A quick puttanesca sauce for spaghetti

Quick Puttanesca Sauce For Spaghetti 

Santa is making a list and checking it twice. He’s gonna find out whose naughty or nice. I don’t think whoever this sauce was named after was high on his ‘nice’ list. I think it was named after someone who makes a career out of being naughty.

I guess it doesn’t matter if you are naughty or nice. Everyone likes spaghetti right? This one is fast and easy to make. In fact, put the water on for the spaghetti before you start on the sauce. That’s how quick it is.

Olive oil

5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

Red pepper flakes

4 anchovy fillets, chopped

8 kalamata olives 

1/4 cup white wine

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Cajun seasoning

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. marjoram

1/2 tsp. basil

Preparation

Heat a large skillet. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan and then add the garlic, red pepper flakes (guess how much) and anchovies. Stir until the anchovies dissolve. Add the olives the thyme, oregano, marjoram and basil and then add the wine.

Bring the wine to a boil and let it reduce by half. Add the crushed tomatoes and stir. Simmer that for ten minutes, stirring often. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning.

Serving

Serve a big pile of spaghetti on your plate and then smother it in the puttanesca sauce. If you are feeling particularly naughty, hit the spaghetti with lots of Tabasco too. Now blast it with a blizzard of grated parmesan cheese.

Along with the spaghetti, you want a good crisp salad. You should also serve plenty of homemade bread with butter. Put out a plate of olives and a plate of cheese too. If this is too vegetarian for you, a plate of sausage and peppers will be nice as well.

Fried garlic bread

Fried Garlic Bread

As you can imagine, I make a lot of homemade bread. Often, when I’m making pizza, I make extra dough for a loaf of bread. The problem is that sometimes, I make bread faster than I’m eating it and I end up with a half of a loaf that is starting to get stale.

I’m not big on wasting things, and I was recently inspired by the garlic bread served at a restaurant I visited. This is a good way to use up some bread that is getting a little old. I like this well enough that I might not be able to wait for my bread to get old. I might have to used fresh baked bread. What the heck, I can always make more.

Several 1” slices of homemade bread 
Olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 whole peeled clove of garlic

Cajun seasoning

Fresh ground white pepper 
Grated parmesan cheese

Preparation

Heat a large cast iron skillet. Add about an eighth inch of extra good olive oil to the skillet and then add the smashed cloves of garlic. Cook the garlic until it starts to turn golden on both sides and then discard the garlic.

Add the bread and fry it until it starts to brown (like a grilled cheese sandwich, but without the cheese and the sandwich). Turn it over and grill that side too. As you turn it over, give it a very light sprinkling of cajun seasoning, not too much.

When the bread is golden brown on both sides, remove it to a plate. Repeat until all the bread is browned. Rub the fried bread with the whole garlic clove, until all the slices have been rubbed. Use another clove if necessary.

Sprinkle the garlic bread with white pepper and parmesan and serve.

Serving

What goes better with spaghetti than a few nice thick pieces of garlic bread? They are made for each other! To serve this, simply dish out a huge plate of spaghetti and then set a smaller plate next to it with the fried garlic bread. Now add a big salad, and open a nice bottle of Chianti. Ah, life is good!

Bacon, mushroom and spinach omelet

Bacon, Mushroom And Spinach Omelet

A while back, I was in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and was having breakfast in Marquette. I didn’t know anything about the restaurant we ended up at. We left the hotel where we were staying to look for a restaurant. There was a Big Boy’s, but I said no. I wasn’t in the mood for a chain’s breakfast. I wanted breakfast from a little local place.

It took a little driving before we came across one that looked promising. Finally, we found the Sweet Water Cafe. It was a nice little place, a little more upscale than your typical diner, but still laid back. I looked the menu over and decided on the Spinach and Feta omelet with a side of fried potatoes.

When it came, it looked beautiful. It was big and thick. The fresh spinach was cooked into the egg and I couldn’t wait to take a bite. The first bite from the corner revealed a mushroom. Hmm, that’s a pleasant surprise. My second bite was bursting with bacon, mushrooms and swiss cheese. 

