The Sauced Chef

Butternut Squash and Green Onion Linguini

 Serves 4

Big Pot

Collander

Big Frying Pan

Some bowls or containers to hold reserved items

Whisk

Heat proof Spoon or spatula

1 box linguini noodles

1 bunch fresh green onions (trimmed and diced fine)

1 butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cubed)

1/4 cup FRESH minced parsley

1/4 cup FRESH chopped chives

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp fresh or rubbed sage

2 quarts chicken or veggie STOCK (not broth)

1-2 minced garlic cloves (depending on your garlic love)

2 cups of favorite cheese (shaved or shredded) (I used Manchego and Assiago)

3-4 tbsp unsalted butter

 S/P TT (this stands for Salt and Pepper To Taste) 

1. Start water boiling in the large pot (add a pinch of salt to water)**
2. When frying pan is hot (butter will sizzle) add squash and HALF the butter.  The goal is to get some nice carmelization on the squash, so don’t move it around too much in the pan.  Add more butter as the squash absorbs it.
3. Add pasta to now boiling water (let simmer until al dente)
4. Once pasta is al dente, drain into collander and rinse under cold water until pasta is room temperature.  Place back into pot with olive oil and set aside
5. Once squash is carmelized, remove from pan and set aside
6. In the same pan, (don’t drain it) add 1 quart of stock and the cheese.  Whisk continiously. Let the cheese melt into the stock (keep heat @ a simmer) and gradually add more stock as the mixture thickens to desired texture.***
7. Add the garlic, chives, sage and parsley to sauce. MAKE SURE to reserve some chives and parsley for garnish. 
8. Pour sauce into large container and set aside (get as much out as possible). 
9. Clean frying pan
10. Serving Note: You are cooking this pasta to order.  So, if you think your frying pan is big enough for sauteeing four servings go for it! Some people will only be able to do two servings at a time
11. In a hot frying pan add remaining butter.  Add squash and green onions for the # of servings your are doing. Let them sweat in butter for 30 seconds.  Spoon in desired sauce amount followed by desired pasta amount.  Sautee until pasta is hot and coated with sauce.  Add Salt and Pepper to taste.  Serve immediately and garnish with reserved chives and parsley.

** If you want to add extra flavor for extra cost. Use chicken or veg stock to boil the pasta in, instead of water.  Or, drop a chicken bullion cube in the water.

*** It is imperative that you add the cheese in small amounts so it emulsifies with the stock and doesn’t become one big cheesy plopper!

Share on Facebook

Pangea Pizza

Traverse City, MI

www.pangeaspizza.com

Pangea is located in the heart of downtown Traverse City and features pies from around the world.  Pangea also has a large outdoor patio area that is perfect for lounging and drinking in the summer

Get Sauced: 4 out of 4

Pangea has a HUGE beer list.  They offer flights of beers and have bottled beers categorized by country of origin. They also feature local microbreweries on their taps.  Michigan is recognized to be one of the top 5 microbrewed beer producers in the nation, its nice to get that taste right from Pangea’s drafts.  They boast a decent wine list for a pizza place and feature some tasty marguuerita and daquiri drink specials

The Sauce: 2 out of 4

We ordered an Italian, Mexican, Rajasthan (Indian)and Carribean Jerk pizza.  I was most impressed with their basic Italian pizza sauce and the Indian pizza sauce.  Their basic Italian sauce was thick, with a good balance of sweet and tangy.  It also had a fresh basil finish.  The Indian sauce was very unique, with hints of cumin, turmeric, coriander, curry and garlic that  complimented the house made Saag Paneer cheese.  However, I was extremely disappointed in the Jerk and Mexican pizza sauces.  The Mexican pizza sauce was very bland with no kick.  Yes, the pizza had chorizo sausage (just ok) which added some boost to the sauce, but not enough.  I expect to taste chili and cumin with real tang and maybe some minced jalapeno, nothing like that happened.  The Jerk pizza sauce was rough.  No allspice, no thyme,  nothing to represent the sweetness of jerk, not to mention ZERO spice.  Even the chicken on the pizza (supposedly jerk rubbed) was barely seasoned.  It tasted more like a Hawai’in Pizza with chicken instead of ham than an actual representation of real Caribbean jerk flavoring. Whoever made that pizza was the only REAL JERK!

The Reduction: +1 Ambiance for 7 out of 10

Our server was pretty good, she did bring us the wrong beers initially but apologized and corrected her mistake with decent quickness. The outdoor patio is large and has a tiki-bar feel, complete with tropical drink specials.  During the evening it is simply lit with Christmas tree lights.  There does exist a  laid back, let’s eat, drink (and drink some more) and be merry vibe that is really unique, though! Keep the beer list on point, but spice up the SAUCE!

Share on Facebook

Compari’s

Plymouth, MI

www.comparisdining.com

Downtown Plymouth is a hidden gem with some great places to eat and drink.  They also do a great job of holding fairs, festivals and interesting events to bring the people in. Compari’s is right in the heart of where you want to be.

 Get Sauced:  2 1/2 out of 4

For a moderately priced Italian Bistro, the wine list was as expected; a spackling of Cab Sav’s, Merlots, Pinot and one Zinfandel.  They only had 4 beers on tap and two of them were Bud and Miller! The only saving grace was the large bottled beer list which was somewhat diverse. 

