pasta makin'

My first jobs were in food service -- one in an italian family restaurant, the other at a frozen custard stand (m'mm delicious). The italian restaurant was a real learning experience, one of those jobs where you end up working almost every available position (whether directly or out of necessity) during your time there. Hell, I was even considered "senior staff" at 16.

I started off as the only female busser back when the restaurant first opened and we were on 2 hour waits each night. Within a week or two, I was doubling as busser and host, then server, add bartender, helping with the books, acting as fill-in dishwasher and helper cook when needed, to running the failed bakery experiment. I saw that restaurant through years of transition, from its most successful times to the day we shut the door. Over my time there I learned how to make gnocchi, soups, cannolis, breads, other italian delicacies, but never pasta somehow.

Now, I know that pasta is not expensive at the store, and for the headache making fresh pasta can be, it may not be worth it. I still wanted to try ... and armed with my italian hand-crank pasta maker, my handy dandy apron, a bottle of wine and a free Friday night, I decided to give it a whirl. Next time, I'll get more adventurous than egg fettuccine, but hell, I was hungry. :)

Homemade Egg Fettuccine
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
water

Create a well with the flour on your counter. Crack the eggs into the well, add the olive oil and salt, and slowly mix in the flour with your fingers without breaking the well and causing a kitchen catastrophe. (My opinion, if you're going to make homemade pasta, you might as well mix by hand and have some fun, right?)

Once the dough comes together, begin to knead until it's elastic. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour, or a bit of water if its the opposite. Trust your instinct.



Once the dough is elastic, cut into 4 pieces and begin rolling through the pasta machine, decreasing the thickness of the rollers each time. Add flour if needed. Look at that pretty machine ...



Then drape it like old school wet laundry to dry on a clothesline ... or in this case, a pasta drying rack (I have a lot of cooking gadgets and toys).

Let it dry for a little bit so it can firm up. Then run it through the fettuccine roller and cut the pasta.





Fresh pasta takes only a few minutes to cook, much faster than store-brought pasta. Be careful not to overcook. Overcooking this after all this work is not fun at all. Unfun to the max.

Now, I wasn't going to eat naked noodles. That'd just be silly. And like I said above, I was Hungry with a capital H. So earlier when I started this process, I also put some sauce to work on the stove.

The magic ragu began with some sauteed garlic in olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot, a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of stewed tomatoes, some rehydrated porcini mushrooms and it's broth (plus half a mushroom bouillon cube I had. That stuff is MAGIC, btw. I digress), a bay leaf, some extra spices and oh ... country ribs. You know, because I can.

In all seriousness though, once the sauce had simmered throughout this whole pasta making process, the pork was falling off the bone, shredding itself into the sauce. Perfecto.

(Learned that trick by making Gourmet's Sunday Ragu ... m'mm pot 'o stewed braised meat, how I love you so. m'mm. // drool.)

Mix the two together and voila! Homemade egg fettuccine with a pork and mushroom ragu.

sneak peek: last night's project

Soup, continued

My endeavor earlier this week, and the subject of the last post here, left me with a Costco amount of homemade poultry stock (turkey + chicken).

Recipe #1 was inspired again by Elise's Mom's Turkey Soup, so I started to shred some turkey, chop up onions, carrots, celery and some tomatoes and let them become friends again.

The second soup I first made last year when I was living in the Back Bay, and just realized I may have inadvertently made it one year to the day that I first tried it. Either way, there's no reason we can't revisit favorites, and now we can add the photo (from last year, so apologies for the photo quality. I had yet to get my EOS xTI).



Last year, I used leftover frozen tom yum soup broth so it had a wonderful lemongrass undertone but also quite a kick from the Thai chiles Sam and I used. I really liked the spice, and replicated this time (sans chiles) with a few dashes of Sriracha.

