Giambotta

Hi All,

Quick update:  I have lost ten pounds since I started my new way of living—small portions, exercise, and, let’s not forget, “Reducing the Fat-Never the Flavor.”  Plug, plug, plug.  The book is also going well.  Most of the touching and funny stories in the book deal with my weight problem, being gay, and, of course, my family here in Jersey.  I don’t talk about it much in the book, but there was a time when I lived in LA.  I used to spend six months out of the year there for pilot season.  It was a blast.  I loved it and made some great friends.  The only time I really got homesick was on Sundays.  I knew my whole family would be at my mom’s having these wonderful Sunday dinners that my grandmother would prepare, so I decided to have my own Sunday dinners.  It started with just having a couple of friends over for dinner.   Well, it turned out that a lot of people were missing their family dinners at home; so from a couple of people, we ended up being twelve or more.  Everyone would take turns cooking a Sunday dinner.  On my Sunday I usually made everyone’s favorite, my grandmother’s Giambotta.  It’s great.  She made it with chicken, sausage, peppers, potatoes, etc.  I retooled it by using turkey sausage, sweet potatoes, and, of course, less fat.  Oh, please excuse the picture of it.  Christine, who takes all those wonderful pictures of the food, had to shoot a wedding the day I made the Giambotta; so the picture was taken by me with a little pocket camera—but  have no fear, she will be back for the next shoot.

Enjoy

Giambotta

Ingredients

2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts cut in 2 inch pieces

1 ½ pounds of turkey (or veal) sausage cut in 1 inch pieces

4 bell peppers cut in 2 inch pieces (I use different colors—green, red, yellow, orange)

3 peeled sweet potatoes, parboiled then cut in 2 inch pieces

10 medium size mushrooms, quartered

1 onion sliced

1 large clove of elephant garlic chopped

Olive Oil Pam spray

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 package of Good Seasons Salad Dressing

½ cup of white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Spray a large (6 quarts) pot with the Olive Oil Pam Spray, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the garlic and onions for about five minutes over a low heat or until translucent (not browned).  Turn the heat up to medium and add the chicken pieces to brown, stirring constantly to avoid sticking.  Add the sausage and continue to sauté for an additional 6 to 8 minutes, again stirring constantly to avoid sticking.  Add the colored peppers, the mushrooms, the sweet potatoes, the white wine, and the Good Seasons Salad Dressing, stirring to mix all the ingredients well.  Cover and simmer over low heat until chicken and sausage are cooked and the vegetables are tender.  This should take about 15 or 20 minutes.