by Maria DiRico
“Use mine,” Cammie jumped in. “I’ll take you there.”
Mia shot Cammie a look that said, seriously? “I thought you were leaving.”
“Not anymore,” Cammie said, fixated on Shane.
“Good-bye, Cammie.” Mia picked up the bags Cammie dropped and placed them in the woman’s hands. She took Cammie’s arm, led her to the front door, and gently pushed her out. Mia’s cell phone rang. On the chance it might be a customer, she took the call. “Belle View Catering Manor, hold on a minute, please.” She covered the phone with her hand. “Dad, can you take Shane to my office?”
“You betcha. Andiamo, il mio amico. Come, my friend.”
The men disappeared and Mia returned to the call. “Thank you for waiting. Can I help you?”
“Mia, hi, this is Alicia Cohen.”
Alicia Medaglia Cohen. Grand niece of the late Gugliemo and high school arch nemesis. This should be interesting.
“Hi, Alicia. It’s great to hear from you.” Mia lied. She walked toward her office as she talked. “What’s up?”
“I’m hoping you can help me. I don’t know if you heard but Versailles on the Park went out of business.”
“Yes, I know. The owner and his chef were arrested.” Thanks to me, Mia thought but didn’t say. “Talk about drama, huh?” She couldn’t resist slinging Alicia’s put-down of Belle View back at her.
“I’m throwing a surprise party for my husband Max a week from Saturday, but I need a new location now. I thought I’d see how much it might cost to move it Belle View. You know, seeing how we’re friends and all.”
Cheapskate was Mia’s annoyed reaction to this ploy on Alicia’s part to milk a deal out of Mia. She arrived at her office, where the preternaturally gorgeous Shane was bent over the computer keyboard, typing and mousing up a storm. He gestured to the screen. “I redid the Belle View gallery of photos,” he said in a whisper.
Mia peered at the gallery’s new design. There were less pictures and the ones he’d kept were framed and labeled with a crisp new font. “Shane, that looks great.”
She heard a small gasp from Alicia. “Did I just hear you say Shane?”
“Yeah.”
This elicited a squeak from the woman. “You-you wouldn’t be talking about Shane Gambrazzo, would you?”
“Yes, he happens to be in my office right now.”
“OMG. He’s back in town?”
I had no idea he ever left. “I guess so. So, back to your party. I’ll price a couple of options for you and—”
“Whatever you say. It’s booked. We are so there.” Alicia spilled this out with the excitement of a tween at a meet-and-greet with her favorite boy band. She ended the call by squealing, “OMG! Shane Gambrazzo!”
Shane, absorbed in updating the Belle View website, embarked on another flurry of typing. “I fooled around with the homepage. What do you think?”
Mia didn’t even bother to check out the changes he’d made. “I think,” she said with a wide grin, “you’re hired.”
RECIPES
Easiest Lasagna Ever
Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 lb. ground turkey
A box of no-boil lasagna noodles (you won’t use it up)
1-2 containers of 2% (part-skim) ricotta cheese
1-2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 cup grated parmesan
1 tablespoon Italian herbs
2 jars of your favorite tomato sauce (mine is any from Trader Joes!)
Directions:
Heat up the two cloves of garlic in some olive oil, and then add a pound of ground turkey.
Cook the turkey through, and then add ajar of TJ Organic Basil Marinara Sauce (or the sauce of your choice). Simmer for ten minutes on low heat.
In an 8-x-8-inch—or bigger, if you think you’ve got too much turkey—glass or metal pan, put down a layer of sauce, and then add a layer of the no-boil lasagna noodles.
Top the lasagna noodles with another layer of sauce, and then cover with some of the mozzarella, parmesan, and ricotta. Sprinkle some of the herbs over this.
Keep layering pasta, sauce, cheese, and herbs until you fill the pan. The final layer can be pasta covered with sauce. And cover the pasta thoroughly so that the sauce softens the pasta.
(NOTE: I try to make my lasagna the night or morning before I’m serving it so that the lasagna pasta gets thoroughly softened. I find if you don’t do that, the pasta can get hard and not cook thoroughly.)
Bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour or an hour, depending on the lasagna size. Since the meat is cooked, what you’re doing is cooking the noodles through and melting the cheese. Determine this by sticking a knife in the center and seeing if it comes out hot. If it pulls out some stringy cheese, you’re in good shape.
Then, mangia!
Serves 4-6.
Potato and Beet Salad
Ingredients:
3 lbs. Yukon Gold (or red) potatoes, cooked, chilled, and cut into chunks. Whether you peel the potatoes or not is up to you. I generally don’t, especially with the Golds. I also cut them up before I cook them because the smaller pieces cook quicker.
