# Challenge June 2013 - Pasta !



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Thank you GeneMachine for passing the torch. The Offal challenge was met with great success by everyone. I gave this new challenge some thought and hope that this new challenge would be met with interest.

*Challenge for June , Pasta !*

Yes Pasta, made your way. With spring almost gone and a step into summer , there is nothing more enjoyable than a pasta dish be it hot or cold. Any type is welcome, any color and all techniques . Whether your presentation is funny or serious , just enjoy creating it.

Fresh or boxed pasta are accepted as well as any accompanying ingredients.

"So now ChefTalk members , with an open heart and an empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle: 'Allez cuisine! "








When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool....
That's amore !


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Ohh, yeah. I like this. Thanks for taking over, petals! I think, this time it's gonna be me to present multiple entries here...

Just for clarification - are we talking Italian pasta in particular or is it meant to extend to noodle dishes all over the world?


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Oh yes, all over the world /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I like this oodles of noodles challenge.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

This might be the impetus to get me making fresh pasta.

mjb.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

OH YUS IM THE FIRST TO MAKE THE FIRST PASTA DISH XDDD

SO HERE IT IS...

I made a fresh homemade penne , with fried eggplant strips , fresh sugo , with basil and parmesian cheese.

The eggplant was fried first. The sugo was homeade with a quick mirepoix , tomatoes , and some pumpkin was also used to get a nice rich color. I had first let the basil cook a bit in the sugo before adding the fresh penne and then the eggplant. The cheese was just to top it off.

Also having a sucky cellphone camera isnt all that great , so the colors dont look as cool as in real life. But it was delicious.





  








fresh penne with eggplant and cheese.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 1, 2013








The head chef at the restaurante i work at is also my mentor. She lived quite a few years in Italy so im glad she passed along her tips (especially when it comes to pasta making).

Def gonna be my favorite challenge after all XD


----------



## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

How did you get the diagonal cuts on the ends of the penne-rigate? 

All of my home-made attempts have semi-squared off ends... as it's cut when being extruded?

Should I just make long tubes and cut on a board?

It's probably obvious but i'm not seeing it.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Great job KaiqueKuisine, it is a lovely looking dish and your penne ' rigate ' (type) looks absolutely perfect ( I can't make it like that ) with the homemade sugo . Well done ! I am sure it tasted great. Should you decide to enter more dishes, please feel free. You have officially kicked off the thread ./img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif

@ MJB: We are looking forward to your dish and can't wait to see what you have in store.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

MichaelGA said:


> How did you get the diagonal cuts on the ends of the penne-rigate?
> 
> All of my home-made attempts have semi-squared off ends... as it's cut when being extruded?
> 
> Should I just make long tubes and cut on a board?


Just saw your post Michael, same thought. There is something for me to learn here.


----------



## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Oh... and by the way - I should have said that dish looks great!

I was just in awe of the pasta precision and I forgot to mention it.

I'll try even harder to get into this challenge but lately all i've been cooking is cold Farm-Boy (a canadian grocery store - kinda like Whole Foods) salads as work has been a real pita... and the weather is stupid. Thunderstorms - Heat - Humidity - Repeat

..............

Here is a good - inspirational video of the "*you-can-do-it*" kind - a few minor mistakes (technique & explanation) but overall a decent job of showing how it's done.










Hope the accent doesn't bother you!

Good Luck and Happy Cooking!


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

MichaelGA said:


> How did you get the diagonal cuts on the ends of the penne-rigate?
> 
> All of my home-made attempts have semi-squared off ends... as it's cut when being extruded?
> 
> ...


LOL trust me they are not that perfect , you just have to be extremely OCD to stay there for like an hour attempting to make them look semi perfect XD.

I once attempted rolling the pasta around a cylinder and cutting the edges around the cylinder to get cleaner cuts ( obviously doing them one by one ) , but thats just because i was bored , dont attempt it if you want a pasta dish in under 40 minutes and your famished lololol.

ALSO i use a rolling pin , because i lack a pasta roller at home ( tradition italian pasta makers use alot of pins ) , it was actually pretty fun and tiresome at the same time.

BUT... since im usually responsible for at least 1 homeade pasta dish at the restaurant im working at lets see if i can make anything great tomx. If not i guess ill use idustrialized pasta instead (even tho i would secretly hate it).


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

MichaelGA said:


> Oh... and by the way - I should have said that dish looks great!
> 
> I was just in awe of the pasta precision and I forgot to mention it.
> 
> ...


He lost abit of credibility to me when he used the food processor.

I would have loved to see him explain why adding eggs then flour , instead of flour then eggs would have sucha huge difference.

He used the word silky like 3 times XD

But that blue apron of his just made my heart throb....


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Jamie Oliver also did the food processor thing in one of his shows. While I like this kind of videos for showing how simple it can be, I still prefer the slow method. Knead for at least 10 minutes, let it rest for an hour. Might just be my imagination, but I think it improves the texture.

Also, KaiqueKuisine - nice way to start off the challenge! I have a roller at home, but no extruder, so my home-made pasta is usually lasagne or tagliatelle, or if I feel like work, something pin-rolled and hand-shaped like orechiette. I think I need more tools...


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So I guess im will go back to back this time.

GeneMachine inspired me to post this one

So here is is homemade tagliatelle with a fresh ragu. Pretty simple but it was nice ( al dente ) and lovely.

Again a sucky cellphone camera is a no go on picture taking XD .





  








tagliatelli with ragu.jpg 2.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 2, 2013


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

A quick dinner tonight, nothing special.  Some fried rice and frozen potstickers.  You know, those little balls of meat and such wrapped in a pasta like shell and ....  hmmm.

mjb.


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I made some simple fried noodles





  








ingredients.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 3, 2013








ingredients: tomato, bacon, yellow paprika (top, left to right)

garlic/madame jeanette mixture, birds eye chili, cilantro stems, lemon grass and leek (bottom, more or less left to right)

I made a paste of the chili's garlic, cilantro stems and lemon grass





  








paste.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 3, 2013








Then fried the paste, added the other ingredients and the rice noodles (that had been soaked in water for half an hour or so)





  








close to end product.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 3, 2013








I ate it with a fried egg on top, but I have no picture of the finished product. I was too hungry !!!

The Madame Jeannette chili is a very fragrant and very hot chili and is also know as Surinam Yellow and looks like a Scotch Bonnet, but I think they are different chili's.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Hello there Butzy! Using Madame Jeannette? Allow me to quote the immortal words of the famous miss Paris Hilton; ..._that's hot_...

Your dish sounds very tasty. I never worked with rice noodles but I'm going to, thanks for the inspiration!


----------



## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Couple great articles to help everyone out.
[h1]How To Make Fresh Pasta[/h1]
http://www.cheftalk.com/a/how-to-make-fresh-pasta
[h1]How to make pasta[/h1]
http://www.cheftalk.com/g/a/126655/how-to-make-pasta/


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ KaiqueKuisine : Glad to see that GM inspired such a great dish. You have spot on technique. Your phone is working fine. If you tap on the picture the frame will enlarge and we get a closer look at your work. Well Done ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ mjb : potstickers count, where is the pic ? Are you teasing us ?

@ Butzy : I wholeheartedly agree with Chris, that dish looks incredibly good , with an egg on top ? You rock . BTW thanks for posting your mise. Don't be shy to post more dishes, June has just started . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Found an article with some info and questions and thought I would post it :

Hello Mr. Hoseney,

I'm a culinary student, and we've been studying pastry. I've read McGee's book on Food and Science, and I've hounded my professors, but I still don't understand about gluten. Specifically this:

1) When you're kneading, the dough becomes tougher the more you handle the dough. Before baking it, you need to let it "relax," to keep the dough from going "short" (which means shrinking?). If the gluten's protein strands straighten out during the kneading process, wouldn't they become MORE relaxed from kneading, not less? Wouldn't they tighten up more when you STOPPED kneading? It's counterintuitive.

