Michael Chiarello's Ragù alla Marinara

Michael Chiarello's Ragù alla Marinara

Before I discuss the recipe, I'd like to discuss a few items:

1) Thank you for the incredible response to my fajitas recipe. For a website still in it's infancy (like this one), traffic numbers are important and this one has already received twice the number of hits in May than it received in previous months and we are only about halfway through. Many visitors were impressed with the homemade tortillas I made to accompany my fajitas however, I consider the gnocchi recipe I published in March far more ambitious. Check it out!

2) A special thanks to April of Ape's Eats, who announced me as the winner of her taco set giveaway. The items I won will appear on this website in the near future.

3) Who's watching the eighth season of The Next Food Network Star? My early favorite is Eric on Team Bobby because he's local to me (only an hour away by car), his point of view is similar to my own and it's pretty gutsy to resign from his position to become a contestant.

Now, onto the food...

In all honesty, this isn't the most exciting dish I've prepared (call it a Disturbed Foodie Stunt) but the budget's been especially tight recently. My family is always looking for ways to save money and we've been relying a lot on pasta dishes because they're cheap. Jarred pasta sauces will get the job done, but there is no control over the ingredients or the preservatives that are added to lengthen its shelf life at the supermarket. The other issue I have with these jarred sauces is that they are very expensive compared to purchasing the ingredients separately and making it at home. It's almost insulting!

One note regarding tomatoes used in pasta sauces. The best to use, when they're in season, are San Marzano tomatoes. However if they're not in season or not available, the best to use is the canned variety. I find this a little ironic because whenever I watch food competition shows, fine dining chefs always cringe at the thought of using canned food, yet this is an exception.

The Challenge

Save money without sacrificing flavor.

The Source

This recipe was taken from page 33 of Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking by Michael Chiarello with Janet Fletcher.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup onion, minced
1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 cups tomato pureé
1 large fresh basil stem with leaves removed (I used 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Baking soda or sugar, if needed

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large nonreactive pot over moderate heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 8 minutes.

Add the parsley and garlic and cook briefly to release their fragrance.

Add the tomato pureé, basil and salt.

Simmer briskly until reduced to a saucelike consistency, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. The timing will depend on the ripeness and meatiness of your tomatoes and the size of your pot. If the sauce thickens too much before the flavor develops, add a little water and continue cooking.

2. Taste and adjust the seasoning. If the sauce tastes too acidic, add a pinch of baking soda and cook 5 minutes more. If it needs a touch of sweetness add sugar and cook 5 more minutes. Remove the basil stem before tossing with pasta and serve.

Successful?

Yes, the sauce had more flavor than the store bought varieties. It needed neither sugar or baking soda. I waited until the pasta was cooked to add any water so I could use the pasta water to thin out the sauce.

I plan to revisit a more complex version of Marinara in the future. Will the extra work make the sauce better? Stay tuned...

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Over this past weekend, the third season of Worst Cooks in America premiered. In order to build a following, Food Network ran repeats of season two on Saturday afternoon. In one of the episodes, the contestants were challenged with repeating several skills they had learned earlier in the season in one decathlon (e.g. julienning carrots or filleting fish). They were timed, but accuracy was just as important. In watching the contest, it occurred to me that, while I consider myself a knowledgeable cook, I'm a little slow in the completion of tasks.

The Challenge

What this challenge boils down to is preparing a quality mise en place quickly. I can't rush the process of cooking the dish and Chef Chiarello went to a lot of trouble adjusting the dish appropriate for a weeknight. First, the recipe as it appears in the book followed by the time elapsed to complete each task.

The Source

Page 110 of Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking by Michael Chiarello with Janet Fletcher

Ingredients

1/3 pound pancetta in one piece, partially frozen (freeze for about 30 minutes to make it easier to slice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced, onion-soup style*
3/4 pound spaghetti or bucatini
Scant 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3/4 cup tomato pureé
Freshly grated Pecorino

Method

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.

2. Meanwhile, unroll the pancetta. Cut into 1-inch-long chunks, then slice each chunk thinly across the grain.

3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over moderately low heat. Add the pancetta and cook until it renders some of its fat, about 5 minutes. Do not allow it to crisp. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. While the onion is cooking, add the pasta to the boiling water.

Onions Added

4. Add the red pepper flakes and parsley to the onion mixture and cook briefly to release their fragrance. Add the wine vinegar and simmer briskly until it evaporates, then add the tomato pureé and 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Simmer briefly to blend.

5. When the pasta is just shy of al dente, drain it and return it to the warm pot over medium heat. Add the sauce and cook briefly so the pasta absorbs some of the sauce, then transfer to a warmed serving bowl and shower with the pecorino. Serve immediately.

*Onion-soup style: Slice off both ends, then halve lengthwise and peel. Now slice thinly lengthwise (from stem end to root end), not crosswise. This method gives you shorter, more even slices instead of long, stringy slivers that can be unpleasant to eat, especially in a soup.

Successful?

With the task of completing my prep work in a timely manner, the mise en place was finished in 44 minutes (which includes freezing the pancetta). Start to finish, it was about a ninety minute project, so I was successful from that standpoint. If I were to repeat this dish again, I'd use medium heat to render the pancetta and use more tomato pureé. Overall a good weeknight meal and, for two people, enough leftovers to brown bag it the next day.