Pre-and-Post-Apocalyptic Dining
Never let it be said that, when faced with uncertainty or adversity, we don't eat well.
As the frenzy surrounding Hurricane Irene increased, Victor's mom started getting nervous. She only lives a couple of miles from us but was getting a bit uncomfortable with the relentless hype. We brought her over to spend the night with us.
That, of course, meant dinner! Any excuse to cook at our house. I was at work and picked her up on my way home.
We keep a reasonably well-stocked larder at all times and I really hadn't thought about bringing home more food to get us through the storm, but our eating habits are a bit different than an 85 year old. I needed to gear some meals more towards her tastes, so I picked up a few additional goodies to get us through a couple of meals.
Victor started dinner.
Stuffed peppers, baked ravioli, and homemade focaccia. Perfect.
The focaccia was made with bread dough I had in the fridge, topped with ricotta cheese, pesto, and cappacola.
The peppers were from the garden.
Victor stuffed them with crumbled Italian sausage, celery, onion, green peppers, and bread crumbs - all sauteed in olive oil, stuffed into the halved peppers, topped with sauce, and baked at 350° for about 30 minutes.
The ravioli were layered in a pie plate with sauce and baked along side the peppers.
Very basic and simple - perfect for Mom.
I also picked up a whole chicken to roast. I figured if the power went off I could still roast it on the grill outside.
I didn't have to worry about it. When we awoke this morning the cable was out but thanks to the weather-gods, we never lost electricity. And I didn't have to worry about more meals for Nonna. By 7:30am, she decided the storm had passed and she was ready to go home. After a piece of toast and a cup of coffee, Victor took her home.
And I had a lovely organic chicken just for the two of us...
I really like a simple roast chicken. A good chicken doesn't need a lot of adulteration. Unfortunately, good chickens have become more and more difficult to find. Chickens are factory-farmed and - like so many foods today - bred for profit not flavor. When you look at a supermarket chicken and see that it includes 14% to 22% "solution" you know you're getting an inferior product they are trying to flavor with stuff that shouldn't be there.
Which is why I buy organic. The flavor comes from the bird - not additives.
I placed the bird in a pan, rubbed it with butter, and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. Into the cavity, I placed a single lemon. It went into a 350° oven for 35 minutes and then I placed the potatoes in and raised the temperature to 425° for another 20 minutes.
It came out great. Crispy skin for Victor and tender juicy meat.
And the beauty of the simple preparation is the rest of the bird is going to make an outrageous traditional chicken salad, tomorrow!
And the weather tomorrow?!? Sunny and 78°. The perfect temperature.
And I have the day off.
Risotto
The minute I got home from work today, I baked a loaf of bread. It was to go with the risotto that I decided I had to have while making my 4-minute commute. (It can actually be as much as 5 minutes if it's snowing and I miss the light.) I did a mental check-list and figured I had what I needed.
Actually... the only things one really needs for risotto is the rice and parmesan cheese. Everything else is just an add-on.
Risotto is one of those dishes that really impresses - but is totally simple to prepare. 30 minutes start-to-finish and you can have a really fabulous meal on the table.
And anything can go in it!
The basic is 2 cups arbrio, carnaroli, or vialone nano rice. The most common is arborio, but I do have a penchant for carnaroli because it is almost impossible to overcook it. Vialone nano is slightly smaller and cooks faster and absorbs flavors better. I actually buy all of them and will pick up whichever one strikes my fancy when I'm shopping. They all work.
And then a cup of (usually) white wine, 7 cups of hot broth, and a cup of shredded parmesan.
The fun comes with the fillings.
Literally anything can go into risotto and I have put literally anything in them. They can be great clean-out-the-'fridge-dishes. And they are totally stellar with a lightly-poached or fried egg on top. The yolk running down into the dish..... Gastronomic heaven.
I almost always start with onions or leeks, a couple cloves of garlic, and mushrooms. Tonight I went without garlic just because. I also used a half-cup of marsala with a half-cup of water because - horrors - we had no white wine in the house. So much for my mental check-list. I also used speck - an Italian smoked prosciutto that I had in the freezer.
