Bolognese Sauce

I grew up on Chinese food at home except for Pasta Sundays. This was the day that my father got to experiment with Spaghetti Sauce and there were some strange ones that he came up with. He tried all kinds of mixes and jars of premade sauce that he doctored with other things - adding sausage or ground beef and various vegetables like zucchini, which was another disliked vegetable in my youth - now I love it. Although it was fun to watch him experiment, I knew something was missing from these sauces and I've always liked being authentic to a culture.

So, when I was 15, I went to the library and looked up classic Italian pasta sauces. This is when I discovered Bolognese Sauce. What a revelation! The only hard thing about making it was that I couldn't buy the wine, but when I finally gathered all the ingredients and made it the first time with Fettucine pasta - the only kind of wide noodle I could find at the time, I thought I had reached a peak experience in cooking! This sauce was so different, so delicate and oh so good. The tomatoes were not the star of the show, the pasta was and the meat was tender not chunky. Graced with a sprinkling of fresh parmesan, it is still a wonderful meal. 

The secret to a good Bolognese Sauce is to cook the meat in milk before adding the wine and the tomatoes. This tenderizes the meat and softens the acidity of the sauce and gives it a wonderful delicacy. The other secret is to use good Italian tomatoes - it took me many years to discover this and before that I was always adding sugar in order to make the sauce taste right. Use San Marzano tomatoes if you can get them as they are naturally sweetened from the hot Italian sun. Also add in just a bit of Tomato Paste from a tube at the end to make it thicker. And the final secret is to use a really good red or white wine. I use one that I would like to drink and then serve the remainder as the first bottle at dinner. Make sure you mince the vegetables very fine - I use my Cuisinart as my kids didn't like seeing signs of anything except meat when they were younger. I have also made this sauce with ground chicken and changed to white wine and it is even lighter and more delicate. My father was delighted with this recipe and it became our Sunday night special until I discovered pesto - but that is another post. Now this is one of my sons' favorite meals with garlic bread and a big salad and was the meal of choice the night before a soccer game.

I now serve my Bolognese Sauce with Papparadelle or Tagliatelle pasta that I buy at the Italian deli. I also use this sauce to make Lasagna with bechamel sauce and parmesan - not ricotta - and it is divine using Barilla No Boil Lasagna noodles. The only change I make is to add another 8 ounces of tomato sauce to make the sauce slightly more pourable and substantial. And as a purist, I have to serve these pasta dishes with authentic Parmigiano Reggiano. Nothing else will do. I hope you enjoy this sauce as much as my father did and the rest of my family still does.

Bolognese Sauce

2 ounces Pancetta diced (optional)

1 pound lean ground Beef (can also use a combination with veal and pork)

1 Onion minced

2 medium Carrots minced

2 Celery stalks minced

2 Garlic Cloves minced

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Milk

1 cup good Red Wine (you can also use White Wine)

1 28 oz can San Marzano Tomatoes including juice - chopped
1/4 cup Tomato Paste (4 Tablespoons)

1 Bay Leaf

1 teaspoon Thyme (preferably fresh)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Note: If using another kind of canned tomato, you may need to add up to 1 Tablespoon of sugar to sweeten the acidity.

In large heavy pot, melt butter with olive oil and then add in pancetta, onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Stir until lighty softened. Add in ground beef and stir until only slightly pink. Add in milk and simmer for 10 minutes. Add in red wine and simmer for another 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and herbs. Simmer for 1 hour. Add in Tomato Paste and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over a wide pasta cooked al dente. Stir the noodles into the sauce to serve and pass the Parmesan cheese.

Five Element Analysis

The ground beef belongs to the Earth Element and so do the carrots. The tomatoes are Fire as is the celery and the red wine adds even more. The onions and garlic are Metal but they do simmer for quite awhile so they end up being Earthy, but the Parmesan cheese adds a nice bit of Metal along with the milk, bay leaf and thyme. The wheat in the pasta adds the Wood Element. The Water Element is only slightly represented by the pancetta and salt and the ground pork if using that. So, you might want to consider a desert of dark berries to balance the meal.

