Time for a great side dish: Wild Rice Pilaf

Here is one of my very few original recipes, not that wild rice pilaf has never been made before! My take on it is a slightly different in one important respect: it contains toasted pine nuts — and they make a very welcome addition to the overall woodsy flavour I was going for.

Wild rice is more familiar in North America where it is considered a delicacy. It also grows and is eaten in China, but there it's the vegetation and not the seed which the Chinese go after. Most of what is harvested and eaten in Canada is what’s called Northern Wild Rice. It grows around the Great Lakes in sheltered, but also in smaller lakes and slow-flowing rivers. First Nations and others are cultivating it by planting seeds in the shallow borders of small lakes — of which Canada has plenty. In the US, most of it is cultivated in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but the majority of wild rice available commercially comes from north of the 49th parallel.

It actually isn’t technically rice at all, just a close cousin. The outer husk is tough and requires a fairly long cooking time, while the centre is quite tender. It also needs water in a ratio of 3+-to-1 rather than the lesser amount rice needs. As I mentioned above, it has a woodsy, vegetal taste which is delicate and lovely.

Wild rice is rather expensive because it cannot be harvested in large amounts and this has to be done mostly by hand. This is accomplished by shaking the seed heads into the bottom of a canoe or special flat-bottomed boat. Fortunately the seeds fall out easily. The industry is too small for mechanical means to have been developed to any large extent. One good thing is any seeds that fall into the water  — and I imagine that’s a fair bit — sink, then germinate the following year, so wild rice is self-seeding. Also because it’s not really cultivated, you’re pretty well assured that your rice is organic.

Anyway, wild rice is a lovely thing to eat and we’ve always been huge fans. Because of the price, it has to remain a treat, but my recipe also helps out with that, although it’s a byproduct of what I was trying to achieve.

This is why you see brown rice in the ingredient list. It was my wife’s suggestion, but not so much to cut down the expense. We just love the wonderful nutty flavour of brown rice which works very well with the earthiness of the wild rice. Adding to this is the addition of sautéed wild mushrooms and of course the pine nuts. Thyme and bay seem to me the perfect herbs to use, but I’ve also used rosemary and sage with success.

All in all, this is one terrific side dish, not particularly difficult to make and a most excellent accompaniment to grilled meats. We love it with sauteed salmon filets with a lemon/butter/wine sauce (photo above) or even rainbow trout.

Rick’s Wild Rice Pilaf
SERVES 4

Ingredients

1 cup good quality low-sodium stock (vegetable, chicken or beef all work well depending on what you’re serving with this)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs minced shallots
1/4 cup wild rice
2 Tbs brown rice
1 1/2 Tbs butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms (wild if you can get them)
2 Tbs pine nuts
3 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp of salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Heat the stock until it’s nearly boiling.
2. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil until it’s fragrant. Add the minced shallots and wild rice. (Don’t have the heat above medium! Shallots burn pretty quickly.) Cook, stirring gently as the shallots soften and the rice toasts. This takes 3-5 minutes. Watch the shallots so they don’t brown.
3. Pour in the heated stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaf and salt, then cover tightly. Reduce the heat immediately so that the stock is just simmering gently. Cook for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile sauté the mushrooms in the butter until they’re beginning to brown.
5. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan (cast iron, if you have it). Stir them gently to brown them evenly. Watch that they don’t burn! You want a nice golden brown.
6. After the hour and twenty minutes, add the brown rice to the pilaf, stir in, and recover the pot. Cook gently for an additional 40 minutes. If the pilaf looks a bit dry, add a tablespoon or two of additional stock or water.
7. When that time has passed, check to see that both grains are cooked (not crunching but not mushy). You may find they need a bit more time.
8. When the pilaf is cooked , all the liquid should have been absorbed. If the pilaf is done to your satisfaction and there is still a bit of water, simply pour it off. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf.
9. Now stir in the mushrooms and pine nuts. Check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Don't forget the pepper!

Hazelnut Torte and a few memories

One thing you have to say for Europeans, is that they know how to make superb and interesting cakes, especially the Germans and Austrians. I know I’ll take some heat for that last part, but I believe it’s the case.

We’ve been fortunate enough to make two visits to Vienna (researching my novel, Cemetery of the Nameless), and I feel absolutely secure in saying that the level of cake baking in this city is of the highest order. Especially in the First District — the old heart of this great city — there are literally dozens of konditorei (pastry shops), each one seemingly better than the last. Every café, of which Vienna also has no lack, serves beautiful torten to moon over while enjoying a cup of Melange, the archetypical Viennese coffee. And then there’s the Sacher torte…

SIDEBAR: The Viennese love their coffee and they make it many different ways, and every one I’ve tried has been wonderful. As we were preparing to visit this city for the first time way back in 1995, I did a lot of research beforehand. Of course I ran into articles about the city’s “coffee culture”, which is where I first heard about Wiener Melange, the most ubiquitous cup to be found, but two others really piqued my interest. First was Wiener Eiskaffee (more about this some other time), and the other was Kaisermelange.

This specialty coffee is made with an egg yolk beaten with a little honey into which is poured a generous shot of espresso, then a small tot of cognac (usually), and sometimes topped with a bit of whipped cream — or schlag as the Viennese call it. Wait a minute? Did he say egg yolk? In coffee? Whoa!

