Sunday Dinner
Sunday Dinner is the best. A perfect opportunity to sit back, eat a little too much, gossip about family and friends, and otherwise have a fun day.
This Sunday Dinner was perfect - a small gathering with everyone around one table, great pasta and meatballs, and simple desserts. We also got to unveil a lot of the dishware we picked up in Italy. Off-the-cuff comments like, "Oh, yeah... that was made in Sicily." or "We picked those up in Rome." or "Notice how they're all hand-signed?" peppered the conversation.
I'm insufferable. I admit it.
The above bowl was hand-made in Sicily. We picked up the one with the meatballs in Rome. (See?!? Insufferable.)
Victor made the sauce and the meatballs. His sauce is pretty standard - crushed tomatoes and/or puree, garlic, red wine, Italian herbs, simmered for a few hours - but absolutely delicious. The meatballs were a pork and beef combo that he browned and then finished in the sauce. Combining the two and simmering them together adds depth to both the meatball and the sauce.
And on to dessert. Ya have to have dessert.
Joanna brought Wedding Rings. They're one of my favorite cookies and one that I just never make because hers are so good.
Joanna's Wedding Rings
Cookie Dough
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- 5 cups flour
- 3 tbsp vanilla
- 5 tsp baking powder
Glaze
- Powdered Sugar
- Water
- Vanilla
Beat together shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add flour about 2 cups at a time. Roll pieces of dough into 4" ropes, form into rings. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Cool and brush with glaze.
Perfection.
I had nectarines that needed eating, so I made a nectarine cake. This is one that would work as a coffee cake for any time of the day. It can also be made with any fruit you like.
Nectarine Cake
- 1 cube butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Finely grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
- 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
- 3 or 4 medium nectarines cut into wedges
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter 9" springform pan. Beat butter until light. Add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then lemon juice and lemon peel. Beat in flour until smooth. Spread batter in pan.
Arrange nectarines atop batter, pressing lightly into batter. Mix cinnamon and demerara sugar and sprinkle over cake.
Bake until cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
Corzetti with Pesto and Green Beans
The Pasta Issue from La Cucina Italiana magazine has arrived. Victor has been poring over it looking for fun things to make - last year's issue didn't really do it for him - and found quite few that he likes. We're going to be eating well! The first thing he did was send away for a corzetti stamp from Fante's. The stamps date from the Renaissance courts of Liguria in northern coastal Italy around Genoa. Coin-shaped corzetti pasta would be stamped with coats of arms and symbols representing holidays. While the stamps would show ones prominence at court, they also have a practical purpose - the textures help capture the flavors of the sauce.
The recipe for the dough is a bit different than the one he normally makes. This one called for a 1/2 cup of water. It made for a bit of a stickier dough than usual, but he made up for it with flour for rolling. Oh... and we just happen to have Italian "00" flour. If you don't, use all-purpose.
Fresh Corzetti
- 2 cups "00" flour - or all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 cup tepid water
Mix together flour and salt on counter. Make a well and add the yolks and water. Using your finger (or a fork) and slowly incorporate the egg, water, and flour. Use a dough scraper to gather the dough up and form into a ball. Sprinkle more flour on the board and knead the dough until it is smooth - about 5 minutes. Cover dough and let rest about 30 minutes. This is actually an important step. During the resting period, starch molecules in the flour are absorbing the liquid in the dough. This gives the dough a thicker, more viscous consistency. The gluten is also relaxing which helps create a thin and uniform structure to the dough. And because the gluten had time to relax, the texture is delicate instead of chewy.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll pasta through machine starting at widest setting about 4 times, folding and turning dough each time, until it is smooth and the width of the machine. Continue feeding dough though machine, decreasing the setting one notch each time, until about 1 1/2 millimeters thick - Victor went to setting three.
Dust pasta with flour and then, using corzetti cutter, cut out rounds. When rounds are cut, use the corzetti stamp to stamp each coin individually.
Cook pasta in boiling water about 6-7 minutes. Drain and immediately mix with sauce.
The pasta was time-consuming to make, but - WOW - what a great flavor and texture! Looking at the size, they should have been heavy - but they were really light with a good tooth and great texture.
The magazine recipe called for a sauce with scallops. Victor decided we had so much basil we needed a pesto sauce, instead. Naturally, he was right!
