This is Civilization’s answer to the pasta salad. It is based on the Caprese Salad recipe. If you gather all the ingredients together and have them ready for assembly, it can even be a company dish. It is worth paying more for the Italian buffala milk Mozzarella – rich and lusciously soft. A recent recipe recommended chilling the supermarket kind of Mozzarella before using it in this dish. This keeps it from melting too soon and becoming like rubber bands. It works.

• Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, put ¼ cup of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, salt and pepper and whisk together thoroughly. When you are ready to put the pasta in the pot to cook, add the following to the lemon juice mixture and let it marinate for 15 minutes: 2 small garlic cloves, minced; 1 minced French shallot; 1 ½ lbs. of fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and diced.

• Step 2: Cut 12 ounces of fresh Mozzarella into ½” cubes and put in the freezer for 20 minutes. Do this only with the cowsmilk kind that comes in balls in water. The buffala milk kind does not need chilling. just cutting.

• Step 3: Boil 1 lb. of Penne, Ziti, Rotini, or whatever pasta you prefer. Chop ¼ cup of fresh basil leaves while waiting. Drain the pasta when it is to your taste, add it to the tomato mix and stir well. Let it rest for a couple of minutes, then stir in the Mozzarella cheese and basil. Rest it another two minutes, then serve. This is eaten at room temperature, like so much Italian food.

This is a recipe from Beverly Pepper, who lived in Rome for a long time and she claimed to have it from an employee at Alfredo’s. It sounds reasonable, and really makes bottled “Alfredo Sauce” ridiculous. The pasta is made in the restaurant, and includes lots of egg - and is rolled paper thin. The recipe from Harry’s in Venice is exactly the same. (They call it “Taglialini with Butter and Cheese” and their pasta is better).

If you are buying, not making the fettucini, try to find very thin ones.

• 3 oz. of genuine Parmesan cheese, grated - per person
• 2 oz. of butter, per person (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 lb. dry fettucini, per person.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and put the butter in a piping hot large bowl, add the drained fettucini, toss, then add the cheese, taste for salt. Toss to aerate. That’s it. Have a pepper grinder on the table.

See Ragù Bolognese in Sauces.

Very simple and easy. Use leftover broccoli, or cook some until tender and chop it coarsely. Lightly saute minced garlic, chopped shallots or scallions and a few minced anchovies in just enough olive oil to coat the pasta, mashing the anchovy to make it disappear. Add a little white wine and cook it down. Add the chopped broccoli and some pepper, taste for salt and cook to meld the flavors. Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta cooking water if needed.

Add the the freshly cooked and drained pasta to the pan of broccoli sauce, reheating and stirring well with a pair of wooden forks. Taste for seasoning and serve. Penne is usually the pasta of choice, but our favorite was angel hair. Cheese is optional. CC put in a little shredded fresh basil in season.

This is something CC made up after seeing a recipe for a walnut sauce. It is best if you can find some pecan oil to cook it with.

Cook pecan meal or finely chopped pecan in butter along with a cracked garlic clove, salt and pepper - until the pecan is lightly toasted. The butter should be lightly browned.

Put a splash of white wine and a teaspoon of sherry into the hot pan to deglaze it, finish it with cold butter and put the freshly cooked and drained pasta in the pan and mix with the sauce. Add some grated cheese. A fresh sage leaf may also be added in the early cooking and removed, along with the garlic, before serving. Very simple. The sauce is good on fish, also.

The thing to remember is the magic ratio 1:2. One cup of cereal to two cups of liquid. CC always liked to cook this in a sauteuse; the shallow, two-handled steel pan with a cover. It could go from the oven to the table.

Cook ½ minced onion in 1 tablespoon of oil, add a minced garlic clove as the onion becomes soft. Add 1 cup of long grain rice and cook it in the oil, stirring, until the grains are opaque and whitish. Add 2 cups of liquid, such as broth, stock, thin tomato sauce, etc. The sauce should not be too rich or thick, as it reduces in cooking. Add herbs, spices, salt, pepper, and any meats and vegetables. Stir and cover.

For stovetop, cook on a low fire for 20 minutes. Stir once or twice. For oven cooking: heat first on the stove, then bake for 40 minutes at 350°. Stir a couple of times and test at 30 minutes.

Pilaf is the basis for a lot of one-dish meals, such as Paella, Jambalaya , etc.. We often had a simple version to accompany something like a roasted chicken, or a pan grilled steak. It is a good area for creativity. Cooked sausages are good in it.

