Saturday, July 21, 2007

Cooking with Hannah

This past week I had the distinct pleasure of teaching my son’s girlfriend how to cook an Italian meal. I’m not Italian, but I’ve been married to one for over 26 years. I have cooked enough sauce that I’ve become a member of the club.

My mom-in-law passed away at the age of 49. She was a great lady who had lots of love to extend to me and others. My hubby was her first born. When we got married I only knew how to scramble eggs, cook a burger and make toast. My idea of sauce was Ragu (no offense to those who use it). In an Italian household it’s sacrilegious to even say “that” word. My mom-in-law came over to teach me how to make a sauce because I asked. Afterwards, I thought she would stay for dinner, but she left. She wanted me to surprise my hubby with my first attempt at sauce. How cool is she?

It’s fun for me to teach young girls to cook. This is the second time I’ve done so. My kids already know how to cook so I’m always looking to teach someone else. The following pictures are about making sauce and chicken parmesan.

In a pot place a little olive oil, salt, fresh ground pepper, thinly sliced onion (about five or six slices), and fresh garlic (about three to four cloves). Let it simmer until it starts to cook a bit. Then add tomato paste (fill the can with water and place in pot).
Open your cans of sauce and place in pan. I usually add some water at this point again. Let it cook on low to medium heat for about 45 minutes.
Then add the meat, grated cheese, oregano, basil and parsley. I used sausage for this sauce. I find my best sauces have both sausage and meat, but this was for chicken parmesan so it wasn’t necessary. Let your sauce cook for half an hour and taste (with some Italian bread of course). See if you need to adjust seasonings. This phase is a trial and error phase. When I first started making sauce I would have Tom taste and ask what was missing. I still do that just because he likes it. The secret to sauce is the longer it cooks the better it tastes.
We started off with a package of chicken breast.
Hannah learned quickly how to trim and cut the chicken.
In a bowl add some eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Place chicken in mixture.
Dip chicken in seasoned bread crumbs and fry in pan with olive oil (you can use vegetable oil). Place chicken on paper towels to remove excess oil. This piece looks like a fish.Place some sauce in a pan. Place chicken in pan and add some sauce to cover chicken but not completely. Sprinkle some grated cheese and cover in mozzarella.
Bake in oven 350 for about 20 minutes until cheese melts. Viola! This is Hannah holding up her finished product.
Thank you Hannah for sharing your evening with me. You did a great job.

© Nadine Z. 2007

26 comments:

Doughnut said...

Looks great...can you set another plate? :)

Susan said...

Looks and sounds very good.
Susan

KAYLEE said...

looks great and yummy

Emancipation of the Freed said...

Not only does it look good, but it tasted GREAT! My woman can cook! And I ain't talkin about just the kitchen!

;)

Shan said...

Oh that looks yummy. Isn't it nice to be able to share our kitchen with the special people in our lives?

Art said...

Looks awesome!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful that you share that with everyone! It looks so delicious!

Demara said...

Wow that does look pretty tastey.

Shionge said...

This is absolutely wonderful Nadine! Besides the cooking, this is also the opportunity to bond and get to each other better :)

Looks yummy hope I'll get to cook with you in your kitchen someday :D

a woman who is said...

Hannah is lovely. What a fun day you must have had. I am inspired.
Hmmmm, who can I teach to cook??
What an inspiring piece!

Jourdan said...

Hey, we should totally do a "cooking with Nadine" night with all the Bridge girls, eh? I mean, it only makes sense...seein that everybody's getting married and paired off...now there's a great wedding present!!

Tammy said...

Yum...going to have to try this!
That is so great of you to give her that Italian cooking lesson! :)

Ann(ie) said...

YUM!!! Hannah's cute as a bug and I love this post. I'm challenged in the kitchen so it's much appreciated!

KarenW said...

Yum!! That looks delicious! Hannah looks like a sweet girl. Nice name too.

Keshi said...

Hannah looks like a great cook! :)

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM @pics!
Keshi.

palmtreefanatic said...

looks delicious to me!
thanks for sharing!

Deb said...

YUM! Wow thanks for the instructions! I may have to suprise my honey!

HA HA !!!! I JUST READ TOMS COMMENT!!!!!!! Too funny! She can Shake "and" Bake hey Tom?!!!! Sorry I just think that is adorable. LOL

Knit-Wit said...

She's beautiful. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Emancipation of the Freed said...

Yeah! That's right, my baby can shake "and" bake like nobody's business!

Tom

Diane Viere said...

Looks scrumcious!Is that how you spell it? Yummy! There! That says it all!

And you're son's girlfriend is beautiful!

What a great thing to do. Passing along your Itailian heritage....even if you are not Italian...being married to one for 26 years....qualifies!

Diane

Jill said...

Eye-talian is my favorite! You gave Hannah a wonderful gift and a great meal. Do you ever all sauce "gravy"?

Anonymous said...

How cute! And what an awesome mother-of-the-boyfriend you are! Glad you guys had a fun time making a delicious meal!

Jane, P&B Girls

Sandy said...

MMmm, and yum! I'm coming to your house for dinner. Or better yet, will Hannah come cook for us? :)
Sandy
4 Reluctant Entertainers

di.di said...

looks delicious. hmm, i wonder whether you offer cooking classes for beginners? :P

Louise said...

OHhhh yummy!!!
What a great thing to do for your son's girlfriend...that is so neat!

Cheri said...

I lack a little in the cooking skills...I like to cook in the slow cooker because I don't have to worry about the timing issue. We have some Italian friends that my hubby lived with many years ago. He still loves to eat sauce and chicken at their place.