Recipes

PEASANT-STYLE SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

(from The Hunt Club)

(Serves two generously)

A note from John: Let’s remember that Andrea acknowledges that her carbonara is “peasant” carbonara—not the cream and shallot stuff one often finds in fancy Italian restaurants. I think the way she does it in the book is exactly how I make it—i.e. there are no extra ingredients—and it should go without saying that this is not a low-cal diet dish!

Pasta
4 pieces thick sliced bacon
1 large or 2 medium eggs
Parmesan cheese
Fresh cracked black pepper

Cook the bacon until crisp, but do not allow to burn. Save the bacon fat and break or cut up the bacon. Keep the fat warm to hot, but again, don’t burn. Cook the pasta until al dente. Make sure the bacon fat is hot. Pour off some of the pasta water into a large bowl (this warms the bowl). Pour the water out. Drain the rest of the pasta into a colander. Do not rinse, and quickly transfer the still very-hot pasta to the very hot bowl. Break in the two eggs and throw in the broken up bacon pieces. Then pour the hot fat over them and mix thoroughly. Immediately add a lot of Parmesan cheese, to taste. Serve in warmed bowls with more Parmesan cheese and fresh cracked pepper.

It is a slice of heaven!

 

MICKEY’S RICE-A-RONI

(from The Hunt Club)

(Makes four cups cooked, serving four to eight)

1/4 stick butter
2 TBS EV Olive Oil
1 shallot
2 or more cloves garlic (to taste)
1 tbs dried thyme
1 tbs dried rosemary
2 tsp allspice
1 cup Arborio rice (but any rice will do)
1/2 cup orzo (or linguini broken up into small pieces)
3 cups chicken stock

Combine first seven ingredients over medium heat until shallot and garlic soften. Pour in rice and orzo and stir until thoroughly mixed with the oil and spice mixture. Turn heat to high and add chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then turn down to low and cover. Cook twenty minutes, or until rice is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed.

 

SPECIAL RICE DISH

(Serves four generously)

The generic recipe name came from my kids, who loved this dish at least once a week. This quick and easy one-pot meal is versatile and crowd-pleasing, simple as can be, a god-send for leftover meat of any kind, and a “total vehicle” for a myriad of hot sauces. It can be dressed up with fresh sausage or fresh chicken breasts for guests, or dressed down with leftovers for home use. In all, it’s a proven winner!

3 TBS olive oil
2TBS minced dried onions (or ½ fresh onion, minced)
2 TBS mixed Italian seasoning
½ TBS allspice
1 Knorr Chicken bouillon cube
Minced Garlic (amount to taste, optional)

Cover the bottom of a 2 quart pot with the above ingredients. On medium high heat, cook for a minute or two, being careful not to burn the dried onions.

Add to the pan and stir in to coat:

1 cup Uncle Ben’s converted rice
½ cup linguini, broken into 1 inch segments (optional)

After the rice mixture is coated, next add:

1 can Leseur baby peas
1 or 2 (3 oz.) jar pimentos or roasted red peppers (to taste)
1 lb., more or less, meat cut into bite-size pieces (chicken, turkey, steak, lamb, fresh or pre-cooked); or sausage (we like Aidell’s brand andouille or artichoke/garlic); or both.
2 cups water

Stir well to mix all ingredients. Turn heat to simmer and cover. Cook approx. 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed into the rice mixture. Stir again, and serve into bowls with assorted hot, hotter, and hottest sauces on the table: such as Pic-a-peppa, Tabasco (red & green), Patak’s Masala, Srirachi, Chololo, Padang’s Peanut Sauce, Scorned Woman Hot Sauce, etc.

 

PAELLA
(Serves six)

2 TBS Olive Oil
1/4 pound chorizo (casing removed)
6 chicken wings, divided (12 pieces in all)
One medium chopped onion
One TBS chopped garlic
One Can baby peas (such as Lesueur)
One small bottle pimentos
6 squid, cleaned and cut into bite-sizes rings or pieces, or baby octopus
12 jumbo shrimp
12 mussels
12 clams
1 bottle clam juice
One cup white wine
One cup water
Two chicken bouillon cubes (or one Knorr bouillon cube)
1/2 pound white fish (halibut, snapper, etc.)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
Saffron

In a small sauce pan, combine clam juice, wine, water, bouillon cubes, and two or three large sprinklings of saffron. Bring to simmer. (This mixture should be a bright yellow/orange from the saffron.) In a six-person paella pan, cook the onion, garlic, chorizo, and chicken in the olive oil over medium high heat. When the chorizo is cooked through, add peas with their liquid, pimento, squid or octopus, and white fish. Stir to incorporate and cook, stirring, for a minute or two. Add the rice and enough of the simmering bouillon liquid to just cover the contents of the pan. Turn heat down to medium. Place whole shrimp and mollusks artfully into the paella pan mixture. Cook, uncovered, until liquid is absorbed and shells open. Garnish with lemon segments.

 

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH PORT MUSTARD REDUCTION SAUCE

(originally published in Gourmet Magazine in about 1985)

(Serves two or three)

1 pork tenderloin Dijon mustard Tawny Port (Sandeman’s Founders Reserve is what I use.) Shallot Flour for dredging Cream Butter, Canola Oil

  1. Preheat oven to 450.
  2. Spread Dijon mustard lightly and evenly over the whole tenderloin.
  3. Dredge in flour.
  4. On high heat, melt a tablespoon of butter and about the same amount of Canola oil in an ovenproof heavy pan (cast iron if possible).
  5. As soon as it foams and subsides, brown the tenderloin on all sides.
  6. Transfer to oven for six to eight minutes, depending on thickness of tenderloin. (For medium rare to medium, still pink in the center.)
  7. Remove from oven, set meat to rest. Turn off oven.
  8. In the same skillet (watch out you don’t burn yourself on the hot handle), back to high heat on the stovetop, add a whole chopped medium shallot. Stir until slightly softened, then add two tablespoons of Dijon mustard and ½ cup of port. Reduce by half, stirring constantly.
  9. Off heat, add ¼ to ½ cup of heavy cream. Stir to incorporate.
  10. Slice the pork on the bias about ¼ to 3/8 inch thick. Nap with the port mustard sauce.