Responses from Edible Michiana contributors and staff

Deconstructed Cobb Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 4–5

Renée LaReau, writer

In times of need, eating healthy food often becomes more challenging due to time constraints caused by medical appointments, fatigue, stress, etc. I deconstruct the salad so family members can select the ingredients they want. My hope is that the recipient can feel less stress knowing that they and their family have eaten a healthy, nourishing meal. I also enjoy taking the time to methodically chop and arrange the ingredients for a salad because it gives me time to think of the recipients. I deliver it with a loaf of store-bought sourdough bread.

Lemon vinaigrette (I like this recipe from the website Dinner: A Love Story.) 

1 rotisserie chicken

1 container grape tomatoes

1 English cucumber

3–4 avocados

2 containers salad greens, any kind

5 hard-boiled eggs, sliced in half (sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning for extra flavor)

Make homemade vinaigrette and refrigerate. Shred rotisserie chicken, slice grape tomatoes in half, slice English cucumber on the bias. Arrange shredded chicken, tomatoes, salad greens and hard-boiled egg halves in neat columns in a disposable aluminum baking pan. (Leave avocados whole for recipient to slice just before serving.) 

Grandma Donna’s Baked Corn

Serves 15–18

Breanna Daugherty, co-publisher

I can still go back to walking up the cement steps of the old farmhouse in Ohio where my grandparents raised their five daughters. Holidays and family gatherings were marked by walking up those steps through the kitchen doors to a room bursting with people, food and conversation. In my memories, the mixer is on full speed as mashed potatoes are being prepped, someone is filling the nice drinking glasses and making sure the homemade jam is on the table and, of course, the baked corn is being taken out of the oven

By the time I was in high school, the table was set for 25 to 30 people, so Grandma Donna’s famous baked corn was more than doubled to make sure there was enough. Of course, all this planning for a winter meal started the spring before, when my grandparents planted their garden to grow enough sweet corn to freeze to make this dish multiple times for the family that year. This dish is simple in the sense of ingredients, but when you factor in the love that went into two people planning a garden to grow the food to make for multiple generations at a family gathering months later, you start to understand why the grandkids still make this comfort food for the fourth generation. I make this for not only my daughters but also friends who gather at our tables or at a neighborhood gathering. This recipe can easily be doubled or halved. 

5 pints frozen sweet corn (or canned, drained) 

1 cup crushed Ritz Crackers (about 1½ sleeves) 

⅓ cup milk

5 tablespoons butter 

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter/grease a large baking dish (preferably with a lid). In the baking dish, combine all ingredients. Bake, covered, for 2 hours. Check and stir every 30 to 45 minutes; if too dry, add 1 tablespoon of milk and stir. 

Braciole & Tomato Sauce

Serves 4–6

Sonia M. Checchia, writer

Slow-cooked tomato sauce is the smell of Sunday morning—an olfactory alarm clock. When I was a kid, my mom would start the sauce early in the morning and then head to church. On Sundays, we would eat together at midday—a nod to the old country mealtimes where lunch is the big family meal—and the first course was always pasta. If we had company, we would have a proper second course such as a roast with vegetable side dishes and a green salad. If it was just our immediate family, we would start with pasta and then enjoy whatever meats had simmered in the sauce, such as meatballs made of ground beef/pork, sausage, cheese/egg fritters, braciole or a mix. As the platter went around the table, everyone selected their favorite, much like you would with a box of assorted chocolates. I was Team Meatball as a kid, but braciole have since won me over. This dish is a great option to deliver to adventurous foodie friends or anyone in need of a bit of comfort. On the practical side, braciole in sauce freeze and reheat beautifully. And please consider this your starter recipe! My recipe is typical of my parents’ village in the mountains of Puglia, but as you read about variations around Italy, you will learn that the “stuffing” may include raisins, pinenuts, breadcrumbs or other flavors. Customize it as you wish.

