Posts Tagged ‘recipe’

JAMBALAYA

Posted: February 15, 2026 in Food, Recipes, seafood, shrimp
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Fat Tuesday is February 17! Laissez les boss temps rouler!

Back in the 80’s, I worked at a radio station in Mobile, Alabama. My New York buddies thought I was crazy to move to the South, but that’s where the job was. When they realized that I was only a 2-hour ride from New Orleans, I wasn’t so crazy after all! I spent every possible weekend there: the food, the music, the people…

When I moved to Rhode Island, I really missed all the fun of the Big Easy. So I decided to have a Mardi Gras party every year. I’d invite 80+ people, and I cooked all of the dishes myself. I made all the classics: red beans and rice, crawfish etouffe, gumbo, Cajun chicken (my own recipe), and, of course,  jambalaya.

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For the seasoning mix:
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
I find it easier to measure and chop all the ingredients before I start cooking.
I find it easier to measure and chop all the ingredients before I start cooking.
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions, in all
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery, in all
1 1/2 cups good quality chopped ham
1 1/2 cups chopped andouille sausage (Here in RI, I use local Portuguese chourico from Fall River, MA)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)
3/4 cup tomato sauce made from pureed whole tomatoes
2 cups uncooked rice (I like Texmati brown basmati rice)
3 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
1 lb. peeled and de-veined wild-caught American shrimp
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Over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan. Add 3/4 cup of the onions and 3/4 cup of the celery. Cook until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the seasoning mix, then the chopped ham and the chourico, and then the cayenne pepper sauce. Cook until the onions are a dark brown, about 20 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the remaining 3/4 cup of the onions and celery. Cook about 5 minutes.

Open a can of whole tomatoes and puree them in a food processor to make sauce. Add 3/4 cup of this and cook for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the rice, mixing well. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, stir well, and bring it all to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, over very low heat until the rice is tender but firm, about 15 minutes.

Remove the cover, toss in the shrimp, stir, then put the cover back on and cook for 5 minutes more.

Sometimes it’s hard to get wild-caught American shrimp at my local seafood store or supermarket. But for me, buying tiger shrimp or other Asian products is not an option. Once I learned about how they are farmed, I decided I’d never eat those shrimp again!

When I find wild-caught American shrimp locally, I buy extra to keep in the freezer. (The better supermarkets, like Whole Foods, have them.) For many years, I bought my shrimp online from http://www.cajungrocer.com. Not only will you find shrimp there, you’ll find many other Cajun classics: King cakes, Turduckens, andouille and alligator sausage, even live crawfish. And the price of their shrimp, even with shipping, is the same as the nasty Asian shrimp you buy in the store. Make some room in your freezer, order large to save, and stock up on the real deal!

SESAME BEEF SKEWERS

Posted: February 13, 2026 in Uncategorized
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Inspired by a recipe from chef Martin Yan, these beef skewers are absolutely delicious when grilled over hardwood charcoal, but are mighty tasty when roasted in the oven as well.

 

 

Choose a piece of beef that has some marbled fat throughout…that will give it extra flavor. Ribeye is a good choice, although this time around, I used a beautiful hunka grass-fed beef flap. I trimmed as much fat and silver skin off the beef as I could, then I sliced it thinly on the bias–that is, against the grain of the meat.

Marinate the beef for at least 4 hours in the fridge…overnight is even better.

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine (I used an unoaked Chardonnay from Australia)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 green onions, minced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons grated ginger

Place the sesame seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat. Cook the seeds, shaking the pan frequently, until the seeds have lightly browned, about 4 minutes. (If you’re using black sesame seeds, they won’t turn brown, but they’ll have a dry look to them.) Immediately remove the sesame seeds from the pan to cool, then place them in a spice grinder, and pulse until they’re ground up.

Place the crushed sesame seeds in a bowl with all the other marinade ingredients, mixing well.

Slice the beef on the bias into thin strips about 4″ long. Place all the beef in the bowl with the marinade, and squish it around to make sure all the meat makes contact with the marinade.

Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 4 hours…overnight is better. Squish the meat around every couple of hours if you can, to ensure it is coated well.

Once the meat is done marinating, remove the bowl from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

Get out those bamboo barbecue skewers that have been sitting in the kitchen drawer for years. If you’re grilling outside, you’ll want to soak them in warm water for an hour so they don’t burn while you’re cooking. If you’re using the oven, you won’t have to.

Start skewering the beef…about 3 pieces of meat per skewer. Spread them out on the skewer a bit so they aren’t bunched up.

If you’re grilling outside, start a hardwood charcoal fire, and spread the coals out so that you have a medium fire. If it’s too hot, the beef will burn. When the fire is ready, place the skewers on the grill and watch them carefully, turning them so they cook evenly.

If you’ve got a convection oven (an “air fryer” for you youngsters), pre-heat the oven to 350. Place the skewers on a grate that is raised an inch or so above a sheet pan, so that the warm air in the oven can circulate all around the meat.

 

Place the sheet pan in the oven and cook the beef until it has browned nicely on the top. Then pull the pan out of the oven, and flip the skewers over, returning them to cook a little more on the other side.

Enjoy your beef skewers with whatever you like! I served mine with stir-fried vegetables, lo mein with a peanut-chili sauce, and dumplings with a homemade dipping sauce.

 

SHRIMP POBOY

Posted: February 12, 2026 in Uncategorized
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I recently bought a one-pound bag of wild-caught American shrimp and had this craving for a poboy. Just so happened that the night before, I made myself a pizza, and I took part of the pizza dough, rolled it into the shape of a torpedo roll, and then baked it, saving it for a sandwich the next day.

I thought a slaw would go really well with the fried shrimp on the sandwich, so I graded some carrot and thinly sliced some cabbage, and I combined it with some leftover Alabama white barbecue sauce that I had in the fridge. It sounds crazy, but the ingredients in the sauce work perfectly for a coleslaw: mayo, vinegar, etc. Not only would the slaw add crunch to the sandwich, the Alabama sauce, with its acidity, would take the place of a remoulade for the shrimp.


All I needed now was to dredge the shrimp and fry it, to put the sandwich together.

Once the shrimp was thawed, I took eight of them (it was a package of medium-sized shrimp that came 32 or so to a pound) then I patted them dry with a paper towel, setting them aside.

I was ready to start putting this bad boy together.… Or I should say, Po boy.

First, the slaw…

1 medium carrot, grated
1/2 small cabbage, thinly sliced1 cup mayo
4 tablespoons sour cream
4 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Place the carrot and cabbage in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the other ingredients well. (Technically, Alabama white sauce uses buttermilk instead of the sour cream, but that’s what I had in my fridge, and it’s delicious with it!) Pour as much of the Alabama white sauce into the veggies as you like, depending on whether you like a wetter or drier coleslaw.

Set the coleslaw aside in the fridge, covered, until you’re ready to use it.

Save that extra Alabama white sauce for your next batch of grilled chicken!

Slice the torpedo roll in half lengthwise, and lightly toasted. Set it aside.

The set up.
1 egg, scrambled
1 cup rice flour
1 tablespoon Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning

In one bowl, scrambled the egg. Drop the shrimp in there, and toss them around.

In a second bowl, combine the rice, flour, and the seasoning.

Take the egg-covered shrimp, and drop them into the seasoning bowl and toss around until they’re well coated. Fry them in a pan of avocado oil until they’re golden and cooked through. Drain them on paper towels.

To assemble my Poboy sandwich, I put some mayo on both sides of the bread. Then I placed a nice thick layer of the coleslaw. Then the shrimp on top of that. And then, for even more crunch, I covered it with some baby lettuce.

Before it’s covered with lettuce!

That Poboy is now good to go!

