Adventures in Pasta!!

I'm really excited about this!! I've been wanting to experiment with pasta for quite a while now - lets just say being a proficient pasta-maker is on my bucket list. I can see myself at the farmers market with bags of home made pastas in simple, elegant flavors, ready for customers to gobble them up... someday! For now, I must put on my science goggles and get down to the task of mastering pasta.

For Christmas, my fiancee bought me a 5qt Kitchenaid Mixer... I will likely make an entire post, later, harping on the awesomeness that is Kitchenaid. For now, I'll just throw out that other mixers really don't stand a chance, when it comes to home use. And its awesome. And its PINK!! :) I love you, Jeremy!

Right, so: Pasta... As it turns out, the stuff is pretty foolproof. You really don't need any special ingredients, being a food item with very rustic basics, you can use whatever you have on hand. 

For the last several days, I've been planning my debut into the world of pasta, looking for decent looking recipes. I shouldn't be surprised that the best one I've found so far has been from Mario Batalli. Good old Mario <3 He is my Italian hero.
This recipe has but two ingredients. It makes a pasta that is chewy and rich, since its just flour and egg. And did I mention you can't screw it up?

Mario's Basic Pasta
makes about 4 servings
 
Ingredients:
3 or 4 eggs
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour (or 10 oz)

1. Dump everything into your (fancy-schmancy-awesome) Kitchenaid mixer, starting with 3 eggs. If it looks dry after you start to mix, add the fourth yolk. If still dry, add the white also. I only used 3 eggs.
(Click here for by hand instructions).
2. Mix everything together until combined, then attach the Dough Hook and mix on medium speed for 15-20 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, let it sit for 30 minutes.
Tip: I use a large plastic ziplock bag to cover my dough - cut one side and across the bottom to open it up. I can wash it over and over, and it saves me on plastic wrap. 
3. Roll out with your (fancy-schmancy-awesome) Kitchenaid pasta rolling set.
 I used the wide pasta setting to make a fettuccine type noodle. (see picture below)

To cook fresh pasta: drop into salted, boiling, water. Cook 1-2 minutes until tender. Top with your favorite sauce.  

Here are two of my favorite, simple, pasta sauces. They take minutes to make and are delicious!

Basic Tomato Sauce:
1 14.5oz can of diced or stewed tomatoes (with Basil, Garlic and Oregano)
- Open can, heat up, pour over pasta

Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce:
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (+1tbsp butter, for richer sauce, optional)
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add garlic. Fry until garlic browns, 3-4 minutes. Pour over pasta.

I have no qualms mentioning that I am a bit of a food snob... So I recommend using freshly grated Parmesan, never that snowy mess that passes for Parmesan at cheap pizza joints (smells like old socks). Use fresh, quality, ingredients whenever possible, of course - especially since you are using very few ingredients, you want them to stand out on their own and say hello :)

Easy Pancit

If you know anything about Pancit, you know its pretty easy to make.So calling this Easy Pancit is almost redundant, but this is my delicious method!

Really Big Pot

Really Big Bowl

My secret method to this dish basically involves a Really Big Pot and a Really Big Bowl. Rice sticks cook very quickly, (you can soften them just with warm water alone), so boiling flavorful stock and then dumping everything together works well since everything cooks quickly. Just let it sit a few minutes until the noodles absorb the stock and, voila! Pancit!!

 Ingredients:
4 cups water
4 bullion cubes (or omit the water and use chicken stock)
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced thin
1/2 bag of jumbo shrimp (optional)
1/2 package of rice sticks, torn in half
1/2 an onion, diced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons (a few glugs) of fish sauce
1 small bag of frozen stir fry veggies
1/3 of a small cabbage, shredded
2ish tablespoons of sesame oil (or vegetable oil)

Vegetarian: Just don't use chicken/shrimp, and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.



1. Make the stock: Heat a Really Big Pot on high with the 4 cups of water/stock. Add in half the onion, half the garlic, all of the sliced chicken, fish sauce and soy sauce. Let it boil while you prepare the veggies.

