Nonna's Pizza & Sauce

My previous post on Nonna's pizza featured only the recipe for the crust with assembly and baking directions.  When I found this recipe card for the pizza and sauce, I knew I had to do another post.  Besides, I'll use any excuse to make Nonna's pizza again.

The one ingredient that stands out in the sauce recipe and really sets it apart is clove.  A "hint o' clove" is key, because a little goes a long way.  However, you want to add enough so that you can taste it.  My mom and I have made Nonna's pizza for a few family gatherings, and it has always been successful.  The second time we made it though, Uncle Steve told me we perfected it because it had just the right amount of clove.  A very nice compliment, indeed.

I also remember the diced onion in the sauce that Nonna used to make.  I remember thinking as a kid, "wait a minute, I don't like onions," but I ate it anyway.  I don't remember the mushrooms, though, so I may just not have noticed them.

This is the most complete recipe for Nonna's pizza I have found.  Just reading it brings back a lot of wonderful memories. 

 

Nonna's Pizza & Sauce

Printable Recipe

Dough:
1 3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon oil
4 cups flour (white and whole wheat combo)

Stir, knead, cover, and let rise

Sauce:
1 big Hunts (29 oz.)
2 puree or 1 paste (depending on how long you cook it) or any combo using sauce or base.
Add:
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons Italian seasonings or
2-3 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon sage
Hint o' clove
Add 8 oz mushrooms and sauteed onions (about 3 medium)

Pat down dough, turn out and knead. (Cut in half for two pans.)  Oil pan (the more oil the crispier the bottom crust). Roll out dough (keep lifting and turning). Pat into shape in pie pan.
Put on sliced mozzarella cheese, filling whole surface.
Put sauce on generously, top with Romano or Parmesan.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Loam Cake

 

Aunt Sue sent out an email last week asking if anyone had the Loam Cake recipe.  Although I have never made it, I knew I had the recipe simply because of the name.  I rushed over to the laptop, uploaded a picture of the recipe card and sent it off.  I also asked her if there were any Loam Cake stories she would share.

 

Before I got a response from Aunt Sue, I saw that Theresa uploaded a picture of the Loam Cake to facebook.  The picture was so good I asked her if I could use it in this post, and she happily obliged.   

 

Later, I got a response from her.  The Loam Cake was a hit! Seconds all around!  They served it plain, or with a dollop of fresh Whipped Cream - maple syrup flavored.  She and Aunt Joan made this cake in the 1970s in Nonna's kitchen.  The origin of the recipe is unknown.  Loam Cake may have been a late 70s tear-off recipe carried at The Sunspot published by Natural Recipes of Boston (later known as Natural Messages) - calling for Whole Wheat Flour might be a big clue there. Aunt Sue and Uncle Lee also searched the internet and came up empty handed.

 

This post is a true family effort, just what I wanted this blog to be!

 

 

A couple of cooks notes:

Aunt Sue did not have an 8" baking pan, so they used a 9" baking pan - 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Also, she does not recall ever making the Maple Frosting recipe mentioned on the card, for the Loam Cake or otherwise.

 

Loam Cake
Printable recipe

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water or applesauce

Mix dry ingredients together or sift directly into an ungreased 8" cake pan. Make three holes in mixture. Pour oil in one hole, vinegar in another and vanilla in third. Pour cold water or applesauce over all. Stir with a fork until evenly blended. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve as is or with maple frosting.

Nonna's Apple Pie

Practice makes perfect.  Although I may never make apple pie as good as Nonna did, I'm heading in the right direction.  I documented my trials with this pie on latent chestnut, and I think I have finally made it as well as I possible can.

In the latent chestnut post, I mentioned how a secret to success was using minute tapioca instead on small pearl.  I also found another recipe card that called for 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon instead of 2 tablespoons.  A huge difference.

Reducing the cinnamon turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle that is Nonna's apple pie recipe.  She didn't make it easy, but I can finally make the pie that takes me back to my childhood.

Apple Pie

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

5 or 6 medium sour apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2/3 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

Directions
Mix all ingredients. Put in unbaked crust-lined pie tin. Dot with butter. Cover with pastry. Make fork holes in pastry. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 degrees for 30 minutes more.

