Bella! Comfort, Italian style

SPAGHETTI  with everything but the kitchen sink          

serves the neighborhood

Ah, spaghetti.  We can have it richly cream-like thin and wrapped around each noodle – or thick and spread over the pasta like frosting.  It can be a fresh, quickly made putanesca, or it can be an earthy two-day chili -- steaming of richness and vigor.  Personally, I make a sauce that you could use to patch potholes, but I don’t care.  It’s hearty, tastes wonderful, although it can’t be considered in any real context as an Italian dish.  But hey, it’s served over vermicelli, and you lavish Parmesan cheese all over the top.  That’s pretty close isn’t it?  It really tastes amazing on the third day, so I’d usually plan ahead and make it on Wednesday for my Friday or Saturday dinner party.

Hamburger is ‘the new kid’ in the culinary world.  I’ve never been a real fan of hamburger being used in a dish that I feel should use the traditional shredded meat.  Hamburger has its place, but not here as far as I’m concerned.  In this dish, the meat texture is equal to the spicing, with the sausage texture taking back seat, so that’s why I use a large turkey breast that is cooked to shred.  So far, it’s deliciously passed for shredded beef.  Shredded pork, however, especially my shredded pork in this book, would be rendered somewhat neutral in this dish – a waste of its superior independent flavor.

Tools:  big stockpot, large frying pan, cutting board, slotted spoon

Ingredients:

4     tbs oil (mix half and half, olive with canola)

            2     packages (about 16-20 oz size) sweet and hot
                            Italian link sausage, removed from casing 
                            and broken up  coarsely

1     can (28 oz) whole or coarsely chopped tomatoes
                            (liquid and all)

            1     can  (28 oz) crushed tomatoes, or purée

2     cans (6 oz) tomato paste

           4-5    oz sun-dried tomatoes, chopped into ¼ inch to
                            ½ inch bits
            2     oz. jerky, (I like 'teriyaki') cut into ¼ inch slices

1     cup dry red wine or sherry

2     tbs Worcestershire sauce

4     cloves garlic, minced 

          1-2     medium onions, diced ½  inch

          4-5     ribs celery, diced ½ to ¾ inch

          2-3     carrots, grated

            2     bell peppers, diced ¾ inch

         ½-1    pound thick-sliced mushrooms, depending on how
                          much you like them in your sauce

            1     tbs dried sweet oregano (Mexican oregano
                          if you can get it)

            2     bay leaves (removed after cooking)

            1     tbs each dried basil and thyme        

            1     tsp dried sage

            3     tbs fresh basil, chopped medium fine (optional but nice)

            2     tbs fresh sage, chopped medium fine (optional but nice)

Preparation:  In the stockpot on medium heat, bring one tablespoon of oil to heat and lightly caramelize the contents of the cans of tomato paste, smearing around and pressing into the hot oil.  When lightly browned a bit, add the wine and Worcestershire sauce to deglaze.   Work up with a flat bottomed wooden spoon, getting all the caramelization from the bottom, then add all the canned tomato ingredients and bay leaves to the pot, raise the heat and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Add to each emptied tomato can about a half cup of water, swish and add to the pot - adding about a cup of water to the mix and getting all the tomato goodness.

In the frying pan, bring to heat and add the sausage bits/chunks (do not break up into tiny bits but leave coarsely chunked) and cook to a deep golden brown on two sides, remove with slotted spoon and add to sauce.   Keep one tablespoon of sausage fat in the pan and add to that another tablespoon of the oil mix and sauté the onions and the diced celery, peppers and carrots.  As they begin to sweat, add the dried spices and a hefty pinch of salt and pepper, stirring well, and bring to golden brown on the edges, remove and add all to the stockpot – keep stirring well.  All the while, continue to stir the pot regularly, keeping the chunks from scorching on the bottom.   Finally, in the frying pan, add the last of the oil and the mushrooms, and yes, another pinch of salt and pepper.  Sauté until the mushroom slices are softening and browning, and then add the garlic and sauté briefly until the rich aroma wakes you up.  Remove and add to the sauce.  Splash a bit of wine to deglaze the pan and add to the pot.  You’re done with the sautéing.  The last ingredients to the stockpot (which by now should have simmered for easily an quarter hour) just five or ten minutes before you’re ready to remove from the fire, is the diced sun-dried tomatoes, the sliced jerky plus the fresh basil and sage (in addition to the dried basil and sage added at the onset), which brings a double level of herb taste, and the final flavor is refreshing.  The sun-dried tomatoes and jerky add a bright ‘zing’ of flavor and texture when bitten into, so adding them any earlier would have softened them too much.