Quick Risotto
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 cups carnaroli rice
- 4 oz mushrooms, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- 4 oz speck, cubed
- 1/2 cup marsala mixed with 1/2 cup water
- 7 cups hot chicken stock
- 1 cup peas
- 1/2 lb thick asparagus, cut in bite-sized pieces
- 6 oz cooked langostino
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1 cup shredded parmesan
- salt & pepper, to taste
Add butter to a large risotto pan. Stir in leeks, mushrooms, and speck and cook, stirring often, about 3-4 minutes. Add rice and stir well to coat rice grains with butter. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until rice begins to get translucent.
Add marsala/water mixture and stir until liquid is almost gone. Add hot broth one ladle at a time. Stir continually until liquid is almost fully absorbed before adding next ladle. Repeat untilyou have used about 3/4 of the liquid.
Add the asparagus and peas and mix in well.
Continue adding broth until rice is cooked. I usually will use all of the broth. Sometimes you may not need it all.
When everything is looking good, add the langostino and stir until they are heated through.
Stir in the cheese and parsley, and taste for seasoning.
This is Italian comfort-food. Rich and creamy with an incredible flavor. You can add and number of vegetables, change the wine, add different seafood, sausages, chicken, beef, or pork, make it completely vegetarian... the sky's the limit.
This makes a lot - easily dinner for 4-6. I have lots of leftovers and Victor will probably have some for lunch tomorrow and I'm planning on making risotto patties tomorrow night!
Yum!
Bread, Pasta, and Fun Dishware
One of the fun things about making dinner at our house is deciding what plates to use. We do have a few options...
I actually don't know for sure how many different sets of dishes we have. We have at least 4 sets of four, the 'every-day,' the 'good stuff,' quite a bit of my grandmothers and china from my great-aunt Dolores... And there are any number of special plates we have acquired or collected over the years. Oh. And Christmas dishes for 36...
Lots of options when setting the table.
I love how food looks different on different plates. I like the memories of the different china. The Bayshore Diner Blue Plate Special dishes came from the Westin SFO when I opened it back in 1987. They were a going-away gift when I transferred to Indianapolis to open the Westin there. Almost 25 years ago. The Bayshore Diner is gone - hotel restaurants need to continually reinvent themselves - but I can look at those plates and remember Opening Day with a hostess on roller skates and wearing a poodle skirt - and our fabulous Executive Chef who just couldn't make a meatloaf without it looking like a pâté or terrine.
Memories... the plates from Linda and David, the dishes we bought in Seattle with Bonnie and Print at Pike Place Market. The plates from Cost Plus in San Francisco... The James Beard limited edition plates from the 1992 James Beard Annual Dinner that Susan gave us for Christmas one year. A story behind all of them...
The fun plates used above are from Teatro Zinzanni in San Francisco. Emblazoned on the rim is Love Chaos Dinner. And what a wild dinner that was! Almost 4 hours of non-stop Love, Chaos, and Dinner! It's almost impossible to describe - it's a literal circus where the diners are part of the entertainment. Just unbelievably fun.
And it is all about fun. I took a page from the Victor Martorano Pasta-Cooking Book and made way too much pasta for the two of us. No problem... Lunch for Victor tomorrow.
And just because it's a bazillion degrees outside doesn't mean I can't bake bread! That humidity makes for the perfect proofing box! Out to the back deck to rise...
The No-Knead Bread came out great.
The pasta sauce came out of the freezer.
And a good time was had by all...
Pork Pasta
It only took seventy-two hours but I was back in the kitchen last night! Oh joy!
I had a pound of ground pork I had picked up a while ago with the notion that I'd make egg rolls or something... I decided it would make a better pasta sauce.
And it was the most basic of sauces... chopped onion, garlic, red wine, diced mushrooms, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. Nothing fancy... just good, basic food. Cooked up some pasta, shaved sone pecorino romano on top, and called it dinner! It was a really thick ragu.
