We make American great again, when we dine at home with the ones we love, on the most diverse and inclusive cuisines... for our kitchens are the world's true melting pot!
Last evening I had mentioned my preparation of tomato bases pasta sauce is heavily influenced by French techniques and flavor expectations. Many here asked for the recipe and I thought, sure but why not more from others on The Donald.win?
If you have something you love to cook, inspired by travels or friends from elsewhere in the world, or even just one state over here in America, why not share it over this rough and tumble weekend before the Presidential Election.
I'm working on mine as promised last night to post today and would love to hear what others think is some of the best dishes they have in their repertoire.
It does not need to be high cuisine or exact measurements of ingredients, just give the broad stroke and let us all enjoy the idea of what you dine on at home with the ones you love and care for.
Food brings people together and why not break bread online here, where many of us are locked down behind the lines in blue jurisdictions... waiting to see if we are going to be set free when POTUS wins FOUR MORE YEARS!
That is the kind of meal I want when coming back in from snow blowing the driveways in January! Shuck off the coverall, tuck into some down home family dining!
One of my favorite after surfing session meals is moco loco. It looks like sick on a plate but is so awesome and filling!
Would love to do a pit roasted pig here, but they passed ordinances banning aboriginal style cooking. Everything has to be on certified cooking appliances, no homemade drum barbeques or holes dug in the ground, no matter how much land you own.
Beef and Pork Pasta Pappardelle - Serves 6
For the Chefs and experienced Cooks out there, it's simple. Tomato based pasta sauce with beef and pork as the proteins, with focus on developing rich flavors that ring all the bells and taste bud whistles.
This is the dish I make when people say they are not hungry, too busy to eat, but I know they have missed a meal that day or gone too long without one.
Fresh pasta is wonderful, but my choice when that is not an option is a dried pasta brand named "Anna", made in Italy and best enjoyed in Pappardelle #102 (wide cut nests of dried pasta), from 100% Durum Semolina flour, in a 1 pound plastic pouch with bold red lettering (search on Amazon if not available locally.)
Why Pappardelle nests? They are brilliant, authentic to Italy and force you to take your time and enjoy the meal, rather than wolf it down and back to work/study. Eat Pappardelle fast? You will be wearing most of the sauce!
(Stopping here for now, making Enchil-itas (Enchiladas with fajita filling) for dinner at the moment, scratch refried beans and lime juice and flaky salt dressed avocado and garden cherry tomato garnish, with fresh lime juice infused Greek Yoghurt to cool off the heat for those that get too deep, too fast into the dish.)
Step 1 - No worry about mise en place. Why? The process flows like a long and lazy river, not fast and furious like sautee' or flambe'.
The Protein : 2/3 coarse to medium ground beef (80% lean to 20% fat) and 1/3 plain Italian sausage in natural casings, from a purveyor you trust.
The rub. Not a spice blend, but a point of contention. Most of us have been boiling our proteins for tomato based pasta sauces and other ground meat dishes. We've stopped cooking them when they are grey and then drained the liquids, proceeding on to the rest of the recipe.
Fully realized maillard reactions are immensely critical when it pertains to proteins like beef and pork. Maillard is why barbeque rules. When the beef has given up it's liquids while browning, add the pork without the casings, break it up and begin reducing again, aiming to reduce, reduce and reduce. The water content needs to leave so that we can hydrate with our aromatics later.
If you don't believe me, Google Mario B's take on browning for pasta sauce. He throws virtual crocs (shoes) at those that boil ground beef and pork in a sautee' pan and call it "good enough".
When you have the water evaporated out and the meat starts to pop and crackle, with dark brown color appearing on the edges, with translucent fat in the pan that is nearing smoke point, drop off the heat and set aside covered, taking one last whiff of the wonderful aroma of proper browned proteins.
(Taking another break. Pets need attention and Tim Poole has some new uploads!)
Step 2 - Consider the tomatoes and how they contribute to the body of the sauce, the mouthfeel of the finished product.
Many eschew whole tomatoes for the labor involved, but miss an important concept. They will give a texture to the sauce that brings them forward a notch, bridging the gap between the mouthfeel of the beef and pork protein particulates and the thinner sauce liquids.
Older lady from Sicily, with me asking for her sauce ingredient list, "Whole peeled tomatoes. Nothing else."
She of course was joking with me but her statement has a grain of truth. Start with whole tomatoes and you are halfway there already.
In your near to the largest bowl, remove the stem sections of the whole canned tomatoes with a paring knife and work with both hands under the liquid level, squeezing as if to burst a balloon or juice an orange, until you have a consistency where one could mistake it for finished sauce, where the larger portions of tomato resemble portions of beef or pork from earlier, while browning.
What you are left with is the bridge, the body of the sauce too many choose to substitute with adding more volume of proteins. The goal is tomato sauce, not an Italian version of Mexican chili. The first thing the eye must see and the mouth feel, is tomatoes and why breaking whole tomatoes by hand is crucial.
(Time to feed the animals on the estate and get ready for Halloween and time with our best friends, more coming soon!)
Where's the rest of this. I must know!!!!
I'll have some kind of dead animal on the grill, and some good ol Jack Daniels
Neat, rocks or water?
Hot chicken tendies!
What kind of dipping sauces? I like Asian ones like hoisin, Japanese mayo and wasabi!
The spicier the better!
Agreed, though I draw the line at the insanity on Hot Ones. Tha' Bomb is pure evil.