Pilafs can be made with other grains, such as kasha (buckwheat) or barley.

The descent of this from Paella is painfully obvious, yet writers of “Creole” cookbooks continue to perpetuate the silly myths like “It was an African dish, brought here by the slaves”.

This recipe, adapted from “The Plantation Cookbook” is for a large amount, adequate for 8 people. It is cooked in a large Dutch oven or similar. The amounts shown are simply for guidance and can be varied to your taste. For instance, one can start with chopped bacon and cook with the rendered fat, or just use vegetable oil instead.

In 3 tablespoons of fat, saute:

• 1 cup minced onion
• ½ cup minced celery
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• ¼ lb. minced ham.

When the vegetables are soft, add:

• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup of chopped scallions
• 2 bay leaves and 1/4 tsp.powdered thyme (or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.)

Remove the mirepoix to a bowl. Place 2 cups of long-grain rice in the oil and cook the rice, stirring, until it becomes opaque and chalky – about 3 minutes. Do not brown it. Clear a space and put in two tablespoons of tomato paste, fry it for about 2 minutes, return the mirepoix to the pot.

Add the following mixture:

• ¼ lb. Andouille or Polish sausage, peeled and sliced
• 2 cups of tomato sauce.

Add 1 cup of oyster water or fish stock, if you have it. One more cup of liquid is needed – stock or water - for a total of four cups. (use chicken stock if you do not have oysters or a seafood stock) Put in 2 tablespoons or so of chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste. If it seems too dry while cooking, add a little water.

Stir together and bring to a boil. Lower the fire to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is nearly done (about 20 min.). Stir in:

• 3 lbs. of peeled and deveined raw shrimp
• about two dozen drained and examined oysters.

Put the uncovered pot in a 350° preheated oven for 15 minutes. Stir a couple of times to fluff the rice and move the seafood for even cooking. Be careful that the rice does not overcook and become gummy.

The variations on Jambalaya are endless. One of the most common is made with chicken and sausage and others are turkey, crayfish, crab, wild duck, rabbit, etc. One can add crabmeat at the last minute for a really de luxe model of the seafood version. Get creative. Learn to cook Pilaf, then start making variations on it.

In French cuisine this is known as riz à la crèole, and it is cooked this way all over the Carribbean. The result is a fluffy rice, without a starchy taste. That’s the whole idea, the flavors of the sauces are not distorted. It is always made with long- grain rice.

For one cup of rice: put the rice into at least 2 qt. of boiling, salted water. Stir quickly to prevent the grains from sticking to the pot. Boil, stirring often, for about 15 minutes – or until the grains begin to split at the ends. Taste to see if they are still crunchy in the middle. Crunchy is not good. Keep cooking and tasting until the rice is cooked but firm. Quickly drain it through a colander and run cold water over the rice to stop the cooking and wash off the starch. Toss with a fork to be sure it is all washed. Let it drain well while you wash the cooking pot and put about an inch or so of water in it.

Place the colander with the rice in it on top of the pot (make a steamer) and cover lightly with a paper towel. Bring the water to a boil and let it steam for 5 minutes, or so. Not too much, or the rice will become mushy. The cooking can be done early on, and the steaming at the last minute – just enough to heat it. Stir the rice with a fork while steaming, this will fluff it up.

Cooked rice can be frozen in individual serving sized amounts in plastic bags. To thaw, place the rice in a bowl, add a few drops of water, cover and microwave for 1 minute or until hot.

This recipe was given to us by Billie McGurk, the mother of one of CC’s college friends. She had lived in South America, where Mr. McGurk was the General Motors sales VIP.. It appeared in only one cookbook in our collection, and it was credited to Cuba. A great brunch dish.

This is long- grain rice, Creole style , topped with two fried eggs, garnished with fried plantains and sauced with a piquant Creole tomato sauce. (One can use salsa from the jar or canned Mexican sofrito sauce.)

Bananas can be substituted for the plantains. Pick firm bananas and peel, then cut in two and slice them in half, lengthwise. Plantains are generally sliced across about ½” thick. Fry bananas or sliced plantains over a low fire in butter or oil until they are golden and soft throughout. In New Orleans we preferred plantains well-ripened before cooking – the skin should be black and the flesh soft. Use care, there is so much sugar in them that they blacken quickly over high heat.