It was good getting back into the kitchen. I love having Victor cook, but I feel guilty sitting around and having him do all the work. Sharing the chores is the way to go.
I'm still far from healed - the knee is still stiff and swollen and I'm not quite ready to hit the disco floor - but every day brings it a bit closer. I have my follow-up appointment the day after tomorrow and physical therapy after that. (And that fun Urology exam on Friday. Oh joy!)
But back to dinner...
There was lots of leftover ragu, so today we had sloppy joe's for lunch.
I think I'm going to miss this being home stuff.....
Baked Ravioli with Broccoli Rabe
I mentioned to Victor before I headed to work yesterday that we had some broccoli rabe that needed using up. I came home to baked ravioli with broccoli rabe and pancetta. I love how making such a simple statement can lead to such a fabulous meal!
It was cold, and storming outside, and warm and filling inside. It was the perfect meal for the day.
Baked Ravioli with Broccoli Rabe
- 1 pound ravioli
- 1 bunch broccoli rabe
- 4 oz pancetta
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- salt and pepper, to taste
Cook ravioli about 3/4 done. Drain and set aside.
Saute pancetta in a bit of olive oil until crispy-brown. Add minced garlic and quickly saute.
Add broccoli rabe and cook until wilted.
Add milk and scrape pan to get up all small bits. Stir in cheese. Add raviloi and mix well.
Pour into buttered baking dissh, cover, and bake about 15 minutes at 350°.
Remove cover, add bread crumbs mixed with butter. Continue to bake another 20 minutes, or until bubbly nd bread crumbs are browned.
It was extremely good! The flavors blended perfectly, the broccoli rabe added just the right amount of bitterness to the creamy cheesy ravioli and salty pancetta.
Ricotta Rollatini
It is so nice being married to a man who loves to cook! As much as I like being in the kitchen, it truly is great to come home to a delicious homemade meal.
And tonight's homemade meal really was a show-stopper!
The recipe concept came from Giada De Laurentis. The result is pure Victor!
Giada's recipe is a spinach and ricotta roll that she puts under a broiler and serves with a marinara dipping sauce as an appetizer.
Victor reworked it to a baked entree. A much better idea, if ya ask me. Granted, I'm just a bit biased as I was the recipient of the entree, but... that's just the way of it!
Giada's recipe calls for the pasta to be made in a food processor. Victor made his by hand because he has totally mastered the art of pasta making. Like bread making or anything else, recipes give you quantities of ingredients, but it's the feel of the dough that makes it work. It's why your grandmother could never tell you exactly how she made a pie crust or a rolled dumpling - she just did it and knew when it was right.
Ricotta Rollatini
Pasta:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- water, if needed
Filling:
- 4 oz diced prosciutto
- 4 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Locatelli
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 minced flat-leaf parsley
- freshly ground black pepper
Make pasta.
Mound flour on counter and make well. Add eggs and yolks and gradually work in the flour to make a firm but pliable dough, adding a few drops of water, if necessary. Divide into two pieces, cover, and let rest about 30 minutes.
Make filling:
Fry prosciutto until crisp. Drain and set aside.
Mix ricotta, eggs, cheese, pepper, and parsley. Stir in cooled prosciutto. Set aside.
Roll pasta to a 15" x 7" rectangle. If you have a pasta roller, bring it through to about 15" on level three and then roll it width-wise to about 7".
Spread half of filling on pasta sheet and brush ends and edge with egg. Roll jelly-roll style and seal ends and edge.
Repeat with second roll.
Wrap each pasta log in cheesecloth and tie ends with kitchen twine.
Lower into barely-boiling water and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove from water and place on racks to cool.
Remove cheesecloth and slice each roll into 3/4" slices.
Cover bottom of baking dish with marinara sauce and lay out slices. Drizzle with marinara and sprinkle with additional grated Locatelli.
