Spicy Tomato Pasta

Don't you just want to scarf down this bowl of all things delicious in the world (i.e. tomatoes and garlic)?! My mom and I look forward to the couple months out of the year during which tomatoes are not only edible but completely glorious. I know some people abhor tomatoes (ahem, dad, Zach), but I am convinced it's because they've only ever eaten bad tomatoes. Same goes for fish, mushrooms, and everything else except prime rib. Who has ever heard of a good prime rib?

Back in Atlanta, Craig and I were brainstorming about how we could impress his friends with a stunning meal. Had to be summery. Had to be awesome. And this was no time to bust out an improvised dinner of scorched squid salad with wheatberries for the first time on unsuspecting neighbors--though, come to think of it, that would have been fun.

My mom discovered this recipe in Martha Stewart Living several years ago (while I was living in Kirksville) and called me directly to share it. Mom made it every day for a week straight. And I followed suit. All elements in this meal bring out the flavor of the tomato: the chili-infused oil and the garlic add spiciness, the basil and oregano give it whatever herbs give so I'll use a generic term like "aroma," and the parmesan adds salt and creaminess and the overall awesomeness that is parmesan cheese.

We also made the watermelon-tomato-bacon salad--I've made it three times in less than a month and my mom is still convinced it's weird (my plan is to convert her with a surprise attack on Labor Day).

To amp up the meat we had the bacon for the salad and salami with baguettes and soft goat cheese. We made the Winning Hearts and Minds Cake for dessert and Biz and Boone brought homemade peanut butter ice cream (woah!). We spent the remainder of the night playing Apples to Apples until I was practically falling asleep on the floor and until Craig won.

Pasta with Tomato Sauce: from Marth Stewart Living 1 cup olive oil 2 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes 6 medium tomatoes, diced 4 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tablespoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon dried basil or 1 cup fresh basil kosher salt pepper 1 pound spaghetti or fusilli pasta parmesan cheese for serving At least two hours before serving, make pepper-infused oil. In a small bowl or glass, combine red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup olive oil and let stand at room temperature for at least two hours and up to two days.

In a large bowl, combine diced tomatoes, garlic, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and plain olive oil. Toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 1 to 8 hours.

Fifteen minutes before serving, bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and toss with tomato sauce. Serve with parmesan cheese and drizzle with chili-infused oil.

Pasta al Tomate

Last week, Emily and I went to the airport to collect our sister, returned from an epic voyage to Italy. She offered to make the entire family dinner last Friday, a decision I'm sure she regrets. I'm not so sure she missed us. My part of the story started when Al called to invite me to dinner. "Well, I have a party to go to, what time is it going to be over?" (This is the sort of thing you can only say to your family.) But I came and sat on the couch and complained that dinner wouldn't be over according to my schedule. Dad and I sat in the living room, joking and sincerely wondering where the chef du jour was. It was 5:30 p.m., and she was at the grocery store--this is America, Al. We eat by 6! But the pasta got rolling, mom was on-hand to lend assistance and I finally dragged myself off the couch to chop some tomatoes--for which I was lucky not to maim my hand while Al pushed around the cutting board in a frantic dash to find the corkscrew. But taking nibbles of the food and sips from the wine sobered everyone's tempers. Al was the chef de cuisine, mom was sous chef and I was the lowly garde manger (pantry supervisor).

But we did the work to prepare the bruschetta, salad and pasta (no meat to be seen--and on my dad's birthday). Al even grabbed a bottle of wine from the town in which she lived in Italy (Orvieto). The recipes are from a restaurant in Orvieto called Zeppelin where Al took a cooking class. So our meal was just as good as being there--obnoxious family included. Bruschetta: 1 loaf of HyVee take and bake bread (this stuff is awesome and so easy) 2 ounces pancetta Asiago cheese, thinly sliced coarsely chopped fresh basil olive oil balsamic vinegar dried parsely This seems too easy to explain, but here goes: Slice baked bread into one-inch-thick pieces to serve topped with the cheese, pancetta and basil and also dipped in a bowl of a olive oil-vinegar-parsely mixture.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Chilis: olive oil 3 cloves garlic, diced 1 cup dry white wine 2 pounds Roma tomatoes, diced 1 chili pepper, diced (remove seeds according to desired spiciness) large handful of fresh basil, coarsely chopped big handful spaghetti salt and pepper to taste parmesan cheese In a large sauce pan on medium, heat oil and saute garlic for a couple minutes. Add wine, tomatoes and chili pepper and continue to saute for 5 to 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Al bought an Anaheim pepper, which is less spicy than a jalapeno. You can always adjust the spiciness by adding or removing the ribs and seeds from the pepper. As far as judging a pepper's spiciness, generally smaller peppers are spicier. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti according to directions. Al picked up some spaghetti with ribs in it, which I really liked. Drain pasta and carefully dump into sauce pan with tomatoes. To serve top with basil and parmasan cheese.

