Posted by ljmacphee on February 15, 2008 under Sauces and Seasonings | 
Bolognese is a great way to use up leftover meats. I prefer to use leftover ribs and rib roast but any meat will do: duck, chicken, turkey, beef, pork… The richer the meat the richer your sauce will be.
In a crockpot mix:
6 oz tomato paste ( 1 can )
6 oz water
1 cup white wine
1 cup milk ( whole milk or cream is best )
30 oz diced tomatoes ( 2 cans )
diced carrots ( ~ 2 )
diced onion ( ~ 1 small to medium )
diced celery ( ~ 1 large )
3 oz diced pancetta ( bacon will work if you don’t have pancetta )
1 to 2 pounds leftover meat ( shredded is best, diced very small if that’s not possible ) If you use less meat you need to cook longer to reduce the sauce, if you use more you can cook it a little less time before it thickens.
Put the crockpot on its lowest setting ( keep warm on some newer pots ) and cook uncovered for about 8 hours. You want the sauce to thicken up like a sloppy joe or chili mixture.
More traditional sauces use about half as much tomato paste as I have in this recipe and eliminate the garlic. Some people also add mushrooms. You’ll want to experiment and find what suits you best.
Bolognese sauces are also known as ragu sauces. The history of bolognese sauce is not clear. It was served in wealthy courts to noble families in the 1500s. The word ragu comes from the 18th century French word ragout. Bologna is supposed to be the city of origin. Beyond that not much is known.
Posted by ljmacphee on January 30, 2008 under Side Dishes |
I love quiche. It is a quick easy side dish or meal and a great way to use up all the leftover vegetables and bits of cheese in your refrigerator.
We went to a gourmet English restaurant a few weeks back and they had some great quiche. More interesting is that they made it in individual dishes instead of as a pie. This meant you had a lot more crust per quiche. Also it would be faster to bake and the presentation is more impressive. I’ll be baking all mine that way from now on.
Quiche filling:
6 eggs
1 cup of whole milk ( or mix cream with 2% or skim milk )
About 1.5 cups of vegetables. Vegetables need to be cooked first so leftovers are great to use. Here are some of my favorite combinations:
{ tomatoes ( fresh - diced ), spinach, onions, cheddar cheese (grated) }
{ spinach, mushrooms, red peppers, goat cheese (diced) }
Mix all the ingredients.
Pie:
Use one pie crust to line the bottom of a 9″ pie plant.
Pour the filling into the pie.
Bake at 400′ about 40 minutes or until center is set. ( Many people cook the crust first for about 15 minutes then add the filling and bake until set. I always just cooked them together. )
Individual Pies:
One pie crust for each quiche
Line 2 pyrex cooking dishes ( ~6″ across x 2″ deep ) with the pie crust. Let the extra crust stand up around the edges.
Divide filling between the dishes
Bake at 400′ until center is set ~ 30 minutes.
There are medieval recipes for cheese, onion, spinach and spice tarts to be served on days that you were not supposed to eat meat. But quiche itself originally came from Germany. The word Quiche is from ‘Kuchen’ meaning cake in German. Originally it was made with eggs, milk and bacon. Later cooks added cheese. The crust was originally made from bread dough, not pie crusts. It gained popularity in England after WWII and in the United States shortly thereafter.