$19.95 US $25.95 CAN UPC EAN ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-221-2 ISBN-10: 1-59233-221-8 www.fairwindspress.com the spaghetti SAUCE gourmet DAVID JOACHIM Cooking Job no:8136 CTP Title : SPAGCOVER Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 289(w)227(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c2 D/O : 10.08.06 Co: CM12) SpagCover.080906c2.qxd 8/11/06 10:12 AM Page 1 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) 5th Black p1 160 Recipes from Four Kinds of Sauce DAV I D J OAC H I M SAUCE T H E S PA G H E T T I G O U R M E T 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:53 PM Page 1 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) p2 5th Black Job no:81 Scn : #17 Dept : DT Text © 2006 by David Joachim First published in the USA in 2006 by Fair Winds Press, a member of Quayside Publishing Group 33 Commercial Street Gloucester, MA 01930 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. 10 09 08 07 06 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-1-59233-221-2 ISBN-10: 1-59233-221-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available Cover design by Derek Sussner Book design by Laura McFadden Photography by CPI Printed and bound in China 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:53 PM Page 2 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) 5th Black p3 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:53 PM Page 3 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) p4 5th Black Job no:81 Scn : #17 Dept : DT 1 9 5 Beef Main Dishes intro Getting the Most from Prepared Pasta Sauces and Other Convenience Foods, Plus Basic Sauce Recipes 3 Lamb Main Dishes Fish and Shellfish Main Dishes 7 Pizza, Tacos and Sandwiches Sides, Salads, and Little Dishes Contents 6 27 71 163 103 209 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:53 PM Page 4 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) 5th Black p5 4 6 8 2 Pork Main Dishes Chicken and Turkey Main Dishes Pasta Dishes Soups and Stews etc. Index 248 Acknowledgments 258 About the Author 260 s 49 83 125 185 001-025.qxd 7/31/06 3:37 PM Page 5 Spaghetti sauce is often thought of as one thing: a quick and easy way to dress up pasta. But there’s so much more you can do with a jar of sauce than pour it over noodles. Think outside the pasta box. That jar of tomato sauce in your pantry could serve as the base for a braising liquid to make Braised Beef Short Ribs (page 44). It could be mixed with orange juice, saffron, and sherry to steam Mussels in Orange Saffron Sauce (page 122). Prepared pesto can form an aro- matic crust on Grilled Lamb with Pesto (page 79); or it can be mixed with mashed potatoes to whip up Baked Salmon on Pesto Potato Pancakes (page 113); or slathered over a roast to make Pesto Crusted Stuffed Beef Tenderloin (page 46). Prepared Alfredo sauce has countless uses, from White Pizza with Spinach and Shrimp (page 168) to Mushroom Bisque (page 192) to Alfredo Braised Pork Shoulder (page 67). When you think about the basic ingredients in popular pasta sauces, such as tomatoes, cream, Parmesan cheese, and basil, you begin to see the endless possibilities for using these sauces in inno- vative ways. Tomatoes are enjoyed in cuisines throughout the world from India to Mexico to Italy to France to Spain. Various forms of cream are used widely in the cooking of western countries. In addi- tion to such American favorites as Easy Chicken Pot Pie (page 92), this book provides simple recipes for popular international dishes such as Shrimp Pad Thai (page 133), Yucatan-Style Shredded Pork (page 50), Moroccan Lamb with Couscous (page 80), Catalan Seafood Stew (page 199), and North Indian Chicken in Warmly Spiced Tomato Sauce (page 88). All in all, you’ll learn how to create more than 160 fabulous meals using prepared pasta sauces that are available in your supermarket. The Spaghetti Sauce Gourmet 6 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) p6 5th Black Job no:81 Scn : #17 Dept : DT Introduction 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:54 PM Page 6 How I Approached the Recipes It was fun coming up with all of these recipes. The challenge was to use familiar ingredients in uncommon ways. Given that prepared sauces were on the menu, I figured that most readers would also be willing to take a few other shortcuts when appropriate. The recipes here call for both fresh and prepared ingredients in an effort to make the best-tasting home-cooked meals in the least amount of time. I freely use precut produce, prepared doughs, and other good-quality convenience foods such as real preshredded Parmesan cheese. Using these widely available prepared foods dra- matically shortens kitchen prep time. Let’s face it: most of our time spent cooking actually involves chopping, slicing, dicing, or mincing onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, garlic, or ginger. Thankfully, all of these vegetables are now available prechopped, presliced, and preminced in jars or in tubs in the refrigerated produce section of most grocery stores. Skim through the recipes in this book and you’ll see that most require no chopping at all. Both “prep” and “cook” times are listed so you can see just how quickly these dishes come together. More than 50 of the recipes are ready in 15 minutes or less and dozens use only five ingredients or less. These super-easy recipes are marked for quick identification. How to Get the Most from Prepared Pasta Sauces Prepared pasta sauces can play an important role