Now, I’m not the brightest bulb in the socket, but even I knew that this isn’t what I ordered. It certainly wasn’t a spinach and feta omelet. I was about to flag our server, when it dawned on me how tasty my omelet was. I decided I wasn’t going to give it up. It was one of the tastiest omelets I’ve had in a long time. 

I eventually mentioned the mistake to our server and she admitted someone else was upset when they got a spinach and feta omelet, but she saw me enjoying my breakfast, so she knew she was in trouble with only one table. I assured her that it was great. Here is how I would make it.

2 strips of thick bacon

1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 cup of fresh baby spinach leaves

3 eggs, beaten

3 slices of swiss cheese

Fresh ground white pepper

Cajun seasoning

Preparation

In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove and chop the bacon. Pour off most of the bacon fat, leaving just enough to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the mushrooms and sauté them until they are fully cooked. Remove them and add them to the chopped bacon.

Add the spinach leaves to the skillet and stir until they are wilted. Add the eggs and swirl the skillet to cover the whole bottom. Once the eggs start to set, sprinkle them with white pepper and cajun seasoning. Add the bacon and mushrooms to one half of the eggs. Cover the bacon and mushrooms with the cheese slices. When the eggs have set, fold the uncovered half of the eggs over the half with the filling. Slide the omelet to the center of the skillet. After a minute, turn the omelet over and let it cook for another minute. Once it is nicely browned on both sides, slide it on to a plate.

Serving

Serve the omelet (one per person) on a plate next to a pile of fried potatoes. Now add some slices of homemade bread which has been toasted and buttered and a bowl of blueberries. Next you want a large tumbler of orange juice and plenty of French Roast coffee. If you want to, tell your breakfast guests that it is a spinach and feta omelet and let them wonder.

Braised lamb dinner

Braised Lamb Dinner

The other day I was in the mood for some lamb. Actually, what I wanted was to make braised lamb shanks, which is one of my favorite meals. When I went to the store, my plans changed. No lamb shanks. In fact, they didn’t have much lamb at all. Just one package of bone-in lamb stew meat and two small packages of round bone lamb steaks. Well, beggars can’t be choosers.

Now there are a lot of things I could do with that assortment of lamb. I could just broil the steaks and have them with rice and vegetables. I could make Irish stew out of the stew meat. But, you see, I was in the mood for braised lamb shanks, so I just pretended what I had was shanks and made the dish anyways. Here’s what I did.

2-1/2 lb. of round bone lamb steaks and stew meat

Cajun seasoning

Olive oil

1 small onion, sliced thin

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbs. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 cup white wine

1 cup water

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

Tabasco

1 lb. corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained

Preparation

Heat a large braising pan. Season the lamb on both sides with cajun seasoning. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Brown the lamb in batches until it looses it’s pink color. Once it is all browned, return it all to the braising pan. Add the onions and the garlic. Stir and cook until the onions are softened.

Add the oregano, thyme, black pepper, white wine and water. Bring it all to a boil. Stir, cover the braising pan and put it in a 350º oven for 45 minutes, but stir it every 15 minutes. After 45 minutes, add the Ro*Tel tomatoes. Stir, cover and return to the oven. After another 30 minutes, add a can of tomato paste. Stir until the paste is all dissolved. Add several shakes of Tabasco and stir. Return the covered pan to the oven for a final thirty minutes.

While the lamb is cooking for the last half hour, put some salted pasta water on the stove and bring it to a boil. Cook the pasta and drain it. When the final cooking time is up, remove the pan from the oven and stir it. Let it sit for five minutes, uncovered.

Serving

To serve this, place a large pile of pasta on the plate. Cover it with the sauce and place lots of lamb next to the pasta. Add some sautéed broccoli, some homemade bread and a good Italian red wine and you’re ready for dinner.

