Category: Food

Building upon the nice Italian cookbook, First You Steal A Chicken, articles in this category continue the discussion. They are: Roasting Meat, Tomato Sauce – An Overview, Salad, Burgers Need Spice, and Roasting Vegetables.

Roasting Vegetables

If you’ve got an oven, you should know how to roast vegetables. Here’s a tip.

Prepare vegetables

Into a bowl, peel and cut up a combination of turnips, yams, sweet potatoes, real potatoes, butternut squash (don’t forget to peel), carrots, onions, and/or Brussels sprouts.

Toss with oil

Toss with olive oil (or another type) and add a spec of water, which usually comes from washing.

Season

Season with:

  • salt, black pepper,
  • chopped fresh garlic,
  • rosemary, basil, or oregano (use a combination or just one).

You can also use Herb de Provence or Italian seasoning.

High heat

Grab a roasting pan with low sides—usually a cookie sheet is fine. Place parchment paper on the bottom to reduce mess. Throw on your vegetables and roast at 425° (even 450°) for approx. 40 minutes, mixing halfway through.

Note

Acorn squash is different. You don’t peel it. It needs to be cut into moon-shaped slices (like cantaloupe). Toss with oil, salt, black pepper, and an herb. Then dab with butter and add some brown sugar or honey. Toss again and roast as per above.

Burgers Need Spice

Most people think great burgers are found at fast food outlets. They’re not. The best burgers are made in your own kitchen and I’ll tell you why—spice. Spice is what restaurants aren’t allowed to add to theirs because John Q Public prefers its food bland.

So here’s how to make a great hamburger. Put your ground beef into a bowl (lean, not extra lean). Add salt, black pepper, and garlic powder (don’t forget the garlic powder). Break an egg into the mixture, add chopped fresh parsley, a little barbecue sauce, and enough breadcrumbs to tighten things up. Then form into patties, cook ‘em, and eat ‘em

The full recipe is available here.

Salad

Mastering the salad is essential for any cook. Not only do they taste great but salads are also very good for you. You just need to know a few tricks, starting with how to make a dressing.

Oil and vinegar

Many people are afraid to make their own oil and vinegar dressing. Is it more oil or more vinegar? Relax, you just have to remember one thing: “Oil to coat, vinegar to taste.” Add enough oil to coat, toss, and add your spices (e.g., salt and pepper), toss again, add some vinegar, toss, taste, add more vinegar (if need be), toss again, taste again—and then live with it.

Generally, the ratio is 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. But because oils and vinegars are so different, it’s best to use the “coat and taste” method described above. Find a nice olive oil (usually extra virgin) and use red wine or balsamic vinegar. Balsamic has a sweeter taste (and now comes in white so it won’t colour your salad).

Honey twist

To jazz things up you can add honey or maple syrup. In this case, you also need to add some Dijon mustard to hold things together.

Lettuce

Your basic Italian salad has 2-3 types of lettuce. Try romaine, endive, arugula, radicchio, red or green leaf, and butter lettuce. You can also use kale and spinach.

Onion

Yellow onions are used in cooking—not for salads. White onions are mild and good in salads. Purple (a.k.a. red or Italian onions) are stronger and are also good in salads. Spanish onions, which look like large yellow onions, are sweeter and they too are good in salads. You can also use green onions.

Vegetables

Tomatoes, celery, and cucumber are popular. You can also use sliced carrot. But don’t add mushrooms or those little corn cobs (they don’t belong).

Cheese and olives

Olives are good in any colour but your cheese has to be white. Use a hard cheese like Asiago, Parmesan, or even cheddar. And you can use feta (if it’s coarsely crumbled).

Nuts and fruit

If you’re not putting olives, use nuts and fresh fruit. Cut up an orange, use red grapes, fresh berries are good, or try pomegranate seeds. For nuts, toast slivered or sliced almonds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or make candied pecans.

Beans

Except for chick peas (garbanzo beans), beans don’t really go in a lettuce salad. Beans go in a bean salad, which, of course, doesn’t have any lettuce.

P.S. For actual recipes, click here.

Tomato Sauce—An Overview

There are five basic steps to making tomato sauce:

Fry garlic and onion in olive oil

Use real olive oil from Italy. If cooking bacon or loose sausage meat in the sauce, use less. The garlic can be minced into small pieces and left in, or squashed whole, used to flavour the oil, and then removed. Leave it in where possible since garlic is so very good for you. The onion can also be diced and left in, or added whole to flavour and then discarded when the sauce is ready.

Add meat, spices, and wine

Many types of meat can be used (e.g., ground beef, sausage, chicken, pork chops), or beans can be used instead (e.g., cannellini, chickpeas, romano). Add basil because tomatoes love basil. Add chili to make the sauce hot. Add marjoram if the sauce is made with beef, veal, or pork. Use salt for flavour and add black pepper if not using chili. And if you have fresh parsley on hand, throw some in. P.S. If using fresh basil, add with the tomatoes.

Let meat brown for 10 minutes before adding the wine. Wine is added to flavour the meat. Use white wine if you can (but if a bottle of red is open, go for it). Turn heat down and cover for 10-15 minutes to let wine absorb into your meat. Then uncover, increase heat, and cook until liquid is almost evaporated.