in the quick cook’s kitchen. Not only can you doctor them up to serve with pasta, you can use them as springboards for more inventive and impressive meals. Introduction 7 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) 5th Black p7 n Getting the Most from Prepared Pasta Sauces and Other Convenience Foods 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:54 PM Page 7 Which sauces are best? In researching this book and developing the recipes, I found literally hundreds of pasta sauces available in shelf-stable jars, cans, and refrigerated and frozen tubs. Dehydrated sauce mixes are also available, but these tend to be vastly inferior in quality when compared with refrigerated, frozen, and bottled sauces. I wanted the ingredients in the book to be easily accessible by most consumers, so I focused on only the top four pasta sauces avail- able in the marketplace: tomato sauce; pesto sauce; Alfredo sauce; and, to a lesser extent, cheddar cheese sauce. I researched supermar- kets, gourmet stores, and online retailers to find the brands that are widely available. Then, I gathered neighbors, friends, and colleagues to sample dozens of sauces and find the best-tasting ones. Of course, I can’t claim that we tasted everything. Many sauces are regional or local specialties and often come from restaurants in a particular city. For instance, in my region of eastern Pennsylvania, the local family- owned Italian restaurant Louie’s makes Belletieri pesto and tomato sauces that are quite good. Other regions have their local favorites. I’ve focused mostly on brands that are available on a national level through supermarkets, gourmet stores, and online retailers. The range of quality in these sauces is enormous. You can really taste the difference between a bottle of Ragu Tomato Basil Sauce ($1.29) and Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce ($7.99). Even though some tasters fondly associated less-expensive sauces with their childhood, they agreed that the pricier sauces tasted better. Most top-shelf pasta sauces are higher in price because they use high-quality, expensive ingredients. Following is a brief review of widely available pasta sauces to help guide you through the sea of choices. It’s not a comprehensive review by any means. For simplicity’s sake, I grouped the sauces into three different tiers based on price. Tier 1 includes very widely distributed sauces that tend to be less expensive and use less-expensive ingredi- ents (such as dried onions instead of fresh onions). Tier 2 contains middle-of-the-road sauces that are available in most markets, tend to cost a bit more, and use slightly more-expensive ingredients (such as extra-virgin olive oil instead of soybean oil). Tier 3 features premium sauces that carry the highest price tags, use high-quality ingredients (such as imported San Marzano tomatoes or basil from the Ligurian The Spaghetti Sauce Gourmet 8 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) p8 5th Black Job no:81 Scn : #17 Dept : DT 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:54 PM Page 8 coast), and tend to be available only in regional markets or online. There are some good finds in each tier. Scoping out your favorite sauce is a matter of trying as many sauces as you can, deciding what you’re willing to spend, and sticking with the flavors you like best. What’s in the Jar? The first step in evaluating any pasta sauce is to look at the ingredi- ents label. The ingredients can tell you a lot about the quality of the sauce. The best sauces use fresh ingredients rather than dried or dehydrated ones. Fresh garlic tastes noticeably better than garlic powder. If a prepared sauce starts with dried onions and dried garlic instead of fresh, there’s only so much salt, sugar, fat, and “natural flavor” that can make it taste better. Look also for whole ingredi- ents rather than pureed or reconstituted ones. Diced tomatoes usu- ally have a more complex taste than do crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, or tomato paste. Avoid modified food starches and gums when possible. These ingredients thicken sauces inexpensively, but they can’t match the texture of a sauce that has been simmered to evaporate excess moisture, concentrate its flavor, and naturally thicken its consistency. When reading labels, keep in mind that ingredients are listed in order from highest concentration to lowest. If diced tomatoes are listed first, the sauce contains mostly diced tomatoes. If tomato puree is listed first, it contains mostly tomato puree. If water is list- ed first, you might want to look for another sauce. Tomato Sauces Scan the shelves of your typical grocery store and you’ll be over- whelmed by the choices among tomato sauces, including marinara, arrabiata (with hot peppers), puttanesca (with olives and/or anchovies, capers, and hot peppers), tomato basil sauce, tomato vodka sauce, tomato sauce with red wine, with garlic and onion, with sun-dried tomatoes, with peppers, with mushrooms, with chunky garden vegetables, with spinach and cheese, with four cheeses, with meat, with sausage, and the list goes on. All of these varieties boil down to three basic tomato sauces: marinara, tomato basil, and tomato vodka sauce. The bulk of these sauces are sold in Introduction 9 Job no:8136 CTP Title : FW-SPHAGETTI GOURMET Client : Pro-Vision Scn : #175 Size : 127(w)215.9(h)mm Co : M12 MAC B C0 O/P: CTP Dept : DTP D/O : 24.07.06 (Job no:8136c1 D/O : 29.07.06 Co: CM12) 5th Black p9 001-025.qxd 7/29/06 1:54 PM Page 9