My Sunday Gravy

Just like most Americans I love, love, love Italian food. In a lot of Italian-American homes, especially on the east coast, it is fairly traditional to have a type of Marinara sauce called Sunday Gravy or just Gravy. Usually served on Sundays with pasta, this is a rich long simmering red sauce that is almost indescribable(?) in it's complexity of flavor. Complex in flavor, yes...but simple in execution. Here is my version.

4 beef shank steaks, with bone & bone marrow
1 pkg of six sweet Italian sausages
12 home made Italian style meatballs, browned (recipe to come soon)
1 4oz can of tomato paste
4 large cans (13 oz, maybe) tomato sauce or whole tomatoes
4 cups beef broth
Salt & pepper to taste
2 TBS dried oregano
1 TBS dried basil
2 tsp dried fennel, optional
1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes, or more to taste

Place everything in a very large pot and simmer on low for at least 3 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning. If level gets too low, add some water or more broth. Go easy on adding salt to sauce; as the sauce simmers and intesifies in flavor the salt from the canned goods become more noticeable.
This makes approximately 4-6 quarts of gravy. Leftovers freeze well for later.

Bon Appettit!

Steak & Taters!

My cousin and I dearly love to cook together. Being as much of a foodie as I am, she was excited to check out a nearby butcher shop that specialized in local, pasture fed beef. So once we gave in to temptation, and purchased some beautiful steaks for dinner, we had to figure out what side dishes needed to go with these steaks. We tossed plenty of ideas around before settling on a classic. Potatoes. Steak and potatoes, in some form or other, just seems to be a marriage made in heaven.

Well, we didn't want just plain old baked potatoes so we found a recipe for potatoes au gratin. Of course we couldn't just follow the recipe as it was printed, so we added our own twist to the recipe, white truffle oil. I'm pretty sure we aren't the first people to add truffle oil to potatoes au gratin, but it felt like a new discovery to us.

So, here's the recipe for the rest of you. If you've never tried white truffle oil, please give it a try.I'm certain you won't be sorry.

Truffled Potatoes Au Gratin
serves 8-10


4 quarts water
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 medium potatoes, peeled
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced (or more to taste)
1 and a half cups heavy whipping cream
8 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated
2 tablespoons white truffle oil (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350. Place the water in a large pot and add the peeled potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, but not fully cooked. Drain potatoes and let cool in a bowl of cold water.

While the potatoes are cooking, sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil until they are lightly brown and wilted. Set aside.
When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice them with either a food processor or a mandolin. You want the slices to be about 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch in thickness.

Place one layer of potato slices on the bottom of a 8 x 11.5 inch baking dish. Thinly spread a layer of the onions on top of the potatoes,then add another layer of potatoes. Continue like this until you are just barely to the top of the dish. Add your salt and pepper now.

Pour the heavy cream over top of the potatoes. Drizzle the white truffle oil over top of the potatoes. Spread all the cheese over the top of the potatoes and place dish on top of a cookie sheet, in case of a spill over.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbly. Let rest for ten minutes before serving.

Spaghetti Sauce Anyone?

Garden Bounty

What do you do when you have several cups of very ripe tomatoes that are just begging to be used in some way? 

Yesterday I was faced with that very dilemma. I had a bunch of very ripe tomatoes, but not quite enough to justify bringing out the canning jars and the canner. So, I decided to make a batch of spaghetti sauce to freeze. Now I have made quick pasta sauces plenty of times, some good, some not so good.  This time, though, I wanted an authentic, rich, flavorful Italian tomato sauce. 

I ended up with a tomato sauce that simply blew my mind, and taste buds, to previously unknown heights (a little melodramatic, I know...but the sauce really is that good!). Oh. My. Gawd! I wanted to sit down with a bowl of the sauce, and eat it just like a bowl of ice cream. And just how did I manage to achieve this level of tomato nirvana, you might ask? 

I had a guardian angel to guide me through every step of the way. The one and only Lidia Bastianich, channeled through her book Lidia's Family Table (recipe 'Simple Tomato Sauce' page 132).  The woman is the Goddess of Italian cooking, in my opinion.

