take two sazaracs

Two sazeracs were in order when we got home from work.  We'd made them the day before as well.  The sazerac redux was motivated by the ugly reality that Kevin's paycheck never materialized last month.  It's his department's fault, and the payroll department will not fix it until August 31st.  Don't worry - we have emergency savings, we will not go without food or a roof over our heads.  But this type of situation boils the blood, just like the North Carolina summer sun.  We need something substantial and good to focus on.  The sazerac, with a nice sturdy rye base all brightened up with Pernod and bitters, definitely fits the bill.

We always consult Mr. Boston when we are hankering for a cocktail.  Rather than reprint their recipe here (since I wouldn't alter it) I found one on Chow that will work perfectly: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10330-sazerac.  If you are at all inclined to like amber liquors, you should give the sazerac a try.  All you need is rye (or whiskey), bitters (Mr. Boston calls for Peychaud's), Pernod (or other absinthe substitute), fresh lemon twists, sugar cubes (or 1/2 tsp. simple syrup per drink) and ice for chilling the glasses.

I like to list the ingredients here because it reminds me of my new passion: mise en place.  It's just getting your workstation stocked and ready.  But that is the part I have always rushed through, which means I often work with too little/poorly organized counter space or without some ingredients in reach (or even in the house).  Now that I am finally recovered from back pain and can focus, I seem to have lost my patience for disorganization in the kitchen.  It's like a switch has been flipped, and at age 33 I am all of a sudden using my ramekins as prep bowls and keeping my countertop clean and clear. 

I find this pretty hilarious, since after 33 years of just jumping right into most endeavors, I have virtually no organizational skills in my repertoire.  You may find this hard to believe, especially if you can picture the calm and collectedness I always attempt to project.  Believe it.  I have never kept a datebook/calendar longer than a month, even in grad school.  My filing system is a large bin, overflowing.  When we moved out of SF and I finally got rid of some old records, I had to pay $30 to shred the massive lot.  If for some reason you are not convinced, you should visit me at work.  I am one of those people who holds fast to the belief that if you can't see it, you will forget about it and it won't get done.  So every tiny pending task sits out on my desk, haphazardly and at weird angles, collecting coffee stains and creases from things I set on top of them. 

Sometimes I explain my ability to function despite the chaos I tend to encourage around myself as a testament to how well my mind is organized.  Yay for my mind.  But I am relieved to have finally reached a limit to my disorganization tolerance, even if it is only happening in the kitchen right now.  We all have to start somewhere.  And with a such a pretty mise en place for a sazerac, who could resist making one more?  Take two sazeracs and call me when my husband gets paid.

fake ice cream for dinner

Today has been one of those days.  I am withholding the boring details.  All you really need to know is that I resorted to eating fake ice cream (the soy-based stuff) for dinner.  I could have heated up some soup or made due with more of what I had for lunch.  But I was just not feeling it. 

There’s mostly good news to report, which I’m hoping evens out a little of the badness of the nutritionally-bereft meal I just shared with you.  The strained ligament in my back has decided to finally knock it off and no longer hurts or restricts my movement.  A month-long battle with random fleas on the cats seems to have been won by Frontline, some serious vacuuming, laundry, upholstery pesticide spray and tons of elbow grease.  We are also making progress on putting the house together.  Kevin put up some snazzy wine glass shelves above the sideboard. 

Until we settled on the shelves we were sure we needed a china cabinet, and there was simply no china cabinet to be had that fit our budget, our existing furniture and both of our tastes.  The closest we came was a 1960s wooden bar cabinet with a fierce metal handle that was finally deemed, “too H.P. Lovecraft.” 

In other good news, it was crazy temperate this past weekend and I got to make one of our favorite meals that just won’t work in the summer heat: spaghetti with meat sauce.  As I’ve done before, I based my recipe on one that appears in The Best Light Recipe from the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated.  I love using a really tasty healthy recipe and then fattening it up a bit.  Do more people do this?  Well you should, because it makes you feel like a genius.  It’s so much easier than taking a fatty recipe and trying to keep the magic while also attempting to keep it real in terms of nutrition.  But it only works if you start from a truly good healthy/light recipe source, like the folks at Cooks Illustrated.  They may be wordy as all get out, but they have impeccable palates and will figure out every tiny way you can tweek your recipe to make your food taste exactly how you want it.  Plus, they like science. 

So on Sunday we opened a bottle of chianti and I got to work on the sauce.  It takes a long time, and I recommend that you have a glass of wine to pleasantly smooth over the drawn out simmering parts.  I am posting the recipe for a double batch, which can make up to 8 servings, at least for small appetites. You definitely will want this stuff in your freezer on days when you might otherwise find yourself reaching for the fake ice cream at dinner time.  Here is a shot of my bounty.

My only excuse is that we ran out of pasta. 

Meat Sauce for Pasta
Based on The Best Light Recipe by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated

1 large or 2 small onions
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt, divided
8 medium garlic cloves (or to taste)
1 lb. grass-fed ground chuck*, divided
4 Tablespoons tomato paste  
2 (28-oz) cans diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth**
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes (or to taste)

Mise en place: chop the onions fine and mince the garlic.  Measure out the remaining ingredients and puree the tomatoes in their juice until they reach your desired consistency (I like to put them in the food processor and pulse for about 5-10 seconds). 

Build the sauce base: place the olive oil, the onions, and ½ to1 tsp.salt in a large sauté pan and heat over medium, covered, stirring occasionally, until they are soft.  Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds (it will become aromatic).  Turn the heat to medium-high and add ½ lb. of the ground beef.  Break beef into small pieces and cook for about 5 minutes, until it no longer shows any pink.  Stir in the tomato paste, mix in thoroughly and cook for about 2 minutes or until the tomato paste begins to brown.

Add liquid: add the pureed tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, pepper flakes, and about 1 tsp. of salt.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium, and allow to simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

Beef it up: Add the remaining ground beef and break it up into small pieces.  Continue simmering the sauce until the beef is cooked through and the sauce is reduced to a desired consistency, about 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Refine the seasoning: Remove the bay leaf, and add any desired salt or seasoning. 

It will be perfect for serving right then, but you can also freeze it for up to 6 months.  It reheats very easily on the stovetop with a little added water.

Ingredient notes:
*We prefer grass-fed beef because the fat profile is pretty darn healthy, sporting Omega-3s and everything. 
**I always use Better Than Bullion Vegetarian No Chicken Base instead of stock.