Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

When I grow up, can I be this guy? Book after book about food growing, gathering, butchering, cooking and turning ingredients into magic have kept me comfy and cozy on many a Saturday afternoon.  River Cottage is a place I dream about. 

Curry Tonight

Dinner

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 8 scallions, sliced, white and green parts separated
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 4 medium carrots (about 8 ounces), chopped
• 1 large russet potato (about 10 ounces), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup red lentils
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• kosher salt and black pepper
• naan bread and lime wedges, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and scallion whites and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the curry powder. Add the carrots, potato, lentils, broth, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Sprinkle the curry with the scallion greens and serve with the naan and lime wedges.

Beef Shiraz Pies

Beef Shiraz Pie - looks lovely. A mushroom and potato version sounds good, too!

Serves 6 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds beef chuck steak, chopped coarsely

2 Tbsp. plain (all-purpose) flour

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium, yellow onion, chopped finely

1 medium carrot, chopped finely

2 stalks celery, trimmed, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup beef stock

13 ounces canned, diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves

1 egg, beaten lightly 

For the Sour-Cream Pastry:
2 1/4 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
4 ounces cold butter, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup sour cream 

Directions

Toss beef in flour, shake away excess. Heat half the oil in large frying pan; cook beef, in batches, until browned. Transfer beef to 12-cup ovenproof dish. 

Heat remaining oil in same pan; cook onion, carrot, celery and garlic, stirring, until softened. Add wine; bring to a boil. Stir in stock, undrained tomatoes and thyme; bring to a boil. Pour over beef. Cook covered for 2 hours. Season to taste; cool. 

Meanwhile, make sour-cream pastry. Process flour and butter until crumbly. Add sour cream; process until ingredients barely cling together. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth. Enclose in plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 350° F. Oil a 6-hole (3/4-cup) Texas muffin pan. 

Roll 2/3 of the pastry between sheets of parchment paper until large enough to cut six 5-inch rounds; press pastry into pan holes. Brush edges with egg. Divide beef mixture among pastry cases. 

Cut six 3 1/2-inch rounds from remaining pastry; place pastry over filling. Press edges firmly to seal; brush tops with egg. Cut a small slit in top of each pie. 

Bake pies about 30 minutes, or until browned. Stand pies 5 minutes before serving. 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/food/Beef-Shiraz-Pies-Recipe#ixzz3psO4YWht

Tatsoi

http://www.masdudiable.com/A55C37/mdd.nsf/dx/Selecting-Oriental-Brassicas.htm

Tatsoi and Sweet-Corn Salad With Peach-Nectar Dressing
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 peaches, peeled and diced
3 ears fresh sweet corn, husked
8 cups tatsoi greens, or other tender mild greens
3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste.
1. In a skillet set over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the peaches and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, bring an inch of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Add the corn and steam 5 minutes. Drain the corn and allow to cool. Using a knife, scrape the kernels off the cobs and place the kernels in a large bowl.
3. Just before serving, add the tatsoi, peaches and salt, and toss well. Season to taste with lemon juice, toss again and serve.
Yield: 6 servings.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/13/magazine/food-the-odd-couple.html?pagewanted=all



ASIAN GREENS These are quick, cool ways to use piles of totsoi, mizuno, mustard and baby bok choy. Excuse my spelling!
Curried Vegetarian Noodles adapted form Nina Simonds' Asian Noodles 1 1/2 Tbs. oil I 1 1/2 Tbs. garlic, minced 1 Tbs. fresh ginger, minced 1 1/2 Tbs. curry powder 2 2 1/2 c. onion, sliced thinly 2 c. red pepper, sliced 4 c. Asian greens, sliced 3 1/4 c. chicken or vegetable broth 3 Tbs. soy sauce 1/2 tsp. sugar salt and pepper
1/2 lb. thin rice stick noodles, softened in hot water and drained OR cooked, rinsed angel hair pasta
Heat oil in wok or heavy pan. Add first group of ingredients. Saute briefly. Add second group of ingredients. Stir fry until tender (1-3 minutes). Mix last group of ingredients and add with noodles. Cook and toss carefully for 1 min.
Lemon Vegetable Noodles
1 lb. Asian greens, such as above, sliced 1 lb. flat noodles, such as linguine, cooked and rinsed 2 Tbs. Asian toasted sesame oil 1 1/2 Tbs. oil 2 1/2 Tbs. garlic, minced 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1 red bell pepper, sliced 1/3 lb. smoked turkey, sliced (optional)
lemon dressing: 6 Tbs. light soy sauce 3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice 2 Tbs. sugar
Heat both oils in wok or heavy pan. Stir fry garlic and red pepper flakes for 1 min. Add bell pepper and greens and stir fry for 1 1/2 min. more. Add lemon dressing and noodles. Stir to coat.

http://www.ryderfarmcsa.org/recipies/asian_greens.htm

I must try this no knead Challah bread

Recipe: No-Knead Challah from Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

Happy baking!
No-Knead Challah from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Makes four 1-pound loaves. The recipe is easily doubled or halved.

