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This is one of my favorite dishes.  While it cooks slowly for 1 ½ hours, it takes all of 20 minutes to put together.  The only challenge is finding a store that sells pancetta.  I found one here and had them cut a ¼” thick slice.

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I have to give props to my favorite Italian chef Biba Caggiano for this dish.  She has a restaurant in Sacramento (Biba’s).  I own several of her cookbooks and met her many times.  Until I went to her restaurant, I always thought Italian food was spaghetti and meatballs.  But Italian food has many facets from seafood to different kinds of pork like pancetta and prosciutto, simple cuts of beef like Ossobuco, thick sauces and light sauces, wild game, birds and northern Italian food including dishes like Jewish Hamim, a Kosher Jewish dish from northern Italy near Venice made with three kinds of beef, beans and fruit like prunes and apricots.  Name the ingredient and Italian food has a recipe for it.

When asking about Italian food it would be more exact to ask from which region are you speaking?  While I live in Cajun country, my recipe blog has more Italian recipes.  Cajun food is wonderful but is the food of one region.  It is a food largely influenced by France, Italy and Germany.  True Cajun foods are variations on a Roux gravy (fried flour and oil).  Fried Cajun seafood is nothing more than a Piccata.  When adding Creole food to the list of Cajun dishes then the menu begins to expand.  But, as Italian food does, almost all Cajun and Creole foods center around that wonderful fruit/berry called the tomato.  If you can master the tomato, you have a good dish.   It blends well with so many other ingredients.

The other berry that is a compliment to all food is the grape.  Grapes from regions in France, Germany, Italy, Napa Valley and the Central Coast of California are my preferred wines.  There is this one Italian wine the beats all; I call it “God’s Nectar”.  It is a dessert wine called Madiera.  This dessert wine is divinely fortified with brandy, almonds and lemon zest.  My favorite bottle is made at V. Sattui Winery in Napa Valley and is now $50 a bottle.  I remember buying it for $15 a bottle – back in the day.

We can’t forget the all-important and healthy for your body – the olive.  What would Italian food and Cajun food for that matter be without olive oil?

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Back to the Ragù:

Defined:  Ragù is a meat-based sauce commonly served with pasta.

Serves 2 -4

Meat:

• 1 – ¼” slice of pancetta (diced)
• ½ Lb. of ground pork
• ½ Lb. of ground beef

Sauce:

• 3 large Roma tomatoes (chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (sliced cross ways into little dimes)
• 1 cup of dry red wine (Chianti or Burgundy)
• ½ cup veal stock (beef stock will do)
• Fresh oregano leaves – 2 stalks (or a pinch of dried)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 TBSP olive oil

Soffritto:

Note:  The French call this a Mirepoix, the Germans call this a Suppengrün and the Italians call it a Soffritto.  It’s the same thing.  These are complimentary vegetables that add sugary flavor to the dish.

• 1 carrot (minced)
• 1 celery stalk (minced)
• ½ onion (minced)
• I mince the Soffritto beforehand in a food processor.

I also use fresh oregano from my garden.

Cooking Steps:

Chop the pancetta.  In a 3 quart sauce pot add one TBSP olive oil and get hot.  Add the pancetta and sauté several minutes, and then add the pork and beef and brown for maybe five minutes.  Remove meat with a slotted spoon leaving the liquid and the oil.

Add the Soffritto and sauté five to eight minutes and then add the tomatoes and butter. Return the meat to the pot and add the wine.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add the oregano leaves.  Mix.  Add a little beef broth if necessary just to make more gravy.  It doesn’t need much, maybe a quarter cup.

Bring to a slight boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer, cover and cook for 1 ½ hours.

Serve over thin spaghetti with Parmesan cheese.

Make sure to place your spaghetti in boiling water and cook exactly 12 minutes.

Can it be that easy?

(Someone say yes!)

Picture of my kitties.  They both like pancetta BTW.

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This is a good lunchtime or breakfast dish. I use my grandmother’s old frying pan.  As of this writing I am an inch and one-half away from being 60 years old.  This frying pan is WAY older than that.  I think maybe 80 years possibly.  I love these old cast iron pans.

