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Slow Simmered Italian Beef Ragu with Parpadelle

Today I posted my grain free and Instapot version of this Italian classic but wanted to share with you the original recipe we simmered slowly on Christmas Day. It was AMAZING! So grab a 2 1/2 lb chuckroast (preferably grass fed), a pound of parpadelle and let’s do this!

Grab your large Dutch oven or stock pot. Heat over medium high to high heat. Cut your roast into 4 equal sized chunks and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Sear meat 2 pieces at a time browning on all sides. Set meat aside and add “sofrito”; diced carrot, celery and onion. Sauté in the same pan as you seared your meat scraping the bits as you go. After 3 minutes add in the crushed garlic, herbs and tomato paste. Continue to cook and stir until your tomato paste darkens slightly. Don’t stop stirring or your tomato paste may burn!

You can just throw everything in the pot and skip browning the meat and sautéing the veggies if you don’t have time, and it will still be awesome , but taking the time for this step adds some really great flavor and depth to your dish and makes it more awesome.

Now deglaze the pan (you do this with the veggies in the pan) with your red wine. Choose one that you would enjoy drinking. Please don’t use “cooking wine”…Malbec, Cabernet, even a good Chianti would be great. Carefully add the wine and allow it to simmer a minute or two to evaporate some of the wine.

Everyone in the pool now (except cheese and pasta). Meat, stock, tomatoes… Bring to a low simmer and cover. Keep at a low simmer for 2.5 hours, then remove cover and simmer an additional 30 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Remove meat, shred then add back to pan.

While your sauce is reducing bring a pan of water to boiling, add pasta and a generous pinch of salt. Cook pasta 2-3 minutes shorter than package directions. Drain pasta reserving one cup of the cooking liquid.

Add pasta and water to sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes allowing pasta to finish cooking in the sauce. Check seasoning and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Grab your favorite pasta bowl/plate, pile on the pasta and top with some freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino. Sit back relax and savor the deliciousness…cheers!

Slow Simmered Italian Beef Ragu with Parpadelle, my take on a classic Italian comfort food.

Side Notes-On my quest to make the perfect Beef Ragu I found this beautifully yummy recipe from Pinch of Yum

Crockpot Braised Beef Ragu with Polenta

And this delicious sounding recipe from Whitney Bond

http://whitneybond.com/2014/10/27/slow-cooked-beef-ragu/

Instapot Italian Beef Ragu with Butternut Squash Noodles (squoodles)

Italian Beef Ragu with Butternut Squash Noodles

Happy New Year!! I am always sad to take down our Christmas tree and decor. At the same time I prefer my stand up paddle board to my cross country skis so being one step closer to Spring isn’t so bad either! This year I am hoping to share more recipes and insight with you, including Instapot recipes! This recipe can definitely be made stove top as is traditional, in a slow cooker or in your Instapot or other pressure cooker.

Traditionally this delicious slow simmered Ragu would be prepared stove top, simmered over several hours. For Christmas Day I prepared this recipe with a slight variation stovetop (recipe here) and we enjoyed every delicious bite on some chewy delicious parpadelle pasta. Yes actual gluten loaded pasta…and it was divine.

[amazon text=Amazon&asin=Today in keeping with my more paleo-ish lifestyle I have prepared it with spiralized Butternut Squash. The earthy sweetness of the squash paired super well with the deep beefy tomato yummyness. I also grabbed my Instapot for this one as I was rather short on time and it didn’t disappoint! I chose to leave out the tomato paste that I had used on Christmas in my more traditionally prepared Ragu as sometimes the tomato paste can burn to the bottom of your Instapot.

For the preparation, turn your Instapot on sauté. Cut your roast into 4 equal size chunks, season with salt and pepper. Once your Instapot is hot sear 1 or 2 pieces at a time browning on all sides (2-3 minutes a side). Then set aside. Next sauté the “sofrito”, carrot, celery and onion in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt and a pinch of black pepper for about 5 minutes to really develop the flavor. Add garlic, oregano and thyme and continue to sauté for an additional minute or until fragrant.

Deglaze the pan by pouring in 3/4 cup of a good dry red wine, I had a Spanish Tempranillo open so I chose that for my sauce. Let it simmer for a minute or two or until the liquid reduces just a little.