Aunt Jean Goes to School

Just when I head out of town with no blogs to post for several days, my aunt Jean comes through with a blog about a cooking class she took at her country club in Columbia, Mo., covering the Five Mother Sauces of gourmet cooking.

Brad Faith is the Chef at the country club where I play golf. He periodically offers an evening cooking class for members. You know that I am not a cook; my kitchen is just a way for me to get to the backyard; and my stove will never wear out. But, this sounded like fun, and they said you received complimentary wine while you cooked ---- so how bad could it be?

The focus of the evening was Sauces 101--the five “mother” sauces of French cooking. These are apparently the base for any other sauce you want to make. They are: Espagnole sauce/demi-glace Veloute Béchamel (white sauce) Tomato sauce Hollandaise sauce

Six of us were in the class. They set up three cooking stations so we paired up. I picked one of my golfing buddies, Marylou, because I knew she would help me rather than laugh at me.

Right off the bat, I knew I was in trouble. There was a FOUR cup-measure container FILLED with melted BUTTER at each station (actually “clarified” butter – yes, there is a difference). And, there were two ingredients in the first recipe that I had never heard of before – mirepoix and roux. I started sipping my first glass of complimentary wine.

Now, he had told us ahead of time that there was no way we could make all these sauces in the three hours of class time. So, he had done some prep work. One was the “beef stock” – and from what he told us, it sounded like it must have taken him a minimum of 12 hours to cook that up. It started out with beef bones – did you know that the closer to the ground the bone is, the more flavorful it will be; for example a leg bone is more flavorful than a rib bone? - and stuff got added, and then cooked down; then something else got added, and cooked down; and it kept getting repeated until it ended up being this brown, gelatin-like glob. After describing this whole long, arduous process, he says “or you can buy this at a gourmet store,” this tiny little white plastic jar with beef base in it.

That’s for me! I’m not spending 12 hours in the kitchen when it can be bought in 15 minutes.

The mirepoix was easy – 2 parts onion, 1 part celery, 1 part carrot, sautéed in butter until softened. (He used whole vegetables, and didn’t wash any of them – “more flavorful that way”.) It turns out that roux is also simple – it is just a thickener. Equal parts butter and flour, cooked until brown. You can have “blonde” roux (which is just barely cooked, and still yellowish) or “brown” roux (which is cooked longer, until it turns brown).

Espagnole sauce is just a basic brown sauce – we might call it gravy if we weren’t trying to impress others with our cooking prowess. It consists of mirepoix, tomato paste, beef/veal stock, brown roux and sachet d’epices (spice bag – parsley, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, peppercorns).

The Demi-glace is just the espagnole sauce with more beef stock added, and then cooked down, “reduced”, by half.

The Veloute sauce (my personal favorite – probably because Marylou and I were awarded “best in class” on this one) – is just butter, mirepoix, blonde roux, chicken stock, and sachet. You can also make it with fish stock or vegetable stock, depending upon what you are pouring it over.

Bechamel – the classic white sauce. It is just butter, onion, blonde roux, milk and a pinch of nutmeg. And we don’t have to worry if we get lumps, because you strain it through cheese cloth. (We did pretty good on this one too!)

Tomato sauce – you know this one. Olive oil (finally no butter), onion, garlic, and tomatoes (he showed us how to core and de-seed tomatoes using a melon ball cutter!). Cook it down for hours and hours and hours to get rid of all the liquid.

Hollandaise --- holy cow! The grande dame of sauces and her persnickety nature is shown in the care that must be taken to make this sauce. Egg yolks and slowly drizzled butter that have to be carefully and continuously whisked as you dip the metal bowl in and out of a hot water bath. We had to continually trade off as our arms got so tired from the constant whisking. If it gets too thick, add a teaspoon of hot water. If it gets too lumpy – well, the old strainer might come in handy again. Man-oh-man, that was a lot of work! After we finished, one of gals whispers in my ear “I make my Hollandaise using the microwave and my blender, it’s not nearly this hard!”

