JAY – Carole Holt says that she didn’t cook much until she was married.
“When I first got married, I was making a pumpkin pie and it wasn’t done, but the crust was burning,” she said. She called her mom to find out why she was having problems with her pie. “I had just put the pumpkin in the pie crust and not all of the other ingredients.”
She has learned a lot since that first pumpkin pie, and the family and friends she cooks for appreciate her cooking. Holt loves to cook and bake, especially for family gatherings. She and her husband, Danny, have three grown children and six grandchildren.
Holt’s favorite dishes to prepare are Italian. “I’m Italian … ever since I was a little girl, we had homemade ravioli for Christmas Eve,” said Holt. Now she makes this traditional dish for this holiday. “It isn’t Christmas Eve without it,” she said. “And we eat it with Italian cookies.”
Most of Holt’s recipes come from her mother. Both of her parents are Italian; her dad emigrated from Italy.
Since Holt uses a lot of garlic in her cooking, she said she has to have a garlic press because “I’ve got to have the real stuff.” She also enjoys her rotisserie oven. “I use it more than my big oven,” she said.
The best part of cooking for Holt is that she enjoys it. “It makes you feel good when someone likes it,” she said.
Holt works weekends at Forster’s in Wilton, packing plastics. When she is not working or cooking, she loves to do crafts. Her favorites are scrapbooking and cross-stitch.
Appropriately enough, “I made the kids a scrapbook recipe book with my recipes,” she said.
Pasta fagioli
(one of Holts’ mother’s recipes)
Ingredients:
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 small can tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can shell beans
2 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1/8 cup grated cheese
1 pound of elbow macaroni
Method:
Sauté pepper, onion and sliced garlic in the oil. When sautéed, add the can of tomatoes, tomato sauce and shell beans. Simmer for 40 minutes. When simmered, put through a sieve. Then add five to six cups of water to the juice. Boil and then simmer three to four hours. Add cheese to broth while simmering. Cook one pound of elbow macaroni, add to broth and serve.
Ma’s Italian string beans
Ingredients:
2 pounds string beans
1½ cloves garlic, cut up
¼ cup oil
2 small potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Cut potatoes in quarters. Cook beans and potatoes in pressure cooker for three minutes. When cooked, drain. Put in bowl and add oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix together. Can be served hot or cold.
Ma’s Italian cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup Crisco
1½ cup sugar
1½ cup milk
4 eggs
4½ cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
2 tablespoons anise extract
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat all the ingredients together. When beaten well, drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies.
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