Braciole

1.25 pounds beef such as top sirloin or top round, sliced and pounded flat (¼ inch thick)

Meat tenderizer

4 cloves garlic, thinly shaved with a serrated knife

½ cup chopped fresh parsley, divided

½ cup grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese, divided 

Red pepper flakes, optional, if you like it hot

2 tablespoons olive oil

Equipment: 20 thin metal skewers (3 inches long) or toothpicks

Tomato Sauce

1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, blended until smooth

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

2 or 3 allspice berries (whole)

Salt to taste

To serve

1 pound of pasta (a large tubular cut such as penne rigate or rigatoni)

Additional grated Parmesan or pecorino

Crusty bread for la scarpetta (to wipe the plate clean after you have finished your last forkful of pasta and braciole)

Begin by preparing the meat. Thinly slice the beef and pound it to ¼ inch thick. Lightly sprinkle each slice (both sides) with meat tenderizer. In roughly the center of each slice, add three thin shavings of garlic, a pinch of chopped fresh parsley, a sprinkle of grated Parmesan or pecorino, and a few red pepper flakes (optional). Starting with the narrow end, use your fingers to roll the meat with the seasonings on the inside of the roll; then secure it with a skewer or two toothpicks.

Select a heavy pot with a lid that will accommodate the meat and sauce. With the pot over medium-high heat, add olive oil. When the oil shimmers, add the braciole and sear them on all sides until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. To this same pot, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Rinse the cans with approximately ¼ cup of water and add the water to the pot. Add the allspice and ½ teaspoon of salt. Simmer on low, with the lid almost covered, for 60 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the sauce does not stick, and add additional water as needed. Taste and adjust for salt. Once the meat is fork-tender (this may take longer depending on the size of your rolls and the cut of meat), remove the skewers and fish out the allspice.

In a separate pot, cook the pasta in salted water, according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and return to the pasta pot. Add a few ladles of sauce, a sprinkling of grated cheese, and toss. Serve the braciole alongside the pasta or in a separate platter or bowl.

Flexible Quiche

Katie Jamieson, writer and former publisher of Edible Michiana

This scrumptious quiche has been a go-to recipe of mine for more than 10 years. I’ve been asked for the recipe and invited to bring it to gatherings more times than I can count. It started with frozen spinach and canned mushrooms, but now I use whatever ingredients sound tasty.

I used to make the pie crust from scratch, but nowadays I’m lazy and just use sliced potato as the crust or grab a pre-made pie crust at the store. One of my favorite combos is a classic—bacon, spinach and mushrooms with feta and cheddar. You can mix and match meat, cheese and veggies as you wish, or keep it vegetarian. 

It’s not just for brunch or breakfast. In fact, I typically make it for dinner. It’s an easy and flexible one-dish meal perfect to make ahead and share with friends or family if they need a little extra support when a baby is born, someone close has passed away, or just because.

Note: The number of eggs will depend on how large they are and the amount of fillings used. The egg mixture should cover the ingredients and be close to the top of the pie pan. 

1 medium potato (or 1 9-inch unbaked deep dish pie crust)

2–3 tablespoons of butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1½–2 cups vegetables, chopped (consider spinach, leeks, mushrooms or sundried tomatoes)

Salt and pepper to taste

1–1½ cups meat (try bacon, breakfast sausage, chorizo, ham or smoked salmon), chopped and cooked (optional)
6 ounces of feta or goat cheese, crumbled
8 ounces cheddar, gouda or Gruyère cheese, shredded
6–9 eggs
¾–1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter the bottom and sides of a deep 9-inch pie dish. Thinly slice the potato and lay the slices edge to edge on the bottom and sides of the pie dish. Set aside.

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Sauté garlic until fragrant, then add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the vegetables and sauté until softened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

If you are adding meat, spread it in a layer on top of the potato slices in the pie dish. Then add the feta or goat cheese, vegetables and cheddar. (Of if you want less of a layered quiche, mix the meat, veggies and cheese together thoroughly in the skillet you used to cook the veggies or in a medium bowl before adding the mixture to the pie pan.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and whipping cream. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into the pie dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

Italian American Spaghetti Sauce (aka Sunday Gravy)

Mike Petrucelli, writer

Pretty much every Italian American household has at least one of these recipes for Sunday gravy and here’s my mom’s (although we never called it gravy, it was just sauce). It’s uncomplicated, cheap, makes the kitchen smell great, sticks to your ribs, and makes a ton for freezing and sharing. We’ve given it to family, friends, neighbors, priests, you name ’em. In these days of Cheeseburger Soup and Lasagna Soup recipes, you could be forgiven for thinking this could be eaten as a stew on its own. I think that would be a little much, but piling it on a piece of homemade Italian bread wouldn’t be completely wrong.