Cover with foil and bake until heated though - about 30 minutes at 350°.
Serve with additional sauce, if desired.
This is one of those creations that just works on every level. Rich, creamy, just-salty-enough from the cheese and the prosciutto. Victor didn't add any salt to the filling, at all. The pasta was perfectly al dente.
Cooking hint: If you have a fish poacher (thank you, Ruth!) it will make cooking them much easier. Victor actually forgot about it and slightly curved them to fit in a large pot. When we make these for Easter, we'll be using the poacher, for sure!
Spicy Italian sausage went well with these, but it was actually a bit of over-kill. They weren't necessary. The pasta was so good, they were almost a distraction.
I can't wait to have this one, again!
Shrimp Risotto and Poached Eggs
Mother Nature played a great April Fool joke on us today. Snow.
I was not amused.
I am totally over cold weather. I am ready for open windows and the gentle warmth of Spring. And today it snowed.
It eventually turned to rain - and it's still raining as I type - but it's still cold.
Time for risotto.
The risotto idea came as I watched the snow falling this morning. We needed something a bit substantial for dinner and I had a box of carnaroli rice at home that I wanted to try. Carnaroli is a short-grain rice from the Lombardy and Piedmont areas of Italy. It makes a really fine, creamy risotto. It's only been grown for about 60 years - a relative newcomer - but it's a popular rice because it's quite forgiving. It keeps its creaminess just a bit longer before turning to paste.
Risotto is a pretty easy - albeit time-consuming - process. I generally don't follow a recipe (you're shocked, right?!?) but I went looking through some old Bon Appetite magazines for ideas and found one that is topped with a fried egg. That caught my attention. Victor still has a pasta dish he wants to make that is topped with a fried egg.
I decided it was worth looking into - but poaching the eggs, instead. Timing is everything and it's easier to poach four eggs than fry four eggs simultaneously.
A basic rule-of-thumb with risotto rices - arborio, carnaroli, or vialone nano - is four cups of liquid to 1 cup of rice. The liquid is heated and added slowly to slowly pull the starch out of the rice and make it creamy while still holding its shape. Any number of foods, herbs, and spices can be added.
This easily makes dinner for four people. We have a goodly amount of leftovers!
Shrimp Risotto with Poached Eggs
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 cup Italian beans (cut asparagus will also work)
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups arborio rice
- 1 cup white wine
- 7 cups chicken broth, hot
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup peas
- 1 pound shrimp
- 1-2 eggs per person
Saute mushrooms and carrots until barely done. Stir in beans. Se aside.
Melt 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil in heavy risotto pan or heavy skillet. Add onion and sauté until beginning to soften. Add garlic. Add rice and stir until translucent at edges, about 3 minutes. Add wine. Stir until liquid is absorbed. Add 1/2 cup hot broth, stirring until broth is absorbed. Continue to add remaining broth, 1/2 cup at a time, until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, stirring often and letting almost all liquid be absorbed after each addition - 25 to 30 minutes total.
Add shrimp. Stir in 1 cup cheese, peas, and mushroom mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Mound onto plates, create indentation with spoon and top with eggs - poached or fried.
Drizzle with additional olive oil and sprinkle with cheese.
This was really fun and a perfect cold-weather dish. It was warm and filling.
I also baked the last of my bread dough - fresh bread finished the meal.
Ravioli del Formaggio Cinque
This is a platter of homemade 5-cheese ravioli in a sauce of speck, sun-dried tomatoes, and langostino. I can't even begin to describe how happy my tummy is right now. My taste-buds have been doing cartwheels for 45 minutes.
I am one happy dude. I can't believe it isn't soup.
A couple of weeks ago Victor said he wanted to make ravioli. I, of course, immediately stated it was a fantastic idea and I was ready to eat them the moment he made them.
And then I caught a cold, he had to go to Chicago on business...
But today, while I was toiling away at work, he did his magic.
And magic, it was.
Clouds of cheese-filled heaven in a sea of tomatoes. It amazes me how he can make something so rich and so filling - and so light at the same time. It really is magic.
