ragù bolognese

What you will need:
(first to prepare the meat)
8 oz pork shoulder
8 oz beef round or chuck
the peel of 1 orange
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tsp coriander seed
4 bay leaves
1 dried red chili seeded

(you will use these next)
2 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion sliced
3 T tomato paste
2 cups beef or chicken stock
1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

This is simple... just run the first eleven ingredients through your meat grinder with the large die plate. If you don't have a grinder grind the spices in a food processor and mix with pre-ground meat. Next heat up a large sauce pan and add the olive oil and the meat mixture. Cook this on medium heat until the meat is nicely browned. Now remove the meat and add the onion. Sweat the onion until soft then add the tomato paste, keeping the pan on medium heat and stirring, cook until it just starts to brown. Stir in your stock and water until all the tomato paste is incorporated. Now let it reduce on low heat until the liquid part of the ragù will coat the back of a spoon, season with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy.

Toss the ragù with fresh pasta and flat parsley, basil or whatever herbs you like. Top the dish with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly grated parmesan.

fettucini carbonara

Ingredients
for the sauce:
(you'll use these ingredients first)
4 oz bacon cut into .5 inch cubes
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot sliced thin
4 cloves garlic sliced thin
a lot of fresh ground black pepper
salt

(you'll use these ingredients second)
1 oz stock
a splash of the pasta water
1 oz cream

(you'll use these ingredients last)
. 5 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 T or so fresh parsley
12 oz fresh pasta
3 egg yolks
1 oz shredded parmesan

For pasta, use my past dough recipe.


Cooking steps
This one is really tasty and easy. Before you start making the sauce get the pasta water boiling. Make sure the water is salty like sea water and add some olive oil to it... just a splash.

First crank up the heat on a large saute pan. Then add the olive oil and bacon.... turn the heat to low after the bacon gets a little color on it. Let the bacon brown very slow turning it occasionally. Once the bacon is fully browned and crisp add the shallots and garlic. At this point you should also start cooking the noodles. Let the shallots and garlic sweat a bit then add the pepper and salt. Now that the veg is soft, add the stock, cream and a splash of the pasta water. Reduce the liquid in the pan by half and remove from the heat.



When the noodles are almost done return the sauce to heat adding the parsley and peas. Once the noodles are cooked to your desired tenderness drain them and toss them in the pan with the sauce. last add the parmesan and egg yolks one at a time as you stir the pasta. Finally plate it and grate some parmesan on top.

red stripe smoked ribs

I went to the West Side Market in Cleveland the other day... man it was awesome! There were a lot of butcher shops and fish mongers. So anyways I got some ribs there... they looked really nice and were only $2.29 a pound (see below). This is how I cooked them...

First the rib rub;
You want to grind all the spices that need grind'n (coriander, bay leaf & black pepper) and mix them with the rest.

1 bay leaf
1 T coriander seed (fresh if you have it)
1 T black pepper
1.5 T salt
1.5 T sugar
1 T granulated garlic
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp mace
1 tsp dried oregano
about 4 T chopped cilantro

You should rub your ribs at least a day in advance. First peel off the connective tissue on the concave side of the ribs. The easiest way to do this is peel up one corner with your fingernails and then grip it with a towel and yank it off. Next rub the the ribs with your spice mixture so they are coated in an even layer... just enough to stick to them. Cover the ribs and refrigerate for a day or two.

I smoked these ribs with a small amount of coal using cherry wood to make the smoke. I also opened a red stripe and placed above the coal to keep the smoker nice and moist (hence the name). The cook time was about 5 hours... obviously this will vary with the size of your smoker/grill and the amount of coal. Another option is to smoke them for about an hour and then cook them in the oven in a pot with a tight fitting lid. Add some beer and leave them in there for about 2 hours.

I made some jerk sauce to go with them. I suppose it felt like the ribs were Caribbean style. Here's that recipe;

1 oz o.j.
.5 tsp lime zest
2 red chilies seeded and minced
1 T chopped parsley
2 T chopped cilantro
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground allspice
1 oz olive oil
1 minced shallot
1 tsp sriracha
salt and pepper

Just mix these ingredients together and pour it on the ribs before you eat them. Next time I'm going to marinate the ribs in the jerk sauce before smoking them.