Mythology, Tomato Sauce and Your Italian Grandma (Tomato Sauce)

Our first cooking class is scheduled for next Saturday, March 28th at 1:00.  You'll find a full schedule at http://www.freshfunfoods.com/schedule/

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The mythology around tomato sauce is extensive.  Sworn essential ingredients are too numerous to list.  I have to use veal shins?  You certainly need olives, pork, Vidalia onions, use Chianti, no Barolo, at least two kinds or oregano, really?  Simmering times that must be adhered to vary from minimal to “I’ve had shorter vacations.”  And the key ingredient, as we all know, is an Italian Grandma’s stockpot.  An anthropologist studying foodways has a field day with this kind of stuff. 

Here’s the thing, like everything you do in the kitchen, use your head. 

Fresh is always better.  Buy tomatoes in season and make puree or diced tomatoes to can or freeze.  I’m still mourning the last of the tomatoes that my friend Jim Markowski got for me in August.  If you don’t have a connection like Jim, high quality canned tomatoes will work.  I like Furmano’s. 

Shorter cooking times are probably better.  Tomatoes are acidic.  If you simmer them for 24 hours, the sauce will be…acidified. 

Good booze is always better than cheap booze.  While you don’t need to reduce a great Bordeaux for sauce, go a step up from New Jersey plonk.   It might make sense to use an Italian style wine. 

A simple, clearly explained recipe is always better than the nonspecific, “whisper down the lane” family recipe.  That said, maybe you should find some time to cook with Grandma and write down her recipes.  That goes for Grandpa too.  He probably knows a trick or two. 

Still, with all that behind you, you will need to understand some basic technique to make a great red sauce.  Follow the directions below.  Take your time, enjoy how the smell of the various ingredients fill your home as you build the sauce and develop layer after layer of texture, aroma and flavor.

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Tomato Sauce (three quarts)

4 tbs. olive oil

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

2 tbs. fresh basil, chopped

1tbs. flat parsley, chopped

2 c. dry red wine

6 oz. tomato paste

3 28 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes

salt and fresh black pepper

In a large heavy bottomed stockpot, heat the olive oil on medium.   

Add the green pepper and onion.  Season with salt and fresh black pepper.  Sauté for five minutes, until the aromatic vegetables begin to wilt, but not brown.  Add the garlic, oregano, basil and parsley.   

  

Cook while stirring just for one minute, and then add the wine.  Increase the heat to high.  Reduce by half.

Reduce the heat to low, stir in the tomato paste and mix until it is smooth.   

Add the diced tomatoes, season with salt and fresh black pepper.  Add one can of water.  Increase the heat to high, bringing the sauce to a boil, adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh black pepper, and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. 

Simmer the sauce for 20 minutes only.  In that time, the sauce will have reduced slightly and will still taste light and fresh.

GMOs and Why You Should Live On Only Popcorn (stove top popcorn)

I’m doing my best to understand Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods and determine whether they are safe to eat.  It is difficult to do, since the companies that produce GMO seeds assure us of their absolute 100% safety and the anti-GMO groups are hysterical about their danger.  I tend not to trust folks like Monsanto, Dow or Hooker Chemical based on their past history of deceit to protect profits.  The anti group likely has a valid point, but they are unusually bad at expressing it.  I often dismiss them, because they really don’t know how to present their argument in a cogent way, instead relying on fear and uncontrolled emotion to make their case.  For example, you just can’t scream “GMOS CAUSE CANCER” on a discussion board and fail to present any evidence showing how.  Similarly, you shouldn’t smear me with “YOU HATE THE PLANET” if you do not know my opinions, for certain and for sure, because actually I sort of like this planet and either way, it’s the only one we have.

We are stuck in a quandary.  The data from producers asserts that we should eat up all their GMO, trademarked foods.  We’ll live a long and happy and healthy and holy (since this is the American way) life.  On the other side, if you do a little digging, avoiding the crazies who troll the interwebs, you will find some pretty scary stuff about GMOs.  So, what is a person who wants to do the right thing for themselves and their family to do?  My best take on this is to avoid GMOs until the verdict is in. 

What does that mean?  You could do worse than follow the Fresh Fun Foods mantra of “When I die, I want to decompose.”  At the Farrell house we’ve been living this way for a long time.  Years back, when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I took a diabetes education class at the local hospital.  It was enlightening, because I realized I didn’t need to know how many fats and carbs were in a Bigg Mack, since I literally hadn’t been in a McEvil for 25 years.  Most of the presenter’s recommendations did not apply to me or our family, you see we don’t buy any processed food, there’s little junk food around the house and we don’t drink soda, sticking almost exclusively to water, beer, cidre or wine.  I have never had a Hot Pocket.  Why would I buy DiGiorno when Vinny’s is just down the block?  

