Welcome to our section on recipes. Over the years we have collected a number of can't miss recipes/hints and are happy to share them with you. We will also be happy to post any recipes or hints you may have. Just e-mail us . We'll give you full credit and e-mail, back to you, any comments we receive.
Italian Cooking
Cooking Italian is not hard it just takes patience and a few tricks. Making a sauce or as our Southern Italian friends call it "a good gravy", is not difficult but there are a few tricks that make an OK sauce great.
Seeds or no seeds?
Tomato seeds are bitter and really have no place in a good gravy. If you find your sauce bitter it's most likely because you left in the seeds. To compensate many cooks add sugar but you don't need to add these calories if you just leave out the seeds. Tomato seeds are great for growing tomatoes but not for cooking.
The glorious carrot.
When I first started making spaghetti sauce it always seemed a little bitter (even without the seeds) so I always added a little sugar. Then I learned a trick from my Italian mother-in-law, using a carrot. Carrots contain a lot of natural sugars and add very little in the way of taste. They seem to react very well to the acid in tomatoes so I never make a sauce without using one. When you're making your sauce grate or finely chop one carrot and saute it with your onion, you'll be amazed at the difference it makes.
Garlic
No sauce or gravy would be complete without garlic. No, I don't mean those powders or flakes I mean the real thing! If you cannot take the time to make a sauce using real garlic the do your self a favor and just open a jar. Who knows what they use in those powders. Many people don't like garlic because the find it bitter or overpowering --so here's a few hints:
Garlic only gets bitter when you don't cook it correctly. Sliced or pressed garlic is the last thing you add to your saute pan. After the onions are translucent you add your garlic just long enough for it to soften slightly. Then into the pot with the rest of your sauce. You can also remove the bitterness from garlic and make it milder as well by blanching the whole pealed cloves in boiling water for 30 seconds. You can then use the garlic as you normally would but you will find the flavor less pronounced.
Another trick is to roast the garlic first. Simply place the whole unpealed head in the oven, on a cookie sheet, and roast until brown. You will know when it's done when you pick a clove and you can squeeze the garlic out like a paste. The garlic will lose all of its bitterness and become quite mild. I often use this paste squeezed on to toasted Italian bread as an appetizer. When using the roasted garlic you may have to double the amount in your recipe since it is so mild.
One last trick with garlic is to slice it very fine and I mean very fine. I use a safety razor blade to slice the clove so thin that you can almost see through it! This is a great way to use garlic when you are making a white sauce for clams. The garlic seems to melt in the pan but don't brown it or it will get bitter.
Basic Sauce or Gravy, if you so prefer.
The most amazing thing about spaghetti sauce is that it seems to expand or contract depending on how many people you need to feed or how much pasta you have on hand. The following recipe is for your basic meatless sauce. Please feel free to add meat to enhance the flavor. There are many other items you can add depending what you have on hand. Mushrooms, cubed eggplant or even julienne zucchini to name just a few.
2 16ozs cans of tomato sauce.
1 small can tomato paste
1 large sweet onion diced (you can use up to two if you like onions)
1 carrot grated or finely diced
1 small green pepper (fine diced)
3 stalks celery diced
4 large cloves of garlic pressed, fine sliced or diced
1 tablespoon dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh 1/2 teaspoon oregano or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh
1 glass of red wine (one extra glass for the cook)
1 to 2 large bay leaves 2 tablespoons olive oil salt & pepper to taste.
3 fresh tomatoes peeled seeded and course diced
Place the tomato sauce, 1/2 of the tomato paste and the whole bay leaf in a sauce pot. Anyone will do as long as it's not aluminum and begin to simmer.
In a large frying pan heat two tablespoons of olive oil and begin sauteing the vegetables starting first with the carrot and adding the rest. When the onions are lightly brown add the garlic and dry spices, wait a few more minutes and transfer the contents to the simmering tomato sauce. In the hot saute pan add the glass of wine and reduce by 1/2 over high heat stirring so as not to burn the wine. When done pour the hot wine into the tomato sauce and continue to stir. Once the wine is fully incorporated reduce the heat to low and cook until you're ready to eat. If you're several hours away from eating cover the pot so the sauce doesn't get too thick and watch it so that it doesn't burn. If you're going to serve in the next hour add the remaining tomatoes paste to thicken the sauce.
