Gaston Alive Magazine

Pasta Sauce

This year Glenn and I are going to focus on sauces. The right sauce can make a dramatic difference in almost any meal. Honestly how many of you out there go to the grocery store and buy a jar of sauce that can enhance your pasta.

The recipe that follows can be adjusted as you would like, which we will get to at the end. I grew up in an Italian family in New York and tomato pasta sauce was a staple. The recipe that follows is a basic recipe that you can cook within one hour or as long as eight. If you are cooking for 8 hours make sure you have meat in the sauce! The meat adds a richness and depth of flavor.

Tomato Sauce

3-28oz cans of Tomatoes (any brand you choose)                   Red Wine

3-6 oz cans of Tomato Paste                                               Beef Broth

1 large Onion chopped                                                         Olive Oil

3 cloves of garlic minced

3 Tbs Oregano

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Black Pepper

Meat of your choice

(Italian Sausage, Meatballs, Beef Short Ribs- my preference)

Brown meat in a large pot with olive oil. Once the meat is browned removed from the pan, add a touch more oil and add onions. Sauté onions until translucent approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, black pepper and salt, sauté for about two minutes to deepen their flavors. Deglaze the pan with about ¼ cup of red wine and let reduce (if you do not want to use red wine substitute with beef broth). Lower the heat and add the tomatoes and tomato paste. At this point use a hand blended and blend all ingredients in the pot. The sauce will be thick so you will want to thin the sauce with some beef broth, this will be your choice and by eye. Once blended return ribs or sausage back to the pot (if cooking for extended period) if not add meatballs at this time, any longer than an hour and the meatballs will become too soft. Let simmer on low heat up to eight hours.

An hour before finishing you can add items like sliced olives, mushrooms, red pepper flakes or any items you choose. Serve over thick pastas like rigatoni or ziti; sprinkle with grates parmesan cheese and enjoy. You can put the rest in small containers to enjoy anytime you’re feelings like a little Italian!

Ciao, Glenn and Glenn

White Sauce
Changing a dish from good to great can be as simple as a sauce to enhance the flavors. The French are masters of creating perfect sauces and by learning their technique we understand how the sauces break down into families. Once you master the base recipe for a family then you can adapt it and utilize it to create many different sauces of the same style.
The basic families of sauces are White (Blanches), Brown (Brunes), Tomato (Tomate), Hollandaise, Mayonnaise, Oil and Vinegar (Vinaigrettes), and Butter (au Beurre). There are other specialized sauces that do not fit into these families, but primarily most sauces are classified in this list.
This month we will look at the Sauce Blanches or White sauces. Every good Southern cook is familiar with this style of sauce because it serves as the base for white sausage gravy to pour over fresh hot biscuits.
At a basic level all white sauces are made with a roux (butter or oil and flour cooked together) then milk, for a béchamel or a white stock, (chicken, veal or fish) for a velouté is added to create the right consistency.
To create the roux flour and butter are slowly cooked together for several minutes. This transforms the flour from paste and allows it to absorb the liquid to be added. A heavy bottomed sauce pan should be used to keep from scorching. (Never use aluminum, it’s bad for you, and it can discolor the sauce)
Some simple rules for the roux; for a thick sauce use 2 Tb flour per cup of liquid, for a general purpose sauce use 1 ½ Tb per cup, and for a thin sauce use 1 Tb.
Sauce Béchamel / Sauce Velouté
• 2 Tb Unsalted Butter
• 3 Tb flour
• 2 Cups milk or 2 cups of white stock
• Salt and white pepper

In a small sauce pan warm the milk or stock to a boil. At the same time in a medium saucepan melt butter over low heat, add the flour and stir allowing the butter and flour to foam for about two minutes.
Remove the roux from the heat and add the liquid, utilizing a wire whip beat the mixture and return to a medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for approximately one minute.
Remove the sauce from the heat and season to taste with Salt and white pepper. It is ready to be used as is, or it can be enhanced with additional butter, cream or egg yolks.

