What a whirlwind Christmas!

If I had been on top of things, I would have taken lots of pictures and written lots of posts about all the delicious things that were consumed over the past 10 days, such as:
- Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies
- White Gull Inn Coffee Cake
- French Toast Sandwiches
- Scheidt's Sauerkraut
- Sausage Yummies

But those are the things I've already written about... so it would have needed to be things that haven't already graced the pages of this website, like:
- The infamous Pancetta Turkey, which deserves a spot in your repertoire as The Most Delicious Turkey Recipe Ever, aka Turkey for People who Don't Dig Turkey (like me).
- Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing - big win, thanks Michelle, and yes, you can freeze them with the frosting on, thusly ensuring the cookies will in fact make it to Christmas. I urge you to check out the tutorial.

But instead of photographs and blog posts, I was doing dishes. Even with plenty of help, it felt like I was doing dishes solidly from December 23 - 27. I know that our grandparents hosted Christmas for 8-10+ people without a dishwasher back in the day, but really... it's shocking how many dishes 8 people can make even when eating 2 of 3 meals on paper plates. Perhaps there is a dishwasher in the future after all!

So now that family has departed and work has passed the zenith, I can't describe how happy I am that we took the time in the fall to stock the freezer with things like Cincinnati Chili and this hearty meat sauce. Instead of washing all the dishes of making a dinner, it's as simple as boil a pot of water and grab a few plates - and believe me, everyone here needs the rest.

This ragu is full of vegetables - something I'd bet we all need after the holidays - which lets 1.5 pounds of meat stretch to close to 4 quarts of sauce. You'll want to let it cook at least 2 hours, but 4 doesn't hurt! I'll be posting a recipe later that uses this ragu to great effect, though it's really fine over a bowl of pasta and topped with parmesan cheese.

Chunky Beef Ragu

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 cups chopped onions (one large or 2 small)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons chopped garlic*
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
4 cups chicken or beef stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning
2 ounces grated parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground beef and sausage and brown for 4 to 6 minutes. Add the onions, celery, carrots and red pepper flakes, and cook for 4-5 minutes until vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Add the tomatoes and season again.

In a large bowl, whisk together the tomato paste and the stock. Stir the tomato-stock mixture into the pot, then add the thyme, bay leaves and Italian seasoning. Mix well. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for a minimum of 2 hours and up to a whole afternoon. Add water if the ragu gets too thick. Before serving, season again with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the parmesan cheese.

Makes 3-4 quarts of sauce. Ragu freezes beautifully.

*The only time I can support using the minced garlic that comes in those little jars.

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If you know anyone (or are someone!) who would be willing to do some Burghilicious site design and development work in exchange for things like cookies, cakes, lasagnas and homemade soup, please send them my way. I need some help and it's beyond my limited technical expertise. Specifically, I'd like to migrate from Movable Type to Wordpress software, which is apparently easy, but I start to stroke out as soon as I hear