2) High protein flour is used for bread and other doughs, like pasta dough, that need to be stiffer. Still don't get it. What is the relationship between the gluten content and how the dough rises or handles? (Leads to question #3.)

3) If the higher the gluten content, the tougher the flour, then why do you use high gluten flour when you need the product to rise more? I thought the yeast is what affects how much the bread rises. Why is the amount of air incorporated into the product effected by the gluten content of the flour?

I don't understand the connections. Is there a simple way to explain it to a layperson? Thank you for any clues you can provide!

Lucy,
You have a good set of questions. I am not sure I can answer them all here. You may want to obtain a copy of my book "Principle of Cereal Science and Technology" published by the American Association of Cereal Chemists in St. Paul.
When you develop gluten or dough you are causing the gluten strands (bundles of molecules) to interact with each other. The interaction of entanglement causes the dough to become stronger. With time the entanglements become less and the dough relaxes. Question 3, the higher amount of gluten is needed as it relates the the thickness of the gluten that surrounds the starch and air cells in the dough. If the thichness of the cell wall becomes to thin the dough become too hard to expand (it is a phenomena called strain hardening). I hope you find the above helpful

Carl Hoseney

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Food-Science-1425/Gluten-its-action-dough.htm Food for thought. Any comments are welcome


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

I was too busy in May to take part in the challenge, but pasta? I hope I will be able to take part this time! One technical question though - do things like gnocchi count? Or things like pierogi/pelmeni? I'm keen on Italian pasta dishes, but I was thinking we could enrich the challenge with dishes that, while made of flour, do not exactly resemble noodles.

Also, will we have wild mushrooms as a challenge sometime? Could be nice.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

_*"do things like gnocchi count? Or things like pierogi/pelmeni?"*_

Good questions, and yes, they are all accepted in this challenge.

If you win this challenge then you get to pick your secret ingredient. If it's mushrooms, then mushrooms it is !


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Aha, so that's how it works. Thanks for clarification.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

What I like about pasta is it's versatility going from gastronomic to totally simple or "MOFMOF" as I heard Antonio Carlucchio call it; Minimum Of Fuss, Maximum Of Flavor. 

I often make pasta dishes without any meat in them.

*Round #1 on macaroni*. I found this recipe last week in a new issue of a dutch food magazine on Italian cooking. The recipe is called "maccheroncini alle nocciole", let's call it _macaroni and nuts _so everyone understands. Also, I still remembered and was inspired by Ordo's thread on walnut sauce: http://www.cheftalk.com/t/75827/walnut-sauce

It is a very simple recipe that uses hazelnuts and pistacchios, but I'm sure it can be done with walnuts, pecans or even almonds. They suggest to go for peeled hazelnuts, I recommend it very, very strongly: what a mess peeling these little bstrds!!

Basically, the sauce is made by roasting half of the peeled hazelnuts in a dry pan until golden. Add mascarpone, milk (around 20% of the mascarpone), nutmegg, salt, pepper and a very good squeeze of lemon juice.

Boil the pasta, mix into the nut sauce and serve with the remaining hazelnuts, roughly cut, plus a sprinkle of pistacchios and some olive oil. One thing; make small portions, it's quite "filling". My own points on yummie-ness; a modest 6,5/10.






  








macaroniNoten1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013











  








macaroniNoten2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013








Do buy peeled hazelnuts! What a mess...






  








macaroniNoten3.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013











  








macaroniNoten4.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013












*Round #2 on macaroni*. Actually, this was a fabrication of left-over macaroni from round #1 and left-over ratatouille. Let's call this one _macaroni with ratatouille and gremolata_.

Ratatouille was made by sweating onion, garlic, pinch of chili flakes. Add all other ingredients nicely chopped and 1/2 cup of water to get everything started, lid on. I used a lot of fresh herbes from the garden; basil, sage, tarragon, thyme and lemon thyme, sarriette (=savory??). Cook until done.

Eat like that warm or cold. Can be served with lots of meats or fish. Here, mixed with macaroni, topped with a little gremolata (chopped parcely, garlic and lemon zeste) and a drizzle of olive oil. My own points this time; 8/10.






  








ratatouille1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013











  








ratatouille2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013















  








ratatouille4.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013











  








ratatouille5.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013















  








ratatouille6.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013











  








ratatouilleMacaroniGremolata.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 3, 2013


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Exceptional pasta Chris. And pro picks.

Yes: walnut sauce is strong. Got to have it in small portions.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Folks, we have a triple hitter !!! And he even rates his own dishes.

Chris, vibrant and colorful & incredible looking pasta dishes. Thank you for sharing the details of your dishes.

I think your a little hard on yourself point wise. They are all top dishes in my opinion.

Your cooking inspires us. Thank you the great post. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif The month is just beginning.......if you get the itch to post a few more, please by all means.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

AHHHHHHHHHH Chris stole the spotlight XD .

*so... here we have it... YAKISOBA!!!*

*Thats right fresh yakisoba!!!*

*




  








yakisoba (2).jpg





kaiquekuisine



Jun 3, 2013







*


*I had used chicken and beef , seared them in a freaking hot pan with oil . *

*Added some carrots ( that were cut in bastonetes ) , let them cook but remained their crunchiness , added in the peppers , then the onions , (didnt have any brocolli or cauliflower so it lacked a bit of color ). Added the noodles let them cook through with the veg and meat , then added the soy sauce ( that had a mixture of a bit of flour and water just so they would glue to the noodles better ) . sauteed for about 2 -3 minuted enough for the soy sauce to caramalize a bit , and plated ( also some ginger Works Wonders in this dish as well ). *



*Vegetables were cut all in diferente forms:*

*Carrots in bastonetes , almost like a thick version of julienne. *

*Peppers were cut in long strips. *

*Onions were cut like crescente moons then chopped in half. *

*Chicken and beef were also cut in thick strips as well. *

*Recommendation: If u use broccoli blanch them( same goes for cauliflower) , so they are easier to cook , and absorb some of the soy sauces and or gingers flavor. *

*Obs. Remember yakisoba has to have some crunchiness to it so dont let the food sit there cooking for minutes (yakisoba takes 5-8 minutes to make if you have a freaking hot pan ) , just make sure you have your noodles al dente before hand to add them to the mixture. *

*If i was to rate the dish i would probably give it a 8/10 , but looking at it from this angle with this horrible lighting i give it a 7/10 XD*

*Well there you have it a quick and easy homemade yakisoba. *



*BTW CHRIS LOVED YOUR DISHES , THEY LOOKED AMAZING. *


----------



## sonecac (Aug 11, 2012)

100_6688.JPG




__
sonecac


__
Jun 4, 2013








Here is the dish my GF jokingly calls "cardinal nest". Fresh pasta with a cream sauce, boiled quail eggs and smoked sausage crunchy bits. Normally I add parsley and julliened carrots for freshness and presentation but today my pantry was totally empty.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks people! I hope I inspired many more CTers to post a pasta dish or recipe too. Even the simplest ingredients can be used to make a nice pasta dish, a traditional one or a completely improvised one.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*entry 1. pummarola*

I've already posted my favorite Italian pasta dishes but for the sake of the challenge, i'll post again. The key to Italian cooking is "less is more" - Italians don;t like food that is "sofisticato" - which means both sophisticated but also overly manipulated with stuff that's not really wholesome. Also presentation is generally simple. A little parsley or basil (depending on the ingredients) on top, maybe. Sometimes. If someone "plated" pasta I think it would be considered a sign of something too "sofisticato" and looked on with suspicion. If you're making a spiral of the spaghetti, people will think you're spending too much time handling it and it's bound to be too cold.

But one problem is that the real beauty of italian dishes is the local ingredients, locally picked and usually not refrigerated. So try to get the best ingredients you can. If the carrots and celery still have the leaves on top, they're probably fresh, because the leaves deteriorate first. The onions should be hard and tight like baseballs. You should be able to smell the tomatoes before cutting them.

Anyway, here is my favorite pasta sauce of all, "Pummarola" simply means "tomato" in Neapolitan dialect.

*pummarola:*

Take the best *tomatoes* you can find, red, ripe, sweet, or good canned tomatoes.

add a stalk of *celery*, a *carrot*, an *onion* (i would use a tropea onion, long, red, and very sweet) and a couple of *garlic* cloves. No herbs, they would overpower the dish. The idea is you should be able to taste the tomato, the celery, the carrot and the onion.

Put them all, cut roughly in large chunks, in a heavy bottomed saucepan, with *salt* and *pepper*. Cook slowly until the juices run, mashing up the tomatoes a little to facilitate the process, and let it cook till the vegetables are tender and NO LONGER than that. The taste depends on the freshness of the flavors, not over cooked (not all tomato sauce simmers all day). And the fact that the aromatic vegetables are cooked in the tomato and not in oil or butter makes the flavor all the more fresh-tasting.

Once the vegetables are soft, pass it through a food mill (traditional way) or use an immersion blender. If you use a regular blender, either let it cool a lot first or put only one ladelful at a time in or it will spatter you all over and give you some nasty burns.

Cook the *pasta* (I definitely prefer the dried pasta, preferably the kind that's made with a bronze extruder and the surface looks sort of white and rough). When al dente, drain, immediately put two or three handfuls of *grated parmigiano* and a chunk of *butter* on it - DON'T STIR or all the cheese will stick to the pot and the spoon and not to the pasta) and leave a minute till the cheese begins to melt. WITHOUT STIRRING add the sauce, THEN mix it all up together. The cheese and butter will meld into the sauce and the pasta.

I really recommend you try this, using the best absolutely freshest local ingredients possible. (tomatoes can be canned, and will have to be except for the very short growing season they may have in your area). This is the best of italian cooking, simple, identifiable flavors. I would put a picture but you'd just see pasta with red sauce, looking pretty much like any other red sauce.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*entry 2: pasta with cauliflower*

again, this is not worth photographing, it just looks like pasta with a sort of mush on it. You probably won;t try making it but ask those who have, it's way different than what you might imagine. The cauliflower acquires a sort of faintly sweet taste, with a hint of hot from the red pepperoncini and richness of the garlic.

Take a whole head of *cauliflower* - a medium head is good for about four people.

Break or cut it into flowerets. Take all but the smallest ones and slit up the stem into quarters. The largest width of the stems should be about 1/4 inch. The top parts with the "flower" cook more quickly so they can be a little bigger. If your cauliflower is very big the bottom branches will need to be cut up more, and cut crosswise as well.

Take a large, heavy frying pan. Put about an eighth of an inch of *olive oil *on the bottom and add about *6 or 8 garlic cloves* cut in slices (they could brown too much if they're cut too small since this cooks a long time)

Add three or four *small chili peppers* (pepperoncini) *or* a half a tsp or more *hot red pepper flakes*..

Add the cauliflower and *salt* and cook at the lowest possible temperature possible, covered.

Stir occasionally, don;t let it get brown if not towards the end, when it will get a light hazel color, which is the sugar of the cauliflower gradually and evenly caramelizing.

Much of the cauliflower will have become mush, the rest should be very soft.

Boil short pasta, like rigatoni, and when al dente, put a handful of *grated parmigiano* on it, let it sit half a minute till the cheese begins to melt, but DON';T MIX IT or it will all stick to the pot and the spoon. Then without stirring, add the cauliflower and stir.

Dish it out home style and pass the parmigiano.

People who claim to hate cauliflower love it if you don't tell them what it is. (come on guys, i tried stringbeans with tomato sauce)


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ KaiqueK : So you went into the zone ....ソース焼きそば Good for you ! Thank you for taking the time to describe your dish for the folks who are just now learning about it and for telling us what knife cuts you used to prepare your dish. An 8/10 ? Not bad. Comfort food is always a high number, and deserves to be. When you have a chance could you tell us how you got your noodles so thin, used a machine/extruder ?

Again very nice . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Can't wait to see what is next up your sleeve ?

@ SonecaC : I love all the components of your dish (fresh pasta - good). The "cardinal nest" is a good name for this dish. Your use of quail eggs was cool, have you ever fried one sunnyside up and place it on top of the pasta ? If you haven't , try it sometime as it adds a different dimension to the dish. I like the smoked sausage idea as well. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Can't wait to see your next post (if you plan on submitting again)

@ Siduri : *"But one problem is that the real beauty of italian dishes is the local ingredients, locally picked and usually not refrigerated. So try to get the best ingredients you can. If the carrots and celery still have the leaves on top, they're probably fresh, because the leaves deteriorate first. The onions should be hard and tight like baseballs. You should be able to smell the tomatoes before cutting them." *No truer words have ever been said. I like this sauce, it is one of my favorites with the exception that I do put basil in mine. I once dated a gent with the family name Torino from (from Naples), his mother only spoke Italian, I learned alot from her.

Thank you for such a detailed description of this dish. There is alot to be learned from you and we all appreciate your in-depth knowledge of these dishes and the technique that goes into making them.

Your second entry dish was made by FF and he gave a great review. Thank you again for the detailed explanation. In cooking it this way, I would imagine that the cauliflower taste changes into something quite delicate with a hint of a nuttly like taste ? Maybe not.



*"again, this is not worth photographing," *

Oh my, on this one Siduri....Non è vero. Especially your cooking. Please let us enjoy with our eyes.

We are all looking forward to more insight on your pasta dishes , especially those little tricks or techniques that we may not know about . I would like to request something from you ? What is your fondest memory of pasta making ? (if you care to share)

Thank you again, great entries. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

A little something I made yesterday. Nothing special, buttered noodles, that's it !





  








057.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013







3 1/2 cup flour + 2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup of pink water.





  








060.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013







Mix together





  








062.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013







single cuts





  








066.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013







Let dry 15 minutes





  








073.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013







Made sage butter





  








086.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 4, 2013


__
2






placed in a ring, unmold. S&P, shave of parm. Buttered noodles.


----------



## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

I apologize for not having pictures to go along with this....I searched and searched through my photo albums and came up empty. I created this a few years back for a fundraiser.....it is a pasta dish of a different sort... A dessert pasta.....'Dessert Lasagne' to be exact. Soo, please put on your super duper special 3 D imagination glasses and visualize this:
it is constructed to look like a normal meat and cheese 5 layered lasagne. View it as you would a 'center cut' piece of lasagne's side to see all the layers.
In a large shallow wide rimmed bowl is a pool of raspberry sauce(made with gran gala)to stand in for the marinara. Lasagne starts with a fresh pasta sheet brushed with white chocolate. Meat layer is a light chocolate mousse with tuaca, topped with another fresh pasta/white chocolate sheet. Cheese layer is a cannoli filling with ricotta, mascarpone, orange zest and mini chocolate chips. Another fresh pasta/white chocolate sheet is spread with more raspberry- gran gala sauce. White chocolate curls stand in for shaved parmigiano reggiano and mint chiffonade for the basil garnish... I hope that I have explained this satisfactorily enough for you to see and taste in your mind's eye....I am not as articulate as others here, for sure.

oh geez, after all this and on second thought Petals,is this dish even an allowable entry? No worries if it isn't..I'll gladly retract it

okay, how about this dessert pasta dish? this is inspired by petals' simple buttered noodles photo.....I haven't made it nor do i have the pasta making equipment to do so but if i did i would make a strawberry flavored pasta and toss it with a berry 'ragu' ( blueberries, blackberries,raspberries).....white chocolate curls for the parmigiano reggiano and mint chiffonade.....molto allegre bacche!!!!! 


joey

Siduri, I have made your cauliflower pasta....it is most addictive!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Oh Joey.....verrrrry doable. All pasta desserts are accepted. Great thinking (talk about thinking outside the box) , we need that here, a dessert syle pasta dish.

I look forward to any dish you decide to create. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

The beauty is in simplicity, when it comes to Italian pasta!