Some tips:
If the sauce is lumpy it is because the liquid added to the roux was not hot. To correct this force the sauce through a fine sieve or use a blender to smooth it, then simmer the sauce again to bring back to temperature.
If the sauce is too thick, bring the sauce to a simmer and add additional liquid (milk or stock) by tablespoon until the right consistency is obtained.
If the sauce is too thin, either boil the sauce down to the right consistency over medium heat or remove sauce from heat, blend ½ Tb of butter with ½ Tb of flour in a separate bowl and add to the sauce whisking to smooth then return to the heat and boil for 1 minute.
Enhancements:
Butter, use 1 Tb of butter stirred into the sauce in small pieces just before serving
Cream, use ½ a cup added to a thick white sauce and a few drops of lemon juice, add butter as above
Egg Yolk, blend 2 yolks with ½ cup of whipping cream, very slowly whisk ½ cup of the white sauce into the egg mixture, then slowly add this mixture back to the rest of the sauce, this may need to be strained through a sieve to remove any bits of egg white that may have clung to the yolk. If the sauce is too thick add more cream by tablespoon till the right consistency is reached. Optionally add the butter as above.

Happy Holidays! With this time of the year we have lots of memories of past holidays and traditions. I will share one with you today. Growing up in New York City there of course was a large diversity of people who immigrated into our country. It was here during my teen years that I became friends with an individual of Norwegian decent. Now Norwegians are not really known for their great culinary vision (I know because I married one), however they do make some great foods. Below is one of my favorite recipes from my friend’s mom, whom I will always remember for feeding us before running off to school on frosty winter mornings. The spice in this recipe is Cardamom!
Now this recipe for waffles has become a family treat. They are a little labor intense, but the reward far outweighs the labor-just right for a special holiday treat!
The name “cardamom” is used for spices within two genera of the ginger family. Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more astringent aroma, though not bitter, with a coolness similar to mint, though with a different aroma. It is a common ingredient in Indian cooking, and is often used in baking in Nordic countries, such as in the Finnish sweet bread pulla or in the Scandinavian bread Julekake (Christmas Cake). Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight but little is needed to impart the flavor. Cardamom is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground they quickly lose their flavor.
Norwegian Waffles
• 4 Eggs Separated
• ¾ Cups Sugar
• ¾ Cups Milk
• 1-1/4 Cups Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• ¼ pound Unsalted Butter – Melted
• ¼ tsp Ground Cardamom
In a mixer blend egg yolks and sugar together. Add flour, alternating with the milk, and then add the melted butter and cardamom. Whip the egg whites until very stiffly beaten, and fold into the batter. Spoon the batter into a waffle iron and cook until golden.
The Norwegians use waffle makers that create five hearts that form the waffle. You can use a waffle iron of your choice. The waffles are light and thin. We use either Strawberry preserves or a cinnamon sugar mix on them and eat. They are great warm but you can eat leftovers cold.

Wishing the very best to you and your family during the holidays,
Glenn and Glenn

Thanksgiving 2009

Nutmeg

Holiday season is fast approaching, so I thought I would share with you a Thanksgiving favorite from my family. This recipe is so simple. If you are going to a party or to visit relatives and need to bring a dish, this is one you can make with very little work and large payoff. But first our featured spice of the month; nutmeg.
Nutmeg or Myristica fragrans is an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia, or Spice Islands. Until the mid 19th century this was the world’s only source. The nutmeg tree is important for two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace. Nutmeg is the actual seed of the tree, which is roughly egg-shaped.
Nutmeg and mace have similar taste qualities, nutmeg having a slightly sweeter and mace a more delicate flavor. Mace is often preferred in light dishes for the bright orange, saffron-like hue it imparts. Nutmeg is a tasty addition to cheese sauces and is best grated fresh. Nutmeg is a traditional ingredient in mulled cider, mulled wine, and eggnog.

Enjoy this recipe-hopefully it will become a favorite for you family too! Have a safe and happy holiday season,

Glenn Stryker
Sweet Potato Puff

2 Large can Yams (29 oz. Bruce’s)

1 Cup sugar
2 Eggs 2/3 Cup butter
8 TBS. milk 2/3 TBS. vanilla 2/3 tsp. nutmeg 2/3 tsp. cinnamon 2/3 tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper

Topping

1 cup plain cornflakes

½ cup brown sugar ¼ cup butter melted

Put first 10 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend together with an electric mixer. (it will have some lumps)
Pour into a greased casserole dish.
Mix topping ingredients by hand in another bowl and spread evenly over the casserole.
Bake in a 350 degree oven uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour.

