January 2009 Archives

So during last night's cooking class we made breakfast!!! Our menu went like this...

Crisp Romaine, Slab Bacon, Homemade Croutons and Crumbled Blue Cheese with
a Shirred Egg
Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
Featherbed Eggs with White Irish Cheddar
Marion Cunningham's Classic Waffles with Pecan Butter Syrup
Pineapple Upside-down Cake with Whipped Cream

We have all the recipes to share so let us know what you'd like and we'll post it.

As for the Pineapple Upside-down Cake... check out "The Saveur 100 Home Cook Edition Number 117". We left out the maraschino cherries... their red dye content doesn't sit well with Just Simply... Cuisine's "real and wholesome" philosophy on food.

For a great Sunday supper... here's Just Simply... Cuisine's take on Marcella Hazan's meatballs and tomatoes...

2 slices of hearty white bread, crusts removed
Just enough milk to cover bread slices, about ½ cup
1 pound ground beef, preferably chuck with a high amount of fat content
3 Tablespoons of grated onion
3 cloves garlic freshly minced
1 pound ground pork shoulder
3 Tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Whole nutmeg, freshly grated
Sea salt
White pepper, freshly ground
2 cups dry breadcrumbs
Olive oil to brown in
2 28 ounce cans San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes, hand squeezed and with their juice
2 fresh basil sprigs

Put bread and milk in a saucepan and heat over a low flame until the bread has soaked up all of the milk. Remove from heat, mash bread up with a fork and set aside to cool completely. In a large bowl combine the ground beef, pork, onion, garlic, parsley, eggs, olive oil, parmesan, a few gratings of nutmeg, the bread and milk mixture, salt and pepper. Now, with your hands, gently mix everything together until it is combined without overworking it all. Put dry breadcrumbs on a separate platter and begin shaping the meat mixture into one inch balls, again very gently and without overworking them. Roll the balls lightly into the platter of dry breadcrumbs and set aside until ready to brown.

Next, heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and pour in enough olive oil to rise up the sides about a quarter of an inch. Heat oil for a minute or so and then place the meatball to cover the bottom of the pan, browning them on all sides and gently turning to minimize breakage. Carefully remove meatballs from the pan as they are browned, drain them on a platter lined with paper towels and continue cooking until all meat balls are browned and drained. Pour off excess oil from the saute pan, return meatballs to the pan and add the hand-squeezed San Marzano tomatoes and fresh basil sprigs. Cover pan, season with sea salt and freshly ground white pepper and simmer for about thirty minutes or so over medium-low heat, turning and coating the meatballs with the sauce every once in a while. When the oil floats free of the tomatoes you'll know the sauce is done.

Garnish with freshly grated parmesan and some finely chopped Italian flat leaf parsley. Serve immediately with rigatoni or other pasta that will marry well with such hearty meatballs and sauce.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

At least an hour ahead of time... preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the top third off of a large bulb of garlic and reserve for another use.

Take your garlic bulb and sprinkle it with sea salt, anoint it with a drizzle of olive oil and wrap it in a foil pouch.

Place the pouch into your preheated oven and roast it for a half hour or so or until cloves are soft and medium brown in color. Remove form oven and let cool to room temperature.

In the meantime...

Peel 4 extra large Russet potatoes ... about one potato for every two servings.
As you peel away... cut the peeled potatoes into thirds and submerge them in a large pot of cold water.

Place pot of potatoes over a medium-high heat add a large pinch of sea salt and bring them to a boil. Turn heat down to a gentle boil and cook uncovered until potatoes are soft when pierced with a knife.

Pour off water making sure to drain well and cover with a lid to keep warm.

Heat a half stick of butter with a half cup of half and half until butter is melted through.

Squeeze roasted garlic into the well drained potatoes and add half of the heated butter mixture.

With a hand potato masher... mash well and adding more butter mixture to reach desired consistency.

Season with sea salt and freshly ground white pepper.

Garnish with finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and serve piping hot.

Braised Spinach

Take a large bunch of fresh leafy green spinach and submerge it in a sink full of cold water for ten minutes or so to release its dirt and grit.

Rinse thoroughly, de-stem and drain in a colander leaving leaves still moist.

Next peel two large cloves of garlic and slice thinly.

In a wide bottom pan over medium heat... add enough extra virgin olive oil to just cover the bottom.

Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and the sliced garlic. Sauté until the garlic is lightly browned.

Immediately add the moist spinach and toss with tongs until the spinach wilts down a bit.

Splash with water or chicken stock and cover with a tight fitting lid to braise for a few minutes.

Season with sea salt and freshly ground white pepper.

Garnish with freshly ground nutmeg and freshly grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.