MY VERSION OF NEW ORLEANS-STYLE BBQ SHRIMP

Posted: February 1, 2026 in barbecue, Food, Recipes, seafood, shrimp
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Mardi Gras is a couple of weeks away!! Here’s a great dish from New Orleans…

One of my favorite dishes to come out of New Orleans is Barbecue Shrimp, so on a visit to the Crescent City a couple of years ago, I had to make a stop at the place where it all started.

The first unusual thing you notice about the classic dish, New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp, is that it’s not cooked on a barbecue grill and it has no barbecue sauce.

So why the name?

Its origin goes back to the mid-1950’s, to an Italian restaurant in New Orleans called Pascale’s Manale. The story goes that a regular customer had just returned from Chicago, where he had dined on an amazing shrimp dish. He asked the chef at Pascale’s Manale to try to replicate it, and what resulted was actually better than the original. And though no barbecue grill or sauce was used, it is believed that they gave it the name “BBQ Shrimp” to cash in on the backyard barbecuing craze that was all the rage at the time. Whatever they call it, I have to say that it’s worth a special trip to have the dish!

The classic New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp is served with shell-on shrimp, so you have to make a big, buttery mess of yourself as you devour it. And it’s served with plenty of crusty French bread.

At home, sometimes I’ll leave out the bread and go for rice instead. And I’ll peel the shrimp completely, using the shrimp shells to make the stock I cook the rice in.

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For the seasoning…
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 teaspoon granulated onion
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon white pepper

Mix all the seasoning spices and set them aside.

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For the BBQ shrimp…
2 lbs. large wild-caught American shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 stick butter (4 oz.)
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
olive oil
For the rice…
1 cup rice (I like jasmine rice)
2 1/4 cups water or seafood stock (see below)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning

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Cook the rice following the directions on the package. I like using stock instead of water when I cook my rice, so after peeling all the shrimp, I toss the shells in a saucepan full of water and I boil the heck out of it, strain it, and use that stock to cook the rice. I add the olive oil and the Tony Chachere’s (available online or at your favorite food store) to the stock before cooking the rice.

To cook the shrimp, I heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over moderate heat. Then I add the shrimp, and sear them on one side (about 30 seconds) and then flip them over to sear on the other side (another 30 seconds.) I’m not trying to cook them all the way through, just get them a bit caramelized. Then I remove the shrimp from the skillet and set them aside.

(I often serve the BBQ Shrimp over the rice with broccoli. If you want to use broccoli, add a little butter and olive oil to the same pan you seared the shrimp in. Cook until the broccoli is nicely caramelized, then remove from the pan and set aside.)

In the same skillet, I heat the butter until the foam subsides. Then I add the beer, Worcestershire sauce, and 2 teaspoons of the seasoning mix. I mix well, then add the shrimp and broccoli back in the pan, simmering for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over the rice!

A MYSTERIOUS CUT CALLED THE BEEF FLAP

Posted: January 28, 2026 in Uncategorized
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As recently as a couple of years ago, I had never heard of beef flap. But I purchased one from Slanker’s, a distributor of grass-fed beef out in Texas, and it’s become one of my favorite cuts of beef.

You won’t find beef flap in most supermarkets…at least I haven’t been able to find it…so online ordering may be one of the only ways to give it a try.

And yes, I grill outside even in cold weather!

Beef flap is also known as bottom sirloin butt, and it comes from a part of the cow where flank steak comes from, only farther back. So it has its similarities to flank.

Beef flap is wonderfully marbled and is fantastic for a variety of dishes, including fajitas, stirfrying, or just enjoying it grilled.

I’ve marinated beef flap in many different ways, with Asian flavors and classic American BBQ spices, but one of my favorite ways is to give it a marinade that is similar to Italian dressing.

Some folks actually use bottled Italian dressing to marinate meat, but I prefer to make my own.

Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Granulated garlic
Granulated onion
Dried oregano

Combine these ingredients in the proportions that you like in a bowl, mixing thoroughly.

