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.

An Old Favorite, Revisited

When I was in high school, I decided for about a year that I was a vegetarian. In fact, for a while, I was vegan. Then I realized that my 100-pounds-soaking-wet self didn't do so well without any animal protein at all. So I put the milk and eggs back in rotation. Then one day, I missed chicken, and I indulged in a PF Chang's chicken lettuce wrap. After that, I realized that food was just more delicious when you eat meat.

Anyhow, my wonderful parents, while secretly knowing this was just a phase, made my eating preferences a priority in the house. We had this cookbook and leaned heavily on the dishes listed in it, especially the Eggplant Parmesan. Unlike many Italian-American dishes, it was super light and fairly healthy save for the layers of melty, gooey mozzarella cheese. I still enjoy making this dish when I have time to let it bubble away in the oven...on weeknights, though, that's not always possible. So I did a little eggplant parm remix, and turned it into a pasta sauce. It was perfect with whole-wheat pasta, which I find a little too hearty for lighter sauces. Unfortch, not the most photogenic of dishes, but you get the idea...

Eggplant-Tomato Sauce with Whole-Wheat Pasta
serves 2 with leftovers

Olive oil nonstick cooking spray
1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
Handful fresh basil, torn
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 box whole-wheat rotini, penne, or other short-cut pasta
Garnish: 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Generously coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Place eggplant on the baking sheet in one layer, and spray again with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, tossing halfway through.

Meanwhile, cook pasta per package direction. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, and cook, stirring often, until softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, dried oregano, and salt and pepper. Gently simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove eggplant from oven, and add to tomato sauce; stir to combine. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Add pasta to sauce, and add pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, until the consistency of the sauce is to your liking. Stir in fresh basil and Parmesan. Serve, topped with mozzarella cheese, if desired.

Summer, How do I Love Thee...

Last summer, I had a delicious pasta dish at a restaurant in Winter Park called Luma. It had fresh house-made pasta, corn, dill, and maybe shrimp or crab, but I don’t recall exactly. It was the crisp pop of the corn against the silky fresh pasta that I remember the most. I’m not sure that corn with pasta is a pairing that is visited very often, but it is one of my favorites. I’ve done my own spin on that Luma pasta before…here’s the sequel.

As I mentioned in my last post, Jason being out of town gives me an excuse to eat the bad stuff he doesn’t like, such as creamy pasta sauces, fatty steaks, and stinky foods like olives and anchovies. Yeah, yeah, he probably keeps my arteries clean simply by not liking butter and cheese, but I can’t help that I love the bad stuff!

So in a compromise, I decided to fill my pasta dish with lots of veggies…and toss it all in goat cheese, melting it on the stove so it was creamy and lush. (I didn't make a huge effort to get a pretty picture—it just looked too tasty!) If you’re watching calories or you just don’t do goat cheese, this would be perfectly delicious without it. A lovely ode to the last days of summer.

Ode to Summer Pasta
serves 2
The intent of this dish is to showcase the veggies; the pasta is kind of a backdrop. If you want more carbs or just a bigger portion, increase the pasta to 1/2 pound.

2 to 3 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 medium zucchini, cut into matchstick-size pieces
1/3 pound angel hair or thin spaghetti
1 good-size ear of corn, kernels cut off and reserved
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 container crumbled goat cheese
Scant 1/4 cup pasta cooking water or chicken stock
8 to 10 leaves fresh basil, torn or chopped

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat (closer to medium). Add the onions, a pinch of salt, and a little pepper, and toss to combine. When onions begin to soften, add zucchini. Add a little bit of chicken stock or more oil if the skillet looks dry. At this point, drop the pasta, and everything should finish up about the same time. When zucchini just starts to soften, add corn kernels, and toss everything frequently until veggies are soft. Add tomatoes, and continue to cook, stirring, until tomatoes are wilted. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Reduce heat to low.

Drain pasta, reserving some water if using, and add pasta to the skillet. Toss with the veggies, and add the reserved cooking water or chicken stock a bit at a time, and toss until everything is combined. Let sit for 30 seconds to allow the cheese to melt, and then thoroughly stir or toss to coat everything with the cheese. Add more water or stock, if needed. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, add basil, and serve.

Veggie-ful

It's been one of those weeks where I just feel like we haven't had our fill of veggies. As I've said before, I never met a vegetable I didn't like, but sometimes it's just not the easiest (or, let's face it, tastiest) to eat a ton of good-for-you stuff in one meal. When I was in college, my quick remedy to this issue was to throw a bunch of seasonal veggies into a pot with pasta and cook them pretty much all at once. I finished it with salt, olive oil, and a handful of mozzarella cheese. I'd eat it for days. It was easy and tasty, albeit really plain.

So tonight I decided to take that idea and give it a little nudge in a more creative direction. I roasted the veggies, tossed them with cooked pasta, some tomato sauce, fresh basil, and a bit of cheese, and then baked it to bring it all together. I used Barilla Plus pasta (have you tried it?) it's got lots of fiber, protein, and even omega-3. Definitely better than regular pasta, and the texture is great, too.