Of course, I immediately decided I had to try this at the first opportunity. I was not disappointed. It is a lovely mixture. It does not need a lot of honey, but it does need a very fresh egg yolk. Here’s what looks like a decent recipe for it (https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/drink/hot-drink/kaisermelange-coffee.html), but a word of warning: I suspect you really need to be in Vienna with a slice of wonderful torten to enjoy this to the fullest. I now return you to our regularly scheduled blog post…

What is different about this hazelnut torte is that it doesn’t include flour or butter. The ground nuts and breadcrumbs stand in for it. Normally for cakes you cream butter and sugar together, the idea being that the air beaten in will expand as the cake cooks (aided by the rising action of baking powder) and give the eggs and flour a chance to “harden” during baking which supports the cake after it cools. There are a lot of complicated chemistry-type things going on, but this gives you a rough idea of what happens.

With this torte, the heavy lifting is accomplished by the eggs and butter as the “air holder” and the eggs whites provide the matrix to hold everything up as the cooking hardens the structure. And that’s the reason the cake will collapse back down a bit as it cools. It’s to be expected. You haven’t done anything wrong. This cake is just not as “robust” as a typical cake made with flour.

But boy, is it good!

The combination of equal parts hazelnuts and walnuts is at the heart of the flavour of this torte. I tried making it once just using hazelnuts, and while tasty, it just didn't measure up. If you have some way to grind your nuts fresh, go for it. It will make a difference in the flavour.

One final word, my brother-in-law, Scott Meynig, used to say Germans enjoy their cake on the stale side (he lived in Germany for a few years which is where he met my sister). In this case, a day or two helps this cake. I never bake it, frost it, and then serve it on the same day. It does improve the structure to let it sit for a day and also helps keep the whipped cream from making it a bit soggy. But make sure you wrap it or the crust will dry out too much.

Hazelnut Torte

SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

1 cup sugar

12 eggs yolks

¼ lb ground hazelnuts (or filberts)

¼ lb ground walnuts

2 Tbs bread crumbs

8 egg whites

3 cups whipping cream

3 Tbs sugar

1½ tsp vanilla

3 packets whipped cream stabilizer

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Have all ingredients at room temperature – except the whipping cream!
2. Using a mixer, beat the egg yolks, then add the sugar gradually and continue beating until the mixture is light yellow and very creamy.
3. Mix together the two nuts and the bread crumbs, then mix gently into the egg mixture.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, then fold them very gently into the other ingredients until well-blended.
5. Cut a bottom liner from parchment paper for a 10" springform pan, then pour in the cake batter (no need to grease the sides) and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Try to keep vibrations in the kitchen to a minimum. This cake falls easily! Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. When cool, cover tightly with cling film.
6. The next day, remove the cake from the pan and cut into at least two layers. Whip the cream with the sugar, stabilizer and vanilla and frost your cake. After cooking, the cake will have dropped a fair bit in the centre.* What we do is put more whipped cream in the centre of the lower layer and more in the centre on top to even out the final level of the cake. This way you don’t have a ton of whipped cream on the top which is the only other way to level it. If you cut the cake into 3 layers, this works even better.
7. We usually sprinkle more ground hazelnuts over the whipped cream which gives the cake a really nice appearance.
8. Chill thoroughly before serving. This will keep, if sealed tightly, for about 3 days, but I bet it won’t last that long!

*I might also suggest trying Wilton Bake-Even strips. These are fabric strips that you dampen and then faten around your baking pan. The cake that’s in contact with the metal sides of the pan naturally cook faster, the primary reason cakes turn out uneven. For this recipe, the cake rises nice and high, but as it cools, the centre drops down, sometimes by nearly inch, hence my recommendation about the filling up above. Bake-Even Strips will help with this. The cake will still drop a bit in the centre, but not as much. They work a treat on any cake, by the way, and are well worth buying if you bake a lot.

Saltimbocca alla Romana

Welcome to 2018!

I wound up having to take 2017 off from the AMFAS because I was just too darned busy with other things.

But now that’s changed!

I have a lot of things planned for the year, but wanted to kick things off with a wonderful meal whose wonderfulness is increased by also being very easy to make. It only requires the usual kitchen tools most cooks have, an eye to detail and timing and a bit of organization. The organizational part only comes in because you’ll probably want to serve some side dishes (or “contorni” in Italian) and you’ll need to make those ahead, because the final part of preparing saltimbocca will take up all your attention. I cook my contorni and then keep them warm in the over while I cook the veal and make the sauce, then plate everything. Or you could make the contorni way ahead and heat them up in the oven, on the stove or in a microwave. Either way, you need to get this dish onto the table fast!


Saltimbocca alla Romana
Serves 4

“Saltimbocca” means “leap into the mouth” and one taste will tell you why the Romans named this dish thusly. It is fantastic and not at all difficult to make. It’s also quick, so it’s an ideal dish to prepare for guests. You can prep it to a certain point (marked in the instructions) so you only have to go into the kitchen for the final cooking of it. Spend more time chatting with your guests, not out in the kitchen!

This dish is lovely served with roasted potatoes and sauteed swiss chard or spinach. Chianti goes well with it — at least we think so.