A few cooking notes: The differing sizes of sausage allow you to tell the difference between the hot and sweet and eat according to your taste. There was a period where my mom was using ground turkey instead of beef and it was fine, but it’s not the same. Make sure you use the smaller, drier stick pepperoni and not the sandwich kind, and leave the slices as discs or no smaller than half-moons. As my wife pointed out, biting into a piece of random pepperoni unawares is like finding the gold coin, and it stands out from the rest of the sauce. It’s supposed to be a little bonus that will surprise and delight. I do not like green peppers at all, but I’ve tried this with red peppers, Italian frying peppers and no peppers and it just doesn’t work. So I cut the peppers as small as I can without them losing their integrity—but you do you. Feel free to add a glug or two of dry Italian red wine, like Chianti. Finally, the baking soda cuts the acidity a bit and is optional. Use it judiciously (or not at all) since overusing it can dull the other flavors. It’s cool to watch it fizz, though.

½ stick pepperoni (the smaller kind), sliced about ¼ inch thick

2 pounds ground beef

.5 pounds hot Italian sausage

.5 pounds sweet Italian sausage

Olive oil for sautéing

6 large yellow onions, chopped

2–3 green peppers, cored, seeded and chopped

7 cloves garlic, chopped

1–2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

1 6- to 10-ounce can tomato paste

3 13-ounce cans tomato purée

4 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

9 dried bay leaves

2 large pinches dried basil

2 large pinches dried oregano

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste

6 beef bouillon cubes or 6 teaspoons beef concentrate, such as Better Than Boullion

½ teaspoon baking soda (optional)

Render fat from pepperoni by placing in a single layer in a skillet over low to medium-low heat. Don’t let it fry; the goal is just to get some of the fat out. Remove from pan to a paper towel-lined plate and blot. Brown ground beef in a skillet, drain and set aside. Brown sausages, let cool slightly, then slice hot sausage into 1-inch pieces and sweet sausage into 2-inch pieces. Set aside.

In a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, heat about ¼ cup olive oil until shimmering. Sauté onion and peppers until softened but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring, until mixture is fragrant and slightly darkened.

Add meat and remaining ingredients except baking soda, stir well and bring to simmer. Continue to gently simmer (you may want to partially cover the pot to save your stovetop from splatter), stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours or until sauce has thickened and flavors are blended.

If using baking soda, remove sauce from heat and immediately stir in baking soda briskly and continuously until foaming stops. Taste and add more sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Easy Tamale Casserole

Jane Simon Ammeson, writer

When I moved into my first apartment my sophomore year in college, I lined my kitchen shelves with cookbooks my mother had gifted me, copies of her favorites such as Simone Beck, Craig Claibourne, Chef Louie Szathmary (who owned The Bakery in Chicago) and Antoinette Pope (whose photo on the back cover showed her with an upswept hairdo, draped in a mink stole), along with my wooden box of stained index cards containing my Romanian grandmother’s recipes for dishes like smothered chicken, mamaliga and Transylvanian casserole. To this I soon added “The Joy of Eating” by Renny Darling, an oversized paperback with cursive font, delicate line drawings and a definite West Coast vibe. And no, don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of it because I’ve never seen it any other place but my kitchen. But there are recipes from the book I’ve been making for decades and one in particular, Easy Easy Tamale Casserole, is my favorite for giving as it freezes well, always gets raves and you can control the heat level depending upon the crowd.

I know the recipes so well, or at least I thought I did, that I no longer open the cookbook to make them. And when I went to look—the binding so worn it fell open to the recipe—I realized that I had changed it so much that just the basics of Darling’s recipe remained, tamales with a chili-like topping and plenty of cheese and sour cream.

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

.5 pounds ground beef

.25 pounds chorizo, casing removed (see note)

½–1 tablespoon adobo powder

1 28-ounce can mild enchilada sauce

12 prepared tamales (Darling used canned, I buy mine fresh from a Mexican grocery)

1 cup crema (Mexican sour cream)

1 –1½ cups of such Mexican melting cheeses as Oaxaca, Chihuahua, panela and asadero, grated

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat, then add the onion and sauté until golden and soft. Add the ground beef, chorizo and adobo powder and sauté until lightly browned. Drain grease. Add enchilada sauce and stir.

