PANAMA CITY — Chef Antonio Pasulo no longer runs an Italian restaurant, but he is still cooking.
“I never refuse a meal to anyone,” said Antonio, who was born in Brindisi, Italy, and raised in Florence.
On a recent Thursday afternoon he and his wife, Lisa, entertained new friends and longtime customers over dishes of lasagna and chicken picatta during a class at Somethin’s Cookin’.
“He used to bring me food. He thought I was malnourished,” recalled Lisa, who first met Antonio while she was managing a local general store.
She remembers the first dish he brought her, a Greek salad.
“We see a bone in Italy, and we give it to a dog,” said Antonio, who ran the Pasta Grill restaurant on Front Beach Road in Panama City Beach from 2004 to 2012.
As they talked behind the bar, Antonio threw a few slices of white American bread on a pan and toasted it in the oven, before slicing it on the diagonal for a quick crostini. The real purpose though was to show off his meat sauce.
“This is the real thing. Some people don’t know better,” said Antonio, as he spooned the meat sauce over the bread. “I’ve been making this all my life. I’ve tried many, but don’t think I ever found one close to this.”
Part of attending culinary school included working throughout the region of Italy, where he ended up finding things he liked, then making his own versions.
“In my younger days, I had the privilege of cooking for President Ronald Reagan for seven and a half years,” he said.
The meat sauce gets its slightly pink color from the heavy cream.
“The heavy cream is a balance,” Antonio said. “A little extra is OK. After a couple of minutes, when you add the cream, it goes back to red color, then add more. This sauce can get two to three weeks, because the wine acts as a preservative.”
The homemade meat sauce is the base for his lasagna — and how he likes to start his demonstrations.
“I’m making lasagna, doing something special. Everyone who would come to the restaurant knows what it’s supposed to taste like,” said Antonio as he cut 10 pieces for the class. “I bring flour, make pasta, bring meat, make meat sauce. Lasagna bakes 10 minutes — everything is already cooked.”
With a lot of flavors besides just tomatoes and meat, the lasagna was so moist and tender with thin lasagna noodles I barely had to chew.
“These noodles are out of this world,” said Peggy Childs of Windmark Beach, who was attending the class with her husband, Ron, “the cook.”
Besides helping Antonio during the demo, Lisa also was getting some fresh lasagna ready to go for bistro customers to pick up and take home.
The Pasulos make the lasagna at Somethin’s Cookin’ at least once a week.
Antonio, who said his noodles “are a lot easier to work with” than store-bought, also recently taught a private pasta class at Somethin’s Cookin.’
“Make this the day before and refrigerate, then cook and it makes 10 times better lasagna,” he said. “The pasta absorbs the flavors.”
Though plates were cleaned, food remained in serving dishes, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. In fact, Antonio and a few of the guests took inquiries as to how much could be eaten as a challenge. But it was just a lot of food.
“He does that,” Lisa said. “He did that at his restaurants too — huge portions and people would go home with boxes.”
Panama City Beach residents George and Lauretta Thompson were longtime customers of Pasta Grill restaurant.
“We used to go up there for lunch and dinner,” said George, who often would bring visiting friends with them.
Antonio added, “I miss my customers.”
“You can’t go anywhere and get good veal parmesan now. Nobody makes it like you do,” George said.
The Pasulos recently celebrated their 10-year anniversary.
“She’s a great cook, too, but from the South,” Antonio said of his wife, originally from Alabama.
“He cooks everything on high,” Lisa said. “When you cook at home, you cook to max. At home, I’m cooking, and he will say, ‘speed it up honey.’”
“I don’t have time to be wasting,” said Antonio, who also was busy preparing Chicken Piccata.
He started by taking each breast of chicken and “cleaning” it.
“You don’t want any fat on it. Take a knife and brush the chicken,” he said. “When I cut chicken I don’t cut it straight, sideways. I do the same thing with fish.”
Antonio sliced each chicken breast from the side lengthwise across the middle to divide it into two thinner pieces. Then, one at a time, he wrapped each piece of chicken breast halve in plastic wrap before pounding and stretching it about 15 times.