INGREDIENTS
 
4            5-oz thinly-sliced veal scallopini
4 slices  thinly-sliced prosciutto
8-12       fresh sage leaves
              flour or cornstarch for dredging
2 Tbs     extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbs     unsalted butter
1/4 cup  dry white wine
1/2 cup  chicken broth
              salt and black pepper to taste
              Lemon wedges

METHOD

1. Put the veal scallopini on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Lay a piece of prosciutto on each piece, then 2 or 3 leaves of sage (more if the leaves are small) on each piece of veal.  Cover with another sheet of plastic wrap and then gently flatten the scallopini with a meat mallet or rolling pin until the pieces of veal are 1/4” thick and the prosciutto and sage leaves have somewhat adhered to the meat.
2. Now weave a couple of toothpicks in and out through the prosciutto and sage leaves and into the veal to secure things together. Lightly pepper each piece of veal on the bottom side. Dredge the bottoms of the veal slices in flour or cornstarch and shake off the excess.
3. For the sauce, we usually start out with a cup of chicken stock (just chicken is used in it) and 1/3 cup of our vegetable stock and boil them down to a half cup. This intensifies the flavours. Our stocks have little or no salt in them. If you’re using lo-sodium chicken stock just start with a third of a cup to keep the salt levels reasonable. You can prep the dish to this point and then do the rest at the last minute.
4. To cook, first heat the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat bottom side down first for 2-3 minutes until the veal is nicely browned, then turn and cook the prosciutto/sage side for maybe 10 seconds (just to warm it up). Transfer to a serving platter, remove the toothpicks and keep the saltimbocca warm in the oven.
5. Add the wine to the pan to deglaze it (you want to scrape up all those flavourful bits!) until the wine is nearly evaporated. Now add the broth to heat and thicken slightly. Just before serving, swirl the remaining tablespoon of butter into the sauce. You probably won’t need to add any salt because the prosciutto will bring enough salt to the dish, but check the sauce. You may want to add a tiny pinch.
6. Pour the sauce over the saltimbocca, garnish with a few extra sage leaves (optional) and wedges of lemon. Serve immediately!

What we’ve learned about home-curing guanciale

This year’s batch and it tastes amazing.

Back in 2012 when I initiated this blog, the second recipe I shared was one for curing your own guanciale or cured and air dried hog jowl. If that doesn’t sound at all appetizing, please read on!

Most people outside of Italy had never heard of this delicacy and it was tough to find, even in Toronto with it’s very large Italian population. I did manage to snag some which was made in the Niagara region, and it was very good.

However, I was already well down the path to making our own. I found a recipe online and cured two jowls. It was easy, quick (other than the hanging time while it dried) and tasted really good. Over time and talking with People Who Know About These Things, the recipe was refined a little, and like doing anything over and over, it got even quicker and easier. In fact, we even came up with some very useful shortcuts in the method.

Last year, we did up four medium-sized jowls in November. What with lads who like it as much as we do, sharing a bit here and there with friends, and of course, cooking our own meals, we nearly ran out. For the first time in six years, I was faced with the prospect of having to buy some!

Since 2012 when I wrote the post mentioned above, hog jowls have gone mainstream. Two blocks from my house at Zito’s Marketplace (a fantastic Italian grocery store), they carry imported Italian guanciale. Many deli counters in big stores carry locally made stuff. You see recipes in women’s magazines that call for guanciale without the blink of an eye. How times have changed!

As summer turns to fall and the temperature plummets, I’m already keeping an eagle eye on the temperature in our basement, waiting for it to drop to around 60°F so that I can get busy making a new batch of guanciale and other salumeri we produce.

So in the last week of October, I went to purchase four gorgeously lean, 2+-pound jowls from my go-to source (Gasparro’s on Bloor St.). Nick, one of the owners, having brought in a half dozen from the farm, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I walked out the door with all six of ’em.

Back home, we set up an assembly line and in short order, chugged through removing the skin, prepping the spices, sugar and salt of our cure mixture, coating each jowl and then bagging them (more on this later). Five days later, they were lightly cured (as I am fond of calling it), rinsed in a bit of white wine (Orvieto this year), generously peppered, and hanging in our basement.

I deemed them ready on December 20th, so we vacuum sealed them and put them in our freezer.

One curing job done! And hopefully enough to last us until next year. Next up: pancetta. Oh my goodness, we’re nearly out!!*

Here’s the recipe again with notes following on things we began making our own guanciale.


GUANCIALE RECIPE
Makes slightly less than 1 1/2 pounds after drying a 2-pound jowl for 4 weeks

1 pork jowl, around 2 pounds
2 1/2 oz kosher salt (or 7% of meat weight)
2 1/2 oz sugar (or 7% of meat weight)
15 black peppercorns
1 bunch of fresh thyme
2 bay laurel leaves (look for genuine bay laurel)
8-16 juniper berries (depending on how well you like this flavor)
2-4 oz dry white wine

1. Grind up the juniper, peppercorns and bay in a spice grinder until reasonably fine, or grind it the old fashioned way using a mortar and pestle accompanied by some good old elbow grease. Combine he herbs with the salt and sugar. Remove the leaves from the thyme, discarding the stalks. You should have about 1 tablespoon’s worth. (And do not use dried thyme. It just doesn’t taste as good as fresh.) Add these to the curing mixture, and stir everything to combine thoroughly.