I like to trim the beef flap, removing any silver skin that might be on it, and cutting it into pieces that are about 4” square and 1/4” thick. If the meat is too thick, I slice it lengthwise in half, to make a thinner cut. I place all the beef in a Ziploc bag, pour the marinade in, squeeze the air out of the bag and then seal it tightly.

I squish the bag all around to make sure that the marinade makes contact with all the meat, and I place the bag in the fridge overnight. (I usually put it in a bowl or tray, just to avoid any accidental spillage.)

The next day, I remove the meat from the fridge and let it come to room temperature before I cook it on a hot hardwood charcoal grill.

Beef flap cooks quickly on the grill, especially if you like it medium-rare, but because it has that fat marbling, it still stays juicy even if you like it well done.

And if you can’t get outside, a hot cast iron grill on the kitchen stove works just as well!

VEGGIE AND CHEESE LASAGNA

Posted: January 25, 2026 in Uncategorized
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We’re waiting on the big snowstorm here in New England. If I didn’t have to go to work today, and spend the night at the radio station to be there for my show tomorrow morning, I’d probably be cooking something like this!

I based this recipe on one found online that didn’t have any specific measurements. So I played it by ear and came up with what I thought was a pretty darn good version of it.

It’s simply layers of sliced vegetables and a mix of cheeses that bakes in the oven. It’s an easy to prepare dish that can be made the day before and then kept in the fridge overnight until you’re ready to bake.

The veggie layers…

Sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper

The amount of sweet potato versus butternut squash is up to you. But you need a total of about 3 pounds of sliced and peeled veggies. If you have a mandolin for slicing, use it. But I went with a sharp knife and got some pretty thin slices that way.

Once you’ve sliced the veggies, place them in the pan you’ll be baking with. Add the olive oil, thyme, rosemary, and salt and pepper, and toss everything to mix really well. Set it aside.

The cheese…

12 oz. ricotta cheese
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
4 oz. grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (or 1 teaspoon dried)
salt and pepper

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients well, until it’s soft and creamy. Set it aside.

Walnuts…

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

This is optional. It will be sprinkled on the lasagna at the end of cooking.

Cranberry glaze…

1/2 cup cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

This glaze is a bit tart, and is just what you need with the richness of all that cheese. Whisk these ingredients in a bowl until they’re smooth and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Remove the veggies from the baking pan, setting them aside in a bowl, so you can start the layering process back in the pan. Line the bottom with a layer of veggies, followed by a thin layer of the cheese. Then it’s another layer of veggies, and another of cheese, etc.

Depending on how thick your slices are, and how heavy your veggie layers are, you’ll get 3 or 4 layers of veggies, with cheese in between. You want the veggies to be on the top layer, no matter how many layers you go, so keep that in mind.

Wrap foil over the baking pan and bake for 45 minutes.

Foil removed and going back into the oven. (As you can see, this time I ran out of veggies for the top layer! All good!)

After 45 minutes, remove the baking pan from the oven, and remove the foil. Sprinkle the optional walnuts on at this point, and return the pan (without the foil) back to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Once the cooking is done, allow the baking pan to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Pour some of the cranberry glaze on top when serving.

Part of our Christmas dinner, along with beef stroganoff, broccoli and egg noodles.

PIZZA MONTANARA

Posted: January 19, 2026 in Food, frying, Italian, New York City, pizza, restaurants, Rhode Island, Uncategorized
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National Pizza Week ended yesterday, but who needs a special week to eat pizza? Any day is a great day for pizza.
Despite the large Italian community we have here in southern New England, there’s no exceptional pizza to speak of. I suppose you could say “them’s fightin’ words!” but if it’s here, I haven’t found it yet. (Fellini Pizza is about the best in Providence.)

So where is the excellent pizza? New York City, of course. OK…maybe I’m prejudiced because I’m a Brooklyn boy, and worked in a variety of pizzerias in my younger days, but there’s no doubt in my mind that if you want the best pizza–or bagel, for that matter–you’ve got to go to the Big Apple. (Even “Frank Pepe’s” in New Haven, CT is a mere stop on the way to the real deal.)