A simple spaghetti with ground lamb

A Simple Spaghetti Sauce With Ground Lamb

What do you do when you see ground lamb at the grocery store? I can’t pass it up. I have to buy some. Usually, when I buy lamb, it ends going into the George Forman Grill and then into a large bun, with lettuce, tomato and raw onion. There is nothing better than a big half pound lamb burger for a light lunch. 

This time, however, the ground lamb is destined for the spaghetti pot. I really enjoy spaghetti, especially when it gets cold outside. I guess you can call it a comfort food thing. I can easily wolf down two or three plates of it, enjoying every bite. It is what gives me my good looks and charm.

1 lb. ground lamb

1 large onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

Fresh ground white pepper

1 cup of white wine

Louisiana Hot Sauce

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

Salt

Preparation

Heat a pot big enough for spaghetti sauce. Add the ground lamb and stir and cook until it looses its pink color. Add the onion, minced fine and then add the garlic, smashed and minced. Next add the oregano, basil and a generous sprinkling of white pepper. Continue to cook until the onion is translucent and the lamb is well browned.

Add the white wine and scrape up anything that is stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring it to a boil and let it reduce by at least half. Give the lamb a good sprinkling of Louisiana Hot Sauce. Add the can of crushed tomatoes and stir. Let the sauce simmer for about twenty minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.

Serving

Obviously, you want to fill a plate with a big mound of spaghetti and then smother it in this nice meat sauce. I’d also throw in a salad and then some homemade bread which was toasted and rubbed with garlic and then drenched in your best olive oil. I also like to have a side of sautéed spinach too. Once again, I’ll recommend my favorite everyday wine, Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo.

Gram's English Toffee Cookies

Gram’s English Toffee Cookies

A while back I was going thru some of my grandmother's recipes and I found her hand written recipe for these cookies. I haven’t actually done a survey of my brothers and sisters, but I’m sure if I asked what was their favorite food item that Gram used to make, I suspect they’d name her toffee cookies. Oh, all her cookies were good, but these were a couple notches above the rest.

They are certainly the one food item that caused the most disobedience in my parents domain. I remember all the Christmas cookies laid out on the dining room table and hearing the stern warnings not to touch them until the Christmas activities started. For some reason however, the plate with the toffee cookies was never full when the festivities got under way. Sometimes the culprit was caught and punished, but more often than not, the thief (or thieves) absconded with their booty, chewing as they slinked away to the back of the house, without getting nabbed. I, certainly, refrained from such nefarious activity. I was always angelic in my behavior during my youth.

As an adult, I’m not much for sweets, but I confess I still have a weakness for these cookies. They are a lot easier to make than they are to keep intact for the holiday party, that’s for sure. You’ll have to keep a watchful eye on them, or my dastardly siblings may pillage and plunder your treasure.

1/2 lb. butter, room temperature

1 cup of brown sugar

2 cups of flour

1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. milk chocolate 

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preparation

Using a mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar together until well blended. Add the egg yolk and the flour along with the vanilla. Mix well. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350º for about twenty minutes.

While the cookie is baking, melt the chocolate. When the cookie comes out of the oven, spread the warm, melted chocolate over the cookie. Sprinkle the chocolate with the chopped walnuts. Cut the cookies into individual squares and let them cool. Try not to eat them before your guests come.

Serving

If you have any left by the time you finish your Christmas dinner of roast turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and all the other trimmings, count you blessings. Serve these cookies with all the other Christmas cookies (but grab a half dozen for your self first) along with French Roast coffee and maybe some cherry pie. Tis the season!

Norman's dinner rolls

Norman’s Dinner Rolls

I don’t know what it is about dinner rolls that stimulates the appetite. Do you find yourself eating two or three when you are at a wedding banquet? I don’t know, maybe it’s the shape. But if you take a warm dinner roll and give it a big pat of butter, you can’t eat just one, at least I can’t. 

By the way, if you’re at a wedding dinner and you slip the waitstaff five or ten bucks, they might just keep the dinner rolls flowing throughout the whole dinner. I would never do such a thing of course. I’m just saying.

