I Love You More Than Food

Category: main courses

Pasta Bolognese (From Marcella Ansaldo at Apicius in Florence)

I’ve posted about my favorite Italian comfort food before, but I’ve decided it’s time to wow you with its deliciousness in a way that will allow replication. This dish was the very first recipe (and demonstration of technique) I learned in Marcella Ansaldo’s introduction to Italian Regional Cuisine course at International Culinary School Apicius in Florence.Â Marcella was fabulous and ended up to be one of my very favorite and most professional teachers while I was there.

Typically you’d make your own pasta (once you’ve done it a few times, it’s really not overwhelming), but if you’re in a hurry you could use dry pasta, preferably something with texture like rigatoni, penne, or egg fettucini.

All of the measurements below are approximate. You’ll develop your own liking over time. Serves 4.

1 large carrot, small dice
2 stalks celery, small dice
1/2 medium/small onion, diced
1/2 C red wine
1/3lb lean ground beef
1/4lb ground pork
50g (1 quarter inch thick) slice of pancetta (if you can get it smoked, that’s the best option)
1.5-2 C san marzano or other good quality tomatoes, preferably whole
1 tsp chili flakes (this is non traditional)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat about 1T olive oil in a large sauce pan. Start your water to boil at the same time, or soon after. Sautee on medium low heat the onion, carrot, and celery which are chopped a small dice, evenly sized. You do not want to caramelize anything here–simply soften and cook. I remember Marcella telling us that Italians 1) do not like to see their vegetables and 2) do not over cook them like the French. Don’t forget the salt at this point, either.

Once softened but not brown, add the pancetta, diced the same size, and if it’s not smoked, allow it to cook until almost crispy (you may need to adjust the heat upwards). If it’s smoked, cook together for 1-2 minutes, and add the ground meat. You should mix the meat together first and make sure not too add too large of chunks. Once the meat is mostly cooked, crank the heat a bit up and add the wine*.

When the vapor coming from the pan is no longer astringent, add the chili flakes and the tomato, and reduce to simmer. Adjust salt & pepper.

Mix your sauce and pasta well in a large bowl/in the pasta pan and serve with good Parmesan (I will cry if you use the pre-grated stuff, seriously).

*If you’re smart, you’ll buy a dry, red Italian wine that you might actually want to drink not only because it will taste better, but because then you’ll have an appropriate wine to go with your dinner.

As a side note, we ate it up with some Liguria Bakery Foccacia, which I am very pleased to say is being retailed at my neighborhood Andronico’s, for four times the price as at the bakery and not as fresh, but it is so freaking good and so inconvenient to get at the bakery that I am happy to pay it.

May 15, 2009
Halibut with Fennel and a Roasted Beet Salad

1 head baby fennel (or half regular), with fronds
1 piece fresh halibut, .5-.75 lb
mixed salad greens
juice of 1/2 lemon
olive oil + macadamia oil if possible
vanilla salt & pepper
raw pistachios
1/2 roasted red beet

Heat oven to 350. Clean the fennel and cut off the fronds, placing the fronds on a parchment lined baking sheet in a pile. Add your fish skin down onto the fronds and top with 1 tsp olive oil, vanilla salt, and pepper.Â NOTE: you may make your own vanilla salt by mixing sea salt with the core of 1-2 vanilla beans in a clean spice jar. The salt should be saturated, so you mayÂ minimize the amount of salt you make at once. Leave the cleaned out beans in the jar with the salt, it will create a stronger aroma over time.

Place the fish in the oven, you’ll be baking it 15-20 minutes depending on thickness. Should be opaque white and not jiggly when touched but the meat should not seperate when it’s done. Slice your fennel thinly from bottom to top, after removing the stiff core. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick pan on medium low heat; when heated, add the fennel, pepper, and vanilla salt. Toss occasionally until parts are golden and all is soft, about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make salad dressing by combining 1/2 juice of lemon (or just scant), and 1/2 as much olive oil as there is lemon juice. Add a dash of macadamia oil or use it exclusively if you like. Add regular salt & pepper, and emulsify with a whisk.Â Add your washed and drained salad greens, tossing. Add pistachios to taste and your 1/2 roasted beet in cubes (I had one leftover, you may omit it, probably not worth making on its own).