Pizza in the Big Apple can be confusing, as there are many different varieties to choose from. Brick oven pizzas abound, but there are pizza lovers who won’t settle for anything less than an old-fashioned pizza baked in a coal-fired oven. The extremely high heat of a coal-fired oven cooks the pizza in just a minute, and imparts a crusty, charred flavor you can’t get any other way. There are only about a dozen coal-fired pizzerias left in New York City, and many of them have been around for a hundred years or more, so it’s definitely a matter of making a special trip to enjoy this style of pizza. (Providence now has its own coal-fired pizza, butp it just can’t compare.)

There’s plenty of good, basic pizza in New York City, too: the traditional thin, round Neopolitan pie, and the thicker, square Sicilian pie, baked in that Blodgett pizza oven we all knew in our early pizza-making days.

Many years ago, when I heard through the pizza lovers’ grapevine that a “new” pizza was out there, one that was gaining a cult following, I needed to know about it. And more importantly, I needed to taste it!

It’s called Pizza Montanara, and there’s still only a few pizzerias in New York City that serve it. The one I go to without fail is PizzArte, on West 55th, and I have to say it’s the ultimate pizza.

Pizza Montanara, sitting next to me in the car, just waiting to be devoured.

What makes Pizza Montanara so spectacular, quite simply, is that the dough is fried in oil for 30 seconds, flipped and fried another 30 seconds, before they put the sauce and cheese on it, and then they cook it in a wood burning oven. It is not greasy. The frying process puffs the dough up and creates a beautiful pillow-like softness that I’ve never experienced in a pizza before. Imagine a pizza cloud and you’ve got Pizza Montanara.

Where to get Pizza Montanara.

I’ve made Pizza Montanara at home, with limited success. I poured a few inches of olive oil in a large cast iron skillet, stretched my dough into a small pie, and gently floated it into the pan. Using a spatula and tongs, I was able to flip the fried dough over after about 30 seconds, then removed it from the pan after another 30 seconds. It was golden and puffy. I quickly sauced and cheesed it and in the oven it went. But it’s a messy process that doesn’t always come out just right. I need more practice!

Frying the pizza dough. I use olive oil for better flavor, but I have to watch the temperature, because the smoking point is low (about 375 for extra virgin olive oil) and burnt oil is not what anybody wants!

A homemade Pizza Montanara, with buffalo mozzarella and pepperoni.

A four-cheese Montanara, with mozzarella, sharp Provolone, Parmiggiano Reggiano, and ricotta…and lots of garlic!

Every time I post a photo of Pizza Montanara on Facebook or Instagram, my friends don’t believe that this could possibly be a life-changing pizza experience. It is. After a trip to Manhattan, we’ll devour 3 pizzas on the ride home. Nothing makes New York traffic easier to bear than a Pizza Montanara in the seat next to you!

Pizza Arte also makes one helluva gluten-free pizza.

MY BEEF STROGANOFF

Posted: January 14, 2026 in Uncategorized
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Beef Stroganoff is a classic dish that I remember from my childhood. It’s easy to make and really satisfying, and you can add or remove ingredients as you wish to make it your own.


This is a recipe that is easily changed to accommodate your personal tastes, so feel free to do so. For example, the classic recipe uses sliced white mushrooms. I had some dried porcini in my stash–much more intense in favor–but I like that, so I used them. Classic stroganoff uses egg noodles. I went with bucatini pasta. And the beef is usually a cut like flank steak, but I like using beef flap. Just be sure to slice the meat thinly and against the grain to keep it really tender.

This recipe makes a lot, so feel free to cut the ingredients in half for a smaller batch.

And if your family doesn’t like mushrooms, substitute some good beef broth to get extra flavor.

 

2 lbs. beef flap, trimmed and cut into thin strips
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 cups sour cream, at room temperature
salt and pepper

 

Place the dried porcini in a sauce pan with about 1 1/2 cups of water. Set it on high heat and let it boil until the liquid has reduced to about 1/2 a cup. Set it aside. When it has cooled a bit, strain off the liquid into a glass and chop up the mushrooms on a cutting board.