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

petalsandcoco said:


> A little something I made yesterday. Nothing special, buttered noodles, that's it !
> 
> 
> 
> ...


LOVED IT ... its beautiful...

Today guess i wont be submitting anything ( well at least not that i know of ) since im having a day off XD so i refuse to cook unless i absolutley need to or get inspired.

Anyway the secret to this spaghetti was an extruder i had at home ( i usually try to avoid using it ) but i decided to give it some love yesterday XD.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Hand rolled penne starts with a square shape of pasta, then you roll it from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner. usually around a thin dowel to help form it. Let it dry a bit so it holds it shape when cooked. Extruding is a modern technique. Penne is one of my favorite shapes and I keep a good stock of manufactured extruded penne in my pantry.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

siduri said:


> *entry 2: pasta with cauliflower*
> 
> again, this is not worth photographing, it just looks like pasta with a sort of mush on it. You probably won;t try making it but ask those who have, it's way different than what you might imagine. The cauliflower acquires a sort of faintly sweet taste, with a hint of hot from the red pepperoncini and richness of the garlic.
> 
> ...


Just to vouch for that recipe... I've tried it many times, and it's always a hit. The cauliflower takes on a wonderful caramelized taste (and look). Delicious. Thanks siduri!


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Wonder how beet juice would substitute for pink water?

mjb.


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

teamfat said:


> Wonder how beet juice would substitute for pink water?
> 
> mjb.


Doesn't work. Tried it.

dcarch


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Malloreddus 

I adore Lidia Bastianich and watch her program on PBS.

I had posted this a LONG time ago when I first made it and this dish has now become a staple (when we aren't on our diet cycle) in our house.

I did not use Saffron though, I used Safflower instead.

I serve it two ways, EVOO & Cheese, with some fresh black pepper for me; Meat sauce for DH.

This pasta has a great chew to it, substantial under your tooth.






  








Homemade Malloreddus 002.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 5, 2013














  








Homemade Malloreddus 005.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 5, 2013














  








Homemade Malloreddus 006.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 5, 2013














  








Homemade Malloreddus 007.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 5, 2013








Tutti a tavola a mangiare!


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

My Sista' Joey, can I be the first to taste that dessert lasagne ? That sounds A~MAZ~ING !! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

That could be your first 'special' for the opening at the boathouse! (I mean, just for the photo op /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif)


----------



## nriley280692 (Jun 2, 2013)

[h2]_* Brushetta Pasta With Roasted Pine Nuts & Tomato Concasse*_[/h2]




  








943076_320506428081139_1102874403_n.jpg




__
nriley280692


__
Jun 5, 2013








Simple, Yet a Refreshing play on your typical brushetta topping with a Fresh home made, Thick fettuccine pasta.

drizzled with sesame oil, an addition of pine nuts and some tomato concasse and basil for garnish.





  








IMG_0086.JPG




__
nriley280692


__
Jun 5, 2013


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

petalsandcoco said:


> Your second entry dish was made by FF and he gave a great review. Thank you again for the detailed explanation. In cooking it this way, I would imagine that the cauliflower taste changes into something quite delicate with a hint of a nuttly like taste ? Maybe not.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


to your 3 questions, P&C:

1. Yes, the cauliflower gets a sort of nutty, sweet flavor. Quite unlike plain boiled cauliflower in every way.

2. no, it;s really not worth photographing. It just looks like sort of dirty white pasta, or red sauce on pasta. I don;t see how you could distinguish it from any other pasta dishes. But when i do make it again, i'll try to photograph it

3. Ha ha, i almost NEVER make pasta at home. Maybe five times in the last 37 years. I prefer industrial pasta (the hard kind, spaghetti, rigatoni, etc). So i've never made fettuccine. I also don;t like lasagne though durangojo's sweet lasagne sounds great.

I _have_ made ravioli (actually _tordelli_) - my grandmother's recipe, with meat and spinach and cheese. They're a pain in the *** to make but are so incredibly good. Really amazing. My memories of making them at home at xmas when i was a teenager are not happy memories. My mother always had to overdo, and she would cover the entire dining room table (a very wide table that easily sat 12 or 14 without opening it up) with ravioli. It took all day and of course i had to help, mainly rolling pasta and pressing the sides together with the fork, washing dishes, and all that, with her nervous and yelling and sighing. I made them for a few years at christmas after having moved away, but my daughter stopped eating meat over 15 years ago and at christmas i always have so much to do, that i stopped making them. Maybe i will get ambitious and have a go at them again and post the recipe. The recipe i have is my mothers' and makes enough to feed a small army. I always have to cut it down and always have tons of filling and pasta left over anyway, even after having made it for 6 people!

My personal theory is that many of the italian dishes that are most beloved by italian men require no special skill but simply are ways to keep the woman closed in a tiny steamy kitchen doing mindless labor for many hours. Kneading and rolling out and cutting hundreds of fettuccine, stirring polenta or risotto constantly for a long time standing at the hot stove, making orecchiette one by one for a dozen people every sunday, rolling gnocchi, one by one, over the tines of the fork (is that really necessary?) ... get the picture? Many of these techniques are not even necessary, like with the polenta or the gnocchi.

KaiqueKuisine, your pasta looks lovely. I believe that when they make pink pasta, they use actual beets, not the water, but beets that have been cooked and seived, in lieu of water. That way the color should be strong enough.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

*Round # 3 on macaroni;* _gratin of macaroni and cheese_.

Who doesn't like mac and cheese? There must be a lot of variations but here's how I make mine. Make a blond roux on medium low fire from -50/50 in weight- butter and flour and let cook for a while without coloring; let butter melt and add flour even before all the butter is melted. Keep stirring this roux from the moment you add the flour, using a large whisk (don't use a spoon) and try to reach all corners of the pan.

Add something like 1/2 cup of cold milk and whisk. It will thicken into a paste very quickly, even within seconds, so don't panic. Add a small portion of cold milk and keep whisking until it thickens again. Repeat adding small portions of milk and keep whisking until you reach the desired consistency. Plenty s&p and some freshly grated nutmegg. Let cook gently another 5 minutes. We now have a béchamel. Add grated cheese of your choice. I use gruyère and/or emmental but mostly comté. The sauce is now called a Mornay. To make it a little more complicated, I often add 1/3 of a Knorr chickenstock cube, crumbled (yeah, I know, the food police will call me a sinner..). You might even call the sauce some sort of a velouté all the sudden.

Boil macaroni, cut some good cooked ham in cubes and add both to the sauce, put in an oven dish and cover with a mixture of grated cheese and panko (50/50). Put in the oven under your grill.

So simple to make, so delicious. Also, kids love it!





  








macaroni1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 5, 2013











  








macaroni3.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 5, 2013








@ petals; what's pink water?


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

siduri said:


> 3. Ha ha, i almost NEVER make pasta at home. Maybe five times in the last 37 years. I prefer industrial pasta (the hard kind, spaghetti, rigatoni, etc). So i've never made fettuccine. I also don;t like lasagne though durangojo's sweet lasagne sounds great.
> 
> I _have_ made ravioli (actually _tordelli_) - my grandmother's recipe, with meat and spinach and cheese. They're a pain in the *** to make but are so incredibly good. Really amazing. My memories of making them at home at xmas when i was a teenager are not happy memories. My mother always had to overdo, and she would cover the entire dining room table (a very wide table that easily sat 12 or 14 without opening it up) with ravioli. It took all day and of course i had to help, mainly rolling pasta and pressing the sides together with the fork, washing dishes, and all that, with her nervous and yelling and sighing. I made them for a few years at christmas after having moved away, but my daughter stopped eating meat over 15 years ago and at christmas i always have so much to do, that i stopped making them. Maybe i will get ambitious and have a go at them again and post the recipe. The recipe i have is my mothers' and makes enough to feed a small army. I always have to cut it down and always have tons of filling and pasta left over anyway, even after having made it for 6 people!


