Spring Pasta- Broccolini, Green Onions, Peas, Fennel

1 pound of small farfalle

2 cloves garlic
1 cup of green peas
1 small pack of broccolini
1 fennel bulb
1 bunch of spring onions
Juice of ½ lemon
Asiago Cheese
Salt, black pepper, pepper flakes

• Chop the fennel and the green onion. Mince garlic.

• Boil the pasta al dente in salted water. The water should be salted until it tastes like the sea. Cook the pasta for less than a minute as indicated in the pack. Put aside some of the pasta water.

• I boil the peas with pasta.

• For 1 minute of boiling time is left, add the broccolini to the water. Pull the broccolini out with tongs, shock with cold water and chop it.

• Take some olive oil in a pan. Add the spring, onion, fennel, and garlic- sauté until fennel is soft.

• Add the pasta. Season the pasta with black pepper and pepper flakes. Check for salt. Add broccolini.

• Adjust with pasta water. Cook for 3 minutes.

• Add lemon juice. You can add more if you like. Grate Asiago cheese on top and serve immediately.

Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 pack of spaghetti
4 cloves of garlic
1 tspn brown sugar
1 tspn red chilly flakes
Salt
Parmesan
1 tspn oregano
1 onion
Olive oil
2 Italian spicy sausages (optional)

1. Simply sauté the onions till translucent.
2. Add the tomatoes and other ingredients.
3. Simmer on slow heat till done while adjusting for water.
4. Add the boiled spaghetti and sausages to the auce.
5. Serve with pecorino or parmesan.


Fairly simple, the quandary is to use the spaghetti after one serving. This dish can get monotonous and the challenge is to reinvent the rest of the spaghetti. Obvious choices include a spaghetti frittata or a spaghetti pie. I am thinking -carrots, french beans, sweet and sour ketchup, bell pepper, and some garam masala.

Ravioli with balsamic browned butter sauce

I bought this box of twelve pieces of freshly made spinach ravioli with artichoke and ricotta filling from the farmer’s market. I already knew I was going to pair this with a balsamic browned butter sauce. Beurre noisette [bur nwoi-ZET] or brown butter, refers to butter which has been cooked till the milk solids turn brown and this lends a nutty aromatic scent to the butter. Browned butter sauce teams well with pasta, fish, vegetables, and even mashed potatoes. Once the sauce is finished, it can be used immediately or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

The addition of balsamic vinegar, adds acidity, sweetness, but it should be added only after the butter cools a littlee, so that the butter does not splatter.
I checked this recipe and made some adjustments:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/ravioli-with-balsamic-brown-butter-recipe/index.html

4 tbspn butter
2 tbspn balsamic vinegar
1 tspn Dijon mustard Black pepper
1 Tspn dark brown sugar or honey
Salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
12 pieces of ravioli
Parmesan Cheese

1. Add the ravioli to boiling water. Fish out the ravioli when it floats to the top as this indicates that the ravioli is cooked. Drain.
2. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Toast walnuts for around 8 minutes. Keep an eye on this step. Every oven has a different time and you want the walnuts toasted, not burnt.
3. In a heavy bottom saucepan add the butter on medium heat. The butter should start turning golden brown in around 4 minutes. I keep shaking the pan. The butter should emit a nutty aroma at this stage. According to Michael Ruhlman, the trick with making a brown butter sauce is to recognize the right color and aroma, then to stop the cooking by adding the acid which cools the hot butter fat.
4. Turn off the heat and add the balsamic, followed by sugar, and mustard. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Add the ravioli to the pan and coat it with the sauce so that it absorbs the butter.
6. Add the walnuts.
7. Serve with some grated parmesan on the top.

Pasta with fennel and Swiss chard in a tomato sauce

This recipe is from my Italian friend. I just wanted to make a nice dish, especially for my partner, and having been an ardent admirer of her culinary skills, I knew I could expect something delectable. She had been to the farmer’s market the day before, and picked up some fennel, nettles, and Swiss chard. She suggested I used sweet Italian sausage for my partner, and I could easily add it later

1 - 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes (use Italian organic brand)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Red pepper flakes
½ bulb of fennel chopped into half inch pieces
I bunch of Swiss chard chopped
I onion finely chopped
2 sweet Italian sausage links (optional)
½ box of penne noodles
Salt
Black pepper
Parmesan

1. Heat some olive oil. Add the onions and sauté till translucent.
2. Add garlic. Now add the fennel and cook till tender.
3. Make the pasta in salty water. I like it al dente.
4. Sauté the sausages, which are diced into quarter inch pieces, on low heat till they turn brown.
5. Add the tomatoes to the sauce. Add Swiss chard, black pepper, and pepper flakes. Cover and cook till sauce is done, around 10-15 minutes. Do not add any salt. Once you add the pasta, which is salty, adjust for salt.
6. Add pasta to sauce.
7. Add the sausages, if you need to.
8. Grate some parmesan on the top.

