Text 39685, 112 rader
Skriven 2010-07-01 17:47:52 av Janis Kracht (1:261/38)
Ärende: A dinner party.. but you have to work first! :)
=======================================================
In their travels this month, Ruth and Steve Haffly made time to stop over here
- it was great to see them both again yesterday and today!  I told them I'd get
the recipes for the food I made in here for all.. :)

Ruth and Steve came over on Wednesday afternoon so I could show Ruth how I make
ravioli, etc. We had such a blast :)  Even the pups were uh.. mostly good since
we had company (g).


Here's what we had-

Dinner 6/29/10
==============
Fresh salad: a combination of loose lettuce, bibb, butterhead, etc. and raw
freshly picked beet green leaves, green beans (about a dozen) sliced lengthwise
and in half, and sugar snap peas cut in half from my garden.  Placed in a large
bowl, with olive oil and vinegar dressing. I don't have a  measurement for
that.. I put in enough oil to to wet the leaves and balance the vinegar(g).
Lots of salt, pepper and garlic powder, and fresh parsely if you have it, or
dried parsely if you don't.  Toss and serve.


===The Sauce===
My grandmother always told me that I make a great 'sweet' tomato sauce; I guess
I'm just not crazy about making a tomato sauce so fiery, that you can't enjoy
the "main attraction", in this case, Italian Cheese Ravioli we'd be making from
scratch..  It's all in the sausage you use, amongst other things :)


Ingredients:
===========
1 pound Italian Sweet Sausage links 2 28.oz cans of Italian whole peeled
tomatoes or whatver large size can you can
      find.  Pour the tomatos into a blender, one at a time, and pulse blend
      for a moment or two, to break them up.  I don't like the texture
      of Tomato sauce made with Tomato Puree.. it loses something.
2 6-oz cans tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped 2 tablespoons dry basil, or 4 or 5 fresh
leaves minced Salt, pepper to taste, or about 1 tsp. salt, one or two grinds
fresh black
      pepper
1 pinch of thyme
1/2 tablespoon dry Oregano
2  tablespoons Pesto (I usually keep a bowl of it in the 'ridge). 15-20
meatballs (see below).

In a large frying pan, brown the sausages on med-high heat until all sides are
browned. Set aside.

In a clean very large pan (like a dutch oven), heat 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil.
People argue about what cookware makes the best sauce, but my mom and I both
think you do best with a heavy stainless steel pot (farberware).

Add the garlic and carefully brown.  Don't let it burn. I crush the garlic with
the flat side of a large knife, and then chop it up.

Add the tomatoes and paste and stir well to mingle everything.  Fill the 2 cans
from the tomato paste with water.  Add these containers of water to the sauce..
so about 12-some ounces. It's going to simmer for a while.  Add the pesto to
the sauce.  Turn the heat up to high for about 2-3 minutes or  until you see it
just start to boil, then lower it to medium, stirring. You want to get this to
a bare boil quickly, and then turn the heat down to a very slow slow simmer.

Add the sausages to the pot.  Add the browned meatballs (see below).  Stir
gently and remember if you are rough with the meatballs you'll destroy the
sauce :)

For the first hour,  keep an eye on the sauce, stirring gently, but frequently.
 If it starts to boil, you need to put the sauce pan in some other larger pan
(I use my cast iron huge frying pan). When you see the sauce is starting to
thicken a bit, partially cover the pot. You don't want to lose all the moisture
out of the sauce.

The sauce should be done in about 3-4 hours.

===Meatballs===
2 lbs. hamburger
1 thick slice homemade bread, or Italian bread.  Pass under the running
  water faucet to wet it, then give the bread a light squeeze to get the excess
  moisture out. Obviously if you use air-bread, you will end up with a blob of
  soggy yech.
2 large eggs
1 or 1 1/2 cups Italian flavored bread crumbs, or make your own breadcrumbs
  using spices such as parsely, basil, onion powder, garlic powder, garlic
  salt, thyme, red pepper.  Grind, season and toast in the oven if you make
  your own.
2 large cloves garlic, finely minced. 1 1/2 cups Italian Locatelli Romano
cheese. 1/2 cup fresh Italian flatleaf parsely, chopped 1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 clove of garlic, smashed and then minced.
#
1 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients except for the olive oil well, but don't overwork the
hamburger.  Roll into balls in the cups of your hand, compressing and rolling
until you have a 1 and 1/2 inch meatball.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and start putting the meatballs in one at a
time, slowly.  Shake the pan now and again, to cause the meatballs to roll and
brown all over.  Or, you can just turn them with a spoon.  Keep cooking them
until they are a dark golden brown. If you take them out too soon, they will
fall apart in the sauce.
===

Next... the ravioli :)

Take care,
Janis

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