2. Cook the veggies: Heat a skillet on high (or if you're lucky enough to have a nice wok, heat that baby up), dump in the frozen veggies.
 Note: as soon as you add the frozen veggies to the pan, it will cool down considerably, thus a very hot pan is appropriate to keep veggies from getting soggy.
Once the veggies start to cook (are mostly-not-frozen anymore), add in sesame oil, cabbage and remaining garlic and onion. Stir fry the until they start to crisp or char just a tiny bit on the edges.
Remove veggies to Really Big Bowl.
 If you're using shrimp, go ahead and cook them real quick while the pan is still hot. I like to use a tablespoon or two of butter for flavor, but you can use oil or just a nonstick pan, too. It takes maybe two minutes per side, until they turn pink and curl up and get a nice crispy edge on them. Add those to the bowl.

3. Bringing it all together:  Add the dry rice sticks to the pot of hot liquid. Wait a minute or so, then carefully stir the noodles into the stock until they soften. Let cook for two or three minutes, stir often and dont let them stick to the bottom!
Here is the fun part. It can be a little messy so be careful (this is why we use a Really Big pot and bowl)... Dump everything in the Really Big Bowl and mix together with a couple of forks or chopsticks. The noodles may not mix very well with everything else, but be sure and stir it all thouroughly. The mixture will be a bit soupy.
Put a towel or something on the top of the bowl to cover and prevent all the heat escaping. Wait 5 or 10 minutes, then stir it all up once more before serving; the rice noodles will absorb all the tasty water and its ready to eat!

If you wanna be fancy, serve this with lemon wedges :)

French Croissants

 Got a chance to visit France whilst on deployment with the Navy, and O-M-G there is a reason why France is the pastry capital of the world!! The first real pastry I had there was the croissant, a flaky, fluffy, buttery roll named after its crescent shape. BEST FOOD EVAR! One could easily live off these things (Who said man cannot live on bread alone? That's just silly.).

I had a few other yummy treats in France, but these babies are definitely on the top of my list of delicious pastries.  They are a bit labor intensive, but if you are a kitchen-holic like me, its not a problem to do a little work on them every day for two or three days.
They can be customized a lot of ways, too - add jam or chunks of chocolate in the middle, then roll up, for a sweet treat. Also I'm sure most of you have heard of 'pigs in a blanket', which is probably a white American thing - usually a hotdog wrapped in croissant dough, with cheese or whatever. For a savory snack, you could totally do these fancy-schmancy with some fancy sausage and hard to pronounce cheese, or something like that. Or... y'know... hot dog and American cheese. Whatever floats yours.
It sure beats the hell out of out-of-the-can Pillsbury type, lemme tell ya. Though the process may be intimidating for those who only dabble in pastry, PLEASE TRY THESE because you wont regret it.

Recipe and pictures for steps copied from Daily Delicious blog

Ingredients:
1¼ teaspoon of dry-active yeast (about ½ sachet)
3 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 3/4 cups of bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1½ teaspoon salt
½ cup  milk 
2 tablespoons canola oil (or other tasteless oil)
½ cup (1 stick) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash

1. Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little.

2. Measure out the other ingredients

3. Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar

4. Place the flour in a large bowl.

5. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour

6. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated

7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl

8. Knead the dough eight to ten times only. The best way is as Julia Child does it in the video . It’s a little difficult to explain, but essentially involves smacking the dough on the counter (lots of fun if you are mad at someone) and removing it from the counter using the pastry scraper.

9. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag.
10. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.

11. After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips. 
12. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, and use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20cm by 30cm).
13. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up)

14. Place the dough letter back in the bowl, and the bowl back in the plastic bag. 
15. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge.
16. Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge while you prepare the butter. 

17. Once the dough has doubled, it’s time to incorporate the butter
18. Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board.
19. Using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little, till it is quite flat.
20. Use the heel of your hand to continue to spread the butter until it is smooth. You want the butter to stay cool, but spread easily.
21. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two.
22. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). 
23. Remove the butter from the board, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle 
24. Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from all the edges.
25. Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third of the dough up.

26. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book). 

27. Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). 

28. Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. 

29. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours. 

