Sauce me properly.

If you ask around you'll find that the secret to high quality tomato sauce is shockingly simple. The secret: tomatoes and carrots. Let me explain. Since your sauce is minimalist in nature it should be made with high quality ingredients so that the few ingredients may accentuate the pasta. Fortunately, when it comes to canned tomatoes, finding quality is easy. Every Italian cook worth his/her weight in lira will tell you you that San Marzano tomatoes are the best in the world. San Marzano isn't a brand, but rather the name of a commune, nestled in the volcanic soil near Mt. Vesuvius, where the first San Marzano tomato was grown. The tomatoes are especially good for sauce making for two reasons. They are less acidic and sweeter then say, Roma tomatoes, and have a deeper tomato flavor.

However, no matter how less acidic one tomato is than another tomato, it was always be acidic. That's where the carrot comes in. Carrots, much like beets, are full of natural sweetness and using a small amount of carrot in your pasta sauce imparts a sweetness that will offset the acidity of the tomatoes. Since I've already provided a recipe for simple tomato sauce in my fresh pasta post I decided to use make a meat ragout still erring on the side of simplicity.


Bucatini with Turkey Ragout

* Bucatini is a thick spaghetti like pasta with a hole running through the center

1 lb Bucatini
1.25 lbs ground turkey
1 medium size carrot diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes (crushed, if whole make sure to chop the tomatoes first)
1 tsp ground sage (if you have poultry seasoning leftover from thanksgiving, that works too)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Place a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the oil. When the oil is heated add the carrot and saute 4-5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1-2 more minutes. Add the ground turkey and saute until brown and cooked through. Season thoroughly with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, sage and a ladle or two of the pasta water. Stir, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Serve immediately with chives or parsley.

Making a mess of pasta.

Sometimes I am so eager to do something that I don't stop to think about the practicality of what I'm doing. In this case it was making home made pasta. As I was watching the Food Network the other day and I saw some everyday Joe making fresh pasta. I then thought to myself, "Well if this guy can do it, I can certainly do it." In my haste I forgot that I don't own a pasta roller. A pasta roller is a cheap device that allows you to feed dough through two rollers in order to form a long thin sheet of pasta. It looks like this.

By the time I realized I had no roller, I had already made the dough. Now, its not impossible to make fresh pasta without a roller but the roller makes it so much easier. I just ended up having to do a lot more rolling pin work. It's also important to note that fresh pasta is not the same as the dried pasta you buy in the store. Dried pasta is simply water and a hard flour called semolina mixed together and pushed through a mold. Fresh pasta has eggs in it and sometimes oil. With a pasta roller the dish I made would have been very easy to make. I followed the recipe for fresh pasta I found here. I simply rolled the dough out and then cut it into fettuccine-like strands. But you should roll and cut the dough how you like and according to your pasta roller instructions. Fresh pasta cooks much faster then dried pasta. It only takes about 5 minutes. But all the same old rules apply. Cook the pasta in a lot of boiling salted water.

As far as sauce is concerned you can make whatever you like. Just be sure not to go too overboard. If you spent a lot of time and effort making fresh pasta you don't want to totally mask its flavor with a heavy sauce. Making fresh pasta is a real show stopper. People are really impressed by it, so break it out on a date night or when the boss comes over for dinner. The following is my recipe for a basic tomato sauce that I served this pasta with.

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small onion minced
1/2 of a medium carrot peeled and minced
2 tsp. fresh thyme, finely chopped (dried oregano is a fine substitute)
2 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat. Add the olive oil. Saute the carrot, onion and garlic until soft and translucent, 4 mins. Add the thyme and crushed tomatoes and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low for 45 mins. If at any point the sauce gets too thick feel free to add some of the cooking water from the pasta.

Here are some pictures from my pasta adventure:




The dough, after it rested.



The rolled out pasta.



The finished product.

Alfredo? You can call it whatever you want.

In today's heart healthy society people are staying clear of cream sauces. But, I think there's a way to make a dish like fettuccine alfredo and keep the calories reasonable. First off you can load your pasta dish with vegetables. Mine has artichokes, zucchini, yellow bell peppers and onions but you can put in whatever you have on hand. Adding some lean meats like chicken breast or shrimp doesn't hurt either. Instead of using heavy cream I am going to make a light white sauce using skim milk. I use Skim Plus because it has more flavor then regular skim milk. Which isn't saying much since regular skim milk is pretty much water with white food coloring. Here is my recipe for a a full pound of pasta (that's one box).

Ingredients:

1 lbs. of fettuccine
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 medium onion (sliced)
1 1/2 cups bell pepper (sliced)
1 large zucchini (sliced)
1 6 oz. jar of marinated artichokes (drained)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 6 qts. of water to a boil and cook the fettuccine to aldente, 10 mins. Meanwhile prepare the cream sauce. In a medium saucepan bring together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the flour over low heat. Whisk in the milk until thickened. Add salt to taste and whisk in the Parmesan cheese. Set aside. In a saute pan, over medium high heat, add the other tablespoon of olive oil. When the oil is hot add in the onions, zucchini and peppers. Saute 4-5 minutes until tender. Add in the artichokes and the pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper. To finish the dish add the pasta to the pan with the vegetables and stir in the cream sauce. If the sauce is too thick add some of the pasta water. Sprinke with parsley if you so desire. Enjoy.