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  • Writer's pictureTommy Centola

Honor moms with meal

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day! It’s been a while since I have been able to celebrate it with my mom. So what better way to honor her than to share some of her (and mine) favorite recipes? She was an excellent cook. As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Almost all of her children are adept in the kitchen.


The recipes I have collected today make a great 3 course meal. The appetizer, Stuffed Artichoke, is great for a large gathering as people can pick a couple of leaves to snack on. The entrée, Turkey Poulet, is a fancy way of preparing sliced turkey. For dessert, my mother’s famous Fudge Pie. It’s the perfect way to end a meal. So grab your ingredients, and Let’s head to the kitchen!


Stuffed Artichokes


This dish is a labor of love. It’s one of my wife’s favorites. If it wasn’t so tedious to stuff all the leaves, she would get it on a regular basis.


2 artichokes

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

4 cloves garlic chopped

1/3 cup olive oil


Boil artichokes for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350℉. Mix

the dry ingredients. Saturate the dry mixture with the olive oil. Stuff

the leaves of the artichoke. Bake, covered with foil for 1½ hours in a

large dish with 1 inch of water in it, to keep the stuffing from drying

out.


Turkey Poulet


During the holiday’s, most people look forward to the big meal. For me, I can’t wait for the next day so I can use the leftover turkey for this dish. It’s a great way to turn leftovers into an elegant meal.


8 pieces bread lightly toasted

24 slices bacon cooked crisp

24 ounces turkey cooked

Double recipe of White Sauce (recipe follows)

Fresh Parmesan cheese grated


Preheat oven to 350℉. For each serving, place 2 pieces of

toast side by side on an oven proof plate. Place 3 slices of bacon and

3 ounces of turkey on each piece of toast. Cover with white sauce.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and cook for 15 minutes.


White Sauce (Béchamel)


This is the most versatile of the mother sauces. By adding shredded

cheese, you have what is known as a Mornay Sauce. Because of the

lack of bold flavors, anything added to this sauce brings a new flavor

to the sauce.


2 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Dash white pepper

Dash nutmeg

1½ cups milk


In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in the

flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Cook until evenly combined. After the mixture is combined with no lumps, slowly add the milk, stirring constantly with a wire whisk until evenly blended. Stir sauce over medium heat until the mixture bubbles across the entire surface. Cook and stir for a couple more minutes to completely cook the flour into the sauce.


Fudge Pie


Here’s my all-time favorite pie. It is the recipe that she was asked to share the most. Of course, all of the family was always asking her to make that for us.


1 square unsweetened baking chocolate

½ cup margarine (2 sticks)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 325℉ and grease a 9 inch pie pan. In a double boiler, melt chocolate. Cream margarine until soft. Gradually add sugar and continue until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating hard after each. Stir in the chocolate. Mix in flour and vanilla extract. Pour into pie pan and bake 30 minutes. At dessert time, cut into wedges and serve with ice cream.


I have so many fond memories of my mom in the kitchen. I don’t know which I would like to do more. Either cook with her again or cook for her again. I know she’s looking down on me encouraging me every time I step in front of the stove. I only wish I could have shared the joy of my two cookbooks with her. Treasure your mom. There will come a day when she is a memory in your heart. Happy Mother’s Day!

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