@ Siduri : Reading that story I had visions of you assisting your mother. I call this an act of love, you were there for her when she needed you, that's what counted the most. They may have been a pain to make but like you said they were incredibly good. And as a teenager, I am sure there were other things you would have preferred doing than being stuck in a hot kitchen. I know you are very busy but if you ever get a chance to welcome us into your world of pasta making and share that recipe, it would be a joy for us.

Some of the best times I have with my mother are in the kitchen. Some days after work I'll head over to her house and we sit and talk about the day's events and before you know we start to talk about recipes, or she may tell me about a recipe she saw on tv, and that's all it takes to get back into gear.....and the kitchen gets busy. She inspires me beyond my own borders sometimes.

As for the coloring of the pasta, some use beet powder. I find beet juice turns the pasta into an orangy pinkish color. That was not the goal of my dish, I wanted it to pop with pink. This thread is also about being creative. I feel if anyone wants to color their pasta, why not ? Thank you for sharing your thoughts, it meant alot .

*"Hand rolled penne starts with a square shape of pasta, then you roll it from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner. usually around a thin dowel to help form it. Let it dry a bit so it holds it shape when cooked."*

@ Phatch : Good tip for us , thanks for the input. If you have anymore great tips or techniques , please do share. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lever.gif

@ Kgirl : Sardinian pasta - Gnocchi - Homemade Yumminess ! Your pasta dishes look like pure comfort on a plate. When you make your pasta, does it involve any special technique ? There may be some folks reading this that have never made it, any info on how you did them would be great to have on hand. You have submitted 2 dishes , great job . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Please tell me there is more of your dishes on the horizon ?!

@ Nriley : Welcome to ChefTalk , so glad you found us and this thread. Thank you so much for entering your dish, it looks terrific. The aroma and flavor of the sesame oil must of given it a wonderful kick. Did you add any spices to this dish ? Its fresh, vibrant, a real summertime dish, clean plating, very nice dish. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Please feel free to submit any other dishes, we all have the month of June to show our talents.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Chris : Great looking mac and cheese. This is pretty much how I make mine as well. And thank you for including the details of dish for everyone. There might be some here that have never made it and I feel it is important to share what we know. The pictorials you sumbit are priceless. Visual aids are a great form of learning. I have yet to meet a child that does not like this dish.

*"(yeah, I know, the food police will call me a sinner..)."*

Not us Chris, that cube is a food enhancer and why not use it . Pink water ? Just water with red food coloring. I did not use the beet juice as I stated to Siduri, it just doesn't do it for me. (orangy/pinkish) what I really was after was a colorful pink. Now if folks want to call the food police on me, then..........................................................arrest me. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif lol.

We look forward to any other dishes you may have on the horizon. Thank you so much /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

kaneohegirlinaz said:


> Malloreddus
> 
> I adore Lidia Bastianich and watch her program on PBS.
> 
> ...


Looks amazing!


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Been very busy these days, not allowed to eat a lot of wheat so I can't partake in the challenge often, I might be able to eat pasta once or twice this month and saving it until I can think of something special! So I'm posting a couple of pics of pasta dishes I've done recently.





  








DSCF5479.JPG




__
koukouvagia


__
Jun 5, 2013








Capellini with smoked ham, chanterelles and peas in a light creamy tomato sauce.





  








Walnut pesto.jpg




__
koukouvagia


__
Jun 5, 2013








I posted this recently in the walnut sauce thread but here it is again, cheese ravioli (store bought) with walnut sauce.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

KK : Two great contributions, thank you. We have our first post of Ravioli folks and who doesn't like that ? That walnut sauce looks delicious.

The capellini dish looks very good as well. The kind of dish I would sit down to with a chunk of crusty bread , just to catch that sauce. I look forward to your next post. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## jaycobb1045 (Mar 6, 2012)

I hope it isn't cheating to post dishes that were made previously! If it is, I will properly castigate myself and only post fresh photos and descriptions moving forward.

The wife and I recently got a simple pasta roller and tried making pasta for the first time. I'll say this - to any readers who may be hesitating to take the plunge, don't! Making fresh pasta is surprisingly easy! Now, I do reckon it is like playing golf - a day to learn, a lifetime to perfect. But I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make a delicious, passable pasta dish from scratch.

Here's our first attempt:





  








Pasta 1.jpg




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 5, 2013








This is tagliatelle with a simple sauce made with canned crushed san marzanos, basil, onions, and garlic, then finished with some parmigianno.

We decided to experiment with ravioli for our second effort, and here's what we ended up with:





  








pasta 2.JPG




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 5, 2013








These are stuffed with a mixture of shrimp, toasted pine nuts, and little garlic. The sauce is hard to differentiate from the pasta in the picture (the perils of iphone photography), but it was a pretty simple sauce of butter, shallots, parsley, and a bit of cream.

These challenges are fun! I had all sorts of plans for the offal challenge (my native Ecuadorian cuisine makes great use of some of the less noble cuts) which kept getting sidetracked, but alas, I never got around to it. This month will hopefully be different.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Use it up before it goes bad clear out the refrigerator pasta

Have some button mushrooms I bought for pizza a few days back, an onion going moldy, and some chopped artichokes, sliced black olives and a little italian style turkey sausage also all leftover from the pizza meal.

Put the pot of water on to boil.

Peel off the worst layers of the onion, quarter the mushrooms. Chop what you can of the onion, I ended up with about 1/2 of the onion.





  








2013-06-04 16.48.43.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Slice a few cloves of garlic.





  








2013-06-04 16.51.39.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Delve into the pantry and I chose a pound of casarecce, an s-folded rectangular pasta. I thought it would hold up to the chunky sauce I'd be building.





  








2013-06-04 16.52.34.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Mushrooms into some hot olive oil, season with salt and pepper.





  








2013-06-04 16.53.45.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Brown them down until they're about to start rendering their liquid. Added the onion, garlic and some hot pepper flakes.





  








2013-06-04 16.58.55.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Cook it around some more, starting to develop some fond in the pan now adjusting temperature as needed I added some dried basil at this point. My basil has only been in the garden about 10 days now so there's not enough to fully season the dish with fresh basil. I'll accent at the end with some fresh basil.





  








2013-06-04 17.00.25.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Add in the artichoke, olive and sausage, sausage is towards the top in the pic.





  








2013-06-04 17.03.23.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Reduced the heat and let it cook together some more. Deglaze with a little red wine. The pasta water is boiling so add the pasta to the water to cook. Thought I took a pic, of that but I guess I didn't.





  








2013-06-04 17.05.02.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Add a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. Taste and adjust seasoning. When it starts to bubble, turn heat to low and let it simmer, about 10 minutes until the pasta is almost ready.





  








2013-06-04 17.07.26.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Skimpy basil plants Pick some leaves.





  








2013-06-04 17.09.24.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








When the pasta is coming up on the last few minutes of cooking, drain it, reserving a half cup or so of the pasta water. Add the drained pasta to the sauce to finish cooking and absorb the flavors of the sauce. Adjust the thickness of the sauce with the pasta water to your liking.





  








2013-06-04 17.21.51.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








While that's finishing up grate some parmigiano and wash the basil. My microplane grater always makes the amount of cheese look so large in a big snowy pile, but it's not really that much.





  








2013-06-04 17.23.11.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








Cut the basil in a chiffonade. Check the pasta for texture/doneness, and also for seasoning. Off heat, add the basil and cheese, taste again.





  








2013-06-04 17.24.11.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








And serve with more cheese at the table.





  








2013-06-04 17.28.47.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 5, 2013








It was pretty good, but really needed more fresh basil.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Jay:

*"I hope it isn't cheating to post dishes that were made previously! If it is, I will properly castigate myself and only post fresh photos and descriptions moving forward."*

Of course you can post pics of previous dishes, this is how we learn. So by all means go ahead. There is no need to castigate yourself, there is enough stress in the world for each of us to deal with.

Friends, we have a recommendation to use a pasta roller , this is a good thing.

