LadyCook61
Master Chef
I remember going to Mama Leone's in NY years ago, I wonder if it is still around.
They closed years ago after having their property sold out from under them, they swore to reopen in a new location, but never did. I found a story online about them re-opening, but it was from 1988, and it never happened according to the new york times. It always sucks when an old restaurant that's been around for decades closes down.
The look like the Horticultural Beans that people grow here.
Like you, BT, I've grown up eating real Italian food. Unfortunately, most of the ladies who cooked it have passed on, and not many of their daughters and grandaughters have bothered to learn the old ways of cooking.
ladycooks, i constantly tell my youger friends to go to their grandparents NOW and get them to approximate recipes and learn techniques, and all of the other familial stuff that can be lost to time.
i've even done it with my friends' parents. you woouldn't believe how it endears you to them. lol, i was always the favourite friend, especially for dinner.
and i've gotten co-workers to ask their wives and grandparents to ask about recipes. the best one i have is for meatballs.
it was explained to me, by a co-workers grandmother, that you do everything simple, and you do everything in trees. (actually, that's 3's in queens)
that you take a pound of meat, add 1 to 2 eggs (depending on the size. i know, it's not a three, but i wasn't gonna argue with a little old italian lady ), then eyeing the volume, you add 1/3rd in volume in breadcrumbs, 1/3rd in grated parmigiano reggiano, and just under a third in dried parsley. ya see, trees, capeesh?