I have to confess that I did make a couple of minor changes to the recipe, but that was mainly because I didn't have some of the exact ingredients(or exact proportions) that was called for in the recipe. The main change I made was using fresh garden tomatoes, and a bit of tomato paste, instead of the canned San Marzano that Lidia uses. Other than that I stayed pretty true to the recipe. 

Due to copyright concerns, I will not be posting the recipe but I do urge everyone to try the recipe for themselves. So, go out there and hit up your local library or bookstore and find that book. You won't be sorry, I promise.

Huge Tracts of Land!

Well, we spent most of today looking at large tracts of land and we did find one that we really liked.  It's 75 acres of mixed pasture and woods with 2 spring fed streams. A really great piece of property at an incredible price. This may sound weird, but I got the distinct impression that the land itself was happy to see us...maybe it was because of all the birds and wildlife or maybe it was the cool, gurgling stream. Whatever the reason, I honestly think this is the property for us.

Now the biggest worry is getting the financing. Time to start buying lottery tickets!

Farm Plans

After spending a little over 2 months without a power cord for my computer, I am finally back online!
Here is what's been going on. Many of my ambitions for the garden have had to fall by the wayside, partly due to my own laziness but mostly to seeds not wanting to germinate. Total bummer. So I had to go back to square one and re-order beans (green and dry-soup varieties), peppers and tomatoes. Now my tomatoes are about 2 inches tall, instead of the 8-10 inches that they should be; this makes me worry that I may not have any tomatoes to harvest at all before fall frost.

On the bright side, my snow peas are going like gang busters and I am already harvesting some super delicious broccoli and spinach.  The lettuces will be ready for harvest in the next couple of weeks and the brussel sprouts are looking good too. Now if I could just get the carrots, turnips and cucumbers to do something!

In other news, I made an appointment to meet with a realtor this weekend.  The Hubster and I are dreaming of owning our own farm/homestead where we can grow ALL of our own food and host small group camp-outs.  So, we will be looking at some large tracts of wooded land that we can build on.  As unrealistic as this maybe, I am still hopeful that we will be able to find something we really like this weekend and get a bid in.

That's where I'm at right now...dreaming of woods, babbling brooks and sheep. What are you dreaming of?

Spring has Sprung!

Sorry for the delay in posting, but lately I've been nigh-on obsessed with getting my garden started. Only recently has it been warm enough for me to do any actual planting, so I've been doing that and have more planned. Here is what I'm planting:
Veggies
Federle Tomatoes (roma type)
Hillbilly Potato leaf Tomatoes (yellow tomato)
Brussel Sprouts
Lacinato Kale
Leeks
Cayenne Peppers
Red Sweet Bell Peppers
Spinach
Dragon Carrots
Gherkin Cucumbers
Green Beans
October Beans (shell type)
Onions
Potatoes
Turnips
Herbs
Basil (Purple, Thai and Genovese)
Greek Oregano
Culinary Sage
Comfrey
Thyme
Bronze Fennel
Mammoth Dill
Cilantro
Italian Parsley
Calendula
White Sage
Wormwood


Pretty ambitious, huh? If things go well, I should be able to put a real dent in our monthly grocery bills. Wish me luck!

Appetizer Saturday

It's Appetizer Saturday!  Today's amuse-bouche is sort of a southwest spin on Shrimp Cocktail. With my cousin playing the role of lovely assistant/food stylist/photo wench*, I really think we hit this one out of the park.

Because of the light, almost spa-like quality of this dish, I've decided to name this dish "Sedona Shrimp Cocktail."





Sedona Shrimp Cocktail
   serves 4-6 people, 4 shrimp per person

1 1/2 lbs of size 16-20 shrimp
juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup yogurt
1 TBS garlic powder
3 TBS minced fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp. chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

    Set a pot of water on to heat, medium-high heat. Add the shrimp to the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes. While the shrimp are cooking, add the lime juice to a bowl of ice water. When the shrimp are done cooking, shock them in the lime-ice water to chill.
    While the shrimp are chilling, make the sauce by mixing together the remaining ingredients in a small bow.  Be careful with the chipotle powder, because it can easily overwhelm the other flavors in the dish.
     To serve, peel the shrimp and arrange the shrimp on a small decorative plate and drizzle the sauce over the shrimp.  Bon Appetit!


*Truth to tell, she did most of the work.