The Perfect Thank You.

Have you ever needed leave something as a thank you gift? For example my mom has been in the hospital for a few days and asked me to get something for the nurses as she checks out. My “Ultimate Secret Recipe Brownies” are a wonderful option.

These brownies are simply the best. We have been getting rave reviews on them for years. They are deliciously decadent with rich, gooey chocolate and can be dressed up (or down) to meet any supper club occasion. Now you can find the SECRET behind this ULTIMATE brownie…on the box of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate.

Yes it is true that Baker’s One Bowl Brownie recipe has been on the box for over 30 years, but there is one little twist that makes my brownies simply the best. In a previous life, I worked for Baker’s chocolate and took part in focus groups where Baker’s management got to talk to consumers that were frequent users of our products. During one of these sessions an elderly lady told us that she loved our recipe, but that she made her brownies thicker by using a smaller pan (9 X 9 or 8 X 8 inches) versus the recommended 9 X 13 inch pan to get a thicker/more gooey brownie. You can get the same result by doubling the recipe and using the 9 X 13 pan. This grandmother was right and her (now mine) thicker brownies are truly amazing.

CHECK OUT THE RECIPE

One might ask why didn’t Baker’s management change the recipe on the box to make a better brownie. Using a smaller pan also requires that you have to bake the brownies longer (55 minutes versus 35 minutes). Baker’s One Bowl Brownies competes with “box” brownies that are easier to make and we were concerned that changing the recipe and requiring a longer bake time would be a disadvantage. Ok, I lost the argument 30 years ago, but you can try my Ultimate Secret Recipe Brownies and you will know I was right.

This story proves my belief that “Nothing influences the flavor of food more than how it is cooked”. Make this little change (smaller pan, longer bake time) and you get an amazingly better brownie.

In those focus groups I did learn a few additional secrets:

Line your pan with aluminum foil and spray it with Pam and you get a perfect brownie that doesn’t stick to the pan.
Soak the bowl in water and cleanup becomes easy. One consumer in the focus group complained that while she loved the One Bowl Brownie recipe cleanup was a pain. The other women attacked this poor lady telling her to soak the bowl for 10 minutes. This is just another example of: What is easy for some is hard for others.

There is one secret that I have learned, but not from a focus group. If I make brownies and don’t let my wife lick the bowl I will be in the doghouse. Susan doesn’t really like brownies, but there is something about the brownie batter that she loves.

Try my Ultimate Secret Recipe Brownie recipe and it will be a hit at your next supper club or thank you gift. You can dress it up with ice cream and Gran Marnier infused fruit and your guests will be beyond happy.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels that sell books.

Feeding A Crowd – Remember The Basics

My Aunt Margaret Mary Pezzolo was a master of feeding a crowd. With seven children, feeding a crowd was a constant. Growing up, Aunt Margaret was the key chef at my grandfather’s place on Candlewood Lake in New Milford Connecticut. The summer crowd there started with Gramp’s 10 grandchildren and regularly totaled around 20 with adults and friends.

How did Aunt Margaret keep this crowd happy? She was a master of the basics:

Roast Chicken
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Meatloaf
Hamburgers and Hotdogs
Corn on the Cob (Fresh from Larsen’s farm down the hill from Gramp’s lake house)
Mashed Potatoes
Potato Salad
Green Beans

From a culinary standpoint, my mother Dorothy, was the polar opposite of her sister Margaret Mary. My mom was very adventurous in the kitchen. (Something about apples and trees…) She tried all kinds of cuisines and cookbooks. If she saw an interesting dish in the New York Times, chances are, it wound up on our table. Aunt Margaret stuck to her basics, and even as a kid, I can remember her explaining that she didn’t believe in the spices that my mother used. And, trust me, the crowd she was feeding never complained about Aunt Margaret Mary’s basics.

Aunt Margaret passed away this week and as the family gathered to celebrate her life, we all remembered her cooking with fondness. Her masterpiece, that became the holiday meal of choice, was her stuffed shells. These stuffed shells were legendary. Here is an irony, Aunt Margaret was allergic to garlic. She was a good German girl that married an Italian, but garlic was verboten in her kitchen. Here is another irony, her oldest son Buddy, married a great Italian girl, Carmel Galante, who is allergic to garlic as well. Actually, most of Carmel’s family on her father’s side was allergic to garlic. It is hard to believe, but great Italian dishes can be made without garlic.

Both of my parents were from Staten Island NY. Growing up, we lived 45 miles north, in White Plains NY. For every major holiday we would load into the car and drive to Staten Island and visit my four Aunt Mary’s. We would visit:

Aunt Mary – Cullinan,
Aunt Mary – Johnson
Aunt Mary – Dingy (Short for dingbat. It was term of affection)
Aunt Margaret Mary

I grew up thinking everyone had four Aunt Mary’s. If we were lucky, the holiday meal would be at Aunt Margaret Mary’s. Christmas at the Pezzolo’s, was always the best. With seven kids there was always a pile of toys. And of course, there were the stuffed shells.

One culinary secret that Aunt Margaret shared with her sister, was to serve the meal late. My father claimed that my mom planned an hour delay. By the time mom served a meal, everyone was so hungry, that the wall-paper would taste great. Driving through New York City to Christmas dinner at Aunt Margaret’s, my father would start a bet. He would wager that Aunt Margaret says dinner will be at 3, his bet was that it will be 4 pm when we would see the first stuffed shell. We would all laugh and make our bets.

