Italian Potluck Parties by Ruth Paget

Italian Potluck Parties by Ruth Paget 

Potluck parties where a host will provide a main dish and invited guests will provide side dishes and drinks keep costs down on entertaining, especially during times of economic crisis. 

Main dishes do not have to be expensive, but they should be plentiful. Some good potluck party main dishes include: 

-pasta with warm sauces 

-risottos 

-warm lentil bean salads 

-soups served in mugs, so people have less of a chance of spilling on clothes or carpets 

Hosts should do the main dish, because people do not always show up at parties. 

For potluck parties with an Italian theme, I like to use the classic and easy recipes in Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Giada De Laurentiis. What is great about this book is that you can find youtube videos about how to make these dishes from the De Laurentiis’ Food Network show.

I think the following recipes work well for Italian potlucks: 

-white bean dip with pita chips – for this recipe, you can blend olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, cooked cannellini beans, parsley, lemon juice, and crushed garlic together. This room-temperature dip is served with pita chips that you can buy at Target. 

-clams oreganata – clams in this recipe are broiled with a bread crumb mixture made with olive oil, oregano, parsley, mint, salt, and pepper. If you like champagne or prosecco, this is a relatively inexpensive seafood dish for New Year’s Day. 

-caprese Salad – a tasty mix of mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, and torn basil with a lemon-olive oil dressing from the Isle of Capri 

-antipasti platter – a selection of Italian salami, coppa, and prosciutto along with cubes of fontina cheese and crackers of toast points. Olives and toothpick spears of roasted red pepper preserved in olive oil can also be part of an antipasti platter. 

-prosciutto antipasti are always welcome with champagne or prosecco – prosciutto wrapped breadsticks, roasted asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and prosciutto purses, prosciutto wrapped around melon slices -

Other great potluck party recipes include: 

-roasted bell pepper salad 

-vodka-marinara pasta sauce 

-turkey meatballs in tomato sauce 

-polenta (boiled cornmeal) with gorgonzola cheese -mushroom risotto 

-rice-stuffed baked tomatoes 

The ingredients for these dishes have become readily available in supermarkets, making Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis a great buy for organizing parties or weekday entertaining for young professionals.  

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Parisian Budget Food by Ruth Paget

Parisian Budget Food by Ruth Paget 

The words “Parisian” and “budget” rarely go together, especially when applied to food. However, in the book The Bistros, Brasseries, and Wine Bars of Paris author Daniel Young lists recipe after recipe of bargain meals. 

If you make these recipes at home, they are even more of a deal. Young also chose recipes for dishes that are easy to make with a little organization. I especially like his fish recipes that hide the fish. 

I think the following recipes would go well with either beer or wine: 

-marinated red peppers with anchovies, white wine, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and canned crushed tomatoes 

-tomato toast – a specialty of Barcelona and Catalonia – toast rubbed with garlic and tomato halves that is drizzled with olive oil. Serrano ham can be served on the side. 

-salt cod and avocado brandade dip or spread with cilantro – poach cod and then place it in a blender with avocado, lime juice, and lime zest. Blend and serve with toast or tortilla chips. 

-warm lentil salad made with onions, cloves, carrots, olive oil, and sherry vinegar 

-mackeral croquettes made with poached fish and potatoes that are made into balls and fried 

Other delicious recipes in this book include cream of carrot soup with cumin, pan-fried steaks with mustard-cream sauce, and pipérade – a dip, spread, topping, or main dish made of green and red peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, onions, garlic, Basque piment d’Esplette (this dish is Basque) and scrambled eggs. 

Economical and tasty recipes abound in Bistros, Brasseries, and Wine Bars of Paris by Daniel Young making it a great purchase for home cooks. 

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Japanese Comfort Foods by Ruth Paget

Japanese Comfort Food by Ruth Paget 

When I lived in Japan as an exchange student, my Japanese host mom made food straight out of Shizuo Tsuji’s Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art. 

I took for granted nutritious and economical meals such as: 

-onigiri – rice triangles with pickled plums in the center and held together by a strip of nori seaweed  

-rolled Japanese omelets with snipped chives or green onions and soy sauce 

-okonomiyaki – shredded cabbage and carrot pancakes made with egg and topped with sprinkled soy sauce and lines of mayonnaise 

Now that I am older, I still like these items but am learning Japanese comfort food secrets by watching Japanese restaurant videos on www.youtube.com (subject Japanese cuisine) to see how the Japanese eat mounds of hearty food. 