Baked Pasta with Roasted Vegetables
serves 2 with leftovers
For the sauce, you can use plain canned tomato sauce or marinara

1 small bunch broccoli, about the size of 2 fists
2 yellow squash
3/4 pint grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/2 lb short-cut pasta (penne, macaroni, rigatoni...)
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
8-10 basil leaves, chopped
1 big clove garlic, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Cut the broccoli and squash into bite-sized pieces, and place on a baking sheet. Add the tomatoes, and toss with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until everything is tender and brown in spots.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in well-salted water until just under-done. Drain, and then add roasted vegetables, tomato sauce, basil, and garlic. Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. Lightly oil the bottom and sides of a small baking dish. Add about half of the pasta-veggie mixture, then top with 1/2 cup cheese. Add the remaining pasta-veggie mixture, then top with remaining cheese.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Raise oven temperature to broil; broil until the cheese is bubbling and brown in spots. Let cool 3 minutes before serving.

(the veggies looked great even before they were cooked!)

Summer's Last Stand

If you've read this blog before, you know I have a serious love affair with pasta. Same goes for summer. So on my own for dinner last night, I decided to combine these loves in a light, perfect-for-hot-weather supper. To me, the flavors of shrimp, corn, lemon and dill blend seamlessly, and tossed with pasta, it was my nod to the last few weeks of summer.

Summer Pasta
serves 2
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
12 to 16 medium shrimp
3 ears of fresh corn, kernels cut off
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb fresh or dried linguine (any pasta would do, really)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
Juice from one lemon

In a large nonstick skillet, heat butter and olive oil together over medium-high heat until butter starts to bubble. Add shrimp and corn to skillet and add salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook pasta per package directions. (If using dried pasta, start cooking pasta before you start the shrimp and corn.) Cook corn and shrimp, stirring often, until shrimp are opaque and just barely firm. Lower heat to medium, add zest and dill, and toss to combine.

When pasta finishes, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Toss pasta with corn mixture, adding pasta water a few spoonfuls at a time until everything is combined. Off the heat, add lemon juice and toss once more to combine. Serve topped with additional fresh dill, if desired.

Creamy Comfort

One of my favorite go-to comfort meals is pasta with tomatoes and sour cream. I think my mom created this dish out of empty-fridge/late-dinner frustration, but there's something about the combination of the creamy, lightly tangy sour cream and the freshness of tomatoes (especially delicious summertime tomatoes*) that just works. With a heavy dose of freshly grated Parmesan and a handful of fresh spinach wilted in, it could just be my perfect comfort supper.



Creamy Tomato Pasta
serves 2
1/2 pound dried short pasta (such as orzo, penne, rotini...)
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes*
1/3 cup sour cream (reduced fat works fine here)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 or 3 big handfuls of washed baby spinach, stems removed

Cook pasta according to package instructions. While pasta cooks, score the skin of the tomatoes with a paring knife in an X shape. Dunk tomatoes into the boiling pasta water for about 30 seconds or until skin starts peeling away from flesh. Remove with a slotted spoon and run under cool running water for a few seconds to cool.

Peel skin from tomatoes and cut in half. Discard seeds and excess liquid, then roughly chop. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream and Parmesan. When pasta is al dente, drain and return to pot over very low heat. Add olive oil, stir, then add sour cream mixture. Toss in tomatoes and spinach and stir until everything is combined and the spinach is wilted.

This is best eaten on the couch in comfy clothes.

*You can use canned tomatoes, drained, when the tomatoes aren't in season but it's not quite the same. "Amarosa" tomatoes in the grocery store tend to be pretty good almost year round. They're pricey, but worth it.

Dinner for One

When I'm on my own for dinner, I always have a silent debate with myself: cook and deal with the dishes and cleanup or take the easy road and order takeout. Tonight, my inner cook won out and I went straight to my go-to dinner for one — pasta. I don't know that I've ever met a pasta dish I didn't like. Simple or fancied up, it's one of the easiest and most satisfying things you can make.

I went to Publix and wandered the produce aisle for inspiration and my eyes landed on some bright green asparagus. I wanted shallots, but there were none, so a Vidalia onion went in the basket. Goat cheese with fine herbs and some "fresh" (soft, refrigerated) fettucine completed my shopping spree.

At home, I thought some herbes de Provence (a dried blend of rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay, thyme, and sometimes lavender), pine nuts and lemon zest might round out the dish. I was right. It was creamy, fresh and satisfying...a perfect meal for one. (Though it would easily double.)

Fettucine with Asparagus and Goat Cheese
serves 1
1/4 pound fettucine
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Half a small onion or 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence
10 asparagus spears
10 grinds fresh black pepper
1/2 tablespoon pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 to 2 ounces soft goat cheese

Cook fettucine per package instructions. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion or shallot, a pinch of salt and herbes de Provence and cook, stirring, until onions are opaque and tender, about 3-4 minutes. Add in asparagus and pepper, and cook until asparagus are bright green and tender and the onions are golden in places. If skillet seems dry, sprinkle with a bit of water.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat and toast pine nuts until golden and fragrant. Set aside.

When pasta is done, drain and add to skillet and add a few spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water. Sprinkle with the lemon zest, add goat cheese to taste and toss. Top with toasted pine nuts and serve.