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.

 

CHILE VERDE from Scratch

Tender pork, tangy tomatillos and fiery peppers combine to make this dish one of my family's favorites.

This is yet another example of a cheap cut of meat being simmered in a savory sauce until it is tender and flavorful.  I use whatever pork I find on sale, from a boneless leg, to shoulder or cushion meat.  I even once used the leftover shoulder bone we cut up for sausage (we just made sure to leave plenty of meat on it).

This recipe makes a good-sized potful, anywhere from 10-15 servings, depending on appetites!


3-5 lbs of cut-up pork chunks

2 Tablespoons oil

1 large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons cumin
2-3 lbs tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered.
4-5 poblano peppers, seeded and diced
1 bunch cilantro, large stems removed, chopped
Any other hot pepper (Jalapeno, Serrano, Anaheim, etc) of your liking.
- how hot you make it is all about choice.
  MY rule of thumb is that you can always add heat later, but once you make it really hot, you're stuck with it!

Low sodium chicken broth/ chicken stock/ water

I rough chop all my veggies, and use my immersion blender later to smooth it out.  If you don't have one of the handy little gadgets, just be sure to chop your onions, peppers and cilantro as fine as you want to eat them.

Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until transparent, add cumin, stirring to coat the veggies.

Add tomatillos, peppers and cilantro then add just enough chicken broth or water to cover the veggies. Put a lid on this and simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.  This is the point I use the blender.

Add the pork chunks and simmer for 2 more hours, till the meat is falling apart.


Serve with rice, beans, tortillas, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, etc. for a big wet burrito.
Pour over scrambled eggs.  Make nachos with it.  The possibilities are what you make them.

You can also substitute chicken- boneless, skinless breast meat works just as well.

AMAZING CHOCOLATE CAKE

Another of my multi-bowl recipes - WAY more involved than a box mix, but absolutely worth the trouble!!


Measure 1-1/8 cups of unsweetened cocoa into a heat proof bowl and add 1-1/2 cups boiling water and whisk till smooth, set aside.

Measure 1-1/2 cups WHOLE milk, add 1 tablespoon of good vanilla, set aside.

Measure 2-2/3 cups all purpose flour into bowl, add 2-1/4 teaspoons EACH baking soda and baking powder.  You can add 1 teaspoon of salt. but I don't.  Mix together. Sift, if you are into that kind of thing.

Now for the main bowl, the big one! Get out your mixer, measure 3 cups of brown sugar, packed. (YES! Brown sugar)
then 3/4 cup canola oil  (Not soybean or olive or even corn oil), and 3 eggs. Beat this for a minute or so, scraping the bowl often.

Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk mixture, beating and scraping constantly.
Finally, beat in the cocoa mixture and blend completely.

This recipe makes 3 - 10in layer cakes or about 4 doz cupcakes.

Bake at 350 - about 13-15 minutes for cupcakes, about 35 minutes for layer cakes.

Start with this delicious cake batter and make this pretty Black Forest Cupcake.

Test with toothpick, when it comes out clean, its done!

Pork, sausage, and the benefits of being frugal

 First, if you are a vegetarian, please be warned, the pictures are quite graphic!

Anytime we find pork roast on sale, we snatch up a few and grind it! We purchased our meat grinder years ago, and it has more than paid for itself in the long run.  We've made many different kinds of sausage, from Spicy Italian to Brats to Chicken Sausage, but our favorite is plain breakfast sausage.  The stuff you buy in the store is tasty, but it's high in sodium, has lots of preservatives and added ingredients that we don't believe should be in our food.  And this just ends up cheaper!

Take the roast, and trim away as much meat as you can, cutting it into workable chunks that will fit into the grinder. Whenever we find a boneless roast on sale, well, BONUS!

 This is the meat grinder we bought years ago.  It's been through alot!!

 Grind up the pork, either once for a chunkier grind, or grind twice for a finer texture. We like chunks.


We trim away most of the fat, but not too much, because that fat helps keep your meat moist.

 Now that you have some beautiful ground pork, you can freeze it just like this:

 Or you can make sausage.

Breakfast sausage

For each pound of ground pork, use
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 teaspoons red chili flakes. (as hot or mild as you like!)
2-4 TABLESPOONS rubbed sage
Salt and/or pepper to taste

1/4 cup vegetable oil (optional, but if you trimmed your pork of its fat, this vegetable oil will help moisten your finished product)

Mix this all together. I mix all my spices into the vegetable oil first, then mix into the meat, it seems to mix easier that way.  Cook up a small sample to test but keep in mind that the flavors will blend and mellow a bit if this is frozen.


