Bolognese Sauce (Meat Sauce)

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, finely chopped

4 celery ribs, finely chopped

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 pound chopped bacon

1 pound ground veal

1 pound ground pork (not lean)

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 cup whole milk

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Direction:

Cook onions, celery, carrot, and garlic in oil in a 6 to 8 quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add bacon, veal, and pork and cook over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up lumps, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, milk, wine, water, and thyme and gently simmer, partially covered, until sauce is thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Sauce may be made 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, before chilling, covered. Frozen, it keeps for 1 month.

Based on recipe from Epicurious.com

Singapore Noodles

Singapore Noodles are without doubt one of the most popular dishes in Chinese restaurants, take-outs or food courts and they vary widely in quality and taste. Most of them are oily, some taste powdery, some are totally bland…

Same can be said about home versions as well. Been there, done that. I have no problem with taste, heat or oiliness, my problem is the vermicelli. It took some serious Googling and testing to come up with technique that works and that is repeatable. The secret is the soaking time in hot water. Less then 10 minutes and vermicelli will fragment into little pieces, longer then 15 and they will be mushy. Overcooking is another no-no. One can’t forget that food keeps cooking even when removed from heat.

Ingredients are as varied as there are cooks that prepare it. Besides vermicelli, curry and oil there are only 2 other ingredients that appear in all recipes: egg and garlic. Everything else is optional be it vegetarian or with meat and/or seafood. Give it a try.

6 oz rice vermicelli

12 shrimps peeled

6 oz pork, shredded (chicken will do as well)

1 fl oz rice wine

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

2 fl oz vegetable oil

1/2 onion sliced

1 small carrot, shredded

1 handful bean sprouts or shredded Napa cabbage

1/2 red pepper sliced

1 spring onion sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp grated ginger

2 eggs whisked

1 1/2 tbsp Madras curry powder

salt and white pepper

Optional:

Shitake mushrooms, soaked and julienned, sliced water chestnuts, shredded celery and few sprigs of coriander for garnish

§         Soak vermicelli in hot water for 15 minutes prior to cooking. Drain, separate strands, sprinkle with sesame oil, toss and set aside.

§         Combine the pork and shrimp in the same bowl and add the soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine, and the corn starch. Mix together thoroughly and let it marinade for at least 10 minutes.

§         Add little vegetable oil to the already hot wok. Add the pork and shrimp with as little of the marinade as possible and cook for a minute or two. When everything is more or less cooked, add the marinade, continue to cook for a few seconds more and then remove the pork and shrimp from the wok. Remove to bowl and wipe the wok clean.

§         Add a little bit more oil to the wok and drop in the onions, cooking them for a half minute or so. Next, add the red pepper, garlic, ginger, spring onions, bean sprouts or Napa cabbage and any other vegetable you are using, and stir. Stir fry together briefly and remove from the heat. Remove vegetables to the bowl with pork and shrimps and keep warm.

§         Separate the strands of vermicelli once more. Again, add a smidge of oil to the hot wok. Add the eggs, let them set and stir briskly to scramble them. Add the noodles and stir. Next, combine the curry powder, sugar and season with salt and pepper and combine with eggs and vermicelli. Toss till well combined.

§         Finally, add the vegetables, the shrimps and pork to the wok. Toss everything together, cooking just enough to blend the flavors and heat everything through. If vermicelli are still hard add a little bit of stock or water and toss.

§         Place on individual preheated plates, garnish and serve.

Pork Tenderloin Roulade with pineapple and grapes.



Today I have challenged myself to come up with new creation based on very first piece of meat that I see in the freezer. As my luck would have it, it was a 5” piece of vacuum packed pork tenderloin. Small piece like that would have to have few things added to it so my plan was to create some sort of roll. Part of the challenge was to use what was in the fridge or pantry only and since I still have parsley, chives and arugula growing in my cold frame it was OK to use.

Here is the result.

Ingredients (to serve 2):

Pork Tenderloin – about 5”

5 slices of smoked and cooked bacon

2 T. melted onions or caramelized onions

3 narrow but thick slices of Havarti cheese

1T. hot Hungarian paprika

2 red potatoes in skin, cut into wedges

2T. sour cream

1T. butter

Arugula, about 10 leaves

Pineapple, 3 rings cut in half

1/3 Cup green seedless grapes

3 T. Grape seed or Canola oil

Step by step procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 °C.

Cut up potatoes and start boiling on medium heat. Once the water starts to boil it will take about 12 minutes to be ready.

Butterfly the tenderloin

and pound it till about 1/8” thick.

Spread onions on pork, sprinkle with hot paprika and cover with bacon slices.

Place cheese about 2” apart so that each layer of the roll will have cheese in irregular pattern.

Roll very tightly and tie with butcher’s twine about every 2”.

Heat frying pan, add oil and brown the roll on all sides. Place in preheated oven and roast for 15 minutes turning once halfway through roasting.

After 15 minutes remove from oven, cover with aluminum foil and let rest.

When you put the tenderloin into oven start caramelizing the pineapple and grapes in 1 T. of butter. In about 5 minutes check for dark brown marks on bottom and turn over both pineapple and grapes.

The judge at table called it a winner and definite repeat.

Saying that, she said that it would be nice to have more of the pineapple, though.