boneless pork chop recipes

25 Şubat 2013 Pazartesi

Tourtière d'abats

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An old fashioned version of French Canadian TourtiÃ¨re made with offal!
For those who are not in the know, abats translates to offal. Offal is organ meat. In recent years, a rebirth of interest in gourmet offal creations has occurred. A few fine Las Vegas chefs specialize in modern and classic offal creations. This shows that fine dining customers do still have interest in more that just trendy fusion food. The first time that I had tourtiÃ¨re was back in high school, when I was invited to dinner at a French Canadian friends house. The family was from Quebec and their meals were heavy and rich, just like they were back home. When the tourtiÃ¨re was cut open at the table, I smelled liver and kidneys. I asked my friend what was in the meat pie and he said "Don't ask!" Then he started laughing. I guess that he thought that I had never eaten innards before. Liver was a regular home cooked meal at my house. Kidneys were not really on our home menu, but I had experienced kidney in restaurants. My friend then ran through a list of offals that were in the tourtiÃ¨re that his French Canadian mother cooked. Tripe, chicken liver, pork liver, calves liver, kidneys, beef heart, pork lardons and ground pork were the meats in the pie. My friend then explained that this tourtiÃ¨re was an old family recipe and that most modern tourtiÃ¨re are not made this way. That was all the information that I could get, because it was time to shut up and eat dinner! That old fashioned tourtiÃ¨re tasted very rich and it was well prepared. I never forgot that old fashioned Quebec style meat pie. Recently, I decided to do a string of offal recipes. I did some recipe research on French Canadian tourtiÃ¨re and I was surprised to see no recipes for a meat pie that had any offal in the list of ingredients. Nearly every tourtiÃ¨re recipe that I saw was made only with ground pork. I then thought that the French Canadian family's tourtiÃ¨re must have been a very old recipe, so I looked into the origins of this meat pie. Originally, tourtiÃ¨re was made with wild game and wild game offal or secondary cuts of farm animals that included offal. This may be the reason that tourtiÃ¨re is so heavily spiced. Long ago, both Canadians and Americans wasted nothing. Eating offal was routine. Organ meat is highly perishable and in the old days the offal was eaten first. A big pie full of offal and scraps was a good way to get the the highly perishable items cooked, so they would not spoil. In modern times, offals are not cheap. In the old days, offals were dirt cheap food. This TourtiÃ¨re d'abats is not cheap to make, but it is very nutritious and filling. Since this is French Canadian food, TourtiÃ¨re d'abats is definitely in the heavy cold winter food category. This old rustic tourtiÃ¨re version is a tasty cold weather comfort food meal!
Pate Brisee Recipe: Place 1 1/2 cups of flour into a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Add 3/4 tablespoon of sugar. Rice the flour by adding a few drops of ice water at a time while stirring with a whisk. (The flour should look like grains of rice.) Cut 2 ounces of unsalted butter into pea size pieces and drop them in a bowl of ice water. Gently add a few pieces of the chilled hard butter at a time to the riced flour. Work the dough lightly with your fingers and for a minimal period of time leaving exposed small pieces of butter. Chill the dough, till it becomes very firm. Roll the pate brisee into a thin sheet on a floured counter top. (The sheet of pate brisee should show streaks of butter! This is what will give the pate brisee a flakey crusty texture.) Refrigerate the sheet of pate brisee, till it becomes firm again.
TourtiÃ¨re d'abats filling: This recipe makes 1 single portion pie! Any combination of offals is good for this recipe. Kidneys were not available, so none are in the list of ingredients. Place a small pot of water over medium low heat. Add 1 bay leaf. Add 2 ounces of small bite size pieces of trimmed book end tripe. Add sea salt. Simmer the tripe, till it becomes gelatinous and fully cooked. Drain the water off of the tripe and set it aside. Heat a saute pan over medium/medium low heat. Add 1 tablespoon of pork lard. Add 1 slice of smoked bacon that is chopped. Saute till the grease has rendered and the bacon becomes a golden color. Add 2 minced garlic cloves. Add 2 tablespoons of minced onion. Add 1 tablespoon of minced celery. Saute till the onions turn clear in color. Add 4 ounces of bite size pieces of calves liver. Saute till the calves liver pieces become halfway cooked. Add 2 finely minced chicken livers. Saute and stir, till the chicken livers become fully cooked. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour, while stirring, to absorb the excess grease. Add the reserved tripe pieces. Add 1/2 cup of brandy. Scrape and deglace the pan. Add 1 1/2 cups of beef stock. Add sea salt and black pepper. Add 1 pinch of ground sage. Add 2 pinches of thyme. Add 1 pinch of ground clove. Add 2 pinches of cinnamon. Add 2 pinches of nutmeg. Add 2 pinches of minced Italian parsley. Add 1 small pinch of cayenne pepper. Bring the liquid to a gentle boil. Reduce the temperature to low heat. Simmer and reduce, till a the mixture looks like a heavy liver mush, with a minimum of excess gravy liquid. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Place the offal mixture in a mixing bowl. Add 3 ounces of lean ground pork. Add 1 ounce of diced pork fat. Mix the ingredients together. Chill the filling till it becomes lower than room temperature.
