into medium mixing bowl.
• Press garlic cloves into spinach blend.
• Use a cheese slicer to loosen shreds from mozzarella ball.
• Add egg, ricotta and mozzarella to spinach blend.
• Beat thoroughly until well blended.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• Slice chicken breasts open.
• Spoon two heaping spoonfuls of spinach blend into chicken breast pocket.
• Close and wrap prosciutto around chicken.
• Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Serve.

Bean Soup / Ham and Beans

My husband calls this bean soup.  My daddy always called it just simply ham and beans.  It doesn’t get much simpler than this and this is a very hearty recipe for cold days.  I love recipes that I can put together in a crock pot so that it has all day to cook in all of the flavour and be ready when I get home from work so we can still have a good home cooked meal.

My secret here is cooking the beans with a hamhock.  This adds in a lot of good flavour, more than you’ll ever get out of a ham steak no matter how long you cook it.  The hamhocks aren’t the best though for serving, they tend to have a lot of fat and gristle and you’re stuck with very little meat but a lot of bone.  So I use ham steaks to have good tasty chunks of meat with the beans.

And of course, the best side for this is some freshly made cornbread!

Ingredients

3 hamhocks

1 lb ham steaks, 1/4 inch thickness

1 lb beans, navy or great white

1 Tablespoon ground sea salt

• Empty beans into large bowl and fill with cold water.  Hand pick out any beans that are discoloured or pitted.  Use your hand to shift the beans in the water, rinsing them in the process.
• Strain beans through a colander and shake lightly.
• In a large stock pot or crock pot, on low heat, place rinsed beans and cover with water.  Water should be about two inches over the beans.
• Add salt.
• Add in hamhocks and cover.  Allow to cook for at least four hours.  The longer the better.
• Remove hamhocks and discard.
• Chop ham steaks into bite size chunks.  Add to beans.
• Serve once ham steak chunks are warmed.

Scotch Cakes

Ingredients

2 cups flour, unsifted

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon iodized salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 ounce can evaporated milk*

*The actual recipe calls for buttermilk, but I despise the taste of buttermilk, so I use evaporated milk instead – not condensed!  If you like buttermilk, you want to use 1 cup.

• In a large mixing bowl, blend all dry ingredients with a fork.
• Create a well in the middle and break egg into it.
• Add in milk and blend thoroughly with a spoon, but do not overbeat or the pancakes won’t rise.
• In a large skillet over medium to high heat, drop one full ladle into the pan and cook until bubbles form up, then flip.
• Serve hot.

Apple Fried Chicken

When we began our diet, we started looking for healthy alternatives to some of our favourite dishes and this became a quick hit.   The apples give a slight hint of a sweet flavour but are not overbearing. Serve with steamed veggies for a healthy dinner.

Ingredients

1 jar apple butter (I prefer Musselmans)
1 cup plain corn flakes, crushed
4 boneless chicken breasts

• Pour apple butter onto a plate and roll chicken breasts over until coated – it can be rather thick.
• Place crushed corn flakes onto another plate and coat chicken thoroughly in crumbs.
• Cook over medium heat, turning chicken, until thoroughly cooked.

Chicken Parmigiana

This is an incredibly simple dish to whip up with only about an hour prep time needed, and yet it presents like you slaved for hours.  As a side note, this recipe can be likewise used for veal parmigiana, by changing the meats.

The critical part of this creation is filleting the chicken breasts to no more than 1/2 inch thickness and trim as much fat or skin as possible.  Using a fillet knife, you can shave an average 6 ounce breast into 3 – 4 fillets.  You’ll notice when working with raw meats, I typically use a synthetic cutting board as sanitation of these boards is much easier.

I use my homemade Sicilian marinara for this recipe, but you can use your own or a jarred brand if you prefer and serve over your choice of pasta.

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon crushed oregano

1 tablespoon crushed thyme

1 tablespoon crushed rosemary

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

• Preheat oven to 250 F.
• Over medium heat, pour olive oil into a skillet and allow to heat.
• Pour spices and bread crumbs onto a flat surface or plate and stir gently with fingers.
• Lay breast fillets gently onto the crumbs, turning until well coated.  Do not press the meat into the crumbs.
• Gently lay fillet into skillet and cook 3 – 4 minutes each side.
• Remove from skillet and lay into a glass 13 x 9 baking dish, or onto a metal pan lined with foil.
• Using one cup of Parmesan, layer the chicken breasts with cheese evenly.
• Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes and remove from heat.
• Turning cheese side down, set over selected pasta and marinara sauce.
• Sprinkle with remaining cheese and allow to melt slightly before serving.

Arnccini

When I was a little girl in Sicily, this was one of my favourite foods. The difficulty here is patience in making them but oh so worth the effort. These are easily reheated and are a meal on their own. I usually serve two per person.

Ingredients

3 cups white rice
3/4 lb shredded beef*
1 jar spaghetti sauce**
1 1/2 cup raw peeled potatoes, diced to pea size
8 oz mozzarella cheese
2 sticks salted butter
2 cups peas
4 eggs
2 cups breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning
4 cups cooking oil, for frying

*I typically use deli style roast beef, broken into small half-inch pieces. I have also tried it the way my parents did with a small chunk of roast beef, cooked in advance and then pulled and shredded – but I think this recipe is time consuming enough without having to cook a roast as well.

• In a large pot, pour 6 cups of water and a dash of salt. Bring to boil. Add rice and cover, lowering to medium-low heat. Once rice has cooked, remove heat and put both sticks of butter into the pot. Cover and let sit for ten minutes. Stir thoroughly and leave uncovered.
• In a separate pot, pour spaghetti sauce in over medium heat. Add beef and potatoes and stir often. Potatoes should be cooked but firm, not mushy. Once done, add peas and remove from heat.
• Spread out a large sheet of wax paper and when rice is cool to touch, begin forming it into balls about three inches in diameter. Let sit on wax paper to harden to the outside a bit. Once the outside is hardened enough to hold its form, use a finger to create a hole in it about an inch to two inches deep. Press in a decent amount of mozzarella and a heaping spoonful of the meat mixture. Tighten the form of the ball to seal the hole and set aside.
• The balls should sit for about 3 to 4 hours.
• After the balls have sat to harden, begin to heat the oil. My dad’s recipe says to 350 degrees, but to be honest I have always checked it the way my mom did – toss in a bread crumb and when it sizzles, the oil is ready.
• In a medium bowl, break eggs and beat thoroughly.
• Pour bread crumbs onto a plate.
• Dip the balls individually into the egg batter and then roll in bread crumbs until covered completely. Using a serving spoon, lower the ball into the oil, bouncing it gently on the spoon, but do not drop it into the oil as it is very heavy and breaks apart easily.
• When a dark golden brown, remove from oil and gingerly lay on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Spezzatino Maiale