Cheese Sauce

Tips for making Cheese Sauce

Here are some tips I used to learn to make perfect cheese sauce, which always leads to perfect Mac n Cheese.

1. Starch, such as all-purpose flour, cornstarch, or potato flour will keep the cheese from curdling. If you use all purpose flour, add it to the mixture before the cheese; it needs to be cooked for a few minutes to remove the starchy taste.
2. The less you heat the cheese the better. When making soup, sauce or fondue, add the cheese last; then heat it only enough to melt the cheese. Often you can remove the pan from the burner and the residual heat will be enough to melt the cheese.
3. Shred, crumble or finely dice the cheese before melting it. Smaller pieces melt faster. (easier to do with cold cheese)
4. Allow the shredded cheese to come to room temperature before melting it and it will melt faster.
5. Reduced fat cheeses have different melting characteristics than regular cheeses. They take longer to melt and are not as smooth and creamy in texture. You will need a low temperature flame to melt reduced fat cheeses and they must be shredded or finely diced first.
6. And now for a tip I learned at the Melting Pot. A small amount of an acidic liquid will keep the cheese from getting stringy. You can use white wine or lemon juice. Just sprinkle a tablespoon of your acidic liquid over one cup of shredded cheese before melting it. Or use white wine as part of the sauce base.
Mac n Cheese is a crowd favorite and it is as impressive as a home baked cake. I am still perfecting my cheese combinations so I do not have a recipe yet. Why not post your favorite Mac n Cheese recipe for me to try. By the way, this dish serves well with a medium to light bodied red wine or a very crispy white selection.
Chateau-Ste-Michelle-Eroica-Riesling-2008 from www.wines.com is the wine we served with our Mac n Cheese dinner most recently. This white wine is the bottle to bring the hostess this season when you attend holiday parties. Wine Spectator gave this wine 94 points. In fact in each of the four reviews this wine did not score below 91 points.
Happy Holidays.

30 Minute Meals Salmon Pasta Toss

Ever find yourself at the grocery store, too spent from the days activities, trying to be creative with dinner. Even the most inexperienced chef can go into the kitchen and WOW your dinner companions with this dish.

If I haven't said so before, I should have....if you intend to cook once a week, keep in your cupboard, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Garlic, Fresh Shallots, Dried Basil, Red Cooking Wine, White Cooking Wine, Kosher Salt and Black Pepper. In your refrigerator always have Butter and Parmesan Cheese.  Start a list today and call it Julie's Must Haves. Fell free to comment on things you want to add to Julie's Must Haves or email me at Mise en Scene your comments and questions.

This recipe serves four, takes 15 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes from start to finish. Your list of ingredients:

1. 8 ounces of linguini
2. 1 tablespoon of butter
3. 12 ounces of salmon fillet, skinless and cut into 1 inch cubes
4. 1 cup of sliced mushrooms
5. 12 asparagus spears cut into 1 inch pieces
6. 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic 
7. 1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh basil or 2 teaspoons of dried
8. 12 grape tomatoes
9. 2 green onions sliced using only the green part
10. 4 teaspoons of corn starch
11. 1 cup of chicken broth
12. 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan Cheese

Here are your four quick steps to a delicious dinner.

1. Cook the pasta in salted water for 7-9 minutes. 
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter in a 12 inch skillet over a medium heat. Cook the salmon pieces in the butter for 4-5 minutes. Fully cooked salmon will flake apart when you put a fork into the pieces of fish. Remove the salmon from the skillet. 
3. Increase the heat slightly and add the mushrooms, the garlic, and the asparagus to the skillet and cook and stir for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the tomato, the basil and the green onion and cook for 1 more minute.
4. In a cup stir the cornstarch into the chicken broth. Pour the broth over your vegetable mixture and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add in the salmon pieces, stir and turn off the heat. Toss it with the pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

If you like spicy foods you can add a finely shopped jalapeno pepper to the skillet when you are cooking the other vegetables.
I suggest you try a Columbia Valley Wine from Chateau St Michelle. Their Chardonnays from 2007 fetch 89 points for Wine Enthusiast. Bevmo carries it and sometimes offers these wines in their 5 cent sale.