Since GMOs turn up in processed foods, almost all corn in the USA is GMO, the best way to avoid GMO until the research and legislation shakes out is to quit buying the frozen prepared stuff and cook for yourself.  That’s where I come in.  Cooking is a wonderful family activity.  You’ll need to shop and chop.  Kids should be taught to value fresh foods and need to learn the best way to prepare what they buy from local producers.  Why not buy good, healthy food and prepare it yourself, rather than let someone make it for you in a factory.

If you want to completely avoid GMO, there is only one way that you can and that would be to go on a popcorn diet.  If you only eat popcorn, you will avoid all GMO, since popcorn comes from a type of corn that has never been modified, at least for the moment.  Now, there has to be a couple of qualifications here.  A popcorn diet may not give you all the vitamins and nutrients necessary to live.  That’s a big downside.  Also, you will have to learn to cook popcorn on a stove, because as we have learned, microwave ovens are rotten and so is that sickly yellow “butter flavored” stuff they jam in the package.  While the corn in microwave popcorn is ok, everything else around it wants to kill you.  

You’ll need a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, unless you want popcorn all over your stove.  Don’t use enamel lined pots like Le Creuset.  They don’t hold up to the heat.  Use peanut or salad oil.  Olive oil might sound good, but it does not hold the high temperature that you need and will burn, contributing an acrid flavor.  Popping up just a couple of kernels lets you know when the oil is hot enough to pop the remainder of the corn quickly, without burning.  Butter added early will burn and should go in at the last minute, preserving its sweetness.  Yes, once again, technique matters, even with popcorn.

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Popcorn  (serves 4)

1 c. popcorn

1 tbs. peanut or salad oil

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

pinch black pepper

In a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil and three kernels of popcorn on a high heat.  When those kernels pop, reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining popcorn to the pot.  It should cover the bottom in 1 layer.  More is not better.  Cover the pot and shake it back and forth while still on the heat to coat the kernels with the oil.

After a minute you will hear the corn begin to pop.  Resist the urge to look in the pot.  Shake it a couple of times.  After less than 5 minutes the popping will cease.  Give it another shake.  If there is no more popping, carefully remove the cover avoiding the burp of steam, add the butter, salt and pepper.  Recover the pot and allow it to rest one minute so that the butter melts.  Stir to mix in the butter and seasonings, turn the popcorn out into a large bowl and start fighting with the kids so you can get the chef’s share.

*If you want to play around with flavored popcorn, try adding a shake of paprika or chili powder with the butter.  Some garlic, finely chopped, could also work.  How about a squeeze of lemon and chopped fresh oregano?   If you want to get really crazy, skip the butter and season the popcorn with olive oil, garlic, finely chopped basil and diced sun dried tomatoes. 

Pizza!! (pizza dough, sauce and a pasta recipe)

Pizza shops make the best pies for a number of reasons.  First, they are pros who make pizza for a living, adjusting their recipe to meet their customer’s expectations.  They also have pizza ovens, searingly hot things with stone floors that make crusts crisp and the cooking time short.  Additionally, the pros understand their ingredients and don’t use them in a way that keeps them from shining.  At home, you won’t have a professional pizza maker to throw your pies, but you can adjust how you cook and make your family and friends very happy.

There are some toys you should have to make a good pizza, things that will get used often in your kitchen, not just when you make pizza.  A good mixer, with a dough hook will help you make a batch of dough that is properly stretched.  A 14 or 18 inch pizza stone for the oven is worth getting.  It approximates that professional pizza oven at your local shop.  If you don’t want to pay The Pampered Chef’s premium price, a piece of terra cotta flooring from Home Depot will work just as well.  Make sure that you wash it well and rub in olive oil before the first use.  Also use it when you bake crusty bread.

I’ll admit to cribbing my dough recipe from Luigi Carnacina’s Great Italian Cooking, although I add some olive oil to the dough, to flavor it and help it crisp in the oven.  I also use a mixer, however you could exorcise some demons, kneading by hand.  Carnacina’s book is an essential addition to your kitchen library and since Amazon has copies for $18.00, go get it.  The English translation was published in 1968.  It has clear, easy to follow recipes for everything you will find in the most selective market.  He documents Italian haute cuisine as it was cooked in the early part of the 20^th century, plus it has lots of those old school color plates with wacky over-garnished dishes.  Here’s a picture of my copy of Carnacina’s pizza recipe.

