It’s been…… 4-5 years since the last time I made lasagna. So why all of a sudden did I make it now?

Recently, my kid was on a mid-winter break from school and I had continuous exposure to The Garfield Show and that did it! (In case you don’t know, Garfield is a fat, lazy cat who lives to eat and his favorite foods are pizza and lasagna.) After hearing “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasagna”, “lasan-ya”, “lasagnnnnnnnya”, repeatedly, over and over for days—it was like brain wash—I’ve just had it. “Must make lasagna!” “Must make lasagna!” is all I could think of.

Oh, and what’s the lasagna lesson? Don’t ever, ever make a lasagna recipe that has no Béchamel sauce in it!

Béchamel sauce is a milk sauce that is cooked and thickened by a roux (Cooked butter and flour). I’ve made several different recipes in the past years that didn’t include the sauce in the layers. Hmm, maybe that’s why I didn’t miss lasagna so much, now that I think about it… The béchamel makes the whole thing so much smoother and silkier. It’s really fantastic! I will never, ever make lasagna without béchamel again. Never, ever.

It might look like a a lot of work but it really isn’t.

The meat cooks in 10 minutes—not much effort there.

The ricotta only gets to be mixed with the eggs—easy peasy.

The marinara is store bought. Pfff.

The pasta doesn’t have to be cooked, only soaked in hot water for a few minutes to soften.

You layer them all,

and the dishwasher does the rest.

Ta-da. Lasagna, assembled ahead, ready to get baked later before dinner.

And here’s dinner…

Classic  lasagna

My recipe is based on this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis.

For a 13 x x9 inch pan; serves 8-10 people

Béchamel Sauce:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole or 2% milk
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper
__

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground beef
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups (store-bought) tomato/marinara sauce
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1 pound lasagna sheets, soaked in boiled, salted water for 2-3 minutes*
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan

Béchamel sauce: In a 2-quart pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the milk and nutmeg, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps from forming. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat until the sauce is thick and creamy, about 10 minutes. (The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of wooden spoon.) Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (unless you plan to bake the lasagna later that day).

In a large sauté pan, heat extra-virgin olive oil, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook the meat, breaking any lumps and continue to cook until it is browned and some of the juices had evaporated. Remove from heat and mix in the marinara sauce. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Assemble the lasagna:

Into the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1/3 of the béchamel sauce.

Arrange the pasta sheets side by side, covering the bottom of the baking dish.

Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the meat-marinara blend, spoon béchamel on top, and 1/3 shredded mozzarella. (Save the parmesan for the final, top layer.)

Arrange another layer of pasta sheets and repeat the other layers.

Arrange the final layer of pasta sheets and repeat with what’s left of all the layers, plus the Parmesan cheese.

Place the lasagna dish on a large baking sheet, put it in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and bubbling.

NOTE:

You can assemble the lasagna ahead, cover and store in the fridge. If you do that, you might need to add 10-20 minutes to the cooking time.

* To soak the lasagna sheets: 1) do this in batches, not all at once, 2) drizzle some oil on a baking sheet, lay the softened, soaked pasta sheets on the greased baking sheet to prevent it from sticking.

Hi,

I thought I’d drop you a quick note. An idea for a quick dinner tonight.

OK, you can make it tomorrow… Go shopping today.

Beef bulgogi and Teriyaki fried rice.

The beef bulgogi is cut into small pieces and is quickly cooked in a skillet—no need to go outside to the freezing cold and grill a steak.

The fried rice uses staples like frozen peas, carrots, and corn. I warmly recommend buying those bags of cooked and frozen brown rice that can be microwaved for 3 minutes and voila—you have cooked brown rice! (Brown rice takes about 40 minutes to cook!)

The beef bulgogi recipe originates in Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food: Great Food Fast cookbook (I love that book. Lots of quick dishes.) but I found the recipe for you online here, using rib-eye steak and here, using flank steak.

And the fried rice recipe was posted on my family friendly food Facebook page. Go there for the recipe, and also “Like” it?

Another version for fried rice using all kinds of leftovers was posted here.

Have a fab dinner tonight!

Or tomorrow!

N.

I must tell you about this stew.