Pan full of Butternut Squash Noodles

Now add the beef, beef stock, and tomatoes to the veggies and wine. I usually wait until the end to salt as there is salt in the tomatoes and the stock and as it reduces it will concentrate the salt flavor. Lock cover on Instapot and press manual then adjust to 20 minutes on high pressure. While your Ragu is cooking grab your spiralized and spiralize your Butternut Squash. Any pieces that couldn’t be spiralized save for squash fries or squash hash or whatever your desired preparation. Toss your squash with a tablespoon of olive oil and a touch of salt and pepper and roast in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. You should have plenty of time for this step as it takes a while for your pressure cooker to come to full pressure (up to 15 minutes).

After the 20 minute pressure cook is complete allow to natural release for a minute or so then flip the valve to manual release. I use my Instapot on my stovetop with a cutting board under it, so I can use my fan to vent steam, etc. I really don’t want to damage my cupboards while releasing steam or smoke the house up searing meat! Okay once your steam is all released and you can safely open your pressure cooker turn it off, then back on the sauté high. Remove meat and shred while the sauce is reduced until it thickens. Then toss Squash Noodles (squoodles) into the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper, pile it on your favorite pasta plate, hit it with a grating of Parmesan or Pecorino and enjoy.

Cheers!

Italian Beef Ragu with Butternut Squash Noodles

PS: Don’t let the wine you opened go to waste. If you don’t enjoy drinking it be sure to freeze it in ice cube trays for future recipes.

PPS: There was an error in the original recipe, I have since reduced the beef broth on the recipe from two cups to one. Sorry for any inconvenience this caused!

Instapot my new favorite kitchen essential

I have been searching for a crockpot that I could brown meat and sauté veggies in for a while. As I am also very cautious of the materials products that touch my food are made of, something aluminum was definitely not going to work.

As I was reaching the end of my 3rd pregnancy I was doing everything I could to be ready. Since we don’t eat processed food make ahead meals were important on my list but with or chaotic schedules and my lack of energy it is wasn’t happening.

Then it happened! Amazon sends me an email with the Instapot flash sale!! Are you kidding me! I thought I was in the know when it came to kitchen gadgets but somehow I had never been introduced to the Instapot…

It took me about 10 minutes (okay maybe less) to decide I NEEDED this “tool”. I say tool jokingly as my 6 year-old walks in and says, what’s that mom? I say it’s my new tool, her response was “umm Mom that looks like a toy not a tool”. Some people’s kids…

Uses for this beauty, well it is a rice cooker/pressure cooker/crock pot all in one. It seriously replaced my pressure cooker and my crockpot and saves me washing extra pans too! I have made risotto in minutes without stirring, one pot pasta, seared and cooked some beautiful beef roasts that would melt in your mouth, made homemade soup, made chicken stock, I even cooked an entire chicken in 25 minutes. As I am still learning what this beauty is capable of I have discovered Facebook Instapot groups, Pinterest pages dedicated to the Instapot and countless blogs that specialize in Pressure cooker recipes. I am hoping to post some of my own recipes soon too!

If anyone has a favorite Instapot recipe , please share it in the comments,I would love to hear it!

Cheers, and have a very Merry Christmas season!

Oven Roasted Sweet potato fries

One of my kids favorite sides and mine too, sweet potato fries! My son went through a phase of refusing to eat any vegetables, when I say phase I actually mean a year and a half of his 3 1/2 year life. He would literally gag if a veggie so much as dared pass through his lips. I soon discovered that fries though were completely acceptable. So I started making everything into fries. Sweet potatoes, squash, beets, egggplant…if it was sliceable it became a fry. I love these sweet potato fries with just ketchup but they are awesome with other toppings for example taco meat, cheese and guacamole. Use your imagination, and please share!

The preparation well, easy peasy as my daughter says, just check me out making them while wearing a baby…

Just scrub your sweet potatoes, then slice into planks and then into strips. I try to slice them very thin, between an eighth and a sixteenth inch. Toss them with a bit of olive oil salt and pepper. Spread them onto a parchment lined sheet pan and pop into a 450 degree oven. Roast until dark golden, about 45 minutes to an hour.

