Mama Mia! – Fresh Pasta

Hello again, friends!  I was doing some experimenting in the kitchen this weekend, and I stumbled across my Imperia pasta roller (which, incidentally I bought three years ago and never used).  Given my obsession with Italian food, and how I prefer making everything I can from scratch, I decided to give fresh pasta a whirl. 

I’ve got no fewer than 10 cookbooks of various kinds sitting around, and I figured that I would be able to get the gist of homemade pasta from at least one of them.  So, I compared some recipes, made a few notes, and came up with what I think is the 98% solution.  Of course, that’s a fancy way of saying that it’s super easy and requires only two ingredients: eggs and flour. 

Given all the fancy gadgets and doodads in the modern kitchen, it was refreshing to make something simple and without all that stuff.  So here’s the skinny: put about 2¼ cups of flour in a bowl and then reach in a make a well in the center with your fingers.  Make sure it’s big enough to hold the three eggs that you’re going to crack in the middle.  Well, get to it…I’ll wait. 

Once you’ve cracked the eggs in the middle, very carefully start to whip them up with a fork, slowly drawing in flour from the sides of the well, but NOT breaking the wall of the well. 

 

Basically, keep the eggs in the middle, and keep whipping them around, reaching into the sides of the well a little more each time until the eggs aren’t runny anymore, then just get your hands in there and mix it up.  

If you need to add a little water, do so a tablespoon at a time.  I had to add two since I had everything all bundled up and had extra flour left over. 

 

Keep kneading and folding until you get a slightly moist ball of dough that looks about like this.

Now wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. 

When it comes time to roll it out, you have a couple of options.  Whip out your pasta roller (hence the reason I’m writing this in the first place), or limber up and get out the old rolling pin.  If you use the roller, you still need to spend some time with the rolling pin. 

 

 Either way, work in batches and flatten the dough out until you have the thickness you want.  In the roller, work from the widest setting to about the middle setting.  If it’s too thin, the cutter will just make a mess of it.

Ok, from here on out, I’m just going to talk about the machine.  Like I said, roll the sheets out to a medium thickness.  Each quarter of the ball of dough will roll out to about 2 feet or more of pasta.  I rolled each one out individually and then sent them through the cutter one after the other.
 

 

 

 

Sure, it takes a little technique (which I barely have), but it worked out ok.  Now when you’re done, make sure to dust each batch with flour and then twist them into neat little nests. 

If you cook the pasta right away, it’s totally ready.  If not, wrap it in something airtight and refrigerate.  When you do cook it, realize that it only takes about 3 minutes, so get your water to a rolling boil, drop it in, and be ready to fish it out quickly.  Too long, and it’ll be mushy.  Then of course toss it with your favorite sauce and enjoy. 

Well, friends, I hope you find this as easy and rewarding as I did.  As always, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.  Feel free to email me at fearnotyourkitchen@gmail.com with anything you’ve got, or send me a tweet @fearlessfoodguy. 

Until next time, friends!

On Twitter!

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Just thought I'd let you know that I'm up with the times now.  Social media has gotten its hooks in me.  Follow my blog on Twitter @FearlessFoodGuy

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OUTSIDE THE BOX – STRAWBERRY ROSEMARY JAM WITH PINK PEPPERCORNS



The Palette

Hello again, friends!  I’ve been on quite a roll lately, and I’m really excited to share this latest mini-adventure with you.  I’ve recently taken an interest in canning/preserving foods, and that means I get to open up a fresh box of awesome when it comes to trying something new.  I’ve mentioned before how I grew up on a farm, and how my family made everything from scratch.  Well, canning and preserving was a big part of that.  More than anything, I’m trying to ensure that this family skill doesn’t just fade away.  And as I’ve talked about before, I’m loathe to waste anything, so this method of food preparation is right up my alley.  And if you feel the same way I do about getting creative with ingredients you can’t use before they go bad, then get comfortable and pay attention.

