Category: My Recipes

Bologanse Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

2 pounds of ground beef
1 pound of ground pork   
1 pound of ground veal
1 Can Tomato Paste
2 Cans Tomato (Puree,  Chopped, Whole, etc) I put them in a blender to make a puree)
3 tbs Olive Oil (or more)
3 cloves or garlic, minced
2 onions, minced
2 celery stalks minced
2 carrots, minced
1 bottle dry red wine  (something that you would drink)
Salt/Pepper
Grated Parm Cheese (or better, a chunk of it with the rind)
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 Whole Nutmeg (need a nutmeg or cheese grater to grate it) 
1/2 oz to 5 oz Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

 

 

 

Procedure

Sauted the garlic, onions, celery and carrots over low heat for 20-30 minutes until they are real soft
Remove

Saute Beef, drain fat, Saute Pork, drain fat, Saute Veal, drain fat
Add all meats together, add 1 can tomato paste over medium heat until blended.  Add tomatos
Add wine and salt/pepper

Simmer, simmer and simmer for 3-6 hours.  Add water/wine/tomatos if necessary.
You want the sauce to be thick….
Add Milk, Nutmeg and cheese.
Simmer for about 1 hour more

(You can add more milk/nutmeg/cheese per your taste, plus Hot pepper)

(You can freeze this sauce and reheat later.  We sometimes make double this amount and freeze
a bunch for later on)
Serve over short pastas (Rotini/Fuzilli/Penne/etc)
Add more cheese

Wine
A Super-Tuscan from Italy  

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

 

 

 

Ingredients  

1 cup chopped bacon 1 clove garlic, minced
24 pearl onions, peeled 1 bouquet garni
1 lb mushrooms, halved salt and pepper to taste
1 ¼ cup beef stock
`Layer the following (onion, herbs, meat; repeat)
1 large onion, sliced thin
Few sprigs parsley
Few sprigs fresh thyme

2 lbs top round (bottom round or other stewing meat is fine), cut in cubed chunks 

Combine the following and pour over all of above to marinate for at least 4 hours
2 tbs brandy
1 ¾ cup red burgundy
2 tbs olive oil
¼ cup butter

Procedure

Melt butter in a casserole, add bacon and fry until golden. Remove and set aside.
Add onions and fry until golden.  Remove and set aside.
Add mushrooms and fry, stirring for 1 min.  Drain and set aside.
Remove beef from marinade. Strain marinade and set aside.
Brown beef in batches.  Return all to pan, sprinkle with flour and stir for 1 min.
Gradually stir in marinade, then stock, garlic and bouquet garni.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer 2 hours or until meat is tender.  
Skim fat. Add bacon, onion, mushrooms.
Cover and cook for an additional 30 min. Discard Bouquet garni and serve with noodles, rice, or parsley potatoes.

 

 BEST MADE THE DAY BEFORE!  Serves 6 but can easily be double, tripled

Wine
French Cote d Rhone,  Morgan or for the bold, a  Châteauneuf-du-Pape 

 

Rack of Lamb

1 Package of Rack of Lamb  (about 6 pieces)
3 Garlic Cloves Minced
3-4 Large Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary
About 30 blonde pistachio nuts crushed into small pieces
1 tbl Dijon Mustard
15 Whole Peppercorns
1 Bottle low priced Red Zinfandel
1 Can Beef Broth

Start to French Cut the rack.  Basically, this is trimming down the bone on each piece to the meaty part.  Continue to scrap all of this part of the bone. Also, remove any fatter pieces, which they should only be one large one.

Save all of these scrapings. In a 2-3 qt stove pot, add the olive oil and lamb scrapings, heat till the scrapings begin to melt. Add the garlic and half of the rosemary. Cook for about 30 minutes without burning. Add one full bottle of red Zinfandel and one can of beef broth. Continue to simmer until the wine/broth reduces to about 1/3.

Meanwhile, take your rack out, salt/pepper it and they quickly sear it on a very hot pan for about 2 minutes per side at the most. Remove from heat and put aside. When the lamb is cooled, spread the Dijon mustard on both sides. Press on the crushed pistachio nuts on both sides, with the most on the natural top side of the rack.

Strain the sauce, return to heat, add some more of the fresh rosemary, leaving only enough to garnish. Continue to heat until you have a thick rich sauce.

In a hot oven or broiler, cook the Lamb no longer than 25 minutes. Remove from the heat; let it rest for about 5 minutes. Cut into the rack, so you have 6 individual pieces.

This goes great with Garlic-mashed red potatoes and grilled Asparagus.

Put a good amount of the potatoes in the middle of the plate. Proceed to place the pieces of lamb so that the bone ends are up in the air and surround the potatoes.

Pour some of the wine sauce around the lamb pieces, snip a few pieces of the remaining rosemary around the plate.

Wine
 Big Bold Red Zinfandel from  California,  my favorite, 7 Deadly Sins 

 

 

Ron’s French Onion Soup Recipe

Total time: 3 hrs 25 minutes, which includes about 45 minutes of standing

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs onions (a combination of American Yellow and Vidalia)
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup cognac
• 10 cups beef broth
• Salt and pepper
• French bread, toasted
• Gruyère cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Cream sherry (optional)

 

Method:

• Slice the onions while sitting comfortably at a table. Sauté the sliced onions in the butter or oil for 15 minutes. Add sugar, salt, and pepper, and sauté at a higher temperature for about 45 minutes until onions caramelize. (Ron only needs to go to the stove every 8-10 minutes during this time. Otherwise, he takes a seat and enjoys his glass of wine.)
• After the onions are slightly amber, add flour and turn heat to low, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes. Slowly add the cognac and flambé the mixture.
• Finally, add the broth, salt and pepper to taste, and cover and simmer for 2 hours. Ron recommends serving the soup the next day, after the onions and broth have had time to soak together.
• If you are serving the soup immediately, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit about 15 minutes before the soup is done.
• Before serving, remove some of the onions from the broth and prepare each individual bowl: fill the bowls with soup, and place toasted bread and generous amounts of Gruyère and Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
• If you do not have a soup dish that can bake in the oven, Ron recommends using two or three smaller pieces of toast, and microwaving individual bowls until the cheese on top melts.

 

 

Note: Depending on the type of onions you use, you may need to add a little Cream Sherry before serving. Ron uses a combination of the standard American Yellow onions along with the sweeter Vidalia onions.

Wine
French bordeaux from either the St Julien or Magaux appellations