Lasagna with Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

Before I share an incredible recipe, let me first tell you a story.

As I write this, I’ve been without an internet connection or cable TV for a week. When I first discovered the issue, I tried the unplug-wait 30 seconds-replug thing — twice.  Then I called Comcast and chose the automated option to “send a refresh signal to my modem” pretty confident that would do the trick.  

I was wrong.

So I had to do the thing most of us absolutely dread…call Customer Service.  

The automated attendant told me my wait time was “less than four minutes.”  That information was helpful.

And true.

So Nancy gets on the line and I explain my predicament. She informs me that the reason none of the usual tricks worked is that my modem is outdated and I need a new one. She launched right into “you have three choices….” This is what happened next:

Me: “Hold it, before you give me my three choices, why didn’t Comcast inform me prior to loosing service that I needed a new modem?’’  
Nancy:  (Seriously, this is what she said!) “We don’t have your email address on file.”  
Me: (After I composed myself) “Really?! Do you realize how incredibly ridiculous that sounds….my personal e-mail account is through Comcast!”
Nancy:  “You have three choices.”

At that point I realized resistance was futile and I chose the “send me the modem self-set-up kit” option.  Well, between two daughters, a future son-in-law and me, that didn’t work either and now I have to wait for a technician scheduled to come at 3:00 on Sunday.

Still no service.  You can’t make this stuff up.  There's the source of my consternation, right up there.

In other less technical and complicated news…it was my turn to cook this past Wednesday and I made Lasagna with Spicy Roasted Cauliflower.  I love the New York Times.  Not only is it a widely read and respected news publication, it’s also a dependable destination for delicious recipes.  I subscribe to their recipe blast called NYT Cooking and this recipe was one of the jewels shared recently.

I also love spicy food and often wondered why some peppers are spicier than others.  The answer is a little chemical called capsaicin.  The higher the level of capsaicin, the more potent the pepper.  Pepper heat is measured using the Scoville Scale, a method developed in 1912 by the chemist, Wilber Scoville.  The method requires diluteing the capsinoids of different varieties of peppers in water until the spiciness was no longer detected…the higher the dilution required, the hotter the pepper.  A bell pepper rates a “0” on the scale and a habanero rates a 200,000 on the scale, meaning the capsaicin had to be diluted 200,000 times before the heat was unnoticeable.  Recently, more precise methods have been developed to measure heat…ones that don’t rely so much on the fickleness of the human palate.

Capsaicin resides in the pepper’s white membrane and the coating on the seeds, so it’s important to wear gloves when slicing them or your fingers will BURN.  I learned the hard way.

Capsaicin has been used in cancer research and some studies show that it efficiently attacks cancer cells leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Lasagna With Spicy Roasted Cauliflower
By:  NYT Cooking (adapted)

Ingredients
1 ½ pounds cauliflower (market did not have fresh cauliflower so I used two bags of frozen)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 cups marinara sauce, preferably homemade from fresh or canned tomato (I used a good quality jarred sauce…don’t be mad)
7 to 8 ounces no-boil lasagna
12 ounces ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella (my addition)
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley (my addition)
1/4 cup vegetable stock or chicken stock
Pinch of cinnamon
4 ounces (1 cup) freshly grated Parmesan

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut away the bottom of the cauliflower stem and trim off the leaves. Cut the cauliflower into slices 1/3 inch thick, letting the florets on the edges fall off. Toss all of it, including the bits that have fallen away, with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on the baking sheet in an even layer. Roast for about 15 minutes, stirring and flipping over the big slices after 8 minutes, until the slices are tender when pierced with a paring knife and the small florets are nicely browned. Remove from the oven, toss with the red pepper flakes and set aside. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees.

Blend the ricotta cheese, mozzarella, parsley, stock, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Set aside.  Oil a rectangular baking dish and spread a spoonful of tomato sauce over the bottom. Top with a layer of lasagna noodles. Spoon a thin layer of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Top with a layer of cauliflower, then a layer of tomato sauce and a layer of Parmesan. Repeat the layers, ending with a layer of lasagna noodles topped with tomato sauce and Parmesan.

Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and place in the oven. Bake 40 minutes, until the noodles are tender and the mixture is bubbling. Uncover and, if you wish, bake another 10 minutes, until the top begins to brown. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

You can prepare this up to a day in advance, cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to cook.  I just roasted the cauliflower the night before and assembled it right before baking.  For roasting the cauliflower, I did not use the parchment paper but I did let my baking stone get hot in the oven before I added the prepared cauliflower.   The parchment paper does does make clean-up easier and if you want to eliminate some of the olive oil, parchment will keep roasted vegetables from sticking to the pan. 

This recipe is deceptively good….very satisfying with a good balance of flavors.  The roasted cauliflower is naturally sweet, the cinnamon is a savory secret and, of course, the red pepper flakes add the heat!  Do try this for a stick-to-your-ribs-meal!

Pappardelle with Chicken and Winter Greens

This is a quick post of a recipe too good not to share that I made for Younger Daughter and her visiting foodie friend.   

Make this.

Seriously.

MAKE. THIS.

Please.

Pappardelle with Chicken and Winter Greens

www.myrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 bunch (1lb) green Swiss chard

1/2 medium head of radicchio (I used a big handful of arugula)

1 medium lemon (you will use the zest and juice)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I used 6, minced)

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup of dry sherry

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup freshly shredded asiago cheese (I used Parmesan)

3 cups of shredded white chicken 

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

8 ounces of pappardella pasta

Directions

Cook the pappardelle.  While the pasta is cooking, trim the chard and cut the leaves into 1/3” ribbons.  Peel away the outer leaves of the radicchio and cut out the tough core.  Slice the remaining into 1/3” ribbons.  Zest the lemon and set aside.  Juice the lemon and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook until translucent, about 2 minutes.  Increase heat to medium-high. Add the broth, chard, radicchio and lemon zest.  Turn to coat and cook until chard is just tender to the bite, about 3 minutes.  Add cream, sherry and half the cheese; stir to combine.  Stir in chicken and cook until warmed through.  Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.  When the pasta is al dente, drain and add to the pan and combine with tongs.  Transfer pasta to the serving bowl, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve.

Hearty and fresh with a surprising variety of flavors. YUM.  I am told it's just as good, if not better, the next day after the flavors had time to soak into the pasta and chard.

Homemade Pasta

So, college boys invaded the inner sanctum of Wednesday evening dinner club last week.

Not just any college boys, but C’s son and his buddy.  As you can imagine, the conversation was quite lively and entertaining and, at some point, turned to generations.   I know a little bit about this subject.  There were two distinct generations (possibly three since one of us — not me — is on the cusp between a Boomer and an X-er) sitting around the table and it was interesting to hear their spin on the popular research.   I will tell you this, it is widely believed that the Millennials are a very literate generation, highly influenced by world events and not afraid to speak-up and act on what, to them, is right and just.  I was quite impressed with how these young men articulated their points.

The tuition is working…brought a little tear to my eye. And I got to participate in a generational case study, even though the data was quite limited!

What we did have in common was quite clear…we all devoured the HOMEMADE pasta that C served.  Homemade pasta is a total treat and it doesn’t need to be gussied up with a fancy-schmancy topping so C served it with a simple tomato sauce.  Marcella Hazan — the cookbook author who changed how we prepare Italian food — offers a delicious 3-ingredient version:

INGREDIENTS

2 cups tomatoes, with their juices (for example, a 28-ounce can of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes)

5 tablespoons butter

1 onion, peeled and cut in half

Salt

PREPARATION

Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter and the onion halves in a saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt.  Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with a spoon. Add salt as needed. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with pasta. This recipe makes enough sauce for a pound of pasta.

On Wednesday, the sauce was the co-star and the pasta, of course, was the leading lady.  Like Arancini, making homemade pasta is a labor of love but so worth the effort.  

Homemade Pasta

To make plain pasta dough, make a well in the middle of three cups of flour and add three eggs and a little salt. Using a fork, gradually incorporate the eggs into the flour (not all at once!) from the middle working your way out. When pliable, knead the dough until it is a bit elastic and somewhat shiny and bounces back easily when poked. 

Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 15 minutes. My grandmother used to put the dough in a bowl and cover it with a towel…both methods keep it from drying out.