March 2, 2009
Filet Mignon with Port Reduction & Golden Chard with Pancetta & Pears

This is a meal to be shared by two people, heavy on the greens, lighter on the wallet than would be otherwise. Last night we were both exhausted and wanted to eat at home (mostly for economical reasons) but I really wanted a great Friday night date dinner, so we grabbed a filet from Andronico’s (love/hate) as well as a bottle of Tablas Creek‘s (Sister winery to France’s ChÃ¢teau de Beaucastel) Cote de Tablas red rhone style and went to work at home..

1 filet mignon ~ .5 lb
1 large shallot
1/2 comice pear (or other pear)
1-2 T very cold butter
1/2 C ruby port or dry red wine – sherry would probably be OK too
1 bunch golden chard
1 slice pancetta, 1/4 inch thick
olive oil, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Wash chard, cut stems away, slice stems into small peices and set aside, slice greens into large strips, set aside seperately. Dice the pancetta by unwinding it, and slicing it in half lengthwise, then cutting into bits on the short end. Place the pancetta & the chard stems into a hot nonstick skillet, adding salt & pepper.

Bring a small, high sided pan (oven safe) to just high heat, adding a few T of olive oil. Add the salt & peppered steak, allowing to color. Once colored, flip over. Once colored again, put the pan in the oven until desired doneness (4-8 minutes). Do not allow the olive oil to smoke while on the range.

Tossing the chard mixture frequently, once stems are nearly softened, add the pear in cubes. When the pear has colored, add the greens and cook until wilted and bright. Check seasoning and adjust.

Take your steak out of the oven and place it on a cutting board to rest, placing the pan with drippings back onto the range at high heat. Add your shallot, minced, and cook until translucent. Add salt & pepper, and the port/wine. Reduce until astringent alcohol smell is gone, take off the heat and sit 1 minute. Add very cold butter and stir vigorously until melted.

Slice steak and serve sauce over it with the greens on the side.

January 17, 2009
Roasted Air Chilled Chicken & Tomatoes

Because it’s soup season, I’ve taken to roasting whole chickens (generally the organic, air-chilled, fresh variety). One challenge is that I actually don’t own a proper roasting pan (as an aside, I like to serve in the dishes I cook in whenever possible, and an au gratin pan will work just fine thankyouverymuch), and have been borrowing frequently from our neighbors–so we’ll see for how long I can keep this up.

To wash or not to wash? Studies and logic say washing the chicken will only spread the germs via water around your kitchen. You’re better off not washing it unless there is something clearly gross that should be swept away. I know–but your mother use to do it. Well, your mother didn’t have the internet, did she.

Cut the chicken in a few places: on either side of the leg joints, above the arms. Make sure the cavity is clear and you aren’t leaving a plastic bag of giblets in there (I tell my butcher to keep’em). You have a few options now, but generally the simplest thing is to stuff the cavity with 4-6 garlic cloves, half a washed lemon, and fresh herbs such as rosemary.

I also pull the skin apart from the meat along the breasts and anywhere I can get to so that it crisps up, and then stuff a few sprigs of rosemary or whatever herb of the day under there. I’d recommend parsley, thyme, sage, or rosemary.

In your roasting pan, rub the chicken well with olive oil and coat with sea salt (coarse, grey, flavorful if possible) and cracked pepper. Throw a few whole, small tomatoes alongside the chicken and coat in olive oil, salt & pepper. Add some garlic cloves on the outside there too, if you like.

Roast at 350 for 30 min-1hr depending on size of chicken. Leg should wiggle firmly when yanked and it’s done, and will have a nice color to the outside.

After you eat it or use the meat in soups, be sure to save the carcass in the freezer or use immediately to make some stock.

December 12, 2008
Ravioli Zucca (Butternut squash ravioli) & Garlic-Pepper Dino Kale

This is a typical dish from the north west of Italy, usually prepared with pumpkin but any winter squash will work well. I like to use butternut squash. It is typically fried after boiling, served in a brown-butter sage sauce. I call it typical and not traditional because it only came about around the 1800’s or so (well, same with Italian pasta in general), and there is argument between the French and Italians as to who came up with this dish. Some accredit inter-country marriages to the leaders of regions in Italy or vice versa to its spread, and admittedly some of the technique involved is typically French. I’m gonna vote Italian, though.

