Bolognese Sauce

Again I haven’t blogged for a week. Boo for me. During the last few days the weather in New York has warmed up quite a bit which means more time out with friends and very little nookie for my kitchen. Lately it’s been mostly sushi and barbecues. But no more! Here is my most recent adventure:

As I’ve said before, I eat very little red meat. Except for cheeseburgers, of course, I can’t resist those. But I’ve been wanting to make Bolognese sauce for a while and tonight I finally had the chance. This red sauce is originally from Bologna, Italy (hence the name) and is made with beef. Every cook has their own recipe and this one’s mine : ]

Yield: 4-6 portions

Ingredients:

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 medium white onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 stalk of celery, diced

2 small carrots, diced

1 pound ground beef

1 tsp dried oregano

1/3 cup dry red wine (I used Burgundy)

1 12 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tbs light brown sugar

Parsley and parmesan cheese for garnish

Salt/pepper

Pasta

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet on medium-low heat.
Add the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 min. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the beef. Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Break up with a wooden spoon and cook for 5 min, until the meat is no longer pink. Add the wine and simmer for 5 more min, to cook off the alcohol. Add the tomatoes and brown sugar. Re-season again if needed. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 min, loosely covered.
Then taste for seasoning and serve with pasta of your choice, topped with parsley and cheese. Bueno appetito!

Cafeteria

Cafeteria is a restaurant that I’ve been hearing a lot about lately and Friday night my friends and I decided to have dinner there. The food there is marketed as comfort food with a twist. If you ask me however, I’d say the twist is negligible.

We arrived there around nine o’clock and it was packed. We waited for our table for 40 minutes. The restaurant was pretty loud and the wait staff wasn’t that friendly (they were good-looking though.) The menu was extensive, included were: sandwiches, soups, burgers, salads and seafood.

Instead of bread, Cafeteria serves warm biscuits. And instead of regular old butter, they serve a butter whipped with honey – which might’ve been my favorite part about the whole meal! It was original, unexpected and very tasty.

For my drink, I chose the Aloe Vera Lemonade ($6.00.)

It was a good glass of lemonade, except the “aloe vera” part seemed to be missing…

As an appetizer, I shared Smoked Gouda and Bacon Macaroni and Cheese ($9.00) with my friend Sofya. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture. It was pretty good but nothing to write home about.

As for the entrée, I had the Spicy Roasted Chicken ($16.00.)

Overview: the mashed potatoes were under-salted and runny, the chicken was also under-salted and not spicy at all, and the topping of “roasted pepper salad”…well, let’s just say it was more of a garnish than an actual part of the dish. Overall it was okay. I’m pretty sure I could’ve done a better job at home, though.

In conclusion, *clear throat,* I expected more of Cafeteria from all the hype. The food is not extraordinary but at least the prices are reasonable. I don’t see myself going back there.

Cafeteria

119 Seventh Ave

New York, NY 10011