TRAVERSE CITY -- How many nights in a row can you eat napoleon?
That's what Tony Letizio was wondering, in a halfhearted sort of way. His wife, Sunny, had been busy perfecting a recipe for the delightful confection of pastry with layers of creamy custard. She had been making it most every day for a week and he was starting to complain, though his empty dessert plate with its remnants of custard and crumbs made any expression of discontent ring hollow.
That's because food is at the foundation of the Letizio family. In fact, it's hard to tell where family leaves off and food begins.
Most meals are an outgrowth of Tony's Italian heritage and upbringing. His grandfather, an Italian immigrant, was a cook during World War I.
"He ended up being the colonel's cook when the colonel found out he could cook," said Tony, who is in charge of building maintenance for the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA.
His mother was also an avid cook, which made his house a popular place while he was growing up.
"All my friends wanted to know what Ma was making that night and invite themselves over," he laughed.
While Tony's mother died about 15 years ago, her recipes were assembled in a book by a family member. Today, it serves as a kitchen bible of sorts.
Many of her recipes form the base for their favorite dishes, making for what is basically a Mediterranean diet. That means lots of fresh ingredients, which in season, come out of their garden -- peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs. They also can tomatoes and an eggplant relish recipe of Tony's mother's that they love to serve over pasta.
Sunny herself learned to cook from Tony's mother as a young bride.
"I didn't k now how to cook when we first met," said Sunny, a pharmacist at Munson Medical Center. "I knew how to make breakfast, but Tony didn't like breakfast.
"So Tony's mother taught me. And it worked out well because she taught me to cook the things Tony likes."
But cooking in their household today is a shared effort. Sunny loves it when they can cook together. On weeknights, though, she often gets home from work after Tony does. In that case, he prepares dinner.
Tony's specialties include spaghetti sauce from scratch. He simmers it for hours and makes enough to freeze some for later use. Italian soups and pasta dishes with whatever he has at hand or can pick fresh from their garden are also weekday favorites.
"When we're in a rush, it might be pasta with olive oil and garlic dressing and parsley and whatever else is available," Tony said. "It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and it turns out to be a meal."
Sunny also loves to experiment and try new recipes. Take that napoleon, which she made over and over until she got the pastry right.
"We went to Pearl's (in Elk Rapids) this weekend and I had the best salmon I ever had in my life, with a bourbon and orange glaze," she said. "I found the recipe online and I'm going to make it."
Their son Dave, 21, enthusiastically admits that life has been good for him and his older brother, Tony, 23, in the meal department.
"I have no idea how to make it, but I love to eat it," he said. "There's never a bad thing to eat."
Tony's Pasta Sauce
4-5 cloves crushed garlic
3/4 c. onions, finely diced
Olive oil
1/2 gallon tomato puree
1/2 gallon tomatoes
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
1/2 c. dark red wine
Meats of your choice, i.e. chicken thighs, short ribs, Italian sausage, pork, meatballs
Brown meat in olive oil. Remove meat and set aside and discard most of meat renderings, adding more olive oil if needed to saute garlic and onions until translucent. Stir in tomatoes and tomato puree. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and return meats to sauce. Let simmer for an hour and add basil, oregano and parsley -- whatever you have handy -- and the wine. Continue simmering, and stirring for another two hours. Remove meat with slotted spoon and serve in a separate dish. Pour sauce over cooked pasta and top with fresh grated Romano cheese -- "the good stuff," Tony says.
Nona's Eggplant Relish (Capotina)
3 lbs. (2 large) eggplant, cubed, peeled, salted and drained
1/2 lb. green Italian olives (quartered, remove pits)
4 c. diced celery, with some leaves
3 medium onions, coarsely diced
1 T. salt
1 t. pepper
1/2 gallon tomato puree
1 small bottle capers
3/4 c. wine vinegar
3/4 c. sugar
Dash of crushed dried pepper flakes
Boil celery until half done. Drain.
French fry the rest of the vegetables, separately, at 375 degrees, until three-quarters done. (About eight minutes for eggplant, five minutes for onions, three-to five minutes for olives, two to three minutes for capers.) Keep separate. Heat tomato puree. Add vinegar, sugar, seasonings, olives and capers. Let come to a boil. Stir often. Add eggplant and onions and cook until tender and well-blended. Follow common canning procedures.
Teta Danute's Napoleonas
Puff Pastry:
1 c. butter
13/4 c. sifted flour
1/2 c. ice water
Reserve 2 T. butter. Chill.
Work remaining butter into 8-by-6-inch rectangle between wax paper. (Easy to do if butter is at room temperature.) Chill thoroughly, at least one hour.
Measure flour into bowl, Cut in reserved butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add ice water. Shape into ball. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Roll into 15-by-9-inch rectangle. Pull off wax paper from butter and sandwich inside dough. Seal edges with fingers. Wrap in wax paper and chill thoroughly at least one hour.
On lightly floured surface, roll dough from center to edges, to a 15-by-9-inch rectangle. Brush away excess flour and fold in thirds. Turn one-quarter turn and fold in thirds again. (A total of nine layers are formed). Seal edges with side of hand, wrap in waxed paper and chill thoroughly at least one hour. Roll out. Cut. Chill again, and repeat this step one more time, for a total of 27 layers.
Divide dough in three parts, rolling each to a 10-inch circle. Chill two to three hours or overnight. Place each sheet on ungreased baking sheet. Prick generously with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until light golden brown.
Custard:
a. Boil 2 c. milk with 1 c. sugar for 30 minutes. Do not scald.
b. Mix 1/2 c. flour with enough cold milk to make heavy smooth batter.
c. Add enough of Mixture A to Mixture B to achieve thin consistency.
d. Add C to remainder of A with lots of fast mixing until it is a syrupy thickness. Bring to a boil.
e. Remove from heat. Beat in one egg yolk and one stick of butter.
f. Add desired flavorings (rum, brandy, etc.)
Let cool to room temperature and spread on pastry layers.
To assemble: Spread custard between layers of pastry. Crush leftover pastry crumbs and sprinkle over top layer.
Kathy Gibbons can be reached at gibbonskath@yahoo.com. For more Everyday Cook columns, log on to record-eagle.com/everydaycook.
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