Stracotto (Italian Pot Roast) over Pappardelle. (June)

It evens gets cold in Florida and when the temperature dropped the other day, I was thinking of "comfort food".  One of our favorite restaurants, Brio Tuscan Grill, had sent an e-mail with this recipe and it sounded perfect for a chilly Sunday dinner.

Ingredients

3 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Lbs Chuck Roast
1 Cup Chopped Onion
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup Chopped Carrots
4 Cloves Garlic, Sliced
1 Cup Beef Broth
1 Can (16 oz) Tomatoes, Diced
3 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tsp Chopped Garlic
1 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1/4 Cup Chopped Parsley
1 Lb Pappardelle (recipe below for homemade or use store bought)

Heat oil in a Dutch oven.  Add chuck roast, sear on all sides, remove & set aside.

Add onions, celery, carrots & slivered garlic to the pot.  Cook until soft - about 10 minutes.  Remove from pot and set aside.

 

Place rack in bottom of the pot. (I didn't have one so I used a small, disposable aluminum pan)  Place roast on rack & add beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.  Remove roast and cut into 1/2" slices.  Remove rack and return sliced meat to the pot.  Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped garlic, pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaf, red wine and cooked vegetables to pot. 

Bake covered for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is falling apart. Discard bay leaf.  Add parsley, heat through.  Cook pappardelle according to recipe or package directions.  Serve the meat and sauce over the pappardelle.

 

 

Homemade Pappardelle

 

1 3/4 Cups All-purpose Flour

1 Cup Semolina Flour

6 Large Eggs

4 tsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

Sift both flours together on a large work surface & make a well in the center.  Place the eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a bowl and break up with a fork.  Gradually add the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Using your hands works best!

 

 

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.  Divide dough in half and pat into balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.  (you can freeze one ball for later, or roll both and freeze cut pasta)

 

 

 

Place one ball of dough on lightly floured surface and dust with flour and roll dough into a sheet.  Continue to roll the dough until you can see your fingers through it.  We used our pasta maker to roll out ours.  Let dry about 10 minutes.

 

Dust the top of the sheet with flour and loosely roll into a cylinder.  Using a sharp knife, cut into 3/4 inch wide slices.  Unroll, dust with semolina and lay on a sheet pan until ready to cook. 

 

Not the perfect, even length pasta you might buy, but it was more fun to make it!

 

 

 

Confession!  We didn't get ours thin enough and it took forever to cook.

Black Truffle and Shiitake Mushroom Fettuccine [Zack]

It happened folks.  Lauren and I bought a truffle slicer.  There’s a great mushroom stand at the Antwerp Saturday market and they had some “early season” truffles that were surprisingly not expensive.  The best truffles cost more than cocaine by weight, but we paid a total of around $7 for the amount we used to top our pasta (still was great).  And of course, we needed a truffle slicer to shave the truffle.

Truffles are a weird ingredient.  The biggest impact to your final dish is the funky aroma that they add when the plate is placed in front of you. In terms of value add:  the order is smell > texture > flavor.  Freshly shaved truffles are nice, but if you are in the mood for a mushroom extravaganza, you’ll have to add something else to further boost the mushroom flavors.

Hence, we made a pasta with sautéed shiitake mushrooms, pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, and some freshly shaved truffle on top.  It was heaven.

Process: 

Start by slicing your shiitake mushrooms and mincing your garlic.  Also, grate both cheeses.  Get a pot of salted water boiling.

Start up a sautee pan over medium heat, large enough to hold both the mushrooms and the pasta (later on).  Add the 3T of butter and 2T of olive oil when the pan is hot.  Toss in the mushrooms and sautee until they are browned.  Add the garlic to the pan and immediately take off the heat so the garlic doesn't brown.

Boil your pasta per the instructions for al dente on the package.  Grab a coffee mug and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Add the pan with the mushrooms back to the stove over medium heat.  Strain the pasta and add it in with the mushrooms and garlic. Toss the cheese, cream, and pasta water in with the pasta.  The liquids will combine with the cheese to make an awesome sauce.  Crack lots of black pepper on top.