2. Using a sharp boning knife or paring knife, remove any glands from the underside of the meat. These will look like small off-white bumps that are reasonably hard. Some might be hiding under the surface of the fat and meat, so poke around thoroughly. Believe me, you don’t want them in your finished project.

3. In a large zip lock bag, combine the cure ingredients and the jowl.Thoroughlyrub the cure into the meat on all sides. Seal the bag and pop it in the fridge for four to seven days. Every other day, redistribute the cure over the meat by rubbing the meat almost in a kneading motion, and when it goes back into the fridge, make sure it’s lying on the opposite side from what it was when you took it out. It will be throwing off some liquid, so make sure those bags remain tightly sealed.

4. After 4-5 days the meat should feel firmer. It could well be done. Just remember: the longer you keep it in the cure, the more salty your guanciale will become. You certainly want the meat to be thoroughly cured, but you don’t want it to be overly salty, either. The thicker the jowl, the longer it will take to cure. Your first time out, it’s better to err on the side of too salty, rather than under-cured. (Eventually, you’ll be able to tell more clearly when your meat is completely cured.) So if you feel it’s ready, take the jowl out of the fridge, and rinse it thoroughly in cold water to remove the cure. Some of the herbs might stick to the meat and fat, that is fine – just give a good rub over to get the cure off. Dry with paper towel.

5. Next, wash your jowls in a few ounces of white wine. The reason you do this, is that it helps neutralize the salt used in curing (at least that’s what I’ve been told by Those Who Know). Do the job really thoroughly, rubbing the wine into the meat and fat. By the way, doing this also adds a lovely aroma and flavor to the finished product!

6. The final step is to heavily coat one or both sides of your guanciale with pepper (see note at bottom). Most used is black pepper, but we’ve also seen (and enjoyed) guanciale that had cayenne pepper applied. If you don’t like pepper, leave this step out.

7. Make a hole in the narrow end, not too close to the edge of the meat (since it will shrink). Run some butchers string through the hole, tie, and hang at 55°F/75% humidity for at least a month, possibly two if you want a more intense flavor. Your basement in winter should be just cold enough, but you might have to put out some water and a fan to keep the humidity up. We bought a combination thermometer/humidistat for keeping track of it. Don’t let the temperature go above 60° for any lengthy period of time or mold can more easily form.

8. You will know when your guanciale is ready when it’s lost about 25-35% of its initial weight before hanging. The fat will feel softer than the meat. That is fine.

9. Once drying is complete, it will keep in the fridge easily for many weeks, or vacuum-sealed and frozen, for far longer.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Notes: We strongly recommend removing the skin before curing begins. You could do it after, but why not let the salt penetrate into the meat and fat more easily and speed things up? You will see commercial guanciale with the skin left on. The problem with this is you’ll probably not want to eat cooked pieces with skin on them. It gets very hard as the guanciale dries and isn’t pleasant. Removing the skin after drying is also more difficult. Do yourself a favor and do it ahead of time. If you aren’t equipped to do it yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you.

What wine to use for the final wash? You don’t need to buy an expensive bottle, but you don’t want plonk, either. A decent Italian pinot grigio won’t set you back much, or a Colli Albani. We prefer Orvieto for its flavor and aroma. Experiment all you want and if you find something you think really works well, please let all of us know!

We now use our vacuum sealer as part of the curing process. Each piece of guanciale is put into a bag and most of the air is removed, then the bag is sealed. The benefit is two-fold: the bags can’t leak (as long as your seal is sturdy), and the liquid (actually brine) that forms during the curing process is kept close to the meat which speeds up curing and helps keep it even throughout the jowl. Actually, we do this with all the meat we cure, except those things which require soaking in brine (peameal bacon, ham, etc). That’s just easier to do in a plastic bucket.

Keep an eye on your guanciale while it hangs. I generally check it out every day (takes only seconds). What you want to watch for is any green or black mold forming on it. White mold is okay. It actually adds to the flavor. If you find any green or black mold, if you catch it really early (hence my recommendation to check your guanciale frequently), it can safely be removed by rubbing it with a rag that’s been soaked in white vinegar. If the growth of the mold is well-advanced, then it’s safest to just chuck the meat and take it as a hard-won lesson. We know pepper our guanciale on both sides (What can I say? We like pepper!) and I’m thinking it probably would help keep the bad mold from gaining a foothold. I have no scientific proof this is what happens, but we’ve had no mold on any over the last 8 years since we began making it. That’s at least three dozen cured hog jowls.

Weigh your guanciale once a week and take it down when it’s lost about a third of its weight. If the humidity in your basement or drying locker is low, the outer surface will dry out too quickly. The goal is to dry your cured jowl s-l-o-w-l-y, so the process is even, inside and out.

We keep our guanciale in the freezer (vacuum-sealed) until we need it. Then I just slice off how much I need (easy to do even when it’s frozen because the fat is soft) and seal it in a freezer bag and chuck it back in until next time.

To our minds, guanciale is essential for three favorite pasta dishes: carbonara, Amatriciana, and alla grigia. We also crisp some up and use it with shredded Brussels sprouts and pine nuts (a recipe I’ll share in the future). It is very fatty, but the rendered fat has a lovely flavor and especially in the three pasta dishes above takes them out of the realm of ordinary eating. If you’ve had any of them made with pancetta or (horrors!) bacon, you’re in for a surprise. That’s exactly what started us off on this culinary side trail.

