Category: sauces

Failed Meatball Bolognese

Turkey Bolognese

So far, Giada and I are 0-2 as far as the Everyday Italian recipes go. I have not yet relayed my ricotta cakes story here, but the problem I had with her turkey meatball recipe was similar, and I was left feeling sorely disappointed. And meatball-less. Yes, the bolognese-like sauce that resulted was delicious, but it was not meatballs.

I’ll be honest and say that I only half followed her arancini recipe to make ricotta cakes, so the failure could very well have been mine. But the meatballs? I followed Giada’s lead to the letter. And instead of cooking up into beautiful bites of meaty goodness, they fell apart completely in the pan. It was useless trying to cajole them into retaining their round shape. Completely useless. They were determined to become bolognese. What went wrong, Giada? What went wrong?

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Spaghetti Squash with Swiss and Pancetta Bechamel

Spaghetti Squash with Swiss and Pancetta Bechamel

Spaghetti squash was a staple in my house growing up. My mom baked it in its shell with meaty marinara and a thick, melted layer of mozzarella, all nice and browned on top. I’ve made it a few times, myself, and it’s always a failproof favorite in the household. And I’ve always done it the same way: marinara and mozzarella. This time, I decided to try something different: I baked it with a swiss cheese and pancetta bechamel.

No matter how many times I make spaghetti squash, I can never remember exactly how to cook it. Steamed first, then shredded and filled with stuff? Shredded and filled, then baked? A few calls to the mom, and interweb searches, and I have my duh moment: The squash should be cooked, and then the sqaushy inside is shredded with a fork into its familiar spaghetti-like form. Then it can be topped with yummy things and broiled. This time around I didn’t quite get it right, but the recipe below will detail the way it should have been done, not the way it was done.

I’ve always served spaghetti squash as a main dish, because it’s so filling on its own. You could probably serve it as a side, at a big dinner party or something, with chicken or a roast or fish or…whatever else people serve at big dinner parties. Either way, it is my favorite of all the squashes. Any vegetable that can masquerade as pasta gets five gold stars from me.

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Making my own Marinara

Marinara in a jar or two

Since I’m working from home today, I thought it was a good day to make marinara. I think I was inspired by one of my new cookbooks, Giada’s Everyday Italian. Most of her recipes start with a basic marinara, and I think I would feel like something of a wimp if I started writing posts about how I doctored jarred marinara. It seemed like an easy and important staple to have in the refrigerator, anyway, and today, I had plenty of time.

This was, in fact, so easy that I suspect I’m going to have to make it regularly, kind of like chicken stock, just to have on hand. I changed up Giada’s recipe a bit, but essentially all marinaras are the same, right? Mirepoix, tomatoes, herbs. You can’t go wrong.

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Fish Tacos with Chipotle Tortillas

Fish Tacos

I first started making these fish tacos in college. I think I found the recipe in some local newspaper or something, I don’t remember where. Of course, there are more fish taco recipes in existence than I’m capable of counting, and people have strong preferences about whether the fish should be fried or sauteed, or topped with cabbage, or with white sauce or salsa or just lime juice and on and on and on. I like this recipe because it’s incredibly simple and light. Growing up in San Diego, I don’t recall eating fried fish tacos, but then again, I didn’t eat many fish tacos at all. I didn’t really cultivate a taste for fish until I was much older.

When I’ve made these in the past, I didn’t actually serve them topped with anything, but the white sauce recipe from The Paupered Chef sounded like an excellent addition. I also used their recipe for tortillas, the same recipe I used last time I made them, with a slight modification: I added some chipotles for some color and a little kick. This was a super excellent dinner.

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Homemade Pasta, or The Messiest Cooking Project Ever

Fresh Fettuccini

Last night we decided to embark on the messiest cooking project I believe I’ve ever undertaken: making fresh homemade pasta. Of course, we couldn’t be satisfied with just one big batch of fettuccini or spagetti, oh no. We decided to make three kinds of pasta, fettuccini, and two kinds of ravioli. Yes, two. We were going to go all the way.

Mr. X was doubtful about making pasta without a food processor, but I refused to let lack of machinery stand in my way. After all, people made pasta without a food processor for hundreds of years. If their hands were good enough, then dammit, so were mine! As it turned out, the dough ended up just the right texture for rolling, and wasn’t very difficult at all. It was, however, very messy, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not always so good with messy. I soldiered through the gloppy flour-covered hands and squishy liquidy ravioli fillings, though, and we ended up with a pretty awesome dinner.

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Gnocchi with Mushroom Sausage Ragu

Gnocchi with Mushroom Sausage Ragu

I bought pre-made gnocchi at Trader Joe’s last week, and had been wondering all weekend what to do with it. This ragu is, yet again, bastardized from another recipe, this one from Martha Stewart’s Everday Food. Say what you will about Martha, I do have a bit of a weakness for this magazine. And this was a great partner for the gnocchi–rich and really full of flavor, and thick enough to coat the gnocchi, but not too heavy or creamy or fatty.

It took a bit longer than most things I cook, but wasn’t difficult at all, and was well worth the extra time. I’m curious how different it would taste made as the original recipe suggests, without the wine, and with bacon instead of sausage. I also feel like it’s a bit of a cop out, to write about gnocchi when using the packaged kind, but I’m not quite ready to make my own gnocchi. Regardless, this ragu would probably also be awesome with any other kind of pasta, or even over chicken or steak or something (probably not so much over fish, though).

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Steaks with Blueberry Sauce

Steak with Blueberries

I saw this recipe in one of the newly acquired Williams-Sonoma cookbooks, and was instantly intrigued. But it just seemed so summery. There are no blueberries in January! Using frozen was an option, but it just didn’t seem right. After all, this is the time for squash, and beef stew, and casseroles. Not blueberries.

Then the weather in Boston suddenly got summery. Well, relatively summery. I mean, I still had to wear a coat and gloves, but it’s something like 60 degrees out right now, which is pretty damn summery for January. And I figured I might as well run with it, and push the summer envelope by cooking up some blueberries.

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