Dialing in the Family Pasta Sauce. This time with Chipotles.

Growing up my mom had a spaghetti sauce recipe that she followed to a T every time. For a long time I imagined that one day I would too have a sauce that we made consistently. It just hasn't worked out that way. Sauce is always a play of what you have in stock, what is available locally, what the mood is and who you are feeding. Tonight's sauce was spicy and sweet and yummy.

So tonight, we made the sauce like this:

1. In a Dutch Oven like pot (my Crueset is my go to), heat a little olive oil, cook up pieces of hot Italian turkey sausage. Remove with slotted spoon to a bowl.
2. Add a little more olive oil to pot and add 1/2 minced yellow onion, 2 minced carrots, 2 minced celery sticks. Saute for a while.
3. Meanwhile, mince up some fresh rosemary. (I love a little fresh sage too, but did not have any tonight). And mince up the left over pork chop from last night that you already cooked. (Optional and not necessary of course).
4. Once veggies have sauteed to your liking, add the herbs and mix. (Tonight I added Mexican Oregano, Thyme and Fresh chopped Rosemary, Red Pepper Flakes and Lots of Freshly Ground Pepper). Then make a little room to brown the pork a bit. (This could have been done pre veggies, but I spaced). Once pork has browned a bit, add sausage back to pot and stir and let "meld" a bit. Usually I use red wine to deglaze the pan, but tonight I used some port. (Made it too sweet which led to the adding of the chiptoles.) Stirred and allowed to soak until pan was again "dry".
5. Add a can of Fire Roasted Chopped Tomatoes. I wanted the sauce more "saucy". So I peered into my fridge to see if I could find some tomato sauce. I found one labeled 11.03.08. It did not seem okay. If I had had beef broth, I would have added that, but I had some Chicken Stock, so I added a little of that.
   
6. I started the water to boil and began prepping the garlic bread.
   
7. When I tasted the sauce, it seemed too sweet, so I added 2 canned chiptoles. This fixed the problem. Brought Sauce to a boil and allowed it to simmer.
   
8. Once pasta was cooking, I added some chopped fresh Italian Parsley and continued to allow to simmer. I added some salt. (We like the Strangled Priest Noodle).
   
9. Serve with Parmesan to grate.

Pan Roasted Open Faced Grilled Cheese with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Avocado and Chiptole Lime Salt

5 out of the 6 ingredients came direct from Steve and Olivia at Farmer and the Cook

1. Heat an indulgent amount of olive oil in non-stick or other favorite grilled cheese making pan

2. Slice up some of Olivia's fresh spelt seed bread 

3. Place slices in oil and allow to "toast"

4. Meanwhile, grate up some yummy sharp cheddar cheese.  You could get this at FnC, but I had some from Vermont in my fridge.

5. Turn slices of bread over, sprinkle with cheese and cover to allow cheese to melt.

6. When cheese is melted, remove to a plate.  Put 2 or more of olivia's amazing smoked sun dried tomatoes on top.  Slice up some avocado and place on each sandwich.  Sprinkle with Olivia's amazing chipolte Lime sea salt.  Eat with a fork and knife for tidiness or not.

You can get Olivia's chipolte mix and tomatoes at organichiles.com.