Then we gals have another glass of wine, and he cooks some things for us to sample using some of the sauces. He reduces tarragon and vinegar, and then adds that to the hollandaise sauce – and pours it over beef tenderloins. He sautés mushrooms in white wine, and adds that to the veloute sauce – and pours it over grilled chicken breasts. Then adds cheese to the béchamel sauce and pours that over steamed cauliflower.

Now we get to taste the fruits of our labors (and have another glass of wine).

By the next morning, my stomach is just ROLLING – I think it was a little too much butter for me, but boy it was GOOD!

And She Made Pasta Again

I had all these plans. I was going to make this chickpea salad sandwich for dinner. But there were no chickpeas. Then I was going to improvise with cannellini beans. But there were no red-roasted tomatoes. Do you ever have those days where you're hungry for dinner before lunch? I was ready to snarf down a five-course meal by the time I left work and made my way to my hour-and-fifteen-minute yoga class, which put dinnertime at well past 7 p.m. That's, like, completely unaccectable for me and scads of retirees the world round. So all through yoga when I went to my "Zen place," there were amaretto biscottis, vegetarian lasagnas, homemade ravoilis and hummus dip with salty, salty pita chips looming on a buffet before me. At home I knew there was some already-cooked pork sausage in the freezer, that jar of artichoke hearts, and there are always cans of tomatoes (except today, because I've eaten them all). I came up with this variation on the Easy and Tasty Tomato Sauce. I'll call it Vegetable Vodka Cream Sauce. I'm go ahead and laud myself for using up some of the cream from the yesterday's Indian dish that would otherwise be going bad. And while I'm at it, for using up last summer's leftover vodka that has been collecting dust in the cupboards. Oh, and some questionable tomato paste that had been sitting opened in the fridge. Perhaps the best part about pasta is its ability to rend all leftover items useful. It turned out ridiculous salty, which I would say is a good thing. I think this sauce could only be improved upon with more veggies, particularly of the squash variety (i.e. zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant). Oh I can't wait for it to really be spring. Now I'm going to go make my grocery list. Vegetable Vodka Cream Sauce: 1/2 pound ground pork sausage 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1 garlic clove, minced or chopped dash of red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes 2 ounces vodka 1/4 cup cream 1/2 cup (or so) artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped salt to taste 1 cup small pasta (penne, macaroni, shells) 1 tablespoon-ish dry basil 1 tablespoon-ish dry parsley parmasan cheese Brown the pork sausage. Remove from skillet and set aside. This recipe is for about two people, so adjust portions as needed. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet on medium heat. Saute garlic and red pepper flakes until garlic turns a darker yellow. Add tomato paste and toast for a minute or two on medium heat. Toss in the can of tomatoes, vodka and cream. Bring to a boil and let simmer. While it simmers add in the artichoke hearts, any other vegetables of your choice and the cooked pork sausage. Let simmer for 5 to 8 minutes, until the alcohol cooks off. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Toss in a couple handfuls of pasta. Cook according to directions. Drain the water. Add the pasta to the simmering sauce. (Carefully) taste here. Add salt if needed. Turn off the heat and sprinkle with basil and parsley. Let sit for a minute or two so the sauce can thicken. Serve sprinkled with parmasan cheese.

Easy and Tasty Tomato Sauce.

Taking index of my blog postings, it's pretty clear I favor Italian cooking. It makes sense to me: Italian is pretty easy and pretty tasty. And (even though no one believes that Italians can be blond), I am 1/4 Italian. And in this day in this country, that's practically ethnic, right? Well this isn't a family recipe (or at least not yet). I got it from a really hee-larious blog The Amateur Gourmet that has become my new mid-day distraction. I had all the ingredients in my pantry (which never ever happens to me), and it really took about 15 minutes to make--so unlike my homemade ravioli recipe, is actually mom-friendly. I only deviated from his recipe when I used diced tomatoes instead of whole canned tomatoes--not sure that qualifies as "recipe development." But it is less messy. I have also come one step closer to acheiving my goal of making and mastering the grand sauces. As yet I've only attempted hollandaise (disaster), bechamel (eh) and tomato (conquered here).

(Lainey's Take on Adam's Take on Lydia's) 15-minute Tomato Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove of garlic

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust to your liking)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound dried pasta (rigatoni in my case)

Chop or mince garlic. Heat oil in pot. Add garlic to pot and saute until it is light brown. Add red pepper flakes and saute a bit more. Add tomato paste and toast until it turns orange. (Mine actually burned right away, so you should turn down the burner, but there was really no problem with the burned paste, so worries). Pour in diced tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta. When pasta is soft to the bite, drain and stir into sauce for another 5 minutes. Serve with plenty of parmasan cheese.