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Thank You! The first episode of my first series aired on public television in December 1994. Today, a sunny spring day in 2017, I marvel at how far I have come from where I started. It is beyond all that I had ever thought possible. For the last 10 years, the sponsorship of Domino and C&H Sugar has allowed me to express my vision and to present our viewers with a television series that, I believe, represents the very essence of who I am. Thank You Domino Sugar! Thank You C&H Sugar! for making my television series and this book possible! Storyteller in the Kitchen The companion cookbook to the popular television series Book Design Paul Dillow Photography Dalen Muster Additional Photography Nanci Stellino Editor Sarah Hinton ©2017 Nick Stellino Productions Los Angeles, California All rights reserved. No part of this book may be repro- duced in any form or by any elec- tronic or mechanical means, in- cluding information storage and retrieval devices or systems, without prior permission from the publish- er, except that brief passages may be quoted for review. Contents Recipes Tuna with Puttanesca Sauce 85 Blueberry Crumble 87 Tortellini in a Creamy Parmesan Sauce 9 Maureen’s Farro Salad 90 Pasta with Clams “Essenziale Style” 11 Shrimp in the Pot 92 Chicken Scaloppini 13 Grandma’s Braciole 94 Apple Tartlet 15 Aunt Buliti’s Strawberries 96 Sausages Braised in Tomato Sauce 19 Chicken, Hunter Style 100 Nanci’s Pasta 21 Sautéed Green Beans with Garlic and Lemon 103 Pasta with Shrimp 23 Pork Chop Alla Milanese 104 Sicilian Fish Soup 25 Marinated Fruit Salad 106 Chocolate Cream Pudding 27 Braised Sausage with Artichoke 110 Braised Lentils 30 Pasta with Artichokes and Cooked Ham 112 “Mixed Up” Cauliflower 32 Braised Artichokes and Peppers 114 Pasta with Zucchini Sauce 34 Tipsy Strawberries 116 Red Wine Sauce 42 Mussels with Garlic and Ginger 121 Scalloped Potatoes 44 Swordfish with Peas and Tomato Sauce 123 Peppered Steak 46 Sicilian Watermelon Pudding 125 Sautéed Arugula 48 Salmon with Brussel Sprouts and Red Wine Stories Sauce 49 Pasta Alla Norma 51 Happy 4th of July! 7 Eggplant Rolls Stuffed with Ricotta 53 Imagination 17 Ricotta Pudding 55 Emmy 29 Sausages and Beans 58 An Old Box of Photos in the Garage 36 Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli and Sausages 60 A Grateful Man 57 Sicilian Salad 62 Mulligan 64 Shrimp with Asparagus, Peppers and Bacon 65 My Venetian Adventure 73 Shrimp Amatriciana with Pasta 67 Vincenzo 81 The “Dreaming Man” Salad 69 Nonna Adele and Zio Giovanni 89 Watermelon Salad with Tomato and Bacon 71 Massimiliana 98 Pasta with Spicy Tomato Sauce 75 I Have a Date with my Wife 108 Braised Sausages with Broccoli and Peppers 77 A Basketball Story 118 Banana Cream Pudding 79 Ode to Optimism 127 Tomato, Mozzarella and Onion Salad 83 4 Cooking on television was never some- thing I expected to do as a career choice but my passion for cooking became my profession. Mine is the story of a stock- broker who became a dishwasher, who became a chef and then a celebrity on television. Over a career that spans twenty-three years, my work has been televised in every country in Latin America, South Africa, Japan, Europe and in the Mid- dle East. This is just how things fell into place. I have been nothing more than the enthusiastic recipient of such great for- tune. In spite of the modicum of success in my career, I find it hard to stand tall in front of the world and beat my chest like a gorilla yelling, “Look at me, look what I did, I am famous!” I put very little stock in fame… I would rather be very good at what I do! My professional achievements were never the result of my single-minded approach. The road to my success is the result of many failures, far more than I care to report! I am, professionally speaking, the recipient of trust that people have given me and my ideas. I value this more than the air I breath. But even my ideas, when realized, are not just my own; they are the product of a collaborative process which involves a myriad of professionals as good as and far better than me. Professionally speaking I owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone at KCTS Channel 9 in Seattle, my original presenting station for over two decades. Everyone on that team helped me grow to the level I have reached now. We even won an Emmy together! I am grateful for everything