http://dietingmadedelectable.blogspot.com/2009/08/braised-cucumbers.html
I heard about it in the movie, Julie & Julia. I googled it. This blog came up. I am eating it now and I LOVE it. Take her word for it!
How good is it (and how could it not be cooked in real butter)? I seriously think it could be a pie filling. For dessert! Mmmmm…..so good!
I have re-discovered it. And I love it.
In Puerto Rico we happened upon an entire food aisle at the local WalMart devoted to, seemingly, only crackers and Cheez Whiz. I have never seen so many crackers in my life. They were very big on “soda crackers” in regular and whole wheat and even sold them in 5-pound tins!
And I was going to admit that Cheez Whiz, which I don’t think I’d even had since the mid-1960s, had absolutely no redeemable food value when I saw, much to my delight, that a 2-tablespoon serving does provide 10% of a person’s daily calcium needs. So, I have that going for me. That and some really great crackers I brought back from the islands.
TIMPANO: A centerpiece-worthy Italian dish, not all that common, but highlighted and made more popular by the Stanley Tucci movie, The Big Night. Timpano is an Italian pastry crust filled with pasta and ragu, meatballs and genoa salami, cheeses and boiled eggs and at times even peas and chicken. It’s carefully layered so that when the strata is sliced, it is a perfectly lined work of culinary art, delicious and beautiful.
Stormie made one for Tristan for his 29th birthday. We serve additonal sauce (tomatoes, onions and basil from the garden) and cheeses on the side, along with a ceasar salad. It is so satisfying! In red, find Stormie’s recipe and tips:
I know this looks like an impossible feat and you are thinking it will take you all day…trust me, it is easy peesy and so good, it will prove itself completely worth it! You can tell your family and friends you slaved all day, (I’ll keep your secret:)
*With prep, baking and cooling – this should take about 3.5 hours total but give yourself some extra time the first time you try it (and believe me, you WILL make this more than once).
Dough Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour
4 eggs
1 t salt
3 T extra virgin olive oil(I mean seriously…is there any other kind of olive oil?)
3/4 cup water
Olive oil to grease a 6 quart timpano baking pan. (I use a type of dutch oven but professionals use enamel wash basins which you can find on ebay:
Filling:
2 cups 1/4 x 1/2 inch sharp provolone cheese cubes or slices
2 cups 1/4 x 1/2 inch Genoa salami slices12 hard boiled eggs, shelled and cut into chunks
3 cups meatballs
8 cups tomato sauce (add 1 lb cooked ground beef)
3 lbs ziti pasta, cooked very al dente
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup finely grated Romano cheese
4 eggs, beaten
Dough:
1. Combine the flour, eggs, salt and olive oil in a stand mixer with the dough hook.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of water and process.
3. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture comes together and forms a ball.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead to make sure it is well mixed. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.
5. Flatten the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Dust the top of the dough with flour and roll it out, dusting with flour and flipping the dough over from time to time, until it is about 1/16 inch thick and is the desired diameter(you will get major muscles while rolling it out!).
6. Generously grease the timpano baking pan with olive oil. Fold the dough in half and then in half again, to form a triangle, and place it in the pan. Open the dough and arrange it in the pan, gently pressing it against the bottom and the sides, draping the extra dough over the sides(You will need enough dough on top to cover the whole thing so make sure you roll it out VERY large). Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Filling:
1. Have the salami, provolone, hard-boiled eggs, meat balls, and tomato sauce at room temperature.
2. Toss the drained pasta with the olive oil and 2 cups of the tomato sauce. Distribute 4 generous cups of the pasta on the bottom of the pan.
3. Top with 1 cup of the salami, 1 cup of the provolone, 6 of the hard-boiled eggs, 1 cup of the meat balls, and 1/3 cup of the Romano cheese. Pour 2 cups of the ragu (tomato/meat sauce) over these ingredients.
4. Top with 4 cups of the remaining pasta(I always have left over pasta to serve on the side, it just depends on the size of your pan so you probably won’t use it all in the timpano).
5. Top that with the remaining 1 cup of salami, 1 cup meat balls, and 1/3 cup Romano cheese. Pour 2 cups of the ragu over these ingredients. (the ingredients should now be about 1 inch below the rim of the pot).
6. Pour the beaten eggs over the filling. Fold the pasta dough over the filling to seal completely. Trim away and discard any double layers of dough.
