No Half Steppin'

Not one to hold her opinion, Mariesa informed me earlier this week that the past couple of weeks she has found our performance to be less than satisfactory and somewhat off course, and suggested that Mario and I step up our game. To put it more clearly, and in her exact words, she said "no half-steppin' dad!"

I took her comment and shared it with Mario. Both of us looked deep into each others eyes and realized she was right! Like Mickey and Rocky, we both felt the fire stroked by her Apollo Creed, larger than life, grandiose type comment and with Gonna Fly Now playing in our heads we were ready to step up to the challenge of our rival! So for tonight's menu... working out of the red corner, in the orange crocs is the Scaloppine alla Marsala - Veal Scaloppine with Mushrooms, Marsala and Thyme (page 358) with a side of sautéed spinach and Rustic Classico bread.

To prepare for tonight's meal I went to Eataly to purchase all of our ingredients, unfortunetly they did not have the veal medallions required by the recipe. So instead, I took 4 veal chops and bravely attempted to butcher them down into medallions myself. I cut them somewhat thicker than I would have preferred. Inspired by the meat locker scene, Mario stepped up his game and began to pound the meat into thinner slices, all the while both of us whistling the theme to Rocky!

With our medallions prepared we heated up the pan with 1/4 cup EVOO, dredged the veal in flour and began to fry. Once all of our veal was cooked we added the quartered oyster mushrooms (a family favorite) and allowed them to brown before adding in the 1 cup of Marsala wine. After allowing it to reduce by a third we reintroduced the fried veal and allowed the mixture to cook for another 5 to 6 minutes, all the while, cooking the spinach and garlic in a separate pan.

With everything smelling delicious and cooked perfectly we began our walk down to the ring and rang the bell... Ding... Ding! Mariesa came out fighting, but we quickly took her to the mat with a one two punch of great tasting scaloppine and spinach. The count hit 10 and we knew we had won back the belt! With Mariesa leading the crowd in cheers we all agreed this was a great tasting meal!

As we celebrated our victory, and the unofficial start to Summer this Memorial Day weekend, we took time out to remember all of the brave men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. Their bravery has granted us the freedom to pursue this culinary journey. Our prayers go out to all active duty members and their families currently serving around the world and we hope for a quick and safe return.

Ciao,
Mario & Mario
The Three Tocayos

Pearly Whites

A'Hoy Mates! The past two weeks we have been preoccupied by rough seas and gale force winds which brought with them birthdays, baptisms, softball and baseball games and last but not least braces!  Yes, braces!  To appease the sea God Poseidon and to make sure our picturesque daughter maintained her beautiful pearly whites we had to fork over a large portion of our bounty to the Sea Lord. And a bounty is was…a bounty so great that this blog and our culinary voyage might soon see the end of a long plank overlooking a dark deep blue sea. Alas, as any loyal shipmate would do, we have forged a new course that will lead us to calmer waters and allow us to continue to follow our captain into more complex recipes.  Tonight we decided to travel to the Northwest Seas of America and try the Linguine Con Granchio - Linguine with Crabmeat, Radicchio and Garlic (page 175).

Prior to entering the galley and launching our dish, Mario and I traveled on shore to the local bakery (which has a legendary status with the locals) to pick up some freshly baked Pumpernickel and Italian bread.  As we were about to handover our gold coins to the bakery wench, our eyes zoned in on one of the crewmates favorite deserts, Italian Cheesecake. We knew that if this meal was going to be a success we had to get Mariesa and Angela on board, and a mouthwatering cheesecake was the key. Re-boarding the ship, we unloaded our treasure and promptly began to prepare dinner.

As we entered the galley, my loyal sous chef and I began to prep the ingredients for our menu. We started off by finely chopping the shallots and garlic, shredding the radicchio and thinly slicing our scallions. We placed our pot on the stove and cranked up the heat, when the water came to a rolling boil we added our linguine as the shallots, red peppers, and garlic sautéed to a golden brown in a separate sauté pan. Before you could say “All hands on deck!” the pasta was al dente, removed from the pot and added to the pan with the crabmeat, radicchio and scallions. With a few quick tosses, it was ready to serve.

The Linguine con Granchio was okay at best. I reviewed the recipe to make sure I wasn't missing an ingredient or forgot to add something. All was in place it just didn't score high with any of us. Luckily the Italian cheesecake made the pasta a distant memory.

Ciao,
Mario and Mario

The Three Tocayos

Check Or Hold!

Please excuse our delayed entry, but unknown to most of you, we have been expecting a visit from a close family friend. She and her husband were scheduled to spend last weekend with us at Six Flags to celebrate Mariesa's birthday, but to our dismay their flight was overbooked – she is an airline employee and travels stand by – and they had to reschedule their visit for this week.

Saturdays are always a hive of activity for us this time of year and like busy bees our day started off early and to work we went. Mariesa had a morning softball game and after watching her team win, we dropped her off at home, made sure Mario was prepared for his afternoon game and headed out to the airport.

Sonia and her wonderful husband Donald arrived at noon on Saturday and from the airport we headed straight over to Eataly to get the ingredients for our meal. It was such a treat to see an old friend and we all looked forward to dinner. This would be the first time Mario and I  prepared a meal for guests and the pressure was on!