You can enjoy some discounts from wines.com, just click here. Monthly wine clubs at Wine.com

Quick Spaghetti Sauce

This recipe has been my life saver for years. I have prepared this dish hundreds of times and every time it gets high marks for delicious. This is a simple tomato based pasta sauce with Spicy Italian Pork Sausage and Mild Turkey Sausage.

I am about to embark on perfecting this recipe. You see, Sunday, I prepared this dish for the 100,000th time. Only this time, I made a minor change to my recipe and the sauce finally was the sauce I always wanted it to be.  It was quick, delicious, did not taste overcooked, but it was thick and it clung to the linguine. This recipe is worth sharing.Keep in mind that this was a special birthday meal I was preparing so of course I wanted perfection.
 
A little background....
I had invited Anne Kelly to spend Sunday with me in celebration of her birthday. I had missed seeing her for her birthday. She graciously accepted. I invited her to spend the day Sunday with me. Even though I had work to do, I knew she would not be lonely at my place.  I was busy Saturday night with a wedding reception at Sangria in Hermosa Beach. www.sangriahermosa.com.
When I got home I found Miss Kelly resting comfortably on my couch surrounded by her Redondo Beach Fan Club.

On Sunday on my way back from the Beach House in Hermosa Beach I ran by the grocery store and picked up:

1. 1 large can of crushed tomato
2. 1 bunch of fresh basil (wash before you use)
3. 1 pound of Sweet Turkey Sausage
4. 1 pound of Spicy Pork Sausage
5. 2 medium shallots
6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (this should always be in your cupboard if you cook)
7. 1 pound of pasta (get what you like)
8. Salt & pepper to taste (use only Kosher salt when you cook)

I forgot to get red cooking wine. You can not make great tomato based sauce without red wine.

1. Finely chopped the shallots and saute them in 1/4 cup of olive oil over a low flame.  
2.  Squeeze the meat out of the sausage casing into the pan and break the chunks of sausage into smaller pieces. Let the sausage brown. This takes about 5-7 minutes. 
3. Add in the can of crushed tomato, and 1/2 cup of thin sliced basil leaves. stir and let it get hot. 
4. When the sauce is bubbly add in 1/2 cup of Ruby Port (my new secret ingredient). Let the sauce cook for ten minutes.

1. Cook the pasta by following the directions on the package. 
2. Drain the pasta. 
3. Put it into a shallow bowl and toss it with your spoonfuls of the sauce until the pasta is covered in rich, thick tomato sauce. 
4. Garnish with fresh chopped basil and shredded Parmesan. By the way every cooking kitchen should have Parmesan cheese in the refrigerator and Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the cupboard.

 I would suggest that you serve this dish with a Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico reasonable priced under $15 a bottle. This wine makes the Wine Enthusiast Buying Guide list. I like the pairing of Chianti with this  rich sauce because the fresh fruity quality that the Sangiovese grape adds is just what it needs to balance the spicy sausage flavor with the sweet basil.   This particular Chianti Classico is lighter than most. If you prefer a more concentrated and intense wine try Castelli del Grevepesa.

30 Minute Meals, Seafood Risotto

My kids, friends and roommates will frequently invite me to dine in so that I will contribute. They know I want to, because yes, I love to cook and I am good at it. I know what ingredients to keep in the house so that I can put together a quick meal. There is nothing more pleasant than sitting down to dinner with loved ones.

Just last night we decided after reading the table of contents from 30 Minute Italian by Fran Warde, that we wanted Seafood Risotto for dinner. Admittedly we wanted something special to celebrate the end of final exams and to welcome the holidays and time off. Seafood Risotto was enough out of ordinary to fill the bill.

A quick trip around my tiny kitchen revealed that we had all the necessary ingredients except butter (we use a lot of butter) and of course seafood. Seafood is best when purchased, cooked and eaten all in the same day. The original fast food!

This is not the recipe that was in the book. I used her recipe as a guide line. For Fran Warde’s exact recipe you can consult her book 30 minute Italian, page 46. This recipe serves four, takes 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook. I used a non-stick, five quart sauce pan to cook the risotto and a two quart sauce pan to heat the chicken stock. Prep includes getting your pans and your ingredients lined up and ready to use, heating your chicken stock, chopping the shallots, garlic and parsley, and cleaning the seafood.