Just before serving add the fresh diced tomatoes and cook until warmed through. Taste and add salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf and discard. DON'T leave out the salt! You don't have to use a lot but it will help to cut the acid and make the sauce taste much better. This sauce always seems to taste better the next day so don't hesitate to make it a day or so in advance.
Seeds or no seeds?
Tomato seeds are bitter and really have no place in a good gravy. If you find your sauce bitter it's most likely because you left in the seeds. To compensate many cooks add sugar but you don't need to add these calories if you just leave out the seeds. Tomato seeds are great for growing tomatoes but not for cooking.
The glorious carrot.
When I first started making spaghetti sauce it always seemed a little bitter (even without the seeds) so I always added a little sugar. Then I learned a trick from my Italian mother-in-law, using a carrot. Carrots contain a lot of natural sugars and add very little in the way of taste. They seem to react very well to the acid in tomatoes so I never make a sauce without using one. When you're making your sauce grate or finely chop one carrot and saute it with your onion, you'll be amazed at the difference it makes.
Garlic
No sauce or gravy would be complete without garlic. No, I don't mean those powders or flakes I mean the real thing! If you cannot take the time to make a sauce using real garlic the do your self a favor and just open a jar. Who knows what they use in those powders. Many people don't like garlic because the find it bitter or overpowering --so here's a few hints:
Garlic only gets bitter when you don't cook it correctly. Sliced or pressed garlic is the last thing you add to your saute pan. After the onions are translucent you add your garlic just long enough for it to soften slightly. Then into the pot with the rest of your sauce. You can also remove the bitterness from garlic and make it milder as well by blanching the whole pealed cloves in boiling water for 30 seconds. You can then use the garlic as you normally would but you will find the flavor less pronounced.
Another trick is to roast the garlic first. Simply place the whole unpealed head in the oven, on a cookie sheet, and roast until brown. You will know when it's done when you pick a clove and you can squeeze the garlic out like a paste. The garlic will lose all of its bitterness and become quite mild. I often use this paste squeezed on to toasted Italian bread as an appetizer. When using the roasted garlic you may have to double the amount in your recipe since it is so mild.
One last trick with garlic is to slice it very fine and I mean very fine. I use a safety razor blade to slice the clove so thin that you can almost see through it! This is a great way to use garlic when you are making a white sauce for clams. The garlic seems to melt in the pan but don't brown it or it will get bitter.
Basic Sauce or Gravy, if you so prefer.
The most amazing thing about spaghetti sauce is that it seems to expand or contract depending on how many people you need to feed or how much pasta you have on hand. The following recipe is for your basic meatless sauce. Please feel free to add meat to enhance the flavor. There are many other items you can add depending what you have on hand. Mushrooms, cubed eggplant or even julienne zucchini to name just a few.
2 16ozs cans of tomato sauce.
1 small can tomato paste
1 large sweet onion diced (you can use up to two if you like onions)
1 carrot grated or finely diced
1 small green pepper (fine diced)
3 stalks celery diced
4 large cloves of garlic pressed, fine sliced or diced
1 tablespoon dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh 1/2 teaspoon oregano or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh
1 glass of red wine (one extra glass for the cook)
1 to 2 large bay leaves 2 tablespoons olive oil salt & pepper to taste.
3 fresh tomatoes peeled seeded and course diced
Place the tomato sauce, 1/2 of the tomato paste and the whole bay leaf in a sauce pot. Anyone will do as long as it's not aluminum and begin to simmer.
In a large frying pan heat two tablespoons of olive oil and begin sauteing the vegetables starting first with the carrot and adding the rest. When the onions are lightly brown add the garlic and dry spices, wait a few more minutes and transfer the contents to the simmering tomato sauce. In the hot saute pan add the glass of wine and reduce by 1/2 over high heat stirring so as not to burn the wine. When done pour the hot wine into the tomato sauce and continue to stir. Once the wine is fully incorporated reduce the heat to low and cook until you're ready to eat. If you're several hours away from eating cover the pot so the sauce doesn't get too thick and watch it so that it doesn't burn. If you're going to serve in the next hour add the remaining tomatoes paste to thicken the sauce.
Just before serving add the fresh diced tomatoes and cook until warmed through. Taste and add salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf and discard. DON'T leave out the salt! You don't have to use a lot but it will help to cut the acid and make the sauce taste much better. This sauce always seems to taste better the next day so don't hesitate to make it a day or so in advance.