I used some of the butternut squash I had received in my bi-weekly Farm Fresh to You shipment as well as the dino kale that came this week from the Capay Valley. And in the name of honesty, I made this with my neighbor Marta a few days ago, had leftover filling, and made it again last night. She prepared some delicious roasted brussel sprouts for our meal.

For the Pasta:

1 small butternut squash, halved & seeded
1 portion fresh italian egg pasta (my recipe is here)
1/2 tsp ground sage, and/or several leaves fresh sage
amaretti cookies (a light, almond cookie that is about bite sized or as large as a golf ball, also from the north)
1/4 C walnuts
1/2 stick butter
olive oil
salt & pepper

Roast the squash with olive oil, salt, & pepper face down at 350 or 375 until tender and bright orange. Seperate the flesh from the skin and add to a food processor along with several amaretti (4, 5?), the ground sage if you’re choosing that option, salt, pepper, and walnuts. Reserve some amaretti. Puree until mostly smooth or no large chunks remain. You’ll be using this in small amounts to fill your ravioli, so it’s important it’s smooth and won’t tear the dough.

Roll out your dough after it has rested sufficiently. I would recommend an alteration to the recipe to include 1/2 size 00 semolina flour and 1/2 size 00 farina/white wheat flour. This will make the dough more elastic and forgiving and better suited to a stuffed pasta.

Making the dumplings: use your own method or ravioli tools, or follow the technique I used in these goat-cheese beet raviolis to make a different stuffed pasta shape (minimal dough waste in my opinion), or cut squares or circles to attach together. If you’re attaching two sheets of pasta together, I recommend using a touch of egg on your finger or at least a bit of water to help it adhere. Make sure to roll out only what you need as you can use it, or it will go dry and create problems when shaping the dumplings.

Toss your finished raviolis into boiling, salted water. Remove them with slotted spoon or gnocci paddle, and put them directly in a large sautee pan with your melted, medium high heat butter. It should sizzle.

Let the ravioli/tortelloni fry until bubbled and golden or browned at least on one side. Toss occasionally. If you choose to use fresh sage, you’ll want to fry the dry, cleaned sage in the butter before adding the ravioli. Serve and top with crushed amaretti.

For the Kale:

1 bunch dino kale (soft, bubbly dark green variety), washed, cores removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
olive oil

In a large sautee pan, cook the garlic & pepper at medium heat in olive oil until softened. Add the kale and continue to cook until bright green and more tender to your liking.

December 12, 2008
Hazelnut Crepes with Leek-New Potato filling, Arugula, and Creme Fraiche

Crepe Batter:
1/2 C Hazelnut “flour” (finely ground hazelnuts)
1/2 C -2T all-purpose unbleached flour
3 eggs
2T melted butter
1 1/3 C whole milk
dash salt
dash fresh grated nutmeg

Mix dry; Mix wet, add into a “well” of the dry and whisk together to avoid lumps, slowly incorporating the dry. The batter should be the consistency of light cream.

2 large fresh leeks, greens removed
4 small to medium white new potatoes
2-3 T butter
salt & pepper
5-8 stalks fresh wild arugula

Split leeks in half and chop finely in half circles. Dice finely the new potatoes to the size just slightly bigger than the eraser on a pencil. Melt the butter in a non stick pan at medium high heat (you could also use pancetta and half as much butter). When the water has evaporated (it stops bubbling), add the potatoes, with plenty of salt & pepper. Let them color, tossing occasionally. Reduce heat to medium, add leeks. Let leeks soften and color while potatoes also finish cooking.

Use a non-stick skillet and cook the crepes at medium high heat. Coat the pan in butter first, let the water evaporate and add batter. Don’t add too much batter or the crepes will be too thick; they should barely coat the pan. Flip when mostly done, cooking briefly on the other side.

Assemble, adding fresh washed arugula. Top with creme fraiche or sour creme and a few whole hazelnuts.

Wine: To cut the fat, try a vinho verde from Portugal, or a non-oakey chardonnay like one from Cakebread Cellars.

