RECIPE: Pasta With Meat Sauce

Believe it or not, there are people out there who don't like to cook. I know. I know. It makes no sense and you can't imagine how that can be, but it's true. To fend off such fear of the kitchen, here is an easy and delicious recipe that requires just some basic knife skills, a big pot and an appetite. Once you can master this, you're gut will be full and your culinary self-esteem will be sky high and ready for more.

Ingredients
1.5 lbs. ground pork
1 large Spanish onion, chopped
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled and sliced
1 small bunch fresh basil leaves
1 cup red wine
2 29 oz. cans tomato puree
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 tbsp. red pepper flakes
2 tbsp. thyme leaves
2 tbsp. oregano leaves
1 lb. spaghetti
salt
olive oil

Directions:
Heat your dutch oven (that's a pan, get your mind out of the gutter) over medium heat and coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the ground pork along with some salt and 1 tbsp. each of the red pepper flakes, thyme and oregano. Stir together and brown the pork.

Once the pork has browned, use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium-low and make sure the bottom of the pan is still coated with oil and/or pork fat. If needed, add oil to recoat the bottom of the pan. Add the onion and garlic along with another pinch of salt. Stir and sweat over low heat until the onions become very soft and have completely changed color.

Next, add the cup of wine to the pan and bring the heat up to medium-high and allow to boil. Then, simmer over medium heat and allow the wine to reduce by about half. This ought to take 10-15 minutes. Make sure that you are scraping the bottom of the pan with a spoon to remove and deglaze and meat from the pan. This will wind up adding deliciousness, I assure you.

After the wine has reduced, add the tomato puree and the tomato paste along with half of the basil. Be sure to tear the basil into smaller pieces.Then, add the remainder of the thyme, oregano and red pepper. Stir the mixture, turn the heat down to low and simmer while covered.

The sauce needs to simmer at least 90 minutes, but will be even better if you allow 3-4 hours. Just be sure to keep stirring and add water or wine if your sauce gets too thick.

Once the sauce is ready to serve, bring a pot of water to boil on the stove and cook the spaghetti for 8-10 minutes, or until it's al dente. Drain the pasta, and then serve.

This is especially nice with a crust of bread or garlic toast. A nice salad or green beans work as a terrific side dish. Although, this will be fine all by itself.

Yep, it's that freaking easy, folks. Get to cooking and then get to eating.

RECIPE: Beef and Bean Chili With Buttermilk Corn Bread

Photo by Matthew Carlson. Bowl and plate designed and hand crafted by Wayvie Ceramics.

CHILI RECIPE

Ingredients:
3 Pound Boneless Bottom Round Beef Roast (cut into half inch cubes)
1 Large Spanish Onion (diced)
8 Cloves Garlic (roughly chopped)
3 Jalapeno Peppers (cut in half lengthwise with seeds removed)
32 oz. Beef Stock
28 oz. Petite Diced Tomatoes (canned)
15 oz. Black Beans (canned)
15 oz. Light Red Kidney Beans (canned)
48 oz. Pinto Beans (jarred or canned)
12 oz. Bottle American Pale Ale Style Beer
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
6-8 Shots Picante Style Hot Sauce
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Roasted Ground Cumin
Cayenne Pepper
Red Chile Powder
Salt

Directions:
Place the cubed beef in a large mixing bowl and add 6 to 8 shots of the hot sauce, 2 tbsp. of the cumin, 1 tbsp. of the chili powder, 1 tbsp. of chili powder, 1 tbsp. of cayenne pepper and a couple large pinches of salt. Mix the ingredients by hand until all the beef is covered in the seasonings.

Place a large Dutch style oven or a heavy stock pot on the stove top burner over high heat. Add the olive oil and wait until the oil is hot. Then, add the seasoned beef to the hot oil and brown evenly over the heat. Do not cook this all the way through. Simply brown the outside of the meat and then remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon to reserve all of the oil and juices in the pan.Set the meat aside on the counter.

Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion and garlic along with a pinch of salt. Continue to cook over medium heat until it becomes caramelized and soft.

Once the onions and are garlic are caramelized, add the bottle of beer and raise heat to medium-high. Wait until the mixture begins to boil and then add the tomatoes and all three styles of beans. Then return the meat to the pot and top off with the beef stock. If your pan is unable to accommodate all the stock, just fill it to the brim. If your pan is not completely full after adding the stock, just be sure that you can easily stir all of the ingredients. Try to avoid adding any water as it will just dilute the flavor of the chili.

