Penne with Quick Bolognese Sauce & Dinner Salad

“Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation– experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way”

— Paul Theroux

I think Giada de Laurentiis has done for Italian cooking what Julia Child did for French cuisine – she brought it right into our homes in ways we can understand and replicate. I lived in Italy from the time I was 9 until I was 16, returned for a semester my sophomore year with the University of Dallas, and have returned many times since. The freshness of the food and the quality of the flavors is always noticeable from the simplest to the most complex dishes. Plus, the restaurants are truly out of this world.

Pasta is a particular favorite comfort food. Although I modified Giada’a basic recipe for “Simple Bolognese,” (Everyday Italian, pg 64), I wanted to acknowledge her. I have always been a huge fan of Italian dishes and pasta has always been one of my favourites. I was speaking to my best friend about Italian food just the other day, and she told me that the best pasta she has ever eaten was served to her in La Piazza Verden on a trip to Germany. This just goes to show that one of the best things about food is that everyone has a story to tell about their favourite dishes.

Quick Bolognese Sauce

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion, minced

2 Cloves Garlic, minced (I use the kind in a jar!)

1 Celery Stalk, minced

1 Carrot, peeled & minced

1 lb low-fat Ground Beef

1-28oz Can Crushed Tomatoes (real Italian tomatoes are best, but if they’re not available, use Progresso)

1-187 ml bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (or 1 Cup hearty red wine)

2 tsp dried Basil

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp ground Pepper

1/4 cup cream

In a Dutch oven, sautee onions, garlic, cellery, and carrots in olive oil. Add ground beef, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, stirring until browned throughout. Pour in wine, and boil until wine reduces and no longer smells like alcohol. Add tomatoes and seasonings. Continue cooking at medium heat, stirring frequently, for half an hour. Turn off heat, and stir in cream.

I served this sauce over 1 lb. of penne, cooked according to package directions. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 Tbsp olive oil to water. The oil keeps it from sticking together.

This sauce is wonderful with any kind of pasta, including ravioli, and can even be used for lasagna.

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Dinner Salad with Lemon Olive Oil Dressing

The great thing about salad is you can add whatever you like. Our standard salad is:

Fresh Spring Greens

2 Carrots, peeled and sliced

2 ribs Celery, sliced

2 Mexican onions, sliced (I’m not sure where these are available – I get them at the local Farmers’ Market. You can use green onions instead.)

A few Cherry Tomatoes sliced in half

This salad plays well with any number of salad dressings. We often top it with bleu cheese or roquefort and an olive oil vinaigrette. Tonight, I made a dressing using Penzeys Country French Vinaigrette salad dressing base, lemon-scented olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. The lemon olive oil is so light and refreshing! It is perfect for spring and summer salads. Another great one to try is O&Co.’s Green Lemon Olive Oil.

Just a note about really good quality olive oils: we never cook with them, but use them in salad dressings, to dip bread, or finish soups or risottos. There are many good California, and imported olive oils at Trader Joe’s, or your local market that are great to cook with, but there are others that you don’t want to alter the taste of at all.

Wine

Tonight, we had a wonderful Viognier that we bought at the Darioush winery in Napa Valley (http://www.darioush.com/). It was amazing – very full-bodied, and a perfect complement to all the food.

These recipes are provided for your personal use. If you publish them, or re-post them, please give me credit. Grazie e Buon Appetito!