Marsala is traditionally a fortified wine, but you can add it to an otherwise light meal and add so much richness to the flavours that it will take your dinner to another level. This is all about the rich meaty flavors, especially in the tomato sauce, which is spiked with the ancient fruit’s star signal. The Marsala adds a rich, dark, earthy quality to the meat, while the acidity sends the tomatoes screaming to the right place. This dish can be adapted for a vegetarian family. I recommend some extra virgin olive oil for the meat and a bit of saffron for the sauce.
Makes 3 main courses
Water chestnuts and leftover tomato sauce
Try cutting out the more flavorful varieties and leaving the less well-known varieties for another use: in the Thai style of pickled vegetables, for example. Or shred your own, peel the pears and peel your own mushrooms.
For the Marsala Marsala Marsala Marsala Marsala Marsala
Ingredients
:
- 1 pound bacon, thinly sliced
- 1 quart water chestnuts, about ¾ pound
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
-
1 tablespoon dry Marsala
Directions:
- Rinse the chestnuts and cut them into small florets or long chunks if you like. Put them in a small pot, add the water chestnuts, parsley, basil, bay leaves, and a few salt and pepper shakers, cover with the boiling water and add the bacon. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for about 40 minutes. Once they have cooked down to nothing, cook until the chestnuts are crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove them from the water and peel the bacon, leaving the skins on. Return the water chestnuts to the pot, and return the pan to a simmer over high heat. When the chestnuts are soft but not mushy, take them out of the pan and cut them into florets or chunks.
- Meanwhile, cook the garlic in the butter and the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat until the garlic has softened, about 5 minutes. You should only see 2 to 3 small pieces of garlic when you open the pan. Set aside.
- Add the butter and chopped tomato to the skillet, and cook the sauce until the tomatoes are soft and falling apart, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the Marsala, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to break up any staining. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the butter. If the sauce begins to get dry, add a little more butter and/or Marsala to the pan.
- Pour the ingredients into a bowl.
- Makes 3 main courses
- The best advice about cleaning bacon is that you should always put it in a colander and rinsed it in a colander before putting it in a sink. I cannot imagine cooking ham and then having a bowl of pork waste.
- So here you go:
- Add the slivered bacon to the tomato sauce, stir, then return the dish to the stove. Now, pour in enough water to make sure the mixture is in liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
- Put the colander on top of the fish (i.e., the pot that is cooking the Marsala).
- Add a little more water so that the mixture will continue to get thicker at the bottom. If the water level remains higher, add the remaining meat.
- Move the bowl from the colander to the sink. Carefully lift the colander from the sink so that it covers the pot.
- Allow it to sit in the sink until the mixture has a clear liquid, about 10 minutes.
- When it has an opaque liquid at the bottom, pour off the excess water and return the pot to the stove.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and Marsala to the pot. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat, until the tomato has firmed up and the Marsala is quite thick.
- Tip: Adding butter to a sauce that already has tomatoes in it can mess up the shape, so it’s best to leave it alone. I prefer using 2 tablespoons of the butter. The tomatoes are meant to be food, not garnishes.
- Butt out if you have to — it’s always OK to make your own use of ingredients, even after they’ve been used by someone else.