Tag Archives: food

Five-Hour Bolognese Sauce

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Spaghetti Bolognese

I have made this 5-hour bolognese sauce many times. It’s perfect for cold evenings or for dinner companions who have a robust appetite.The reason I’m posting this online is my dinner guests always ask for the recipe and I’m tired of printing it out. Now, I can just point them to this article.

5-HOUR BOLOGNESE SAUCE

(4-6 people)

• 1 lb (0.5 kg) of ground meat: 1/2 lb (0.25 kg) ground beef + 1/2 lb (0.25 kg) ground veal
• 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup yellow chopped onion cut up in small dice (usually a medium sized onion is 1 cup)
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 cup chopped carrots, in small dice
• 1 cup chopped celery, in small dice
• 1 ½ cups whole milk (do not use reduced fat milk)
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
• 1 ½ cups dry white wine
• 2 cups chopped canned tomatoes with juice (best one to use is the Pomi brand chopped tomatoes from Italy: it comes in a small carton – use the entire carton even if it slightly exceeds 2 cups)
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (use only real Parmigiano-Reggiano, not the fake stuff often called “Parmesan” or “Grana Padano”)

(1) Rub the salt into the ground meat preferably 24 hours ahead of time, but you can also do this right before cooking.

(2) In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter and oil over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted, add the chopped onion and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Saute the onion for 10 mins.

(3) Add the chopped carrots and celery, mix well with the onions. Cook for another 10 mins.

(4) Add the ground meat and stir to coat with the oil/butter/vegetable mixture. Cook until most of the pink is gone, about 5 min. Break up large clumps of meat.

(5) Add milk. Reduce the heat so that it’s not boiling. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Add nutmeg (optional).

(6) Add wine and simmer (as you did with the milk) for another 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Make sure the heat is turned down low enough so this mixture is not over-boiling. It should be simmering.

(7) Carefully add the tomatoes, stirring them into the sauce. Reduce the heat to as low as you can go. Cook for 3 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. Make sure the sauce is not boiling too much. It should be only simmering.

(8) Serve the sauce over pasta (fresh pasta is best). Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Note: If your butcher has run out of veal, you can simply use more beef or substitute the veal with pork.

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Lower your cholesterol by 23% in 12 days: the truth about food (BBC series)

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Last night I watched the first episode of a fascinating BBC series called The Truth About Food, on what food really does to our bodies. What does an “evolution diet” do to your cholesterol and sodium levels? They took several volunteers (many of whom were overweight and suffering from high cholesterol levels), placed them in a zoo (next to a gorilla enclosure) and, for twelve days, forced them to eat the foods that our simian ancestors ate: carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, greens, onions, berries. Five kilos of that stuff everyday. Everything was raw and the volunteers were not allowed to eat any processed foods. Result: in 12 days, they lowered the cholesterol count by 23% which is roughly what a prescription drug would do.

Other short segments in last night’s program: the effect of garlic and how eating lots of fruit, vegetables and cereal cleanses out your system. They got volunteers for these little tests and I am really astounded by the results.

When you're angry, you can't chop or do anything else for that matter

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The other night I was chopping vegetables for a minestrone (from Alice Waters wonderful new book called The Art of Simple Food). I was angry about something — I can’t remember what — but three times the knife landed on my left hand thumbnail, causing little cuts. I am fortunate I did not actually cut my fingers, but I realized after Cut Number 3 that I was angry and I needed to stop being angry and simply focus on the task at hand: chopping vegetables.

Immediately the anger vanished and I chopped. And chopped. I spent an hour chopping butternut squash, onions, carrots, curly kale, celery, leeks, sage and rosemary. Then I cooked the minestrone which was heavenly.

Lesson of the day: when you are angry, you can’t do anything properly because the energy of the anger takes your concentration away from the task at hand.

Why are hotels filled with unhealthy processed food?

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One of the hazards of traveling (aside from nasty terrorists who have certain ideas about when you should meet your Maker) is the near impossibility of finding organic fruit and vegetables, healthy meals and drinks in hotels.

Right now I am staying at the Santa Clara Marriott for my Muniwireless conference (Oct 21-23, 2007). It’s a good hotel with a big swimming pool, wonderful staff, perfect location for Silicon Valley. But like most chain hotels, there’s too much processed food and not enough of the fresh healthy stuff.

What I miss:

(1) Fresh milk in my room for coffee: that would require a fridge and even though I am staying in a junior suite, there is no fridge.

(2) Good organic coffee (not Starbucks)

(3) Fresh organic snacks like carrots, celery, fruits and nutsI walked around the lobby and came upon the usual shop with magazines, candy bars (ugh), and snacks, all very sugary and processed.

There must be fresh fruit . . . . somewhere . . . All I want is fresh milk, fresh fruit, fresh veg, and good coffee.I am not blaming this Marriott for not providing this to travelers. Nearly all hotels including very expensive ones in cities like Paris and New York offer unhealthy processed food. If you travel a lot, your health suffers.

Feeding people good food shouldn’t be an after-thought but a priority. Airports are almost as bad with fast food chains that serve horrible calorie and fat-laden foods. I find myself going on an involuntary fast when I am traveling through airports. Better not to eat than to eat poison.