Spaghetti in Tomato and Apple Sauce

I've been watch catching a number of episodes of Lidia's Italy on TLN, and she was exploring the food of  Trentino and Alto-Adige, and a very interesting and unique dish is Spaghetti con salsa di Pomodorie e Mele.  I started with Lidia's recipe but modified it for my taste so here my take on a Trentino fall classic.

1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes

3/4 cup diced celery

3/4 cup dice carrot 

1 cup diced onion

1 lb, Granny Smith apples (or similar), cored, peeled, and shredded

6 Tbls  EVO

3 Cloves garlic minced or pressed 

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese + 1/4cup at the table 

1/4 cup chopped parsley 

Salt and pepper to taste  

1 lb Spaghetti 

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

I regularly catch Lidia's Italy on TLN, Lidia  was talked about the Lazio Region of Italy, and she proceeded to make Bucantini All'Amatriciana based upon a dish from Amatrice. Originally Lidia used Guanciale, which is hard for me to find so I used pancetta, so here is my rendition of her dish:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Medium Onions, Quartered and thinly sliced
6 Cloves Garlic, sliced
1 28oz Can Plum Tomatoes passed through a food mill, (preferably San Marzano)
1/4lb Pancetta, 1/4" slices chopped.
1/2 tsp Peperoncino ( more or less to taste)
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
1/4 cup Flat Leaf Parsley Chopped
1lb of Bucantini or Perciatelli
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

I used a technique I saw on the program, put the sliced onions in a hot pan, with some water (I added a 1/4 cup of water + 1/2 cup white wine), to steam the onions and cook them without colouring them.  Once the water has evaporated, move the onions to one side of your skillet and add a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, add the garlic and peperoncino.  Once the garlic has some colour, mix it with the onions and clear a space for the pancetta.  Once the pancetta is rendered add the milled tomatoes with the liquid from the can, reduce the pan to a simmer.  As a side I add a couple teaspoons of the parsley stems finely minced for extra flavour while the sauce simmers.  Taste for seasoning, adjust pepper and possibly peperoncino to taste.

Why is Pork and Pineapple Bad?

I was watching the Next Iron Chef on the tele and one of the judges (Simon Majumdar) keeps complaining about having pork marinaded or in association with pineapple. While I understand that pineapple contains bromelain and bromelain is a powerful meat tenderizer, bromelain can be denatured by heating it before marinading the meat with it.

I wonder if the chefs used papin (from papaya), ficain (from figs), or actinadain (kiwi), would the judges complain as loudly.  Conversely if they were marinading a tougher cut of meat instead of the prime grade cuts, would the judges react with such harsh words as "the meat was mushy."

I like mixing some sweet with my meats when I stir fry or make salads; grilled pineapple is very high on my favourite additions, and figs in the top five.  Granted, in grilled pineapple, the bromelain has been denatured, and I don't use "tender" cuts of meat for stir fries, but I'm not a world famous food critic, or chef.

I'll continue eating tacos al pastuer, sweet and sour pineapple pork, I like the flavour, and can accept what ever minor textural change there might be....

More Later....
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Deadliest Warrior is back.

I'm glad to see the Spike TV has a new season of Deadliest Warrior. First couple episodes

• Swat vs SGS-9
• Attila the Hun vs Alexander the Great

I look forward to what the season brings.

More Later...
G.

Fireup The Colortini!!

Late night TV has not been the same since the departure of THE LATE LATE Show with Tom Snyder.  It ran until 1999, before they change hosts.  I never had the privilege of watching The Tomorrow Show, except in the odd youtube clip, but I watched him most nights on The Late Late Show.  He actually could carry on a conversation with his guests, and had some interview skills.  He wasn't some comic that doesn't want to be on tour, he was a serious news man. There are some great interviews by him on youtube go check him out.

I hope he is serving up the colortini in the great beyond.

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Couple more ways to waste time on TV

Over the last few weeks I've caught a couple of more TV shows that have caught my interest

• Doing Da Vinci
• Merlin

Doing Da Vinci is on Discovery Channel and is a reality show about a group of people building various war machines from the notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Merlin is new in North America, but is a British fantasy series about the Aurtherian Court and the wizard Merlin.


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Jesse James is a Dead Man

A new show on Spike TV that has a passing interest to me is Jesse James Is a Dead Man. Jesse James, owner of West Coast Choppers, and star of Monster Garage, and Motorcycle Mania, is back in a new series.  It looks interesting. 

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G.

Deadliest Warrior!!

Spike has been airing a cool new series called Deadliest Warrior.  It's in the same vein as Animal Face-off, a number of engineers, and specialists in the selected weapons and warriors, run a series of tests.  The data is then feed into a computer simulation and a winner is selected.  A couple of the episodes are

• Viking vs Samuri
• Ninja vs Spartan Warrior
• Shaolin Monk vs Maori Warrior

there are others, check it out.

More later......
G

Women Warriors

• Lozen of the Chiricahua
• Joan of Arc
• 花木蘭 — Hua Mulan
• Boudica

Just of a few of the random names of important women from various places and times in history.  Until recently I had not heard of Lozen.  I caught a series on Discovery Civilization on Women Warriors, and this specific episode was about Lozen of the Chiricahua (a member of the apache Nation) sister of Chief Victorio.  She was a warrior and medicine woman, and was part of the last apache stand with Geronimo. 

I will have to do some more research, but it was very interesting, and tragic since the Chiricahua were basically rounded up from New Mexico and shipped to a prison in Florida. 

More Later....
G.

Jeff Dunham....

One of my fave comedians, Jeff Dunham Christmas special was on.... love his ventriloquism...  and of course his side kicks

• Peanut
• Walter
• José Jalapeño

He has some others but these are my favorites.

The Christmas special had a set by Jeff himself, then with Walter, Achmed the Dead Terrorist, Bubba J... and of course Peanut with José Jalapeño.

The Nasty Bits:

Just powered though Anthony Bourdain The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones. It's a colection of odds and sods from his other writings.  If you like Anthony's schtick from his various TV shows, then this might give you a chuckle.

More Later....
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Cananda's Top 10 Wildlife Destinations

I was watching a travel program sometime back, and found my notes on Canada's top 10 wildlife locations. So in no particular order

• Ivvavik National Park- Firth River, Yukon Territories
• Saguenay St. Lawrence Marine Park , Quebec.
• Elk Island Nation Park, Alberta
• Brackendale Eagles, British Columbia
• Muskwa-Kechika, British Columbia
• Aulavik National Park - Banks Island, Northwest Territories
• Cypress Hills Park, Alberta/Saskatchewan
• Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta
• Khutzeymateen, British Columbia

The program was done by Goodearth Productions. They also did

• Great Canadian Rivers
• Great Canadian Parks

And some other stuff, you can go to the site if you care.

I regularily spend time at Elk Island. I was treed by a moose at Cypress Hills, and I've driven beside Wood Buffalo. I was surprised that they didn't include any of the Alberta mountain parks (Banff, Jasper, Waterton Lakes).