Bruschetta

I am a snacker and I always have been and of course my choice of snacks if usually savory. There is something so satisfying about a snack - an almost guilty pleasure, and I think in this case guilt is good as you are nurturing yourself! My sons and I have a series of snacks that we love to eat and they need to be easy, fast and fun to eat. One of our classic snacks is bruschetta and it quite often ends up being lunch. It's just so versatile and so adaptable to a variety of toppings. The concept is Italian - crusty grilled bread covered in olive oil and kissed by garlic - yum! It's good all by itself. The Italians often use chopped fresh and very ripe tomatoes, mixed with olive oil, fresh basil, garlic and salt as one their classic toppings. One of simplest versions using tomato is to take a fresh tomato and coat the bread with it as soon as it is crisp out of the oven. This apparently is a Spanish version and has become our favorite accompaniment to eggs fried in olive oil. It is delicious. It starts with a very high quality bread and a good olive oil. I use a La Brea Bakery Baguette and olive oil from Italy or Spain. We often top ours with prosciutto or salami too. Our current favorite topping is marinated goat cheese and roasted peppers. The goat cheese recipe comes from my friend - here's the recipe:

Bruschetta

One baguettte, sliced on the diagonal into 3/4" slices

Olive Oil - up to 3/4 cup

1 - 2 large peeled garlic cloves

2 teaspoons sea salt (I use Maldon)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put bread slices on a large baking pan. Brush or drizzle olive oil over them. Sprinkle with sea salt. Place in oven and cooked until brown on the edges and crusty on top. As soon as they are out of the oven, take the garlic cloves and scrape the tops of the bread with the raw garlic.

Top with the topping of your choice and it is best topped while warm although they will keep for several hours. If using fresh tomato in the Spanish style, cut the tomato in half and scrape on top of the bread slices until they turn red and soften. Eat immediately!

Marinated Goat Cheese

1 log of goat cheese

1 garlic clove minced

1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

Put goat cheese in a covered container. Pour olive oil over and put in garlic cloves and seasoning. Shake to cover and refrigerate, turning occassionally for 1/2 hour up to several days. The flavor develops over time.

Roasted Peppers

2 - 3 Peppers - red, yellow and/or orange cut in half, seeds removed

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Basil leaves to taste - chiffonade into thin ribbons

1 large or 2 medium garlic cloves minced
Optional:  Small piece of salted anchovy, mashed or 1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste

Turn oven to 450 degrees. Place peppers cut side down on large baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and roast until they start becoming black and blistered - about 10 to 15 minutes. Put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or another plate for 15 minutes to soften. Then, peel off skin and slice into ribbons. Add remaining olive oil, garlic, basil leaves and salt and anchovy (if using). Let marinate for several hours or overnight.

Five Element Analysis

The bread and olive oil is from the Wood Element, garlic from Metal and salt from the Water Element. That's the basic Five Element composition of Bruschetta. With goat cheese, you add more Metal and with Roasted Peppers you add Fire. Adding cured and salted Meat adds more Water which helps enhance that element and if you use anchovy, it brings in even more. It is also a snack, which makes it more of a Fiery food. The Earth Element is not represented here so that needs to be added - perhaps something sweet would be good. I often bring in figs or dates to go with the cured meat to make it a more balanced snack.

