spaghetti sauce

The Twist (and my gentle return to writing)

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes you just have to say, “What the (insert expletive here)!” and just do the things that you enjoy doing. I came close to abandoning this blog but my friends and family said that they did not want me to. They told me that regardless of the activity at least I would be doing things that I love, writing and cooking. To that end, over the past couple of years I have been able to come up with some new recipes and I have a ton of ideas for others which I would like to share with anyone who would like them.

Every year, on Valentine’s Day for my sweetie, I make her her favorite dish which is my eggplant parmesan. This year she wanted me to also make fresh sauce to use in this dish so I decided to get a bit creative and do a twist on my smooth marinara sauce. The sauce turned out great! It had some nice deep flavors which were delicious.

Now, “Andiamo” or let’s go! I hope you enjoy.

The Twist


(A marinara with sweet subtle smoky flavors)

Gary Bechard – The Well Fed Cyclist

Ingredients –

1/3 cup – Portobello mushroom cap fine diced
1/2 – Medium or 1 small sweet onion, fine diced
1/2 – Large or 1 medium carrot peeled and grated
3 – Cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp – Parsley, fresh, chopped
2 tbsp – Basil, fresh, chopped
1 tbsp – oregano, fresh, chopped
3 tsp – Sea Salt, coarse ground, (or to taste)
2 tsp – Black pepper, coarse ground (or to taste)
56 ounces – Tomatoes, San Marzano crushed (2, 28 oz cans)
15 ounces – Tomato sauce (1 can)
1/3 cup – Dry red wine (I used some Cabernet but you could use a Chianti or Barolo)
1/3 cup – Grated parmesan cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a few good swirls around the bottom of the pan just enough to lightly coat the bottom (I used some from the Umbria region in Italy)

Construction Instruction –

Mushrooms and onions – Since this is a marinara, I did a fine dice on these trying to make sure that the mushroom and onion pieces were the same size.

Herbs – I did a regular chop on them. Or, you could use, and I am not sure every store has them, semi-dried fresh herbs you can find in the refrigerated herb section in the grocery store. They are really good and are great when you are kind of short on time. However, fresh is best.

Carrots – Everybody wonders about the carrot but in reality it is a great way to sweeten the sauce without having to resort to sugar or sugar substitutes. The carrot will disappear in the sauce and just like an old friend, they are naturally sweet.

Cooking – In a large sauce pan (I used a 5 quart enameled cast iron), coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and bring to temperature. Note: I usually keep the temperature just below medium heat to make sure that I do not burn the oil since olive oil has a low smoke point. When the pan is at temperature, add the garlic and stir slightly to soften the garlic. Make sure that the garlic is not overcooked and does not turn brown. Next add in the onions sautéing them until they are soft and the onions turn translucent.

Next, add the cans of tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, grated carrot and the herbs and stir thoroughly mixing everything into an even mixture of veggies and sauce. I salted and peppered my veggies at this stage then added the wine. During the cooking process I like to take small samples to make sure that the flavors are coming together nicely.

Lower the heat and simmer for about 2 hours always making sure that you keep the sauce moving so the temperature is even throughout the mixture. Towards the middle of the simmer time add the parmesan and stir thoroughly. Simmering for this amount of time helps break down the tomatoes a bit to release their flavor. The sauce will cook down and become thicker the longer you simmer. If it the sauce looks to be too thick, I always add a bit of wine and extend the cooking time a bit.

Uses – I used this sauce in eggplant parmesan but because of its flavor it would be great with Rigatoni or thicker kinds of pasta. Bucatini would be great with this sauce. Note: I sometimes will just make a pot of sauce, let it cool and put it in plastic containers and freeze it. Stays good for up to 6 months.

Boy it’s been a while…

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

It has been some time since I last posted, I even found old drafts of recipes still on this site which are mostly done but I will have to brush the cobwebs away and try and remember what in the world I was thinking at the time. However, and in good time, I will publish those too. I am sorry for my delays but motivation was really lacking for a while and creating was less of a priority. Heck, I do not even know if anybody follows me any longer. At any rate, regardless of whether there is “a following”, I am back.