3 cups of flour

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup honey (don’t measure, guess)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbs. instant yeast

1-1/2 cups of water, approximate

Preparation

Place the flour in the mixing bowl, mix in the melted butter. Add the honey (ooh, a little more than that, don’t be stingy), salt and the yeast. Now start adding lukewarm water, first a cup, and then more, a little at a time, until the dough comes together. Don’t get worried. Relax, take a breath and have one of my home brews. We’re not doing brain surgery here. If it’s a little too wet, add a little more flour. Too dry, a spec more water. 

Once the dough comes together, knead it for about two or three minutes. Let it rise in a moderately warm place for about a half hour, allowing it to double in size. Knead it again and roll it into a long log.

Take a couple of muffin pans and spray them with one of those cooking sprays. Slice the dough so that when you place it in the muffin tin, it is about a third of the way below the top of the tin. When all of the dough is in the muffin tin, let them rise for about ten minutes while you preheat the oven to 450º.

Bake the muffins in the center of the oven for about ten to fifteen minutes, until they are golden brown. Allow them to cool for five minutes before taking them out of the tin. Serve them while they are still piping hot.

Serving

My dinner rolls go good with almost any of my fine meals. I especially like them (with lots of butter of course) with roast prime rib of beef, Yorkshire pudding, baked potatoes, a caesar salad and a bottle of the best California Cabernet you can afford. For dessert, I suggest apple pie and vanilla ice cream followed by a good Serbian Plum Brandy. 

Brussels sprouts with bacon and walnuts

Brussels Sprouts With Bacon And Walnuts

Why is it that so many people dislike Brussels sprouts? I’ve never seen any food item so able to get people to turn their noses up than Brussels sprouts. Well, a little bacon should  fix that, right?

I’ve always loved Brussels sprouts, even without the bacon, but bacon can make anything better. Now, with the addition of walnuts fried in bacon fat, they reach another notch. Contrary to what one of my lovely sisters would think, these sprouts are better than any green bean casserole any day!

1 lb. Brussels sprouts

1 tsp. salt

Water

4 slices of bacon, chopped

1 large shallot, minced fine

1/2 cup of walnuts, broken up

Cajun seasoning

1/4 cup white wine.

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and add the chopped bacon. Allow it to render until almost crisp. Add the walnuts and stir until the walnuts start to brown. Add the shallots and stir until they soften.

Meanwhile, while this is going on, place the Brussels Sprouts in a big pot and cover them with salted water. Bring the water to a boil and let them simmer for about ten minutes. Drain.

Add the Brussels sprouts to the skillet stir and all them to cook for about five minutes. Sprinkle them with some cajun seasoning. If you want, you can deglaze the pan with a little white wine. Allow the wine to boil while you scrape up anything that has stuck to the pan. Remove the sprouts to a bowl and serve.

Serving

I would suggest serving these spouts with roast duck, sauerkraut, wild rice, homemade dinner rolls and a bottle of Italian red wine like Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo. 

Norman's Roast Duck

Norman’s Roast Duck

When was the last time you had roast duck? One of my favorite meals is roast duck. Years ago I used to make it often because the Jewel by my house had fresh duck in their meat counter. Nowadays, I can only find it frozen, which is a pain because I have to wait until it thaws out before I can roast it. I can’t have on the spur of the moment any more.

I’ve found that if I purchase the duck on Tuesday, it will be thawed out by Saturday. That gives me all day Saturday to look forward to my feast. I don’t always make it with sauerkraut, but it is my favorite way to fix it. If you really don’t want the kraut, just leave it out and shorten your cooking time a little.

A lot of people claim they don’t like duck because it is too greasy. It isn’t if it is cooked right. By roasting for a long time over low heat, you give the fat time to render out. The final step with high heat completes the process. You end up with crispy skin and meat that’s not greasy.

