Wordless Wednesday: My Mahjongg Girls!

Pasticciata Bolognese : Part 2 The Sauces

Pasticciata Bolognese, as described in my earlier post is a rather luxurious type of lasagna. The main sauce used in this recipe is a Bolognese Sauce, also known as the queen of sauces.


Deeply flavored.  Rich.  Seductive. Velvety.  The Queen of Sauces; Bolognese, is all of these things. It is also history, tradition, and a serious achievement for any serious cook in Italian cuisine. 


The earliest reference I have found to 'Ragu' alla bolognese is a 15th century recipe, which describes lining a casserole dish with prosciutto and strips of pork fat, laying chopped onion, (no garlic - Italian patricians for centuries abhorred garlic smells on the breath, which was looked down on at Court) carrot, celery and fresh wild herbs, which would be parsley, sage, rosemary and origano, and laying over that best quality finely chopped beef. The whole would then be covered in dry red wine and beef stock, and cooked over a slow fire for at least four hours, or until the meat was dark brown with a 'burnt' appearance. A little cream should be added at the end of cooking, to ennoble the dish.

Tomatoes didn't come into the equation until late on in the 15th century, reaching italy through Spain, where potatoes, maize, peppers of all kinds, tomatoes and American beans were introduced by the triumphant Conquistadores.The whole of Southern Italy was under Spanish Bourbon rule at the time, and it is said that these new foodswere first introduced into Palermo, Sicily, and thence found their way up the Italian peninsula and becoming part of the main staples of  Italian food, and tomatoes soon found their way into some - though not all - meat sauces, including Bolognese.


My sauce is made with three kinds of meat, beef, pork and cured pork (pancetta) but some recipes also include veal. I also am of the "milk" school. As you will see by the list of ingredients, this sauce is probably equal to some of the complex and multilayered  moles of Mexican cooking which I also adore. 


The other sauce used in this recipe is a traditional cream sauce, Besciamella. I will give the recipes for both of these in Part 2 and then in Part 3, I will give you the final instructions in assembly and baking.. 


Ragu alla Bolognese Ricetta Antica 


2# ground beef (15% fat)
2# ground pork (15 % fat)
2 cups dry vermouth
8 ounces pancetta or bacon
6 fat garlic cloves
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large red onions minced
2 large stalks of celery, minced in a food processor
2 carrots, minced in a food processor
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cups hot milk
nutmeg for grating (about 1 teaspoon)
2 Cups or more turkey, veal or beef stock
freshly ground black pepper


* I have also used porcini mushrooms in this sauce, but they are not traditional, so I am omitting them

• Put all 4 pounds of ground meat in a large mixing bowl. With your hands, crumble and loosen it. This is easier if you allow the meat to achieve room temperature. Pour the Vermouth over the meat and mix completely together. Allow to rest.

• To make the pestata cut the bacon or pancetta slices into 1 inch pieces and put them in the bowl of a food processor with the peeled garlic. Process this into a fine paste. 

Cooking the sauce Base: 

• Pour the olive oil into a heavy sauce pan and scrape in all of the pestata. Put the pan on medium heat and break up the pestata and stir it around the pan bottom to start rendering lard. Cook for 3-4 minutes stirring until the bacon and garlic are sizziling and the garlic starts to turn golden. 

• Stir in the minced onions and cook till the onions begin to sweat. Stir in the carrot and celery and cook till the vegetables are wilted and gold over medium-high heat (about 4-5 minutes.) 

• Turn up the heat and move the veggies off to the side and put all of the meat into the pan. Sprinkle the salt on. Allow the meat to brown, then stir and continue to brown until all of the meat is browned. Cook an additional 30 minutes or more until all of the liquid has concentrated. As the liquid level goes down turn the heat down so you do not burn the meat.

• Slowly heat the milk and stock to be used. 

• When all of the meat has been cooked off, drop in the tomato paste on a hot spot and allow to toast for a minute. Then blend in to the meat. Cook for another few minutes, stirring. 

• Pour in two cups of the hot milk and stir into the meat; add more as needed to cover the meat. Grate in the nutmeg. Stir well, being sure to clean the bottom of the pan with the spoon, pulling up any caramelized bits on the bottom. 

• Bring the sauce to a simmer. Cover the pan adjusting the heat to maintain slow steady cooking. The sauce should be bubbling just a bit. 

• The sauce needs to simmer for 3 hours. During which, check the pot about every 15 minutes and add hot milk as needed to cover the meat. every 15-20 minutes there should be a reduction of 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups. After all of the milk has been used, start using stock to replenish the liquids. This step is important and creates the complex flavor of the sauce. If the sauce level is falling too fast, lower the heat. 

• During the finishing of the sauce, the meat should appear suspended in a rich velvety sauce. If the meat is still  under liquid increase heat and reduce further. 

• Taste and add salt or pepper if needed. cook for an additional 5 minutes. 

• Stir the sauce and and allow to cool. The sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for a few months. It is a great thing to have on hand. Aside from the recipe provided here, this sauce is also quite good over polenta, risotto, pasta, gnocchi or to sauce ravioli. 