A good plus:  This sauce is a great vegetable caché, or hiding place.  I’ve put a couple of thawed 10 oz ‘frozen block’ vegetables like chopped broccoli, chopped spinach, and/or diced mixed vegetables in this sauce and no one ever noticed.  It gives good body to the sauce and just passes a richer flavor.   I heartily recommend it.   (The kids’ll never know.)

The final optional ingredients I add because I love their flavor and texture.  It’s up to you.  I see the brine-cured canned black olives given a bad rap on some of the cooking shows, but I truly love the flavor and texture.  Open one or two large 6 0z cans of large/pitted style (or use gourmet cured) olives, drain the brine, and use a slim long-bladed knife to roughly chop the olives while still in the can.  I also love water chestnuts, one or two 8 oz cans of sliced morsels (they’re small), drained.  The crunch is great to the mouth, and the light nutty presence is a nice background to the other flavors.  Finally, in my world of odd likes, add to that list, one or two 7 oz canned diced mild green poblano chiles (Ortega brand is one kind).  Yes, I have to have that refreshing, but gentle, ‘heat’ touch. 

This sauce should be hearty, thick and very aromatic.  This blend of tomatoes and everything else is excellent for re-cycling leftovers magically.  Most any vegetable, rice, beans or meats will live very happily in this ‘kitchen sink’ sauce.  It’ll still do satisfyingly great on top of vermicelli or rigatoni, right there under a layer of fresh grated Parmesan or your favorite dried/aged cheese.  Make a huge batch and freeze a good bunch of it in zip-lock bags, individual or larger for later!  You don’t need to tell anyone what’s in it, just enjoy.

Options: And you thought I’d given you enough. But as a thought, the main flavor ingredient in this dish is sausage.  That opens a huge library of flavors to add as ‘sausage’. 

I love andouille (an-doo-eey), the incredible Cajun sausage, sliced up, or sometimes found fresh in links, not cooked, which is great if it can be found.  As for more, let me count the ways – Chorizo (Spanish or Mexican), Polish sausage, English bangers, or stay with the turkey base and use a great, spiced turkey sausage.  What say a blood sausage, or würstes and brats?    What about Spam, kielbasas or salamis?  Who says spaghetti has to come from a can?

Pasta:  Pasta should be perfect – just remember to keep lots of water moving freely in the boil.  Put twice as much salt as you think, it doesn’t all go into the pasta, just what needs to.  Adding oil or not to the water has many different opinions, go as you prefer.  Taste-test a cooled noodle for ‘done’.  Place the draining colander over the serving dish in the sink to heat it with the hot water when draining, and save some of the pasta water to loosen the pasta dish should it thicken.  Late guests?  Don’t overcook the pasta, and definitely don’t leave it in the water!, just drain and set aside.  When the guests do show up, re-submerge in boiling water (this is where those set-in pasta drainer/pots come in real handy) or pour just a tiny bit of boiling water back over the colander of pasta (don’t rinse!) and shake it all loose.  No one will know because the flavor and texture will be just fine.