TourtiÃ¨re d'abats: Lightly brush a 5" pop-ring cake mold with melted unsalted butter. The mold should be 2 1/2" to 3" tall. Cut 2 round shaped sheets of the pate brisee that are 10" wide. Drape 1 round sheet of pate brisee over the pop-ring pan and press it into place. Roll a rolling pin over the rim of the pop-ring pan to trim off the excess dough. Place the tourtiÃ¨re d'abats filling in the pie shell. Fill the shell, so the filling is 1/8" from the top. Brush the edge of the pie shell with egg wash. Drape the second round sheet of pate brisee over the pie. Press the top sheet of pate brisee onto the pie shell sheet. Trim the excess dough off with a knife. Press the crust, so it looks even and nice. Brush the top of the pie with egg wash. Cut 2 small steam vents on the center of the pie top. Cut a decorative shape out of the excess dough and place it on top of the pie. Brush the decorative shape with egg wash. Use the back of a knife to cut decorative slashes on the pie crust edge. Place the pie on a baking pan. Bake in a 350Âº oven, till the crust becomes a golden brown color. Allow the pie to cool to a safe serving temperature. Remove the pop-ring mold. Use a spatula to place the TourtiÃ¨re d'abats on a plate. Sprinkle 2 pinches of minced Italian parsley on the plate.
As you can see in the picture above, this TourtiÃ¨re d'abats is all offal and meat, with no excess liquid or gelatin thicken bouillon. Some liquid escaped through the pie vent holes, but that happens sometimes, especially when a pie is fill to the top. This is a heavy great tasting version of TourtiÃ¨re d'abats! Yum! ... Shawna

Hot Link and Chili at The Road Kill Grill - John Mull's Meats and Deer Processing, Las Vegas!

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The Road Kill Grill!
The Road Kill Grill is not exactly located on the Las Vegas Strip. The Road Kill Grill is not located in downtown Las Vegas. Where would one expect to find a Road Kill Grill? On the outskirts of town, where fresh roadkill runs thick and heavy! Road kill is taxi driver and trucker language for roadside restaurant food. In Pennsylvania, road kill takes on a whole different meaning, because deer that are struck by cars is considered to be legal fair game. Many folks that drive the backroads of Pennsylvania and West Virginia hit deer that are crossing the road each year. Some of those people do not have much income coming in, so they load the deer in the trunk of the car and slaughter the deer when they get home. The extra meat on the table does help to make up for the car repair bill. While living in Pennsylvania, I heard many stories about guys who hit a deer on the road and then loaded the deer in the back seat of the car. A deer can look dead as a door nail, after it has been knocked out when hit by a car. After about twenty minutes, a stunned unconscious deer usually wakes up. When a stunned deer wakes up in the back seat of a car, it absolutely freaks out and starts jumping all over the place trying to get out of the car. The driver of the car may be lucky to just get out of the car in one piece, because a good size deer will kick and bite the driver half to death. There is nothing worse than road kill dinner that comes back to life in the back seat of a car! The Road Kill Grill in Las Vegas has nothing to do with Pennsylvania style road kill. In fact, the Nevada health code enforcers frown upon any kind of dealings with old fashioned east coast style road kill. The name of the Road Kill Grill really has nothing to do with road kill. The Road Kill Grill is just a funny catchy name of a great butcher shop restaurant business. When the ranch style wooden Road Kill Grill sign is first seen, do not automatically think that this place is some kind of a haven for rednecks who make a living by driving a pickup truck slow on Nevada desert back roads in search of freshly killed buzzard bait! I do not watch television, so I had no clue about how the Road Kill Grill was recently featured on a food network TV show. The same food TV personality that hosted the World Food Championships in Las Vegas, paid a visit to the Road Kill Grill. The World Food Championships turn out to be a total scam, because the top prize went to an employee of the casino that hosted the event, so I lost all respect for that food television personality host. Even so, the exposure on TV was good advertising for the Road Kill Grill. There was a long line of customers at both the Road Kill Grill and John Mull's Meats when I paid my visit. You might say that business was booming in this Saturday afternoon! John Mull's Meats offers some great prices. This is a very special butcher shop! Customers are rewarded with extra portions and samples of John Mull's products for free. A flat of fresh eggs was the free reward for those who spent $45 dollars at John Mull's, when I shopped there. That is a very nice gesture for an old fashioned butcher to make! John Mull's Meats offers pork and beef cuts of every kind. Steamship rounds, fresh cured whole hams, whole pigs for BBQ, sides of beef and whole rib sections are available. Steaks of every kind and hard to find specialty