We walked around Eataly and purchased the ingredients for the Bucatini all'Amatriciana (a recipe that we first tried back in February). We had given it four crocs and because of the hectic schedule we knew that it would be easy enough for us to prepare in a short amount of time. Mario and I threw on our smocks, crocs and displayed our culinary prowess as we gracefully moved from station to station like a seasoned dance couple burning up the floor with a saucy Cha Cha Cha.

It was a long day and although it was close to 10:00pm before we started to serve dinner all our spirits were up and everyone was very excited to dig in. The conversation was lively and spirited. Being that Sonia, Angela and I were all military brats – Angela being the only one of us that served in the US ARMY – and the fact that we still have family members serving, the conversation turned to stories about our military experiences. Sonia brought it to our attention that one of her brother's (a full bird Colonel) favorite sayings is "Check or Hold!" Meaning, can you check that item off the list or is that item on hold soldier! To all those that have had personal experiences with a Colonel, the only answer is, "Check Sir!" Needless to say when I asked if the meal was "Check or Hold!" it was a unanimous "CHECK!"

Ciao,
Mario & Mario

The Three Tocayos

Felice Festa della mamma!

Happy Mother's Day to all of our family and friends! We spent yesterday at Six Flags celebrating Mariesa's birthday. Today we are relaxing and spoiling Angela, thus, as you can see, missing is our usual recap commenting on our culinary journey. We leave you with this video of Mario and Tony Bourdain – two of my favorite chefs and personalities – discussing mothers, mother-in-laws and family.

A special Happy Mother's Day to Nana, and Manize.
 

Ciao,
Mario & Mario
The Three Tocayos

Rare Blossoms

Did you ever think dinner would consist of flowers with goat cheese filling? I'd have to say, neither did we. We came across this recipe and thought that the bold flavors, colors and textures would be interesting to try, and of course, if all else fails the T-Bone Steak would come to the rescue. Our Captain's log is full of unique and beautiful recipes that are exciting to try, tonight's dinner was no exception and was truly a creative work of art.

It started Thursday with a trip to Eataly to acquire some of tonight's ingredients. My first stop was getting the zucchini flowers for the Fiora di Zucca Fritti - Fried Zucchini Flowers with Goat Cheese (page 44). Their colors were vibrant and beautiful. It was like picking fresh flowers from a garden, but these flowers were individually packaged in tiny crystal clear bags. Next, I was off to the butchers to purchase the steak for the Bistecca alla Fiorentina - T-Bone Fiorentina (page 400). The recipe calls for a 3 inch, 3 pound T-Bone Steak. As I approached the meat market I quickly glanced through the selection of meats to discover that although the T-Bone steaks that were displayed were of a generous cut, they still fell short of what the recipe called for. The butcher approached and asked if I needed help. He was taken aback by my request and said, "I'll have to cut that for you." He went to the back room and returned within a couple of minutes. He placed the large steak that I requested on the butcher table. Like Michelangelo with a brush, Frank Lloyd Wright with a pencil, and Tom Landry with his Cowboys the butcher masterfully went to work and cleaned, trimmed, and packaged his 3 pound work of art. I picked up the remainder of the ingredients and left Eataly confident and excited, looking forward to Saturday's meal.

We started with the filling for the Fiori di Zucca Fritti. Making the filling was fairly simple and consisted of combining the goat cheese, egg, scallions, nutmeg, salt and pepper. We knew that cooking these blossoms would only only take a few minutes so we began to prep the Bistecca alla Fiorentina for the grill. Although our George Foreman (grill) works magnificently for smaller tasks we knew that this heavy weight contender was too much for the former champ to take on. Luckily for us the gas grills at our complex are up and running for the summer. Mario, Mariesa, Angela and I gathered our steak, glasses of wine, baseball gloves and headed out. We let the grill and meat work in chorus and tossed the ball around with the kids while cooking the steak for 12 minutes on one side, flipping it over and letting it cook for an additional 9 minutes. We removed the steak from the grill and headed home to finish up.

Upon our return we placed the steak on the cutting board to rest while frying up the Fiori di Zucca Fritti in a heated saute pan with olive oil. This only took an few short minutes to complete and we were ready to eat. Cutting into the steak, as our Captain put it, was a "carnivores fantasy". The color and texture of the meat was sublime and each bite was delicious and seemed to get better with every mouthful. The Fiori di Zucca Fritti added a uniqueness and balance to the meal.

Everyone loved the goat cheese filled zucchini blossoms except Angela. Which was  different, since Mariesa is usually our picky eater. But surprisingly Mariesa loved it and we have come to discover through this endeavor that she is a cheese connoisseur. As the evening dwindled down and Mariesa wrapped up the last few dishes, Angela and I stepped outside onto to the candle lit patio and enjoyed a glass of wine. We talked about the meal and how rare it was to discover this recipe at a time when the blossoms were in season. We also discussed the welcome change of seasons, baptisms, birthdays on the horizon and realized how fortunate we are to have our own "rare blossoms".

Ciao,
Mario & Mario

The Three Tocayos

Fiori di Zucca Fritti 

Bistecca alla Fiorentina