In a rectangular or oval baking dish, spread a layer of the sauce mixture and top with tamales. Add the remaining sauce and top with crema and cheese. (You should be able to place the tamales in 1 layer, but if you can’t, you can do 2 layers with half of the sauce mixture between the tamale layers.)

Cook in a preheated oven until cheese is melted and casserole is heated through, 30 to 35 minutes. The casserole can be frozen before cooking.

Note: If you’re worried that the chorizo might be too spicy, substitute ground pork.

Grandma’s Mac and Cheese

Kendall Dick, writer

My earliest memories of this dish involve times growing up when family would all descend upon my grandma’s home in Northern Michigan. In anticipation of our arrival, my grandma would prepare one of what she called her “weary traveler” dishes—meals that we could easily heat up as we trickled in at all hours. Her mac and cheese was the crowd favorite and has become my go-to dish for sharing with weary souls in a time of need.

A few notes to help make this dish shine: 1) Be sure to get the good American cheese from the deli counter. I typically go for Cabot or Land O’Lakes. 2) Don’t use pre-shredded cheeses. Put in the elbow grease and shred your own cheese—it melts smoother and tastes better. 3) The white pepper is just for visual appeal so don’t feel you need to make a special trip to the store if you have black pepper on hand. 4) Use room temperature milk and butter or warm them up a little before adding to help everything combine more smoothly and prevent unwanted lumps.

12 ounces dried elbow macaroni
1½ cups whole milk
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces American cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
20 Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large pot, cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Add milk, butter, pepper and salt. Stir in cheeses. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Carefully stir mixture. Sprinkle with crushed crackers. Bake 5 minutes more or until crackers are browned.

Matzo Ball Soup

Serves 6

Lisa Barnett de Froberville, managing editor

I first discovered matzo ball soup when I happened into a Jewish deli for lunch while working in Manhattan in my 20s. In the bowl was one big dome of a dumpling surrounded by golden broth and a few carrot slices. There was something miraculous about it: How could something so minimalist be so deeply satisfying and comforting? It has been my go-to ever since when I, or someone I love, is feeling run-down.  

The simplicity of this dish calls for care with ingredients: Good homemade broth, fresh herbs and flavorful carrots are important (although I have used boxed broth in a pinch). Otherwise, it’s pretty loosey-goosey. I use boxed matzo ball mix for the dumplings and have never regretted it.

There is not always celery in it; some people add garlic. Dill adds a distinctive flavor, but parsley is fine, too—or both. I buy a big bunch of fresh dill and freeze it to have on hand for this soup. The amount of chicken varies, if there is any. (It’s really all about the broth and tender dumplings.) I poach the chicken breast first because that’s the texture of meat I prefer and it enriches the broth, but you could cube raw chicken and add it at the end, increasing the last simmer to ensure the chicken is fully cooked.

1 large or 2 small boneless skinless chicken breasts

8 cups homemade chicken stock

2 large carrots

2 stalks celery

1 medium yellow onion

2 eggs

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 package matzo ball mix

Fresh dill and/or parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Place whole chicken breast into a large pot with the chicken broth and 2 cups of water and heat slowly to a bare simmer. If it boils, the chicken will be tough and the broth will be cloudy, so keep an eye on it. Cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until cooked through.

Meanwhile, peel carrots and slice into ¼-inch rounds. Slice celery about the same thickness. Cut onion in half lengthwise and thinly slice.

Prepare matzo balls: Beat eggs and oil together with a fork in a medium bowl, then add matzo meal, being careful not to overwork dough. Let chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Wet your hands with water before forming into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter, using a light touch.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the broth and set aside to cool. Add celery, carrot and onion to the broth and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to bring the broth to a boil and add the matzo balls one at a time. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and allow to boil lightly for 20 minutes, until matzo balls are fully cooked and have doubled in size.

Shred the cooked chicken breast into bite-size pieces. When the matzo balls are done, add the chicken to the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the fresh dill and/or parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.