cuts of beef like oxtail, marrow bones and cheeks are featured. The same goes for the pork. Barbecue cooks will be pleased to know that every specialty pork BBQ cut is available. A long list of pork and beef offals are offered on the butcher's menu too. Chicken, turkey, goat, geese, ducks, cornish game hen and American bison products are listed on the butcher's menu. Frog legs, catfish, rabbit and cuts of lamb are also up for sale. Prices do go down for bulk purchases of meat, so if you host a large food even, this butcher shop is the place to go. I purchased pork rib tips for BBQ, goat meat for some African and Indian recipes and some frog legs for another Louisiana style recipe. The prices were very cheap. All meats are cut to order at John Mull's, so nothing sits in a glass display case for days on end, like it does at most butcher shops! John Mull's Meats also sells their own line of smoked meat products that include smoked bacon, hog jowls, pit ham, pork chops, turkey and hocks. This butcher shop makes their own country style bulk sausage, chorizo, Italian sausage and Louisiana hot links. German sausages and many more sausage products are made at John Mull's meats. John Mull's makes lunch meats too. Head cheese, salami, sliced smoked or roasted deli style meats and pastrami are made at this butcher shop! Fresh made pastrami is the best! The Road Kill Grill is an outdoor backyard BBQ style restaurant that is set up like a rib tour or county fair style food vendor stand. Customers do not have to wait for a BBQ competition or state fair just to enjoy this kind of outdoor dining experience. John Mull's outdoor Road Kill Grill is open year round! I had some very good tasting chili and a great Louisiana Hot Link Sandwich at the the Road Kill Grill. The beef hot link sausage was made fresh in the butcher shop and it was the plumpest juiciest hot link that I ever had! John Mull's Meats does make some great sausages! Along with the Hot Link Sandwich, a large sample of BBQ sausage was in the container. This sample portion of sausage was huge and it was a pleasant surprise! The Road Kill Grill and John Mull's Meats is located on an old Las Vegas ranch style property in Northwest Las Vegas. This place is off the beaten path, but it is not hard to find. At the intersection of Rancho and Gowan in Las Vegas, follow Gowan east for a few blocks and turn north on Thom Boulevard. The Road Kill Grill and John Mull's Meats are located at 3730 Thom Boulevard about one block north of Gowan. Decatur also runs near Thom Boulevard and that route is convenient too. I highly recommend the Road Kill Grill and John Mull's Meats for local residents and visitors of Las Vegas! The John Mull's Meats butcher shop's quality and prices cannot be beat! The great food and BBQ at the Road Kill Grill will put a smile on anybodies face! Yum! ... Shawna

Filet de sole dans Collee aux aspic fumé avec rôti radicchio, tomate jaune, pomme de terre violette, l'oignon et herbe d'aneth vinaegrette

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An elegant French collee platter! Chilled collee coated filet of sole on gelatin and aspic served with roasted radicchio, tomato yellow, purple potato, onion and dill weed vinaegrette
Collee is a French gelatin preparation that is similar to chaud froid. The difference is that collee is made with mayonnaise or a mayonnaise cream mixture. Chaud froid is made with a bechamel sauce. Collee is usually used to coat chilled poached or chilled lightly smoked fish. Whole flatfish are often coated with collee for banquet style offerings.    Aspic and gelatin shreds are often used as a garnish or as a bed for collee preparations of fish. Thin gelatin and aspic shreds add a nice jeweled look to a plate.    Roasted vegetables served at room temperature with vinaegrette have been popular since the 1980's. Elegant colorful roasted vegetables are very nice for garnishing garde manger station platters. Purple potato, yellow tomato, radicchio and onion with diced roasted red bell pepper adds royal contrasting colors to this platter. The mild accompanying vinaegrette features the fresh garden flavor of dill weed. The dill vinaegrette also is nice with the sole collee.    Anytime that more than one item is featured on a platter, the flavors have to contrast and compliment each other. The items also have to be arranged with a clear focal point. For this platter the focal point is the bright white filet of sole collee. Flow is also important and the curve of the overlapping roasted vegetables demonstrate flow. Balance is part of banquet platter design and unity is another requirement. This platter has a balanced appearance as far as the size and shapes are concerned. Unity describes how the flavors work with each other. Unity also describes how the colors of the items contrast with each other physically and symbolically. For a classy looking item like sole en collee, the royal colors of the gelatin, aspic and roasted vegetables demonstrate symbolic unity.   