Unsupervised spaghetti with lamb

Is it just me, or does this happen to everyone. I always tend to gain weight in the winter. I generally loose it in the spring, but I always gain at least ten pounds by January. 

When I reflect on it, it isn’t that big of a riddle. During the spring, summer and fall, I have lots of weekend chores to do, so I'm fairly active. I have a lot more free time on winter weekends. Most of that free time is spent cooking, reading, and packing on the pounds.

One thing that is often on my stove, is spaghetti sauce. I’ve made so many variations of spaghetti sauce that I couldn’t even count them. A rich, slow-cooked sauce made with pork neck bones or, in this case, bone-in lamb, is a real treat for me. 

I’ll be the first one to admit that my life should really be supervised, and when I make pasta, that goes double. I don’t know how many times I’ve turned a one pound package of spaghetti into a single-serving package. And that bottle of wine, that’s a single portion as well, right?  Oh, don’t forget the crusty bread to mop up the sauce. And, to think, I wonder why I gain weight in the winter!

Now this sauce is something you should try making on a Saturday afternoon. Please, donʼt roll your eyes at me. If I asked you what you wanted to make for dinner, you’d say a phone call to your local pizza place.  Don’t argue, you know I’m right. Thatʼs fine once in a while, but you canʼt have it every night. 

Now, get over to the store and buy that lamb and get cooking.

1-1/2 to 2 lb. bone-in lamb stew meat

1 tsp. kosher salt

olive oil

cajun seasoning

2 onions chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. basil

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup red wine

1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes 

1 carrot - chopped

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

Preparation

Place the chunks of lamb stew meat with the bones in a oven proof pot, a heavy soup pot will do. Sprinkle them with a little cajun seasoning, some kosher salt and some olive oil. Add one of the chopped onions and one clove of garlic. Stir to mix and place in a 400 degree oven for a half hour.

Take the pot out of the oven and place it on the stove over medium heat. Add a little more olive oil and the other chopped onion along with the remaining garlic cloves, smashed and minced. Stir until the onion softens. Add the bay leaf, thyme, basil, chicken stock and wine. Bring to a boil and simmer gently about twenty minutes to reduce the liquid by about half.

Put the can of whole tomatoes in a blender along with the chopped carrot. Blend until smooth and add to the sauce along with the can of crushed tomatoes. Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for a couple of hours. Stir it often so it doesn’t scourch. Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt, pepper and/or cayenne pepper if necessary.

Serving

To lay out this meal, here’s what you do. Take a big pile of perfectly cooked spaghetti and place it on a large dinner plate. Smother the pasta with lots of this sauce. Make sure you get plenty of meat on the spaghetti.  Now shower all of it with a nice layer of fresh grated parmesan cheese. 

Get a small side plate and serve some sautéed spinach along side the plate of spaghetti. Now slice some good crusty bread and have another small plate with some unfiltered extra virgin olive oil for dipping the bread in. Finally uncork a good bottle of Chianti to round out the meal.

If you’re like me, you’ll find that this serving is so good that you’ll go back for seconds. Unfortunately, I often go back for thirds as well. The dogs watch me when I do, but they promised not to snitch on me. Maybe I’ll practice moderation tomorrow, but not today.

Grilled ham and cheese

I love making roast ham. It is one of my favorite comfort foods. The other day I made a big roast ham and had that with some cheesy risotto and buttered carrots. One of my favorite things about roasting a ham is all the things that can be made out of the leftovers. Ham and eggs are the first to come to mind. Other dishes include jambalaya, creamy ham pasta and even ham étouffée as possibilities.

What could be better than a simple ham and cheese sandwich? How about a grilled ham and cheese? You can’t go wrong with that. The following directions are for each sandwich, but I hardly think one sandwich is sufficient. I’d recommend at least two per sitting. That’s not a lot, is it? With hot cheesy ham sandwiches, you can’t stop at just one.

2 slices of hearty rye bread

Butter at room temperature

4 slices of swiss (or cheddar if you prefer)

Ham sliced off the leftover roast

Dijon mustard

Fresh ground white pepper

Tabasco

Preparation

Heat a cast iron pan. Place two slices of cheese on one slice of the rye bread. Pile on lots of thinly sliced ham carved off the bone. More than that! Go ahead, a little more. Spread a little dijon mustard on the ham and grind on some white pepper. Add a couple of drops of Tabasco and then place the last two slices of cheese on the ham. Top with the remaining slice of bread.

Butter the outside of the top slice of bread. Place the sandwich, butter side down, on the hot cast iron pan. While that is cooking, butter the outside of the other side of the sandwich which is now on the top. Cover with a lid from a large pot and let that cook for a few minutes. Carefully turn the sandwich over. The side that was down probably isn’t toasted all the way yet.

