Cooking and The Spice for Life

Cooking is a big part of the spice for life. Cooking for family and friends makes that spice taste so much better and your life that much more worthwhile. I love to have family and friends over for dinner. I entertained significantly more when I lived in Chicago; but I still make it a point to keep up the tradition here in the Bay Area.

And so it was that tonight, my brother who was visiting came over for some dinner.

At Whole Foods, I picked up a half pound of grass-fed ground beef, a half pound of ground pork, and one chorizo link (casing later removed). I also bought organic heirloom cherry tomatoes, organic basil leaves, one organic sweet onion, and a cheap (by Whole Food standards) bottle of organic pasta sauce (tomato sauce would have also done the trick). At home I had five-year aged gouda, parmigiana reggiana, shallots, jalepenos, garlic, olive oil and spices (thyme, black pepper & salt, garlic powder, and fennel seeds).

And then I went to work, with a song on my lips. Led Zeppelin playing in the background.

While I browned the beef, pork and chorizo in one pan eventually adding the spices, I carmelized the onions in another cast iron pan, later adding the jalepenos, garlic, shallots, and spices. I added the browned meat to the onions, mixed well. After a couple minutes, I added the tomato sauce with the heirloom cherry tomatoes, simmering over low heat with the pan covered for 25 minutes or longer. I added some basil leaves for a crisp and clean flavour.

On a warm serving bowl, I added the pasta, and served the meat sauce over it, added the freshly shredded gouda and parmigiana reggiana, a couple fresh cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves.

Voila.

The food was good.
Conversation with my brother and my dog even better.