Crockpot Bolognese

Good recipe for those work days. Or lazy days. Or any days. It's good.
Some time ago I wasn't a big fan of pasta. It was fine, but never "wow, pasta!".  It changed. More and more often I find myself wanting to eat pasta for dinner, lunch... mostly at home. Still not a big fan of pasta dishes at restaurants (there are many good restaurants with great pasta, but I don't go there too often) Anyways, I think this dish greatly contributed to my pasta cravings. And I am thankful for it. As with many things, this is a "guide" not a recipe. You can add a word "about" to each of the ingredients.

1 pound of ground beef
1 large carrot
1 medium onion
1 celery stalk
1 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream + 1 cup of water
OR 1-2 cups of milk.
Salt, pepper, oregano, whatever you like to add to pasta

Mince the onions really finely, into tiny tiny bits. Same with carrots. Same with celery. We don't want big chunks of vegetables here (especially when veggie haters are invited to dinner)

In the heavy saute pan, heat the olive oil (couple of tbsp will do), add the onions, cook on medium heat until onions start changing color. Add the carrots and celery, keep cooking, the vegetables should start browning a little bit. Add the beef, constantly breaking the chunks with a wooden spoon cook until it browns. Add salt, pepper and whatever Italian herbs ( I like oregano, maybe a pinch of thyme as well).
Transfer meat mixture into the crock pot. Add tomatoes, cream and water, mix and set on low heat setting for 4 hours or high heat for 2.

I boil pasta to almost ready, drain it, but reserve about a cup of liquid. Return pasta to a pot with the water it was cooked in and add the bolognese, cook it all together until pasta is al dente. Then serve with lots of parmegiano or pecorino romano.

Should've taken more pictures...

Mexican Carrot Relish

I felt in love with this relish many years ago, when I first tried them at OKC's local Mexican restaurant "Ted's Cafe Escondido". Never thought about making these at home until about a month ago. Why!??? Why did I not tried to make this earlier? No clue.
Anyways, these carrots (and onions) are delicious. There are bunch of recipes online, but each one of them either has too much vinegar, or not enough sugar, or doesn't make much sense to me. So here is a version of the relish that works for me. By the way, 1:1 carrot onion ratio is not a must. If you like carrots more - have more carrots, if you prefer onions - take more onions. If you like it spicier - have more jalapenos.

1 pound of carrots
1 pound of white onions
2 jalapenos
3-4 cloves of garlic
 1 tsp oregano

For marinade: 
3 cups of water
1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt


Slice carrot into rounds. Not too bit, not too small, about the size of 5-6 quarters put together.
Slice onions, not too finely, kinda matching the  size of your carrots. Do not mix with carrots!!! We'll need to boil carrots first!  
Actually... even though this is my fourth time making these, I got so excited about taking pictures of cut veggies, that I forgot about this step... had to dig out carrots later to boil them... 

Slice the jalapenos. And garlic. 

Put carrots in the pot, add enough water to cover the carrots and bring to boil. Cook for about 4-5  minutes. Of course cooking time will depend on how thin your carrots are. It's probably better to under-cook them than overcook them. Drain the carrots and mix with onions and jalapenos and garlic. Add the oregano.

Now combine water, salt and sugar and bring to boil. Turn off the heat and add vinegar. Pour over carrot mix and let cool on the kitchen counter.

Once the relish cooled off, transfer into jars (or not) and refrigerate. It pretty much is ready next day. The more they marinate, the better they taste though. I wasn't able to check how long these will stay fresh in refrigerator since I usually finish a jar in a week... But I'm sure it'll stay good for at least couple of weeks, maybe longer.

Enjoy.

Thanksgiving menu

Time to think about Thanksgiving menu.Why now? Because I don't want to do work...
I absolutely love making Thanksgiving dinner, and I absolutely love my mother in law for allowing me to do that every year. In our family the menu has to be pretty simple, since we do have some picky eaters. Here is what I am thinking currently will be a good traditional meal for us.