Baking:
1. Bake until lightly browned, about 1 hour.
2. Then cover with aluminum foil and continue baking until the timpano is cooked through and the dough is golden brown (the internal temp. will be 120 degrees F) about 30 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 30 minutes or more. (the resting time is VERY important for the timpano to set and not fall apart when you are cutting it later so make sure you give it AT LEAST 30 minutes after baking to sit in the pan)
4. The baked timpano should not adhere to the pan. If any part is still attached, carefully detach with a knife. Grasp the pan firmly and invert the timpano onto a serving platter.5. Remove the pan and allow the timpano to cool for 20 minutes. (This is also important for the setting of the timpano…don’t cut corners! From my own experience it is messy if you do!)
6. Using a long, sharp knife, cut a circle about 3 inches in diameter in the center of the timpano, making sure to cut all the way through to the bottom. then slice the timpano as you would a pie into individual portions, leaving the center circle as a support for the remaining pieces.
An Ode to Summer, for I will not to acknowledge a fall which does not truly begin until the Autumnal Equinox, on the 22nd day of this month sometime in the afternoon. Yes, the nights are cooler, some mornings even crisp. And it may seem the summer is past. But I must sing of my love for the summer until the last verse fades softly…
“In summer, the song sings itself.” ~William Carlos Williams
“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” ~Wallace Stevens
At Heaven Fest this year, we had THE perfect sunny summer morning. Then late afternoon clouds which morphed into an electrical storm in the offing. There was supposed to be rain, but lightening just surrounded us instead and gave us the coolest breeze and light show ever!
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” ~Sam Keen. This quote has absolutely nothing to do with Heaven Fest, not at least until it’s OVER!
My sweet-peeps, Andy and Leah Garcia, made this shot possible right after Kent and his kids had led us into some deep worship. Andy set it up and Leah took the shot. Thank-you, friends!
Kent Henry is not only my all-time favorite worship leader, he was the one I raised my kids on. Heaven Fest being what it is is due, in no small part, to the worship influence my “tribe” was nurtured on as they were growing up. Having Kent attend, teach, lead worship and pray over my kids was the honor of a lifetime. His influence on Heaven Fest is undeniable, whether he is here or not, but it sure was cool to have him come and see the impact his life and ministry are still making on my family and through my childrens’ lives. Talk about legacy!
What a summer! I get to work with 100 other people who lead this deal and it is such a privilege to get to do this thing! In November we told the Lord yes, in February we started the fundraising, permitting and all sorts of logistical. By the time summer comes, we are literally surrounded by the world’s most amazing people, walking it out with them. I love Heaven Fest! LOVE it!
Tons more photos and youtube videos we found can be seen on www.heavenfest.com. You’ll feel like you were there, if you weren’t, and will re-live the thrill if you were!
It’s not all glory out there. The garden can be rough at times. Just a little fair warning if you think it is all roses and tomatoes.
Yeah, they are splashy, showy and plopped themselves in my garden without my help, initially – easy to grow, little work required. And they even make great toothpick ballerinas, but geesh: they are stickery. If you have to tame them at all, cut them back or dig up the little babies they poop all over the darn place, they will attack you head to toe with the most minute little slivers of scratchiness ever. You can’t see them, no, but you know they are there. And you have to change clothes to go on. Mean.
They flutter. “Oh, lookeeee…” the grandbebes cry with glee. For they think it is a butterfly – a pretty, dancing butterfly. But no, it is not. So while they frolic and zoom about, diving and rolling and having their little party in my garden, they best be warned: I don’t trust them.
Do you know why? Because they will lay eggs from which will come cabbage-white-moth-caterpillars and those little suckers will chew my plants up! They are trying to take control of my vegetables. And having not helped one iota in any of the work of my garden, I am not sorry to say I do not welcome them to enjoy the fruit of my labor. Not at all.
the herbs
Oh, sure, they are cute in the spring when they hop around all sweet and innocent-looking. But they can chew up your plants like nobody’s business, so you should plan your attack early and hard against those boogers. By this time they fly like some attack-helicopter when I approach and could probably give me a concussion if they actually flew into my head. The buzz of their wings is annoyingly loud and they, let me just tell you, are not at all godly like their Praying-Mantis cousins. They are tobacco chewers and spitters, if ever I have seen any, and have quite an attitude at their little meetings where they are most probably planning plagues!