Ten Minute Couscous Soup with a kick
Adaapted from Heidi @ 101Cookbooks

(KT note ... looks like I first made this soup the exact day Heidi posted it, then again this year, also on the 26th. Bizarre. Hm. :) )

7 cups great-tasting broth - in my case turkey/chicken (can eyeball this)
2 or 3 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup regular couscous
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets, cut into tiny pieces smaller than your thumb
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets, cut into tiny pieces smaller than your thumb

Bring the stock to a boil with a few dashes of oil and the hot pepper flakes. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and add the couscous. Wait two minutes, then add the broccoli and cauliflower. Wait another 2-3 minutes until the vegetables lose their raw edge and you're done! I added a few shots of Sriracha, but you can leave as is, add some sundried tomatoes and goat cheese or any other sort of topping you'd like. The soup is very forgiving, so have fun and play.

A smattering of Monday goodness

Some weeks I'm all about keeping the blog up to date. Other weeks ... well, it just doesn't happen. The last month or so has been one of those black holes of updating TTK.

So, here's a roundup of some of the tastier little things I've been making over the last few weeks. Some are staples (broccoli pesto pasta with spinach and olives), others were heartier first whirls (braised chard with white beans) ...



... to failed experiments that ended up being more delicious than initially anticipated (my take on "nut butter"), and a cocktail to help relieve some stress that reminds me of March's trip to Sao Paolo. Plus, it gave me an excuse to crack open a bottle of cachaca and use my tucan muddler. Who doesn't love a tucan muddler, I mean - really now.

The "nut butter", originally a spin on Andrea's Vanilla Cinnamon Almond Butter turned into more of a mix of ingredients. I had a bag of unsalted mixed nuts (almonds, peanuts, pecans, cashews and hazelnuts) that needed using up, so I gave it a whirl. As Andrea details in her post, getting this to become creamy and not just finely chopped nuts can take forever, so I finally gave up, added a bit more vanilla, a bit of oil (just a teensy bit), and some brown sugar. It's delicious, and while not creamy, it's delicious on toast, great topping for ice cream and really not that bad for a failed try. Better luck next time. Maybe I'll have found some patience by then ... maybe. ;)



All in all, not too shabby ... I still need to post the hot toddy pudding cake night to end all hot toddy nights (let's just say, copious amounts of scotch, baked goods and two close male friends can lead to some interesting stories ... ;) ) but that's to come. Oh, and the oatmeal cookie pancakes from this weekend with dried cranberries. Mmm, pancakes. Those'll come this week.

Stay tuned, and for a little happy Monday music, check out my friend's band Freddy & Francine. It'll sure help if you're stuck in this dreary grey rainy weather loop. And maybe you'll even learn how to do the Brownstone Alley ;)

Operation cleanout, moving, dusting off the cobwebs

Apologies for the long silence here on Tales of a Test Kitchen. In the last month, I've packed up my little Back Bay kitchen, moved across the line just barely into Brookline, and been traveling like a mad woman ever since.

Excuses, excuses, I know, but it's tough to really get back into the swing of cooking - and enjoying it - when the kitchen still has boxes in it, is missing appliances and what not. Slowly but surely, this will be remedied, I assure you. I've promised a few people updates on here, so lets kick the tires. I'm at home with a nasty head cold from my latest travels, and maybe this will get my brain moving.

This post is about a month old, but good nevertheless. Pre- my move, I was in the midst of cooking to clean out my fridge and pantry, part of Operation Cleanout. Day 3 of this process brought us a delicious vegetarian pasta with chard, lemon cream sauce and toasted pine nuts, as well as a lemony asparagus soup that's to die for.

The pasta was an interesting endeavor, to say the least. I had half a container of sour cream to use, lemons, spring onions, chard, whole wheat pasta and a number of other miscellaneous ingredients. The sauce was a mix of the sour cream, sauteed garlic, some chili flakes, lemon zest and lemon juice. I had toasted some pine nuts and sauteed some chard separately. Once all of the components were complete, just tossed them all with the sauce and voila. Topped with some chopped spring onions. This was just aces after a long day of work, and kicked any alfredo sauce or pasta roni kit you can get at the store.



The Lemony Asparagus soup that joined the night's menu was spotted on Dishing Up Delights, and was not only supremely easy, but light and delicious.

And even better, I had a few burners left on my stove to make it, while still tending to the pasta mentioned above.



