Food is a family affair

Our lives revolve around food. Some of the best times we have are in the kitchen, preparing everything from simple lunches to all-out feasts - with the freshest ingredients we can find.


Special occasions usually find us with several generations in the kitchen together and various extended family members contributing to a fabulous feast.


Friday, January 3, 2014

Red Sauce for everything



Pasta is a family favorite at my house.  I always make homemade sauce, and use my own fresh Italian Basil grown in my garden.  During the summer growing season when I have more basil than I know what to do with, I use a food processor to grind fresh basil, garlic and olive oil, into a paste.  I freeze this and enjoy the flavor of fresh basil in my cooking all winter long.

Using dried basil is just fine if you can’t get your hands on fresh stuff, but my preference will always be FRESH!

Canned tomatoes, sauces and pastes are combined to give a thick, rich sauce.  I just love the Contadina brand that has roasted garlic or herbs.  It gives my sauce another dimension of flavor.

Red wine is a must!  This doesn’t have to be expensive stuff, but I recommend the deepest red you can find, like burgundy.




This basic red marinara, or spaghetti sauce can be used for any type of pasta or pizza.


2 tablespoons extra virgin oil
½ large or 1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon dried basil
  Or ½ cup fresh chopped basil
1-29oz. can tomato sauce
1-29oz. can crushed tomatoes
1-6oz. can tomato paste
1 cup red wine
Salt and pepper, to taste

Chop onions and chop or mince garlic

Heat a large 6 quart pot, with a heavy bottom, over medium heat. 
When hot, add oil, swirling to cover bottom of pan.
Add onions, stirring for a minute, then garlic and basil.
    DO NOT SCORCH-remove from heat if necessary
Saute for a few minutes, till onions are clear (and your house smells like heaven!)
Add sauce and crushed tomatoes and stir
    Fill 1 empty can ½ full with water, pour back and forth between cans to rinse out, then pour into sauce pot. (waste not, want not)

Measure the red wine in a 2-cup measuring cup or pour into 2 cup bowl.

Tip: Open paste can at both ends, remove 1 lid and use other lid to push paste out of can.
Add paste and combine thoroughly, then pour into pot

Add water to measuring cup or bowl, then add to pot (this way, no paste gets wasted!)
Combine thoroughly, add more water till pot is over half-full, turn heat to lowest possible setting, place a lid on the pot, slightly askew and simmer all day.  (3-5 hours)

Make sure it doesn’t scorch, check and stir occasionally, adding water if necessary.

After about 2 hours, taste sauce.  Add salt and/or pepper to taste.



Tip: about halfway through cooking, use a hand blender, to puree your sauce to an even smoother finish.  This is especially nice if you have kids or grownups who don’t like to see onion pieces in their food.




Double or triple the recipe, cook in a large stock pot and freeze for later use.

Brown and drain any type of ground meat, ground beef or veal or sausage and add about an hour before serving.

Fabulous Flan



This is without a doubt, not just the best flan recipe I have ever made, but the very best I’ve ever tasted.  Period.  Rich and creamy, but not overly sweet.  More of the sweetness comes from the caramel sauce than from the custard itself.

If you’ve never baked a custard, the absolute requirement is to bake it in a water bath, also known as a Bain-marie.  It’s simple, but must be handled carefully.  I have found it easiest to place a large pan on a rack in the lower half of your oven. I use a half-sheet cake pan, but a large roasting pan will work just as well.  Place your item (custard, flan, cheesecake, whatever) into the large pan and then carefully pour hot water in until it is halfway up the custard pan.

A flan mold with a lid works best.  A large, wide pie pan will do as well, but it’s a good idea to lightly cover with foil so you don’t get that rubbery film on the top of your custard.  Using the shallowest pan you can get away with makes inverting onto a platter that much easier.

Test with a knife halfway between the center and edge.  First, though, you can do the “jiggle test” – shake the pan slightly, if it jiggles in the center, it’s done.  If the whole thing jiggles, shut the oven door and set your timer for 10 more minutes.

The set-up and refrigeration time is non-negotiable.  Trying to invert a still-warm flan this large will make you cry.  I know, I’ve done it! 

Caramel Flan

350° Oven – approximately 65 minutes

1 cup white sugar

6 egg yolks (room temperature)
2 whole eggs (room temperature)
2 – 12 oz cans evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed)
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Mexican Vanilla

Heat the 1 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan and melt sugar swirling the pan at first and then stir once it has begun to liquefy. Once sugar is completely caramelized (liquid) quickly and carefully pour into 2-quart flan mold.  Swirl pan to coat bottom and partway up sides.  A 2-quart, 10 or 12in. pie pan can be substituted for flan mold.

Whisk together egg yolks, eggs, milk sugar and vanilla, until well blended, but do not whip. Pour in to prepared mold or pan.  Cover with lid or foil.
Bake flan in a water bath in lower half of oven for 55 minutes. Test with knife, not quite in the center, not all the way to the bottom.  If curds stick to knife, give it 10 more minutes, if a thin film sticks, it’s done.

Remove from oven and cool, then refrigerate for 2 hours before unmolding.  The flan will finish cooking and set up in this time.


To unmold, you need a flat platter with a raised rim that is slightly larger than the mold.  A cookie sheet or jelly roll pan can work. Run a thin knife around the edge of mold, loosening flan from sides.  Invert platter over mold, and quickly flip both over so that flan drops onto platter along with most of the caramel sauce.

Cut flan into wedges, and serve by spooning the caramel sauce over each slice.