Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce

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I’ve always been a firm believer in pork cuts in a tomato sauce. It adds an unbelievable richness and depth of flavor that cannot be attained with simply beef. But, to make a proper “gravy”, it’s an all day process. Browning the sausage, beef, and pork. Sauteing the onions and tomato paste, reducing down the sauce for-ever. Delicious, but time consuming.

My mom always made spaghetti sauce to use up leftover ham. Apparently, her mother opted to use ham in her sauce as well. It’s delicious, easy, and a change of pace from your run-of-the-mill spaghetti sauce using ground beef. Since I’ve got a house full of boys, I opt to add ham as well as ground beef. But, feel free to make the recipe using exclusively ham. Great way to use up those Easter leftovers!

Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked ham, diced
1 lb ground sirloin
1/2 medium onion, diced
4-6 mushrooms, sliced and chopped
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 large jar marinara sauce (3 cups)
1/3 cup white wine
olive oil
kosher salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the diced ham, and saute for several minutes, until starting to brown. Remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan, brown the ground beef until nice and dark brown. Drain grease and remove ground beef, setting aside with the ham. Add more olive oil to the saucepan, and saute the pepper, onion, and mushrooms until starting to soften. Add the jar of marinara, the white wine, as well as the ham and ground beef; stir to combine.

Reduce heat to low, and simmer for an hour, stirring several times. Serve with a crisp green salad, and crusty garlic bread (recipe to follow tomorrow!).

Maryland Crab Soup

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It’s springtime here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and that means that crabs are starting to come back into season. Crab soup traditionally comes in two varieties; Cream of crab – a, well, cream based soup. And, Maryland crab – a tomato based soup. My husband is a fan of the Cream, where I am a Maryland kind of gal.

This recipe is for the tomato based soup, and it’s wonderful. A little heat from the old bay, lots of flavor from the crab meat, and tons of veggies! My 3 year old loves it. I always find that soup is a good way to get anything I want to into him!

On another note, we have a new addition to the family. I’m such a horribly slack blogger, you would think I would have posted something earlier…but time is just running away with me these days! So, without further adieu, this is William or “Will” for short. He was born December 19th, and was a hefty 10 lbs at birth. He’s now going on 5 months, and is close to weighing 20 lbs. He is a beast! While Andrew is a carbon-copy of Jon, I think I’ve finally got one that resembles me now. He’s such a sweet and happy baby boy, we are truly blessed!

Okay, back to the soup. It makes a relatively large batch. But, leftovers freeze well. I like to make my own seafood stock with various shells that I leftover from seafood. Crab, shrimp, lobster – all cook down to make a beautiful stock. If you don’t have any of those things available though, try substituting bottled clam juice. I think it would be just as good!

Maryland Crab Soup

2 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen lima beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup sliced carrots
large handful of green beans, chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
2 cups beef broth
2 cups seafood stock
1 pound crab meat, picked clean for shells
2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add onion, celery, and carrot and saute for a couple minutes, until tender. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large dutch oven, bring beef broth, seafood stock, and water to a boil. Add the sauteed vegetables, as well as the corn, lima beans, tomatoes, potato, and green beans. Reduce heat to low, and simmer covered for about 30 minutes.

Add the crab meat and stir gently to combine. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

Taste and season with salt and pepper, and more Old Bay if you like before serving. 

Minestrone

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minestrone

We’ve had a slight chill in the air this week. As you might be able to tell from my last post, I’m thinking about fall. I’ve really been trying to go through my collection of cookbooks, as I have collected such a wonderful assortment over the years. This one is no exception. It’s written by Henry Hill, the notorious mobster that the film “Goodfellas” is based off of. Now, let me just say what a great “food movie” Goodfellas is. The razor thin garlic? The cannoli incident? So many good scenes. But, I digress. You get me talking about any classic mafia movie, and I could go on for days!

There are so many great recipes in this book, I diddn’t even know where to begin. After much deliberation, I decided on this wonderful minestrone. It was delicious, and a relatively easy. It wasn’t super quick as far as cooking time goes – at 2 hours. But, for me, as a general rule of thumb – a good soup can’t come together quickly. Just the way it is folks!

I like to pre-cook my pasta first. I find that it doesn’t get quite as overcooked in the leftovers that way. I used elbow macaroni in this batch – but feel free to use whatever you like or have handy. This is really a “clean your fridge” out kind of meal. Lots of room for additions and substitutions. I kind of felt like maybe it would benefit for corn? Or some canelli beans perhaps? I was out of Parmesan cheese (I know! I know!), but I’d definitely top the soup with some before serving. Or, if you happen to have a rind laying around in the refrigerator or freezer, feel free to toss that into the mix as well. Just make sure you remove it before dishing it up!

Serve with a nice green salad and some crusty bread. Perfect for the cool fall evenings we have ahead of us!

Minestrone

3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 lb bacon or pancetta, diced

1 large onion, peeled and coarsley chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 leek, white and green parts, sliced

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes and juice

2 10.5 oz cans beef broth

2 cups water

large handful green beans

1/2 pound cabbage, sliced and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

2 small zucchinis, diced

1 cup pasta, cooked according to package directions

1/2 fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp dried basil

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Heat oil in a large pot. Add bacon or pancetta and cook, stirring, over medium heat 5-8 minutes (do not brown). Add carrots, celery, and leek and cook 5 minutes, or until all vegetables are soft. Crush or quarter the tomatoes. Add tomatoes and juice, broth, and water to the pot and stir well. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Snap off ends of green beans, break into approximately 2-inch pieces and add to pot. Add the cabbage, potatoes, zucchini, parsley, and dried herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. After 1 hour, taste for seasonings  and cook for 1 more. After the second hour, add the cooked pasta and stir. Remove bay leaf and Parmesan rind if using.

Source:  adapted from The Wiseguy Cookbook by Henry Hill

Beef Tacos

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tacos

I have a confession. Up until recently, I was a taco spice packet user. I tried to make my own spice mixture, but it was just never as pungent as the kind from the yellow packet. After taking a gander at the nutritional information, and the whopping amount of sodium (I’m a salt lover folks, but come on. How do they pack that much sodium into that tiny little package? The world may never know) I decided it was time to ditch the packet for good!

As far as taco shell selection goes, we like to fry our own corn tortillas in this house. Every once in a while I get a hankering for a boxed shell that you just warm up in the oven.  But, there is definitely something to be said for the pan-fried corn tortillas. They aren’t soft, yet they aren’t completely crispy either. I find that the outer portion of the shell gets nice and crispy, while the center stays soft and pliable.

I’m sure this recipe would be just as wonderful with ground turkey or chicken as well.

Beef Tacos

1 lb ground beef (at least 80/20)
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp hot sauce (I like Frank’s)
1/2 cup jarred salsa
12 6-inch corn tortillas
4 tbsp vegetable oil
kosher salt, for seasoning taco shells
iceberg lettuce, shredded
3 roma tomatoes, diced
shredded cheddar cheese

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef to hot skillet, breaking up with your hands as you add to the pan. Cook until beef begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove most of the grease from pan (leave a little bit for flavors sake!) and add chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute to bring out the flavor in the spices.  Add in the hot sauce and the salsa. Cook for another minute to warm through, then place the beef into a bowl, cover, and set aside.

In a clean skillet warm 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Fry tortillas in pan for about 1 minute on each side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and season with a pinch of salt. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

I like to serve with shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, diced tomato, red onion, hot sauce, and sour cream. Or, whatever floats your boat!

Leftover taco meat is good for stuffed peppers, taco salad, or quesadillas.