Doesn't there have to be music on when you're cooking?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

I’m a good Italian boy and it’s Sunday morning so I’m putting up a pot of gravy.

The damn CD changer is skipping non-stop so I pulled out the vinyl version of Dire Straits “Love Over Gold”.

I don’t own a digital version of this and I don’t think I’ve heard some of these tracks since the last time I had a turntable hooked up some 20+ years ago…awesome stuff.

I will put down my gravy recipe even though I know it will be subject to intense scrutiny and criticism… neener

1 spanish onion peeled and medium to small dice

1 full head of fresh garlic, cloves peeled and sliced thin (about 1 cup give or take if you’re using pre-peeled or shudder pre-chopped.

1 cup EVO (cooking quality Bertolli or the like) it’s a lot and when you stir the simmering sauce it will emulsify back in. I like the taste of good olive oil in my gravy.

1/4 cup cup coarse sea salt

1 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes

4 whole bay leaves

1/4 cup dried oregano

1/4 cup+ dried basil (optional, I have fresh now so that’s what I go with)

1/2 cup dry red wine (you know, the one that’s open on the counter)

6 28oz cans of your preferred brand of plum tomatoes (mine happen to be Muir Glen ground and YES I wash the lids before I open them [bleh.gif] )

Put the olive oil into your marinara pot (first generation 12qt. Calphalon stockpot)
Over medium heat saute’ your onion, garlic, salt, dried herbs and pepper flakes covered so they sweat slowly and develop sweetness and flavor. Stir occasionally with your wooden marinara spoon until the garlic and onions begin to color. Remove the lid, crank the heat to high and add the wine, allowing it to boil for a good couple of minutes to evaporate the alcohol.
Add in your canned tomatoes and then rinse the inside of each can with the minimum amount of water to catch the excess stuck to the side. Add that to the pot. I usually add 1 more can of cold water after that because I simmer the gravy for a good hour after it comes to a boil and I don’t want it too thick. Stir well and leave on high heat stirring frequently until the pot boils, then lower it to medium/low. Simmer for one hour stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn’t burn.

At this point I would add in about a cup of basil chiffenade loosely packed, simmer for another ten minutes and take it off.

I check the seasoning but I don’t get too crazy about the salt because I view this as a base sauce to which I may add salted pasta water or anything else that may add salinity. (izzat a word?)

The “traditional” Italian recipes I’ve read don’t use the dried herbs, onion, or red wine, so I know I’m freestyling here, but this is close to the way Grandma made it and it is my base for a meatless sauce.

BTW, this thread was really more about the music and the cooking than the gravy recipe…

Also, don’t forget to rest your wooden marinara spoon on the side of the simmering pot, otherwise it won’t get that nice warp that all good wooden marinara spoons should have.

2

Bay leaf in Sunday gravy? Oy vey.

I don’t play music when I cook. I generally put on re-runs of Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee so I can appear to be a good cook by comparison.

3

What took you so long Woody?

neener neener neener

4

I was filleting a halibut.

5

Sunday gravy without a single form of pig or cow? [shock.gif] [swoon.gif]

6

Sunday cooking usually involves not only music, but some type of juniper-enhanced libation - Millers, Hendricks, etc (and Spanish anchocy-stuffed olives).

7

Well the SO doesn’t eat pork, so it’s really easy to add pig to the sauce afterwards, but you can’t take it out.

It’s a base sauce that can please everyone.

8

I always have music or some sports game on when I’m cooking … it seems to quiet otherwise.

9

Too funny Bob! [dance-clap.gif]

Mark, that looks GREAT! Music does help.

10

Thanks, V. Here’s last night’s concoction. No, I won’t put up a pic of Kraft M&C for effect.

11

mighty tasty looking halibut there, Senor Madera…

[tease.gif]

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It’s free-range heirloom Kurobuta halibut. [thankyou.gif]

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NICE! [welldone.gif]

14

Bob Marley and The Wailers for salmon on the grill…smoked of course!!!

15

Blows Against the Empire/Kantner, Slick, et al., while making pork + black bean chilaquiles this evening. Moves you right along…

16

While finishing dinner prep and during dinner we listened to Stephen Burns playing Telemann Trumpet Concerti.

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[welldone.gif]

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We heard Stephen play as a part of the SF Chamber Music Festival for a couple years. He’s a great trumpeter. We got the CD after hearing/seeing him several times.

19

Tonight during the end of meal prep and while we were eating, we were listening to Vivaldi Concerti from a number of instrumentalists, it was enjoyable and fit on a stormy evening.

20

…not sure why, but stormy evenings make me think Wagner.

Don’t know what I’d cook to that though…