Lasagna

For tomato sauce
2- 28 cans crushed tomatoes
I pack of mushrooms – finely diced
3 fat cloves of garlic- crushed
Pepper flakes
Salt
Black pepper
1. Sauté mushrooms till brown.
2. Cook all the other ingredients till sauce is thick and almost half of what you started with.
3. Add the mushrooms.
Spinach Sauce
15 oz tub ricotta cheese
8 oz of frozen spinach ( small box)
Nutmeg
Salt
1. Thaw the spinach in the microwave and wring out water.
2. Mix with the cheese, salt and nutmeg.
Also need
• 16 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese, cut in thin slices.
• 8.8 ounce pack of oven ready lasagna sheets.
• 12”x8” lasagna dish which you should oil
• Pre heat oven to 375 degrees
• Parmesan cheese for top
Assembly
• Layer tomato sauce at the bottom of the dish. Add noodles on top.
• Now add a layer of mozzarella, tomato sauce, and spinach sauce.
• Another layer of noodles. Repeat.
• Last layer – noodles. Tomato sauce. And mozzarella. And parmesan.
• Toss in oven for 30-35 minutes.

Pizza from scratch

My man asks me, “So what could go wrong with a pizza?’
I am not into argument or justification, so I made him my pizzas just a day after he orders Pizza Hut. That sealed the deal. Making a good pizza, is about getting it correct technically.

But the point is that plenty could go wrong with pizza.

• The base for instance could be hard or unevenly cooked. That is why it is important to keep the dough at 100- 110 degrees, you want the yeast to be active and that leads to an airy base. Also roll out the base evenly.
• Pre-heat your oven for at least 45 minutes to get your stone blazing hot. The stone absorbs the moisture from the base and this leads to a crispy base.
• If you are making thin crusts, do not overload your base with toppings and sauce. It will not slide off the peel.

The three tools you need are a pizza stone, a peel, and a pizza cutter.
I bought the following 13” stone. It is made of clay and works excellently. The pizza stone cooks your pizza evenly from the bottom and sucks out the moisture giving you a crisp base.

http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-13-Inch-Pizza-Stone/dp/B0000VZ4M8/ref=sr_1_11?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1288549708&sr=1-11

I bought the following peel. It is big, made of bamboo, and could also double as an attractive cheese plate.

http://www.amazon.com/CounterArt-78101-Bamboo-Pizza-Peel/dp/B0028LKE6E/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1288549953&sr=1-1

Base- makes four 11” pizzas

I take four cups of all-purpose flour with a teaspoon of salt, and one sachet of yeast. Dissolve the yeast in a cup of warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. And leave it to mix for 10 minutes before you add it to the flour. The optimum temperature for yeast is 110- 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Yeast is a living organism and you would like to keep at the same temperature to allow it to grow. Use warm water and a teaspoon of olive oil to knead the flour. Pre-heat an oven to 200 degrees, and leave the door open to allow some heat to escape. When the oven is warm enough, put the dough in, and it will double in size. I keep covering the dough with a warm wet cloth, to maintain warmth and to prevent it from drying. The dough should be ready in 3-4 hours. Punch it, and knead again. Divide into four parts, and roll it out into an 11”-12 “pie on the peel, when you are ready to make the pizza. Use plenty of flour to dust the peel so the pizza should easily slide off the peel.

Sauce

Take a 28 Oz can of crushed tomatoes. You will end up using half, so this sauce is sufficient for 8 pies. To this add one finely chopped garlic, pepper flakes, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Simmer on medium heat for 40 minutes. You may add some honey, if you like your sauce sweeter.

Cheese

I buy an eight ounce pack of fresh mozzarella cheese for four pies. If you like your pizza cheesier, use one third of the pack. I also use cheddar, parmesan, feta, and fontina for additional flavor.

Oven

Place your stone in the pizza and pre heat to 450 degrees for 45 minutes.

Assembling

To the pie, add some sauce, about one tablespoon to each pie. Do not add too much sauce, or your pie will not slide off the peel. Add the mozzarella and toppings. Some of my favorites include

• Feta, spinach, sun dried tomatoes and basil as optional
• Sautéed mushrooms and cheddar
• Sautéed bell pepper, onions, olives
• Margherita with just some fresh basil

Bake for 15-20 or minutes whenever your pizza looks ready. This depends on your oven. Pull out with the peel.

Baked Ravioli

For Dinner I made

• Baked ravioli (recipe inspiration - http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/baked-ravioli )
• Nectarine sundaes (recipe inspiration http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/bourbon-nectarine-ice-cream-sundaes-with-pound-cake-croutons)
• Garlic Bread

Baked Ravioli

1 pound store bought buitoni cheese ravioli
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
Ground pepper
1 ½ tspn oregano
1 tspn pepper flakes
Salt to taste
½ pack of mozzarella cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Panko bread crumbs
2 tbspn olive oil

1. Pre heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Take some oil in a pan. Sauté the onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes and pepper flakes, oregano, black pepper. Cook till sauce is thick and not watery.
3. Heat some water in a pot, add salt. Now add the ravioli. Do not cook too much . Just let the ravioli rise to the top.
4. Add the ravioli to the sauce. Check the salt.
5. Add the cheeses and the bread crumbs to the top.
6. Bake till golden brown on top.