My family took a mini-vacation to visit Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins, leaving me home alone to fend for myself.  Now, of course I miss them, but it also gives me a great deal of freedom in the kitchen to do some…experimenting [insert mad scientist diabolical laugh here].  So, given my recent leanings toward learning how to preserve food, I took a spin through the refrigerator to see what sort of palette of goodies I had to work with.  And hey, I found a quart of beautiful strawberries that looked like they were about to go south.  I also found a package of fresh rosemary in about the same situation, and the thought struck me: how good would it be to make a fresh jam from both of them?  Brilliant!

Now, I’ve never heard of a strawberry and rosemary jam, but the combination makes a lot of sense to me.  Here’s how I see it: strawberries are floral and acidic, with a very distinct, biting sweetness.  Rosemary is my go-to Italian herb of choice, and I’ve paired it with everything from tomatoes to ricotta cheese.  Something inside my brain just clicked, and I felt that it would be the perfect combination.  I’ve done some experiments with diametrically opposed flavor profiles in the past, and I’m a big fan.  Sweet/savory; hot/sweet; sweet/acid…these are all things that I’ve made work in the past.  I figured that sweet/woodsy would be just as good.

The story doesn’t end here, friends.  The more I thought about the combination, the more I thought that it would need one more thing to really tie it together, otherwise it would just be a jar of strawberry jam that tasted of rosemary.  So I took a spin through the spice cabinet, looking for just the right bridge between the sweet, floral notes of the strawberry and the piney, woodsy loveliness of the rosemary.  Something to punch you right in your flavor-maker.  Yep, I found it: PINK PEPPERCORNS!!

For those of you who may never have heard of pink peppercorns, it really is the perfect bridge between the fruit world and the herbaceous world.  It’s got the hallmark flavor of black pepper, albeit not as assertive, but it also hits you with a real aromatic note of florality (is that a word?).  It really ties the two main ingredients together without detracting from the flavor profile of the jam.

So what did I do, you might ask…well, here we go.  Let’s cut to the chase.  This isn’t going to be symposium on canning, but I will list some of the very basics.  First of all, I cleaned my jars – I bought a case of 1-pint wide-mouth mason jars – and then placed them in a simmering water bath to sterilize them.  I only used two jars for this recipe since I only had a quart of strawberries to work with.  While this was going on, I cleaned and destemmed my berries.  Basically, I just pulled the tops off and then cored out the stump with a paring knife.  Yes, you could just cut the whole top off and speed things up, but remember, I don’t like to waste anything.

Once my strawberries were cleaned and destemmed, I mashed them in a large glass measuring cup.  I started with roughly 4 cups of whole berries and ended up with 2 cups of mashed berries.  My recipe called for a great deal more, so I made the right adjustment with the sugar.  For two cups of berries, I used 3 cups of sugar.  I also used one whole 3oz. package of liquid fruit pectin.  You can get this in the canning section of any store.  Pectin helps your jam set properly; otherwise you’ll just have a really nice glaze or pancake syrup and not a nice, solid jam.  I’m sure I used way too much given the amount of mashed berries I had, but anecdotally you can’t use too much (in all fairness, I’m sure there are limits, but I’m not a food scientist).  You want it to set.  Period.

Anyhoo, I put my mashed berries in a saucepan and added the pectin.  I gently brought it to a rolling boil, stirring often.  Once it boils, add your sugar all at once and return it to a full boil for 1 full minute.  Use a bigger saucepan than you think you need because it will try very hard to boil over.

WARNING: LIQUID, BOILING SUGAR IS NASTY.  I TREAT IT LIKE LAVA. YOU DON’T WANT TO GET HOT SUGAR ON YOUR SKIN.  NO BUENO.  JUST BE CAREFUL, M’KAY.

