it's about time!

Well,  the thumb is getting better.  It's time to get back t0 blogging.

When I last wrote, I had just taken a cooking class with Gaetano Di Benedetto.  It was a past sauce class.  I don't have any concrete recipes. We basically took notes as he cooked. It's more how I cook a lot of time, some of this, a little that.

He starts with a very basic tomato sauce which then becomes the mother to many other sauces.

Sweat a 1/2 cup each of diced carrots, onions and celery.  Add  3 large cans San Marzano tomatoes. Break them up with a spoon.  Add 2 bay leaves. Simmer about a hour.   Remove bay leaves. You can keep this sauce to make other sauces.  It last 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator. Or Saute 4-5 cloves sliced garlic until golden.  Add to sauce.  Season to taste with you favorite herbs and salt and pepper.

 I used the mother sauce to make another sauce. A beef sauce.  I took an 8 oz chunk of chuck roast, generously salt and peppered it  and seared it on all sides in a dutch oven. I had heated  a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan.  Once the meat had a nice deep color I added about 1/2 cup red wine to deglaze the pan.  I added about two cups of the mother tomato sauce. 

Place  it in a 300 degree oven for about and hour. Check to see that the meet is tender enough to shred.  If not it needs more time in the oven. Remove  the meat to a cutting board. Use 2 forks  to shred the meat.  Return to the sauce.  Place on medium burner and heat mixture, adding 1 cup frozen peas.  If the sauce seem too thick,  add some warm stock.  (Or use the hot pasta water to thin the sauce.  Adjust seasonings. Add 1/2 cup heavy cream. Stir thoroughly.  Add 1/2 cup parmesean cheese. Stir thoroughly.

Toss with hot pasta. This as needed, until pasta is nicely coated.