[Sca-cooks] Gawdawful spaghetti sauce- OOP

[grizly]

  Wow, the garlic and onion thing is tough.  Only recommendation I can come up with it to make a sort of modified mir poix with maybe celery, carrot and (if allowable) some cousin to the onions . . . maybe leeks or shallots.  Browning off the aromatics will give you some added flavors.  Also, add a dollop of tomato paste after the veggies start browning.  Sautee this up to get the depth of flavor from the browning sugars in the paste.  I find an herb blend of oregano, bay leaf, basil, rosemary, thyme and roasted garlic (I know it's forbidden) to be bright and complex enough to hold up to the tomato and reduce the salt I need.  I might even suggest hiding a pureed couple of rinsed olives and/or capers in the sauce to give it a mysterious hint of flavor.  Splash of wine could also help?

  Man, the whole no garlic and no onion does hit hard on the creativity of the habitual red gravy, huh?

  niccolo difrancesco
  (not even gonna suggest the 1/8 teaspoon of cocoa powder per gallon of sauce I sneak in every now and again . . . talk about subtle complexity and depth of flavor)


  -----Original Message-----
  From: sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org [mailto:sca-cooks-bounces at lists.ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of Saint Phlip
  Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 10:05 AM
  To: Cooks within the SCA
  Subject: [Sca-cooks] Gawdawful spaghetti sauce- OOP


  Last night, I just made the worst spaghetti sauce I've ever made, and I'm looking for suggestions to improve it. The problem is, that I'm not allowed to use a lot of my usual ingredients, so it wound up pretty bland.

  My usual includes mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and various Italian herbs- Oregano, Bay Leaves, Thyme, salt, pepper, etc, and red wine. Meat is usually variable, either ground beef or sausage. 

  Due to household dietary restrictions (and groceries available) I had Italian hot sausage for the meat (WAY too much fennel ion it, which I hate), but no mushrooms, onions, or garlic, because of allergies or other unpleasant physical reactions on the part of my diners. Most green herbs are OK. 

  Guys, I'm not kidding you. This was even worse than the time that availability required me to use Spam (shudder) for the meat. Even Mrs Dash didn't help.

  Any suggestions?


  -- 
  Saint Phlip 

  Don't like getting old? Beats the Hel out of the alternative. 

  The purpose of life is not to arrive at the grave, a beautiful corpse, pretty and well-preserved, but to slide in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, proclaiming, "Wow! What a ride!" 
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