Appetizers: 
Honey roasted cashews
Crackers with candied jalapenos and brie
Artichoke & spinach dip
Salami plate + marinated beans + marinated peppers + olives
Tart with baked tomatoes and goat cheese

williams-sonoma.com

Main Dishes: 
Honey glazed turkey breast
Roast Beef

Sides:

Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing with bacon, celery, apples 
Watercress salad with pears and candied walnuts
Roasted asparagus 

williams-sonoma.com

Sweet potatoes baked  with brown sugar, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese.
Home made potato rolls
Something with Cauliflower 
Cranberry sauce
Corn bread

Desserts: 
Berry Galette
Shots of Brownies with raspberries
Peanut butter ice-cream

Drinks
Apple cider

Cashews
Walnuts

Salad mix
Spinach
Pears
Apples
Lemons
Oranges
Cranberries
Celery
Asparagus
Sweet potatoes
Cauliflower
Olives

Potatoes
Onions 
Mixed Berry
Cream cheese
Parmigiano
Gorgonzola cheese
Brie
Goat cheese
Salami 

Turkey breast
Beef
Bacon
Beef Stock
Chicken Stock

Blast for the past
TG 1 
TG 2 
TG 3 
TG 4 
TG 5 

Parsley Pesto

My new favorite. Parsley pesto. Great for pasta dishes, great for mashed potatoes, great addition to any salad dressing, amazing sandwich flavor booster. Simple to make, as always.

1 big bunch of Italian parsley (I only use Italian, the other one looks pretty, but doesn't have any flavor)
2-3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
salt

Put everything in a food processor bowl, process. Done.

Here is what I used it for so far...
Pasta - add a tbsp to cooked pasta, sprinkle with hot pepper flakes and add some Parmesan (Parmigiano if you'd like) cheese.
Mashed potatoes - a tbsp on top of mashed potatoes, adds a lot of flavor
Chicken - marinade over night or for couple of hours, grill.
Salad - add a tbsp to dressing  (
Sandwich - spread a tbsp on one side of bread, great with salami sandwiches

I keep this on the counter, no need to refrigerate. So far, 2 weeks and it still looks like new :) I guess olive oil preserves parsley pretty well.

Enjoy.

Fried Egg with Fried Red Tomatoes

This is one of my favorite foods. Simple, yet satisfying. Reminds me of summer days in Ukraine. Well, you won’t have bacon with it, but something very similar and much greasier – salo (cured pork belly). Even without bacon for me, that’s what breakfast should be like .






Start with cutting tomatoes and onion. Fry them lightly in some oil. Add some salt and black pepper. Add cracked egg and cook it on very low heat until its perfect. Well, you know when it’s perfect, right?

   

At home, we’ll eat it from the pan sometimes… All that stuff at the bottom of the pan is so good when you use a piece of bread to pick it up with.

Zesty Pickles

These may look like those bread&butter pickles, but they are not. These are so so so much better. They are crisp, fresh, sweet, and tangy. The recipe was found in one of those thousands of journals I have at home. Which one is a mystery. I have no clue, but I'm somewhat leaning towards either Gourmet or Food and Wine.

 

6 cups of sliced cucumbers
2 cups sliced onions
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cups of sugar
1tbsp salt
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 (or more) tsp hot chilli flakes
4 garlic cloves

 Just in case, 6 cups of sliced cucumbers is about 3 pounds. As one can see from the picture, I'm not too strict when it comes to the measurements.

Here is what to do:
Slice all the cucumbers (I use mandaline, but if you know how to use the knife, it'll do)
Slice all the onion(s).
Chop or slice garlic cloves. Mix it all in a large pot. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a small pot, and bring it to boil. Pour over cucumber-onion-garlic mixture.

 
It may look like there is not enough brine. Do not worry, once cucumbers release their juices, it'll be more than enough. These pictures were taken 20 minutes apart... you can see how much more liquid one on the right has.

 That's it! Let the cucumbers sit on the counter for couple of hours then move the mixture into clean glass gars and refrigerate. They are ready to eat in about 3 days. You can keep these in the fridge for up to ... The longest I've gone to was a month, after that I don't know... I never had a chance to try.