Tomato Meat Sauce in a Crock Pot

Ingredients:  Beef Short Ribs, (1) 28 ounce crushed tomatoes, 1 can tomato paste, a couple of fresh tomatoes, red wine, beef stock, 1 onion, garlic, salt & pepper, olive oil and spice blend.

Spice Blend: savory, oregano, garlic granules, onion granules, bay leaves, rosemary, salt & pepper.

In a large slow cooker crock place about  tablespoons of olive oil.  Then add in your Beef Short Ribs.  I used about 1 lbs of boneless short ribs.  If you are using bone in use about 2 lbs.  Season the ribs with salt & pepper.  Pour on top about 1 cup of beef stock and 1/2 cup of red wine. Add in about 1/2 of a finely chopped onion and several cloves of crushed garlic.  Cook on high for about 4-5 hours.

Once the meat is tender shred it and discard bones if necessary.  Pull out any super fatty pieces as well.  Add in the crushed tomatoes & tomato paste.  Peel and chop the fresh tomatoes and toss those in too.  Sprinkle spice blend over top.  Adjust the spices to your taste.  Simmer on low for another 2.5 hours.

 






Taste and adjust seasonings at this point.  If it's a little too thick add in a bit more beef stock.

Serve over Gnocchi.

Homemade Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce

I've wanted to make my own pasta for a while and decided to take the plunge with gnocchi.

Ingredients: Whole Russet Potatoes, Flour, Salt & Water.


Step One: Boil 2-3 Large Russet Potatoes in salted water until very tender.  Peel while still hot.  (Just use a thick kitchen towel to hold them so you don't burn yourself.)

Mash up the potatoes with fork or use a ricer.  Slowly add in flour until the dough just comes together.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and knead together a few times adding more flour as you go if it feels a bit too sticky.

Form the dough into a couple of portions and roll each portion out into a long thin log.  Cut section off about every inch.   Form each dough piece into a football type shape.  Roll each gnocchi on the back of fork to get some nice indentations.  This will help the sauce stay put.

 Place the completed gnocchi on a floured piece of parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet.  You can freeze them on the sheet for future use or just store them in the fridge until ready to cook.

Boil the gnocchi in salted water until they float and then for an extra minute after that.  Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

I made a rich meat sauce in my crock pot for this dish.

Apple & Sour Cream Fluffy Pancakes

Please throw away your Bisquick and make your own pancakes.  They are easy and wonderful.

Pancakes turn out best when you follow this basic ratio:  1 Large Egg, 1 Cup of  Flour, 1 Cup of Milk, 1 spoonful of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder.   Once you get this down you can start adding lots of delicious variations.

Apple Sour Cream Fluffy Pancakes:  1 egg; 1 cup flour; 1 cup of milk; 1 tablespoon of granulated white sugar; 1 teaspoon of baking powder; 1 grated apple (I went with a big green one); 1 big spoonful of light sour cream (around 2 tablespoons); dash of salt.

Wisk your dry ingredients together in one bowl and your wet ingredients together in a different one.  Combine your wet to your dry and whisk together.  Don't over mix.  You just want the ingredients to come together.  It's going to be lumpy & thick.

Pour onto a hot griddle greased with butter.  Pancakes are ready to turn when bubbles pop up on the uncooked side.

  I served mine with a bit of butter and some maple agave blended syrup.  These pancakes were light & fluffy.

Bacon, Gruyere & Potato Tart

This is delicious and addictive.  I ate two slices.

Ingredients:  Good quality thin sliced lean bacon trimmed of excess fat; 2 baking potatoes (russet); 1/2-1 cup of grated Gruyere cheese;  1 teaspoon savory & some  black pepper.  There is no added salt in this recipe.  The bacon & cheese had plenty.

Preheat Oven to 425 and get out a pie pan.

Arrange the bacon slices in a circle from the center of the pie pan going out.  leave the ends hanging over the edge of pan.

On top of the bacon create a layer of over lapping potato slices.  Make sure the slices are pretty thin.  I left the skin on mine, but you can peel yours if you like.

 On top of the potato layer sprinkle a bit of grated Gruyere cheese and season with 1/2 a teaspoon of savory and some black pepper.  Add another layer of potatoes, cheese and seasoning and top with a final layer of potatoes.

Wrap the bacon over the potatoes and bake in the oven at 425 for about 45-55 minutes.  The bacon should be crisp and the potatoes will be cooked fully through. 

Slice into wedges and serve.  I plated my tart up with a light salad of butter lettuce, radishes, cucumber & carrot.  I also made some steamed asparagus and broccoli & garlic toast.

Simple Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients: 1.5 cups of blueberries; 3 tablespoons of sugar or to taste; 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, about 1/2 cup of water.

Heat all the ingredients over medium low heat in a sauce pan until blueberries start to burst and give up their juice.  Mush them around a bit with a wooden spoon to help them along.   Simmer for a total of 15-20 minutes until the mixture thickens.

Strain through a fine mesh colander or sieve.   Let cool in the refridgerator and then pour over vanilla ice cream.  This would also be fantastic warm over buttermilk pancakes or stirred into plain yogurt.

Apple-Blueberry Cake

Pan: 9 inch spring form pan well buttered and dusted with granulated sugar
Ingredients:  1 & 1/2 cups of flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda & 1 teaspoon of baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon of salt; 6 tablespoons of melted butter + 2 tablespoons for topping; 3/4 cups of brown sugar + 2 tablespoons for topping; 1/2 cup of buttermilk; 2 large eggs; 4 apples peeled, cored & sliced; 1 cup of blueberries*; 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder & salt in one bowl and wisk.  Combine the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs & buttermilk in another bowl and wisk.   Wisk the flour mix into the wet ingredients until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place the apples in a nice layer over the top.

Spread the blueberries on top & then sprinkle the fruit with extra brown sugar and cinnamon.

Press the sugar topped fruit into the dough.  Let the dough come up between the cracks and then dot the top with butter.
Bake at 350 for about 50-55 minutes.

Let cool completely before removing from the spring form pan.  Serve with whipped cream for dessert or by itself for breakfast.

*Don't like blueberries?  Use raspberries or blackberries.

Obsidian Ridge 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

On a recent date night at The Heritage Wine Company I had the pleasure of sharing a bottle of Obsidian Ridge 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.

We picked the bottle out because of the label.  I know that's not the greatest way to go about picking a bottle, but it really worked out well this time.   The wine had an incredible aroma that had notes of cinnamon and black cherry.  Mr. Man described it as "Bad Ass". This is an excellent cab in the $25-30 range.

I also highly recommend The Heritage Wine Company.  They have a wonderful staff and a fantastic wine by the glass menu.  Their food menu is nicely done.  It's not too fussy and is honestly really good. If your not a wine guy it's still a great place to go because they have beer!    Mr. Man appreciated the sports on the television and I loved their wine selection and proximity to great Pasadena shopping.