Month: October 2009

Bob Stevenson’s Spaghetti Sauce

prehfusLeave a comment

Submitted by Mary Ciambelli and Bill Wasinski, who consider this “the best spaghetti sauce known to humans”  Thanks to Bob for allowing them to share it!

  • A few cloves of garlic, diced
  • A good size yellow onion, diced
  • 1.5-2 pounds of ground meat. Italian sausage (sweet or spicy or mixed); bison, lean ground beef or some combination of all.
  • Italian seasoning, two palmfuls.
  • Bay Leaves 3 or 4. Pull them out before eating but leave them in for the leftovers.
  • Red Wine 2-3 oz. (too much makes it bitter, too little you don’t get the flavor)
  • 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar
  • Olive oil to brown the garlic and onions.
  • One big can and one small can of tomato paste. Flavor + Sweetness
  • One big can of tomato sauce.
  • One big can of diced or crushed tomatoes (Better yet, buy canned whole tomatoes and
  • Squish them in your hands and put that squished stuff in the sauce). Put the liquid from the can into the sauce.
  • One big can of water.
  • Never think about adding salt (plenty in the canned tomatoes)

Assembly

Open all of the cans and dump them into your stock pot. Place on low-simmer heat. Dump in the one can of water, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, sugar, and wine.

Stir.

Sautee the onions in olive oil until almost clear. Dump into the sauce including the residual olive oil.

Sautee the garlic in lots of olive oil so that it is all swimming. As soon as it starts to think about getting brown STOP and dump the oil and garlic into the sauce.

Brown the meat. Just let it get fairly gray. Dump off as much of the grease as you can.

Put the meat into the sauce after grease removal.

Cooking

Bring the sauce to the lowest boil possible. Once it begins to boil, you want it to be quite watery. Add water if needed at this step (may be just fine). Return to simmer.

The longer this simmers, the better it is (at least an hour but no matter how long it simmers its always better as leftovers. All day is good. Just keep putting in water if it gets too thick and cook it down again). This sauce keeps for at least a week in the refrigerator and can also be frozen. Never make a smaller batch.

Use pasta that holds a lot of sauce like penne or seashells. To live longer use whole wheat pasta.

Buon Appetito!

Weekend Vegetable soup

prehfusLeave a comment

Perfect on a rainy fall day like today!

  • 1-2 leeks, washed and chopped into small pieces (white and light green parts only)
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • Olive oil
  • 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • 2-3 stalks celery, washed and diced
  • 4 medium Yukon gold or redskin potatoes, washed and cut into bite size pieces
  • 2/3 cup chopped broccoli stems
  • 8 cups vegetable stock.  I like Kitchen Basics brand
  • 1 (14 oz) can petite diced tomatoes with juice
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • 2-3 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 2 generous handfuls green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup frozen peas

Cover the bottom of a soup pot with olive oil.  Add leeks and garlic and sauté over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.  Add carrots and celery and sauté for 3-4 more minutes. Add potato and broccoli stems.  Sauté for 5 minutes more.  Add stock and tomatoes.  Bring soup to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes.  Add beans and peas and continue to simmer 10-15 more minutes, until they are cooked but not mushy.

Mixed Green Salad with Strawberry Dressing

prehfusLeave a comment

Adapted from Bon Appétit, July 2002 as posted on epicurious.com

  • 1 pound (or a little more) strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters
  • 1 (5-ounce) package mixed baby salad greens
  • 1 1/3 cups crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • Salt and pepper

Mash enough strawberries to measure 1/3 cup. Place remaining strawberries in a large bowl.  Add greens, cheese, and nuts.  Whisk oil, vinegar, and sugar in a small bowl to blend.  Whisk in mashed strawberries.  Season dressing with salt and pepper.  Add to salad; toss to coat.

Heidi’s Famous Hamantaschen

prehfusLeave a comment

From Heidi Press

  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons half-and-half
  • 1/2 cup margarine
  • 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
  • Filling of your choice – For fillings check out the Solo brand, especially for prune, poppy seed and apricot.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix and sift flour, baking powder and salt.  Cream together margarine and sugar. Add egg.  Add dry ingredients alternately with half-and-half.  Add vanilla.

If possible, it’s helpful to chill the dough for about 20 minutes before rolling it out.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into 2-inch rounds.  Fill with about 1/2 teaspoon of filling and draw up sides to form a triangle.

