Winters Recipes

This recipes is from Brooklyn Farmhouse. (http://www.brooklynfarmhouse.com/)

Bolognese Sauce with rigatoni

“Bolognese” sauce is a funny thing. The sauce is not just found in Bologna – most towns in the Italian region (Emilia-Romagna) have their own version, some quite different from one another. Even in Bologna there is little agreement on ingredients or a standardization of the recipe – the old joke is that if you asked 100 people in Bologna for their sauce recipe, you’d get 100 different versions. At its essence, Bolognese sauce is a minced- or ground-meat “sauce” (and I use that word loosely, for reasons explained below) cooked with a sofrito (onion, carrots, celery) and usually with some type of wine and some form of tomatoes. I’ve seen recipes with white wine, with red wine. With mostly ground beef, with only ground beef, with mostly ground pork, with a mixture of the two, and with beef, pork, and chicken livers. With whole tomatoes, or with tomato puree. Lots of recipes add milk during the cooking, some tell you to stir in bechamel sauce at the end instead. The only consistent aspect of any Bolognese sauce recipe is that it must, must, must be cooked for a long time – upwards of two hours or more.

“Sauce” is a word used rather loosely here, because Bolognese sauce is not what most of us outside of Italy would consider “saucy”. That is, Bolognese sauce is much “drier” than your typical pasta sauce. In general, Italians use quite a bit less sauce than we do in the U.S., and Bolognese sauce has quite a bit less liquid than other sauces. (You’ll probably just have to make it to see what I’m talking about.) In the pictures above, I’ve actually used a lot more sauce than you’d normally see on pasta in northern Italy, but even in my version the sauce isn’t glopped on top of the pasta, but rather mixed in so that it coats all of the pasta bits equally. Bolognese sauce in northern Italy is served with tagliatelle (a wider, fettuccine-like fresh egg noodle), in lasagna, with tortellini, or with dried pasta such as rigatoni (shown in the picture above) or penne. It is never, ever served with spaghetti (that is a British adaptation). If you use dried pasta, don’t rinse it after cooking. You don’t want to rinse off the starch that clings to the pasta – this is what allows the sauce to adhere to the pasta.

This recipe is a partial adaptation of a recipe I translated from a book I picked up on a recent trip to Bologna – Laura Rangoni’s La Cucina Bolognese, although I made quite a few alterations. If you are fat-phobic, this is not the recipe for you! There is a huge amount of pork fat (and other fats) in this recipe. Using pasture-raised pork and beef (and butter from grass-fed cows) helps reduce the amount of “bad” fat, but still. There is a LOT of fat in this recipe. If you want to stay true to the recipe but reduce the amount of fat in it, you can skim off the fat at the end (it will separate out from the rest of the sauce) or you can refrigerate the sauce overnight and de-fat it after the fat has solidified. Don’t remove all of the fat, though, because the fat is what really coats the pasta and creates a “saucy” feel in the mouth.

A few last words about ingredients: make sure you dice your sofrito (onion, carrot, celery) as finely as possible – you don’t want big chunks of celery or carrots in your final sauce (they’re supposed to sort of melt into the sauce after the long cooking time). This recipe calls for prosciutto cotto and pancetta. Prosciutto cotto: literally, “cooked prosciutto”, prosciutto cotto is exactly that – prosciutto that has been cooked. It is sold like other deli meats. If you can’t find prosciutto cotto, you could substitute good-quality ham. If you can’t find pancetta (sometimes referred to as Italian bacon – but only because pancetta is made from pork belly – other than that, there is little similarity), omit it. Don’t be tempted to use American (smoked) bacon – you’ll ruin the balance of flavors in the sauce. If you find pancetta, have your deli man (or woman) slice it thinly to facilitate you chopping it into tiny, tiny bits. I used La Quercia pancetta (normally I’d never say “domestic” and “pancetta” in the same breath, but La Quercia’s pancetta is truly delicious and comes from humanely raised pigs). And finally, I prefer Bionaturae brand of tomato puree, but if you can’t find a good puree, you can simply open a can of high-quality whole tomatoes and puree them in your food processor or blender. Strain the seeds using a fine-mesh strainer if you like.

