Meat-Free Meals: Carrot Soup

This recipe is so easy and quick. And it has no fat because you don’t use cream to thicken it. Here is what you’ll need:

* 1 pound of carrots
* 1 small onion
* half of a potato
* water
* 1 vegetable bouillon cube
* salt, pepper, and whatever herbs you like

Chop carrots, onion and potato and put into a deep frying pan. Add enough water to cover. Add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt or to taste. Cover and boil until soft.

Pull the veggies out with a slotted spoon and put into a food processor or blender. Keep the water in the pan. Puree and stir back into the water until blended. The potato acts as a thickener so you don’t have to use milk or cream. Add a bouillon cube for flavor and whatever herbs you like best. Rosemary is really nice with carrots. Ginger works well, too. You’ll probably want to add a little more salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil.

Serve immediately with fresh warm bread.

Music to cook by: Etta James Mystery Lady, Songs of Billie Holiday

Marjoram

I’m obsessed with marjoram. It’s an herb that is similar to oregano but with a somewhat sweeter and more delicate flavor. It is an antioxidant and adds flavor to many Italian dishes.

I’ve been using it in everything lately. My mother always added marjoram to soups. And I’ve noticed that whenever I find an Italian herb blend, it always includes marjoram.

This year I’m going to try to grow some of my own. I usually buy my seeds from seedsavers.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. Each seed packet you buy comes with instructions on how to save the seeds for future planting.

Have you ever cooked with marjoram?

Sunday Roast Beef (Pot Roast) with Gravy

My mother is Irish. So, even though there was the weekly spaghetti night free-for-all in which one and all was invited and we had pots of meatballs and pepperoni and Italian sausage, Sunday was Mass followed by a roast beef. Dinner was served at 1 o’clock sharp.

Meal after meal, my mother extracted the most exquisite juices from various cuts of meat. I spend most of my cooking time trying to duplicate what she made seem so easy: good gravy.

Here is a roast beef or pot roast recipe that honors her many years of Sunday feasts.

In a large, deep pot heat some olive oil. Take the large cut of beef (top of the round, bottom of the round, rump roast, etc.) and dredge it in flour. This helps with the browning process. When the oil is hot, brown the meat on all sides. Add a splash of vinegar (red wine or white) directly to the meat to help with the tenderizing process. Then add salt and black pepper.

You are now ready to let the beef cook for a while. Pour a little water in the pot, enough to cover the bottom about 1-2 inches and put the lid on tight. Let this simmer for at least two hours.

Go do something else. In my family’s case, we would go to church. But I’m not preaching here, I’m just saying maybe the good lord liked a tender roast beef, too.

After two hours of simmering in the closed pot — no peeking until now — lift the lid and add some peeled potatoes, skinned carrots, celery if you like, and turnips if that is your thing.  Add a little more salt and close the lid again for another hour.

You can fill this hour with making a salad and preparing some mashed potatoes.

I bet you are wondering where the mouth-watering, bread-dipping gravy comes in.

Well, after the third hour if your meat is done, remove it from the liquid and place on a warm plate. Remove the vegetables and set aside. You are going to be putting the veggies back into the gravy in a few minutes.  Skim off any excess fat from the meat juices in the pot.

Turn up the heat and add some red wine if you like and a packet of powdered brown gravy mix (or two depending on how much liquid you have) or beef bouillon or beef stock, if you prefer. Let this mixture come to a boil and if you have some favorite herbs, add them here. Oregano, marjoram or rosemary work well.  This is almost your gravy. You need a little more patience. I know it has been over three hours, but let the gravy mixture reduce and thicken with the vegetables in it. So place the potatoes and carrots, etc. back into the gravy.

While the gravy reduces and does its magic, slice the roast beef.

Keep an eye on it and don’t let it dry up on you. When it has reduced to a nice brown gravy, you are done.

Serve with mashed potatoes, peas or corn. Put the delicious gravy in the middle of the table and let everyone have at it.

A delicious Sunday Irish Pot Roast dinner with a simple, perfect gravy.

The Best Mashed Potatoes Ever

Mashed potatoes are my favorite comfort food. This is the way my mother taught me to make them.

* 2 russet potatoes
* salt to taste
* 1 tablespoon of butter
* enough milk to get the proper consistency

In a medium saucepan, boil salted water. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. When the water is boiling rapidly, add the potatoes and cook until soft.

Drain and put into a deep bowl. Add salt and butter. Using an electric mixer, beat until softened. Then start to add milk a little at a time until you get the consistency you want.

Scoop onto your plate and enjoy, preferably with yummy gravy.

Some notes:

Salt is a very important ingredient in mashed potatoes. You must salt the water while they are boiling. And you must salt the potatoes themselves before mashing. Otherwise, they will taste like metal.

Some people use olive oil but I find that makes them dense and heavy. Using milk really fluffs them up and keeps the potatoes light and delicious.

Rogue Risotto With Fresh Tuna

I love to get creative with risotto. Tonight I decided to make a risotto with fresh Albacore tuna steak and plenty of heat. Here is what I did.

