Nana’s Creole Italian Table

I am most definitely a free-association thinker. I will be thinking of one thing, and then that will take a turn that will lead me to another direction, then something else will turn my direction once again, and so on and so on, until eventually I get back to my original thought. This happens all the time. This is just how I think, how I cook and how I operate. It’s just who I am. 🙂 I bring this up because this is how I was lead to the discovery/purchase of yet another fun cookbook, Nana’s Creole Italian Table, by Elizabeth (Liz) Williams.

I was doing some research on something, I don’t even remember what I was originally looking into, that lead me to a website about the Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans, founded by Liz Williams. The website is really cool, and I would absolutely love to go visit this museum if I am ever in New Orleans again; and I digress once again. 🙂 The more I delved into the website, the more cookbooks I saw that I was interested in. You know, you can NEVER have your last cookbook. And yet again, one thing lead to another, and I now I have yet another fabulous new cookbook adorning my ever growing and overflowing bookshelves.

Even when I ordered the cookbook, I must have been distracted, because I thought I could just order it and have it delivered to me. But then I received an email stating my book was ready for me to pick up. Well, I live in Denver and the cookbook was in New Orleans, so that wasn’t going to work. I reached out to Liz Williams and explained the situation, and she was so sweet and so kind. She said no problem, and she would send me the book. My lack of ability to focus actually worked in my favor though, at least this time, because I received an autographed copy of the book that I would not have received otherwise. So I guess sometimes it pays to be a bit of a space cadet. 🙂

And I have already made something from it, which was just a slight variation of what I was going to make anyway. I made pesto for my pasta, but I made my pesto with some influences from Nana. Of course I still did my own thing, and I added lemon olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar, instead of just lemon zest. One of the ideas that Liz stated in her book, though, was how recipes evolve, from one household to another, from place to place. Recipes certainly evolve in my kitchen too, that’s for sure. 🙂

Nana’s Pesto

3 cups fresh basil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmagiano cheese

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts or almonds

1/2 tsp lemon zest

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

Add everything to the food processor and process until it is a liquid.

My recipe, is very, very similar, though, I confess, if I am cooking, I never measure anything. I only measure if I am baking. And I did not use lemon zest this time, but instead I used lemon olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar, as well as quite a bit of fresh ground black pepper. These very simple and subtle changes are the changes that transform recipes into your own recipes. Start with the basics and then re-create from there. No need to constantly reinvent the wheel, or in this case, the recipe.

And my pesto pasta dish for last night’s dinner.

As Liz wrote to me, ” Mangia bene!” or eat well.

If you would like to visit the Southern Museum of Food & Beverage, it is located at 1504 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113 (Directions) | P: (504) 569-0405 | F: (504) 587-7944. You can call or visit their website too at https://www.sofabinstitute.org/

Have a great day and make everyday great. Laissez le bontemp roulez! Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.