Besciamella -Béchamel or Cream Sauce (this is a double recipe needed for the Pasticcata)

4 cups milk

Pinch of salt

Pinch of white pepper

2 Bay leaves

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons all purpose-flour

6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmagiano Reggiano 

• Pour the milk into a large saucepan. Add seasonings and bay leaf. Bring almost to a boil and then reduce heat but keep warm. 

• Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat and when the butter starts to foam, add the flour, whisk to form a roux, allow the roux to darken slightly. 

• Stir in the milk, stirring constantly until the sauce begins to boil. Keep the pan at a slow simmer, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens. This should take 3-4 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the grated cheese. 

• Remove from heat and place plastic wrap directly to the sauce so that a skin will not form. The sauce can sit like this for a few hours at room temperature. It can be refrigerated for a day or to, but I prefer to do t his sauce on the day of assembly. 

Coming next, part 3, the final assembly.

Pasticciata Bolognese : Part 1 Spinach Pasta

OK... I am on a pasta jag... can't seem to shake it. After making the Chestnut Pasta a few days ago, I was reminded how truly great fresh pasta is and how I have neglected making it for a very long time. I promise, after this post I will do some local fish and veggie posts...maybe even with pasta? Meanwhile, please travel with me to Italy where soft velvety pastas and complex layered flavors of long cooked sauces delight our senses. In making this dish, you will share with your guests and family something quite special, a gift of your time and love, something that is rarely found on menus in the US and something that is even more rare and wonderful here on Hawai'i Island.

Pasticciata Bolognese is quite simply Lasagna made a very special way. I happen to think that it is one of  the best pasta dishes ever. It is also a bit on the messy side and it is something that requires a good deal of production time. However, it is so worth the effort. Much of this dish can be broken down into components that can be made ahead of time. I spent about 8 hours (much of which was simmering time for the sauce) of a single day making it, but you could easily do the pasta one day, the Bolognese Sauce another day  and the Besciamella & assembly another day. So, that is the way I am going to give this formula to you, starting today with the Spinach Pasta. Of course the Spinach Past is good for other forms of pasta. It can be cut and shaped into nearly any shape of pasta, so keep this recipe on hand for other uses too. I love it for ravioli with fresh ricotta and lemon zest filling. And all the while, this is also a great way to add spinach to foods for those who do not get enough of this important vegetable.

Spinach Pasta

There are two ways to make this pasta, one with fresh spinach and the other is with chopped frozen spinach. While I love fresh spinach (especially in salads) unless you have a huge garden of it, I must admit that frozen chopped spinach is perfect for this recipe and no compromises are made in nutrition or texture.  Keep in mind that spinach pasta is more moist than some pastas, so it will cook more quickly. I am giving instructions here for using frozen spinach, but you can easily cook raw spinach for about 5 minutes and then do the draining and squeezing with it.

Preparing the Spinach

Thaw the frozen spinach in a bowl in the refrigerator over night, then place in a strainer and squeeze the spinach by hand. Once you have done this, let it rest for a few minutes and then place in an old linen towel and twist it into a ball, squeezing even more. Just when you think you have removed all of the moisture, squeeze again. The dryer the spinach, the better the pasta.

Making the Dough


Ingredients: 

• One ten ounce box of frozen chopped spinach (completely drained as instructed above)
• 2 Cups all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling and kneading the pasta)
• 2 large whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Method: 

Break apart the spinach in the bowl of a food processor and puree it, scrape down the sides with a spatula. In the bowl of the processor, add the flour to the spinach, pulsing till the spinach is completely incorporated into the flour.

In a measuring cup with a spout, whisk together the eggs, yolks and oil. While the processor is running slowly pour the egg mixture into the spinach flour mixture. Processs briefly and then scrape down the sides of the bowl and then process just until it starts to cling to the blade or form a ball.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth and elastic. Wrap well in plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before rolling. At this point you can store it in the refrigerator for up to three days and up to three months in the freezer. If you do this, make sure that you allow the thawed dough to rest and completely come to room temperature before rolling.

In part 2 we will be making the sauces, then in part 3 we will assemble the Pasticciata Bolognese.

Homemade Chestnut Pasta

I have been making pasta from scratch for over 20 years. I like trying different flours and methods and recently found some chestnut flour at Abundant Life. I used to be able to find chestnut flour when I lived in Chicago, and rarely when we lived in the bay area, so I was really surprised to find it here... and on sale no less! I suppose we can thank Abundant Life's new section of Gluten Free Products for some cool finds and this is one of them. If you are doing this gluten free, use 100% chestnut flour, but your pasta will be a little more difficult to handle than if you do a 50/50 blend using all-purpose flour. Imported farina de castagne (flour of chestnut) is widely available in specialty markets and on a variety of web sites.

Here is the method and a simple recipe for the Butter, sage, rosemary and walnut sauce I used for the pasta.

*note, this pasta, like all pastas can be made by hand, but it is one that works very well with the food processor method.

Ingredients:

• Dry:  1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 cup chestnut flour
• Wet: 2 large whole eggs, 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons water

1. Fit the regular steel cutting blade in the bowl of a food processor
2. Measure the flours into the bowl
3. Process for a few seconds to aerate 
4. Drop the eggs into a spouted measuring cup & beat briefly with a fork to break up. 
5. Mix in the measured amounts of oil and water. To minimize the chance of overheating, use cold eggs and water. 
6. Start the machine running with the feed tube open. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl and quickly scrape out any remaining eggs out of the cup. 
7. Let the machine run for about 30 seconds. A dough should form quickly; most of it should clump or ball up on the blade. some may spread on the sides of the bowl where it will twist and knead. Let the machine knead the dough for about 10 seconds (no more than 50 seconds total processsing.)
8. Turn the dough on to a floured board and lightly knead another 30 seconds or so, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Wrap and rest the dough in plastic wrap. It can be stored for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, but should be allowed to come to room temp before rolling. 

Rolling the pasta: 

I often use a simple rolling pin to make pasta and have a variety of ways to cut and shape it, but for beginners it is probably best to use a pasta rolling machine to get the dough into thin, smooth sheets. If doing this method, divide the dough into workable sheets and then starting with the widest setting, run your dough through the rollers reducing the size of the setting until you end up on the narrowest setting. Allow these sheets to rest on a floured surface, covered by towels. 

Cutting the pasta: 

There are a variety of ways to cut the pasta, the simplest being using a knife or pizza cutters to cut it into narrow strips. I used the linguine cutter on my pasta roller for this particular pasta, but I often use a chitarra, or Pasta Guitar for cutting narrow pastas. These devices are not expensive, but   here are directions about how to make your own  Chitarrra . 

Once the pasta is cut, it needs to dry a bit before cooking. You can use a rack or just toss with some flour and make small piles of the noodles. These nests work especially well if you want to freeze your pasta. 

Cooking the pasta: 

For 1 # of fresh pasta bring 6 quarts of water to boil stir in 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Before adding the pasta to the water, shake off excess flour. drop the pasta into the pot in several batches, stirring with each addition so the pasta does not stick. 

Return the water to a boil until the pasta rises to the top, sample the pasta and if it is tender then remove and strain, Drop with clinging water into the sauce and toss. 

Butter, Sage, Rosemary Walnut Sauce

1 stick butter 

10 fresh sage leaves

1 stick of rosemary , needles pulled off

1 cup of chopped walnuts (or chestnuts if you can find them)

1 Cup freshly grated Parmagiano Reggianao

Melt the butter in a skillet large enough to hold pasta. Scatter the sage leaves and rosemary needles around the pan. When the butter begins to sizzle add the walnuts in a hot spot. Toast them until light brown. Ladle in 1 cup of the pasta water and simmer for about 3 minutes for the flavors to blend and allow the sauce to thicken slightly. Finish sauce with cooked pasta, tossing and cooking together over low heat. Remove from heat and add cheese, tossing. Serve with crushed red pepper and freshly grated black pepper. 

Wordless Wednesday : Oysters Half Shell Happiness

An Evening with Roseanne Barr

A couple of nights ago we were invited to see Roseanne Barr try out her new stand up routine on some of her neighbors in Honokaa. It was a fund raiser for the "Dental Bus" that goes around the Hamakua Coast servicing providing dental care for children. It was an evening of hilarity and great music with friends.

The event was held at the Old Mac Nut Factory, which is now a studio for artists and has a barn space where concerts and events are held. We are lucky enough to be friends with some of the artists who are located in the space as well as friends that own two vacation cottages in Honokaa. Teri Suggs is an artist that I worked with at the Walnut Creek Clay Arts Guild and who moved to the big island several months before we did.

Roseanne has a radio show on public radio, you can find archives and free pod casts here:
Tipping Point KPFK

Roseanne's boyfriend of 7 years is musician Johnny Argent played with several other musicians in the Old Mac Nut Factory. It turned out to be a perfect venue for the pair, who were able to rock the house with music and rib busting laughter. Speaking of rib busting laughter, my ribs ached the next morning from laughing so hard all night.

The evening was a BYOB potluck and as usual the group at the Mac Nut Factory had lots of good food.

In my research, I learned that Roseanne met Johnny after he posted on a forum on her blog back in 2001 and finally won her over. She fell in love with him before ever seeing him and then was pleasantly surprised in 2002 when they finally met. I think he must be good for her in many ways. For one thing she has gone natural in her hair color and seems to be a little less angry with the world in general. Her comedy is irreverent and occasionally offensive, but it is difficult not to laugh at her views of life,  I especially loved her menopause jokes.

Photo by Sarah Lee

For those of you wondering what kind of  house Roseanne lives in here... I can share this arial view. You can see she is surrounded by plenty of land and enjoys her well deserved privacy. The 46 + acre farm was purchased in 2007. At that time, Roseanne told  Reuters that she had bought a property in Hawaii that grows macadamias, quipping, “I always knew I would end up on a nut farm, and I’m going to.”

And here is the place Roseanne calls home in Hawaii. It is where she gathers her family, enjoys cooking, making her own hot sauce and crackers and other good things.