Pie Crusts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 cups pastry flour

4 tablespoons cold water (1/4 cup)

Use pastry cutter until flour is crumbly (like corn meal). Add water. Stir well with fork; then with hands; form into two balls, one slightly larger for the top crust. Roll each ball on floured board to fit pie tin. Trim off excess crust with knife.

Tart Lemon Squares

I knew this recipe had to be good before I even made it.  I have several recipe cards written in Nonna's handwriting in the same format.  Oven temperature in the upper left, pan size in the upper right, a dotted line separating the ingredient columns.  It was like she was just ready to pass out the cards when she made this decadent dessert because she knew people would be asking for the recipe.  It makes me wonder how many cards she wrote like this.

Angela has been making lemon squares for years, and they are one of my favorite sweet treats, but she does not use this recipe.  At every summer family get-together, I always ask her to make them.  My mom also told me that she used this recipe to make lemon squares for Tupperware parties she hosted (along with toffee squares) and they were always a hit.  I was a bit nervous to make them myself, but I really wanted to try my hand at this recipe.

I don't know if the person who first made lemon squares knew what they were doing, or if was just a happy accident, but it always felt like I was doing something wrong when I was making them.  First of all, the bottom crust is so crumbly before pressing it into the bottom of the pan, it doesn't seem like it should hold together at all.  Then, the lemon mixture is so thin, and pouring it onto an already baked crust, it didn't seem like it would set.  When I took the concoction out of the oven, the mixture had set, but the top was a white color that didn't look normal to me.  Wanting to see it through to the end, I sprinkled the top with confectioner's sugar and waited for it to cool.

Thankfully, my fears were unwarranted.  As I cut the squares and pulled out the first sample, it looked just like a lemon square should.  Even better, it tasted good, too!  The soft, tart, custardy topping with the tender buttery crust is a wonderful combination.  It makes it hard to eat just one, so I didn't.  No wonder Nonna had a supply of handwritten lemon square recipes at her disposal.  If she had brought these to a party I was at, I would be the first in line asking her for the recipe.



Tart Lemon Squares 

Printable Recipe

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons flour

3 eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

Grated rind of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large or 2 small lemons)

Combine butter, confectioners' sugar, and one cup of the flour in food processor.  Process until blended.  Pat dough into even layer on bottom of 9-inch square baking pan.  Bake dough at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Meanwhile, combine eggs, granulated sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice and remaining three tablespoons of flour in food processor.  Process until well mixed.  Pour lemon mixture over hot crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes longer - until firm.  Cool on rack.  Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar while warm.  Cut in squares when cool. 

Teddy Bear Bread

My cooking skills are a product of food television.  I've been watching cooking shows for as long as I can remember.  Rarely did I use recipe cards or cook books when I tried a new recipe.  I always saw the food being made on the TV before I made it.  That's not to say I never tried a recipe for the first time from a cook book or recipe card, but visual learning was more of the norm for me.

I learned a lot of techniques from watching the television cooks; how to dice an onion, knead dough, folding ingredients into batter, butchering a chicken, etc.  Watching the food applications unfold on the TV made it much simpler to replicate when I tried it on my own.  They gave me a good foundation of skills so I felt comfortable trying new things.

With the food shows growing stale and uninspiring (I miss you Good Eats), my attention has turned more to cook books.  Some of the books I have lay out an application in sometimes two or three pages, thoroughly detailing each step along the way.  This brings me to the old family recipes I have been trying for the first time; many of them handwritten on 3.5 x 5 inch index cards.  No longer do I have the luxury of watching a recipe unfold over thirty minutes, or reading a detailed twelve-step recipe.  My recipes are no longer fool proof.

While I adore these handwritten recipe cards, detail has given way to space, and I am left to fill in the blanks sometimes.  I also think that some of these recipes were pretty much memorized by the author, so something that was thought as a given, may not have made it to the card.  Also, some of these recipes are over fifty years old and some of the terminology and ingredients are foreign to me.  Having never seen or tasted some of these recipes in the past, it can be a challenge.

Good thing I love challenges!   I have been having so much fun with these recipes.  Sometimes I don't get it right, but more often than not, they have been delicious and a joy to make.  For the ones that produce less than ideal results, I know what I did wrong and how to fix it, so that gets me excited to try it again.  Besides, the pride and delight of preparing food from recipes I know were made and written by my family is unmatched by any recipe from a book or cooking show.

