You may have noticed that the ten recipes featured earlier had virtually nothing in common.  Anxious to set a trend here, I am featuring another seven recipes which also have virtually nothing in common – other than I think they are great recipes.  They are tested recipes which do not require special skills or equipment and reliably produce end results that will please all the folks at your dinner table.  Here they are – in alphabetical order.

Carrots are a particularly interesting vegetable because of their great taste and brilliant color.  My recipe for Baby Carrots with Mint Gremolata creates a great taste experience and an equally great visual experience.

I enjoyed my first scone in Manchester, England many years ago.  Baking them successfully at home has been somewhat problematic, however, until I learned of a wonderful technique created by the clever folks who publish Cook’s Illustrated magazine.  This recipe is specifically for Blueberry Scones, but cherries and cranberries are acceptable substitutes.  You will love it as I do if you try it.

This one, I know, is a stretch, but it is also very good.  Italians love wild boar; some Italians actually hunt boar as we hunt deer.  Whether they catch it or buy it, they frequently use this delectable meat to create a delicious Boar Ragu.  In the U.S., most “wild” boar is farm raised in Texas, but it is no less delicious.  As you might expect, it is difficult to find.  It is available online, but often only in large quantities.  You can find boar in the frozen foods department of many Italian grocers – particularly in large metropolitan areas like Chicago and Detroit.  If you do find it, consider serving the ragu over pappardelle pasta.

As you know, Boeuf Bourguignon is considered a fine dining option almost everywhere.  It actually originated, however, in the Burgundy region of France as a peasant dish.  Julia Child is often given (well deserved) credit for this transformation.  Once her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, became a best seller, everyone seemed to be interested it trying it.  My version is a combination of the best of her version with the best of another version by chef and author Anthony Bourdain.

Simply put, I love French Onion Soup, but it was always one of those special treats best enjoyed in a French restaurant, not something to be attempted at home.  Then, my January 2008 issue of Cook’s Illustrated arrived and everything I once believed about French Onion Soup changed.  This is their recipe, but much more important, this is their technique for preparing it.  If you are an Onion Soup aficionado, you absolutely must find the time to try this one.  It is admittedly a bit complicated, but it is (once again) well worth the extra effort.

I like chef Alton Brown's recipe for Glazed Carrots because it includes ginger ale.  What more can I say?

Last, but definitely not least, I offer you my favorite recipe for Waffles.  Once again though, it is actually not my recipe.  It is the property of Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker who co-authored The Joy of Cooking.  Their recipe appears on page 241 of my 1975 edition of their amazing book.  You will be equally amazed if you like waffles – for breakfast, lunch or dinner!  My favorite is Blueberry Waffles.  My grandchildren prefer Cinnamon.

As I hinted earlier, there will be more "Favorite Recipes" forthcoming, but this will do for now.

Buon appetito.

Recently, I received a photo of the lunch she was enjoying in an outdoor trattoria near Milan.  It was clearly Ragu Bolognese served over fresh tagliatelle, but it was also clearly different than anything I had prepared.  The color of the sauce was different.  This meant, of course, that their (presumably authentic) ingredients list differed from mine somehow.  The problem-solving engineer in me decided to take on this new challenge to discover why the two sauces were so different.

I did most of my research online.  Testing, of course, occurred in my kitchen.  I found several recipes for Ragu Bolognese and discovered there were almost as many differences in the recipes as there were similarities.  The recipes all used ground beef, ground pork, or ground veal.  Sometimes only two (although infrequently the same two), and sometimes all three.  Milk is a necessary ingredient but the amount varied as did the instruction on when to add it.  Further “research” indicated that boiling the meat in the milk is important.  The lactic acid softens the meat texture by breaking down the meat proteins.

As you can likely tell, I could continue with more detail than is necessary here.  I will only add that after much reading and several test batches, I now claim my own recipe for Ragu Bolognese, which I am proud to share with you here.  I hope you will find an opportunity to try it sometime soon.

Buon appetito.

P.S.  Commercial packages of taggliatelle and pappardelle are not available everywhere, but I am finding them more and more often.  They are typically bagged (rather than boxed) and the best of them have cooking times under five minutes.

P.P.S.  My version of Ragu Bolognese is listed on the Recipes page as Ragu Bolognese.  Chef Batali's version is listed as Bolognese Sauce.

So I am devoting this blog to a selection of those recipes.  They are listed above with links to the full recipes.  Here are just a few comments introducing each of them:

Cacio e Pepe is simply your favorite pasta (although Bucatini is classically preferred) tossed in melted butter, extra virgin olive oil, some pasta water, and a copious amounts of freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese.  Consider serving it with the Roman Tossed Salad.

Clams and Mussel Marinara is just plain delicious, particularly when (OK, if) you have access to fresh clams and mussels.  I frequently prepare this dish with just the mussels.  Fresh clams are almost impossible to find around here.

If you like Hummus, you will especially like this recipe.  Be sure to make it with Hydrated Dried Beans, though.

My recipe for Italian Stuffed Chicken requires that you debone a whole chicken.  The "foodies" reading this may recall the wonderful scene in the movie Julie and Julia where Julie prepares her final recipe – Stuffed Duck Baked in a Pastry Crust which means she must debone her first duck.  I'll admit it's all a bit intimidating, but I assure you it's much easier the second time.  Or, you can just ask your butcher to do it for you!

It seems all children love Mac 'n' Cheese, so why shouldn't we have a Mac 'n' Cheese - Adult Style recipe?  Now we do.  (OK, I admit it.  Now we have one more!)

For years I made dinner rolls using Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix.  One day I decided to make them from scratch.  My recipe for Parker House Rolls is the result.

Pasta with Basil Pesto is another simple, but delicious, meal.  Just toss your favorite pasta with Basil Pesto and a little cooking water.

My recipe for Roman Tossed Salad comes directly from Rome.  A splash of dry white wine makes it extra special in my book!

The Shredded Beef Chili recipe is the result of my efforts to make a interesting chili without using ground meat.

The recipe is called Wisconsin Walleye because it originated with Walleye in Wisconsin, but it can be used for almost any filleted fish.

There's more, but I'll save that for another time.  In the meantime, thanks for reading all this, and . . .

Buon appetito.