Subj : Moussaka was: Fajitas
To : Dave Drum
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Sat Nov 05 2022 12:07:36
Hi Dave,
DD> I've tried Olive Garden a couple times. Not been impressed either
RH> It was ok when there was no other Italian in the area. Carraba's is
RH> better, but my home made Italian is even better. (G)
DD> There is generally enough of a selection of ethnic cuisines that one
DD> can switch up from merely "OK" McItalian to a different (and well
DD> done) genre. We don't have a Carraba's here nor have I even visited
Depends on where you live. Some places where we've lived the only
Italian available was a chain, others had no chains but mom and pop
places. We have both locally, usually go to the mom and pop place.
DD> one whilst travelling. My favourite non-authentic Italian is a
DD> quick-serve (ala
DD> Panera or Steak & Shake but with Iralian favourites). The nearest one
DD> to me is a couple hours away in St. Louis. I make a point of stopping
DD> there if I'm in the area at lunch or ssupper time.
We have a Panera locally but we've only been there once, to use a gift
card. Got a soup and half sandwich combo, both of us went with the
French onion soup. Ended up being ok, not great, but warm and filling on
a rainy-ish day. There was a S&S in Raleigh when we first moved to the
area, not sure if it is still going as we've not been in that part of
town for a while.
DD> 8<----- EDIT ----->B
DD> The first time I had cacciatore it was served by Sammy (Salvatore)
DD> Zito, a retired coal miner who lived in a downtown rooming house run
DD> by my friend's mother. It was pigeon cacciatore made with birds from
DD> the roof of the building. And cooked on a one coil hot plate. Bv)=
RH> That was some creative cooking! The place I mentioned above makes a
RH> really good chicken cacciatore; it's my usual order when we go there.
RH> It's filling enough, that, with a salad as appetiser, I usually end up
RH> taking half (or more) of it home for another meal.
DD> Just using what was available (and inexpensive).
RH> Easy enough to make sauce from scratch but jarred will work if you've
RH> not got a lot of time. Just make sure it's a quality sauce to start
RH> with.
DD> Which is why I pay the bit extra for Onofrio's. I don't have to "tart
DD> it up" like I do with Bertolli or Ragu.
We found a pretty good one at Hanniford's this past summer. Steve had to
shop/cook for our mission team in VT; I was "out of it" (bronchitis, got
antibiotics, etc earlier in the day but was in no shape to cook). Our
traditional first night meal for the team is spaghetti with a home made
meat sauce. He ended up getting a jar of Hanniford's (IIRC, it was the
traditional) sauce, added some browned ground beef and had a good meal.
Later that week I needed some sauce for baked ziti so we went to
Hanniford's and got the same one. I don't recall if Steve added any more
spicing/garlic to it or not but I'd buy that one again.
