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| Radiatore & Meat Sauce with 2 cheeses |
For some time now my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") and I have been paying attention to TV chefs and how they do things differently than we do. Some do it differently just to be different, it seems, but most often the respected chefs have a method to their madness. Sometime we can't take advantage of their advice because it is too pricey or unavailable near us, but for this recipe, it seemed like a no-brainer...that is, buying pasta that will
HOLD ONTO THE SAUCE! It seems like everyone would want that, right? Well, last time I bought pasta I bought 3 kinds we usually don't keep on hand. Elbows with ridges, small shells and radiatore. For the elbows I had to buy a brand name but for the shells and radiatore, the store brand was fine.
I should point out here that I like jarred pasta sauce and usually keep it on hand, but not this time. This time I wanted to use pantry items I had on hand, in particular some no salt added items I bought to prepare meals for my mom before her passing in 2017. So a homemade pasta sauce seemed like a great choice.
Now I am certain many won't consider canned tomatoes or tomato sauce as truly "homemade", and yet the TV chefs use them all the time! My ingredients are as follows:
Herbs & Spices:
- Gourmet Garden Stir in Basil (1tsp.) - great for when you don't have access to fresh
- Dorot or Pop&Cook Frozen Basil & Garlic. I find these a great way to add a bit of herbs. They are usually found in the frozen vegetable section. I have purchased them at Trader Joe's & Wal-Mart.
- Lawry's Seasoned Salt. For my sauce, I am using the Mediterranean version.
- Fresh Cracked Black Pepper. Nothing else will do.
Tomato Products:
- Hunt's Tomato Sauce (I used the no salt added but normally I just have the regular on hand), 1 can (15 oz.)
- Hunt's Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes (I prefer the flavor of these to other canned varieties. They are not hot as the name might indicate, just roasted over a fire. 1 can (14.5 oz.)
- Hunt's Tomato paste (again this is the no salt added version) 1 can
Cheese & Meat:
- Store brand mozzarella from Smith's which I grated (8 oz.)
- Parmesan which I also grated fresh (half a cup)
- 85/15 ground beef I bought on sale today (about a pound)
The Vegetables:
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 1½ yellow onion (medium) or one LARGE
- 5 (or so) multi colored peppers
- 3 sweet cherry peppers (Mezzetta Brand - jarred)
The Pasta:
- half a box of Great Value Radiatore, cooked (4 servings)
The Process:
Using a large frying pan (11") I got started on the layers of flavors. My process was to start by dicing the onion to use as a base for browning the beef. I wanted a good browning but no crunchiness in this stage. I added one whole onion here, retaining the other half to add brightness later. Once that was done I added the first tomato product, tomato SAUCE. I want to infuse that rich taste as well as add some moisture to keep the beef from over cooking.
Once that was cooked into the beef & onion, I added the tomato paste to give a bolder tomato flavor. I should say here that "Turkey" isn't a fan of most tomato based pasta sauces, so I made an effort to make this one special for her. I thought that could be achieved by adding chunky vegetables. I started by chopping celery into a small yet rustic dice. I didn't want it to dissolve, I wanted some crunch. Next I added diced mini-peppers, seeded, and the diced, sweet cherry peppers.
Now that this had all cooked together I needed to season it. I added the seasoned salt (Mediterranean), the basil paste & basil cubes (2), as well as the garlic cubes. Season to taste. We
love garlic!
We are coming into the home stretch here, so get your pasta started! Cook it to al dente or a bit less. It will finish in the sauce, absorbing it into the nooks & crannies. Now take half of the shredded mozzarella and stir into the sauce, cover the pan, allowing it to melt. Once melted, stir in half of the Parmesan. Now stir in the diced tomatoes, including the juice they are packed in. Add the other half onion in now too..
Now drain the pasta, reserving a cup or two of the pasta water and add the drained pasta to the sauce. If needed add back some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce, and top with the other half of the mozzarella. Cover and simmer long enough to melt the cheese. Serve in a big bowl and top with the remaining Parmesan.
Results & Conclusion
I may never need to keep jarred sauce on hand anymore! This was much better, although more work. I probably made too much for the two of us, but we ate it the next night and it was delicious again. I will probably keep jarred sauce for convenience, but for flavor, this beats it, hands down. Now I will keep more of these components on hand! Next time I may make about half of what I did though, even after 2 dinners, we had enough for lunch!
As
anyone who has seen this blog knows, I love breakfast. I love the
basics like toast & eggs & bacon or sausage. I like french
toast, waffles & pancakes and, of course, biscuits and gravy...and
don't forget PO-TA-TOES. Hash browns, O'Brien, and hash. One thing I
don't eat often is STEAK & EGGS. Probably because I rarely have
steak around in the morning, but today I DO! My wife left me a bit of
her rib eye, just enough for a great breakfast. I started by adding the
steak to a heated pan with pan spray to coat. I only need to heat it
through since I cooked it previously. Now remove the steak to a plate
while the eggs cook. Two large eggs in the preheated pan will cook real
fast. When the whites are set, gently scoot the eggs to one side of the
pan and place the previously cooked steak next to the eggs to warm a bit. Now, slide
them onto a plate and enjoy a great breakfast!
If you have been reading here, you may have noticed that I like Chex Mix. I learned to like it in the 60s when my mom made it from scratch, and still love the savory saltiness of the crunchy morsels and nuts. But it seems crazy for me to buy 3 boxes of cereal, bagel crisps a pretzels to make today's version. There is just the two of us and we don't eat much cereal! I decided to take what they are already giving us in the prepackaged mix and reinvent it so it TASTES like it should. And this time, I am adding another favorite - Gardetto's Snack Mix to make it that much better! These products are very similar and the bags are both about 15 oz. in the family size. The other main ingredients are deluxe mixed nuts from Sam's Club and REAL butter. 
For seasoning, the two brand name items I recommend for their consistent flavor and quality are Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire Sauce and Lawry's Seasoned Salt. Why? Two reasons, the first is, it was in the original recipe. The second is that they are both originals too. Because the pre-made mixes have a lot of salt, I will go light on these because of their salt content.
First I covered the eggplant, sliced thin, with salt to draw out the moisture and bitterness. I rinsed the slices to remove the salt and began layering the eggplant and other ingredients almost like a lasagna, tomato sauce, rice, eggplant, cheese until I had filled my casserole dish and used all of the ingredients, topping it all with cheese. I baked it at 350℉ until hot throughout and the cheese all melted.
I had to redo my first attempt because I used a pan just a bit too large to accommodate my toast. I am posting both because they tasted terrific! 
Now I am certain many won't consider canned tomatoes or tomato sauce as truly "homemade", and yet the TV chefs use them all the time! My ingredients are as follows:
Before living in Mexico in the mid 70s, the only Mexican restaurant I had eaten at was fast food style...Taco Bell and Taco Time. I didn't much like Mexican Fast Food, although Taco Time was far better than Taco Bell. I used to like Taco Bell's 7 layer burrito, but the food from Taco Bell near us became almost inedible. I had not been in several years, except for one attempt to try their $5 box deal, which was a waste of my money six months ago when I tried it.