30. After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter.
31. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little
32. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes
33. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
34. Fold in three, as before

35. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
36. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)

37. Roll the dough in to 5mm thick. Cut into 9x22 cm triangle.

38. Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape.
39. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet
40. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, creating 12 croissants in total (if you make the same size as me it will be less).

41. Leave the tray of croissants, covered lightly with plastic wrap, to rise for 1 hour
42. Preheat the oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
43. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water
44. Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants. 
45. Put the croissants in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely
46. Take the croissants out of the oven, and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This post was sponsored by Anti-Flag and lots of love.

Ginger Tea for Preggies

ginger tea

One of the most common side effects of pregnancy is... SICK!!! Right? Its awful. Men are so lucky they never have to go through this. A bit resentful, perhaps? Yes. Well. 

One of the greatest preggy-sick medicines that has been used by our great great great ancestors in times past is Ginger. Ginger is the root of some kind of plant or other, it looks funny, all knobbly and brownish and smells sharply of ginger.

I'm sure there's some kinda neat scientific explanation, but, in short, Ginger helps to cure nausea... makes ya feel better. Plus, its extremely inexpensive and ridiculously easy to make. You can generally find it in any super market next to the weirder roots and veggies.

Note that you can also use this same tea for any kind of nausea or upset stomach such as indigestion or motion sickness. Ginger is a great cure-all. And its really tasy!

Not everyone likes the taste of ginger so feel free to add other citrus fruits like oranges, pineapple, lemon, etc., as pictured below I added half and orange with the peel. I think the peel is really citrus-y and goes well with the sharpness of ginger. And its kind of fancy.

 

with orange peel

Recipe:

1-2" peice of ginger root 

4 cups water

1/4 cup sugar or honey (optional)

1/2 an orange or other fruit with peel  (optional)

Instructions: Throw everything into a pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Strain out peel or other chunks. Chill and serve with ice, or drink warm. 

Alternative Methods: 
Use a microwave if you dont have a stove handy
Steep in some really hot water, for about 10 minutes or so
Pour water into a large container, add ginger plus other ingredients, refrigerate 24 hours

ginger root

 

The Bertinet Method

I'm at the part in my culinary learning where, frankly, I think anyone can do a recipe. It's just a set of instructions wherein, if you follow them strictly, you get exactly what the recipe describes. Recipes are great!
But there comes a point where you can go beyond recipes, to simple technique. Technique is just know-how plus experience. It gives you the ability to just grab a bunch of ingredients and throw them together to make something delicious, without referencing anything. Kinda like your friend's Italian grandma who can magically pull all kinds of homemade stuff out of the air, just because she's been doing it for years. And her mother, and her mother's mother...
To me, that is the essence of a real chef - when you understand something so well that you can create a dish, with whatever is on hand, Iron Chef style.

Here is a neat new baking technique I recently came across whilst Stumbling.A famous French chef, Richard Bertinet, came up with an alternate dough-kneading method that is basically just throwing and slapping dough instead of kneading it with your hands to help develop the glueten and get the dough to the right texture for rising.
It's a lot of fun and a great stress reliever :)
 This is ideal for wet, sticky, doughs like yeast rolls.

>>Here is a great video from the UK's Guardian of Bertinet himself teaching his technique.<<

A Million Billion Fluffy Soft Buttery Dinner Rolls

Ok maybe not a Million Billion. That is a lot. This recipe makes 4 dozen rolls (48 rolls). The genius part of this is the method of baking them in one big pyrex pan so it makes a whole lot at once.

Perfect for a dinner party, Thanksgiving, or just having a bunch of delicious rolls around to make sandwiches with for weeks on less than a dime! You can also just bake as many as you want now (say 6-12 for dinner) and freeze the remaining dough balls. That way you can have lots of fresh delicious rolls for as long as they last (wont be long, mind you).
Lots of fun possibilities with this one.
I found this recipe whilst Stumbling with 'dinner rolls' entered into the search feature. Stumble is an awesome way to find neat new recipes!

Dinner Rolls
(with very slight alterations on my part, from the original post Aunt Marie's Dinner Rolls)
This recipe has a lot of steps, so be sure to check out the how-to Video from Woodfired Kitchen.