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (or neutral-tasting vegetable oil such as canola), plus more for greasing the cookie sheet

7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

Poppy or sesame seeds for the top

1. Mixing and storing the dough: Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey, and melted butter (or oil) with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (no airtight) food container.

2. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook). If you're not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

3. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days. Beyond 5 days, freeze in 1-pound portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. Defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator before using. Then allow the usual rest and rise time.

5. On baking day, butter or grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper, or a silicone mat. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

6. Divide the ball into thirds, using a dough scraper or knife. Roll the balls between your hands (or on a board), stretching, to form each into a long, thin rope. If the dough resists shaping, let it rest for 5 minutes and try again. Braid the ropes, starting from the center and working to one end. Turn the loaf over, rotate it, and braid from the center out to the remaining end. This produces a loaf with a more uniform thickness than when braided from end to end.

7. Allow the bread to rest and rise on the prepared cookie sheet for 1 hour and 20 minutes (or just 40 minutes if you're using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

8. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. If you're not using a stone in the oven, 5 minutes is adequate. Brush the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with the seeds.

9. Bake near the center of the oven for about 25 minutes. Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time. The challah is done when golden brown, and the braids near the center of the loaf offer resistance to pressure. Due to the fat in the dough, challah will not form a hard, crackling crust.

10. Allow to cool before slicing or eating.

finished easy bread

It came out kind of pretty, but the taste is bland. The bread is dry and has an unpleasant texture. I think I kneaded it too much and I know I didn't cover it while it rose. I need a bread knife. Croutons. This bread is crouton bread. Red lentil soup is on the menu for today and croutons go really well with that.

potato pancakes and easy bread

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/11/04/homemade-bread-cheap-delicious-healthy-and-easier-than-you-think/

So that is not the actual recipe I used....but it is quite similar. I searched and searched for the recipe I used but couldn't find it. About.com has a close one. I can't wait to try the simple dollar recipe.


Easy Bread



3/4 cup watm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter - softened
1/2 cup milk
3 cups all purpose flour (2 cups then 1 cup)

Mix water and yeast...dissolve
Add salt, sugar, burrer and milk
Mix in 2 cups of flour


Add flour until dough drags after the spoon
Knoead adding flour until smooth, not sticky
Put in buttered bowl...turn dough until all sides are buttery
Cover and let rise for 1 hour
Punch down, knead on floured board
Preheat over at 375 degrees F
Form into load and put in buttered bread pan
Let rise for 30 minutes
Score 3 times across the top
Bake 45 minutes until golden brown
turn out and let cool




Potato Pancakes (our Christmas latkes)


2 cups grated potatoes
1 tbsp grated onion
3 eggs beaten
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil


squeeze all water out of the potatoes
mix all ingredients
drop by spoonfulls into hot oil





eat immediately





I don't have pictures of the latkes because they disappeared like magic. Here are pics of the easy bread the the udon noodles I am going to stirfy.

since last week........

I think posting and talking about these photos will produce the best post for right now. See, I woke up at 11:30 last night with that disgusting head cold, angry nasal passage thing brought about by diseased, caustic nasal discharge. It's so nasty. I just put my dinner in the oven, yes at 11:30 am, because I am not sure how much longer I will be conscious.

Here is what we have done on this long Presidents' Weekend.

I have an affinity for silverware and servingware. I don't so much like silver picture frames of trinkety things. It's the various kinds of knives, forks and spoons that get me. The handles, the bowls of the spoons, the tongs of the forks and the blades of knives are gorgeous and I love a good mix of styles on my table at one time. Imagine my surprise when looking through a coat closet at my parents' house, I found a jar full of old silver.





Above, is the set my mother uses (off limits to me). We use this on holidays for the big dinners she cooks. Gorgeous.