Bake at 350 until lightly browned on bottom and light on top, about 8 minutes.  (See doneness note below.)  Wait about 2 minutes until hamantaschen harden a bit before removing them from cookie sheet.  Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe is for the cookie dough style of Hamantaschen.  Since ovens are different, you may need to bake for 8 minutes, check for doneness, then add more time.

Black-Eyed Peas and Rice Salad

prehfusLeave a comment
  • 3 cups hot cooked rice
  • 1 (10 ounce) package frozen black-eyed peas, cooked and drained
  • 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Whisk the mustard, salt, pepper, and vinegar until blended.  Dribble in oil while continuing to whisk.

Toss the beans and the rice with the vinaigrette until everything is well-coated.  Mix in the onion, garlic, carrot, and parsley.

Serve at room temperature

Serves 6-8

Carol Marshall’s Baked Beans

prehfusLeave a comment

From the 1991 Rehfwitz (and Friends) Cookbook.

  • 2 large or 1 industrial-size can of baked beans (B&M are the best.)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 Tablespoon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon dry instant coffee (or 1/4 cup ground coffee)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup molasses or Karo syrup (light or dark)
  • Several strips of bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients except bacon in a deep baking dish.  Lay bacon on top.

Bake for 2 hours.

Frieda’s Rice

prehfusLeave a comment

This originally appeared in the 1991 Rehfwitz (and Friends) Cookbook, thanks to Frieda Willis.  I have made it countless times and have added all sorts of things to it (pine nuts, broccoli, cut-up-chicken, frozen vegetables, cubed squash, Parmesan, etc. etc.)

  • 1 stick butter (or margarine)
  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 can condensed onion soup
  • 1 can condensed beef broth

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt margarine on top of the stove in an oven-proof pan.  Add rice and saute on low heat until rice turns “chunky”.

Add both cans of soup, undiluted.  Mix, cover, and bake for 1 hour.

Pasta with Spinach and Red Clam Sauce

prehfusLeave a comment
  • 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
  • 2 Tablespoons flour
  • 1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 pound thin spaghetti or linguine
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach or 1/4 pound fresh spinach (about 4 cups leaves
  • 1 can (6 1/2 ounces) canned chopped clams, drained
  • 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
  • Dried red pepper flakes

Coarsely chop onion.

In a large skillet, warm the butter in the oil over medium-high heat until the butter is melted.  Add the onion and garlic` and sauté until the onion just begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil.

When onion and garlic are done, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until the flour is no longer visible, about 30 seconds.

Stir in the tomatoes, clam juice, salt and pepper.  Bring the liquid to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the spinach.  If using frozen, thaw in the microwave and squeeze between paper towels to remove as much liquid as possible.  If using fresh, stem and roughly chop.

Add past to boiling water and cook according to package directions.

After it has simmered for 10 minutes, bring the tomato sauce back to a boil over medium-high heat.  Stir in the spinach and clams and cook until just heated through (about 2 minutes).

Drain pasta and toss with the sauce and 1/3 cup of the Parmesan.

Serve with remaining Parmesan and pepper flakes on the side.

Serves at least 4.

Swim Team Chicken

prehfusLeave a comment

This recipe fed countless Forest Hills Swimmers in the 70’s and 80’s thanks to Cathy Rehfus, who submitted it to the 1991 Rehfwitz (and Friends) Cookbook.

  • 8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 Tablespoon celery salt
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Mix sour cream, lemon juice, celery salt, paprika, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic.  Marinate chicken overnight in sour cream mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Leaving on as much sour cream as possible, roll chicken in bread crumbs and place in a baking dish.

Drizzle coated chicken with melted butter or margarine.

Bake for 50-65 minutes.

Serves 8 normal people or 6 swimmers.

Rice Noodle Bake

prehfusLeave a comment

Adapted from the 1990 Rehfwitz (and Friends) Cookbook, originally submitted by Lissa Hurwitz.

  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1/2 pound fine egg noodles
  • 2 cups Minute Rice
  • 1 (8 ounce) can slice water chestnuts, drained
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 cans (10.5 ounces each) condensed chicken broth
  • 2 cans (10.5 ounces each) condensed onion soup
  • 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a skillet, brown the noodles in the melted butter.

Combine butter and noodles with remaining ingredients in a large casserole dish.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.