HOMEMADE PASTA IN FRESH TOMATO SAUCE 8-17

I’m still working out the kinks in my pasta making. Each batch shows some improvement, but there is still a ways to go before I can feel totally comfortable with the process.

The sauce tonight is pretty basic, fresh tomatoes and herbs. The only twist is the addition of the butter, about 2-3 tablespoons.

INGREDIENTS:

Pasta
3 large fresh tomatoes
Olive oil
Butter
Red pepper flakes
Fresh basil, finely chopped
Dry oregano
Bacon

PROCESS:

The pasta…. 7 oz. all purpose flour and 2 large eggs.

The sauce…Peel and coarsely chop the tomatoes. Saute the garlic in olive oiland butter, then add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, basil, and oregano and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Add the pasta to the pan with the sauce, mix well and serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Nuke the bacon until crisp, crumble and spread over the pasta.

COMMENTS:

Patience says “YUM… OMG, I ate too much’!

The sauce was delicious. The combination of the fresh tomatoes, butter, and bacon was delightful.

With a few minor variations this sauce would make a great tomato soup.

THE ART OF WILLIAM & WILLIAM…A COLLABORATION

Our grandson William, who will be 11 in a few weeks, was here for a visit last week. Since he likes to draw I thought I thought it would be fun if we worked together on a large drawing. Looking at pics from our trip to Italy a few years ago, we selected as our subject a view from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

I started us off with a pencil drawing of the scene, and William divided the composition into the individual buildings. From there we each began working on our side of the drawing, then later switched sides so our individual contributions would be more fully integrated.






From the Bridge...pencil and markers...18x24

CAPELLINI WITH CRAB BASED SAUCE & SHRIMP 8-15

I’m raiding the freezer tonight. Patience will be home late and I’m not feeling very creative…or ambitious. A glance in the freezer revealed the answer to my dilemma, a container of tomato sauce I made with crabmeat several weeks ago.
I will use this sauce and add some pre-cooked shrimp and serve it with Angel hair pasta.



I have all sorts of mixed feelings about this dish. On one hand I feel I shouldn't be rewarded with such a great meal because I did so little to prepare it. On the other hand I feel pleased that I could put some leftover gravy from the freezer to such good use.

The bottom line is...it was great.

HOMEMADE TAGLIATELLI IN BUTTER-CHEESE SAUCE 8-14

The gallery closes at 3 on Sunday and Patience won’t be home from work until near 8 PM leaving me 5 hours with nothing to do except make pasta. The last attempt was pretty pathetic and I have been anxious to redeem myself. So…I set out armed with the knowledge of our mistakes, and with that I was able to create dough of the right consistency and dryness. I used my mom’s chitarra to make a handful of linguine but the dough, which I hand rolled, was not thin enough and I turned to the pasta machine. The result was a delightful batch of tagliatelli.

THE PASTA…I used 3 large eggs to 21/3 cups of all purpose flour.


THE SAUCE…In the pasta serving bowl combine Mascarpone cheese, grated parmesan cheese (aprox. ratio of 2:1), about 1 tbsp of gorgonzola or blue cheese, 2-3 tbsp of butter, and freshly chopped basil and coarsely mix by hand.

Add the cooked pasta to the bowl and mix well…the heat of the pasta will melt the ingredients. Add pasta water if needed to maintain moisture.

COMMENTS:

Aw man….this was so F-ing good! I have nothing else to say on the matter.

LINGUINI WITH SALMON-ASPARAGUS-SQUASH 8-13

Feeling less than well I find myself facing the dinner hour with less than maximum enthusiasm tonight. This of course translates into something tried and true, and that means salmon, asparagus, lemon, a little white wine and some cream. As a token push of the envelope I’ll add some yellow squash (we have tons of it on hand.).



INGREDIENTS:

Linguini
Asparagus, cut into 1-2” pieces
Salmon, skinless, cut into bite size pieces
Dill
Garlic, shallots
Olive oil
Yellow squash, diced
White wine
Parsley, coarsely chopped.
Lemon
Butter
Heavy whipping cream

PROCESS:

While waiting for the pasta water to boil sauté the garlic and shallots until soft, add the squash and asparagus plus lemon juice and herbs and cook over low heat until cooked through. Then add the salmon and white wine and cook uncovered. After placing the pasta in the water add the cream and butter and stir frequently. If a thicker sauce is desired add about ¾ tsp of corn starch. Add the pasta to the pan and mix well. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

COMMENTS:

After eating this dinner I feel the best that I have felt all day. Of course the wine has had nothing to do with this.

Seriously, as my grandson William says (ad nauseum), this is a great dish. I especially like the texture that the squash added.

HOMEMADE PASTA 8-11

Grandson William is here so it was time to make some pasta. We remembered well the fiasco of our first attempt when the eggs broke through the walls of our flour wells, and I am pleased to say we avoided that, only to face another one further along in the process.



Apparently our dough was too sticky (not enough flour) and kept clogging up the pasta machine. We managed a few passes of spaghetti before giving up and resorting to hand rolling the dough, cutting it, and passing it through the cutting rollers. We ended up with a little over a pound of fresh pasta that was not much to look at. however, it cooked up just fine, not into the sticky mess we feared, and with the sausage rich gravy tasted fantastic.




And we were fortunate enough to have our friend Keyth to share the meal with us.

WILLIAM VISITS

Grandson William, who will be 11 this October, is spending several days with us this week. There are a number of ways he and I can bond: in the studio because he loves to draw, walking dogs, watching Cowboys and Aliens, (which we did last night) and/or making pasta. But I realized that the tightest bonding would be with food when I asked him what he would like for lunch and he replied, bread, olive oil, and salami!




Brie, leftover Braciole, tomatoe, salami, Ciabatta bread, olive oil for dipping.

Tonight we’ll have pasta with a sausage based tomato sauce currently sitting in our freezer from earlier this month.