Jaki Jean & thoughts on Mother's Day & Why Jack & Jean's House Smells Like Garlic (again)

Yesterday, the day before Mother’s Day 2014 (is it Mother’s Day or Mothers’ Day?), I decided to make Camilla Consuelos’ recipe for Bolognaise.  I readily admit that I am a huge fan of Live ! With Kelly & Michael & over the past few years I have tried & reworked & claimed for my own many recipes from Live !

Many thanks to Michael Gelman for his recipe for Sweet & Spicy Cranberry Sauce.

Yesterday was not my first experience with making Bolognaise.  A few months ago, I cleaned out my collection of cookbooks & retained only those I used or those with sentimental value.  Including a yellowing, splattered small spiral of Italian recipes.  With two versions of bolognaise – one that includes ham, one that includes liver.

However, Kelly Ripa’s mother-in-law Camilla Consuelos' recipe for Bolognaise was different but familiar & promised plenty to freeze for later meals.  Three pounds of ground beef – which I promptly changed to one pound beef, one pound turkey, one pound Italian sausage.

My brother Jason took one peak at the pot of meat sauce as it was coming together & pronounced it the mother lode of all sauces.

My other changes to the recipe were minor – fresh oregano instead of dried (yes, Camilla, I agree – the dried is more flavorful but a fourth of my fledgling herb garden is oregano). 

Olive oil for browning the turkey.  A roasted head of garlic mixed with salt in addition to Camilla’s five garlic cloves.

And the beef & turkey browned with red pepper flakes.

Forgive me, Camilla.  I can never resist embellishing.  (And I also left out the celery – but we agree on the sugar & the carrots & the fresh basil).

The very first dish I cooked as a young bride was meat sauce with pasta.  I didn’t use a recipe – instead I made it from my memories of watching my mother.  Who was cooking for a family, not two people.

Needless to say, those two people ate pasta & sauce for days on end.

Camilla Consuelo’s mother lode of bolognaise brought that memory back to the surface.

Strange to recall a memory from a brief, childless marriage on Mother’s Day.  Perhaps the Bolognaise aroma was affecting my memory banks.

Last night, I gave Jean a preview of the sauce served with mini-penne.

She finished her dinner, pronounced it good & said, as I was clearing the dishes from her tray, pronounced:

Jaki, you need to add more garlic & salt.

My first reaction (unspoken) was not that of a loving daughter.

This, from a woman who has not cooked in how long?

My second reaction (spoken) was to defend myself.

I added an entire head of roasted garlic.  I salted the meats.

Jean’s eyebrow came close to rising, which is a sign that you have transgressed. 

Instead, she simply repeated:

Jaki, you need to add more garlic & salt.

So, this morning, after preparing a Mother’s Day Breakfast (French toast, sliced strawberries & kiwis sprinkled with dark chocolate), I took out Camilla Consuelo’s mother lode of sauce, added five more cloves of garlic, & roasted two more garlic heads to form a paste with salt.

Because sometimes & most times, Mother Knows Best.

Which should have been a fifties / sixties sitcom.

So, on Mother’s Day 2014, Jack & Jean’s house smells of garlic & basil & oregano & a bit of rosemary (Again, Camilla, forgive me).

I thought of all the mothers in my life.  

A diverse group – working mothers, stay-at-home mommies, single mothers, mothers of blended families, two mother families, mothers raising their grandchildren, mothers nurturing others’ children.  My aunts, my grandmothers, my father’s aunts, my paternal great-grandmother.  My sister. 

Other people’s mothers who impacted my life & my sons’ lives.

And Jean.

At the center of all those mothers is a huge, amazing, rich & fertile maternal tapestry of maternal text.  From which each of us pull threads & sometimes entire braids to form our own maternal text & story.

My Omega Son Sam called me in the spirit of the day & to catch me up on his life – he is applying to the school of engineering at UH.  His grandfather Jack, the mechanical engineer from A&M, must be smiling.

Although I have a feeling Jack would prefer maroon & white over red & white.  But red & white suits me just fine.

My Alpha Son Nick called from work to say he would call later.  And did.  Several times until we connected.   Sons remember.  As did my much loved daughter-in-law, the Lady Jane.

 

I called my mother-to-be niece, Felicia Marie, to wish her a happy day.  At this time next year, Baby John will wish her a happy day.

And so my Mother’s Day is complete.

.

Except for Jean’s approval on my final version of Camilla Consuelos’ sauce.

For Camilla’s incredible recipe, please check out the Live ! with Kelly & Michael website.

For the results of Jean’s assessment of Jaki Jean’s version, stay tuned.

(To understand why Kelly Ripa’s husband Mark Consuelos is so pretty, take a look at his mother, Camilla Consuelos.  A beautiful lady & creator of the mother lode of all sauces.)