So... today's post is devoted to the marinara sauce I experimented with this weekend... which I consider to be excellent, not only because *I* liked it, but because the love of my life, who utterly DESPISES red sauces, loved it.
Now... I'm the sort of cook who cooks sort of by instinct. I can follow a recipe without problems, but after the first time, I feel my way through it and improve it. And when I'm making it up on my own, all bets are off.
The problem with this is... I don't really measure things. That tends to make documentation a bit difficult. But here we go anyway with my closest guess-timation of what I did.
The Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 half a large onion, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh garlic (I used the pre-chopped stuff you can get in jars)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large (32 ounce) cans of "Cento" brand tomato puree
2 small (8 ounce) cans dole "Petite diced" tomatoes, well drained
2 -3 tablespoons dried parsley
2 -3 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
a few grinds of fresh black pepper
kosher salt to taste
a few shakes of "franks red hot sauce" (optional)
3-5 bay leaves
Instructions:
In a large pot (big enough to hold all the ingredients in the end), saute your onion and garlic in the olive oil with a sprinkle of kosher salt and pepper until the onions are translucent. Be careful with your garlic, it's okay if it gets slightly browned but don't let it burn.
When the onions are translucent, pour in your tomato puree and drained diced tomatoes. Stir well and bring up to a simmer. Keep your temp at JUST a simmer. Add the dried parsley, oregano and basil. You also want to add just a bit of salt at this point... maybe a tablespoon at most. And while I didn't list this ingredient as it isn't necessary, I also added about a tablespoon of garlic powder because I love the flavor of garlic. Now add 3-5 bay leaves (based on the size of the leaves... more if they're small, fewer if they're large) and walk away from it.
You don't want to do ANYTHING but stir it occasionally for the next 1-2 hours. Make sure it stays just at a simmer, and stir it to be sure it doesn't start to stick or burn.
After 1-2 hours, the sauce should have reduced by about a third. This is when you want to taste and adjust. See if it needs a little more salt or garlic. If it's bitter, add a teaspoon or two of sugar. If it's too acidic, add a couple pinches of baking soda. If you like just a little heat, give it 5 or 6 shakes of Frank's red hot. After adjusting, let it simmer another 20 minutes or so and you're done :)
Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the meatballs I made, also from scratch, to marry with this sauce and pour over linguine.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Who are you, and why should I care?
Welcome.
I don't know how you got here... but since you ARE here, it probably means you care about good food. And that means, the first question in your mind is probably.... who are you and why should I care what you think.
So let me tell you.
Who am I?
I'm a 40 year old woman whose father styled himself as a gourmet and taught her to know and love good food at an early age. At the age of 3, my favorite meal... the one I ALWAYS wanted for special occasions and as often as I could get it... was Chateau Bourgogne and Cherries Jubilee.
That was... 1974? Chateau Bourgogne is a recipe seldom seen any longer... but it's beef tenderloin served with a burgundy wine sauce that takes about 48 hours to make from scratch. I remember watching my father slave over making it. He'd start after work on friday night and stay up all night creating the beef stock base for the sauce, and then spend all day saturday creating the sauce and on sunday night we would feast on this amazing food.
I spent my entire childhood acquiring a love for and a devotion to GOOD food.
But here's the thing. Good food doesn't have to mean expensive and fancy. It's more about the love and pride the cook/chef has in what they are putting out, than the cost and complication of the recipe.
You can get GOOD food at Bob Evans... or off a street vendor's truck. And, by the same token, you can get BAD food you pay $100 a plate for, with everything on the menu being a la carte.
So I've made... and eaten... a LOT of good food. A LOT of BAD food. Had a LOT of bad service. Had some good service too. And that is what this blog is going to be about.
The love of my life asked me a few days ago... What do you want to be when you grow up? And then he put this bug in my ear about becoming a food blogger, because I DO love good food, and I cook good food, and when I encounter good food out I often work hard to reproduce it... and when I encounter BAD food, especially bad food I've paid WAY too much for... it makes me angry. And when I encounter bad service, even in the presence of good food, THAT makes me angry.
