Tomato Sauce Challenge: Part Two

I've made many a long cooking spaghetti sauce (or "gravy" as Tony Soprano would call it) in my day -- but Mark Peel's Bolognese recipe pretty much takes the cake. No matter how good this turned out to be I knew right at the start it was unlikely I would ever make it again. Good thing it makes a hefty amount -- plenty enough for dinner and the freezer.

Peel starts with brisket cut into 2" square pieces and marinated overnight in red wine and aromatic vegetables. Then the brisket is seared and added to a dutch oven. Seared pancetta, and the vegetables from the marinade (with the red wine reduced by half) join the brisket, along with 4 larges cans of whole Italian tomatoes (drained) that have been seasoned and roasted in the oven for 45 minutes. Once chicken stock and a cup of the drained liquid from the canned tomatoes are added in the pot is left to simmer for about 3 hours until the meat is fork tender. The brisket is removed from the pot -- left to cool and shredded (not cubed or ground as most Bolognese sauces require). The sauce in progress and the meat are held separately over night so the fat can be skimmed off the surface of the sauce. The next day, after the sauce has been passed through a food mill, just when you think you must be close to finished, the meat is added to the sauce. In a separate pan finely diced celery, carrots and sliced garlic are sautéed in olive oil and added into the sauce along with a bouquet garni of parsley and thyme and the whole thing is left to simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour. Presto. Mark Peel's version of Bolognese.

Was it good? Yes. Better than my usual "long-cooked" sauce that only takes about 3 hours? Probably not. Was the fatty mouth feel and rich taste better than Arthur Schwartz's Neopolitan style pork neck sauce? Not really. Somehow the bones in those recipes seem to add the same richness as Peel's lengthy preparation.

Not only was the process difficult to swallow (sorry) but the instructions as written in Peel's otherwise fairly well scripted book made following his lengthy instructions even harder.

The verdict? Pretty good. Nothing a resident of Bologna would recognize as that city's famous sauce, this rich sauce brought the area around Campania or Abruzzo more to mind than the Emilia-Romagna countryside. All in all try it once for fun (and to fill the freezer) but don't switch recipes just yet.

Loaf of the Week Continues

To be honest -- most of Jim Lahey's recipes (at least in the "Specialties of the House" section of his cookbook) are very similar, slight variation in proportions or types of flour, or flavorings added. The cheese bread is simply cubes of cheese folded into the dough at the beginning and left to rise with the flour and yeast. To the usual 3 cups of bread flour Lahey instructed to mix 1 tsp of salt (slightly less than usual), 3/4 tsp yeast (slightly more than usual), 2 1/2 cups of cubed cheese (1/2" cubes), and a sprinkling (1/2 tsp) of pepper with 1 1/3 cups of cool water. From there the method is the same as his famous no-knead bread. Leave the dough to sit for 12 to 18 hours for the first rise. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface, shape into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel (dusting the dough with flour to keep from sticking) and let rise for 2 hours. After the second rise the dough is turned into a 4 1/2 - 5 quart dutch oven that has been heating in a pre-heated 475º oven for at least 30 minutes and baked -- with the pot's cover on, for 30 minutes. Another 30 minutes uncovered and your bread is rich golden brown and crispy. No fail perfect every time no effort home made bread.

I'm slowly working my way through Lahey's My Bread cookbook. So far I've made his classic no knead bread, the Italian style baguettes he calls Stecca, Pizza with cauliflower, this light tasting cheese bread, and our favorite so far the no knead whole wheat loaf.

The testing continues.

. . . And After

My Dad loved corned beef hash. Straight from the can. Crisp fried with eggs. Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner. As a kid I don't think I knew it was something you could -- or anyone would -- make from scratch. Of course, my mom never made corned beef so it wasn't like the ingredients were any where handy. Although I still have a soft spot in my heart for the red and yellow can, these days we've upped the ante on the diner favorite.

For your homemade hash, melt a couple TBs of butter in a frying pan and add 1/2 diced onion, equal parts finely chopped corned beef and cooked potatoes, and enough liquid (could be milk, cream, gravy or tomato sauce) to moisten the mixture. Cook in the melted butter for about 10 minutes until the bottom is browned and crisp. Flip in the pan and fry until crisped on both sides. Serve with a fresh (thanks girls), lightly fried egg.