Put them alongside a nice juicy burger or just chow them down with some ketchup. However you enjoy them, cheers!!

P.S. checkout my video for step by step directions and a cameo by all 3 of my little lovies…

Easy Thanksgiving Sage and Butter Rubbed Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! The turkey seems to be a very scary experience for many. Maybe because we are preparing it for a lot of people, possibly because we know it can be super dry if mistreated, maybe it is all the funny videos and stories we have seen and heard over the years. Well worry no more! I have a simple straight to the point tutorial for you to make the perfect bird. Please visit my Facebook page for a live video with step by step instructions!

Easy Thanksgiving Butter and Sage Rubbed Turkey

Pull your bird from the oven an hour or two before you plan to roast it for even cooking.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the turkey from the wrapper over a pan or the sink as there will be a lot of liquid spilling out. Remove the neck from the cavity and the bag of gizzards. If you can’t find the gizzard bag check where the neck would have been attached at the top of the breasts. Rinse and pat dry. (Please sanitize your sink after you are all done!).

In a small bowl mix together 2 teaspoons of salt. 1 teaspoon pepper, 2 tablespoons of dried Sage and 5 crushed garlic cloves. Mash this mixture into a whole room temperature stick of butter making a compound butter. Feel free to adjust salt and pepper to your tastes.

Divide compound butter into 4 like sized portions. Separate the skin from the breast and slip one of the 4 butter portions under the skin. Repeat with second breast. From the breast area closest to the leg, loosen the leg and thigh skin and slide half of one of the four into each leg quarter. Slather the outside of your bird with the remaining butter.

Slide a quartered onion and a 2 lemon halves into the cavity of your bird. This is also a great place to stash some fresh sage or thyme if you have some on hand.

Place turkey on roasting rack in roasting pan and add 1-2 cups of water. Keep an eye on your liquid level throughout the roasting process to ensure your turkey remains moist, and of course so you can make gravy afterwards.

Place roasting pan in preheated oven for one hour or until the skin appears browned. Then lower temperature to 325 to to finish roasting. Depending on your bird size this could be at least another 1.5 hours or more. A general rule of thumb is to roast 20 minutes per pound and until a thermometer inserted into the thigh next to the breast registers 180 degrees. If your breast begin to get too dark, feel free to tent them with foil to keep them from drying out.

Remove turkey from oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes to allow the juices to distribute before slicing.

Sit back and enjoy your meal with family and friends remembering all of the beauty in life we have been blessed with. Have a great thanksgiving!

Cranberry Sage Chicken

This weekend we took a road trip to visit family including my favorite Uncle and Aunt who were visiting from their home in Spain! I miss them so much, I always look forward to their annual visit. This was our first overnight trip as a family of 5 so as you can imagine I had A LOT to do before we could leave. Enter one of my almost famous, super fast dinners. (Maybe not quite almost famous, but someday…). On the menu for the evening, cranberry and sage roasted chicken thighs.

This chicken can be prepped and in the oven in under 10 minutes making it a great option when you don’t have time and want to avoid ordering in.

First step slice an onion. I then lay the onion in the bottom of a shallow roasting dish and sprinkle cranberries around the onion slices. I use onion slices instead of diced to keep the chicken up off the bottom of the pan and it also makes it easy for my kids to avoid them :).

Liberally salt and pepper your chicken, and place on top of onion slices. Crush your garlic and add that to the top of the chicken along with thyme and sage. Drizzle with oil and rub it all into the thighs. Pour wine and chicken stock into pan taking care not to wash the seasonings off the chicken. Pop this into a 450 degree oven uncovered and roast for 45 minutes to an hour until juices run clear and near is no longer pink.

Serve with a fresh salad and or some roasted potatoes and enjoy!

Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Soup

I am overwhelmed with the beauty of fall. Living in Wisconsin has its pros and cons, I mean I don’t think most people enjoy freezing cold below zero no sun winter days, but fall that is different. It is beautiful! Leaf colors in orange, red, purple…fresh crisp air, apples, pumpkin everything…

Not to mention an abundance of squash. My favorite squash, aside from pumpkin of course is the beautiful butternut squash. On its own it doesn’t need any additional sweetener as long as you respect it. By this I mean roasting. Not steaming or boiling but roasting. This brings out the natural sugars and allows them to concentrate and caramelize. (please forgive my not so perfect picture)

So that is what I did for this velvety soup. It is super quick to put together, that is your active time making it. First cut your squash in half carefully, please don’t sacrifice a finger here. Scrape the seeds out and discard. (Or save them to roast and decorate your soup if you wish). Place squash halves cut side down on cookie sheet and roast in a 400 degree oven for about an hour, I put parchment on my pan to save clean up time later. Meanwhile cut the end off a head of garlic. Put the cut side down in a ramekin or small oven safe bowl and drizzle with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. When you are 20 minutes from the end of roasting your squash add your ramekin covered with foil to the oven. Your squash and garlic are done when they are golden brown. (I flipped my garlic over for a visual, roast cut side down.)

Remove squash and allow to cool before scraping the sweet flesh from the skin. Squeeze the garlic from the skins into your blender and purée with squash and 2-3 cups of chicken stock (to make it vegetarian/vegan use vegetable stock). I used my homemade stock this time but any stock will work. Purée until smooth. Empty blender into large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Now is the time to adjust your seasoning. Add 1 tablespoon dried sage, 2 teaspoons of dried thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Now swirl in a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to mellow out the sweetness of the squash and roasted garlic, feel free to add more if yours tastes extra sweet. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.

When you are ready to serve top each bowl with a good shake of pumpkin pie spice and a small pinch of cayenne. Add a crispy baguette, serve with a fresh salad and your meal is complete!

Cheers!

As a side note, I topped mine with Chèvre (creamy goat cheese), super yummy! This would also be great with any sage seasoned sausage…

Grill smokey sweet and tangy chicken legs

Welcome fall! Today I grabbed some beautiful chicken legs and soaked them in a sweet tangy marinade for the day. I had some apple cider hanging out in my refrigerator that needed to be consumed and decided to use this as the base for my marinade. The chicken hung out in this marinade in a zip top bag for several hours while we went about our other business. I came back to flip it a couple of times to make sure the chicken was soaking up all the yummy juices.

Making the marinade is super simple, mix all ingredients together in a zip top bag and add chicken. Seal bag and flip it over a bunch of times to coat the chicken. Place on a plate and put it back in the refrigerator for the day.

After about 8 hours (if you only have a couple that is fine too, I don’t always plan so well in advance either), prepare your grill. First I grabbed a large handful of maple chips and gave them a quick soak in some water to amplify the smoke flavor. My plan is to use the leftover chicken in my smoked chicken carbonara recipe, but that is another post. I am a charcoal purist as many of you know, so I am preparing my charcoal and setting up the grill for the indirect cooking method. To do this, start your coals via chimney starter, electric starter or lighter fluid. When the coals are glowing and ready to cook on, push them all to one side of your grill leaving the other side open with no charcoal. If you use gas, only light half of your grill leaving the other half of your burners off. The indirect cooking method gives you the opportunity to slow cook something, or to basically use your grill like an oven while imparting the smokey grill flavors into your food.

Once your grill is ready to go, add the handful of soaked maple chips and choke down the heat to about 225 degrees fahrenheit. Place your marinated legs on the indirect side (charcoal-less or the side that is turned off if using gas). Cover your grill and walk away. Come back periodically in the next two hours to make sure the temperature isn’t swinging up or down too much. Approximately two hours later (all grills cook differently so please use a thermometer to temp your meat), your chicken should be at 180 degrees. Pull the meat from your grill and let it rest for 10 minutes to let all the juices redistribute.

Serve with a side of grilled potatoes, and a side salad and enjoy the season. Cheers!

Pan Seared Wild Salmon

Sometimes we just need a super quick meal that is healthy and easy to clean up! I love to hear about other peoples go to quick meals, but for some reason when people ask me what my favorite is they are surprised when I say fish. For some making fish seems like a tricky task, but I am here to clear that up for your right now. Yes you can make a much more labor intensive fancy dish with a nice piece of fish, but this fancy and quick dish is no slacker in the taste department, I promise. It is also very flexible, so please feel free to play with the herbs and seasonings you use, this is not set in stone!

