An unusual twist on a classic Bolognese Sauce.

This recipe comes from our distant cousins in Bologna with a little help from Chef Marco Canora (http://marcocanora.com/about/bio.php) who taught me pretty much everything I know about cooking one long summer on Martha’s Vineyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start with 2lbs ground meat – pork, veal, turkey – anything that’s light. 2 Onions, 2 Stalks of celery and 2 Carrots. Rough chop veg and then puree in a cuisinart.

 

 

 

 

 

Fry this is 1/2 cup of olive oil over medium heat until it starts to stick to the pan and eventually turns golden mahogany brown. This is called Soffrito and is the basis of many great Italian Sauces. The darker the soffrito, the richer the sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the meat and lightly brown. Season with salt & pepper and 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg. Add 4 cups light chicken broth and gently simmer for at least an hour. At this point you can add crushed tomatoes to make a Red Bolognese Sauce or 1 Quart Heavy Cream to make White Bolognese. Reduce by at least half to make perfect creamy consistency. Serve tossed with home made Gnocchi (recipe coming soon), garnished with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, a hint of Grated Lemon Zest and Chopped Parsley. 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the first post on Family Food, I’ve chosen one of the family’s favorites.

Italian sausage, Cauliflower and Orecchiette – hence the name, Caulifloricchiete.

Quick, simple and delicious.

You’ll need:

1# Italian Sausage (I like Hot Italian, but Sweet works just as well)

1# De Cecco Orecchiette

1 Whole Head of Garlic (Sliced thin as possible)

1 Whole Cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces

Fresh Parmigiano Reggiano (don’t even think about anything else)

1 Bunch Flat Leaf Parsley fine chopped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take the skins off the sausages (you can buy loose sausage meat, but it never seems to work as well) and sauté in 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Use a potato masher to break up the meat into chunky pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slice up all the garlic and add to pan – it seems like a lot but they become little garlic chips in the finished dish.

Add salt and generous cracked pepper and sauté low-medium scraping occasionally, until beautifully caramelized and a golden mahogany color.

Meanwhile cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces.

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to boil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When water is boiling, add orecchiette. Add cauliflower to sausage meat. Turn up heat and cover. Toss ingredients together from time to time until there is a little color on cauliflower. Add a ladle of boiling water from pasta pot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When orecchiette is done, drain and mix with sausage cauliflower sauté . The pasta and cauliflower should take about the same amount of time to cook.

Add chopped parsley, and grated parmigiano to garnish.