16 Dec Sun 2018
Six Great Alternative Recipes©
Six Great Alternative Recipes©
By Arlene Wright-Correll
Mock meat sauce
PREPARATION:
Mince onion, 1 clove of garlic, celery, carrot, a little parsley and basil. Sauté with 2 slices of ham, finely minced, and lightly brown in oil. When it is the right color, pour ½ cup dry white wine over the mixture and allow to evaporate. Then add 2 pounds peeled, seeded plum tomatoes (you can also use the canned kind, but if there are seeds, you must strain the sauce when it has finished cooking). Simmer for about 1 ½ hours, adding a little warm water every now and then if the sauce gets too thick. Add some salt when the sauce just being to thicken and some freshly ground pepper when cooking is complete. 1 hr 45 minutes.
Minestra di pane
Bread and vegetables soup in the manner of "Granny Giulia".
Ingredients for the Sauce:
- 3.45 cups fresh beans (red or kidney)
- 1.3/4 cups gr. ripe tomatoes
- 3/4 cups cubed raw potatoes
- 1 black cabbage
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- some parsley
- 1.5 cups cubed stale Tuscan bread
- 5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (add extra according to taste)
- 1 hot pepper (Capsicum)
- salt and pepper
PREPARATION:
1. In a large saucepan sauté the garlic, diced onion, chopped carrot, celery and parsley in the oil until golden brown.
2. Wash and cut the remaining vegetables. Add them to the saucepan and stir constantly for 15 mins over a medium heat.
3. Boil the beans in a separate saucepan. Once they are cooked, add them to the vegetables with enough broth to cover the vegetables. Cook the combined ingredients for 45 mins over a medium heat.
4. Cut the stale bread into slices and cover the bottom of a tureen. An alternate layer of bread and vegetables until the pot is full.
If you don't finish your "Minestra di Pane" in one sitting you can reheat it the following day adding some extra olive oil the result is the famous Ribollita.
A nice Meatless Tuscan Lasagna
PREPARATION:
Ingredients for the sauce:
- 2 onions: 1 brown, 1 white
- 1 glove of garlic
- 1 leek
- 2 celery sticks
- 3/4 cups string beans
- 3/4 cups corn kernels
- 1/4 cups of diced potatoes
- some parsley
- 1/2 liter of milk
- extra virgin olive oil
- a bit of cinnamon
- 1 nutmeg
- pulp of 4 tomatoes
- a sage leaf
- rosemary
- a bay leaf
Ingredients for the Béchamel Sauce:
- 1.5 liter of milk
- 1 nutmeg
- salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup plain flour
PREPARATION of the sauce:
1. Finely chop the onion, garlic, leek, celery and parsley. Lightly fry them in the oil with the sage, bay leaf and rosemary. Once the vegetables are browned remove the herbs.
2. Finely mince the meat. Add the meat to the vegetables and cook the combined ingredients for a further 20 minutes.
3. Add the tomato pulp, milk and a bay leaf and continue cooking the sauce over a medium heat for approximately 2 hours.
PREPARATION of the béchamel sauce:
4. Bring 1 litre of milk to the boil. Put 1/2 litre of cold milk into a separate saucepan and slowly add the flour (stirring continuously to avoid lumps), grated nutmeg and salt.
5. Put the saucepan containing the cold milk mixture over a medium heat and stir constantly until it begins to thicken. Add the boiling milk and butter and allow the sauce to thicken for a further 5 mins reducing the heat to low.
FINAL PREPARATION:
6. Cook the lasagna in a saucepan of salted boiling water.
7. Cover the base of a greased baking dish with a thin layer of meat sauce, then add a layer of bechamel sauce, and a layer of lasagna. (You can also add some parmesan cheese.) Repeat this process until all the ingredients have been used, finishing off with dobbs of butter on the top.
8. Cook the lasagna in a preheated oven for 1/2 hour at 180°.
Pasta bean soup
REPARATION:
Mince onion, 1 clove of garlic, celery, carrot, a little parsley and basil. Sauté with 2 slices of ham, finely minced, and lightly brown in oil. When it is the right color, pour ½ cup dry white wine over the mixture and allow evaporating. Then add 2 pounds peeled, seeded plum tomatoes (you can also use the canned kind, but if there are seeds, you must strain the sauce when it has finished cooking). Simmer for about 1 ½ hours, adding a little warm water every now and then if the sauce gets too thick. Add some salt when the sauce just being to thicken and some freshly ground pepper when cooking is complete. 1h 45 mins.
Springtime "spaghetti"
PREPARATION:
Prepare all the necessary vegetables: remove the stems and cut the leaves of ½ bunch of turnip greens into thin strips; 10 ounces of peas; remove the hard outer leaves and quarter 4 artichokes; blanch 7 ounces of asparagus tips. Now chop 2 ounces of ham, including some fat, and brown in a pan with a little oil.
Add 3 or 4 finely diced spring onions. When the onion is golden-colored, mix in all the other vegetables and cook gently, moistening from time to time with warm water and serve with the vegetables and a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese. 45min.
May the Creative Force be with you!
Arlene Wright-Correll