Good Dinner Mrs. Mellen

Cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian. In cooking, cacciatora refers to a meal prepared "hunter-style" with onions, herbs, usually tomatoes, often bell peppers, and sometimes wine. Cacciatore is popularly made with braised chicken or rabbit. Growing up in an Italian American family with a mother who was an excellent cook I learned to make Chicken Cacciatore at a young age. My mother who is now 97 didn't have a written recipe she just created as she cooked. I've tried to recreate her recipe adding porcini mushrooms her favorite. This recipe also double very well for a larger group. A few tips that I learned from my mother: Always soak chicken for about 10 minutes in salted water to clean. Then pat dry before cooking.  INGREDIENTS ½   ounce dried mushrooms, like porcini (1/2 cup) 2   tablespoons olive oil   Salt and freshly ground pepper 2 chicken breasts with skin and backbone, halved crosswise 2 chicken thighs with skin 2 chi...

Autumn quietly arrives in New England -  crisp mornings turn into warm sunny afternoons with the glorious fall sun setting a few minutes earlier each day: Farmers markets stocked with the last of nature's bounty before the first frost ends harvesting. Beautiful plump eggplant beacons me as I fill my market basket with copious quantities perfect to make my Baked Eggplant Parmesan. Coming from a long line of Italian cooks I've eaten and made this southern Italian dish my entire life. Like my mother I don't fry my eggplant - I prefer to bake - forgoing the extra fat from frying. And I've updated the recipe using Panko bread crumbs for a lighter breading. I love to taste the eggplant, not the breading. One more item - I only use San Marzano tomatoes. I like my sauce sweeter with less acidity.  The San Marzano  variety of plum tomato grows in the rich volcanic soil of the Sarno River valley, near Mount Vesuvius, resulting in a sweet flesh with low acidity. Its thick ski...

Pasta is a deliciously quick, easy meal that you can prepare for a wonderful week meal. I like to customize my sauces by adding different ingredients.  I strongly recommend using San Marzano tomatoes from Italy my personal favorite. A plumb tomato the  flesh is much thicker with fewer seeds, and the taste is stronger, sweeter and less acidic than Roma tomatoes.  If you decide to use San Marzano tomatoes look for the label to be marked certified. Another splurge that I sometime indulge is buying fresh pasta especially fettuccini. Well worth the extra cost for a special meal. When I am cooking with canned tuna I always use Italian style tuna packed in olive oil which adds more flavor than regular can tuna. Pasta with Italian Tuna 2 tablespoon olive oil 4 clove minced garlic 1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives 2 teaspoon chopped capers 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1 can(28 oz) San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes, Cento 2 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaf...