Meatsauce and Macaroni

Here in NY there has been an ongoing debate for decades about what to call tomato meat-sauce for pasta. Well, there's a debate on whether to call it pasta or macaroni too, but we'll leave that one alone. As far as the sauce goes, you have your "gravy" or "Sunday gravy" as some folks call it. This is often thought to be the "authentic" Italian terminology among some connoisseurs of the cuisine. I do not agree that all tomato sauce with meat in it is gravy though.

I have made my fair share of gravy over the years. Usually takes about 8 hours or so for me to make up a batch. I have many variations, but the key is to slow-simmer your meats in tomato sauce to the point that all the ingredients are a thick fusion of stewed goodness. With the fats and the flavors melded together it really is a gravy by the time it is done, rather than a sauce, with the meat taking center stage on a tomato base. It's a lot of work and a real treat, but these days it's rare for someone to stand at a pot stirring tomatoes for 8 hours. But then again, who the heck really wants to eat jarred sauce?

Tonight I made a sauce from scratch that was out of this world, and only took maybe two hours rather then 6-8. It wasn't gravy, but it was still tasty and satisfying. The key difference in the flavor profile is that the flavors did not meld together the way they do in gravy. The fresher tomato flavor takes center stage here, distinguishable from the beef. with each ingredient standing up on their own yet playing very nicely together.

Okay, let's get down to it now. Chop half of a large onion. Now take about half of what you have chopped, and begin frying that in the pan with a good dose of olive oil. I just use some middle of the road Filippo Berio cold-pressed as a general purpose olive oil. After the onion gets going and softens up, toss in about a tablespoon full of chopped garlic. You can chop fresh garlic of course, but I keep a big jar of the chopped stuff in my fridge for cheating. Fair notice, it does have a different flavor than fresh, but neither is better or worse. Make sure you don't burn the garlic. Have your tomato ready to add.

Better tomatoes will usually make for a better sauce, but I used some Tuttarosso canned tomatoes that were on sale. Not the best tomats by far, but a step up from the bottom anyhow. We are using whole canned tomatoes, not sauce or chunks, or anything like that. Canneries use the best tomatoes to pack whole, and use the real garbage ones to make puree and paste and so forth. Two cans of regular with the green label, and one blue label can flavored with basil, which is a bit larger. Or maybe 4 regular-sized cans if that's what you have.

Hand crush the first can of tomato into the sizzling onion and garlic. The tomatoes are juicy enough on their own, so you will not need the juice in the can. Drain off the tomato juice beforehand. Discard or use for something else. I just drank mine while I was cooking. If I was making gravy, I would not pour off the tomato juice and instead let it simmer off. But since we aren't cooking the sauce for 8 hours, it would be way too watery if you used all the juice in the sauce. Better quality tomatoes will often be packed in much thicker puree rather than watery tomato juice. You may not want to waste that, adjust accordingly. Fry those tomatoes in the olive oil for a bit until they thicken up some. That's going to be the real trick here. Keep stirring and frying on high heat, allowing the tomato to reduce and sort of  "ripen" against the heat.

Now we are going to pour in a good dose of red wine. Maybe about a cup and half to two cups I suppose. You don't need a pretentious fancy wine, especially for cooking, but use something you like the taste of. I like Carlo Rossi Paisano wine. Add a sprinkle of sugar, maybe a tablespoonful. Let that all reduce a little now, and then we can go ahead and start adding the next can of tomato. One at a time, I hand crushed from the larger can this time. Keep stirring and reducing.

After I got through two of the cans, I added the rest of the onion, another spoonful of garlic and another big splash of wine, maybe about a cup or so this time. The fresh onion will add a bit more zip, but will also act as a marker of sorts. You will see them soften up and become a bit translucent as they cook down, giving you an idea of how well cooked your tomato is becoming as you hand crush the tomats from your last can. You really want to cook out that canned flavor and get the sauce to thicken up. When the fresher onion doesn't look much different from the onion we started with, you're about there.

If you continue to reduce a bit longer and then season, you would have a nice chunky marinara. But we are taking it to the next level here to make it a meat sauce. So leave it a little juicy still for a final reduction in a moment.

Fry ground beef, well-seasoned with salt and pepper. I find that cooking partially frozen ground beef makes it a little more tender. Put a lid on it and cook over medium heat for a bit. Once it is all softened, break it up well and finish browning. A second round of seasoning may be in order too once the meat is all broken up. A very lean ground beef should not need to be drained. I used an 80% and drained off maybe about a third of the fats and juices from the pan. A pound and a half of meat, maybe two pounds, should be enough.