I love these matching, tarnished pieces. My mother and I agree that the tarnished pieces are the most beautiful. This pattern above seems so functional and attractive. They make me think of a conservatively set 19th century American table.

We are doing well on the "eating healthy" thing. Here is the oldest eating chili at Target.

More home made healthiness. Baked french fries, tossed in extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and Old Bay seasoning. My oldest loves Old Bay. http://www.oldbay.com/Recipe-Landing.aspx The fries were great. I top them with the cucumber yogurt dressing.

Smoothie making is going strong. The girls do well with supervision. Here is the little one making a mango, strawberry concoctions. We get our frozen fruit from Trader Joes. I love the organicness of Trader Joes and can tolerate the prices, but........while they are great about low fat, low sodium, low carb selections of products, there are not so many low sugar options. We make due, but I would like more selection. I do love the unsweetened soy milk and the goat yogurt.

I bought a futon for the living room. We have an 'infestation' problem in the building, so I refuse to buy real, lovely furniture. Oh, and I have kids so unless I am buying very high quality stuff, they will destroy it by merely looking at it. The futon came from a discount furniture store and cost $186. You see we put an immediate use to it. We brought it home on Friday night...tied to the top of the car. The little one interrogated the man who put it on the car. She had to make sure it was not illegal to drive with a futon and frame tied to the roof of our Camry. We made it home in time enough for me to assemble it and for a friend of theirs to spend the day with them on Saturday.

last post, last meal of the day

Before I settle down to "Flight of the Concords" and a good hour of laundry sorting, I am enjoying my last treat of the day...well maybe there will be a glass of wine later.

I promised my kids I would make smoothies after dinner, so I did. Oh, I made a whole chicken, chicken in a pot, today. My young one said it was the best dinner she ever had in her life. She said this between spoonfuls of gravy straight from the gravy bowl...which was a big teacup because I don't have a proper gravy boat...that I like to use. I do have one I like to look at. I can not wait for them to see my mother so they can tell her how good my gravy was. My mother thinks she makes the best gravy in the world...it is better than mine, but mine was goooood.

I've posted enough today to last me quite a while I think. Good Night.

Yum. Shrimp and grits with cheese and lime. What a great sunday morning breakfast. We ate around the groceries I was too lazy to put away. Weekends are for cooking and eating, aren't they? Too bad I have to do laundry and clean up around the house. Life would be perfect if I didn't have to do that.

Last night I made the long beans I got from Hmart. I fried them with some garlic and salt. One of the online recipes said they wouldn't get soggy....but they did. I still ate them. They were fine mixed with fried and chopped pork bellies and mung bean noodles. MUNG BEAN NOODLES!!!! wow. How can something beany be something so cool? My kids were completely grossed out by the transluscent sliminess of them in the pot. Once I got them in the oil from the pork bellies and seasoned with the soy sauce seasonsing. Wish I had a picture, but I ate it too fast. sorry.

I LOVE recipes that require less than 5 ingredients. So, I made 'Persian Cucumber Salad'. One thing I am not is a cucumber conisseur. I can not tell the difference between a Persian, English or normal hormone filled American wax covered scary cucumber. Anyway, I used Persian Cucumbers to make this flavor filled salad.

Cucumber Salad

2 Persian cucumbers-diced (or 2 English or one giant American)

about 25 oz yogurt (I used a very low fat goat yogurt from Trader Joe's)

1 Shallot, chopped

1 large clove of garlic

4tsp dill

sea salt to taste

cracked black pepper

Mix everything. Let it chill really well then eat.

My daughter is dipping pretzels in it. I want to top bunless veggie burgers with it.

Those really long beans in the asian grocery store

The search continues for new vegetables that my kids and I will actually eat. I found 'Cooking with Amy' and she has an interesting recipe I want to try. Few ingredients - Few steps

Chinese Style Green Beans (serves 4)

1 lb fresh green beans

1/4 cup vegetable oil or peanut oil (I used rice oil)

sauce:

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons wate

1 Tablespoons sherry

1 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

chili or garlic chili paste to taste (I use a teaspoon)

Wash the beans and chop off the ends. In a small bowl combine the sauce ingredients. Heat a heavy pan and add the oil. When the oil is very hot, add the beans and cook, stirring frequently until the beans are wrinkled slightly, 5-10 minutes. Scoop out the beans and drain off the oil. Drain the beans on a paper towel then return the beans and the sauce mixture to the dry pan and cook until thickened. Serve with rice.

thanks, Amy:)

Go here for the original post:

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/2005/08/chinese-style-green-beans-recipe.html

Look who I found!

http://joanchew_1911.blogspot.com/

Joan Chew documents her life and family in this colorful, happy, enticing blog that is full of lucious photographs of foods, places and people.

