Did you miss me?? (please say yes as I am very sensitive).  Well, I missed blogging for all of you.
Spend a wonderful 2 weeks with my family on the MSC POESIA cruising thru the beautiful and some-
times angry seas of Northern Europe, from Sweden to Denmark to Germany to Norway to the Faroe
Islands to three stops in Iceland to the Shetland Isl(nope, didn't make it there, that was one of the
angry sea days, a true Deadliest Catch Perfect Storm type 40 hours so the Maestro of the ship
said too rough to dock in the Shetlands, insert 4 green sad faces here) to Northern Germany and
back to Denmark.  Amazing and spectacular in every way.  The ship is an Italian line, our second on
the line and ALL the food, or 90% of it served 3 times a day is Italian. I will be blogging more about
the various places and foods in upcoming blogposts, but for today, I'm back in my kitchen at home
and found a floundering bunch of Swiss chard in the bin.  The stalks were still firm, but the leaves
started to wilt a bit. So, best way to treat this would be to make a saute' sauce for macaroni (pasta).
  Cut the stalks into 1/2 pieces after
thoroughly washing in at least 3 rinses of water 2 bunches of Swiss Chard.  Add them to a large
skillet with 3 tbs. of extra virgin olive oil and 1 small onion, diced.  add 1/2 tsp. of salt.  Let this saute'
on medium for a good 10 minutes to soften the stalks.  Then chop the leaves and add them, they
will cook in seconds.  Mix well and add 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic, a pinch of pepperoncino and
1 anchovy filet.  Let the anchovy melt into the pan then stir.  Cook for 2 minutes, don't burn the garlic.
Now add 1 can of Italian Cherry Tomatoes..seek this product out..they are a pantry staple in my home.
They cook very quickly..not good for long cooked sauces, Save your San Marzanos for that. Blend in
the tomato and cook for 20 minutes on medium/low.  btw, BIETOLE is Swiss Chard in Italian.

This little can is cooking magic...While your pan sauce is cooking, cook a 1 lb box of
Rigatoni (deCecco Imported is my preference) according to directions.  When you are
at the al dente stage, drain and add the Rigatoni to the pan. 


blend well and cook on low for an additonal 3-5 minutes.  Turn off the heat and grate in
1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano.  Mix. 



Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, mix..then serve (serves 4-6) topping each bowl of
Rigatoni with more Pecorino and a pinch of pepperoncino.
E' cosi' (means, loosely, there you have it).  Italian food is simple...you taste all the
chard in this along with the background flavors that are all carried by the oil and tomato.
So Welcome Home to me, and very happy to be blogging for you again!