 

Melt a couple of tablespoons of the butter in a large pan, and start browning the beef in small batches, placing the cooked beef in a bowl on the side while you add more beef to the pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan or the beef will steam and not brown. It may take a few batches to get all the beef cooked.



 

Once the beef is done, in the same pan, toss in the chopped onions with a little more of the butter and sauté until they’re translucent. You can add some of the mushroom liquid to the pan now, to deglaze it and remove some of the yummy bits stuck to the bottom.




Add what’s left of the butter to the pan, then add the mushrooms and the tarragon. Season well with salt and pepper and add the rest of the mushroom liquid, being careful not to pour out any grit that may have settled to the bottom of the glass. Cook until it has thickened a bit.


 


 

You can stop preparations at this point until you’re ready to serve your guests.

Place the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water and cook until al dente.

When the pasta is almost done, return the pan with the mushroom mixture to medium heat, and add the sour cream to it, mixing well. Add the beef and any juices that are in the bowl with it, mixing well.




  

Drain the pasta and serve the beef stroganoff immediately, seasoning with a finishing salt, like Maldon.


 

 

BEEF STEW WITH PUFF PASTRY

Posted: January 7, 2026 in beef, Food, Recipes
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I was craving my recipe for a venison stew with puff pastry but I didn’t have any more venison in the fridge (I get it from a friend that hunts), and I didn’t want to drive 30 miles to the nearest Whole Foods, my only source for all-butter puff pastry dough.

So I decided to use beef, and stay local, by buying good ol’ Pepperidge Farms puff pastry (made with shortening) from my nearby supermarket. The final dish was pretty darn good after all!

My original venison stew dish was pretty intense, using dark beer and adding mushrooms to the mix. The venison was wild, not farmed, with a gamier flavor. This recipe turned down the intensity a bit, but the flavors were all there: I used a combination of a lighter beer and homemade chicken stock. I used beef London broil instead of venison. And I left out the mushrooms, adding more carrots, onions, and celery.

olive oil
3 lbs. beef, cubed into 3/4″ pieces (I like London Broil)
3 yellow onions
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or through a press
6 carrots, sliced thin
6 celery stalks, sliced thin
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
16 oz. chicken stock (preferably homemade)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 bottle beer (I had a Pilsner Urquell sitting around)
12 oz. grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 box (17.3 oz.) frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed for 40 minutes
1 raw egg, scrambled

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Heat a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and add the onions. Sauté them until they’re translucent, and then add the garlic. Stir it around for 10 seconds.

Add the carrots and celery, a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and the fresh thyme. Stir, cover the pan with a lid to help wilt the veggies, and cook for a few minutes.

Heat the chicken stock in a separate saucepan to boiling, then turn the heat off.

Meanwhile, add the butter to another frying pan and melt it. Add the flour to the butter, and whisk it all together until you’ve got a light roux. While whisking, slowly add the chicken stock to the pan with the butter and flour, and let it thicken. Keep stirring to avoid lumps. Set it aside.

Remove the lid from the veggie pan and pour the veggies into a large baking pan (I like a lasagna pan). Using the same frying pan you cooked the veggies in, add 2 more tablespoon of olive oil and brown the beef cubes. You may need to do this in several batches if the pan isn’t big enough. (You don’t want to steam the beef. You want to brown it.)

Scoop the beef cubes out of the frying pan, placing them in the baking pan with the veggies, leaving the oil and drippings behind, then add another batch of beef to the frying pan. Only once all the beef is browned, do you pour the entire contents of that pan into the baking pan with the veggies. Mix everything well.

Add the bottle of beer to the baking pan and mix well.

Add the thickened chicken stock to the baking pan and mix well.

Before cooking.

After 90 minutes of cooking.

