Ciopinno, (Italian fish stew) from the beautiful Italian cook, JackZen

Dear Lainey,

Here is my recipe.

Heat olive oil to cover the bottom of a medium pot

When it's just hot, add chopped onion, garlic and parsley [plenty of Italian flat-leaf parsley] and cook gently until the partially everything is soft

Add any kind of potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces

Add clear vegetable broth, a little white wine and canned crushed tomatoes

Add crushed fennel, some crushed red pepper, and a bay leaf

Let everything cook until the potatoes are done then add bite-sized pieces of any kind of fresh/thawed white fish

When the fish is done (flaky), everything is ready to serve

Top with grated hard cheese and season with pepper.

The approach to ingredient portions is sheer portion intuition and taste. Start with the amount of fish you think you'll be serving, cut it up in pieces and imagine the dish being more of a fish stew than soup. Plan on putting in about a third as much potato as fish and half as much tomato as potato. Start each herb and spice with a little, taste it and decide whether you'd like to have more in it, making sure you stir the whole stew well after you introduce each new ingredient. Plan on learning from each time you do it and expect each time to be a little better and different.

With gratitude, Jack

[editorial note: If you've never cooked with fresh parsley, you will have a new respect for the power of the herb after cooking this recipe] visit Jack at www.jackzen.com

Tip of the Day: Make your own broth

A simple vegetarian broth:

• One quart of water
• One carrot, chopped in a couple of pieces
• 1/2 onion, skin on
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• pinch of salt; pepper; 1 bay leaf
  

Boil for 30-45 minutes and strain with a metal strainer or cheesecloth (for a clearer base). Use as the base for any soup.

For variety, save the veggie scraps from prepping in quart bags in the freezer (I regularly have fennel fronds, zucchini, onion and garlic skins, green bean ends, cabbage trimmings, asparagus ends, etc in containers in the freezer). Pop a bag in with the traditional broth ingredients.

If you eat shrimp, you can freeze the shells to add great flavor to any broth for seafood stews or chowders.

Finally, if you would like to make your own homemade fish broth for a traditional cioppino (not for the squeamish), go to your local fish monger and they'll provide you with appropriate ingredients (okay, bony parts). If you fish or buy whole fish and clean it yourself, this is a good use for the head. It's also a good use for a really bony but delicious fish (like trout) if you run out of patience with deboning them.

For a nice cioppino, you might also add some root vegetables, such as parsnip for the creation of the fish broth.

(and no, I don't eat chicken or beef, but I think you can use your imagination and get there...or google)!

Coriander Tea -- Yummy and Healthy

I drink this delicious tea every morning. It is very good for maintaining a healthy blood pressure and controlling blood sugar. Clear evidence of these effects can be found on the Mayo Clinic and National Institutes of Health websites, amoung many others.

The Basic Tea

1 cup water

1t freshly crushed coriander seed (blood pressure)

1 slice of fresh lemon (immune system)

1/4 t ground cinnamon (glucose absorption)

1T locally made honey (immune system)

OPTION 1: for stomach issues

1/8 t tumeric (optional for immune system)

1/4 t crushed fennel seed (digestion)

1/8 t crushed cumin (digestion)

_or_

OPTION 2: for a really bad cold

1 head purple cone flower (echinnecea) and make 4 cups of the tea

Bring the coriander, lemon, cinnamon and spices to a rolling boil. Pour over honey and stir thoroughly.

Summer Basil Delight

2 tbsp olive oil

1 vidalia onion, chopped

1 diced zucchini

1 ear of fresh corn, boiled

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced

1/2 cup freshly torn basil

(optional) cooked pasta, corkscrew or rotini

2 plum tomatoes, diced

parmesan to taste

salt to taste

fresh pepper to taste

Cook onions in oil until translucent. Add garlic and heat one more minute. Toss in zucchini and keep stirring. Slice kernels off corn cob and toss into cooking pan. When all vegetables are cooked but still crisp, remove from heat and add basil, salt and pepper. Toss with pasta (if using) and liberally season with parmesan. Add tomatoes immediately before serving.

Pretzels!

As a lover of soft pretzels, I made this SIMPLE recipe last night. They are delicious!

1 tsp yeast

1 tbsp brown sugar

salt to taste

2 cups all-purpose flour, additional flour required

1 warm cup milk

1 egg

coarse kosher salt

In a large bowl, mix yeast, sugar, salt, flour and milk. Once you have a big hunk of dough, remove and knead by hand on a flat surface for 5-10 minutes, until the consistency is smooth. You will need to add extra flour as you knead the dough (about 2/3 cup).

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Split into 8 hunks, and roll out 1 inch wide dough strips - about one foot long each. Cover with a towel and let rise for 10 minutes. Re-roll dough strips. Whisk egg in a small bowl, and brush each strip with egg. To form pretzel shape, pick up dough strip, hold horizontally to you, and fold edges criss-cross, pressing the edges lightly into the pretzel. Place onto baking sheet. Sprinkle kosher salt on top, and place in oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Artichoke, Fennel & Tomato Sauce

SAUCE PREPARATION
Fresh Ingredients
½ medium fennel bulb, finely chopped
½ medium sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
3-4 good sized garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon lemon zest (about ½ to full lemon)
juice from ½ lemon (fresh DO NOT use that nasty squeezy bitter stuff)
***yes, this is a good time to invest in a Microplane zester (about $15 but great for zesting, parm cheese, ginger, etc) & a reamer

Herbs & Spices
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Canned Ingredients
1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (I like the organic fire roasted kind)
6-8 UNMARINATED artichoke hearts, quartered (frozen, thawed, are even better)
optional: ½ 14 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
optional: ½ 14 oz can of black olives, drained and sliced
1-2 T tomato paste to thicken, needbe

Protein (Optional)
I like an Italian veggie sausage (veggie, turkey, meat…) for this…use your judgment as to how much you need. Cook the sausage fully in the following to make it extra flavorful.
1-2 ladles full of your sauce blended with 1 T tomato past
½ t crushed fennel seed (yes, a mortar and pestle or leave it out)
½ t crushed red pepper

PASTA PREPARATION
I strongly prefer whole wheat fettuccine or penne with this sauce. Cook it hard: bring lots of water to a rolling boil, add a healthy pinch of salt to raise the boiling temp (it helps the pasta cook without getting gummy). Once the water is salted and boiling hard, add your pasta and immediately stir. Watch the time, you want it el dente.

If your pots are not really heavy, you might find you can’t hold the kind of heat you need to cook whole wheat pasta so it tastes good and has good texture. No worries – use traditional semolina.