Broccoli and Ham Quiche

I just got back from a month long trip from Europe and I'm very jetlagged! It's the only time that it is hard for me to cook. I also usually feel rather ungrounded and need to cook to find my roots again. This is the time when I go for easy and light and I have no problem with using some premade ingredients like pie crust or puff pastry - two of my favorite freezer items to always have on hand. As usual, the refrigerator was pretty empty, but I also always have lots of breakfast foods on hands for my sons to make as eggs are their go to fast food. So, perusing the contents of the fridge, I found eggs, ham and some fairly wilted broccoli. In the cupboard, there was a red onion languishing. Luckily, the milk was still good so I made a quiche. It's one of those dishes that makes me happy. Of course, you can vary the ingredients within in any way you like and I have made all kinds of quiches. I don't like using cheese although you can, just cut back on the ham and broccoli and add one cup of cheese of your choice - the most classic is Gruyere. I used a Whole Foods Gluten Free Pie Crust that I prebaked but you can use any frozen piecrust - just make sure it is deep dish. Of course, you can always make your own and I do when I am not tired. I used whole Lactaid milk, but cream or half and half makes it much richer. It's not as good with low fat milk, but it's still good. I made a cabbage salad with red peppers and green onions to go with it and my son's brought home an Emerald City Salad with Kale and Sugar Snap Pea Salad from our local PCC health food store and it turned out to be a fabulous meal. Here's my favorite quiche recipe:

Ham and Broccoli Quiche

1 prebaked pie shell (only lightly browned)

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk (or cream, or half and half or lowfat or combination)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1 cup chopped ham

1/2 red onion, sauteed in 1 Tablespoon butter until lightly carmelized

1 cup broccoli florets, cut up and lightly steamed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the eggs and milk along with the salt and pepper until mixed thoroughly. Put aside. Put pie shell on baking sheet. In the bottom of the pie shell, sprinkle red onion, ham and then broccoli. Pour egg mixture over. Carefully place in the oven and bake for at least 30 minutes, but possibly up to 45 minutes or until top is lightly browned and filling is barely set in the center and set on the sides.

Cool for 10 - 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Five Element Analysis

Eggs belong to the Water Element as they hold the potential for new life and are very nutritious. Ham adds even more of the Water Element. Milk or cream belongs to the Metal Element. Broccoli is from the Wood Element, as the florets are like little trees and a wheat pie crust adds even more Wood. I used a gluten free crust that was made from rice, tapioca and cornstarch so this added more of the Metal Element and a little of the Earth Element too. The carmelized onions contributed some additional Earth. The only thing missing is some Fire and that can be added with a sparkling beverage or coffee or tea. I added some red peppers in the accompanying salads and served strawberries for desert to create a Five Element balance.

Butter Almond Cake

I haven't been cooking lately as I have been teaching in Amsterdam and there's no kitchen in my hotel room - unfortunately. But I have to say that there's no shortage of good restaurants and I've already been to the grocery store to pick up some food to bring home. I bought some curry ketchup and some of my favorite Dutch waffle cookies - Stroopwafels. I was given another Dutch cookie to try by my organizer - Boterkoek. The exact translation is Butter Cake, but these were little cookie squares of dense, sweet, buttery goodness. They were really very sweet, but I was craving sugar as it seems to help my jetlag. Needless to say, they are not going to make it home as I ate them all while drinking lots of tea. She was kind enough to supply me with the recipe from her mother. It was remarkably similar to an Almond Butter Cake that I make in a round cake pan and cut into wedges. It surprised me how different they taste and it appears that it is simply a matter of changing the extract that you use. That helped me adapt the recipe to American measuring standards and oven temperature. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. They are going to become a standard in my cookie list!

Boterkoek

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 stick butter - 3/4 cup melted

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Optional - 1 teaspoon sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly butter a 9 inch square pan or for thinner and less moist cookies use a 9 x 11 inch pan.

In mixing bowl, cream melted butter with sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add in flour and salt and stir until thorougly combined. Spread into pan - batter will be very thick - and sprinkle with additional sugar if desired. Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until just barely golden on top unless using larger pan - then check after 20 minutes. Cool and cut into squares to seve.

To make this into Butter Almond Cake - simply use 1 teaspoon of almond extract instead (but I usually add a 1/2 tsp vanilla too), put into an 8" or 9" cake pan and sprinkle with a handful of sliced almonds on top. This is a wonderful cake that I serve in wedges with strawberries or raspberries on the side for a lovely summer dessert.

