A weekend when everyone is Italian: Collinsville Italian Fest

I write this even as I am nearly prostrate on my futon, immobile from a gut full of really unhealthy food.  Once a year the residents of Collinsville Illinois converge on Main Street for a celebration of food, local history, the Italian culture, bad fashion, impromptu reunions, and libations.

I'm the first to admit that I love people but hate gatherings.  The Italian Fest at night is crowded, loud, and drunk.  Basically it's like an Italian Family dinner, it's bellisimo!  I usually swoop in long enough to grab some bagna cauda and swoop out.  This year I had the opportunity to head up there early on the first day and it was wonderful.

My childhood memories of The Italian Fest are mostly from the inside of the kitchen at my church.  For years my church, First Assembly of God in Collinsville, had a booth at The Fest selling "Famous Stuffed Shells".  I have vivid memories of red faced women running a well oiled shell stuffing machine.  Tables lined up with the stuffing being mixed by hand, large tin foil shiny pans coming out of hot ovens, my father loading up the sparkling pans into the church van to shuttle them to the Fest.  Running the van constantly, we could barely keep up with the demand.  It's been over a decade since The Italian Fest was graced with the booth selling the Famous Stuffed Shells.  This year there was another group selling stuffed shells, and they were good, but it's just not the same.

As an adult, I pass up almost every booth and head straight for the bagna cauda.  There are actually a couple of places you can get this pungent garlic and anchovy knock out punch, and by knock out, I mean knock out anyone that comes within a 10 foot radius of you after you've eaten it. The more prominent being the Kiwanis truck.  They serve it up with Napa cabbage leaves and hunks of Italian bread.  The proper way to indulge is to scoop up the oil concoction being sure to dive deep down to the bottom for that flavorful, garlicy, anchovy salted, soot.  Then hold it over the bread to catch any drippings before shoveling the molten hot fondue into your mouth.  The cabbage acts as a great contrast in taste, texture, and temperature.  If you've rationed it right you'll have just enough bread to sop up any remaining oil slicks of pure flavor.

After reading that last bit you have probably planted yourself firmly in one of two camps.  There are only two camps when it comes to this Italian favorite.  The first being those that seek it out like The Lost City of Atlantis.  Its fragrant call a siren drawing you to the cliffs.  The second being those that flee in the other direction at the slightest hint of the pungent smell.  No one sort of thinks that bagna cauda is just ok.  As a child we brought in every New Year at a very Italian friends house.  This was the midnight meal.  Zombies grunting and moaning bending over the pot fighting for a taste huddled in the kitchen.  Then in the furthest corner of the house cowering, the haters, grumbling their disdain.

If you'd like to see which camp you are in you can find the recipe for Bagna Cauda below.  The recipe is thanks to that long time family friend who was the host and chef every New Year's.  To be honest, and I'm sorry mom, but her's is by far the best I've ever had.

If you would like to take your chances on a slightly less risky bet the recipe for First Assembly of God's Famous Stuffed Shells is also below.  Getting my hands on this was not easy but I was finally able to land it thanks to a good friend and long time church Secretary Sandy Snider.

Jan's Bagna Cauda

1 pound butter
1 cup olive oil
1 whole head (yes head.. all the cloves inside one head of garlic) peeled and sliced
6 cans of anchovies

Combine all ingredients and let simmer on low 20-30 minutes until anchovies break down.  Keep heat on low to avoid burning the garlic.  Burnt garlic is bitter and will flavor the entire pot.

Serve with Napa cabbage, Italian bread, and various vegetable.

Famous Stuffed Shells

1 box large pasta shells

1 medium diced onion

1 LB ground beef for red sauce or 1 LB diced chicken for white sauce (honestly, I only remember hamburger no matter the sauce)

1 pkg frozen spinach thawed and drained well or one can of spinach drained well and chopped
2 eggs 

4 or 5 cloves of garlic mashed or diced

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded parmesean cheese

Cook shells in boiling water for 12 minutes with 2 TB of oil (honestly I'd oil them after I cooked them rather than before).  After boiling rinse with cold water and set aside (wow, they are breaking all the rules with this recipe).  

Prepare stuffing:

Saute onion and garlic in skillet but DO NOT BROWN.  Add spinach and eggs stirring and mixing together. Add both cheddar and parmesan cheese and stir until the cheese is stringy and melted.  Remove from heat.  Open the shells and stuff about 1 TB or more inside shell and roll the shell back up and place in deep baking dish.  Make sure all shells are covered in sauce: 

For white sauce:

1 Can cream of mushroom soup and 1 soup can of milk.  

For Red Sauce:

1 31 oz jar of Prego chunky sauce.  Dilute as desired with water.

Cover and bake 350 degrees Farenheit for 40 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Happy Butter Day!

