What's for dinner?

Ground beef with Italian veggies to lighten it up a bit. Spinach, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, garlic. Served over pasta with parmesan cheese. Tuesday night special.

What's for Dinner? Shrimp Salad.

Most of the veggies were already prepped in the fridge. So all I had to do was add dill, capers, yogurt-mayo dressing and of course, shrimp. A dash of salt and pepper. I'll make a pasta salad to go with it for those in my family who want it. They can just mix the two together. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Since I'd mentioned dinner yesterday, I thought perhaps I should share what we ate with you. I made a vegetarian chili, meat tacos and an Immaculate Conception cake. Voila!

I love the message Our Lady gave to Juan Diego. I like to think that most of it is meant for all her children.

“Hear me and understand well, my son the least, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. Do not be afflicted by the illness of your uncle, who will not die now of it. be assured that he is now cured.”

Blessed Easter Joy To You!

We went to the Vigil Mass, which was very, very beautiful. 

 I was filling Easter baskets after we got home--that was at 2 AM in the morning.  

Then later that day we had the extended family over for dinner.

I left a plate on the kitchen table for my boy who had to work late. 

That's an easy lamb recipe; a real keeper... It's just as delicious as it is simple.

Roast Beef

Roast Beef was on sale so John wanted it on New Years Eve. I used the recipe from Julia Child's "The Way To Cook", Roast beef is a lot like cooking a turkey or any other roast for that matter.

'It's not so hard', Julia says. 'It's mostly about getting the timing right.' I think that's true. The meat is so good, you don't need to do much else other than make a gravy or in this case we made a creamy horse radish sauce from the same cook book. 

Beef Burgundy Stew.

Here's another recipe that's good for a Sunday dinner. I'm planning to make it this Saturday while listening to the opera on WQXR.

Verdi's Aïda

Like the beef bolognese, it's best made a day ahead because it tastes better on the second day. It also freezes really well, like the bolognese.

It's one more from my father-in-law's repertoire of recipes.

 Years ago a certain food critic's a son was over for dinner. He liked this Beef Burgundy and asked for the recipe. Then he passed it along to his father. Evidently the father liked it, too, because he published it in The Daily Record.

Everyone likes this dish!

6 strips bacon, cut into 1/2 inch slices

3 pounds beef chuck, cut in 1-1/2 inch cubes

1 large carrot, sliced

1 medium onion, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups beef broth

2 cups burgundy

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon thyme 

1 bay leaf

1 pound sliced fresh mushrooms

1 pound small white onions

It all starts with the browning of the bacon in cast iron pans.

You want to cook that until its nice and crisp. Then remove the bacon and set it aside.

Above is enough beef to double the recipe, which I almost always do. Then I can freeze half. But the ingredients given above are enough for one batch of stew.

But anyway, you want to brown all that nicely in the bacon greese, until the meat is really brown. Then remove the beef and set it aside.

Brown the sliced carrot and onion in the pan drippings.

Next, spoon off the fat and return the bacon and beef to the pan with the carrot and onion. Add salt, pepper and flour, stirring to coat meat lightly.

Transfer the entire contents of the cast iron pan into a slow cooker. Add beef broth, wine, tomato paste, and herbs. Cover the slow cooker and let it all build up to a slow simmer.

Meanwhile, brown the mushrooms in 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of salad oil, about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

In the same skillet, brown the pearl onions about 10 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.

Once the crock pot ingredients begin stewing, you can add the onions and mushrooms. 

And here it is! 

Beef Burgundy goes nicely with a good red wine, a Burgundy, of course! Cheers!

It's also nice with a little shrimp salad on the side. However I must get on with my day, so I'll give you the recipe for this one another time!

Bolognese Meat Sauce

This is so super yummy! My father-in-law (requiescat in pace) gave me this recipe. I'm making it today to be eaten tomorrow for Sunday dinner, because dishes like this are even better on the second day. If you like bolonaise with a real bite to it, then this recipe is for you!

From The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Ann, Clem and Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Meat Sauce

2 heaping cups for about six servings and 1-½ pounds of pasta
(Feel free to double or triple the recipe if you're cooking for a crowd. But then use two pans; don't crowd your pan. Also, this recipe freezes really well, so save some time and double or even triple up!)

1 Tbs vegetable oil 
3 Tbs butter 
1/2 C. chopped onion
2/3 C. chopped celery 
2/3 C. chopped carrot
3/4 pound ground beef chuck
1 C. whole milk
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 C. dry white wine
1 1/2 C canned plum tomatoes, chopped and with their juice
salt
pepper (fresh ground)
freshly graded parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Pasta: Hazen says that tagliatelle is best, but also rigatoni, fusilli, and conchiglie will do. Coat with butter.

1. Put the oil and butter in a pot with the chopped onion. Turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring the onion until translucent. Add the chopped celery and carrots. Cook about 2 minutes more, stirring the vegetables to coat them.

2. Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Break up the meat and stir well, cooking until the beef has lost its raw, red color.

3. Add the milk and let simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. This can take a while. 

Important: if you want the bite that makes this dish so special, then it's really very important not to add wine or tomatoes until the milk reduction is finished and you can't see any milk! That's the whole key here!!

4. Add the 1/8 tsp of grated nutmeg and stir.

5. Add the wine. Let it all simmer until the wine has evaporated. Add tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Coat all the ingredients. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn heat down. Leave it so that the sauce cooks at the laziest simmer with occasional bubbles breaking. Cook it uncovered in a pan Let it go for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. If the sauce begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat, add 1/2 C of water to keep it from sticking to the pot. At the end, however, no water should remain and the fat must be separate from the sauce. This takes time, don't let leave the pot neglected, keep stirring. Taste for additional salting.

6. Attention Busy Mamas: as mentioned in the above step, Marcella and Clem would let the meat bubble slowly in the skillet for the rest of the cooking time. But then you can't leave the kitchen; you'll be in the kitchen all day, because it'll burn if you're not constantly stirring the meat every few minutes. We mamas can't always do that, right? There's too much laundry to do! So my solution is to put it in a crock pot at this point--for the final three hours, but just make sure all the tomato juice is evaported prior to serving.