To serve, go crazy with the truffle!  

Ingredients:

½ pound fettuccini pasta

~15 medium shiitake mushrooms, sliced

3T butter

2T olive oil (or you can get crazy and use half truffle oil!)

2 fat cloves garlic, minced

2T cream (to taste)
1/2 cup pasta water

1/3 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese

1/3 cup finely grated parm reggiano

freshly cracked black pepper

freshly-shaved truffle

Song:  ZHU - Faded

Spaghetti Carbonara [Zack]

Carbonara is a pasta dish originating from Rome and is my favorite thing to eat. When we visited Rome, I was on a mission to find the best rendition so I could try to recreate it at home. This is pretty darn close. The ingredient list is extremely short and therefore relies on the quality of the inputs. If you can’t find guanciale (bacon made from pig’s jaw), use pancetta or lightly smoked bacon. If you can’t find a good pecorino romano, use parmesan reggiano.

The recipe has 3 steps: 1. Slowly render the bacon until it becomes crispy 2. Cook the pasta 3. Remove the bacon pan from the heat, add the noodles, and toss the pasta in the rest of the ingredients. The sauce becomes surprisingly creamy due to a combination of eggs, bacon fat, reserved pasta cooking water, and pecorino romano cheese. It’s bliss.

Process:

Slice the guancaile into match sticks and place into a cold frying pan. Turn the heat on medium, and let the fat render out of the bacon until it’s crispy and brown. Pour off the fat until about 1T remains and set the pan aside.

Prep your ingredients in advance because the last steps happen quickly. Crack the eggs into a bowl and lightly scramble them. Grate the cheese.

Salt a big pot of water until it tastes like the sea and bring to a boil. Cook your spaghetti until al dente. A few minutes before the pasta is finished, return your frying pan with the bacon to medium heat. Grab a coffee mug and scoop out a cup of the boiling pasta water to use for the sauce later. Strain the noodles.

Take the bacon pan off the heat. Bacon pan, I like the sound of that! Add the spaghetti, pasta water, and cheese, tossing vigorously with tongs to mix. You don’t want the eggs to curdle, which is why you remove the pan from the heat and mix quickly. Crack black pepper until your arm hurts, and serve immediately with a glass of nice Italian wine.

Ingredients:
Makes 2 big bowls -
½ lb spaghetti noodles
2 whole eggs, beaten
2T-3T of pasta water

¾ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
100 grams guanciale chooped in matchsticks (this was about 3 thick slices for me)
freshly ground black pepper

optional:  chopped spring onions or 1 large clove of garlic

Song:  Missy Elliott - Hot Boyz

Asparagus Shitake Risotto with Black Truffle [Zack]

Risotto is one of my favorite things to cook.  It's way more simple than you think.  If you know how to stir rice around in a pot and be patient, you're good to go.  Since this ingredient list is pretty sparse, the quality of your inputs matter.  If you can find some homemade chicken stock and parmesan reggiano, you will taste the difference.  If not, it will still be great!

Process:

We'll cook the asparagus and shitake mushrooms in a separate pan from the risotto.  Therefore, we can multitask!

Slice the asparagus into thin rounds and add them into a saute pan over medium heat with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Wash and slice your shitake mushrooms.  Make sure to not overcook your asparagus - you want it to have a slight bite to it.  Reserve on a side-plate.

Heat up your chicken stock in a sauce pot.  You want to add hot stock to the rice so it cooks more evenly and the temperature doesn't drop each time cold stock is added.

Melt some butter and olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

Dice an onion and add it to a pot with butter and olive oil.  Gently sautee the onion for about 5 minutes.  Add in the Arborio rice (risotto rice) and stir it around in the oil and onions for 4 minutes.  This will lightly toast your rice and give the food a nutty taste.

Add in 1 cup of white wine and stir every 30 seconds or so until the rice soaks it up.  Once the wine has been absorbed, continue to add in chicken stock in 1/2 cup increments until the rice is nicely al dente (this should take about 15 minutes).