We make 5-10 pounds at a time, depending on what we find on sale, and freeze them in packages.
Which brings me to our other nifty gadget, our FoodSaver.  We purchased this years ago. and it has paid paid for itself several times, allowing us to buy in bulk, freeze and not worry about waste. 
 
You can also freeze these in regular zippered freezer bags, just be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible.

Hot off the grill!

 A casual, simple, and yet tasty meal can be cooked up on your outdoor grill, no matter what size!  Shrimp and vegetables, seasoned very lightly so their flavors shine.  Start with the Artichokes, as they take the longest. Trim the stem, if it looks dry, then use kitchen shears to trim the points of the leaves. After grilling, wrap in foil to keep warm while grilling everything else.  You can make as much or as little of the marinade as you like, so that you may brush the other vegetables with it, and use it as a dip when you eat the artichoke.

The shrimp is very simply seasoned, although you can add salt and/or pepper as you like.  Whenever you use wood skewers, be sure to pre-soak them so they don't burn.


Grilled Artichokes
2 large artichokes
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup olive oil
pepper to taste
Trim and wash artichokes, boil for 15 minutes,cut in half lengthwise, then place on hot grill, brush with olive oil mixture, turn a few times until artichokes are nicely charred, a total of about 10 minutes.

 Grilled Shrimp
1-2 lbs medium-sized shrimp, peeled and de-veined
Cayenne Pepper or Mild Chili Powder
 Juice of 1 lemon

Sprinkle shrimp with cayenne, as liberally (or not) as you like.  Thread onto skewers,place on hot grill, squeezing lemon juice as they cook, 3-5 minutes each side.

Grilled Veggies

Grape tomatoes, sweet onion, mushrooms, (or bell peppers or zucchini, use your imagination) threaded onto skewers and grilled over hot coals are a simple, tasty way to enjoy fresh veggies.  Use some of the marinade from the artichokes above, or bottled Italian Salad Dressing, or just a light brush with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and/or pepper. 

Let everyone pile their plates with the sticks of their choosing! 
It's almost all finger food! 

The Aftermath

 

Sweet and Sour Pork (with attitude)

I haven't made Sweet and Sour Pork in years, probably decades, and the last time I did I am sure I used a jarred sauce for it.  So, in researching Sweet and Sour sauces, I was surprised (and a bit disgusted) that every recipe used KETCHUP.
Blech!!
I can't do it!
Had to be Sriracha, and it turned out to be Sweet, Sour and SPICY Pork. YUM!!

As far as the veggies go, all of the recipes agreed on bell peppers (we like red around here), onion and occasionally celery.
My recipe included all three.

Here goes:


Marinate Pork

1-1/2 lb lean pork (boneless sirloin, leg or shoulder), cut in 1" cubes
1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
(garlic and ginger can be powdered- 1 tsp each)
black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Toss this all together, refrigerate for at least an hour.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Sriracha (or ketchup, if you must)
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Bring this to a simmer, then mix:

1/4 cup water, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, then stir into sauce.

When sauce thickens, add 1 cup pineapple chunks, remove from heat.

Veggies

4 or 5 green onions, sliced thin
1 small white onion, cut in 1" chunks
1 red bell pepper, cut in 1" chunks
3 stalks celery, sliced on a diagonal

Any stir-fry vegetables will work in this!!

Put it all together

Heat 2-3 inches oil (peanut is best)
Scramble an egg, pour over the pork chunks, toss together.
Mix 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup flour and black pepper (to taste)
Dredge the pork chunks in the flour mixture, and deep fry 4-5 minutes or until golden brown,
drain on paper towels.

Discard all but  2 tablespoons of oil, mince two cloves of garlic and saute in the oil, till slightly brown.
Add vegetables, saute for 1 minute,
add pork chunks, saute for another minute,
then add the sweet and sour sauce, stirring until it is all bubbly.

Serve over steamed rice or noodles.
Garnish with green onions and toasted sesame seeds, if you wish.

Sweet Cream Pancakes

This recipe is my homage to the Sweet Cream Pancakes at the Black Bear Diner in Bullhead City, Arizona.   I had them for the first time last year, and fell in love.  They are so good, they need no syrup, like a fluffy, slightly sweet cloud that smells and tastes of vanilla.

