When Ottavio Musumeci moved to America 13 years ago, he had "zero" English.
But at the time, all he needed were his skills as a chef. And maybe his wife, Bridget.
Now he owns Station Square Ristorante. The couple have a home in Howland and four children.
Article Photos
Ottavio and Bridget Musumeci show the food just prepared at their Howland home. Ottavio Musumeci is chef and owner of Station Square Ristorante in Liberty. From the front, roasted Yukon gold potatoes; fall pork chops with fresh apple; on the left, risotto with zucchini and fresh garden herbs; right, Mediterranean shrimp; and in the back, fresh marinated berries.
Bridget Musumeci, then Esposito, a 1993 graduate of John F. Kennedy High School, went to culinary school and then to Italy, where she started with "zero" Italian. She said she learned the language by working in a restaurant and being submerged in the culture.
"He learned English when we met and moved over here," she said recently at her Howland home while the couple prepared dinner.
Ottavio Musumeci got a job at Vernon's, where he said the owner and a couple other people spoke Italian.
Fact Box
Mediterranean shrimp
(each course for 6 people)
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup Station Square Chardonnay
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
Salt and pepper
Heat burner to medium-high. In large saucepan, melt oil and butter together, then add shrimp. Saut for 1 minute, then add tomatoes and garlic. Saut another minute, and then add Chardonnay and wait for alcohol to burn off (one minute). Next, add feta, salt and pepper to taste and chopped basil. Stir through and serve immediately.
Risotto with zucchini and fresh garden herbs
1/2 pound arborio rice
1 small minced Spanish onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 medium zucchini, chopped in small cubes
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped small
Salt and pepper
Rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, chives (fresh and chopped fine)
1 cup Station Square Chardonnay
2 quarts chicken stock
1/2 cup parmigiana cheese
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup olive oil
In a large pot over medium-high heat, saut onion in olive oil until almost tender (5 minutes).
Add rice and stir (as if toasting rice).
Add garlic, zucchini, tomatoes and salt and pepper (to taste).
Continue stirring for 2 minutes.
Add the Chardonnay and stir.
Next, add all the broth, stir and leave alone for about 15 minutes. Stir and taste rice. (You want to end up with rice that is a bit al dente just like pasta, not too mushy.) As soon as most of the stock is absorbed and rice is al dente, remove from heat and add cheese, butter and herbs. Rice is ready to serve.
Fall pork chop
with fresh apple
1/4 cup olive oil
6 5-ounce pork chops
Salt and pepper
2 medium Cortland apples, small diced
1 large Spanish onion, sliced thin
2 cups apple cider
2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped (in half)
1 tablespoon butter
Calvados (opt.), a French apple liquor
In a large saut pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Season pork with salt and pepper (both sides). Add the pork to the hot pan and saut until browned on each side, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Add to pan (the same pan) apples and onions and saut for about 8 minutes. Add the pork back into the pan with the apples and onions and then add 1/4 cup Calvados and apple cider. Reduce liquid (let cook and bubble for a few minutes). Lastly, add the butter and turn off heat.
Roasted Yukon
gold potatoes
10 medium Yukon gold potatoes
Salt and pepper
Fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
Chop potatoes into medium-sized cubes. Arrange on large sheet pan. Next, drizzle with olive oil salt and pepper fresh chopped rosemary. Toss potatoes with hands to coat well. Place in oven at 375 to 400 degrees until tender, about 25 minutes. When almost done, open oven, sprinkle with garlic and finish cooking.
Fresh marinated berries
3 pounds fresh blueberries
3 pounds fresh strawberries
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
Wash berries. Slice strawberries into quarters. Add all berries into a glass bowl and add sugar and lemon juice. Toss and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge for a few hours (enough for berries to "marinate"). Serve alone (as the Italians do) or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Twelve years ago, he took over Station Square, which he said had been "going down." He said he changed a lot of things and brought in a little more Italian style. He explained that there are 20 regions in Italy, and he offers a special from each one.
"Italian brings a lot of people in," he said.
One of his specialties is risotto, which is on the menu today.
"Risotto's a dish you can make a thousand different ways," he said. On his commercial stove imported from Italy, he browns the risotto, then exclaims, "Now we flambe!"
When the wine evaporates, it's covered with stock that's already warming.
"This is the easy part," he said. "Now I gotta let it go."
His wife uses a different method for risotto.
"You don't just leave it and it's done," she said. "You have to constantly stir it and add liquid."
She asks her husband, "There's not really one right way to do something, right?"
His dark eyebrows go up mischievously. "The way I do it is best the way."
Bridget Musumeci, who is now a full-time mom, said it was "amazing" working with him, and she misses that.
"It's great being in the kitchen together," she said. "But he takes charge - I become the sous chef."
For today's multiple-course meal, that's an important job.
"You can do everything - once you get everything cut up - in like half an hour," Ottavio Musumeci said. And "shrimp is so fast."
He said he has to be fast at the restaurant and do many things at once.
"It's full-speed adrenaline, then it slows down," Bridget Musumeci said.
"I like the rush," said her husband.
Other family members play their part, as well. Ottavio Jr., who is 10, chopped herbs from the family garden. Those herbs are also used at the restaurant.
The children are involved in the restaurant, as well, where Ottavio Jr. said he wraps potatoes and helps with the dishes. His brothers are Giuseppe, 12, and Giovanni, 7.
Musumeci said he and the children came up with the pork chop recipe after a visit to an apple orchard.
"It's a good marriage - apples, onions and cider," he said.
Once everything is on the table, daughter Giulia, 13 and a Kennedy eighth-grader, comes home from soccer practice.
"This is my beautiful daughter," Musumeci says, as he gladly makes her a plate.
In the meantime, a neighbor boy, Ian, has come over and helps himself to some shrimp. A little while later, his dad, Jeff Keel, is sitting at the table.
Keel, who himself makes a mean gnocchi from butternut squash, wants to tell Musumeci that a lady he knows recently ate at Station Square and plans to bring 20 people back with her.
Musumeci said the key to cooking - and people who ask for recipes but come back saying it's missing something get this advice, too - is "you gotta make it with love and passion."
The family recently hosted their annual fall party for 70 guests at home, and Musumeci is excited about the fifth annual clam bake set for Oct. 21 at the restaurant. After his mother visits from Italy for a first communion and a confirmation, the two older children will be going back with her for a visit.
The family's home and garden have a part in dinner in other ways. For example, the kitchen screen is temporarily on the dining room table being used to dry peppers. The provolone cheese, already aged two years, was aged another year at home.
And there's Musumeci's pride and joy - the wine - which was recently featured in Wine Spectator magazine. In fact, it's already been poured.
"When you cook in the house, you have a glass of wine," he said.