Mother's Day Steak & Pasta

Mother’s Day Rigatoni
Serves 4 as an entrée or 6 as a side

Ingredients:

1 pound rigatoni pasta
½ teaspoon salt (for water)
1 medium red onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
16 ounces fresh or frozen broccoli florets
1 small jar roasted red peppers, sliced
¾ cup whole green or black olives
1 cup Fontina cheese

Sauce:

¼ cup red wine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ tablespoon Greek or Italian seasoning (If Greek watch adding salt!)
2 cloves garlic, minced into a paste
½ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon honey or 1/2 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

To a pot of boiling salted water, add pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions or to al dente. About 12 minutes or slightly more.

While pasta is cooking., heat a large pan on med high with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Tilt pan to distribute oil and add onion slices. Sauté for about 2 minutes and add broccoli. Cook until florets are tender when tested with a fork, but still firm. Add sliced red peppers and olives. Cook until heated through. Turn off heat and move to a cool burner.

Make sauce. Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Drain pasta well with a colander and return to pot. Add contents of skillet to pot and add grated cheese. Toss well, add sauce to taste and toss again. Serve warm.

Mother's Day Steak

Lighter meals are usually served on Mother’s Day, but this year I thought pasta and steak sounded like a good change up. So here’s the low down on a perfect steak. If possible, buy a good cut of meat. And by good cut, I mean, Rib Eye, New York Strip Steak, Sirloin, T Bone or Porterhouse. If you have to buy a lesser cut, then make sure you tenderize the meat well. I think 1 ½ inch in thickness is perfect. Most men will say 2 inches. Buy steaks with nice marbling. By this I mean with the white fat lines running about. This will insure the best flavor and tenderness. For seasoning, yes, I know you can buy all the bottled stuff with your favorite hometown’s stamp, but for me, it’s simply equal parts of salt, pepper and garlic. My Grandmother and mother’s go to seasoning mix. It still works for me and doesn’t cover the scrumptious steak flavor up. Finally, cooking time…well, here’s the old test method and the best one I know or use a thermometer. The hand thing is definitely more fun : D. I was going to try to write this method, but NO! Here’s a hand chart I found on line. Much less confusing.

One last thing. I love butter or composite butters, especially on steak. This recipe is simple and delicious for this meal of pasta and steak.
1 stick of butter
1 handful of chopped fresh Italian herbs (your choice), oregano, thyme, fennel fern, parsley
If you don’t have fresh herbs where you are, then 1 tablespoon or to taste of dry Italian herbs will work just fine.

Mix ingredients together. Spoon down the center of a piece of wax paper and roll into a sausage. Freeze until ready to use.  Slice into coins and serve atop steak.

So this just about wraps up my extensive steak knowledge. NOT! Well, this is the best I can do, so get a good steak and enjoy it!

Happy Mother’s Day!

California Girl's Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, diced
1 zucchinis, diced, optional
2 carrots diced, optional
1 green bell peppers, diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds ground beef
1 pound  Italian sausage, bulk or removed from casing
3 14 ½ ounce cans diced tomatoes, do not drain
4 6 ounce cans tomato paste
2 14 ½ ounce cans tomato sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1 good handful fresh parsley, chopped
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Pasta

Directions:
 
In a Dutch oven or stock pot, add olive oil and cook the vegetables and garlic until soft and fragrant, about 1o minutes.
Crumble in beef and sausage and cook over medium heat until meat is browned. Drain any excess fat off using a colander.
Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, sugar and seasonings. Cover and simmer on low for 2 hours. Discard bay leaves. Serve with pasta and crusty bread.
Makes about 3 quarts. Freezes well up to 2 months.


Cooks note:  You can add cooked meat and vegetables with remaining ingredients to a crock pot and set to low when you go to work. Cook your pasta when you get home.  Dinner is ready in a flash!

Verdure di Carne Rigatoni Fornello

Serves 6
Ingredients:

Water for pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, veal or lamb (or a combination of)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 large zucchini, sliced into cubes
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
3 tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese
10 ounces rigatoni pasta

Directions:

Fill a 5 quart stock pot with water and add 1 teaspoon salt.  Cover and let water come to a boil.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a large skillet on medium high heat. Crumble ground beef and brown.  Drain fat in colander and return to skillet. Add garlic and Italian seasoning and cook for 3 minutes. Add remaining olive oil to pan and toss in zucchini. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until it is almost soft. Add onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. Cook until tender but still firm.

Add Rigatoni to boiling water and cook until al dente.

Add, tomatoes, 1 ladle of pasta water and 26 ounce jar pasta sauce (or homemade) to skillet. Stir in sugar. When sauce is hot, stir in cheese.  Allow to simmer about 20 on low heat so flavors can meld.

Drain pasta well and return to pot.  Add contents of skillet to pasta. Toss gently to combine. 

Plate in shallow bowls. Garnish with freshly grated Romano cheese. Serve with crusty Italian bread and herb dipping sauce.

Cooks Note: You can make this totally vegetarian by removing the meat.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Pancetta

I love this very sexy dish. It’s a perfect Valentine’s Day meal or an any day meal. It’s creamy and comforting, and it takes me right back to beautiful, romantic Sicily. I think the black pepper in this dish is an absolute. The Italians don’t add cream, but it creates silkiness when combined with the Parmigiano-Reggiano. The taste is amazing. I’m a little heavy handed on the cheese in this recipe, but when in Rome or just pretending to be...add lot’s of cheese! A side salad is a perfect accompaniment. Enjoy!

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
1 pound of dry spaghetti pasta
2 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz pancetta rounds, diced (Or bacon if you don‘t have Pancetta)
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup of sun dried tomatoes, cut in julienne
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1¼ cup of heavy cream or half and half
2 eggs
1 nice handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper to taste
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Garnish with parsley

Directions:
In a large pot of salted boiling water, add pasta and cook as per the directions on the box until it is al dente (or still has a slight bite to the pasta). Drain well and return to pot. Keep hot.

In a skillet on medium, heat olive oil and fry pancetta. Cook for 5 minutes until pancetta starts to brown. Stir in minced garlic and sun dried tomato; cook until tender for about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain off excess fat if necessary. Pour in white wine and cook until reduced by half. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl combine the cheese, heavy cream, eggs and parsley. Add in pancetta and sun dried tomato mixture. Mix well and add this mixture to the pot of spaghetti. Season with black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes or to your taste. Toss spaghetti well to combine all ingredients. Garnish and serve hot with rustic bread.