Cooking with the Glenn’s

Have you ever had one of those moments when you want a quick appetizer and did not know what to do? Or has someone unexpected shown up around dinner time and you want to wow them? Well I have got for you a quick easy appetizer that will wow your quest and it is quick and easy. What is this you ask? Well how about crab cakes! Yes, they can be quick and easy.

First let’s discuss this month’s spice; Cayenne Pepper. The Cayenne, or Guinea pepper, or Bird pepper is a hot, red chili pepper used to flavor dishes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum related to bell peppers, jalapeños, and others. The Capsicum genus is in the nightshade family.

The fruits are generally dried and ground, or pulped and baked into cakes, which are then ground and sifted to make the powdered spice known as cayenne pepper.

Cayenne is used in cooking spicy dishes, as a powder or in its whole form or in a thin, vinegar-based sauce.

Crab Cakes

• Crab Spread – I use Gold Coasts Salads – Crab Spread (Available in Costco)
• Crackers (Ritz or your favorite)
• Cayenne Pepper
• Panko Bread Crumbs
• Olive Oil
• Lemon Wedges

These crab cakes are designed to be the size of a silver dollar. Plan on three cakes per person. Place over a bed of salad greens and drizzle with Alioli Sauce (recipe below or buy your favorite store brand).

In a small bowl crush crackers (these are used as a binder), add crab spread and cayenne pepper to taste. On a separate plate spread out Panko bread crumbs. Warm a pan at medium heat and add olive oil. Coat the bottom and top of the crab cakes with bread crumbs. Place the crab cakes in a pan, cover and brown lightly about 2 minutes per side. Place on top of individual plates with salad greens, garnish with a lemon wedge.

Alioli Sauce

· 4-6 Garlic Cloves

· 1 Whole Egg

· 1 Egg Yolk

· 1 tsp Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

· 2 Cups extra Virgin Olive Oil

· Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Put the garlic, egg, egg yolk and lemon juice in a food processor. Blend until pale yellow. Keep the motor running and slowly pour in the olive oil, a little at a time. Blend well, until thick and silky, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Ciao, Glenn and Glenn

It’s been a rainy summer, and one of the coolest on record, but our gardens are looking great. (more…)

It’s fall and there is a bite in the air, pumpkins and corn shocks decorate the porches. I love this season, after summer it’s a welcome change. As cooler weather sets in its time for soup!

My inspiration for this soup came from a trip to a local farm where they were selling small pumpkins. I picked one up not really knowing what I was going to do with it. I had thought a pie, but then I started getting a hankering for some soup. So, what to do, what to do, I worked through this recipe and have refined it a bit, but feel free to adjust to your tastes. The Turmeric helps keep the color bright and brings a unique taste to the pumpkin.

Start by slicing the pumpkin in half and cleaning it out. (preserve the mature seeds we’ll use those as a garnish)

1 Small Pumpkin – sliced and place face down on cookie sheet in half a cup of water, cooking 1 hour on 350. Wash the pumpkin seeds carefully place in a small bowl with just a dash of liquid smoke, sprinkle with Turmeric or with Chipotle or both then bake for –15 minutes till dry and crunchy. (Liquid smoke optional, but adds a nice flavor to the seeds)

In a separate sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of butter, add two medium or a large shallot which has been peeled and sliced. Caramelize the shallots with a pinch of sugar (about 15 min at medium heat). Let it cool a bit then peel the pumpkin and place the meat into a blender. Add 2 cans of chicken broth, and the shallots to blender. Puree until smooth. Work this through a fine sieve into a 4 quart sauce pan. Add the nutmeg, white pepper, coriander, molasses, turmeric, salt and thyme to the sauce pan. Simmer for 10 minutes, add the cream if desired.

Harvest Soup

1 Small Pumpkin

2 cans chicken broth

Liquid Smoke (optional)

2 Tbs Butter

1 large shallot (caramelize)

2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

tsp white pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1 Tbs Molasses

1 tsp Turmeric

1 tsp salt

tsp fresh minced thyme (don’t use ground it will make the soup grey green)

cup heavy cream

Garnish the soup with a cup of whipped heavy cream spiced with Chipotle and some of the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Ciao, Glenn and Glenn