Papardelle Bolognese

The first day of summer does not lend itself to a recipe for a heavy pasta and meat dish, you say. Here in the PNW, though, a June day can offer up a range of weather. Yesterday's version was 58 degrees and raining. It was my "Friday," and I drove home from work thinking about the papardelle from Trader Joe's languishing in my pantry. We would be unable to eat outside as we do nearly every evening in summer, so a cozy pasta meal at the dining table seemed like a great alternative. 

Papardelle bolognese is not your typical weeknight meal. The preparation takes approximately half an hour, followed by an hour and a half of simmering with amazing smells emanating from the kitchen. It is a meal more conducive to a quiet winter Saturday, but getting into my kitchen and cooking a good meal is a way to decompress from the work week.

The recipe is loosely taken from this one at Ladyberd's Kitchen and some variations from Epicurious based on the ingredients I already had in the house. Most recipes call for pancetta and some for bacon, and I had neither last night. A mix of ground meats tastes best, so last night's version here contained ground beef and crumbled Italian sausage. 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef

1 pound Italian sausage

2 whole tomatoes, chopped

1/2 cup baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme (I used Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle)

3/4 cup red wine (try to find a good Italian one and use the same one you will drink with the meal)

1 cup milk

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste

Papardelle pasta, cooked according to package directions

Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. (My Le Creuset dutch oven worked wonderfully for this dish.) Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Mince the garlic into the pot during this time, and don't let the vegetables brown. 

Add the meat and increase to high heat. Cook until the meat is browned.

Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, milk, wine, tomato paste, and thyme or pasta sprinkle and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.

Toward the end of cooking, boil water for the pasta and cook the pasta. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Buon appetito!

Suggested accompaniments: Green salad with roasted red peppers and balsamic vinaigrette

Wine pairing: 2009 Artezin Charbono, Napa Valley

Cold Foods Day

Note that this is not an official holiday. Today is really Sewing Machine Day and Vinyl Records Day. Neither of which I have much experience with.

So the title really refers to the fact that I managed to make it through the day without using my stove, oven, or microwave. It was over 80 today and the house was warm. Yeah, I know, 85 is not necessarily a heat wave in some parts but here that counts as a hot summer day and sometimes a record.
The possibilities are endless for cold summer meals, but here are some ideas.

Beet Salad
1/2 bunch Red leaf lettuce
1/2 a roasted red pepper
4 small steamed beets
1/4 cup feta

Toss with balsamic vinaigrette.
(Yes, this requires having precooked beets and pre-roasted peppers. The peppers were courtesy of my husband's last grilled meal and the beets courtesy of Trader Joe's.)

Smoked Salmon Spread
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces sour cream
8 ounces smoked salmon
Dash Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Juice from half a lemon
Dash salt
Dash black pepper

Mix and chill for about an hour. Serve with baguette (or that fabulous La Brea Bakery whole grain bread from Costco). This recipe was on the package of smoked salmon from Costco.

Caprese Salad
2 Tomatoes
2 ounces mozzarella
6-8 basil leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
Dash salt & pepper

Chop and toss together in a bowl. Or just slice the tomatoes & mozz and layer with basil on a plate. This is the salad I crave in the middle of January!

Fruit Salad
1 nectarine
1 peach
1 pint strawberries
1 pint blueberries
Juice of half a lime
About 1 tablespoon honey
5 chopped mint leaves

Toss together in a bowl. Right now the farmers at the Issaquah and Renton farmers markets are selling amazingly sweet nectarines!

I hope you are enjoying your summer. It has turned into a particularly fabulous one here with warm sunny days that make me forget the rain. I have two living basil plants (they usually die on me in a few weeks) and we are actually eating tomatoes from the backyard (also not my usual experience here).

Weekend of Firsts

First tomatoes. In theory anyway. Soon we will enjoy sweet, juicy fruit from just outside the door. With basil. And mozzarella. Ohhh...

First fresh roasted coffee. There's this thing called peer pressure. Which is fine with me when it involves your husband deciding to buy a coffee roaster. Behold...














First strawberry jam. Memories of summers growing up involve Grandma's freezer jam. The thing with canning homemade jam, or even making freezer jam, though, is that you need...a whole day. Or at least a few hours. Neither of which I have right now. Voila: Small batch strawberry jam, on the stove, in 10 minutes (ok, 12 minutes if you count washing the strawberries.)


While I now have a pint of strawberry jam languishing in the refrigerator ready to spread on toast, or eat with a spoon when no one's looking, there was a reason I made it.

I was bringing dessert to a birthday party on Saturday and decided to make Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting. Dilemma was: I had no strawberry jam in the fridge, but there happened to be a pint of fresh local strawberries. Aha!

But I digress...I have made cupcakes before so they are not a first.









First cedar planked salmon. Oh yeah. Very few foods smell so extraordinary and taste so...there are no words. This is an amazing dinner.

Buy a salmon.

Soak a cedar plank in water for 1-2 hours.

Rub the salmon with olive oil and a little brown sugar.

Rub with love. (Kidding...sort of...)

Sprinkle with a little garlic salt and grind a little black pepper on top.

Add some chopped lemon thyme from the back porch (or wherever you get it).

Top with sliced lemons.

Put the soaked cedar plank on the grill until it begins to smoke. Add the salmon. Grill over medium heat for about 20 minutes, 25 minutes for thicker fillets.

Yum.