Cover the baking pan with foil or a lid and place it in the oven. Cook for 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes, remove the foil from the pan, give it all a stir, and place the foil back on the pan, returning to the oven for 60 minutes more.

After 60 more minutes of cooking. Still a bit watery, so I need to reduce it.

After 60 minutes, remove the foil from the pan and stir again. It should be thick, like a stew. At this point, if your stew is still watery, pour it into a large pan on the stovetop and heat to reduce it. If it looks good, pour it into the pan anyway so you can clean and dry the baking pan for the next steps.

Add the cheddar cheese to the stew once it looks nice and thick, and mix well. Turn the heat off the stovetop.

Wash and dry the baking pan you used, and then butter the inside of it well.

Take the thawed puff pastry sheets and gently roll them with a rolling pin until they’re about 1/8″ thick. Then use 1 sheet to line the bottom and sides of the baking pan, saving the second sheet for the top.

Before rolling…

…and after.

Pour the stew from the pan on the stovetop into the baking pan with the puff pastry sheet lining the bottom and sides.

Then gently lay the second puff pastry sheet over the top of the stew, tucking it in if necessary.

Take the scrambled egg and brush the puff pastry with the egg wash.

Bake in the 375-degree of oven for about 45 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown.

I like to serve peas on the side with this dish, rather than putting them in the stew, to keep them turning into mush.

Mashed potatoes optional!

PASTA WITH FIVE CHEESES

Posted: January 4, 2026 in Uncategorized
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Al Forno in Providence, RI, is a legendary Italian restaurant that was established in 1980 and has graced the pages of many a food magazine ever since. Chefs Johanne Killeen and George Germon made it a culinary destination, creating dishes that many have copied, but never equaled. 

One of those creations was the grilled pizza. These days, you can find grilled pizzas just about anywhere in the country, but it was Al Forno that started it all.

Sadly, George Germon passed away in 2015, but the restaurant continues. And although the menu offers a wide variety of dishes, the one my daughter and I crave–that isn’t on the menu–is their 5-cheese pasta dish. It’s not baked ziti. It’s not lasagna. It’s something way beyond.

 

Taking the recipe from one of Johanne and George’s cookbooks, my daughter and I decided that we would re-create this magical dish at home as best we could.

One element obviously missing in our home is a wood-fired oven, something Al Forno uses.

And looking at their list of 5 cheeses (mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, fontina, ricotta and gorgonzola), I found that gorgonzola was a bit of a surprise. Having had the 5-cheese pasta dish at least 4 times at Al Forno, I never detected even a hint of blue cheese. In fact, if I would have, I don’t think I would’ve ordered it again. So we chose to remove the gorgonzola and add another favorite, sharp provolone, instead. It turned out to be an excellent choice.

 

Other than that, we stayed true to the recipe, using shell pasta because that’s what we always got at the restaurant.

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes in heavy puree (San Marzano’s, if you can get ’em)
4 oz. thinly sliced mozzarella cheese
1.5 oz. grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1.5 oz. coarsely shredded Fontina cheese
1.5 oz. grated Provolone cheese
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more for the pasta water
6 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1 lb. conchiglie (medium shell) pasta
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced thinly
Shavings of raw scallion for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 500°, or as close to it as your oven will get.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the pasta and the butter. Stir well to combine.

Drop the pasta in the boiling water and parboil it for about 4 minutes. Drain it in a colander and add it to the ingredients in the mixing bowl. Combine it well.

Divide the pasta mixture into small ceramic dishes, or just use one large baking dish. You want it to sit in a relatively shallow 1-inch layer.

 

Dot the top of the dish with the butter, and bake it until it’s bubbly and brown, about 7 to 10 minutes at 500…a little longer at lower temperatures.

Funny how help arrives when it’s all about pasta and cheese!

It’s the creamiest, cheesiest pasta dish you’ll ever have…and everyone will fight over those little charred pasta shells!

Optional: When I ordered this dish at Al Forno, they would top it with thin shavings of raw scallion on top. I loved that touch and do that at home as well.

 

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