I had been thinking about this particular recipe for a couple of years and had an idea of how to do it but was never able to figure out the logistics. This is a meatless recipe for a bolognese sauce and it is a decent recipe for those that need a lighter alternative to heavy meat sauces. I mean, I do like a good bolognese but having to sleep for a few days like a boa constrictor digesting his meal can be a bit, how you say, unproductive. I used this to make a nice lasagna and it turned out delicious. I hope you try it and please let me know how it turned out for you.

It Ain’t Got No Meat?!

(Portobello mushroom bolognese)

Gary Bechard – The Well Fed Cyclist

Ingredients – 

4 oz (weight) – Mushroom blend (Shiitake, Oyster, White, baby bellas) (food processor)

12 oz (weight) – Portobello mushroom caps (food processor)

1/2 – Medium onion, diced

1 – Small red bell pepper, diced

1 – Small green bell pepper, diced

3 – Cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp – Parsley, fresh, chopped 

2 tbsp – Basil, fresh, chopped 

1 tbsp – oregano, fresh, chopped 

3 tsp – Sea Salt, coarse ground, (or to taste)

2 tsp – Black pepper, coarse ground (or to taste)

28 ounces – Tomatoes, Petite (1 can)

28 ounces – Fire roasted tomatoes (1 can)

15 ounces – Tomato sauce (1 can)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a few good swirls around the bottom of the pan just enough to lightly coat the bottom

Construction Instruction – 

Veggies – For the mushrooms I cubed them, put them in a food processor and pulsed about 5 times to have them have the consistency or the appearance of browned ground beef. Place mushrooms in a bowl for addition later.

Peppers and onions – I made sure to leave them a medium dice and not a super fine dice because you do not want them to disappear during the cooking process. 

Herbs – I did a regular chop on them. Or, you could use, and I am not sure every store has them, semi-dried fresh herbs you can find in the refrigerated herb section in the grocery store. They are really good and are great when you are kind of short on time. However, fresh is best.

Cooking – In a large sauce pan (I used a 5 quart enameled cast iron), coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and bring to temperature. Note: I usually keep the temperature just below medium heat to make sure that I do not burn the oil since olive oil has a low smoke point. When the pan is at temperature, add the garlic and stir slightly to soften the garlic. Make sure that the garlic is not overcooked and does not turn brown. Next add in the peppers and onions  sautéing them until they are soft and the onions turn translucent. Last but not least add the mushroom mixture and mix all the ingredients together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. I salted and peppered my veggies at this stage and took a little taste to make sure that I had the flavors right.

Next, add the cans of tomatoes and the sauce and mix everything into an even mixture of veggies and sauce. Then add the herbs and stir thoroughly. Lower the heat and simmer for about 2 hours always making sure that you keep the sauce moving so the temperature is even throughout the mixture. You want the diced tomatoes to break down a bit and release their flavor. The sauce will cook down a bit and become thicker the longer you simmer. 

Uses – I used this sauce in a lasagna but because of its robust flavor it would be great with rigatoni or thicker kinds of pasta. Buchatini would be great with this sauce. 

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist – Gary Bechard

Just like a velvet fog, this one is smooth…

~ Gary Bechard ~ Leave a comment

It is kind of early morning on a Sunday, the dog has had her walk and before I got into the rest of the day (it is supposed to be over 70 degrees and I thought there would be a bike ride for me today but I am still terrified to ride here in this area of western Pennsylvania, frack water trucks and well traffic you know), I wanted to post this spaghetti sauce recipe. This is another “long” cooking sauce but it made a hit right along side the “Super Tuscan” on the charity circuit which I will post at a later date. I do have some quick sauces which I will also post which use fresh tomatoes and take less than a good 4 hours of cooking time so stay tuned for those. I would like to think that this is a huge departure from my other sauces but it follows the same pattern and the consistency was born of necessity when I needed a sauce for my eggplant Parmesan and I did not have any prepared. It is also a sauce that my favourite “fungusphobe” liked because there were no mushrooms in it. Oops, my bad! They were just cleverly disguised in the rest of the sauce. On occasions, I like to bake with this sauce and when I am doing that I will purposely keep it on the “thin” side. There is no sense letting your sauce get all cakey and clumpy while baking. If I end up having to use a sauce that is thicker and I want to avoid the clumpiness I will tent the item while in the oven. I am sorry you may not be able to get ALL your servings of vegetables with this sauce but it is awfully good. The name was sort of inspired by the movie title “Escape from New York”, a sort of cheesy movie, I admit, and not to say that I have ever watched it (just like I never watched any of the Die Hard movies) but at least you know where I got the name. I hope you have as much success with this sauce as I have. It is my son’s absolute favorite to make for folks in NYC when he is having them over for dinner. So, without further adieu, let’s get cooking!