*I began working on this post a few weeks ago. We’ve since cured the pancetta and it’s now hanging in the basement drying. However based on the amount of pancetta we went through in the past year, we’re going to need to make more before this drying season is over. Incidentally, we’re now completely out of pancetta and are faced with buying some. Horrors!

Think you know what Bolognese sauce is? I thought I did.

If you’re in North America, you no doubt ate plenty of “spaghetti with meat sauce” over the course of your life. I certainly did, and up until a few years ago, I made it a lot since it was a great meal with a growing family and took not much time to cook.

Vicki and I went to the UK first in 1990, and there we discovered the Brits call it “Spaghetti Bolognese”. Same dish, different name. Eventually with the rise of “foodie-ism”, the British name crossed the Atlantic and began appearing on menus here. But the dish was not close to being an accurate representation.

Don’t get me wrong. Spaghetti with meat sauce is decent food, but as I discovered when I started doing in-depth research into this famous dish, what the inhabitants of that northern Italian city consider their most famous dish and what the rest of us thought it is are two completely different things. The Bolognese chapter of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina even went so far as to designate an Official recipe for Ragù alla Bolognese in 1982 and filed it at City Hall.

Going back to this source (http://www.itchefs-gvci.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=587&Itemid=976) and following the recipe, I can see why they felt forced to do it. Most of the world knows nothing about how this sauce is made — and that’s a shame. Spaghetti Bolognese is a worthy meal. Real Ragù alla Bolognese is an exceptional meal.

First thing you notice: not much tomato. What’s there is mostly for color. Second of all, there’s not even a hint of garlic or herbs. Then there are some other eye-popping ingredient choices: carrots, celery, and milk! I (and many others) was used to this dish being marinara with some sautéed ground beef thrown in it. Real Bolognese is a different creature altogether.

The second important thing to point out is that, outside of Italy, it’s never served over spaghetti. (What?) The pasta used is almost always tagliatelle or its slightly wider cousin, pappardelle. And there’s a very good reason for not using spaghetti. The sauce tends to fall off the thin strands. It sticks to the wider pasta much better. That makes a big difference in how you experience the dish.

I trust the Italians with knowing about good cooking and my first attempt at authentic Bolognese was an eye-opening experience. It is an intensely meaty sauce with assertive flavours and wonderful aroma, especially while it’s cooking. Long, slow cooking is crucial if you want your sauce to develop its full flavour and silky texture.

So, if you’ve read the official recipe via the link above, you know what the basic ingredients are and how simple it actually is to prepare this famous dish. But one thing I’ve discovered is that everyone in Bologna (if not in all of Italy) thinks their nonna made the best Bolognese — and all of those recipes are slightly different. Now that I’ve made it several times, I find I’ve added a few flourishes of my own (slight though they are). I like it better, but that’s just me. One version I ran across recently suggests adding a handful of dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted, chopped finely and added to the sauce (along with the reconstituting water) after the beef and vegetables are cooked. That’s something that I think I’ll try next.

So here’s what we’ll do. Try the official recipe and I’ll put my slightly-changed one below (because that’s what this blog is about: my views on cooking and food). If you want to try mine, please do. And then let me know what you think. I’ll also include some notes about why you cook it the way you do and the purpose of some of the ingredients.

Rick’s “Mostly Authentic” Ragù alla Bolognese
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 300 gr (10.5 oz) of ground beef (you want a flavourful cut like skirt of chuck, but it should be lean
• 150 gr (5 oz) unsmoked pancetta (chop it finely rather than grinding it)
• 50 gr (2 oz) finely chopped onion
• 50 gr (2 oz) finely chopped carrot
• 50 gr (2 oz) finely chopped celery
• 118 ml (.5 cup) red wine — a hearty one
• 30 gr (1 oz or 4 Tbs) tomato paste
• 120 ml (.5 cup) tomato sauce
• 240 ml (1 cup) unsalted beef stock
• 120 ml (.5 cup) whole milk
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 400 gr (scant pound) of fresh tagliatelle or pappardelle

Notes:
If you search the internet for the “official” Bolognese recipe, you will find it in many places with slight variations, and in a few surprising cases, obvious errors. But the basic ideas of the recipe are obvious: not much tomato and a sauce that has little liquid — but tons of flavour!

The three vegetables make up what is called a soffritto in Italy. (The French call this mirepoix and it’s part of the “foundation” of many great sauces.) So it’s not surprising it should be found in this recipe. Many people (I’m talking to you, Hannah!) will be surprised by having carrots and celery in their pasta sauce, but there you go. It works. The key here is to make the dice quite small (about 1/8") so that the veggies amalgamate with the meat as it cooks.

Really good pancetta is critical. We use our own (and if you’re into home curing or feel it’s time to dabble, it’s easy to make). You don’t want the piece you use to be too fatty. Both meats should ideally be hand-minced (rather than ground). I’ll admit, since I have a grinder, that I’ll often grind both meats, but I feel if you’re up for mincing something, at least do the pancetta that way. The texture of the sauce will be the better for it. And don’t use smoked pancetta! It just doesn’t work as well.

The official recipe says that red wine or white wine may be used, but whichever you use should be dry. We prefer red. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but you don’t want a wimpy one. Bold flavour is the key here. An inexpensive Chianti or Nero d’Avola works really well.

