Category: Sauce

Grilled Vegetable Sauce For Ravioli

Servings:

Source: Fine Cooking, August/September 1999 pg 25
This sauce recipe will cover two pounds of pasta, so you can freeze half to enjoy later. The sauce is also delicious over tortellini, gnocchi, or even polenta.

Ingredients
Yields 4 cup sauce; serves four with sauce left over.
1 med red onion, halved (skin on)
3 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
1/2 hot fresh green chile, such as jalapeño
1 portabelia mushroom (4 to 5 inches in diameter), wiped clean, stem removed
½ med eggplant, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
2 cup (1 lb) chopped tomatoes, preferably fresh plum tomatoes or Early Girls
3 cloves garlic
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup heavy cream
1 lb cheese ravioli
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions
Prepare a medium-hot charcoal fire or heat a gas grill for 20 min. on high. Put the onion, peppers, chile, mushroom, and eggplant slices on the grill. Grill the onion until it can be easily pierced by a skewer (about 45 min.), the peppers and chile until charred black and the skins are blistering (about 20 min.), the mushroom until soft and golden brown (about 20 min.), and the eggplant until branded with grill marks (about 15 min.). When the peppers and chile are cool enough to handle, peel them and remove their seeds. Peel the onion. Put the onion, peppers, chile, eggplant, mushroom, chopped tomatoes, and garlic in a food processor. Process until the vegetables are a pureé. Pass through a food mill or a strainer and transfer to a saucepan; stir in the olive oil and cream. Turn the heat to medium, bring to a gentle boil, and then simmer until the sauce is dense, smooth, and reduced to about 4 cups, 30 to 40 min.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a vigorous boil and add the ravioli. Cook until the ravioli are puffy and bobbing on top of the water, pushing them down occasionally (if using frozen ravioli, follow the directions on the package). Test one to be sure it’s fully cooked; drain and then cover with the sauce. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if you like.

Grilled Tuna Marinade

Servings: —
Source: Bon Appétit, August 2005

Ingredients
Recipe #1

Marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
½ cup lemon juice
1 clove crushed garlic (for each steak)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
small amount of sea salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

In a shallow 9 X 13 inch glass dish, prepare all of the marinade ingredients. Remember, if you have more than 2 8-oz tuna steaks, you might need to adjust the ingredients to marinate. Marinate both sides (dredge steaks and get marinade on both sides). Let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes before grilling.

*Soy sauce will overpower tuna if you marinate for too long!

Light the grill while tuna is marinating. Once coals are white (30 minutes) spread them and clean the grill, then wipe with oil so steaks don’t stick.

Grill for 4 minutes or less per side for 1 inch steaks, depending on how you like them. Steaks should be firm with pink in the middle. If you prefer steaks to be rarer, grilling time should be 2½ minutes on each side.

Cranberry Orange Relish

Servings: 12
Source: NY Times Cookbook

Ingredients
1 lb cranberries, picked over and washed
½cup orange juice
2 tsp grated orange rind
2 cup sugar
½ cup blanched almonds, slivered
½ cup water

Directions
1.Combine all the ingredients except the almonds in a saucepan and cook until the cranberries pop open, about ten minutes.

2.Skim the foam from the surface, add the almonds (if you like) and cool.

Caponata with Fennel, Olives, and Raisins

Servings: 6 Cups
Source: Bon Appétit 1/2005
Gemma Sanita Sciabica of Modesto, California, writes: “”My husband’s family produces olive oil, and I’m the company’s recipe developer. We often hear from customers who love our oil but complain that they don’t have the time to cook. Their comments inspired me to share my favorite recipes, which show just how simple great Italian food can be.”” Caponata is a Sicilian specialty typically served as a relish or side dish. It also works as an appetizer on bread rounds.

Ingredients
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb unpeeled eggplant, cut into 3/4″” cubes
3 cup coarsely chopped red bell peppers
2 cup coarsely chopped fresh fennel bulb (ab 1 medium)
6 lg garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cup tomato sauce
6 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, bell peppers, fennel, and garlic; sauté until eggplant is tender, about 10 minutes. Add olives and raisins, then mix in tomato sauce and vinegar. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer until caponata is thick and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes longer. Mix in basil. Season caponata to taste with salt (careful…olives are already salty) and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Serve at room temperature.

Butterscotch Pecan Sauce

Servings: 1 Cup
Source: 8/79 Gourmet

Ingredients

Directions
In a saucepan combine 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar, ¼ cup light corn syrup, 3 tablespoons butter, and a inch of salt and bring the mixture to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring and washing down any sugar crystals clinging to the sides with a brush dipped in cold water until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer the syrup, undisturbed, swirling the pan, for 3 minutes, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in ½ cup chopped toasted pecans, 1/3 cup heavy cream, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Serve the sauce warm over coffee or vanilla ice cream. Makes about 1 cup.”

Blender Pesto

Servings: 6
Source: Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Ingredients
2 cup fresh basfl leaves (see note below)
½ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled
1 tsp salt
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp freshly grated Romano pecorino cheese
3 Tbsp butter, softened to room temp

Directions
Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves, and salt in the blender and mix at high speed. Stop from time to time and scrape the ingredients down toward the bottom of the blender cup with a rubber spatula.

When the ingredients are evenly blended, pour into a bowl and beat in the two grated cheeses by hand. (This is not much work, and it results in more interesting texture and better flavor than you get when you mix in the cheese in the blender.) When the cheese has been evenly incorporated into the other ingredients, beat in the softened butter.

Before spooning the pesto over pasta, add to it a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has boiled.

NOTE The quantity of basil in most recipes is given in terms of whole leaves. American basil, however, varies greatly in leaf sizes. There are small, medium, and very large leaves, and they all pack differently in the measuring cup. For the sake of accurate measurement, I suggest that you tear all but the tiniest leaves into two or more small pieces. Be gentle, so as not to crush the basil. This would discolor it and waste the first, fresh droplets of juice.