As chefs move up the ladder in fine cuisine, the design of banquet platters becomes more demanding. Although most banquet food is not rated by Michelin standards, the quality of banquet food is part of the resort rating system. I have worked at several five diamond resorts during my career. I can honestly say that the quality of garde mange banquet food at five diamond resorts is often surpassed by the garde manger banquet food at fine country clubs and yacht clubs. Country clubs and yacht clubs are judged by an entirely different rating system. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are members of private clubs, so the garde manger food has to be created with excellence in mind.   For a classy banquet, a collee platter is perfect. Small collee platters for guests at a restaurant table are an option that many chefs overlook. Sharing a collee platter with trendy roasted vegetables at a table is a nice way to inspire relaxed casual conversation before an evening of fine dining begins. A collee platter for a table is also a nice elegant lunch item to share.    Usually for a collee platter like this, the maitre d' serves the first round of the items on the platter to the guests at the table after suggesting an aperitif wine. The sommelier or maitre d' tends to the formalities of the wine service. Fresh warm bread is offered by the assistant carrying a basket of a variety of bread. Another food runner assistant offers a variety of butters and olive oils. As you can imagine, this makes the guests feel special and this interactive table service is part of the maitre d' code of excellence. Shared platter presentations also facilitate better tipping rates for the maitre d'! Greasing the palm of a good maitre d' does get favor in return!
Poached Filet of Sole: Place a 6 to 8 ounce trimmed filet of sole in a wide braising pot or sauteuse pan. Add 1 tablespoon of chopped onion. Add 1 tablespoon of chopped celery. Add 1 chopped garlic clove. Add 4 Italian parsley sprigs. Add 1 laurel leaf. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Add 1 ounce of dry white wine. Add 5 black peppercorns. Add sea salt. Add just enough water to cover the sole file. Place the pot over medium low heat. Bring the liquid to a simmer. Remove the pot from the heat. Allow the sole filet to cool with the poaching liquid to room temperature. Carefully use a spatula to place the poached sole file on a plate. Brush any of the court bouillon poaching ingredients off of the sole filet.    Place the poached sole filet on a wire screen roasting rack. Place the roasting rack on a clean catch pan.   Chill the poached sole in a refrigerator, till it reaches minus 41Âº.
Collee: Collee takes time and patience to apply correctly. The white collee coating is applied in several coats, so the coating looks uniform. After each coat of collee, the sole much be chilled, so the collee gels. The first coat of clear gelatin is applied after the collee looks uniform. The herb applique is also applied on the first coat of gelatin. Then a few more coats of gelatin are necessary to give the finished product a glass like appearance.    Do not over heat gelatin, collee or aspic, or the gelling power will be affected. Use a digital probe thermometer. Be sure all work surfaces are clean, so no contamination occurs. Have all the ingredients and utensils organized for each stage of the recipe. A wire screen roasting rack over a pan is necessary for catching the collee or gelatin overflow. The chilled overflow can be scraped off of the catch pan and melted, so it can be reused. Any excess clear gelatin will be used to make both the aspic and gelatin shred garnish.   Because mayonnaise contains oil, the gelling power of the collee will be effected. By adding milk, the gelling power will almost return to normal. Collee for coating requires just a little extra gelatin and that amount is figured into this recipe. Place 1/3 cup of mayonnaise in a small sauce pot. Add 1/3 cup of milk. Add 1/3 cup of sour cream. Add 1/2 cup of water. Add 1 pinch of sea salt. Gently stir the ingredients together with a whisk. Rain 8.5 to 9 grams of powdered gelatin on the surface of the liquid. Allow the gelatin to bloom and do not stir.    Place the pot over low/very low heat. Gently warm the mixture, till the gelatin melts into the liquid. Stir occasionally with a spoon. The gelatin should dissolve somewhere near 130Âº to 140Âº. Try to let the mixture reach 140Âº so most pathogen threats are eliminated. Do not allow the liquid to boil! Reduce the temperature to 110Âº to 120Âº to hold the collee, till it is needed.   After any air bubbles disappear, use a 1 ounce ladle to pour one coat of the collee over the chilled poached filet of sole. Pop any air bubbles. Immediately place the sole and catch pan in the refrigerator and chill to minus 41Âº. Repeat these steps, till the filet of sole is coated with an opaque, even, glassy smooth layer of collee. After the sole chills and the collee gels each time it is chilled, the excess collee in the catch pan can be scraped off and returned to the pot. Add a splash of water to the collee in the pot as necessary, to make up for any evaporation. Keep the finished collee coated filet of sole chilled. Any excess collee can be chilled and reheated for another recipe.
