Accidental Italian Supper

My beau and I frequently cook together. In order to plan better, we typically discuss things a few days out. One recipe on the "to do" list is his spaghetti sauce. Based loosely on a recipe from Alton Brown, it consists of roasting tomatoes for a few hours (over night) in a very low temperature oven. We attempted it last night, but sadly, the oven at its lowest setting is too hot, so we awoke to tomato raisonettes. They were very chewy and dry, so they ended up getting tossed.

In order to maintain the Italian theme, I went to the grocery store after a light lunch and some errand running. While there, I picked up bread ( a staple of any Italian themed dinner), fresh Mozzarella cheese, balsamic vinegar, basil, and mussels. I also picked up the ingredients for a put together tomato sauce that didn't need to roast overnight in the too hot oven.

Because sauce typically takes a long time, I determined it best to cook the mussels as a light appetizer, followed by a caprese salad, to finish with pasta and sauce. The recipes follow.

Mussels in White Wine

One habit that I frequently employ is searching far and wide for recipes, following a mixture of multiples, and then endlessly creating variations until I find what I like. Mussels are one of the easiest, quickest fine foods one can make.

I go to the seafood counter and order a pound or two, depending on how many I am serving.

Once home, thoroughly rinse the mussels, scrubbing off any debris. Here's a nifty 'how to' for cleaning and debearding mussels. Be sure to do this every time! Additionally, I check for "freshness" or to see if the mussels are alive. You want all of the shells to close very tightly, inspect them carefully. If you squeeze them and they reopen, toss it, this means the mussel inside is dead. You can also check this by a firm tap against a hard surface, the edge of the counter or sink top works just fine. Any that don't stay closed tight are duds, and you can discard them. Additionally, any mussel that doesn't open during cooking should also be discarded.

Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 of a large onion, finely chopped
1 tbs of olive oil
2 tbs of  finely chopped parsley
1/2 of a lemon (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of white wine (any white wine that you would drink is fine. I used a Riesling. Let me note here that I didn't actually measure the wine, I eye it until it "looks right" - I know, not terribly useful. 2 cups will work.)

Begin on by combining the garlic, onion, and olive oil over medium low heat. Cook these together for a few minutes, just until they start softening. Make sure the temperature is a little bit below medium, garlic burns very quickly and the goal here is to extract flavors - not to crisp your garlic.

Add the white wine, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil (basically to bring to temperature) and then reduce to a simmer until you've reduced the amount of wine by approximately half.

Add the mussels and a pinch of parsley, promptly put a tight fitting lid on the pan. I use a clear lid so that I can monitor the doneness of my mussels.

One can cook mussels to a few different stages. White are done, but on the very rare side. A light orangy tan is the right color to know when they are done. When all of the mussels are open and approximately this color, call it done. At approximately 5ish minutes they will turn white, 6ish minutes gets you orange. Any additional time after that and I would say you risk getting mussel erasers.

Put them into a serving dish, toss with a few squeezes of fresh lemon and the rest of the parsley, and then eat.

Digging into the mussels. We got excited before I could take the picture!

Caparese Salad

This is a terribly simple salad, and based on plating and how many you are serving, its an easy treat for entertaining.

Ingredients
1 fresh tomato
1 ball of fresh mozarella
fresh basil leaves
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
fresh cracked pepper

Slice your tomato and mozarella to be approximately the same width. I find that a quarter inch works best. Layer it onto a plate, starting with the mozarella, then tomato, then a fresh basil leaf. Repeat this pattern with a second tomato slice, mozarella slice, and basil leaf.

Drizzle lightly with a good olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Finish with cracked pepper. 

Spaghetti Sauce

I will confess - I have my own sauce recipe. The recipe that follows it not it. This is my partner in crimes sauce, and as I've mentioned to him on multiple times, I am a terrible passenger. I have to frequently resist the urge to side seat drive, and cook. Which means when he starts up the stove, I normally have to leave.

I did have some input into this recipe, however, I can't say that he listened to me very much.

Ingredients
1 16 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 stalk of celery, diced
a handful of baby carrots, diced
1/4 of a large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of red wine
2 tbs of Italian seasoning
1 cup of water
1 tsp of sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
2 tbs of olive oil

Combine the olive oil, celery, carrots, onion, and garlic over medium heat in a hot sauce pan.  Cook just until vegetables are translucent, approximately 6 minutes. Add the whole can of tomatoes and rinse out the can by filling it up about halfway, swishing the water around, and adding it to the sauce pot. Add the rest of the ingredients at this point. Bring the pot to a slow simmer. Cook over medium low heat, maintaining the simmer, until sauce reduces by approximately an inch and a half. (I argued for more reduction. I was shot down.)

At this point, remove the pot from the stove. CAREFULLY use a food processor, blender, or immersion blender, to finely puree the sauce. I used the immersion blender by covering the pot with a towel and pulsing until the sauce was smooth.

Your sauce is done!

To serve the sauce, boil up spaghetti until al dente in a different pot of salty water. Reserve a small amount of the pasta cooking water. (I will typically snag about a cup and a half in a liquid measuring cup large enough for 2 and a half cups.. This way I have more than I need. I've too often forgotten all about this step, drained the pasta, and then been left with nothing.)