While you are stirring your risotto, cook the shitake mushrooms in the other pan in a little bit of olive oil.  Add them to your side plate with the asparagus.

Stir in the grated cheese, mushrooms and asparagus during the last minute of cooking.

Top with as much black truffle you can afford, crack some black pepper, and serve.

Ingredients:

3 asparagus spears
1/4 lb shitake mushrooms
1T butter
1T oil
1 medium white onion
1.5 cups Arborio Rice
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano (or more to taste)
as much black truffle as you can afford to top

Song:  Kimbra - Settle Down

Homemade Sweet Sausage Flat bread Pizza [Zack]

One of my favorite pizzas is made by Delucia’s in Raritan NJ.  They make a nice dough, have a wood-burning oven, but what really sets their pizza apart is the fresh homemade sausage.  They season ground pork with some spices and then put the raw pork on top of the pizza.  Their oven cooks the sausage right on the pizza.  It’s way better than sliced formed sausage because the ground pork has nooks and crannies in order to increase browning.

I chose to add this sausage to a flatbread pizza.  I brushed the flatbread with olive oil and topped it with sausage, cooked spinach, red onions, and sea salt.

You can adapt this very basic sausage recipe however you choose.  You can:

• make it more spicy by adding hot pepper flakes
• omit the brown sugar for a savory sausage
• add any type of herbs (including fennel seeds)

Process:

Start by making your pizza dough.  Get a big bowl and combine the lukewarm water + the yeast packet + the honey.  Mix it all together and let it sit for 5 mins.  Gradually add in your flour, mixing constantly.  Once you can start kneading the dough, add only enough flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your hand.  Knead for 2 more mins until the dough is silky.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.  Let the dough rise for an hour or so.   

In another bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the sausage and mix well. 

Pre-heat your oven well in advance to the maximum broil setting.  I like to use an overturned cast iron skillet on the middle rack of the oven instead of a pizza stone (thanks Kenji!). 

Roll out your pizza dough and add the toppings.   I like to brush the crust with olive oil.  Open the oven and carefully place the pizza on top of the cast iron skillet.  Cook the pizza until the crust browns nicely and the sausage has a few crisp edges. 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork

2T brown sugar

1tsp harissa powder (or ½ tsp paprika, ½ tsp pepper flakes)

1tsp onion powder

1tsp garlic powder

1tsp sea salt

Pizza dough:

Approx 3 ½ cups pastry or type 00 flour

1 envelope instant yeast

1T honey

2 tsp salt

1 ½ cup lukewarm water

Song:  Kavinsky - Nightcall

Spicy Pancetta Red Sauce [Zack]

This pasta dish is perfect for a quick fix.  I was in a rush to cook dinner and was able to cook this start-to-finish in 30 minutes.  It's fresh, savory, and perfect after a long day at the office.

The simplicity of this recipe relies on the quality of the ingredients.  I was given some free homemade fresh pasta from the opening of the new Italian Specialties store Sette Piatti.  I found some quality pancetta in the fridge (I'm glad I'm a hoarder), and the rest fell into place.

Process:

Get a sauce pan going over medium heat and toss your pancetta in the pan.  While that is slowly crisping, set a pot of hot salted water over high heat.  Slice the red onions, garlic, and hot pepper and set aside.

I'm lazy and I hate grating cheese, so I just throw chunks of parmesan reggiano into my food processor.  Boom, grated cheese.  Set the cheese aside and add the 4 loosely chopped tomatoes and puree until chunky.

When the pancetta is nice and crispy, add the red onions and hot pepper into the pan.  Saute for 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, cook 1 additional minute, and then put the tomato puree into the pan.  Add the red wine and cook down for about 10 minutes.  You may need to add a dash of salt, but be careful as the pancetta will already add some salt.