Escape from Marinara
Gary Bechard – The Well Fed Cyclist

Ingredients:

1 – 28 ounce can of tomato sauce
2 – 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
3/4ths – Medium sweet onion very finely diced
1 – Portobello mushroom cap (“fins” scraped out about 2 to 4 ounces wt) very finely diced
7 to 10 – Fresh basil leaves, fine chopped
1 handful (about 3/4ths cup) – Fresh Parsley leaves, finely chopped
6 – Cloves garlic, finely chopped
16 to 20 oz – Chicken stock (or vegetable stock if the spirit moves you)
1/3 cup – Red wine (I use a nice Cabernet but have also used Merlot or Chianti. If you use the Chianti, remember that this wine is very dry and the “sharpness” will have to be smoothed out with some of the sweeter ingredients)
1/8th cup – Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I say this amount but it should only be enough to cover the bottom of the pot in which you are making the sauce)
1 tbsp – Coarse ground black pepper
1 ½ tbsp – Lemon pepper
Note: You can substitute the zest of a whole lemon and increase the amount of coarse ground black pepper if you would like.
1 tbsp – Dried oregano leaves
1/3 cup – Grated Parmesan cheese (I normally use Parmesan-Romano for a greater depth of flavor)
Note: If you do not use the cheese, I would substitute a palm (a little more than a tablespoon) full of Kosher salt.

A brief note before the construction instructions: I normally chop my vegetables ahead of time because it makes for easier cooking and cleaning.

Construction Instructions:

In a big stock pot (I use a large ceramic covered cast iron pot for this one), pour enough olive oil to just cover the bottom (about 1/8th inch should do it). Turn the heat to mid range (5 or 6 on most electric ranges) and bring the oil up to temperature remembering that olive oil has a low smoke point and does not withstand high heat very well without breaking down. When the oil is hot, add garlic and onions and sauté until the onions are translucent (kind of clear) and without turning the garlic brown. This process should take about 2 to 3 minutes. Next add the mushrooms and continue to move around the bottom of the pot until they are a little soft (about a minute). Do not cook the vegetables until they are unrecognizable. Reduce the heat to 3 or 4 and add enough chicken (or vegetable if you are swinging that way) stock to just barely cover the vegetables in the bottom of the pot. Simmer until fine bubbles appear in the mixture (kind of looks like soup at this point). This should take another 5 minutes’ish. After the bubbles appear, add the tomatoes and stir mixture until it is fully pulled together. Next add your soft ingredients, basil, oregano, parsley and the black and lemon pepper and continue to stir. (Note: You have to keep the sauce moving because you do not want the mixture to be uneven and because of the low heat the bottom cooks faster than the top and you are trying to keep an even temperature throughout.) Allow these ingredients to become intimate (cover the children’s eyes if you have to). Simmer until you start to see small bubbles in the tomato sauce and once you see them reduce the heat to around 3. At this point, add the wine and the Parmesan cheese and mix until ingredients are fully pulled together. Simmer until you see the bubbles again and reduce the heat to 2 1/2, stir and monitor for 3 to 4 hours always making sure that you keep the mixture moving to keep the temperature even. If you see that the sauce is becoming thicker than you would like you can add either low sodium tomato juice or some stock to thin it out. NEVER use water to thin because that destroys the integrity of the sauce. After the cooking time is done, I normally allow the sauce to “rest” by turning off the heat and letting sit partially covered on the stove.

Enjoy!