Nobody's Food...

[Nobody]

RAGU BOLOGNESE (with Tagliatelle Pasta)



aka Bolognese Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

3-4 tbs. EVOO*
3-4 tbs. Butter
3-5 cloves Garlic, chopped fine.
3-4 Shallots - diced medium fine [d.m.f.]
1-2 medium Carrots - [d.m.f.]
1-2 stalks Celery - [d.m.f.]
3/4 kg coarsely ground Beef - regular fat.
salt and pepper
1 1/4 cups dry Vermouth
1/4 cup 2% Milk
3/4 cup Whipping Cream (heavy cream would work well)
handful of dried Parsley, Thyme, Sage. [PST]
1 Medium can of Chopped Tomatoes, undrained. (about 27 oz.)
2 tbs. Tomato Paste (not Sauce)
200g of dried, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Large, heavy saucepan.
Saucepan Lid.
Sharp knife.
Heat.
Measuring Cups
Bowls.
Kitchen Timer.
Wooden spoon.
Chopping board.
Heat.

*EVOO= Extra Virgin Olive Oyl. Get it in bulk and don't bother with any other. I don't use rapeseed oils generally because a) it was mostly used as a lubricant in WWII and b) it can contain amounts of erucic acid, which is mildly toxic. I know, it's all taken out of the junk you put in your food, but Olive Oil has a lovely flavor and is GOOD for YOU!!

It's just a 'personal bias.' Move on.

Things to do first - Prep work, etc.

a) With the flat of your chef's knife - haha - really - bash the Garlic. This will split the skins and allow for easier peeling. It will also bruise the juice out of the garlic and allow faster infusion of flavor. Chop at will.

b) Classic cutting of the Shallots, Carrots and Celery - like mirepoir in French cooking.

c) Cut up and/or break up the ground Beef. During this time you can lightly season it with Salt and Pepper. Like most modern chefs, I find myself using Kosher Salt because i can gauge it's amount by the feel in my fingers.
- Don't Over Season It -

Cooking:

Over Med-Hi Heat, put Large Heavy Sauce Pan. Add Oil and half the Butter. When they've melted but before they get hot, add the Garlic and the Shallots. Stir occasionally. Don't let them brown. If things start getting too hot, take Pan off the heat, don't try to drop the heat. [Gas is different, you can leave it on the element and drop the heat on the Gas ranges.]

When the Garlic and Shallots have taken a GOLDEN color [note, the darker the color, the more burnt the sugars are and the more bitter the food - consider gold to be a brighter yellow color vs. light brown. That's the point where it gets bitter] Add the Carrots and Celery. Stir.

When the Carrots and Celery begin to change color, add the Beef. Brown it, but don't let the fluids dry out during this period. Break up clumps with the Wooden Spoon (which is why i don't always use silicone spatulas - this needs some hard 'edge' to break up fatty tissues during the cooking process.)

Add the Vermouth. Cook, while occasionally stirring. Once the Vermouth has complete evaporated, add the 1/4 cup Milk and 1/4 cup Cream [reserve the rest of the cream for the near end process.]

Add the Handful of PST. Mix it up, stirring, allowing the foods to intermingle at temp.

When most of the Milk and Cream have evaporated, add the Can'o'Tomatoes. Stir them in. When the flavors have mingled, and the heat has come back up [about 3-5 minutes] add the Tomato Paste and stir that into the mixture.

Now, once the sauce is homogenous, turn the heat down to low, around 150degF, and pop the Lid over it. Make sure the Lid has a blow hole or you will have to crack it open later. Leave it closed for now.

Finishing Off:

Set the Timer for about 30 minutes.

Go away and play some Halo.

When the timer goes off, check the Sauce. Stir.

Set the Timer for about 30 minutes.

Play some more Halo.

Repeat as necessary.

All in all, the 'Cooking' part takes about 30 minutes, the 'Stewing part' takes about 2-2 1/2 hrs.

Near the end, during the last 30-minute timer stage, add the Last of the Cream (about 1/2 cup) and the Grated Parma cheese. Stir it in.

If the sauce looks too 'wet', leave the lid off or open. If it's looking a bit dry, add the last bit of butter and keep the lid on and shut down.

