Giulia cooked in the same way that she used her healing powers–with intensity, with passion and with generosity.  Whether she was rolling out pasta dough to a paper-thin layer that would lift if you blew under it or preparing hearty meals of sausage and peppers for the working men who frequented the Palace of Dreams, cooking was was her art, her refuge and her survival.

ARROSTO DI MAIALE (ROAST PORK)
In a chapter that was later cut from Dancing on Sunday Afternoons, Giulia prepares a feast for the christening of Caterina, her first-born child.  

“We had closed the Palace that Sunday.  Paolo and I were ready to celebrate, exhilarated by the joy of Caterina’s birth and finally released from the agony of uncertainty that had haunted the final months of my pregnancy.  It was also an opportunity to welcome Papa and the boys to America and to show off to Papa the gleam and polish of the Palace’s success.  I cooked for days ahead.  I had prepared manicotti, a cacciatore with rabbit, and sausage and peppers.  I made eggplant parmegiano and arrosto di maiale. Tilly had helped me bake a sweet ricotta pie with orange peel, a torta di nocciole, and two trays of anise cookies.  The morning of the christening, I heaped an antipasto platter with prosciutto, mortadella, salami, and soprasatta, roasted peppers, anchovies, olives, my pickled eggplant, provolone, and mozzarella.” 

Boneless pork tenderloin (1.5-2 lbs)
2 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or fresh  rosemary leaves stripped from 6 stems
2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Make slits in the pork and insert a sliver of garlic, some rosemary, salt and pepper.

Place roast in a shallow pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Roast in 400° oven for about 25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 145° on a meat thermometer. Rest the meat for five minutes before slicing.

I usually serve this with apple sauce or sautéd apples.

When Tobias first comes to the Boat House Café, Mae makes him a chicken sandwich; later in the summer, she concocts a wine-simmered stew for him from the rabbit he has trapped and shared with her. But it is also Mae’s pies that establish her reputation on the island. As the fishermen say, “She’s not got much to say, but bakes a damn good pie.”

RABBIT STEW

1 rabbit, about 3 pounds, cut into serving pieces
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 small stalk celery, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 small bay leaves

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or other large heavy pot. Brown the rabbit pieces and remove to a platter.

Add onion and celery and sauté until softened.

Add garlic and continue sautéing until onion and garlic are golden.

Return rabbit to pot and add tomatoes and wine, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add herbs.

Cover and simmer for about 35 minutes, until rabbit is cooked through.

Serve with noodles.

APPLE PIE
Pie crust
(for top and bottom of 9” pie)

1 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¼ sticks (5 ounces) chilled butter
2 tablespoon chilled shortening (Crisco)
1/3 to ½ cup ice water

Place flour and salt in food processor with regular blade and blend for 1 second. Rapidly cut butter and shortening into ½ -inch bits and drop into machine. Turn on for 3 seconds. Stop. Add all but 2 tablespoons of the ½ cup ice water and turn on the machine. In 2 to 3 seconds the dough should begin to mass on the blade and the pastry is done.

Turn it out onto a work surface and with the heel of your hand, rapidly and roughly smear it out in front of you to make a final blending of butter into the dough.

Form into two disks, flour lightly, wrap in plastic and a plastic bag, and chill for at least 2 hours before using.

Apple Filling
5 to 6 cups apples (peeled, cored, and cut into very thin slices)
1 cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter

Place apples in a large mixing bowl.

In a small bowl, blend sugar, salt, cornstarch, and spices until well mixed.

Gently stir sugar-spice mix into apples, coating them well.

Constructing the Pie
Roll each disk of dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick.

Press one circle in the pie pan and brush the bottom with egg white.

Fill the pie crust with the apples.

Cut the butter into small bits and place around the apples.

Cover the apples with the remaining circle of dough. Pinch together the top and bottom crusts and press together with a fork.

Cut vent holes in the crust with the point of a sharp knife. If you wish, decorate the center of the crust with scraps of dough.

Brush the crust with a beaten egg yolk.

Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 450 º. Reduce the heat to 350 º and bake for an additional 45 minutes.

JORDAN MARSH BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Mae’s first job in Boston was at the Jordan Marsh bakery, where “personal attention was offered along with the blueberry muffins.”

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
2 ½ cups blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar, for topping

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.

Sift dry ingredients together, then add alternately with the milk.

Fold in the berries.

Grease top of tins well.

Pile batter high in cups.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool in pans before removing.