Prime Cuts

I’d be hard pressed to come up with anything that I love more than spending time in my grandparents kitchen. Everything about it I love. I love the bickering over the “right” way to make the sauce, watching the flare, learning each dish’s unique flavor profile, and well, of course eating gorging.  The entire day at the Randazza household is centered around food — you wake up and eat breakfast, start on lunch and clear the table and then start on dinner. Eat, eat, eat, mange, mange, mange.

While I didn’t grow up close to my grandparents, I’ve been fortunate enough to log a number of hours in their house observing the production, and as I’ve gotten older it’s become increasingly more important to me to learn each recipe’s process so that I can share them with the friends and family I care about. Their dishes are less about learning to cook, and more about learning how to show love. To me (and my family), food is love.

This week I made the trip from Seattle to their kitchen in Gloucester, Mass with one mission, learn how to make the Randazza sauce.  To an untrained eye it might look like any ordinary marinara sauce, but the nose and mouth tell an entirely different story: UN-freaking-BELIEVABLE.

I have to preface this recipe by saying that it’s different every time. There is no measuring involved. Just a large pot that my nonna (grandmother) adds a little of this, and then my nonno (grandfather) complains about the flavor and throws in more a lot more of that. And admittedly after the four hours of it simmering and my grandparents back and forth, I lost track of quantity.

With that said, use this recipe as guidelines to create your own incredible family sauce and pass along to friends and share your love.

The Randazza Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh garlic cloves (sixish?), chopped
Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
A potato, peeled and chopped into cubes

Here’s where it gets a bit tricky, so I’m fudging some of the recommended amounts:
1 – 2 cans of tomato paste (really depends on how thick you want the sauce)
LARGE can of tomato puree (depending on the volume you might want to throw in two)
Sugar
Fresh basil
water

Preparation

Start by coating a medium pan with olive oil (I strongly suggest splurging on a quality EVOO — worth it!). Saute several garlic cloves,  with a medium yellow onion.  Add potatoes (they cut the tartness of the sauce) and continue to saute until potatoes are ever-so-slightly softened.

In a large pot over a medium heat pour in tomato paste and puree, as well as your saute mixture. Add as much water as you’d like to make the sauce as thick or thin as you desire.

When the sauce begins to bubble, add in sugar to sweeten (this is totally a preference thing). Typically I like my sauce sweeter, so I dump in about 3/4 of a cup-ish.  Turn down to a low simmer and add in several pieces of basil (basil holds its flavor best when you wait to add it in at the end).

Cook the sauce for as long as you want, the flavor profile will change the longer it’s on the stove. Totally up to you, so experiment and ENJOY!

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Photo by: fritish

Starting today, we introduce Fresh Fridays where we will provide you with an easy-to-make recipe that is guaranteed to impress your family, friends or next guests.  Some of the best main courses, side dishes, sauces and desserts that you have at a restaurant are among the simplest to make at home.  At times we will offer more advanced recipes but will always ensure that we’ve explained any techniques or elements needed in a previous post for you to reference.

For the first Fresh Friday we wanted to introduce you to our favorite dipping sauce/marinade, chimichurri.  There are two main versions of chimichurri: a verde (green) herb-based version or a darker, thinner variation which typically consists of tomatoes, onions and cilantro, among a few other ingredients.  Today we’ll be presenting the recipe for a chimichurri verde.

The recipes can all be modified and tweaked to your individual liking.  The following recipe was developed to be served with grilled shrimp or scallops, and is the perfect flavor component for an appetizer or light summer meal.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup rice vinegar

1 cup dry white wine (preferably an Argentinean one!)

1 cup hot but not boiling water

2 bunches scallions, finely chopped

1 bunch parsley, finely chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 cup minced garlic

zest and juice of 2 lemons and 2 limes

1/2 cup sugar

2 crushed bay leaves

1/4 cup dried oregano

salt and white pepper to taste

Preparation

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly with whisk to distribute all ingredients evenly.

Let the chimichurri rest in an airtight container at room temperature for approx. 4 hours to allow the liquids to absorb the flavors of the solid ingredients, and the dried herbs to “soften”.

Prepare shrimp or scallops for grilling by skewering and marinating in chimmichuri verde in a shallow covered container for 30 minutes in refrigerator.  Grill at medium/high heat, basting with reserved chimmichuri while grilling to desired doneness.  Serve with small cups of reserved room temperature chimmichuri verde for dipping.  The remaining chimmichuri verde (not used for marinating) can be kept refrigerated in an air tight container for 2 + weeks.

You can download a PDF version of this chimichurri verde recipe.

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