Pasta al Pomodoro

The gold standard for pasta with a tomato sauce is the Spaghetti al Pomodoro at Pizza Art Café in Chicago. The sauce is thick and chunky and has a rich, complex flavor. They serve it without any meat, but I made this pasta with Italian sausages.

1 lb. Fusilli or Rotini pasta
3 Italian sausages (optional)
1 jar of Trader Joe's Bruschetta (or a 14 oz. can of any chunky red sauce)
1 can tomato paste
1T Vegeta (seasoning)(or 2 pieces of Knorr's vegetable bullion)
3T Garlic puree (or 3/4 cup of roasted garlic)
24 grape tomatoes, sliced in half (optional)
Hot pepper flakes, to taste (~1/4 teaspoon is a good start)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 large red onion, diced
1T olive oil (I used an olive oil that was flavored with balsamic and garlic)
Parmesan cheese, grated

The first step is to caramelize the red onion: Peel and dice the onion; cook in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of water, covered, over a low heat. Stir every 5-8 minutes and add some water, if needed, to keep it from burning. This process will take about 20-25 minutes.

Open the containers of bruschetta and pasta. Locate the other ingredients.

Next, fill a large pot of water for the pasta; add 1 or 2 tablespoons of salt, and heat to boiling, covered. Add 1 lb. of pasta and cook as indicated on package. Probably 10-12 minutes.

As soon as the water is heating, put the sausages on the grill (or cook them in a skillet on the stove) over a medium flame. (Turn on the exhaust fan).

Combine the bruschetta (or diced tomatoes), tomato paste, Vegeta, garlic, hot pepper flakes and sliced tomatoes and cook over medium heat, covered. Stir occasionally. Be careful not to burn.

Remove the sausages and cut them into 1/4" thick slices.  Place plates into the microwave and heat for 2 minutes.

Stir the onions into the tomato sauce--> Drain the pasta --> Add the tomato sauce to the pasta --> Stir in the sausage slices -->Serve the pasta on the plates --> Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Optional: Serve with garlic bread and wine.

4 generous servings.

Roasted Carrot Soup

Carolyn found this on the internet and doctored it up a bit. It’s a keeper . . . easy for daughters to whip up with their eyes closed!  10-22-12 Update: Natalie added a couple of dollops warm goat cheese and served it with garlic bread (image above).

This recipe serves 4

• 8 or 9 large carrots (about 1 3/4 pounds)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt
• 1 Knorr’s vegetable bullions or 1 T Vegeta
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 piece fresh ginger, about an inch long, peeled
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 ½ T if dried), plus more for garnish
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Peel and cut the carrots into 1/2-inch rounds. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the carrots with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Set an oven rack 6 to 8 inches from the heat source and turn on the broiler. Broil the carrots until they brown and soften, turning them over with a spatula every 5 minutes or so; this should take 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil.  Add one vegetable bouillon, the ginger and the thyme. Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
3. Put the onion in a medium stock pot with the remaining olive oil. Brown the onion over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, and then add the carrots.
4. Remove the ginger (and thyme if using fresh) from the stock. Add the stock to the pot with the onions and carrots. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to puree.
5. Use an immersion or a standard blender (cool before blending if using a standard blender) to puree the mixture until smooth. If the soup seems too thick, add more stock or water and reheat gently. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, garnish with chopped fresh thyme.

Poached Eggs

Carolyn gave me a set of four PoachPods (Crate & Barrel) for Father’s Day, which are floating egg poaching tools, made of silicone. They are simple to use and the results were perfect. This posting does not address how to make poached eggs in the conventional way. You’ll have to Google that.

To start, I began boiling water 3/4” of water in a sauté pan that has tall sides.  You could just a easily use a pot. I sprayed the inside of each pod with canola oil. Next I broke an egg into each pod, set them aside and turned the heat to simmer. Then I floated the pods in the water and covered the pan.  I cooked them for 5 minutes and they were perfectly done. Note, however, that you must remove the eggs immediately and serve them quickly because they continue to cook, even out of the water. Nevertheless, the eggs were nice and runny. Perhaps 15 or 30 seconds less in the water would have bought some extra time to serve everything.

Clean-up is simple. You merely “hang” the pods on one of the holes in the middle tray of your dishwasher. Or just wash by hand. The remaining bits of egg come off the silicone easily.

Next time I will try beaten eggs and see how they turn out. Perhaps something like an omelet consistency, I’m guessing.

Above, PoachPods at work.

Above, PoachPods “hanging” on the dishwasher rack, ready for a carnival ride.

Really Simple Tuscan Pasta Salad

Carolyn came home from Trader Joe’s with the fixin’s for this salad. It’s so simple it’s silly, but it does taste good and is quick to make.

