Pasta with Red Sauce

Every family has a rotation of meals.  When I was growing up one of my favorites was spaghetti night.  I was raised in America’s Dairyland, so we always had a jug of milk on the table during family dinners.  I loved taking a big swig following careful swirls of pasta draped in meat and tomato sauce; laced with grated parmesan cheese.  It was the life. 

Recently I read The Paradox of Plenty.  Following the big immigration boom of the late 19^th century, ethnic groups received a lot of societal pressure to mainstream their diets to a more homogenized, American cuisine.  This caused them to abandon various spices and sauces their ancestors used. 

However, the Italians were the group most resistant to the change.  As they clung to their heritage they began to infiltrate American cuisine.  Thus, when we go to the grocery store today, we see aisles dedicated to Italian-style cooking.  Not many people realize prego means ‘of course’ in Italian. 

Over this summer past, Ariel and I had the fortunate opportunity to live in Italy for five weeks.  During that time we were able to immerse ourselves in Italian food culture, and we were able to see just how inauthentic our American version of Italian cooking was: most notably our use of store-bought, pre-prepared sauces.  While it’s true that store-bought sauces save time, when we weigh out the amount of unfamiliar ingredients with the amount of time saved, I can’t help but wonder: at what detriment are we saving time?   

Like many Americans I have been seduced into buying jarred, pasta sauce.  Surrounded by products promising an easier life it is hard to not succumb to that message.  I developed a sauce one night when I was craving something comforting and affordable, so I utilized the ingredients we had on hand.  As I was cooking I wondered why I don’t do a quick tomato sauce more often.  It was indeed quick, and significantly more satisfying than the premade, jarred alternative.  Also I still felt like I had time left in the evening: a well-earned bonus.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. cooking oil (we are currently using avocado oil for sautéing) 

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ pound crimini or button mushrooms

12 oz. ground chicken (Feel free to substitute for ground beef or a meatless protein) 

14.5 oz diced tomatoes

8 oz. tomato sauce

1 sprig fresh oregano leaves, chopped

1 Tbsp. dried oregano

Salt to taste

4 oz. dried pasta (we used fettuccini) 

Optional: 2 oz. freshly grated mozzarella and grated parmesan

Over medium heat, sauté the onions in the butter and oil.  When they begin to soften add the garlic and mushrooms.  As the mushrooms begin to cook, add the ground chicken.  When the ground chicken is broken up and thoroughly cooked, add the tomatoes, sauce, and both types of oregano.  As the sauce reduces, salt to taste. 

Meanwhile cook the noodles to package instructions, and drain (do not rinse the pasta once it is in the colander) Separate the noodles into two bowls, and smother with sauce. Top with the cheeses you desire.  Prego!

Lentil Loaf

Around our house we embrace our omnivore sensibilities; we have not fallen into many repeated food patterns, and we tend to cook a diverse menu every week.

Recently we had our friend over for her birthday dinner.   She enjoys a vegetarian diet, but she also eats fish. We enjoy seafood so it seemed a natural place to begin the brainstorm for our menu.  As we considered our student budget, and the market price for salmon, we transitioned into thinking about vegetarian dishes.  That was when I began considering a vegetarian "meat" loaf.

During a quick internet search, we found a recipe that looked good.  I carefully read the ingredients aloud, as if to imagine them in our fridge and pantry as I made my way down the list.  I finished reading, and it was unanimous: Lentil Meatloaf it was!  We had everything we needed to make it.

The special feature of this loaf is the glaze that gets brushed over the top before it gets put into the oven.  The glaze is made from ketchup, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar.  It is naughty enough to make this healthy loaf snazzy, and yet subtle enough to not overpower the delicious ingredients.

This recipe is an adapted version of the one I found on the blog Eat, Live, Run.  It was a joy to make throughout the entire process.  Perhaps it was because the ingredients were so wholesome.

Ingredients:
1 cup green lentils
3 cups vegetable broth
1 large onion, medium dice
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 large carrot, grated
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 eggs
1 Tbsp fresh sage
2 tsp kosher salt
cracked black pepper

For the glaze:
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a pot, simmer the lentils with the broth for about 25 minutes, until they are tender and the broth is absorbed.  Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in a 350 degree oven for about six minutes, and chop them when they have cooled.  Saute the onions and celery until they are soft.  Add the carrot, sage, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook the mixture for a few more minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat.  Let the mixture cool for a few minutes (you don't want the eggs to cook), and then add the eggs, walnuts, and panko.  When the mixture is complete, press it into a greased loaf pan.

In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the glaze together.  Using a pastry brush, spread the glaze onto the top of the loaf.  Bake for 45 minutes, and pop it out onto a platter, and slice it.  We paired our lentil loaf with au gratin potatoes, steamed baby broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and spinach salad.  It was a wonderful dinner.  We vowed to make the lentil loaf again really soon, maybe for our next vegetarian guest.

Pear Bread

Every fall we anticipate pear season.  Ariel's parents have pear trees in their backyard, and sometimes we get to bring some home with us.  On a recent visit to their house we were handed a heavy paper bag of the much-anticipated fruit.  When we arrived home, we devoted an entire shelf in the refrigerator to the fruit, and our pear experimentation began.