This is a reigning favorite in Louisiana’s Acadiana. It can be made in a number of ways, and with various ingredients. Dirty rice is essentially a kind of Pilaf made with minced cooked chicken livers, chicken gizzards (slow simmered for hours and minced or ground) and cooked pork or sausage meat, finely ground. It also contains onion, celery, green pepper, thyme, bayleaf and minced garlic.

Cook the pork until browned, add the livers and cook, then add the cooked and chopped gizzards (save the cooking liquid). Grind or finely mince in the processor. Cook onions, celery and pepper and add the garlic, bay and thyme about halfway in the cooking. Remove the bay leaf and mix everything together. Push aside the solids and add the dry rice to the cleared space in the pan and toast, stirring, until the rice looks chalky - about 1 or 2 minutes. Next, add the cooking water in a ratio of 2 cups liquid to 1 cup dry rice.

Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook for 10 minutes, stir and taste for seasoning. Cook 10 minutes more, taste, cook more if needed.

The consistency should be dryish, much like a Pilaf. It is often made with cooked rice, the meat sauce added and the mix cooked until the sauce is absorbed. We liked it made by the Pilaf method because the flavors meld better and it does not get gummy. See “Basic Pilaf” for the cooking method.

Be careful in cooking all of these rice dishes to avoid making them too oily. That will make it pasty and over-rich. The ideal is to have the rice absorb the sauce and be light and fluffy.

See under Salads.

To cook grits, use 4 cups of boiling water and 1 cup of grits with ½ teaspoon of salt. Simmer for at least 15 minutes – 20 to make it creamy – stirring often. Put any leftovers, while still warm, into a drinking glass, cool, cover and refrigerate. The grits will firm up.

A couple of days later turn the grits out and slice into generous ½” slices. Dry on paper towels and dip in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry in hot oil. Another method is to dip them in the flour mix, then into beaten egg and fry. Good with sausage or eggs for breakfast, or with tomato sauce as a side to roasted meats, etc.

see recipe for Shrimp and Grits under Seafood

This was one of CC’s favorites, and it goes very well with things like sauteed pork chops, roasted anything, etc. Whenever you bake custard that sits in a pan of water, be certain that the water does not boil – it will cause the custard to have an unpleasant curdled texture. Regulate by adding an ice cube if it starts to show big bubbles.

Scald 2 ¼ cups of milk, add 1 stick of butter to melt. Add 6 ears of fresh corn, grated and scraped; 2 ears of whole kernels of corn; (A total of 3 to 4 cups of corn). Beat 4 eggs, add 1 level tablespoon of sugar, 1 or 2 level teaspoons of salt, about ½ teaspoon of pepper (white preferred) and a few drops of Tabasco. Mix everything together and pour it into a buttered souffle dish (or ovenproof bowl) set in a pan of hot water about halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake on the middle rack at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or so. Test with a knife, but keep in mind that it should be moist and soft in the center, not dried out.

A half can of drained whole kernel corn, mixed with a whole can of creamed corn, may substitute for the fresh corn but omit the sugar and salt. Taste the creamed corn from the can, usually it is dead sweet. Use less milk and just 2 or 3 eggs.

This was always popular in our family. Jim is the expert chef on this one, apparently he lived on it in college. We got the recipe from Carnacina’s book, Cucina Italiana.

For one pound of spaghetti, to serve 4 to 6 people:

• 8 slices of smoked bacon
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup parmesan or pecorino cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
• cooked onion (optional}

Start the pasta water and salt. Cut 6 or 8 slices of bacon across into narrow strips and fry until just before crisp. Drain well on paper towels.

While the pasta is cooking mix 4 eggs in a bowl with ¾ cup of grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, ¼ cup of heavy cream, salt and pepper.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 oz.(½ stick) of butter until it is a gold color. Take it off the fire and stir a couple of tablespoons of the butter into the egg mixture to temper it. Stir the egg mixture into the butter off the fire, stirring and adding slowly. The mixture will begin to thicken, so quickly add the drained hot spaghetti and the bacon. Toss well, reheating if the egg mix is too runny.

Be careful to not overcook. It should be creamy and moist. It helps to have two people working on this, so that the pasta is hot when it goes into the sauce. Obviously, timing is crucial.

Cooked minced onion is a good addition, as are green peas. Put thawed frozen peas into the cooking pasta after it has boiled for 5 minutes. The original Italian dish is made with hog jowl, minced and cooked in a little oil until crisp, instead of bacon. Almost any pasta can be used but spaghetti is the traditional one.