Using a stand mixer for this is best. Barring that, use a hand mixer. And barring that, assuming you have strong arms, use a whisk and spatula and knead the dough by hand about 10 minutes.

You will need:

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided into two equal parts

1 cup half and half (ie. half cream, half milk)

1 stick (4 ounces) salted butter, divided

¼ cup sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons of salt

1 package of quick rise yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons)

1 cup warm water (100°)

About ½ cup additional flour for kneading

1. Pour a cup of half and half into a sauce pan and heat for 2 or 3 minutes on medium until it’s hot and steamy. Do not boil! Remove from heat and add the sugar, 5 1/2 Tablespoons of the butter and salt. Let it sit a few minutes, the milk will cool while the butter melts. You don't want it to be too hot or the batter can kill the yeast right out.
2. Pour the milk mixture into the mixing bowl and scrape the gooey sugar from the bottom of the pan. Add a cup of warm water, 2 ¼ cups of flour and sprinkle on the yeast. Attach the flat beater, and beat on medium speed for 3 or 4 minutes, until you have a smooth batter with no lumps. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
3. Now add the other 2¼ cups flour, switch to the dough hook and beat for 5 minutes on medium low speed. Scrape bowl as necessary to get all the bits. The dough is ready for hand work once all the flour is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and stretchy.
4. Now comes the fun. Put a small amount of flour onto a work surface. Get all the dough off the dough hook, and scrape it in one lump out of the mixer bowl and onto the flour.  Pull the edges of the dough in toward the center like an envelope, using the dough scraper at first and then your fingers as the dough gets less sticky. Continue this, constantly pulling and then pushing down on the center with your palms, adding a little flour as needed to prevent sticking. After a few minutes, you will feel the dough push back as the gluten develops. This is a good thing. Knead for a minimum of 5 minutes altogether, and then form a ball.
5. Put the ball of dough into a large bowl (sprayed with baking Pam) and let rise, lightly covered, for 45 minutes in an 80° environment (ie. a warm cupboard or an oven with the light on).
6. Coat the bottom and sides of the lasagna pan with 1 1/2 teaspoons of softened butter (or spray with baking Pam). Melt the other 2 Tablespoons of butter lightly and set aside.
7. Spread the dough into a rough rectangle on a lightly floured surface and fold the rectangle in half. Spread out into a rough rectangle and fold in half again. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes and then spread it out into a rectangle the size of the lasagna pan. Put the dough into the lasagna pan, spread it out evenly, and pour the melted butter over the dough
8. This is the genius part: Using the dough scraper, cut the dough into 48 small squares inside the pan. To do this, make 5 parallel cuts lengthwise and 7 crosswise in a grid. Picking up each of the small squares of dough in turn, stretch the top skin across and down, tucking it roughly under to make a small ball of dough. Put each piece back where it came from. No need to strive for perfection here: to do this to all the rolls should only take three or four minutes! 
9. Let the rolls rise for 30 – 40 minutes at 80°, until at least doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 350° when the rolls are nearly risen.
10. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°. Dinner Rolls are ready when they’re light brown on the top. Cool for an hour on a rack – that is, if you can wait that long to try them… I know I never can!

Donna's Famous Sicilian Sausage and Meatballs

My friend's mom, Donna, is very much Sicilian. She cooked for us one day and I nearly died of good food. For the record, you can definitely die of good food, I almost did. Saw the white lights and all.
This recipe is sooooooooooo easy and only really takes a few ingredients. Does take some time to cook though, so be prepared (or go easy with a slow-cooker, all day).
You can add different things to this like cream or wine to the sauce, roasted garlic, onions, etc.
But I prefer it exactly the way she made it; simple.

1 16oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
1 package good italian sausage
1 dozen meatballs (recipe below)

In a stock pot (or a slow cooker) combine all the ingredients and cook on low all day (6-8 hours)
Serve over pasta, with garlic bread and several glasses of good red wine.





Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg

Knead crumbs and egg into meat until combined, without any dry or eggy spots. Form into about a dozen small meatballs (or however big you want them, till you've used the meat up). Do this firmly, really squish them together, this is going to cook all day and you don't want them to fall apart.