Five Element Analysis

These cookies are very sweet so they naturally belong to the Earth Element more than any other element and the dense texture contributes too. But, the wheat flour adds the Wood Element and the eggs contribute the Water Element. Butter as a derivative of milk belongs to the Metal Element. The Fire Element is only represented by the bit of vanilla extract so serve with some tea and coffee. If making the almond cake, the almond adds even more Earth and serving fruit like strawberries or raspberries amps the Fire Element. Surprisingly, this sweet little snack ends up being more balanced than expected!

Samosas and Boulani

My older son loves ethnic food as much as I do and recently requested that I make Boulani. We used to have these at our Afghani friend's house when he was a child in California and has never forgotten how much he liked them. I liked them too and also appreciated them because it was one of the only ways I got my son to eat spinach! These are usually either made from potato or spinach and use coriander (cilantro) and green onions as flavorings. So, I pulled out the recipe I was once given and decided to make them. However, I put the potatoes and spinach together and liked them even better. I've always thought that they were an interesting variation on Chinese dumplings and Indian Samosas.

Actually, almost every culture wraps things in dough and makes some kind of turnover with the fillings varying depending on the local ingredients. I've always loved eating things with my hands and appreciate small bites of things - "taste treats" as one of my friends calls them. As I had extra potoatos and spinach left over, I decided to use some Indian spices and made a batch of spicy Samosas too. I used Wonton wrappers and made them all small although my friend traditionally used Eggroll wrappers for the Boulani and made bigger ones. Of course, using Wonton wrappers isn't very authentic to Indian cuisine and if you are a purist, you may want to make your own wheat dough. But, I really like the convenience of the premade wrappers and the way they crisp up so well. Both the Boulani and the Samosas would be great appetizers for a party. We couldn't decide which ones we liked better. My son likes to dip things into sauce and he used an Indian chutney as I didn't have any yogurt to make a yogurt sauce (yogurt, garlic, mint and salt). But I like them plain as I so appreciate the taste of the spices. Let me know what you think.

Spinach and Potato Boulani

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch fresh spinach

1 bunch of cilantro

2 medium potatoes - preboiled in their skin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 package of Egg Roll Wrappers or 2 packages of Wonton Wrappers

Vegetable Oil

Small bowl of water

Wash green onions, trim ends and slice into small rounds. Wash and drain spinach. Pick off large stems and chop into small pieces. Wash cilantro and pull of leaves and chop finely. Mix together in a small bowl with spices. Peel potatoes and dice and mix into vegetable mixture.

In frying pan, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil and add vegetable mixture and cook only until spinach wilts slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool.

When filling is cool, lay out a piece of wax paper and place wonton wrapper down like a diamond . Put in about 1heaping teaspoon of filling in one half at the point closest to you. Wet the wrapper all along the edges and fold over to make a triangle. When you have enough for one panful start cooking or wrappers will start to stick to the paper. Repeat.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in frying pan over medium heat and place Boulani in pan and brown on each side. This only takes a few minutes. Remove to Plate covered with a paper towel. Cook the next batch. Serve with dipping sauces of your choice.

Samosas

2 medium potatoes - boiled in their skin

1 bunch spinach

1 small onion chopped

1 serrano chili, deseeded and minced

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 Tablespoon of ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric

2 Tablespoons of Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Small bowl of water

Vegetable Oil for cooking

Wash spinach and remove stems, chop into smaller pieces. Peel potatoes and cut into small pieces about 1/4 inch. Heat frying pan and add cumin and turmeric and cook stirring until you smell their frangrance and they darken slightly. Add the 2 Tablespoons of butter, onions, chili, ginger and garlic and cook until the onion is soft. Add potatoes and spinach and cook until spinach wilts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let cool.

