Cookbook Friday: Tortiere

                   

This is my grandmother, Dora [Barbaresi] Donroe, at my wedding in 2000.  She hates this picture because she thinks it makes her look old.  But, I love it because this is mostly how I’ve always known her.  She forgets that I wasn’t around when she was young, stick thin, and flawlessly beautiful.  As much as I love the old pictures, I barely recognize her. 

I knew her in the later stages, still fiercely independent with a wicked sense of humor, but capable of more love than I thought humanly possible.  She has a favorite skin cream, which she uses liberally, that kept those wrinkles at bay for as long as nature would allow.  But, I wouldn’t trade in a single one of those wrinkles because there’s a story behind each one.  (Although, now that I’m getting of an age, maybe I should find out what brand it is.)  (So, then, I guess it is actually possible to miss your own point.)

Growing up, Nonni got me hooked on crossword puzzles, Alfred Hitchcock, and seven-layer cookies.  We’d spend hours wordlessly working on nine-million-piece jigsaw puzzles.  She had a weakness for scratch tickets.  I had a weakness for chocolate.  We worked out an arrangement.  If you were sleeping over and she heard you cough, she’d crank the heat up to 85° until you woke up thinking you were dying in the Sahara.  Then, when you finally cooled off and fell back asleep, she’d be up banging pots and pans at 5 a.m.

If you piss her off, you hear about it.  If you make her happy, you hear about that, too.  She isn’t perfect.  And you wouldn’t want her to be.  This is starting to sound like a eulogy.  Fear not, she’s alive and well.  But, why wait for a funeral? 

Here, have some chicken.

Tortiere

Unrelated, as far as I know, to the French-Canadian meat pie by the same name, this Italian peasant dish is equally hearty.  Serve with plenty of Italian bread to mop up the juices.

¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 medium package boneless chicken breasts, cut into thirds
2-3 potatoes, cut into medium cubes
3 cups Nonni’s homemade tomato sauce
1 15-oz. can peas (you can substitute frozen peas, but they won’t taste murky enough)
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300°F.  Pour oil onto the bottom of a 9x11-inch baking dish.  Add onions, then arrange chicken breasts on top and potatoes around them.  Sprinkle salt and pepper, and add just enough tomato sauce to cover the chicken.  Bake uncovered until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender, maybe 2 hours (depends on how big your chicken and potato pieces are).  Then, take the can of peas, water and all, and throw them in the pan as soon as it comes out.  Let sit a few minutes to warm the peas. 

Dora [Barbaresi] Donroe
New Haven, Connecticut
1918 -

And that's the end of the Italian Cookbook Friday, folks.  (If you missed the beginning, it starts here.)

Comments

[Sally]

What do you mean that's the end of it?!? Nooooooooo!! (BTW - love Nonni's picture. My mom was 45 when I was born so I only remember her as an old woman. I love old women - cause I are one!;) )

[joey]

It's an oft repeated cliche to talk about your 'second mother " but my Auntie Dora is my second mom . Very little of my childhood doesn't involve an Auntie Dora story and I love her dearly. BTW, Alfred Hitchcock and Perry Mason were her fav's ... she called them "her stories "

[Dad]

I have to admit that had I been able to choose my mom, I could not have done better! She sacrificed everything for her kids. She wore cheap housecoats everyday so that my sister could dress really well, I could go to a private high school and my brother could try out several trade schools before finally deciding on carpentry. She took the bus to work so that first my sister and then I could have the family's second car to drive to school. She almost never had a dime after making ends meet but didn't complain. Whatever I am today, whatever I've accomplished I owe all to her! Period!

[Mary]

I think she looks and sounds like a beautiful woman. And the cookbook Fridays have been really fun to learn about you and your family.

[Barry Foy]

Just to be a pain in the neck:
As a French-Canadian-born person, I appreciate your pointing out that this dish is not related to the classic Quebec meat pie. An easy way to remember that is by noting that the Quebec one has a "u" in it (tourtiere), not to mention an accent over the first "e" that I can't seem to muster up on this software. So there.

[Tammy]

Barry: French-Canadian-born, huh? Well, that changes everything!

Mary: She's awesome. Thanks for noticing!

Dad: Well said.

Joey: That's right, I forgot about Perry Mason, though that never caught on with me.

Sally: Old people rock!