Firefighter Joe Carbonaro, left, is known throughout the Denver Fire Department for his Italian specialties. Extra crepes can be stored for 2-3 days, refrigerated. They can be warmed, filled with ice cream and fresh fruit, and laced with chocolate or fruit topping. Serves 3 firefighters or 6 ordinary people.
Ingredients
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus 2-3 teaspoons for coating pan
3/4 pound Italian sausage, removed from casings
1/2 pound frozen chopped spinach, thawed, with water squeezed out through a double thickness of cheesecloth
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups Pecorino Romano cheese, divided use
8 cups of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
Directions
In a blender, combine eggs, milk, water, flour, salt and 2 tablespoons melted butter for 5 seconds.
Over medium-high heat, coat a 6-inch nonstick skillet with a touch of butter. When butter bubbles, add about 1/4 cup of batter. Rotate and tilt skillet until batter is evenly dispersed. Once the edges start to curl, flip crepe and cook 10-15 seconds. Lay crepes on a clean countertop or towel. Layer between paper towels. Set aside.
In a medium skillet, fry sausage, taking care to break up lumps. Drain fat. In a large mixing bowl, combine sausage, spinach, ricotta, egg and 3/4 cup romano. Combine thoroughly with a rubber spatula.
Preheat oven to 400.
Ladle a cup of spaghetti sauce in each of two 9-by-13-inch glass casseroles and spread it across the bottom of the dish.
Put part of the spinach-ricotta mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze a line about an inch wide (or gently spread a dollop of ricotta mixture) across the crepe. Roll crepe and place it, seam side down, in a baking dish and repeat the process until the dishes are full. Drizzle remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle remaining cheeses over crepes. Bake 15 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. Serve hot.
Wine ideas: Don’t you just want to eat this dish now? It’s incredible: light and delicate, heavy and rich all at once. To put it over the top, pour a red from Salento in Puglia, southern Italy. It’ll have the richness to stand up to the cheese, as well as a delicate acidity and spicy flavor that keeps the wine from becoming overbearing. Taurino makes one of the best, at $50; great examples can be had for less than half that from producers such as Candido and Ca’ntele. -Tara Q. Thomas
Stan Smith’s TNT
In 1995 the McIlhenny Co., maker of Tabasco, sponsored a firefighters cook-off, and this tenderloin recipe from Stan Smith, below, took first place. He says to serve it over rice or noodles with a vegetable and bread. This dish serves 4-6 firefighters or 6-8 other people.
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 pounds pork tenderloin medallions, cut into rounds 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium red onion, cut into thin wedges
6 ounces Tabasco jalapeño sauce
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 10 3/4-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1 10 3/4-ounce can golden mushroom soup
1 red bell pepper, sliced in 1/4-inch strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced into 1/4-inch strips
12 mushroom caps, thinly sliced
2 beef bouillon cubes, crushed
Directions
In a large skillet, heat oil and brown medallions on both sides; remove from pan and set aside.
Add butter and onion to same skillet, sauté. Add jalapeño sauce and vinegar. Cook on low 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add undiluted cream of mushroom soup. Return medallions to skillet and spoon golden mushroom soup on medallions. Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
Wine ideas: Chile heat can often give wine a hard time, but the creamy soup tempers the heat, and makes this a terrific dish for a light red wine. Bardolino is often thought of as cheap ’70s stuff, but the light cherry flavors and frisky acidity make it an excellent companion to white meats in cream sauces (and it rarely runs more than $11); if you can’t find any, try a Valpolicella, a slightly heftier red from a nearby region of northern Italy. Dal Forno makes the definitive example, but it’s hard to find; Allegrini and Le Ragose make terrific examples for $15 or less. -Tara Q. Thomas
Delmonico’s Cinnamon Rolls
In sharing this recipe, Kenny Delmonico of Denver Station 9 insists he isn’t omitting any crucial ingredients – despite the fact that others in the station house say they followed this recipe to the letter, and theirs don’t taste like his. Tested at Denver’s altitude, makes 15-20 rolls, enough for 5 firefighters.
Ingredients
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cakes of pressed yeast
2 eggs
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups brown sugar (light or dark)
cinnamon to taste
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Icing
2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
extract
1 cup sour cream
Directions
In a large saucepan, heat milk, salt, sugar and yeast slowly, over low heat, until lukewarm. Slowly add eggs, butter and flour, and mix by hand.
Place dough on a floured surface. Shape and roll into 24-inch-by-24-inch square, about 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick.
Preheat oven to 350. After dough is shaped, brush melted butter over entire surface. Spread brown sugar over entire surface. Sprinkle with cinnamon to taste, then pecans. Roll dough into a 3- to 4-inch roll. Slice 1 to 1 1/4 inch thick. Place rolls flat on buttered cookie sheet. Allow them to rise at room temperature until they touch each other. Bake 20-25 minutes.
Combine sugar, butter, vanilla and sour cream until smooth. Drizzle over baked rolls. Serve immediately.
Assistant Chief Ron Moeder, above with daughter, Lt. Wendi Brock, earned a place on a Grandma’s Noodles pasta package with this recipe, which will feed 8 firefighters or a party of 12.
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 pounds Italian sausage, casings removed
2 cups diced green pepper
2 cups diced celery
1 medium diced onion
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 1-pound packages of Grandma’s Noodles
2 28-ounce cans tomatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 pound grated longhorn cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
In a dutch oven, brown ground beef and sausage, taking care to break up large lumps. Drain. Sauté green pepper, celery, onion and mushrooms until all are tender.
Cook noodles using directions on package and drain. In a large casserole, combine tomato sauce and soup with meat and vegetables. Add noodles and mix thoroughly
Bake for 35 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake another 10 minutes or until cheese melts.