Jay, can you tell us which one you bought or one similar ? That first dish looks terrific, and that's your first attempt with said roller ? Very nice. Please give our best wishes to your lovely wife for assisting you to produce such a fine dish. The seafood stuffed ravioli is a star dish in itself. Well done. Don't worry about the pics, I have an Iphone and it's the only thing I seem to use these days.

Nothing wrong with your pics.

If you have any offal posts, by all means, I am sure GM (GeneMachine) would be so glad to see them. (and of course us).

Please feel free to post any more dishes, we would be so pleased. You have posted 2 dishes , thank you. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Phatch: Here ! Here ! You have managed to do a few things :

1) "Use it up before it goes bad clear out the refrigerator pasta" -------Make good use of food left in fridge that needed tending to.

2) Produce a step-by-step pictorial of your creation.

3) Your cheese pic ressembles bacon snow- you know what that means to us bacon lovers ? Fantastic.

4) Allowed us a glimspe into your basil patch.

5) Produce a fine meal

Well Done. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

kaneohegirlinaz said:


> Malloreddus
> 
> I adore Lidia Bastianich and watch her program on PBS.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I forgot to give the method/recipe

As I may have mentioned, this is from Lidia's Italy, her previous program, and I used Safflower rather than Saffron threads, just couldn't find that in my neck of the woods... only two ingredients, saffron and semolina flour... well three, water, this is more of a method than a recipe, I feel anyways... very tasty either with olio or marinara, you can dress the pasta how ever, DH likes his pasta "thick" as he says and this hit the mark for him

http://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1013


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

OMG THIS MADE ME WANT TO MAKE PASTA TONIGHT XD BUT SINCE I HAVE AN 11 MEAL MENU TO PLAN IM GETTING LAZY XD

Since im competing for a sous chef position at my restaurant now


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Well i got hungry and since petals inspired me on buttered noodles and Chris made mac and cheese i mixed both recipes and i made my own.

ONE PROBLEM MY FRIDGE WAS BASICALLY EMPTY....

BUT , i had eggs , cheese and butter and some seasoning so what the hell i let it roll.

SO I ENDED UP MAKING MAC&CHEESE WITH FRIED EGG BUT IT WAS FANCY...





  








eggs and pasta 1 (1).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 5, 2013








Put my homemade spaghetti to boil , and worked on a quick butter that was seasoned with bits of garlic just to get some flavor.

Sauteed my noodles in the butter

Placed in a food cutter , S&P.





  








eggs and pasta 1 (2).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 5, 2013








Fried a quick egg again with S&P , and BUTTER.

Sprinkled some oregano on it as well.





  








eggs and pasta 1 (3).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 5, 2013











  








eggs and pasta 1 (4).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 5, 2013








Plated , also the spaghetti had some provologne i had mixed in.





  








eggs and pasta 1 (5).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 5, 2013








Then i sprinkled some parm on top , more oregano ,more pepper a sprinkl of salt , and a bit of the garlic butter i had in the pan.

A bit of basil would have made a difference btw.

Heated the dish in the microwave for 20 seconds enough for the cheese to melt , and ate it all up XD

SUCH A LITTLE DISH MADE A HUGE MESS AND NOW I NEED TO WASH THE DAMN DISHES.

Anyway hope u guys liked it , basically mixed petals buttered noodles with ChrisBelgiums mac and cheese XD.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Thank you for the details Kgirl. Only 3 ingredients, wow, we don't see that to often and get such fine results. 

@ KaiqueK : Great Scott !!! You really managed to pull one out of the hat. I thoroughly enjoyed your pics and the development of the dish. A well composed dish , full of flavour and a nice presentation , all of this with the stress of a test ahead of you , you are unbeatable. 

Don't be shy to let that yolk shine, when you cut into it , the yolk should flow and drip unto those buttered noodles, makes for a really rich dish. 

I tip my hat to you for your enthusiasm , you are learning under a very good mentor and I hope she continues to help you grow. Overall ? Thumbs up !!


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Having said that you can't make red pasta using beet juice, this was how I did it.

I used beets and beet juice in the dough, but in boiling the pasta, the red color mostly leaked out to the boiling water, leaving not very attractive somewhat red pasta.

So what I did was simple, after the pasta was cooked in boiling water, I just cooked the pasta in beet juice again.

Home made beet pasta with ground turkey.

dcarch





  








marcaroni2_zps8377db2a.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 6, 2013












  








marcaroni5_zpsd66d4b25.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 6, 2013












  








marcaroni3_zps2ddcab66.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 6, 2013


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

petalsandcoco said:


> Thank you for the details Kgirl. Only 3 ingredients, wow, we don't see that to often and get such fine results.
> 
> @ KaiqueK : Great Scott !!! You really managed to pull one out of the hat. I thoroughly enjoyed your pics and the development of the dish. A well composed dish , full of flavour and a nice presentation , all of this with the stress of a test ahead of you , you are unbeatable.
> 
> ...


Haha thnx , the dishes still havent been washed , but ill do that later XD.

Great thing about being mentored by a chef who lived in italy , is u end up making alot of pasta XD.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

dcarch said:


> Having said that you can't make red pasta using beet juice, this was how I did it.
> 
> I used beets and beet juice in the dough, but in boiling the pasta, the red color mostly leaked out to the boiling water, leaving not very attractive somewhat red pasta.
> 
> ...


I like the presentation , it must have tasted good , but maybe the cooking in water over did it abit , the noodles kinda *fell¨* a bit. But still must have tasted great


----------



## jaycobb1045 (Mar 6, 2012)

Petals - this is the model I got:

http://www.imperia.com/prodotti/imperia_ipasta.php

Funny to hear you say I'm the first to use a roller. I suppose I just assumed most did! Rolling it out by hand seems like a whole lot of effort! Does it produce a noticeably different result?


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Thanks Kaique,

One of the reasons of making home-made pasta is you can try different things.

In this case, I had some cooked beets which I decided to blend into a paste and mixed the beet paste into the dough. Since that was not a try & true tested recipe, I had no idea what the dough mix should be. As it turned out, I should have made it firmer.

Yes, cooking the pasta twice didn't help either, but still tasted good.

Next time. 

dcarch


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> Anyway hope u guys liked it , basically mixed petals buttered noodles with ChrisBelgiums mac and cheese XD.


Very nice. The egg looks burned to crisp for my taste, but quite appetizing.

mjb.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

teamfat said:


> Very nice. The egg looks burned to crisp for my taste, but quite appetizing.
> 
> mjb.


Yeh i kinda wanted the egg to sit still on the plate so had to result to extremes XD


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

JayCobb1045 said:


> These challenges are fun! I had all sorts of plans for the offal challenge (my native Ecuadorian cuisine makes great use of some of the less noble cuts) which kept getting sidetracked, but alas, I never got around to it. This month will hopefully be different.


Sweetbread ravioli? Liver and onion puree in manicotti? Chicken heart and gizzard lasagne?

mjb.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

teamfat said:


> Sweetbread ravioli? Liver and onion puree in manicotti? Chicken heart and gizzard lasagne?
> 
> mjb.


Ravioli , manicotti , and lasagne OH MY


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

teamfat said:


> Sweetbread ravioli? Liver and onion puree in manicotti? Chicken heart and gizzard lasagne?
> 
> mjb.


I've been looking at an old lasagne recipe for a few years now but have never made it. It's called _*vincisgrassi*_ and there are chickenlivers in it, amongst other things like chickenbreast and cotechino sausage... and, it has a porcini sauce. I was wondering if anyone ever made this? It doesn't sound like a summery dish at all but I still want to make vincisgrassi.

The recipe I got is from my dutch edition of "The Food of Italy" Murdoch books;


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Some pasta dishes from the past

Spaghetti simple





  








5vbocl.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013








Ricotta ravioli





  








2s60w01.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013








Phyllo dough lasagna





  








lasagnamasafilo5res.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013








Ravioli in walnut sauce





  








QqEpWQh.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013








Fried pasta





  








2qd4a40.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013








Lamb ravioli in lamb sauce reduction





  








2rx8d8p.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 6, 2013


----------



## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

That is an interesting technique to cook the pasta in the beet juice thanks for sharing that.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Jay : I use both ways, just find with the roller you can refine the thinness and length. Thanks for posting your model, good for anyone interested in purchasing one.