Here is what you will need to prepare seafood risotto.
1. 4 cups of chicken stock
2. a good pinch of saffron threads
3. 8 tablespoons of butter, plus 2 tablespoons of butter
4. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
5. 2 average sized shallots
6. 1 clove of garlic
7. 10 ounces of Arborio Rice
8. 4 ounces of scallops 20/30 size
9. 4 ounces of shrimp 20/30 size, shell and head off
10. 4 ounces of crab (I use imitation crab)
11. 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh parsley
12. ¼ of dry white wine
13. 4 ounces of grated Parmesan, plus 1 ounce
14. salt & pepper to taste
Here are your steps to perfect, pillowy Seafood Risotto.
1. Finely chop the shallots and garlic.
2. Heat the stock to a simmer in a medium sauce pan.
3. Wash the scallops
4. Wash the shrimp and remove the tail (if it still there)
5. Melt the butter and then add in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Keep the heat medium low
6. Add in the finely chopped garlic and shallots and cook them in the butter for 5 minutes. Do not let them brown.
7. Stir in the rice and coat it thoroughly with the butter and shallot mix.
8. Cover the rice with stock and stir. As the stock is absorbed, add more.
9. Set a timer for 10 minutes and stir your rice frequently. The frequent stirring helps to evenly cook the rice.
10. After 10 minutes the rice about half cooked. Keep adding stock and stirring the risotto for another 10 minutes. I always use a timer.
11. Add the seafood and the last cup of stock. Do not stir the mixture. The stock will slowly heat and gently cook the seafood. Set your timer for 5 minutes and make sure the heat is medium low. After five minutes, stir the mixture gently.
12. When the seafood is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in 4 ounces of Parmesan.
13. Take the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cut it into small pieces and place them in the serving dish.
14. Spoon the rice onto the butter into the serving dish. Add in salt & pepper to taste.
15. Gently stir in the parsley.
16. Sprinkle the risotto with extra ounce of Parmesan.
17. Serve this with a Pinot Grigio or a Sauvignon Blanc and a Caesar Salad.

Pesto alla Genovese

Pesto, or what is commonly called Pesto Genovese is one of the tastiest, easiest, and healthiest dishes you can serve. Preparing pesto takes about 15 minutes. This recipe makes a cup of sauce and that is what you need for one pound of pasta or 5 servings. Yes, a pound of pasta serves five.

Pesto is the classic Ligurian Sauce made with Basil (Liguria (pronounced [liˈgu(ː)rja]) is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and food. Wikipedia ) and it was considered somewhat exotic to my American friends a few years ago. Like all staples in the Italian refrigerator, Pesto is one of them. It is especially available in the summer when basil grows like weeds.

My grandmother made this with a mortar and pestle. I did as well once or twice. The best way to make Pesto is with a food processor.
You will need:

1. 2 cups of fresh basil leaves packed tightly
2. 1/3 cup of pignoli (pine nuts)
3. 1 large clove of garlic peeled
4. ¼ teaspoon of salt
5. ½ cup EVOO
6. 1/3 cup of Grated Parmesan

1. Put the basil, the nuts, the garlic and the salt into the food processor bowl. Let the single blade chop these ingredients for two pulses. Add the oil and blend it. Remove the mixture from the bowl and put it in a mixing bowl, fold in the cheese.
2. Cook the pasta in salted water. Remove and set aside ½ cup of pasta cooking water before you drain the cooked pasta. Note, always time your pasta. Check the package directions and minus 1 minute. Set your timer and check you pasta constantly after the timer is sounded, until the pasta is done to perfection. Perfect pasta is supposed to be cooked al dente and that is a matter of opinion. When the pasta is done to your satisfaction, drain it, toss it with the pesto and use that cooking water to thin out the suace if it is too thick and rich.
3. Serve with warm bread, a ceasar salad and a fruity Italian Wine such as Chianti or Valpolicella Classico. Valpolicella is a light quaffing wine, generally fermented in steel, kept in tanks, and then bottled in the spring, to be drunk on a daily basis. It tends to have a lively bouquet with floral notes and hints of cherry or berry fruits - this is definitely an aromatic wine. On the palate it is light, fruity, and with a pleasant touch of acidity that leaves a clean finish. Not much in the way of tannins. Should be served with first courses -- pasta with meat-based sauces and soups, or vegetable-based entrees. I love this wine, you should try one.

