seoulbrotherno1
Jan 15th, 2006, 05:45 AM
I know, Italians are White people, but damn! That's some good food right there. I attribute it to the fact that the Moors occupied Sicily for a couple hundred of years (not to mention their Egyptian / Pheonican contributions to their culture!)
Anyways, political contradictions aside, seoulbrother can really get down with some Italian food. Here is his recipe for a sure-shot, can't-miss tomato sauce:
Ingredients: (Remember the QUALITY of ingredients makes all the difference with your food. No amount of magic is gonna dress up your shit ingredients, so start investing in some sea salt and a pepper mill...)
2 Cans of Tomatos (the cans I get here are 800 grams. Fresh tomatoes are better if they are in season)
1 Yellow Onion
1 Assload of Garlic (fresh! not garlic powder! and make sure it is finely chopped! Do no use a press!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Butter
Freshly Grated Parmesean Cheese (Riggiano, not Kraft)
Basil (get the fresh stuff if you can, but the dried stuff is permissable...)
Tomato Paste
Optional ingredients:
Bay Leaf
Siracha Chili-Garlic Sauce
Heat up a skillet and coat it with butter. Toss your chopped onions in there and saute until they are nice and brown. Add about half of your garlic into the mix and keep things moving -you don't want to burn your garlic! (Feel free to toss a little bit of sherry or wine (or even water) to cool down the pan a little bit if your garlic is getting too brown.) After warming your garlic up, take the pan off the heat.
Open your cans of tomatos and chuck it into a big mixing bowl. Roll up your sleeves and squish the tomatoes in between your fingers until everything is broken up into a fine pulp. You shouldn't have any big ol' chunks of tomato floating around.
Chuck your tomatos into a big-ass pot. I cook all my shit on high heat, but you can put it at medium if you don't like to live dangerously. Add your onions and garlic. Simmer, simmer, simmer. (Make sure you stir!)
Add salt and pepper to taste. Next add the basil (finely chopped) and throw a couple bay leafs in there for good measure.
By this time, your sauce should be simmering pretty well, and there shouldn't be much evidence left of solid tomatos in your pot. Everything should have boilded down to a watery orange-red mush. If you taste it now, it'll be watery, but not really tomato-y.
So here comes the secret weapon: tomato paste.
Tomato paste will provide a strong tomato flavor to your sauce, it will make your sauce more red (instead of that orange color) and it will thicken your sauce. I add about two big-ass spoonfuls, but you'll have to play with the quantities.
Taste, taste taste!
By this time, you'll have a sharp, tomato-y sauce. You should have enough basil to taste it now as you are testing the sauce. If you can't taste it, add more. The flavor of the sauce should be a little acidic. (You can add the Siracha Chili Garlic Sauce now as well -just a little bit, not too much because it'll take over the whole sauce. You just want to give it a subtle "bite.")
Next, add some olive oil. Olive oil will impart its own flavor in addition to serving as a medium in which to blend all of the flavors.
Taste again.
Now the sauce will have a slightly different character, but it'll still be sharp. Gradually add the grated parmesean cheese -maybe a handful or so. Keep tasting as you add the cheese. The cheese should kill all of the acidity of the sauce.
Taste.
At this time the sauce will be pretty good, but something will be missing. Add the last of your fresh garlic until the flavor is complete. If it still isn't right, check the salt and pepper. If that doesn't work, call Dominos.
This sauce is a bit thick and works best with shaped noodles. I like it with farfelle bows or penne.
I will also give a recipe for making pasta below (even though it is stupid-easy, so many people get it wrong!)
Ingredients:
Pasta
Water
Salt
You should have 3 to 4 times more water than your pasta. Make sure you fill up a big ass-pan with water and add salt. For pasta, the quality of salt doesn't matter, so go ahead and break out your Morton's. Your water should taste like briney sea-water. MAKE SURE YOU PROPERLY SALT THE WATER! This is the only opportunity you'll have to flavor the pasta itself.
When the water is boiling add your pasta and boil until just the tiniest bit in the center is still raw. (It'll look lighter on the inside than the outside of the noodle). Drain.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RINSE!!! Your pasta should have a nice salty flavor to it now. If you rinse your pasta, all of the flavor you added to it will get sucked right out. Your pasta will keep cooking because it is hot, but that is okay, because we took it off while it is still a little bit raw. Don't worry if your pasta is a little bit sticky at this point -it is supposed to be. Once you add it to the sauce, the excess, sticky starch will help the sauce stick to the noodle.
