Pots of Bolognese Sauce Simmering While Grading Exams

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Now that my parents are here for a few months, the kitchen has been in full gear with constant cooking of large amounts of food to freeze.  Yesterday, Mom made homemade 'brodo' while I was at work, otherwise known as chicken broth.  This will be used for 'tortellini in brodo' that we traditionally prepare for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  And today, while I was home grading my students' exams and papers, my mother made two gigantic pots of our family's Bolognese sauce.  Some Italian-Americans call this 'ragu', while others say "Sunday gravy", but we have always simply called it spaghetti sauce!  Well, no matter what one chooses to call this classic recipe, my entire family could not live without it's incredible taste!  This truly is my husband's favorite thing to put in his mouth and devour!

One tall pot cooks on the stove for a few hours, while a shorter, but super wide pot of sauce stews on the other side.  The perforated pizza pan under the pot is placed there to prevent the sauce from burning on the bottom of the pot . . . even if the stove is set on low temperatures, you don't ever want this to burn, or the whole batch will be ruined.

Mmmm . . . the whole house is filled with the smell of Italian mama love!

I'd mentioned a few weeks ago about this time of year (nearing the end of Fall Semester) and needing to pay more time and attention to my responsibilities at the office, rather than blogging.  So here's just one of the stacks of papers and exams that I was reading and grading while Mom worked hard, but happily, in the kitchen.  She loves to cook and do all of this for her kids, and we are so fortunate and grateful!

Click on "Read More" below my signature to read the rest of this post.

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Seasonal Saturday & Fresh Clean and Pure Friday

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As I said last week, I hadn't posted all week due to my totally swamped life at work and I only posted once this week too.  I'm having blog-withdrawal symptons!  But I'll do my best to post something this weekend with my mother in the kitchen alongside of me (she's a much better cook than I am anyway!).

So without further chitter-chatter, I'll post this week's Linky for Seasonal Saturday and Fresh, Clean and Pure Fridays! 
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Chocolate Croissants: My First Puff Pastry Experience

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I have never played with puff pastry before .  .  . ever.  It has always just seemed so intimidating and overly gourmet to me to attempt working with it.  However, two of my cooking gurus, Nigella Lawson and Giada De Laurentiis have recipes for chocolate-filled croissants that I have been wanting to try.  They seemed simple enough:  purchase some high-quality frozen puff pastry and some high-quality dark chocolate and follow the two or three steps to complete the process.  How difficult could that be?

Well, it wasn't that easy.  The puff pastry nearly came to a full melt-down by the time I had it cut into little triangles.  And even more soft and wet while placing the chocolate on each and rolling them up (or at least that was what I was trying to do!)  But I felt determined to overcome my fear no matter what they turned out to be.
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Before making these, I was asking myself whether chocolate croissants are French or Italian?  I believe that they are French in origin, but I've seen them sold in Italian cafes and trattorias in the U.S. too.  Anyway, the reason why I ask is because this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs' theme is focused on Giada's recipes from 'outside of Italy'.  Giada presented these croissants during one of her television shows and stated that she made hundreds of these when she lived in Paris for culinary school.  So that must be the answer to my question . . . they're French!  These simple pastries seemed to fit nicely with both the group's weekly theme and my super busy schedule this past week.


A trained pastry chef or baker, I certainly am not!  So if you find these croissants somewhat on the less visually attractive side in the photos, I agree with you.  But just bite into them, and you won't care what they look like!  Yummy, melted chocolate is oozing inside the warm, buttery, flaky croissants which makes them a sweet piece of heaven.  I now understand why people go so crazy over these things!  I hope that you don't wait as long as I did to overcome a fear of puff pastry!  Maybe with a little more practice, I might have some pretty croissants someday too.
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Chocolate Croissants

1 (13-ounce) package frozen butter puff pastry
1 chocolate bar (milk or dark chocolate, depending on your taste preference)
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Unroll the sheet of pastry and then cut it into 6 squares.
Cut each square diagonally to give 2 small triangles.
Place the wider end of the triangle part facing you and the pointed edge away from you.
Break off small pieces of chocolate to place on the wide end nearest you.
Carefully roll from that chocolate loaded end towards the point of the triangle.
You should now have something resembling a straight croissant, seal it slightly with your fingertips and curl it around into a crescent.
Place the chocolate croissants on a lined baking tray.
Brush some beaten egg on the tops.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden and puffy.
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