Signs of spring are all around us today. I drove with my window rolled down while thinking how my jacket seemed to warm. I had my first iced coffee of the season, as it is strictly a warm weather treat for me. It was also warm enough out today for me to go to the local Jiffy Lube and give my car the long overdue interior cleaning that it has been begging me for. Yet, with all the telltale signs I still wasn't getting that spring is just about here...that is until I stood up from vacuuming the driver's side of my car, wondering how I could have that much salt on the rug and I saw it. Nope, it certainly wasn't a bluebird, or even a tulip beginning to bud. It was the the line at Jim's Tastee Freeze on Delaware Ave.
Hot damn! Winter is pretty much kissing us goodbye. I dropped that vacuum hose and immediately called Michael to give him the news. "Jim's is open!" We made plans to go after dinner.
Jim's is just the local soft serve joint a few minutes from our house. They are open from March til October-no specific date just when the weather turns. Cash only, open 7 days a week. They happen to have a delicious creamy soft serve that they make from a Crowley's brand ice cream base. Lots of places use that brand, but for some reason Jim's does it better. (And for all you Kurver Creme addicts...I think that stuff tastes waxy...) Jim also makes their own peanut butter topping and brownies along with other goodies.
So just a couple of weeks ago the parking lot at Jim's was literally covered with 2 feet of snow. Today there was a line of folks for large chocolate twist with rainbow sprinkles. I should have known it was coming though. This week another fare weather staple to our area opened for the season-Jumpin' Jacks in Scotia. Jacks is the greasiest of greasy burgers, fries, shakes and all the other usual stuff for a burger stand. Situated on the banks of the Mohawk River Jumpin' Jacks is a tradition that causes students (and I suspect a teacher or two) to cut school the day they open to queue up with all the other fans for the first burger of the season. We have waited in line for up to an hour to enjoy the goodness.
There are certainly other signs of spring all around me, recipes using asparagus abound in the recent issue of Cooking Light, seedlings at the Home Depot amongst others. For me though, it really isn't time to start putting those boots in the back of the closet until I've had my first Tastee Freeze.
Do you have a favorite seasonal food spot? I would love to hear about it.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
My First Bolognese
First of all, it has been way too long since my last post. Life keeps getting in the of all the yummy posts...
A few weeks ago Zoe and I cooked a dish out of her kids cookbook called Squid and Eyeballs, that was essentially Buccatini in an Asian style sauce with tiny meatballs filled with scallion and since Zoe was cooking it "love".
That day was the first time I had ever cooked Buccatini and we all loved them. Buccatini is a thick spaghetti that is hollow down the center of it. It only cooks for about 8 minutes and is meant to be al dente and therefore works well with chunky sauces or as a substitute for Asian noodles. It is NOT readily available by all your standard pasta manufacturers and we had a little trouble finding it but all of the imported brands seem to have it (except Barilla).
We decided that we would try it again with a hearty Italian-style sauce and a bolognese seemed to fit the bill. I had never made a bolognese sauce before so we did a little research on recipes and I came up with a hybrid that worked for me/us, which is below the description of bolognese.
A bolognese is a sauce originating in Bologna (no surprise there!) that is a very meaty ragu of a sauce-more chunky less saucy is a good way to describe. It works well with thicker pastas.
We used 1 pound of buccatini for 3 people to go with this recipe and we have at least one more dinner for all of us.
1 lb ground turkey*
3/4 lb ground pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion finely diced
1 carrot finely shredded
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup heavy cream**
3/4 cup milk
Pinch of nutmeg
1 1/4 cup white wine
32 oz canned plum tomato in juice
ground thyme, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, dried Italian seasoning (basil, oregano & parsley)
In large non-stick skillet brown the meats with the garlic and a generous sprinkling of Italian season.
While meat is cooking, prep your veggies. Dice your onions finely and cut your carrots into fine matchsticks (I cheated...I had shredded carrot left over from something else that I bought and just used that...).
Begin heating your oil and butter in a large heavy duty pot with a lid.
Drain off the excess fat from your meat and set meat aside.
Once oil and butter are heated put in veggies along with a sprinkling of dried thyme. Cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Stir in meat and cook 2 more minutes to incorporate.
Stir in cream and milk along with a pinch of nutmeg. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occassionally, allowing for the liquid to melt into the meat and cook down.
Add wine, salt and pepper to taste, and allow this to reduce for another 10 minutes.
While pot is reducing blend tomatoes to a chunky sauce texture.
Once the liquid has sufficiently reduced add the blended tomato. Stir to incorporate and allow to simmer for up to 1 hour.
I added crushed red pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar at the end to give the sauce a little pop and zing!
*most recipes call for 1/2 pound ground chuck and 1/2 pound of ground pork. I used what I had on hand and adjusted amounts of other ingredients to compensate.
**for more richness use all cream, for less fat use all milk.
Enjoy!
A few weeks ago Zoe and I cooked a dish out of her kids cookbook called Squid and Eyeballs, that was essentially Buccatini in an Asian style sauce with tiny meatballs filled with scallion and since Zoe was cooking it "love".
That day was the first time I had ever cooked Buccatini and we all loved them. Buccatini is a thick spaghetti that is hollow down the center of it. It only cooks for about 8 minutes and is meant to be al dente and therefore works well with chunky sauces or as a substitute for Asian noodles. It is NOT readily available by all your standard pasta manufacturers and we had a little trouble finding it but all of the imported brands seem to have it (except Barilla).
We decided that we would try it again with a hearty Italian-style sauce and a bolognese seemed to fit the bill. I had never made a bolognese sauce before so we did a little research on recipes and I came up with a hybrid that worked for me/us, which is below the description of bolognese.
A bolognese is a sauce originating in Bologna (no surprise there!) that is a very meaty ragu of a sauce-more chunky less saucy is a good way to describe. It works well with thicker pastas.
We used 1 pound of buccatini for 3 people to go with this recipe and we have at least one more dinner for all of us.
1 lb ground turkey*
3/4 lb ground pork
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion finely diced
1 carrot finely shredded
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup heavy cream**
3/4 cup milk
Pinch of nutmeg
1 1/4 cup white wine
32 oz canned plum tomato in juice
ground thyme, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, dried Italian seasoning (basil, oregano & parsley)
In large non-stick skillet brown the meats with the garlic and a generous sprinkling of Italian season.
While meat is cooking, prep your veggies. Dice your onions finely and cut your carrots into fine matchsticks (I cheated...I had shredded carrot left over from something else that I bought and just used that...).
Begin heating your oil and butter in a large heavy duty pot with a lid.
Drain off the excess fat from your meat and set meat aside.
Once oil and butter are heated put in veggies along with a sprinkling of dried thyme. Cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Stir in meat and cook 2 more minutes to incorporate.
Stir in cream and milk along with a pinch of nutmeg. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occassionally, allowing for the liquid to melt into the meat and cook down.
Add wine, salt and pepper to taste, and allow this to reduce for another 10 minutes.
While pot is reducing blend tomatoes to a chunky sauce texture.
Once the liquid has sufficiently reduced add the blended tomato. Stir to incorporate and allow to simmer for up to 1 hour.
I added crushed red pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar at the end to give the sauce a little pop and zing!
*most recipes call for 1/2 pound ground chuck and 1/2 pound of ground pork. I used what I had on hand and adjusted amounts of other ingredients to compensate.
**for more richness use all cream, for less fat use all milk.
Enjoy!
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