One night, our friend Lynn had us over for dinner. She told us she was making “slum”.
“You’re making what?,” I asked.
“Slum….slumgullion,” Lynn responded casually.
“Well…what kind of wine do I bring?”
“Anything red,” She quipped.

And so, that night I learned about slumgullion. Lynn told us this was a dish her family made, but that the recipe might have been born out of the depression era. Essentially, slumgullion is a kind of stew where you put into it, whatever could be found. Usually some kind of meat, a pasta or other kind of starch such as beans, any vegetable and crushed tomatoes. Lynn’s version contained spaghetti, crushed tomatoes, onion, sharp cheddar cheese and 2 Lbs. ground beef. I loved it and the history behind this dish, so I decided to make my own. I stuck to Lynn’s recipe closely, but added just a few more ingredients. One of the things I did was to make homemade spaghetti. This recipe can be followed, but I think the point of slumgullion is to use whatever you have and make it your own. A side of garlic bread would fit nicely with this meal. Have fun!

Ingredients
1 Lb. spaghetti
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Lb. ground beef
1 large organic carrot, cut into thick slices
2 “stick of butter” size pieces of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1/2 Tsp. smoked paprika
1 15.5 ounce can cannellini beans
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, put about 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and cook the carrots and onions until tender. Add the garlic and toss into the mixture for 1 minute. Add the ground beef and cook. Then add the beans and heat through. Add the cooked spaghetti and crushed tomatoes and heat through. Add the smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Last, toss in the shredded cheese and blend until melted.

Wine served: 2011 Secoli, Ripasso Valpolicella

This recipe is from Jamie Oliver. I have to say that when I first heard of it I was skeptical, but wow…..this is really outstanding. The only things I changed is that instead of using a 3 Lb. chicken, I used 3 Lbs. of chicken thighs I had in the freezer, and instead of zest from 2 lemons, I used one. I used what I had. The sage and minimal amount of cinnamon flavor come gently through the chicken. The only thing I would suggest is: use fresh sage….it pays off. I don’t think it would taste the same if you substituted fresh for dried. Enjoy!

Chicken in Milk

1 (3 Lb./1.5 kilograms) organic chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces (115 grams) or 1 stick of butter
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked
2 lemons, zested
6 garlic cloves, whole
1 pint (565 milliliters, or 2 cups) milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (190 C) and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken. Season it generously all over with salt and pepper, and fry it in the butter, turning the chicken to get an even color all over, until golden. Remove from the heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the butter left in the pot. This will leave you with tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan, which will give you a lovely caramel flavor later on.
Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. (I remembered 4 times) The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce which is absolutely fantastic.
To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the little curds.

Wine served: 2002 Louis Latour, Chassagne-Montrachet, 1st Cru

Anyone who is familiar with my blog knows I’ve been learning how to cook for a little over a year now. I usually find a recipe and follow it as close as I feel comfortable, but occasionally I strike out on my own to see how much I’ve learned. This sauce is an example of my testing the waters, and according to Sandy, I hit a home run. She was first impressed with my bravery in adding garbanzo beans to a tomato sauce, and secondly surprised at how much flavor the garbanzos absorbed without falling apart. I served this up on top of some thick chicken drumsticks that I floured and browned, then covered it all in a casserole dish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and cooked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 14.5 ounce can organic diced tomatoes
1 15.5 ounce can garbanzo beans
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 Tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 cup heavy cream
Splash of red wine
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

In a large skillet on medium/low heat, add oil and cook onions until slightly tender. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes, garbanzo beans, salt and pepper, paprika and heavy cream. Cook on a high simmer until it bubbles for 20 minutes or until reduced by 1/3.

As I said, I put this on top of chicken drumsticks, but it would be great by itself served with a loaf of crunchy bread.

This recipe, along with the béchamel sauce recipe, come from the Silver Spoon cookbook. A terrific “no nonsense” meal for a rainy Saturday afternoon. I made homemade macaroni for this dish and served it with a tomato/cucumber salad tossed with a vinaigrette. Enjoy!

