Pasta with White Wine, Sausage & Tomato Sauce

Skip the jarred pasta sauce and hamburger combo. This recipe for spaghetti rigati with a tomato-sausage and white wine sauce bursts with flavor that's much better than the old grocery store standard.

The key is using good Italian sausage such as the freshly made offerings you find at Aurora's Prisco's Fine Foods. The best type for this recipe is the bulk Italian sausage made without fennel. Many specialty stores like Prisco's offer the option to buy the sausage with or without fennel.

Another essential ingredient to this recipe is using high-quality tomatoes, even though it calls for jarred or canned varieties. San Marzano tomatoes are readily available at the grocery store, even though you may have to look past many domestic offerings to find them. They are imported from Italy and have the most flavor of the canned tomatoes you will find. Spaghetti Rigati is the best for this recipe because the sauce clings to the tiny ridges on each strand. Barilla offers a version that is easy to find at most stores.

Here is the recipe for Spaghetti Rigati with Sausage Red Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage (preferably without fennel)
• 1 jar of pureed San Marzano Tomatoes 700 g (or equivalent canned crushed tomatoes)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup white wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 leaves of fresh basil (or dried basil to taste)
• 1 pound box of Barilla Spaghetti Rigati
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Combine white wine with the sausage in a medium size bowl and work the wine into the sausage with your hands. This helps break up the sausage and give it a nice texture for the sauce, as well as add flavor. Add it to a hot pan and cook the sausage until nearly browned. Use a paper towel to dab up any extra grease from the sausage that you may not want in the sauce. Leaving some fat in the pan is good for the flavor. Add the olive oil and chopped garlic and cook just a couple of minutes more until the garlic is golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the 700g jar of pureed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta and make sure it a nice al dente texture. Rinse all the tomatoes out of the jar with a little bit of the cooking pasta water and add to the sauce. Near the end of the simmering process, add the chopped basil leaves. More or less can be used to taste. When the pasta is cooked, add part of the sauce to the pasta in the pan. Stir over medium heat to coat the pasta and influse flavor. Serve with dollops of extra sauce and grated cheese.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve named America's best cheese by ACS

Last weekend in Seattle, The American Cheese Society held its annual conference and competition to announce the best artisan cheeses in the land. For cheese lovers, the event was appropriately titled "Cheese-a-topia," with a bounty of fine cheese producers gathering to showcase their best work. The winner of "Best in Show" from Saturday's competition just happened to be nearby cheese producer Uplands Cheese of Dodgeville, WI, just three hours north of Aurora.

The winning cheese is the Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a hard cheese in the style of a Gruyere that is full of flavor that can only be found in the unique milk of the cows on this Wisconsin farm. "We make Pleasant Ridge Reserve only during the summer months, while our cows are grazing on fresh pasture," according to the Uplands Cheese website. "This milk is full of flavor — and nutritional qualities -— not found in the milk of cows kept inside and fed stored feed. We use only fresh milk that is never pasteurized, and age the cheese in ripening rooms on our farm to ensure that our cheese expresses all of the flavor complexity possible in a grass-fed, raw-milk cheese."

Pleasant Ridge reserve is not new to awards. Most notably, it was named Best of Show at both the 2001 and the 2005 American Cheese Society competitions, making it the only cheese in that competition's history to win the top honor twice. It was also named the US Champion Cheese in the 2003 and is the only cheese ever to win both national competitions, according to the producers.

Uplands Cheese Company is owned and operated by two families: Mike and Carol Gingrich and Dan and Jeanne Patenaude. After years of farming separately as neighbors, in 1994 they bought the farm together. The cheese is made only from milk on the farm, which makes it a farmstead cheese.

This prestigious cheese will excite Fox Valley foodies who want to try the very best. You can order it online or find it in Chicago at Pastoral, a specialty food store that carries a wide variety of artisan cheese. Another way to get the cheese is tell the manager of your favorite store that you would like to see it in stock. For fine dining options, Vie in Western Springs currently features the cheese on its menu as part of a dessert cheese plate. Call ahead to make sure it is still available.

Namaste Bazar offers great South Asian Specialties in Aurora

Located near the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora (3577 E New York St.), Namaste Bazar offers a wide variety of fresh, frozen and packaged foods focused on Indian and South Asian specialties. The store, which opened in May, is easy to shop and also offers chaat — savory snacks — with a menu of items like panipuri, bhelpuri, masala puri, sevpuri, and more in addition to masala tea and coffee.

The friendly owners seem to take great pride in the 1,200-plus items they stock, making it a welcoming place for shoppers of all backgrounds. The quaint outdoor seating area is very inviting for sitting and enjoying chaat or coffee during good weather. Free wi-fi is available in the store.

Even shoppers who may not be familiar with the ins and outs of Indian cooking will find a great deal to purchase at the store. There is a plentiful selection of frozen meals and treats available that will greatly expand the variety of convenience meals you keep on hand in your kitchen. There are also many ready-to-eat South Asian snack mixes and convenient spice blends that will help a cook who is intimidated by mastering a new cuisine. The spice selection is extensive and prices are very reasonable. Namaste Bazar even offers a savings club for frequent shoppers that provides discount prices, coupons, rewards gifts and more.

