Ray's Italy - Italian Recipes
Whether you were among 100+ fortunate people who sampled Italian cooking from the recipes
of Prof. Rev. Ray Bronk during dinner at All Saints' Church on 30 August 2006, or your
just looking for some new culinary delights, you'll want to give these recipes a try.
Pollo arrosto a rosmarino e aglio
Roasted chicken with rosemary and garlic
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3½ lb chicken, cut into quarters
- Salt
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tbs. olive oil minimum
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Wash the chicken parts with cold water, and pat thoroughly dry with paper towels.
Rub with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and place in roasting pan.
- Sprinkle the leaves of the rosemary sprigs on the chicken pieces. Chop the garlic coarsely,
and place on the chicken and in the pan.
- Put 1 tbs of the olive oil in the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated
oven. After 15 minutes, turn and baste the chicken with the pan juices. Turn the oven down
to 375 degrees F. Every 15 minutes turn and baste the chicken with the pan drippings.
Cook until tender, about 1 hour.
- Place the chicken on a warm platter. Place the pan on the stove and add ¼ cup dry
white wine to the pan drippings and turn the heat on high. Scrape loose any cooking
residues with a wooden spoon while the wine cooks away. Pour the pan juices over the
chicken parts and serve immediately.
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Ray’s Ragu
Salsa Bolognese
Ingredients
For about 6 servings (i.e.: 1½ lbs. of pasta)
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 tbs. butter, plus 1 tbs. for tossing the pasta
- Whole nutmeg (optional)
- 1/2; cup chopped yellow onion
- 1½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juice
- 2/3 cup chopped celery ( hearts of)
- 1½ lbs pasta (rigatoni, fusilli or rotini)
- 2/3 cup chopped carrot
- Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
- 3/4 lb. ground beef, pork, veal mix
- 1 6oz glass white wine. And 1 for you!
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Basics: The meat should not be too lean, and ground together. Add salt immediately
while sautéing. Cook the meat in the milk before adding the wine and tomatoes. Use a
pot that retains the heat. Cook, uncovered, for no less than 3 hours at the merest simmer.
- Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot (cast iron or other heavy-bottomed pot),
and turn the heat to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes translucent, then add
the chopped celery and carrot. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.
- Add the ground meat, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat
with a fork, stir well, and cook until the meat has lost its raw red color.
- Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away
completely. Optional: add a tiny grating of nutmeg if desired.
- Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir
thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat
down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble
breaking the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time.
If the sauce appears dry, add ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however,
no water should remain and the fat should separate from the sauce.
- Toss with cooked [al dente] pasta, adding the tbs. of butter, and serve with freshly
ground parmigiano on the side. Buon appetito!
An adaptation by Ray Bronk of Marcella Hazan’s recipe.
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