The love of our lives is coming home on Wednesday, and Ferdinand and I are getting ready. None of us work so well when we are apart, and life is getting better with just 2 days to go.
Ferdinand feels that we need to make him a big cake and buy him some beer; I’m thinking meat sauce. He has been in Italy for the past month which clearly puts my sauce against some of the best. I went hunting for our cart. (New Yorkers make use of serious fold up shopping assistance way before old age.) I need bags of carrots, celery, and onions, a pack of skinless, bone-in, chicken breasts, some fresh sausages, at least a pound of meat that goes through the grinder twice, and two cans of San Marzano tomatoes. I need a pound of flour to make the pasta, a dozen eggs, a pound of bittersweet chocolate for the cake and fresh cream to whip into soft clouds for the top.
When it’s love you’re looking to give, be ready to put your time in. It will only give to you for the effort. Finely dice two carrots, two stalks from the inside of the celery and one large onion. Cut a whole head of garlic in half, and saute on the cut side until golden. Add the vegetables with a sprig of rosemary and a sprig of parsley, and over a medium low flame, and another spill of your very best olive oil that brings the love up from your heels, cook them until they have absolutely no more restistance, not leaving them for a minute. If you aren’t stirring them, you should be meditating on them. Or squishing your two cans of San Marzano plum tomatoes with your hands until as smooth as possible. Or searing off two (seasoned with salt) chicken breasts, four sausages, and a pork chop if you like pork chops. When the vegetables are done, add your pound of chopped meat (all organic beef, or combination of organice beef and pork, or beef, pork and veal.) Slowly cook the meat until completely cooked through with a bay leaf. Drain, if there is excess fat, using a fine sieve, so you don’t lose any of the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, and the seared meat. Be sure your pot is big enough. Give it about a quarter cup of the red wine you are serving with dinner. Let it simmer for two or three hours, removing the chicken and pork chops when they are cooked through (about 30 minutes for the chicken, and maybe less for the pork chop.) The sausages you can leave in. Taste the sauce for salt, and red wine. If you need to add more red wine, let it cook for at least another twenty minutes. Sauce your pasta for the first course, for your second course, serve the beautiful pieces of meat (warmed in the remaining sauce) To finish, serve a simple salad of arugula leaves, shallot, and ripe grape tomatoes with a small wedge of earth rich Parmigiano Reggiano with a deep yellow rind visible on the interior.