Our favorite Fall recipies.

[Eir]

Hey girlfriends!

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

That sounds more like rocket fuel than eats. I dunno about the beer in a "little" forum. On the whold, though, nobody can say that you talk the talk but you don't wok the wok

[ServantGirl_Katy]

My dirt simple chicken soup.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Marrieed-to-the-Mob Spaghetti or Pizza Sauce. This was taught to me by my aunt who, in the 1930's was married to a mid-level Providence Mofioso. Do I need to say more? Now the first thing you need to know about cooking is that you have spoons nearby that you use to sample. I added the onion at the end

As with all well-done cookery, your nose and taste buds will tell you if it is cooked and spiced properly

Ingredients:

1. Can tomato puree

2. Can of Italian tomatoes, chapped medium and the juice

3. Small can tomato paste

4. tsp sugar to cut the bitterness imparted by the tomato paste

Spices

1 or 2 clove Garlic, oregano, basil and Italian spices celery, chopped fine and hamburger

Put the ingredients in a medium or large sauce pan and simmer

in a frying pan cook the meat and spices in olive oil until they are done

Add the meat/spice combination to the tomato ingredients and let simmer for about an hour, stirring well from time to time and keeping the flame so that the sauce does not burn. Smell and taste occasionally and add spices if needed. This comes with practice more than by recipe

Cut up one medium or large onion

Take the sauce off the flame and put in the onion, raw, and stir it in well, cover and let cool to room temperature, which takes maby 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This slow-cool continues the cooking process and does the onion

Ideally you would want to put it in the refrigerator for a day

Salsa Italiana De Cristina. This is a quick version

Ingredients

1. Regular size can plain tomato sauce

2. small Can Tomato paste

3. tsp sugar or a bit less

for spices add directly, garlic powder, oragano, basil, Italian spice

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Add the spices and low simmer until done. About 45 minutes

Again, your nose and palate will be a better judge than the clock and you add spices if needed

Once you get the hang of it, feel free experiment with various kinds of spiced tomato sauce

NOTES:

You can put the cooked meatballs or saucage, sweet or hot, in either sauce for overnight "rest" and warm-up the next day

Serving pasta, especially spaghetti is done thusly: put the pasta in the plate and put the sauce on top of it. Some people like the pasta well-drained using a colander and some just take the pasta from the cooking pan to the plate without draining. I prefer the first method

The making of pasta dishes is something that Italian men pride themselves on

There is no "right" specific sauce. as long as you have the basics, different regions and even families and chefs within regions had different variations

These can be frozen

Use a good quality spice like McCormick. If you cannot get oregano or basil, the oregano and basil leaves will do

It is better to start with too little spice and add than to start with too much. Seasoning is don "to taste". To give it a bit of zing you can put crushed pepper seeds in the spice preparation. BE CAREFUL; those seeds are HOT

Both of these sauces should be fairly thick and with a bit of orange color

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Not a recipe: Potato chips for Little Girls

I would wager my tiara that you could use them in a recipe. How about Chicken, peppers and onions and then just throw a bag of these in a bit of water in the skillet and mix it all up. I think I will try it today

[WakkoWannaBe]

^ Cool recipe idea! I love making my own pizzas, and I do usually make my own sauce but I do so using a combo of tomato puree and paste (2:1 ratio) and a ton of oregano =D. It'd be cool to throw in fresh tomatoes and see the difference.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Cannot help with the yoghurt. Can help with the pizza

English muffins make good mini-pizzas and so will a bagel

English muffins do well for hamburgers, too

If you want a real taste explosion try the Protuguese sausage known as chourico. It is generally hot. Linguica has a very garlic taste. As for chourico, it generally comes in three stregths mild, normal and hot, but compared to what it was like int the 1950's even the "hot" is not that strong. If you can, get Gaspar's, they ship nationwide

http://www.gasparssausage.com/

A local treat around here is pizza topped with chourico