Cook your pasta, toss it all together, and add reggiano like a madman.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1/4 lb or 100g pancetta cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic diced
2 red onions sliced
1/2 glass red wine
1 hot pepper sliced

4 large tomatoes

enough parmesan reggiano to make you feel like a king (aka to taste)

1/2 lb or 250g macaroni pasta (fresh if you can)

Song: St Paul and the Broken Bones - Don't Mean a Thing

Crispy Duck Confit Pasta with Morel and Spinach Cream Sauce [Zack]

If spaghetti carbonara is the king of pasta, and bucatini amitriciana is the queen, then duck confit pasta with morel cream sauce could very well be the prince.  There are a lot of elements in this dish that mimic the savory deliciousness of carbonara:  crispy duck confit = bacon, parm reggiano = pecorino cheese, and creamy egg yolk = creamy egg yolk.

I used a good amount of chicken stock to add flavor and to replace a portion of the cream.  I found jarred morels, but if you can find fresh ones, that's even better.

In case you need a recipe on how to make homemade duck confit, check out my recipe.

Process:

Take your duck confit out of the fat and place it skin down in a cold pan.  Start the pan over medium-low heat to render the fat from the skin and to crisp it up.

Break the duck leg apart with a spatula so you can crisp maximum surface area.

Cook for about 10 minutes after you break it up, making sure to turn it over every few minutes.

Slice your shallots, chop your morels, and wash your spinach.

Start the shallots in a pan with 1T of garlic butter and a little bit of olive oil over medium heat.  Saute until they develop a little bit of color.  Add in the morels and the spinach.  Cook for another 5 minutes until the spinach has mostly wilted.

Add in your cream and chicken stock, and reduce for another 5 minutes.  Throw in the grated cheese.

Cook your pasta al dente according to the directions on the package.

Toss the cooked pasta in the sauce, top with the duck confit, crack black pepper all over, and serve with an egg yolk per portion.

Ingredients:
.5 lb / 250g pasta
4/5 cup / 200 ml chicken stock
2T cream
1/2 cup grated reggiano
1 cup chopped morels
3 shallots
1T garlic butter (or 1T butter, 2 cloves garlic, mashed to combine)
2 egg yolks
cracked black pepper

Song - I said prince of pasta, not Prince, but oh well here goes anyways:  Prince - Breakfast Can Wait

Lamb and Mushroom Winter Ragu over Pappardelli [Zack]

It's winter.  Whether you like being out in the cold or not, most people agree that comfort food is best eaten looking out of your window and being happy that you are inside and warm.

This pasta dish squarely sits in the "comfort food" section of my recipes.  Each ingredient is added with the intent of boosting the umami factor.  I suggest getting a whole lamb shoulder from the butcher and to cube the meat yourself.  You'll save tons of money and plus you'll get to throw the bone into the pot to add even more flavor!!

You'll notice that fish sauce is in the recipe.  This is the secret ingredient that adds deep and bassy flavors to Thai or Asian cooking.  A touch of it will make a huge difference, and as long as you don't overdo it, you'll never notice any fishy flavor.

Process:

Wash and slice the mushrooms, and slice the red onions into moon slivers.  Cube the shoulder meat into roughly 1 inch chunks, keeping the bone.

Place a pot with a lid or a dutch oven over medium heat.  Brown the lamb on one side only, in a little bit of canola oil in batches.  For a scientific detailing on how your meat will retain more moisture, please see Kenji's explanation.

Transfer the lamb cubes to a plate, and toss the mushrooms and onions into the pot.  Add a bit more oil if needed.  Let these cook for about 5 minutes.

Then add the lamb back in, along with the bone.

The dried mushrooms, the red wine, 1tsp fish sauce, and the tomato puree all can join the party now.  Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 3-4 hours.  Remember to stir it every once in a while so you won't get burned bits sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Your ragu should darken and thicken up noticeably.  Taste, and see if it can take more fish sauce.  I normally put about 2tsp in.  Adjust the salt and sugar (if needed).  To test if the ragu is finished, pull out a piece of lamb and see if it falls apart like pulled pork.

Take the bone out, salvage any good meat on it with your fingers, and throw the meat back in like you're a professional fisherman.

I like to serve the ragu over wide noodles that the sauce will get clingy.  I topped mine with some grated pecorino.

