Cookbooks Fuse Family Recipes with Family History

Cookbooks Fuse Family Recipes with Family History

For the first time, all three cookbooks in CapitalÂ’s New American Family Cookbook series are together in a set to provide meals with a twist.

Dulles, VA (PRWEB) September 22, 2004

AmericaÂ’s melting pot draws from the best in our own country and from countries around the world, bettering our literature, art, ideas, beliefs, culture, and cuisine. CapitalÂ’s New American Family Cookbook series, newly released as a set, celebrates the affect of the worldÂ’s cuisine on American food.

Capital’s New American Family Cookbook series focuses on treasured Old Country family recipes and how they are changed by new blended American families in our increasingly diverse culture. "When my mother, Nohemi, and her three best friends came to the United States to start families of their own, they left behind their native cultures and foods. As they discovered that American food and ingredients were different than those commonly used in their homelands, they began to adapt and change the foods they knew so well from their own countries," explains Noemi Taylor, author of "¡Sabroso!: The Spanish American Family Cookbook." All three cookbooks in the series – "¡Sabroso!," "Nosthimia!," and "Mangia Bene!" – take family recipes from other countries and adapt them for American families.

In "Nosthimia!" (Greek for “delicious”), Georgia Sarianides adapts healthy and delicious Old World Greek recipes to new American ingredients and lifestyles with her unique blend of zest and humor. As a mother of four and with a full time career, Georgia plans meals that are healthy and don’t require hours in the kitchen. A graduate of The Culinary School of Athens, Georgia has hosted a weekly cable television program, "Cooking with Georgia" for the past 5 years She is the author of "The Best of Greek Cuisine" (Hippocrene Books, 2001). She has been featured in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Greek American News, and The New York Times. Georgia lives in Franklin, MA with her family. Try this appetizer recipe from "Nosthimia!":

GeorgiaÂ’s Special Spinach Triangles (Spanakopitakia)

“Spanakopitakia is one of the most popular meze from Greece. It can be served hot or cold.”

Ingredients:

2 to 2 ½ pounds fresh spinach

1 cup olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

½ cup chopped scallions

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped fresh dill

2 large eggs

½ pound feta cheese, crumbled

½ cup grated kefalotyri or Parmesan cheese

1 pound fillo dough

Olive oil, for brushing the triangles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash the spinach very well and drain it in a colander. When it has drained completely, chop the spinach very thin. In a large saucepan, heat ½ cup olive oil and sauté the onion, scallions, dill, and parsley for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and stir the mixture together. Lower the heat and let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a colander to drain any liquid, then place spinach mixture into a large bowl and allow it to cool for 20 minutes. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, stir in the feta cheese, sprinkle with the grated kefalotyri and a little salt and pepper, and mix the ingredients well. Unroll the fillo dough and keep it covered while working with 2 sheets at a time. Brush each one with oil, then stack one on top of the other. Cut the fillo into 5 long strips. Place 2 teaspoons of the spinach mixture in the middle bottom of each strip, then fold the right corner up and to the left, to form a right angle. Continue folding like a flag, making each into a triangle. Place the triangles 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet. Brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with a little water. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield 2 to 2 ½ dozen

Nearly twenty five years ago, four women from different parts of the world met in the unlikely locale of eastern Ohio. These women—who hailed from Spain, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina—have remained close through the years, celebrating milestones together, and sharing their lives, cultures, and most importantly, their recipes with each other. Noemi Taylor, the daughter of one of the women, has compiled 200 of these recipes into "¡Sabroso!: The Spanish American Family Cookbook.'" Noemi Taylor is the publications manager for the Council on Social Work Education. She is co-author of the book, "What Goes With What: Home Decorating Made Easy." A native of Madrid, Spain, Noemi grew up eating her mother’s Spanish recipes. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband and three dogs. For a hearty Fall dish, try this Colombian dish:

Baked Corn Pudding (Pure de Maiz)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

½ of a green bell pepper, chopped 

½ of a red bell pepper, chopped

½ of a jalapeno or another hot pepper, chopped

4 tablespoons flour

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cans of cream style corn

6 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cups milk

Directions:

Melt the butter in a skillet at medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and all 3 peppers. Cook, stirring until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper, until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat. Add corn, eggs, and milk, stirring the entire time until the mixture is well blended. Pour the corn mixture into a shallow, buttered bowl or baking dish. Bake in oven at 350 for 55 minutes or until center is set.

Serving Size 4-6

Kate DeVivo, a Chicago-based editor, comes from an Italian American family with over 100 years of history in America—a family with more than a few recipes, traditions, stories, and characters. DeVivo has compiled over 200 of her family’s home-style Italian American recipes (plus a few not quite Italian) in "Mangia Bene!" Ranging from meaty to vegetarian, easy to difficult, complex to simple-and-fast, the recipes are ones your mother would make; the dishes you would expect to find on the table for Sunday dinner. For your next Sunday dinner, try:

Grandma DeMasiÂ’s Peppers and Tomatoes Al Gennaro

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped very fine

3 ½ cups fresh tomatoes, cored, blanched, peeled, and chopped coarse (or canned plum tomatoes)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)

½ teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 large Italian sausage (1/4 pound), cut on a slant into 1-inch slices

2 pounds green peppers, seeded and quartered

2 onions, sliced (about 1 cup)

Pepper, ground fresh, to taste

1/3 cup dry red wine or Madeira (optional)

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet; add garlic and sauté until lightly browned. Add tomatoes, salt, basil, and sugar. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes. While tomatoes are cooking, heat the remaining 1/3 cup olive oil in another skillet, and brown the sausage slices well on all sides. Transfer the slices with a slotted spoon to the tomato mixture in the other skillet.

Reserve the oil in which the sausage cooked in the skillet. Add peppers to same skillet and toss them well. Sauté for about 8 to 10 minutes, then add the onions, and cook for another 20 minutes, or until vegetables are softened and slightly charred. Add them to the tomato mixture, and cook together for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add wine or Madeira (if you wish) to the skillet after the peppers and onions have cooked. Deglaze the pan, and add the liquid to the tomato and pepper mixture before the last 5 or 10 minutes of cooking.

# # #