Cut off ¼ of the plain dough, sprinkle it with flour and run it through the pasta machine on gradually thinner settings several times. When running the dough through on the thicker settings, fold it over three times before running it through the pasta machine each time.  To make the pasta you want, pick a setting and run the dough through the pasta machine on that setting.  

Let the newly formed pasta dry for a bit.   

Cook the fresh pasta in 6 quarts of boiling salted water (the rule of thumb is 6 quarts of water for each pound of pasta).  Fresh pasta cooks quickly so in about 1-3 minutes, it will be ready to plate with your favorite sauce.   If you are freezing, sprinkle the pasta with more flour and store in the freezer in freezer bags.

My dear grandmother used to make homemade pasta and that’s her Regina Macaroni Machine you see over there, to the right….she bought it in South Philadelphia, Giunta Brothers at 11th and Christian Streets, shortly after she arrived in the United States in the early 1900's.  The wonderful wooden case you see in the background was lovingly made by my grandfather to preserve her newly acquired apparatus, now my cherished treasure. 

Arancini

One day last week, I was exchanging emails with a colleague and the conversation turned to Christmas dinner.  I explained I was making meatballs and gravy; she explained she was making Arancini.

Well. Yum.

I just might have to make this Arancini.

But first I had to look it up.

Arancini (also spelled Arancine) are stuffed risotto balls that are coated with breadcrumbs and fried to a golden hue.  The name comes from the Italian word for little oranges — arancina —  because after these beauties are coated and fried, they look like sweet, little oranges.    Creamy and delicious risotto, served either as a side or main dish, can hold its own on any dinner plate. Introduce frying, well now, that takes delectable and tempting to a whole new level. 

Rice balls date back to when the Arabs inhabited Sicily. As you know, growing rice involves water, lots of water, and the Arabs built sophisticated irrigation systems to make growing rice possible.  Back then, rice balls were made using saffron and that wonderful spice adds a radiant glow to any dish.  You can read about saffron in my Paella post. The Italians, of course, perfected the little orbs and introduced filings….meat, mushrooms, cheese, nuts, eggplant…I suppose the possibilities are endless.

And don’t limit your rice-ball frying experience to merely savory options.  Try a sweet option made with cream and cinnamon and stuffed with raisins and other fruit.   But, on Christmas, Brother and I stuck to a more traditional recipe and made ours with peas, parmesan and mozzarella (that oozed out on queue during eating).  We rolled, coated and fried our way straight to a lovely Christmas memory.  After tasting one that fell apart, Brother wanted to know what everyone else was eating for dinner….I reminded him there were meatballs and gravy and he quickly changed his tune.  

Making Arancini is a perfect way to use leftover risotto…not that there’s any leftover risotto in my house.  Ever.  It's so worth the time and effort it takes to make….simply heavenly.  There were three leftover that Younger Daughter and I happily consumed for lunch on Wren Day.  Himself told me about Wren Day.

Arancini

Adapted from:  epicurious.com

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Butter

2 tablespoons Olive oil, about 4 swirls

1 small onion or large shallot, peeled and finely diced

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 cup risotto rice

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock, warmed

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/3 frozen peas

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mozzarella cheese cut into cubes (for as many balls are you are making)

Flavorless oil for frying, like canola

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup panko breadcrumbs or regular breadcrumbs

Directions

Heat a heavy-based, high-sided frying pan or saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until soft but not colored.  Add the rice and stir vigorously around the pan for a couple of minutes until the grains start to turn slightly translucent. Deglaze the pan by pouring in a bit of wine and scraping up the bits at the bottom. Add a cup of the hot stock mixture to the rice and stir over medium heat until absorbed, then add another cup. Repeat until all the stock is used, then add the cup of white wine and the peas.   Cook until the rice is tender but still al dente, stirring regularly to create a creamy risotto, about 20 minutes.

Let the risotto to cool; I put my prepared risotto in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare your dipping stations by filling three separate shallow bowls with the beaten eggs, the flour (seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper), and the breadcrumbs.   

Once the risotto is cool enough to handle and has stiffened a bit, roll it into balls the size of golf balls. 

Push a piece of mozzarella into the middle of each ball, making sure that the cheese is completely enclosed. Leave the balls to set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

To coat the risotto balls, dip a ball into the flour, shake off any excess, then dip into the egg, allowing any excess to drip off. Finish by coating completely in the breadcrumbs. Repeat with the remaining balls.  

