Tag: Sauce

Categories
Recipes

pasta bolognese

I’d never made pasta bolognese. We weren’t sure if we’d ever even eaten a true pasta bolognese. The closest we’d ever gotten was marinara sauce with ground beef, which as we found out in our recipe research, is not even close to a pasta bolognese.

This recipe is from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook and was cross-referenced with a Mario Batali recipe so we’ve got on pretty good authority we’re approaching authentic with this one. We had to make a few minor modifications (bacon in place of pancetta), but good golly pasta bolognese is good! Meaty comfort in a stock pot, real pasta bolognese kicks Ragu‘s ass.

Pasta Bolognese, adapted from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook
4 oz bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
salt
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
2 cups chicken or beef stock
1 1/2 cups milk
3 T tomato paste
1/4 cup cream
pepper
parsley and parmesan for serving

In a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat, add the bacon. Once the bacon has released some of its fat, add the vegetables. Saute the vegetables until they have softened and add the garlic. Remove the vegetables and bacon from the pan and set aside.

Brown the beef and pork in the same pan. Cook 10 – 15 minutes, until the meat is browned. Add the wine, herbs and vegetables to the meat. Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer and let the liquid evaporate.

Once most of the liquid has evaporated, deglaze with the stock and milk. Add the tomato paste. Simmer until the sauce is thickened, 30 minutes to an hour. Season with salt and pepper.

Before serving, add the cream and simmer for a few minutes.

Serve over pasta garnished with parmesan and parsley.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

rhubarb sundae with blueberries and shortbread crumble

I had a bunch of fresh blueberries from my mom’s garden, a Sunset magazine in my mailbox, a dinner party to go to and this sundae was born.

This sundae is wonderful—better than I expected. There just is something really magical about cold ice cream with a warm sauce. It’s like a deconstructed blueberry-rhubarb pie, and because each of the components are made separately, you can easily adapt the recipe to the ingredients and amount of time you have on hand. You could swap the blueberries for another berry or even stone fruit—whatever is in season or on hand. I made the shortbread from scratch, but you could certainly make due with a store-bought shortbread or vanilla cookies. And while the rhubarb in the ice cream is really wonderful and I really recommend you give it a go, you could skip that all together if you’re especially short on time and just serve it with vanilla ice cream.

Rhubarb Sundae with Blueberries and Shortbread Crumble, adapted from Sunset Magazine

For the ice cream
4 cups vanilla bean ice cream
4 stalks rhubarb, sliced thinly
6 T brown sugar

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the rhubarb and brown sugar. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has a jam like consistency. Remove from the heat and puree. Put in the refrigerator to chill for about 20 minutes.

Once the rhubarb is chilled, stir into the vanilla ice cream and return to the freezer.

For the shortbread
1/2 cup butter, softened
5 T sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 T flour
1/8 t kosher salt
1/8 t cinnamon
1 T sugar

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix 1 T sugar and 1/8 t cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter, 5 T sugar, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix on low until large clumps form.

Bring the dough together with your hands. Roll it out until about 1/4″ thick on a floured surface. Mine rolled out quite messy, but it doesn’t really matter since you break it into large pieces before serving anyway. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Bake 15 – 20 minutes, until golden. Cool and then break into large shards.

For the blueberries
2 cups blueberries
1/2 lemon, juiced

Just before serving, heat blueberries and lemon in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, scoop rhubarb ice cream into bowls. Just as the blueberries begin to juice, pour them over the ice cream. Add shortbread shards and enjoy!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

lamb burgers with cucumber yogurt sauce

These burgers were part of our “summer menu” last weekend. They were delicious. In fact, everyone finished their burger before coming up for air to say that they liked it. Do note, it is best if you can mix the meat and cucumber sauce a few hours in advance so the flavors have time to combine. If you’re not making these on a leisurely weekend, you could easily mix both the night before.

This is what a leisurely weekend looks like around these parts.

For the burgers, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis
This recipe makes enough to serve six.
2 lbs ground lamb
1/2 onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1 t cumin
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
six burger buns

Mix lamb, grated onion, grated garlic, parsley, cumin, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to let the flavors come together. Grill the burgers over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes per side.

For the cucumber yogurt sauce, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis
2 cups greek yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into half moons
2 T mint, thinly sliced
2 T chives, chopped
2 T dill, chopped
zest and juice of one lemon
salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving. We used this as a burger condiment, but I also had some as a salad the next day. Equally delicious.

Again, no finished product photo. My apologies!

