True Italian Spaghetti Sauce and Pasta!

Forget what you've learned about making tomato meat sauce, this is the best!  Believe me it's the best, and if you listen to me it will improve your sex life, honest!!!

Recipe for four:
1 packet of good quality pasta
1 pound ground beef
1 red onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, very finely diced
1 12 oz can Eden crushed tomatoes, pureed
1 12 oz can of beef stock
1 T tomato paste
1 T fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
1 t chili flakes
S&P
2 T butter
2 c red wine, reduced

Set the oven at 350*  In a roasting pan, pour the pureed tomatoes and the stock, and cover with tin foil or a lid.  Note: If you're using foil, don't let the tomatoes touch the foil, tomatoes are acid and will eat the foil and affect the taste...  Cook for 2 hours.

After the tomatoes have cooked for about an hour and a half, start cooking the onions, chili flakes and garlic in a hot pan with lots of olive oil and butter, and saute then caramelize.  When finished, add the ground beef, and turn up the heat and cook it, stirring a lot.   In another pan, pour in the wine and reduce it by half.   When done, mix all the ingredients together, and lower the heat and cover.  Cook for about 45 minutes...

Boil the salted water in a large pot, and cook your pasta until ready!

Serve on warm plates, with lots of olive oil and parmesan cheese!

Bon Appetit!   Chef Hobbes

Train Wreck Pasta! Or Parsnip Fusilli!

Every week on a Monday, I make what we call a clean out the refrigerator or train wreck pasta, and it's usually one of the best meals of the week!  We use all the leftovers and whatever else is in the fridge!

Recipe for four:
2 c onions, chopped
2 c parsnips, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 t fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
2 t paprika
1/2 c Stilton, crumbled
2 c cooked chicken, chopped up
S&P to taste
1 c cream
3 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 16 oz packet of Fusilli pasta

First get the salted pasta water boiling in a very large pot.  While that's happening add the oil and butter to a large saute pan over high heat.  When the oil's hot add the vegetables and cook until soft and slightly brown.  Then lower the heat and add the cooked chicken and warm it through.

When the pasta is done, drain and return to the pot it was cooked in and add a couple of big glugs of olive oil and stir, then place a lid on the pot.  Now back to the sauce, add the cream, Stilton, paprika and rosemary and stir and cook until the cheese has melted and everything has combined...

Plate the pasta and then the sauce on top, onto warm plates!

Bon Appetit!  Chef  Hobbes

Sunday Morning Breakfast Pizza!

The word YUM comes to mind!

For the pizza dough recipe, see my December 30th 2011 blog.  It's always a good idea to have a few 2 ounce portions of dough in the freezer, for those special times...

OK then, let's get the pizza stone in the oven and turn it on to 500* or higher!  Now roll the dough out on a floured counter, until it's very thin.

Cook up some bacon so it's nice and brown, but not quite done, then set aside.  When the oven's hot, take the stone out and lay the thin pizza dough on it.  Then brush some olive oil on the dough, now grate some cheese of your choice right onto the pizza, add some bacon, and tomato and crack a few eggs on top.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until done.  Sprinkle a little fresh ground nutmeg onto the eggs!

Bon Appetit!   Chef Hobbes

Lemon Pasta To Die For!

OK, this pasta has anchovies in it!  You won't taste them, honest!  Anchovies are a Chef's ace in the hole.  They use them in stews,  pot roasts and then some, to build flavors, and you don't even know it!  So don't not put the anchovies in. . .  Deb's kids love this dish, and now they know what's in it!

Recipe for four:
1 - 16 oz packet of good quality organic pasta
1/2 yellow onion finely chopped
2 t garlic finely chopped
2 egg yolks
1 - 2 oz can of anchovy fillets, finely chopped and smeared*
1 c parsley chopped
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 big pinch of chili flakes
1 t paprika
Salt and pepper
3 T olive oil

I'm not going to assume that you know how to cook the best pasta, so here's how!  Pasta needs lots of room to cook and release it's starch, so use the biggest pot you have and completely fill it with water and a few three-finger pinches of sea salt.  Bring the water to a solid rolling boil.  Then add the pasta, and stir it for a bit with some steel tongs.

While the pasta is cooking, place a large saute pan on the stove over high heat and add the oil.  When the oil is hot add the onions, anchovy and garlic, shaking the pan, and cook until soft but don't brown it.  When they're done add the chili flakes, lemon juice and a little pepper and the paprika, and stir.  Cook for only about a minute.  Just before the pasta is done, take a ladle of the hot water and add it to the two egg yolks in a seperate bowl and whisk.  Drain the pasta, and return it to the pot it was cooked in, and then add the egg and the other mixture and stir...

*Tip: once the anchovies are chopped finely, place in a bowl and with the back of a spoon smear them into a paste!

Serve on warm plates with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Bon Appetit!  Chef Hobbes

Breakfast Pasta Pillow

Making good use of leftover food is really important to me.  So I came up with this simple breakfast dish that makes good use of leftover pasta.  It may sound weird and boring, but take it from me it's great!

In a pan over low heat, add a little olive oil, when the oil is hot add a handful of cooked pasta.  Press the pasta down and out to the sides with the back of a wooden spoon, so it's laying flat in the pan.  The idea here is to cook it slow to make sure the pasta is warm but also has a little color and is slightly crunchy.

Add a pinch each of salt and pepper and a pinch of chili flakes.  When it's looking like that side is done flip it over and do the same thing.  This only takes a few minutes to cook.  Now cook an over easy egg.  Plate up the pasta and serve the egg on top of the pasta.  Now add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce...

Warning:  Bacteria grows really fast on cooked pasta, so make sure to cover it and keep it cold.  Don't keep it for more than a day or two!

Bon Appetit!

Fresh Tomato Pasta...

Quick, simple and cheap to make.  This dish will knock your socks off!

Recipe feeds 4:
1 packet good quality organic pasta
6 roma tomatos chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 red onion finely sliced
1 handful basil chopped
loads of olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pinch chili flakes
Parmesan cheese

Fill a large pot with water and place over high heat, add a good three finger pinch of salt.  It's important to let the pasta have a lot of room in the pot, so make sure there's a load of water.

While the water is heating, slice the onion and place in saute pan with some olive oil and salt, pepper and  chili flakes, over medium high heat.  When the onions start to soften, turn heat to low and caramelize.  Chop your tomatoes and garlic.

When the pasta water is boiling, add the pasta and stir with tongs to make sure all the pasta is covered with water.  Bring back up to a boil.  When the pasta is close to being finished, bring the heat back to medium high on the onions and add the garlic and tomatoes.  Cook until tomatoes are warmed through.

Drain the pasta and return to the pot, add some olive oil and stir pasta.  Plate the pasta on a warm plate and add a little more olive oil.  Add some of the tomato sauce on top of the pasta and garnish with fresh chopped basil, then add a little more olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Bon Appetit!