We add some tomato sauce (our own homemade) so the finished ragù a bit more “texture”.

Milk is used to also add texture and “smooth out” the flavours, especially the tomato.

Another point where I can’t find a definitive answer is the use of stock or water. Your sauce will definitely need liquid, and to my mind, why not add additional flavour, as well? So I use stock.

One last word, I’m getting more and more dogmatic about weighing and measuring ingredients accurately — certainly on the first few runs at a new recipe. It helps. I’ve written about using a scale in your kitchen and it’s worth considering if you enjoy cooking — and getting predictable results. If you don’t have a scale, though, don’t despair! For the veggies, a smallish yellow onion, a modest carrot and a good-sized celery stalk will do the trick. The rest of the things can be weighed at the grocery store or using a measuring cup.

Now, let’s get cooking!

METHOD

1. Over medium heat pour some good-quality olive oil in a heavy pot or small casserole. You want the bottom just covered. When it’s fragrant, add the pancetta and sauté for 3 minutes. Now add the beef and sauté for 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Now add the vegetables (and I include a small sprinkle of salt to help sweat the veggies). Doesn’t it smell good? Make sure you thoroughly break up the meat and don’t let this mixture burn!
2. When the mixture begins to sizzle (indicating all the water from the ingredients has evaporated), add the wine and turn the heat up. Stir the mixture to evaporate it quickly.
3. When the mixture begins to sizzle again, turn the heat down and add the tomato paste (and tomato sauce if you’re using it), plus the beef stock. Mix well. You want the meat/veg mixture to be covered by about 1 cm of liquid. Use more stock or water if you need it.
4. Simmer for 2 hours. During that time, stir in a bit of the milk occasionally until it’s all added.
5. The sauce is done when most of the liquid is gone. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper.
6. Cook the tagliatelle or fettucine, drain and divide the sauce among four portions. (Best served in heated bowls.)
7. Serve with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano only. (Don’t skimp here, please!)

A green salad preceding the pasta is a good choice. Italians always serve salads as a separate course, and there’s a good reason for that. The dressing conflicts with the star of the show (and the wine) if it’s all served together.

A good bottle of red wine should accompany your ragù. Now’s the time to pull out that bottle of Chianti Classico or Brunello you’ve been saving.

See? No garlic. No herbs. Not much tomato. Real Ragù alla Bolognese. And it tastes amazing.

Who knew?

A favourite Italian recipe: seafood linguine

Dinner “al fresco” on our anniversary!

Special occasions call for special meals. Our anniversary is one of those very special occasions. Actually, the anniversary Vicki and I celebrate is the date on which we fell in love: June 20, 1970.

We were at Playland in Rye, New York, sitting on the boardwalk and looking out over the Long Island Sound. The June evening was perfect. She turned to me and said, “I love you.” I’d already been in love with her for a week or more but had been hesitant to proclaim it. You know how I answered back since we’re still together 46 years later.

Now this post is months later than it should be but back in June we had other concerns and even though we did celebrate this important day, I didn’t have time to write about it. Today is that day!

We don’t go out to restaurants for important meals because we can generally dine better at home for a lot less money. We’d rather spend out money on great ingredients and fine wines, than having someone else cook for us. Since we have a lovely backyard and June 20th was a very fine day here in Toronto this year, I simply asked Vicki what she would like me to make. “Seafood linguine!” was her immediate two-word response.

I’ve made this recipe many times over the years, and can vouch for the fact that it’s easy to make — if you follow the directions. And absolutely delicious — if you like seafood.

And you don’t need to wait for a “big evening” to make this!

Seafood Linguine
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbs    olive oil
3           shallots, chopped
3           garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 tsp     lemon rind, grated
½ tsp    red chili pepper flakes
2 Tbs    fresh parsley, chopped finely
12         large shrimp
6           dry scallops, cut into quarters or thirds (if they’re really large)
             salt and pepper to taste
½ cup   dry white wine
2 lbs     mussels
1          28-oz can crushed tomatoes
¼ cup   fresh basil, shredded
1 lb      linguine

METHOD

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium high heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté for 1 minute or until softened slightly, then add lemon rind, parsley, shrimps and scallops.
2. Sauté together until shrimps just turn pink and scallops are translucent – about 1-2 minutes. Remove from skillet with slotted spoon. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
3. Add wine to skillet, bring to a boil and add the mussels. Cover and steam until they open (about 3 minutes). Remove mussels from skillet and reserve with shrimps and scallops. Discard any mussels that have not opened. Remove mussel meats from half the mussels, leaving the rest in their shells.
4. Put tomatoes and chili flakes into skillet and bring to a boil. Stir in 2 Tbs of basil and simmer for 10 minutes to combine flavors. Season with salt and pepper. (Your sauce can be made ahead to this point.)
5. When ready to serve: cook pasta until al dente (about 10-12 minutes) in lots of boiling salted water. Drain well.
6. As pasta is nearing doneness, return the seafood to the sauce, sprinkle in remaining basil and reheat. Toss with pasta and serve.

Don’t serve this dish with grated cheese! In Italy cheese is seldom served with Parmigiano or any other cheese.

The recipe source is a very old issue of Food & Drink, the magazine of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Organizing your kitchen, part 2: the nitty-gritty

Something as simple as this can make a big difference in your kitchen.

