My Bolognese (Veggie + Meat Options)

I have a giant head cold so my apologies in advance if this post is crazy/nonsensical.  =] 

This week we went to the most beautiful wedding in Napa Valley.  The ceremony, reception and dinner were all amazing and I absolutely fell in love with the valley.  I could stay in California forever if I could live up there!  Everything moves slower in the Valley when compared to the bay area.  Also, one thing I really enjoy about Napa is that each of the towns are separated by fields, much like back home in Wisconsin.  Well...the fields are grapes and not corn, but the concept is the same.  :-)


Before we went, I spent some time online looking up things to do in Napa.  Shockingly (!!!!) most of the top choices were wineries. I absolutly love wine (Karla juice), but I really don't know much about it.  I know when I like a wine, but I'd be hard pressed to list the reasons.  In the end curiosity won out and we ended up going tasting at seven or eight wineries over the weekend.  I never got sick of it!  

Like I said, I am no wine expert, but in terms of the tasting experience itself my two favorite wineries to visit were Velo Vino and Tamber Bey.  Velo Vino is a winery owned by the Clif bar family.  Their tasting room is filled with friendly people and healthy snacks that are made from local organic ingredients.  The tasting includes some delicious nut pairings, and they waive the tasting fee if you buy a (reasonably priced) bottle.  The people at Tamber Bey were also super friendly and totally willing to help educate my somewhat ignorant self.  Oh, also, their wine tasting comes with gourmet cookie pairings.  Yes.  Cookies!  Awesome. 

Needless to say, I came home with a TON of wine.  I decided to put some of it (the cheaper stuff) to use making one of my favorite wine inclusive dishes, pasta bolognese.  I made both a meat and mushroom version simultaneously using the same methods.  This sauce is so incredibly rich, that even the mushroom version is sure to please vegetarians and meat eaters alike.

First, chop up and brown a ton of veggies.

 

Then, brown the meat (if using) and add the wine and tomatoes.  

 

Simmer for a loooong time to thicken and develop the flavors. 

 

Serve with pasta and fresh herbs. 

Pasta Bolognese
Serves 4+
Active cooking time: 30 minutes (including chopping)
Passive cooking time: 1hr 30 mins (or more)

Ingredients
1 leek, diced small
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1lb ground meat or chopped mushrooms
1 can tomato sauce
2 tbs Tomato paste
1c dry red wine (something you would like drinking)
1c milk (I have not tried it, but I assume you could eliminate for a vegan version and it would still be awesome)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1tsp dried rosemary, thyme or a combination
Water
1lb pasta

Method
1. Saute veggies (including mushrooms if you are using them instead of meat) over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and caramelized.  About 10-12 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper (about 1/2tsp each at this point, we'll add more later). 
2.  Add meat (if using instead of mushrooms) and cook until browned.
3. Add tomato sauce and paste, stirring and cooking until the sauce reduces enough to  coats the veggies instead of being soupy.  About 5 minutes.
4. Add the wine, stir,  and reduce by half.  This should only take a few minutes, depending on your stove.
5.  Add the milk and herbs, stir, and reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer the sauce for at least an hour and a half.  Check the sauce every 10-15 minutes to make sure it doesn't get too dry and add water as needed.  Basically it should be "soupy" enough that is it always bubbling gently.  If it isn't it needs some more water.  The water will simmer out so don't worry about adding a precise amount. 
6.  About 20 minutes before you want to eat boil water for the pasta.  At this point check the seasoning of the sauce and add more salt gradually if needed.  The total amount needed really depends on the tomato sauce/paste used so I don't want to give a precise measurement. 
7. Cook the pasta until it is almost done--about a minute or two less than the package instructions.  Drain the pasta, add it to the sause, and cook it for the final minute or two in the sauce itself.  Don't rinse the pasta...the extra gluten helps the sauce really stick to the noodles.
9.  Enjoy! I loved mine with red pepper flakes and fresh basil. Mr. C used tons of parmesan.  :-)

Pulled Pork, BBQ Sauce and BBQ Portobellos

Well, I lost a bet.  The result being slow cooker pulled pork. I wanted to share the recipe even though it is not MY favorite recipe, because everyone else loves it so much.  My new favorite sandwich (vegan and made with the same BBQ sauce) is at the bottom.  As soon as I lost the bet this was the very first request, that should give you a hint about how good it is! It's also super easy like most everything I make.  :-)

Ingredients:
3Lbs Pork.  (I've used loin, very lean and tender and shoulder, which is much cheaper)
1 Yellow onion
1C BBQ sauce (recipe follows)
1 bottle of beer

Method:
1. Sear the pork in a very hot skillet on all sides. This should only take a couple of minutes.
2. Slice the onion and layer it on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Put the seared pork on top of the onions.  Pork the beer over the pork, then top with BBQ sauce.
3.  Cook on low 6-8 hours in the slow cooker. Cool and pull!

