Hey All,

I'm migrating over to wordpress! You can follow my further adventures at www.engineerfood.com

Italian American Gravy

This post is an exceptionally long one because it is a recipe I grew up with and is very dear to me. There was nothing better than the few times a year when I would wake up at eleven and come downstairs to see my dad standing over the stove stirring a gigantic stock pot full of tomato sauce with the smell of fresh meatballs filling the kitchen. 

For those of you who have yet to be blessed by the wonders that unfold in your mouth when you eat gravy (some heathens call it sauce) and have no idea what awaits you, gravy is a typical red sauce with meatballs, sausage, large chunks of chuck steak and whatever cheap cuts of meat you can find. This is different from bolognaise in that bolognaise uses finely chopped or ground meats whereas gravy uses whole cuts, making it a full meal in one dish (a rarity in Italian cooking, which is heavily course-based).

When you buy meat for a gravy style sauce, don't be afraid to reach for the tougher but cheaper cuts. You will be cooking them for a long enough time that, by the end, they will be falling apart.

The secret to perfect gravy is time. I try to start cooking about eight to ten hours before I plan on eating. Yes that is a long time. Yes it is worth it. Yes you need to plan ahead.

What you will need:

• For the sauce:
• Several cans of different brands of diced and pureed tomatoes. You will need about two large cans for every three people you are planning on feeding. It is important to have multiple brands because each company treats their tomatoes slightly differently, so you will get a greater variety of flavor combinations.
• 1/2 a medium onion finely diced.
• One clove of garlic, sliced very thin. (People who have followed my recipes know that I generally try to vampire-proof my recipes, garlic wise. Don't worry, we'll get there)
• Salt, Pepper, Basil, Oregano and any other spices that suit your fancy
• For the meats:
• Equal parts ground veal, pork and beef. The Shoprite near me has a "meatloaf mix" where you can buy all three in one package
• One pound chuck steak
• Six to Eight Sweet Italian Sausages
• Any other meats that strike your fancy. I got some spare pork ribs, but they didn't fit in my pot. Try to plan so that about a third to a half of the total volume of your gravy is meat.
• A head of garlic (less one clove)
• Two eggs and about two cups of bread crumbs for every pound of ground meat
• The same spices as above

Order of Operations:

A note in advance, I am going to list the parts in the order that they need to be started. Please note that you will still need to keep half an eye on the other portions of the meal.

Now that I've scared you, let's begin!

First thing's first: start the sauce

• If you have an immersion blender, go ahead and plunge it into the cans of chopped tomato to puree it a bit. If you don't have one, get one because immersion blenders are awesome, but in the mean time blend it in a blender.
• Take the biggest sauce/stock pot you have. Yes, that one that belonged to your great-grandmother and has been sitting in the back of your cabinet for months after that one time you used it to make sangria. Put it on the stove and turn the heat on to high.
• Into the dry pot, drop the sliced garlic and the diced onion, and stir it around until you begin to get little caramelized marks at the bottom of the pot. Add in a bit of salt, a lot of pepper, some basil and a touch of oregano. When you can just smell the spices start to singe, add in all of your tomatoes and re-add each of the herbs and such you added before. 
• Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer. Get started on the meatballs.
• Let it simmer for as many hours as you can. Stir it often to keep it from burning or sticking to the pot

Next: the meatballs

• Preheat the oven to 375F
• Get yourself a large mixing bowl and a foil pan
• Put your ground meats, your eggs and breadcrumbs and a pinch of salt, a bunch of pepper a lot of basil and some oregano. (As a side note, and in no way related to my last batch of mildly disappointing meatballs, dried basil and dried oregano look very similar. Check the labels.)
• Wash your hands
• Get your hands dirty in that bowl and mix everything together until you have one gross, homogeneous ball of meat
• Shape the meatballs by hand. I make about 2" balls, but you can make them smaller if you find that intimidatingly large. Place them directly in the tin pan. You don't have to keep them from touching, but also don't pack them super tight (I was able to get a dozen in a large pan).
• Wash your hands

Set and wait

• Put the rest of your meats in foil pans. If for some reason you actually like the environment more than your convenience, you can use cookie sheets or keep the pans and wash them.
• Take the head of garlic and remove cloves but leave them unpeeled. Scatter three to five pieces in each pan of meat and meatballs.
• Put all of that in the oven for about two hours, or until all of the meat is cooked.
• Take out the meat and put it in the tomato sauce (which has, by now, been simmering for about 2-1/2 hours)
• Let that simmer for at least another three hours if not longer

When you have stalled as long as you can, serve with a hearty pasta like rigatoni or large linguine with grated parm and a nice red.

