Bright sun, light wind, -5
The first thing I do when I start cooking is fill my kitchen sink with hot sudsy water. It’s great for a quick hand rinse as well as an incentive to wash those messy pots and bowls as they accumulate on the cupboard. My goal is to have my kitchen cleaned up at the same time my food is ready. I must admit, this doesn’t always work out!
Today, I decided to make a good meat sauce that would go with any kind of pasta. I started off with about a pound and a half of ground turkey, but chicken, pork or beef are just fine too. I added an onion, some chopped celery, garlic, and a light touch of oregano, sage, and chili powder. Once the meat was cooked, I poured it into a bowl, set it aside, then sautéed 6 slices of finely chopped bacon in the same pan until crisp. I added a handful of fresh mushrooms and a bag of baby spinach. The mushrooms sautéed nicely in the bacon drippings and once the spinach had wilted, I reintroduced the cooked meat to the bacon mixture, added a can of diced tomatoes, a jar of tomato sauce and simmered gently for 10 minutes. As a finishing touch, I used my immersion blender to thicken the sauce; this has to be done very carefully or tomato sauce can end up all over your kitchen! Trust me, I know. I’ve done it! I don’t blend the entire dish, just enough to create a rich, meaty sauce. Today’s pasta happened to be capellini, a family favourite.
For an extra dash of flavour, I added chopped fresh garlic, parsley, and just before serving, some grated parmigiano reggiano.
This dish is quick and easy and can change on a whim, depending on what’s going on in my pantry. I don’t always add bacon, nor do I always have fresh spinach, but they definitely added a lot of colour and flavor to this dish today. From beginning to end, it took a half hour and that included cleaning up my kitchen.
Now, back to my Giles Blunt murder mystery. Who the heck done it, anyway?