This is a favorite easy thing to cook. The New Orleans name for it is Spaghetti Bordelaise.

Quickly cook some minced garlic in olive oil but do not let it color. Add some chopped parsley and mix into the hot, cooked pasta. Salt and pepper as needed. Works well with angel hair pasta and other pasta shapes, as well as with spaghetti, and accompanies roasted chicken or other meats nicely.

This is being written, appropriately, on the feast of Chandeleur which occurs 40 days after Christmas. In English it is Candlemas. It commemorates also the Presentation in the Temple of the infant Jesus and the ritual bath of the Virgin Mary. In addition, it is a really ancient celebration of the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox. It was always celebrated with bonfires, and in Christianity, with candles.

It is also called Pancake Day because of the tradition of serving crepes in France and pancakes in England. Sounds like a nice tradition to revive. In the 1930's, we always had beignets, waffles or pancakes to start off Mardi Gras day. Vestigal French tradition.

This is a way to make light pancakes. The whipped egg white gives them more airiness. This recipe is for two servings.

Separate 1 egg and whip the white to soft peaks. Place the yolk in a bowl, then add to it 1/2 cup of milk,1 tablespoon of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, ½ tsp. of vanilla and a pinch of salt, mix well. Combine with 1 cup of flour, stir gently, then fold in the whipped egg white.

Add sugar to taste, the usual recipe uses 1 tablespoonful. To make light pancakes, use the batter immediately - before the gluten gets chance to form. If you want really tough pancakes, do the mixing in a processor or blender.

Rice fritters are made by adding 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice to the pancake recipe and they are cooked like pancakes. One can also omit the sugar and vanilla and serve these rice fritters at dinner with sauce to accompany meats.

This is the non-sweet or crêpe salé. It is not a spur of the moment thing, as the batter must be mixed and allowed to rest for 2 hours or more. This allows for gluten formation and flour expansion, resulting in a stronger texture. It can rest overnight and still work well.

To make dessert crêpes, just add a tablespoon of sugar to this batter.

Mix the following in a processor or blender, or whisk it together vigorously. Wipe down the sides of the bowl with a soft spatula, so that everything is incorporated:

• 1 cup of cold milk and 1 cup of cold water
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups of flour
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter (1/2 stick)
• ½ teaspoon of salt (less if butter is salted).

Let it all rest for at least two hours.

To cook them you will need a skillet with a flat bottom area that is about 7 inches across. Use a paper towel dipped in vegetable oil to create a thin film in the pan. (Hold with tongs) You will need to re-wipe it with oil each time you pour a new one. When the oil is smoking slightly, pour in a scant ¼ cup of batter and immediately swirl the pan to cover the bottom with it. Work fast. It should be a thin film of batter, about 1/8 inch. Pour off any excess. The fire should be medium-high. Let it cook for a minute or so, then turn it over and cook the other side.

One can, of course, flip the crêpe to cook the other side. (I can’t) Lift the edge with a silicon spatula and pick it up with your fingers to turn it. This batter amount will make at least a dozen crêpes. They can be rolled or folded around any suitable filling that is thick enough to prevent the crêpe from getting soggy.

One kind of Breton crêpe is a thin slice of ham and a fried egg on the crêpe, which is then folded by turning the four sides over the edges of the egg to form a square. (The authentic Crêpe Breton is made with buckwheat flour.)

A crêpe filled with crab meat in a Mornay sauce with chopped fresh herbs is a revelation. Use parsley, green onions, tarragon, cilantro, etc.; not strong herbs like basil, oregano or rosemary.

Crêpes can be separated with plastic wrap and frozen. Wrap them well and do not keep for long, as they will dry out.

Use the recipe above, but add another egg, some vanilla and a tablespoon of sugar. Let it rest, then thin it out to a thick cream consistency, using water. These crêpes should be very thin and crisp. You will need a large flat griddle and a long, thin spatula like that used for icing a cake. It should be at least 8“ long. In addition, have cold butter handy.

Heat the griddle to medium and butter it lightly. Pour about an ounce (2 tablespoons) of batter on it and immediately spread it out with the spatula so that it is as thin as you can make it. Let it cook for about a minute (have a cold knife with about a half teaspoon of butter on it at the ready) then pick up one edge and turn it over. While holding the turned crêpe about half off the griddle, slip the butter under the middle of the crêpe, then let it cook on that side. This will crisp it up and is the secret for success. Sprinkle it with a little sugar and a few drops of lemon juice, fold or roll it up and serve hot.