Ingredients:
3 lb / 1.5 kg lamb shoulder
1 lb / 500g assorted mushrooms
1/2 cup dried mushrooms
2 medium red onions
2 cups red wine
3 cups tomato puree
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1-2 tsp fish sauce, to taste

pappardelli or other wide noodles
grated pecorino cheese

Song:  Mystikal - Bouncin Back

Tomato & Spinach Red Sauce in Under 10 Minutes [Matt]

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

1 Can - 28oz Diced Hunt's Tomatoes (not spiced, seriously.)

1 Handful of Spinach

1 Tbsp Butter (the real stuff.)

Garlic Powder

1 Tsp Salt

Favorite form of spicy Heat

When on any ride over an hour you spend AT LEAST the last half-hour thinking about what you're going to gorge when you get home. Now your stomach is saying, "just grab a stick of butter and put some fat back in dat belly!" while your mind knows that's a terrible idea which will set you back to feeling worse than when you started the session.

I spend this time thinking about what's in my fridge and cabinet that will offer me maximum-recovery benefits while not tasting like the bottom of a shoe.

Tonight I got impromptu-ly excited about red sauce. Normally I'll cook up a batch of Bolognese over half a day, but my stomach and patients have no time for that. 

So, here's the best way to play it in order to make the ~10 minute deadline before hunger-induced death ensues:

Get your pasta water started first and crank the heat. Don't use more water than is necessary. I keep homemade pasta stocked in my freezer (get that pinky up), but it cooks faster and tastes noticeably better. Or, just follow the directions on the side of your noodle box.

Break out your favorite 10+" sauce pan. Plop 1 Tbsp butter in the middle as you crank the heat to High. Toss in the handful of spinach and stir as the butter begins to melt.

While the spinach starts to wilt in the pan, quickly open your can of diced tomatoes. Use the lid to strain out the extra liquid into your sink.

Once the spinach is looking limp, dump in garlic powder, spicy-heat-spice of your choosing and salt to taste. Stir that. 

Now dump in the tomatoes.

Bring the sauce to a quick boil, then turn the heat down to about Medium. Add a pinch of brown sugar if the tomatoes aren't sweet enough when tasting the sauce. Also, feel free to utilize the full breadth of your spice rack here. I tossed in some fennel seed and chipotle peppers. 

Once your pasta finishes up, pour it into your sieve to get rid of the excess water. Now, dump those noodles into your sauce pan with the red sauce.

Let that hang out for 1 - 2 minutes. Serve (at this point you could also grate some parmesan, but I didn't have any or really miss it because the flavors melded so well). 

Aged Pecorino with Walnuts and Truffle Honey [Zack]

Lauren and I spent a day cooking and taking food photographs with her sister Kaitlin (super cool sister) and Kaitlin's fiancee Ricky (super badass professional photographer). We started the day by going to the Cleveland West Side Market, then we moved on to an Asian supermarket. We spent 7 hours cooking, laughing, and taking photos. It was a total blast. While we were starting to get our ingredients and equipment organized, I whipped up a fast appetizer so people wouldn't get too hungry while we were cooking.

If you haven’t tried Pecorino cheese with honey and walnuts yet, you may be skeptical. This is a traditional Italian preparation that takes advantage of the salty-sweet flavor combination. You can pair Pecorino with a variety of sweet items: figs, pears, honey, jelly/compote, grapes, etc.

If you don’t like to cook, but you want to bring a fancy appetizer or cheese course to a dinner party, this is your ticket. Cut the cheese (heh), sprinkle walnuts over it, and drizzle honey on top. That’s it!

As you can imagine, since this is such a simple combination of items, the quality of the ingredients is key here. If you can, try to go to a nice cheese shop and ask someone about the different types of Pecorino. The more aged the cheese is, the stronger it will taste. I happened upon some truffle honey at the market, but you can use a nice quality regular honey as well. You’ll just miss the back end unmistakable funk of the truffles after you’ve taken a bite.

Process:

There's really not much to say here.  Slice the cheese in the way that you want to serve it.  You can make little squares so people can eat it with toothpics, or longer slices for small plate presentation.