I remember Nonna making this teddy bear bread when I was a child.  One summer, it seemed like she was making them all the time.  A cute little brown bear that you can pull apart and eat, now what child wouldn't love that? 

This recipe is very similar to a yeast roll recipe that I have, and it tastes similar.  It is not a sweet bread, and I remember always wanting it to be sweeter as a kid.  I thought that if the bread was in the shape of a bear it should be sweet, more of a dessert bread.  I don't know what my rational was, but I still feel that way, and I still don't know what my rational is.  If I make it again, I may sprinkle it with a little but of sugar, or add some honey to the dough.

Besides sweetness, which is a personal preference, there is one other thing I would change to this bread.  The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of yeast, or 1 package.  These days, a package of yeast contains about 2 teaspoons.  I didn't know if that had changed over the years, so I used 2 tablespoons, which was too much.  I would recommend 2 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon of yeast at the most.  The bread rose a little too much for my liking and had too much of a yeast flavor.

The kids got a kick of of a loaf of bread in the shape of a bear, though Emilie thought it looked like an elephant.  The bread was fun to make and brought back some wonderful memories, and it's hard to get that from a cooking show.

Teddy Bear Bread
Makes 2 Bears
Printable Recipe

Scald 1/2 cup milk.  Add 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of butter.  Stir until melted.  Cool.  Dissolve 2 teaspoons yeast (1 package baking yeast) into 1 1/2 cup warm water.  Add to milk mix.  Add enough flour (approx. 4 cups) to make moderately stiff dough.  Knead 8-10 minutes.  Place into greased bowl.  Let rise until doubled.  Punch down.  Divide dough in half.  With one half, divide into 2 pieces (for head and body).  Divide rest into 7 pieces (1 nose, 2 ears, and 4 paws).  Shape into bears.  Let rise until doubled.  Mix 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water and brush onto bears.  Make indentation in ears.  Place raisins for eyes and belly button.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Marbled Squares

Mmm.  Mmm.  Good.  As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it.  Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite in our house, and this variation sounded too good to pass up.  It apparently was an old family favorite, too, since Nonna submitted it to the Saint Joan of Arc recipe book.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the date the book was published.  I did find a newspaper clipping taped into the book from 1966, and all the advertisers still used "GL" in their phone numbers. 

I found a few different versions of this recipe.  The recipe book submission (above) had a number of annotations and double amounts of the ingredients written in pencil (notice the dash next to the salt - omitted!). 

I also found a typed recipe card with the doubled ingredients and baking in two eight inch and nine inch square pans instead of nine by thirteen.

Seeing these different versions, I began to wonder where this recipe originated.  Flipping through the Saint Joan of Arc recipe book, taped to the very last page was a Nestle chocolate chip package.

As I examined the package, I saw 'Toll House Marble Squares" in the bottom right corner.  The instructions are as follows:

Prepare dough for 1/2 of Original Toll House Cookies but do not add chocolate morsels.  Spread dough in a greased 13" x 9" x 2" pan.  Sprinkle 1/2 a 12-oz. Jumbo pkg. (1 c.) NESTLE'S SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE MORSELS over top.  Place in 375 degree F. oven for 1 min.  Remove from oven and run knife through batter to marbleize.  Return to oven and continue to bake.  BAKE at 375 degrees F. 

TIME:  12 to 14 mins.  Cool.  Cut in 2" squares.

It was fun to track down the origin of this recipe, and they are delicious, indeed.  The middle pieces are much like a whole cookie make out of the gooey chewy middle of a traditional chocolate chip cookie.  Yum!

Marbled Squares

Printable Recipe

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon water

1 egg

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Sift together flour, baking soda, salt; set aside.  Blend butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and water until creamy.  Beat in eggs.  Add flour mixture; mix well.  Spread dough in a greased 13 x 9. pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over top.  Place in oven for 1 min.  Remove from oven and run knife through batter to marbleize.  Return to oven and continue to bake.  Bake for 12 to 14 mins.  Cool.  Cut into 24 squares.

On the omission of salt...

Thanks to my wonderful family, I have amassed a large number of handwritten recipes passed down from generation to generation.  I requested these recipes so I could scan them into my computer in order to preserve their image and share with any and all who may want them.  Three hundred scans later, my project is now complete (until I get more recipes) and I look forward to trying these recipes and sharing the results with you; along with an image of the recipe card, of course. 

