It's Been a While

Have you missed me? I've missed you. I'm not sure what happened to this little blog of mine...I have neglected it, and that's just silly of me. Blogging isn't hard, and it isn't that time-consuming. But at the end of the day, it gets pushed to the bottom of my priorities list, and I end up choosing to be lazy on the couch instead of keeping up with forlorn and forgotten Amuse Bouche.

Le sigh. Anyway, I don't have any new recipes to share, mainly because since we're been gone so many weekends that my shopping trips have been sporadic and my meals have been based upon convenience. I realize that convenient meals are good ones to share, but lots of times I finish eating before I even remember to take a picture.

Here's the thing: Planning a wedding takes a lot out of you, even when you have a supermom who does all the heavy lifting for you. (Thanks, mom!) It just feels like my brain is on another planet. This spring has been a whirlwind of parties, showers, lunches, dinners, rides in cars and on airplanes, and a whole lot of smiling for the camera. In short, it's been an amazing few months...the best ever.

I do think there will be a little bit of melancholy this summer after all the hubbub has gone. But--lucky me--I'll have a sweet, wonderful husband to get me through. And this blog. I promise, my friends, I will be back and I'll have an army of fabulous food, including some Paris-inspired menus. (Did you know we're off to Paris for the honeymoon? Swoon.)

Until then...

Pasta Mama

Last I left you, I promised to tell more about my homemade pasta experience. As you may know, I am getting married in May. This past year has been an exciting, wonderful time in preparation, but I must say…the last couple of weeks have been especially wonderful, because we’re beginning to receive wedding gifts.

Among said gifts is a hand-crank pasta maker. Growing up, I spent a handful of Saturdays with my dad, rolling out pasta in the kitchen, and then slurping the fresh noodles with some kind of homemade sauce, and thinking to myself that there was never anything more delicious. I am among the lucky few to have grown up with a father who does things like makes pasta from scratch, bakes sourdough bread, preserves lemons, and uses the Thanksgiving bird for scratch-made stock. What can I say? The man is unique, and I am a more educated and inspired cook because of him.

I digress. Making pasta is among one of the easiest and most satisfying, if not time consuming, things you can make. Flour and eggs magically transform into a ball of supple, golden dough. Actually, let me back up. They transform into the golden, supple ball when you use the correct amounts of ingredients. For my inaugural pasta making, I followed Mario Batali’s recipe for basic egg pasta dough, which is the same as the one found in the Italian cooking Bible, The Silver Spoon Cookbook. Their recipes were as follows: 4 cups all-purpose flour + 4 large eggs. Maybe a teaspoon of olive oil. And a sprinkling of water, if the dough looks dry. Perfect, I thought. It can’t be wrong. If millions of Italians use this and an expert of Italian cooking uses it, it’s got to be perfect.

Not so much. I don’t know if my flour was extra thirsty or the package of organic large eggs had an ego problem and was exaggerating on the size, but the combination listed above yielded a bowlful of hard, crumbly dough that weighed about 10 pounds. Let it rest, I told myself. Maybe it will get better. It got worse. I couldn’t even roll it!

Fuming at Mario Batali in his smug orange clogs, and frustrated at wasting 4 beautiful organic eggs and almost all of my flour, I almost gave up. But then I remembered how great homemade pasta is. So I started over. This time with a scant 3 cups of flour and 4 more eggs, plus another egg yolk and about a teaspoon of olive oil. Belissima—it was perfect. I later found a Batali recipe calling for 3 1/2 cups flour and 4 extra-large eggs. Perhaps I just got a dud recipe.

(4 eggs plus 1 yolk -- perfect!)

(Nice and moist...much better this time.)

(Beautiful ball of dough, with the bad one in the back. For shame.)

It rested (next to the offending lump of unyielding, rock-hard dough, just to show it what it should look like) for 40 minutes or so, and then Jason helped me roll it into silky strands of fettuccine.

My advice for making pasta: First, start with 4 eggs + 1 egg yolk and 3 cups of flour (unless your eggs are enormous). You can always add more flour to a gloopy dough, but you can’t take it out. I’m not here to make a liar out of Mario Batali (or any number of internet sources that all gave the same amounts of ingredients), but the 4+4 thing didn’t work for me. Secondly, almost every recipe says to make the dough on a large cutting board by mounding the flour and creating a well in the center in which to put the wet ingredients, but I don’t have a large enough board. I made a well in the middle of flour in the largest bowl in my kitchen, and it worked just fine.


My Pasta Dough
Serves 4 to 6 depending on cut of pasta

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

In a very large bowl, or on a large wooden cutting board or clean countertop, mound the flour into a mountain shape. Use your fingers to make a well in the middle, turning the mountain into a volcano. Add the eggs, egg yolk, and oil into the center of the well. Use a fork to lightly scramble the eggs, and then slowly but continuously stir the eggs, incorporating a bit of flour each rotation.

Keep stirring in this manner until about half of the flour is incorporated. The dough will look raggedy. Scrape the dough off of the fork, and then use your fingers to finish mixing in the remainder of the flour.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. (Skip this step if you’re already working on the counter. Duh.) Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it’s elastic and smooth. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rest for 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, and follow your pasta maker’s instructions for beautiful, tasty pasta.

This Week's Menu

It's been a while since I've posted my weekly menu. I guess I just haven't felt all that inspired to share our meals, but today I feel like sharing. So here it is...