Now we are going to throw the meat in with the tomato, and continue to reduce. Let the tomato and the meat meld a bit and continue to reduce. I left it on high heat the entire time and just kept stirring. Didn't cover or simmer at all, just kept frying it all.

Don't season too early, or your herbs will scorch and lose their flavor entirely. Fresh might be better, but I used dried herbs. Easier to keep on hand. Parsley, basil, and oregano. I like to go a little heavier on the oregano. You might also like to add some zip with some crushed red pepper.

Once it is reduced to the texture and thickness you like, it's ready to be served over your favorite shape of macaroni. I decided to leave the sauce a little bit juicy still, and did a final reduction with the macaroni right in the sauce to suck up the last of the juices. I used penne and cheese tortellini together for a special treat. Boil the pasta like you normally would, but leave it a little more firm than you would normally serve it. Add the pasta to sauce, and let the last of the juices cook into the macaroni a bit. 

Serve with grated cheese, maybe some garlic bread, after a nice green salad or perhaps with some olives and grapes.

Here is your shopping list:

Whole canned tomatoes, ground beef, onion, garlic, olive oil, macaroni, herbs and spices.

Simple Pasta With Clam Sauce

For some reason people get intimidated by the idea of making this, what is actually a very simple dish. I think that people have this notion that if it's seafood, it's difficult to execute, which can be true, but not in this case. You can of course, also go with all fresh ingredients, but it's also easy to keep the ingredients on hand for the version I made tonight.

We'll start out with some well-chopped onion, a handful or two, toss that into a frying pan with some olive oil. I used a vidalia, but a white or yellow onion would be fine, even a red onion might be nice. Get them softened up and browned a bit.

Now we're gonna crank open a little can of anchovies. I usually get flat fillets but accidentally picked up rolled fillet wrapped around capers. No biggie, worked fine. In fact, capers are called for in many other folks' versions of this dish. Some people have a textural issue with anchovy fillet though. There are teeny little bones that pretty much liquify in the pan anyway, but you might prefer some anchovy paste instead. If not though, get the anchovy broken up well and mixed in with the oil and onions. Use the olive oil from the can of anchovy too. Pour it all right in there.

Now we're gonna add butter. I cut a big hunk off from a brick, maybe about a stick, stick and a half of butter. Sounds like a lot, but don't let your heart stop just be reading that. Butter is not as unhealthy as you think, and a lot more healthy than the substitute oils they use in the canned versions of clam sauce. It's also probably less butter per serving than a prepared box of mac and powdered cheese. But if you're still really health conscious, just pour in a generous amount of more olive oil. I prefer the butter taste with the clams, but it's not uncommon to make this dish with no butter at, just olive oil. But in that case you should probably go with a higher quality olive oil than the middle of the road stuff I keep in my kitchen.

With the butter melted down, toss in a tablespoonful or two of chopped garlic. Fresh is fine, but I just keep a big jar of the pre-chopped stuff in my fridge. Keep right on stirring. We don't want anything to stick or burn. By now too, the last bits of anchovy should be well incorporated giving a brown hue to the sauce.

Clams. Gotta have the clams of course. Just about every recipe I have ever read for this call for a bottle of clam juice too. I say that's a waste of money. Just use the juice right from your cans of clams. That's right, DON'T drain that juice off into the sink like you would with a can of tuna. Pour the clams into the pan right along with all the juice. I only had two cans, which might have been enough, but was happy to find a third. A fourth wouldn't have been wasted either, but the three was enough.

Now some seasoning. I used a generous amount of parsley, some basil, a bit of oregano, and a quick shake of hot red pepper in descending order. Some folks might like to add some lemon zest and/or a good shot of white wine here, but I didn't have either on hand and it turned out fine.

Let all of that boil away for a few minutes, but we don't want to reduce the sauce too much because we are going to finish cooking it right in with the pasta. Cook your pasta to just a tad underdone for your preference, then drain. I like my pasta a little softer, to I cooked to al dente and poured it into the colander. Tonight I used fettuccine, which I actually prefer over the traditional linguine with clam sauce. A long cut is generally preferred though over something like elbows or twists. Throw a little of your clam sauce into the bottom of the pot, throw your hot pasta back in, top that with the rest of your sauce. Cook on lowered heat to let all that clam-juicy sauce soak into the pasta a little. Letting it sit for a few minutes even after you have killed the heat helps too. My second serving was actually a bit more tasty, lol.

Plate in your favorite pasta dish and sprinkle with some grated Romano-Parmesan. Simple as that, dinner is served. A green leafy salad and some nice garlic bread are always great accompaniments to just about any pasta meal.

Here's your grocery list: Box of pasta, three cans of clams, small onion, garlic, one flat tin of anchovy fillets, olive oil, butter. If you don't have herbs and spices at home, get some parsley at least, maybe some basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, or whatever herbs and spices you might prefer. I might try a little tarragon next time myself.

Easy Peasy Crabby Fettuccine

Imitation crab has a bit of a negative reputation as a cheap, un-authentic ingredient that culinary connoisseurs look down on with disdain. Of course, it doesn't really compare with some nice hot, fresh King Crab legs at your favorite seafood joint, but it's a very easy protein to work with, and keeps well for a long time in a vacuum sealed pack. Even longer in the freezer of course. Grab a few packages when it's on sale, and stick them in the freezer as a backup for when your groceries are getting low, or you feel in the mood for something other than the run-of-the mill beef, pork, and chicken routine. It's actually a pretty versatile ingredient, that you have probably enjoyed in Chinese food, in Sushi, or in the crab salad from your local deli. Imitation crab is actually a version of Surimi, a seafood product that is not looked down on in Asia any more than we would look down on ground beef or sausage here in the West. It can be a kid-friendly food too, is pre-cooked, and can be eaten hot or cold.

But let's cut to the chase now, and talk about what I did with it last night. We'll go ahead an put some water on to boil our pasta. The fettuccine worked great for this but you can always try out your own shapes of pasta of course, to your own preference. I do think that a wide, flat cut will work best though. I cooked a whole box, but only used about half of it in the final preparation, and put what was left in the fridge for another use. Normally, I like my pasta closer to the mushy side, especially for rich, heavy sauces, but for this I kept it a little more firm.

In a sauté pan melt down about a half stick of butter. Keep a bottle of olive oil handy and don't be shy with it as we move along here, since it will really be what makes up the “sauce” for this recipe, along with the melted butter of course. I use a middle of the road cold-pressed olive oil, but some folks may prefer something more top-shelf since, as I said, this is the prime liquid component that will dress the pasta when we are finished. Throw in your package of chunk crab meat, about a pound, for some sizzle. Next we'll throw in a few handfuls of sugar snap peas. These are basically peas still in the pods. I used frozen ones, about a quarter of the bag, and it brought down the temp of the pan a lot, so you might want to thaw first, but I just kept the heat on high to bring it all back up to temp. Keep it all drenched with olive oil and throw in a few big spoonfuls of chopped garlic, but not too early or it will burn. I used jarred to keep it quick and easy, but you can use fresh of course if you prefer. Season pretty well with fresh cracked black pepper. Sauté thoroughly, letting the crab chunks loosen up and fall apart. I beat up those chunks with my spoon a little to to help them break apart some more.

A quick side note here on the imitation crab meat again. You may find that you like some brands better than others, as I have, but I always try to find a twofer or bogo deal. The chunks I find are the most versatile, but you could always chop up some crab sticks too and I'm sure it would work out fine.

Now the finishing touch to the sauté, I gave it a nice dusting with dried parsley. Make sure there is plenty of oil in there so that it will coat all of your pasta. Depending on how you pull off the timing, you may have to cover and hold for a bit until your pasta is finished. Once it is, pour your sauté over it and toss. Alternately, you might plate individually, pasta, topped with a portion of your crab sauté. Top it all of with a good dusting of nice salty grated Parmesan and Romano blend. I was stuck with the cheap store-brand stuff in the canister, but it worked fine. I actually prefer it to the name brand actually, but I can be a cheese snob too, and do like the real, fresh grated stuff when I can afford it. But overall this is a good recipe to keep cheap, easy peasy, and done in a snap. As quick as it takes to cook pasta is about how quick you can have this dish done.

Since it's not drowning in a thick, heavy sauce, and you can actually taste the pasta, some might call this a “light” tasting dish. The snap peas add to the freshness, and their sweetness pairs with the sweetness of the crab meat. Those flavors pop against the saltiness of the cheese and we get a little zing from the black pepper. The flavor profile rounds out nicely then with savory garlic throughout and the richness of lip-moistening oils bringing us back full circle to the semolina platform.

Here's your shopping list:

Fettuccine, imitation crab meat, snap peas, olive oil, butter, garlic, black pepper, parsley, grated cheese.

Spinach Fettuccine alla Chicken Carbonara

I made this for the first time tonight. It was a bit of work, but came out absolutely fantastic. It is a very rich, delicious, and very filling dish. The original versions of Carbonara first appeared during World War II, so it is a relatively new dish in the pantheon of Italian cuisine. The authentic Italian version is somewhat different though, than how it is made throughout the rest of the world today. One key difference is the use of cream outside of Italy, creating more of a sauce We will be making a more popularized, counterfeit version this time rather than the authentic Roman one. But don't worry, authenticity is only subjective. Just ask any pizza-maker outside of NY, lol.

Bacon. I used a nice big electric frying pan to fry a package of smoked bacon. Different variations may use panchetta, or any sort of cured pork, but we Americans do have a certain love affair with bacon and it has become the standard for how most folks recognize the dish here in the States. Guanciale is the authentic meat if you want to give that a shot. Fry the bacon pretty well so that it will be easy to crumble later, but no need to burn it or shrink it to shoelaces. Let the strips drain on a paper towel. It took me about three rounds to cook the whole package. Do not drain the bacon grease from the pan.

Instead, we are going to use that grease to pan fry our chicken. Chicken actually has nothing to do with a Carbonara recipe, but it has become a pairing as ubiquitous as bacon. I had, oh, six or eight breast halves I guess it was. First I separated out the tenderloin from each breast, then sliced both pieces across into chunks the width of my pinky or so. Try to maintain some continuity in the size of the chunks you slice so that it will cook evenly. There was enough chicken to fill my electric fry pan. Cook through, but I left it just a tad underdone, to keep it juicy, since it will be resting for a bit. We don't want it dried out when it's time to finally serve. Remove the chicken from the pan and put in a covered container to keep warm for now.

Now the pan is filled with bacon grease and chicken juices. Go ahead and use that to fry some onion in. I chopped up a white onion into fairly small bits, but later only used about half the onion for this recipe. Cook on high heat then let it stick and blacken just a tad as it caramelizes a bit too. I squeezed it against the side of the pan to drain some of the juices off, before putting the fried onion in a small container and covered it.

Next, in the same pan, we will fry a package of sliced Baby Bella mushrooms. Not a necessary or authentic component, but a variation which is common, especially in America, and a tasty variation it is. Let them sear a little in what is left of the grease and the little pieces left in the pan of all that came before, but don't over cook. The mushrooms sucked up most of the fluid left in the pan at that point. Scrape them on out of the pan and put them in another covered dish.

Now we are going to make our sauce. This is really where authentic and popularized Carbonara go their separate ways. The only “sauce” in the authentic version is beaten egg yolk. Instead, we are making what amounts to an Alfredo sauce. Egg yolk is a primary component in a Carbonara recipe, yet is often omitted entirely in these cream versions, as it takes some flair to execute properly. The yolk must remain raw so that it does not turn to lumps of scrambled egg in the sauce. I too was a bit intimidated, and decided to cheat this first time out as well. So here we go.

In my fondue pot I poured in a medium container of heavy cream. The next size up from the pint size, so I guess maybe two pints it was. Add a half stick of butter to slowly melt. You don't want much heat, don't let it burn at all. I added some whole milk as well, knowing that the incoming cheese was going to thicken it all up.

Yup, go ahead and pour the cheese into the cream now. Pecorino or Parmesan are both traditional and the standard of the westernized version. You can spend a fortune on real good cheese, but I just used store brand shredded Parmesan, which is all you really need. Expensive stuff would be a waste of money here I think. Save the good stuff to dust the dish at the end. Keep stirring and allow two packages to melt into the cream and butter. Season the sauce with parsley, garlic powder, and fresh cracked pepper. I didn't go too crazy with the seasoning, you can always add more later to taste.

Next I added a few spoonfuls of the fried onion bits. They have a lot of flavor and are sweet, so don't go too crazy with those either. I didn't think I used all that much, but it nearly overpowered the sauce. My restraint paid off.

Go ahead and mix in your mushrooms and chicken. Any juices too, left in the holding dishes, go right in. I was worried that the sauce might have been a little too thin, but it was perfect in the end product. Make sure you have kept stirring all the while, not letting the sauce stick or burn. Again, keep the heat low, just enough so that everything melts, and then turn it off. It will stay warm enough for a few minutes while you attend to other steps now.