One dish of curry gravy goodness is tonkotsu udon, an udon noodle soup with sliced, deep-fried pork cutlet on top of the noodles. The pork cutlet is topped off with an omelet. The omelet is covered in curry gravy. Yummy stuff on a cold day. 

After watching several Japanese restaurant videos, I have noticed that refried rice or noodles can take the place of noodle soup as a base for other items to be placed on top of them. 

I have set up the following general recipe guide for making Japanese bowl meals: 

*Base – Choose 1 

-plain rice 

-refried rice 

-noodles without soup 

-udon noodle soup 

*Middle layer – choose 1 or 2 

-sliced deep-fried pork cutlet 

-omelet 

*Topping

-stir-fried vegetables 

-omelet -curry sauce 

-tempura vegetables, seafood, or meat 

Refried rice is often made with egg, carrots, and mushrooms. 

Stir-fried vegetables are often made with garlic, onion, cabbage, bean sprouts, and mushrooms. 

Composed Japanese bowl meals like these are delicious, nutritious, and not as expensive to make as you would think. These Japanese comfort foods might appeal to Americans who would like to save money. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Asian Cookbooks for Winter Reading by Ruth Paget

Asian Cookbooks for Winter Reading by Ruth Paget 

When I saw that the Monterey County Free Libraries (California) had an online winter reading program for adults through www.beanstack.org, I signed up with the goal of learning more about the food of Asia. 

I received a BA in East Asian Studies from the University of Chicago and have learned to cook many Asian dishes to add to my study of Japan and China that began when I was an exchange student in Japan and a study tour participant in China. Over the years, I have accumulated cookbooks from Southeast Asia as well as East Asian ones in paper and kindle formats to learn more about the foods I have sampled for fun and as a restaurant reviewer for the Monterey County Weekly newspaper (Circulation: 200,000). 

The books I have read so far for winter reading at the Monterey County Free Libraries include the following: 

 *Bhutan 

 -Foods of the Kingdom of Bhutan by Ernest and Eric Nagamatsu 

*Cambodia 

-Num Pang by Ratha Chapouly 

*China 

-All Under Heaven by Carolyn Phillips 

-Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom 

-Cooking South of the Clouds by Georgia Freedman 

-Dim Sum Field Guide by Carolyn Phillips 

-Every Grain of Rice by Fuschsia Dunlop 

-Invitation to a Banquet by Fuchsia Dunlop 

-Land of Fish and Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop 

-Land of Plenty by Fuchsia 

-Nom Wah Cookbook by Wilson Tang 

-Phoenix Claw and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho 

-Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop 

*India 

-660 Curries by Rhagavan Iyer 

-Chaat by Maneet Chauhan 

-Complete Book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani 

-Feasts and Fasts by Colleen Taylor Sen 

-Indian for Everyone by Anupy Singla 

-Masala by Anita Jaisinghani 

 *Indonesia 

-Balinese Food by Vivienne Kruger 

-Indonesian Regional Food and Cooking by Sri Owen 

*Japan 

-Bento for Beginners by Chika Ravitch 

-Harumi’s Japanese Kitchen by Harumi Kurihara 

-Japanese Cooking by Shizuo Tsuji 

-Japanese Grill by Tadashi Ono 

-Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking by Masaharu Morimoto 

-Modern Japanese Cuisine by Katarzyna Cwiertka 

-Ramen Obsession by Naomi Imatome-Yun 

-Tokyo Cult Recipes by Maori Murota 

-Washoku by Elizabeth Andoh 

*Korea 

-Korean Cuisine by Michael J. Pettid 

-Korean Home Cooking by Sohui Kim 

-Koreatown by Deuki Hong 

*Malaysia 

-The Malaysian Kitchen by Christina Arokiasamy 

*Myanmar 

-Delicious Myanmar by Juan Gallardo 

*Nepal 

-Foods and Flavors from Nepal by Jyoti Pahak 

*Philippines 

-7000 Islands by Yasmin Newman 

-Amboy

*Polynesia 

-Totally Polynesian by Sarah Spencer 

*Russia (Most of Russia is in Asia) 

