tomato

This dish captured the essence of tomatoes. Unfortunately, it did it so well that I’d eaten most of it before I thought to take pictures. One thing that intrigues me is the idea of poaching in olive oil. Unfortunately, most recipes take a liter of oil or more. This isn’t exactly poaching in olive oil, but after slow roasting, the tomatoes are left to sit with lots of garlic in olive oil at room temperature, which mellows and melds all the flavors deliciously. These tomatoes are wonderful tossed with pasta, on bread with a little goat cheese, or just on their own – but you’ll find yourself sad at the thought of leaving all that yummy olive oil uneaten!

I so wish the pictures had come out better, but it’s hard to photograph something immersed in olive oil…

tomatoes slow roasted in olive oil

Halve, seed, and place cut side up in a shallow baking dish 1 lb plum tomatoes. Drizzle 1 cup olive oil over and into the dish. Sprinkle with oregano, salt, pepper, and sugar. Roast at 250 degrees for 1 hr, turn, roast for 45 minutes, turn, roast again for 30-45 min until deep red. Remove from oil using tongs, layer in a bowl with sliced garlic and parsley. Drizzle with reserved oil, add more if necessary to cover. Let sit for an hour at least for flavors to meld. Can be made and refrigerated before serving, but please bring to room temperature and be aware garlic may turn green.

pasta maker

Pasta maker pasta maker pasta maker! I’ve been begging for one for months, finally got one, and have gotten to use it… twice. Let’s not talk about the ravioli episode (two weeks ago, when what should have taken 2 hours took 6 instead). This was my first attempt at making homemade pasta and it was… ambitious, but went well! My first batch of pasta was heavily overkneeded and completely fell apart. Frustrated (and hungry), my guests suggested I abandon the pasta and just wing it to make gnocchi… or dumplings… or damn it, throw the damn dough in the water and let’s just eat for chrissake. While one of them tackled the abandoned pasta with a knife to cut it into strips, I took a deep breath and began the second batch. Trying not to overthink the directions too much, I completely ignored the instructions on the pasta maker box and ran the dough through just once (it instructed to run the dough through 10 times!) at each setting. To my absolute shock, it worked, and the rest of the pasta took less than 5 minutes to make.

The ragu, compared to the pasta, is a breeze.

The meal, taken together, is divine. Genius.

Mario Batali’s mint tagliatelle with lamb and olives

Remember a few posts back when I said I couldn’t think of anything to do with my mint bush? Well, this recipe took care of that. I now no longer have a mint bush. I’m praying for it to grow back so I can make this again!

Step 1: Make the ragu
Season 1 lb lamb shoulder, cut into 1 inch chunks, with salt and pepper, and add to 1/4 c hot olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan (with lid) over high heat. Sear on all sides, and remove to a plate. Add chopped carrot, onion, 1 stalk celery, 4 cloves garlic, and 1/2 bunch thyme (on stem, tied with twine). Reduce heat to medium high and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 c red wine, 16 oz can peeled tomatoes crushed by hand plus juice, and deglaze the pan. Bring to a boil and return meat to pan. Simmer for 1 1/2 hrs until meat is extremely tender.

Step 2: Make the mint tagliatelle
Blanch 1 c mint leaves in boiling water for 45 seconds, plunge in ice bath. Now, Mario says here to puree in food processor. Perhaps I have the world’s lamest food processor but I could not process 1 c mint leaves for the life of me which is probably why my tagliatelle is speckled and not solid green. I did my best and chopped the mint as finely as I could.

Add the mint to 4 large eggs, 1/2 t olive oil, and dump the wet ingredients into a “well” created in the middle of a pile of 3 cups flour. Keep 1/2 cup on hand if you need more flour; however, I found this to be dry enough already and had to add water to keep the dough sticky. Using a fork, mix the wet ingredients in a circular pattern and gradually incorporate the flour from the inside of the well. Every time I have tried this my well collapses and I have to quick-mix and start kneeding, which is probably why my dough doesn’t need much work in the pasta machine. The basic idea is for the dough to be elastic, a little sticky (not dry or stiff), and it should NOT start to fall apart when you run it through the machine. Once the flour is incorporated, kneed the dough for 5 minutes, then let rest for 30 minutes. Follow the directions on your machine to thin and cut the dough, but keep in mind the “feel” and don’t overwork the dough!