So I went home and did what I usually do, which is to scour the internet for a recipe.  I found a few more people like me, looking for answers, but only one recipe that even sounded close.
So I went to work, with my husband and son as my guinea pigs (such a tough job), toying with the right balance of creamy, sweet and fluffy.

I don't eat out at restaurants as a regular thing, since I have a hard time handing over my hard-earned money eating food that is just better from my kitchen. Yes, I am a conceited Food Snob, but I also know when to bow down to someone of superior cooking skill.  So, upon this year's trip to Bullhead, I look forward to visiting the Black Bear Diner and humbling myself.

In the meantime, this isn't a bad alternative!

These pancakes are much like most of my recipes.... not difficult to make, just a bit time (and bowl) consuming.

1 - 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar (you can use as little as 1 tablespoon, or even better, use Agave Nectar)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2-4 large eggs, separated.

Start with a 2 cup measuring cup, measure 1- 1/2 cups of milk. When I say milk, you can use anything from low-fat all the way to cream, depending on how rich (and fattening) you'd like your pancakes to be. I like using half and half. Stay away from fat free milk, AND I have no idea if soy, almond, or any other substitute will work To the milk, add 1 tablespoon vanilla and 1/4 cup sugar.

In a medium-sized bowl, measure 2 cups all purpose flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder, mix together. Now you will separate eggs. The yolks will go in the milk mixture, and the whites will go in a small mixing bowl. I use 4 eggs- 2 yolks go in the milk and all four whites go in my mixing bowl.
Use a small whisk to scramble the egg yolks into the milk mixture, then pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until large lumps are gone.

Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form, then fold into the batter.

Heat griddle to 300 degrees, then pour spoonfuls of batter onto hot griddle.
Presto Cool Touch Electric Griddle
(My griddle used to be non-stick, but it needs a wipe with vegetable oil or butter once in a while)

Cook pancakes till bubbles on the surface start breaking open, flip, then cook till the other side is golden brown. I make pancakes about 6" in diameter, this recipe makes 9 pancakes that size. Serve with your favorite pancake toppings.... butter, syrup, powdered sugar, fruit preserves, etc.

* more explanation about the eggs-

 I use the remaining egg yolks another way, they don't get wasted. You can put all four egg yolks in your pancakes, they will still be good, just very "eggy". If you only use two eggs, the pancakes will also be just fine....I just like the extra egg white to make them extra-fluffy!
Also, this same recipe, using all four eggs makes an OUTSTANDING waffle batter.

Coffee, Amazing Coffee

Some people are trend-setters, while others are dyed-in-the-wool followers of every trend known to man.
I am a simple creature, and nowhere is this more evident than in my coffee.
Now, I love coffee, but I am not really a snob about it. Years ago, I worked at a company where our coffee pot was one of those big 50 cup urns. The sludge that came from that monster looked like the La Brea Tar Pits.
I drank 5-6 cups a day of that crap.

These days, my stomach can only handle one cup a day, so I have to make it count. (One of the many 'perks' of aging.) Store-bought coffee of any type just wont do it.
And, seriously, what is up with these $100 machines that yield, what is essentially, a cup of instant coffee?
It's weird!

I have had a French Press for several years. It was a Valentine from my true love, because he knows I'm not a flowers and chocolate kinda girl.
The French Press is coffee-making at its most old-school.
Boil water.
Grind coffee.
Pour boiled water over ground coffee.
Wait 4 minutes.
Press.
Coffee.

It used to be, finding fresh, whole-bean coffee was the most difficult part of this process, but, as with so many other food issues in my life, Fresh and Easy solved that one for me. San Francisco Gourmet, in a two-pound bag. It is always fresh and still reasonably priced.

Usually, I add a dollop of half and half to my coffee, but occasionally I enjoy it black, savoring the smoothness going down, with the slight bitterness of the aftertaste.
Nothing irritates me more than someone who claims to love coffee, and then desecrates it with powdered cream, sugar, or worse, those flavored creamers.

There's an old saying, "If you wanted a cup of cream and sugar, why'd you ask for coffee?"
Whoever said that is my hero!

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How to build the perfect shrimp ceviche tostada

Depending on where the shrimp comes from, its a family project in our house. We are serious shrimp snobs, and have become such wussies, we can't eat shrimp that has any sand vein at all, or we are convinced we have food poisoning. So we have a family shrimp de-veining session, and we can knock out 4 pounds of shrimp, pretty and clean in no time.