A number of soups, salads, and crisps later we were ready to eat the last few when I was hit with an epiphany: chop them up and put them into a bread for French toast!

For a number of years I have been loving Jim Lahey's dutch oven, no-knead bread baking method. It is ideal for a home oven, especially if you're like us: cursed with electric heat.  The dutch oven creates an oven within an oven, which helps produce a thick, crunchy crust with an airy, spongy center. Many people tell me my bread tastes better than what they find in local bakeries, and I agree: this method produces incredible loaves.

What I didn't know is what would happen if I added fruit to the mix?  Ready to find out, I peeled and diced two cups of pears.

Let's say adding the pears was a great choice; one worth sharing.  The French toast also worked out great.  Unfortunately it was not feeling very photogenic, so I was unable to include a shot here. Take my word for it: bake this bread and make French toast; you will be happy you did.  

Ingredients:

3 cups or 400 grams bread flour

1 1/4 tsp or 8 grams kosher salt

1/4 tsp or 1 gram active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups or 300 grams cool water

cornmeal and flour for dusting

2 pears peeled and diced

In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together the water, yeast, flour, pears, and salt.  If there are any dry patches in the dough add another tablespoon or two of water, assuring the dough is uniformly sticky to the touch.  Cover the bowl with a tea-towel or plastic wrap, and let sit for 12-18 hours.  

Flour a work surface and using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula turn the dough out onto the floured surface.  Working around the edges of the dough, bring the edges inward, making the dough into a ball.  Put cornmeal down on the work surface and place the ball of dough on the cornmeal.  Flour the surface of the dough and cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap.  Let the dough sit for about two hours.  When there is 30 minutes left, preheat the oven to 475 and place a covered dutch oven on the center rack to preheat.  

Using potholders, carefully remove the pot from the oven and uncover it.  Quickly invert the dough into the pot with the seam side up.  Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes.  Use a heat-proof spatula to lift the bread out of the pot and onto a cooling rack.  Cool the bread thoroughly before slicing into it.  

Once the bread is cool, it can be wrapped in plastic overnight to retain freshness.  For French toast, age the bread a couple of days for the best results.   

Chicken and Dumplings

One of my favorite questions to ask people is: what are the foods you remember eating when you were young?  I love sharing stories about how people live, and there is something special about listening to people tell stories about their food memories.

In our family Mom was very good about making sure family dinner was a common ritual.  Each night we rotated through our favorites: spaghetti with meaty red sauce; chicken baked in the oven with potatoes; or a roast, slow cooked in the crock-pot with delicious aromas enticing us more with every hour. 

Within mom’s rotation, I had my favorite dishes.  One of those dishes was chicken and dumplings.  I loved the way the tender pieces of chicken married with the light gravy, decorated by specks of tiny carrots and peas.  The dumplings, steamed at the surface of the dish, were a satisfying complement to the chicken, gravy, and vegetables.  I would eat the dish with a big glass of milk, and life was good. 

The dinner ritual has stayed with me through the years, and my food repertoire is continually inspired by magazines, blogs, and sharing ideas with other people.  On a recent camping trip I was sifting through a pile of magazines and I was enthralled by the food ideas in Real Simple.  The theme was Modern Family, and they riffed off classic American dishes.  On the very first page was a recipe for chicken and dumplings.  “I am definitely going to make that,” I thought.

About a week later Ariel and I went to Centralia to pick up my dad.  My brother had told us that dad had caught a cold.  As Ariel and I began talking about what we should make for dinner he suggested we make chicken soup.  He told me that his dad swears by chicken soup's medicinal properties.  As we began talking about the soup, my mind shifted back to the chicken and dumplings, so that is what we had. 

The recipe was inspired by Real Simple, as well as a 2011 version of chicken and dumplings on the website Simply Recipes. 

For the chicken you will need:

2 lbs. boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-2 inch pieces

2 Tbsp. butter+2 Tbsp. cooking oil

1 large onion, large-dice

3 carrots cut into ½ in pieces

3 ribs celery cut into ½ in pieces

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup white wine

1 quart chicken stock

2 Tbsp. fresh sage leaves

5 oz. fresh spinach leaves

1 cup frozen peas

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

For the dumplings you will need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. melted butter

¾ cup milk

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

In a large dutch oven heat 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. oil.  Brown the chicken.  Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve it on a plate.  Add the remaining butter and oil and sauté the onion, celery, and carrot.  When the vegetables are soft, add the flour, stirring continuously. 

Whisk in the stock and the wine, and add the sage and the spinach.  Note: the spinach will cook way down, so don’t worry when it fills the whole pot.  Return the chicken to the pot and gently simmer the contents for about 45 minutes.  

For the dumplings: combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the melted butter and milk.  If there are dry spots in the dough, add tiny drops of milk at a time until the dough is completely hydrated.  Fold in the fresh parsley. 

Make sure the stew is at a light simmer.  Drop dumpling dough at approximately a tablespoon at a time into the stew.  Cover the stew for 20 minutes, note: do not lift the lid during that time.  The steam cooks the dumplings, and if the lid is lifted the steam will escape. 

After the 20 minutes, remove the lid and gently stir.  Add the fresh parsley, cream, and peas. Serve in deep bowls with soup spoons.  This is a dish that gets better each day; the leftovers of this stew are wonderful.