Always start with arborio rice. Arborio is a short, plump, white rice perfect for absorbing liquids. It’s so lovely, like little pearls of wisdom.

Pour the amount you want into a medium saucepan. It will expand by a good deal, so don’t use too much. Pour in some olive oil and stir to coat. Heat in the saucepan to get it going. Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes.

When the pan is sufficiently hot, pour in a good amount of dry white wine. It should be hot enough to sizzle. Let this cook off. The rice will absorb the liquid and take in the flavor of the wine.

I alway have a kettle of boiling water on the side while I make risotto. You want to keep adding liquids a little at a time and stir while the rice soaks it all in. I alternate adding vegetable broth and water. I also added a vegetable bouillon cube for flavor. You can use any liquid you want: chicken broth, beef broth, depending on the flavor you are after.

I always shied away from making risotto because it sounds so tiring. But it’s a myth that you must stir risotto constantly. I walk away from it frequently. Just don’t stay away too long. You don’t want it to stick to the bottom of the pot.

While I am adding liquids in stages, I start to throw in some other flavors. I chopped up half a shallot and crushed two cloves of garlic. I also put in some dried herbs and spices from my magic cabinet: an Italian blend, some marjoram (I’m obsessed with marjoram. I’ll do a post soon just about that.), oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper and, of course, salt and black pepper. Add whatever flavors you like.

At the same time, Jim was cooking the tuna for me. He cut it into cubes and put it in a frying pan with some olive oil, shallot, a little white wine, and salt and pepper. We set this aside until the rice was almost ready.

Poking around my fridge, I found some asparagus that I never got around to using. They were almost on their way out, so I decided to chop off the tips and toss them into the pot.

I also chopped up a small amount of fresh red chile pepper and one plum tomato. Into the pot they went.

Toward the end, I wanted to add some creaminess. So I added about a tablespoon of tomato paste, a pad of butter, and about a tablespoon of shredded sharp cheese. I also put in a few drops of hot sauce.

Only one thing left to do. Fold in the tuna.

Serves four people or two De Rosas.

Music to cook by: Gladys Knight’s Before Me

Chicken Cacciatore (Italian Hunter’s Chicken)

A Rogue Cooking Chicken Cacciatore is a bit different than what you might get in an Italian-American restaurant. It leaves room for a little improvisation based on hunting around the frig and freezer for some vegetables, like peas, that might go in the sauce. Cacciatore means ‘hunter’ in Italian. So we are making hunter’s chicken.

Sometimes in recipes for this dish, the green bell peppers are left out. That is a no-no for this rogue cook. The green peppers give the sauce a unique taste that separates this dish from other tomato-based Italian dishes.

First I take a whole onion and chunk it up. I cut it in half and in half again and then maybe twice more. I start the onion frying in olive oil in a deep sauce pan or pot.

Add salt and black pepper to the onions. I let them get soft and start to turn golden then pulp in two garlic cloves, stir it up and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add a 6-ounce can of tomato paste and fill the can with water and add that. Stir and coat the onions in the tomato paste, add oregano and a little hot red pepper flakes. Let that come to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Add a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes. Stir this all together and bring back to a boil and put in some more oregano and good pinch of dried marjoram, rosemary and sage.

Let this simmer while you prepare the chicken, peppers and mushrooms.

Most recipes call for a whole or half chicken on the bone, hacked up in parts.

To make life easier, I use a boneless breast of chicken. I cut it into bite-sized chunks. I cook it in a pan with olive oil and a pulped garlic clove. I chunk up a large green bell pepper (clean out the seeds) and add salt and black pepper. The chicken browns and the pepper softens and releases a lot of water. The water boils off in a couple of minutes.

At this point, go back to the tomato sauce and stir in a ¼ cup red wine and let the alcohol burn off.

When the water in the chicken and peppers is cooked away, add a handful of button mushrooms. I cook this for a few minutes to soften up the mushrooms.

Then add the chicken, peppers and mushrooms mixture to the tomato sauce. Stir it all up. Cover and let simmer for 1½ to 2 hours.

All the flavors mix together and the tomato sauce takes in the pepper and mushroom flavors and absorbs into the chicken.

Boil some water and cook up some pasta and there you have it. Chicken Cacciatore.

You will want some good Italian bread to dip into the sauce.

Music to cook by: The Who Greatest Hits Live

Meat-Free Meals: Stuffed Peppers

My mother was a wonderful cook. Even though we owned a sandwich shop, we only ate from our store on Fridays and Saturdays. The rest of the week, Mom prepared a flavorful and nutritious meal for our large family.

I’m always looking for ways to make meatless variations of my favorite meals. I’ve adjusted this recipe that my mother used to make: stuffed peppers. She would fill green peppers with a mix of white rice and ground beef. I left out the beef and substituted cannellini beans. And instead of white rice, I used brown. It’s so easy. Here goes:

Stuffed Peppers

* 4 large sweet green peppers
* 1 can of cannellini beans
* 1/2 teaspoon Italian dried herb blend
* 1 cup cooked brown rice

* 2 tbsp seasoned bread crumbs

Choose green peppers that have a nice, flat bottom, so they will stand up in a pan. Remove the stem and cut a hole in the top of the pepper. Clean out the center and remove all of the seeds. Rinse in cold water. Par-boil until softened but still firm. While the peppers are in the water, cook rice in a rice cooker. It’s the easiest way to get fool-proof rice.