Lemony Asparagus Soup
From Dishing Up Delights, adapted from Food and Wine

1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
2 cups chicken stock (could also use veggie)
one 1-inch wide strip of lemon zest, plus 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest for garnish
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, and cook the asparagus for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.

In a clean saucepan, add oil and cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and lemon zest strip. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add asparagus and cook for another 5 minutes until tender. Discard lemon zest and use an immersion blender to puree.

Spaghetti All'Ubriaco for One

After spending practically all of March away or eating take out between trips, dinner options around here are slim pickins. I spotted this recipe for spaghetti all'ubriaco or "drunken spaghetti" on Serious Eats and dreamt of it all day. I had about 1/3 of a bottle of a Malbec sitting on the counter and decided to give it a go.

The result, a rich, but not too heavy purplish pasta with a little tang and heat from the pesto and pepperocinis. Meal completed with some simple greens and spinach with just a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that RJ brought me back from Mendoza, Argentina (and dang, it's GOOD).

Oh, and one of my favorite beers, the only one left in my fridge - Dogfish I.B.A. Time to kick up the feet and relax for the night. Mission, complete.






Spaghetti All'Ubriaco

Ingredients:
whole wheat spaghetti
equal parts red wine and water to cover the pasta
salt for pasta water
TB or so of basil pesto
4 or 5 pepperocini rings, or 1 whole pepperocini
2 cloves of garlic, minced
extra virgin olive oil

Heavily salt and the heat the water and wine in a pot until it reaches a boil. Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick. Meanwhile, toast the garlic in the olive oil with the diced pepperocinis. When the pasta is done, drain so that there's still just a little bit of liquid, reserving the remaining liquid. Mix together with the garlic and pepperocinis.



Add the pesto to flavor, about a tablespoon. I added about 2/3 of a cup of the pasta water / wine since I didn't have any remaining wine (add raw wine if you have it), the simmered for a few minutes to let the flavors combine.

Annnnnnnd, serve. Delish.

Making use of leftovers -- Pan-fried Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi

I bought a big tub of ricotta cheese to use in my winter greens lasagna last week, and had a good amount left over. Somewhat by chance, I stumbled upon this recipe over at Steamy Kitchen for pan-fried lemon ricotta gnocchi with a brown butter sauce, and had to try. And hell, it helped clean out my fridge.

The end result were light lemony gnocchis sauteed in a garlic oil and tossed very lightly with wilted spinach, garlic, a few spoonfuls of crushed tomatoes and some grated cheese. Perfection.

I'm a huge fan of making unconventional gnocchi (aka not white potato based), although I love those as well, having worked my high-school years in an Italian restaurant. In the past I've spent a few hours making roasted butternut squash gnochhi and sweet potato gnocchi, livening it up a bit ... and boy, are those killer with a brown butter sauce with a bit of fresh orange juice, some zest and a little bit of brown sugar. Oh man.

Anyways, these were phenomenal, and from pulling the flour out of my cupboard to sitting down eating only took 45 minutes ... which is astonishing for homemade gnocchi. I highly recommend you give them a whirl.

Pan-Fried Lemon Ricotta Gnocchi
Compliments of Steamy Kitchen, with a few minor tweaks

a cup of ricotta
1/2 cup of parmesan
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 TB chopped parsley (I used dry ... not the same, but still good)
3 cloves of garlic, rough chopped
extra virgin olive oil
a good pinch of hot pepper flakes

Mix the ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, salt, hot pepper flakes, parsley, and egg yolk in a large bowl. Mix in half of the flour, then gradually a bit more, saving about 1/8 of a cup. Once the dough has come together, flour your hands and work into a bowl, and put on a floured surface. Mix in the remaining flour but be careful not to overknead ... it shouldn't take much. Cut into 4 sections, rolling each out into long strands.



Flour your knife, and cut these into little inch long pieces. Some choose to roll on a fork to give a different texture, but since these are pan fried, I kept mine looking like pillows.