my former teammates did for me, I love you all like family! I also would like to take a moment and thank my new teammates and partners at WCNY in Syracuse, who have joined me in this brand-new adventure and have supported my vision and my dreams. After many great and exhausting efforts to complete it, my new TV series:” Nick Stellino, Story Teller in The Kitchen”, is now airing nationwide on Public Television, my creative home for over two decades. Now let me introduce you to my partners in crime, the gifted team from Limepit Productions; Bill Bren- nenstuhl, Paul Stenerson and Dalen Muster my DP of photography. This group of true warriors joined me in this new adventure. They never left my side, even during the most difficult skirmishes. Even when faced with challenges so much bigger than our natural capabilities, we joined hands and found solu- tions together and… we did it. We developed friendships that go beyond our professional associations. We are a unit and I am blessed and fortunate to be part of this team. A special thanks to two more great professionals; Kyla Mactaggart, who ran my kitchen with endless en- thusiasm and Evelyn Osborn, who worked for me for the past three series and joined us in Los Angeles. A big huge thank you to my friend and webmaster, Paul Dillow, who has also designed this book. 5 I owe a debt of great gratitude to the team at APT and Create TV especially Cynthia Fenneman, Chris Funkhouser, Jamie Haines, Dawn Anderson and Judy Barlow. Thank you all for your friendship and support when I needed it the most. Also, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone at Domino Foods, C&H Sugar and espe- cially the team at Domino Sugar. The people at these companies helped me weather the most difficult times of my life. They did not just act as my partners in business, they have been my friends for over ten years and have helped me in clear and tangible ways when my spirit was at its lowest. They supported me when I fell, they helped me up and reminded me that I can do anything. A special thank you to; Brian O’Malley, Maria Machita, Tom Gould and Nancy Barbee, I could not have done it without your help. 2016 was the best year of my life and the worst year of my life. I achieved all I dreamed of, but I also lost my Mom. Massimiliana Boccato, who died unexpectedly in the midst of the television production. We stopped filming, put the project on hold and I went away to Sicily for a few weeks. In spite of my strength, my drive, my determination and my passion for life, I was in a bit of a catatonic state after her passing. It was my family that made me whole again. My aunt Buliti would drive three hours three times a week to bring food to my brother Mario and me. My Uncle, Michele Nullo, kept telling us stories of our past to keep us all smiling and my brother Mario helped me up when I was on my knees. No man is an island! As I look back at the finished product, I am in awe of how great it is but… take this with a grain of salt! After all this is me talking about my own work. You be the judge. If I was to be granted a wish, I would like to know that people found great joy and much happiness all wrapped in a million smiles when they read this book. I would like for my work to live on its own merit for a long time to come. I aspire to have my recipes and stories connect with peo- ple, even if they have never heard of me before. There is nothing more beautiful for me than knowing that with the millenniums that will follow, people will still cook my dishes and feature this great food around their own family table. Yet, at the end of it all, it should be recognized that none of this would have ever happened if it was not for my wife Nanci. I married her a bit over three decades ago and I still look forward to seeing her every day. Long before I amounted to anything, professionally speaking, she loved me for who I was. She always believed that I could be the man who would turn his dreams into reality. Nanci is the em- bodiment of all that is best about what I want in life. Without her at my side the world would not make much sense. I am not an easy man to live with, but somehow, she makes my life perfect, and when her hand touches mine, I feel the beauty of the universe in one breath. The great fortune I have in life is that I am grateful for all I have been granted.

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