The reason I prefer this dish over a tart or a Quiche is I don’t have to mess with a puff pastry crust, which I like but requires more butter and takes away from the filling and needs a lot more effort to do it right.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 TBSP cream
• Salt and pepper
• ½ cup grated Parmesan
• 1 onion sliced
• ½ cup frozen spinach (defrosted and drained)
• ½ bay leaf
• 1 thick slice of your favorite ham (cut into cubes)
• 3 TBSP butter

Preheat oven 375°.

In a large bowl add eggs, cream, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and whisk.

In an oven-proof pan sauté the ham in the butter 5 to 8 minutes.  Add onions one handful at a time and sauté.  The reason I say add the onion a handful at a time is the onion will have a lot of water in it and the water will steam the onions and cool the pan.  It’s better to brown the onions slightly picking up the flavors of the ham.  Add the bay leaf.  Add spinach. Stir and sauté the ingredients a little more.  Turn off heat and let the onions cool a little.

Add the onions a large spoonful at a time to the egg mixture.  As you add the onions whisk.  Repeat this until all the onions are added to the mixture.

Pour the onion/egg mixture back into the pan add more Parmesan cheese on top.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve.

I love this dish.  It makes me feel so, shall we how should I say, Italian…ish.

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As stated, we eat a lot of salads here.  Some a fairly complex like Shrimp Remoulade. This one is simple.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

• 1 head of Romaine lettuce or your favorite lettuce, chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 scallions chopped (aka green onions or scallions)
• Smoked Gouda cheese, cut into cubes
• 2 slices of salami, cut into cubes
• 8 black olive, pitted and sliced
• 8 green olives, pitted and sliced
• 8 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
• 4 marinated artichoke hearts, cut in half

Drizzle with olive oil.  Some folks like to use a vinaigrette but in this case the olives and the marinated artichoke adds the vinegar flavor.  All that is needed is olive oil, which I pour lightly on top.

I always leave salad at room temperature before eating.

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When making Osso Bucco I serve it over polenta or Risotto Rice.  This recipe is simple.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 cup risotto rice
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups chicken or veal stock
• 1 TBSP butter
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

In a 2 quart saucepan with a lid, sauté the onions and rice in olive oil (8 minutes).  Add wine and 1 cup of stock, bring to a slight boil and then simmer and place a lid on the saucepan.   Keep an eye on it and when the liquid is almost absorbed add the last cup of stock.  Keep stirring until cooked al dente.  Add the butter and the Parmesan cheese and stir, then serve.

Sacchétto di spezie
Tied up herbs. I have sage, thyme, oregano and bay leaf. It smells so good. Will throw this in the pot later.

Wine
Owing to her Bologna, Italy cooking style she used a lot of dry white wines. I prefer red. For this meal I’m using a DaVinci, 2017, Chianti. I paid a whopping $9 for it. The best deal ever.

Lots of fresh San Marzano tomatoes from the garden.

Tomato Concasse (Tomato gravy)
Fresh San Marzano tomatoes or Roma tomatoes
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 Garlic cloves
S&P to taste
1 TBSP Olive Oil

Tomato Concasse is the process of removing the skin from the tomato before chopping. I remove the seeds for aesthetics but the seeds are fine to eat and don’t change the flavor much if any.

Cut Xs on top and bottom of each tomato and boil for a minute. Rinse in cold water (shock) and peel off skin and place in a food processor and spin chunky. Gently fry the paste and garlic in a skillet. Strain the seeds out of the tomatoes with a colander, discard the seeds and add the tomatoes to the pot. Cook low and slow to cook away the liquid. Later will hydrate with wine.

Slice mushrooms and gently sauté in butter and a dash of olive oil.

Cut two slices into the chicken perpendicular to the bone. Cut all the way down against the bone.

Place flour in plastic bag, I will use a zip lock baggie, add salt and pepper and shake the chicken in the flour mixture.

Gently brown chicken in olive oil.

Gently browned chicken. Skin fried a little.