Prog Chefs Unite!!!

love doing a pan sauce with wine (and butter too!), sounds great NS

ah yes, Raff, simplicity, always a winner.  Ate very simply when I was up north.. fish (fresh striped bass), corn on the cob, salad, chicken, great tomatoes

My sausage sauce is my own creation, very simple and without many ingredients. I am Italian, which means I don't go with overkill of ingredients I've seen when in the US. My rule is, keep it simple, and make sure you can actually taste the flavours...

What I did is, I took those Italian-style sausages (sweet, not hot), removed the casings, cut them into chunks, and browned them in a non-stick pan, breaking them up further with a spatula as they cooked. They were quite fatty, so in that way a good deal of the fat was eliminated (of course I poured all of it away). When the sausages were ready, I heated a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil (I only use that for cooking) with a whole clove of garlic, and sautéed it for a short time, until the garlic began to brown. Then I poured in a can of diced tomatoes flavoured with garlic, onion and basil (of course they're not necessary, here I would use plain), seasoned with a few drops of Tabasco and basil paste (something I found in our local grocery store), and brought it to the boil. Then I put in the sausage chunks, well drained of any fat, and let the sauce simmer covered for about 20 minutes. I didn't add any salt because of the sausages, and then the tomatoes were seasoned as well. Voilà!

Of course, here in Italy I would use red pepper flakes (actually, it's a mixture containing dried parsley and garlic.. quite delicious) and fresh herbs, as I have basil growing on my balcony. I don't find anything else necessary... I've got to try it using red onion as well as the garlic. I served it with short pasta shapes (orecchiette were delicious), and Romano cheese on the side instead of Parmesan.

darqdean wrote: trying to bring back the sunday roast today, we haven't had a proper one for months (I hates summer and those endless salads and barbeques ). Whole duck, stuffed with orange wedges, covered in honey and slammed into the over for an hour and a bit, with roast spuds and courgette & carrot ribbons.

Darqdean, nothing against your lamb dish, but I didn't care for mine at all. I'm sure yours tasted much better, but mine just looked....um...gnarly. Not sure if it was the wine, but it turned the meat a sickly gray color that churned my stomach.

As for roasts, I couldn't agree more. I love putting together a roast chicken or chuck roast with veggies.

E

trying to bring back the sunday roast today, we haven't had a proper one for months (I hates summer and those endless salads and barbeques ). Whole duck, stuffed with orange wedges, covered in honey and slammed into the over for an hour and a bit, with roast spuds and courgette & carrot ribbons.

Edited by darqdean - September 16 2007 at 12:43

  ..walked into that one

that sounds fantastic!  Interesting you marinate the mixture but wait to boil and add the pasta, the torn basil/mint sounds great too... when I was in Oregon the grape tomatoes (*especially* the orange ones) were the best I've ever had... incredibly sweet and flavorful

Sounds good to me - I haven't progressed past freezing Gin and Tonic myself, but that was tasty so you recipes should be knock out.

Ok Darqdean suggested I post my frozen drink recipies in this thread so here's my one completely original:

Edited by Slartibartfast - September 13 2007 at 19:22

Raffaella,

I sent your sig down to my mom. It's just too friggin' funny!!!

E

Angelo wrote: darqdean wrote: ^ did the wife's uncle approve? My Sunday lunch from yesterday, Roast Butterfly Leg of Lamb Leg of lamb, de-boned; Good handful of Rosemary twigs; Some Thyme; Onion; Bell-peppers; Celery; Carrots; Potatoes; Garlic; a bottle of good Bordeaux red.   A few hours before place meat in a shallow bowl with a couple of sprigs of Rosemary, some sliced garlic and a half an orange cut into segments. Pour over a good measure of red wine so that it come half-way up the lamb and sprinkle with chopped thyme. Cover with cling-film and leave for a few hours to marinade - turn the meat over every half-hour or so.   Consume the remainder of the wine anyway you see fit.   Peel and par-boil potatoes and carrots.   Peel and roughly chop peppers, celery and onion, arrange in a shallow roasting tray with several sprigs of Rosemary thusly:   (the only reason you have these pix to look at is because having got this far I thought it too pretty not to take a picture)   Drain root veg and add to above, douse everything in olive oil, place meat on top and pour marinade over veges. Salt & pepper everything and sprinkle more oil over the meat, it should look like this:     Cover in foil and cook in a medium oven for half an hour. Remove foil and flip meat over, baste the veg in the juices if necessary. Cook for a further 45 minutes or so (until meat is cooked as you like it). Remove meat from tray and wrap it in the foil to rest. Whack the heat up a bit to finish off the veg.   Carve lamb to serve with the roast veg and some crusty bread, then eat. (sorry no pictures of final dish - we ate it too quickly )   NB: you can leave out the meat if you wish, the roasted veg served with a good swig of Balsamic vinegar is an excellent meal in itself. I bought a deboned leg of lambed yesterday - looks like I know what to do with it now....

I bought a leg of lamb on my lunch hour today from this small market that's family owned. Everything is fresh and organic, so this ought to be tasty!!! Can't believe it's taken me this long to do this one. The photo is what seals it!

E