About Michael

After completing high school in 1959, I went to Europe to study art. In order to have some extra money, I found myself working at several Italian restaurants. My mother’s maiden name was Florence Catherine Bacigalupo; the seeds had already been planted. When I returned home, I immediately began working at my father’s restaurant, Ken’s Steak House, where I designed the menu and was chef of “The Finale Room.” After a few years, I joined a partnership with my family and opened “Ristorante La Bimba.”

My mother, Florence Hanna, was a warm and wonderful person. She was very talented in many ways. She was a songwriter, and she was exceptional in the kitchen. Often, I recall her in the kitchen singing and cooking at the same time.

In our home town, Framingham, Massachusetts, my parents, Ken Hanna and Florence Bacigalupo Hanna, started a restaurant that I believe was called the 41 Café. But with my dad always out front and having what the Irish call “The Gift,” the restaurant, by popular demand, became Ken’s. As it enlarged and grew, it became Ken’s Steak House. My mother started serving a salad with the steak and potato meals. The salad became so popular; people were always getting refills. After years of fame, Ken’s Steak House was nationally famous for great steaks and great salads. Eventually, my father and mother started a salad dressing company with Frank and Louise Crowley, two customers who became good friends and finally partners in Ken’s Foods, Inc. The original dressing of my mother’s, as I remember it, became known as Ken’s Italian Dressing and finally as Ken’s Steak House Italian Dressing. Some nights as the family assembled for dinner, my mother would serve the meal; and then over dessert ask, “Michael, who do you think made this dressing?” “Was it me, or the company?” It was always so good; I’m not sure there was a difference.

My recipes are mine. Therefore, they are sometimes unique in order to achieve a desired flavor. The ingredients are a choice all my own. Taste my two favorites, Marinara Sauce and Béchamel Sauce, neither of which are conventional, and see for yourself. These recipes are the backbone of quite a few items.

The Italian food was first for me. I felt Italian cooking to be the food. From Marco Polo until now, the ability of Italians to make items taste good made them the forerunners of fine cuisine. For example, Northern Italian farmers have always had sausage after dressing out pigs for market. Pancetta always salted and stored with the sausages are some of the ingredients left for the “house.” As a result, “Bel Paese Pasta” is a wonderful recipe, very real to Italian homes. Fish and poultry are often used because of availability.

The knowing what goes with what has given me the direction and license to prepare food as I do. For this reason, I am emphasizing basic sauces that can be blended with so much of fish and poultry. Marinara goes very well with chicken, pork, sausage, pancetta, shrimp, scallops, cod, and swordfish. Marinara with pancetta becomes Amatriciana. Béchamel, with pasta boiled in Chicken Stock, becomes Alfredo. Marinara with Pesto is wonderful. Marinara with Béchamel becomes Red Devil. Béchamel with Pesto is out of this world. Béchamel with pancetta is a form of Carbonara. Scrod in Marinara with Pesto is Pesce Genovese. As you read my recipes, look for ideas and add-ons at the bottom of the page. All recipes are complete. The add-ons are just additional, if desired. To better understand the blending, take a tablespoon half full of the sauces you wish to mix and taste them. Pesto spread on garlic bread is very tasty. Pesto spread on swordfish or scrod or sautéed with scallops and shrimp is absolutely mouth watering. Sun-dried tomatoes sautéed with Pesto or Béchamel – even all three together – is an excellent dish. Once you have the basics, you can combine a little something with one or two other recipe items, and, “voila,” you have a meal. Italian cooking – to me – is combining things that belong.

For approximately forty years, I have been perfecting Italian recipes from restaurant to family portions. Quite often I have been asked for cooking advice and to share my recipes. For more than 10 years, my wife, Elsa, has been saying, “Write it down.” Finally I have, and here are the results.

I’ve explained the preparation in sequence in order to achieve the best results. If there is any item that is not clear to you, please write me and I’ll do my best to clarify it.

Enjoy the cooking. All recipes are made with high-quality, wholesome ingredients, and I consider them healthy.

Being able to cook is very satisfying for the joy of accomplishment, the capability of knowledgeable conversation, and, finally, enjoying its consumption.

Take your time. And, I highly recommend that you attempt the Chicken Stock and then the Marinara Sauce. These two items are the basis of many of my recipes.

Please enjoy my book. Hopefully, in the future, there will be another with many more recipes. If you make this first book a part of your cooking cuisine, the second book will be even more fun.