Dynamites

[bobquasit]

As I've mentioned before, Rhode Island has one of the few remaining unexploited regional cuisines in the US. The city of Woonsocket has its own unique cuisine as well. I'm a transplant to Woonsocket, but since I've been living here for more than ten years now, I thought I'd take a stab at a Woonsocket dish.

I must admit that I was inspired by something I had at the Great Pumpkin Festival over in North Smithfield (which adjoins Woonsocket) on Saturday.

It was a dynamite, made by the North Smithfield firefighters. Very spicy, but very good. I looked up a few recipes online, and then went and basically winged my own version. It came out pretty good!

• 2.5 lbs 80% lean ground beef
• 2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 large red pepper, coarsely chopped (green is traditional, but cooked green peppers disagree with Teri)
• 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
• 1 16-oz can tomato sauce, Italian style
• 1 8-0z. can tomato paste
• Minced gtarlic (I forgot this, and added dried minced garlic later; at a guess, 3-4 cloves would have been good)
• Sea salt and black pepper (red might have been better) to taste

In a very large frying pan, brown beef with the onions. Once most of the pink is gone from the meat and the onions are starting to turn clear, add the red pepper and celery. Continue to cook at a medium heat until the peppers and celery are soft - the red peppers will start losing their skins. At this point most of the fat should have cooked off (do not cover the pan while cooking!). Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, plenty of pepper (black and/or red), and salt to taste. Stir and simmer for another 10-20 minutes. Serve sandwich-style in soft, fresh Italian torpedo rolls. Leftovers can be stored or frozen.

I have to say, it was easier to make than I expected! And pretty good, too. It was my idea to not drain the meat before adding the peppers and celery, and it turned out to be a good one. They cooked very nicely in the hot fat.

Of course I have to admit that it's not the healthiest dish in the world...

P.S. - Of course I've had dynamites many times before. Chelos (a small Rhode Island chain of family restaurants) used to make an excellent one, although only at two of their locations. But they changed their recipe a while back, and it's nowhere near as good.

I can't remember what the dynamites were like at The Castle, but either I haven't tried them or they didn't make a big impression on me.

The dynamites at Bellingham Palace didn't work for me. The pieces of vegetable were far too big, and the whole thing didn't taste right. That's the only time I've had anything at Bellingham Palace that wasn't really good, though.

Dynamites are often served at local carnivals and festivals. Woonsocket also has at least one dynamite cook-off each year, and probably more (and no, I will not be entering).

Argh! I'm starving!