Garlic bread:  Back up a bit to the tomato soup recipe and find the directions for ‘garlic butter’.  Basically what I offered was: slowly sauté in a small pan – LOW AND SLOW – ten to fifteen cloves (one to two bulbs) of peeled garlic whole cloves (plus a pinch of pepper flakes if you like) in a few tablespoons of olive oil (a good time to crack open the extra virgin) until deeply golden, soft and evenly caramelized.  The small pan ensures that a minimal of oil can coat the cloves of garlic to well sauté evenly till done.  It’ll take a while, so I say again, go low and slow  (or - Roasting three or four bulbs of garlic with a drizzle of olive oil, wrapped in foil in a 350° oven for an hour and a half).  In a bowl, mash the slightly cooled garlic well with a fork, along with the oil, (and pepper flakes) and a half-teaspoon of salt into a paste.  Let cool.  Carefully blend this mash with 2 cubes (4 oz) room temperature sweet unsalted butter.  When I say ‘room temperature’ butter, I’m saying a 60-65° room, not a hot kitchen, but a nice thick, pliable butter (not a limp melting mass). To this olive oil and butter blend, add a quarter cup grated Parmesan cheese and two or three tablespoons of finely chopped fresh parsley, plus four or five shredded basil leaves.  Take your favorite crusty, quality un-sliced paisan/French bread, and slice almost all the way through at an angle, about ½ to ¾ inches thick.  Slather the butter mix down into each slice, covering one side of the bread.  Re-wrap in the bag it came in and toast in a medium hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.  Options:  Into the garlic and oil at the last, add just a pinch each of fresh chopped thyme/tarragon/sage heating their flavorful oils at the last of the sauté.  For more fun flavor, added last in the sauté:  A pinch of lemon (or lime or orange) zest, mashed anchovies, finely diced up sun-dried tomatoes, and/or fine chopped olives (black and/or green) or olive tapinade.  Whatever sounds good to you. 

Strange looking, great eating!

EGGPLANT PARMESAN                                   serves six to eight

This is the part of the recipe selections where that tactile thing we’ve been calling texture is the primary focus  

The biggie.  The main event. 

Ah, Parmesan, what a potential offering.  Such flavor and bold excitement for the mouth, whether veal, chicken or our chosen eggplant here.  Ah, I do love eggplant.  This unusual vegetable has so many potential goods, that when bad happens, it’s a crime -- an act against nature.  The down side is I’ve had eggplant that I didn’t even know I was eating; it was so soft and light.  Just sad.

My remedy is all in the tooth.  Yes, that again.

The cooked eggplant should have resistance, a gentle ‘bite’, and a meaty interior that holds the flavors and gives a good, but delicate, ‘chew’.  The spongy reality of eggplant may make that chew difficult or even non-existent unless one reduces and ‘muscles up’ some of that water-filled flesh, giving it a workout, so to speak. 

Salt holds the answer.

Best to find a fresh and dense eggplant -- smooth, shiny and somewhat weighty to the heft.  The Japanese eggplant is long and slender, with thinner edible skin, also a great choice.  (The older/larger the vegetable, the ‘grainier’ the texture and the more seedy and stringy the inner flesh, shop smart.)  Lightly trim off the stem and flower ends and slice the bulb lengthwise, to make a large, flat, steak-like series of segments.  For the traditional deep purple variety, I’d say to find two mid-sized (4-5 by 9-10 inches) eggplants for this dish, slicing no more than half-inch in thickness – yielding about seven or eight slices per eggplant.  Wait to peel the bulb until after the slicing, as the skin is somewhat resistant to a hand-operated peeler, so using a sharp knife or peeler to remove the ‘belt’ of skin after slicing can be easier.

Sprinkle quite a bit of salt on each sliced piece, over both sides.  Don’t worry about too much, as it will be rinsed off later.  The salt will draw out the excess ‘sponge’-enhancing waters we were talking about, and with it, bitter juices that came into play when the vegetable was sliced.  Place these slices in a colander over a bowl in the fridge for at least a half an hour (best for two hours), and you will find they will have become denser yet more flexible – meatier -- wrinkly looking (like you’d be after too long in the bath) and a bit thinner.  Rinse the slices well under the tap, actually squeezing them gently afterward to expel excess rinse water, then gently pressing between towels to dry even more.