It takes practice, but the result is wonderful - crisp, buttery, sweet and hot. We first tasted these in the St. Germain area of Paris, where they are (were?) made by street vendors. I was not able to find a recipe, so I improvised this one and it seemed to work. Be sure to let the batter rest for 2 hours or more to develop the gluten.

This is a recipe we developed by trial and error. The idea is to have a waffle that is both crisp and light, but not oily.

• 1½ cup of soft flour, such as Martha White
• ½ cup of rice flour
• ½ cup of vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
• vanilla, cinnamon, etc. your choice.

Whip everything together, add a little water to thin to heavy cream consistency. Let the batter rest for at least ½ hour. Your responsibility from here.

This is by no means definitive and you are free to play around with your own mixture. Folding in beaten egg whites makes them even lighter. Cornstarch can substitute for rice flour.

Turkey Hash over non-sweet waffles was one of our favorites.

• 1 cup of fine cornmeal or corn flour
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup bacon drippings, melted
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs

Separate the eggs and reserve the whites. Mix all the rest into a batter and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. Beat the whites and fold into the batter. Thin with a little water if it seems too thick. Bake as usual in the waffle iron.

These are particularly good with Turkey Hash, or for breakfast with fried egg and syrup.

If you cannot find the fine cornmeal, try masa harina, the Mexican corn flour. Sometimes it is available as fish fry flour.

Here is another mix for crêpes dentelles (waffles), found on a French web site. It is untried, and you just have to do the conversions for yourself.

• 4 eggs
• vanilla
• 250 grams flour
• 250 grams powdered sugar
• 60 grams of butter, melted
• 75 centilitres of milk
• salt

Mix the dry ingredients. Add milk, egg yolks and butter. Mix well and let rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Beat the egg whites to a stiff meringue and fold into the batter before cooking. Works well in a regular electric waffle iron, especially those that make the thick waffles.

This recipe is from Maw Maw and is dated 1956.

• 3 cups of rice
• 1 chicken, cut up
• ¼ cup of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• ½ teaspoon of pepper
• ½ cup of flour
• 1 large onion – chopped
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 2 cups tomato, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 6 cups of boiling water or chicken stock
• a good pinch of saffron
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons of minced parsley
• 2 chopped pimientos (or 1 red bell pepper, roasted and peeled)
• sliced mushrooms - about 4 oz.
• 1 cup of cooked green peas
• canned artichoke hearts, rinsed and well-drained.

Heat the olive oil; dry the chicken and dredge it in the flour, salt, pepper and paprika mix. Brown the chicken in the oil for 7 minutes per side, or until you judge it cooked, adding the onion and garlic when the chicken has almost finished browning. Remove the chicken and let the onion cook to translucence. Add the rice and stir well to coat with oil, allow it to cook until it begins to turn a chalky white.

Add the tomato and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, for about 4 minutes. Slowly add the hot stock, return to boiling, taste for salt and add bay leaf, thyme and saffron. Return the chicken to the pot, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and stir often. It should simmer for about 30 minutes, but check often to see if the rice is done.

After it cooks for 15 minutes, add the parsley, a few drops of Tabasco, mushrooms and pimientos. Gently stir in the peas at the end of cooking, turn out everything on a large platter and garnish with the artichokes and black olives.

We don’t have her recipe for Paella, it was really good. Very similar to this, but with added seafood and a rich saffron taste. It contained chicken, sausage, shrimp, oysters and crayfish, among other things.

Until sometime before WWII, Calas were hawked on the streets in the early morning as a breakfast, to be eaten with cafe au lait. We made them a few times. It is not really difficult, but the deep fat is the daunting thing about it. They can be pan-fried with 1/2 inch deep oil, and will result in puffy pancakes. Serve with cane or other syrup, or with powdered sugar.

• 1 teaspoon dry yeast
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 ½ cups cooked cooled rice
• 3 eggs – beaten together with ½ teaspoon salt and a pinch of nutmeg
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ cup of sugar
• Vanilla to taste

Soften the yeast in the water and add 1 cup lukewarm cooked rice, stir well and let rise overnight, covered with a cloth. Next day, add the remaining ingredients (the rice will be mushy so the remaining 1/2 cup of rice will give it some texture), mix well and let it stand in a warm place for 30 minutes, then fry by the heaping tablespoonful in deep fat until puffed and golden. Oil two tablespoons and use to shape the dough and put it into the pan. Oil should be at 375° on a frying thermometer.