Fried Hearts of Romaine and Broiled Brussels Sprouts

What do you know. Apparently posting three times in one week and having three tests in two leaves me with no time to cook and make new posts for you lovely people. I finally had time the other day to make a quick dinner of Hearts of Romaine fried in an olive oil mixture.  It was super simple and super delicious and, for those who need to eat on a budget, it comes in at around $0.70 a head (no pun intended).

You need:
One Romain Heart per person (Half if this is part of a larger meal)
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Onion Powder and Red Pepper Flakes to taste.

Slice the hearts in half hotdog style, so that you have two pieces, each with the heart at the bottom intact. Combine the oil (enough to coat all of the romaine) and seasonings in a bowl and mix thoroughly and brush the mixture evenly over all sides of the romaine and place face down in a medium sauce pan over medium to medium high heat, turning regularly, until leaves have wilted. Serve with bread to soak up the extra oil.

I wasn't able to get a photo before my boyfriend decided he needed to try it...

I was also able to try a recipe that a friend of mine gave me ages ago for broiled Brussels Sprouts. To all of you nay-sayers out there, here me out.  Brussels sprouts can be delicious, you just need to cook them long enough that they stop tasting like sprouts.

To make Brussels Sprouts that don't taste awful:

Pre-heat the oven to 450F. Slice the sprouts in half so that the stem is split. Lay them one layer thick in a cooking sheet, flat side up and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Put them in the oven for two hours or until they are tender and the hearts are easily pierced with a fork. Eat them hot and enjoy the crunchy goodness.

 

What is your favorite, slightly different way to cook a green thing? Leave me a comment!

Coming later this week: Itailan Style Gravy (Like Grandma Used to Make!)

The Rest of Ramen Week:

Haha! I finally have time to write up the rest of my Ramen Week experiments.

For those of you who missed my last two posts, here are the rules for the week:

1. Every day for one week, I must have at least one ramen based meal. 
2. I refuse to use flavor packs 
3. The meal must be healthy
4. It must cost under $5.00 per serving

For the latter four meals of the week, I made 

1. Ramen and Cheese
2. Ramen Crusted Chicken
3. Ramen Taco Salad
4. Ramen with Beer Steamed Mussels

For the Ramen and Cheese:

Sadly, I was unable to get a picture of the beauty that was the gorgeous cheese sauce I made for my Ramen and cheese. Such is life.

This isn't a huge meal but it would be perfect for a quick and filling lunch.

For two servings, you will need:

• 1 cup Milk (lactaid for me): $0.30
• 1 cup Shredded Cheese (I used half mozzarella and half cheddar, but, if you want to splurge, feta is fantastic):$1.33
• 2 packages Ramen: $0.36
• 3 Scallions $0.08

 Total price per serving: $1.04

Preheat the oven to 250F. In a medium sauce pan melt a pad of butter and mix in an equal part of flour to make a roux. Cook over medium heat until the flour is blonde colored. Add in milk and whisk until it begins to boil. Take off the heat and gradually melt in cheese while sitrring continuously. Once you have one homogeneous blob of creamy goodness, put on low heat and coarsely chop your scallions. Mix in along with any seasonings you fancy and then add in cooked ramen. Transfer to a oven proof container and place in the oven until the cheese begins to bubble (about ten minutes). Serve hot.

For the Ramen Crusted Chicken:

Doesn't that look fantastic!

For two servings:

• 4 Chicken Tenders: $1.32
• 1 package Ramen: $0.18
• 1 egg: $0.18

Total price per serving: $0.84

Remove the ramen from its packaging and crush it into a powder (it won't be very fine, don't kill yourself) and mix into it garlic and onion powders and salt and pepper. Crack the egg into a bowl and beat a little to break up the yolk. Carefully and completely dry off the chicken. Take a pan and add some oil or butter and heat. Coat the chicken first in egg and then in your ramen mixture and put directly into the pan. Cook fully on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through and the ramen is golden brown on both sides.

The Chicken and Ramen and Cheese together on one plate

For the Ramen Taco Salad:

Better than it looks

This erm...delicacy is a variation of one of my favorite dishes. 

