Spaghetti With Meat Sauce

At least once a week we have spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.  I won’t call my meat sauce Bolognese, because in Italy, the pairing of the right kind of pasta with the right sauce is considered almost sacred.  Bolognese sauce is served over Tagliatelle.  Bolognese sauce always contains carrots and celery.  It is also cooked very, very slowly over many hours. 

My version of meat sauce is simple, quick to make, and delicious.

My recipe for meat sauce is for 1 pound of spaghetti.

1 pound of spaghetti serves 4 adults.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

½ onion, chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

¾ lbs of ground meat

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon of dried basil, or 2-3 sprigs of fresh basil

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

1 pound spaghetti

Steps:

1.  Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in onion and garlic.  Add ground beef.  Sauté, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps of meat.  Cook until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

I've tried many brands of canned crushed tomatoes
grown in California. 

I always keep a variety of olive oils on hand.

2.  Add the can of tomatoes and stir.  Fill the tomato can 3/4 with water, and add to the saucepan.  Add  a bay leaf and basil.  Stir mixing well.

3.  Let the sauce come to a boil, lower temperature, and let simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often.

Cooking Pasta:

There are countless varieties of pasta brands and shapes.  When I make meat sauce I almost always use spaghetti, and our favorite brand is Pasta

De Cecco.

Fill a large pot with about 4 ½ quarts of water.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Once water is boiling add 2 tablespoons of salt.  Stir to keep the pasta from sticking.  Stir within the first 2 minutes of cooking pasta.  The pasta is more likely to stick together, in the beginning, before the starches are released into the water.  We like our pasta “al dente” so after 10 minutes I test a strand to see if it’s almost done.  I cook the spaghetti for a total of 11 minutes.  Drain spaghetti well and add it to the saucepan with the tomato sauce.  Cook the pasta in the sauce, incorporating it all very well, for at least 1 -2 minutes.  This allows the flavor from the sauce to be absorbed into your pasta.

Serve the spaghetti with meat sauce.  Add parmesan cheese to taste. There is always a variety of hot peppers at my table.  Adding chilies to our pasta is a must!  I remember as a child, attending wedding receptions, my dad always came prepared for the meal.  He carried a few of his homegrown peperoncini (hot peppers) in his suit pocket, to share.

Tips:

*add salt and pepper to ground meat before adding the can of crushed tomatoes

*the ground beef that I buy contains about 18 % fat and it imparts a richer flavor to the tomato sauce

*whatever pasta you choose, follow the suggested cooking time and adjust according to your taste

Sometimes you need variety, even when it comes to spaghetti.

Buon Appetito!

Simple Mais Délicieux Boeuf Bourguignon!

Sunday night dinner is always a bit more special than weekday dinners, because I have more time to cook. This is my version of Slow-Cooked Beef Bourguignon inspired by Julia Child.

Julia Child said, “Beef Bourguignon is one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.”

Serves 4 very hungry adults.

Ingredients:

3 ½ pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup of good red wine

12 ounces of bacon

1 medium onion, diced

4-6 medium carrots, diced

1 pound of mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic gloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 bay leaf

flour

fresh or dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1.  Warm a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon until the fat has rendered and the bacon is golden and crispy. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Save the bacon fat in the frying pan for later. 

2.  Pat the beef cubes dry and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Dredge the beef cubes in flour, making sure to completely coat each cube.  Use a couple of tablespoons of bacon fat to coat a dutch oven.  I love my Le Creuset.  When the bacon fat is shimmering and you see a wisp or two of smoke, add a single layer of beef cubes to the pan to sear. Do not crowd the pan; sear the meat in batches. Let the beef sear without moving until it releases easily from the pan and the underside is golden-brown, 2-3 minutes. Flip the pieces and sear on the other side. Again, let the meat sear without moving for 
2-3 minutes until they release easily from the pan. Transfer the seared meat to the slow cooker.

3.  Deglaze the pan with 3/4 cups of wine. Scrape the dark glaze and any crispy bits from the bottom of the pot as the wine simmers. When the pot is clean, pour the wine over the seared meat.

4.  Add another tablespoon of bacon fat to the dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Cook the onions with ¼ teaspoon of salt until soft and browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the carrots and garlic. Cook until softened.  Add the vegetable mixture to the slower cooker with the meat.

5. Add ¼ cup of wine to the dutch oven.  Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.  Stir until it is all dissolved in the wine.  Pour the wine mixture over the vegetables and meat in the slow cooker. Place one bay leaf on top.

6. Add another tablespoon of bacon fat into the dutch oven, on medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sautée until they are golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms into the slow cooker. Crumble the bacon and add to the beef and vegetable mixture.

7.  Stir the beef cubes and vegetables in the slow cooker.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add thyme and mix well. Pour the stock over the beef and vegetables.  The liquid should come about ¾ of the way to the surface of the ingredients.

8. Cover the slow cooker and cook for about 6 to 6 ½ hours.

Tips:

*Choosing the Wine:  When in doubt, choose a red wine that you like to drink. 