Ravioli del Formaggio Cinque
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp olive oil
Make a mound of the flour on a counter. Make a well and add the eggs, oil, and salt. With your fingers, slowly incorporate the flour into the liquid.
Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. It should feel silken and smooth.
Cover and let rest about 30 minutes.
Cut dough into three pieces and roll through pasta rollerfolding and refolding the first few times as it gets thinner. Continue rolling to the 7th setting.
Filling
- 1 lb ricotta
- 1 cup shredded cheeses (Victor used fontina, assiago, parmesan, and provelone)
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp minced parsley
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
Mix all ingredients.
To assemble
Lay out one strip of dough on counter and place heaping tablespoons of filling about every three inches just to the left of center.
Fold dough over. Use biscuit or other cutter to cut ravioli. Crimp edges with times of fork.
Lay out on lightly-floured sheet pans and cover with kitchen towels until ready to cook.
To cook
Bring salted water to a just-barely boil in large, shallow braiser or skillet. Add ravioli a few at a time and cook about 3-4 minutes, or until done. Do not hard boil as they will fall apart.
Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.
The favorite sauce tonight was, as mentioned earlier, a simple tomato sauce with speck - a type of prosciutto - sun-dried tomatoes, and langostino.
The red sauce worked fabulously with the ravioli, but I think just about any sauce would work, from a butter and walnut or sage to a light vodka sauce.
The ravioli will stand up to anything!
We're doing Easter this year for the family and I'm thinking these would be a perfect accompaniment to whatever we're serving.
Macaroni Bake
Leftovers are a good thing - especially when Victor is working with them!
I had planned a totally different dinner tonight, but when I got home realized I had no potatoes. I bought a 5 lb bag at the local PathMark on Monday and ended up throwing most of them away. I'll get my money back next Monday, but for tonight, it put a crimp in the dinner plan.
While I am lamenting my potato woes, Victor says he'll cook dinner. He actually was looking to use the pasta sauce he made the other day and who am I to argue if he want to cook dinner?!? Mrs. Dineen did not raise a dummy!
So out comes the sauce, the pork, the meatballs... repurposing with a purpose.
He cookd up odds and ends of the various pastas we always seem to have in the cabinet and layered it all with sauce, fontina cheese, peas, the meatballs and the pork. More cheese on top and into the oven it went. 350° for 30 minutes.
Simple and outstanding.
These are the types of foods I can eat all night. It's comfort-food. I did practice restraint - not something I do very well.
One helping with several slices of Italian bread. I sopped up every last bit of sauce and savored that very last bite of crusty bread with sauce, the teeniest bit of meat and one lone pea.
Perfection.
Saturday Pasta
I'm a day late with this but I'm dealing with a dying computer. It's sad. This is the computer I finally got from Circuit City 2 1/2 years ago after they failed to repair my old computer in a timely manner. At first, they didn't think that 58 days was unreasonable for them to fix (or, rather, not fix) a computer. After I launched www.CircuitCity-Sucks.com, they realized it was probably just slightly unreasonable and they finally honored their service contract.
It's been a good friend. But it's now continually freezing and crashing. It makes it difficult to get anything done.
So while I was busy making sure everything I needed was backed up onto the external drive, Victor was cooking dinner... Mini Rigatoni with spare ribs, and veal and pork meat balls.
The meatballs were delicious. Half ground pork and half ground veal, with bread crumbs, onion, garlic, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and an egg to bind. Baked in the oven.
The ribs just simmered in the sauce until the meat literally fell off the bones.
Perfection.
Tomorrow it looks like I will be out shopping for a new computer. And uninstalling and reinstalling all those programs.....
Take-out is sounding better and better.....
All-Day Dining with Linda and David
Hors d'Oeuvres started at 2pm. Cheesecake was served at 7pm.
We ate all day.
It's pretty much what yer supposed to do when you get together with good friends. And we all believe in following the rules when it suits our purpose.