Now you can begin to create real eggplant Parmesan, in all the ways you recognize.  Lightly bread each slice starting with a light flour dusting (plus my spice rub too for a great taste), next an egg wash, then a dredge in the breading (a few slices of stale or oven-dried hearty bread whirled in the processor with equal amounts of grated Parmesan cheese plus a teaspoon of a combination of fresh or dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, oregano).  Let the breaded slices set a bit on a rack to moisten the coating, then either fry in olive oil/canola/peanut oil as you are familiar, or place on a pre-heated hot baking sheet with a bit of olive oil cooking spray over, and bake at 400° for seven to ten minutes, flip, oil spray, then another seven to ten minutes to finish.  Set slices aside to cool enough to handle.  Lower oven to 350° for later baking.

Spread a ladle-full of one our homemade marinara sauces (the Ebbro would take the house down, or a quality prepared jar variety, but remember, the sauce is the next biggest ingredient in this dish), first on the bottom, followed by the eggplant slices dipped both sides in the marinara sauce, then layers alternating with sliced or shredded mozzarella, small dollops of ricotta, and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheeses, then the dipped eggplant slices again – making about three layers of the vegetable slices – finishing with more sauce, filling in all the gaps.  Lastly top with the Parmesan, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses once again.  Bake at 350° about thirty-five to forty-five minutes until the soft cheeses have melted, the sauce has invaded the meaty crusts of the eggplant slices, the cheese topping is chewy and beginning to golden and brown -- and everything has taken a magical, lovely aroma that will intoxicate.  You will enjoy this one!

Options:  One could ramp up the existing flavors by choosing just a hint of excess:  add a splash of good wine to the simmering bottled red sauce, just a quarter of a cup, very nice; and/or more cheese (Roquefort, pepper jack, Swiss, brie?), meats (sliced salami, turkey, Spam?), nuts, or oysters, or leaves of fresh basil layered with the cheeses, sliced mushrooms (especially portabella mushrooms – can you smell it -- sautéed in butter or truffle butter, garlic and a little wine?) and/or truffle flecks or truffle butter – or asparagus, sweet corn or green or fava beans.  The options are huge, and you could never make the same dish twice! 

Less is more.  Adding only a tiny bit of your selection of these ramped up flavors is best.   It’s hard, I know.  Modestly insinuate just a hint of any of these above listed option flavors into only one of the layers – bringing about the ‘what is that?’ taste reaction one will be searching for is what makes the winner. It will push this dish over the edge in a most wonderful way.   Your tongue will love you.

INDIVIDUAL LASAGNAS                 

serves as few as one, but makes up to ten or fifteen at a time

This recipe is excellent for sharing with kids in the preparation.  It isn’t real difficult, but has all the ‘hands on’ fun type of work that kids love.  It may take a while longer to make this dish, but the time and ease saved in the long run is well worth the effort.  Make many of them and freeze them for many great spur-of-the-moment lasagna cravings.

Making large pan lasagna is a big deal for me.  It is a commitment that takes time and a lot of prep space, a big pan, cooking time with a hot oven (not fun in summer), and requires a lot of room in the fridge for the pan of leftovers.  I hate ‘cooking for one’ as they say, but I do have a great alternative for those of you out there who share my sentiments.  Most grocery stores carry aluminum ‘individual’ meatloaf pans, about two inches wide, five inches long and two inches high (sometimes with lids).  Happily enough, they are the same width as prepared dry lasagna noodles.  How nice!

My preference for preparing this dish is to cook the sauce separately and unite with the layered cooked pasta and fillings at serving. I do love lasagnas cooked in the sauce, but this alternate presentation offers flavors, textures and individual tastes more openly and distinctly.  The individual lasagnas may be easily lidded or wrapped in foil, frozen in zip-lock bags, then popped out of the aluminum pan like an ice cube and heated (microwave or radiant oven) and served with the sauce ladled over.   This is a more northern Italian version, but very recognizable and it still hits all those ‘comfort’ buttons.

