Orofino - Appetizers and Main Meals for the Modern Family

APPETIZERS
AND
MAIN MEALS
FOR THE MODERN FAMILY

CHEF FRANK OROFINO

AuthorHouse

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: 1 (800) 839-8640

2015 Frank Orofino. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/17/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0670-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-0669-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015905637

Print information available on the last page.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TO MY DAUGHTER

My daughter would kill me if I did not mention her in this cook book so here we go dawn.

To my princess, this cook book is dedicated to you, after all someone has to teach you how to cook. You are my princess and have been since you were born.

Your bout with cancer at an early age made you strong, what with everything you went through then. Your strength pulled you through all the challenges a young person is confronted with.

My love to you always princess

Your poppy

DEDICATED TO MY LOVE

TO GRANDMA

I remember when I was very young watching my grandma cooking and remembering the delightful smells that she produced out of her kitchen. The smells just made my mouth want to taste everything she was making, and I never knew why that was. Being young all I thought about was eating my grandmas food. The love she put into all her dishes were a touch of beauty. You have to remember that old world grandmas no matter what country they came from never wasted a thing. It was food of the night and then leftovers during the week. But for some strange reason grandma always made us feel like it was a new day and a new dinner. As I grew older I wanted to cook next to my grandma so she had my grandfather make me a stool that I could be higher on the stove and help my grandma. My mother today will tell you that the only one that can make her marinara sauce is me. My love for cooking is a delight for me and the people that enjoy my food. I have so many good friends that wait for me to cook. To my grandma who is long gone from this earth but as my mom would say she is always in our hearts.

Thank you grandma for your love of cooking and for your love for your family

REMEMBERING THE GOOD TIMES AND THE GOOD YEARS

I remember years ago at an early age the lessons both my grandparents taught me, my grandma for teaching me the cooking skills of her generation and the lessons learned by my grandfather of using a hammer, screwdriver and other tools. The man could fix anything; he even fixed shoes in early days for my mother and the rest of their children. That was the way of the old school and the lessons that they brought to all of us. Dont be foolish, save your money for a rainy day.

I remember the aroma of the kitchen when grandma cooked, there is no way you can physically describe what aroma passed through the entre house during the holidays. I remember my mother and grandmother starting to cook early in the morning for the family that will be arriving that day. Dinner at 1:00 and then leftovers at 5:00. And in the mist of all this cooking was a 6 year old boy looking and helping in any way I could to learn the history of italian cooking. My grandmother was so patient with me taking the time to teach me the skills and the knowledge of her cooking. To this day I cook the same recipes and through the years have developed my own skills in cooking all different types of food.

The tastes and smells of gravy, meatballs, sausage pork and pepperoni cooking in a big pot were incredible. I couldnt wait until she gave me the chore of stirring the gravy, and when she wasnt looking grabbing a piece of italian bread and dipping it into the pot of gravy. Yes of course she was watching but never said a word.

The fresh fish, the home made pasta, all on a board that my grandfather made her years ago. The board is still used by my mother, I know the board is older that dirt. But the love that that old wooden board brought to the family years ago and still today I believe that it makes the perfect pasta. She had everything so arranged for dinner that food came to the table hot and smelling like a fine restaurant. When you feed a family during the holidays of 30-40 family members there was no disputing that grandma had everything well in hand.

It was like watching a movie made in italy and observing a family getting together during the holidays and everyone talking at the same time and trying to keep up with 5 different conversations at one time. I have no idea how the women did this but it was incredible to watch and listen. And here is my grandmother sitting next to her husband taking this all in and saying to herself this is what family is all about. Even if she had no idea about the conversations, all she had to do was to look around the table at family members that at times did not get along through the year, become a total family built on the respect of both mother and father and grandparents.

To her that meant everything. Through the years until her death in the 60s that how I remembered our family. With both grandparents gone the family seems to split and there was no more visiting the grandparents on a sunday for that special dinner.

What happens to the family, why did grandparents keep the family together, was it the history of them, their age or maybe just that we had the respect for them not to disappoint them because of the love they had always given us.

Yes times have changed, but give me that simple life of years ago versus today. Both parents working because of cost, the fine cars, the big expensive homes and the keeping up with the joness next store. Why wasnt that an issue when we were growing up? The computers, the hand held games, big screen tvs, and the biggest of all these is that little thing growing out of the ear the famous phone in the ear.

Have you ever been in a crowd and a cell phone rings and everyone is reaching for their phone and finding out it wasnt theirs. Why do we need to be in contact with everyone each minute of the day, we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with a cell phone either stuck in our ear of one right next to us? What are we waiting for the natural disaster of the world, what would we do, call everyone and let them know I wouldnt be coming over for dinner tonight. Now dont get me wrong I have also a cell phone and I do believe in one for emergencies. I have used it for that, but to have one stuck in my ear, there are times when I walk down the street I see men and women talking to them and screaming and yelling at themselves only to find a phone stuck in their ear.

I thank god that growing up with my grandparents we had none of that. We talked one on one with each other, and yes we had a phone but, ok times have changed, but is it for the good. Do we still communicate one on one eye to eye or just by phone and oh yes via e-mail. The system that allows you to talk to someone without them knowing that you are making faces at them or really do not like them but because you work with them, they have more money than you, they take vacations to expensive place. You get my drift.