This has been a tradition since we moved back here 10 years ago. Victor has known Linda since childhood. She was our real estate agent when we bought our house. David was our mortgage broker.
Good friends with a lot of history. Friends you can say anything to without having to filter.
And friends who like to eat!
We started off with hors d'oeuvres. Just three, because we didn't want to spoil our dinner.
First off was a puff pastry dish Victor came up with based on something Ina Garten makes. She does a puff pastry, ham and cheese. Victor took it to a whole new level.
Puff Pastry with Pancetta and Dates
- 2 sheets puff pastry
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
- 4 oz thin-sliced pancetta
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1 cup chopped dates
Roll puff pastry to fit sheet pan - 10" x 16" or so. Brush with sun-dried tomato pesto, them layer pancetta, cheese, and dates.
Roll second sheet of puff pastry and place on top. Crimp edges and brush with egg. Cut slits to allow steam to escape.
Bake in a preheated 450° oven about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
These were definitely a hit. They were easy to prepare and the fillings can be switched out a million and one ways!
Definitely a keeper.
I decided we needed to do at least one deep-fried hors d'oeuvre because... well... we do have that deep fryer! I went with a crab fritter because I just couldn't think of anything else savory that I wanted to do. This was a totally wing-it recipe from the fritter to the dipping sauce, but it turned out great. The test fritters I made were still a bit doughy in the center so I really was caredul about the size. 1 tablespoon cooked up perfectly!
Crab and Green Chile Fritters
- 8 oz crab
- 1 4 oz can green chilies
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
- salt and pepper
Mix crab with chiles, buttermilk, chives, and egg. Add a bit of salt and pepper, to taste. Add enough flour to make a moderately-stiff dough.
Drop tablespoon-sized balls into hot oil and cook until well browned.
Serve with dipping sauce.
For a dipping sauce I decided to go sweet and spicy.
We had homemade cranberry sauce in the fridge, apricot cookie filling in the fridge, and chipotles in adobo in the fridge.
I made a cranberry apricot chipotle dipping sauce!
Cranberry Apricot Chipotle Dipping Sauce
- 1 cup cranberry sauce
- 1/3 cup apricot preserves
- 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped (or to taste)
Place ingredients in small saucepan. Heat. Mix briefly with immersion blender to blend and to break down larger berries or apricot pieces.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
And finally, we had bruschetta.
I love bruschetta in any and all its various incarnations.
Anything on toasted baguette with cheese is my idea of good. This was mere open-a-jar.
We had a jar of Harry and Davids Charred Pineapple with Candied Peppers on the shelf for quite a while. Today it was spooned onto baguette slices, topped with cream cheese, and placed under the broiler for a couple of minutes.
This was so simple and a total hit.
By 4:30pm, it was getting time to sit down to dinner.
We started off with a simple Calabrese Salad.
Red and Green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
I drizzled the whole thing with that nice, expensive olive oil Nick gave us for Christmas and some 15 year old balsamic. And a pinch of salt and pepper. It didn't need anything else.
And then it wan on to the main attraction:
Handmade pasta with a lobster sauce.
Oh yes, you read that right. Handmade pasta with a lobster sauce.
Oh yes.
Victor made the pasta from a recipe he saw on Ciao Italia with MaryAnn Esposito. She serves the pasta with a clam and mussel sauce, but Victor had a better idea. Lobster.
Scialatielli
- 1 extra large egg
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon grated Pecorino cheese
- 2 tablespoons minced basil or parsley leaves
Directions
Place egg, 1/3 cup milk, olive oil and salt in bowl of food processor and whirl until smooth. Add flour and cheese and pulse until mixture is grainy looking. Add parsley and pulse just until dough begins to leave the sides of bowl. If dough is too dry, add a little of the remaining milk until you can pinch a piece of dough between your fingers and it does not crumble.
Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Place a bowl upside down over the dough and allow to rest for 30 minutes to relax the gluten and make it easier to roll.
