Ragu Bolognese

After our visit to Italy in 2006, we realized how varied the cooking is in the different Italian regions. In Italy, there is no such thing as "Italian Food." There is the cooking of Genoa, of Bologna, of Tuscany or Naples, but they are all different. Much of the Italian food in the U.S. is based on the southern Italian cooking of Naples and Sicily, since this is where most Italians emigrated from at the turn of the last century. My cooking has the same influences, because my great-grandparents came from Castelfranci in Naples and Calascibetta in Sicily.

I grew up with my Grandmother's spaghetti sauce (or "gravy", as she called it), and that is basically the sauce that I've always made. It is a Neopolitan-style tomato-based sauce. After visiting Bologna and tasting the incredible food in this northern city, I wanted to expand beyond what I learned from my grandmother.

Bolognese sauce in America is frequently a generic name for a tomato sauce with ground beef. In Bologna, however, it means something entirely different. There are many opinions about the "proper" ingredients for this sauce, as is often the case with regional dishes. This is based on a Mario Batali recipe:



1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, finely diced
2 medium onions finely diced
2 ribs celery, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 lb. veal, ground
1 lb. pork, ground
1/4 lb. pancetta, finely chopped
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. fresh thyme
salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, saute the onions, garlic, celery and carrots over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft, but not browned. Turn heat to medium high and add the veal, pork, and pancetta. Stir frequently until meat is cooked through. Add the tomato paste, milk, wine and thyme, and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.



Reserve some of the pasta cooking water. Mix sauce and drained pasta in pan over medium heat. Stir until pasta is evenly coated. Add reserved pasta water to reach desired consistency. Serve with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano.

Notes: This is a great meat sauce. It has a very rich flavor and fabulous aroma. It was a simple dish to prepare, and I put away a jar of it in the freezer for future enjoyment. I had read similar recipes before, but milk seemed like such an unusual ingredient that it always scared me off. When I made this recipe, however, I was surprised by how easily the milk incorporated into the sauce. There was no curdling or scalding, and the finished sauce was not "milky" in any way. There is barely any tomato in this sauce, which is a big departure from the tomato-based sauces from southern Italy. I served it with dried fettucine, but I want to go even more authentic next time with homemade tagliatelle.

Apple Pie

I do very little baking, but every once in a while I'll bake a cake or a tart. I make a pretty good pie crust, but I'm usually making a crust for a savory dish. I had a whole bag of granny smith apples, so it seemed like a good time to try baking an apple pie.



I sliced the apples and tossed them with brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, orange zest, flour and lemon juice. I made a double pie crust and brushed the top with an egg wash and a sprinkling of sugar.



What a gorgeous pie! My wife and I served the still warm pie with some vanilla ice cream, and couldn't wait to dig in. Heavenly! Delightful! Delicious! These are adjectives that should not be applied to my pie. Too much zest! Questionable lemon from refigerator! Undercooked apples! These were the actual words used to describe said pie. If I try to bake another pie, I'll try not to make it too tart, and I'll try to cook it a little longer; 50 minutes at 375 degrees F. was not enough.



At least it looks delicious!

Potato and Cauliflower Mash

I came across this video recipe on about.com for a Potato and Cauliflower Mash. I love mashed potatoes, and I love cauliflower, so it sounded like a great idea to me. I don't use cauliflower in too many recipes, so I was eager to try something different. The about.com page has a transcript of the video, but I've adapted it here in recipe format:

1 head cauliflower
4 large russet potatoes
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper

Cut cauliflower into medium-sized florets. Add cauliflower, butter and salt to saucepan over medium heat. Cover the pan and braise cauliflower in the butter, stirring every 5 minutes or so until cauliflower is tender.