Heat a skillet with about 2 TB of olive oil. Put the chopped garlic in the skillet, stirring until fragrant, but not browned ... about 45 seconds. Remove the garlic. You can use it for a sauce later (which I did). Add the gnocchi, shaking the pan after they're in to make sure there's enough oil underneath to keep residual flour from sticking. You want these to have a nice brown on both sides. Make sure they're cooked thru, taste test too. Does it taste too wet in the middle? Does it need a little more color? You be the judge.



Right before they come out of the pan, I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over them, then finished cooking the second batch. And, you're done. Steamy Kitchen made a brown butter sauce to accompany, but be creative. I had spinach to use, so I took that route, wilting it with a bit of lemon juice, some crushed tomatoes, and browning up the garlic - just enough to complement the gnocchi, but not overpower -- they're flavorful enough to stand alone. :)

When all else fails, use Kale

Kale was the featured ingredient of last week, something I was first introduced to in my young days of working as a waitress at Pizzeria Uno. Hey, I needed the money, don't judge me. Mandatory for all new Uno's employees was 15 hours of "pizza school" - kid you not - on top of on the floor training that most food services people are used to. As I was running my usual expo shift at the food window, the following phrase was ingrained in my mind ... so much that it's the title of this post -- "When all else fails, use kale." The trainer had a slightly annoying southern twang as this phrase rolled off her tongue, then followed by me non-chalantly rolling my eyes and counting the hours down until I could have a stiff drink. Not my proudest days, but hell, it was money.

Regardless, kale is often only known of as that annoying ruffage on your plate, under an orange slice or some other garnish. To counter that, I looked for a few recipes for last week featuring leafy greens, so here goes. Both were delicious, and let me tell you ... kale is cheeeeeeap at the grocery store, so if you're looking for a way to save some dough, go kale. Woo! Like, less than two dollars for over 2 lbs kind of cheap. Won a spot in my heart RIGHT THERE.

Ahem. Onwards.

On the menu for the week:
- Giant Chipotle White Beans with Kale and Chard, from Heidi at 101Cookbooks
- Winter Greens Lasagna, compliments of Chowhound

Both were insanely good, and not only fed me but also a number of co-workers, with some still to freeze. Can't wait for that night of no-cooking when I pull out a serving of this lasagna and bring it back to life. Nothing beats a good meal without the effort during the week.

So, starting with the lasagna ... which, I justify as being healthy due to all the kale and chard. Trust me, I can justify anything in this little head of mine ;)

Winter Greens Lasagna
From Chowhound

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white onion
3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1 pound kale, washed, tough stems removed, and coarsely chopped
1 pound Swiss chard, coarsely chopped

(KT: After making this, I'd even use a bit more greens ... hard to believe, but it really cooks down ... And I love chard stems, so I include ... but up to you )

1 1/2 cups crème fraîche

(KT: I had to use sour cream due to lack of creme fraiche at the store ... it works, but go for the real deal if you can find)

1 (9-ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles
1 pound fresh ricotta
2 cups finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400. Meanwhile, in a heavy bottom pot, heat up some oil, and cook the garlic and onions, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes. Then, add the cream and start slowly adding the kale / chard. It takes a while to tame ... be patient. Season with salt and pepper for each layer you add as it wilts. Cook down until all greens are in the pot, about 10 minutes. Take off the heat.



Meanwhile, spread a cup of the creme fraiche / sour cream on the bottom of the pan.



Layer with noodles, then greens mixture (without added liquid), then top with ricotta and parmesan. I mixed the ricotta and parm together to kill two birds with one stone, but can do separate if desired. Keep layering, noodles, greens, ricotta + Parm until you run out of greens.



Pour the remaining creme mix over the top of the noodles. Then mix remaining sour cream / creme fraiche + Parm together and spread over the top. It's a messy process. Have fun with it.

Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes until browned and bubbly. Yum.

Potlucking, part II

The second dish I made for the potluck last weekend is one of my all-time favorites -- a baked macaroni and cheese with a tomato bechamel-esque sauce, courtesy of Jamie Oliver. I have a bit of a starcrush on Mr. Oliver, despite his inavailability, beautiful children, etc etc. Let a girl dream. (Jamie ... call me. ;) )

Annnnnnnyways, ahem, I first made the mac'n'cheese, out of his cookbook "jamie's dinners", for a girls dinner on my deck last June. It's the ultimate comfort food, and pairs really well with the pesto pea salad mentioned in the last post. It's creamy with a thyme and breadcrumb crust ... divine. When I have some more time, I'm going to give another Jamie recipe a whirl and break out my new pasta machine ... stay tuned for that.