Aunt Margaret would always be the winner. The tradition continued at her funeral. The family all gathered at her house after the wake, and low and behold, the caterer was an hour late. My cousin Robert was apologizing for the delay and we all laughed, Aunt Margaret Mary was making sure we were all so hungry, the wall-paper would have tasted great. She was loved and will be missed.

By the way, when feeding a crowd, remember the basics, and you might want to think about stuffed shells.

PS This is where I should share the recipe for Margaret Mary’s Stuffed Shells, but as of this writing, it appears that her recipe, with irony, went to the grave with her.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Hire A Driver – And Go To The Amalfi Coast

In the continuing story of two of our favorite friends, Marc & Debby Waldman, went to another of our favorite places…The Amalfi Coast…again without us. We enjoyed living vicariously through Marc’s and want to share it.

As I settle into seat 34L for the god awful flight back across the Atlantic, here are a few ruminations regarding the end of the trip in southern Italy. My blood pressure has returned to normal after having to negotiate our way through the winding narrow streets of Sorrento at rush hour this morning (but more to come on driving later).

If there was any minuscule complaint regarding our amazing stay at Tenuta Aiola in Tuscany, it was that the beautiful pool was too cold to enjoy (apparently, weeks of cold and rain before we arrived). The solution, drive 411 kilometers (our trusty Audi again providing great service) south to the hillside village of Massa Lubrense (just at the start of the Amalfi Coast ). While Deb and I stowed our gear at a little apartment on the edge of town, the rest of our traveling party settled into the four floor gorgeous Villa Lika, nestled high on the cliffs facing due west over the Bay of Naples. The only trouble, trying to find it and then getting a car to it. The drive/entry is a winding one lane road (and I use that term generously) lined with villas, cars, scooters and planters and is a long curvy way down from the one road that runs through Massa Lubrense. As the Audi was the only vehicle left in our group (the rest of the group smartly turned their cars in at Naples and were driven down) it was decided that we would drive the car over in the morning and leave it until we went back at the end of the evening. The side mirrors had to be tucked in and weren’t opened back up until we left this morning.

Days at the villa consisted of casual breakfast, good lunch, afternoon pool, happy hour (of course), great dinners (more wine), end of evening limoncello all with magnificent views. The second night entailed our third chef prepared meal of the trip. It started off with a bang as we discovered Vittorio had spent a year in in his 20’s working in restaurants in Boston’s North End. He was thrilled to be able to reminisce and all had a great time. As for the food, again OMG. Prosciutto with mozzarella (although this one is very different than in Tuscany) and fabulous tomatoes. This time the melon was served after as a pallet cleanser. His pasta was done with clams and mussels and you would swear it had cheese and some cream, neither of which was true. It was cooked in clam broth and Vittorio said the special ingredient was his frying pan. He even sat at the table with us and enjoyed his pasta as much as we did. The fish course was a simple sautéed local fish with fresh parsley and drizzled with his own lemon infused olive oil. Quite possibly one of the two or three best pieces of fish I have ever eaten. See the menu and pictures below

Monday we all decided to hire our own boat and captain to take us around and to the Island of Capri. The boat came out of the quaint seaside village of Marina Della Lobra ( the name just rolls off of the tongue in Italian – go ahead and say it using your best accent). Orlando, a 20 something perfect example of what you would envision an Italian boat captain should look like, was great. We had drinks and sandwiches and he took us on a complete tour around the island, including the stop at the obligatory Blue Grotto. We spent a couple of hours on the island before the 40 minute return ride. At the end, Orlando provided some of his homemade limoncello. It was a wonderful day.

As Monday night was the last of the trip for Deb and I, it was decided that the whole group of nine would go out for dinner to a delightful waterside restaurant back at Marina Della Lobra. The Finiculi Finicula restaurant got good reviews and would provide transportation back at the end; perfect, because the last thing you want to do after a 2 1/2 hour meal is to drive these streets (actually, you never want to drive these streets). Of course, the restaurant provided complimentary limoncello (are you sensing a pattern in southern Italy). Little did any of us know that what was to come next would go down in the annals of travel lore.

The bill was paid and we asked about the shuttle service back to Villa Lika. After some head shaking and Italian banter, the owner announced that his “pizza man” would drive us back in the owner’s van. Out of the kitchen stepped a fairly large man, known only to the world as the “pizza man” and he along with all nine of us, crammed into one van. I, as the only one in the group to have driven these roads was placed in the middle front seat (yes, they do still exist in Italian vans) in case the “pizza man” needed directions. We then discovered that in addition to making pizzas, our driver liked to go fast. The trip to the restaurant in two cabs with two very capable young drivers took about 20 minutes (10 just get up the drive to the main road). On the way back, once any of us were willing to open our eyes, it was estimated that the “pizza man” covered the same trip in about 8 minutes. He received a standing ovation, albeit on wobbling legs, and a good tip. The post trip limoncello never tasted so good.

It was a perfect ending to an absolutely perfect trip.

Vittorio’s meal

Prosciutto and Caprese salad
Spaghetti with mussels and clams
Pezzogna fish sautéed with fresh parsley and rizzled with lemon infused olive oil
Semifreddo dessert

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