April 2nd, 2009 §
After many attempts to make pasta from scratch without a pasta machine, I finally gave up. I could never get the dough thin enough, which resulted in bowls of thick, chewy noodles that didn’t catch sauce well. I will wait until better financial times to spring for a machine, but in the meantime, I decided to try a pasta that doesn’t require creating near-paper thin sheets of dough: gnocchi.
Gnocchi are small dumplings that are typically made from either potato or ricotta, along with egg and a bit of flour. Common gnocchi variations include sweet potato, pumpkin, and potato with spinach, but you can experiment with just about any starchy vegetable. They’re best when matched with a light marinara sauce or pesto, as they can be a heavy meal. Here’s a recap. » Read the rest of this entry «
March 29th, 2009 §
Spring Carrots with Apricots and Pistachios from The Splendid Table: A perfect side dish to welcome the spring weather. It also packs a lot of flavor for such an inexpensive dish, as you can easily omit the pistachios.
Homemade gnocchi and marinara sauce: I’ll be posting a full account of this recipe later this week. Surprisingly easy.
Brown Sugar-Brined Chicken: I made a modified version of this Splendid Table recipe when I was unable to track down ancho chilis in my neighborhood. Instead of creating the chili paste, I just mixed a bit of chili powder and extra pepper with the orange zest, juice, garlic, and oil, and then rubbed it underneath the skin. You can tell from the photo a bit of the minced garlic ended up on top of the skin. Whoops.
The overnight brining resulted in a much better roast chicken and I may make it standard pre-roasting practice from now on. Some people complain of it making the meat too salty, but I found it to just make the chicken extra moist.
February 18th, 2009 §
My friends and I have recently started a Monday night tradition: trivia night at a local bar. We have placed almost every week, taking home first place a few times and occasionally winning third, the prize for which is a pull from “The Bag of Mystery.” We typically arrive around 8PM, which I felt lent itself perfectly to getting together for dinner before.
When cooking for friends, I prefer to use recipes from my library rather than create something new. My dinner party nightmare preparing a dish, having a room full of people waiting, and only having an inedible mess to serve. Luckily, things have turned out alright over the past two weeks and I prepared two pasta dishes that are now going into my regular dinner rotation. I didn’t initially plan on posting anything about them since I didn’t create them myself (which is why there are no photos), but they’re so delicious and easy I had to share. They are from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper and I’ve provided links to the recipes below.
Greek Cinnamon-Scented Tomato Sauce with Pasta: I have never thought of adding a dash of cinnamon to a tomato sauce, but this was truly fabulous. The warmth of the spice adds a real depth of flavor and the goat cheese is an added twist. You can easily forgo the chicken chicken or lamb for a vegetarian version.
Pasta with Chopping-Board Pistachio Pesto: This recipe is so simple to prepare and full of great flavors. It calls for a chopping board, but I decided to make it even easier and just pulse the pesto ingredients in my food processor, taking care not to puree it them oblivion. Serve the pasta up with some garlic bread on the side and you’re set.
September 23rd, 2008 §
One of the dishes I made with the heirloom tomatoes this weekend was a roasted tomato pasta. Whenever you don’t want to spend a lot of energy on a pasta dish, but want to keep it classy (aka, not just pouring the usual sauce from a jar over some spaghetti), roasted tomatoes are a great option. There’s a depth of flavor that you don’t get when adding sliced, raw tomatoes, and it puts any jar sauces to shame. Also, the whole dish reheats well, hence the photo above. Here’s the recipe:
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