@ DC : The end result ? Your dish was beautifully plated. Working with beet juice is not easy as one thinks. There are so many other colors, flavors and fillings out there .....I truly hope you plan on posting yet another creative dish. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Teamfat : Genious idea

@ Chris : Oh if you can whip up something that cool........I never made it but it sounds like a full flavored dish, with all the cold and rain we have been getting, a nice dish like that is more than welcoming to the palate. I have an old Italian meat cookbook that I'm going to dig out as see if that recipe is there. *Going away for 4 days but will check when I get back*.

@ Ordo: 6 entries of pure comfort and bliss on a plate. I have a soft spot for your ravioli in walnut sauce which I would love to make one day , the other ,Lamb ravioli in lamb sauce reduction. What was the flavor like ? I am a huge fan of lamb, did you follow a recipe or made it off the cuff ? Do you enjoy making pasta ? Thank you so much for your contributions, mighty kind of you. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif ps. please keep it coming.....

@ KaiqueK : I have a little song for you (I am not a fan of Lady Gaga ) but the words to this .....well, I'll let the video say it all ! We love the fact that your boss is Italian /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif/img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

@petals: you're a great host indeed, taking care to response to all entries here. Thanks!

1. That walnut sauce is to be taken in small doses. It's on the heavy side to digest. I can't understand why yet.

2. Lamb ravioli was made using leftovers of roasted lamb. I made a brown lamb sauce with the bones following the classic method, added red wine and a little of glace de viande. Very nice. Ravioli filling was sauté chopped lamb with herbs, I can't remember what herbs. I'm trying to skip tomatoes as you can see.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Haha loved that video petals XD.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

Made some kind of Asian noodles tonight. Used Lo Mein noodles but I was more inspired by Vietnamese flavors....

The ingredients:

- Lo Mein noodles

- Ground Pork shoulder

- Garlic

- Shallots

- Green Beans

- Scallions

- Shitake Mushrooms

- Carrots

- Tomatoes

- Mint

- Chili

- Lime

- Rice Vinegar

- Soy Sauce

- Toasted Sesame Oil

- Fish Sauce





  








ingredients.JPG




__
french fries


__
Jun 7, 2013












  








plate.JPG




__
french fries


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*Tordelli* (meat, cheese and spinach ravioli)

from Barga, Italy (province of Lucca - in Tuscany)

This is my grandmother's recipe, handed down generation after generation, and probably modified when she moved to the States in the 1920s. It makes a ton, hundreds of ravioli. I kind of make it by eye, as she did. This is my mother's quantification of what she learned from her mother. If you're good with quantities, you might want to try to reduce it to a more reasonable size.

*Filling*

_*Ingredients:*_

_2 pounds ground meat: made up of beef, pork and veal (sometimes they used chicken)_

_olive oil and butter in equal parts as needed to brown meat_

_a large handful of flat parsley_

_a few cloves (2 or 3) garlic_

_one onion_

_about 3 cups finely chopped blanched spinach or tender swiss chard_ (Fresh is better, but we used to use frozen chopped and let it defrost - it's not THAT much better in this dish) Drain really well, squeeze out all water

_2 cups grated parmigiano_

_nutmeg (half a tsp or less)_

_salt and pepper _

_2 eggs_

*Method:*

Chop onion and parsley finely, and crush the garlic well or pass through a garlic press.
Heat butter and oil in frying pan till butter melts.
Add garlic, onion, parsley, meat and salt and black pepper (don't be stingy). Cook slowly, stirring, so all the ground meat is separated and slowly browns. It should have a slight browning all over, not so that it gets hard, however. But the browning adds to the flavor.
Add well-squeezed spinach or swiss chard and mix well, cooking a few minutes with the other stuff.
remove from heat and put in a large bowl
add eggs and grated cheese and nutmeg
This will be put by teaspoonfuls in rows on the ravioli dough, and then you paint around the blobs with a little water, and turn over the top edge so they're all covered, then cut with a pastry wheel and press with a fork all around.

*Dough*

*Ingredients:*

"enough" flour to make a big pile with a hole in the middle (about two pounds, i'm guessing)

6 eggs

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp salt

up to 2 cups water (This is how my mother made it, but i think it probably made way too much pasta - i'd add water as necessary)

*method:*

pour flour in a pile (so it's cone-shaped) onto a large wooden board and make a hole in the center.
Drop the ingredients in this hole or, as it's traditionally called, well, and start mixing it up with a fork trying not to break the "well" by scraping up too much flour. Have more flour at hand if necessary. Or you can do it in your kitchen aid /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif.
As the batter becomes dough, you start mixing in with a spoon and then your hands, and incorporating more flour as you go until it gets to a consistency that you can knead.
Knead 20 minutes.
Let it rest, covered, for an hour.
cut off manageable pieces and roll very thinly.
proceed to put teaspoonfuls of filling about 2 inches apart,
"paint" the area around the mounds of meat filling with water (or sometimes, to save time, i just paint the whole strip before putting the filling on)
lift the far edge and fold over so the blobs of filling are totally covered with about half inch or so extending, then cut the strip off, press between the mounds and cut between the mounds.
press the edges with a fork
put a floured tablecloth on a table and lay them on it to dry out overnight
refrigerate or freeze for later or boil and eat.
*Meat sauce*

_This is how we made meat sauce in my family, which was used on the ravioli, though my grandparents would have preferred to make them smaller and serve in a broth made with both beef and chicken. Both would have had parmigiano passed to put on top. _

_ground meat (beef and or pork)_

_an onion_

_a celery stalk_

_a carrot_

_some garlic (two or three)_

_olive oil _

_butter_

_salt_

_black pepper_

_tomato (since these were usually made at christmas it was always canned. Traditionally families here can their own.)_

chop onion, celery, carrot, garlic
melt butter in the oil in a saucepan
brown the meat slowly in the butter and oil with the chopped vegetables and salt and black pepper until nicely browned, stirring so the ground meat is all separated.
add the tomato and scrape up all the browned meat on the bottom of the pot. \
cool over slow heat, covered, adding a little water if necessary, for an hour
*final presentation*

_boil a very large pot of salted water (a fistful of salt for the big pot of water)_

_Put the ravioli in and cook till they float and test done by cutting one at the edge with a fork and tasting. _Drain

_get a large ceramic serving bowl or high bordered dish. Put some sauce on the bottom. Layer the ravioli with some parmigiano (be generous) and sauce, and continue to layer till finished. _

_Bring to the table_

This is a very time consuming dish as we used to make it (making double for leftovers and for freezing for easter) and not one that carries good memories with the making. I know, as petals said, that it seems like a nice mother/daughter activity, but sadly it was not. It was always seasoned in intense guilttripping and sighs and no real pleasure in the making. That they still tasted good despite the bitterness surrounding them is a testimony to their quality!!! Some day i'll make it again, but it's not likely to be before the challenge ends. If i do i'll post it. The appearance is no different from any other ravioli, but the taste can't be photographed, alas.


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Thanks Petals.

_"-----There are so many other colors, flavors and fillings out there .....I truly hope you plan on posting yet another creative dish.----"_

Are you sure you want to see more of my strange concoctions? 

Here is one:

Home made ravioli

dcarch





  








raviloipork5.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 7, 2013












  








raviloipork.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Am i the only lazy cook here? No, wait, also Siduri is NOT making home made pasta!

*Fusilli in ragú alla bolognesa.*

A little twist on classic Bolognese pasta. Pasta made by Knorr (yes, Knorr), pretty good.

While the fusilli are boiling, stir fry some bacon in butter.





  








OlsYmcQ.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 7, 2013








Mantecatura done with the "baconed" butter.