Crumble your bacon, but don't add it to the sauce. We want it to stay as crispy as possible.

While I was making the sauce, I brought a pot of water up to boil for the pasta. People have all sorts of preferences, any pasta will do really. Spaghetti is actually the traditional cut for the authentic version. I wanted to use fettuccine, since the broad, flat noodle plays well with heavy sauces. At the last minute I saw a box of spinach fettuccine and guessed right that it would play off the richness of the dish so very well. It really grounded the richness of the dish, but you can use a regular semolina pasta as most folks do, if that's all you have or really can't stand spinach. I am not really a big fan of spinach at all, but as I said, it brought a fantastic counterpoint to the richness and widened the taste profile considerably. Once it is cooked, go ahead and drain, then return to the pan.

Pour some sauce over the pasta. Don't drown it. You will have more than enough sauce too. I used less than half of what I had made for one box of fettuccine. Stir, so that the sauce coats all of the pasta, maybe wuth a little low heat under the pan. Dish into a shallow pasta bowl. You won't need a huge portion at all, it is very filling. I took a few more pieces of chicken and mushroom to top the pasta for an eye-appealing presentation. Throw on some crumbled bacon and give a few good shakes of grated cheese. I used a Parmesan-Romano blend that had just enough saltiness that I didn't need to add salt. We're almost there now, but cover your serving for just a moment to keep them warm or hold them in a warm oven perhaps.

Now this is how I got around having to separate eggs and worrying about them overcooking, while being somewhat true to a real carbonara. I decided to do a bit of a “de-contsruct.” Fry an egg in a non-stick pan for each dish you plan to serve. Me and Mom eating tonight, so I put two eggs in the pan and covered. Do not over cook. You want to warm them up enough, but that yolk you want to keep as runny as possible without the egg being slimy. Now we are going to trim the eggs, using a cookie cutter if you have one the right size. I used a small glass. Trim the yolk out with a band of egg white around the outside being careful not to break the yolk.

Set each trimmed yolk right on top of your plated pasta, and serve immediately, with some garlic bread on the side. Break the yolk when you dig in, so that it oozes out into your pasta. Magnifico!

From the grocery store you may need: Spinach fettuccine, chicken breast, bacon, mushrooms, onion, shredded Parmesan as well as grated cheese, heavy cream, butter, eggs, parsley, garlic powder, black pepper, bread.

EDIT for NOTE:

The sauce does not keep well, breaks and turns oily. Only make enough for what you are serving. But your chicken, mushrooms, onion and bacon can have portions reserved for later use when you make another batch of cheeses sauce.

Easy Italian Dinner

There's nothing quite as good as “Sunday Gravy,” the nice slow simmered meat-sauce that has made Italian cuisine famous the world over. Unfortunately, I am like most people today and rarely have six to eight hours in a single day to stand in the kitchen stirring a pot of sauce. So tonight we will take a big shortcut. Traditional Italian folk would see it as a culinary sin to have jarred sauce violating their pantry shelf, but I usually keep a few jars on hand for this dinner idea.

Let's chop up a small onion, or half of a larger onion. I like white onions for their milder, cleaner flavor. Take out some mushrooms, rinse. If you don't buy them sliced, go ahead and slice them up now. Smash and mince enough garlic for about a tablespoon's worth, unless you have a jar of minced already on hand.

We'll start to fry the onions on high heat with a little butter. Next we'll throw some ground beef in the pan. A pound or so of 80-85% is best, you don't want it to be too lean. If you only have very lean ground beef, make sure you have some extra butter on hand to toss in there in a bit. Once the meat is mostly browned, go ahead and toss your mushrooms in there, along with your garlic. A little salt and pepper too. Once the meat is browned, and the mushrooms have taken in some of the juices, go ahead and add your tomato sauce.

Tonight I had two 16 oz. Jars of some expensive stuff that I got on clearance at half price. But here's the trick with jarred sauce. You don't have to buy the expensive small-batch private-label stuff, but don't go middle of the road either with the corporate name-brand ones that wind up in the circular every other week. Mainline jarred sauces are usually too salty and way over-seasoned. Go right for a generic. Try a few different ones until you find one you like, but the nice thing about the generic labels is that they are mostly tomato and rather bland. That's what you want, so it will take on the flavors of the meat you now have simmering.