Note the abstract design of my rosemary. I just tossed my leaves on after I rubbed the fillets with a little salt and pepper, crushed garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Violà dinner into the pan and on the table 15 minutes later. Please forgive the varying sizes of the fish fillets in my picture, they were getting dangerously low in supply of wild salmon at the fish counter today and I had to have it! If you have the same predicament as me, just pull the smaller fillets from the pan a minute or two sooner than the larger ones.

I usually make close to 2lbs at a time as I have a 3 year old who thinks that he has to eat at least an 8 oz portion or larger when fish is served. I am shaking at the thought of my grocery bill 10 years from now! As this recipe is flexible, you can make an 8 oz portion or 4lbs or more at a time just reduce the amount of oil and herbs.

Now for the cooking part, heat your pan on medium high to high heat for a few minutes to get a nice hot cooking surface. Drizzle in a couple tablespoons of olive oil, and place fillets in pan skin side down for about 6 minutes or until the skin is crispy and has released from the pan. Do not touch the fish during this time. If you try to move it once it is in the pan, before it is done, it will stick and tear.

Once your skin is crispy flip your fillets and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, depending on thickness. Your goal is to have the salmon slightly undercooked in the center, think a medium to medium well steak. You can go well done, your fish will just be a bit dryer.

Serve on a bed of fresh greens, sliced tomato, cucumber and goat cheese with a drizzle of oil and vinegar, or with your side of choice, and enjoy!

Cheers!

Grilled Braised Beef Chuck Roast

Super excited for todays post! After I made a stop at my local grocery store and grabbed a gorgeous 2# grass-fed beef chuck roast, I stashed it in my refrigerator and began to toss around the possibilities. I could take the easy way out and just throw it in the crock pot, but it is a beautiful weekend and the grill is calling my name. Not to mention as I am super pregnant, the less dishes the better!

So grilling it is! As a side not this can totally be made inside with a stovetop and an oven if you are not into grilling or the weather is not cooperating.

The assembly is super simple. Remove meat from refrigerator and allow to warm up to room temperature or as close to that as you are comfortable with. Trying to sear a super cold piece of meat can be a bit trying. Salt and pepper both sides of meat, sprinkle with some fresh or dried thyme, rub with some extra virgin olive oil and let it sit.

To prepare your grill you are going to need a direct and indirect cooking area. I am a grill purist so I prefer charcoal, but if gas is your choice, hey I am not judging! For charcoal you will need to start your coals and when they are glowing push them all to one side of your grill. For gas, light the outer two regions of your grill leaving the middle one off. (if you only have 2 regions, just light one).

While you are waiting for your grill to heat up, slice up a yellow onion and crush some garlic. Place them into the bottom of a grill safe pan. Disposable aluminum pans work great to avoid the dreaded dishes, but if you don’t like aluminum go for whichever pan you like. Next add in 1 cup of dry red wine, and 1/2 cup of water. For the wine I used petit syrah today, but any red on the dryer side will work. Set this pan aside close to your grill so you can add the meat to the pan once it is seared.

Once your grill is smoking hot and ready, sear your roast for about 3-4 minutes per side, getting a nice sear but not burning your roast. Once both sides have been seared, place meat on top of onions and garlic then top with a fresh rosemary sprig and cover with foil or lid.

Place the pan on the indirect heat area in your grill and turn your grill down by choking the air down a lot on your charcoal. Alternately with gas, just turn it down…You want to maintain a steady temperature around 275-300 degrees fahrenheit, so make sure to keep an eye on your thermometer. Braise roast for 2 hours.

Remove roast from pan and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. While your meat is resting add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar to the pan juices and simmer mixture in a shallow pan on the stove to reduce it a little to thicken, this should take about 10 minutes. Add a cup of milk, the fuller fat the creamier your sauce will be, and simmer an additional 2 minutes. (I used coconut milk as we have some lactose issues in our home so feel free to mix it up!).

Slice your beautiful roast and serve with some fresh steamed veggies and roasted potatoes and you will be a hero!

Cheers!

Always choose organic or locally pastured meats whenever possible.

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