Because even if you believe that you will never ever make it, you must know of its existence!!! And so, you will make a conscious, knowledgeable decision whether you make it or not.

I don’t want the responsibility lying on my shoulders knowing that (some of) you are walking around completely unaware of this stew.

Now, close your eyes and imagine this:

A Saturday morning (OK, it can be a Sunday too). You wake up in your warm bed with the fluffy down comforter covering you from ears to toes. The minute you wake up and regain your senses, a sweet honey, amber-like aroma amuses your nose. That sweet smell had penetrated every corner of your house, got absorbed in your pillow and your pajamas, and had sweetened your dreams while you were sleeping.

You get out of bed and put on your homey old robe on (You have one of those, right?!), and slip your feet inside your slippers, and then drag yourself to the kitchen to make coffee, or tea.

While you wait for the water to boil, you yawn as you lean against the countertop. You feel so happy and proud of yourself for loading a big pot, the night before, with beans, and potatoes, and meat, and eggs, and all kinds of good food, and putting it in the oven to slowly simmer overnight, letting the 15 hours of low heat take care of the rest…

In a few hours you will be able to enjoy this stew, this Cholent, for lunch. You have invited 14 guests but you don’t have to lift a finger.

You take a deep breath. You smile.

Ding. The button of your water kettle signals your morning coffee water had boiled.

You make coffee. You smile. You’re happy.

Now open your eyes.

And go get dressed! Your guests are arriving SOON.

Have you set the table the night before as well? Go, go go.

Do you really want to open the door when your guests arrive wearing that old robe?

(On second thought, it might be time to buy a new one.)

And, actually, I’m not sure that “stew” does this dish justice. It is plain “stew” if it has been cooking for… let’s see, it was placed in the oven at 10 PM and consumed at 1 PM the following day… That makes it… 15 hours, and it can be cooked even longer. So, I think a better word than “stew” should be applied to it. Any suggestions?

So, what is “Cholent”?

A quote from an article: “Just think of concoctions as the French cassoulet, Boston baked beans, chili con carne.” And I just want to add, “It can be all those combined!” So aren’t you convinced yet that you must try it?

I rest my case.

By the way, the article is fascinating and discusses the history, the tradition, the different ingredients and techniques, and so on of Cholent. Really interesting stuff! So go to this web page to read more about so I won’t have to reinvent the wheel all over again. Thanks.

***

It’s supposedly spring but the weather here is sort of crazy, and indecisive, and cooold, and rainy. Bottom line, it resembles winter more than it does spring. And I made Cholent only once this winter, so I thought, “Hey, why not? Here’s my second chance.” And there you have it.

Due to a full-day of food writing workshop – which I will tell you about in the next post – I had to send Suburban Cowboy to the grocery store the day before the Cholent making day.

Onions, garlic, prunes, potatoes, garbanzo beans, white beans, barley, chicken, beef, and barley.

Instead of barley he came back with… oats! And this is the second time this had happened! To his defense, he claims that the store put a label “Barely” under the oats’ container. But between us, we know, girls, it’s always the guys’ fault, right?! (Wink.) So there was no barley in this Cholent. So sad. It adds sweetness and chewiness to this dish.

And he didn’t soak the beans in the water because I wasn’t home to tell him and he didn’t read the recipe… So Junior and I had to go to the store that night and buy canned beans because a Cholent with no beans at all is just unthinkable.

And it still turned out great.

The guests licked their fingers.

Nah, no they didn’t. They’re too polite.

But I did get lots of compliments.

It also makes a great leftovers lunch the next day.

I packed leftovers for Suburban Cowboy’s lunch at work. My finger unintentionally touched the food and stuck to my finger as I filled the Pyrex container with the good stuff.

I licked it.

Oh, yes, I did.

Yum yum.

***

So, back to the morning after the night that you started the process.

You wake up in the morning, and after you’ve had your coffee, you take a peek to see how’s your Cholent is doing so far.

This is what it looked like at 9 AM (I’ve got lil’ kids, early birds, so I don’t get to sleep until 20 minutes before lunch time/the guests are coming. And I don’t have an old robe either. Just in case you wondered).

3-4 more hours to go.

From a closer look you can see how the potatoes, prunes, chicken, and beef pieces turned all brown. It’s a totally brown food.