What makes a slave eat like a king? Butter

What breaks a fast with bacon and eggs? Butter

What makes a tongue swoon with delight and delish? Butter

What turns flour into a beurre manié? Butter

What makes gravy so creamy and rich? Butter

What makes the French so Frenchity French? Butter

What makes a birthday happier than most?

You guessed it....Butter!

      Oh the delightful wisdom on the French. Those smelly gastronomes might not have the best reputation for hospitality and portion size but they kick epicurean butt despite having their noses pointed skyward. All of the worlds most wonderful things regarding food come from France. Gene, my dear

sweet boyfriend, holds fast to the opinion that the French just take over other words to make them sound fancier "Everything is French!" Well, there is good reason. Their painstaking attention to detail in both ingredients and methodology put them way at the head of the culinary pack. I mean without Mise en Place we would all be running around like Rachel Ray, with a million things balanced on our arms, hoping that our mushrooms don't burn before we get the onions chopped. 

       They also gave us the Statue of Liberty, Béchamel Sauce, Velouté Sauce, Butter Sauces, and darn near every other kind of sauce imaginable. And as Meg Ryan so eloquently pointed out there are 452 official government cheeses of France, how can that be a bad thing (here is

where you all run to youtube to try and find the "Lactose Intolerance" scene, small price to pay I say).

       As a matter of fact you can thank the French for Bobby, Paula, Emeril, Tyler, Rachel, Guy, Alton (swoon), Barefoot, er, I mean Ina, Michael, Cat, Anne, Mario, Duff, Giada, Nigella, and all those Next Food Stars. How is that possible, you ask. The reason is simple, tall, and fell in love with France when her husband was stationed there with U.S. Information Services. Julia Child was one of the first faces that we ever saw cooking in front of us on the tv. As a girl I would open a box of cake mix set out my ingredients, a proper Miise En Place, put on my best high nasal voice and cook that box of cake mix like I was Julia herself.

       With all of my admiration of the woman I never attempted French Cuisine until after I saw

"Julie and Julia", and of course this is where I say that the movie really inspired me. Well, its corny but its true. I asked for and received "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" as a Christmas gift and have made good use of it here and there. When my birthday rolled around my mom asked me what exactly I wanted to do to celebrate.  The first thing I thought of was Julia's classic Boeuf Berrgion. In my family we never just 'make dinner' we have a theme that runs through the food, the table settings, the decor, and the gifts gosh darnit!

      The theme for my birthday dinner was Julie, Jen, and Julia. Julie being my mom by the way. The menu was straight out of Julia's book, the table settings were gorgeous black and white, and the meal cooked by ME.  

      So, here I had my opportunity to show off my cooking skills.... with a classic French dish... that I had never prepared before.... in a really small hot kitchen.... for 20 of my closest friends. I know what you are thinking. You're thinking it all went terribly awry and we had to order pizza for dinner. Admit it, that's exactly what you're thinking. You see the famous scene in the movie where Julie drops the hen and immediately has a 3 year old hissy fit on the floor of her kitchen.  Incidentally this is the one scene that reminded my loving boyfriend of me.  In reality, the exact opposite happened. We did get the kitchen and the entire house extra toasty warm, and my mom's tongs weren't nearly long enough to save me from a few grease splatters while browning the meat, but an hour before my guests were to arrive I was lazing on the couch, in my fancy dress, sipping a cool beverage. The Boeuf was in the oven, the potatoes bolied and foiled, and the peas thawing in preparation... for butter.

       Speaking of butter, I would say that it was certainly the cornerstone of the entire meal, nay, evening. It went in nearly everything I prepared, except the stew meat...that was browned in bacon fat! At the end of the night we did the math and nearly 4LBS of it was used. Caramelized onions and mushrooms.. butter, potatoes with parsley and...butter, green peas in...BUTTER. That doesn't even account for all the butter that my mom used in the desserts, I knew when to turn something over to the master, which included a lemon semi-fredo that will simultaneously stop your heart and send you to heaven.

      The evening was as near perfection as one can come. I have to admit a sense of pride knowing that I pulled off a classic French meal that everyone seemed to enjoy, and I didn't freak out once the entire day. It was incredible to be surrounded by so many people willing to eat my food, love on me, and help me celebrate a pretty blessed life. As I looked at my 94 year old grandmother enjoying her meal, and looking rather spring chicken like, I began to think off all the birthdays I have ahead of me.... despite all the butter.

So without further ado... some yummy pictures of my Happy Butter Day.

Dad's Cranky Face

Everyone knows that if you don't dry the

meat properly it won't brown. Because I was tripling the recipe I used the stack and press method.

When browning anything fat is used to sear and transfer heat quickly. You can use oil, butter, or rendered bacon fat...








Hmmmm....choices, choices. Boeuf Bergionne calls for browning the meat in rendered bacon fat.