This is what a good cookbook in your home should look like, browned from use, scorched from heat, dog-eared and splashed with layers of brown and red sauce.  Cathy suggests that this is the case only if you are me.  Some people take care of their books.  I’ve been using variations on this recipe for 32 years.

For the sauce, I’m going with heresy.  For most of the year you cannot get fresh tomatoes, canned are a very good alternative.  I use Furmano’s petite diced tomatoes.  It’s a consistent product with a fresh flavor.  Also, Furmano's is active in hunger relief, donating to local organizations.  Add fresh garlic, olive oil, basil and oregano and you have a special thing.  The most important part of making pizza sauce is NOT cooking it.  Too many sauce recipes talk of stewing the tomato sauce for hours to thicken it and combine flavors.   This is completely unnecessary and only serves to acidify the sauce.  Read the recipe below.  It is easy and makes a flavorful sauce.

Toppings, well that’s up to you.  Most should be precooked, sausage, onions, green peppers, mushrooms.  Cooking them ahead lets the flavors bake in to the pie immediately.  Stuff like olives and pepperoni can just be sprinkled on the top just before going into the oven.  Experiment, but don’t tell me if you are putting BBQ sauce on your pizza.  That’s just wrong, wrong.  And, I agree with Jon Stewart, Chicago pizza is an abomination!

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Neapolitan Pizza makes six 8 inch pizzas

3 ½ cups flour

1 packet dried yeast

¼ tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

¾ cup warm water

¼ cup olive oil

3 tbs. coarse cornmeal

½ recipe pizza sauce, recipe follows

18 oz. whole milk mozzarella, grated

1 tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

1 tbs. fresh basil, chopped

In the bowl of your mixer, dissolve the yeast, salt, olive oil and sugar in the warm water.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes, until the yeast is activated and begins to foam.

With the mixer on low, with a dough hook attachment, blend in the flour, starting with a small amount at a time, eventually adding the full 3 ½ cups.  The dough should appear soft and dry, pulling away from the sides of the bowl as the mixer runs.  If the dough is too dry, add a few tablespoons of water.  If it is wet to the touch and sticking to the sides, add a few tablespoons of flour. 

Knead the dough in the mixer for three minutes.  Remove the bowl from the mixer, set it in a warm place to proof.   Cover it with a towel.  Allow to proof for about an hour, until it has doubled in size.

After the dough has doubled, punch it down and allow it to rise again.  After the second proofing, turn the dough out onto a floured cutting board.  Knead it for a minute and divide it equally into six parts.  Put the dough onto a baking sheet and allow it to again double in size.*

Put the pizza stone or terra cotta tile in the oven.  Preheat the oven to 450°.  On a floured surface, stretch a piece of the dough into an 8 inch circle, about 2/10 of an inch thick, with the edges being slightly thicker.  No need to throw it in the air unless there are cameras around.  You’ll drop it and get dog hair all over it.  Yuck!  Working, quickly, take the hot pizza stone out of the oven.  Sprinkle cornmeal over it so that the pizza doesn’t stick.  Lay the dough on the stone, coat thinly with 4 ounces of sauce, 3 ounces of mozzarella and a little fresh oregano and basil.  At this time add any toppings.  Just a few ounces will do.  You could also drizzle it with olive oil.  Return the stone to the oven.  Bake until the crust is crispy and brown, about 6 minutes.  Serve immediately.

*This extended proofing makes for a more consistent dough that stretches easily.  Yeah, it takes a long time, but it is worth the hassle.  If you want to freeze some dough, do it after the second proofing.  Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.  When you want to use it, simply thaw, proof one more time then toss it in the oven. 

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Pizza Sauce

2 28 oz. cans petite diced tomatoes

½ cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

1 tbs. fresh basil, chopped

salt and black pepper to taste

Put one can of tomatoes in a large mixing bowl.  Puree until smooth with a hand mixer or food mill.  Add the second can of tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients.  Mix thoroughly.  Allow to marinate for at least one hour before using on the pizza.  Overnight is better.

Any leftover sauce is great on pasta.  Do something like this.  Cook and cool ½ pound of penne.  Heat a large sauté pan, add 3 tbs. of olive oil.  Sauté the penne until it is hot and begins to crisp.  Season with salt and pepper.  Ladle in 8 oz. of pizza sauce.  Cook it down for about two minutes, until the penne is glazed.  Top with freshly grated Parmesean or Locatelli cheese.  Frying the pasta gives it a different, crunchy feel and helps it soak up the sauce.