“The secret of cooking chicken is to make sure it’s always even pounded. When you pound meat, use plastic film and cover it,” said Antonio, who held up a piece to show off the equal thickness across the breast. “Look how much more even it is.”
The chicken was dredged in flour, then seared in a sauté pan of hot corn oil on the stove.
“I use olive oil cold — with salt and pepper for a salad, not for cooking,” said Antonio, who tries to watch his cholesterol and manage his diabetes. “Corn is for cooking; it can go as far as 375 degrees — don’t leave it on the stove though. The closest pan you can have to a restaurant pan is cast iron; it heats evenly.”
After the chicken was seared, Antonio removed it from the pan and set it aside. He then poured most of the oil out of the pan keeping about 1 tablespoon on the bottom, then added 2 tablespoons of flour, juice of 2 lemons, and capers. He then added the chicken back in the pan, and poured in about 3 cups of water and chicken base.
“There is no butter in it yet,” he said. “If I put it in before, it would attach to the flour and become clumpy.”
As the chicken simmered in the sauce, Antonio plated each dish with noodles, then topped it with chicken and butter and spooned the sauce over the top.
The tender chicken and pasta was light, yet satisfying, and it needed no seasoning, with enough saltiness from the capers and lemon.
“It’s a wonderful dish in the summer time,” he said. “It’s quick to make with the chicken. You also can serve the same sauce, a lemon sauce, over pasta. We did the same one with fish for Date Nite. If you want an extra piece of chicken, put it in for a bigger meal.”
This was the third class Sue Gibbs of Mexico Beach had been to in 10 days.
“He made it so much fun!” she said.
Bill Holland recommended a chianti or pinot noir for pairing with the chicken piccata.
“This particular meal calls for good chianti, picked pinot noir, little fruiter, light,” said Holland, who added, “I only chill wine 8 to 10 degrees.”
Chef Antonio’s Chicken Piccata
4 large chicken breasts, skinned and deboned
Flour for dredging, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
½ cup corn oil
3 teaspoons chicken base
3 cups water
2 tablespoons capers
2 lemons
2 tablespoons butter
Pasta
Cut chicken breast in half, wrap with Saran Wrap, then pound. Dredge in flour, sear in sauté pan with oil until golden. Remove most of the oil from the pan, leaving only about a tablespoon on the bottom. Then add 2 tablespoons flour, capers and juice of 2 lemons. Now add chicken to pan, water and base, then simmer and reduce sauce.
For each serving, put cooked pasta on the plate, top with two chicken breast halves and butter, then spoon sauce over the top.
Makes 4 servings.
May do same recipe with veal.
Source: Chef Antonio Pasulo
Meat Sauce
1 pound ground beef (80/20)
4 ounce mix of carrots, celery, onion
1 inch garlic paste or fresh garlic to taste
¼ cup red wine
28-ounce carton Pomi finely chopped tomatoes
Salt, pepper, to taste
Fresh basil, to taste
½ cup heavy cream
Put olive oil in pan to cook meat. Saute vegetables in oil; add garlic until just golden. Add vegetables and garlic to meat and stir. Add crushed tomatoes, red wine, salt, pepper and basil to the mixture and mix well. Reduce Continue cooking and reduce sauce, about another 20 minutes, then add ½ cup heavy cream.
Source: Chef Antonio Pasulo
Pasta
1½ to 2 pounds bread flour
10 eggs
Pinch of salt
Water
Mix flour, eggs, salt and enough water to make a smooth and workable dough. If it is too soft, add more flour until gets dry.
Make pasta at night before gets better wrap in plastic, flour continue to absorb eggs.
Slice it and put through a pasta machine, which has seven settings, gradually working the dough.
“I started at a 6, then 3, 5, 3, then I stopped — don’t want any thinner than that.”
Source: Chef Antonio Pasulo
(For more specifics or to inquire about a private pasta demonstration, call Somethin’s Cookin’ at 769-8979. The bistro carries Antonio’s lasagna and meat sauce, as well as its own fresh homemade pasta. Lasagna noodles from Somethin’s Cookin’ are available upon special request.)