Ok, once it boils for a minute, remove it from the heat and skim off the foam with a spoon.  I haven’t read anything that says this step has to be perfect, but do your best.  Once I got the majority of the foam out of there, I stirred in 1Tbs. of finely chopped rosemary and 1Tbs. of pink peppercorns.  Don’t be tempted to overdo the peppercorns.  I may have used a rounded Tbs. of them, and trust me…a little goes a long way.  Did I mention not to overdo it?

Once I had everyone stirred in, I filled my jars with the magma-hot liquid using a canning funnel and ladle.  This amount of material gave me one whole pint jar plus one more nearly full.  I think if I’d had 2 ½ cups of mashed berries and used 3 ½ cups of sugar, I’d have had two full pints.  Oh, BTW, fill the jars to within ¼ inch of the top.  Then add your lids and rings and process them in a boiling water bath for 5-7 minutes.  Just go to any canning website for a basic run-through.  Remove from the bath and set on a towel or rack to cool overnight.  Oh, and by the way, they’re going to be HOT for a while.  If you have kids with curious hands like I do, get the jars well out of reach.

 

 

If you end up with any jars that aren’t filled completely, don’t bother with the canning routine.  You want to enjoy it anyway.  Let those jars cool on the countertop for a couple hours and then just put them in the fridge.  I waited overnight for the jam to set, and then had some this morning on toast made from my homemade bread.  Super money!

Well, that’s it, friends.  I just wanted to share my little adventure with you, and encourage you to step outside the box and try something new every once in a while.  If you’re curious about different herb/flavor/etc. combinations, drop me a comment or send me an email to fearnotyourkitchen@gmail.com and we can explore your idea.  As always, if you want to just tell me about your own cool kitchen adventure, or point out something I could do better, I’m all ears!

Until next time, friends!

RISE TO THE OCCASION - HERBY ITALIAN BREAD

Hello again, friends, and welcome to another installment of the Blog!

Today is going to be a special one, and you’ll see why in just a few minutes.  First, ask yourself what your favorite smells are.  Fresh flowers?  Pizza?  Hot cookies fresh out of the oven?  Hold that thought, and think of how those scents make you feel, and when you smell them when you’re out and about, what do they remind you of?

The reason I’m asking you those questions before getting to the heart of the matter is that this Blog post is going to hit at one of the most powerful things that I can remember growing up.  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I grew up on a farm in rural Montana, and my mom and both grandmas used to make everything from scratch.  Jams, pickles, breads, and even macaroni and cheese were all homemade, as the nearest town with a decent grocery story was over 30 miles away.

Memory is a powerful thing, especially when it comes to smells.  When I think back to those simple days as a kid on the farm, I can start to smell the chicken coop, the dirt on the gravel road, the lilac bushes around Grandma’s garden that attracted the bees, and even the smell of Grandma’s house itself (a century-old farmhouse from the Homestead Act days).  Even as I’m writing these words, my mind goes back to the days before I was even 4 feet tall, and I can clearly recall – and even smell – the warm, inviting, wafting deliciousness of Mom’s kitchen on fall afternoons after school when she had decided to make homemade bread.

Now, my mom’s homemade bread isn’t the subject of this Blog, but I’m going to hit you with something equally as awesome.  I’ve been making this at home for a couple years now – more recently – and it’s one of the most amazing, quick, easy bread recipes that I know.  And when you pop the loaves in the oven, it doesn’t take long before your entire house is filled with the soothing, aromatic promise of hot, fresh bread.  I don’t know about you, but it’s enough to soothe any savage beast.  There’s just nothing quite like fresh bread right out of the oven.

Ok, let’s get to it.  This recipe makes two loaves of bread, and they’re going to be a little smaller than a “standard” loaf of sandwich bread.  But because it’s so easy, it’ll be ok that you gobble it up as fast as you can make it.  And trust me, you’re want to go get your paws on some good olive oil and some aged Balsamic vinegar.  You’ll thank me.