Step 3: Finish the pasta
Shred the meat in the sauce, add 1/4 lb olives, and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm. Cook the pasta for about 1 minute (fresh pasta cooks very quickly and is SO tender!). Divide pasta and ragu among 4 plates and top with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

red wine onions

These amazing onions pulled double duty this month. I made the unhappy mistake of making about 2 pounds of them (the red onions at Central Market are HUGE!) but they’re delicious so all was well. They were first layered onto simple puff pastry shells made by cutting puff pastry into squares and layering the squares into a muffin tin. Thank god for pre-made puff pastry. Then, when I still had a huge container left and no more puff pastry, I made delicious sandwiches from turkey, caramelized onions, baby spinach and mayo.

tart red onions (a la Chez Panisse)

Like all recipes that call for caramelizing onions, all this takes is patience and low heat. Thin slice 2 medium red onions and sweat them in 3 T unsalted butter for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 c red wine and 1/4 c red wine vinegar, cover, and cook for about 30 more minutes over low heat, until onions are soft and have absorbed most of the liquid. Turn up the heat and add a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until most of the liquid is reduced (low heat brings out the liquid in the onions, so the longer you cook at a low heat, the more liquid will come out of the onions and the more you will have to reduce at the end). Don’t fret if it’s too wet, the sauce is very tasty.

carne

Fajitas are an interesting conundrum. Meat that is essentially not one of the best cuts, made edible by grilling and slicing the meat against the grain. While I love the flavor, I often find that despite my best efforts I’m never pleased with the texture of homemade fajita meat. I discovered an amazing chile sauce in Gourmet, though, and decided to pair it with that other “tough” cut, brisket. Fortunately, I have plenty experience cooking brisket to delicious yummyness and this came out absolutely to die for.

carne deshebrada en salsa roja
adapted from Gourmet magazine (June issue)

Take 2-3 lbs brisket and roast at 250 for appx 8 hrs in enough beer to cover, fat side up. I like to spike the beer with garlic and onion, and rub the top of the exposed brisket with my current dry rub of choice (which right now happens to come from Goode Company BBQ). Remove and shred. Add back reduced beer as needed for moisture and flavor (you probably won’t want to throw out any of the beefy goodness, to be honest).

Toss 3/4 lb tomatoes with vegetable oil and broil until soft and charred. While broiling, toast 3 dried chiles (guajillo), stemmed and seeded, over medium heat in a dry skillet until pliable and slightly changed in color, about 30 seconds. Transfer chiles to a bowl of hot water and soak for 20-30 minutes, until soft.

Over the same skillet, toast 1/3 t peppercorns, 1/4 t cumin seeds, 3 whole allspice, and 1 clove until fragrant, about 1 min. Blend all spices, soaked chiles, tomatoes, 1/2 c chopped white onion, 3 cloves garlic, and chiles de arbol to taste (1-3) until smooth. Add beef beer, if any is left, or chile water, if necessary, for moisture, up to 2 cups. Add salt to taste.

Heat 2 T oil in a pan, add sauce and simmer until slightly thickened (about 5 minutes). Mix in beef until heated through, or serve sauce on side with tortillas, lime wedges, avocados, sliced onions, and sour cream.

mint

We have a beautiful mint… bush, shrub, I don’t know what exactly it is, in our garden, and due to my not being able to find enough things to make with the leaves it has fallen into disarray and begun to flower. Many, many weeks ago, I made a delicious and amazingly simple glass noodle dish using a recipe I found in Martha Stewart’s magazine. I tweaked it a bit, as it recommends tossing the marinade using the mint and I see no need to waste such bountiful flavor. I also scrapped the marination time, and turned it into a quick and easy summer dish that takes virtually no time at all to prepare.

mint shrimp with glass noodles
based on a recipe from Martha Stewart Living

Toss 3/4 lb shelled and deveined shrimp with 1/2 c chopped fresh mint, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 T lime juice, and 1/4 c olive oil. Set aside. In a pourable container, whisk 4 T lime juice, 4 T fish sauce, 1 T cock sauce (Asian chile sauce) 2 T vegetable oil and 2 t sugar. Pass extra chile sauce on the side. Bring a pot of water to boil. Pour boiling water over 1 package cellophane noodles, let stand 6-8 minutes, until softened. As noodles are “cooking”, sautée shrimp in marinade over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 1 minute per side, salt and pepper each side. Divide noodles among bowls with tongs, add a little cooking water if necessary to prevent stickiness. Top with sautéed shrimp. Drizzle with sauce. Continue to sautée the marinade until garlic is browned, add to the dish. Garnish with sliced cucumbers, chiles, and serve with lime wedges.