For four servings you need:

• 1 pound of Ground Beef: $3.32
• 1 jar Medium Salsa: $1.79
• 1 can Black Beans $0.79
• 1/2 cup Shredded Cheese: $0.67
• 2 packages Ramen: $0.36

Price per serving: $1.73

In a medium sacuepan, cook the ground beef with any seasonings you prefer until it is cooked through. Add in drained black beans and salsa. Remove the ramen from its packaging and break it into nacho sized pieces. Add the ramen and coat with cheddar. Mix it all together and serve immediately, before the ramen has time to soften. Top with more cheese.

For the Ramen with Beer Steamed Mussles

I am always looking for recipes that incorporate beer because I have yet to find anything that will give the same hearty and rich flavor to a dish. So I decided to try one for the last day of Ramen Week.

For two servings you will need:

• 15 Mussles: $3.25
• 1 bottle of your Beer of Choice (I used Yuengling Black and Tan): $0.84
• 1 Onion, chopped coarsely: $0.80
• 2 packages Ramen: $0.36

Price per serving: $2.63

First off, clean the mussels by scrubbing with a lousy/old toothbrush under running water. Throw away any that open before or during cleaning. When they are all cleaned, loosely chop your onion (~1" pieces). Boil beer over medium heat (Note: boiling comes significantly after simmering. The boozahol needs to boil off some.) Add your onion into the pot and let sit, stirring occasionally until the onions have softened. Add mussels and uncooked ramen and cover until the mussels have all opened and the ramen is soft. Serve with the beer you cooked with. Because it is delicious, that's why.

So, that concludes my annual Ramen Week. If you have any comprehensive ideas for my next challenge (I'm looking at you mystikraven) leave me a comment below and I'll think about it.

Ramen Week Days Two and Three: Beef Stir Fry and a Midnight Snack

Apparently, making commitments and time to cook every day will not prevent life from keeping you from blogging about it. So, you lucky people get two recipes in one post!

A quick reminder about the Rules of Ramen Week:

1. Every day for one week, I must have at least one ramen based meal. 
2. I refuse to use flavor packs 
3. The meal must be healthy
4. It must cost under $5.00 per serving

No real noodles were harmed in the making of these meals

The second day'smeal was a beef and veggie ramen stir fry:

Price for four meals:

• Beef (I got it on sale and it was in my freezer): ~$3.00
• Six Baby Carrots (assuming 50 to a bag): $0.20
• Half bag of Snap Peas: $2.00
• One onion: $0.80
• One green pepper: $0.85
• Three packages Ramen: $0.54

Price per serving: $1.84

Alright, this may not be the healthiest thing I have ever cooked, but it was cheap, delicious and filling.

If you have never made stir fry before this wikipedia article provides some useful guidance.

This does involve a good deal of prep work. Before you even pull out your pan, cut your beef into bite sized portions and breifly marinade in teryaki sauce (or worchester sauce with a drop of tobasco will work beautifuly if you have no teryaki) and dice your onion and pepper, slice your carrots and boil your Ramen. You will also want to prepare a end sauce. Mine consisted of a mix of teryaki and oyster sauces but any thick sauce will do.

Take out your wok (or, if you don't have one a frying pan will work just fine) and dress it with sesame oil. Add whichever spices you prefer in your stir fry (I use garlic and ginger with just a hint of ground mustard seed). When the pan is hot enough, throw in your beef and sear it.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

When the beef is cooked through, remove it to another plate and throw in your vegetables with a little more sesame oil.  Cook them on high until the vegetables have softened.

So healthy, right?

 As soon as the veggies are cooked throw in your sauce and the ramen and beef and mix together.

Maybe not...

 Enjoy piping hot.

For day three, I made a evening snack out of Ramen noodles and two eggs.

For two snacks:

• One Ramen Pack: $0.18
• Two eggs: $0.33

Price per serving: $0.26

This is a really simple snack that is so easy to make. 

Take your ramen before it is cooked and crush it into tiny pieces.

Apparently a bag of crushed ramen looks just like a while bag of ramen

Cook it as normal. While the water is boiling, take two eggs and beat them with basil and garlic and onion powders and salt and pepper.

Protein! 

When the ramen is just shy of being cooked, drain it and deposit it directly into a pan with a little butter over medium heat. Add in eggs and stir until the eggs are completely cooked.

