My Mom's Signature Dishes

By Michele

This one’s for you, Mom!

Today, on Mother’s Day, I am going to share with you several dishes that my mom made when I was growing up that stand out in my memory. Come along with me to find out what they were.

Appetizers in our home weren’t the norm. However, once in a while, before dinner, Mom served a cheese ball and surrounded it with cut raw veggies. Not just any cheese ball, a cheese ball covered in crushed pretzels. My siblings and I fought each other to get to the salty, crunchy covering of the cheese ball. I believe that surrounding her cheese ball with veggies was her way of enticing us to eat more vegetables! In her recipe, she used cream cheese and cheddar cheese. I updated her recipe by using vegetable cream cheese and herb Boursin and toasted pine nuts instead of pretzels.

Her signature dish, chuck steak pizzaiola, was served with what we called dirty rice. Note that her dirty rice was simply white rice mixed with some tomato sauce from the pizzaiola, not to be confused with the authentic Southern dirty rice that includes pork, beef and peppers. Mom makes her pizzaiola in a pressure cooker (usually done in a ½ hour). Given that I don’t own a pressure cooker, I learned how to make her recipe by braising the meat in a Dutch oven. The measurements of her ingredients were a challenge, as mom just eyeballed them. I prefer measured ingredients, so it took some time to get the measurements down. In the end, Mom approves and loves my recipe, though she thinks it takes way too long from oven to table (about 2½ hours).

If time permitted, mom’s favorite dessert, pineapple upside-down cake made an appearance on our kitchen table. This was an easy and quick recipe - boxed yellow cake mix, canned pineapple rings and maraschino cherries. You can exhale now as I’ve altered her recipe, and my version of the cake is somewhat healthier and mom-approved!

Before I share the recipes, let me extend to all mothers and grandmothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day! I hope this day brings you warm and wonderful memories of and with your mom, be it in the kitchen, at play or in her arms.

 Chuck Steak Pizzaiola

Braising the meat takes a bit long, but the time spent bathing it in tomatoes results in meat that is savory and pulls apart easily.

Ingredients

2½ pounds bone-in chuck steak, about one inch thick, trimmed of excess fat

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed later

1 small onion, roughly chopped

2 medium green peppers, seeded and cut in one-inch strips

10 garlic cloves, cut in half or thirds depending on size

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

6-oz. can tomato paste

28-ounce can peeled plum tomatoes, hand squashed before cooking

½ teaspoon of sugar

Splash of red wine, optional

Fresh parsley for garnish

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Pound steaks with a mallet. Season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat and swirl in the olive oil. Brown the meat about four minutes on each side. Remove the meat from the skillet and place on large plate.

3. Add peppers, onion, and garlic and sauté for two minutes. Add in oregano, basil, tomato paste, and tomatoes. Stir to combine, then return the meat and their juices to the pan, spoon the sauce over the meat.

4. Cover pot and braise in the oven until tender, about 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Uncover and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the meat pulls apart easily.

5. Serve atop dirty rice, drizzled with a little evoo on top, and garnished with chopped fresh parsley.

Dirty Rice

Make your favorite white rice (white, basmati or jasmine) and add some of the sauce from the pizzaiola.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Mom loves this version of the cake mostly because of the added toasted coconut and buttery crunchy sides of the cake.

Topping Ingredients

¼ cup salted butter, melted

2½ cups brown sugar, light or dark, tightly packed

4-5 pineapple slices, patted dry

2 strawberries, sliced in 4-5 rounds to fit in circle of pineapple slices

Vanilla Coconut Cake Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup whole milk, at room temperature

¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted  

Topping Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Pour melted butter into 9.5-10" pan (I used a square pan), make sure it covers the bottom of the pan and use a spatula to grease the sides of the pan.

3. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over butter mixture. Arrange whole pineapple slices over the bottom of the pan, add slices as needed.

4. Place strawberry slices in center of pineapple rings. Set aside.

Cake Preparation

1. Beat butter and sugar in medium-sized bowl until creamy and well-combined.  

2. Add eggs, beating one at a time, until combined.  

3. Stir in vanilla extract.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  

5. Using a spatula, alternate adding flour and milk to the wet ingredients, starting and

   ending with flour and mixing until just combined after each addition. Gently mix in coconut flakes. Do not overmix.

6. Pour batter evenly over the pineapple/strawberry layer.  

7. Bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

8. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then, using a butter knife gently loosen cake from sides and carefully invert cake onto serving platter (it will still be very hot!). 

Cheese Ball

Ingredients

7.5 oz. vegetable cream cheese, at room temperature

5.3 oz. Boursin Shallot & Chive cheese, at room temperature

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

Everything bagel seasoning

Garnishes can include, sliced carrot, celery, apple, and crackers, nuts.

Preparation

1. Place cheeses in a medium bowl and mix to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours.

2. Shape into a ball and roll into nuts and sprinkle with everything spice seasoning.

3. Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with garnishes, as desired.