Pimento Cheese Recipe

After having had a wonderful appetizer at Magnolia Restaurant in Charleston, Jeff tried his hand at making pimento cheese at home. It was a huge success! If you'd like to try his recipe for Pimento Cheese, here it is:

Pimento Cheese

1 garlic clove
1/2 cup pimentos finely diced
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup mayo (can add up to 1/4 cup more to taste/consistency)
6 oz. sharp white cheddar cubed
6 oz. mild orange cheddar (or colby) cubed
salt and black pepper to taste

In food processor, chop garlic, cheese cubes. Add mayo and spices. Combine. Add pimentos at last instant and only slightly pulse to combine but keep pimentos somewhat intact. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to combine. Set out about 15 minutes before serving.

Outer Banks Adventure

Having just returned from a two-week family vacation, there are many food adventures to share. The first half of our trip we rented a house in Avon, North Carolina, a small village on the Outer Banks toward the southern end of Hatteras Island. We rented through Surf or Sound Realty and couldn't have been happier with the house, which was very well equipped for cooking.

We enjoyed cooking every night we were there with amazingly fresh seafood from the cheekily named Risky Business Seafood. In fact, our first day on the island, we had their steamed shrimp and quickly fried up some flounder for lunch over mixed greens. The highlights from our dinners follow:

• Fried tilefish tacos — Batter the fish (cut into planks) in a beer and seafood flour mix; shallow fry. Serve on warmed corn tortillas with a spicy cabbage slaw (Combine mayo, lime juice, smooth red salsa, cilantro to form a thin dressing. Mix with shredded cabbage or cole slaw mix without carrots. Let stand for half hour.) These were inspired by the tremendous fish tacos at Bien Trucha in Geneva, Illinois. They came pretty close to the original — especially with a big margarita!

• Bay scallop and tilefish ceviche — Dice tilefish to be same size as bay scallops. Cover with lime and lemon juice. Mix half cup of finely diced red onion, two finely diced serrano chiles, and handful of chopped cilantro. Let stand, covered in the refrigerator for four to six hours. We severed this as the "surf" component of a surf and turf with grilled New York strips.

• Linguine alle vongole — Saute pound of clams (in shells) with three or four chopped garlic cloves and red pepper flakes to taste in olive oil. Add slightly less than one cup of good white wine at room temperature and cover until the clams open. Discard any that do not open. Reserve some of the pasta cooking liquid for the sauce if needed. Combine with the linguine and enjoy.

• Crabcakes — Mix pound of crab meat, two to four tablespoons mayo, dash of mustard, seasonings (I used Paul Prudhomme's seafood magic) to taste, three tablespoons finely diced red pepper, three tablespoons finely diced onion, and panko bread crumbs sufficient to bind. Shallow fry until golden.

These were the highlights along with grilling mako, panko breading red snapper and a delicious goat cheese salad for lunch our last day.

We did eat out for lunch on a few daytrips and were fortunate to have found some great food.

• Full Moon Cafe and Grille, downtown Manteo on Roanoke Island — After enjoying the quaint village and a trip to the aquarium on Roanoke Island, we enjoyed an excellent lunch here. We both ordered the crab bisque to start and were not disappointed. It was full of crab and so fresh. I had the crab cake sandwich, which rivaled the best of any I've ever had. Natalie had the Roanoke Shrimp Melt. The service was attentive and the atmosphere was refined but still casual and welcoming. They also have a strong microbrew list including a number on tap. We were so impressed with the charm of Manteo and hope to come back some day.

• Flying Melon Cafe, Ocracoke Island — Taking the ferry from Hatteras Village, the salt air made us hungry for lunch early. The Flying Melon is an incredibly cute restaurant as you get into Ocracoke village. The restaurant has tons of charm with folky art on the walls and a great logo for the staff t-shirts. Natalie had her first crab cake of the trip and I ordered the fried flounder sandwich. Both were simple, but perfect, and served with a side of fresh french fries. This is another place we'd like to visit again.

• Island Perks Diner and Coffee Shop, Buxton — The one place we went more than once. This friendly restaurant had standard breakfast items with out-of-this-world cinnamon rolls. The desserts looked awesome too.

• Uncle Eddy's Frozen Custard, Buxton — This was our favorite ice cream, or in this case custard, place. They have a ton of original flavors and a patient staff willing to let you taste a few to get the right one.

We also tried other ice cream shops and had lunch one day at the Dolphin Den in Avon. For non seafood foodstuffs, we mainly shopped at the Food Lion in Avon for convenience. The more enjoyable shopping experience was at Conner's in Buxton, which had great freshness and service.

We only had one fast-food meal the first half of our trip (and one Cracker Barrel dinner on the way to the OBX). Leaving the Outer Banks for the next leg of our trip, we had a really great, down home lunch at Woogie's Family Restaurant just over the river from Washington, NC in Chocowinity, NC (3609 US 17).