Rogue Recipes

I never intended to post a cookie recipe. Making cookies and pastries, cakes and pies have never held a fascination for me. However, when you read this blog entry you will understand why I wrote, tested and will publish a cookie recipe.

This very funny note was sent to me by one of my readers and I want to share it with you.
He called it Rogue recipes! Here is his story.

Our family went on a bit of a cookie binge last weekend, starting with several rounds of oatmeal raisins that my mother baked. I was set to have dinner with my friend Albert on Sunday night, so I decided to finish the weekend with chocolate chips, which are his favorite.


Cookies are hardly brain surgery. But as my mother always puts it, baking is an “exact science,” so I always rely on recipes when the time comes for pastries. For the chocolate chip recipe, I turned to Irma Rombauer’s old reliable Joy of Cooking, the Encyclopedia Americana of culinary craft. My mother received it at her bridal shower in 1987; its pages are wavy from steam and spotted with over twenty years of sauces; it has, as far as I can remember, never misled us. And chocolate chip cookies are hard to mess up, no matter who’s making them.

The recipe from the 1986 printing calls for half a cup of butter (a whole stick). To put this in perspective, the amount of flour required is one cup plus two tablespoons. Not having my mother’s culinary savvy or intimacy with ingredients, I followed it without a trace of skepticism. I might have listened to my mother. She stepped in just once as I was starting, to comment that the proportion of butter to other ingredients seemed high. But who was she to argue with Irma Rombauer? I took another stick of butter out of the refrigerator and pointed at the measurement markings on the wrapper — we were going to the dictionary on this one. She put on her reading glasses and laughed, saying that she had mistaken half a stick for half a cup when following the oatmeal raisin recipe. Another of her kitchen “accidents.” She makes a lot of them, yet her meals are always more delicious than any recipe promises. I’ve often wondered if “instincts” might be a better label for them. I might have considered this, of course. I might have put my stubbornness aside long enough, even, to remember that her cookies had come out perfectly sweet and fluffy.

So I sent her away and went on mixing the batter, which became more delicious with every step. Cookie batter is, as far as I’m concerned, in the same class of sublime pleasures as massages and Caribbean beaches — if it weren’t for the raw eggs, I might never bother with the oven. I didn’t doubt Irma Rombauer one bit, that is, until I started rolling the batter into balls. It was unusually sticky — mushy, even. Even as I coated the little spheres with flour, they refused to hold their shape, which is always a bad sign for something that’s on its way into the oven. But I checked myself, told myself I was being fussy, told myself I was letting my mother get to me, again. I arranged them carefully and dotingly on the sheet, the way I used to write cursive in elementary school — respecting the margins, leaving plenty of space between each word/cookie — checked the oven temperature, slid them in, and set a timer for five minutes. The recipe says ten, but I am a neurotic baker (you should have seen me when I took on crème brûlée, poking my head in front of the oven every two minutes, like a prairie dog).

I checked after three minutes. No cause for alarm — the batter was glistening, spreading out a little more quickly than I expected, leaving the chocolate chips in the center, but, eh, whatever. I left them alone and shuffled about the kitchen some more, starting the cleanup, making sure the cooling rack was set. The timer went off; I checked again. Now they were utterly slick with butter and dipping ominously low. Two had run together — so much for my careful arrangement. I narrowed my eyes and looked for even just a hint of golden brown on the bottom that would justify taking them out prematurely, but they showed none, and I decided to be patient. Still, though, I didn’t take my eyes off them. After another two minutes, golden brown appeared. I put on my oven mitt, and all at once a series of tiny bubbles broke out over their surfaces. Here I lost my patience and practically yanked the sheet out in my haste. Their color was all right, but they were dismally flat — certainly not the perky little hills of oatmeal raisin that my mother had produced. I set a timer to let them cool and solidify for a couple of minutes, before I’d transfer them to the rack, and left the kitchen.

When I came back, what I saw on the sheet looked less like cookies than like volcanic rock. They had dried to an ugly dark brown, scarred by bubbles and bumpy with ripples all the way to their edges — I was reminded of what Hawaiian lava looks like when it dries. Disgusted, I grabbed a plastic spatula, scraped them off the sheet, and laid them on the rack. Fortunately, my mother had gone out — hers was the last commentary I needed to hear just then.

