Tuscan Ragu

I just made a really delicious meat ragu, served over egg papardelle.  When we were in Tuscany last fall we had some fantastic Pici pasta with a rabbit ragu at our inn’s restaurant, and this is my attempt at something similar.    We stayed at the Locanda dell’Amorosa, an inn about 40 km from Siena, just outside a fairly grubby industrial town named Sinalunga.  Aside from Sinalunga, everything about the Locanda dell’Amorosa was incredible – as you can see from these pictures.  We had a lovely room with a view out over vineyards and rolling hills.  It’s a working farm and produces its own wine.  It has a great restaurant.  It has a beautiful pool (although it was a bit chilly for swimming when we were there).  And it’s in the middle of the Chianti region of Tuscany, about half an hour’s drive from Siena, Montepulciano and Pienza.  It’s a bit further to San Gimignano, but still an easy day trip.

Pici is the local pasta - kind of like a really thick spaghetti, often served with a simple ragu.  So this evening I wanted to try to make a ragu sauce like the one at the restaurant.  My wife has decreed that rabbit shall not enter our home, so I made do with pork sausage and some pancetta.

To make enough sauce for two people (as you’ll see from the quantities of ingredients, it’d be easier to double this and make enough for four…):

• Half a carrot, diced
• Half a rib of celery, diced
• Half an onion, diced
• 3 Italian sausage (200 grams)
• 100 grams Pancetta or thick sliced bacon
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/3 cup good red wine (I suggest a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo)
• Half a can of chopped tomatoes (200 grams)
• 1 teaspoon chile flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• A sturdy, long pasta, such as Pici, Pappardelle, or Fettucini

Pour a slug of good olive oil into a medium sized heavy pot (I use a cast iron Le Creuset), and heat over medium heat.  When the pan is hot (but not too hot), add the carrot, celery, and onion.  Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened but not browned.  Add the sausage and pancetta.  break up the sausage into crumbly bits – it helps if you take the casing off.  Just run a sharp knife across the sausage, lengthwise, to cut the casing, then peel it off.  Continue to cook over medium heat, breaking the sausage up as it cooks, for another 10 minutes or so.  Clear a space in the middle of the pot, then add the tomato paste.  Stir it in the middle of the pot for a minute or two to caramelize, then mix it all together.  Pour in the wine, mix well, and let the liquid cook off – another few minutes.  Add the tomatoes and chili flakes, and mix well.  Cook for a few more minutes, until the sauce is the desired thickness.  Taste and add salt and pepper to taste (most tomotoes have lots of salt added, so taste the sauce before you add any more).

Boil a large pot of water, add the pasta, cook until done, drain, and serve with your sauce.  Grate some good fresh parmesan or romano cheese over it.  I’m still working on a hunk of romano we brought back from our trip (I think we bought it in Pienza – a perfect little Tuscan hill town, founded by and named after Pope Pius).

I steamed some asparagus and served it with butter, more romano, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

And if you’ve never been to Tuscany… GO!!!

Pears in Puff Pastry

Happy New Year!  Let’s hope this one’s a bit easier than the last…

Last night we made one of my favorite party meals – cheese fondue (the traditional kind, with Gruyere & Emmentaler in white wine).  Then to top off the evening, I made an old standby dessert: Pears in Puff Pastry with Caramel Sauce.

I first had this dish at a restaurant outside State College when I was in business school – I don’t even remember the name of the place, but I managed to recreate the dessert.  It’s fantastically decadent and pretty easy to prepare.  Last night I used a couple of perfectly ripe Comice pears, which were perfect, but pretty much any of the softer varieties of pear would work well.

For the Pears:

• 2 ripe pears, cored and peeled
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
• Ready to roll puff pastry (make sure it’s the all butter kind, not the margarine kind!)
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 f.

Mix together the butter, sugar, and Grand Marnier in a small bowl – you can just mash it all together with the back of a fork.  Peel and core your pears, set aside.  Roll out your puff pastry into two squares, about 8 inches on a side.  Place one pear in the center of each square of puff pastry, then stuff the core of each with half of the butter and sugar mixture.  Fold the puff pastry up and over the top of the pears, pressing together to seal it up into a big dumpling. Make sure you seal the pastry up well – when I made these last night, the pastry came apart at the seams and fell down into a nest around the pears.  They still tasted great, but they weren’t quite as elegant as usual.