Pesto with Sun Dried Tomatoes
- 1 cup pine nuts
- 4 cups basil leaves
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- S&P to taste
Toast pine nuts. Cool. Add basil, pine nuts, and garlic to food processor. Mix a bit and then add cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well. With machine running, slowly add olive oil. Check for seasonings and ad S&P, as desired.
To pull the dish together...
Cook pasta and drain. Cook green beans until barely done. (Cook with the pasta and save a pot.) Add pesto to skillet. Add pasta and green beans, along with a bit of pasta cooking water, and gently mix.
Serve with additional grated cheese and chopped fresh tomatoes.
This rocked on every level! The pasta was substantial but surprisingly light. The sauce just screamed fresh-from-the-garden-goodness. We not only cleaned our plates, but really cleaned them with slices of Italian bread to get every drop of sauce. They were almost clean enough to put back in the cupboard!
This one is a keeper.
Squid Ink and Shrimp
It's so much fun to come home on Saturday to whatever delight Victor has come up with. It just never fails to delight my gastronomic senses. And it pretty much delights the rest of my senses, as well.
Tonight I walked into the house to the smell of fresh-baked focaccia and squid ink pasta drying. Ya shoulda seen the smile on my face!
Victor has the pasta-making down to a complete science. I will probably never make homemade pasta again in my life. His is perfect.
For the squid ink pasta, he just takes his basic recipe and adds a drop or two of the ink. We keep it in the freezer - a little goes a long way and it doesn't freeze solid so it's always at the ready! This is enough for two good portions. Double or more for however many you're cooking for.
Victor's Pasta
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/8 teaspoon squid ink
- up to 1 teaspoon water, if necessary
Instructions
On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg and egg yolk to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.
Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.
Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.
Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.
With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.
To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.
For the sauce, he sauteed garlic in olive oil and butter. In went jumbo shrimp and he cooked until almost done. He added a good squeeze of lemon juice, zest from half a lemon, a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes, and about a quarter-cup of grated grana padano. He took it off the stove and added one chopped tomato and then stirred in the cooked pasta.
It rocked. Conversation consisted of "Umm." "This is great." "Mmm." "Burp." "This is great."
We both cleaned our plates.
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.
Focaccia
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 pkg. active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup warm water (110°)
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.
- With dough hook in place, knead to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a towel. Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).
- Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16×12-inch rectangle. Place in a greased 16x12x1-inch baking pan. Let rise 20 minutes.
- Top with toppings of choice and bake at 375° about 25 minutes.
This is another great no-fail recipe.
And there's grilled peaches for dessert!
Fried Chicken
If there could be any benefit at all to having a sore-as-hell leg and a slight percocet haze, it would be having Victor home to cook and look after me.
It is no secret that I am the worlds worst patient. I want to be left alone and not bothered until I feel well enough to join the human race. But even I have to eat. And Victor knows how to feed me!
Early this morning I pulled a whole chicken out of the freezer with no idea of what - or desire - to do anything with it.
Victor to the rescue. No sooner had I put it on the island that Victor said he would handle dinner. ::sigh::
I came gimping into the kitchen and he said "What about frying the chicken in coconut oil?" I swooned.
He did a really simple take on an Alton Brown recipe. And damn, it was good!
Fried Chicken
- 2 cups low fat buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Flour, for dredging
Add chicken pieces to buttermilk and let soak for 8 or so hours - or up to 24.
Mix spices together and liberally douse the drained chicken. Dredge in flour and then fry in coconut oil - about 10 or so minutes per side, depending upon how thick the chicken pieces are.
It was absolutely delish! It was crispy-crunchy with just the right amount of heat and the most subtle hint of sweet coconut. I had to restrain myself from devouring the whole platter.
The nice thing is we will have some cold fried chicken for lunch tomorrow.
I can't wait!
And ya know... I could really get used to getting nursed back to health like this.
Meatball Sandwiches
I love rainy days!
Early this morning Victor decided to make a batch of meatballs. Meatballs and sauce were the perfect thing to take the chill off the house.
So while the rain gently fell, the smell of garlic and olive oil filled the house.