New Mexico Business

I just got back from a business trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I did a lot of research before I left to try and line up some culinary adventures during conference downtime. I have to say, I think my expectations might have been too high and/or not having a car limited my culinary range so to speak.

Getting in on a Sunday morning, the town was pretty dead. I wandered to Old Town and was hoping to try the chile (Christmas style: red and green) at Duran Pharmacy. Unfortunately they don't serve on Sundays. So, I found Monica's El Portal on the edge of Old Town. The ambiance was nothing special, but felt fairly local, so I liked that. I ordered the chiles relleno with red chile. It came with sopapillas, which were quite nice. However, the chiles were not very flavorful and seemed like they had been pre-fried and been sitting out for some time. One was actually fairly tough and seemed underdone. However, I would say that the place delivered an average Mexican meal with good service and a local atmosphere.

For dinner that night, after having some light appetizers at a conference function, I had dinner at Lucia, which is in the Hotel Andaluz. The hotel itself, recently restored, is filled with historic charm but also the feel of an upscale boutique hotel. I really liked the vibe. The restaurant carried through the upscale, relaxed feel. The open kitchen was nice since I was dining alone. I enjoyed watching the kitchen staff banging out the meals. I didn't want to order anything too heavy since I had already had a bite to eat, but I did want to try a few things off the menu. I had a spinach salad that was pretty good with feta, kalamata olives and a bacon dressing. It paired well with the King Estate Pinot Gris I had. Then, the disappointment of the evening. I ordered one of their "flatbreads" off the menu. Well, the bill had it right when it called it a "pizza margherita". I was expecting something totally different. Lighter, more simple. It was basically a nice looking, below average tasting hotel pizza that probably should have been on the kids menu. Oh well. The service was good, prices somewhat reasonable and the atmosphere made up for a lot.

The next day was packed with conference activities and a lunch awards program. However, a colleague and I were able to make an afternoon train to Santa Fe for dinner. Again, I think my expectations were too high. We had dinner at La Fonda's restaurant, La Plazuela. The hotel, again, was awesome. Just off the Plaza in Santa Fe and very charming. The food though was just OK. The vibe in the restaurant was much more family and fairly downscale, but it seemed very booked for the evening. I ordered the tortilla soup, which was inferior to the one we make at home. The broth and chicken were good, but it didn't taste like it had any lime in it at all to cut the richness and give it some balance. For my main, I had the enchiladas, Christmas style. These were average at best. The chile was not very complex or even that spicy.

All-in-all, I don't know if I picked the wrong places (two hotel restaurants were maybe a mistake), ordered the wrong things, or have been spoiled by some of the awesome Mexican cuisine you can find in Chicagoland — including Rick Bayless' restaurants, Bien Trucha in Geneva and even my favorite taqueria in Aurora, Jallisco on Galena. New Mexicans were so nice and the landscape so beautiful that I want to give it another shot. There were some places that looked amazing, but they were out of town and I'd like to check out some of the New Mexico wineries, especially Gruet, that makes one of my favorite affordable sparkling wines.

Mussles à la Jeff and Ruffino Orvieto Classico

Combining a little bit of French, Spanish and Italian influences this evening worked out quite well for a new recipe. I'd been wanting to cook mussels and when our Valentine's Day plans fell through due to a sick two year old, the opportunity presented itself.

Shopping at Binny's for wine and cheese, I picked up more than a few nice bottles of wine, including the Ruffino Orvieto Classico. It's not anything to write home about (although worthy of a mention in the blog), but it is very food friendly and quite affordable. Some Orvieto wines can veer to the sweet side, but this was not overly sweet and paired well with the spicy and smokey mussels I prepared for dinner. As a side note, Orvieto is a beautiful Umbrian hill town that was a stop on my honeymoon. It rises out of the central Italian landscape, perched majestically on a plateau of tufa. The cathedral is stunning and the food is as good as the wine. It's an easy day-trip from Rome or Florence or a great over-night stop between the two.

Anyway, on to the mussels. I wanted to incorporate some La Quercia pancetta I also bought at Binny's. The recipe follows:

• 1 and a half pounds of cleaned, scrubbed, debearded mussels (in this case from Fresh Market)
• Quarter pound diced La Quercia pancetta
• Small sweet onion finely diced
• Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Three cloves garlic finely diced
• Two tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 and a half teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Pinch of saffron threads
• Half a cup to three-quarters cup of white wine (Orvieto Classico in this case)
• salt and pepper to taste

Bring olive oil to temp over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and cook for two minutes. Add onion and cook until nearly translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about two minutes). Make a clear spot and add tomato paste, saffron, smoked paprika, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook for a few minutes more, then stir to mix together. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add mussels and cover. Cook for 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Stir after four minutes, recover and cook for another 2 to 4 minutes or until all the mussels have opened. Discard any that have not opened.

Served over toasted sourdough planks rubbed with garlic.