Looking at and reading through her blog this morning has made me long for HMart! I always think I want to try new veggies, seasonings and mixtures of flavors. I will definitely use her blog to work some new magic in my kitchen.

The dish above is kangkung with belacan.

Thanks Ms. Chew. I will be watching.

I shrink away from recipes with more tha 5 ingredients and more than 5 steps. I tried to find and short and sweet recipe for kangkung with belacan and I think I found it over at mysimplefood.com http://www.mysimplefood.com/2008/10/blog-post_25.html

KangKung Belacan

"This is my favourite vegetable since young. KangKung or KangKong is also known as Water Spinach or Water Convolvulus in the Western world. Water convolvulus is a member of the Convolvulaceae (morningglory) family. Ah ha....Infact in Malaysia I usually called it "morning glory" when ordering in a bit upscale Chinese restaurants (the ones where the waiters don't speak Chinese). I remember my brother used to laughed at me for calling it "morning glory". His rationale, how can a cheap vegetable like KangKung have such a beautiful name. :)Yup I always remember that this is a cheap vegetable as told by my grandma. This is because it can grow very easily in swamp areas as it grows fast when in contact with moist soil or water. Therefore to the older folks, this is a "longkang" (drain) vegetable meaning you can easily see it growing beside the drains."

"Another myth that they used to scare me with is that if I ate too much KangKung, I will get arthritis on my legs. It is because the vegetable is a water plant and the stems are soaked in water all the time. It will also transfer to human legs causing arthritis. Any truth in this myth? I don't know but trust me, after eating too much KangKung when young, I did feel pain in my legs. Let me know if this is a fact or just a myth. :)

Other names. Kankon (Japanese); ung choi (Cantonese Chinese); toongsin tsai (Mandarin Chinese); ong choy, ungtsai, tung choy (China); kang kong (Filipino, Malaysian); kang kung, rau muong (Vietnamese); pak bung (Thai).

How to prepare? This dish can be easily stir-fried plain with garlic but it is most famous as KangKung Sambal Belacan whereby you use dried chilli prawn paste. I cook variations of this vegetable using actual "belacan" or just ready made sambal belacan or just plain with garlic."

Simple Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil

1 red chilli,

500g kangkun

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Seasoning -

2 tbsp belacan sambal (readily available in canned bottles at Chinese Supermarkets)

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sugar and salt

Simple Steps -

1. Heat up oil, sautè garlic until fragrant. Add in sambal belacan and stir-fry until aromatic.

2. Add in red chillis, kangkung and stir-fry at high heat until well mixed. Dish up.

I think I will add the seasonings with the sambal belacan.....we will see.

This dish looks like of dou miao, or snow pea tips. If is half as good as that then it will be a hit. And can I say how much I love the more amateur-ish food sites than the more slick and sexy ones. They seem so much more soulful and real to me. Keep posting MySimpleFood!!

snow day number 2

Well, it isn't a snow day, really. It's an icy, cold day. The kids are asleep and most likely will not be too happy about being stuck in the house again. The thought of the work on my desk growing every minute makes me want to cry. I could be more productive at home and do some laundry or clean a bathroom, but UGH...I just can't do it. We will have to get out of the house today if the roads are cleared enough.



Late yesterday afternoon I let my kids out. I head them in front of our building and saw another kid with them. My oldest kid's friend walked over from her house. They came in soaking wet and freezing asking for hot chocolate. It got dark so we walked the friend home. I could have kicked myself for not bringing my camera. The dark sky, the bright street lights and the glitter and sparkle of the dripping snow/sleet was beautiful. On the way back home, we stood in the middle of a dark street and listened to the clinks and ping of the ice falling from the trees. I wish I had pictures.



There is nothing in the house to eat either. Pasta, no sauce. Flour, no butter. 2 eggs. 1/4 of a gallon of milk to last through Friday. As I look through my recipe books, I am getting more and more discouraged. I can eat anything, but the kids......they are hugely, finicky pains about food.