But, oh, I wish you could smell it.

You’ll just have to make it if you want to smell it.

At 9 AM I added the canned beans and hard boiled eggs (I must have been really tired. There’s no other way to explain why I put the eggs in a separate pan. They should be placed in the pan with the rest of the ingredients.)

But it turned out just fine.

Finger-licking good.

And the smell… Oh. The neighbors knocked on my door and asked for some.

Nah, they didn’t.

They’re too polite.

***

Saturday Cholent

I hear you’re supposed to put the ingredients in a big, tall pot – not in a big, wide pan like I did – and then layer the ingredients on top of one another as follows: onions and garlic go in first, then the beans, then the potatoes, next the meat and chicken, and the eggs on top. Then you cover it with boiling water only to the potatoes’ height.

As for the eggs, some people just wash ‘em well before adding to the pot. I like to bring them to a boil, drain and rinse with clean water, and only then add to the pot. (Why? I don’t know… Maybe to be sure they are clean of bacteria, salmonella, and all those words we hear that scare me.)

As for the beans. Use any variety you like, or even better, use a few different kinds. Soak them in water a day ahead or, at the latest, the same morning you will be cooking them. Change the water 2-3 times.

I used to add marrow bones as well… Pre The crazy cow disease years… So sad.

As with old recipes, all possible variations, combinations, adaptations, and compilations develop through the years. Here’s how I usually do it. You can easily cut the amount in half or multiply by as many guests as you have, or the size of your pot.

As a general rule of thumb I estimate, per person: 1 chunk beef, 1 piece chicken, 1 small potato, 1/2 cup mixed beans, 1 egg.

Oh, and don’t forget the Challa…….

Start time: The night before the day you want to eat it
End time: Lunch time
Makes 12 servings + most likely, leftovers

extra virgin olive oil
2-3 onions, chopped large
1-2 tablespoons sugar
2 heads of garlic, cloves separated, left whole and unpeeled
2 lbs. beef chuck, cut into large cubes
12 chicken thighs or 20 chicken drumsticks
12 small potatoes, peeled
1 cup garbanzo beans, that was soaked in water
1 cup white beans, that was soaked in water
1 cup barley, that was soaked in water (unless your husband brought you OATS)
about 12 prunes
12 eggs
salt, black pepper

In a pot, or tea kettle, boil about 2 quarts of water.

In a big, tall pot (or big, wide pan), fry the onions with some oil over medium heat. Sprinkle sugar on top and cook, stirring from time to time, until it starts to soften. Throw in the garlic cloves and fry another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

If you’re in the mood/have time, brown the meat cubes. If not, just add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.

Next, add the chicken, potatoes, beans, barley, and prunes. Season with salt and pepper.

Scatter the eggs at the top.

Add boiling water to about 3/4 of the height. Cover with a lid or with aluminum foil (the thick kind works best).

Bring everything to a boil.

Now you have 2 options:

1) Simmer on the stovetop for 45-60 minutes, or
2) Bake in an oven that was preheated to 350 F degrees for 45-60 minutes.

Next, set the oven temperature to 225 F degrees. Place the pot/pan in there, covered, and go to bed.

The next day, in the morning, check the level of liquids. If it’s too dry (which probably won’t happen), add more boiling water. If there’s too much water, makes holes in the foil, or open a crack with the lid, or remove it altogether so some of the water will evaporate and the sauce will thicken.

That’s pretty much it.

A very special dish for a very special day.

And don’t forget the Challa…

***

Other appealing recipes on the web:

Cholent by Claudia Roden

Another recipe to try on Epicurious by Joan Nathan

More about Cholent on Wikipedia

First, a short announcement.

I’ve started a new Facebook “fan” page for my blog. I feel uncomfortable saying “fan” so let’s keep it simple and informal. If you like Facebook and you’d like to get post updates there, click here to check it out and join me. Thanks!

Now, where were we? Oh, yeah, brisket.

Brisket is really not something you spontaneously make, right?! Just like with chicken stock it needs some planning ahead. In most recipes you have to marinate it for hours before cooking or sear it to brown and sauté an onion or other vegetables before you move on to the next step of cooking the brisket for hours and hours. But, as with the stock, I have found a way around it.

