Mother's Day
By Lidia Bastianich

I am fortunate enough to have four generations around me at all times, so Mother’s Day takes on truly special meaning. My mother helped me raise my kids and continues to help even my daughter Tanya raise her children, so as you can well imagine, there is a lot of mothering that goes on. We celebrate each other on this day either by going out or working together so that no one mother has the burden. When my children were small they would cook for me and I see my children’s children starting the same tradition. It is such a wonderful feeling for a mother to feel mothered every now and then.

This is a great day for dad and the kids to cook for mom and treat her to a special day. Let mom lounge around today and read a good book or let her have time to tend to her garden without interruption or give her a gift certificate to a spa. Whatever mom likes to do best to relax, when the day is done the coupe de grace could be dinner prepared by dad and the kids.

Small children can help by washing vegetable, setting the table or placing flowers in a vase. Older siblings may cut bread, chop vegetables or stir the pot with adult supervision. For this Mother’s Day menu the small children can wash the mushrooms and pluck off the stems as well as peel the hard boil eggs. Older siblings can cut the mushrooms, asparagus and scallions, as well as mix up the sponge cake dessert, which can be served plain or with freshly washed berries or maybe a scoop of ice cream the little ones can scoop out. You could even buy the sponge cake and have the kids serve up the whipped cream and fresh berries. It will end up being a fun time for dad and the kids as well. Don’t forget to clean up, leaving mom sipping coffee.

Scallion and Asparagus Salad
Lidia’s Family Table (Knopf 2005)

This is a great Spring salad with two long lovely green vegetables that have a real affinity for each other antipasto or a first course, or as a side dish to grilled meat and fish. You can serve this salad chilled but I like it at room temperature.

If you haven't poached scallions before, be sure to note how nicely it brings out the flavors in a mellow way. And here's a thrifty cooking tip: scallion trimmings are some of the most useful scraps in the kitchen. A handful of leaves and the root ends can make an instant broth, as a substitute for stock.

Yield: 6 servings

1-1/2 pounds fresh asparagus

3/4 pound scallions

1-1/2 teaspoons salt or more if needed

3-1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1-1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Freshly ground pepper to taste

3 hard eggs, peeled

COOKING THE VEGETABLES
Snap off the hard stubs at the bottom of the asparagus stalks — they’ll break naturally at the right point . With a vegetable peeler, shave off the skin from the bottom 3-inches or so each stalk so they cook evenly.

Trim the root end of the scallions and the wilted ends of the green leaves. Peel off the loose layers at the white end, too, so the scallions are all tight, trim, and about 6-inches long. In a wide deep skillet bring one quart of water (or enough to cover the vegetables) to a boil and add the asparagus and scallions.

Adjust the heat to maintain a bubbling boil and poach the asparagus, uncovered, for about 6 minutes, or more, until they are tender but not falling apart and cooked through but not mushy. To check doneness, pick up a spear in the middle with tongs: it should be a little droopy, but not collapsing.

As soon as they are done, lift out the vegetables with tongs and lay them in a colander (any fat asparagus spears may take a little longer so leave them in a few minutes more). Hold the colander under cold running water to stop the cooking. Drain briefly, then spread on kitchen towels and pat dry.



MAKING THE SALAD
Slice the asparagus and the scallions into 1-inch lengths and pile them loosely in a mixing bowl. Drizzle over the oil and vinegar over, sprinkle on ½ of the teaspoon salt and several grinds of black pepper. Toss well but don’t break up the vegetables.

Quarter the eggs into wedges and slice each wedge into 2 or 3 pieces; scatter these in the bowl and fold in with the vegetables. Taste and adjust the dressing. Chill the salad briefly , then arrange it on a serving platter or on salad plates.

IT'S EASY TO MAKE A HARD EGG!
Here’s my simple method for cooking hard eggs with nice color and good texture: Put the eggs in a saucepan that doesn’t crowd them together. Add water to cover the eggs by 2-3 inches. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat. Leave the eggs in the water until they’ve cooled to room temperature.

To peel, crack the shells a few minutes before you need the eggs by rolling them on a flat surface. Let them sit in cold water for a few minutes before peeling.

PORK SCALLOPINE WITH MUSHROOMS AND MARSALA—Scallopine di maiale alla marsala
(Knopf, 2007)

We have all seen countless dishes called “alla Marsala” on the menus of Italian-American restaurants. Too often, I have found, they disappoint me.

The pork scallopine I enjoyed at the Ferdinando brothers’ trattoria in Palermo reminded me that this simple preparation depends so much on the quality of the wine that is splashed into the skillet. And I was not surprised to learn that the superb sauce coating the meat was made with a carefully chosen Marsala, dry and aromatic. After all, the town of Marsala lies just a few hours west of Palermo and from that western tip of the island comes all authentic Marsala, in a wide range of vintages, colors, and degrees of sweetness.

The finest Marsalas, aged a minimum of 10 years, are ranked with the great fortified wines of the world—sipping one of these is a pleasure you shouldn’t miss. But for good cooking, I recommend a moderately priced Superiore (aged 2 years) or Superiore Riserva (aged 4 years). I always prefer dry (secco) Marsala, even for desserts like Espresso Zabaglione (page 000); for these scallopine, secco is a must.



Makes 12 scallopine, serving 6

2-1/4 pounds (or a little more) boneless center cut pork loin

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or more if needed

5 tablespoons butter or more if needed

2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or kosher salt or to taste

Freshly ground black pepper or to taste

1/2 cup flour or more

2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

3 fresh sage leaves

2 cups fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced (a single variety such as porcini, shiitake, cremini, white mushrooms, or a mixture)

1 cup dry Marsala

1 cup light stock (chicken, turkey or vegetable broth) or more

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Recommended equipment: * A heavy-bottomed skillet or sauté pan, 14-inches diameter


Trim the pork loin, leaving only a thin layer of fat and cut it crosswise into 12 equal slices. Using a meat mallet (or other heavy implement) flatten and spread the slices into scallopine about ¼-inch thick. Season lightly on both sides with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the scallopine in flour, coating both sides, and shake off the excess.

Meanwhile, put 4 tablespoons of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet, set over medium-high heat. When the butter begins to bubble, lay 4 or more scallopine in the skillet—as many as can lie flat without crowding—and let them sizzle in place until the underside is opaque and tinged with brown, about 3 minutes. Flip them over and color the second side for a couple of minutes, then lift out the slices, let the fat drain off, and put them on a platter. Add a bit more olive oil and/or butter to the skillet if it seems dry and fry the rest of the scallopine in the same way.

When all of the pork is browned, pour off the frying oil but leave any crusty caramelization in the skillet. Put in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of butter and return to medium-high heat. When the butter is foaming, drop in the shallots and sage leaves and cook, stirring, for a minute. Scatter the sliced mushrooms in the pan, season with ½ teaspoon salt and stir continuously as the mushrooms sizzle and start to release their juices. Cook, tossing and stirring, until the moisture has evaporated and the mushroom slices are shrunken, soft and caramelized, 6 minutes or more.

Pour in the Marsala, raise the heat and stir until it boils. Let the wine bubble and reduce for a minute or two then stir in the stock. Bring to a boil and cook at a gentle bubbling pace until the sauce is slightly viscous but loose, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

One by one, slide the scallopine into the simmering sauce and pour in any juices accumulated in the platter. Shake the pan and spoon sauce over the scallopine and flip them over once or twice, until they are heated through and glistening with sauce on both sides. If the sauce is too dense to coat all the meat, loosen it with a bit of stock. Turn off the heat, sprinkle the parsley all over and serve.



SPONGE CAKE
Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen (Knopf 2002)

Makes one 13 x 7-inch cake or two 11x 15-inch cake layers

Softened butter

7 large eggs, separated

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 tablespoons plus 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups sifted cake flour

Lightly butter a 13 x 7-inch cake pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper to fit the bottom of the pan. Fit the paper into the pan and lightly butter the paper. Preheat oven to 325F.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric handheld mixer until they turn pale yellow and take on a ribbon-like texture. Beat the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla into the yolks.

Clean the beaters well or the egg whites will not whip properly. In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites with the salt until foamy. Continue beating, gradually adding the sugar, until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted from them. With a large rubber spatula, scrape egg yolk mixture over whites. Fold the yolks gently into egg whites by scraping along the bottom of the bowl and up through the center of the mixture. Fold until just a few streaks of white remain. Sift the flour over egg mixture and fold it in gently.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is golden brown and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack 20 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely before removing the paper.