Coating Gelatin: Place 1 1/2 cups of water in a sauce pot. Rain 8 grams of powdered gelatin on the surface of the liquid. Allow the gelatin to bloom. Place the sauce pot over low/very low heat. Heat till the gelatin dissolves into the liquid. Do not allow the liquid to boil. Hold the clear coating gelatin at 110Âº to 120Âº.    Get a few washed and trimmed small dill sprigs and Italian parsley leaves ready. Transfer the wire screen roasting rack to a new clean catch pan.    Use a 1 ounce ladle to pour the first coat of clear coating gelatin over the chilled collee coated filet of sole. Place some decorative dill sprigs and parsley leaves on the wet clear gelatin on the fish, so it looks nice. Pop any bubbles. Gently use a tiny spatula the press the herbs flat against the surface of the collee. Immediately chill the filet of sole to minus 41Âº. For the next coat, just drizzle enough clear gelatin over the herbs to seal them in place. Pop any bubbles. Chill the sole to minus 41Âº. Use a 1 ounce ladle to pour a full coat of clear gelatin over the sole. Pop any bubbles. Chill the sole to minus 41Âº. Repeat this step, till the sole en collee takes on a smooth glassy appearance. Keep the finished decorated and clear coated sole en collee chilled, till it is plated.    Clear Gelatin Shreds Garnish: Place the excess clear coat from the catch pan back in the clear gelatin in the pot. Melt the clear coat. Pour 2 ounces of the clear coat gelatin on a clean plate. Chill the clear gelatin till it sets.   Score 1/4" wide lines across the firm gelatin. Scrap the gelatin free from the pan to created clear shreds.    Keep the clear shreds chilled.      Gold Aspic Shreds: There should be a couple ounces of clear gelatin leftover in the pot. Add 2 ounces of clear chicken or fish bouillon. Add 1 pinch of turmeric. Simmer till the liquid reduces by half. Pour 2 ounces of the gold colored aspic on a clean plate. Chill the aspic till it sets.   Score 1/4" wide lines across the firm aspic. Scrape the aspic free from the pan to created gold shreds.    Keep the gold aspic shreds chilled.

Dill Vinaegrette: Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar in a small mixing bowl. Add sea salt and white pepper. Add 1/2 teaspoon of shallot puree. Add 1/4 teaspoon of garlic paste. Add 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard. Add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped dill weed. Let the ingredients stand for 5 minutes.   Slowly stream 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil into the mixture, while gently stirring with a whisk. Add 3 1/2 tablespoons of oil, while gently stirring to create a partially emulsified vinaegrette. Set the dill vinaegrette aside. Stir before serving.     Roasted Vegetables: About 3 to 4 slices of each vegetable is enough for this recipe. Boil 1 large purple potato in water over medium high heat, till it becomes fully cooked, yet still firm and not mushy. Cool the potato under cold running water. Use the back of a paring knife to peel the potato. Cut the potato into 1/4" to 3/8" long bias slices.    Place the potato slices on a large roasting pan that is brushed with blended olive oil. Cut 3 or 4 slices of vidalia onion that are 1/4" to 3/8" thick and place them on the pan. Place 3 or 4 slices of trimmed radicchio slices that are the same thickness on the pan. Brush the vegetables with blended olive oil. Season with sea salt and white pepper. Roast the vegetables in a 350Âº oven, till they just begin to cook. Remove the pan from the oven. Place 3 or 4 vine ripe yellow tomato slices on the pan.    Brush the yellow tomato slices with blended olive oil. Season the yellow tomato slices. Return the pan to the oven. Roast the vegetables, till the become al dente and till they just begin to caramelize. Remove the pan fro the oven.    Keep the roasted vegetables warm on a stove top.    Filet de sole dans Collee aux aspic fumÃ© avec rÃ´ti radicchio, tomate jaune, pomme de terre violette, l'oignon et herbe d'aneth vinaegrette: Plate the collee last, so it is not damaged by any spatters! Carefully use a spatula to overlap and alternate the warm roasted vegetable slices across the back half of a large decorative classic serving platter. Place a bed of the clear gelatin shreds and the golden aspic shreds on the front center of the platter as a bed for the sole en collee. Sprinkle some diced roasted red pepper over the roasted vegetables and onto the platter near the vegetables. Spoon a generous amount of the dill vinaegrette over the roasted vegetables and onto the platter near the vegetables. Carefully use a carving knife to cut the poached sole filet en collee free from the wire screen rack, by scraping the blade against the surface of the rack under the sole filet. Use a spatula to place the sole en collee on a cutting board. Use a paring knife to trim off any excess collee or gelatin flash. Use a spatula to place the sole en collee on top of the bed of shredded gelatin and shredded golden aspic. No garnish is necessary! Serve with sliced French bread and crostini on the side.
