Marinara Sauce

Serves 4

The lack of meat and the sheer simplicity, speed and fresh taste of making tasty homemade marinara sauce, makes me wonder why there’s so much of sold in stores. Perhaps the increased popularity of marinara sauce is due to recent research which revealed that cooked tomatoes are rich with lycopene, an antioxidant which may help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. The versatility of marinara sauce is also no doubt a factor in its popularity. It’s a popular dipping sauce for finger foods like fried mozzarella cheese sticks and calzones. Marinara sauce can also be used to add a little zest to meat dishes such as chicken, veal parmigiano, pork steaks, and grilled seafood. One can even spice up a burger or a chicken filet sandwich with it.

Marinara Sauce
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes .
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 fresh basil leaves, julienne
salt & pepper to taste

Place the olive oil in a non-reactive sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic, cook until aromatic but not brown. Add the tomatoes, and simmer 20-25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the tomato sauce from the heat and add the fresh basil and stir. This is as much as the basil needs to cook.

Fire Roasted Red Peppers

Pimientos Morrones
Serves 4

Healthy and great tasting don’t always go together but in the case of red bell peppers they do. Raw they’re wonderful, however roasting them makes them even better and sweeter. Pimientos morrones are what they use to stuff olives with. They are sweeter with a smother surface and thicker flesh than regular bell peppers but either one will work in this recipe. Try to pick bell peppers that are smooth as they roast and peel easier than ones with deep crevices.
Enyoy with a loaf of good fresh bread, some cheese (Fontenella would be my pick and a bottle of good red wine (from Full Bodied Cellars ), if you can find it.

2 red peppers, preferably Morrones
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. minced fresh parsley, preferably flat leaf
freshly ground sea salt to taste
pan spray

Spray the pepper with pan spray and place over fire. I use my gas grill. I remove the grill and put the peppers right on the grill bricks. The can also be done right on the stove top of a gas oven. Rotate the peppers until they are blackened and blistered all over. Place in a paper bag, fold the top closed and let steam until cool. Peel the skin off the peppers, cut the stems off, cut peppers in half lengthwise, core and remove the seeds. Cut into ½ inch wide strips. Place then in a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss well with a rubber spatula to mix. They get better if they sit a day or two in the refridgerator, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Great Guac

Serves 4

I had a great little Mexican cook that worked for me by the name of Argelia. She showed me how to make many Mexican dishes. Her Taquitos & Guacamole were a huge hit. This is my take on her wonderful guacamole.

2 ripe Hass avocadoes
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped finely
1/3 bunch cilantro, leaves only, chopped finely
1 sm. Serrano chili, minced, optional
1 lime, juiced
¾ tsp. salt

The key players here are the Avocados, cilantro and limejuice, so adjust those to your liking; if your lime is not juicy, it may take two. It takes a fair amount so salt, depending on how flavorful your Avocadoes are.

Mash the Avocadoes in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix. Adjust seasonings and enjoy.

Pimientos de Padrón

Serves 4

Where have they been all my life, their so easy, so great tasting, so much fun and so hard to find. My daughter Lindsay lives in San Francisco. Three years ago, on a Saturday she took us to the farmers market at the Ferry Plaza. One of the booths we stopped at was Happy Quail Farms. She suggested we buy some Pimientos de Padrón and have them as a appetizer with dinner. Hooked! Now every trip to the city we have to buy some. She also mails us some occasionally. I’ve taken it one step further and now grow them in our garden.
The easy part; you don’t need a recipe. I just put about 1/8 inch of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, throw in some peppers (about two dozen) heat and stir until the peppers are blistered on all sides. Remove them from the pan and sprinkle with some good salt. Hold them by the stem, bite and enjoy the great tasting part.
The fun part; most of those pepper will be sweet and mild but one or two may be real zingers. The problem is you can’t tell which ones are going to be hot, it’s kind of chili Russian roulette. Lindsay cheats by biting the tips off before eating the whole pepper. Enjoy as an appitizer or tapa, as a side dish to grilled meat or steaks. Drink any thing from cold beer, to red wine, Spanish Cava or last but not least Coke
The hard to find part; I’m going to help with this part, I’m giving you two possible links for peppers and one for seeds. Peppers: Happy Quail Farms and La Tienda.com. Seeds: Local Harvest.
For more information visit:Other Spain.