In collecting these recipes, there were, in some instances, many versions of the same recipe.  Be it in card form, book form, newspaper clipping, or direct from a package label, it was fun to see the origin and evolution of a recipe as it was transcribed time and time again.  Some recipes were doubled, some had an ingredient tweaked here and there, some were modified drastically, but there was one constant throughout all recipes that were transcribed by Nonna from the original source.  All were written with the omission of salt or with the annotation of "(optional)" after the ingredient.

This was quite intriguing to me, as I often wondered why salt was not included in the ingredients list in most of the family recipes I already had.  More often than not, I found myself adding a little salt to round out the flavor, since that is how I am used to cooking.  I was curious to know if most sweets did not call for salt back when these recipes were printed or if Nonna made a conscious effort to exclude the ingredient when she copied the recipe to the card.  I now have my answer.

I am now curious to know why she excluded salt.  If anyone has any insights, please post away in the comment section.  Stay tuned for more recipes!

Nonna's German Sweet Chocolate Brownies

Taken from latent chestnut:

The brownies were a cinch to prepare and filled the house with the sweet smell of chocolate as they were baking.  Waiting for them to cool was an act of patience I don't soon want to repeat, but I stayed strong.  My patience was rewarded as soon as I tried one.  Still a bit warm from the oven, the brownie was rich, dense, chocolaty, sweet and chewy.  My idea of a darn good brownie.  I have posted the recipe below.  The original recipe calls for margarine, but I substituted butter without any issues.  I also omitted nuts from mine.  We're a nutless brownie kind of group in my house.  I also chose not to put icing on the brownies this time, though I'm sure it would be delicious!

German Sweet Chocolate Brownies
Printable Recipe

Makes 16
1 pkg. (4 oz.) Baker’s German Sweet Chocolate
1/4 C (1/2 Stick) margarine
3/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
1/2 C Flour
1/2 C coarsely chopped Nuts

Melt chocolate and margarine in a 2-quart saucepan over very low heat; stir constantly until just melted. Remove from heat. Stir sugar into melted chocolate. Stir in eggs and vanilla until completely mixed. Mix in flour until well-blended. Stir in nuts. Spread in greased 8-inch square pan. Bake 350 degrees – 25 min. (DO NOT OVERBAKE) Cool in pan. Cut in squares.
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If you wish icing -
Over low heat melt 4 (1 oz.) squares Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate with 1/4 C (1/2 Stick) margarine. Stirring constantly until just melted. Spread over Brownies. Chill. Cut into squares.

Nonna's Pizza

I am still thrilled that Eva sent me this recipe, even though it has been over a year ago.  The post I did on latent chestnut best describes what this pizza means to me, and there is not much left for me to say.  One thing I didn't do was share the recipe on latent chestnut and I am more than happy to do it here on Family Tree-Eats.  I absolutely love this recipe, and I have made it many times for family and friends over the last 12 months. 

If anyone has any memories or stories they would like to share about Nonna's pizza, I would love to hear them.  Please feel free to leave them in the comments section, or just e-mail me!

Nonna's Pizza

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups lukewarm water

2 1/2 tablespoons baking yeast

1/2 teaspoon onion powder or garlic salt

4 1/2 cups flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, combine water, yeast, onion powder/garlic salt, and flour, and stir until combined.  Flour board and knead dough.  Put olive oil in bottom of new bowl, put in kneaded dough.  Seran wrap it and then put a towel on top of that.  Leave until doubled in size.  Then, knead dough again and cut in half.

Spread dough into two 14x2 inch round pizza tins.  Add cheese on top of dough, then sauce.  Put grated parmesan on top.  Put on toppings and bake for 25 minutes.

*Note*

I remember Nonna's pizza had a whole wheat crust and Aunt Mare told me she used a mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour.  I do not know what ratio she used, but I find that 3 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour makes a delicious crust. 

Liver and Mushroom Kabob

In February, Aunt Sue emailed Eva and I a list of dates in which Nonna had recipes printed in the Kokomo Tribune.  So, I loaded the family into the car and headed to the library to do some research.  We made our way down to the Genealogy department where a librarian showed us to the microfilm machine.  She asked me if I was looking for an obituary; I politely told her no, I was looking for recipes.  She smiled and led us to the machine.