Eat immediately

Up next: Ramen and Cheese

Ramen Week Day One: Ramen with Spinach and Tomato Sauce

Whelp, it's that time of the semester again. Midterms have forced me into a temporary hiatus from blogging. So, now I'm back, sick of engineering optimization, heat transfer theory, differential equations and applied motion. Time for cooking!

Unfortunately, eating out and ordering in while I was studying for all of my tests has cut a pretty deep gouge into my budget. You know what that means. It's my semesterly Ramen Week! 

Yay?

 Here are the rules:

1. Every day for one week, I must have at least one ramen based meal. 
2. I refuse to use flavor packs 
3. The meal must be healthy
4. It must cost under $5.00 per serving

Today I made Ramen with Spinach and Tomato Sauce

My price list, for two lunches:

• 1/2 Package of Spinach (The other half to be used for a salad for dinner): $1.25
• 4 Chicken Tenders (From a package of 22 purchased for $7.26): $0.70
• 1 Can of Chopped Tomatoes: $1.25
• 2 Packages of Ramen: $0.36

Total: $4.26 for two meals (One for me and one for boyfriend)

First thing's first. Put a pot on to boil for your ramen packets.

While you are waiting for that, steam your spinach by putting a large amount of it in a pan over medium heat and cover it tightly until the spinach is thoroughly wilted.

Actually yay. I love spinach.

Once that is achieved, put in to the pan a healthy dollop of olive oil and the can of tomatoes and season with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, a touch of lemon juice and, if you are a fan of spicy, some red pepper flakes and sriracha (rooster) sauce.

Easy? Yes. Delicious? Abso-freaking-lutely.

Bring that to a boil and then bring it down to a simmer until the rest of the meal is complete. While that is happening and you are waiting for the ramen to cook, pull out another pan and throw in some chicken with olive oil. Once that and ramen are finished, throw everything in a bow and enjoy!

Pretty colors, shitty presentation.

Tomorrow: Ramen and Steak Stir Fry

Peanut Sauce for reddit

I put out an offer on reddit last week to create a blog post based on any requests that redditors had to offer. The first response was  from user nicksterluv:

What about a (cheap) peanut sauce? My favorite thing to order at the local Thai restaurant is a vegetable curry with peanut sauce, but I don't get to eat it as often as I'd like since it's expensive

Well, nicksterluv, your wish is my command.

Unfortunately, I had never before cooked anything even remotely Thai, so my next few days were spent in frantic searches for online recipes to get a general idea of what the hell goes into peanut sauce. Since the first order of business for this sauce was inexpensive, I was forced to immediately discard almost all of the websites I glanced at. (So much coconut milk!) In the end, I pretty much had to completely invent a recipe from scratch based on the two or three times in my life I have ever had peanut sauce. On the plus side, it gave me an excuse to go to a delightful little Thai hole-in-the-wall in the Village.

Ultimately, I tried to use only things that I had in my pantry. The full ingredient list ended up reading as follows:

• peanut butter
• ginger powder
• cumin
• garlic powder
• cinnamon
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil 
• white wine vinegar

As it turned out, I had to buy the first three ingredients on that list, but, thanks to Shop Rite, I only spent about $8 on the whole lot and now have enough ginger and cumin to last me a good while.

To make the sauce, I created a double boiler set-up with two pots. (For those to whom that meant nothing: If you nest your ingredients pot inside a pot of just simmering water, you can heat the ingredients more evenly and keep the peanut butter from burning. This is also useful whenever a recipe calls for melted chocolate, which burns like a California wildlife preserve.)

Melt two hefty scoops of peanut butter in the upper pot and add just enough oil so that it could be considered whisk-able and then about two to three shots of vinegar (it was the only measure I had handy...). Then, tasting after each addition, drop in some cumin, garlic, ginger, pepper, salt and the slightest bit of cinnamon. How much of each you add will depend strongly on your personal preference and, honestly, I tweaked the amounts so much during the adding of them, that I have no idea how much of each I ended up putting in.

When it is seasoned to your satisfaction, pour immediately into a bowl and serve hot. I sauteed some chicken breasts and shrimp and set out some pita and humus.

So...if you are reading this from reddit, or even not from reddit, shoot me an email, pm, text, comment, reply or smoke signal about what you want me to cook next!