After all of the above ingredients have been added, sprinkle in more seasonings to taste. Start small and add as needed. Let the chili simmer with a a lid set slightly askew for 3-4 hours. After that several hours of simmer time, (Can't touch this . . . ) and  all the flavors have mingled and the liquid has cooked down significantly, take a taste sample for tenderness of the meat and adjust the seasoning according to your preference.

Serve the chili in a small to medium sized bowl and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Leftovers can be stored in your refrigerator for several days.

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BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD RECIPE

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Cornmeal
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease an 8" x 8" square baking pan.

Melt the butter in a large skillet. After butter is melted, remove the pan from heat and stir in sugar. Then, quickly add the eggs and beat until they are well blended. In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir to mix, then add to pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour and salt until the batter is well blended and only a few lumps remain. Pour the batter into the greased baking pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Then, cut and serve.

Bean Soup With Ham Recipe

Few things are as comforting in the winter months as a hot and hearty bowl of soup. This bean soup with ham is practically the easiest meal you could make this side of macaroni and cheese from a box, but this will fill you with a sense of sated hunger and accomplishment without the yellow die #5 and carcinogen style cheese powder.

If you have small kids you'd like to share the joy of cooking with, or if you do not enjoy culinary duties, this is the place to start. With just a few minutes of prep work, a heavy dutch oven and an afternoon's worth of simmer time, you'll have a delicious and very inexpensive meal fit for a small army just in from the cold.

These measurements are designed to make a full pot of soup. This is not some bullshit four serving thing like crafty Aunt Martha worked up for you. This is a full on meal including leftovers. Around our place, we like to make this on Sunday afternoon. We have plenty of time for a long simmer and this will afford us lots of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. If it's way too much for you and yours, you can always throw some of the leftover soup into freezer safe containers and save it for another week or even another month. From start to finish this will take several hours. You might as well stock up and get several meals out of it.

As far as cookware is concerned, you'll want to use a large, heavy Dutch style oven with a lid. I like to use a 5.5 quart Le Creuset. It's an enameled cast iron pot that is perfect for this type of application. It doesn't have to be Le Creuset brand, but this type of pot will prove invaluable in your kitchen.

The Ingredients:
1 pound smoked ham (chopped into small cubes)
2 large smoked ham hocks (scored with a sharp kitchen knife)
2 48 ox. jars Great Northern Beans*
1 large Spanish onion (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tbsp. dried thyme leaves
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Cold Water

*You are welcome to use dry beans for this, but I find that canned beans are easier to use, cost only a shade more and don't require a pre-soak the night before. If you use dried beans, just make sure they're fully or mostly cooked before you refer to the times in this recipe.

The Process:
Over medium heat, add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the hoil is heated through, add the ham to the pan and stir. Let it cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until you can smell the aroma of the ham cooking. Once the ham is heated through and aromatic add the onion and garlic, along with the thyme leaves, some salt and pepper and stir to combine. You should be adding salt and pepper regularly throughout the process. I like to add small amounts continually so all the layers are seasoned properly. However, it's important to remember that youcan always add more later, but it's tough to fix it if you've gone too far.

After the onion and the garlic have softened and become almost opaque, add the beans and the ham hocks. As mentioned above, I recommend scoring your hocks, or cutting slits into the outer layers of fat to allow the fat to incorporate in to the soup. There isn't very much fat in the smoked ham and the small of amount of oil you need to start the cooking process likely are not enough fat to afford the flavor and texture of soup you're looking for here. Scoring helps add depth of flavor and is key to achieving a great bean soup.

Once you've added your hocks and beans, fill the pot to nearly to the top with cold water. Because I use canned beans, I refill the jars with water so it's not just plain water that I am adding, it's another layer of flavor. If you have cooked your own dried beans here, you can just use tap water. Stir all of the ingredients well and bring to a simmer.

After the soup has begun to simmer away, turn down the heat to medium-low and cover with the lid just askew to allow steam to escape, thus allowing the soup to thicken. This should simmer for at least 2-3 hours and will be fine if you leave it for even longer as long a you check and stir it regularly. I like a think, but not mushy soup, but you can simmer this until you achieve your desired thickness. Also be sure to keep tasting during the simmer and add salt and pepper as needed. Remove the hocks from the pot and discard them and you're ready to eat. A great homemade cornbread or loaf of bread goes perfectly with this and all told you can feed your whole family a feast for well less than twenty bucks, and have leftovers for several more meals.