The Sauce: 2 1/2 out of 4

My first disappointment took place when I ordered a beautifully prepared house salad only to realize that they were using bottled bleu cheese dressing.  There is nothing worse than tasting that faux bleu cheese processed flavor on a salad. Nothing! Here’s the kicker, they had fricking bleu cheese crumbles readily available! Why wouldn’t you make your own dressing! To me, that’s just laziness based on the hope of customer ignorance! However, the redeeming bite was on the asparagus/mascarpone stuffed ravioli with a wild mushroom cream sauce that I ordered.  The light sweetness of the mascarpone paired wonderfully with the earthiness of the cremini/shittake mushroom sauce.  The sauce had hints of garlic and pepper and relaxed my previously annoyed taste buds with a robust nutmeg finish.  Unfortunately, my meal was the best of the table and its not a regular menu item.  If you go there, do not order the whitefish! I tried my sister’s and instantly regretted the mushy, unseasoned, overcooked cardboard that hit my saucy lips!

The Reduction: -1 Customer Service  for  4 out of 10

The server was unenthusiastic and boring.  He did a sub-par and inaccurate  job describing the menu.  I witnessed my sister ask for water multiple times with multiple people before she was refilled.  They had an oil and vinegar bottle on the table next to a fresh parm shaker which (I assume) was to make a dipping sauce for the fresh bread.  I was the one that had to make the sauce for the table and it wasn’t even suggested to us by the server.  The ambiance was as expected, nothing amazing, nothing really shitty either.  The bathrooms were clean and elegant. The tables a bit too small, but nothing that one wouldn’t expect from a bistro-type setting.  Overall, next time I am in Plymouth I won’t be visiting Compari’s.

Share on Facebook

Sauce Lab #4: Roasted Tomato Jus and more

1 sheet pan covered in aluminium foil

2 large bowls

1 fork

12 large tomatoes (halved and cored)

 1/4 extra virgin olive oil

6 rosemary sprigs

10 garlic cloves

S/P TT

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees
2. After halving (use a serrated knife for this) and coring (use a small little dinky knife) the tomatoes add them to a bowl and toss with olive oil and a couple pinches salt and pepper
3. Once coated place tomato halves on sheet pan
4. Liberally distribute the rosemary sprigs and garlic around the tomatoes
5. Place in oven, roast for about 20 minutes
6. Pull out sheet pan and use fork to remove skin from all tomatoes (this is a pain in the ass, but totally worth it)
7. Drain juice or Sauce Lab #4 Roasted Tomato Jus from sheet pan into large bowl
8. Continue to roast and drain for about another hour or until the tomatoes have barely any moisture left
9. Store and/or freeze roasted tomatoes and use for anything (sauces, stuffing, pizza, bruschetta, etc)
10. Store and/or freeze Sauce Lab #4 Roasted Tomato Jus and use for anything
11. Store and/or freeze tomato/rosemary roasted garlic (great for pizza topping or adding subtle garlic flavor without the bite)
12. Get Sauced?

Share on Facebook

Trattoria Stella

Traverse City, MI

www.stellatc.com

Using almost all local produce and featuring the farms on their menu, this 5 year old gourmet Italian restaurant shares space with many other businesses in a huge complex that used to be a mental institution! Needless to say, the feel of the place is very unique.

Get Sauced: 3 out of 4

Stella boasts an intricate wine list featuring wines from prominent regions in France and Italy as well as great local fare.  Their draft and bottled beer selection is on par with what I expected, nothing more or less.  Again, nice to see the great Michigan breweries be featured on the menu. The cocktail list is impressive! A diverse scotch, rum, bourbon and vodka selection. Featuring mojitos with hand-picked mint from their garden (the servers actually pick the mint) and old school turn of the century cocktails made with genuine egg whites.  They offer patrons garlic-stuffed, feta-stuffed or blue cheese-stuffed olives with their martinis.  Which leads me to my only disappointment, the dirty martini; I ordered an extra-dirty martini with Kettel One vodka ( A Sauced Chef staple) and received a drink that was not even cloudy! Upon tasting, it had a really unpleasant bitter finish that could’ve been caused by a number of things (poor quality olive juice, not using Kettel One, or re-using a shaker).  My only Get Sauced qualm.

The Sauce: 4 out of 4

I ordered a decadent Veal Scallopini served with Leek/Celeriac Gnocchi.  The sauce was everything I wanted.  It had a perfect thickness that coated the pounded veal beautifully.  A light brown color (not unlike veloute) made it pleasant to the eyes.  A subtle sweetness with hints of pepper and leek coupled with a rolling savory finish had me mopping it up with bread. A complete success.

The Reduction: +2 Ambiance and Customer Service for 9 out of 10

Our server (Kathy) was wonderfully knowledgeable about the menu and made some smart and tasty suggestions for our group. She pampered us and was meticulous about the course timing, we ordered a lot of food, but didn’t feel the ominous course overlapping.  The creepy stone pillars and wierd doors that don’t open, combined with the elegant and simple rustic decor makes Stella an inviting and interesting place.  Not to mention the ghost stories that some of the staff has.  If the Sauced Chef wasn’t so sauced, he might have been scared!

Share on Facebook