Dear readers and fellow bloggers:
As we said in our previous article, we are preparing today a pasta with a mixed Bechamela-Pomodoro sauce, which we will dub as Dotta Rossa because the addition of meat (turkey in this case) qualifies it as a Bolognese sauce. You surely already know that the city of Bologna is known as “La Dotta” in Italy due to its prestigious university, which is the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere, after La Sorbonne in Paris. Moreover, for many decades. almost all the local administration was dominated by leftist parties, which added the “Rossa” (red) soubriquet to the name.
Very important concept – This simple utensil is perhaps the most important one for healthy cooking: the colander. Early on in our cooking adventures, we learned that many residues of cooking oil tend to accumulate in sautéeing. We try to use only olive oil , which has the lowest proportion of polyunsaturated fats (the good guys) However, after they reach the cooking point, all oils start to degrade and produce toxic residuals. Therefore, you must get rid of it.
The choice of turkey (tacchino in Italian) instead of beef was done because it has less calories with a lot of proteins. The first step is to cut all the veggies, including the ginger, on our cooking board and have it ready for sautéeing. Put a dollop of olive oil on the skillet and dump the veggies; carefully stir the whole mixture with a wooden spoon.
In order to counteract the acidity of the juice coming out of onions, we recommend adding a little sugar or honey.
After the onions turn slightly brown, it is time to dump all the veggies on our loyal colander to drain the residues.
Now we repeat the same procedure with the minced turkey. This is the roster of seasoning we use. Little or no salt.
After putting a thin film of olive oil on the frying pan, we put the meat; we season it and stir with a wooden spoon.
Once it is well cooked, we repeat the same cleansing procedure with our loyal colander. Do not cut any corners!
Set aside the veggie and the turkey meat in different bowls and proceed to prepare the sauce. We already carefully explained how to prepare a Bechamel sauce (salsa blanca) in a previous article and we encourage you to review it. In order to jazz our sauce a little bit more, we added some of a dehydrated mix with four cheeses made in Argentina.
Don’t forget to grate a little bit of nutmeg on top of it (this is a Brazilian brand I love) which gives it a unique flavor.
Once the Bechamel sauce is ready (fluid and without any lumps) it is time to add the tomato sauce. Slowly!
Once you add the tomato sauce, you will have a white sauce “laced with red streaks”. Just like this picture shows.
Slowly whisk the mixture until you arrive at a nice, uniform pinkish color like this picture shows.
Once you feel confident that the sauce does not have any lumps, you can add the veggies, like this picture shows.
And finally it is time for the meat of the precious birds that fed those hardy Pilgrims in the harsh winter season.
You can add nuts on top of it; we chose to add shaved almonds. Do you like the looks of our Dotta Rossa sauce?
Now we will cook the pasta separately (always) and once it is ready, we will start layering everything on The Beast.
Note– There is nothing than enrages us so much than watching cooking TV programs and videos where the cook nonchalantly dumps all the elements of a pasta dish on the pan, without taking the time to use the colander. They claim it’s “the tradition.” Of course Italians used to cook like that. But thankfully, they (specially the ladies) are slowly changing their habits to take into consideration the toll that Atherosclerosis and Heart Disease take on their health. Altri tempi!
Now it is time to turn the heat at medium intensity and to prep the ball of Burrata by slicing it cross-like so it melts. Once the Burrata cheese melts and you mix everything well, turn the heat off and let it stand for a few minutes.
Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served. Please join us at our humble table for a nice dish and plenty of chit chat.
Buon apetitto!
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