Now, purists will cry foul if you boil your shrimp, we do, only because these days, unless you see that shrimp come out of the ocean, you can't be sure of the freshness. 'Cooked' in lime juice is just fine if you have really fresh shrimp, otherwise you are asking for pain and suffering.

Lots of fresh cilantro, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and jalapenos. A pinch of salt & pepper, cumin and a generous squeeze of lime juice, and you have a shrimp ceviche fit for a king.

Take a tostada shell, smear with mashed avocado, pile on a scoop of ceviche, more hot sauce, if that is your thing, and crumble some queso fresco.

Simple.
Yummy.

And another family bonding experience.

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The world's best meatballs

I said before that I'm lucky to have an entire family who cooks. Friday's dinner was meatball sandwiches.

My 13 year old attends Charter School, which means he has Homestudy on Mondays and Fridays, so I asked him if he'd like to make meatballs for dinner.

1. I said 'meat', so he's all over that. (We've been sneaking in alot more meatless meals lately)
2. He gets a break from study.....uh, yeah, something like that.

Mostly, he loves to show off his mad cooking skills.

I called him from work about noon, so that he could make sure we have all the necessary ingredients: Ground beef, ground pork or sausage, eggs, onion, garlic and bread crumbs.



Seriously. That's it. So, what you see in the picture is a pound each of ground beef and sausage, so you'd chop half an onion, one or two cloves of garlic and 2 eggs. If you are using the seasoned bread crumbs shown in the picture, 1 cup is perfect and no other seasoning is necessary.

Mix with your hands (thoroughly washing them first, of course).
Its the only way. It's cold and icky-feeling, but it really is the only way.

Some people form their meatballs and drop them, raw, into sauce to cook. This works, but I don't care for the mushiness. I make golf ball-sized meatballs, place them in a pan, and when the pan gets hot, pour 1/4 cup of water and slam a lid onto it. In about 2 minutes,lift the lid and continue to brown the meatballs, turning occasionally for about 10 minutes.

You can also arrange them on a cookie sheet, spaced apart and bake for about 20 min in a 300 degree oven, turning occasionally.

Throw cooked meatballs into any marinara sauce, home made or canned, and then pour over cooked spaghetti or shove into a roll for a meatball sandwich. Freeze the leftovers, if there are any!

Oh, and I call these "The World's Best Meatballs" because I don't have to make them.

Back to Basics

Recently, there was an article online, saying that most families don't eat dinner together. That when they do, it is a hurried-up process, with members of the family each eating their own nuked, frozen meal- while texting, playing games and watching TV.

I don't get that. Well, yes, I do, because I know of people who do that. But I can't accept the idea that THAT has become the norm.
If it is then my family - all extended versions of it,is the anomaly.

We are a weird bunch, this is true. My 13 year old Cheeto-addict was doing the dance of joy when my husband brought home eggplant for dinner. My 2 year-old grandson will eat just about anything, as long as you put hot sauce on it. He also adores ketchup, mustard and BBQ sauce. His newest nickname is "Condiment".

I grew up eating sit-down dinners nearly every night of the week. My mother was not a fabulous cook, and meals were pretty basic, and -forgive me, mom- awfully bland. But it never occurred, even to the most rebellious of us kids(ie, me.), to complain about the food, get up from the table before we were excused, or ask for something different to eat.

Dinner at our house is a looser model of my dinners growing up. No phones or other personal gadgets, and you eat what is put in front of you. Period. And you can get up from the table when you are finished, provided you wash your plate, flatware and glass.

The fare, however, is what makes the dinner! Last night was basic- Hamburgers and Curly Fries. All homemade, the ingredients purchased mainly at our neighborhood Fresh N Easy. Fries were baked, not fried, and sliced fresh tomatoes, lettuce and avocado were among the accompaniments. (The Cheeto-addict HAS to put a veggie on his burger.)

The previous night was Eggplant Parmesan. When my husband brought home the 'celebrated' eggplant, I made enough Parm for more than one meal, so, Wednesday's meal was "Leftovers". I know people who turn their noses up at the idea of leftovers, but seriously, it's what gets us through the week and saves us from fast food.

None of this is possible, without help. My husband cooks, as well as my 18 year old stepdaughter. The Cheeto addict is often recruited, though he is relegated to sous chef- chopping, peeling, or de-veining shrimp. He is learning fast, and will soon be one more Master Chef in our family kitchen.

"Too many cooks spoil the broth". Not in OUR KITCHEN!