-Cabbage and Caviar by Alison K. Smith 

*Thailand 

-Bangkok by Leela Panyaratabandhu 

-From the Source – Thailand by Lonely Planet Food 

-Pok Pok by Andy Ricker 

*Vietnam 

-Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen

-Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen 

-Phô Cookbook by Linda Nguyen 

-Rice and Baguette by Vu Hong Lien 

To tie all my Asian cookbook reading together, I read Leading with Cultural Intelligence by David Livermore. Livermore writes for readers who want to become expatriate managers who want to live overseas or become diplomats. He says that one of the best ways to prepare for these professions is to learn foreign languages and eat foreign food. Both of these activities can be done by young people before college. 

You can also prepare foreign foods while listening to foreign music to further enhance what you read about in Asian cookbooks. 

Happy cooking! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Monterey County Cookbook Shelf by Ruth Paget

Monterey County Cookbook Shelf by Ruth Paget 

When I moved to the Monterey Peninsula on California’s Central Coast more than thirty years ago, I knew I would be able to find many Hispanic and Asian markets and restaurants with products and dishes from the many cultures that make up those broad categories. 

What I did not expect was how easy it was to find Italian and French ingredients that I could cook with at home. Over the years, I have made a Monterey Peninsula Cookbook shelf that leans towards Western Europe. I cook this way and eat Asian and Hispanic food from restaurants. 

The information in these cookbooks has helped me maintain weight and set up a three-meals-per-day weekly menu with no snacks. 

The following books may be on Kindle now to lower costs for purchasing them: 

-The Breakfast Bible: 100+ Favorite Recipes to Start the Day by Kate McMillan 

-Breakfast by Brigit L. Binns 

-Focaccia: Simple Breads from the Italian Oven by Carol Field 

-The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home by Ken Forkish 

-Mastering Pasta: The Art and Practice of Homemade Pasta, Gnocchi, and Risotto by Marc Vetri 

-Pasta Sauces by Chuck Williams 

-Martha Stewart’s Appetizers 

-Hors d’Oeuvres and Appetizers by Chuck Williams 

-Pâté, Confit, Rillettes: Recipes from the Craft of Charcuterie by Bian Polcyn with Michael Ruhlman 

-The Sommelier Prep Course: An Introduction to the Wines, Beers, and Spirtis of the World by Michael Gibson 

-The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss  

-Coffee: A Conneisseur’s Companion by Claudia Roden 

 -Coffee for Dummies by Major Cohen -Honey for Dummies by C. Marina Marchese and Howland Blackiston 

-The Good Cook’s Book of Mustard by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The Book of Cheese: The Essential Guide to Discovering Cheeses You’ll Love by Liz Thorpe 

 -Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos 

 -The Chocolate Connoisseur by Chloe Doutre-Roussel 

 -Holiday Entertaining by Chuck Williams 

 -Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination by Paul Freedman 

 -Vinaigrettes and Other Dressings by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The Good Cook’s Book of Oil and Vinegar by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The Good Cook’s Book of Tomatoes by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The Good Cook’s Book of Salt and Pepper by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -Polenta by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -California Home Cooking by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The New Cook’s Tour of Sonoma by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -Complete Pasta Cookbook by Chuck Williams 

 -San Francisco Seafood by Michele Anna Jordan 

 -The Food of France by Waverly Root 

 -The Food of Italy by Waverly Root 

- More than Meatballs by Michele Anna Jordan

 -The Art of the Table by Suzanne von Drachenfels 

 -Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson 

These books feature the home cooking of France, Italy, and California for the most part. The recipes are fun to try and teach some very valuable life skills like how to limit usage of delicious and expensive red wine vinegar. 

Happy cooking! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Faux Steak Croutons Recipe by Ruth Paget

Faux Steak Croutons Recipe by Ruth Paget 

Makes 3 – 4 cups 

Ingredients: 

-Day-old bread cut into large cubes to make 3 to 4 cups 

-1/4 cup olive oil 

-1 to 2 tablespoons meat seasoning such as Omaha Steak Seasoning 

Steps: 

1-Heat olive oil in a frying pan with the seasoning. 

2-Add bread cubes and turn them to coat all sides with seasoned oil. 

3-Turn bread cubes until all oil is absorbed. 4-Cool and serve as a snack. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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