Today’s guest post is from renowned chef Mario Batali, as he shares some Michigan holiday memories from the Leelanau peninsula, along with one of his recipes! Check out the bottom of the post to learn how you can win a copy of his new book Molto Batali.
Thanksgiving has come and gone. And boy was it delicious. I know you’re probably too full to think about your next big meal. But just as you begin to see the bottom of your Tupperware container, it’s time to start planning the next big family feast for the holidays.
My family and I love Christmas more than any other holiday because it means we’re in Michigan. And while there’s little that rivals a New York Christmas, Susi, my boys and I can’t wait to be in Michigan, where the lawn is already sprinkled with snow (or blanketed if we’re lucky) and we can finally get some peace and quiet. Finally.
Christmas is also the perfect time to make some hearty and rich meals. In our house, that means lots of braising, pasta sauces, ragus and soups.
One of my favorite winter recipes is in my newest cookbook, Molto Batali. The Spaghetti Grossi with Hen Ragu is ideal when I’m in Michigan. The rich and complex flavors of the sauce make me forget that I started with a chicken. The meaty, hearty and earthy taste is just perfect for a chilly December night.
But the holidays are only as special as the amount that you give, and giving to others can be as rewarding as time with your friends and family. Though we’re doing for others throughout the year, at this time of year in our home, we try to make more of an effort to include philanthropic work. And this year, we’re giving back – lots! In conjunction with the launch of Molto Batali, The Mario Batali Foundation recently announced the “Molto Dollars” Matching Program, which is going to help raise 250K by February! And to help things along, I’m going to personally match the first 100K raised, and Aperol Spritz will match the first 50K, so your dollars are going a long long way. And when it comes to helping children, those dollars can really make a big difference.
I couldn’t be happier this holiday season, being in one of my favorite places surrounded by all of my favorite people. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have such a beautiful place to call my second home but even luckier that my family and I are fortunate enough to enjoy our holidays, with our health and a wealth of delicious food. Which is why giving back is even more necessary – so we can help others have that same feeling – there’s simply nothing like it in the world.
Enjoy your holiday season!
Spaghetti Grossi with Hen Ragu
Recipe courtesy of Molto Batali (ecco 2011)
4 bay leaves
4 carrots, peeled
2 shallots, peeled
Salt
1 whole chicken (3½ to 4 pounds), giblets and liver set aside for another use
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2 medium Spanish onions, chopped into ¼-inch dice
2 celery stalks, very thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups basic tomato sauce (for quick results, try my Mario Batali pasta sauces by Gia Russa; see page 312)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1½ pounds thick spaghetti (spaghetti grossi; or use bucatini)
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 as a main
Pour 4 quarts of water into a 6- to 8-quart soup pot. Add the bay leaves, carrots, shallots, and 2 tablespoons salt, and bring to a boil. Add the whole chicken and boil gently for 35 minutes, until very tender. Carefully remove the bird from the pot and set it aside until it is cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile, strain and discard the carrots, shallots, and bay leaves from the chicken stock. Place the soup pot over medium-high heat and reduce the cooking liquid to 2 cups.
When the chicken is cool enough, remove and discard the skin. Remove all the meat and pull it apart into teaspoon-sized pieces. Set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the butter over medium heat until the foam subsides. Add the onions, celery, and garlic, and cook until the vegetables are soft and golden brown. Add the wine, tomato sauce, and 1 cup of the reduced chicken stock (save the remaining cup for another use), and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour, until thick. Remove from the heat.
Bring 8 quarts of water to a boil in a large pasta pot, and add 2 tablespoons salt. Drop the thick spaghetti into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the package instructions indicate. Just before the pasta is done, carefully ladle ¼ cup of the cooking water into the hen ragu.
Drain the pasta in a colander, and add it to the ragu. Toss over medium heat for about 30 seconds, until the pasta is nicely coated. Pour into a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately, with the Parmigiano on the side.
PLUS, Mario has ten copies of his book Molto Batali that we’re looking to give away! Here’s how to enter:
- Leave a comment on this post about your favorite Michigan holiday memory (only one comment per e-mail address please).
- On December 6th at 5 p.m., we’ll randomly pick ten winners and send each a copy of the cookbook. We’ll contact you using the e-mail address you provide (we won’t share it or sell it to anybody).