When filling is cool, lay out a piece of wax paper and place wonton wrapper down like a diamond . Put in about 1heaping teaspoon of filling in one half at the point closest to you. Wet the wrapper all along the edges and fold over to make a triangle. When you have enough for one panful start cooking or wrappers will start to stick to the paper.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of oil in frying pan. Add enough Samosas to fill pan leaving space to turn them. Brown them a few minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Remove them to a plate covered with a paper towel. Serve with dipping sauces of your choice.

Five Element Analysis

These are snacks or appetizers and not meant to be a full meal, so other dishes should be added to create a Five Element balance. In the Boulani and the Samosas, the potatoes bring in the Earth Element, the spinach adds the Wood Element as does the wheat flour of the wrappers. The Fire Element is represented by the spicy Seranno Chilies and the Metal Element is represented well by all of the spices and the onion and garlic. The only element that is deficient is the Water Element so serving these snacks with some kind of bean dip or eggplant dip would be a wonderful way to create a balanced Five Element spread. And don't forget to serve with tea for more Fire.

Vietnamese Crepe

I primarily cook at home. So, when I do dine out, it is usually to an expensive restaurant for a special occassion or the kinds of restaurants that serve food that I don't normally cook. That leads me to seek out the best little ethnic restaurants and I try to order something different every time. Of course, I have my favorite dishes in every cuisine, but I so love the adventure of tasting something new. I am occassionally disappointed, but I think that experimenting is just so fun! From these ethnic eateries, I often come home with a desire to make a certain dish that I really enjoyed. I then look through my huge cookbook collection or Google the dish and look for recipes from places like Epicurious, the Food Network, Food & Wine, etc. Sometimes I get sent to other wonderful food blogs. I usually gather several recipes that I think I will like and then start experimenting. I think it is important to imagine tasting the dish while you are reading the recipe and that can help eliminate many of the recipes from consideration. I've never really been able to make anything exactly from a recipe anyway except when I am baking - because that is chemistry.

One of my current favorite dishes is the Vietnamese Crepe called Banh Xeo or Happy Crepes. I've had a wonderful version at Silk in Portland and good versions at many other Vietnamese restaurants. It is a crepe made with mung beans, rice flour and coconut milk and usually involves pork and shrimp. It is served with lettuce, mint, cilantro and/or Thai Basil and Nuoc Cham sauce. This dish has wonderful contrasting textures - the crepe is warm and soft with crisp edges, the lettuce and herbs are cold and crunchy and the salty, savory, tangy and sweet flavors of the sauce together make my taste buds very happy! I'm allergice to shrimp so I'm leaving it out of the recipe. If you want to add it back in, just substitute shrimp for half of the pork. And of course, it can be made vegetarian and it is gluten free too. Here's the version I finally came up with that my sons and I liked best. The crepe recipe is adapted from Charles Phan of Slanted Door (recipe from Food & Wine Magazine) and Epricurious. The Nuoc Cham recipe was created from trial and error.

Vietnamese Crepes

Crepes:

1/2 cup dried mung beans

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk from a can - stirred first

2 cups white rice flour

1 cup cornstarch

4 cups water

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

Soak the dried mung beans in warm water for about 30 minutes. Drain and put them in a food processor. Add coconut mil, rice flour, cornstarch, water, scallions and turmeric. Let the crepe batter rest for about 20 minutes or even overnight to loosen the starches.

Filling:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of boneless pork, cut into 1/4 inch pieces sprinkled with fish sauce and a little sugar

1 small onion sliced very thin

1 cup thinly sliced button mushrooms

3 cups beansprouts

Serving:

1 head of Red Leaf Lettuce - leaves separated, washed and dried

Handful of Mint leaves, Clantro and Thai Basil (usually served on the stem)

Nuoc Cham Sauce

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup lime juice

1/2 cup hot water

1/4 cup or more light brown sugar (you can also use white sugar and I usually add more)

