Sauce is Done aka Another Cheat Sauce

Hi everyone,

I wasn't going to blog this one because the list of ingredients are pretty vague. I also did a long, slow cook on it and I know there's a lot of people out there with InstaPots. I'm not going to diss them, but I'm not in a hurry to get one. One, I live in a Manhattan apartment and my kitchen storage is already over capacity. Two, when it comes to low and slow, I am really fond of my immersion circulator. Give me a kitchen with three times the storage, and I will load up with an Instapot, a wok, and a tagine. And a food mill. Which, if I owned, today's recipe would be from fresh tomatoes. 

Anyway, on to this adventure in cheat sauce. I use a sauté pan and here's what went in this batch:

• 2 cloves of garlic--actually, it was three small ones, but some of the cloves were unusable, so I'm going to call it two. Sometimes when you order groceries things aren't perfect. On the other hand, someone carries the big, heavy, and awkward stuff.
• 1 large shallot--a large shallot takes up most of the palm of my hand, and it at least 2 inches from its longest points
• 2 onions about the size of baseballs. If sports comparisons aren't your thing, this is approximately one cup chopped into about 3/4-inch pieces
• Olive oil as needed
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 12-oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 large can tomato paste (or two of those little ones)
• 2 6-oz packages of sliced mushrooms (because sometimes I'm downright lazy)
• About 5 ounces of wine because it all didn't get drunk over the last few nights
• One pound 85/15 ground beef
• The last bit of parmesan found in the fridge, shredded
• dried oregano to taste
• dried basil to taste
• crushed red pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• black pepper (preferably freshly ground) to taste.

Like I said, it's a bit vague. Trust yourself and taste a lot.

• in a sauté pan, heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Throw in the garlic, and stir constantly until the garlic turns light brown so you get a nice toasty flavor
• stir in the onions, make sure they're well coated with the olive oil. Shake dried herbs and red pepper over the veggies and stir some more.
• in a separate pan, turn your burner up to medium-low, add 1/2 T of olive oil, add your ground beef, sprinkle it with salt and black pepper, mush it out of the shape it came in, alternate stirring between your pans until the meat is browned with minimal pink spots.
• Add the mushrooms to your garlic and onions.
• Add  your meat (fat and all) carefully to your sauté pan and stir. There is a lot of splash potential here. Your mushrooms will absorb some of the beef fat and juices. Yum!
• Add your diced tomatoes (do not drain them), then your cans of sauce, and stir until everything looks evenly distributed.
• Stir in the shredded cheese.
• Time for the tomato paste. Scrape out the can(s) and add carefully because your pan is likely getting full
• Add the wine to the can of tomato paste, swirl it around, and stir in.

At this point, it's stirring, adding spices, and tasting until you get what you like. I typically simmer for a couple hours (and strongly recommend buying a splatter guard). I've always liked a really thick sauce, but as you wish.

How thick do you like yours? Send pictures!

Things I Will Not Buy Again: Salad Dressing

I started making my own salad dressing when I lived in Tennessee. If you've spent a lot of time in the American South, you'll know that ranch dressing is featured almost everywhere. Generally speaking, dressings are often creamy and most of them, no matter how good they taste are terrible for you. The sugar content alone is enough to make you scream.

At a large party a long time ago, there was a salad on the table and of course we served ranch. One of the attendees strongly disliked ranch and asked for vinaigrette. The hostess was not about to go and buy some. I dashed into the kitchen and made this in 30 seconds. It was something I'd watched my father make multiple times

• 1 Tablespoon vinegar (my friend had red wine in the house)
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil (a light one is good here)
• Pinch Salt
• 4 grinds of Black Pepper (or three shakes)
• 2 shakes dried Oregano
• Pinch of sugar

I tend to save glass iced tea bottles for making dressing because then I can shake the hell out of it to blend and then taste. 

Yes, there is a touch of sugar in here, and if you're avoiding it altogether, you can leave it out. I do find it makes a nice addition, and you only need a tiny bit to work against the tartness of the vinegar.

The 3:1 base is good for starting all kinds of experiments.

I haven't made my own creamy dressing in a while, but it starts with mayonnaise and milk. Unfortunately, I do not remember the proportions I used, but I can tell you there were a lot of herbs and no sugar. 

It's easy. You probably have the ingredients for a good dressing in your pantry already. Feel free to mess around!

Who Says You Can Only Have Dressing at Thanksgiving?

I didn't try it until I was in my teens, but when I did, I fell in love with stuffing (in the bird) and dressing (out of the bird). I've had both in multiple forms and formats including:

• Wonder bread cubes (hi Janet!)
• Pre-seasoned bread cubes, which are a bit salty, even for me, and Nexx will tell you I put salt on my salt.
• Rice, usually a mix of short grain and wild rice, which isn't rice at all.
• Cornbread, which is not my thing. So very not my thing.
• Stovetop out of a box. Again, a bit salty, but convenient as all get out, and if you add a few things, you can spread the salt among the other ingredients.
• Leftover bread from that Italian place in Stamford. Fabulous food, and we ordered delivery one evening and they send us enough bread that I was easily able to fill my 9x13 baking dish.

Getting into ingredients, and I'll * the ones I've used. This year's ingredients are in blue:

• Celery*
• Onions*
• Chunks of roast pork (yum!)
• Oysters*
• Chestnuts (not my thing)
• Walnuts*
• Apples* (I adore apples and onions together)
• Hard-cooked eggs
• Breakfast sausage--before you say "wrong kind of sausage," note that a lot of breakfast sausage has a nice measure of sage)
• Smoked sausage* (a personal favorite)
• Kielbasa* (bring on the garlic!)