One thing I can make (and the kids will eat) is a fabulously easy coffee cake from the book above. "The Fannie Farmer Cookbook", by Marion Cunningham is full of good reading and good food. Fannie Merrit Farmer wrote the first version of this cookbook in 1896. Wikipedia says:

"Fannie published her most well-known work, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, in 1896. A follow-up to an earlier version called Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book, published by Mary J. Lincoln in 1884, the book under Farmer's direction eventually contained 1,849 recipes, from milk toast to Zigaras à la Russe. Farmer also included essays on housekeeping, cleaning, canning and drying fruits and vegetables, and nutritional information.
The book's publisher (Little, Brown & Company) did not predict good sales and limited the first edition to 3,000 copies.[1] The book was so popular in America, so thorough, and so comprehensive that housewives would refer to later editions simply as the "Fannie Farmer cookbook", and it is still available in print over 100 years later.
Farmer provided scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking, and also helped to standardize the system of measurements used in cooking in the USA. Before the Cookbook's publication, other American recipes frequently called for amounts such as "a piece of butter the size of an egg" or "a teacup of milk." Farmer's systematic discussion of measurement — "A cupful is measured level ... A tablespoonful is measured level. A teaspoonful is measured level." — led to her being named "the mother of level measurements."
Farmer left the Boston Cooking School in 1902 and created Mrs. Farmer's School of Cookery. She began by teaching gentlewomen and housewives the rudiments of plain and fancy cooking, but her interests eventually led her to develop a complete work of diet and nutrition for the ill, titled Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent. Farmer was invited to lecture at Harvard Medical School and began teaching convalescent diet and nutrition to doctors and nurses. She felt so strongly about the significance of proper food for the sick that she believed she would be remembered chiefly by her work in that field, as opposed to her work in household and fancy cookery. Farmer understood perhaps better than anyone else at the time the value of appearance, taste, and presentation of sickroom food to ill and wasted people with poor appetites; she ranked these qualities over cost and nutritional value in importance."


As you will soon learn about me, I heart anything representative of 18th and 19th everyday life. I love realist painting and naturalist writers. Imagining the obstacles, implements, finances, sounds, tastes, textures and smells people encountered creates a connection between that world and mine. The idea of people facing the same issues, but under wildly different circumstances than our own fascinates me.

ANYWAY, this is the coffee cake I am about to make (its on p. 775 of my book)



Quick Coffee Cake (8-inch square cake)



1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups white flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter (I have to use Country Crock)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar mixed with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter an 8-inch square cake pan. Mix the 1 cup sugar, the flour, and the baking powder in a large bowl. Work in the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and milk and blend. Spoon into the pan. Sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon mixture evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

So good.









Okay. So my angel helped me with the coffee cake so the cinnamon and sugar was concentrated in the middle of the cake. Also, the Country Crock was not as nice as real butter......STILL you see they ate it. And started with the extra cinnamony-sugary part.




The recipe right after the coffee cake is for "Griddlecakes". They make the best tiny pancakes I have ever had in my entire life, ever.

Chicken in a Pot

I really want to make "Chicken in a Pot". Wait, no, I really wanted to make it until I googled "chicken in a pot french" and found the flickr pages of these poor chickens. There are some truly demented people in the kitchen. It didn't help that interspersed between the images of posed carcasses there were pictures of living chickens of all ages climbing in and out of all sorts of pots. There are few things better than a deliciously roasted, boiled or pan-fried chicken, but those horrible pictures. :( Can we respect the chicken, people?





I am going to make this dish this weekend. Very excited.





Chicken in a Pot





2 2lb-2 1/2lb of chicken (pieces)

1/2 cup of olive oil (that sounds like too much for me. i'm going to us extra virgin)

1 large onion (i am going to use a yellow one)

1 clove of garlic (i am going to use like 8 cloves)

(the recipe doesn't call for bay leaves, but I think I am going to put one in there for the last 30 minutes of simmering.

1 tsp salt (kosher or sea salt)

3/4 tsp black pepper (fresh ground)

1 medium tomato chopped (maybe two plum tomatoes)

1/2 cup dry white wine (I might tip a little dry sherry into this, too)




Brown the chicken in the oil
Add onion and garlic and seasoning
Cover and simmer for 3o minutes
Add tomatoes and wine (bay leaf)

Simmer another 30 minutes




My favorite Christmas present will make this recipe possible. Thanks Daddy, for buying it for me and thanks Martha Stewart for making it affordable and blue. Mine is the 7 QT beauty.



My mother gave me a red rectangular casserole with a lid that is just as useful and aesthetically pleasing, but I can't find a picture of it online. I will have to take one and post it later.