Fill a large saucepan one-third full of flavorless oil; I used canola.  You know that the oil is hot enough when you insert the handle end of a wooden spoon into the oil and bubbles appear around the wood (this is a nifty little trick Sister taught me).  

Deep-fry the balls in batches for 2-3 minutes until golden brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve immediately while the cheese is still melty.

This recipe doubles nicely.

The Cookie Exchange

A few Mondays ago, Architect and I were driving to Yoga class with the best instructor ever – Dot – and she said “Hey, I have a great blog post idea for you…the history of the cookie!”  She went on to say that unsweetened wafer versions of the cookie originated in Persia because they were easy for dessert wanderings to transport in their sacks and for centuries sailors stowed hard cracker-like discs to sustain them during long voyages at sea.  Later on, courtesy of the Spanish Conquest, trading routes opened and sugar and spices were introduced to Europe.  The Europeans brought the wafer to new heights enriching them with butter, eggs and cream to form biscuits, commonly served with tea.  The term cookie is a derivative of the Dutch word koekje that means little cake.

Although I listened very intently, I’m sure I do not record the story verbatim here, but you get the idea.  I liked her suggestion and, since we were having a Cookie Exchange Event at work, I had the perfect opportunity to write a post!

So below is the list of the delicious cookies my co-workers contributed…

I made the Mint Chocolate Chip cookies. We were instructed to  bring packages containing six cookies in each.  We were also encouraged to bring copies of our recipes and a few extras goodies for the sampling tray. All of the selections were delicious but I had a few favorites.  One was a savory/sweet confection that I’m still thinking about, Anise Seed Cookies, and below is the recipe. 

 

Merry Christmas, dear readers.    

Anise Seed Cookies
2 cups + 4 Tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 teaspoons of anise seed
Plastic bag with some powdered sugar, about 2 cups

Preheat oven to 375.  In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.  In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugars, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy.  Beat in eggs.  Gradually add hte flour mixture and incorporate well.  Stir in 3 teaspoons of anise seed.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool on a rack.  Once the cookies are completely cooled, shake several cookies at a time in the bag of powdered sugar.  Makes 4 dozen.

The cookie exchange was a lot of fun and hopefully we can add it to some other favorite work place traditions!

Fettuccine with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

I’m one of those people who when I see something that looks delicious in a magazine and says “I’m totally going to make this” I actually do.

It may not be for a few months, but I tuck the recipe away in the crowded archives of my mind and pull it out when I need culinary motivation. 

So I’m flipping though the November/December edition of Fitness magazine and in addition to a mini tutorials on how to get sleek arms, abs and legs, holiday hair and makeup tips, and suggestions for fabulous “hot list” gifts, they included an article entitled “Amazing 15 Minute Meals.” 

15 minutes is right up my alley.  

The recipes all look delicious – Cheesy Chicken Meatball and Tortellini Soup, Chicken Marsala with Jasmine Rice and Peas and the one that particularly caught my eye...

...Fettuccine with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe.

Broccoli rabe, also known as rapini, is a common ingredient in dishes made in Southern Italy.  The vegetable is quite nutty, a little bitter and looks like an elongated piece of regular broccoli, but is actually more related to turnips both in taste and derivation.

To prepare, rinse the vegetable, trim and discard the thicker stems, preserving the blossoms, leaves and thinner stalks, about 2” from the blossom, then sauté in a bit of olive oil and garlic. Some like to blanch the vegetable before sautéing.  Broccoli rabe is low in fat, and a good source of vitamins A, C, and K and potassium.

It was my turn to cook this past Wednesday so I decided to make this 377 calorie per serving recipe.

Fettuccine with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

From:  Fitness Magazine

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed, roughly crumbled
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound broccoli rabe, tough stems trimmed, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 9 ounce package fresh fettuccine
1/4 cup plus 4 tsp freshly grated pecorino Romano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage and saute, breaking up large chunks with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add broccoli rabe and cook, tossing with tongs, 1 minute. Add broth, reduce heat to medium, cover and cook until broccoli rabe is tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions, then drain and add to sausage mixture; toss well with tongs. Add 1/4 cup cheese and black pepper and toss well again. Divide among four bowls and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Three words.  So. Damn. Good.


