A Really Good Ragu

Everyone has their favourite recipe for Ragu. It can be done quickly of course but I find it is worth the effort to do it the slow way using good ingredients. The long slow cooking really improves the ragu giving it that Mmmm quality. It is the better for keeping for a few days. The flavours really intensify. I tend to make a large quantity and freeze it in portions. I use it for Lasagne, Spaghetti Bolognese and another pasta dish which is a sort of quick lasagne but is so tasty. It's also very good on it's own served with fresh crusty bread for mopping up and a salad if you want your greens.
If making lasagne, measure your milk for the bechamel sauce the day before making. Add a quartered onion about a dessertspoon of black peppercorns, two torn bay leaves and two crushed cloves of garlic. Leave in the fridge overnight and strain before making the sauce. Wonderful flavour.

Ragu

500 gms/1lb approx good quality minced beef,lamb,pork or a mixture if you like.
Six slices of smoked streaky bacon chopped up into small pieces (This really gives a lovely flavour)
Two or more cloves of garlic finely chopped
Two onions
Two tins of San Marzano tomatoes if you can get them. If not, do use good quality tomatoes as it really does make a difference.
Two tablespoons of tomato puree
200mls red wine
100 mls milk
One desertspoon dried Oregan (the flavour is better than fresh)
A good handful of torn basil leaves
Fresh nutmeg grated
Black pepper
A little lard,butter or oil. I prefer lard as I think it gives a sweeter flavour to the onions but you must do as you wish
A liitle (about 50mls) Marsala or other fortified wine. Whatever you have in your cupboard will do.

Method

Melt your chosen fat/oil in a heavy based casserole or saucepan. A cast iron pot is ideal for the slow cooking if you have one.
Chop the onions very finely with the garlic
Stir gently into the pot and cook gently until soft an translucent
Add the marsala/fortified wine
Turn down the heat and place a peice of oiled foil over the onions right down into the pot until it is just in touch with the onions. Leave to soften and cook for about an hour.
Remove the foil and turn up the heat adding the bacon.
Stir for a few minutes until the bacon is cooked.
Add the mince breaking it up with a fork and strirring it so it browns and separates.
Season with freshly ground black pepper. You should not need salt with the bacon but can add it later if you want more.
Keeping the heat up add the wine and let it bubble away for a few minutes so the meat absorbs the wine and the alcohol evaporates.
Add the milk and let it bubble for a few minutes. The milk coats the mince removing the grittiness that sometimes happens with mince.
Add the oregano and about half of the basil leaves
Add the tomatoes and the tomato puree stirring everything well to amalgamate.
You can let this simer very slowly on the hob for a couple of hours or cook in a very slow oven.
Don't forget to taste as you go. Not a hard thing to do.
If it gets too dry add a little water.
Don't add any more salt until the end of cooking. It gets quite concentrated so you don't want to spoil it
When it is cooked, stir through the rest of the basil and grate in some fresh nutmeg.

A Few Other Tips

If making Lasagne I find the dried sheets work better than the so called ' fresh' from the supermarket. Even though the instructions say not to, I find better results by softening the sheets first by putting a roasting pan on the hob with simmering water. Place the sheets in for a few minutes . Rinse in cold water and leave on a tea towel until using.
layer up with bechamel sauce mozzarella cheese and pecorino cheese. Lovely

Another quick baked pasta dish is to boil up some macaroni or other dried pasta, mix it with some of the ragu. Place in a dish and splot some bechamel over the top with mozzarella and grated pecorino/parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven until golden and bubbling.

I favour Pecorino cheese but it is more expensive so any fresh Parmesan can be used. Do use the mozzarella. It makes a wonderful difference to the finished dish.

Mississippi Mud Cake

I bought 'Southern cakes by Nancy McDermott some time ago but up until now I hadn't made anything from it. I love the southern cooking so rich and totally unhealthy. Following a healthy diet is a normal day to day thing but sometimes a little of this stuff is just what the doctor ordered. Definitely a chocolate feel good factor to cheer up the winter days so that must be good for you mustn't it? The author states that she doesn't know how the list of ingredients transforms into such a tasty cake. I am here to tell you it certainly does. I have to confess I scratched my head a little while reading the recipe. Enjoy this delicious fudgey chocolate delight.

Cake

225gms/8oz butter cut into big chunks
62gms/2 1/2 ozs cocoa poder
4 eggs well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400gms/14 oz sugar
250gms /9oz plain flour
pinch salt
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts ( I didn't use these)

Frosting

450gms/1lb icing sugar
62gms/ 2 1/2 oz cocoa powder
100gms/ 40z butter
125mls milk or evaporated milk
1 teasp vanilla extract
4 cups mini marshmallows or 3 cups marshmallows quartered ( I have no idea how to convert this to metric or imperial).

To Make The Cake

Pre-heat the ovem to 18o.C/350.F/Gas 4

Grease and flour 13 x 9 " / 13cm x 20cms tin

In a medium saucepan melt the butter and the cocoa over a medium heat stirring now an dagain until the butter is melted and the mixture is well combined about 3-4 minutes.