Tools:  stockpot, mixing bowl, large skillet, clean ‘kid safe’ scissors, food cooking/release spray, food processor

Prep:  I make three fillings, along with mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan cheeses for the layers.  These are made ahead using the food processor and very little cooking.  Each can be divvied up to different little folks.  The final red sauce can be one of the marinara sauces in this book, or even a quality store-bought jarred marinara, as the real stars of this show are the pasta and fillings.  The final white sauce is also very easily prepared, and is a great presentation with the red sauce, poured over the red in a smaller band-like belt.  Topped with fresh green herbs it creates the Italian flag colors.

Boil the lasagna noodles to just barely under-done, or al dente.  Remove from water, drain and allow to cool for shaping.  Cut the noodles to length with very clean kid-safe scissors (even plastic ones, soak scissors in 1 qt water with 1 tbs bleach for 10 minutes, rinse) to fit the pans, and store cut noodles very briefly in a bowl of cold water just before assembly so they won’t stick to one another.

You can use one, two or all the fillings given here.

Ingredients:                
    10-15    individual aluminum meat loaf pans (usually

                        packaged in quantity of 5)
 2      boxes 16 oz lasagna noodles, cooked to just

                        barely limp, cut to loaf-pan length,

                        stored together briefly in cold water and

                        dipped onto absorbent towel lightly as
                        they are removed to be used

    1      qt fabulous marinara sauce in this book (or 1-jar
                           prepared quality marinara sauce) heated
                           gently in a sauce pan or microwave (boiling,
                           bursting bubbles of tomato auce are like
                           napalm)

   Prepared fillings (see below)

   1        recipe white sauce (see below) for 6 or 8 servings

       ½-¾      lbs mozzarella cheese, sliced 1/8 to ¼ inch thick

           ¼       cup shredded Parmesan, Romano, pecorino,
                                  Cotija, and/or Asiago cheese

           

                   Filling one:

                   ½-¾    lbs cooked, boned, skinned and rough-
                                        chopped chicken, (deli roasted
                                        chicken is excellent)

                      ½     lbs mushrooms, sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil till
                                        tender and brown
                 1     small onion, diced small, sautéed with mush-
                                        rooms till tender and golden

            1-2    cloves garlic, minced, sautéed with
                                mushrooms and onions

             splash wine, sherry and/or shake of Worcester-                               
                                shire sauce added to mushrooms,
                                garlic and onions

          ½      tsp each dried oregano, sage, crushed fine
           2     tsp fresh basil, chiffonade or fine chop

              1      tsp flour
          ¼     tsp pepper flakes
          salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the vegetables in a drizzle of oil/pat of butter till tender, Add flour and dried spices to vegetables and heat lightly to mix flavors and moistures, then add just enough milk or stock (1 or 2 tablespoons) to create a creamy adhesion, then add the chicken.  Place ingredients in processor, and pulse very lightly to create a medium rough chop, similar in appearance to chicken/tuna salad.   Remove, fold in basil.  Set aside.

Filling two:

       1½    8 oz blocks (12 oz total) cream cheese,
                                      room temp

                1      10 oz package chopped frozen spinach,
                               thawed and squeezed/wrung completely
                               dry of liquid then flaked/cut apart

       ¼      tsp fresh ground nutmeg

       salt and pepper to taste

This filling may be hand mashed together with the tines of a fork.  Set aside.

Filling three:

                1     15 oz tub ricotta cheese, unstirred,
                             drained completely of any liquid
                             or whey

        2     tbs shredded Parmesan, Romano, Cotija,
                                     pecorino cheese (half of shredded
                                     amount from above)

                1     tsp hot, Chinese or French (Dijon) style
                             mustard

        ¼    cup rough-chopped fresh basil

                1     egg, beaten

Stir well together.  Set aside.

