Week Four: Bolognese Fail

So this week, there is no recipe because the dish I made is not something I would want anyone to ever repeat.

I attempted to use Mark Bittman's recipe for bolognese sauce and I made one seemingly small, but fatal mistake. The recipe called for 1/4 cup chopped pancetta or bacon.

Ok, strike what I said about one mistake. Really, there were two errors. When bacon and pancetta are the choices, one should ALWAYS choose pancetta. At least when you're making a sauce of Italian origin. But, being lazy and cheap, I went with bacon-- high quality, organic, slab bacon, but bacon none the less. So ingredient choice fail.

Second misstep: I did some pretty stupid math. In my mind, a quarter cup is four ounces, which is equivalent to a quarter pound, which is exactly how much I got from the butcher. Um, no. A quarter cut actually converts to two ounces. So I used the double bacon. (That's right. I used twice as much as I should have of an already sub-par ingredient.)

To be fair, we ate the sauce and it was edible. But it wasn't good. Not even close to good. How not good was reinforced when, last night, I tried a friend's bolognese dish at Mercato, a legit and delicious BYO Italian restaurant. Their sauce was meaty, savory, soft and delicious. Mine kind of tasted like armpits.

Lesson(s) learned. Next time a mere two ounces of pancetta might make all the difference.

Week Three: Tiny Crispy Potatoes

I love potatoes. Really, really love them. This recipe is modified from one I found on the Food Republic website. The ingredients might be minimal, but the dual cooking process makes a for a pretty tasty side-dish.

This recipe completely benefitted from the addition of truffle infused olive oil (an awesome Christmas gift I received as part of a basket of fabulous gourmet products from my oldest friend in the world and fellow food enthusiast, Melissa!). I think any fancy infused olive oil would work equally as well, but if you only have the pure stuff, these potatoes will still be delicious.

Tiny Crispy Potatoes

Fresh Ingredients:

1 lb. Tiny Potatoes or Fingerlings

Pantry Ingredients:

Olive Oil (of any variety, infused oils encouraged)

Salt

Pepper

*You will also need a clean large dishtowel and paper towels.

1.) Put the potatoes in a pot with enough salted water to cover them. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. While you wait, coat the bottom of a small baking sheet with the olive oil and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2.) Once they're cooked, drain the potatoes and let them dry. Lay the clean dishtowels on the counter. Line half the dishtowel with paper towel. Transfer half the boiled potatoes to the paper towel, cover with an additional paper towel and fold the dish towel over. Gently "squish" each of the potatoes until they're mostly flat. (Be careful not to over squish or the potatoes will fall apart.) Transfer the flattened potatoes to the baking dish and repeat with the second half of the potatoes. Once all potatoes are on the baking dish, brush each disc with a light coating of olive oil and season.

3.) Bake the potatoes until crispy, about 20 minutes, flipping half way through. If they need a little help crisping, throw them under the broiler for a few minutes. Taste for seasoning and eat up.

Week Two: Roasted Beet Salad

Yesterday, my sister posted on my Facebook wall:

Jenna Wojcik

Sally, what's up with the latest blog entry? I don't have much to do here except read food blogs.

She caught me. Week Two and I was already behind schedule. Insert excuse about failed New Year's Resolution here. So I'm back dating. Pretend I posted this four days ago. Pretend I tackled the irreverent beet last week while I was anxiously waiting for the return of my personal hero, Leslie Knope to Thursday night television. (I knew she was going to ask Ben to be campaign manager! I just knew it!)

For anyone who watches Top Chef, you will know I am playing right into last week's episode when one chef mocked the other for wanting to include beets on a menu. "Beets?! Really? Everyone has beets on their menu." So I'm behind the food ball. Whatever. This recipe isn't particularly innovative, but it was new to me. I just came around to beets in the last year or two and I have been trying to incorporate more of them into my diet.

This recipe is borrowed and then modified from the Stonewall Kitchen Harvest Cookbook (which I highly recommend). This salad is easy to make once you get the beets roasted and peeled. And don't worry about finding gloves to keep your hands from getting the bright red beet coloring. It wears off pretty quickly.

Roasted Beet Salad with a Bright Vinaigrette

Fresh Ingredients:

8-9 smallish beets, a mix of red and golden (small means 1.5 and 2 inches in diameter)

Ginger (about a tablespoon grated)

3 scallions

Crumbled feta

Pantry Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

(Tin Foil- not a food item, but you need it for this recipe.)

1.) Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Trim the ugly ends off the beets. Putting two or three beets together in the center of some tin foil and wrap them up to make a tight packet. Do this for all the beets. Put the packets in a baking pan and put them in the oven. Check them in an hour for doneness by putting a knife through the center of one. If you can cut through, they're done. (If your beets are really small, you should check in on them at about 45 minutes.)

2.) Take the beets out of the oven and let them cool. When you can easily handle them, peel off the skins. (This was the hardest and most time consuming part. I used a really sharp knife and took my time.) Slice the beets into discs and lay them out on plates or your serving dish.

3.) Grate your two tablespoons of ginger. (I used a microplane.) Finely chop just the pale green parts of three scallions. (Use more or less of the scallion to taste. I'm not super into raw onion flavor so the light green parts worked best for me.) Combine the ginger, scallions, red wine, and salt and pepper (to taste) in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil.

4.) Dress your beets with the vinaigrette and top with just a little bit of crumbled feta. Taste for seasoning and eat up.

Week One: Three Bean Vegetarian Chili

My sister, Jenna, finished college last summer and in late September had a graduation party with a pretty impressive food spread. Many of the offerings were class Wojcik family party standbys, but there were a few surprise entries. The stand out was the veggie chili. Perhaps most surprising was Will's praise. My meat-loving husband isn't usually won over by vegetarian (and in this case vegan!) dishes.

After the party, on the long car ride from MA to PA, both Will and I mentioned the chili. More than once.

I asked Jenna for the recipe. She pointed me towards the Rachel Ray base recipe that she had modified. I modified some of her modifications. The recipe below is the result. It uses dried beans which take a lot longer to cook, but you don't need to babysit it so it's worth it for the better flavor and texture.

Three Bean Vegetarian Chili

Fresh Ingredients

One medium onion-diced

One red pepper- diced

One green pepper- diced

One jalepeno seeded (fresh or pickled)- diced

Four cloves of garlic- chopped

Green onions (for garnish, optional)

Sour cream (for garnish, optional)

Grated cheddar cheese (for garnish, optional)

Pantry Ingredients

3/4 cup dried kidney beans

3/4 cup dried black beans

3/4 cup dried chick peas

1 cup veggie stock

32 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Tortilla chips (for garnish, optional)

1. Give your dried beans the once over to be sure you don't have any rocks or soil or any other surprises lurking. Soak your beans overnight in 8 cups of water.

2. In the morning drain and rinse the beans. If you're cooking them right away, put them in a large pot with plenty of water. Bring them to a boil and then lower to simmer. Simmer for 90 minutes to two hours. (They're done when they are the texture you're going for.) Drain and rinse. If you're not cooking them right away, just put them in a sealed container until you're ready to cook them.

3. In a deep pot over medium heat, add the olive oil, onions, peppers, and garlic. Sweat until softened. Once softened, add the stock, the tomatoes, the beans, spices, and salt. Stir well to combine. Bring the whole mixture to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Cook for as little as 30 minutes or for as long as you like. (I opted for about four hours because I had the time. And I think chili is one of those things that taste better, the longer it cooks.) Garnish however you like and eat up.