October 23, 2008
Roast Golden Beet & Chevre Tortelloni in Brown Butter Sauce

Including: How to make fresh pasta for tortelloni and other stuffed pastas & ravioli

Most of us who are at least a little enamored with Italian food realize and recognize the vast and unending code for Italian pasta shapes. They range from fairly consistent (spaghetti is spaghetti just about anywhere you go) to the incredibly confusing (tortelloni can be either the little parmesean filled pastas we find dried in the grocery, more commonly known in the US as tortellini, or large, fresh pasta dumplings, or even a stuffed dumpling of any kind, as in a bit after the middle ages, when pasta was really making itself popular in Italy via Napoli’s maccheroni which we think of as being the elbow shape but in Italy can mean just about any unstuffed pasta shape, especially something similar to bucatini).

Anyway, it’s not consistent. But by tortelloni here, I mean a stuffed pasta in a particular shape, as, well, shown.

For the filling:
two medium golden beets, roasted with olive oil, salt, & pepper in foil for 1 1/2 hours or more, peeled & rough chopped
1/3 lb capricho di caba or other salty, moist fresh goat cheese/chevre
salt & pepper
olive oil

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Add olive oil as needed to make a ricotta consistency.

For the pasta:
Measurements are approximate
1/2 C (or 50g) semolina 00 size flour
1/2 C (or 50g) 00 white wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg

Mix the flours, pour in a pile and create a well. Sprinkle with salt, add the egg to the center, and gently beat to incorporate flour. Once somewhat together, use hands to mix the rest of the flour in until it takes a comfortable amount and is no longer sticky when handling repetedly for several rounds of kneading. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and let set for at least 1 hour, up to 12. See this entry on making fresh pasta for more details on making the dough: How to Make Fresh Italian Egg Pasta.

Roll the dough out using plenty of flour to keep it from sticking. I find it easier to work with half the dough at once, keeping the other half nicely covered with the plastic wrap. Roll out as thin as the dough will allow without tearing or becoming fragile. The longer you let it rest the easier it will be to accomplish this. Using the correct size flour (extra fine) will also aid in this.

Cut in equal squares. I eyeball it, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Add a small drop of filling to each square.

Fold into a triangle and seal with your fingertips by pinching, starting at the top of the triangle and working around the edges. Try not to include extra air near the filling, or they may have trouble staying closed once in the hot water.

Press the left and right sides of the triangle together to form a circle with a tail. Flip the pasta “inside out” to create an edge that will help trap sauce.

Cook in boiling hot water, salted (several T of sea or kosher salt).

Meanwhile, melt 2-3 T of butter, adding salt & pepper; you can add poppy seeds too if you like. Let it brown, and add pasta as it’s finished cooking. Toss. Serve.

Wine: this one is fairly tricky, because of the salty-sweet combo. A nice and soft, round merlot would work, as would a dry, less aromatic white.

September 15, 2008
Winter Garganelli (Pasta with spicy creamed tomato sauce & chicken)

I’m sick. We’re all sick. Everyone has the sniffles, the sore throat, the strange things coming from their lung. I’ve been working 7 days a week, and haven’t had much time to cook (though I have fit in a few mini dinner parties and even one real one that involved scallops with an orange vanilla cream sauce, and my mother’s recipe for pork & figs with balsamic reduction (very easy)), but because I’m ill I vowed last night to stay in and use what I had to make something nutritious, delicious, and expelling of all grossness inside (read: something spicy).

First, chop half a slice of 1/4 inch thick pancetta into a dice. Throw it into a hot non-stick skillet at least 8 inches but hopefully more like 11 and let it get a little crispy. Add a boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed into small peices and turn the heat up, tossing frequently until the chicken is mostly done or just barely done.

Pour in enough heavy cream to coat the bottom of the pan, add a bunch of fresh thyme leaves, let it come to a simmer and pour the mixture into something else and let it sit aside.

Now put into the pan olive oil, half a shallot in a small dice, at least three garlic cloves or as many as you like coursely chopped on medium to medium low heat (remember my philosophy about cooking garlic slowly–it may smell good right away at high heat, but it will not taste nearly as complex or sweet as if you cook it on low heat for longer. Please also remember shallots have a high sugar content and will burn easily).