This is not only a nice looking collee and roasted vegetable platter, it tastes very nice too. A tasteful platter like this is nice for starting an evening of fine dining on a special night. Especially on Valentines Day! Bon Appetite! Yum! ... Shawna

Maccheroni alla Chitara e Sugo di Agnello Abruzzese

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Abruzzo cuisine is something to get excited about! Many food writers say that the finest chefs in Italy come from Abruzzo, but that is not really true. Every region and every city in Italy is loaded with great chefs!    What sets the cuisine of the Abruzzo region apart from the rest, is that Abruzzese cuisine makes use of many ingredients and spices that are not commonly used in Italian recipes elsewhere in the country. Lamb is a common meat in Abruzzo and lamb is usually reserved for special occasions in other regions. Goose is another common meat in this region. Spice and herb influences have some origins in trade activity via major port cities in Abruzzo. Rome is within 50 miles of Abruzzo and everybody knows that all roads lead to Rome! That includes overland merchant routes from Abruzzo ports.    Abruzzo was once part of the Kingdom Of Two Sicily's. Anybody that has done some Sicilian cooking, knows that flavor is the name of the game in Sicilian cuisine. The same goes for Abruzzese cuisine. The list of cuisine influences goes on and on, because mankind has occupied the Abruzzo region since before recorded history. Maccheroni alla chitara is a specialty pasta in the Abruzzo region. Maccheroni alla chitara is literally translates to guitar pasta. This does not mean that the pasta has a guitar shape. The guitar part of the translation refers to pasta that is cut with guitar strings. If you have a guitar that has thin wire strings, then making this pasta is easy! Usually a wooden box or a board that has pegs, screws or nails with thin wire stretched tight in parallel rows is the device that is used to make this pasta. Sheets of pasta are pressed on the wires and cut into long thin strips. Maccheroni alla chitara can be as thin as spaghetti, or as wide as fettuccine. Maccheroni alla chitara is a fresh made hand crafted pasta. A simple tomato sauce with cheese is the standard sauce for maccheroni alla chitara. Various sugo di carne and ragu style sauces are also served with this pasta. Sugo di Agnello (minced lamb sauce) is one of the most popular Abruzzese sauces for maccheroni alla chitara.    Today's Maccheroni alla Chitara e Sugo di Agnello Abruzzese recipe certainly is authentic and it has the tasty flavors that Abruzzo region cooking is known for.
