turkey chiantigiana
I love the evolution of recipes. For example, the one I am posting right now started from a recipe we found years ago in Fine Cooking. It was really good, but it called for something like 3 pounds of ground beef, and didn’t have much in the way of vegetables in it. Over time, I swapped out the beef for turkey (or chicken), added more vegetables, and the recipe became something different (but still delicious). This is a great meal for a cold winter night.
Start by chopping a few stalks of celery, a few carrots, and an onion in the food processor.
Process it until it’s pretty fine.
If you have time, I’d recommend putting this in a kitchen towel and squeezing out the excess liquid. That way, it browns faster and doesn’t release as much liquid into the sauce. Then heat up some olive oil.
Toss in the vegetables, season with salt, and cook until softened and brown.
Then, chop a few cloves of garlic, and about a teaspoon each of rosemary and sage.
Add to the vegetables.
Cook until the herbs are fragrant (about one minute), and then push all the vegetables to one side. Squeeze two tablespoons of tomato paste onto the cleared off spot, and brown the tomato paste. This deepens the flavors of the tomato paste.
Then add in the liquid—a cup or so of chicken broth, a cup of red wine (Chianti is best), and a cup or so of tomato puree.
I like to use Pomi tomato puree.
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| I spy a future blog post somewhere in this picture… stay tuned! |
Next, add in the meat (I used 1 and 1/4 pounds), and break it up into small pieces. I use a potato masher for this.
Nestle in a parmesan cheese rind, this will add a nice saltiness and richness.
Simmer until you’re ready to serve. I like this sauce best on rigatoni, but it’s great on any kind of pasta. Top with parmesan cheese!