There are certain things that are difficult to describe, and one of them is the utter joy I can feel with certain scents wafting out of the kitchen. Frying garlic is definitely one of them. Part of it is the knowledge that there's more to follow - that it's just the beginning of a fabulous meal. It can go in any number of directions - and all of them are good.
We debated what to do with them... We have several different pastas on the shelves, but in the end decided meatball sandwiches were what the Medico ordered...
Meatballs layered with sauce and fontina cheese, melted in the oven with french fries.
Perfezione!
Stuffed Peppers and Other Meals
I had planned to cook dinner tonight. Really. I even baked a loaf of bread. But Victor beat me to the kitchen when it came time to stuff the peppers.
I was so heartbroken. NOT!!!
Red peppers stuffed with ground pork mixed with carrots, celery, garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, an egg... topped with a bit of tomato sauce and some panko bread crumbs. Baked in the oven.
Perfection. My stomach is definitely smiling!
And then we have all these other meals we've had the past couple of weeks that I haven't posted. I make the time to take the pictures but somehow end up doing other things instead of writing posts about them.
So here we go...
I made those little rolls so I had to make little sandwiches. BBQ pork with faux tater tots. It was yum.
And then we had Stuffed Baked Potatoes.
These puppies were good! Chicken, bell pepper, andouille sausage, diced tomatoes and cheddar cheese stuffed into a baked potato. Okay, it was stuffed into and atop a baked potato half. With sour cream. Garnish is everything, ya know... Ooey gooey cheesy goodness.
And then there was a stuffed pork loin...
Spinach, carrots, onion, celery, bread crumbs... roasted in the oven with roasted potatoes and roasted cauliflower. It could have been a one-pot meal but why dirty one pot when you can dirty three?!? That's my motto.
And back last week when we had decent weather, we had beanie weenies and potato salad.
Phoebe's Baked Beans and Mom's Potato Salad.
The perfect Summer Meal - in Mid-March.
And them Victor stuffed Chicken Breasts...
The chicken was stuffed with prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese. It was Italian Chicken Cordon Bleu. Brushed with the Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette he made a couple of nights ago with the pork tenderloin. Along with cheesy polenta.
Can you say *wow* boys and girls?!?
And, of course, we've had our desserts...
I made a Banana Clafoutis the other night that was outrageously good.
A Clafoutis is a bit like a baked custard - but not quite. An authentic clafoutis is made with cherries. So much for tradition.
I made a similar clafoutis last year that I had actually forgotten about until just now. This one was banana, coconut, and rum.
So I think I'm almost caught up with the past meals...
I'll try and be a bit more timely.
No guarantees, though...
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
It was so nice to come home tonight to dinner cooking. I do love a man who can cook! And Victor can definitely cook.
I've mentioned many times that a little twist is all it takes to go from simple to sumptuous. It's that little bit of unexpected. Victor pulled that one off tonight with a roasted garlic vinaigrette to go atop a simple pork tenderloin. The concept came from Giada but the execution was pure Victor.
Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Roasted Garlic:
- 2 heads garlic
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Slice garlic heads in half through equator. Place cut-side up on a square of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold foil up to fully enclose garlic and roast at 350° for about an hour - or until garlic soft and golden brown. Cool.
Vinaigrette:
- Roasted garlic
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- salt and pepper, to taste
Squeeze garlic into blender. Add Italian seasoning, sugar, vinegar, and 2 tbsp water. Blend well. With machine running, add olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Taste for seasoning and add salt & pepper, as desired.
It really did come out good. Roasted garlic is one of the nectars of the gods and when it's blended with good balsamic vinegar and good olive oil, there's just no stopping it! I first questioned why it needed additional sugar when roasted garlic and balsamic have a sweetness to them, already, but I think the pinch of sugar helps to pull the two somewhat-conflicting sweetnesses together. Whatever the reason, it worked.
It made a cup and a half of dressing and we really only used a couple of tablespoons at the most, so the rest went into the 'fridge for salads later this week.
Yes, it definitely worked.
Sunday Dinner
Sunday Dinner. What a great tradition. It was usually a big dinner day for us when we were kids growing up - especially if Pop was home from the firehouse. It still amazes me how we all fit in that dining room around that table. It wasn't the multi-generational Italian Sunday Dinners of Victor's youth, however.
Ours were pretty much confined to our immediate family. Once in awhile it would include our great-aunts - or us at their home. His was the open door, everyone and their brother showed up. The Italians definitely ate more.
