Casareccia Arrabbiata con Salsiccia

My mom was visiting this past week, and although we did do some very fine dining-out, I still wanted to make a few things at home while she was here.

Namely, I wanted to use up some of the stuff I bought at the farmers' market last weekend.

Not the least of which was some awesome bratwurst I picked up from a very German vendor there.  I've been living here for almost a decade and I still find it hard to get good German sausage... so this was cool!

Anyway... Casareccia Arrabbiata con Salsiccia, is essentially pasta in a spicy tomato sauce, with sausage.  Arrabbiata literally means 'angry' and the sauce is so named for its spiciness.  However... my mother isn't exactly a fan of spicy foods, so this particular meal was prepared "mild".

There was a good deal of wine consumed before, and during the preparation of this meal, so  I apologize if it is a deal sloppier than my usual documentation.  The photography, especially, is kind of nasty.  Sorry!

;)

First, as always, comes the chopping.

Garlic, green onion, and a small (mild arrabbiata) amount of chili pepper.

There's also a fair bit of fresh basil that I chopped up as well, but that goes in later.

For now, the garlic, onion, and pepper, get sauteed in a fair glug of olive oil.  

I don't think I need to mention that whenever I refer to 'olive oil' in my posts, I am of course referring to 'extra virgin olive oil'.  To me there really is no other kind.  Even my flavoured oils are all extra virgin.  Don't be stupid.

So these ingredients get sauteed on medium-low for about 4 minutes, and then the loosely-chopped basil gets thrown in just for a minute.

The tomatoes get added pretty much immediately after that, so have them ready to go.  If you're using fresh tomatoes, just blend em up real good beforehand.  If you're using paste like I am, just make sure (as I've said many times before!) that they're relatively pure.  Organic tomato paste with the only ingredient being "Tomatoes", is of course the best choice.

Then, it's just add water till you reach your desired consistency; in this case, I wanted it fairly runny, and I added enough flavour to be able to go the distance for a couple cans' worth of water.  If you want to get fancy, use some of your starchy water from your boiled pasta (which can be boiled in advance, btw.)  The older and more experienced I get with pastas, the less worried I become about boiled pasta.  I believe it is the sauce's job to take care of the pasta, not the other way around.  A medium if you will, for the sauce to make it to your mouth.  :)  

So... I'll often just cook it to al dente and then drain it and let it sit until the rest of the meal is ready.  Yes, this means it cools down, but the sauce is piping hot, right?  I don't believe in adding oil to boiling pasta either, so if your noodles stick together after a while, just break em up gently with your hands before serving.


Anyway... while the sauce was simmering on low for a while, I pan-fried my bratwurst.


Same deal as with most sausages... poach them with some water for a bit first, and then fry with only a drop or two of oil.

Then with some tongs, because these things are f'n hot, slice them relatively thinly.  It doesn't have to be too thin... especially in this kind of thin sauce.

I admit that at this point not all of these sausage slices made it into the sauce.  A few perished as sacrifices to the great ijj mouth in the sky.  The remaining slices were grateful and relieved with a new-found appreciation for life... up until they were scalded alive in arrabbiata sauce.  Heh heh heh.


At this point, however, I just quickly tossed them in the now-ready sauce, and then served it up.  If I had had a poorer quality sausage, I would have let the sausage cook in the sauce for much longer, so as to take on some of that flavour.  However... for this dish, I intended for the sauce and sausage to be two distinct flavours, juxtaposed.  Complementary to be sure, but distinct.  The sausage was good, and even though the sauce was mild, the meat provided a nice differential in the heat of the dish.


I forgot to take a good 'presentation' shot of this dish, prepared, but rest assured it looked nice.  The pasta underneath, a small yet blatant, blotch of red over the noodles, and then a small sprinkling of freshly-grated parmigiano reggiano on top.


I did remember to take a picture of it before too long... but not before the great ijj beast had already ravaged the splendour of the dish's beauty.

  
This pasta was delightful.  It was served as the main course in what was meant to be three courses; the first was a light spinach salad in a white wine & honey dressing, and dessert was meant to be some gourmet cupcakes... but no one seemed to be hungry enough for dessert this day.


I'll take that as a good sign.


I think this was still a little too spicy for my mom's liking, although she was gracious not to say anything about it.  However, I can assure you that it was definitely on the mild end of an arrabbiata sauce!  It was still delicious, and the mildness allowed for some of the other flavours to shine through very well.


My wife and I are currently enjoying copious amounts of left-overs, in fact... and should be for another couple of meals!

ijj's Gourmet Basil Burgers

I don't cook burgers that often... maybe two or three times a year.  They're a surprisingly large amount of work, they're very messy and greasy, and they make the house smell like cooked meat for a half a day.


But they can be delicious.


As most often, some of my best creativity in the kitchen is when I've got a few disparate ingredients needing to be used up.  In this case, I had some bread chunks from an olive loaf we bought at the farmer's market on the weekend, and some fresh organic basil - also from the farmer's market.