So... I'm the Angry Gourmet. The Angry Gourmand... which is an odd and fine distinction... but it works.
I don't know whether this is going to go anywhere, but it gives my family a relief from listening to me rant and rave about the stupidity I encounter on a regular basis in the restaurants I feel compelled to experiment with, and an equal break from listening to me expound with almost orgasmic glee on the excellent experiences I have in those same restaurants. On the recipes I find online, and the ones that just pop into my head.
So I'm going to take this outlet. I'm going to sit here, whenever I can carve out the time, and talk about my opinions on food. On service. On the food and service I have experienced in the past. On my hopes for the food and service I am looking to find in the future. I'm going to tell you what I think... how I feel... if I think the chef nailed the recipe, or if he or his sous chef screwed up with seasoning or concept. If I think the waiter was so bored, or so busy thinking about the next little hotty he wants to bang, that he failed to give service with a smile.
I'm going to tell you that I've only ever stiffed two waiters in my life. I've BEEN a waitress. I know how hard the job is. And I also know there is no excuse for not knowing your own menu, or being sullen and rude. You don't have to be a perky high school cheerleader... but you have to be pleasant, and helpful, and attentive, and you HAVE to know what the heck you're doing.
If I ask you about an item on the menu, you shouldn't have to go disappear into the kitchen for 10 minutes to find someone to tell you the answer.
If I order an item that comes with a side of sauce, I shouldn't have to wait 15 minutes after you bring me the item to GET the sauce... or have my appetizer show up with a tablespoon of dipping sauce and then wait 20 minutes for you to go get me enough to actually use on my appetizer.
If I order a bottle of wine, I shouldn't have to deal with a sullen and rude bartender who's more interested in watching the game on the 12 tv's over his head than bending over and pulling out my bottle of wine. And I shouldn't have to deal with the "I'm too good to be here" snear on his face when I ask him for a menu, or for anything else.
There is no excuse for bad service.
There is no excuse for bad FOOD.
If I can get good service and good food at McDonald's... I should bloody well be able to get it in a mid range restaurant chain, and god help me if I FAIL to get it in a high end restaurant.
So yeah. Welcome to my world.
Be prepared to listen to me bitch. Be prepared to listen to me expound. Be prepared to listen to me drool... and fantasize... and make suggestions and suppositions about the recipe's I love. Be prepared to hear about the restaurants I love, and the restaurants I hate, and the famous chains I think aren't worth their reputations and the mom and pop shops I think put out better food than any major chain can dream of.
Money is tight right now, so for the first little while I'll be telling you about past experiences. And maybe about the recipes I've come up with, or the ones the love of my life has... about the things I've encountered at back yard barbecues and local diners...
Because good food is everywhere, and it deserves to be recognized. And because good service is everywhere and it deserves recognition too.
And because where bad food and bad service exist, they deserve to have attention brought to them... because if I can save even ONE person from eating bad food, or suffering through bad service, then my work is done.
Welcome to my world. I hope that, somewhere along the line, I'll manage to entertain and educate you. Sure... it's just my opinions... but maybe, just maybe, they might help you.
I don't know how you got here... but since you ARE here, it probably means you care about good food. And that means, the first question in your mind is probably.... who are you and why should I care what you think.
So let me tell you.
Who am I?
I'm a 40 year old woman whose father styled himself as a gourmet and taught her to know and love good food at an early age. At the age of 3, my favorite meal... the one I ALWAYS wanted for special occasions and as often as I could get it... was Chateau Bourgogne and Cherries Jubilee.
That was... 1974? Chateau Bourgogne is a recipe seldom seen any longer... but it's beef tenderloin served with a burgundy wine sauce that takes about 48 hours to make from scratch. I remember watching my father slave over making it. He'd start after work on friday night and stay up all night creating the beef stock base for the sauce, and then spend all day saturday creating the sauce and on sunday night we would feast on this amazing food.
