Alfredo Sauce

A special occasion sauce.

Alfredo sauce is good stuff.  The best is made right on the hot pasta but that tableside procedure is not for the faint of heart.  Best just to make it in a pan ahead of time.  The worst part of this sauce is getting the cheese to melt properly.  The second worst part is that it will break/separate if reheated.

A word here about cheese.  This sauce is a cream/cheese sauce so don't even think about using pre-grated cheese.  Even the fancy ones have celulose added to prevent clumping and will wreck your sauce.

You could use salted butter in this recipe, but, depending on the particular cheese that you buy, the sauce can get too salty.  I prefer to control the sodium.

You'll need; (Photos show a double batch)

• 1 cup grated parmeseano regiano cheese. (1.5 cups if you use a microplaner)
• 1 cup whipping cream or half and half
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• (opt) 1 clove garlic (minced)  (or and inch from the squeeze tube)
• nutmeg (freshly grated) (if not fresh, cut the amt in half)
• salt 
• pepper
• parsley (chopped fine)
• (opt) 1 tsp lemon zest

Prepare your MIP.

Put a small saute pan on med-low heat and melt the butter and garlic (if desired).

Add the cream and stir occasionally as it comes nearly to a simmer. Do not boil your cream/butter mixture.

Add the cheese and stir constantly while it melts.

While stirring, grate in about 1/8 tsp of fresh nutmeg.  This is about 8 passes on the microplane. (Less if dried)

Season with salt, lots of pepper, and the zest (if desired).

When the sauce is creamy and smooth you can add the parsley to the sauce, or just garnish the finished dish with parsley.

Pomodoro Sauce

The simplest of the sauces.

I've been going through an Italian phase lately.  In fact, I'm roaring up to some research on the ultimate Alfredo sauce.  Lipitor here we come.

This sauce, however, is the simplest and the healthiest.  Pomodoro sauce is just tomato sauce.  The taste is light and fresh.  The flavor features tomatoes but you should get the herb and garlic in the background. Pomodoro screams summer.  It almost doesn't need a recipe, but here goes.

You'll need;

• 1 can (28 oz) San Marzano tomatoes (crushed ahead of time)
• 1-2 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 5-8 basil leaves (washed and chopped)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Try to get the San Marzanos from Italy.  The ones in the pic are from Jersey.

Put the olive oil in a skillet over med heat.

Add the garlic and chase it around for a minute in order to flavor the oil. Don't brown the garlic, just release the flavor.

Pour in the tomatoes (carefully) and stir.

Turn the temperature down if the tomatoes begin to bubble violently.  A low simmer is the desired state.

Add some salt and pepper.  Maybe 1/4 tsp each to begin with.

After 10 minutes add the basil and start stirring.  This is both to distribute the basil and to incorporate the oil to the tomatoes.

After another 10 minutes turn off the heat.  Taste for salt.  Fish out the garlic if it is a chunk and you didn't smash it into bits. You are done!  If you are eating this right away you should boil your pasta during the last 10 minutes and then add the pasta directly to the skillet.  I think angel hair or spagettini works best with this sauce.

Vodka Cream Sauce

I swear it isn't alcoholic...

I believe that we got this recipe from Bon Appetite magazine in about 1990.  Anyhoo it is easy and awesome so that makes it "awesy."  The vodka extracts something from the tomatoes that is hard to describe. It just changes the acid in the tomato somehow.

You'll need;

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small or 1/2 large onion (chopped)
• 1 can (28oz) of those awesome San Marzano tomatoes (squished)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup vodka
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 Tbsp chopped chives

Put the butter and oil in a skillet with the onions over med heat.

Saute for 5-8 minutes until translucent.

Add the tomatoes and bring back to a simmer.

Simmer until most of the liquid is gone.  This takes about a half hour -- do it slowly so that you don't scorch the sauce.  When it is ready a spoon dragged through the sauce should leave a clear area behind.

Add the vodka, cream and crushed red pepper.  Stir in and bring back to a simmer.  Let it thicken (10 min) and then add the chives.

Serve over your choice of pasta and garnish with a handful of Romano cheese.

Somebody remind me to turn off the flash when I take food pics.

Chicken Saltimbocca

A version of Sambocca alla Romana.

This one is modified from Mario Batali.  It tastes sooo good, and the fried sage leaves are a nice touch.  I don't know what to serve it with so I serve it over a dollop of mashed taters or some angel hair pasta.  If you had an appetizer or a salad with it I would forgive you. I do a few things differently from Mario.  I make the sauce without the chicken in the dish, and I grate some cheese over the top. I also made some modifications to the procedure.

You'll need;

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 large slices of proscuitto
• about 20 fresh sage leaves
• 1.5 cups of olive oil
• 3 shallots (thinly sliced)
• 4 oz each of oyster and button (white) mushrooms (sliced)
• 3/4 cup flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup white wine (Marsala preferred)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp Italian parsley

Pound the breasts out to just over 1/4 inch with a mallet or the bottom of a heavy pot.  If some bits come off you are probably doing it too hard.  I don't use plastic wrap for this, I put the breasts between two flexible cutting mats to contain the chicken contamination.

Put each breast smooth side down and lay a slice of prosciutto and a sage leaf inside.

Fold the breast over like you are closing a book and use a toothpick to hold it closed.  Ideally no ham is showing.  If you own a vacuum sealer you can skip the toothpick and get an awesome presentation by sealing the "books" 2- 3 in a package and sealing them up.  Put 'em in the fridge for a couple hours and they will hold their shape.  (This worked so well last time I thought about cooking them sous vide and finishing in the pan...)

Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan to 375F (nearly smoking).  If you need more oil you can cut the olive oil with vegetable oil.

Fry the remaining sage leaves a few at a time (about 20 - 30 sec) and remove to a paper towel.  Watch out!  Fresh sage leaves will spit when first added to the oil.

The leaves will be crispy when they come out.  They will also be fragile.  Take care.  Save the sage flavored oil to use for the rest of the recipe.  Mario didn't think of this.

Season the flour with salt and pepper and spread it on a plate.

Season both sides of the breasts with salt and pepper and dredge them in the flour.  Try to coat the entire piece.

Heat a skillet to med high and add 4-5 tablespoons of the sage infused oil.  Saute the chickens about 5 minutes on each side until golden.

Reserve them to a plate in a warm (200F) oven while you make the sauce.  Mario (and tradition) say that you should build the sauce around the chicken but I think the pan gets too crowded.  I will show a photo of the chicken back in the sauce (that I staged) but know that my chick waits in the warm oven until plating.

Too crowded to make the sauce properly.

After the chicken is out, drizzle in 2 more Tbsp of that oil and sprinkle a couple of tsp of flour into it.  Cook that "roux" for a sec and then add the mushrooms and shallots to the pan.

Sweat the vegetables for about 5 min and then add the stock and wine.  Reduce by half or a little more and things begin to thicken (remember there was flour in the skillet).

Turn off the heat and drop in the 3 Tbsp butter and the parsley.  Swirl the pan while the butter melts.  Sauce is done.

Plate the chicken, add sauce over the top or put the sauce on the plate and drop the chicken on top.  Your choice.  I make it at the last minute depending on how awesome the chicken looks.
Top with a few fried sage leaves and some micro-planed parmigiano.  Dig In!