Photo of the rinsed broccoli rabe is from google images...I accidently deleted the photo I took that looked quite similar.

TiMpAnO

I had some frozen meatballs and sausage left over from our Christmas dinner so I decided to make Timpano. But first, for inspiration, I watched the movie “Big Night.” Big Night is the story of two brothers who immigrated from Italy and opened an Italian restaurant. The restaurant is struggling and they are trying to save the same from certain bankruptcy. One brother, Secondo, the businessman of the duo, tries – in vain – to convince his irascible chef brother, Primo, to offer mainstream and predictable food to encourage patrons. The idealistic chef is insistent and believes that when impeccably prepared, traditional Italian foods are offered the palate of the public will eventually change and the people will then come. Primo says “To eat good food is to be close to God.” Italian Food is the star of this movie and the leading lady is the “Timpano.”

Timpano is a traditional Italian dish that is large, hearty and can feed a lot of hungry people. You can make this dish with any pasta (the tubular varieties work best), meat or cheese, such as leftover spaghetti and meatballs. The pasta is served inside a crust and the result is total bliss. To make Timpano, you need a Timpano bowl or basin. I ordered my 14” enamel Timpano basin from amazon.com. It came in different colors and I ordered my favorite color, red. The basin is oven and freezer safe with a baked on porcelain enamel finish that makes it easy to clean.

Ingredients
2 packages of store-bought puff pastry dough
1 large container of Ricotta Cheese combined with an egg and Parmesan cheese
2 cupa of Italian Blend Cheese
2-4 cups of meat, sliced into bite-size pieces (meatballs, sausage, pork, grilled chicken…mix it up!)
4 hard boiled eggs
4 cups of sauce (gravy)
1-2 pounds (depending on how many people you are feeding!) of ziti, penne or rigatoni pasta that's been boiled to al dente (still a little chewy…it will cook some more while being baked)
2 tbsp. of olive oil

All ingredients should be at room temperature for easy handling and to not pre-cook the puff pastry.

Directions

Coat the bottom of the Timpano pan with a thin layer of olive oil or butter and line the pan with the puff pastry.

Begin to layer the ingredients.

Pasta

Ricotta

Eggs

Meat

Cheese

It's like you’re making a lasagna. Repeat the layers.


To seal the Timpano shell, place a second sheet of puff pasty over the mixture to meet the bottom sheet pinch together to seal. Poke holes in the top of the puff pastry to allow air to escape during baking. Brush with olive oil.

Bake the Timpano at 400° for 45-60 minutes. Check periodically and if the crust begins to burn, cover with foil.

Serving
To remove the Timpano from the pan cover the top of the timpano with a large plate and flip the pan over so that the Timpano comes out upside-down onto the plate.

The mixture has to solidify before you can cut it so let it rest for 20 minutes after removing it from the oven.

Timpano is traditionally into "V" shaped slices, like a pizza or pie. Serve with a nice salad and a good bottle of Italian red wine.

What I will do differently next time.

Next time, I will use a smaller, oven-safe bowl. The Timpano bowl I purchased is lovely, but too large and cumbersome to work with. I am thinking about mini-Timpanos...how fun would that be!

Frozen pie crust may be easier to work with than the puff pastry and next time I will try that instead.

The whole wheat pasta did not work for me. Some recipes just scream for the more traditional stuff!

I’ll be more generous when greasing the bottom of the bowl prior to filling it with the Timpano ingredients.

Much like flipping a cake, flipping the Timpano can be tricky business so I’ll loosen the sides of the Timpano with a small spatula. One side did not survive as neatly as hoped. My photo is strategically positioned to spare you the buckle but it's important to talk about our mishaps so we can learn from them.

I combined the pasta with gravy before I filled the Timpano, but I did not add more gravy with each layer…next time I will. It was a little dry, but I offered extra gravy when serving.

My layers weren’t as obvious as I hoped when I sliced into the Timpano so next time when filling, I will make each layer a little thicker. The dished solidified nicely though.