Add about half a large can of san marzano D.O.P. tomatoes (reserve the rest in your fridge for something else), about two teaspoons of dried thyme (crushed between your fingers as you put it in), about a teaspoon of chili flakes, and a good amount of salt (another few teaspoons). Put the heat to medium low or low, and let this cook 15-30 minutes. When it’s almost done, start a huge pot of water boiling for the garganelli, meanwhile add the chicken and cream mixture to the tomato sauce.

When the garganelli are almost done (you can substitute rigatoni but make sure its semola flour based), and the tomato and cream mixtures are heated and blended, add 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche to the sauce, turn the heat off, and grate a few tablespoons of piave and/or parmesean cheese in. Mix. Now add the pasta to the pan, toss to coat well, and serve (in my case, with kleenex on the side).

Deliciousness.

January 9, 2008
St.Louis Ravioli – handmade beef & pork ravioli

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So I had this craving for the traditional meat ravioli that the Italian population in St.Louis is known for (I was feeling a little homesick). I can’t replicate the “fried ravioli” (nor do I really want to right this moment), but the filling is really the important part and I felt inspired. However, I had a moment of laziness and bought some spinach pasta sheets (fresh) from Berkeley Bowl to shortcut my ravioli making. Should you not have this luxury, use a simple egg pasta recipe like the one you can find in this entry on Fresh Italian Egg Pasta, and be sure to not roll the sheets too thin for the purposes of ravioli.

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Beef & Cheese Ravioli Filling
1/4 lb lean ground beef (I used grass fed)
1/3 lb ground pork (I used organic/all natural)
1/2 medium to small yellow onion
2 crushed garlic cloves, loosely chopped
thyme fresh or dried to taste
a small amount of ricotta cheese (2-6 T to taste)
bread crumbs
salt & pepper
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I made the sauce at the same time which required:
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Simple Tomato Sauce
olive oil
san marzano D.O.P tomatoes imported from italy, one large can or one large jar
2 crushed & course chopped garlic cloves
1/2 medium to small yellow onion

I chopped the onion finely and the garlic as well and sauteed it together in olive oil with a heavy pinch of large grain salt for both the ravioli and the sauce. When the onions were soft (do this on fairly low heat for a longer time; if you blast the garlic it will be colorful and bitter and have no flavor, even if it smells good), I added a little less than a quarter cup of olive oil to a hot sauce pan and then a little more than half of the onion & garlic mixture. I added thyme to both the large sautee pan which would cook the filling and to the sauce pan.

Next, mix the two ground meatsÂ and then drop them in chunks into your sauce pan, turning the heat up to about medium. Make sure there is enough salt, pepper, and thyme.

Let the sauce simmer: it’s just garlic, olive oil, onions, thyme, tomatoes. Put it on low and leave it while you do everything else. This sauce can be modified with jalapeno or other peppers or chili flakes to make arribiata sauce, with capers to make puttanesca, with meat cooked in the same pan for bolognese.

Once the meat has cooked through, put everything from the pan including the drippings into a food processor. Add two good handfuls of breadcrumbs, a few tablespoons of ricotta (preferably you will push this through a fine mesh strainer with a spatula first to improve the texture), salt & pepper, and I had some pesto from Berkeley Bowl sitting around (mostly parsley, a bit of walnut) so I added a few spoonfuls of that too. Grind it until it’s fine, adding bread crumbs or ricotta as needed to achieve a nice moist consistency but where the filling rolls into a ball inside the food processor and is still moist enough to stick together well.

Cut your raviolis. I used a biscuit cutter. You can cut squares or whatever other method you have. The important thing is to NOT OVER FILL the ravioli. Wet with your finger & some water around the edges of each ravioli (one side of the two pieces) to seal them, making sure to push as much air out as you can as you go around and seal them.

Boil water. Once boiling, salt well (a good handful of rock salt). Do not crowd the pan with the water. Use a plenty large enough one. I boiled seven raviolis in a large pasta pot. The bigger, the better–they will cook more evenly. The picture below shows what the pasta will look like when it’s about done–it should be slightly floppier than when it went in, but not limp. Usually, fresh pasta takes 3 to 5 minutes.

Serve with the simple tomato sauce (just a few spoon fulls) on top and some grated fresh Parmesan reggiano. I’d like to note that it is only acceptable to serve Parmesan with tomato sauce when there is also MEAT in the dish. It should never be served with a vegetarian dish or fish dish.

February 23, 2007