Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce
Al’s Spaghetti Sauce


If you are making this recipe for a gluten-free guest, please read our Guide to Gluten Cross-Contact.


FYI - If you make this recipe to save money and/or time - it will do neither. It will give you the satisfaction of making a great homemade product. Truly a labor of love.

Ingredients:

2 - 28oz cans Dei Fratelli Chopped Italian Tomatoes
1 - 28oz can Dei Fratelli Diced Tomatoes
2 - 15oz cans Dei Fratelli Tomato Sauce
1 - 12oz can Everyday Essentials Tomato Paste
1 - Medium Sized fresh tomato (optional - had one on hand)
2 - Cups Cherry Tomatoes - halved (optional - had some on hand)
1 - Large (or 2 Medium) White Onion - diced
1 - 8oz package of Mushrooms - diced
2 to 3 - Medium sized Zucchinis
2 to 3 - Medium sized Yellow Squash
2 - Medium sized carrots - peeled and fine grated.
Minced garlic (you decide how much)
Penzey’s Dried Oregano
Fresh Thyme (stripped from stem)
Fresh Basil (several leaves fine chopped)
Salt & Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 - lbs Ground Chuck.

The ingredients used above will fill a 7QT pot. Scale your batch accordingly. We freeze measured amounts of sauce in a container - enough for 3-4 servings.

Directions:

Place a 7QT pot on medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to pot. Add carrot, 1/2 of diced onion, zucchini, squash, 1/3 of diced mushrooms, and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, & oregano. Stir.

Sauté until veggies are tender (about 5 - 10 minutes). You might have to add more EVOO during sauté time. Onions will start caramelize. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Add about a teaspoon of fresh thyme and tablespoon of fresh basil.

Add all tomato products and 1/3 of diced mushrooms to pot. Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce to a texture of your liking. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a screen and stir often. The goal is to reduce the water content and concentrate the tomato mixture. This process will take 2 to 3 (or more) hours. Place a teaspoon of the sauce on a plate to see how much liquid spreads out from the edges. I don’t like much water in my sauce, so there’s very little. Season to taste with salt and pepper after it’s done reducing. Salting too much before reduction will also concentrate the salt. Add a sprinkle of dried oregano and more fresh thyme if you like. Stir

While tomato/veggie mixture is reducing, brown the ground chuck.

In another pan sauté the remaining diced onions, remaining diced mushrooms, and some garlic until soft. Salt & Pepper to taste.

Add ground chuck. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle of dried oregano. Break up and stir. Drain excess grease. If you are freezing the entire batch - allow to cool before adding to sauce. If you plan to use the sauce right away - add meat to sauce if it’s reduced to your liking.

Cool before freezer packaging. Fill sink with enough cold water ice to reach 1/2 up the sauce pot when placed into sink. Stir every few minutes.

Lemon Garlic Chicken over Cauliflower Mash



Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken Breast
over Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash


Facebook is not all time-wasting games, people-sharing-more-stuff-than-we-really-wanted-to-know...it can be a really useful tool. Seriously...

I believe one of my Paleo Diet friends posted the low-carb
Lemon Garlic Shrimp over Cauliflower Mash recipe from Nancy at SheCooksHeCleans.net. Like a good husband, I asked Peggy to Pin it for me so I could make it for her. The ironic thing...it's just the opposite in our house...I cook and Peg cleans...just the way I like it.

I did make the shrimp & cauliflower and we both loved it! We had tried mashed cauliflower in the past, but we weren't impressed [at least with that particular recipe]. This recipe on the other hand...is a keeper!

In my adaptation of Nancy's recipe, I am simply replacing the shrimp with chicken and removing the lemon juice and red pepper flakes from the sauce. Actually the chicken you see was actually grilled the night before. Peggy is not a fan of reheated meat, but she had no problems cleaning her lunch plate.

If you like garlic, you're going to love this dish! It calls for fourteen to sixteen cloves. You'll need a way to peel them quickly; watch this video, it really works:
http://vimeo.com/29605182

Oh yeah, word of caution, don't plan on going out after eating this, you're a walking Garlic Weapon of Mass Destruction. This gives a whole new meaning to "chemical weapon".

If you are making this recipe for a gluten-free guest, please read our Guide to Gluten Cross-Contact.



Ingredients

Marinade:

Zest of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound (3 or 4) chicken breasts


Cauliflower Mash:

1 head of cauliflower, cut into even medium to large sized florets
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Half and half or cream / Milk or broth, optional use if needed to correct consistency

Lemon Garlic Chicken:

Marinated Chicken (from above)
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 slices bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup white wine, or gluten-free chicken broth
1/2 sweet onion, minced
Pinch or two of dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped


Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients of marinade in a bowl large enough for all the chicken pieces. Place chicken in the bowl and make sure each one gets well coated. Cover and place in refrigerator for 1 - 4 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 400 and fire up your favorite grill (gas or charcoal). Place cauliflower and garlic cloves in foiled shallow pan [sided cookie sheet or jelly roll pan]. Drizzle enough olive oil to coat the pan/foil and the vegetables. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover loosely with foil and roast for 15 min. Remove foil and carefully stir vegetables so they don't stick and so they brown evenly. Uncover and roast for another 15 – 20 minutes or until cauliflower and garlic are soft and lightly browned. Remove from oven.

3. As the cauliflower is roasting, get your grill grates cleaned and prepped. I like to heat my gas grill to about 500-600° to carbonize anything that might be sticking on the grates. Brush the grates with a grill brush to remove any carbonized food particles then clean with several layers of paper towel that was liberally coated with vegetable oil. This clean the grates, but it also creates a non-stick surface. Close grill cover and allow internal temp to rise back up to 500+

4. Place chicken breasts on the grill. Grill until meat is firm and juices run clear (or internal temperature reaches 165
°). Remove from grill, cover allow to rest and keep warm.

5. Place cauliflower & garlic with a couple tablespoons of butter in a food processor and puree. Add parmesan cheese and mix well. The cauliflower should be a mashed potato or grits consistency (fairly thick, not runny). Add a touch cream or broth if it's too thick. Place in a heat-proof bowl and keep warm.

6. In a sauté pan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon set aside on paper towels. When cool, chop into small pieces. Set aside.

7. Add two tablespoons of butter to the bacon drippings and melt on medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened. Add minced garlic, and oregano – sauté for a minute. Stir in wine/broth. Cook until liquid is reduced by half (only a few minutes). Salt & pepper to taste.

Note: I also had left over bacon, so I did not have bacon drippings to help create a sauce. So, in order to re-heat the chicken and make a sauce, in a pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter, a splash of olive oil and sauté some minced onion and garlic. After onions soften, add some gluten-free chicken stock (1/4 - 1/2 cup?). Cover just the chicken with a small cover and allowed the sauce to reduce & slightly thicken. Near the end of cooking, add some dried oregano. If I had some white wine, I would've used that instead of chicken stock.

8. Slice chicken and place over mashed cauliflower, spoon sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped bacon.


Until the next good eats - cook well and be well.

Al