The thing about my recent houseguest Ryan is that he’s an exceptional cook. Bottom line: the guy just flat knows what he’s doing in the kitchen, wrestling pretty much any ingredient to the ground with complete confidence. If he wasn’t a minister, I’d say he missed his calling. But…yeah. I don’t think he did.
The other thing about my recent houseguest Ryan is…he doesn’t so much use recipes. He’s one of those by-feel people, and he cooks using ratios more than anything else (more about that in a separate post.)
The night before Ryan and his family left Oklahoma (and guess what? He didn’t leave Oklahoma because…they missed their flight!) I took the liberty of inviting over a few folks from church. Ryan was good enough to, well, pretty much prepare a completely from-scratch meal for the six strangers he’d just met at church with us that morning. I asked him how he felt to be chained to a stove for three days straight and he said, “Here—grate this Parmesan for me.” And I did.
For dinner Ryan prepared homemade pasta and his version of a Bolognese sauce. It was totally delicious.
Please bear with me on the quantities of the ingredients Ryan used. I’m guesstimating…but that’s part of the deliciousness. Make it all your own, upping or decreasing ingredients to suit your needs.
He started by grating carrots.
Then he peeled and halved a red onion.
Then he diced up a good amount. This was one very large red onion.
Then he sliced and diced a HUGE boatload of garlic. Like, five to seven cloves.
Lots of olive oil went into the Dutch oven. I’d say around 1/2 cup.
When it comes to adding olive oil to the pan, we don’t deal in tablespoons around here.
When the oil was heated, Ryan threw in the grated carrots.
Then came the red onions.
According to Ryan, red onions are much stronger than yellow or white onions when they’re raw…but cooked down, there’s not much difference.
He cooked this down for a few minutes…
Then he made a well in the carrot/onion mixture…
And added in a couple of pounds of hamburger right into the pot!
He let it sit against the bottom of the pan and get nice and brown.
As it began to brown, he threw in some parsley CORRECTED: OREGANO flakes and dried basil. All I had in the fridge was fresh cilantro, dadgummit.
But Ryan wasn’t thwarted.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Ryan, it’s that he doesn’t flinch if he finds he’s short an ingredient or two.
And then: another well!
The point of these wells is to expose the hot pan so that the added ingredients can go straight against the heat and get nice and hot.
This time he added tomato paste. One can, I think.
Ryan says that getting them up against the heat like this removes the pesky aluminum taste from the can.
Velly, velly intellesting.
Oh, this is looking good.
And boy, was it smelling good.
Then the chopped garlic went in.
After the garlic, guess what? Another well for the red wine. Lots of it. About two cups.
Followed by…Worcestershire sauce!
Intellesting.
You can’t imagine how good this smells. Guests began to arrive right about now, and they gasped when they walked through the door.
Next came the canned whole tomatoes.
I think he added two cans, but I can’t be too sure. I was too busy licking my chops.
And the final ingredient was…a cup of milk!
You’re just going to have to trust him on this.
The dinner guests absolutely loved it. I absolutely loved it.
You’ll absolutely love it.
Here’s the recipe, in approximations.
(Pastor Ryan, if you ever make it back home to Cincinnati, please correct me if I have anything wrong.)
Ryan’s Bolognese
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 large red onion, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes CORRECTED: OREGANO flakes
2 tablespoons dried basil flakes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 cups red wine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
salt
pepper
2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
1 cup milk
Fresh Parmesan cheese
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat. Add grated carrots and onions and cook for a few minutes.
Make a well in the center of the mixture, then add in the ground beef. Cook for a few minutes until brown, gradually stirring it into the carrot mixture.
Throw in oregano and basil. Use fresh if you have it; if you don’t, it’s fine.
When the meat is browned and combined with other ingredients, make another well. Add tomato paste and let it heat.
Add garlic and stir to combine.
Make a well in the center of the mixture and add red wine. Stir together.
Add Worcestershire and stir.
Finally, pour in milk, stir, and let simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours—however long you need.
Serve with pasta and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
Scrumptious!
From Pioneer Woman
No comments:
Post a Comment