½ cup dry white wine
2 shallots, sliced
1 garlic clove, smashed
¼ cup heavy cream
1 pound unsalted butter
Sea salt, to taste
White pepper, to taste
1 Place your 1-quart saucepot over medium-high heat and add the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and wine. Allow the liquid to simmer and add the shallot and garlic. Let this simmer for 10 to 15 minutes as it reduces to syrup. When only a few tablespoons of liquid remain, whisk in the heavy cream, lower the heat to medium, and continue reducing for 10 more minutes until large bubbles form, at which point the cream has become a syrup.
2 Lower the heat again to medium-low, and begin slowly whisking the reduction to disperse some of the heat. Drop in 1 tablespoon of butter at a time, whisking to integrate each pad of butter; and don’t add the next tablespoon of butter until the last is completely incorporated. As you continue to add butter, piece by piece, you’ll notice the sauce begin to emulsify and the color will lighten slightly. Once all the butter is incorporated, remove it from the heat.
3 Run it through your strainer to remove the shallot and garlic. Use a heat resistant spatula to push the sauce through your strainer if it needs any help, as this step will make your sauce velvety smooth. Season to taste with sea salt and white pepper. If you need to keep the sauce warm for a significant amount of time before you serve dinner, heat 2 cups of water in a small saucepot over low heat, pour the sauce into a heat resistant bowl, and place the bowl over the warm water. Turn off the burner, and stir occasionally. Serve warm.
Swap It
I like to keep this sauce balanced with the sweetness of pineapple juice and the sourness of bright lemon. Feel free to experiment with other citrus fruits by using orange and grapefruit or lemon and lime.
Mighty Marinara Sauce
Yields 3 cups
A truly traditional marinara is made with fresh Roma tomatoes at the peak of their season, with the addition of only garlic, sea salt, and maybe fresh herbs. Because juicy ripe tomatoes aren’t always available, I make mine with canned plum tomatoes, which are sealed at the height of freshness in their own juices. This recipe makes a wonderful gourmet pasta sauce, and all you need is one crappy pot!
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 shallots, minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
35 ounces crushed plum tomatoes, canned
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped thyme leaves
3 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
1 Place your 12-quart stockpot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallot and garlic, cooking until softened and lightly browned.
2 Add the can of tomatoes and allow it to come to a boil. Season the sauce to taste with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Lower the heat to low and allow it to cook slowly for 45 minutes. Add the herbs and cook another 5 minutes. Serve warm tossed through or slathered over No-Space Meatballs (p. 34) as an entrée or even as a beautiful warm sandwich.
Spicy Pomodoro Sauce
Yields 3 cups
This utilitarian sauce holds together sheets of lasagna, vegetables, and cheese or serves as the perfect topper for pizza crust. It’s quick and easy to make but tastes as though it took all day. Try it as a quick sauce paired with a more labor-intensive dish such as Fried Green Tomatoes (p. 38) or homemade pasta, or whip it up if you’re just in a hurry.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped shallots
4 garlic cloves, crushed
35 ounces crushed plum tomatoes, canned
2 teaspoons red pepper flake
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 Place your 12-quart stockpot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallots and garlic, cooking until softened and lightly browned.
2 Add the can of tomatoes, allowing it to come to a boil. Sprinkle in the red pepper flakes, lower the heat to low, and allow it to cook slowly for 20 minutes, stirring often. Add the basil and remove from the heat.
3 Pour the mixture into your blender, and puree the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm.
I’m a Maniac for
Mexican Mole Sauce
Yields 4 cups
A spicy Mexican sauce, mole usually contains onion, chilies, nuts or seeds, and unsweetened chocolate and is served with meat or poultry. In this recipe, fresh tomato provides color as well as an appealing texture to the sauce, while the chocolate smoothes out any bitterness from the dried chiles and brings depth to the flavor.
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup chopped shallot
4 garlic cloves
½ cup blanched almonds, toasted
4 cups vegetable stock
2 ancho chilies
2 guajillo chilies
4 Roma tomatoes
½ banana
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1 ounce Mexican chocolate, chopped
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 In your 12-quart stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add the shallots, garlic, and almonds. When the shallots have begun to brown, pour the mixture into your blender. Rinse the pot, and return it to the heat and add the vegetable stock.
2 Add the chilies to the stock and simmer until soft, about 15 minutes. Pour the stock, along with the chiles, into the blender with the shallots, garlic, and almonds. Gently pulse the entire mixture until pureed, then use your strainer to strain the sauce back into the saucepot, and use a heat resistant spatula to push the sauce through your strainer if it needs any help. Place over low heat. Add the tomatoes, banana, cinnamon stick, and cloves to the saucepot, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. Pour into your blender, pulse gently until smooth, and then strain one last time, just as before.