Do not oversauce your pasta. Your pasta should be coated with sauce, not swimming in it. Believe it or not, pasta is about the flavor of the PASTA not the sauce. If you can't taste the flavor of the pasta, you have too much sauce.
sb1
Anyways, political contradictions aside, seoulbrother can really get down with some Italian food. Here is his recipe for a sure-shot, can't-miss tomato sauce:
Ingredients: (Remember the QUALITY of ingredients makes all the difference with your food. No amount of magic is gonna dress up your shit ingredients, so start investing in some sea salt and a pepper mill...)
2 Cans of Tomatos (the cans I get here are 800 grams. Fresh tomatoes are better if they are in season)
1 Yellow Onion
1 Assload of Garlic (fresh! not garlic powder! and make sure it is finely chopped! Do no use a press!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Butter
Freshly Grated Parmesean Cheese (Riggiano, not Kraft)
Basil (get the fresh stuff if you can, but the dried stuff is permissable...)
Tomato Paste
Optional ingredients:
Bay Leaf
Siracha Chili-Garlic Sauce
Heat up a skillet and coat it with butter. Toss your chopped onions in there and saute until they are nice and brown. Add about half of your garlic into the mix and keep things moving -you don't want to burn your garlic! (Feel free to toss a little bit of sherry or wine (or even water) to cool down the pan a little bit if your garlic is getting too brown.) After warming your garlic up, take the pan off the heat.
Open your cans of tomatos and chuck it into a big mixing bowl. Roll up your sleeves and squish the tomatoes in between your fingers until everything is broken up into a fine pulp. You shouldn't have any big ol' chunks of tomato floating around.
Chuck your tomatos into a big-ass pot. I cook all my shit on high heat, but you can put it at medium if you don't like to live dangerously. Add your onions and garlic. Simmer, simmer, simmer. (Make sure you stir!)
Add salt and pepper to taste. Next add the basil (finely chopped) and throw a couple bay leafs in there for good measure.
By this time, your sauce should be simmering pretty well, and there shouldn't be much evidence left of solid tomatos in your pot. Everything should have boilded down to a watery orange-red mush. If you taste it now, it'll be watery, but not really tomato-y.
So here comes the secret weapon: tomato paste.
Tomato paste will provide a strong tomato flavor to your sauce, it will make your sauce more red (instead of that orange color) and it will thicken your sauce. I add about two big-ass spoonfuls, but you'll have to play with the quantities.
Taste, taste taste!
By this time, you'll have a sharp, tomato-y sauce. You should have enough basil to taste it now as you are testing the sauce. If you can't taste it, add more. The flavor of the sauce should be a little acidic. (You can add the Siracha Chili Garlic Sauce now as well -just a little bit, not too much because it'll take over the whole sauce. You just want to give it a subtle "bite.")
Next, add some olive oil. Olive oil will impart its own flavor in addition to serving as a medium in which to blend all of the flavors.
Taste again.
Now the sauce will have a slightly different character, but it'll still be sharp. Gradually add the grated parmesean cheese -maybe a handful or so. Keep tasting as you add the cheese. The cheese should kill all of the acidity of the sauce.
Taste.
At this time the sauce will be pretty good, but something will be missing. Add the last of your fresh garlic until the flavor is complete. If it still isn't right, check the salt and pepper. If that doesn't work, call Dominos.
This sauce is a bit thick and works best with shaped noodles. I like it with farfelle bows or penne.
I will also give a recipe for making pasta below (even though it is stupid-easy, so many people get it wrong!)
Ingredients:
Pasta
Water
Salt
You should have 3 to 4 times more water than your pasta. Make sure you fill up a big ass-pan with water and add salt. For pasta, the quality of salt doesn't matter, so go ahead and break out your Morton's. Your water should taste like briney sea-water. MAKE SURE YOU PROPERLY SALT THE WATER! This is the only opportunity you'll have to flavor the pasta itself.
When the water is boiling add your pasta and boil until just the tiniest bit in the center is still raw. (It'll look lighter on the inside than the outside of the noodle). Drain.
WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RINSE!!! Your pasta should have a nice salty flavor to it now. If you rinse your pasta, all of the flavor you added to it will get sucked right out. Your pasta will keep cooking because it is hot, but that is okay, because we took it off while it is still a little bit raw. Don't worry if your pasta is a little bit sticky at this point -it is supposed to be. Once you add it to the sauce, the excess, sticky starch will help the sauce stick to the noodle.
Do not oversauce your pasta. Your pasta should be coated with sauce, not swimming in it. Believe it or not, pasta is about the flavor of the PASTA not the sauce. If you can't taste the flavor of the pasta, you have too much sauce.
sb1