It’s also nice to add soup bones for extra flavour. Have the butcher cut them into small pieces to expose lots of marrow. P.S. If you can’t find any bones, you’ll have to go without—never use the dog’s instead.

Add tomatoes, water, celery, and carrot

Use canned plum tomatoes from Italy (avoid crushed tomatoes—they’re for pizza). There are two ways to treat the tomatoes: either hand-squash in a bowl removing any hard stems, or blend for five seconds in a blender. If adding 2 cans, try blending one and hand-squashing the other.

After adding the tomatoes, swish out the can or the blender with water and add it to the pot. The amount of water you need depends on how thick your tomatoes are and how long you’re going to simmer.

Celery adds flavour and carrot absorbs the acid from the tomatoes. Discard the celery and carrot when the sauce is ready. If you don’t have a carrot and are not adding wine, add ¼ tsp. sugar.

Simmer

Simmer with a wooden spoon between the lid and pot, or with the lid slightly askew. If you’re in a hurry, simmer with the lid off (so the sauce takes less time to reduce). Generally speaking, the more tomatoes, the longer you simmer.

Uncover, add vegetables, and reduce

When the sauce has cooked long enough, uncover and let reduce to desired thickness (maybe 20 minutes, maybe more—depends on how much water you used). This is also a good time to taste for seasoning—it might need more salt, or maybe more chili pepper.

At this point you can add either fresh or frozen peas, or fresh or canned mushrooms. To add fresh mushrooms: microwave in water for 5 minutes and then rinse (this removes the black water from inside).

Notes

  • If making fish sauce, don’t add cheese to the pasta.
  • If your sauce is too spicy, add cream (but not for fish).
  • Don’t forget to taste for salt and chili pepper—you may need more.
  • To reheat leftover pasta, use water and a large frying pan (not the microwave).
  • If the sauce looks too thin, boil it longer with the lid off. If it looks too thick, add water.
  • Let fresh sauce rest for 30 minutes before serving. This gives the tastes time to meld.
  • Tradition says tomato sauce tastes best when made in an aluminum pot. Next best is stainless steel with an aluminum bottom.
  • If for some reason you don’t have enough sauce, mix in some butter with the pasta, or if appropriate, add cream to the sauce.
  • Only add tomato paste if making a large pot with 4 or more cans of tomatoes. In this case whisk a 5 oz. can of tomato paste in a small bowl of water before adding.
  • Never add pasta to boiling water unless you’re sure the sauce is almost ready—cooked pasta cannot wait for the sauce (and the Italian police may come and arrest you).
  • Use dried pasta from Italy—we recommend Barilla and De Cecco brands. Cook pasta in lots of water, and add a small handful of salt to the boiling water (1-1½ tbsp. for 500 g / 1 lb. pasta). When testing the pasta for doneness, add more salt if need be. Do not add oil to the pasta water, and cook until tender yet firm (not mushy).
  • Drain pasta (don’t rinse it) and put it back into the same pot you cooked it in (since it’s hot). Add the good Parmesan cheese you bought at the Italian store and maybe a little butter (if you’re thin or having company). Mix with a wooden spoon. Ladle some sauce into the pot (not too much) and mix well. Serve in pasta bowls with a little sauce and some cheese on top.

If you find all this too complicated, buy the stuff in a jar or try making pizza. Better yet, just make sandwiches (again). P.S. For recipes, click here.

Roasting Meat

Here are some tricks to successfully roasting meat:

High rack, low sides

Elevate your meat by using a high roasting rack so the oven air cooks it all around. You want a roasting pan with shallow (or low) sides. Oftentimes, a cookie sheet is just fine.

Pat dry your poultry

The only meat you first wash is whole chicken or turkey. And when you do, pat it dry with paper towel (or it won’t brown).

Water for fat

Fat from your roast can trickle down and hit the hot roasting pan. This causes smoke. So keep liquid in the bottom of your pan (to catch the fat).

Seasoning

Some people make slits in their roast and shove in chunks of fresh garlic and herbs. Some just season the outside. You can also make a rub.

Salt and pepper are standard. Fresh herbs, like sage and rosemary, go well with everything. Lamb loves mint. To make a rub, chop your garlic and herbs into a bowl, add salt and pepper, some olive oil, and mix with a fork. Then rub this concoction all over your meat until it starts to giggle.

It’s always great to burst fresh lemon over top lamb and poultry, when they have 20 minutes to go. Roast pork wants white wine poured over it. Never use both wine and lemon in the same dish (they don’t go together).

Searing

Sear beef, pork, and lamb on the stove top, with a little oil. If that’s not convenient, roast your meat at a higher temperature for 15-20 minutes, and then turns things down.

Temperatures

Generally, meat thermometers should read as follows:

  • roast beef (medium rare) – 140
  • roast lamb (medium) – 150
  • roast pork (medium well) – 160
  • meatloaf (well) – 170
  • roast chicken or turkey (well) – 180

Because ovens are different, you’ll need to experiment and write down your own rules. P.S. For recipes, check here.