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Christmas in Michigan is just one of those things that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Our first Christmas in Leland…we’d bought our home in the fall, but we were still living in Kentucky, since we were honoring the rental for the winter that was in place before we made an offer. No matter, we decided to drive up and see a snowy Michigan Christmas, only to find unseasonably warm weather. So instead of a White Christmas, we raked our new yard. The renters waved from didn’t seem to mind. We never went inside that first Christmas, because we didn’t want to bother them. And where did we eat, you might ask…? The Flapjack Shack, which was the only place open!
I have found memories of watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on Woodward. My Dad would bring step ladders and a 2×8 so us kids could have a good seat for the parade.
I love the crisp cool air, the peace that overcomes you after the first snow fall. There is a magical charge to the air that always happens around the holidays, and it starts with this first snow. My favorite part of the holidays is gathering up the family and driving around looking at the lights that just sparkle and dance off the ice.
My favorite Michigan Christmas was when my whole family came to our house in Holland when we lived on Lake Michigan and spent a couple of nights. Some of us went sledding at Pigeon Creek in West Olive, while others went cross country skiing. We went down tour 75 stairs to the Lake Michigan beach for a brief photo shoot and snowball fight, as the wind was humming. We played cards, charades, and other games until late at night. After everyone went to bed Christmas Eve, “Santa” wrapped the entryways into the living room where the Christmas tree and presents were, with wrapping paper. In order to get into the room Christmas morning and open gifts, all the kids had to “rip” open the wrapping paper on all 3 entryways. They were so excited! We had a pretty good snowfall Christmas Eve so the stairs from our deck into the back yard were buried in snow. We smoothed out the stairs and went sledding down them – even the “grown ups” joined in. The kitchen was filled with great food and smells all Christmas Day with my mother in law making her famous turkey and stuffing. I’m so grateful we lived on Lake Michigan when we did – it was such a great place for the family to get together and enjoy the beauty of Michigan winters.
Wine tasting in Southwest Michigan was the best time!! We drove from winery to winery and tasted and tasted! Ended up having a wonderful dinner at Tabor Hill Winery before heading home. Lots of Christmas lights, great food, and wonderful Michigan hospitality! And we brought home a few bottles of Michigan wine too! Going back to St. Joe next week!!
Coming into Muskegon by Greyhound on Christmas Day to be home with my parents for Christmas. The trip was arduous enough, and dinner worth it!
I remember being up north at our cottage in Lake City with snow piled so high up the sliding glass door you almost couldn’t see out of it! We’d make snow hills out of the plowed mounds & get it so iced over you almost didn’t need a sled. Coming inside to warm up with family to eat a great dinner & open presents was the icing on the cake that night : )
My favorite Michigan Holiday memory is taking a walk through the woods in Port Huron on a snowy, snowy day. My husband and I were walking our dogs and the snow started to fall ever so lightly over and already blanketed ground. The silence and peace that surrounded us was so beautiful. As we walked we noticed a Holly Tree and its perfectly green leaves and bright red berries. What a GORGEOUS splash of color in the middle of our winter wonderland! I love Michigan. My husband and I still talk about that day with so much heartfelt emotion.
Home. It has been over 30 years since I was back for a Michigan Christmas. Christmas lights sparkling on the snow, going skating on Willow Lake, family gathering for the Christmas ham, sledding down the hill with best friends and the delight in the eyes of a loved one when opening that special gift. Home; memories of passed times with loved ones.
Enjoy Mario and family, you are blessed.
My favorite Michigan holiday memory are all the Christmas’ spent with my parents and grandparents and my whole family while growing up. Though they are not here with us anymore i will always cherish memories at Christmas time with family and friends. As having children and grandchildren of my own now, i am making new memories for them to share for years to come.
Favorite Michigan holiday memory was when the snow was fresh and powdery and the entire family would get together Christmas evening, eating freshly baked peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies with cherry &-Up around the fireplace.
Getting the whole family together, whatever the holiday, is always my favorite time. Members come and go and the memories evolve. Food is always central to our holidays, usually including French-Canadian necessities like potato dressing with our turkey, and Tarte au Sucre for dessert. Yellow pea soup is always on the New Year’s Day menu, using the ham bone from Christmas. Boy, I’m getting hungry just typing this!
We had gone up to Hillman to my aunt’s house and my cousin and I decided to hook up a toboggan to a rope and put it behind her horse. I was the first one to be on the toboggan and we headed down the road to go by her boyfriends farm. It was a nice snowy, crisp winter day and i was enjoying the ride when a dog came out from a neighbors farm and began to chase the horse. What followed was a ride I will never forget and it has been forty-five years now. It is amazing how fast you can go on a toboggan, up and down the ditches. close to the barbed wire and lickity split down a country road. My cousin laughed so hard and I prayed alot but we made it back home without a scratch.
