Pasta Bolognese

This is one of my favorite things to make. It's a family recipe handed down from my great grandmother on my mom's side. My mom watched my grandmother make it and I wated my mother make it. That said, I experimented with this recipe a bit, and it's not completely true to the family recipe. That I'll post on another day.

Also, one of the most important ingredients in this recipe is the Italian sausage. Surprisingly, I have found that the Jewel brand is pretty reliable. I'm not a fan of the Dominick's and as I found out this time the Johnsonville isn't that great. I won't be using it again. Here's what I did this weekend:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion diced
1 stalk of celery diced
1 large carrot diced
4 cloves or garlic diced
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 package of Italian sausage
1 29-ounce can of plain tomato sauce
2+ cups of dry red wine
1 Tbsp: Oregano, rosemary, red pepper flake, basil, thyme salt and pepper.
1 bay leaf
Sugar to taste

Heat dutch oven or stock pot with oil. Add diced veggies, except for garlic and cook until transparent. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. If veggies are stick at all add a little red wine to deglaze the pan. Add ground beef and Italian sausage until brown. Again, if necessary deglaze with red wine.

Add tomato sauce and red wine. Let cook for a few minutes and add spices. Cook with lid on for at least an hour, remove lid and let cook for at least another hour or however long you want. Be sure to taste the sauce throughout the cooking process and add spices accordingly. As it cooks up the acid from the tomatoes will increase, add sugar to counteract. All my spices are estimates on the cautious side. Add more as it cooks up and to taste. Add a little grated Parmesan before serving.

I like to serve this sauce with a thin spaghetti or vermicelli, but you can use just about any type of pasta. I hate the way this picture turned out as well, the presentation sucks, but I 'm posting it anyway. The lighting sucks in my kitchen, does anybody have any tips of how to take picture of food?

I'm making bolognese

And the apartment smells fantastic. I put it on during my lunch break and will let it cook for a few hours. I departed a bit from the traditional family recipe but will have a full post tomorrow about it.

Tuna casserole

This past week I was yearning for some true comfort food. I was trying to figure out what I wanted and decided on the tuna casserole my mother used to make for us. She would only make it on nights when my dad was working late because he couldn't stand it. But I remember it being one of my all-time favorites. It's also pretty simple, but not good for you at all.

3 TBLSP butter
3 TBLSP flour
3 cups of milk
Half a brick of Velvetta cheese (I believe that's half a pound)
1 pound of egg noodles
2 cans of tuna in water
1 cup of crumpled potato chips

Bring water to boil for the egg noodles. Preheat the oven to 350 deggrees.

In a sauce pan melt the butter and then add the flour to make a roux. Gradually add the milk while mixing with a whisk. One the milk had been combined with the roux starting ass the Velvetta. I slice it up and slowly added it making sure it was mixed propely. Add a bit of salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles until al dente, not quite done. Darin the noodles and put into a mixing bowl. Drain the tuna and add to the egg noodles. Pour the cheese and combine.

Place the mixture into a casserole dish and cover with crushed potato chips. Bake for 30 minutes.

There is a similar version of this that's done with rice instead of egg noodles, but I can't remember if you cook the rice before (I would think you would) and as soon as my mom gets home I'll find out and post an update. Again. I forgot to take a picture, but will try to remember starting with anything I'm cooking this week.