As I scooped them onto a plate to take to Albert’s apartment, I ate one. To say I chewed it wouldn’t be quite right — it was more of a gnawing, smacking motion, the kind you perform when you have to dislodge a Milk Dud from your molars. As a consolation prize, the flavor was just fine.

Fortunately, Albert’s oven-roasted turkey came out beautifully, but we agreed with a sardonic laugh that the cookies should be sent back to hell. Perhaps because they were tasty, or perhaps out of pity, Albert kept the rest of the batch we didn’t eat. When I see him tonight, I will ask him frankly which was the real reason.

I was really bummed by my butter snafu, but butter is one of those things, like a puppy, that one simply can’t stay mad at. I saw Julie & Julia earlier this year, and one of the parts I found really charming and dead-on true was the “Is there anything better than butter?” monologue. I mean, who didn’t identify with that? What I should have remembered as I baked those cookies was that brief but delightful scene with Frances Sternhagen as Irma Rombauer, cautioning Julia Child about the treacherous territory of cookbook publishing. One of the things she mentioned was that, under pressure to produce such an encyclopedic cookbook, she didn’t bother to test every recipe.

Turkey a la Marietta

Turkey Thighs

With Thanksgiving almost here, the grocery stores will have turkeys and turkey parts for sale from now until the year’s end. Turkey thighs are one of the tastiest parts of the bird. This recipe for turkey thighs comes from a request made by one of my readers. This recipe can serve two to three people, depending on the size of the thigh pieces.

The preparation for this recipe requires that you plan on marinating the thighs. I suggest that you place the pieces in the marinade before you leave the house for the day. When you return to prepare dinner, remove the thighs from the refrigerator for 30 minutes before cooking them. There is no more preparation on the thighs, you will need about 15 minutes to peel and chop the potatoes.

While they are roasting in the oven, prepare your salad. Serve this meal with a medium to full bodied red wine.
Thirty minutes before the thighs are done, uncork your red wine. Let it breath. This will allow the flavor of the wine to even out and improve.

Turkey is a flavorful meat and can stand up to most medium to full bodied red wines. I turn to www.wine.com for great choices under $20 per bottle. I have two different wines I can recommend to you for this meal. You can probably find these wines at BevMo. If you fall in love with either, the case price at www.wine.com will be the best price available. Both these wines were awarded at least 90 points by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is my first choice. From the Alexander Valley region of California, this full bodied red is fruit forward, lively style and is ready to drink now. Selling for under $15 per bottle, this is a wine you should buy by the case.

For those of you who want green wines and a little less intensity I recommend Bonterra organically grown Syrah 2006 Vintage. Taken from the wine maker’s notes; maintained through an organic growing process, Syrah vineyards are entering their prime, reflected in the wine’s brilliant color and intense aromas. Bonterra Syrah blends a touch of Rhone varietals like Grenache, Mouvedre and Viognier for a powerful floral note. Concentrated berry flavors come to the fore with notes of vanilla and toasty oak spice from aging in French oak. This wine is also selling on www.wine.com for under $15 per bottle and as we head into the season of turkey dishes, you may want a case of this wine as well. This wine can convert a non red wine person to a red wine drinker. Smooth, earthy and fruity this Syrah earned 90 points from Wine Enthusiast Maga

Ingredients

1. • 2 turkey thighs, about 2 ½ lbs total
2. • 3 cloves chopped garlic
3. • 1 bunch of sage, chopped (2/3 oz leave
4. • 1 potato per person, peeled and chopped into large pieces
5. • Salt and pepper
6. • Sprinkle of white wine vinegar
7. • Sprinkle of olive oil
8. • Broth if needed while cooking

Method
• Cut deep slits into turkey thighs and rub sage and garlic mixture into cuts and onto surface. Marinate in refrigerator for 5 or 6 hours. Remove thighs from refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put thighs skin side down in roasting pan. Put pan, uncovered, into oven for about 30 minutes. Then turn thighs over, add potatoes, sprinkle all with salt, pepper, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and broth and continue roasting until thighs are done and potatoes are tender, adding broth if needed, about 30 more minutes. Stir the potatoes once or twice during roasting. Remove from oven, let thighs and potatoes sit covered and untouched for about 20 minutes before serving.