Celebrating Food and Family with Classic, No-Fail Cuisine

Disclosure: I am part of the Finish Power & Free Alliance of Moms and received complimentary product samples to facilitate this review, as well as compensation. The opinions expressed here are my own.

For any passionate home cook, no better feeling exists than finding a new recipe – whether from a magazine, a new cookbook, or an online site – and having everyone at the table declare it’s a “keeper.” You start thinking about the next time you can make it, whether or not it would work for company, and, the most fun of all, who you can share it with.

But as satisfying as the recipe hunt can be, an equally great feeling surrounds classic family recipes – those tried-and-true favorites that work in a pinch, continue to wow company, and appeal to everyone’s palate.

In my food-oriented family, we have an endless supply of cookbooks and so many favorite recipes that my husband created an online database in Dropbox to house them all. But even with a repertoire of that size, if we think about it, we have a handful of long-term, go-to recipes that always delight and never disappoint. Here are two favorites:

A family favorite: Pasta Puttanesca

My husband and I will be married 20 years in late May, and a few years after we got married, he bought me my first cookbook – Nick Stellino’s Cucina Amore.

While we loved a number of the recipes we found inside, Pasta Puttanesca immediately became a stand out. Though easy to make it, it tasted like one of those stand-over-the-stove-all-day pastas. Also, the combination of anchovy paste, capers, and kalamata olives elevated the flavor beyond the typical pasta-and-tomato-sauce dish.

I also love that it contains easy-to-source, pantry-staple ingredients, which makes it a great “blizzard” dish or last-minute meal. And, we always make it while on vacation when we stay in a condo or cottage with a kitchen. In fact, that’s when my daughter began eating it. Back in her “plain pasta” days, we knew better than to try and serve her tomato sauce with capers and anchovies.

But one summer, we made it while staying with my husband’s family in a cottage in Maine. My mother-in-law loved it so much, she asked for a little plate of it the next day while we were enjoying a late-afternoon glass of wine. My daughter asked for a bite, and she’s eaten it ever since. Even today, after cooking it for close to two decades, it remains a classic, no-fail dish!

Pasta Puttanesca

Recipe Source: Cucina Amore by Nick Stellino

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts water (salt optional)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 tablespoon drained capers
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 pound pasta – ziti, penne or spaghetti
• Grated Pecorino Romano cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Slice the garlic into thin slices, halve the olives and drain the capers into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Begin boiling the water in a large stockpot for the pasta. Heat the oil in a pan and when it’s hot, toss in the olives, capers, and garlic and squeeze in the anchovy paste. Stir until it’s mixed and sprinkle in the red pepper flakes. (I cut this down to just a quick sprinkle, so it’s not too spicy for my daughter, but feel free to add extra if you like a little more heat.)
3. Pour in the chicken stock and stir, followed by the tomato sauce. Once it’s mixed, then bring to a boil. After it’s boiled, let it simmer while the pasta cooks.
4. After the pasta is cooked and drained, mix in the sauce until it’s well combined. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley and serve!

Another family favorite: Seared Rib Steak with Rosemary and Arugula

This dish represents another classic from our early days, but this time, I bought the cookbook for my husband. We lived in the Midwest at the time, and I traveled to Manhattan to attend an awards dinner through work. Even though the event featured dinner, my colleague and I got reservations after the event at Danny Meyer’s Union Square Café. I think it was my first time at an upscale New York restaurant, and the food and atmosphere were amazing. On the way out, I noticed the Union Square Café Cookbook and snapped it up.

We used the cookbook so much that the pages have literally begun falling out of it. Fortunately, we have the recipe memorized and in the database. Back when we first began making it, arugula often proved difficult to find, but fortunately for us, arugula has become a bit more mainstream. We love whipping up the dish in the spring and summer when we can grill the steak, find homegrown arugula, and use rosemary leaves I’ve grown in my herb garden. But, it still works even when broiling the steak and using arugula and herbs from the grocery store.

Seared Rib Steak with Rosemary and Arugula

Recipe Source: Union Square Café Cookbook: Danny Meyer & Michael Romano

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1-pound boneless beef rib-eye steak, trimmed of excess fat
• 1/4 pound arugula, stemmed, washed and dried
• 1 lemon, quartered lengthwise

Directions:

1. Chop up the rosemary and sprinkle into the oil; heat until it simmers then turn it off and set aside.
2. If you are broiling the steak, start heating your broiler. Or if weather allows, grill the steak on an outdoor grill. Once the steak is finished, let it rest before slicing.
3. Drain the olive oil from the chopped rosemary and add the balsamic vinegar to it, along with the salt and pepper. Whisk it together or put it into a container with a lid and give it a good shake. Then, wash your arugula and place in a large bowl.
4. Slice the steak and place it on top. Pour the olive oil dressing on top and finish it with the chopped up rosemary. Garnish with lemons and a few rosemary sprigs and squeeze a bit of lemon juice over each serving.

Cleaning Up After a Family Feast

In thinking about it, I realized how important home cooking and family dinner has become for us. Back in the day, my husband and I would often go to a nice French restaurant on a Tuesday, just because we didn’t feel like cooking after a long day at work. Now, I laugh remembering those days, even though we have a pretty nice French restaurant right down the street. While my husband’s weekend dishes remain more complex than mine, we both love cooking dinners we’ve made ourselves with fresh, local ingredients and sitting down for dinner with our daughter. We both love cooking the way the chefs do – finding great ingredients first, then seeing what we can create using them.

Moreover, since our home-cooked creations always result in a pile of dishes, we realize every night how much the clean-up process matters, too. I’ve always been a little terrified of strong cleaning products. In fact, we still use baby laundry detergent 11 years after the fact. So I’m thrilled to find a product like Finish Quantum Power & Free Detergent and Jet-Dry Power & Free Rinse Aid. Both of these products beautifully clean dishes, pots and pans, glasses, and more, but get it done using less-harsh chemicals. In my book, that’s a classic combination.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Shutterstock