Place the pears in a baking dish, then brush the outside of the pastry with the beaten egg.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

While the pears are baking, make your caramel sauce:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Pour the sugar and water into a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the mixture turns a medium caramel color (6-8 minutes) – do not stir - swirl the syrup gently to mix.  Pour the cream in slowly – it will bubble up, so be very careful.  Cook for another minute or two over low heat, stirring constantly, then allow to cool to serving temperature.  You can also make the sauce ahead of time, then warm gently before serving.

If you don’t feel like making the caramel sauce, you can buy it in a jar and heat it up gently before serving.  Just make sure to get real caramel sauce, not caramel topping.

Chicken & Wilted Spinach Salad

I made a really nice salad this evening, and I want to write it down before I forget what I did.  It turned out to be a really nice mix of sweet and sour, with good contrast of textures from the wilted spinach, chicken, and crunchy cornichons.

For the salad:

• 200 grams or so of fresh spinach (a small bag, or half a large bag)
• 1 teaspon of minced garlic
• A slug of good olive oil
• 1 cup of leftover cooked chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
• A few good, sour cornichons

For the dressing:

• 1 teaspon of grainy dijon mustard
• 1 teaspon orange marmalade
• salt & pepper
• 1 teaspon dried Italian herbs
• Red chili flakes to taste
• Good olive oil
• Red wine vinegar

First, make the dressing.  Mix everything but the olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl and whisk together to mix well.  Drizzle in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil and whisk well.  Add a bit more (totalling maybe a couple of tablespoons), whisking, until you get a thick paste – the olive oil will be well emulsified by the mustard, so your dressing won’t separate.  Add a couple of teaspoons of vinegar and whisk well.  Taste, and add more vinegar until you get a good balance of sweet and sour in your dressing.

To assemble the salad, heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet (large enough to hold all of the spinach together), then add the garlic.  Let the garlic sizzle for a few seconds, then dump in all of the spinach.  Mix the spinach once with the tongs or a large spoon, then add in the chicken and the cornichons.  Mix again to try to get the spinach evenly wilted – you don’t want to cook it, just wilt it a little.  Your total cooking time should be no more than a minute or two.   Turn off the heat and pour the dressing over the spinach and chicken.  Turn it over a few more times in the pan, then serve in bowls.  This amount will serve one as a main, or 2-3 as a side.

Salsa Crude & Margaritas

There’s nothing better on a late summer afternoon than a dish of fresh salsa, some chips, and a margarita.

Salsa Crude (Pico de Gallo)

This recipe is an easy, classic chunky tomato salsa, posted at the request of my friend Robin for his daughter Felicity.  It’s great by itself with corn chips, or as an accompaniment to fajitas, grilled steak or fish.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb/500g fresh, ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 a red onion
• 1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded & deveined
• 1 clove garlic (more if you like)
• Half a bunch of fresh cilantro/coriander
• 1 or 2 limes
• Salt & Pepper to taste

 

The first thing you’ll want to do is seed the tomatoes.  Cut the tomatoes in half, cutting through the circumference (i.e. not through the stem).  Cup half of a tomato in the palm of your hand and squeeze gently.  If the tomato is really ripe, the seeds should squeeze out of the cavities between the fleshy parts pretty easily.  If the tomato is a bit firmer, you may need to scoop them out with your finger.  Don’t worry about bruising the tomatoes – as long as you don’t squeeze too hard, it won’t matter.  You’re going to chop them up anyway.

When you’ve seeded all of the tomatoes, chop them up – however coarse or fine you like – and throw them into a mixing bowl.  Then finely dice the red onion and the jalapeno and add to the bowl.  Mince the garlic and add it too.  Pull the leaves off the cilantro, chop them coarsely and add to the bowl.  Cut the lime in half and squeeze it into the bowl.  Mix it all up and give it a taste.  Add salt and pepper if you like.  If it’s a little dry, or not tart enough, squeeze in the other lime.

If you want it hotter, you can add another jalapeno, or use something hotter (like a habanero).  You can also make this in the food processor if you want a smoother salsa.  If you do, it’s even more important to seed the tomatoes.  The seeds are bitter if you chop them up in a food processor – a few are OK, all of them will ruin the salsa.

Classic Margaritas

If you feel like going all out, why not make some margaritas too?  Fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, a little simple syrup to sweeten it up a bit, good tequila and some Grand Marnier are all you need.

Put 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir occasionally until the sugar has all dissolved (this should only take a few minutes), then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Squeeze half a dozen medium sized lemons or limes. Mix in your simple syrup to sweeten the juice to your taste.  Go a little on the tart side, as the Grand Marnier is pretty sweet too.

Fill medium sized margarita glasses, wine glasses, or tumblers with ice.  Add 50 ml of your favorite tequila, and 25 ml of Grand Marnier.  Top off your glasses with the sweetened juice, give them a good stir, add a lime wedge, and drink up.

