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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Meat Sauce w/ Fresh Tomatoes, All Day Sauce



After reading this last week (Canned Tomatoes Cause Cancer) I nearly cried knowing that I've been slowly killing myself and family for years. I tend to hate jarred sauces so....fresh-homemade it is! It's work but anything good is worth while. It's probably best to take a whole morning and make a huge batch, and then freeze some for later since it's "simple" but time consuming.

What I made today is what I call an "All Day Sauce" and I don't need to tell you why or how long it takes to make. The longer the meat and the sauce stews, the better it tastes. I find 8 hours to be perfect, but you need a minimum of 3 hours for it to really be worth while. That's the cooking time by the way, not the prep time :-)

What you'll need:
28 or so Roma Tomatoes (Minimum, serves approx 4 people)
1 lb lean ground beef (Or sausage, or a combo of both (1/2 lb each)
Olive Oil
Yellow Onion
Garlic
Bay Leaf
Spices (Salt, Pepper, Onion/Garlic Powders, Paprika, Oregano, Italian Seasoning, Parsley, Basil...all dried and to taste. I add about 1 teaspoon of each herb and spice, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper)
Bell peppers (Optional, I chose not to use them)
Red Wine
*Red pepper flakes, optional
Fresh Basil for garnish

What you'll do:
First you score and blanch your Roma tomatoes. That means you gently cut little slits into the tomato (I do four) and then boil for about 1 minute. Don't boil all of them at once, I did four at a time. Once they boil to loosen the skins, remove from the water using a spider or slotted spoon and add to an ice bath (This is called blanching). You may notice that the boiling process alone may remove most of the skins.

Lovely fresh Roma tomatoes work best for fresh marina and meat sauce

Score the tomato to help loosen the skin

Add four or so at a time to boiling water for about one minute

Remove and add to an ice bath, then peel with a knife or even your hands (I use my hands) the skin

Blanched tomatoes ready to be skinned

Once they are peeled, slice them in half, very carefully, and then remove the seeds. The seeds hold a lot of water and the sauce will end up being tomato juice otherwise. I like mine just a 'tad' runny so I keep the seeds of maybe 3 tomatoes and remove the juice and seeds from the rest. Then squash the flesh with your hands.

Remove all of the seeds from the tomatoes, if you like your sauce a little thin, keep 'some' seeds from a few tomatoes

Squash and crush them and place in a bowl

After you've squashed them, you'll need a little help from a potato masher to finish the job. (Or use a blender/food processor)

Time to crush!

Crush, crush, crush!

Fresh crushed tomatoes! So vibrant! 

Congratulations! You made crushed tomatoes! Now, let's make the meat sauce. I like to start by dicing a yellow onion. I use a pretty large stock pot over medium-heat and add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. After I add the diced onion, I season it with just pepper and the bay leaf. (If you're adding bell peppers, add them with the onions) Then I start to mince my garlic. After the onion has been sauteing for 5 minutes and are becoming translucent, I add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Since you don't want the garlic to overcook, I just let it saute with the onions for about 3 minutes. Then I remove the onions & garlic from the pan.

Saute the onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil, add salt, pepper, and bay leaf

I use the leanest ground beef I can find

I like to season every layer, so I season the beef & the sauce. I'll season the beef with these, & salt & pepper

Once the beef is cooked, I add the onion & garlic back to the pot

Season the ground beef with salt, pepper, onion/garlic powder, Italian Seasoning, parsley, and paprika, to taste. Once it's browned add the onions and garlic back in. I also add about 1/8th a cup of red wine to the beef at this point.

Always choose a good wine that you'd drink! If you don't want to add wine, add a little beef stock/broth

Now it's time to add your delicious crushed tomatoes! Once they are added, they must be seasoned with all of the same seasonings mentioned above, all to taste. If you want to add some red pepper flakes, add them now.

This fresh, homemade sauce is SO BRIGHT!