So it's really no surprise that if Victor is cooking, Sunday Dinner takes on that Italian abundance.
Today's feast started with homemade pasta. And homemade meatballs. And homemade sauce.
Pasta-making is one thing he really has down to a gastronomic science. He bought me the pasta maker years ago and I think I may have used it twice. He is the pasta king. He does it so well and so fast, there is just no reason for me to learn it. I concede to the master!
I had a veal, beef, pork combo that I planned to make into a meatloaf. Victor used it to make his meatballs.
Yum.
As I've said before on numerous other pasta dinners, there is no recipe for the sauce. It just is. It's very consistent, yet it can vary depending upon the meats used. It's always wonderful.
I know that's difficult for some folks to understand - they need a recipe with step-by-step instructions and exact measurements of every ingredient. But that's just not how it's done.
My contribution to dinner tonight was a loaf of bread.
I've been making this bread for such a long time now, I have it memorized.
- 5 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup rye flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp yeast
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 3 cups water
Mix all ingredients, cover, and let rise three hours. At this point you can punch it down and refrigerate.
When ready to bake bread, cut off 1/3 of the dough and form into a loaf or ball. Place on cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet or bread peel. Let rise 30 minutes. Cut deep slits into dough with very sharp knife.
Preheat oven to 450° with pizza stone on middle rack and rimmed sheet pan on bottom rack.
Slide dough onto hot pizza stone and immediately add 1 cup of hot water to sheet pan.
Quickly close oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
The other nice thing about Sunday Dinner is we generally eat early. That means we get to have dessert early - and there's plenty of Victor's pound cake left from yesterday.
I ♥ Sunday Dinner
Crab Cakes and Pound Cake
By the time Saturday afternoon rolls around, I'm one tired puppy. It's the end of my work-week and after a long day of being charming, all I want to do is vegetate. It's much more difficult to be upbeat and pleasant at 60 than it was at 49. Hell. Tying my shoes is more difficult at 60 than it was at 49.
Eating is not more difficult. And it is always so nice to come home to a dinner already planned and dessert just coming out of the oven. Really nice.
I was planning a meatloaf tonight but when I got home Victor had pulled Crab Cakes out of the freezer and had a pound cake in the oven. He said he was cooking. I said I was eating. A perfect match!
The store-bought crab cakes can be a bit loose, so he breaded them to add a bit of extra crunch. Fries out of the freezer, peas out of the freezer. He made a quick tartar sauce of mayonnaise, pickles, and a splash of worcestershire sauce. It was perfect.
And the Pound Cake was just divine!
The recipe comes from his standby cook book - Better Homes and Gardens. It's an old one that has been around forever. He tweaks it to suit his mood. It suited my mood, perfectly!
Pound Cake
- 1 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- pinch salt
- juice of 1 orange
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Mix ricotta and juice. Add slowly alternating with the juice.
Spread into a loaf pan and bake at 325° for 55-65 minutes.
To make it even better, he melted some orange marmalade and glazed the top.
Yum.
It was moist and tender with a perfect crumb and crust.
And there's more for tomorrow!
Stuffed Cabbage
I have mentioned on more than one occasion that Victor is not a fan of cooked cabbage, so imagine my surprise when he told me he was making me Stuffed Cabbage for dinner tonight! He said it was his thank you for my painting the bathroom while he was in Dallas.
I really do enjoy coming up with little projects when he travels - especially since he really doesn't travel all that much - but to be treated with a dish he normally wouldn't go near is above and beyond the call of marriage. That, boys and girls, is love!
The recipe he found was from The Barefoot Contessa. Ina is a fun cook and we can usually count on liking what she does. This recipe really had it all - a sweet-and-savory perfectly-balanced sauce of tomatoes, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, and raisins with a mildly-seasoned beef and rice filling. Victor's addition was a bit of red pepper flakes to add a bit of heat.
Stuffed Cabbage
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons good olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
- 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes and their juice
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large head Savoy or green cabbage, including outer leaves
For the filling:
- 2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
- 3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onions
- 1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onions, and cook over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Remove the entire core of the cabbage with a paring knife. Immerse the head of cabbage in the boiling water for a few minutes, peeling off each leaf with tongs as soon as it s flexible. Set the leaves aside. Depending on the size of each leaf, you will need at least 14 leaves.