Crumble some walnuts in your hands, and drizzle a good amount of honey on top.  I always end up adding more than I would have guessed because the honey is so darn good.

Ingredients:

Quality Pecorino cheese, aged to your taste (a proper cheese monger will let you try a few varieties)
Crushed walnuts
Truffle honey, or normal honey

Song to drizzle to:  Snoop Dogg - Beautiful

Spinach Fettuccine w/ Seared Scallops [Matt]

I've never attempted to measure my ingredients for making pasta. Half the fun comes from getting your hands into the dough and adding pinches of things as you go along. Here's my best attempt at the process of making fettuccine (supplement with YouTube videos if you're more of a visual learner).

Fettuccine Ingredients:

4 Whole Eggs

3 Additional Egg Yolks

3 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/3 Cup Half-&-Half

1 Teaspoon Sea Salt

(For Spinach variation, food process 2 cups spinach into a minced consistency and add to the bowl)

Since I have no one to impress with fancy cooking antics, I mix my dough in a large mixing bowl. This saves me from dealing with the mess of yolks ingrained into my counter top and keeps flour from going in every direction.

Dump the 3~ cups flour into the large mixing bowl. Make a divot in the center of the flour to put your eggs. Add in the 4 whole eggs and 3 additional yolks (please, do yourself a favor and splurge on the 'cage-free organic'. It REALLY does make a difference with end pasta texture). Add the olive oil, half-&-half, sea salt and spinach (if you're swinging that way).

I use a solid-state whisk to slowly start blending the eggs together. You want to gradually start pulling in flour until it clumps to the point where you wonder why I told you to use a whisk in the first place. Scrape the dough off the whisk with your fingers. Start mashing the dough together in the bowl with your hands until it doesn't really seem like any more flour is getting added to your ball. 

Remove the semi-dough ball from the bowl, flour your counter, and pretend your dough ball is a Bop-It (twist-it, turn-it, mash-it, press-it, etc?). Once your dough ball has reached the strange state of firming up, yet a bit smooth when pulled, put the ball aside under a damp dish towel. Let it rest while you set up your pasta crank.

Once your pasta crank is together, make sure you have some place to rack your pasta. I use pasta rack trees. They're dope.

Take a pinch of dough, you'll really have to eyeball it, and run through the crank in descending numerical order. Fold the dough over a few times when putting it through the initial notch 8, eventually progressing down to notch 2 (second to last as far as thickness).

I recommend dusting your counter / the bottom of the rolled pasta sheet with flour. This will help prevent the pasta sheet from sticking as it slides through the machine.

Run the sheet of dough through the fettuccine crank attachment. Take the shaped pasta and hang it on your drying rack(s). Do this until you're out of dough. 

Scallop Ingredients: 

1 lb Large Bay Scallops

Butter

Salt

Pepper 

Get a big pot of water boiling - add in a splash of olive oil and pinch of salt. This helps the pasta from sticking to itself and raises boiling point. 

Take out your favorite large searing pan. Lightly coat the bottom with melted butter as you bring the heat up to med-high. Lightly dust both sides of the scallops with salt and pepper, then plop them onto the pan. It's key not to shift their position or turn them over until the bottom of scallops have a proper light brown sear, otherwise the meat will tear. The sear will take around 2 - 3 minutes on each side pending heat. The key is to get that golden brown without over cooking the scallops. 

When you are about to turn your scallops over, add your pasta to the boiling water. The pasta, since it's fresh, should only take 2 - 4 minutes to cook (depends on thickness of pasta vs. water temp). Pull out a strand or two and be sure to try it before dumping it into the sieve. 

Time to multi-task. Flip your scallop, then start to heat up a third pan. Add in a splash of olive oil on medium heat to the fresh pan. When your pasta finishes boiling, sieve it, then shake it to get any remaining water out. Dump the pasta into the heated oil. Sauté the pasta for about a minute and a half, then plate. Your scallops will probably finish cooking before the pasta, so put them to the side to rest.