Ingredients:
For 6-8 servings

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, very finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and very finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, very finely chopped
3 ounces pancetta, very finely chopped
4 ounces (1/4 pound) prosciutto cotto, very finely chopped
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
3/4 pound sustainably-raised ground pork
1 cups dry white wine
1 1/4 cups tomato puree
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 lb. pasta for serving
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving

Procedure:

1. In a large, heavy dutch oven, add the butter, olive oil, onions, carrots, and celery. Saute over medium heat until the vegetables have softened (but not browned – turn down the heat if they start browning), about 10 minutes.
2. Add the pancetta, and cook and stir over medium heat for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the prosciutto cotto and cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes more.
4. Add the ground beef and the ground pork, breaking up large chunks with a fork. Cover the pot and cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until all the pink is gone from the meat, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the white wine, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let cook until most of the wine has evaporated, 15 minutes or so.
6. Stir in the tomato puree.
7. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for 2 hours or longer, stirring occasionally. The fat will separate from the sauce at the end of cooking. If the mixture becomes too dry during cooking, add a bit of water, a few tablespoons at a time. Don’t add salt until the very end, keeping in mind that the cured pork products add quite a bit of salt to the sauce.
8. Cook your pasta of choice, drain, and toss with the sauce, stirring well to coat each piece of pasta. Top with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Note: You can cook the sauce in a crock-pot instead of on the stove – add all ingredients to the crock-pot at step 7. Cook on low heat for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Add water if the mixture becomes too dry, as discussed in step 7.

This was taken from smellslikehome. (http://smellslikehome.wordpress.com/)

It’s been a while since the Barefoot Bloggers have done a Bonus Recipe Challenge (BRC) and during that downtime, I’ve been working up a big new BRC.  Based on my Week with the Barefoot Contessa I did last year, I wanted to expand the challenge to the whole group.  There are no set posting dates for the five recipes I chose, just that they are posted between November 2-6, and this is my first of the week. So over the course of this week, check back daily for a new Ina Garten recipe that I’ll add to the 70+ Ina recipes I’ve already posted about here!

So the first recipe of the week brings us Chicken Chili.  After having made my favorite chili recipe more times than I can count and after having won my department’s chili cookoff with the recipe last year, I’m finally trying a new chili recipe. Although, I guess you could say that I have been making a different recipe during the past year since discovering Penzey’s Chili 3000 but the recipes only differ by the spices. We’re totally in love with Chili 3000 by the way!

That said, I was looking forward to this recipe.  I’d been itching to try a chicken chili recipe and I certainly wasn’t let down by this one.  While the chili was a little on the soupy side (which can be easily fixed next time since we’re thick chili fans) the flavors were spot on. I loved the big chunks of peppers and chicken (which I grilled rather than roasted – you’ll see my changes below) and with the my addition of black beans, this chili was a hearty and satisfying meal on an unseasonably cold October night here in CT. Go ahead and give it a try for yourself!!

Chicken Chili

source: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, page 232

WWPoints: 4

• 4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
• 1/8 cup good olive oil, plus extra for chicken
• 1/8 cup minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
• 2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for chicken
• 2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes in puree,  drained or undrained – your choice
• 2 15oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute.  Add to the pot with the black beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Preheat grill to high heat.
3. Drizzle the chicken breasts with olive oil then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Grill until completely cooked, about 4 minutes per side. While still warm, cut the chicken into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. Serve with toppings of your choice, or refrigerate and reheat gently before serving.

This recipe was from Happy Mama (http://bloggersrecipes.blogspot.com/)

Ingredients:
8 oz. Shrimp – peeled (any size, just no shell, tail, head) (frozen)
4 oz. Crab Meat – Pasteurized; lump, Backfin, claw (canned)
1 lb. Cream Cheese – softened
1 bunch green onions – top cut off, diced
1/2 teaspoon Blackening Seasoning
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 pkg Wonton Wrappers
2 eggs – whipped

Chop shrimp into small pieces. Heat large sauté pan and add butter. Once butter is bubbling add the shrimp. Toss and add Blackening seasoning.

Add cream cheese that has been softened (microwave for 2 minutes) Stir with a wooden spoon and add soy sauce, crabmeat and green onion. Once the mix has been combined, pour into a casserole dish and cool to create filling.

Place wonton squares on a cutting board and paint with egg wash. Scoop a half-ounce of filling into the center of the square wrappers. With four fingers, press in the middle of all four sides of the wrapper square. This creates a wonton flower. Press to create a seal. Cool for an hour, no longer.

Drop into deep fat fryer at 350 degrees, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown.