New York Style Pizza Sauce (Adapted from Serious Eats)

I adapted the recipe below from the Serious Eats New York Style Pizza Sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 medium cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Kosher salt
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and split in half

1 teaspoon sugar*

Instructions:

Blend tomatoes in a blender until slightly chunky.  Set aside.

Combine butter and oil in medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Add garlic, oregano, and large pinch salt and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, onion halves, and sugar*. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting (bubbles should barely be breaking the surface), and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 1/2, about 1 hour. Season to taste with salt. Allow to cool and store in covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.


* I did not need the sugar in my sauce as the tomatoes were not that acidic but some tomatoes may need it.

Bolognese Sauce (at least 3 hours)

Adapted from Lidia Bastianich's recipe in Lidia's Family Table

Note that I halved the recipe and we had it for dinner two nights, two lunches and froze some!!  The recipe below is the halved version.  Also, I used my food processor for all of the processing and it is a huge timesaver for this recipe.

Interesting side note: I work with a guy from Italy.  He told me that in Naples it's said that Bolognese is the perfect meal for doormen to cook as they have nothing else to do but sit and stir.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup dry white wine
3 oz bacon
3 garlic cloves
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, minced in a food processor or finely chopped
1 celery stalk, minced in a food processor or finely chopped
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 t salt, plus more to taste
1 cup dry red wine
1 T tomato paste
1 cup canned tomatoes and juices, crushed
4 to 6 cups chicken broth

Directions:
Put all 2 lbs of ground meat in a large mixing bowl.  Pour the white wine over it and mix it with your hands.  Next, make the pestata - cut the bacon into 1-inch pieces and put them in the bowl of the food processor with the peeled garlic.  Process them into a fine paste.

Pour the olive oil into a heavy saucepan (I used my big Le Creuset pot) and scrape in all of the pestata. Set the pan over medium-high heat.  Break up the pestata and stir it around the pan bottom to start rendering the fat.  Cook for at least 3 minutes, stirring often, until the bacon and garlic are sizzling and aromatic.

Stir the minced onions into the fat and cook for a couple of minutes, until sizzling and starting to sweat.  Stir in the celery and carrot, and cook the vegetables until wilted and golden, stirring frequently and thoroughly over medium-high heat, at least 5 minutes.

Turn the heat up a notch, push the vegetables off to the side and put all of the meat into the pan.  Add the salt.  Give the meat on the pan bottom a few moments to brown, then stir, spread and toss with a sturdy spoon, mixing the meat into the vegetables and making sure every bit of meat browns and begins releasing fat and juices.  Soon the meat liquid will almost cover the meat itself.  Cook at high heat, stirring often, until all of that liquid has disappeared, even in the bottom of the pan.  This will take 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the heat and the width of the pan.  Stir occasionally, and as the liquid level diminishes, lower the heat too, so the meat does not burn.

When all of the meat liquid as has been cooked off, pour in the 1 cup of red wine.  Raise the heat if you've lowered it, and stir the meat as the wine comes to a boil.  Cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Now drop the 1 tablespoon of tomato paste into a clear space on the pan bottom.  Toast a minute in the hot spot., then stir with the meat and let caramelize for 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir in the crushed tomatoes.  Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring the meat and let the liquid almost boil off, 5 minutes more.

Pour in 2 cups of hot broth, stir well, and add more if needed to cover the meat.  Bring it to an active simmer, cover the pan and adjust the heat to maintain slow, steady cooking with small bubbles perking all over the surface of the sauce.

From this point, the Bolognese should cook for 2-3 hours.  Check the pot every 20 minutes and add hot broth as needed to cover the meat.  The liquid level should be reducing by 1 1/2 to 2 cups between additions;  if it's falling much faster and it takes more than 2 cups to cover the meat, lower the heat to slow the evaporation.  If the sauce level drops slowly or not at all, raise the heat and set the cover ajar to speed concentration.  Stir well at every addition.

During the final cooking interval, you want to reduce the level of the liquid.  At the end, the meat should no longer be covered but appear suspended in a thick flowing sauce.  If the meat is still submerged in a lot of liquid, remove the cover completed to cook off moisture quickly.

A few minutes before the end of cooking, taste a bit of meat and sauce and add salt if you want.

Note that you'll want to spoon off the fat before serving.

Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew

We had this stew for dinner last night with some warmed corn tortillas and steamed broccoli sauteed with garlic and red pepper.

Adapted from Cooking Light. Original recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons ancho chile powder
• 1 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound boneless pork chops, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1/2 onion, chopped
  
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (20-ounce) can hominy, drained
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; set 3/4 teaspoon spice mixture aside. Add pork to remaining spice mixture in bowl, tossing well to coat.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture to pan; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove pork from pan; set aside. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 3 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and continue to saute for 2 more minutes or until you smell the garlic. Return pork to pan. Add reserved 1 1/2 teaspoons spice mixture, broth, hominy, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 minutes.

Grilled Chicken Cheesesteak

I have lots of peppers and onions in the fridge due to the weekly produce allotment that i receive. So, I offered to make grilled sausage and peppers for MTH last night. He wasn't in the mood for sausage but asked what else could we have with peppers and onions. Chicken cheesesteaks somehow came to mind. Here's what we did:

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
garlic salt
oregano
red pepper flakes
fresh ground black pepper
1 green pepper
1/2 Vidalia onion (ok so this was actually from my parents)
1/4 yellow tomato (whatever your have on hadn will do)
mozzarella cheese (not the kind in water)
parmesan cheese
2 hoagie rolls

Directions:
Preheat the grill. PLace the whole pepper and pieces of onion on the grill. The onion will only take about 5 minutes. The pepper about 10 minutes (until it's somewhat blackened). Use the garlic salt, oregano, red pepper flakes and black pepper as seasonig to your liking. Grill the chicken. Toast the rolls on the grill. Construct your sandwich as you please - I put the cheeses, green pepper, onion, tomato and mustard on mine. You could add a pickle too.

Homemade Lasagna (About 1 hour)

We usually go out to eat on Saturday nights but this week, we went out on Friday night and then ate in on Saturday. On my blog, you can read about the dinner out here (link coming soon) and you can read MTH's review here (link coming soon).

Here's the quick lasagna that I made last night. Note that it feeds enough for an army so be prepared for leftovers if there's only two of you like me and and MTH.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
29 oz petite diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato paste
oregano, to taste
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste
16 oz skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
Parmesan cheese (use how much you like)
mozzarella cheese (use how much you like - I tried not to make it too cheesy)
12 lasagna noodles, boiled

Preparation:
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the ground meats until almost no pink remains. Add the onion and green pepper. When they are translucent, add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Add the spices to your taste. Let simmer for at least 15 minutes. Taste again and add more spices if necessary. Mix the ricotta, egg and Parmesan cheese.
In a 9x13 pan, start with a small amount of sauce (2-3 spoonfuls). Place 4 noodles across the pan. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat the layers ending with sauce ensuring that the sauce covers all the noodles. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Let set for about 10 minutes before serving.

Cuban Picillo Sandwiches (Less than 20 minutes)

Last night, we made these sandwiches for dinner. We thought they would be fun to eat while we watched The Simpson's Movie. I also made some baked sweet potato fries. The sandwiches are supposed to be made with ground pork but I couldn't find any at my grocery store. They had ground lamb and ground veal but no ground plain pork. They also had bulk Italian sausage and other types of bulk sausage which are of course, ground pork. But, they have other spices in them. Anyway, I substituted ground turkey for the ground pork. I'm sure that the ground pork would taste even better. Hopefully, the next time I make these sandwiches, I'll be able to find the ground pork. My plan is to use half ground turkey and half ground pork (they'll be slightly healthier!). Also, the original recipe called for raisins. Neither MTH nor myself like raisins so we left them out. If you like raisins, then you may want to try them. You add 1/2 cup golden raisins with the spices and the tomatoes.

Adapted from Cooking Light, October 2005

1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives
8 (1 1/2-ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns

Cook onion, garlic, and pork in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain and return mixture to pan. Stir in next 5 ingredients (through tomatoes). Reduce heat, and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in olives. Toast the needed buns. Spread about 2/3 cup picadillo mixture on bottom half of each bun; cover with top half of bun.

We had leftovers which I'm sure will taste even better on Monday.