Cover again and let the other side cook for a few minutes. Check to see that it isn’t burning. Turn over again and cook until both sides are nicely browned and the cheese is melted.

Note, if you are like me, your sandwich might be so thick that the ham doesn’t get hot enough by the time the bread is toasted. If you make your sandwiches extra thick, quickly sear the ham slices in olive oil in a skillet before assembling the sandwiches. I like my sandwiches to test how wide I can open my jaw.

Serving

I like to have a big pickle with my ham sandwiches along with some good kettle style chips. I then wash all that down with a pint or two of Guinness.

A little pizza with sausage and prosciutto

I was cleaning house the other day, and one of the places to be cleared out was the fridge. The day before, I had made some pasta sauce with San Marzano tomatoes and sausage, and I had a little of that left. 

I also had some Pecorino Romano cheese and about a pound of grated Mozzarella cheese. Then I saw that there was a chunk of prosciutto left. I needed to clean those items up so it was pizza for lunch.

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

2 tbs. olive oil

1 cup (approximate) water

2 tbs. instant yeast

Thinly sliced prosciutto - about a quarter pound

Left over spaghetti sauce

Left over Italian sausage

1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

1/2 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese

White pepper

Red pepper flakes

Preparation

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and olive oil in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast and most of the water. Bring the dough together, adding just enough water to get it right. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes and let it rise for  about twenty minutes.

Roll the dough out on a floured counter and work with your hands to shape it into a 14” circle. This is going to be a little thicker than usual - not a deep dish - more like a ‘hand tossed’ thickness. Spoon on the sauce, leaving the outer half inch uncovered.

Cover the sauce with the sliced prosciutto and then slice the sausage thinly and add that. Grind on a bunch of white pepper and add the grated Pecorino Romano. Now add the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle on some red pepper flakes.

Bake the pizza at 480º on the center rack until the cheese is golden brown. Pull the pizza out and drizzle some olive oil over the top. Let the pizza sit for about ten minutes before slicing.

Serving

Here's how I served my lunch. For the first course, I had a slice of pizza and a little wine. For the second course, I had more. For the third, more again. Ditto for the fourth course. For dessert I had another slice of pizza. 

I overate, and didn’t get much of the house cleaned after all. The recliner was calling me. Oh well, it was the thought that counts.

Pasta with shrimp and feta cheese

Do you find that Saturday is the shortest day of the week? It certainly seems that way for me. I have all these things I hope to accomplish on Saturdays, but the day seems to end before I even make a dent in my list.

One Saturday was a good example. I wanted to mow the lawn, repair the railing on my deck, trim the bushes, turn the garden over, and that was just the outside part of my list. There is also the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and re-organizing my closet for the warmer weather. Well, if I look at the bright side, at least I didn't have to come up with a list for the next Saturday, that’s for sure.

I started out, bright and early, getting up at 6:00. I made coffee, started the dishwasher and then fed the dogs. Next, I poured a cup of coffee and started on my morning newsletter. That usually takes me a couple of hours, but on Saturdays, I spend a little longer because I have more time. 

I finished my fifth cup of coffee and my newsletter around 9:00 and then showered and dressed for the day. I then dilly dallied around and before I knew what happened, it is already after noon and I haven’t even started my list. Not a good sign.

Well, I did fix the railing on the deck, and, um, ok, I found myself in a comfortable chair in the backyard reading the next novel in David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. Oh well, so much for my list. About the only other thing I accomplished was that I worked up an appetite. 

It was about this time that I remembered that I had a pound of shrimp in the freezer. Then I remembered that I also had a block of feta cheese. Oh yes, I know what I’m having for dinner. 

You know, all those self-help books that I read, tell me that all I have to do, is list my priorities for the day and I’ll be amazed what I can accomplish. They’re right. Dinner was amazing!

Olive oil

1 Large onion, chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

(actually I used 3 Puya chile peppers, crushed)

4 cloves garlic

1 lb. peeled tail-off uncooked shrimp

(I used frozen red shrimp from Argentina)

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

1/2 lb. feta cheese, broken up

1 tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

1/2 lb. cork screw pasta cooked al dente

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 400º. Heat a large oven proof skillet and liberally coat the bottom with olive oil. Add the onion and cook until softened. add the red pepper flakes and the garlic. Stir for a few minutes BUT don’t brown the garlic. Add the shrimp, stir and cook until almost pink. 

Add the chopped tomato and the can of Ro*Tel. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for one minute. Stir in the feta cheese and the oregano. Let it simmer one minute and then place the skillet in the oven for ten minutes.