3 Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with your Mushroom Tamales (p. 138), or make traditional chicken mole by simmering chicken quarters (legs, thighs, and breast still on the bone) in the finished sauce.
Classic Bolognese Sauce
Yields 6 cups
The gourmet trick in this recipe is to use tomato puree instead of crushed tomatoes. The puree not only increases the richness but it also allows the meat to take center stage in the sauce. Try it tossed with fresh pasta first, and then, once you’ve seen the possibilities, use it tossed with steamed mussels or as the meat sauce for lasagna. Feel free to make a double batch and freeze half into 3-quart-size freezer bags. Lay the bags flat in your freezer to save space and for easy defrosting for Bolognese on demand in your Crappy Little Kitchen. Just pull a bag out of the freezer the night before you’d like to serve it, and the next day it should be thawed enough to be reheated inside a saucepot.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups small diced Pancetta about 12 ounces
1 cup minced yellow onion
½ cup minced carrot
½ cup minced celery
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork
½ cup dry red wine
2 fresh bay leaves, or substitute 1 dried
28 ounces beef stock or broth
15 ounces tomato puree, canned
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, as needed
1 Place your 12-quart stockpot over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté until it begins to brown, about 6 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, sautéing for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the veal and pork, breaking up the meat with the back of a fork. Sauté until brown and cooked through. This
should take another 10 minutes.
2 Pour in the wine and add the bay leaves. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the liquid is slightly reduced. Stir in the stock and tomato puree.
3 Reduceheat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, until sauce thickens, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stir in the whole milk, and season with the fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Serve warm with Parmesan cheese grated over the top.
Power-Play Portuguese Sauce
Yields 4 cups
This is the recipe to help you realize the power of sauce. A very simple formula with such modest ingredients, yet the result is far too commanding for simple pasta. Add two dozen well scrubbed little neck clams after the tomatoes in step 2 and have a port-of-call gourmet experience like no other Crappy Little Kitchen has ever seen!
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, small dice
8 ounces ground chorizo sausage
8 ounces ground pork
30 ounces crushed tomatoes, canned
1 cup dry white wine
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (save pinch for garnish)
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 Heat your 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion and allow it to soften. Stir until it’s translucent. Add the chorizo and ground pork browning the meat well; this should take about 10 minutes.
2 Stir in the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the tomatoes to cook down for about 5 minutes, and then add the white wine, red pepper flakes, and chopped cilantro. Reduce this mixture slowly for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Taste your sauce at this point and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with the extra cilantro.
Pico de Gallo Salsa
Yields 2 cups
This basic salsa recipe is excellent served with tortilla chips, as a garnish for Fried Green Tomatoes (p. 38), or topping the Chili Rellenos (p. 134).
2 large ripe tomatoes, medium dice
1 red onion, medium dice
½ teaspoon minced garlic
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Chefology
PICO DE GALLO
Literally meaning the beak of the rooster in Spanish, this salsa was so named because, at one time, people would eat the salsa using their thumb and forefinger in an action resembling a rooster’s peaking beak.
Swap It
Play with the flavor of this versatile salsa by adding diced avocado or corn and black beans. You can dress up the salsa for guests by blackening your vegetables then pureeing them to create a charred version.
1 In a medium bowl, combine the tomato, onion, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice. Toss gently to combine evenly, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
2 Wrap tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve from a margarita glass in the center of a giant platter of nachos.
Sausage and Peppers Sauce
Yields 4 cups
This recipe is delicious tossed together with light egg pasta. If you want to make the sandwich version of sausage and peppers, omit the cream from the sauce, leave the sausage links whole, place them in toasted sub rolls, and slather the sauced peppers over the top.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 red bell peppers
2 green bell peppers
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sliced yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 Preheat your oven to 500°. Place the bell peppers on a sheet tray, and drizzle olive oil over them. Roast them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until they begin to blacken and blister all over. Remove them with your tongs, and place them in a mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let them rest as they steam and cool.
2 While waiting for the peppers to cool, heat your 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. Place the sausage links into the hot pan. Sear the links on all sides until very brown, and then remove them to cool on your cutting board.
3 Put the butter, onion, and garlic in the same pan. Reduce the heat to medium.
Allow the onion and garlic to cook until the onions are golden brown. Add the cream and oregano. Turn the heat down to medium low, and allow the sauce to reduce.