Margaritas are traditionally served in a glass rimmed with salt – I don’t usually bother because it’s kind of a nuisance, but I do like the contrast of sweet and salty, if someone else is doing the prep… If you want to give it a try, pour a few tablespoonfuls of salt into a flat dish or saucer.  Take a lime wedge and run it around the edge of the glass to wet the top centimeter or so, including the rim, then turn the glass upside down and swirl it around in the salt.  You should get a rim of salt sticking to the lime juice.  Fill with ice and mix drinks as above.

If you want a more elegant presentation, mix a batch of drinks in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well, then strain into martini glasses.

Finally, a note about tequilas: there are three major classifications of tequila…

1. Silver – This is young, unaged tequila.  It is colorless, and has the lightest, crispest flavor.  Good in margaritas.
2. Reposado – tequila aged between 2 months and 1 year.  This tequila generally has a straw color to it, and has a bit more flavor.  Also good in margaritas – maybe add a bit more tequila, a bit less grand marnier to bring out the flavor of the tequila.
3. Anejo – tequila aged more than a year.  Anejos are darker in color (some will look like scotch) have the most flavor, and may be drowned out by the other flavors in a margarita.  A good tequila anejo is nice by itself (but please don’t shoot it with salt and lime).

Not too long ago, you could pretty much only get Jose Curvo silver or gold (blech).  Now, there are literally hundreds of different tequilas available.  I’m partial to El Tesoro myself, although I think it was recently bought by Fortune Brands company.  Sauza and Herradura are also good bets that are widely available.  If you find yourself in a store that carries a wide variety of smaller brands, try something expensive – you’ll be surprised how good it is.

Summer Berry Cobbler

There is no more irresistable summer dessert than a simple berry cobbler, served hot from the oven with some good vanilla ice cream.  Here’s an easy recipe that you can adapt to whatever fruit happens to be in season.  This recipe will serve two, but is easily doubled or tripled for larger crowds.  You can make it in one big dish to take to a picnic, or individual ramekins for a more sophisticated presentation.  With a little practice, you can pull this together in about 10 minutes, plus 20 for baking.  You can also make the dough a bit ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble the dessert.

Preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C.

• 1 1/2 cups summer berries (any mix of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries you like)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of your fruit)
• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

Mix the filling ingredients together and put in a small baking dish – a 6 in. ramekin works well.  You can also divide between two 1 cup ramekins if you want to make individual desserts.

Place the following ingredients in the bowl of a food processor:

• 1/2 cup white flour
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 stick chilled butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pulse these ingredients a few times until combined, but don’t overdo it.  The dough should be the texture of course cornmeal.  With the food processor running, add 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.  As soon as the dough starts to come together, maybe another 10 seconds, stop the blade and scrape the dough onto a clean cutting board or counter top.  Pull the dough together into a ball, gathering up any loose crumbs.  Pull off chunks of the dough and place on top of the berry filling – cover well, but not completely.  If you leave some gaps, the berry juices will bubble up through and caramelize on the crust.  Brush the top of the dough with a bit more heavy cream, and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the top has puffed and is golden brown. 

Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or heavy cream.  If you’ve made it in individual ramekins, you can poke a hole in the top and drop in the ice cream.  It’ll melt and blend with the berries and give you a lovely blending of temperatures and textures.

This recipe adapts will to any kind of fruit, but as the crust is extremely delicate, I think it’s best with soft fruits.  Try a mix of rhubarb and strawberries – cut the rhubarb into chunks and simmer with a bit of sugar and grand marnier until the rhubarb starts to soften.  Then mix in the strawberries before topping and baking.  Peaches or apricots are also great in this dish, and you can add a few nuts too, if you like.  Slivered almonds or crushed hazelnuts go really well with orchard fruit.

One more note: I find it easier and less of a mess to just make the dough in a bowl with a pastry blender.  If you don’t have one, you can probably find it in your local grocery store for about 2.99.  They usually have a simple wooden handle with 7 or 8 stiff parallel wires running down below the handle in a semi circle.  You mash the wires through the flour and butter mixture until you get course crumbs (you’ll probably have to scrape the butter off the wires a couple of times), then add the cream and mix and gather with a spoon or your hands.  Use the same basic process for pie crust or crumb topping.  I find that this method gives me much better control than the food processor – it’s very easy to overdo it with the food processor and end up with a tough pastry crust.  You also have only one bowl and the pastry blender to clean, rather than the food processor blade, bowl and top, and you don’t have to put the food processor away afterwards.