The Other Woman Cooks

Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and what did he find? Lots of wonderful new varieties of food that he brought home to the best cooks in the universe. Yummy pineapples, sweet potatoes and corn in the West Indies, and he brought sugar cane to Puerto Rico from which rum is distilled, from the Caribbean islands he brought sweet peppers to Europe. That's when the fun started. From one generation of Italian cooks to the next, sweet peppers have been a mainstay ever since. I think you'll enjoy my slow cooker version of sweet peppers and veal stew – a mild cousin to the sweet peppers and sausages my grandmother used to make. A perfect way to use up the end of season pepper crop from the garden. VEAL AND SWEET PEPPER STEW 1 1/2 pound veal for stew, cut into 1 inch pieces 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon paprika 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 whole allspice (or 2 whole cloves) 1 bay leaf 5 whole black peppercorns 1 can ( size) tomato paste 1 cu...

You'd think having an Italian mother I would have a family recipe for osso buco. But my mom's family didn't hail from that part of Italy. So on page 137 of The Silver Palate Cookbook you will find what I used to make my first osso buco more years ago than I care to count backwards to! A really good osso buco has a slightly tangy taste, a rich depth of flavor created by the layering of flavors. As is my way, I fiddled with the recipe until the ingredients made me (and Picky Paul) happy. After many, many efforts, I managed to construct an osso buco that I can confidently serve to guests knowing it will satisfy even the most discriminating palate. That doesn’t mean I’m actually finished with my osso buco recipe. My osso buco will be forever “evolving”. That’s what good cooking is all about for me. OSSO BUCO 6 one pound bone-in lamb shanks or bone-in veal shanks (or a combo of both) 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 shallot, finely grated 1 green bell pepper, coarsely c...