Vegan and gluten-free
The tomato/meat base of this ragout will work with any shape of pasta. Just use this recipe as a trusty guide. The point is to use whatever meat you have, such as roast pork (or beef or lamb or poultry), and heat it quickly with canned tomatoes to make a succulent sauce. Keep in mind that the meat is already cooked to perfection, so it takes very little time to come together.
Drain mushrooms. Mash cheese with small amount of cream. Add salt and Worcestershire sauce. Add mushrooms and mix. Chill thoroughly so mixture will be easy to handle and then shape into ball and roll it in finely minced parsley. Serve with melba toast rounds.
Ingredients
Gould farm in Monterey, Massachusetts, is a farm like many others in some respects —there are acres of organic gardens along both sides of the narrow road and cows that greet you with their kind stares. Up the hill there are pigs and chickens, and there is a dairy where Cheddar is cultured and aged before traveling to stores all over this part of the state. Poke your head into any door or walk through the garden beds and you will find staff and volunteers hard at work.
My father uses the microwave. Working with about 5 chestnuts at a time, he slits each chestnut almost all the way around its circumference, leaving the shell connected in one spot (there is a black dot on the chestnut that he uses as the hinge). Then he lays the nuts on a plate and microwaves them on high power for 40 seconds. The shells pop open like clams. He wets his fingers in cold water and pulls off the shells before the chestnuts cool. Repeat until all the chestnuts are peeled. The fresh ones really are better than the jarred, and he says it takes him only 15 minutes to do a pound.
Zakuski is a spread of Russian appetizers, little dishes that, rather like Mediterranean mezze, can either start a meal or constitute the entire thing.
Reprinted from the November 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine. Recipe by Maggie Ruggiero.
Empanadas De Hongos
(Tortillas Filled with Mushrooms)