Impress your love ones with the following meal which is a blend of soul foods from various parts of Italy.

Course 1: Sweet Peas with Lettuce and Mint

1 medium onion, finely chopped, 4 tabl unsalted butter, 5 cups of frozen peas (don’t thaw), 2 tbls water, 2.5 cups of thinly slices romaine leaves, 3/4 cup of FRESH mint leaves, torn in small pieces, Extra Extra Virgin Olive oil , the kind meant for dipping (there is some Australian varieties out there that are incredible and inexpensive), REAL Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano (for a wedge you are looking at about $15, but oooohhhhhh it is so worth it), slat and pepper to taste.

Cook onion in butter in a heavy pot over mod heat, stirring, until softened. Stir in peas and water and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until peas are tender. Remove from heat and stir in lettuce, mint, salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl, lightly dress with olive oil, and top off with some freshly grated PR cheese.

Course 2: Cannellini bean soup

1 can of cannellini beans, 1 cup of chicken broth, 4 slices of pancetta, 1/2 onion chopped, and two cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped, 2 peeled and stewed tomatoes, two sprigs of FRESH rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. In a sauce pan, pour about 1 tbl of olive oil and sweat the onion and garlic together (soft and glistening). Then pour in your beans, broth, and everything else and let simmer. Serve topped with some of that Extra Extra virgin olive oil and PR cheese. Might be a good idea to get some nice crusty bread to go with it also.

Course 3: Old Naples style Meatloaf with a Fennel Salad on the side

2/3 cup of torn day-old or left on the counter for hours Italian bread. 1/3 cup milk, 1 lb of beef (try to get some with some fat. . however ground chuck can be too oily), 1/2 onion and 3 cloves of smashed garlic, 2 tbl generic Italian seasoning, 2 large eggs beaten, salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 cup of Italian shredded cheese (the kind you find in the dairy section of the grocer for your pizza), 1 cup of Prosciutto ham, finely chopped, 1/4 cup of dry bread crumbs (I find the Japanese panko kind work best), and 3 hard-boiled eggs. You will also need an instant-read thermometer.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil your loaf pan. Stir together bread and milk and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Add beef, onion, garlic, beaten eggs, salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning to the bread mixture and combined with your hands. Then mix in your ham and cheese. Scatter 2 tbl of panko bread crumbs on a 16 in long sheet of wax paper. Spread half of the meat mixture into an 8×4 in rectangle over crumbs, then arrange hard-boiled eggs lengthwise, in a row down the middle, with about 1/4-1/2 in apart. Cover eggs with remaining meat mixture, pressing firm to make a 8×4 loaf. Transfer loaf from wax paper to baking pan and sprinkle top and sides with remaining panko. Bake until thermometer registers 155 degrees (make sure when yo take the temp, you avoid the eggs). Let stand for 10 minutes before serving (fyi - internal temp while resting will rise to about 165).

Salad side: one fennel bulb sliced thin, juice of 1/2 lemon (FRESH), 1/4 cup of Extra Extra olive oil, salt and pepper, 1 tbl fresh thyme, 2 tbl fresh parsley, and slices of PR cheese. Toss all of the above together and you are ready to go.

Course 4: Strawberries in Red Wine

2 cups of a fruity red wine (Santa Maddalena, Barbera, Valploicella if you want to be authentic), 1 tsp fresh lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar (cane is best), 1 lb of strawberries, trimmed and halved if large.

Stir together wine, lemon juice, and sugar (to taste) in a bowl. Stir in strawberries and let macerate at room temp for 1 hour, then chill until cold, up to 1 hour but no longer (fruit will become mushy if it steeps for more than 2 hours). Serve berries in small bowls with some of the juices, and can be topped with a fresh dollop of vanilla gelato or creme fraiche.

Drinks: Italian beer - Le Baladin’s belgian styled ales, pref. Wayan, which can be found here in the States, as well as Nora, and Super Baladin. These beers you drink from wineglasses. Wines: from Greco Di Tufo - Aminea (’04), Benito Ferrara, Vigna Cicogna (’04), Di Meo (’04), or Mastroberardion, NovaSerra (’04). And of course, with desert, a robust cappuccino (simple stove top espresso maker can be picked up now in some grocers, as well as milk frothers if you don’t have a machine. . . in fact, sometimes it is better to use the stove top version than suffer the machines that are out there which only make really good heated and frothed milk).

Molti benedizioni e buon mangia!

Christian Dominic

One of my hobbies is cooking. . . and I love to eat, as well. So, I am now going to introduce a new category on Food. . . Soul Food. This will be the new, e-version of the Church cookbooks of old and favorite recipes will be posted. In addition, this will include restaurant and pub reviews. And the best part, your invited to play and post as well. Yeah, fun!!!

 So, tonight, from Christian Dominic’s kitchen. . . Burgundy Short Ribs. Sounds hard and may read like a lot is involved, but it is simple and darn good eats.

1 pk of beef short ribs (usually has about 5 or 6)

1.5 cup of veggie broth

2 cup of burgundy wine (a CA screw top is about $6.50, and not bad)

2/3 cup of all purpose flour

1/4 cup of unsalted butter

Roasting Veggies: a turnip, little red potatoes, carrots, celery, a shallot, green onions, a sweet onion, and white mushrooms. Rough chop them. . . big chunks. . .becasue they will reduce down in the oven.

Seasonings: Herbs of Provence, which can be ordered or picked up from from Penzey’s Spice Co., kosher salt, pepper and parsley.

1. In a freezer size ziplock bag, add flour, tablespoon of kosher salt, and tablespoon of pepper. Place the short ribs in, zip it up, and toss around like a football on Sunday afternoon (or something like that. . . just get the ribs well coated).

2. Preferably in a cast iron skillet, get some oil hot, take the ribs out of the bag (knocking some of the flour off) and place them in the skillet. Get them nice and brown, but NOT COOKED. When browned, place them in the bottom of a roaster or a dutch oven. De glaze your skillet by pouring slowly the veggie stock into the skillet and whisking the tasty tid-bits off the bottom of the pan. After the skillet is well cleaned, pour the mixture over the ribs in the roaster.

3. Pour half of the burgundy over the ribs, and give the pan a shake so the wine and the broth incorporate a bit. Shake generously over the ribs and broth the Herbs and parsley. Now spread your roasting veggies over the ribs and broth. Again, shake generously the Herbs and parsley over the veggies. Pour the remaining burgundy over the veggies, and cut the 1/4 cup of butter into four pats, and place them around on top of the veggies. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Put the lid on the roaster or the dutch oven, and place it in a preheated 350 degree oven. Now, walk away and find something to do for the next 3 hours, or until the rib meat falls off the bone.

Before you serve, mix up the gravy in the bottom a bit so all the oils and good stuff are well blended. For this savory dish, some nice sweet crusty bread is a good match. Drink wise, a good dark, yet sweet, beer, or a Trappist ale goes well, as well as a glass of burgundy (but probably not the $6 variety).

Blessings!