The First Meal

“I had to start braising the beef, pork butt, and veal shanks for the tomato sauce. It was Michael’s favorite. I was making ziti with the meat gravy, and I’m planning to roast some peppers over the flames, and I was gonna put on some string beans with some olive oil and garlic, and I had some beautiful cutlets that were cut just right, that I was going to fry up before dinner just as an appetizer.” --Henry Hill

For our first movie meal, we chose to feature recipes from Martin Scorsese's masterpiece Goodfellas. Now, one might not immediately think of food when calling this movie to mind, but it is replete with delicious recipes and some really memorable cooking scenes: if you remember seeing garlic sliced paper-thin with a razor blade, then you're thinking of Goodfellas, and that's the garlic that goes into the amazing "gravy" (otherwise known as tomato sauce) for the pasta. From the pasta e fagioli to the lush wedding cake, all the dishes are first rate. It doesn't hurt that Scorsese's mother, Catherine, helped with the cooking during the filming, nor that Henry Hill, the subject of the movie, was a trained chef.

Given his family background, Anthony has had a lot of experience with Italian cooking, but Rusty less so, so for us, this meal was both a return to roots and a fun culinary adventure.

Here's one of Anthony's favorites from this movie: Pan-seared Rare Steak

One T-bone or Eye steak
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ onion, sliced
2-3 mushrooms, sliced

On a dinner plate, salt and pepper both sides of the steak; set aside. Over a medium flame, saute the garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes. Turn the heat to high, then add the steak to the pan. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. At the last minute, add the onions and mushrooms. Cover and cook for a few minutes more. Serve immediately.
Yield: 2 servings