So, I decided to make some gourmet hamburgers.


Basil wouldn't have been my first go-to herb for red meat, but I have done it before, and the juxtaposition of the sweet, fragrant, fresh basil with something hot and spicy like an habanero pepper is incredible.


So, the ingredients for tonight's gourmet burgers, in order of concentration, are: ground beef, breadcrumbs, basil, onion, garlic, a small pepper (habanero), and an egg to bind it.


First thing was to make the breadcrumbs.  I had taken out the chunks of bread early, and let them get a little dry on the counter all day, but (as you'll see in a minute) they didn't really get dry enough.

But I didn't know that yet.


So, I put them in my cusinart, and chopped em up good.  They didn't get as fine as I had hoped.

So, I pulled them out, and toasted them in a large frying pan for about 5 minutes.  That totally did the trick, and the crumbs were nice and fine, as well as being nice and toasty.

So, those got set aside, in that medium mixing bowl, for later, and I next began to chop up all the prep ingredients.


Basil:

 

Onion:

Garlic: 

Pepper: 

And then mixed them in with the bread crumbs, and cracked an egg in with them.

Then, using a fork and not a whisk, I mixed it all together until it sort of resembled tabbouleh.

Next I squished in (literally, using my fingers) the ground beef, and veritably kneaded the mixture until it was all uniform.

Next, I rolled out the whole mix with my hands, on my cutting board, and then cut it into four (relatively) equal parts.

Then it was a simple matter to shape them into patties.  I used the buns (adjacent) to judge an appropriate diameter.  If your buns are smaller, just make the patties thicker (and change cooking time accordingly).

This season I've seen a lot of 'burger presses' in stores.  I don't know if they've always been around and I've just not noticed them, or if they're doing a big push for them this season, but I've seen many, and of differing brands - not to mention shapes and sizes.


I can't imagine ever needing one.  There is so much junk out there for kitchens.  Junk which is supposed to make your life easier, but in fact just takes up space in your (surprise, surprise) junk drawer.  Like garlic presses.  And mushroom washers.  And avocado de-pitters.  The list is long.  Unfortunately.  Unlike these devices' lifespan or journey to the land-fill.


There are a few things like this that I condone.  For example, my garlic keeper, and my citrus zester.  Junk that is not really needed, but isn't completely useless.


Anyway... back to the burger press.  Sure it looks cool, and promises to make your patties perfectly round and uniformly-sized every time.  But the thing looks like a bitch to clean, and I just have to ask: how hard is it to form a patty using your hands?


The answer?  Not very.


There's a reason you put some binding agent (egg) in with your mix.  It makes it sticky.  It's like playing with play-dough.  If you wanted to be extremely meticulous, you could really sculpt some masterpieces.


I thought my patties were OK looking, but I am admittedly biased.  What do you think?  Yay or nay?


;)


Anyway... this was a day that I didn't get a firm ETA from the wife on her coming home from work, so I wrapped these patties up and let them chill in the fridge until she got home.


This is easily done - and if you ever want to impress company or guests, this looks pretty professional - just grab a sheet of parchment paper and cut it into quarters.

So, in the meantime, I prepared everything else:  I got my pan ready, I cut up some slices of cheese (I've topped burgers with all manner of cheeses, but today we went with just good, old-fashioned, old cheddar), and brought out my salish salt.

When the wife did get home, I put on the fire, and let my big pan heat up under medium-high heat.  I've heard varying advice for the optimal cooking heat for burgers, but I myself recommend about a gas mark 6.


A small drop of becel oil in the pan, spread about using a heat-resistant brush, and the pan is ready.

If you never knew this trick, brushing the oil in the pan works wonders at keeping the oil dispersed throughout the pan, rather than just pooling.  It's awesome, and especially useful for large surface areas.


So... in go the burgers, all at once, together.

And, on top, ijj's trusty splatter guard.


:)


They really only take a few minutes.  I myself like my burgers cooked to medium or even medium-well.  So, it was about 4 minutes on the first side, and about 2 minutes on the second.

DROOL!!!!!!


So, immediately upon flipping, I sprinkled a generous pinch of salish (smoked sea salt), and placed a slice of cheddar, on each patty, covered, and let cook for another couple of minutes.

Yes, there's a fair bit of grease, but what do you expect, they're burgers!
Mmmmmmm...


I did make a nice, healthy green vegetable to accompany them, however... can't just have burgers, after all... even if they DO have a fair bit of veggies inside.  Heh heh heh.


Some lightly steamed asparagus with a pinch of salt and pepper, and a tiny drop of olive oil.

Delicious.


But not even remotely as mouth watering as...


THIS:

And here's one smothered in ketchup:

And here's one horribly mauled (by me):

So freaking good.  


Too good, in fact, for words.


I'm truly, legitimately, painfully, sorry for you that you didn't get to eat them.