Community of Cooking in Delmar

I love my job and all the opportunities it presents to be part of my community. People come in an share their lives with us. Food seems to just have a way of involving us into people celebrations, holidays, happy times, sad times too. Often, when someone has a loss, folks come in and ask us to create some meals that provide a bit of comfort.

It is one of the benefits of this business that I never expected. I have lived in my home for over 15 years and sad to say I know very few of my neighbors. Here in Delmar, I feel like I  have been blessed with a community that knows my name, gets my sense of corny humor and appreciates and reflects back to me my passion for food and flavors. Not only do they buy my food, but they share their cooking styles, experiences and recipes. Some times I am even lucky enough to have a customer bring me a taste of the things they have cooked. Many times when catering a party, people will give me treasured recipes and ask me to recreate them.

I had one customer come in and ask me to create a beef bracioli using raisins, olives, cheese and pignoli nuts, then simmer it in a tomato sauce. (For those of you who are not familiar with bracioli, it is a piece of flank steak, pounded flat and stuffed with all sorts of ingredients then rolled and tied and placed to simmer in sauce.) I had never made one this way before, seems like each Italian family has its own way of stuffing these. I was a wreck thinking that this was just going to be a disaster. Instead when this gentleman came to collect his order, he was so anxious to eat it that he opened it up and ate a piece on the spot. Tears came to his eyes, no, not from my cooking, but rather the memory of his grandfather. You see, for a moment he could conjure up his long lost "Papa" and remember what it was like to be in his kitchen. Cooking, food, family, friends...they are all connected.

Think about how often food has brought you and your loved ones and neighbors together.
How will does food and cooking effect you and bring you a sense of community this week?

Bracioli - My Grandfathers Recipe 


          2 lbs of flank steak
          2 cloves of minced garlic
          1/4 cup of chopped flat leaf parsley
          1/4 cup of grated parm cheese
          1/4 cup of bread crumbs
          Salt and Pepper to taste



Pound the flank steak between two sheets of plastic wrap, until thin but not broken

Salt and pepper the meat

mix the the remainder of the ingredient together
and spread it over the meat
roll the meat tightly and with butchers string tie into little bundles.

When preparing your tomato sauce sear the meat bundles in oil and remove.
Add all your sauce ingredients and put the meat back in and simmer until your sauce is done.


enjoy!