Beef Bolognese Spaghetti (Ragú)

This is a simplified but I think more delicious beef sauce for spaghetti. You may sauté the beef and refrigerate for later use to make cooking time even shorter. You may use two bacon strips to render the fat for sautéing the beef but for this recipe I used extra virgin olive oil. I sautéed chopped garlic until almost golden, then added julienned carrots, some chopped onions and half a cup of diced Roma tomatoes. When the vegetables are wilted I added the beef and cooked until thoroughly brown. I added a little over a tablespoon of dry vermouth (I used Martini and Rossi, same quality I would use for making a dry martini), turned up heat until alcohol burns off. I then mixed in a tablespoonful or so of whole goat milk. Whole cow's milk will do but the result is not as savory nor as creamy. Cook gently until milk curdles and blends with the other ingredients and until sauce is of the consistency you like for your pasta. I spooned the sauce on top of the mound of pasta, dribbled additional olive oil, and topped with chopped Italian parsley. Parmesan cheese is optional though most people like the combination of cheese with tomatoes and beef.

Sweet Rice with Crisp, Unbattered Chicken Breast

I fixed this for lunch the other day using Japanese sweet rice (sho-chiku-bai). I sauteéd in a little olive oil one minced garlic, chopped onion, diced Roma tomatoes, and large-diced green pepper. When the vegetables had softened, I added sweet rice I had cooked in an electric cooker, mixed them well and molded for plating. I boiled the chicken breast gently in a little broth, drained on a paper towel, then fried on very little olive oil over moderate heat until crisp. I sprinkled the chicken with Cabela's whisky steak seasoning but you can use your own favorite seasoning e.g. a little curry powder, crumbled dried rosemary or oregano. I quickly roasted halved Roma tomatoes in the same pan after turning the heat to high. I topped the tomatoes with Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper before plating. The crisply fried chicken contrasted with the sticky rice and caramelized tomatoes.

Gambretto Feta Spaghetti

This was such an easy pasta to make. I boiled the two-foot long spaghetti lunghi from Trader Joe's in water (I don't salt the water) until al dente, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile I made the sauce. I sautéed in extra virgin olive oil minced fresh garlic and diced Roma tomatoes until golden. I added thawed pre-cooked giant prawn and cooked until thoroughly heated, threw in chunks of feta, freshly ground pepper, and chopped fresh oregano leaves from the garden. I drained the pasta without rinsing in cold water, plated it and topped with the sauce. A final sprinkle of chopped fresh Italian parsley completed the dish. A quick, flavorful late supper that amply demonstrated again how fresh herbs refresh our idea of food. Eating becomes a quality-of-life experience when food is made with as many fresh ingredients as you can grow yourself and served piping hot from the stove. This is living par excellence!

Homemade Mayonnaise and Chicken Salad

One of my favorite food memories involves helping my mother make mayonnaise by hand. She used the juice of a native Filipino citrus, suhá in Ilonggo (kalamansi in Pilipino), which made a fragrant dressing for salad.

Today I made mayonnaise American-style—with a Cuisinart. I used James Beard recipe from the booklet included when I bought the machine 20 years ago. One whole egg, 1 Tb vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 1/4 C oil. I also added 1/4 C. Dijon mustard. What took my mother and me half an hour to beat by hand, the Cuisinart did in uner a minute!

The result however is what not good as I remember. My mother used only the yolk and dribbling the oil was a slow, laborious process. She added kalamansi juice in drops only after the emulsion had formed and told me to keep adding the juice only when the mayonnaise felt too stiff. She used the juice only as the emulsion was able to incorporate it. Beard's recipe was also too salty for me. Next time I'll use half a teaspoon salt and one cup oil.

Chicken salad is often made with enough mayonnaise to make it moist. The moisture is frankly just mayonnaise. I used much less mayonnaise but added small dollops here and there upon serving to add variety and taste. I could have added sour cream, the additive cooks use to make their salads more moist, but I didn't want to add unnecessary fat. Scallions would have been a stronger herb taste but all I had were chives from the garden. Chives do make stunning placement when balanced on top of the salad.

Lightly Sautéed Romaine Lettuce with Pine Nuts

This is exquisitely simple and healthy. Spray a non-stick, heavy-bottomed pan with cover with virgin olive oil. Throw in freshly washed, cut-up lettuce leaves, stir to coat with oil, spraying more oil as needed. Season if desired with Dean Johnson's Scandia Lemon Dill spice mix or with fresh dill, lemon juice and scant salt. Turn heat to medium, cover and cook until wilted but still bright green. Plate and sprinkle with pine nuts. Pine nuts can be lightly toasted to bring out flavor. Serve hot.

Minted Orange, a New-Taste Sensation

I love orange for breakfast. Since learning that whole fruits were better for me than fruit juices, I usually include fresh fruit with my breakfast. Oranges are ideal. They keep for long periods on the counter. When they do start shriveling up, their peel turning to leather, the flesh becomes even sweeter, almost like liqueur!

I planted apple mint in the front garden two years ago. They've taken over the border under the weigela. In the spring and early summer, the spikes of mint are a treat to the eyes. The chartreuse-hued leaves divest the soul of winter's bleak and cold.

This morning I paired oranges with mint for a new taste sensation. I'm sure others have made this discovery before but rubbing mint on orange slices creates something very like ambrosia! Try it. You'll never think of oranges again without thinking mint!

Newest Convert to Steel Cut Oatmeal

I remember visiting a friend in New York City some five years ago and seeing a can of McCann steel-cut oats on her shelf. In this I am a late adopter.

I've eaten oatmeal every morning for fifteen years, using traditional Quaker Oats that at first I cooked in a microwave oven, for the past year, just allowed to cook in hot water straight from my Cuisinart CleanWater countertop filtering system. I've run the gamut of oatmeal toppings, including chopped figs, chopped peanuts, blueberry and tomato preserves, homemade marmalade, brown sugar, toasted sesame seeds, and tahini along with chopped fresh fruit. This past year I've just topped the oatmeal with toasted bran, wheat germ, tahini, raisins, and chopped apples.

This morning I cooked my first batch of steel-cut oats from Trader Joe's. This is Slow Food! Steel-cut oats are whole-grain oat groats cut into pieces in a steel buhr mill instead of rolled. The raw oats really look like meal, stone-hard, irregular pieces of oats that must simmer 30 minutes in lots of water before they are ready to eat.

What a taste sensation. Through the years I've gotten calloused. Few gustatory discoveries now delight with Eden-like drama but this morning's oatmeal took me back to God's Paradise. This is nothing like the oatmeal I've been eating all these years. It's chewy and tasty!

I devised new toppings. I used clotted organic half-and-half, also from Trader Joe's, a scant teaspoon of raw brown sugar, some raisins and seven, raw, unpeeled almonds. (A friend who regularly consults an Ayurvedic physician told me health required a daily dose of eight almonds. I think seven is more authentically Asian. An even number does not encourage further growth.)

The result is perfection. I'm a convert!