3 hardboiled eggs, diced
1 lb. cooked, chilled beets, cut into small chunks
¾ cup low-fat (or regular) mayonnaise
½ cup sweet relish
2 T. minced scallions
1 T. minced banana peppers
1 T. brown mustard
1 T. minced dill pickle
1 T. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. black pepper
Paprika for garnish
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients except for the potatoes and diced eggs. When the other ingredients are all well blended, gently fold in the potatoes and diced eggs. “Gently” is the operative word here, in case the potatoes are a bit overcooked. You don’t want your potato salad turning into mashed potato salad!
Serves 6-8.
Honey Phyllo Rollups
Ingredients:
The cookies:
2 cups ground nuts—walnuts, pecans, pistachio, or almonds work. Baker’s choice
¼ cup sugar
2 tsps. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
24 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
½ cup butter, melted
The syrup:
½ cup honey
½ cup white sugar
½ cup water
1 T. lemon juice
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the ground nuts, sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Set aside.
Place two sheets of phyllo dough on a sheet of parchment paper larger than the dough. Brush the phyllo dough with melted butter. Sprinkle the dough with ¼ cup of the nut mixture. Roll the dough tightly but carefully from the long side upward, creating a slim log. Slice the log into four pieces and set each into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish. You can pack the rollups tightly—they won’t expand. (Note: keep the unused phyllo dough covered with a wet cloth or paper towel so that it doesn’t dry out.) When you’ve finished making the rollups, bake for 14-16 minutes until they’re light brown. Let them cool.
While the rollups are in the oven, make the syrup. In a small saucepan, combine the honey, sugar, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for around five minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for about ten minutes.
Spoon the syrup over the rollups. If you have any leftover nut mixture, sprinkle it over the rollups.
Serving: 24 rollups.
Cannoli Cake
NOTE: Step one is draining the ricotta so that your filling doesn’t end up watery. I wrap mine in cheesecloth, then place it in a strainer that fits over a mixing bowl. I set a heavy can on top of the cheesecloth-wrapped ricotta and let it drain overnight in the refrigerator.
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 package white c
ake mix
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
Filling:
1 16 oz tub ricotta, drained (see above instructions)
1 8 oz container mascarpone cheese (doesn’t have to be drained if it has the consistency of cream cheese)
1 8 oz container cream cheese (regular or light)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. orange juice
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup to 1 cup of mini chocolate chips
Instructions:
The cake:
Preheat oven to 350.
Beat the cake mix with the yogurt, oil, and water—slowly at first to combine the ingredients, then on medium speed for two minutes. Pour the batter into two 8” cake pans.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely.
Filling and frosting:
Beat the ricotta, mascarpone, and cream cheese together until thoroughly blended. Add the vanilla, orange juice, almond extract, cinnamon, salt, and powdered sugar until all are well combined. (NOTE: add the sugar one cup at a time and mix slowly at first so that powdered sugar doesn’t go flying out of the mixing bowl. Trust me, it happens!)
Gently fold the chocolate chips into the filling mix by hand. Start with half a cup of chips. Add more if desired.
Assembly:
Flip the first cake layer out of its pan onto a plate upside down, so that the flat bottom is on the top. Add a heaping amount of filling and spread it. Place the second layer on top and frost the top and sides with the filling. (NOTE: add the second layer right-side up, so the flat bottom sits on top of the first layer.)
Serves 8-16, depending on the size of the slices.
EVENT TIP
Looking for a fun party favor? Try personalized refrigerator magnets. We gave out pretty ones at our wedding, decorated with our names, our wedding date, and a tiny rose because we got married in a rose garden. My husband and I have been married over twenty-five years and friends tell us they still have the magnets on their fridges. They’re great for birthdays, anniversaries, and even baby showers. If you know a baby’s name and gender, they even make a sweet gender reveal. Order them in pink or blue, personalized with the baby’s name.
A quick note about giving edible favors. In Long Island Iced Tina, stepmom Tina gives chocolate rattles as the party favor. Yes, they’re delicious, but edible favors don’t make lasting memories. They’re gone as soon they’re eaten!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Heartfelt thank-you to my wonderful editor, John Scognamiglio, as well as everyone at Kensington for offering constant support and enthusiasm for this series. A shout-out to my agent, Doug Grad, whose unerring instincts found the perfect home for the Catering Hall Mysteries. Buckets of love to Jer and Eliza, for putting up with me and not becoming annoyed when I say, “I can’t talk, I’m writing!” even though my head is in the fridge and I’m scrounging around for snacks. To my dear friends at Chicks on the Case and the Guppies, and all the bloggers who’ve reviewed and shared my posts (hi, Dru Ann Love!). Special thanks to Vickie Fee for fact-checking my Catholic memories. And a bazillion grazies to my fantastic Italian family . . . especially mia mama, Elisabetta DiVirgilio Seideman.
To the copy editor: Thanks for a great edit!