1 Duckling, about 5-1/2 lb.

1 14 oz. can of sauerkraut

1 lemon, sliced

Salt

Pepper

Cajun seasoning

Thyme

1 large onion, halved

1 stalk of celery, with leaves

Poultry seasoning

water

flour

Preparation

Remove the giblets and neck from the duck and place them in a sauce pot with the onion and celery. Sprinkle them with a little poultry seasoning. Fill the pot with water and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer very gently for a couple of hours while the duck is roasting. Once it has simmered for a couple of hours, remove and chop the giblets, and save both the giblets and broth for making gravy.

Place the duck on a rack in a large cast iron pan. Rub the duck with the lemon slices, squeezing the slices as you rub. Fill the cavity of the duck with the sauerkraut and tie the legs together. Fold the wings under the duck. Place the duck in a 325º oven for 2-1/2 hours. Baste the duck every thirty minutes with drippings from the pan.

Remove the duck from the oven and turn the oven up to 450º. Use a fork to prick the skin all over to help the remaining fat render out. Once the oven is up to temperature, place the duck back in for another twenty minutes. 

Remove the duck to a platter and place the cast iron on the stove over high heat. Add the giblets to the pan and stir. You may notice that a lot of stuff is stuck to the pan. Don’t worry, we’ll deal with that in a minute. 

Stir the giblets until they are sizzling. Sprinkle on a little flour to absorb most of the excess fat. Add about two cups of the giblet broth. Using a metal spatula, stir and scrape up the stuff stuck to the pan. Be patient, it may take several minutes until it is all scrapped up and dissolved into the gravy. If necessary add more broth. Once everything is scrapped up, continue cooking and adjust with more broth to achieve a nice gravy texture. Taste for salt and pepper, but with the kraut drippings, it probably won’t need any salt. Pour the sauce into a gravy bowl.

Serving

To serve this, place a breast and leg quarter on a plate next to a big pile of wild rice. Cover both with gravy. Add a bunch of Brussels sprouts cooked with walnuts and bacon and then add some of the kraut from inside the duck. Now put out a couple of piping hot dinner rolls with butter and open a bottle of Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo and ring the dinner bell.

German Pork Chops

German Pork Chops

Do you like German beer? I find myself preferring German beers more often as I get older. Oh, I like a good American microbrew, don’t get me wrong, but I find myself turning to a good Dunkel or a Marzen more often these days. 

Then again, I have so many favorites, I need a list to keep them straight. I can summarize this way: Beer - German; Wine - Italian; Bourbon - Kentucky; Whiskey - Tennessee, Brandy - Plum Brandy form Serbia. What did I forget? Oh, yeah, Vodka - Russia. Well, anyways, here’s a meal that goes good with German beer.

Pork chops, egg noodles, sauerkraut and a big stein of German beer, who could not like that? That’s comfort food in my book. Now the secret to this meal is to pick the thickest bone-in pork chops you can find. If you bribe the butcher, an inch and a half chop is perfect for this!

2 Large thick pork chops, at least one inch thick, better yet, 1-1/2”

Bacon fat

1 large onion, sliced thin

1 bottle dark German beer

Cajun seasoning

Dill

White pepper

Preparation

Season the chops with cajun seasoning on both sides. Heat a small cast iron skillet and melt enough bacon fat to coat the bottom. Add the onion, and cook over medium heat until the onion has browned and is beginning to caramelize, about ten to fifteen minutes.

Add the chops, and cook them for about three minutes on each side. Add the bottle of beer along with a dash of dill and a good sprinkling of white pepper. Bring the beer to a boil and place the skillet under a hot broiler.

Broil for about seven minutes per side, so that each side is browned. If you are not sure, you can test for doneness, by making a slice near the bone to see that most of the pink color is gone.

Serving

Place each chop on a plate and generously ladle some of the cooking liquid with onions over the top of the chop. Add a pile of buttered egg noodles next to the chop and then a big pile of sauerkraut. Start everything out with a bowl of liver dumpling soup and a crisp salad. Forget the wine, serve lots of dark German beer with your dinner.