Kick the heat back up a little and keep stirring, so that the sauce actually begins to fry a little in the meat fats. You didn't drain that meat now did you? Don't be scared of a little fat, that's the flavor, and that's what gives it the velvety texture of gravy. If you only had lean meat, go ahead and toss in a chunk of butter now. Keep on stirring. I can still hear Ray Liotta in everyone's favorite gangster movie, “Don't let the sauce stick.” You're gonna be stirring for a good ten minutes or so, but it beats six hours of it. You want all the fats to really incorporate into the sauce and for the tomato to “ripen” a little more in the pan. The sauce will have a nice sheen but the fats should not be pooled on the top.

Go ahead and pull the sauce off the heat and cover or keep on a very low simmer, while we cook the pasta. I prefer ziti or penne, but small shells, orecchiette, or elbows work nice too. Go with what you like. I usually stay away from long cuts of pasta for this though, like spaghetti or fettuccine. Don't fully cook the pasta. Drain, but reserve some of the starchy water, or don't fully drain.

Return the pasta to the pan and pour in your meatsauce, along with your starchy water if you held some aside. It will help the sauce stick to the pasta now. Bring up the heat and stir it all together. The pasta should finish cooking right there in the sauce, so it absorbs some of the tomato. This works better with smaller cuts of pasta, which is why I don't use the long cuts like spaghetti. Much easier to stir and incorporate with the sauce. If I only have spaghetti on hand, I usually fully cook it, and serve the sauce on top. That also works better with fresh, good quality pasta rather than the box stuff.

So that's your main course. Serve the pasta in a nice deep dish plate or wide shallow bowl. Sprinkle with some grated parmesan and/or romano. If you like, maybe a little dried oregano or crushed hot red pepper. Some also like a dollup of ricotta cheese. 

But we did say this was gonna be a meal. So before you serve the pasta, you should serve a salad, which can be made up ahead of time. Tear up the lettuce by hand. Chopping it will cause the edges to brown and that really is just not attractive. Next we'll go ahead and peel the skin from some cucumber. Then I cut down into it lengthwise about a third of the way, one way and then intersecting, so there is a cross pattern if you look at it from the end. Now go ahead and slice it so that each slice falls out into four wedges. Of course, you can go ahead and chop it up any way you like. Some prefer to leave the skin on for added nutrition. Slice up some radish nice and thin. Then we need some tomato. Don't buy garbage tomatos. Spend the extra money, get at least some middle of the road tomatos. I usually get a pint of some cherry tomats, and then halve them or slice into rounds. Toss with a few green and/or black pitted olives. Nice simple green salad, dress with Italian dressing, or your own favorite. I actually like a nice Vermont honey-French that you can find in the supermarket.

And of course to round out an Italian meal like this you need garlic bread. Italian bread is obviously first choice, but you can use rolls, sliced bread, whatever ya got. Smear the face with butter. Of course you want it softened to room temperature, if you pull it right out of the fridge you'll rip the bread apart. Now a lot of people have gotten into using fresh garlic on their garlic bread. Frankly, I don't like it that way. I still prefer to sprinkle it over nicely with garlic powder. Sprinkle with just a bit of grated cheese too if you like, but keep your guests in mind too. Some folks have an aversion to grated cheese. Throw it in the oven or toaster oven, and keep an eye right on it. You want to get it nice and toasty, golden brown, but in a flash it will go too far and burn, so really keep an eye on it. Finish with a dash of dried oregano or herb blend. Serve with your main course, and maybe a small piece alongside your salad.

Now to top it all off, go ahead and serve some ice cream or sorbet for dessert. I Like a little dish of mint chocolate chip ice cream. After a heavy meal like this, the mint is nice and refreshing, not too heavy like some other flavors. I don't bother with any heavy topping either, but a few maraschino cherries and a little bit of the juice over the ice cream seem to really hit well with the chocolate in there. I don't like to go endorsing brands too much, but the Turkey Hill brand really is the best mint ice cream, because they sort of shave the chocolate in so it melts in your mouth right along with the ice cream. Other mint ice cream the chips are almost like plastic in your mouth, I don't like that much. Edy's is putting out limited quantities of Spumoni ice cream lately, an Italian favorite. A scoop of lemon sorbet served in a martini glass with a sprig of fresh mint would also be really classy and refreshing, without much fuss.

So there ya go, a nice Italian meal that you can serve any night of the week without too much fuss or hassle.

Here is your grocery list:

For the salad you will need lettuce, tomato, cucumber, radish, olives, and dressing.

For your main course you will need pasta, jarred sauce, ground beef, onion, garlic, butter, bread, herbs/spices and cheeses.

 And don't forget dessert!