As it turnes out, The Kokomo Tribune held an annual recipe contest in autumn, and there was a section of prize-winning recipes in several categories.  I was able to find five recipes that were submitted by Nonna.  I may have missed some in the first year that I checked because I didn't realize the format, and I didn't want to bother the librarian to get the film out again.

One recipe caught my eye right off the bat, Liver and Mushroom Kabob.  It was the third prize winner in the 'Lazy Daizies' category.  The recipe was published in the September 22, 1968 Kokomo Tribune.  I am a fan of liver, though I had never prepared it, myself.  Valerie was a bit more tentative, so we decided to make it on a Friday night with Ang and Michael and also prepare some kabobs with chicken instead of liver. 

The kabobs were easy to assemble and tasted great!  I preferred them over the chicken kabobs.  The liver and the onions were a perfect combination, as the onions gave off a hint of sweetness.  The mushrooms were firm and juicy which provided a nice contrast in texture.  In the future, I would like to prepare a sauce to accompany them, because they were a bit on the dry side.  Nevertheless, a prize-winning recipe, to be certain. 

Liver and Mushroom Kabob

Printable Recipe

1 pound calves liver

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 sliced onion

1/2 pound mushrooms

1 teaspoon fresh mint, chopped

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Have liver sliced 1-inch thick.  Cut into 2-inch squares.  Clean and remove stems from mushrooms.

Alternate a piece of liver, a mushroom cap, and a slice of onion on 8 skewers until all the ingredients are used.

Mix oil, vinegar and mint thoroughly.  Brush over liver and mushrooms on both sides.  Place on broiler rack about 5 inches below flame.  Broil 3 minutes on each side or until light brown.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Brush with remaining liquid.  Broil 1 minute longer and remove from skewers or serve on skewers.  Serve sizzling hot.  Serves 4.

Alphabet Soup

I can still picture Nonna stirring a pot of alphabet soup on the stove as I anxiously waited for it to be ready.  As I watched her ladle the hot soup into a Corelle bowl, I could not wait to dig in.  She took the bowl to the counter, added a pat of butter, and served it to us piping hot.  She always told us to eat from around the edges of the bowl first because it would be cooler.  I never learned, though; as I almost always burnt my tongue.

Alphabet soup is a food memory I wanted to try to recreate for my kids, as well as take me back to my childhood.  I didn't have a recipe, and I don't know if Nonna did either, but I it seemed simple enough to make, and it actually is.  I think Nonna used a chicken bouillon cube to flavor the soup, and I use chicken stock, preferably homemade.  The kids love it as much as I did, but they are smart enough to let it cool before they eat it.  In fact, Ari usually eats more than I do, and still asks for more.  Here is my recipe; I only hope it would make Nonna proud.

Alphabet Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
4 cups good quality chicken stock
2 cups water
Salt to taste
8 oz. alphabet noodles
Butter

Directions
In a large saucepan, combine the water and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Add salt to taste until the broth reaches your desired flavor.  Add alphabet noodles and cook until tender, about 7 minutes.  Once noodles are ready, immediately ladle into bowls and add a small pat of butter.  The soup can also be served with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

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Mud Pie Cookies

This is a recipe my mom told me about when she gave me a box of Nonna's old recipes.  She said they were one of her favorite cookies and Nonna used to make them for her when she was young.  She was surprised when I told her I had never had them before.  When I found the recipe card in the box, I knew I had to give them a try.

What makes them unique is the almond extract.  I am a huge fan of almond extract in cookies, namely spritz, but I had never had them in a chocolate cookie before.  The cookies are delicious, and I can see why my mom liked them so much when she was a child.  I can definitely taste the almond extract, but it is not overpowering.  The cookies aren't overly chocolaty either.  They are very light and chewy, which is also an interesting combination.

I am so glad I found these cookies and it is always nice to add a delicious recipe to the cookie arsenal.  This being a family recipe makes it much more special.

Mud Pie Cookies

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
2 cups flour
4 tablespoon cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup evaporated milk.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream sugar and shortening, add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Add milk and dry ingredients alternately to the creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoon on greased baking sheet and bake at 350˚ for 8 to 10 minutes.