1 lb. bow tie pasta (or whatever shape you have in the pantry)
3/4 cup (6 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 to 3/4 cup (8 to 12 oz.) olive tampenade 
2-3 handfuls of baby spinach

Cook the pasta per the directions on the package. Drain and rinse lightly with cold water, to stop the pasta from cooking (probably not what the package says, but ignore the package in this regard). Add the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper (careful with the salt). Add extra olive oil, as desired. Mix well and serve luke warm.

Kotlety

Kotlety are essentially large meatballs that are flattened, resembling a hamburger in size and shape.  My mother served these all the time when I was growing up.  Clearly, this is a recipe that was meant to stretch the meat.  Kotlety can be frozen. This is comfort food that tastes even better as left-overs.  Fried, of course.

Pronunciation:  Coat-let-i with the “i” pronounced like the “i” in “ick.”

2 lbs. ground round
2 large eggs
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
10" length of French bread, torn into bits
1 cup of milk
Bread crumbs (coarse preferred)
Butter
Olive oil

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Add onions and cover. Cook for 20 minutes over a low heat, stirring occasionally.  After the onions are translucent, remove the cover and increase the heat to medium.  Continue to cook, allowing the onions to caramelize.  Stir often to prevent them from burning.  The entire process will take 30 minutes.  (note: you can skip caramelizing if you wish, but I think it adds a nice flavor).

Tear the bread, with crust, into small pieces.  i.e. about 1” in size.  Soak in one cup of milk.  Mix the meat, soaked bread, eggs, onions, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Fashion balls that are about 1.5” in diameter.  Roll in breadcrumbs and press to flatten.

Add 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet.  Arrange the Kotlety in one layer and brown.  Turn and brown the other side. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water, cover, reduce heat to minimum (simmer).  Cook for 30-40 minutes. 

You can prepare a simple gravy from the pan juices.  Just add some water, salt, pepper, a bit of vegetable bullion and some flour. 

Note: If you prefer, you can bake the raw Kotlety in the oven.  45 minutes at 350 degrees F., covered.

Omelet

As simple as scrambled eggs, but better organized and ready to accept almost anything as a filling to prevent it from getting boring.  The beauty is that the basic omelet can be served without anything but a piece of toast.

Precook any fillings (except cheese) because when added as a filling, they will not cook at all and cold fillings would barely warm up.  Avoid crunchy things; somehow, they just don’t go well with an omelet.  Some cheese and diced ham  is classic, but generally, don’t go overboard with quantities.

Instructions for an omelet for one:

2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons butter
pinch of salt
2 pinches of ground black pepper

Beat the eggs, water, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the butter to a large seasoned skillet or nonstick pan and melt over medium-high heat.  As soon as the butter is melted, spread to evenly coat the bottom of skillet; add the eggs.  Grab the handle and swirl the eggs around so they cover the skillet evenly. Allow to cook until the eggs are set (i.e. not runny).  If you have a filling, add it at this point, over the middle third of the omelet.  Using a spatula, carefully turn the remain two thirds of the omelet over the middle third.  Turn of the heat and allow to sit for several minutes before serving on a hot plate.

Double the ingredients if preparing for two.

Note:  Experiment with the temperature. The goal is to deliver an omelet that is yellow; show no traces of caramelizing. i.e. not browned in any way. This can be more difficult than it sounds!

Magnolia Hotel Home Made Yogurt

Our friend Maria Jordan owns a small boutique hotel in Buenos Aires.  The breakfast she serves is outstanding and one of our favorite things is her home made yogurt.  She serves them in small glass jars.  We found similar jars (see photo) at the local grocery store (in Buenos Aires) and hauled them home.

About ten 3/4 cup servings.
8 cups milk (2% is fine) (do NOT use ultra pasturized milk)
¼ C. sugar (optional; but we add it)
1 T. vanilla (optional)
Buy a small container of plain yogurt to use as starter .
Bring milk to a simmer, over low heat so it doesn’t scorch the bottom of the pan. Allow to cool, but still hot (about 15-20 min.).  i.e. not so hot that you can’t put your finger in. Remove the “skin” that had formed on the top of the milk with a spoon and discard.
In a small bowl, pour off about a cup of the hot milk into a small deep bowl and mix in the plain yogurt. Stir in the sugar and vanilla. Pour this back into the plain warm milk and stir it all together. Pour into small clean, dry jars with lids (or a larger glass jar). Place into an unheated oven, or any place that would not have any drafts - it doesn’t need to be warm, just not cold. Leave for 6 to 8 house; but as much as 10-12 hours, if you want to leave over night. Then refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Note:  Our favorite way to eat our yogurt is to mix it with home made granola (see that recipe), ground flax seed and blueberries or other fruit.