While Nexx was trying yet another store to find us a turkey breast, I asked him to pick me up some bread. He came home with a sliced round loaf of "country bread," which was perfect. The ingredients on the package said, "wheat, yeast, salt." Not sure how sugar got left off the label to feed the yeast, but it was nice that it wasn't the first ingredient.

I spread out the slices on a baking pan on Tuesday night, put it in the oven and ignored it for 24 hours. One Wednesday, I cut it into cubes (we need a serrated knife, sweetie), but the actual creation didn't get going until the duck was in the immersion circulator.

• Bread cubes from above
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2.5 Cups chopped onions
• .5 pounds of kielbasa--about half a package (I wanted smoked sausage, but let Nexx have his way), chopped into .75" pieces
• .5 pounds of shucked oysters, chopped. We had a can, and reserved half the oyster liquid
• zest of half a lemon (I wanted a little brightness to counter the richness of the oysters)
• 1 quart turkey stock
• 1 stick of unsalted butter to be melted 
• 1 egg, beaten (I'm honestly not sure this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea).
• 2 Tablespoons Rosemary
• 2 shakes of garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon parsley
• 1 Tablespoon Fines Herbes 

Saute the kielbasa over medium heat for about 5 minutes, to the point where it starts releasing fat & juices, but take out of the pan before it gets brown. 

Chop your vegetables. Put them in a bowl, no need to separate

I used our stew pot, as our biggest bowl was too small. Put in the bread cubes and the herbs in your and toss until well-mixed. Next up, the vegetables and meat, a little at at time, stirring constantly with a rubber scraper.

Add the melted butter and stir in, then add the broth one cup at a time, continually stirring until the bread cubes are damp and soft. Put in 9x13 baking pan, cover with foil. Bake at 400 F for 60 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until top is crispy. The most fun thing about dressing, to me, is the interplay of all the different textures.

Next time, more oysters, but otherwise I'm very happy with this. I think Nexx is too because he's been very busy the last few minutes scarfing the leftovers.

Cheers! 

Who Says You Can Only Have Dressing at Thanksgiving?

I didn't try it until I was in my teens, but when I did, I fell in love with stuffing (in the bird) and dressing (out of the bird). I've had both in multiple forms and formats including:

• Wonder bread cubes (hi Janet!)
• Pre-seasoned bread cubes, which are a bit salty, even for me, and Nexx will tell you I put salt on my salt.
• Rice, usually a mix of short grain and wild rice, which isn't rice at all.
• Cornbread, which is not my thing. So very not my thing.
• Stovetop out of a box. Again, a bit salty, but convenient as all get out, and if you add a few things, you can spread the salt among the other ingredients.
• Leftover bread from that Italian place in Stamford. Fabulous food, and we ordered delivery one evening and they send us enough bread that I was easily able to fill my 9x13 baking dish.

Getting into ingredients, and I'll * the ones I've used. This year's ingredients are in blue:

• Celery*
• Onions*
• Chunks of roast pork (yum!)
• Oysters*
• Chestnuts (not my thing)
• Walnuts*
• Apples* (I adore apples and onions together)
• Hard-cooked eggs
• Breakfast sausage--before you say "wrong kind of sausage," note that a lot of breakfast sausage has a nice measure of sage)
• Smoked sausage* (a personal favorite)
• Kielbasa* (bring on the garlic!)

While Nexx was trying yet another store to find us a turkey breast, I asked him to pick me up some bread. He came home with a sliced round loaf of "country bread," which was perfect. The ingredients on the package said, "wheat, yeast, salt." Not sure how sugar got left off the label to feed the yeast, but it was nice that it wasn't the first ingredient.

I spread out the slices on a baking pan on Tuesday night, put it in the oven and ignored it for 24 hours. One Wednesday, I cut it into cubes (we need a serrated knife, sweetie), but the actual creation didn't get going until the duck was in the immersion circulator.

• Bread cubes from above
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2.5 Cups chopped onions
• .5 pounds of kielbasa--about half a package (I wanted smoked sausage, but let Nexx have his way), chopped into .75" pieces
• .5 pounds of shucked oysters, chopped. We had a can, and reserved half the oyster liquid
• zest of half a lemon (I wanted a little brightness to counter the richness of the oysters)
• 1 quart turkey stock
• 1 stick of unsalted butter to be melted 
• 1 egg, beaten (I'm honestly not sure this is necessary, but it seemed like a good idea).
• 2 Tablespoons Rosemary
• 2 shakes of garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon parsley
• 1 Tablespoon Fines Herbes 

Saute the kielbasa over medium heat for about 5 minutes, to the point where it starts releasing fat & juices, but take out of the pan before it gets brown. 

Chop your vegetables. Put them in a bowl, no need to separate

I used our stew pot, as our biggest bowl was too small. Put in the bread cubes and the herbs in your and toss until well-mixed. Next up, the vegetables and meat, a little at at time, stirring constantly with a rubber scraper.

Add the melted butter and stir in, then add the broth one cup at a time, continually stirring until the bread cubes are damp and soft. Put in 9x13 baking pan, cover with foil. Bake at 400 F for 60 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until top is crispy. The most fun thing about dressing, to me, is the interplay of all the different textures.

Next time, more oysters, but otherwise I'm very happy with this. I think Nexx is too because he's been very busy the last few minutes scarfing the leftovers.

Cheers!