Peel russet potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Mash the cauliflower. Add the potatoes and mash some more. Add 1/2 cup warmed milk. Stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Notes: I really liked this side dish, and will definitely make it again. I cooked the cauliflower for about 20 minutes and then tried to put it through my ricer. I squeezed as hard as I could, but it was clear that the cauliflower was not going to go through the ricer, so I got the old potato masher out. I did put the potatoes through the ricer before adding them to the cauliflower. I had imagined a completely smooth texture, but the cauliflower wasn't so willing. Next time, I'll cook the cauliflower longer and I might try an immersion blender or cuisinart to puree the cauliflower with the milk.



I made a quick meal of chicken thighs from the freezer. Splash some olive oil on the chicken, sprinkle on kosher salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. Place in a roasting pan and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes, turning half-way through. Turn oven to broil and finish the chicken, skin side up.



A green vegetable or sauce would have helped the appearance of my plate.

Römertopf

I got a Römertopf clay baker for Christmas this year, and I got a chance to try it for the first time this week. The clay baker must be soaked before use, and because of its porous structure, it absorbs water. As the Römertopf is heated in the oven, the water turns to steam, which is supposed to keep your food moist. Great care must be taken to prevent cracking by thermal shock. Just like a baking stone, any rapid change in temperature can cause breakage.



I adapted a recipe that came with the Römertopf. I think the recipe called for chicken legs, but I wanted to try a whole chicken. I layered thin lemon slices on the bottom.



I added a layer of thinly sliced potatoes.



I added a layer of thinly sliced onions.



I added fresh tarragon, a small roasting chicken, and additional lemon slices.



I placed the lid on the Römertopf, and put it in the cold oven. I first brought the oven to 225 degrees F. and let it stabilize for 10 minutes before raising the heat to 425 degrees F.



After the oven reached 425 degrees F, I roasted the chicken for one hour. I then removed the lid and roasted it for another 20-30 minutes until the chicken was cooked through and browned.



Notes: The roasted chicken was tasty and the presentation was beautiful, but there were a few drawbacks to this recipe. While the layer of lemon looked very nice, the lemon flavor in the potatoes was overwhelming, especially because some of the lemon rind was burned. The potatoes were somewhat overcooked by the time the chicken was done.

In addition, all the chicken fat that I would usually drain off before making a pan sauce had been soaked up by the potatoes. I think if you are going to consume all that fat, you should have some lovely crisp potatoes, and not soggy, lemony potatoes. All the layers made the chicken stand a little too tall, so the skin on both legs touched the lid and ripped away when I lifted the lid. You also can't make a pan sauce in the Römertopf since it is not flame-proof.



So, overall, not a great start for the Römertopf. I can't see making another roast chicken in the Römertopf, but I am looking for some more recipes that might be better-suited to cooking in a clay baker.

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's resolution is to Eat More Stuffing! I always eat stuffing at Thanksgiving and during the holidays, but then I let the seasons pass me by stuffing-free. I want to have fall stuffing, winter stuffing, spring stuffing and summer stuffing -- stuffing for all seasons.



Roast chicken is standard fare in our household, but this year I'm going to serve it with stuffing instead of potatoes or rice. One thing I don't do with stuffing is stuff poultry with it. I think it makes it harder to cook the bird properly, and the stuffing doesn't brown inside a chicken. I like to put the stuffing in a casserole dish and brown it for 20 or 30 minutes. Yum.

I usually start with a bag of stuffing mix, to which I add my own ingredients. I sauté some onions and celery in butter, add water and/or stock, and then add stuffing mix, sage and other ingredients, such as dried fruit, sausage or chestnuts. Stir, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. Add to casserole dish and bake. I usually use 1/2 cup more liquid than the recipe calls for so it doesn't dry out in the oven.

I have to admit that eating more stuffing was my New Year's resolution last year, but this year I'm going to dig deeper. This year, my goal is to make stuffing from scratch. I'm not necessarily going to bake the bread, but I'm going to try to create a good recipe that doesn't start with Pepperidge Farms. We have a local bakery that sells day-old bread, so I think I'll start there. I'll include a recipe and some photos when that happens.