Odie’s Firehouse Rice
If Firefighter Jerry Isom of Lubbock, Texas, could do this, he says, so can you. His recipe is adapted from “The National Firefighters Recipe Book.” It’s a good side dish for fish or chicken, and, the authors say, “It’s even easier than cooking that instant fluff with no taste or nutrients.” Serves 6 as a side dish.
Ingredients
4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup raw long-grain rice
1 20-ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups cold water
Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large mixing bowl, combine bacon, onion, rice, tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, butter and water.
Mix all ingredients together in 9-by-9-by 2-inch baking dish. Bake 45 minutes or until rice is done.
Station 6 Chicken Florentine
James Leo makes his own sauce to accompany this dish, but he doesn’t have measurements for anything. You have his permission to improvise. This recipe will serve 8 generously.
Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
Salt
Black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup olive oil, divided use
2 pounds fresh spinach
8 1/4-inch slices of mozzarella
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
Directions
Mix flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Dust chicken breasts on both sides in flour mixture.
Heat 6 tablespoons olive oil in a nonstick frying pan large enough to hold the chicken. Brown chicken 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken and place in a casserole. Set frying pan aside.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a separate pan, sauté spinach in 2 tablespoons olive oil with salt and pepper to taste. When wilted, place on top of chicken in the pan. Place a slice of mozzarella on each chicken breast.
Using pan that you cooked the chicken in, heat chicken broth, white wine and lemon juice until mixture thickens into a light sauce. Ladle sauce over chicken.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Serve with tomato sauce (below) and pasta.
Station 6 Tomato Sauce
This sauce is better if made in advance and allowed to stand for at least 4 hours, or overnight, refrigerated.
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
12 fresh ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped and diced
6 shallots, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In a nonreactive saucepan, heat olive oil and sauté shallots for five minutes. Add tomatoes and sauté 10 minutes. Add sugar, marjoram, thyme, garlic, if using), salt and pepper. Simmer sauce 30 minutes or until it thickens.
Stan Smith’s Lasagna Rolls
This recipe comes from Denver’s own Stan Smith, whose recipe was included in “The National Firefighters Recipe Book.” Serves 4 firefighters or 8 ordinary people.
Ingredients
1 small purple onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large red pepper, diced
12 fresh mushroom caps
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
1 pound hot sausage
2 8-ounce packages mozzarella cheese, divided use
8 ounces sour cream
3 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks
1 16-ounce can tomato sauce
1 16-ounce can tomato paste
2 tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoons black pepper
1 tablespoon seasoned salt
1 box lasagna noodles, boiled for 5 minutes and drained
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Sauté onions, peppers and mushrooms in olive oil 15 minutes on low heat and remove from skillet.
Brown ground beef and sausage in the same pan, drain and set aside.
When the vegetables have cooled, combine sour cream, egg whites, vegetables and half of the mozzarella in a large bowl.
In a large saucepan or medium stockpot, combine meat, tomato sauce, tomato paste, oregano, garlic powder, pepper and salt, and simmer 30 minutes. Remove from heat.
Lay lasagna flat on wet cloth. Spread 3 tablespoons of the vegetable-cheese mixture on each strip and roll, placing rolls side-by-side in a deep-dish casserole. Cover with sauce. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over top. Bake 25 minutes and serve with a green salad. Serve leftover sauce from a bowl with a small ladle.
Wine ideas: Lasagna on steroids, this meal-in-a-mouthful dish needs a wine brawny enough to handle all the richness without weighing down the dish. A Brunello di Montalcino would fit the bill: Brunello, a variety of Sangiovese grown in Montalcino, Tuscany, makes big, muscular reds with good acidity. Banfi makes the hallmark version. For a more affordable option, look to nearby Chianti and choose a Classico-level wine. – Tara Q. Thomas
Ceviche
Keith Young, a New York City firefighter and a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, dedicated “Cooking with the Firehouse Chef” ($16.95, HPBooks) to fallen colleagues, but wrote it for firefighters everywhere. Ceviche is actually “cooked” by the acid in the marinade, so if you don’t have impeccably fresh scallops, don’t even bother to try it, he writes. Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds fresh sea or bay scallops, rinsed and roughly chopped
Juice of 2 or 3 limes (about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, gently combine all ingredients and refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. Serve in a large martini glass with blue and white tortilla chips; with avocado slices; or on a bed of baby greens.
Steak au Poivre with Mushroom-Green Peppercorn-Dijon Sauce
Chef/firefighter Keith Young, author of “Cooking with the Firehouse Chef,” prepared this for a “food fight” with the New York City Police Department. The event was taped by the Food Network. Serves 2.
Ingredients
2 12 to 16-ounce boneless New York cut shell steaks
3-4 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided use
Kosher salt, to taste
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper (enough to cover both sides of the steaks)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced shallots
8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons green peppercorns packed in brine
Salt, to taste
Directions
Spread both sides of each steak with a thin coating of mustard. Sprinkle with salt and cover both sides with pepper.
Heat olive oil in a large, cast-iron (or enameled cast-iron) skillet over medium-high heat. Sear steaks 3 to 4 minutes on each side. They should be rare at this point. Set them aside lightly covered to stay warm. Do not wash the pan.
Heat butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat and saute garlic and shallots for about 1 minute. Add mushrooms. Increase heat to high and cook for about 5 minutes. Add broth, cream, mustard, [peppercorns and salt and reduce by half.
Over medium-high heat, reheat skillet in which steaks were cooked and return them to heat for about 2 minutes on each side for medium rare. Transfer them to dinner plates and top with sauce. There will be some left to pass on the side.