Well. They are.
They are building their homes and webs on my plants (eating my bounty), but have no trouble at all telling me where to get off when I water or disrupt them in any fashion. Lucky for them I consider the work they do of value to my kingdom (and I once read about their very likeable cousin in Charlotte’s Web). Or they’d be out, I tell you. Out!
the purple petunias & Guini in the garden
But I am being careful and aware. Don’t worry about me. Just pray for me. Pray a lot.
In the garden where life is fine (albeit dangerous at times)…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Clean-up the daylilies, mulch the peppers a little more for these cooler evenings, talk to the tomatoes, thump on the spaghetti squash, train the unruly beans, pick up the pile of spent hibiscus and weed behind the pool.
The room is strangely empty now, the one that was once “Tredessa’s room,” but is now “Zach’s room.” Sandy-the-dog wanders in and out with a sad look on her face. “Where is Zach?,” I can tell she is wondering.
My nephew Zach (brother Tim’s oldest son) has been living with us for the past year. He first came for 5 or 6 weeks as an intern for Heaven Fest 2008and then after thinking it over and getting accepted as a ministerial worship intern at Northern Hills, decided to return. He worked at Safeway. He did the church stuff. And he lived with us…veeeeeeeery quietly!
What a great kid. I mean, he is an awesome young man. But he is also such a great “kid” with a sweet heart and gentle spirit. He came from amazing parents and is, after all, my nephew! So, you gotta love him for that, right?
Poor Zach. I not only rarely cook anymore (only for crowds), I don’t grocery shop, either. So the fact that he was able to avoid complete malnutrition and starvation while living here is a testament to how low-maintenance he is, care and feeding-wise. But in my mind, a fresh, hot steamy pot of pasta with a simple sauce of some sort is heaven (Italian food, my favorite). The same for Rocky and Jovan, Zach’s home-away-from-home-which-was-already-away-from-his-Butte-home. So, one of the observations he made shortly after coming to dwell here was: you guys eat a lot of pasta. Thus? “Zach-a-roni.”
Backstory: his dad, my little brother, Tim, had these massive tonsils as a young kid. So he spent most of his toddler/pre-school years with them, before the surgery, apparently swollen and he constantly choked on his food. For whatever reason, spaghetti was the worst. I guess it would start to slide down his throat and there would be a dramatic scene with “Timmy” choking and gagging. When he got the tonsils out, the doctors gave them to my mom in a jar because they had never seen such huge, honkin’ ones. It was quite the spectacle. Consequently, Tim never like pasta after that. So, I am pretty sure Zach’s pasta experience was pretty inconsistent and sparse…until he got here and found people like us who could eat it every night.
We are big and loud. We have lots of birthdays and dinners and celebrations of all sorts. I think we overwhelmed Zach with them. Last fall we had Tristan’s birthday and then a big end-of-summer bash and then Rocky’s birthday, then mine and the very same week Hunter’s. Zach was heard to commentate: you guys have a lot of birthday parties. Pretty sure it was pure misery for this quiet kid!
May it go well with you, Zach. I pray that you will comprehend the bright future God has in store with you and that you will courageously embrace life’s adventures and all the days the Lord planned for you (and wrote in His book for you) before you were even one day old (Psalm 139). Be led by the Spirit. Get into the Word and let the Word get into you. Follow hard after God so you can lead well. Play music that will bring the smile of the Lord into the room (like David the shepherd boy did).
Live up to your unique role as a family firstborn and realize the 360-degree impact you have. Sing loud and strong. And let what is in you out – for the treasure you hold will bless many.
It was our honor to host you here, to have the young man of God sleeping in the upper room. Come again, anytime, sweet nephew of mine!
“Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.” And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there.” 2 Kings 4.9b-11 NKJV
Be blessed, Zach…Aunt Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Write and tell his parents what a fine son they have raised.
pictured: The sign made by Steph and Stormie with a nod to The Office, naturally.
You are at that age – you know? The one everyone claims to be when they don’t wanna be the age they really are? So pretty much, for the next year, everyone will think you are lying about your age. But you’re not. Like McCaulay Culkin, you are actually 29. Which puts into perspective for me the little boy you were so many years ago when we watched Home Alone with our kids, and Stephanie, in particular.