That's about it.

Blather:

For this particular recipe I got paid $500 to feed six people basically Bolognese Spaghetti.

They were 2 Greeks, 3 Italians and a Scotsman.

There were no leftovers.

I used Bucatini noodles, but any long thin noodle [except capelli d'angelo] will do nicely, as well as tagliatelle and other flat noodles. Avoid things like penne and other tubi maccheroni noodles, as this is a thick and lumpy sauce and won't penetrate well on short, fat and hollow-round noodles well.

[Nobody]

Teaser: Risotto-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with ...







...French Roast Potatoes and Broccolli with Lemon-Vermouth Hollandaise Sauce.


Well, I had an important but small family dinner to prepare, so I settled on this method of using some leftover Risotto.

Pork Tenderloin: (you can use Beef Tenderloin if you have issues with Pork, but it's a lot more expensive)

I took the loins out of the packaging and rinsed them off. I removed as much of the little fat that was still attached and then cut them open.

This was a little like butterflying - the result being a fairly flat piece of 'unrolled' loin. One of the loins was about 7" long, the other about 10". I cut them into about 4", 5", 5" and 3". It's a lot easier to cut them when they're about that size, and they proved to finally be about one serving each. I think the 4" was perfect, for what it's worth.

Once they were cut to about 3/4 thick, I took some parchment paper and covered one of the loins and pounded it flat with a meat mallet to just under 1/2" over all. This made each loin about the size of my outspread hand.

Once all four were flattened, I got out some hickory-smoked bacon and spread about 4 slices on a cutting board, overlapping the edges.

In a bowl i mixed the Risotto and about 1/2 pound of shredded old cheddar for the stuffing.

I seasoned the bacon 'flat' with salt, pepper, tarragon and misc other aromatic Italian seasonings.

I then layed a loin on the bacon. I patted-down by hand a layer of the stuffing. I left just about 1.5" of the one side of the loin uncovered. When rolling up the loin, I wanted the last little bit to contact only more of the meat to form a seal during the baking process.




Once they were rolled up nice and tight, I popped them on a roasting tray and popped them in the oven at about 375 for 40 minutes.

Nice!

[Nobody]

Teaser: Pizza - BBQ Chicken, Version 1



Here's how to do it:

Buy a 12" diameter Flat Bread - Basically a pizza crust that's already to go. They're popping up in all the grocery stores in Toronto these days, so the should have been available in California two years ago (that seems to be the average lag-time for non-ethnic foods moving north of the border.)

Now, the special part:

Sauce.

I used about 1/4 cup of decent, spicy and smoky barbecue sauce - this is the distinctive flavor base. I also added about 3 tablespoons of 'pureed' chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. These peppers are readily available in small 6-8 ounce cans. The pepper is a ripe Jalapeno - a red one, as it so happens - that's been dried and smoked. No, not in a bong, dood. Over a wood fire. As a result, they have a sweet-hot and smoky flavor. Duh. The adobo sauce preserves them but also has added things like sesame and miscellaneous other ingredients. To pad the sauce out and reduce 'heat' i used about 1/4 cup of store-bought marinara sauce. So you're looking at about 2/3 of a cup of sauce. Add or subtract to suit your personal preferences.

Core Ingredients:

About 1/3 cup of chopped cooked chicken. Up around these parts, grocery stores are selling cooked chicken that the rotisserie 'que in large commercial ovens. Unless they are extremely incompetent, the results should be pretty good. It is notoriously difficult to cook chicken properly in this manner at home - don't beat yourself up over it - some of these commercial ovens cost as much as a decent used car. I only cook my own complete chickens when I'm doing a special roast for friends or impressing my date.

Use both dark and light chicken. Dark has more flavor while the breast will act a bit as a sponge for the next ingredient.

Tomatoes. Get the reddest color you can - during the winter months that's likely to be the only ones that actually taste like tomatoes. Slice them across the core (if the tomato was the Earth, you'd be doing 'latitude' lines) about 3/16" thick. Yes, i know that's a weird size. I just think 1/4' is too thick, and most people can't do a decent cut at 1/8', so you figure out what you like to do and how you do it.