Preparation:  Assemble, yes, like an assembly line.  Each pan will be begun and ended with a noodle.  Spray interior of each pan with cooking release spray.  Place a moist noodle segment on bottom.  Smear with one healthy heaping tablespoon or two of ricotta mixture, then another noodle, then a layer of sliced mozzarella, and then a noodle, then heaping tablespoonful or so of chicken/mushroom mixture, a noodle, mozzarella cheese slices, noodle, and lastly a heaping tablespoonful of the cream cheese/spinach mix and top with a final noodle.  You will have five layers of cheese or fillings, six layers of noodles.  They should reach just under the top ridge of the aluminum pan.

Lasagna ‘loafs’ may be heated at this time and eaten right away, or refrigerated and heated within a week or so.  Or they may be lid lid-covered/wrapped in foil and placed in zip-lock bag and frozen for later use.  If heated now, may be braised/steamed on stove top, bain marie style, in shallow depth of water (you don’t want them floating or tipping), in a covered pot or pan while still in the loaf pan, for fifteen or twenty minutes; or baked in 350° oven (a toaster oven is perfect) for fifteen to twenty minutes; or removed from foil and metal pan and heated on micro-safe serving dish in microwave at 60% power for one to three minutes.   If frozen to be reheated, may be left wrapped in foil and braised as above.  Or pop the frozen ‘loaf’ from pan, inverting onto micro-safe dish, place under paper towel and micro at 80% power for about three to four minutes (check to see how your microwave performs), then finish at high for one or two.   Or baked in the loaf pans 20 to 25 minutes at 350°.  Heat until cheese melts, and steam rises.

To serve, invert hot ‘brick’ onto a serving dish out of the aluminum loaf pan. Next cover with a generous ladle of hot marinara sauce, then over that foundation layer of red, lay a band of white sauce creating a ‘belt’ across the width of the serving.  Top with chopped basil or fresh parsley, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

White (Béchamel) sauce:  in sauce pan or sauté pan, heat one generous tablespoon butter and/or olive oil and add a heaping tablespoon of flour and whisk together, creating a paste that will cook for at least a half a minute.  Add a splash of white wine or sherry and whisk, creating a looser paste and cook to remove alcohol.  Then add about a cup (or more as needed) of milk (or canned evaporated), a half cup at a time, bringing to heat before adding more, until the white sauce is like very thick cream.  Add the second half of the room-temperature block of cream cheese (4 oz) and blend well.  Bring to heat and serve.  Covers six or eight lasagna servings.

Options: to the chicken/mushroom filling, add one small can 7 oz mild green diced roasted chiles (like ‘Ortega’ brand); or to the spinach filling, add chopped artichoke hearts; or to the ricotta filling, add diced pitted olives.  One or all, there’s a thought.  Alternate cheese choices might be:  sliced pepper jack for mozzarella; or pimento spread (like Price’s brand) for the ricotta; or for the cream cheese, well, nothing can replace cream cheese.

Ok, now I’m being technical, but cream cheese in the US was developed to create a more localized version of Neufchatel (French) and Mascarpone (Italian).  If by some odd chance the latter two are all you can find in the store you’re in – then, yes, they substitute VERY well!  And where exactly is that store?

Option again :  You need not make this dish in individual tins.  I've made the exact recipe in the purchased tradional lasagna tins (about ten by fourteen inches) where one box of pasta will make a three-wide layer of pasta noodles five high (about nine or even twelve generous portions).  All else is layered and prepared and cooked the same.  It freezes very well, and has been served with marinara, pesto, my Salsa Sorpresa and a white sauce - all to great deliciousness!

Options yet again:  It isn't always necessary to use pasta with every layer.  Thin, lengthy slices of zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash, plantain or a favorite squash or vegetable you like - that has been grilled to a tender state can replace alternating layers of pasta in the lasagna - or even more layers if you like.