jim brentar dinner report 27 September 2013 I’ve got a gig tonight. But there’s still time to cook dinner! I did it right this time! Had the ingredients on hand. Got started in plenty of time. Cooked something I’ve cooked before and knew exactly how to do. Got water boiling and turned the oven on the very first thing! Tonight’s dinner was a dish that Mary Kay knows as “John Marzetti,” (supposedly a recipe invented by noted restaurateur John Marzetti—still a well-known brand name of food products), which I’ve always known as “macaroni and ground beef.” And I’ve heard some people call it goulash. The basic idea has been around a long time. Cooked macaroni, ground beef, tomatoes and/or tomato sauce/puree, beef soup or beef broth or beef bullion. Cook the beef (usually with onions and maybe some garlic and bell pepper, and celery is also sometimes added). I left off celery (we don’t use it in our version). Digression on onions, garlic, and ground beef: If you were making a dish that made use of ground beef browned or sautéed with onions and garlic, which would you put in first? Everything simultaneously? The beef first so as to start to break it up? The onions first to infuse flavor and start to separate layers? Some will tell you to either cook the meat first and set aside, or cook the veggies first and set aside. What’s a timid chef to do? Well, I’m not timid! I’m about to spout some heresy here... IN A DISH LIKE THIS, IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER. EVERYTHINGS GONNA GET COOKED MORE IN THE OVEN ANYWAY. For some dishes, order does matter. Not this one. Also, are you using 80/20? 85/15? 90/10? 92/8? (If you’re still reading this far down, you probably already know that I’m referring to the % lean and % fat in the ground beef) If you’re using 80/20 (great for hamburgers!) then it’s best to start the beef first; then when you add the onions, you’ll have rendered fat from the burger and no need to add oil. If you’re using 92/8, then start with oil and onions in the pan. The beef will be lean enough as to need a little more lubrication. Digressing even further: One of the cooking tips I learned as a child/teenager, was that when you brown the ground beef, drain the fat. That’s gospel! Straight from Mom’s mouth (and she probably got it from her Mom)! Who could dispute that? Me. Back in the day, the higher fat ground beef was very common. Some even 25% or 30% fat! Hard to find these fatty ones these days. So, I can understand how you’d want/need to dump some of the extra fat (and maybe save the fat and reuse it). If it’s 90/10 or 92/8, you definitely don’t need to drain grease. Also, something that Mary Kay pointed out to me; the “grease” being drained would also contain meat juice, broth, and lots of flavor (did you add some seasoning with the beef and/or onions?). Finally, if you think it too greasy, add some flour. The flour will bind with any excess fat and will thicken the sauce/casserole. Where the freaking hell am I? Too much digression! Let’s see. Turned the oven on and got water boiling. While waiting for water to boil, start chopping onion, garlic, bell pepper and tomatoes. (I went with fresh tomatoes today, not canned.) Yes, while waiting for the water to boil, and while waiting for the pasta to cook, you can be doing something else, like cleaning and chopping veggies. And starting to sauté the onions. Always add some spices at the start to get into the oil and infuse flavor! And to make the room smell nice. (more important than you think!) Cooked macaroni according to package directions. Drained and rinsed in cold water to stop the noodles from over cooking. I don’t normally rinse pasta. The sauce adheres better to the noodles when it’s not rinsed. In a casserole, that’s not an issue. All the flavors and sauces and noodles and such will come together just fine in the oven. However, (you probably already know this) stuff keeps cooking, even after you take it out of oven or off the stove. How much? It depends! And exactly “how much” is not important if you rinse the pasta in cold water to stop the cooking process. Meanwhile back at the stove. Garlic joined in with onion. Then the beef jumped in. I’ve added round one of spices by this time. Salt, pepper, celery salt, ground mustard, paprika, turmeric. (NOTE: Mary Kay emphatically asserts that to get the true John Marzetti recipe, you need to stay away from the two most common herbs for Italian pasta, basil and oregano) Beef is browning and breaking up. Bell peppers join in. Mac is cooling in colander. And then... And who’s bright idea was it to use fresh tomatoes? I’m scrambling trying to get those in the pan pronto! The beef almost fully browned, and I’ve got to start adding liquid! Dice. Dice. Dice. Nice. You see, one other thing to keep in mind when choosing fresh vs canned tomatoes. The canning process cooks the tomatoes a little bit. Fresh tomatoes need a little extra time to cook. I mean, it won’t kill you to eat them undercooked—or raw for that matter. But for dishes like this, you want them cooked reasonably well. So, I get the tomatoes and a can of tomato puree in there just in time! Also, tomatoes need a little salt and a little sugar—or something sweet. I added both a little brown sugar and a little honey. And spicing round two. And a little water rinsing out the can of tomato puree, and the secret ingredient! This recipe calls for equal parts tomato/tomato-sauce and beef soup or broth. A can of vegetable beef soup was one traditional way to do it. Mary Kay’s way is to dissolve a cube of beef bouillon in the sauce. We recommend reading labels and choosing an all-natural bouillon not too high in sodium. There’s one other secret ingredient. Mary Kay says you gotta buy the cookbook to find out. Sorry. Anyway, let the beef/sauce mixture cook at least 5 minutes. It’s the tomatoes that we are cooking here. If you feel a need to thicken the sauce with flour, do it right away so that the flour can cook with the sauce. Then add the well-drained and cooled pasta. Yes, you did use a big enough pot, didn’t you? Or use the pot you cooked the pasta in and pour the sauce over the pasta. And let it cook while you stir and mix the two together. Yes, with the heat still on. If you cooked the pasta al dente (which you should) then this is what the pasta needs. When all mixed or close to all mixed (about a minute of cooking time with the pasta and sauce together), turn off the heat... and taste it. Last chance to adjust the spicing. Now’s also a good time to add any herbs. Herbs added at the start make the house smell nice. Herbs added toward the end give more flavor. Into a pammed casserole dish. Sprinkle a layer of Parmesan on top. 350 degree oven. At least a half hour. Probably no more than an hour—I mean, it was all cooked and safe to eat before you even stuck it in the oven. Serve with a small salad, maybe a dinner roll or garlic bread, and you’ve got a complete dinner. And today it was done without the time wasting and inefficiency of the other day. And the gig went really well, too!
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 07:19:56 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015