Vodka Penne

After a summer-long hiatus, our weekly dinners had resumed and we have a new member to our group….another girl from the hood who from this point forward will be referred to as "The Singer."

No initiation rituals, just a pledge to feed us every 4th week.

I inaugurated this season of culinary adventures with my Vodka Penne. I usually make this using sub-standard Vodka, but over the summer I ran out of the cheap stuff and had to make this recipe using Grey Goose and I could not believe the difference in the taste of this house specialty. Needless to say, I will never, never, ever use cheap vodka again.

Isn’t that last sentence a double-negative?

Sister Carmella would be annoyed.

Being a curious sort, I asked myself what distinguishes premium Vodkas like Grey Goose, Ketel One, or Absolut from their less desirable counterparts. Apparently, different vodka tastes are influenced by the grain used, the number of times the grain is distilled, and the type of water used to dilute the grain after distillation. Grey Goose, for example, boasts that its Vodka is distilled from “French wheat and is made with spring water from Gensac that is naturally filtered through champagne limestone.”

Alrighty then.

My Vodka Penne recipe:


Sauté several cloves of garlic, a ¾ teaspoon of sea salt, and ¼ to ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it) in 3 tablespoons of olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add a can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes and let that mixture simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile cook your penne pasta….I like to use whole wheat pasta. After the sauce has simmered for 20-25 minutes, add the pasta, toss.

Add 1/3 cup of vodka, toss.

Then add ½ to 1 cup of Half & Half (depending on how creamy you like it), toss.

Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley and serve. I added grilled chicken as well.

We also had an arugula, grapefruit and goat cheese salad, the most beautiful – and I might add delicious – fig tart and two (yes, two) bottles of wine.

A delightful start to a new season of dinners.

Fair One: Gravy or Sauce

If you are from an Italian family - especially in the northeast part of the United States - you likely call the stuff you put on pasta, gravy. I know this particular moniker is the source of fierce debate, but whatever you call this blend of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices cooked for at least three hours with a lot of meat, it’s delicious.

How did this term “gravy” originate?

My Wikipedia search extensive research reveals that "gravy" is an erroneous English translation from the Italian sugo which means juice, but can also mean sauce (as in sugo per pastasciutta). The expression for "gravy" in Italian is sugo d'arrosto, which is literally "juice of a roast" and is not specifically tomato sauce.”

Che cosa?

This explanation has apparently been adapted to explain that a spaghetti topping cooked with meat is called gravy and a topping made with other ingredients and no meat, such as Pesto or Alfredo, is called sauce.

Well, I’m glad that’s settled.

South Philly native and Philadelphia radio/TV personality and author Lorraine Ranalli wrote a book called “Gravy Wars” about this inexhaustible cultural conflict…when I finish reading it, I’ll write a review! In my family, we always called it gravy since my Italian grandmom made hers with meatballs, sausage and, if she really liked us that week, braciole.

So, this discussion is only useful if I tell you how to make this traditional Italian favorite:

The ingredients:

* Olive Oil
* 1 medium onion, diced
* Garlic, 4 (or 6 or 8) cloves, minced
* 1 can each of tomato puree, sauce and paste
* 1 puree can full of water
* 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
* 2 Tablespoons fresh oregano
* 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
* Brown sugar, about two tablespoons (I find this mellows the acidity of the tomatoes)
* Salt


Brown the meat -- homemade meatballs and pork sausage made with parsley and romano cheese -- in a large pan. Once browned, remove and set aside…juices will flow to the bottom of the bowl.

In the same pan in which you browned the meat (do not wash it!), sauté the onions and garlic until a bit brown.

Add the puree, sauce and paste and the water and give the mixture a good swirl until the paste dissolves.

Add the spices, sugar and salt.

Add the meat with the juices and simmer for at least three hours.

I started my gravy at 11:34 a.m. and we did not eat until after 5:00 p.m.....and that's how it's done. This may have been my best batch ever. I served the gravy on fresh pasta accompanied by my house red wine, Cantina Zaccagnini.

Youngest daughter loves spaghetti and meatballs so I made her a special dinner for her last weekend home before heading off to the Honors Program at the University of Delaware next Saturday...she will do amazing things, trust me! Mom, sister, older daughter and her BF came to say "see you later."

Where did the time go?