Italian Kitchen Secrets



 

Usually skinny means "not as good as the original version": here I can't say this sauce is great as a well done Bolognese with all the fats, the sausage, the vegetables stirfried and so on but it's quite tasty and really skinny and ideal if you are on a diet, if you have digestive problems, if you have a toddler with a passion for pasta with Bolognese and you don't want to overload him/her with fats.

This is my toddler's choice and he's a gourmet ;)

You can cook it while you cook your pasta, no need to make it hours in advace or cook it for hours.

You can freeze it in small portion and defrost it room temperature or into the microwave.

 

Serving 2:

 

a cup of veal minced meat (or beef or skinny pork meat)

 

1/2 cup skimmed milk

 

salt and pepper to taste

 

a sprinkle of dried garlic

 

1/2 cup tomato sauce

 

Put minced meat in a pan over medium heat and crush it with a fork, add milk and crush again untill the meat is evenly hulled.

Add garlic if you like then salt and pepper and tomato.

Stir well and put a lid on the pan, turn the heat to low and cook untill your pasta is ready.

You can complete your dish with a little extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of grated Parmesan.

Potado gnocchi are a quite famous Italian dish: it's prepared in the whole peninsula but more often in the North of Italy.

They could be dressed in many ways, the most commons are: tomato sauce, genovese pesto, bolognese sauce.

To make gnocchi you need (for about 4-5 persons):

2 lb whole potatoes unpeeled

2 cups flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon salt

Place washed potadoes in a large stock pot filled with water and bring to a boil.

Cook until the potatoes are soft.

Peel immediately while potatoes are still hot (ok, I know it's not funny but the peeling is easier) then mash them on a work surface using a food mill.

When the potatoes are still warm (but cool enough to be handled), shape them in a mound with a hole in the middle and add inside the flour, the egg and salt.

Draw the ingredients together and mix to form a dough.

If the dough is sticky sprinkle a little more flour and work the loaf of dough. add flour and work again untill the dough is no longer sticky.

Cut the dough into four pieces. Sprinkle the work surface with a little flour, and place the first piece on it.

Roll the dough into one or two long sticks approximately 3/4 inch in diameter.

Cut the sticks in little pieces (about 3/4 inch each).

Roll the pieces along the the surface of a cheese grater.

Work this way every piece of dough, work always on a lightly floured surface.

Fill a stockpot with water, bring to a boil, and add salt.

When the water is at a fast boil, drop the gnocchi in.

The gnocchi will fall to the bottom of the pot: after about 2-3 minutes the gnocchi will come up to the surface, this mean they're cooked.

Drain them then saute' for few moments in a pan with the choosen sauce.

Add a spoon of fresh grated parmesan and enjoy your gnocchi!

On request today I'll give you my recipe of Bolognese sauce.

I told "my" because every cook got his/her version.

"Ragu'" is one of the recipes that if you ask 10 different persons you'll have 10 different versions.

I'll try to give you all the best advices, this version is the one I've learnt from my mum and my mum from my grandma so it's fully tested, of course it could be different from your expectations or wants or habits but I can assure it's 100% Italian^^.

The preparation is quite long even if not so difficult so I usually prepare a lot of sauce then freeze it in little aluminium containers: so I can take it for lunch/dinner whenever I want, it can rest in freezer for about 2 months (or you can give a little to mum, to mother in law, to friends...Get rid of ragu' is not so difficult^^).

You need:

a large pot,

e.v.o oil,

one carrot,

one celery stick,

one little white onion,

7 oz. of beef minced meat,

3 1/2 oz. of pork minced meat,

3 1/2 oz. sausage meat without skin,

a tube of tomato concentrate (if you find it)

a bottle of tomato sauce,

2 cups of skimmed milk.

Mince carrot onion and celery together, put them in the pot, add abundant e.v.o. oil and let it get hot and fry for one minute.

add the three kind of meat in the pot, probably the meat will be in a block, you must have the patient to "cut" it with a wood spoon mixing and mixing and mixing.

Boring but important.

When the meat is well mixed and starts to become white add skimmed milk.

You have to cover all the content of the pot so pur it^^.

Why milk?

Because it gives a sweet aftertaste that support perfectly the taste of meat and vegetables that is quite strong.

If you can't use milk or think it will not your taste add 2 glasses of white wine.

The Bolognese will be a little bit more bitter according to me, but it's so individual!

Let it boil on low fire for about 10 minutes then add tomato concentrate, mix well, then add salsa, the whole bottle if the sauce is quite "hard", less if it's liquid.

Count it must boil on very low fire for at least three hours, so the most part of the liquid will be absorbed.

Taste it and add the right quantity of salt.

Mix sometimes, it doesn't need a lot of attention if the fire is low.

You can use a fire net on the cooker to expand heat.

When the time is over let it cold and divide in container.

Freeze the part you don't use in the next 2 days, put the rest in the fridge.

What is the best pasta to use ragu'?

Egg noodles!
You can use maccheroni or penne anyway, spaghetti "alla bolognese" is something a bolognese person would never eat:P but if you like eat your spaghetti and be happy:D .

(don't forget to mix pasta with the sauce, don't simply pur it on top of the dish leaving the most part white...it's so sad!

And add a sprinkle of fresh grated parmesan on top!)