To go next-level, like the dish below, you can sauté onion, asparagus and prosciutto before adding in you pasta. This will take a bit more planning and should be started right around when you dump you pasta in to begin boiling.

Finish with some fresh grated lemon zest and parmesan reggiano.

Best of luck and feel free to experiment once you get the hang of it!

Pork Balls in a Creamy Pasta Sauce [Tom]

Did you ever just want some pasta. Well it was my day off and and had a craving. It is funny when I think back, my Mom would say I have a wollie for such and such a food. I took that to mean a craving.
Sorry no way to explain. But I had a wollie for some pasta and some meat but not red sauce.

So, here we go. I had an idea and went with it. It turned out pretty good. Well at least June said it was good.

This recipe is for Four
Accompany with a salad or some garlic bread or both
So we can get on with this, Yes.

Pork Balls

1 ~ lb Ground Pork
6 ~ 8 Leaves of finely chopped Fresh Basil
2 ~ Cloves of minced Garlic
4 ~ Teaspoons grated Parmesian Cheese
~ Salt and Pepper

In a bowl mix all the ingredients well.
Roll by hand 1" to 1 1/4" balls.
1 lb will make 20 to 24 balls

Place balls in a steamer turn once or twice until balls are whiteish in color. Cook for about 6 minutes.
Set aside.

The Pasta

I used Linguini but I feel Penne would be good too.

1/2 ~ lb Pasta
5 ~ sprigs Chives cut into 1/2" lenghts

The Sauce

2 ~ tbspns Butter
3/4 ~ cup Half and Half
1/2 cup and 1/2 cup of each Parmesian and Romano cheeses mixed
1/4 cup of whipped Cream Cheese

Place a pan with water on the range to boil for the Pasta

On medium heat place Butter in a large sauce pan to melt
Add the Half and Half, Cream Cheese and Cheese mixture
Wisk the mixture until smooth.
Lower the heat and add the Pork balls and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes

Drain cooked Pasta and place into the cream mixture and toss to coat the Pasta

Plate and top with the Chives.
I tossed some torn Basil Leaves on top too

Buon Appetito

Bucatini all'Amatriciana [Rhonda]

Degree of difficulty: easy
Time: the red sauce takes 30 minutes, the Amatriciana part takes 20 minutes
Serves: 8 to 10

Like Tom and June--and possibly all the guests from Lauren and Zack's tiny Italian wedding--Michael and I are already missing Asciano and all the great meals we had in Tuscany. Bucatini all'Amatriciana fills the void. It's based on the recipe in Mario Batali's Molto Italiano cookbook, can easily be doubled to serve a big crowd, and freezes well.

Make the red sauce first.

Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Spanish onions, cut into 1/4 inch dice
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup red wine
6 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme (be sure to use fresh, as it makes a big difference)
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
Four 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
Salt to taste

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for five minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 5 more minutes. Pour the red wine over the onions and reduce  a bit. Add the thyme and carrot and cook until carrot is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes (drain some of their juice out), breaking them up into small chunks, and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt.


Amatriciana
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
18 ounces thinly sliced guanciale, pancetta or good bacon (I used uncured bacon, cut into small pieces)
2 red onions, cut lengthwise in half and then into 1/4-inch thick half-moons
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes (or to taste)
Tomato sauce (see above recipe)
1 to 1/2 pounds bucatini
Freshly grated pecorino romano or parmigiano-reggiano

Bring a large pot of water to boil for the bucatini.

Meanwhile, saute the bacon in a large saute pan (in batches) until done but not cripsy. Remove bacon from pan, retaining drippings. Pour off some of the drippings and cook the onions and garlic in the saute pan. Sprinkle with hot red pepper flakes. Stir onion mixture and reserved bacon into tomato sauce.

Cook bucatini (or fettucine in my case, since we were out of bucatini) to al dente. Drain. Mix a little of the sauce into the noodles, Stir. Plate. Add mounds of Amatriciana sauce to top the noodles, sprinkle the grated cheese over and serve.

Suggested soundtrack: Luciano Pavarotti's "Torna a Sorrento"