I spent my entire childhood acquiring a love for and a devotion to GOOD food.
But here's the thing. Good food doesn't have to mean expensive and fancy. It's more about the love and pride the cook/chef has in what they are putting out, than the cost and complication of the recipe.
You can get GOOD food at Bob Evans... or off a street vendor's truck. And, by the same token, you can get BAD food you pay $100 a plate for, with everything on the menu being a la carte.
So I've made... and eaten... a LOT of good food. A LOT of BAD food. Had a LOT of bad service. Had some good service too. And that is what this blog is going to be about.
The love of my life asked me a few days ago... What do you want to be when you grow up? And then he put this bug in my ear about becoming a food blogger, because I DO love good food, and I cook good food, and when I encounter good food out I often work hard to reproduce it... and when I encounter BAD food, especially bad food I've paid WAY too much for... it makes me angry. And when I encounter bad service, even in the presence of good food, THAT makes me angry.
So... I'm the Angry Gourmet. The Angry Gourmand... which is an odd and fine distinction... but it works.
I don't know whether this is going to go anywhere, but it gives my family a relief from listening to me rant and rave about the stupidity I encounter on a regular basis in the restaurants I feel compelled to experiment with, and an equal break from listening to me expound with almost orgasmic glee on the excellent experiences I have in those same restaurants. On the recipes I find online, and the ones that just pop into my head.
So I'm going to take this outlet. I'm going to sit here, whenever I can carve out the time, and talk about my opinions on food. On service. On the food and service I have experienced in the past. On my hopes for the food and service I am looking to find in the future. I'm going to tell you what I think... how I feel... if I think the chef nailed the recipe, or if he or his sous chef screwed up with seasoning or concept. If I think the waiter was so bored, or so busy thinking about the next little hotty he wants to bang, that he failed to give service with a smile.
I'm going to tell you that I've only ever stiffed two waiters in my life. I've BEEN a waitress. I know how hard the job is. And I also know there is no excuse for not knowing your own menu, or being sullen and rude. You don't have to be a perky high school cheerleader... but you have to be pleasant, and helpful, and attentive, and you HAVE to know what the heck you're doing.
If I ask you about an item on the menu, you shouldn't have to go disappear into the kitchen for 10 minutes to find someone to tell you the answer.
If I order an item that comes with a side of sauce, I shouldn't have to wait 15 minutes after you bring me the item to GET the sauce... or have my appetizer show up with a tablespoon of dipping sauce and then wait 20 minutes for you to go get me enough to actually use on my appetizer.
If I order a bottle of wine, I shouldn't have to deal with a sullen and rude bartender who's more interested in watching the game on the 12 tv's over his head than bending over and pulling out my bottle of wine. And I shouldn't have to deal with the "I'm too good to be here" snear on his face when I ask him for a menu, or for anything else.
There is no excuse for bad service.
There is no excuse for bad FOOD.
If I can get good service and good food at McDonald's... I should bloody well be able to get it in a mid range restaurant chain, and god help me if I FAIL to get it in a high end restaurant.
So yeah. Welcome to my world.
Be prepared to listen to me bitch. Be prepared to listen to me expound. Be prepared to listen to me drool... and fantasize... and make suggestions and suppositions about the recipe's I love. Be prepared to hear about the restaurants I love, and the restaurants I hate, and the famous chains I think aren't worth their reputations and the mom and pop shops I think put out better food than any major chain can dream of.
Money is tight right now, so for the first little while I'll be telling you about past experiences. And maybe about the recipes I've come up with, or the ones the love of my life has... about the things I've encountered at back yard barbecues and local diners...
Because good food is everywhere, and it deserves to be recognized. And because good service is everywhere and it deserves recognition too.
And because where bad food and bad service exist, they deserve to have attention brought to them... because if I can save even ONE person from eating bad food, or suffering through bad service, then my work is done.
Welcome to my world. I hope that, somewhere along the line, I'll manage to entertain and educate you. Sure... it's just my opinions... but maybe, just maybe, they might help you.
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