An Herbal Feast for the Holiday Season

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Recipes For a Herbal Feast:

• Nana's Artichoke Frittata
• Focaccia
• Sicilian Caponatina
• Roasted Sicilian Peppers
• Linguine con Pesto
• Polenta con Funghi e Formagio
• Pollo alla Frederico
• Nana Mirabile's Mint & Applecello Cake 

A holiday get-together can be cause for much celebration. It also can become a stress-fest that brings out our  worst fears and performance anxieties. This year, skip the tension. Enjoy your own party by following some sage—and basil—advice from Kansas City chef and restaurateur Jasper Mirabile Jr.

Namesake of the Mirabile family-owned Jasper’s Italian Restaurant, Jasper knows the joys and potential pitfalls of cooking for a crowd. He’s been immersed in food preparation for as long as he can remember. His father, Jasper Mirabile, opened Jasper’s in 1954. Family life revolved around the business of food. Jasper Jr. and his three brothers gravitated to the restaurant, spending time with their father and learning the restaurant business.

“It’s something all the boys did. If you wanted to see my father, you went to the restaurant,” he says.

Dining at Jasper’s feels like being admitted to a cozy club—a tucked-away spot for people who appreciate food and shun pretention, an apt atmosphere for a place where the emphasis is on food and family. The kitchen staff—sous chef, pasta and pastry chefs, sauté cooks—is composed of long-time employees who have been with the restaurant for decades. Three generations of Mirabiles test dishes together on Sundays.

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