New Mexico Style

Carne Adovada. A dish little seen outside of it's Land of enchantment home isn't the Mexican or Southwest or even Tex Mex foods it may bring to mind. It is New Mexico; The home of roasted green chiles, sweet bischochitos, and this red chili marinated pork dish served at home, in diners, and on high end tables across the state.

Barely known even in nearby states Carne Adovada is served for every meal -- topped with a lightly fried egg, wrapped in lettuce leaves or as a chili soup in a bowl with tortillas or fry bread on the side. For this simple make ahead dinner I made a chili sauce in the blender. I whirred together 2 cups of water, 6 cloves garlic, 1 onion, 1 TB salt, 1 tsp oregano, 3 1/2 TBs New Mexico chili powder and 1/3 tsp cumin until smooth and let the cubed pork (about 2 1/4 lbs of pork shoulder cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes) marinate in the sauce overnight. In the morning I put everything in the trust crock pot and let the stew simmer on low for 10 hours.

For our less than fiery hot palettes I broke with tradition a bit and served the spicy stew over white rice with creamy avocado and a sprinkle of salty, dry cotija cheese.

Corned Beef Before . . .

Not even a compromise. I always do my first corned beef cooking in the crock pot. This time -- to make sure James had a full dinner I added potatoes and cabbage. In the morning I added about 1 half dozen small 9about 3 inches across) yellow potatoes, the corned beef brisket, 1 peeled onion, 12 black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 head of garlic and 3 allspice berries to the crock pot along with 4 cups of water and let the mixture cook on low for 9 hours. Then I (well I asked James to do it while I was out) added as many wedges of cabbage as he could fit into the crock pot and let it to cook for 3 hours more. An hour before dinner James (this was a family participation dinner) preheated the oven to 350º. Before I left in the morning I stirred up equal parts dijon mustard and brown sugar with enough honey to make a slightly tangy sweet glaze ( I usually follow the Silver Palette glaze recipe of 4 TB brown sugar 4 TB mustard, and 1 cup orange marmalade but we were fresh out of marmalade so I punted). A half hour before dinner, the big man removed the meat from the crock pot to a rimmed baking sheet, covered it with the glaze and baked for 30 minutes until the glaze made a sweet, crisp surface on the meat (James actually likes that glaze a little burnt). Served with the slow cooked potatoes and cabbage it's an easy winter night's treat, that makes for great leftovers.

Can Mac and Cheese Be Too Rich?

I didn't think so -- but, apparently I was wrong -- at least where James is concerned. After a quick perusal of the cheese drawer for odds and ends waiting to be used I mixed up a quick cheese sauce (a flour and butter roux, milk, S&P, and a dash each of nutmeg and cayenne). When the sauce was thick and warmed I dropped in cubes of delicious, voluptuous, washed rind Crémier de Chaumes (just the soft center cheese, not the rind) and stirred until the cheese was fully melted and the sauce silky smooth.

I mixed half cooked, drained macaroni (I used cavatappi) into the sauce and layered that mixture along with plenty of grated Montgomery Cheddar. I sprinkled fresh bread crumbs over the top and eft it in the fridge for James to bake when I had a late night at work.

Rich? Yes. Delicious? Yes. But maybe best served in tapas sized portions.

Backyard Lettuce Salad and Crusty Whole Wheat Bread

Consider this the start of the bread a week challenge. I've been poking around through Jim Lahey's Bread Book since the big man gave it to me for Christmas. This crusty whole wheat bread was so successful I am determined to make every recipe in the book. I'm no Julie and Julia (and I've got more than a 9 to 5 job) so I'll just start with a loaf a weekend. So far this version of Lahey's no knead classic is a family favorite.

Bread this good deserves to be more than a side, more than an accompaniment. So to let this hero loaf shine I picked a basket of fresh lettuces from out back yard patch and whipped up a simple Meyer lemon vinaigrette (we are one of the lucky ones with backyard tree). Fresh, simple, delicious.