Heat up a skillet on the stove, add the noodles to the pan with enough sauce to coat, and then add a few bits of water. This requires NO MORE than 1/4 cup of reserved cooking water. This is a step where you have to eye ball it, you want the starch from the cooking water to be enough to thicken the sauce. Cook for a minute or two, and the spaghetti should absorb some sauce, while some liquid cooks off.

Serve your pasta. If you want to get really fancy, go ahead and chiffonade some basil on top along with a little bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

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I've been informed that a traditional Italian meal consists of five courses - the antipasto, the pasta, the fish course, the meat course, and finally dessert. We had three of these five, out of order!

Too bad there is no gelato nearby, and the bakery with canolli is closed...

Feel Better Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls

Having been fighting off the death pollen after relocating to Chicago from Florida, I decided yesterday that I would make my old tried and true classic, Matzo Ball Soup. I've never been a fan of the watery broth, laden with MSG, from the envelope of soup mix that one sees at every holiday table. While this soup isn't bad, particularly as an appetizer for a huge holiday meal,  it is not full of healing chicken soupy goodness.

This is a rather large endeavor, and one needs multiple/days or hours to complete the soup making process from start to finish. I got impatient about midway through, and instead of simmering the broth for an hour or two as typical, I used my pressure cooker on high pressure for ~ 15.

As an aside, I keep a "bone bag" in the freezer. I predominately purchase bone in, skin on thighs, and then debone and deskin them, throw the remnants into a gallon sized bag that I keep in the freezer. When I want soup or stock, I take out the bone bag and make what I want with it, and start a fresh bag the next time I cut up chicken. I didn't have a full bag this time, so I supplemented with a whole roaster chicken, which I think was really useful for this soup. Typically, I use the bones to make stock for butternut squash soup, or this smoked cheddar with bacon and potato mixture I've come up with..

The recipe is fairly simple and the ingredients are nothing spectacular, but there are some specific steps that ought to be followed.

Ingredients
1 large onion (or two small) medium dice
2 cups of baby carrots (cube one cup for the stock, leave the rest whole)
3 stalks of medium celery, cut crosswise in 1/8 strips.
1 whole roaster chicken, any misc. bones
1 lemon, halved
salt
pepper
thyme (fresh or dried)
rosemary (fresh or dried)
1 tsp poultry seasoning
fresh parsley
olive oil

Matzo Balls
2 eggs
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup matzo meal
spare water or broth if mixture is too dry

Roasting the Chicken 

Place chicken pieces in a 9X13 pan. Season liberally with salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary, and a few drizzles of olive oil. Squeeze both halves of the lemon over the chicken, and then put the lemon halves into the pan. Roast, covered with aluminum foil for as long as it takes the chicken to reach 160 degrees internal temp. Approx 90 minutes or so. Remove the aluminum foil for the last half hour of cooking.

Once finished, set aside to cool. (This can be done the night before if you so desire.) Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, peel the skin and meat off the bones. Set the bones and skin aside with the lemon halves, and put the meat into a bowl, cover, and store refridgerated. Keep the roasting juices as well. If doing this the night before, store in a covered bowl. (I left mine in the roasting pan because I was incorporating it immediately.)

Place the meat and skin, along with any additional bones/meat/trimmings, into a shallow pan, and roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so. This helps concentrate the flavor a little better, creating a richer stock. This step can be skipped. 

Making the stock

In a large stock pot, put a dollop (1-2 tbs) of olive oil. Add diced carrots, celery, and half of the diced onion. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary to taste. Add poultry seasoning. (if using dried herbs).

Cook at medium low until the vegetables have turned translucent.

 Add the bones, skin, lemon, and reserved roasting juices into the pot, and fill with enough water to liberally cover the bones. Add in 6-8 sprigs of fresh parsley. If doing without a pressure cooker, bring to a low boil/high simmer for a few hours. (Anywhere from 1-2 based on your patience). If you are making Matzo Balls to go with your soup, now is a good time to make them, since the mixture needs to chill for about 20 minutes.

I threw up my hands because it was getting on towards dinner (and I'm not always the best planner) and threw the whole mixture into my pressure cooker. I cooked it at full pressure for about 15 minutes, and it came out perfect.

Once your stock is finished, strain through a fine mesh strain. I promise. You want to do this step. All of the flavors have been extracted from the bones and vegetables. It will taste like cardboard if you leave it in your soup - and the only cardboard I like in my soup is Matzo.

Soup
Once your stock has been strained, you've mostly got soup! Congratulations!

Before you have a full pot of soup, take your whole baby carrots and the rest of the chopped onion. Cook with 1 tbs of oil until the vegetables are translucent. (approx 5-10 minutes) Add your strained stock. Get out your chilled matzo mixture, and go ahead and add gently formed balls to your soup. Let them cook at a low simmer until they are done. The box says this takes 30-40 minutes. (Or, do like I do. Throw them into a roiling boil and cook them for about 15 minutes. I didn't even know they took that long until I checked the box this time.)

While the matzo balls are cooking, take some of the chilled chicken and chop it. Do whatever kind of chop you want. Or shred it. Or whatever gets it into spoon sized pieces. Add these bits back into the soup stock.

There you have it! Feel better chicken soup with Matzo Balls. I serve it with Matzo Farfel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matzo_farfel) and topped with some finely chopped fresh parsley.