Divide the dough into quarters and keep three covered while working the first piece. Flatten the dough to a four inch wide piece. Place it through the rollers of a hand crank pasta machine set to the fattest setting (#1). Set the rollers to the next fattest setting down (#2) and run the dough through again.
Use a small knife to cut 1/8 inch wide strips and place the strips on a clean towel. Repeat with the remaining dough.
It made a wonderful and delicious pasta dish, but we think next time we make it, we'll (that's *we* as in *Victor*) roll it a bit thinner. It's supposed to be a thick pasta, but our tastes tend to go for thinner.
The sauce was a variation on a La Cucina theme...
Aragosta al Limone
- Chunks of Lobster Tail
- 4 Large Egg Yolks
- 2 Lemons
- ½ cup plus 2 tbls Grana Padano grated plus more for sprinkling
- ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup plus 2 tbls heavy cream
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbls whole milk
- 3 tbls finely chopped flat leaf parsley
- 2 tbls finely chopped chives
Sauté lobster chunks till just done, about 3 minutes or opaque. (Don’t over cook)
Place egg yolks in a large bowl. Grate the zest of 1 lemon into the bowl. Add cheese and pepper, whisk to combine, then whisk in the cream, milk, parsley, chives and a generous pinch of salt.
When the pasta is al dente, drain and return to the pot. Immediately add the egg mixture and lobster meat then toss together to combine. Serve immediately with more Grana Padano.
It was gooder than good. It was great watching both Linda and David go back for more. It was everything it could be and more.
And then, finally, it was time for dessert.
Linda is just a bit of a chocaholic, so we decided a cheesecake with a chocolate crust was in order. And this morning, I decided the cheesecake needed a chocolate ganache to cover it.
The ganache was pure over-the-top decadence. I loved every calorie of it!
I made my favorite "Worlds Greatest Strawberry Cheesecake" except I didn't use the strawberries...
World's Greatest Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache
The Crust:
- 3/4 cups walnuts, coarsely ground
- 3/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
- 1 3 oz Valrhona chocolate bar
- 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
The Filling:
- 4 pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
The Topping:
- 16 oz sour cream
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
The Ganache:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 12 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Putting it together: Preheat oven to 350º. Mix crust ingredients and press evenly into bottom of 10″ springform pan. Set aside.
Cream the cheese until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add sugar, vanilla, and whipping cream, mixing until smooth and light. Pour into pan and bake 60 – 70 minutes. Remove from oven and cool about 15 minutes. Keep oven on.
Mix topping ingredients and spread onto top of cheesecake to within about 1/2 inch from edge. Return to oven and bake about 7 more minutes. Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate at least 24 hours (2-3 days is best.)
On day you’re going to serve, make ganache. Heat cream. Remove from heat and stir in grated chocolate. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla.
Remove cake from pan. Spread ganache over cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
It really was a stellar day. And while we did eat a lot, at least it was spread out over 5 hours.
Our next feast with them is tentatively scheduled for July at their house to celebrate my and Linda's birthdays.
I can't wait.
They feed us the same way.
Monday Monday
The Blizzard of 2010 kept me indoors today. Not that we had a blizzard at our house. Maybe 6" of snow. Maybe.
But it was enough to keep me from wanting to go out and deal with all the morons who like to drive like it's mid-July. We could have gone shopping and we could have come up with a pasta dish with what we had in the house, but we decided to take a Pasta Monday Break.
It was more fun watching old movies and doing nothing.
Victor did his Italian magic in the kitchen with Chicken Cutlets with homemade sauce and fontina cheese and green beans with homemade sun-dried tomato pesto.
Everything but the cheese came out of the freezer.
He was originally going to cook gnocchi as well, but decided if we ate less pasta for dinner we could have more cookies for dessert.
I like his way of thinking!
It's been a fun couple of days. We were never snowed in, didn't lose power, and had lots of goodies to eat. The perfect way to deal with Mother Nature.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. It's back to the real world tomorrow.
Oh well.