white bean shit

disclaimer: i did not name this recipe. my mother did, and as she invented the recipe, the name stuck. it is much more delicious than it sounds.

serves: 8-10 as a side dish; would go really well with the chicken dish mluby posted recently.

1 white or yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 zucchini, cut into smallish chunks
1 (16 ounce?) can chunked-up tomatoes
1 (same size) can white beans
1 lb. orzo, most of the way cooked and drained
2 c. chicken or beef bullion/stock

saute onion and garlic in olive oil with herbs until translucent. add zucchini chunks and cook on medium heat until tender, stirring occasionally. add tomatoes (with liquid) and beans (drained, rinsed, drained), and then add the orzo and bullion. stir and cover. simmer 10 minutes or so, add salt and pepper to taste. if orzo is not sufficiently tender, add more stock or just water. serve with grated parmesan if desired.

lizzie sauce!

the ubiquitous spicy tomato sauce that you've all come to know and love!

serves: uh... a lot if you're using it as pasta sauce, though it also works as pizza sauce or tomato soup. if you're doing tomato soup for sunday night dinner, i'd do double or even triple this recipe. as pasta sauce, you can make 1-2 batches, and then freeze it in reasonably-sized blocks.

ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
3-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
(1 med.-sized onion, grated - optional)
2-3 tablespoons dried basil
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
(1 tablespoon dried rosemary - optional)
(a few anise seeds, crushed - optional)
1 teaspoon or so cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
**heat the olive oil, add the garlic (and onion, if you're using it), saute until caramelized. do not burn or brown!! add the spices, simmer for just a minute til it starts to smell delicious.

1 very large can Pastene's Kitchen Ready ground tomato
1 equally large can Contadina tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste (garlic or herb flavor, if you like)
**add liquid tomato products, then paste, stir to combine. use water to rinse cans, then add water to sauce. make it slightly waterier than you want it, so that you can let it simmer longer.

1/2 cup (or slightly more) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
**add, stir, let heat until flavors combine. TASTE. add salt if needed, or cayenne pepper. if you've added too much sugar, you can counteract it with a tiny bit of white vinegar. keep adding basil and oregano til it tastes right.

IF MAKING PASTA SAUCE: eat. you're ready to go.

IF MAKING PIZZA SAUCE: substitute tinned or fresh diced tomatoes for the tomato paste.

IF MAKING TOMATO SOUP: add 1 tablespoon or so of dill. garnish with cheez-its (garlic parmesan kind!), or eat with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Ragu (Italian meat sauce)

Origin: little old lady in Ferrara, Italy ... hence the really vague amounts.
Serves: 3-4 people

Ingredients:

A small amount of grated carrot
Some sliced up onion
Olive oil
Ground beef or mix of ground beef and ground pork (around 300 grams for this serving size)
Tomato pulp of appropriate density for sauce
White wine or milk (very small amount)
Salt to taste
Seasonings like oregano or basil to taste


Directions:

1. Cut up onion and carrot finely. The traditional flavor doesn't have very strong onion taste, but you can add it to taste. For a large batch (ie: Sunday Night Dinner), 2 small onions and 8 carrots is reasonable.
2. Cook meat pretty thoroughly (might take around 5 minutes for the original small size batch, would be longer for enough sauce for a large group to eat) in a frying pan, or for a multiplied batch, in the pot in which you will want to cook the sauce.
3. When the meat is well cooked, remove it from the pan/pot and drain out some of the oily juice.
4. Heat up on low-medium heat a small amount of olive oil (around 2 tablespoons for the small serving size, more obviously for a large group), and sautee the onion and carrot
5. Add tomato pulp to the sautee, then add half of a small glass of white wine and/or milk and mix in thoroughly.
6. Add the meat back to the sauce, as well as salt, and any green seasonings desired like basil or oregano, all to taste.
7. Cook on a low flame until the liquid is almost gone. You want it be more like meat coated in sauce rather than floating in it. You'll know when it's done (according to Ferrarese style) not only when there is little liquid left, but when you can see a slight sheen of the oil on the meat. Add a little bit more oil or cold butter so it doesn't become too dry. When mixed thoroughly, it is ready to serve.

When made for Sunday Night Dinner, we used about 5 pounds of ground beef, 2 onions, ~8 carrots and 3 large cans of tomato.