But first, why bother to make brisket if it takes such a long time to braise?

Brisket is a fairly cheap piece of meat. And a very large one. You cook it once and can have multiple dinners made out of it. It freezes well! So any leftovers – and you’ll probably have leftovers, unless you have lots of people around the table eating it – can be frozen for a few weeks. When cooking it, you don’t have to mess with it too much as long as your oven (preferably, but a burner on the stovetop works too), is free for 4-6 hours for this tough big mama to slowly cook and break down and become soft and tender.

In short, it’s worth the trouble.

I wanted to cook brisket the other day. It’s been a while since the last time I made it. About a year or so… But I felt lazy and procrastinated with cooking it. Then a day before our trip I had to cook it because I had no other plans for dinner, because otherwise it would have gone bad, and because I knew that if I cook it then, we will have an already-cooked meals/s when we return from the trip (and gain an extra care-free day from grocery shopping and cooking – a bonus).

I have a few favorite brisket recipes that I like, but that day, because I waited for the last moment, it was too late to make them. So, I thought I’ll just have to wing it and take a chance with something I make up as i go and see if it works.

It turned out pretty good.

Since this was something I made with a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I don’t have an exact recipe. In truth, I didn’t think my many shortcuts will work and end up as anything edible. But it id did. I guess it’s tough to screw up with a hearty brisket as long as it is cooked till tender.

Lesson learned: take a risk, improvise, it might end up being a success.

If you own a slow-cooker (I don’t), check out what Deb did with her brisket.

Spontaneous brisket

Place a 4-5 lb. brisket in a big and deep stainless steal pan (don’t use aluminum, it interacts with acidic ingredients like tomato sauce and vinegars and will taste bla. Also, your pan will discolor).

Sprinkle generously with salt and ground black pepper on both sides. Add a quick splash of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Add spices such as a steak rub, a BBQ rub, a curry mixture, some light brown sugar. I wanted to add minced garlic cloves but I forgot. A chopped onion and dried fruits around the meat will be nice too.

Pour a 28 oz. can of marinara sauce + 1/2 cup water on and around the beef and rub all this on both sides. Cover the pan loosely with foil (or a lid, if you have one that fits). Be careful that the foil does not touch the tomato sauce covered meat because this will cause the foil to blacken and even make holes in it after a while (that’s the reaction of aluminum foil to acid).

I cooked it at 400 F degrees (with the convection oven on) for 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 350-300 F and cook another 4-6 hours* until it’s soft and tender and can be cut easily.

* We cut a piece from the edge after 4 hours in the oven and had some for dinner, then put the meat back in the oven for another 2 hours.

After it’s fully cooked, slice against the grain. Store any leftovers in freezer-friendly containers and label with the name and date.

Dinner recipes from one year ago: Gourmet meatloaf, Pasta Bolognese, Roasted potato leek soup

Cake recipes: Ricotta Bundt Cheesecake, Chocolate Chocolate Stout Cake, Easy Marjolaine

Everyone says that spaghetti and meatballs in tomato sauce is a kid-friendly food. One of the ultimate favorites. Way up there in the top 10, maybe even top 5, on the kids’ food list. Well, at least that’s the theory. But in our household? Not so much.

I always wondered why magazines/restaurants/cookbooks make that claim because every time I made this dish, aiming to make my son happy with this supposedly kid-friendly meal, he refused to eat it. I made spaghetti and meatballs in tomato sauce numerous times hoping that he will warm up to it. Finally, I came to the conclusion that he is not a tomato sauce fan, even more than he dislikes ground meat in any shape and size, whether a meatloaf, burger, round or flat meatballs (should they be called meatflats in that case?). He is a cheese and/or butter sauce type of guy. Last week, I made it again. Surprisingly, everyone was licking their red sauce covered lips and wiping their faces with napkins.

But my goal is not to cook kid-friendly meals.

My goal is mostly different. It is to create memorable meals. The kind that my children will remember when they grow up. The kind that they will miss when they become adults. The kind that will bring them back home to me after they fly away and leave the nest. I think that this spaghetti and meatballs in tomato sauce is that kind of dish. Same as stuffed bell peppers.