Serving

Place the drained pasta in a large pasta bowl. Pour the shrimp sauce over the pasta. Dish this out and serve it along side a tossed crisp salad, a bowl of olives, fresh crusty bread (for dipping in the sauce) and pick out a bottle of Nero D’Avola wine from Sicily. 

Lock the doors, unplug the phone. You don’t want to be interrupted while you feast on this. You may not have completed much of your to-do list, but after this meal, who cares!

Eggplant and tomatoes: stewed and baked

About a year ago, I had my neighbors coming for dinner, and I became embroiled in a family dispute.  You see, one of them loves liver with bacon and onions. She requested that I put that on the menu. The problem is that her husband can’t stand liver. He was like, “Eeew, how could you eat that!” 

I needed to make the peace, and quickly! I solved the dilemma by making liver, bacon and onions for her, and pasties for him and their daughter.

When I went to the store to pick up everything I needed for dinner, I saw the baby eggplant and I couldn’t resist. I love eggplant. Even though stewed eggplant isn’t usually served with either liver or pasties, I decided to give it a try.

You may have noticed that I’ve become fond of San Marzano tomatoes. They come from a certain region of Italy, but most groceries carry them. They are more expensive than regular canned tomatoes but I find that in a dish like this, they are worth the extra cost. They are sweeter and more tender than other canned tomatoes and add a lot to the delicate flavor of the eggplant and cheese.

4 small, or 1 large eggplant

Extra good, extra virgin olive oil

4 large cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 large shallot, sliced razor thin

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. white pepper

1 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes

1/2 cup grated Italian provolone

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation 

Peel and cube the eggplant. Heat a large cast iron skillet and add at least an eighth inch of olive oil to the skillet. Eggplant loves olive oil, so it is important that you use a good one. Add the eggplant to the oil and spread it out. Stir and cook the eggplant until it looses its white color. It will absorb most of the olive oil. If needed, add a spec more.

Once the eggplant has cooked a few minutes, add the garlic and shallots and stir. Add the basil, oregano and white pepper. Stir and let that cook for another couple of minutes. Add the can of San Marzano tomatoes and break them up with a knife and fork. Stir and let that simmer, very gently, for about five or ten minutes. If you have any, add some fresh torn basil leaves and stir.

Pour the eggplant and tomato mixture into a large casserole or clay baking bowl. Add the provolone cheese to it. Now Add the mozzarella cheese. Don’t measure. Add enough cheese so that when you look at it, you think, “Wow, that’s a lot of cheese!” Gently push the cheese down a little into the sauce. 

Bake the eggplant and tomatoes in a 380º oven until the cheese is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling. Remove it from the oven and let it rest for about ten minutes until serving.

Serving

To serve this, place a large scoop of the cheesy eggplant tomato stew on the plate. Next place either the liver, bacon and onions next to that, or place a large pasty next to it. Since I wasn’t taking sides in the family dispute, I placed both next to my stewed eggplant. You know me, everything in moderation. To round out the dinner, slice the homemade bread, open a bottle of  Montepulciano DʼAbruzzo and ring the dinner bell.

Peas sautéed with mushrooms and onions

I think I’m getting into a rut where vegetables are concerned. It seems I serve the same rotation over and over. If it isn’t sautéed broccoli, it’s sautéed baby broccoli. When I venture off the broccoli, it is usually with broiled asparagus or sautéed green beans. As much as I like all of those, they can get kind of boring.

Well, the other day I decided to do something different and take a pea. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I had a bag of frozen peas and some good fresh mushrooms. I picked up a leg of lamb and while I was at the grocery store I bought some knob onions. If you don’t know what those are, they are like green onions on steroids. They have the green onion top, but the white part is like a medium size onion. Use all of the white onion parts and also slice the light green parts. They are fresh and juicy, and add a nice flavor to the peas. Here’s how I fixed them.

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 large knob onion, sliced (about a cup) 

1/4 lb. sliced mushrooms

Cajun seasoning

Fresh ground white pepper

12 oz. bag of frozen peas

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and melt the butter. Add the sliced onion and sprinkle on some cajun seasoning. Let the onions sweat down for a couple of minutes and add the sliced mushroom. Stir and let that cook, covered, for about five minutes. By now there should be a good amount of liquid in the skillet.

Grind on some white pepper and then add the peas. Stir and cover. Let that cook for about ten minutes, stirring often.

Serving

The way I served mine was to use a slotted spoon to put a big pile of the peas, onions and mushrooms on the plate. Next I added a huge pile of sliced rare lamb. Along side that, I put a big pile of mashed potatoes. The lamb and potatoes got buried in gravy.

Once that plate is ready, slice some homemade bread, open a bottle of Zinfandel and dinner is served.