Pour the can of beans into a colander and rinse. Transfer them to a bowl and toss with the herbs. Stuff the peppers with alternate layers of cooked brown rice and cannellini beans. Fill them all the way up to the top. Sprinkle the opening with bread crumbs and spray each with a shot of non-stick cooking spray to seal. I use Pam with olive oil. Spray at a distance or the force from the can will blow the crumbs all over.

Spray a pyrex dish with non-stick cooking spray. Place the four peppers standing up. Cook uncovered in 400-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the tops start to turn brown. Serve with marinara sauce. I use leftover spaghetti sauce to pour over the peppers after I remove them from the oven.

Enjoy!

Music to cook by: Andy Williams, one of my mother’s favorites.

Chicken Milanese With Portobello Mushroom Ravioli

Breaded chicken is such a versatile food, you can combine any number of side dishes to make a complete meal. Our favorite is with pasta. Here is how we served it tonight.

Fill a large pot with water and set to boil. This will be used for the pasta.

In a large frying pan, pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat.

Pour breadcrumbs onto a paper plate. We used Progresso with Italian seasoning.

Cut 1 skinless boneless chicken breast in half, pound with a mallet to flatten. This step is so stress-relieving. We highly recommended buying a mallet.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together 1 egg, a dollop of milk, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.

Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then in the Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs, then place into the hot frying pan. Cook the chicken on both sides. Be sure it cooks all the way through. You never want to eat rare chicken. Place onto an oven-safe plate and keep warm in the oven while you make the rest of the meal.

When the water is boiling rapidly, add the pasta. We used an 8-ounce package of fresh portobello mushroom ravioli. It included 8 large ravioli. They only take about 4 minutes to cook, so you need to be quick with the sauce.

I call this “sauce made out of nothing” because I wing it out of things I have in the cupboard. In the same pan you cooked the chicken and while still hot, pour in a good amount of white wine. Add salt, pepper, some Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, some dried marjoram, a little dried oregano and let reduce. Add a splash of vegetable stock, crush in one large garlic clove, add 2 pads of butter, and let simmer. I also tossed in some of the remaining breadcrumbs. Just a bit to thicken it up.

When the pasta is al dente, spoon into the frying pan mixture. Drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and let cook in the sauce a few minutes.

Divide chicken and ravioli onto plates. Serve with steamed broccoli.

Music to cook by: our own cocktail mix which includes Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Rosie Clooney and Sarah Vaughn

Champagne Cocktail, Kir Royal, Bellini

Cocktails made with champagne are my favorite way to start an evening of dining with friends. I love to sip one of these lovelies before dinner. A glass of champagne is also nice after dinner.

Here are three classic recipes which all use a bit of the bubbly.

Champagne Cocktail

Place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute. Pour in a few drops of Angostura bitters. Fill the glass with champagne. Top with a twist of lemon. If you are hosting a cocktail party, try decorating the rim of the glass with colored sugar.

Kir Royale

Pour a half ounce of crème de cassis (black currant liqueur) or framboise (raspberry liqueur) into a champagne flute and fill the rest of the glass with champagne. Adjust liqueur to taste. This beautiful rose-colored cocktail is a favorite predinner drink among Parisiennes.

Bellini
Pour peach juice into a champagne glass about one-third full and top off with champagne or sparkling wine. Add a peach slice for garnish.

For an inexpensive substitute, try using Prosecco in place of champagne. It’s a sparkling wine from Italy. The fermentation process is different and it is a little fruitier than champagne, but it makes a worthy substitute. Spanish cava is also an option.

Tomato Sauce

Every Thursday in the De Rosa household was spaghetti night. Ronzoni #9. There would also be meatballs and a pot of pepperoni. I’ll do a separate post on the pepperoni pot. Most people think of pepperoni as a pizza topping but, oh, it is so much more.

We carry on the Thursday night tradition with slight modifications. We don’t always eat meat. Meatballs are an occasional thing. But pepperoni usually makes an appearance.

In this post, I’ll give you a recipe for a basic tomato sauce. Here is what you’ll need:

* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1 tablespoon of olive oil
* generous splash of white wine
* 6 oz. can of tomato paste
* 6 oz. can of water
*
1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
*
28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
*
1 tablespoon dried oregano
*
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
*
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
*
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan, heat hot red pepper flakes in olive oil. Add white wine and reduce. Add tomato paste, then fill the paste can with water and stir until blended. Add garlic. Don’t add garlic too soon in the process. It burns very easily. Bring this to a boil over low heat. Add crushed tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients. Stir well. Bring back to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Put lid on slightly ajar, let simmer until ready to serve.

That’s as basic as it gets. For variety, try one of more of the following tips. Fry some chopped onion in the first step with the red pepper. Or add mushrooms or leeks. Melt in some cheese. Pour in a dollop of heavy cream. The possibilities are endless.

Music to cook by: Frank Sinatra’s Trilogy