Remember the other day when I boarded myself up in the house and put some pot roast in the crock pot? Well, as the day rolled on so did my mood. I went from an old fashion in Vermont kinda day into a North Beach in San Francisco kinda day. I just love the old Italian neighborhood of North Beach in The City. All the old restaurants and deli's. My favorite deli..I think everyones favorite is called Molinaris. It has been there forever. My Auntie Erma and Uncle Leo lived in North Beach when I was a little girl. They lived in a section called The Marina. It is down by Fishermans Wharf. And could Auntie Erma ever cook. She was originally from Genoa, Italy. Came over on a boat. We used to get to go visit her when we got really lucky and got to go to the San Francisco Zoo.We would take the train from Los Gatos which was about a 40 minute ride. Me and my brother Mark and our cousins. We loved that so much. What a special treat that was. And when visiting Auntie Erma we would go with her to North Beach to Molinaris for cheese and bread and raviolis. The raviolis were Lucca brand. And they would sit in the box on a bed of flour. And when you took the box to the counter the man would tie string around it. I thought that was so fancy. I don't know why that struck me as fancy...but it did. So the other day, I got that "North Beach" feeling. When we visit there now, I always imagine what it would be like to live there. I picture myself usptairs in one of those tiny apartments that sits over a coffeehouse. The places were the people sit outside and sip espresso and read the Chronicle. I would think to myself, I could do that. I could live that life. I could live in North Beach. So on an ordinary Wednesday afternoon, I took myself there. I got out my Rao's cookbook and turned the pot roast into Sunday gravy. And served it over pasta. I used the last of my summer tomatoes in the sauce. And John and I had dinner in North Beach that night....
SUNDAY GRAVY
Adapted from Rao's Cookbook
1 pound piece of lean beef, such as eye of round. ( I used pot roast )
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup water
2 35 ounce cans imported San Marzano Italian plum tomatoes, hand crushed
Salt and pepper
1.Saute the meat in the oilve oil till brown. Add in garlic. When garlic turns brown discard it.
2.Combine tomato paste and water, stir. Add to the meat.
3. Add in San Marzano tomatoes
4.Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Let simmer 3 to 4 hours adding water as needed so there is always some liquid.
6. Serve over pasta
7. Top with grated parmesan
To be perfectly honest here, I just cooked a pot roast in a crock pot with Lipton Onion soup all day and added red wine thoughout the day when the pot got dry. About the last 20 minutes I added fresh ripe tomatoes, chopped.
I'm going to keep this short cause I'd rather forget it. I went to Morro Bay. That part was good. Made it to the fish market. But after that it was all downhill. They didn't have any Dover Sole or Petrale Sole, which is what I really wanted. So I got some calamari. The baby clams looked good, the sign said they were from Washington. The guy even said they were good. So I got calamari and clams. Both were losers. I made the worst dinner. The clams were weird. They tasted sweet. Almost like candy. We were both like, Huh? Has anybody ever had clams like that? And I don't even want to talk about the calamari. I have made this recipe before and it was always good. I pounded it out. Sauteed it in olive oil and butter. Added some lemon, parsley and capers. I mean, really, what could go wrong? It's simple. It was bad. I cut it up and put it out for a stray cat or racoon. Figured if we couldn't eat it...at least some wild creature would have a nice supper. Came downstairs this morning. 3 hungry stray cats staring at me. And a bowl full of calamari.
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