4 Now that the peppers are cool, pull off their tops and dump out the seeds and juice. Use your hands to peel off their charred skins, and then slice them into thick strips. Cut the sausage links into ¼-inch thick discs and add the sausage and peppers to the sauce.
5 Toss everything together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm.
Latin Salsa Verde
Yields 3 cups
This delicious Mexican green salsa is tangy, yet mild with tons of flavor.
A great match for steak, fish, or chicken—think of it as the Mexican counterpart to ketchup. It’s the perfect condiment to add dimension to almost any dish.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound tomatillos
½ cup roughly chopped yellow onion
1 small jalapeno
2 garlic cloves
1 cup chicken stock
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 To easily remove their papery outer skins, put the tomatillos into a large bowl and cover them with warm water for about 10 minutes. Peel off the skins, and wash and dry the tomatillos.
2 Place your 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. When it begins to smoke, add the tomatilloes, onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Once the tomatillos begin to brown on one side, use your tongs to turn them over to brown on the other side. Wait one minute and add the chicken stock. Allow this to come to a simmer and bubble away for about 10 minutes.
3 Take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool for several minutes. Once it has cooled down, pour half of the mixture into your blender and gently pulse until smooth. Pour it into an airtight container, and repeat with the remaining tomatillo mixture.
4 Season to taste with salt and pepper. It’s best served warm as a garnish for Not-So-Basic Black Bean Soup (p. 69) or as an additional sauce with Mushroom Tamales (p. 138).
Chefology
TOMATILLOS
Tomatillos have a papery outer skin and are used while they are still green.Although they are members of the tomato family, they are very tart and taste nothing like a tomato. If you can’t find tomatillos you can substitute green tomatoes, but you’ll need to add lemon juice for tartness.
Swanky Strawberry Salsa
Yields 2½cups
Fruit salsas have become somewhat of a trend on contemporary menus these days, so feel free to add any fruit that you feel is salsa worthy. I love the bright color of strawberry salsa, but go ahead and try mango, pineapple, kiwi, or whatever you love that’s in season. White flakey fish, like trout or Kona really benefit from a fresh salsa, as does green summer salads and the spicy Not-for-Chickens Chicken Soup (p. 62).
1 pound fresh strawberries, medium dice
½ red onion, medium dice
1 Serrano pepper, seeded and minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon sugar
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries, onion, Serrano pepper, parsley, lime juice, and sugar. Toss gently to combine evenly, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
2 Wrap tightly and refrigerate until chilled and ready to serve.
Booming Basil Pesto
Yield 1 cup
&n
bsp; Pesto comes from the Italian word pestato, which means pounded. The ingredients for pesto are traditionally “pounded” together with a mortar and pestle. Today, we can mix the basil, pine nuts, and garlic effortlessly with a blender, while stirring the cheese in at the end for an ideal consistency.
1 cup firmly packed basil leaves
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon pine nuts
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
1 In your blender, combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts. Pulse a few times to make a basil paste. While blending on low (be ready, it may splash a bit), drizzle in your olive oil, and puree until smooth.
2 Stir in (do not blend or your pesto will be gummy) the parmesan cheese, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Swap It
You can substitute one cup fresh spinach for the basil leaves to create a mild pesto alternative.
Desserts to
Die For
What sets your Crappy Little Kitchen apart from all the others, is the gourmet chef—you. When it comes to being a true chef, you must try to master all aspects of cooking, including preparing dessert. If you can make magnificent shrimp bisque or earth-shattering goat cheese soufflés you want your dessert to wow your guests as well.
Strategically chosen for easy completion in your Crappy Little Kitchen, these dessert recipes stand out in taste as well as ease of preparation.
Dessert can involve producing a complicated pastry or simply serving fresh berries with cream. Sometimes it may include baking, and other times you won’t have to turn on the stove. Desserts might consist of sugar and cinnamon or a savory cheese. As with all gourmet recipes, seasonal ingredients are integral to successful dessert making. In the CLK this is especially important because of the simplicity of my desserts. Strategically chosen for easy completion in your Crappy Little Kitchen, these dessert recipes stand out in taste as well as ease of preparation.
You’ll learn how to present the desserts in an eye-pleasing fashion, but feel free to experiment. Try creating different dessert shapes (cut the cake slices into diamonds, for example), unique presentations (lean the lady fingers up against the mousse rather than stacking them on top), and using a variety of colors (fruits and berries come in a wide array of colors to choose from) until you find a style that suits and pleases you.
Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens Page 17