Cut about two whole tomatoes. If they're the smaller-diameter Roma, make it 3. You will want a well spaced out single layer of tomatoes.

Onions. One medium. Cut it up any way you like. I prefer a cross-cut and break out the rings, but you can do a dice or a chisel or whatever. Hell, you can even skip them entirely. However, if you and your date both eat relatively fresh onions, most breath odors will vanish and you can mack like maniacs later. At least, that's been MY experience.

Cheese. I usually use Mozzarella, grated in an old-fashioned hand-grater, but you can sometimes find a pre-grated '3-cheese blend' in supermarkets which has Monterey Jack and very mild cheddar that would fine for this type of pizza. The strong flavors of the sauce would balance the stronger flavors of the cheddar and Jack.


Optional Ingredients:

Mushrooms. Yes or no, that's up to you. I use a few when i have them, skip them when i don't. They can add a meaty quality to the mix. Just slice them about as thick as the tomatoes. 3-4 large generic white or double that for small. Toss the stems as they're usually tougher to chew.

Italian Seasoning. Generic in the jar from the grocery store. A little thyme, parsley, sage, etc dusted here and there helps balance the flavor.


Assembly:

Sauce first. Use one of those new fancy-dancy soft silicone spreaders. Yes, I know some people call them a 'spatula' but actually - for the pedantic folks [like me!] - a spatula has the angle bent into the handle so you can reach into a frying pan and flip something. Anyway, whatever. Use the new silicone type because they don't melt under 500F and I've seen about 3/4 of a million burned and melted spreaders in my life and quite frankly I'm sick of it.

Paste it all over the flat bread. As evenly as you can, and if you thin it out in the middle, when you cut your serving triangles the pointy tips shouldn?t be so soggy.

Distribute about the pie the tomatoes first (but reserve a 2-4 slices for topping,) then the mushrooms if you have them, then the onions on top of the other two. Remember that the tomatoes will give up a fair amount of liquid (hence the use of breast meat from the chicken!)

With that in mind, inter-mix the chicken and the cheese in a final layer. Season the top. Add the last few decorative slices of tomato, etc.

Cooking:

Somewhere in time you might have pre-heated an oven to about 375F. Yay. Get ready for it.

I recently purchased a non-stick cookie sheet big enough for a 14" pizza. It's perfect for this and easy to clean. Use one.

Open oven door, insert pie. Leave it in for about 15 minutes. It will begin to brown around that time and boom! You're in like Flint.

[arboc!]

that pizza needs bacon, and instead of reg. onions i would use some sweet onion compote. the sweetness sets the flavor off big time.

[Nobody]

that pizza needs bacon, and instead of reg. onions i would use some sweet onion compote. the sweetness sets the flavor off big time.

Too complex. There's already the chicken vs. the bacon - not saying no -> add it yourself and try it out and make a remark. Or die trying.

Sweet Onion Compote? Ha. Sorry, bro, i was trying to keep the manual labor to a minimum. Do whatever you want to make things kick-y.

I've got some good first-hand human reviews on this, so that's what you're hearing about.

[Nobody]

CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD THAT KICKS ASS AND TAKES NAMES.



Ingredients:

Dressing:
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 Small Can Anchovy Fillets, drained and chopped coarsely
3 tbs. fresh Lemon Juice
5-6 Garlic Cloves peeled and chopped coarsely
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
1 Egg Yolk
3/4 cup EVOO

Croutons:
3 tbs. olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. chopped fresh Thyme
1 tsp. chopped fresh Rosemary
3 3/4-inch-thick country bread slices, crusts cut off, bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 4 cups total)

Salad:
1 ‘head’ coarsely torn Romaine Lettuce (about 9 ounces) [see below on variatons]

Chicken:
2 Chicken Breasts, skinless and trimmed.
Salt and Black Pepper for the Chicken.

Final:
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Cracked black pepper

How to:

Dressing:
Combine 1/2 cup Parmesan, 1/2 the Anchovies, Lemon Juice, 5-6 Garlic Cloves, and Dijon Mustard in a food processor; blend well. Add the egg yolk. Pulse once or twice.