Last post was all about the big picture in your kitchen, primarily placement of stove, sink, refrigeration and a few other things. Get those right — or have a layout that you can make work for you (I’m thinking galley-type kitchens here, for instance) and you’re well on the way. I get it that not everyone can renovate their kitchen at the drop of a hat. Unless your kitchen is huge and incredibly ill-thought out, you shouldn’t have too many problems, regardless of where the big — and immovable things — have been placed.

[One last thought before I move on to this post’s details: make sure your kitchen has adequate lighting. The areas where you slice and chop need to be well-lit. This is not a difficult retrofit if your kitchen has poor or dim lighting. A good electrician can help make it happen without too much expense.]

I’ve found that what really makes the most difference in terms of cooking enjoyment through organization is where you put all those little things, the small tools, specialized utensils and often-used minor appliances.

Directly to the right of our stovetop is a smallish drawer. This is where we keep things that are used often: tongs (we have 3 we use constantly), extra spatulas, ladles (3), peelers (2), can and bottle openers, wine opener and a few other similar items.

Next to that is another wider drawer. This holds items that we don’t use quite as often or are small and fit at the front of the drawer a bit better. Here you’ll find our rolling pin, some small spatulas and scrappers, lifters (3), oyster knife, micro graters (2), a mini strainer (for skimming), a couple of small whisks, ice cream scoops, and such things that are very useful but generally used only now and then.

Also to the right of the stove is a large can-like thing into which we put cooking spoons, some more spatulas and scrapers, and our large whisk. We use these things every time we cook and they’re placed here because they can be grabbed really quickly.

The key to making this system work is that anyone cooking or cleaning knows exactly what goes where and puts it there every single time. Cooking can get very hectic at times and we’ve all ruined dishes because we’ve been on a utensil hunt at a totally wrong time. Here’s another (hard-won) hint: try to lay out all the utensils you’ll need during the prepping stage. It’s not all about prepping just the food, is it?

As for the rest of the “hard good” things we use to cook, they’re either in a big catch-all cabinet under the above-mentioned drawers, in an upper cabinet where we also keep our plates and bowls, or across the room on two shelves we put up (for less-used items except for colanders and strainers). Baking pans are either in a wide drawer underneath our built-in oven or in another small cabinet nearby.

The only mid-range appliances that we keep out on the counters are a microwave (next to the oven), a blender, toaster, Cuisinart, coffee grinder and coffee maker, and our Kitchen Aid mixer. Any other things like these are kept in that lower catch-all cabinet.

I’ll say it one last time: this will only work if anyone using the kitchen regularly understands that everything must be put away correctly. It may sound difficult but it really isn’t.

During our very busy days when our two boys were young and we both worked long hours, we didn’t think like this. Stuff got stuffed into drawers and cabinets willy-nilly and just to get it put away somewhere. It was often hell to find them again. This was also when a lot of food got burned or otherwise overcooked. Honestly, it just never dawned on us that we could save massive amounts of time and aggravation through simple organization and diligence. I could slap myself upside the head for being such a dolt to not recognize this. It’s not as if I hadn’t seen it at work in the kitchens when I was doing those cooking gigs.

To boil down this discussion to its essence (like reducing a fine stock to a single tablespoon of intense flavour), cooking is most enjoyable when you have time to enjoy the process and to pay full attention as heat works its magic on what you’re going to plate and then enjoy at the table. Even the most hair-raising meal of the year (take your pick between Thanksgiving or Christmas in our household) becomes manageable and can sometimes be almost enjoyable.

All it takes is some reflection on what you generally do in the kitchen, making a plan and then sticking to it.

My guess is that if you do this, you will also find yourself less tempted to give up and order take-out, pull out the store-bought frozen food or simply head out to a restaurant. Because cooking when everything is organized is relaxing and enjoyable, you may even find yourself looking forward to cooking that evening meal at the end of a long day!

And wouldn’t that be nice?

Organizing your kitchen will make cooking FAR more enjoyable!

The two times I worked in restaurant kitchens, it was made pretty clear right from the beginning that things must always be put back in very specific places. If they weren’t, the offending party heard about it immediately. And if it was Chef doing the talking (yelling), it was guaranteed to be an unpleasant experience!

Over the past few years, I’ve worked hard to organize our kitchen for efficiency. That only requires some thought on what should go where (and why), but then comes the real trick: making sure everyone understands this and puts things back where they belong. No excuses accepted and no quarter given!

Now that’s not to say I’m a martinet about kitchen organization, but I’m also not afraid to tell my wife or anyone else that if they use something, “Please put it back exactly where you found it.” And I do mean exactly! Since I do most of the cooking around here, it’s recognized that I call the shots.

The obvious reason for this level of organization is so that the person who’s cooking doesn’t have to waste any time finding the utensils, cooking vessels, or appliances that they need. I’m sure you feel the same way I do about this: there is nothing that frustrates a cook more than to not be able to find what they need and having to waste time looking for it.

Another benefit of organizing a kitchen to a high level is that you can fit more into it. That can be by necessity if your kitchen is a small one, but it can also make a huge difference in a large kitchen. One step into a restaurant or other kind of commercial kitchen will show you why. The goal is to not only turn out delicious food, but to turn it out as quickly as possible. If you have to cross the room for commonly used things, then you’re wasting precious time, even if it only takes five or ten seconds. During the course of an evening rush, those seconds quickly turn into minutes.

