Basics: Red Pasta Sauce

This is a basics recipe. It's a great simple sauce that's good on plain boiled pasta or easily combined with other things.

Ingredients:

olive oil, 3T
onion, 1 L, halved and thinly sliced (about 5 c. loosely packed)
garlic, 4 cloves, minced
1 T each of dried:
basil
oregano
thyme
crushed tomatoes, 24 oz. can
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil to hot. Add the onions and 1/2 t salt. Cook until soft and translucent. Turn heat to low.
2. Add garlic, and all dried herbs. Heat through then let cook on low for 3-4 min. to sweeten the onions.
3. Turn heat to high and add crushed tomatoes. Bring to bubbling, then turn heat down to simmer.
4. Let simmer for at least 10 min. and up to a half hour, adding water if it gets so thick that it's bubbling out of the pan a lot.

Serve over cooked pasta. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese and/or chopped Kalamata olives and/or chopped fresh basil.

Basics: Hamburger with Beef Bacon & Onions

This is a basics recipe for beginning cooks. It deals with basic foods and has more directions.

This recipe is a twist on the basic hamburger so that it has "supercharged" flavor. The key is the beef bacon. I've only ever seen it at Reineer Farms stand when they sell on Rittenhouse Square on Saturdays. Beef bacon is a fatty cut of beef that's been cured. It doesn't produce as much fat as pork bacon, but the fat is extremely flavorful. If you can't get it, I think you could substitute about half as much pork bacon. You'll never want another hamburger!
Serves: 4

Equipment:
large, sharp knife
cutting board
measuring spoons
10-14 in. diameter skillet
spatula

Ingredients:
ground beef, 1 lb.
beef bacon, 4 oz. (substitute pork bacon, 2 oz.)
onion, 1 medium
olive oil, 2 Tablespoons

Directions:

1. Slice the onion in half through the stem end. Cut off the stem end and tip of each half--about 1/4 in. slice. Discard. With a paring knife or your fingers, peel off the outer skin of the onion. Place the onion flat side down on the board. With a large sharp knife, cut thin slices, starting at the stem or tip and working down. It should come off in half-circle thin pieces.
2. In a large skillet (I like 14" diameter, but 12 or 10 will do), turn the heat on high and add 2 T olive oil to the pan. Wait about a minute for it to heat up. Add the onions. They should sizzle.
3. Slowly stir the onions with a spatula for about three minutes or until the onions are translucent and soft. Lower the heat to its lowest setting. Let onions cook (caramelize) for about five minutes, stirring every minute or so.
4. Meanwhile, dice your bacon into pieces about 1/4 in. on a side. The easiest way is to first cut in into 2 in. pieces. Stack the pieces and then cut them the long way into strips about 1/4 in. wide, probably about three or four strips. Line up the strips and cut across all of them at once, 1/4 in. at a time. Each cut will give you 1/4 in. squares. (It really doesn't matter if they're not exactly 1/4 in. or all the same size.)
5. After the onions are caramelized, push them out the the edges of the pan, leaving the center open. Put the bacon pieces in the center and turn the heat to medium. Let them sit there for a minute, then stir them. Keep stirring them occasionally (every minute or so) until the fat part of the pieces is translucent (probably 4 minutes.) Now stir them together with the onions and cook for another minute.
6. While the bacon is cooking, make your beef patties. Divide your pound of ground beef into 4 sections. Roll each section into a ball. Flatten the ball in your hand so that the center is about 1/2 in. thick. For the edges to be roundish.
7. When your bacon and onions are cooked, push them out to the sides of the pan (or remove them to a bowl if there isn't space). Make a clearing in the center big enough for the patties. Put the heat on high and add the patties.
8. After 2 min. on one side, flip the patties and turn the heat to medium. Cook for another 3 minutes. You can cut into one to see if it's done. It can be pink in the middle, but NOT translucent and wet looking (that's raw). If you like them well done, flip again and cook another 3 min.
9. When your burgers are done, add the onion & bacon if you took it out. Serve each burger on a plate and top with a generous dollop of onion and bacon. Add ketchup, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste. (May take less salt than you think because the bacon has a lot of salt in it.)

Enjoy!

Chicken-Apple Sausage with Bow Tie Pasta and Balsamic-Apple Reduction

This recipe is basically a meat and pasta mix, but the critical part that made it worth repeating is the reduced Balsamic vinegar with minced dried apple. That's a great binder and flavor combination with the sausaage. Made this a few weeks ago, but think I remember it.
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

Chicken Apple Sausage Links, 24 oz. sliced as thinly as possible. (I used a local frozen product from Fair Foods. Was eight pieces and very moist.)

olive oil, 2 T
onion, 1 L, thinly sliced
dried bow tie pasta, 1 lb.
Balsamic vinegar, 1/4 c.
dried apple, 2T minced
peanuts, roasted and unsalted, 1/3 c.
Parmesan cheese, grated, 1/4 c.
basil, fresh, 4-5 leaves minced.
salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Set a pot of water to boiling for the pasta. Cook it until al dente and drain.


2. While pasta is cooking, slice and saute onions in a skillet. Let onions caramelize.


3. Put Balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Turn to simmer. Add 1 T of minced apple and reserve rest for garnish. Simmer vinegar until reduced by half so only 2 T remain.


4. Meanwhile, add sausage to onions and heat on medium to high until sausage cooked through. Add another T of oil if seems dry.


5. Add the reduced vinegar and mix in. Reduce heat.


6. One cooking spoon at a time, add cooked pasta and mix in. When all of the pasta is mixed in, add salt and pepper to taste (probably at least 1/2 t of salt).


7. Serve in bowls and garnish with two pinches each of minced apple, minced basil, and grated Parmesan.