BBQ Sauce Recipe:
Adapted from Moria, who adapted it from a magazine..we're not sure which one.  :-D


Ingredients:
2 Shallots, minced
1/2 C Ketchup
1/3C worcestershire sauce (Annies is Vegan)
1/3C apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1Tbs Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup molasses
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Saute shallots over medium heat until translucent.
2. Add all other ingredients and simmer gently for a couple of minutes (about 5)
3.  Blend with an immersion blender (or in a standard blender) until smooth.
4. Enjoy! ;-)

I LOVED the BBQ sauce but I'm not a big fan of the pulled pork (really meat in general) so I decided to make something vegan with the BBQ sauce.  It turned into "The Best Sammich EVAR".  

To make it I marinated a portobello mushroom with 1/4C of the BBQ sauce thinned with 1/4C water for about 15 minutes.  I cooked the mushroom over medium-high heat in a grill pan until it was browned and cooked through.  I sliced it and layered it with more of the BBQ sauce, baby spinach and sliced red onions on a sour roll.  If you know (or are!) a "mushroom hater" you should definitely try out BBQ portobellos.  They turned out so savory and filling.  I want another sammich now.... 

*tummy rumblings*

His & Hers Pretzel Dogs

Some days I just want to cook something that I know Mr. C will love.  He (a meat and cheese lover) puts up with me cooking vegan/vegetarian and generally trying random stuff I've never made before. He is super supportive and gives me good "normal people" feedback as I realize my tastes are fairly different than most.

One of his favorite foods is soft pretzels.  And beer.  And brats. And cheese.  So I figured...why don't I combine them!? The results were really extraordinary.  I made a meaty/cheesy one for him and a vegan version for myself.  My weakness is dipping sauces so I made a vegan spicy aioli to go with mine.

To incorporate the beer, I added some of our home brew (a german heffe) to the pretzel dough in place of some of the water.

I used locally made bratwurts instead of the traditional hot dog in the meat-y version, and vegan hotdogs for mine.  I'm generally not a huge fan of fake meat products because of all the extra stuff they add in, but for this recipe I just couldn't resist.  The one I chose was surprisingly tasty, but I can't remember the brand! Argh! 

For the meat-y version I melted some extra sharp cheddar on top during the last 5 minutes of the baking process to give it some bubble.  Mr. C says "great addition!"

Wrap pretzel dough around dogs.

Boil in baking soda water! Adding baking soda to the water raises the pH of the water (making it more basic). This reaction helps to create the shiny brown crust on outside of the soft pretzel, so don't skip it!  Interestingly, traditional German pretzels are made with lye (pH 13--vs pH 8 for baking soda water), giving an even deeper brown crust.  Baking soda is cheaper and more accessible than lye AND the results are still delicious. :-)

 

 After boiling, the pretzel on the dogs is more puffed up and yellow than before. 

 Bake and enjoy! 

Real dogs!  Cause I think they are super cute! :-) And, if I'm being honest, I LOVE my new camera.  I really need to RTFM (read the freaking manual) and figure out what all the buttons do. But, even as a total newb it's so much better at shooting in the dark cave that is my condo.  Hurrah!

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Pretzel Dogs

by Karla June-1-2011

Vegan (with a non-vegan option) pretzel dogs made with a beer flavored dough. Easy, fun and delicious

Ingredients

• 1/2C Warm water
• 1Tbs Brown sugar
• 2tsp Salt
• 1C Warm beer
• 1 packet Active dry yeast
• 2Tbs Olive oil
• 4 1/2C Flour (all purpose)
• 2/3C Baking soda
• 8 Hot Dogs (or Sausages)

Instructions

1. Combine the water, beer, salt and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes. The yeast should be nice and bubbly at this point. If it isn't your yeast might be dead, start over with fresh yeast! 2. Add the flour and olive oil to the bowl, mix on medium speed until thoroughly combined. My mixer took 3-4 minutes. 3. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to a clean bowl that can hold double the current volume of the ball and has been lightly coated in olive oil. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 60 minutes or until doubled in size. 4. Boil a large pot of water and add the baking soda (carefully as it can boil over). And preheat oven to 450F. 5. Separate the dough into 8 pieces (this will make a high pretzel to dog ratio, you can split it to more dogs for a higher meat to pretzel ratio) and roll into a long rope, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Wrap around the dogs pinching tightly on the ends. 6. Working in small batches (1 or 2 dogs) add the dog to the boiling water for 30 seconds each. Remove dogs to a wire rack (or just a sheet) to dry. 7. Brush the boiled dogs lightly with olive oil and if desired sprinkle with salt or other herbs. 8. Bake for 15 minutes until pretzels are a deep golden brown. If desired, after 10 minutes top the pretzels with cheese and continue to bake the final 5 minutes. Cool pretzels and enjoy.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour 20 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 1 hour 35 mins Yield: 8 dogs