Okay. So now you know my reasons for organizing my workspace. What is it that I did, exactly?

The first thing I did broke the cardinal rule I gave two paragraphs above (at least a little bit): keeping things you use a lot close to you. But in this case, it wound up saving more time.

We have a counter top gas cooktop against the west wall of our kitchen. The oven is close by on the south wall (basically you turn left and take one step to get there). To the left of the oven is our refrigerator. Our sink is directly across from the oven against the north wall, and about the same distance away. On both side of the cooktop are counters, extending from one thing to another. That’s my “general working area” (and the classic “triangle” set-up of a well laid-out kitchen). To the right of the sink is another counter extending over to our back door. The dish washer is under this. The remaining side of the kitchen has two sets of stairs: one down to the basement and the other up to our bedroom. Along the down stairs (and acting as a railing is a low well to which is mounted our last counter, an 8-foot length we use for plating when we make a large meal or for serving buffet-style meals. I’ll get into the cupboard arrangement later.

Underneath the stove are two deep drawers. We used to store as many of our pots and pans as would fit in there, along with their lids. This caused two problems. First, we have invested in good cookware and good cookware is heavy. You can guess at the problems we had with the bottoms of these drawers. second, with the number of pots, frypans, skillets, etc. that we own, you’d have to sift through stacks of things to find what you might need right now.

So my first organizing move (and the one that broke the rule) was something you see in commercial kitchens: hanging pots and pans from a bar mounted to the ceiling. Our kitchen’s ceiling is just eight feet, so hanging these things above my general working area would not have worked. The ideal place to hang the bar was directly above our “staging counter”, which is farther away from the stove. We got one of those heavy duty bars that hangs by means of chains from two large hooks screwed into a conveniently-placed ceiling joist. So someone cooking needs to walk about three steps to the far side of the room to retrieve a pot. Takes a tad longer, right? Well, it does, but it takes far more time to go through the drawers where these things used to reside. Now that’s a good trade to my mind.

Once we moved the pots and pans, we dedicated the top drawer under the stove to lids, two cast iron skillets that wouldn’t fit on the bar and our pressure cooker that couldn’t hang from the bar. The lower drawer (among other things) fits some small appliances (juicer, coffee mill, etc, some of our large kitchen tools that won’t fit in drawers and our wok.

This post has gone on long enough for a beginning, but I hope it gives you some starting places for improving your own kitchen’s layout. Trust me when I write that organizing your kitchen into an efficient “factory” for producing food will cut way down on the aggravation factor that many have endure when faced with cooking a meal in an inefficient space. Since I really became a nut about organizing where I spend a lot of time, my enjoyment of cooking something, even a complicated dish, has gone way up.

Next post, I’ll talk about organizing our cupboards and drawers for our staple items and (many, many) utensils.

Okay, so I lied about getting this blog back onto a normal schedule -or- life has a way of throwing curveballs at you

Way back in the dim beginnings of this year, I wrote about getting things back on track here at AMFAS. It’s not difficult to ascertain if you look at the date of the most recent post before this, that I either lied or fell off the face of the earth. Well, it was neither of those things. Sometimes life just has a way to rear up and bite one in the butt and not let go. That was the case with me.

I don’t want to go into all the whys and wherefores because that’s not what this little blog dedicated to food is all about. It just happened and there was little I could do about it. However, that didn’t keep me from feeling horribly guilty about it.

Anyway, I’m back once again and hopefully it will stick this time because (drum roll and trumpet fanfare, please!), I have “retired”. That’s in quotes because I’ve only stepping down from one job (graphic design) but that will allow me to concentrate on the other things I enjoy doing: writing and music, and of course, cooking and talking about food.

Over the past many months, though, we haven’t stopped eating and cooking some great food. So, I’ll have lots of new recipes to share and some thoughts on becoming a better cook and how to enjoy the cooking experience more — especially if you don’t enjoy cooking all that much.

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading and research into the food we eat and how it gets to our grocery stores and what might have been done to it along the way. I can promise some of that will be very sobering reading.

So stay tuned!

Before the week is out, I will be sharing some thoughts on making your kitchen more convenient and easy to work in. That’s a very important thing for anyone, whether they’re interested and enjoy cooking, but especially if you don’t particularly enjoy it and wish to get it done in the shortest amount of time.

Hi there, everyone! It's me.

I am determined to get this blog out of the slough of despair in which it currently resides!

To that end, here is a photo of tonight's dinner in the Blechta household. It's actually our Valentine's Day dinner, which we're having tonight because tomorrow (which is actually Valentine's Day), we'll be on babysitting duty with our grandson while Mommy and Daddy celebrate with a fine restaurant meal.

Vicki and I both love oysters, and our source for fine oysters at St. Lawrence Market had some primo examples of the bivalves this weekend, so I bought 2 dozen Raspberry Point oysters from PEI.

In the photo you'll see our shucked oysters (done by moi), a lovely leaf lettuce/arugula/endive salad with white balsamic dressing and a lovely multi-grain baguette we get from our local Sobey's, no less! Accompanying it all is a lovely blanc de blanc bubbly we bought last weekend from Kew Vineyards in Beamsville, and it's truly a lovely thing.

Lucky us! And Happy Valentine's Day to you all.