Food for thought
Fillet of Beef Rapallo
Coming down from the hills on the road to Genoa to the Mediterranean, one suddenly spies the little town of Santa Margherita nestled in the sheltered bay of the Gulf of Rapallo. The air is scented from the fragrance of camellias and oleander mingled with the slat of the azure sea ahead. Soft breezes rise to greet the visitor to this dreamy fairyland. The region is known for its fine cuisine. This recipe is named in the honor of the region.
Ingredients: 2 oz. butter, 1 small onion, 1 pint fresh mushrooms, 6 center slices 1-inch thick beef tenderloin steaks, salt, pepper, paprika, 6 slices bread, 1 inch thick butter sage, thyme, and/or marjoram leaves, 6 cold boiled potatoes, melted butter, flavored with herbs.
1) Preheat broiler for 20 minutes; 2) render butter in a skillet and slightly brown minced onion. When onion is brown, add the mushrooms and turn down heat to let them simmer slowly; 3) rub each side of the steaks with salt, pepper, and paprika. Now cut your bread slices to the exact shape the steaks, then butter each side. Press a leaf of any preferred fresh herb (thyme, sage, or marjoram) onto each buttered slice of bread. Arrange tenderloin steaks and bread slices alternately on a skewer long enough to handle the whole and lone enough to balance ends on the rims of a well-buttered dripping pan.
4) Take boiled potatoes, cut into slices, and drop into the dripping pan. Pour additional butter over them and balance the skewer with the alternate slices of meat and bread on the ends of the dripping pan. Place under a very hot broiler and broil for 15 minutes, basting now and again with melted butter flavored with mixed herbs or the variety used on the bread slices. When meat is done, remove the potatoes with a broad spatula to a hot platter, pour a little melted butter over them, then hold the skewer over the potatoes and carefully push the meat and bread off the skewer and on top of the potatoes. Empty the mushrooms and contents of skillet over all. Replace under broiler to reheat for 1 minute and serve quickly.
Note: If you don't have or can't find a long enough skewer, you can use a piece of wire (nonleaded & non-coated). This type of wire is the approximate circumference of a No. 8 knitting needle.
A smile is heart healthy food
For two years a man was having an affair with an Italian woman. One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant. Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he paid her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the child. If she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18.
She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born. To keep it discrete, he told her to simply mail him a post card, and write "spaghetti" on the back. He would then arrange for the child support payments to begin. One day, about nine months later, he came home to his confused wife. "Honey," she said, "you received a very strange post card today." "Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later," he said. The wife gave him the card and watched her husband read the card. He turned white and fainted.
On the card was written: Spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti. Three with meat balls, two without.
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