Season your sauce well...I start with a pinch of salt

Lots of herbs and then add more wine if you like, 1/4 cup total

Once it's all seasoned, you've made sauce! I bring it to a bubble and then lower to a simmer. Now you have a choice, you can put the lid on and let it simmer for 3-8 hours on the stove-top, or transfer it to a crock-pot set to low. Crock-pot works great for this!

I like a thick, ridged noodle for meat sauce, a rigatoni noodle. Add some fresh basil at the end and enjoy!





Monday, February 25, 2013

Fried-baked chicken...



A few people liked the picture of my fried chicken the other day and actually wanted my recipe! :-) Okay, I'm not KFC so I'll give you my secret recipe....but since I just eye-ball everything, you'll have to do the same. I bought a bunch of chicken drumsticks by accident (I was told to buy drumettes for grilled wings-night) and I wasn't paying attention. We're not huge drum sticks fans but I figure everything taste good fried, so here we go.

What you need:

A package of drum sticks bought by accident (Or any cut of chicken)
Flour
"Secret Spices" (Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic Powder, Coriander, Cumin, Italian Seasoning, Parsley, Paprika [for flavor and color] Chili Powder [for kick] Thyme, Tumeric [to make them that lovely golden color] Poultry Seasoning. So there's my 13 herbs and spices, well more since Italian Seasoning has a bunch of stuff in it.
Canola Oil

What you need to do:

The amounts of Secret Spice are up to you, but you only have to add a pinch of Tumeric for color, you could add yellow Curry Powder instead, but again, just a pinch as the flavor is very strong. So first make a spice blend dry rub. I add roughly 1 to 1 1/2 TBS of salt and then approx 1 tsp of each of the rest of the spices, except for chili powder and tumeric, I add a pinch of those to avoid too much heat and too strong of flavor. Whisk the spices and herbs into a large bowl. (HINT, if using dried herbs which is all I use, mash them together in your palm first as it strengthens their flavor).

Using your hands, rub the spice mixture all over your chicken pieces and set aside for a minimum of one hour or up to three hours.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and prep a cookie sheet lined with foil and topped with a cooling rack. (If you don't have a cooling rack, just line a sheet with foil) The cooling rack will help the bottom of the chicken get burned and help ensure even cooking. It also helps some of the oil drain.

Get a deep, large pot and fill 1/3 of the way with Canola oil. Using a candy thermometer, wait for the oil to get to 350 degrees at close to high high heat. Meanwhile dredge the seasoned chicken in flour that has been seasoned with additional salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder, and paprika (about 1 tspn of each). Using tongs coat the chicken pieces and shake off any additional flour. When the oil is at 350, add the chicken carefully. If using drums, add no more than 3-4 pieces. The oil will bubble and then the temp will lower. You will be constantly checking the temperature of the oil and adjusting the heat of the stove to try to keep it as close to 350 as possible. Meanwhile dredge the next batch of chicken in the flour. Gently turn the chicken in the pot once. It only needs to fry until the skin is golden, about 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken and place it on the cookie sheet. Wait for the oil come back to 350, and add the next batch. If you are cooking a whole chicken, you would add no more than one breast and a wing at a time, perhaps a thigh and two drums, never crowd the pot. Your tongs may get caked with flour, just wash them or get new clean tongs.

Once all of the chicken is fried, put the cookie sheet in the oven to continue roasting until the chickens are cooked through. The timing will depend on what size and cuts of meat you are using, roughly 15-25 minutes. This will also give you time to work on your sides (fried okra perhaps, cooked in the same oil you fried the chicken in) mashed potatoes, or macaroni and cheese.

Use a meat thermometer to ensure the chicken is cooked through and enjoy!



Friday, January 4, 2013

Just have to post a picture of this!

My creamy beer based bacon macaroni and cheese! Only difference between this and my other recipe posted on this blog is I used elbow macaroni and I didn't top with breadcrumb. This time I topped with more cheese and bacon. I find this way it keeps it a bit creamier :-)