For the filling, in a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, rice, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add 1 cup of the sauce to the meat mixture and mix lightly with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
To assemble, place 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a large Dutch oven. Remove the hard triangular rib from the base of each cabbage leaf with a small paring knife. Place 1/3 to 1/2 cup of filling in an oval shape near the rib edge of each leaf and roll up toward the outer edge, tucking the sides in as you roll. Place half the cabbage rolls, seam sides down, over the sauce. Add more sauce and more cabbage rolls alternately until you ve placed all the cabbage rolls in the pot. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover the dish tightly with the lid and bake for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked and the rice is tender. Serve hot.
It was just the perfect meal. I ate two of them and then sopped up every last drop of sauce with a slice of rustic Italian bread. I could have easily been sated with one, but it was so good I had to go for it.
Just delish.
But as good as it was, what was even more fun was watching Victor eat it and actually enjoy it!
Will wonders ever cease? We certainly hope not!
The Last Supper
Victor leaves for Dallas tomorrow morning. That means my bad-habit-bachelor-eating will probably commence right about the time the plane is taxiing down the runway.
It's tradition. Victor leaves town, I eat chili dogs.
Okay... to be fair, I don't only eat chili dogs, but my diet does seem to suffer a bit when he's gone. It's just not as much fun just cooking for myself as it is for the two of us. I take the path of least resistance - and dirty dishes.
So to commemorate our last decent meal together, Victor cooked up a wicked-good shrimp scampi. Wicked-Good.
Scampi is not an overly- difficult dish to prepare. The biggest thing is just not overcooking the shrimp.
Tonight, he started off by lightly sauteing the shrimp in a bit of olive oil and garlic. When it was about 3/4 cooked, he pulled it out of the pan. Into the pan went some mushrooms, and then white wine, peas, and a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. When the peas were heated through, he added a pat of butter to smooth out the sauce, and then added the shrimp to finish cooking. A minute later, he served it over rice.
Probably 10 minutes, start-to-finish. The rice took longer to cook than the main plate.
It really was good. Extra large shrimp, wine, mushrooms... And juuuuust spicy enough. How could it be bad?!?
At least this time around I'll be eating homemade chili and not something out of a can. I made a big batch a few weeks ago and froze a bunch in anticipation of the trip. And since I'm not taking time off work to do wild projects around the house, I'll actually have access to more than just hot dogs.
Like ice cream.
Squid Ink Pasta with Truffle Butter
You just know that dinner was a success when, after completely cleaning your plate, you're standing over the skillet sopping up the last remnants of the truffle butter with thick slices of bread.
Welcome to my fabulous dinner!
When Victor was in London last week, he brought me home some goodies from Carluccio's. Carluccio's is a chain of Italian restaurants and shops in the UK with a dozen or so in the greater London area. One of the goodies was a jar of Burro al Tartufo - Truffle Butter. I've been looking at it in the cabinet all week, trying to think of what I wanted to make with it. It came to me last night. I didn't want to make anything with it - I wanted Victor to make homemade pasta and use it.
And he did.
Not only did he make homemade pasta, he made half of it with squid ink. I have died and gone to gastronomic heaven!
This was just one of the most fun - and delicious - dinners I've had in a while. The sauce was simple - the melted Truffle Butter with a pinch of crushed red pepper, a sprinkling of parsley, and a shred of pecorino romano.
The pasta was amazing. Victor has the pasta-making down to a science. I don't think I will ever make it, because he does it so well in such a short amount of time. It is just perfect.
The basic recipe is:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- up to 1 tablespoon water, if necessary
Instructions
On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg and egg yolk to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.
Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.
Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.
Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.
With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.
To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.
Victor took half of the recipe and added about a half-teaspoon of squid ink and kneaded it in. It stained his hands and the counter, but washed up quickly with a bit of soap and water.
After cooking and draining, he tossed it into the skillet with the truffle butter and mixed everything well.
After it was plated, he added just a sprinkling more of parsley and cheese.
I want him to go back to London and buy more of this stuff!
Then, again... we are heading to Italy in June... I wonder what the limit is for bringing foodstuffs back into the country... And I wonder how much I can have shipped...