*Chicken vs. Beef Broth:  You might think beef stock would be a natural choice for this recipe, but I often find store bought beef stock to taste watery and lacking any real beef taste. Unless you make your own beef stock, I recommend using chicken stock.  I prefer Trader Joe’s brand of chicken stock.

There are a variety of ways to serve Beef Bourguignon.  You can serve it with mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, noodles, or plain steamed rice.

Sometimes you need variety, even when it comes to beef.

Buon Appetito!

The Soul of Vietnamese Pho

Making your own amazing bowl of Vietnamese Pho soup at home is not difficult.  All you need is a straightforward recipe, a few amazing spices, a large stockpot, and some time.  I make Pho at least once a month (preferably during the day on a Saturday) and I always making sure to make enough broth for another meal. My family and I love Pho. It is nothing short of soup perfection. There are many ways of making Pho and so many variations.  It was trial and error, until I got it right. 

The first step and most important one is making the broth. Pho broth is the soul of the dish. It is what makes the dish Vietnamese Pho.

Ingredients for the Beef Broth:

7 pounds Beef Bones (Knuckle and Leg Bones that contain marrow, Beef Shanks, and Oxtails)

Spices (place all spices except for the cinnamon sticks into two sachets)

         4 cinnamon sticks

         24 star anise

         24 cloves

         3 tablespoons coriander seeds

         3 tablespoons  fennel seeds

         3 black cardamom pods

Other ingredients needed:

         2 medium onions, quartered

         4 finger length pieces of fresh ginger, halved lengthwise

         2 tablespoons of salt (or to taste)

         2 inch pieces of yellow rock sugar

Steps to Making the Broth:

1.  Add beef bones to a large pot that will hold at least 10 quarts.  Cover bones with cold water.  Place pot onto high heat and bring to a boil.  Boil for about 5 minutes. During this time, impurities and scum will be released and rise to the top.

2.  Drain bones, discarding the water.  Then, rinse bones with warm water.  I use another large stockpot, but you can use the same pot, but make sure to scrub it to remove any residue that has stuck to the sides. Add the bones back to the clean stockpot and cover with 7 ½ quarts of cold water. Bring to a boil then lower to a gentle simmer.

3.  Toast Spices:  Add cinnamon sticks, cardamom seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves and black cardamom pods in a dry frying pan.  Place on low heat and cook, stirring occasionally for about 3-5 minutes until fragrant.  Place toasted spices, except for the cinnamon sticks, into two herb sachets.  Set aside.

4.  Place quartered onions and halved ginger onto a baking sheet lined with foil.  Broil in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, turning onions and ginger occasionally so that they become charred or browned on all sides. Remove from oven and set a side.

5.  Add the charred onions and ginger, as well as the spice sachets to the simmering pot.  Next, add the salt and the rock sugar pieces.

6. Continue to simmer the broth for about 7-8 hours. 

7.  When broth is done, let cool.  Use tongs or a wide mesh spoon to remove bones, onion and ginger, and spice sachets from broth.  Discard. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer.

8.  I use two Rubbermaid containers that each holds about 3 ½ quarts of broth.  Each container serves 4.  I have enough broth for two Pho dinners.

9.  I keep one container in the refrigerator to be used later in the week.  The other container I store in the freezer for a future dinner.  I prefer doing this because when the broth cools, the fat solidifies, and it is easy to remove.  The broth tastes so much better when the fat is removed. 

The broth is everything.  It is an incredibly fragrant, clear, and delicious beef broth.  It will be the most important element to our Vietnamese Pho dinner that we will enjoy at a later date. 

Pho is actually pronounced “fuh”…rather than “fo”…just saying!

Sometimes you need variety, even when it comes to  beef broth.

Buon Appetito!

Cauliflower is Not Just Cauliflower!

After a long, but fun day on a field trip with my class, coming home and making dinner for my family needed to be fast and furiously easy!  My husband is the ultimate griller and anything he barbecues is delicious.  A salad was a good choice to go with our meat.  Tonight I used fresh red leaf lettuce, instead of bagged salad.  I also had a head of cauliflower that was looking good, but needed a makeover.  I decided to give roasting cauliflower a try.

I always try to buy California grown.

Begin with preheating your oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Cut the cauliflower into florets and place them in a bowl. Toss with  about 2-3 cloves of minced garlic. Sprinkle with juice of half a lemon.  I have a dwarf lemon tree in my yard. Drizzle with olive oil and toss so that the florets are lightly coated with oil. Spread the florets out into a single layer on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the cauliflower in the hot oven, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, or until the cauliflower is lightly brown. Use a fork to test for doneness; the tines should easily pierce the cauliflower when done. Remove the cauliflower from the oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Roasted, cauliflower becomes nutty and buttery, but without any nuts or butter.

In tonight's salad I decided to use a California Olive Oil
and Blood Oranges crushed together. It added a citrus note and
complimented the tangerines in the salad. 

I buy radicchio and store it in a plastic food storage container.
Every time I make salad I add just enough to give the salad a nice bite and color.
Radicchio is a long-lasting staple in my fridge.

Sometimes you need variety, even when it comes to cauliflower.

Buon Appetito!

ALL BROCCOLI AND NO BITE!