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

fettuccine alfredo with asparagus

Yay! Asparagus season is officially upon us! I love asparagus and happen to think it goes just wonderfully with cheese. Exhibit A: Grilled Cheese with Asparagus and Preserved Lemons. Exhibit B: Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus
1 bunch asparagus
2/3 lb fettuccine
2 T butter
1 cup cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cups parmesan, grated
salt and pepper

Put a large pot of salted water to boil. Slice the asparagus into one inch slices. In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the cream, butter and garlic. Once simmering, whisk in the parmesan. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add the pasta to the boiling water. After the pasta has cooked for 10 minutes, add the asparagus to the boiling water. Cook another 2 – 3 minutes and drain. Pour the sauce over the hot pasta. Toss and enjoy!

This is a real crowd pleaser and super easy to make, plus the asparagus addition makes it seem slightly less indulgent. Just do it. Your friends and lovers will be thrilled. And there’s few things better than being happy and full.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce

There is nothing like crisp fall weather to make making squash ravioli from scratch seem like a better idea, except maybe David Tanis’ book The Heart of the Artichoke. David Tanis was a chef at Chez Panisse and is a beautiful writer. His recipes are simple, but coax the best flavor out of every ingredient he adds. His writing is just as wonderful—simple and heartfelt. This storybook-style cookbook easily convinces you to try every recipe inside. And the photos are just gorgeous. I just read the book cover to cover so be prepared for a string of beautiful David Tanis recipes.

It was a Sunday and Sundays are for cooking adventures here at Chez Jojonoodle. We had a few beautiful squash from our CSA sitting on the table and I had some time to kill before Jordan got home from work. I put on an episode of This American Life and got down to business.

While making ravioli from scratch is time-consuming, you can make this dish from start to finish in about three hours. If you relax and accept that your ravioli are going to look very, very rustic, it will be even easier.

You begin by making the pasta dough. While the dough is resting, you’ll roast the squash. After the squash is roasted and dough rested, you’ll roll out the dough and fill your pasta. Cooking the pasta and making the sauce takes only 10 minutes, which you should do immediately before sitting down to eat.

Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis

For the pasta dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt
2 T olive oil

For the filling
2 lbs of squash (We used carnival and golden nugget. Butternut would be great)
salt and pepper
2 T olive oil
1/2 cup pecorino, grated
zest of one lemon
1/2 t red pepper flakes
nutmeg, for grating

For the sauce
4 T butter
a small handful of sage leaves
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, mashed
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees.

Place the flour in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs with the salt. Make a well in the flour and pour in the eggs. Mix well with a spoon. Pour the dough onto a floured counter and knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for at least one hour.

Cut the squashes in half and scrape out the seeds. Put them skin side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until fork tender.

Scrape the flesh out of the squash skins and put in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, pecorino, lemon zest and red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Grate in a bit of nutmeg and stir well. Set aside.

Using your pasta machine, roll out the dough into thin sheets.  To make the process manageable, I cut the dough into eighths and then rolled each of those pieces out and filled them one by one. I recommend that you coat the dough ball with flour to reduce stickiness and roll out the dough until you’ve reached the second to last setting.

Lay this piece of thin dough on a baking sheet and cut into squares—mine were about 4 by 4 inches. Put a dollop of filling in the center of each square. Wet the edges with a little water. Fold one side over the other and press firmly around the edges to make a seal. Set aside on a flour-coated baking sheet. Keep at it until you’ve finished with all of the dough and filling. I made about 40 ravioli.

When you are ready to eat, put two pots of water to boil. Salt them well. Add the ravioli gently and boil for 4 – 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sage and garlic, stirring occasionally as the butter browns. Once the butter has browned, season with salt and pepper and turn of the heat. Add the lemon juice. Spoon the sauce over the raviolis, top with a little parmesan and then enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Categories
Recipes

aioli

There’s nothing better than a creamy, flavorful sauce to dip just about anything into.  Some of my favorites include chimicurri (great on steaks), romesco, and the topic of this post: aioli.  Aioli is a type of mayonnaise made with garlic, lemon, and olive oil.  In Provence, it’s typically made very slowly by a little old lady with a mortar and pestle until a creamy sauce results from the emulsive powers of the egg and garlic.  In our modern world, we have the benefit of using food processors and immersion blenders to achieve a similar sauce in much less time.  I’ve made aioli many times, usually with great success, but there have been a few failures along the way.  I’ll share them with you so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Failure #1: Avoid any recipe that calls only for olive oil.  This was my first mistake.  The result will be a lovely, creamy sauce that is bitter and inedible.  Not to mention you just used about $5 in extra virgin olive oil on this mess.