Pasta Making Information: This recipe is not a simple semolina and water pasta dough recipe for pasta extruding machines. This is a standard pasta recipe for hand turned pasta sheet rolling machines. A rolling pin can be used to roll sheets of pasta, but a hand cranked pasta rolling machine is much easier to use and it makes sheets of pasta that are very uniform in thickness. An economical Italian hand cranked pasta rolling machine costs about $18 to $40 dollars and it is a good investment for home usage. A heavy duty restaurant grade pasta sheet roller costs about $350 to $650 dollars and it will last a lifetime, because it is rebuildable.       Pasta Dough Making Tips: Pasta dough can be started in a metal gear driven electric cake mixer with a dough hook, but it still must be folded and pressed by hand to finish blending the ingredients. The dough does not need to be extensively kneaded, because it will be run through the pasta rolling machine several times at the widest setting and folded each in half each time. Using the pasta rolling machine to finish the kneading of the dough is one of the tricks of the trade. Before the dough is rolled out as pasta sheets, the dough must rest in a refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours, so the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Pasta dough is usually made in batches and the extra dough can be refrigerated. It is best to drape a cloth that is lightly soaked with olive oil over the block of pasta dough inside of a sealed container, when refrigerating pasta dough. The outside of the pasta dough block nearly always turns a grayish color after a couple of days, because of oxidization. This is nothing to worry about and the gray surface does not need to be trimmed off. The gray color will disappear after the dough is worked and after the pasta is boiled. Like all fresh products, fresh pasta has a Servesafe 7 day refrigerated shelf life. Pasta dough can be frozen, but it is better when it is fresh. Good pasta dough should not be too stiff and it should not be too soft. The dough should dent when heavy pressure is applied by one finger and the dough should only slightly or partially spring back. A pasta dough with this texture will produce some fine pasta. I usually use a mixture of semolina and all purpose flour to make pasta. This is how we made pasta when I apprenticed. Only a tiny fraction of salt is added to the dough recipe. A tiny fraction of olive oil is also added to the dough. The eggs are the key to the texture of the pasta and no water should be added during the initial mix. When the dough tightens, becomes stiff and starts to crumble, that is the time to start sprinkling very small amounts of water on the pasta dough, while kneading, till the dough becomes smooth and workable again. Too much water in a pasta dough will result in a sticky stretchy dough that is hard to manage when shaping fine pasta.
Pasta Dough Recipe: 1 cup of flour per egg is the approximate proportion for Italian pasta! Place 1 1/2 cups of semolina in a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Mix the dry ingredients together. Pile the dry ingredients on the center of the mixing bowl. Form a shallow well on the center of the mound of the flour mixture. Place two whole eggs in the well.    Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Use a fork to gentle stir the eggs in the flour well, just like you are mixing eggs for scrambled eggs. As you stir the eggs in the well, allow the eggs to slowly and gradually gather the surrounding flour. Stir like this, till a dough starts to form. Scrape the ingredients from the fork back into the mixing bowl. Start using your fingers to gradually incorporate the remaining dry flour mixture into the dough mixture. At this stage, at some point, the dough will become dry and crumbly. Now it the time to add a small sprinkle of water. Do not add to much water! Add a small amount, then work the dough. Add small amounts of water till the dough becomes workable again. The dough should be stiff in texture. Fold the dough and press with the heels of your palms after each fold. Fold and knead the dough this way, till it becomes blended. Press the dough with 1 finger under pressure to make a dent in the dough. The dough should only partially spring back when it has the correct texture. The texture of the dough can be corrected by adding a sprinkle of water and more kneading if it is too dry. If to wet, then work the dough on a flour dusted surface, till it becomes the correct texture. Form the dough into a thick rectangular block shape and place it in a sealed container. Refrigerate the dough for 3 to 4 hours, till the semolina in the dough becomes smooth.       Pasta Rolling Machine Techniques: Follow these instructions and tips for rolling out sheets of pasta! A very light dusting of flour on the work surface is best, when rolling sheet pasta. Sometimes I do not dust with any flour at all, if the room temperature is chilly. When running sheets of pasta through a pasta sheet rolling machine, the pasta will pile up like an accordion and stick together, so pause while running a pasta sheet through the roller and gently use the backs of your fingers to carry the pasta sheet from under the machine out over the work surface, so the pasta sheet does not wrinkle. For the widest setting on a pasta roller, the pasta is run through several times, till it becomes smooth and till it starts to become wide. If the pasta sheet has rough edges, then fold the sheet in half and keep running it through till the pasta sheet has smooth edges. This is only done at the widest setting on the pasta rolling machine. Cut a 1/2" thick, 10" long slab of pasta dough for making the first pasta sheet. Gently feed the thick slab of dough through the rolling machine at the widest setting to start the process. The first past through will usually result in a rough broken pasta sheet. Fold and press the sheet and pieces together, before running the dough through a second time. On the second pass through the pasta roller, the dough will hold together and start to look like a rough sheet.    After the pasta sheet is uniform looking after being rum through the pasta rolling machine at the widest setting several times, then it is ready for the next step.    The pasta dough sheet can be run one time through each successive smaller thickness setting on the rolling machine, till the pasta sheet becomes the desired thickness.    The pasta sheet can now be turned into desired shapes!