When you chose Stephanie, when you decided (which in retrospect seems uncharacteristically devilish of you) to pursue Stephanie in spite of a road-bump whose name I shall not bother to mention here, you got us all, the whole loud, crazy, undone and un-in-law-tested bunch of us, lock, stock and barrel.
And we are grateful to your parents for the wonderful son they raised. We thank God that you were nurtured and encouraged in a godly home, prepared and equipped to be the man you have become – a great husband to Steph and a true daddy to the bambinos. Tell your mom and dad thank-you for me, will you? Because they did really raise a courageous son, one who, in spite of the size and girth of the sum of us, is not only equal to the task, able to withstand our faults and failures and shortcomings as much as enjoy any good, but strengthens us as a family, bringing rich character and treasure to us. Who could have known when you became one of us that one such humble young man’s presence in a family could change our course so drastically? Tris, you brought an increase of the favor of God upon us and I can’t remember life before you became our “son.” We are blessed.
pictured: he must have said something funny at the family party; a shot from the recent Kelley photo shoot taken by Tredessa; the apparent Rocky/Tristan “butt” shot…for their wives only, I am sure.
As usual, we had your annually-requested-birthday fruit pizza (see recipe) instead of a cake (but I really am game to create free-standing drum set someday), which nearly drove several family members into a sugar coma. And, much to Stormie’s delight, your celebration became an opportunity for her highly-sought-after Timpano ~ as made famous by the cinematically beautiful movie, Big Night, starring Tony Shalub and Stanley Tucci. The movie is wonderful. The food they prepare is inspiring. Stormie’s version is delish!
What a silly family we are, sometimes, huh? But what great times celebrating each other and just being with people who’ll love you to the end!
We love you, Tristan. I hope you will always know how much. Happy Birthday to you!…mom (and so honored to get to share that role just a tiny bit even though you already have a wonderful mama)
NOTE TO SELF: Break out the toffee recipe because Tristan is worth it, even if it isn’t Christmas.
I saw the movie again last night, for the second time, Julie and Julia. And here is what I know: I will never be Julia Child, for I truly am one of those people who, though loving the fine meal, the meal that takes hours to prepare, will not use her time for that.
From my garden: tender, young green beans, stir-fried with crushed garlic and barely salted, the savory flavor of them rivaling a fillet mignon. A purple bell pepper sizzled into submission in extra-virgin olive oil. Thick, perfectly round slices of zucchini browned to a caramelized sweetness, and seasoned just-so, so delectable it is hard to believe it is not a sin.
Accented by imported Greek Kalamata Olives, which have been soaking in olive oil and red wine vinegar just long enough, and a thick, soft chunk of cave-aged blue cheese cut from a hand-made wedge, which has been cured to its full potential, the blue veining a work of tongue-tingling art (and some sort of chemical reaction to the penicillin they use in its’ creation).
You would be hard-pressed to find a meal anywhere as delicious and beautiful as this for any price. And done in 10 minutes, start to finish.
Had I added tomato, I fear it might have been too much heaven.
Favorite quote from Julie & Julia: I could blog. I have thoughts.
Loving the late-summer harvest…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Get another hobby besides food.
I feel cheated.
I have been battling with them for 3 years now, since I purchased one 99-cent plant, innocently believing I had to have them. Now they are everywhere and they grow quickly and no matter how many times I chop off, mow over and uproot, their will to procreate is greater than my ability to control them.
So, I decided to disrupt the bee-feast and bring some in to enjoy, for the flowers are nice and long-lasting. But now I smell like garlic.
That is correct! TONIGHT (September 4) ~ An outdoor showing of TWILIGHT!!! It is here in Brighton at the Prairie Center (just southwest of I-76 and Bromley). Live music starts at 7 o’clock, the movie at sunset.
You know what fans we are of Twilight. It isn’t a Vampire story. Trust me. It is a love story! Well, I guess it is a vampire love story.
Too many to list, really. You can go here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099212/quotes or any-stinking-place on the internet. Twilight is everywhere!
But here are a couple to whet your appetite:
Edward: What? Bella: I can’t dance. Edward: Well I could always make you. Bella: I’m not scared of you. Edward: You really shouldn’t have said that.
Edward to Isabella: Your scent, it’s like a drug to me. You’re like my own personal brand of heroin.
Edward: Do you trust me? Bella: In theory.
Edward: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb. Bella: What a stupid lamb. Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion.