A quick and easy Italian dinner

October 13, 2012

• Panzanella
• Spaghetti with Quick Tomato Sauce
• Bolla 2011 Chianti
• Gizdich Very Berry Pie

Several years ago my family gathered at Green Lakes State Park to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. Food was prepared by a variety of people including my son, who was trained in Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America. He made panzanella, an Italian bread salad, using Ciabatta bread and heirloom tomatoes. I loved it, as did everyone at the party, and I've wanted to try making it myself.

This Sunday dinner was on a Saturday as we would be spending Sunday at AT&T Park for the first game of the National League Championship Series. (Our San Francisco Giants lost this game but won the Series, beating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.) Diane was finally back from Oregon and Caryn was home from college for the weekend.

I would have preferred making my own bread but didn't have enough time, so I bought a two pound loaf of sweet French bread at Le Boulanger. You have to have fresh tomatoes for panzanella and I got these at our local fruit stand, J&P Farms. I picked up some fresh basil there as well. It was the availability of fresh tomatoes which led me to make panzanella this weekend. I made a mistake with the dressing, using Raspberry Vinegar instead of Red Wine Vinegar (hey, they're both red!) but the result was still very good. Everyone enjoyed the salad and Diane had seconds. I should have made the cubes of bread smaller, they were bite-sized and did a good job soaking up the dressing but some were a bit of stretch to eat in one bite.

To accompany the salad I made a quick tomato sauce which was served over spaghetti. The sauce is very easy to make and takes very little time. Though not quite as convenient as sauce from a can or jar I think it's worth the small amount of extra effort. The tomatoes come from a can but it turns out these provide more flavor than you would get from grocery store tomatoes. The latter are picked green, before they are ripe, while tomatoes that are canned are allowed to ripen before they are picked. Thus canned tomatoes are a more flavorful choice. It took less than an hour to prepare the full meal, tomato sauce plus salad. We heeded the old phrase, "when you eat Italian, drink Italian" and accompanied our repast with some Italian Chianti.

For dessert we had a wonderful fresh berry pie. Earlier in the day we visited the Gizdich Ranch, mostly to buy apples. We weren't the only ones who thought this was a good day to visit as the place was quite crowded. We purchased some sandwiches and enjoyed a picnic lunch next to the apple orchard. We gave in to temptation and purchased one of their Very Berry pies to take home along with all the apples fresh apple juice.

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Recipes
Panzanella from America's Test Kitchen
Quick Tomato Sauce from America's Test Kitchen

Pork Roast and Homemade Applesauce

November 25, 2012

• Savory Sage Pork Roast with Apple Pork Gravy
• Boiled Red Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Applesauce
• Chocolate Chubbies with Ben and Jerry's Vanilla Ice Cream

This was our second Sunday dinner while in Central New York as we visited family for Thanksgiving. Once again I enjoyed the opportunity to cook for more than two people as we were joined again by my middle sister (we were staying in her house. after all), brother, and my dad. Also joining us this week was my brother's wife, herself a middle sister, so we again had a full table with six diners. (Alas, Diane is not a middle sister but she has one.)

The menu fell into my lap, not requiring much planning on my part. In my post for the previous week's dinner I had asked what I should make this week. My sister commented on the post (I wish more people would leave comments on my blog posts) that she had a pork roast in the freezer and some homemade applesauce. Nothing goes better with pork than homemade applesauce. Our oldest sister sent e-mail with the recipe. Thus all that remained was picking the side dishes and preparing the meal.

The recipe was from McCormick's and, not surprisingly, called for many McCormick products. I followed it pretty closely. We didn't have all of the ingredients for the dry rub but we had most of them. I used: 2½ teaspoons ground sage, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, ½ teaspoon parsley flakes, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon black pepper.  The pork was a three pound "center loin roast" but, bone-in. The recipe was for a boneless roast. I contemplated removing the bones but not being certain of the anatomy and how much hacking I'd need to do, I left them in place. I used a 13x9 inch cake pan, lined with heavy duty non-stick aluminum foil (my sister has an incredible amount of this, but that's her story to tell) to cook the roast and this worked fine. A probe thermometer was inserted into the meat and the alarm was set for 150°. The recommended temperature for cooking pork is now 145° but my sister was uncomfortable with the idea of eating pink pork so I increased it by 5°. The result was good, the center was still a little pink but the edges were not, so everyone was able to select a piece of pork that matched their preferences. I was disappointed in the amount of flavor provided by the dry rub, this may have been due in part to the bones which covered one side of the roast. Also, the rub wasn't on the meat very long before the meat went into the oven. The gravy, made from a mix and apple sauce, was a nice, sweet addition to the meat and potatoes.

The applesauce that my sister made was very good. She used some local Central New York apples and added just a little cinnamon and sugar. Dessert was simple and very good, Chocolate Chubbies is my recipe find of the year and I've made them several times already.

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Recipes
Savory Sage Pork Roast with Apple Pork Gravy from McCormick
Chocolate Chubbies from serious eats

Appalachian Cider Baked Beans

October 7, 2012

• Hot Dog
• Appalachian Cider Baked Beans
• Sun Chips
• Koko Brown Ale (Kona Brewing Company)

I like baked beans but I am still searching for the perfect baked bean recipe. A major reason this is a challenge for me is that I don't really know what I am seeking. I think that I'll know the perfect beans when I eat them, but I can't really be sure. Is it the beans that my mother would occasionally prepare that I remember so fondly? Is it the flavor of one of the many brands of canned baked beans that I am searching for? I'm pretty sure it's not Grandma Brown's Baked Beans which I remember from my childhood, and which you can't buy in San Jose except by mail order, but which now seem pretty bland to me. (My mom would bake them with a frosting of browned sugar, probably my favorite part of the dish.) Thus I was intrigued and excited when a Facebook friend posted a recipe for Appalachian Cider Baked Beans. I hadn't considered that parts of the country outside Boston would have their own baked bean traditions. Could this be the Holy Grail of baked beans I seek? I had to try.

On this particular Sunday, way back at the start of October, I was still home alone. It was also the day of the San Jose Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon, an event I haven't missed since its inception six years ago. I generally get home by noon so I should have plenty of time to fix dinner. However, I knew I would not have a lot of energy. The beans take some time to prepare, but not much effort, so I was confident they would be doable. And they pair well with other dishes that are easy to prepare.

The use of apple juice (easier to find than the apple cider called for by the recipe) for baking the beans wasn't the only thing that was different from the other recipes I have used (generally for Boston Baked Beans). Instead of small white, or navy, beans the recipe called for pinto beans. I associate pinto beans with Mexican fare, not with baked beans. The recipe also recommended using sorghum molasses. I didn't have any of this so used normal molasses.

When eating baked beans for dinner I generally enjoy them with either hot dogs or hamburgers. While shopping at Whole Foods I perused their selection and purchased Fork in the Road Honest Dogs with Pasture-Raised Beef. These were uncured hot dogs. I did some research after I got home and discovered that "uncured" means no nitrates or nitrites were added.  They were a little expensive, about $1.25 each, but that's not too bad for a main course, especially when you consider how many times I've spent $5 for a hot dog at a ball game. I enjoyed these hot dogs, they have a nice flavor and are just a little bit spicy, on a toasted store-bought bun with Dijon mustard and sweet pickle relish.

The beans were good: firm and not too sweet. I didn't notice they had much apple flavor though, perhaps because I had used processed juice rather than fresh cider. However, I can't say that I was crazy about them. I think the baked bean recipe I am seeking is for something a bit sweeter and perhaps with more molasses flavor. I will need to continue trying new baked bean recipes until I find the right one.

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Recipes
Appalachian Cider Baked Beans from Leite's Culinaria 

A New York Sunday Dinner for Six

November 18, 2012

• Easier Beef Burgundy
• Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Creamy Chocolate Pudding
• Glenora Yellow Cab Red Table Wine 
• Castel Grisch Finger Lakes Estate Reserve Burgundy

As those of us north of the equator are heading into the colder months of the year, we have headed to colder climes to spend Thanksgiving with family in Central New York. As the weather gets colder heartier fare becomes more and more appealing, warm rich food to fuel the body and keep us warm and comfortable. Chef John at Food Wishes must have been thinking the same thing a few weeks ago as he re-published an older video recipe for an easier version of Beef Burgundy. So even though I wasn't home but rather staying with one of my sisters, it was Sunday so I volunteered to cook dinner, and beef stew, for that is what Beef Burgundy is, sounded good to all. We were joined for dinner by my dad and brother making a hearty party of six.

I made a few small changes to the Food Wishes recipe. It called for Merlot instead of burgundy, but we had no Merlot and when we went shopping, Sunday morning, we were unable to buy wine. (New York still has blue laws in effect limiting when and where you can purchase wine.) But my sister had a New York burgundy from the Finger Lakes region, Castel Grisch Finger Lakes Estate Reserve Burgundy, so I used it in the stew and also served it with dinner. I simmered the stew by placing it into a 300° oven rather than on the stovetop as this provides more even heating and lessens the chance of burning. I also added a cup of frozen peas just before serving to improve the appearance of the stew and provide another vegetable with almost no extra effort. I used three carrots, rather than two, as they were a little on the small size, and my diners thought that the stew could have used even more.

The stew was served over garlic mashed potatoes. I purchased "butter potatoes" at Wegmans, I believe these are similar to Yukon Gold potatoes, low-starch potatoes with a rich, creamy texture. Making garlic mashed potatoes is about the same as making plain mashed potatoes. The potatoes were peeled and boiled in salted water. Also added to the water were peeled garlic cloves; I used two cloves of garlic for each potato. The potatoes were drained and mashed along with the garlic. I added some melted butter (I didn't add much since it would be served with the stew), hot milk,  salt, and pepper.

For dessert I made chocolate pudding from scratch. I even planned ahead and brought some ingredients, which I thought my sister might not have, along with me from California. I should have known better, my sister is an accomplished baker and she had both Dutch processed cocoa and espresso powder. I used a Pyrex sauce pan which was a new experience for me. It worked fine but it did seem to take a little longer to heat up as it took longer for the pudding to come to a boil.

One of the great benefits of my Sunday cooking is the leftovers which make for good, easy to fix, weekday meals. This hearty Sunday dinner for six had no leftovers: no stew, no potatoes, and no pudding. It was a pleasure to fix food for my family, and for them to have enjoyed it. We'll be here next Sunday, too. What should I fix?

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Recipes
Easier Beef Burgundy from Food Wishes
Creamy Chocolate Pudding from Cook's Illustrated