With processor running, slowly add olive oil. Season with Salt and pepper.

Croutons:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add minced Garlic, Thyme and Rosemary; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Remove from heat. Add Bread Cubes to skillet with Garlic-Herb-Oil and toss to coat.

Spread out Bread Cubes on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper. Bake just until croutons are golden, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Chicken.
Liberally season with Salt and Pepper.

Using a heavy-bottomed pan or skillet [i use cast iron for this] over high heat, drizzle a little EVOO - about 1-2 tbs.. When a drop of water flicked from your finger sizzles and pops, add the chicken.
Flip the chicken after about 4-5 minutes [keep an eye on it - it can over cook in the blink of an eye] to blacken the other side. When done, take it out of the pan an allow it to cool slightly on a plate.

At just above room temperature, slice the chicken into 1/2-wide strips.

Assembly (Variations):
Classically, Caesar Salads on Lettuce use the inverted 'spear' of the lettuce as a platform. During the summer I will serve this as 'finger food':

Take a firm 'spear' of Lettuce and place several Croutons and several strips of Chicken in the 'v-trough'. Slowly pour some of the dressing over the Croutons, Chicken and Lettuce. Garnish with a little freshly grated Parmesan and a few of the reserved Anchovies.

In a sit-down-dinner situation, I tear up the Lettuce into large pieces, pile liberally on a plate, place 1/4 to 1/3 of the Chicken on the center, add some of the Anchovies and drizzle over the whole heap the Dressing, garnishing with a couple sliced cherry tomatoes and the rest of the grated Parmesan.

In a buffet style setting, I cross-slice the entire Romaine Lettuce and, in a large bowl loosely toss with about 2/3 cup of Dressing and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan. After that, I'll cross-cut the strips of Chicken to about a single bite-size and toss them in as well. I'll cut the remaining Anchovies into about 1/4-inch segments and toss them as well. Then, dust off with some of the grated Parmesan.

[Nobody]

Bolo's Sangria - Bobby Flay.

2 - bot dry white wine
3/4 - cup brandy
1/2 - cup triple sec
3/4 - cup simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water heated until sugar is dissolved - do this slowly so you don't burn the sugar)

3 - 4 white peaches, skinned, pureed (or 1 cup peach nectar)
3 - oranges sliced thin rounds
3 - green apples cored, sliced thin
2 - lemons sliced thin rounds
4 - peaches pitted, sliced thin

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. If using fresh peaches, taste for sweetness and add more syrup, if needed.

Refrigerate, covered, 2 hours or up to 2 days. Serve over ice.

[Nobody]

Salsa Fresca

Spring being here like a schoolgirl in a summer dress [fresh and dazzling, yet innocent and slightly rude] I thought I'd start up with some Tex-Mex 'outdoor' foods.

4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
2 jalapeno or 1 serrano, minced
8 cilantro sprigs, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together. Toss thoroughly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

A great serving suggestion for any tomato salsas would be to have a 1/2 pint container of Sour Cream and a bunch of tortilla chips. Double scoop the chip in the salsa, then the sour cream to help cool the jalapeno heat.

[Nobody]

Ingredients
2.5 pounds beef top sirloin, thinly sliced

2 tbs EVOO
2 tbs butter

Montreal Steak Seasoning
16 ozs cremini mushrooms, sliced
4-5 shallots, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup dry white vermouth
2 teaspoons Deli mustard
3 cups beef stock
1 1/4 cups sour cream
fresh chives
paprika


Serving suggestion: egg noodles, cooked

How To:
Heat the oil in a large pot over high heat.

Season the beef with the Montreal Steak Seasoning and saute until browned.

Remove the beef from the pot and set aside, pour off any excess fat in the pot.

Melt the butter in the pot and saute the shallots and garlic.

When the shallots begin to brown, add the mushrooms and toss.

Add the white vermouth and simmer until reduced by 1/2.

Stir in the mustard and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the beef.

Stir in the sour cream and adjust the seasoning.

Serve on a bed of warm egg noodles.

Garnish with chopped chives and sprinkle paprika over the plate.

Serves 4.