Failure #2: Don’t rush.  While you don’t have to sit there for an hour like the old lady in France, you still need to take your time, especially with the first drops of oil you add.  This is where (pardon the pun) you make or break your sauce.

Failure #3: Go easy on the garlic.  One clove doesn’t sound like much (at least to me), but it is.  The flavors in garlic are fat soluble, so while it might be mild when you first taste it, the flavor gets more intense as it sits.

Failure #4:  “Oh no!  There’s not much liquid in the my bowl, so the blades of my food processor or immersion blender aren’t doing anything!  I know, I’ll add a bunch of oil to get the emulsion going.”  Nope, it won’t work.  You need to add the oil slowly or you’ll never get a thick sauce.  This almost happened to me the most recent attempt, so I opted for a whisk and it worked beautifully.  Now a bowl, whisk, and a little effort are my preferred tools for making aioli.

So with all these issues, you may ask: is it worth it?  Yes.  This is what I do to make an outstanding aioli:

Whisk together a fresh egg yolk, about a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon of canola oil (or any light oil, such as peanut), and a big pinch of salt.  Slowly add more canola oil until the sauce starts to thicken.  This step is crucial, so go drop by drop if you have to.  Once you see your sauce start to thicken up you can add the oil more quickly.  You can make the aioli as thick as you want by adding more oil, but a little bit before you get to your desired thickness, switch to extra virgin olive oil to get some good flavor.  Stir in a clove of finely minced garlic (I actually use a microplane to get a garlic paste) and add salt, pepper, and more lemon juice to taste.  It will keep for about 3 days in the fridge, assuming you don’t eat it all.  We enjoyed ours with some artichokes.

-Jordan

Categories
Recipes

consider the oyster

Oysters: the weird things that look like rocks in the seafood section of the grocery store.  Nobody actually buys those, right?  Wrong.  If you’ve never had a raw oyster, the first thing you must do is go to Swan Oyster Depot, which is located on Polk, between California and Sacramento.  It’s a great place to have your first bite of briny goodness.  This place is terrific; all the shellfish is awesome, but the oysters are the reason to go.  Swan’s only has seating for about 15 along the bar, so the line is usually out the door (fortunately, the employees tend to offer those waiting a beer or glass of wine so they have something other than the oddities of Polk St. to take in).  Swan’s tends to have about 6 types of oysters at any given time; most are local, but some are from Canada, the East Coast, etc.  I recommend getting a variety because you can really taste the difference when you have them side by side.  The service is great and it’s a really fun place to grab some seafood.  Unfortunately, the wait is usually pretty long and it’s a little pricey, about $12 for 6 oysters (note that Swan’s is a great deal compared to other seafood restaurants), and they only take cash.

So, now that you’ve followed my advice, gone to Swan’s a couple times, and fallen totally in love with oysters, what do you do?  Clearly, it’s a bit unreasonable to pay $2+ for an oyster and the novelty of Swan’s is wearing off.  Here’s my advice: buy an oyster knife.  They’re easy to find and pretty cheap too (I got mine at Whole Foods for $8).  There are plenty of reputable seafood mongers in san Francisco (Sun Fat Seafood, Whole Foods, Bi-Rite, etc.), so buy some oysters and get shucking.  So far, Emily and I have only bought from Whole Foods, but that’s just because the prices are actually very reasonable and they’re convenient.  On our last trip, we got a few Kumamoto for $1.3 each, some Blue Points for $1, and some Tomales Bays that were on special for $0.9 each.

Now that you’ve got your quality oysters (which are definitely alive, right?) and your oyster knife, you’re ready to shuck.  First, rinse the bivalves in some cold running water, and be sure to keep them cold during this whole process, i.e. shucking, sitting around prior to eating, and eating itself.  For safety’s sake, hold the oyster in a towel and use your dominant hand to gently insert the knife into the oyster.  I’ve found that finesse is better than force when shucking oysters; if you’re too aggressive, you’ll likely break the shell which will leave shrapnel in your pristine oyster.

This is probably a bit too aggressive.

After you’ve separated the shells, carefully scrape the oyster from its shell leaving as much of the briny liquor as possible.  Place the halved oysters on a chilled plate and eat plain, with some lemon, or with mignonette (recipe follows).  Some crusty bread with Emily’s homemade butter and you don’t need anything else.

Mignonette (Makes about 1/2 Cup)

One Small Shallot, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

About 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients and let sit until ready to use (a couple hours ahead of time is best for flavors to meld).

-Jordan