Sunday - Leftovers smorgasbord including: shrimp and mussels over homemade pasta with vodka sauce (more on that later), roasted brussels sprouts, salad, garlic bread
Monday - Seared Tuna Steaks with Lemon, Dill and Caper sauce, broccoli, quinoa
Tuesday - Tomato-Lime Chicken Soup, crispy baked tortilla chips
Wednesday - Crispy chicken salad with low-cal homemade ranch
Thursday - Quick Spicy Black Bean Soup, cucumber salad

Food of Love

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a day that brings to mind lacy, red, shiny, heart-shaped boxes of—let's face it—chocolates that aren't very good. Not to knock Russel Stover, but the waxy, mostly flavorless chocolates enclosed in these big silly boxes just aren't worth the calories.

I'm not really a candy person, but I do love dark chocolate. Fortunately for me, Jason knows this. So my version of Valentine's chocolates was an assortment of artisan chocolate bars. The selection includes Gran Saman Dark Chocolate Venezuelan Single-Bean Origin (70% cacao, almost bitter, and delicious), 3400 Phinney Nib Brittle (65% cacao with teensy little crunchy bits of cacao nibs), Newman's Own Sweet Dark Espresso Organic Dark Chocolate (mmmm, coffee and chocolate), and the most interesting bar of all, Dagoba Organic Lavender Blueberry (59% cacao with the essence of lavender and tiny wild blueberries). As you can see, I've already devoured half of the lavender-blueberry bar. To me, there's just nothing better than chocolate at its (almost) truest form highlighted with interesting, delicate flavors.

I hope you'll eat something that makes your heart go pitter-patter tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Allow Me Just a Moment...

Is there anything more comforting than a big bowl of grits with melting butter and a generous dose of Franks Red Hot? I mean, seriously. Swoon.

Do-Re-Miso

I'm feeling bit under the weather, which is unfortunate, mostly because I feel I've lost the bragging rights to my super immune system. I managed to avoid all the pre-Christmas illness that was going around, so I was quite proud of my immune system's capability. I guess it couldn't last forever.

I'd been wanting to make something with miso for a while, so when I came home from work with a scratchy throat and feeling yucky all over, I knew it would be the perfect night for it. I started with leftover rice and some fresh spinach, topped it with roasted miso-marinated chicken, then ladled nourishing, steamy miso broth over everything. I'm feeling better already...

Miso Chicken Bowls
serves 2

3 1/2 to 4 tablespons white miso paste, divided
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece ginger, peeled, 1 inch grated, 1/2 inch sliced, divided
1 large garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons water, divided
2 meaty bone-in chicken thighs, skin and as much fat as possible removed
4 green onions, root and top ends trimmed, very thinly sliced
1/2 (10-oz) bag baby spinach
1 cup cooked rice, reheated if needed
Garnish: chopped cilantro

In a small bowl, whisk together the miso paste, ginger, garlic, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons water. Place chicken thighs in a large shallow dish. Pour marinade over chicken, and turn to thoroughly coat. Cover refrigerate for at least 40 minutes and up to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400º. Shake off excess marinade from chicken. On a foil-lined baking sheet, place the chicken in a single layer, and bake for 25 minutes, or until juices run clear when pierced with a knife. Set chicken aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, bring 2 cups water to a boil over high heat. Whisk in remaining 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons miso paste (taste as you go to determine if you need more miso). Add sliced green onions and sliced ginger. Let simmer, covered, for 10 to 20 minutes.

Separate cooked chicken from bones. Remove ginger from broth, and discard. Place spinach in broth, stir, and cover for 2 minutes.

In each of 2 shallow bowls, spoon 1/2 cup rice. Use tongs to strain spinach from broth, and top each bowl with an even amount of spinach. Evenly top each with chicken, then whisk the mis broth, and ladle about 1 cup over the dish. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

If you have ever found yourself looking for a quick chicken dish, whether for a weeknight or for a party, this one should be high on your list. Tender, juicy chicken and a nice little dipping sauce can be yours with very minimal effort and time. I totally forgot to post this after our Christmas party! So here it is, just a few months late...

Start with chicken, white or dark meat, preferably skinless and boneless. If it's for dinner, you'll probably want to leave the pieces whole; if it's for a party, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. In a bowl, whisk together one part fresh lemon juice to two parts olive oil. Zest the lemons before you squeeze them, and add the zest to the juice-oil mixture. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper, and whatever herbs you like. {Herbs are optional but add nice flavor. Dill and parsley are my favorites.} Taste, and adjust as needed—you want it to be tart and lemony but not sour.

Place the marinade and the chicken in a big zip-top bag, and seal it. Then squish and smoosh the bag, distributing the marinade all over the chicken. Don't leave any pieces naked. Then stash the bag in your fridge for about an hour. Or more—whatever. Just don't leave it more than 6 hours.

When you're ready to cook, you've got options. If you've made a lot of small pieces for a crowd, then just shake off as much marinade as possible {reserve the marinade}, and place chicken on large rimmed baking sheets. Bake at 425º for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork. You can also skewer them on well-soaked bamboo skewers for easy eating. If you've got whole breasts {or thighs}, bake at 400º for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.

For the sauce, put the reserved marinade in a small saucepan over high heat, and boil {seriously, vigorously boil to kill any bacteria} for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside. Chop some fresh herbs {whatever you used in the marinade} and place the herbs and the cooled boiled marinade in a bowl. Whisk in some mayonnaise until you get the consistency you like. Serve the sauce with the chicken.

Easy, right? Tasty, too, I promise.