Maccheroni alla chitara pasta:    A chitara pasta cutter can be purchased in Italian markets, specialty chops or on the internet. A chitara pasta cutter can be made at home and detailed instructions are easy to find on the internet. In a pinch, a fettuccine cutter can be used, but that is cheating! A single guitar wire or even a guitar can be used to cut this pasta.    Press a 16" to 24" thin sheet of fresh pasta on the chitara wires with a small rolling pin, till the pasta is cut into long thin ribbons. The long thin ribbons can be as thin as spaghetti or as wide as fettuccine. Make single portion twists or piles of pasta on a parchment paper lined sheet pan. Dust the piles of fresh pasta with semolina to keep them from sticking together.    Keep the fresh pasta chilled, till it is cooked.
Sugo di Agnello Abruzzese:    This recipe makes enough for 2 large portions! Heat a pot over medium low heat.     Add 5 tablespoons of olive oil. Add 4 tablespoons of minced pancetta. Saute till the pancetta becomes a golden brown color.     Add 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic. Add 1/2 tablespoon of minced shallot.     Add 1/3 cup of very finely minced onion.     Stir and saute, till the fine vegetables become tender, but not browned at all. Add 12 to 14 ounces of ground lamb. Stir the meat with a wire whisk occasionally as it cooks, so any clumps of ground meat are broken up into tiny pieces.    Note:  Clumps of cooked ground meat are not desirable in this sauce! Sugo di agnello is meant to coat the pasta with flavor and cling to the pasta. If you want big chunks of ground meat, then that is what meatballs are all about! Saute the ground meat, till it is fully cooked and lightly browned. (Do not allow the meat to overly brown. That is how a sugo di carne becomes greasy and dark in color!) Add 1/3 cup of dry white wine     Add just enough imported Italian canned crushed San Marzano plum tomatoes to almost cover the meat. (2 1/2 to 3 cups is plenty. The proportion of ground meat should be slightly higher than the proportion of tomato in the finished sauce!) Add 1/2 cup of imported Italian canned tomato puree or 3 pureed peeled and seeded fresh overripe plum tomatoes.     Add sea salt and black pepper.     Add 4 medium size leaves of basil that are torn by hand.     Add 2 pinches of thyme.     Add 1 pinch of crushed dried red pepper.       Add 2 pinches of marjoram. Add 2 pinches of minced rosemary. Add 1 pinch of rubbed saffron. Add 3 pinches of finely chopped Italian parsley.     Add 1 cup of light beef broth. Add 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice. Raise the temperature to medium heat. When the sauce starts to gently boil, reduce the temperature to low heat. Stir the sauce once every 4 or 5 minutes. Simmer the sauce for 30 to 35 minutes. Note:  Do not simmer this sauce all day! Meat sauces that are cooked for too much time will start to lose their crisp flavor and bright color. A meat sauce that is simmered too long will become acidic and dark in color!     After the sugo di carne finishes simmering, the sauce should be a medium thick consistency and the small pieces of ground meat should be easy to see. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a splash of light beef broth or chicken broth. Keep the sauce warm over very low heat or reheat the sauce to order.    Maccheroni alla Chitara e Sugo di Agnello Abruzzese: Heat a saute pan over medium low heat.     Add just enough of the sugo di agnello to coat 1 portion of pasta. (About 6 to 8 ounces.) Heat the sauce. Cook 1 portion of fresh maccheroni alla chitara pasta in boiling water, till the pasta floats and becomes tender, but not mushy Drain the water off of the cooked pasta. Add the pasta to the sauce in the pan. Toss the sauce and pasta together. Mound the pasta on a plate.     Spoon any extra lamb meat sauce that remains in the pan over the pasta.     Sprinkle some freshly grated pecorino romano cheese over the pasta. Garnish with an Italian parsley sprig.
Tasty, tasty, tasty! Maccheroni alla Chitara e Sugo di Agnello Abruzzese has a rich inviting aroma. The sugo di agnello is meaty and it has the flavors that dreams are made of!   An Italian wine pairing is a must! A classic Italian dry red wine like Chianti or Lambrusco is best with this pasta. Many people do not realize that Italy produces some nice Merlot. Merlot is popular with the restaurant going crowd and the 2005 Terrazzo Merlot in the pictures would certainly be to their liking. Yum! Ciao Baby! ... Shawna

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I hope you all have a great day watching the game, enjoying lots of tasty treats, and most of all, rubbing it in your skeptical friends faces when our prediction comes true, again. I'm assuming this isn't your first Super Bowl, but just in case you are new to attending SB parties, this video may help you out. Please pay special attention to the "no talking during the commercials" part, especially if there are lots of females in attendance. They have to put up with our screaming and yelling during the game, so the least we can do is shut up while they watch what they call, "the best part." Enjoy!

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