Now, I’ll tell you a little secret, come close – I used a jarred marinara sauce. Shhh, don’t tell anyone. I know my kids won’t remember the jar, but they will remember having pasta with meatballs in tomato sauce at their parents’ home because I plan to make it again and again and again. When I took the photo of the leftovers the next day, when I warmed it for my lunch, I thought that if I was a kid I would have remembered this dish as a childhood favorite. Slurping the long spaghetti strands, making a mess all over my face, and sinking my teeth into the two-bite-size meatballs covered with a sweet and thick tomato sauce will bring out the child hidden in any grown-up.

One year ago: Walnut cake, Sweet and smoky pork chops, Chocolate-Halva Babka Cake

Spaghetti with beef meatballs

I used fresh bread crumbs flavored with fresh herbs which I make every time I have leftover bread and herbs that are about to go bad. (Click the link for the recipe). It makes one big shortcut when a recipe calls for breadcrumbs and chopped herbs.

Makes 8 servings

For the meatballs:
2 pounds ground (preferably grass-fed) beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus a few sprigs with leaves for the sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan or any other hard yellow cheese, plus 1/2 cup more for serving
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Canola and/or olive oil for frying
1 (25 oz.) jar good marinara sauce
1 package spaghetti

Put the meat, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and egg in a bowl. Mix lightly with your hands and form into two-bite-size meatballs.

Pour canola and/or olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil over medium heat. In batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides, turning carefully with a spoon or tongs. Don’t crowd the skillet. This will take about 10 minutes for each batch. Remove the fried meatballs to a plate. Discard the oil and lightly wipe the pan with clean paper towels.

In the same pan, heat the marinara sauce, scraping all the brown bits in the bottom of the pan. Add parsley, salt, and pepper. Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.

While the meatballs are cooking in the sauce, cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package.

Serve the meatballs hot over the cooked spaghetti and top with grated Parmesan.

A quiet dinner, a glass of wine, dining al fresco by the swimming pool, watching the red and orange sunset, gazing at the ocean, listening to the waves, and looking into the eyes of your loved one…

Aha, I gotchya! Didn’t I?! You got all dreamy, haven’t you?!

But it does look like it could have been dinner in the sunset on a vacation in a tropical island, doesn’t it?! Well, if I can’t have it, I can fantasize ‘bout it, right? Oh, yes, and eating braised short ribs cooked in wine does make one feel heavenly.

Because only a few days ago I woke up and saw THIS

Yes, ah-ha, frost, on our roof

On the roofs of all our neighbors. No, it’s not snow, not yet, only an icy street

*I can hear my Southern California relatives giggling now*

This is how it’s going to look like in the next 2 months or so… But isn’t this foggy chilly looking-like-sunrise at 7 am beautiful?!

And, remember our tree? It’s still in chains and now it is cold too.

The lawn, frozen too.

I haven’t visited our little backyard veggie bed in the past 2 months! We don’t go out much… Wait, I’ll go and check and come back with an update…

We planted these 2 months ago! Maybe even longer. If it was summer now, the lettuce and arugula would have been a jungle by now. The soil is frozen stiff, the beats (on the right side) have no bulbs… Hmmm, where did they go?

So, yes, it’s pretty cold. Icy. I better be careful when I walk outside so I won’t slip on my tuches and break something. There is a fat layer for protection, but still…

The days are sunny though with clear blue sky (I sound like the weather woman, don’t I?) and at night we can see the full moon and sparkling stars (which my lens could not capture good enough to do it justice). It is beautiful.

At noon, the sun light was glowing with warm colors. And, you know what all this weather really means…

THIS

And you can have 2 pieces if you want.

Or is one enough for you?

You’ve got a small appetite or are you on a diet?

Well, if you live anywhere near here don’t worry, you’re not going to wear a swim suit anytime soon, so you better indulge.

What’s this “Bugcake” doing here?

Hmm, he made it at school. Fun!

He sure moves a lot and fast when he realizes he is being photographed…

 
Braised short ribs

I have tried a few but this is my favorite short ribs recipe, and so easy to make. Slightly adapted from Mario Batali Babbo cookbook (also one of my favs! The chef, his food, and the book).