[Nobody]

Ingredients:

.75 kg cubed lamb shoulder (stewing cut, about 1”x1”)
.5 kg cut stewing beef (cut into 1¼ ”x1¼” approx. size.).

1½ tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
or:
2 tbs dried Parsley leaves

2-4 tbs Montreal Steak Sesoning
2-3 tbs Emeril’s Bayou Blast
1-2 teaspoon dried Thyme, crumbled
½ cup of dry white Vermouth
6 cups Beef or Chicken Broth
2-3 pounds baby or new Potatoes, halved or quartered
1 large Onion, finely chopped
1 pound Carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 stalks Celery, trimmed and ribs cut into 1/2-inch pieces
¼ cup Heavy Cream.
¼ cup Sour Cream.
6 tablespoons all-purpose Flour
2-3 tbs regular, salted Butter
¼ cup EVOO

How To:

Season the Lamb and Beef chunks with the Montreal Steak Seasoning and the Bayou Blast (aka: BAM!)

Heat 3 tbs of the Oil in a non-stick skillet [or large sauté pan or what-have-you] to Medium-High Heat. Test with a drop of water, it should sizzle a bit, but not pop. In batches, brown the meat. Use tongs and turn them after a couple (two) minutes.

When brown, remove the meat and set aside in a bowl to catch drippings.

When the meat is all done, pour off the excess oil. Just a tip – you’ll have to remove it later if you don’t get rid of it now. It will never meld with the rest of the stew, otherwise.

Add Onion and allow it to brown slightly over Medium Heat.

Add the Vermouth to Deglaze the Pan.

Add 1 tbs of Flour, half of the Thyme, the Parsley and the Italian Seasoning. Stir up to coat the Onions with the seasoning and flour. It will start looking like a roux.

Now, time to change cooking apparatus.

You can use a large 8-quart Kettle (not the type for making tea) a Stock Pot or [as in my case] a deep-sided Electric Frying Pan [also non-stick].

This will need to be large enough for all the ingredients, because from now on, this is the only place you’re adding ingredients.

The temperature was about 225d.F. – Medium Low or Simmer.

Add 3 tbs of EVOO and 2 tbs of Butter. When it’s melted and at temperature, add the meat, onions and seasoning. Add the Celery, Carrots and Potatoes.

Cover with Broth.

Cover Pot/Pan/Etc and simmer 2.5-3 hrs. Stir gently every 40 minutes or so.

Taste the liquid for seasoning. Adjust if necessary. Remember that Potatoes absorb a lot of salt and will ‘dumb down’ the flavor a bit.

In a separate bowl, place several tbs of Flour. Add some of the liquid from the stew to the bowl (not an equal amount, less – this is a process that works better, in my opinion.) Mix with fork or small whisk. This mixture should be a bit lumpy. Add more liquid, mix, repeat until you have a nicely blended thickener.

Mix the thickener into the stew thouroughly. Add the Sour Cream and the Heavy Cream, half of each at a time. Mix each half before adding the second half – you may not want that much of the cream added to the stew – it depends on your preferences and the fatty content of the meat.

Again, check the seasoning and add salt, etc as necessary.

Simmer for about 5 more minutes.

You’re done!

Serve with Baked Garlic Bread or Basmati Rice or in a bowl with crackers or sumpting.

[Nobody]

Ultimate 4-Seasons Biltmore Scrambled Eggs



and...

Seared Rib Eye Steak with Savory Mushroom Cream Sauce

[Nobody]

Okay, falling a bit behind - doing more cooking and less writing...

Here's another one [better pic quality with a better camera]:

[punkassean]

"how's it going Randy"

BTW, nice comeback to RM.

[Nobody]

life hands ya a lemon - time to make lemon meringue.

How's life back in SB working out for ya? still slaving away for the 'man'?

[punkassean]

life hands ya a lemon - time to make lemon meringue.

How's life back in SB working out for ya? still slaving away for the 'man'?

Yes and no, I am currently employed by "the man" you speak of but I am in the process of applying for a different job. I left for 1-1/2 years and came back almost a year ago now so it has been an on-again-off-again thing. But general life in SB is great as usual.

How are you doing?...