Stir in the beaten egg, vanilla sugar, flour, salt and nuts.

Beat with a wooden spoon until the batter is well combined and smooth

Quickly pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 mins until the top is springy to touch and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan

Frosting

Prepare this while the cake is baking so you will be ready to pour it over the hot cake.

In a medium bowl sieve the icing sugar and coca powder and combine well.

Add the melted butter milk and vanilla.

Mix well

Set aside until the cake is done.

Remove the cake from the oven and scatter the marshmallows on top.

Return the cake to the oven for a few minutes to soften the marshmallows

Pour the frosting al over the hot cake and leave to cool

Cut into small squares.

Notes

I made the cake in a 23 cm x 23 cm/9" x 9" tin. This gave me squares 1" thick. If made in the bigger pan I think they would be very thin.
Make half the amount of frosting if using this size of tin as there is a huge amount.
I didn't have enough marshmallows so the photo is not quite a true representation.

As a Post Script these actually taste even better after a couple of days. They get fudgier.

Bacon and Tomato Hash

This comes from Nigells Lawson's Feast in the Midnight Feasts section of the book. I have never made it at midnight I confess as I would not have the energy to cook at that time of night. Hunger would be assuaged by a quick sandwich or a session of fridge grazing. That said this makes a lovely quick dinner. A fry up with style is really what it is. I usually have a fried egg with it. Yes I know it is making your arteries scream but once in a while it is just what is needed especially as the colder days are here. Don't leave out the Worcestershire sauce. It is absolutely vital for the wonderful flavour of this simple dish.


4 rashers streaky bacon
2 teaspoons garlic-infused oil
1 tomato, diced
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Serving suggestion: bread
Cut each piece of bacon into 3 or 4 pieces.

Heat oil in a frying pan.
When oil is hot, fry bacon until crispy (the bacon will also give up flavourful fat of its own).

Remove the bacon to a piece of kitchen towel.
Add the diced tomato, with all its seeded, gluey interior, into the hot oily pan, which will cause a great spitting and sizzling, and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce and stir again, then put the bacon back into the pan, mixing it into the tomato before transferring to a plate.
Scatter with some parsley and freshly ground black pepper, and serve with bread to dip in the oily juices.



Tip: When the tomatoes are all diced up I add lots of freshly ground pepper to them



Ridiculously simple isn't it? It makes such a quick and tasty dinner.
The amounts given are for 1 person.

Jamie's Fish with Leeks and Bacon

I like fish but I hate the bones. Any recipe for cod loins or salmon fillets I will go straight for as there are no problems with bones. This from Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie at Home' is right up my street. It is so quick and easy. I love the smoked bacon with the fish. It was only recently I discovered that it really is a very tasty combination. Any white fish can be used in this.

Roasted White Fish and Leeks

Serves 4


16 baby leeks washed and trimmed
4x200gm fillets of white fish
1 large lemon cut into 8 thin wedges
4 sprigs of rosemary
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon

for the marinade
a couple of sprigs each of rosemary thyme and bay leaves.
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Preheat the oven to 200.c/400.f/gas6 and place a baking tray in the oven to warm up
To make the marinade bash up the thyme rosemary and bay leaves with the salt in a pestle and mortar until the salt has turned green. Pour in two glugs of olive oil, a pinch of pepper and the lemon juice and give it a stir.
Parboil the leeks in salted water for about three minutes. Drain in a colander and let them steam dry.
Put the fish, lemon, rosemary sprigs and leeks into a bowl. Pour in the marinade and toss to cover everything.
Place the fish into the preheated tray.
Scoop the lemon rosemary leeks and marinade out of the bowl and place over and around the fish and roast in the oven for approx. 15 -20mins until the fish is just cooked and the bacon is crisp.
Pile up on a plate and serve.

Sometimes I add a few prawns or scallops. Delicious

Enjoy

Lasagne

I have definitely been in left over mode this week. I always have Ragu sauce in the freezer. I was at a loss as to what to make for dinner tonight and as I love Lasagne there was no contest really. I am not going to laboriously type out a recipe for Ragu as everyone has their own favourite way of making it. I will however pass on a little tip. I have found in the past that sometimes the sauce was missing a little 'oomph'. I have heard others say the same. I suppose that's when we reach for the bottles and jars of various herbs spices or other condiments to try and give it the flavour we want to achieve. My earth shattering discovery is this. Don't cook it on the hob cook it long and slow in the oven. Perhaps the flavours intensify with this method of cooking. I don't really know. What I do know is it works and it's the only way I cook it now. If you leave it overnight before using it's even better. I make a really thick cheese sauce using 75gms butter, 500mls/ 1pint of milk and 100gms/4oz cheese. I also use dried lasagne sheets but boil them in water with a little oil in a roasting tin for a few minutes to soften them. Then it is just layering up with a hefty covering of parmesan cheese on top then into the oven until it's golden and bubbling. Served with Garlic Hearth Breads and a Tomato and Basil Salad it's a feast.