Veal Marsala Meatballs are light and flavorful with their Tomato Basil Cream sauce over pasta. Serve this with white wine and crusty bread to sop up all that lovely sauce.
Pasta a la Carbonara is a favorite in our family because it’s very simple and quick to make for dinner with salad and a glass of wine. I add shallots in oil to enhance the mushrooms.
This afternoon when I was at the local store, I had a taste for Mexican food. I already had frozen taquitos in my freezer (I’m too lazy to make them myself), so all I needed was avocado. Well, surprise, surprise my little store didn’t have any, so I decided to make the white sauce similar to the fish taco white sauce at Rubio’s.
I also had some cabbage in the refrigerator. I love cabbage and it’s very good with Mexican food. I picked up a can of black beans so I could make the same black bean dip I used for my Black Bean Tacos.
When I was in grammar school at Cheremoya Avenue Elementary School in Hollywood, California, about once every two weeks we had Hamburger Gravy and Mashed Potatoes. I really loved that dish, it was my favorite. All the other stuff was pretty bland, and actually kind of nasty, especially the paper thin cheeseburgers. For years and years, I have been trying to replicate the special taste of that gravy, and have been pretty much successful.
Years ago, when I first met Chef John Farion, he treated some friends and I to dinner at another chef’s restaurant on Melrose . I ordered the filet mignon with blue cheese sauce. It was truly fantastic, and I have been pairing blue cheese with beef ever since. I guess I’m not the only one, even Carl’s Jr. now has a steakhouse burger featuring blue cheese.
I get my blue cheese at the Armenian stores, for several reasons, 1) because the cheese is of a superior quality, 2) because it is much less expensive than the major chain supermarkets, and better quality. I just bought a half a pound brick a few days ago, and it was sitting in the cheese drawer waiting to be the star of some dish.
I had an epiphany! Why not make hamburger gravy and add blue cheese at the end? I tried it, and it was, well, fantastic! This was much, much better than the gravy I had had when I was a child. Now, just because Spane gave it a big thumbs up, I can’t guarantee that every child will like it as much as we did.
Ambrose Bierce’s definition of mayo from his 1906 Devil’s Dictionary:
One of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion.
It is said,
“It is highly probable that wherever olive oil existed, a simple preparation of oil and egg came about – particularly in the Mediterranean region, where aioli (oil and garlic) is made.” – M. Trutter et al., Culinaria Spain p. 68 (H.F. Ullmann 2008)
Let’s put to rest the group fantasy that mayo is “salmonella pudding,” Mayo has a high acid content that prevents bacterial growth. Mayo will spoil only if you mix it in already spoiled food.
If you are afraid of tainted maise you make yourself, start with pasteurized eggs.
Kewpie Japanese Mayonnaise
For a different variation, try Japanese Style Mayo: “Japanese mayonnaise is typically made with apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar and a small amount of MSG, which gives it a different flavor from mayonnaise made from distilled vinegar. It is most often sold in soft plastic squeeze bottles. Its texture is thinner than most Western commercial mayonnaise. A variety containing karashi (Japanese mustard) is also common.”
As for the mayo on the wall…that’s a different story. 🙂
This lasagna with ricotta, spinach, and sausage is rich and delicious. It’s time-consuming but a lot of it can be made ahead, so enjoy it with friends, a big salad, and a bottle of red wine.
Pasta a la Carbonara is a favorite in our family because it’s very simple and quick to make for dinner with salad and a glass of wine. I add shallots in oil to enhance the mushrooms.