Makes 4-6 servings (depending on your appetite)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
10-12 beef short ribs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cups full-bodied red wine
1 16-ounce can of whole tomatoes, crushed by hand with their juices
1 cup chicken stock
a few sprigs of thyme
a few sprigs rosemary
a few sprigs oregano
Gremolata*, for serving, optional – recipe in this link

Preheat oven to 350-375 degrees F

In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until smoking. Season the ribs with salt and pepper and cook them over high heat until deep brown all on sides, about 15 minutes total. Remove the short ribs to a plate and set aside.

Add the carrots, onion, celery and garlic to the pan and cook over medium-high heat until browned and softened, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the red wine, tomatoes and juices, chicken stock and herbs, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring it all to a boil and return the short ribs to the pan. Cover with the lid (or with an aluminum foil) and put in the oven. Cook for 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender and falling off the bones.

* Gremolata is made from parsley, lemon, and horseradish

What I love about meatloaf are two things: 1) it’s a great way to stretch 1-2 pounds of meat into a dish enough for 6-8 people (like they did in the old days), and 2) it’s a simple dish to make and very comforting to eat.

This recipe for French meatloaf in Gourmet magazine (April 2009  issue) caught my eye because it looked more like a French pâté. The addition of chicken liver and prunes sounded intriguing. The result: It was an interesting variation for the good old stand-by meatloaf recipe I usually make.

Because I wasn’t sure my Pyrex glass pan will stand the heat of a 475 F degrees as the recipe asks for – and I didn’t want to take a risk and try it – I baked my meatloaf in a 400F oven for 1 1/2 hours. Be sure to place your loaf pan in a larger baking sheet to catch those overflow juices.

Rustic French Meatloaf

Adapted from Gourmet magazine, April 2009
Serves 6-8

1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs*
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 lb chicken livers, separated into lobes, trimmed, and rinsed
3/4 lb ground pork
3/4 lb ground veal (I used buffalo)
1/4 cup chopped prunes
1/4 cup shelled pistachios (optional)
2 teaspoons thyme leaves*
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley*

Preheat oven to 475ºF (I cooked it in a 400 F) with rack in middle.
Soak bread crumbs in milk in a small bowl.
Cook onion, garlic, and 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper in oil in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly.
Purée livers in a blender (I chopped in with a knife), then transfer to a large bowl. Add pork, veal, prunes, pistachios (if using), thyme, eggs, bread-crumb mixture, onion mixture, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and gently mix with your hands until just combined.
Transfer meatloaf mixture to an 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch glass loaf pan and bake, covered with foil, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 165ºF, 50 to 55 minutes (took me 1 1/2 hours baking at 400 F). Let rest 5 minutes.

* I used home-made fresh breadcrumbs flavored with herbs, a terrific shortcut, recipe here.

But first, the winner of the Secret Stash Sea Salts giveaway is…. Deb! who wrote the largest number of comments.

Deb, go to the Secret Stash web site to choose your salt, www.secretsalts.com. I’ll send you an e-mail in a minute with more details.

If you haven’t won, don’t worry. There’s a giveaway going on for cake collectors as we speak. If you have a great cake recipe you want to share with the world, click here for more details and a chance to win a fabulous cookbook!

Meanwhile, Janna from “Secret Stash”  is sharing her recipe for Pan-seared Chicken with Lobster Mushrooms, Rosemary Butter Sauce, and Soy Salt  using Secret Stash Soy salt. Click here.

You can find many other recipes on her blog using the flavorful salts.

And now that we got all the admin stuff cleared, let’s have some pasta!

I have just realized that it’s been a while since I shared a recipe that is not cake with you. Sorry about that non-cake-eaters. But sharing this recipe for Bologenese sauce with you is going to make me feel so much better.

The recipe below is originally from Mario Batali (and appears in his Babbo cookbook, one of my favorites), but I have added so many shortcuts and a few changes that Mario might get mad at me linking his recipe to this one. But in any case, it’s a good one and I keep making it for my family again and again. And again.

Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Makes 8-10 servings

2 medium onions, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground beef (or 1 lb. veal and 1 lb. pork)
3 oz. pancetta or slab bacon, finely diced
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup milk
1 cup white wine
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 boxes of pasta (try fresh Pappardelle)
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating

Place onions, celery, carrots, and garlic in a food processor bowl fitted with the steal blade and pulse a few times (you might have to do this is batches) until finely diced.

In an 8-quart, heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables and sweat over medium heat until they are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the beef and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Cook over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together, until browned.

Add the tomato paste, milk, wine, crushed tomaotes, thyme, salt and pepper, and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with more salt and pepper to taste, and remove from the heat.

When ready to use, cook the pasta according to the instruction on the package.

Mario says: “The cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of hot ragu Bolognese, and tosses so that the pasta is evenly coated by the ragu.”

Serve with grated Parmesan.

NOTE: It makes a lot of servings, but this sacue freezes beautifully.

Although cooking a stew for 3-4 hours will warm your house and warm your heart for 3-4 hours, it IS fall and I want to spend as much time in the great outdoors as possible and take advantage of a sunny day before the weather gets too cold.

Sunday was nice and sunny so we took the kids Farrel McWhirter Park in Redmond. It was really gorgeous there. See the little people and swings?

When we came back home I had half an hour to prepare the stew and 1 ½ hours to cook it in the oven. The recipe below was inspired by Jamie Oliver’s Jool’s favorite beef stew recipe from his jamie’s dinners cookbook, with some shortcuts and a few changes that I’ve made to make it faster to make and bake.

A Simple Fall Stew

Makes 4-6 servings

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, peeled and medium chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 ½ – 2 lb. beef chuck, cut into 2 inch pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 carrots, peeled and halved
½ a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced
2 handfuls of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled
4 – 6 small potatoes, peeled and cut in half
a handful of fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons tomato purée
2 cups red wine (I used shiraz)
1 cup water (or use stock, if you have any)
zest of 1 lemon
a handful of parsley, leaves picked and chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
Put oil and butter into a large pot. Add onion and sauté over medium heat until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
Add the meat and all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and water/stock, sage leaves. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and salt, and gently stir. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the oven until the meat is tender, about 1 – 1 ½ hours, or until a piece of meat falls apart easily when you test it with a fork.
Before serving, sprinkle the lemon zest and chopped parsley and mix together.

Nice, isn’t it?!
Nurit

Here is a winner recipe for beef goulash by one of my favorite top chefs, Wolfgang Puck (you will find more recipes on his web site if you click the link).
I make this Goulash very often.

The recipe is adapted from the one in his cookbook, one of my favorite cookbooks:

Other recipes I have cooked and liked from this book:
Whole Roasted Chicken with Chardonnay-Tarragon Sauce, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Marjolaine cake
White and dark chocolate chunk cookies
Minestrone soup
Chinese five-spice spare ribs
Wine braised brisket of beef with caramelized pearl onions and dried apricots
Honey marinated beef satay
Pan-seared steaks with port-Dijon-cream sauce
Eggs en cocotte with smoked salmon and horseradish cream (it is much easier than it sounds)
Buttermilk-marinated chicken breasts
Linzer cookies
Pizza
The list goes on and on…

Wolfgang’s Beef Goulash
Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable/canola oil)
4 cups onion, thinly sliced (2 onions)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground (or 1 teaspoon ground cumin, no toasting)
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon hot paprika (or regular paprika/Spanish)
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh marjoram leaves (I use oregano)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (I just put the whole thing with the stem)
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 cups chicken stock (or 3 cups + ½ cup water)
2 1/2 pounds beef shank, cut into 2-inch cubes (I use beef chuck)
1-2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and sugar until caramelized. Add the garlic and caraway seed. Cook another minute.
2. Add the sweet and hot paprika, marjoram, thyme and bay leaf. Sauté another minute, until fragrant (1 minute).
3. (add all the other ingredients at the same time…) Add the tomato paste. Deglaze with the vinegar and the stock and add the pieces of beef shank, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook until very tender, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

If there are any leftovers, I add them to other soups, like this Lentil soup where I use the leftpver sauce from the Goulash.

I highly recommend this book. It is one of my most favorite cookbooks. Many very easy recipes, quick, perfect for a weekday cooking when I don’t have a lot of time.