ToolBag

Hey, I have never posted on this specific board before but I was wondering if anyone had any awesome spaghetti sauce recipes. Im a huge garlic fan if anyone has something on that line. Also for those who love dipping bread into olive oil, if you have any suggestions for ingrediants or extras to add to the oil or certain brands of oil or whatever else there is.

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Dan 3:20

saltfish

I'll get back to you on the sauce recipe, it's locked up in the safe.

Though, when it comes to olive oil I can't really recommend a brand, but I can give you some hints.

Each different brand of oil has it's own unique flavors, but for dipping remember this:
Extra Virgin First Cold Press

You can't go wrong.

Though, do try many different oils by buying small bottles and remembering which ones you like. As for me, I like to fry an egg with a new olive oil to determine how good it really is. For me, I can tell wether or not the oil is up to my par depending on how the egg tastes.
Here in my city, we have Marsh grocery stores and there is a certain brand of olive oil in the ethnic isle, made by a certain mexican food brand that is just to die for. I'll try to get a name for ya.

-SF

Average-Joe

simple sauce......

2 cans whole peeled plum tomatoes
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T crushed red pepper flake
1 T fresh ground black pepper
splash dry white wine...about 1/2 cup

sauté onions,garlic an pepper in oil on med-high heat...this allows the oils in the pepper to bloom
splash in your wine, let reduce a bit, then add your tomato

bring to boil, then simmer 20 min
taste an season with salt, an add a pinch of sugar if you like it sweet

when done add

FRESH chopped basil,oregano & thyme.... about 1/2 cup

enjoy



most Greek & Spanish extra virgin oils are excellent for dipping. adding fresh ground black pepper & salt will be all the extra flavor you need. of course having a fresh good quality bread along with the type of salt helps.

Aletheia

You can buy speciality oil for deeping. They are made with different flavors just for dipping. My GF and I got some at a farmer's market and we loved it. It was a light garlic extra virigin olive oil. Wonderful stuff.

Chingal0

It is easy to infuse oils with whatever also. You can hot infuse, say garlic, to, say, olive oil on a stovetop, keeping the oil at a constant like, 135 or 140F and in an hour or so it will become fragrant. You can also cold infuse, but that takes longer.

Blah..

My spaghetti sauces usually consist of -

Tomatoes, roma usually, that have been skinned
Garlic
Thyme
Oregano
Meat - Usually some italian sausage or whatever I have..
Basil
Salt and pepper
olive oil
onions
tomato paste
tomato sauce

I think that is about it. No particular order there, just sweat garlic, onion in olive oil, add meat, cook, add tomato products, cook, add spices, cook, add basil at the last minute and serve.

Cook uncovered for a little to make the sauce thicker, cook covered to make it thinner.

Thats about it.

Oh, bread and oil. Take said infused olive oil, some salt and pepper as mentioned earlier, and a damn good balsamic vinegar and dip dip dip away. Ramekin of olive oil, float some balsamic in it, cracked black pepper on top, kosher salt maybe.. yay.

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ToolBag

excellent, Im going to try that spaghetti sauce Average Joe suggested, sounds awesome. I have found some flavored oils but just didnt taste right to me. Ill see if I can make some of my own mixture when I have more time. Thanks for the help so far, Ill tell you how the sauce turns out.

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Dan 3:20

Rodney

Also to say -- when dipping bread into olive oil, the bread also makes a different. I like Italian franchese bread and ciabatta for dipping -- they're fairly firm, so you can slice the bread thin, and yet they absorb the oil easily. And I think they taste better with the oil than standard "french bread."

Also, you didn't mention vinegar, but adding a generous dollap of cheap balsamic vinegar to the dipping plate on top of the olive oil is a great idea. With bread, pungent-but-not-bitter vineagar makes a great balance to the smooth, fruity, oil.

ironchefkorea

Sear a reasonably large cut of ribeye with olive oil. Add several peeled, seeded roma tomatoes and a can of tomato paste, a bay leaf, fresh basil, several cloves of garlic and about 2 cups of water. When it comes to a boil, add olive oil, coarse sea salt, fresh black pepper and red wine. Cook it down for several hours, constantly adding water so it doesn't get too thick. After 3 hours remove the bay leaf, and keep cooking. Once you hit the 6 hour mark add water to whatever consistency you like...

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FYI - see Greg's Great Spaghetti recipe on this same index within the TFP. It is awesome.

As for the bread, I do as follows:

Fresh Italian or french bread. Cut into thick slices
Sour Cream
Butter
Parmesan cheese
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning
Seasoned salt (Lawrey's type of thing)

Cut bread. Apply fine layer of sour cream. Use the real stuff as the lower fat stuff is too watery. Over the sour cream, spread a nice layer of butter. (You can put the butter first, then the sour cream - it doesn't matter). Sprinkle a healthy layer of parmesan cheese. (Frankly, more often than not I use the Kraft Cheese "dust" in the tall green can. Certainly better to use better cheese, but again, use what you've got.) Over the cheese, sprinkle a fine layer of garlic powder. Shake just a little italian spices on it - mainly for appearance, not for the flavor. Lastly, just a few granules of seasoned salt. I put a small amount in the palm of my hand and pinch a little and sprinkle on bread. Careful with the salt as you can easily over salt it and ruin the whole thing. If in doubt, just skip the salt - you can always salt to taste after cooked.

Put in toaster oven on toast, or in oven on broil (I like to cook both sides of the bread, so I toast it. Most like to cook only the top of the bread and leave the bottom softer - for this use the broiler. In any case, only until top is lighly brown. Remove and serve promptly. Give it a try.