On to the goods ... I made a few changes from Jamie's original, just for the sake of time / availability.

Tomato Macaroni and Cheese
Adapted from "jamie's dinners" by Jamie Oliver

12 oz macaroni (I use campanelle)
hefty amount of breadcrumbs (or 6-7 slices of stale bread)
25 oz (large can, then half a regular sized can) of whole tomatoes, reserve the juice
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 large handfuls of fresh basil
2 oz. sundried tomatoes
2 anchovies (I've left these out in the past at vegetarian friends' request)
sea salt, fresh ground pepper
3 hefty handfuls of Parmesan cheese
2.5 cups light cream
1 TB red wine vinegar
1/2 a nutmeg, grated
14 oz cow's milk mozzarella
handful of fresh thyme
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. While that's heating up, get a pot of salted water going and cook the pasta.

Meanwhile, it's time for a little food processor fun. Blend up the whole tomatoes (without juice), garlic, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Once that's whizzed up a bit, add 2 handfuls of Parm (love that measurement), cream, vinegar and nutmeg. I then add a bit of the tomato juice. The pasta really absorbs a lot of the sauce, and can get dry if there's not enough liquid, so dont be shy. This time when I made it, I used almost all of the reserved juice. Don't be shy. Jamie uses some of the pasta water, but I like the tomatoey taste more.



Drain your pasta, toss into casserole dish. Pour the tomatoey saucey goodness over the pasta and then break up the mozzarella over the dish. Mix the last handful of Parm with the breadcrumbs and liberally spread over the dish. Sprinkle the fresh thyme over the top, and drizzle generously with olive oil. It'll help get that crunchy crust you're looking for :)

Place in the oven for about 15 minutes - until the dish is bubbly and the crust has a nice golden color. (**New camera is in the mail ... apologies for the dimly lit photos.)



By the way, this is supposed to serve 4 (says Jamie) ... I don't know about the people he's feeding (FEED ME, jamie. seriously, call me ;) ) butttt this definitely served 10 potluck style with some leftovers. Or at least 6-8 portions otherwise.

Fighting off the cold ... part II - a take on a pasta fagiole soup

I traditionally do the majority of my cooking on Sundays ... it's therapeutic, gets me set for the week, and makes good meals on weeknights feasible, since it's all there.

Well, this past Sunday ... I broke routine. Leaving me with other things to cook up this week, things I'd been planning on noshing on this week, without the effort. It happens.

So when it came to lunch today, with the dreaded "wintry mix" falling outside (snow, rain, a mix of both, wind, ice -- all the nasty stuff), I reached for the shell pasta in my cupboard and just started putting things into a pot on the stove. What I ended up with was a hearty pasta fagiole-esque soup that took minimal effort and cleared out some ingredients in my fridge. This is somewhat unconventional, but hell - it's delicious.

First, drop some medium shell pasta (or something similar, I like the shells for this but feel free to play) into a pot of salted boiling water. Once those are cooked, drain all but a cup or two of liquid off (just slightly less than covering the pasta). Wilt some spinach into the pot, add a can of stewed tomatoes with liquid, a partially drained can of kidney beans, a spoonful of pesto for flavoring, and about a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of tomato sauce if you have some on hand.

I often add pesto to pasta I'm cooking, even if I'm dressing it with sauce or something else. It lends a delicious saltiness to the pasta that I just crave for some reason. I added the tomato sauce here a) because I had it handy and b) because it helped thicken the sauce, outside of the starchy cooking liquid and the liquid from the beans.

Seasoning wise, I added some fresh cracked garlic salt, ground pepper, a bit of chili powder, some chicken bouillon powder since I didnt't have stock on hand, and then a bit of Parmesan cheese.

Stir, season as needed, and serve. Absolutely delicious, and take about 15-20 minutes.