Macaroni Au Gratin serves 4

2 Tbsp. butter, plus extra for greasing
1 Silver Spoon quantity béchamel sauce
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
12 ounces macaroni
salt

Preheat oven to 475 F degrees. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Combine the béchamel sauce, Parmesan, butter and egg yolks. Cook the macaroni in a large pot of salted, boiling water until just al dente, then drain and pour into a bowl. Gently stir in half the béchamel sauce mixture and put the pasta in the prepared dish, then spoon the remaining béchamel sauce mixture on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Béchamel Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups milk
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional. I put it in)
salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the flour to make a smooth paste. Using a wooden spoon, gradually stir in the milk, making sure the sauce is smooth between each addition. Return the pan to the heat and cook over medium-high heat, stirring continuously until it starts to boil. Season with salt, lower the heat, cover, and simmer gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and not run off. Remove the pan from the heat. Taste, add more salt if necessary, and season with pepper and/or nutmeg. Béchamel sauce should not taste floury. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk. If too runny, boil a little longer.

Wine served: 2009 Murray, Cuvee, Columbia Valley

Today’s lunch recipe is courtesy of Sunset Magazine. This is a simple and impressive dish. It tastes like you’ve spent hours cooking! Try it out at your dinner party.
Serve with a crusty baguette for dunking. Serves 4

4 1/2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 Tsp. kosher salt, divided
1 Tsp. pepper, divided
1 Tsp. herbs de Provence
4 slices bacon (1/4 lb.), chopped (I weighed it out and ended up using 5 slices)
1 1/2 lbs. boned, skinned chicken thighs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups peeled baby carrots (I cut up whole, large carrots. I think they have more flavor)
3 stalks celery
1 medium onion
1 1/3 cups Chardonnay (I used an inexpensive white Bordeaux: Mouton Cadet)
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley sprigs
1/4 cup loosely packed tarragon sprigs (I just shook in some dried tarragon)

1. In a plastic bag, shake flour with 1/2 Tsp. salt, 1/4 Tsp. pepper, and the herbs de Provence; set aside.
2. In a 5-6 Qt. pot over medium-high heat, brown bacon, stirring often, 6-7 minutes. Meanwhile, cut chicken into 1 inch chunks, then shake half at a time in flour to coat.
3. Transfer bacon to paper towels. Brown half the chicken in bacon fat, stirring often, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to plate. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding oil to pot. Meanwhile, halve the carrots lengthwise and cut celery into diagonal slices. Chop onion.
4. Add vegetables to pot with remaining 1/4 Tsp. each salt and pepper and sauté until onion is golden, 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe bowl, microwave wine and broth until steaming, 3 minutes.
5. Add broth mixture, chicken, and bacon to pot, stirring to loosen browned bits. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop parsley and tarragon. Stir them into stew.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was an extruder for the KitchenAid mixer. After shoveling out paths through the snow in our back yard so our little doggie can run, I came inside and made homemade rigatoni. I’m not going to give you an exact recipe for the sauce, because it’s my own creation and I wrote nothing down. I think, however, all of you fabulous cooks can figure out what it takes to make it work.
I first plumped about 1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms with a claret and a tab of butter. Then I put them in the sauce after I added the tomatoes. I used two cans of organic diced tomatoes.
I know I’m doing this in reverse, but it’s so uncomplicated, I think you’ll be fine.
I started the sauce off with olive oil in a large skillet, one medium onion, cut into thin slices, and cooked until transparent. I diced up 4 cloves of garlic and put that in the skillet with the onions, and cooked for about 30 seconds before adding tomatoes and mushrooms.
I seasoned the sauce with salt, pepper and smoked paprika then I put in about 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
I served this dish with winter Parmesan from Di Palo’s down on Grand St. in NYC.
Enjoy!