My favorite Michigan Christmas memory is clearing off a spot on Lake Leelanau, flooding it, and then ice skating with cousins. Fun times!
Christmas time on our farm in Saginaw and all the wonderful days leading up to Christmas Day are memories I cherish. Secret conversations about family gifts, making dozens of old family recipe cookies and displaying them in big jars, putting up our big old fashioned tree with all those ornaments we kids made and the beautiful Latin midnight Mass at our church in Hemlock. And of course, Christmas morning! Wonderful!
My favorite Michigan holiday memory is picking up my hardwood salt and pepper grinders made in the USA….that are engraved with an autograph by you! Heartily grinding some coarse sea salt or pink peppercorn into any dish makes me feel purposeful. Thanks for these fine grinders. They are several years old now and in perfect, beautiful condition. So useful and such a cute accent piece in my kitchen. I’m cheating because they make me happy every day but I always cook on the holidays and I always have my hands all over those grinders for my perfect slow cooked holiday meal.
I’ve been lucky enough to spend every Christmas in Michigan, even though I now live in Chicago. It’s hard to pick just one memory, but since I have moved to Chicago it is even more special to come home to family and spend time in Michigan each holiday season. You don’t realize how much you love Michigan until you leave!
The five o-clock cut off ended for getting a free cookbook but I don’t care…here is my memory.
I didn’t grow up in Michigan but have worked her since graduating from nursing school. Since I don’t have children I volunteered every year to work in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit because the staff were like family. We really loved each other. One year I was recovering two patients that had open heart surgery. On Christmas one bed opened up on the step-down unit & I had a choice between two of my patients to go to this unit. One of my patients really wanted to go – the other was EXTREMELY nice. It was a no brainer. She stayed in the unit. When the breakfast tray came I turned it away. “But I’m hungry” she replied. No problem…I went into the nurses lounge & got her fresh fruit, fresh breads, pineapple orange juice from the blender & egg casserole. I told her now one eats better than the nurses in the Surgical ICU (SICU) on Christmas. Twenty nurses all bringing in their favorite dishes along with residents that we have included into our family.
I left the SICU a few years later (after I broke my leg on Christmas Day) but the staff from that unit have always been my family & there is no better place to be on Christmas than the SICU. Go visit one one Christmas & check out the spread! Even a top chef would be impressed – trust me.
Diane
I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Detroit, but EVERY weekend of the year… summer (yea… boating:), fall (leaf peeping:), winter (snowmobiling:), spring (okay, mud:(… my Mom, Dad & I headed to our cottage Up North. It was a rustic but comfy place on 80 acres overlooking a pond that was frequented by deer. It was fun to decorate for Christmas, especially the big stone fireplace. But the best part was that our Christmas tree was actually outside & my Dad covered it head to toe with lights. So we would sit all cozy in the living room with the lights off & look out the big windows at the beautiful tree that was sparkling under the stars, usually covered with snow, of course!
I’m originally from the U.P. so I know snow at Christmas! After moving down to Birmingham, AL for 3 years and “missing” the snow during December and January, coming back for Christmas our first year was a treat! My parents retired on Platte Lake in Honor, in Benzie County, so this is where we all meet for Christmas. Amongst others, my favorite memories are our annual family “Christmas Bowl” football game, baking 10 different kinds of cookies, and spending Christmas time inside a warm, cozy home as the white stuff flies all around outside. Splurging on naughty and delicious baked brie, spiral ham, and lasagna of all things also sticks in my head. I look forward to this Christmas, as it is our 2nd one back from the south.
So many! Really, hard to pick one. The first that came to mind however was New Years Eve at “Garland Resort” 4 months pregnant, first time and not realiizng “limitations” Went cross country out on their beautiful trails, barely craawled back….Enjoyed a fabulous repast at their gorgeous restaurant for New Years eve and sunk into slumber in the beautifully appointed rooms…..23 years later and it was like yesterday.
Kimberly
Micihigan has so many blessings, I moved her from the southwest 30 yrs , ago, to see snow at Christmas is like a story book. I work at an organic tea store in Leelanau, This time of year I hear so many heart warming stories from the people of this area, from lil girls heart transplant, to what a difference our teas make to the health of those in need. This wonderful setting of the tea farm and feeling the joy of giving is unexplainable, its a GIFT(to me) To see a deer in the snow by a pine, does it get any better than this simple pleasure. Nameste and Happy Holidays,
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