1 Thai or Serrano Chili sliced into little rings (use 1/2 if you don't like it to too hot)

1 large or 2 small cloves of minced garlic

Mix sugar into hot water and stir to dissolve. Add in lime juice, fish sauce, chili and garlic. Taste for desired sweetness and let cool. Pour into separate small serving bowls

To Cook:

Heat oven to 200 degrees and put a large baking sheet in to warm

Using a nonstick 8" skillet, add one teaspoon of oil and heat. Add a few pieces of pork, mushrooms and a few slivers of onion and saute until pork loses its' pinkness. Pour in 1/2 cup of crepe batter, tilting and swirling the pan until crepe coats the bottom of the pan thinly and rises up the side of the pan. Let it cook for a moment until the edges become drier, then add the beansprouts. Cover and let steam cook for about 2 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Fold in half and put onto baking sheet to keep warm while making remaining crepes.

To Serve:

Place crepe onto plate and garnich with several lettuce leaves, a small amount of Mint leaves, Cilantro and Thai basil. Give each person a small bowl of Nuoc Cham to dip. To eat, tear crepe into pieces along with herbs and wrap in lettuce leaves. Dip into Nuoc Cham sauce and enjoy!

Five Element Analysis

The Mung Beans, mushrooms and sugar are from the Earth Element. The coconut milk and rice flour are from the Metal Element along with the lightly cooked onion, scallions, mint, cilantro, Thai basil, garlic and turmeric. The pork is from the Water Element as is the fish sauce. The Fire Element is represented by the Thai or Serrano Chili and the lettuce. The Wood Element is represented by the sour Lime Juice. All in all, it is a very balanced little dish!

Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley

I just returned from visiting my mother as it was her birthday on April Fool's Day. But, don't ask me how old she is as she won't tell you and I'm not supposed to either. It was actually quite a busy trip as I saw lots of relatives and I came back quite worn out. It was surprisingly cold and rainy when I left LA and I came back to the cold and rain back here in Seattle too. That means it is soup time. Nothing is cozier or more nurturing to me than a big bowl of soup. You are probably starting to notice a trend and you would be right - I make a lot of soup! When I am tired, it needs to come together all in one cooking session and shouldn't take very long to cook. That brings me back to one of my childhood favorites: Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley.

My mother didn't make what we called American soups and my sister developed quite a fondness for Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup. So when I was about twelve, I set out to make her a homemade version. We all loved it so much that I've been making it ever since. I love cutting up all the vegetables into really small pieces so that everything is around the same size as the barley. That's a Chinese thing, but it also makes sense as you get a little bit of everything in each spoonful that way. Be sure to add that little bit of sugar as it really helps improve the taste of canned tomatoes. You can add more of less broth depending on how thick you like your soup. My father always liked his soups with a lot of broth so the bread or crackers would have something to soak up. This soup is hearty and filling and soothing at the same time. And it's fast and easy and delicious! I make this soup a lot for my apprenticeship students and is another frequently requested recipe. Serve with saltine crackers or my favorite - garlic bread.

Vegetable Beef Soup with Barley

1 pound extra lean ground beef (you can also use ground turkey)

1 large onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

7 - 8 cups beef broth (Substitute with chicken broth if using turkey)

One 14.5 oz can finely diced tomatoes

½ cup pearl barley

1 cup green beans cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Brown hamburger with onions, carrots and celery in large soup pot, breaking up the meat into small pieces. Add broth, tomatoes and barley. Bring to a boil. Add bay leaf, basil and sugar. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Five Element Analysis

As colorful as this soup is, you can guess that it is pretty balanced and here's why: Soup by its very nature is a Water Element food. But, the beef broth and hamburger bring in the Earth Element as does the barley, cooked onion and carrots. The tomatoes add the Fire Element and the herbs bring in a touch of the Metal Element. The green beans bring in a little of the Wood Element. Adding crackers would add more of the Wood Element from the wheat and if you choose garlic bread, you bring in the Wood Element plus more Metal from the garlic. That little addition makes it a very balanced meal!