Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce

For the summer months i.e. July and August, the South Arm Community Kitchen is held in other locations as the kitchen in the South Arm Community Center is fully booked for summer activities. For the month of July, the South Arm Community Ktichen is held at the Gilmore Park Church kitchen. Thank you Gilmore Park Church for accommodating us.

Minoo shared a Bolognese Sauce recipe in the kitchen. We served the sauce over spaghetti.
Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (we omitted this)
  • 1 large onion, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 pound ground pork (we substituted this with beef)
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushroom, sliced
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes
  • 6 ounces tomato sauce (we substituted this with 2 tablespoons tomato paste)
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine (we substituted this chicken stock)
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 pound pasta (we used spaghetti)



Source: South Arm Community Kitchen
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Tamarind Chutney

Michelle served the Garden Greens Pakoras with Tamarind Chutney.

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This Tamarind Chutney is fantastic with pakoras, samosas or papadam.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 package tamarind pulp (dried cake)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

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Source: adapted from Indian cooking by Beverly Leblanc

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Simple Tomato Sauce

Michelle served the Polenta Fries with a Simple Homemade Tomato Sauce.

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Leftover tomato sauce can be freeze up to 6 months. Allow it to cool completely and pour into 1 to 2 cups portions into freezer plastic bags or glass containers for freezing.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1/2 carrot, chopped
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 (32 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 dried bay leaf or basil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

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Source: this recipe is adapted from foodnetwork.com

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Homemade Mayonnaise

D’nis demonstrated a few recipes in the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen.

The first recipe is a Homemade Mayonnaise. You can make green mayonnaise by adding green herbs, or red  by adding a piece of red pepper or a chili.

Ingredients

  • one whole egg
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • juice of 1 lime or lemon, or 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon mustard
  • 1 clove garlic (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup canola oil (or olive oil, or half and half olive and canola oils)
  • when thick, you made a delicious mayonnaise!

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Source: D’nis

Yield: 1 cup

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Homemade Asian Marinates

Lorna shared with me a homemade Asian marinates which a friend of hers shared with her. When this friend of hers brought some baked chicken wings for a potluck party, they were so good that everyone asked for the recipe.

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This homemade Asian marinates is good for chicken or pork. I had tried it on both chicken and pork and it is really good.

Ingredients

  • 1 bottle (591ml) Kikkoman soy sauce
  • 1 bottle of Mirin (about the same size as the soy sauce)
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peel and lightly smashed
  • 2 inch ginger, peeled and sliced
  • 1 piece of 2-inch rock sugar

Source: Lorna

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Beef Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Sauce on Pasta

The main dish for the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors was Beef Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Sauce on Pasta. We also made a Pesto Sauce with Walnut to go with the pasta which I will blog later.

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The difference in this meatball recipe is the incorporation of ground turkey. The lean ground turkey makes these meatballs more healthy. Turkey meat has fewer calories, less fat, less cholesterol, but high in protein compared with other meat.

Most of the fats in turkey is within the skin and most of the fat within the meat is the dark meat. The white meat with skin removed is a good food source for people on low fat diet.

The turkey meat fiber is easier to digest than other types of meat, which makes it a good choice for individual who may have digestive problems.

Turkey is an excellent source of several important vitamins and nutrients such as iron, niacin, zinc, potassium, and B vitamins.

The Canada food guide recommends 2 to 3 servings of meat, fish or poultry per day for individual 50 years and up. A serving of any type of cooked meat is equal to 3 ounces and is about the size of a deck of cards.

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 1/2 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 pound lean ground turkey
  • 1/4 cup chopped onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs

Yields 4 servings

Tomato Sauce

  • 1 can plum tomatoes
  • 1 can tomato puree
  • 1 medium sized onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • grated Parmesan cheese
  • pinch of sugar

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Yields 6 to 8 servings

Source: unknown via Marian

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Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

Jorge served the Basil Cornmeal Muffins with a tangy sauce using fruits and vegetables that are in season. It was the season of strawberry and rhubarb.

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The Strawberry and Rhubarb Sauce is very appetizing. It can be served warm or cold. The basil in the muffin goes well with strawberry.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup diced strawberries
  • 1 stick of rhubarb, diced
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Source: Jorge Viduenez

Prep time: 10 minutes;  Cook time: 10 minutes;  Serves 12

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Happy Planet Natural Sauces

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This post is written with sample sauces provided by Happy Planet. Happy Planet sent us 12 packets of sample sauces. We are not paid for this post.

As you well know, Suanne and I get quite a number of companies asking if we wanted to try their products. We are picky about what we want to write about because it is simply impossible to review everything that comes our way.

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Mostly companies will just send us coupons but once in a while they will go the extra mile to ship us samples. Happy Planet shipped us samples of the their range Happy Planet Natural Sauces. There are altogether six types of gourmet sauces with tastes around the world which includes:

  • Thai – Yellow Curry Sauce
  • Spanish – Red Pepper Sauce
  • Indian – Butter Chicken Sauce
  • Bengali – Coconut Curry Sauce
  • French – Mushroom Wine Sauce
  • Japanese – Ginger Miso Sauce

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We were quite surprised that Happy Planet took all the trouble to ship the sauces to us. We did not expect it coming in a large Styrofoam container but soon realize the reason why. It is because unlike a lot of other sauces, Happy Planet’s sauces are made with fresh, natural and organic ingredients. There are no preservatives in the sauces and so it needs to be constantly refrigerated.

Happy Planet sent us a total of 12 packets of sauces and each of them is meant to serve 2-3 people. So that was a LOT we had. We decided to share this with Whitney and Ken’s family by cooking dinner together so that we can try a few of the sauces at one time.

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Happy Planet’s Natural Sauces are easy to make and versatile. They sent us three recipes to go along with each of the sauces.

The beauty is that each of the recipes have just three easy steps. While the guys make guy talk and the boys execute head-shots on the PS3, the ladies whipped up the meal quite quickly in the kitchen. It seems to me like the most time consuming steps is the preparations.

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The first one Suanne and Whitney used was the Japanese Miso Sauce. They could cook the Miso Sauce with Salmon Fillet, or Stir-Fried Tofu or Sauteed Chicken. They decided on Salmon.

Like I said it is just three easy steps. Step 1: Saute salmon fillets until cooked.

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Step 2: Add sauce and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.

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Step 3: Serve with steamed rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

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Simple! Even Ken and I could have done that ourselves but then we had bigger things to do … you know, things like figuring out why the HDMI cable does not send sound to the receiver, dishing the local politicians, moaning the lack of snow, where to buy pirated movies in Richmond … you know what I mean,right? Basically big stuff. LOL!

The Japanese Ginger Miso Sauce with Salmon Fillet is pretty good. We just love the texture of the crispy skin along with the savoury and … (more…)

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Making Pizza from Scratch: Pizza Sauce (Part 2 of 5)

Carol and Margaret were incharged of making the Pizza Sauce in the South Arm Community Kitchen for seniors. This recipe is adapted from Gourmet. It makes about 2 1/2 cups of Pizza Sauce.

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Ingredients

  • a 28-oz can crushed tomatoes in puree (about 3 1/2 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large non-reactive saucepan, bring the tomatoes puree and oil to a simmer.
  2. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes or until the sauce is reduced to about 2 1/2 cups.
  3. Season the sauce with salt and cool to room temperature.
  4. The sauce can be kept in the refrigerator, covered for 5 days.

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