You’re going to need a few things before you get started.  You’ll need some sort of mixer with a dough hook (or mixing bowl and a stiff wooden spoon if you don’t have one), a glass bowl big enough for a volleyball, yeast, olive oil, butter, flour, sugar, salt, water, and fresh herbs.  For my herbs I use half rosemary and half thyme, although this bread works beautifully with either one.  Another alternative is fresh oregano.  It’s really your choice; this is a win-win-win sort of deal.

First, fill a glass measuring cup with 1c. of warm – not hot – water.  If it’s too hot, it’ll kill the yeast.  No Bueno.  Add 1Tbsp. of sugar and 1 packet of yeast (1/4 oz.).  If you’re using yeast out of the jar, then 1/4oz. = 2 ¼ tsp.  Let that get happy for about 5 minutes, or until it’s really frothy.  Meanwhile, melt 2Tbsp. of butter in the microwave (or you could just let it get to a nice, soft room temperature, but that’ll be awhile).  Pour the yeast mixture and the butter (make sure the butter isn’t too hot!!) into the bowl of your mixer, add 2Tbsp. of olive oil, 1tsp. of salt, and about 2-3 Tbsp. of whatever herbs you’re using.  Make sure the herbs are chopped up nice and fine.  Finally, add 2 ½ c. of flour and start the mixer on low speed with the dough hook attached.  If you’re using the bowl-and-wooden-spoon method, get your elbow grease out and start going.

As the mixer goes, you’ll start to see the dough come together.  After it starts to form into one mass, let it go for about another 5 minutes, and then turn off the mixer and see how sticky it is.  With the 2 ½ cups of flour you already added, it should be firm and a tiny bit tacky, but not overly sticky or loose.  If it is, add ½ c. flour and try again.  Once it’s the right consistency, knead in the mixer or by hand for 10 minutes.  Put about 1 Tbsp. olive oil into the glass bowl and turn the dough out into it.  Personally, I like to manhandle the dough for a few minutes before I put it in the bowl with oil.  I turn it over a few times in my hands and shape it into a ball.  What can I say?  I love handling dough J

Roll the dough over a couple times to coat evenly with oil, then cover the bowl with a clean dishtowel and let it rise until roughly doubled in size.  How long this takes depends on how healthy your yeast is, how much of the sugar they decided to eat, and how warm your kitchen is.  Just walk away and give it awhile.  I start with about an hour.  Once it’s doubled in size, take a cookie sheet and grease it lightly with olive oil.  Remove the towel from the dough bowl and (literally) punch the dough down.  Yes, I really do mean punch it.  You’ll notice it’s light and airy; evidence that the yeast has been working hard.  Remove the punched-down dough from the bowl and divide in half.  Shape each half of the bread into nice rounds and place them on the oiled baking sheet.  Cover again with the towel and let rise until roughly doubled.  After about 45 minutes, you should be about there, and the unbaked loaves should looking something like this: 

While the rounds are rising for the final time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees (350 if you have a convection oven) and make sure the rack is in the middle.  Once you’re satisfied that they’ve risen as much as they need, throw them in the oven for 20 minutes.  Yep, that’s it.  Once 20 minutes is up, they should be nice and golden on the top and should sound a bit hollow when tapped.  Oh, and one more thing…your whole house should smell AWESOME!!

Once the bread comes out of the oven, I like to brush the top with some melted butter.  You don’t have to, but I prefer it.  It certainly doesn’t make or break the experience, so do one of each if you want to compare.  All said and done, you’ll get two loaves that look something like this:

Now, I believe I mentioned something about oil and Balsamic vinegar…tear into this bread and get to work!

Ok, well that about does it for the Blog this time.  Try this awesome bread out and see what you think.  Feel free to leave me a comment, or send me an email at fearnotyourkitchen@gmail.com if you want to let me know if you tweaked anything that turned out awesome.

Until next time, friends!