  








1BLsS8Z.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 7, 2013








The ragú (1 day in the fridge), parmigiano, etc. 





  








Hmlmu7K.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## jaycobb1045 (Mar 6, 2012)

Inspired by a few other posters who went the Asian route, I decided to have a go at a Thai shrimp noodle dish. It's not quite pad thai, and I'm sure there's a proper name for what I've done here, but I don't know it. Anyhow, it was fairly easy to make and on a weeknight, that is important!

Started by prepping red bell, bean sprouts, cilantro, green onion, shallot, lime, garlic, ginger, and tamarind pulp.





  








photo 1.JPG




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 7, 2013








Bashed up some palm sugar, two lime wedges, some of the tamarind, fish sauce, cilantro, and a little rice vinegar.





  








photo 2.JPG




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 7, 2013








I was a bit too engaged in the actual cooking to remember to take photos of the next couple of steps - I seasoned some shrimp with s&p and crushed dried red thai chile, then quickly cooked the veggies, added the shrimp, garlic, and ginger and finally tossed in the rice noodles that had been soaking in water for a bit.





  








photo 3.JPG




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 7, 2013








Tossed them together, added the sauce, added a couple of dried red thai chiles, garnished with a little more fresh cilantro and a lime wedge.





  








photo 4.JPG




__
jaycobb1045


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

As long as we're doing Asian noodles, we need some pho.

Heat the beef stock, about 3 cups per serving works for the appetites of my family, which comes close enough to just call a gallon of beef stock.





  








2012-10-07 09.51.36.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Peel, trim and cut two onions in half pole to pole, Bruise 6-8 inches of ginger so it cracks and opens up.





  








2012-10-07 09.53.59.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Grill the onions and ginger.. I'm using an 8 inch-ish open grill I picked up at a latin grocer. Great for charring peppers too.





  








2012-10-07 09.54.49.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Grill on all sides.





  








2012-10-07 09.58.46.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Meanwhile, toast some black pepper corns, star anise and a cinnamon stick until aromatic. 30-45 seconds in a hot pan is enough. Edited to add CLOVES. You can see them int pan if you look closely.





  








2012-10-07 10.00.28.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Add all that to to the beef stock. Season with fish sauce and some sugar. Let simmer about 45 minutes to an hour for the flavors to meld and build.





  








2012-10-07 10.05.05.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Soak the rice noodles. I've gotten lazy about this step and do it this way. Run hot water into a large plastic bowl. Add the rice sticks/noodles and make sure they're covered with water. Put the bowl with the noodles into the microwave. Microwave on high for about 7 minutes and then let the noodles steep until they're as tender as you want them to be. Drain and reserve at that point. They'll be stuck together when it's time to use the noodles. Just run some cold water through them and they'll separate pretty well.

Put your bowls in the oven to heat, pho really benefits from warmed bowls. My oven only goes down to 150 so that's where I heat them.





  








2012-10-07 10.48.39.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Cut some flank steak thinly across the grain into thin strips about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide. Set aside.





  








2012-10-07 10.51.51.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Prepare the garnishes. I'm using some commercially procured basil--not asian, but I think it works pretty well though there are those who disagree with me. Cilantro, sliced green onion, mung bean sprouts. Also fish sauce and sriracha. No hoisin, I'm not a fan of hoisin in my pho though again, there are many who disagree with me. If you like it, use it.





  








2012-10-07 11.25.13.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








When the broth is seasoned, lift out the big chunks of onion and ginger with a spider or slotted spoon. Make sure the broth is simmering, even boiling is good. Set up the bowls with the amounts of noodles and beef the person wants. The bowl pictured is for my youngest son who is not yet a big eater. I find I get the best "cook" of the meat with the meat on top so it gets the full impact of the hot broth.





  








2012-10-07 11.30.03.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Ladle the broth through a fine mesh sieve to catch any spices and ashy bits from the onion and ginger.





  








2012-10-07 11.30.25-2.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013








Serve and let the diner garnish as desired with herbs, sprouts and seasonings.





  








2012-10-07 11.39.19.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013












  








2012-10-07 11.39.44.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013












  








2012-10-07 11.40.30.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Spectacular recipe phatch. Let me PS the last pick to show its plenitude.





  








LL.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 7, 2013


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I have to say that all these asian noodle dishes you guys are posting are incredibly appealing to me.  I like the freshness of the tastes, the mixtures of sweet and salty, the multiple ingredients that maintain their integrity and don;t meld together.  It's very different from italian.  I think i could eat some asian soups or noodle dishes as a daily lunch and never tire of them.  Unfortunately where i live there are very few places that make very few asian noodle dishes.  I life near chinatown and there's a great chinese/asian grocer in walking distance from me, but mostly they sell pre-prepared frozen stuff for the multiple identical lousy chinese restaurants to use.  And i don't have the time to do all that cutting and preparing.  I hope to try some of these in the days to come;.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

dcarch said:


> Thanks Petals.
> 
> _"-----There are so many other colors, flavors and fillings out there .....I truly hope you plan on posting yet another creative dish.----"_
> 
> ...


Oh my they looks like little crabs , XD so cute


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

WELL , the restaurant was full of left over penne , and full of other sh*t too ,and we just couldnt take it so i had to use it up and really winged it.

Since we are on an asian theme guess my first dish kinda counts XD.

Yesterday i ended up making a weird Indian ( cough cough chicken coronation is european ) inspired pasta dish.

PENNE , WITH CHICKEN CORONATION AND PEPPERS ( basically cooked up some penne , then added shredded chicken and made a sauce of peaches and curry , sauteed some peppers and added fresh parlsey to finish ).





  








Pene with curried chicken PS.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 7, 2013








THE SECOND DISH....

In portuguese: Pena ao Molho Primavera.

Again penne with a bechamel cooked ham (cute in cubes) and , some peas.

Shredded parm on top to finish.





  








Pena ao molho primavera.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 7, 2013








The 2 dishes were served family style , and ended up making a huge hit with the clients and staff who ate them XD


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

200x200px-ZC-b3944d67_dinner001.jpg




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013











  








DSC01527.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013











  








DSC01531.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013








Char Siu Fried Saimin Udon noodle soup with Char Siu WonTon Mein with Char Siu

and loads of veggies WonTon and Steamed Fish cake





  








more stuff from my kitchen 010.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013











  








dinner 001.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013











  








dinner 003.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013








From my high school days Scratch-made Ravioli with Scratch-made Ravs with sausage

Chili-Mac scratch-made marinara & Olio & cheese & black pepper

hot Italian sausage





  








assorted 010.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 8, 2013








Stuffed Pepper Soup with Orzo

These are all dishes that I have submitted here at Chef Talk at some point over the past two years,

Enjoy!


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Very impressive, K~Girl!


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Hubby asked for pasta last night - when he asks I give because I've been depriving him of so much wheat lately lol!  So into the pantry and freezer I dove and made...... ribeye steak parmigiana!  Forgot to take pictures but the sauce was simple red sauce with garlic and onions and cloves.  The steak was seasoned cooked on the grill and then topped with provolone cheese and marinara served with linguini.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So guess im back to the me posting homemade pasta stage...

Tortellini alla bolognese.

Fresh homemade tortellini stuffed with parmesan cheese , with a simple ragu.





  








tortellini ao ragu.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 9, 2013


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Back to simplicity with my two favorite pasta dishes;

1. A few days ago, I made carbonara, like many simple Italian dishes deceptively easy to make. Carbonara is only pasta, eggs, bacon and cheese, but it has to be nicely creamy.

I used bacon imported from Holland, called "katenspek", which is pork belly, boiled and then smoked. Delicious to eat just like that without any further cooking. However, I rendered this bacon in a pan and I was pleased to notice how much redundant fat came out.

I was out of spaghetti, so I had to use this capellini (De Cecco n°9). I beat a few eggs, adding a little fresh oregano, very finely chopped, NO s&p as the salt will turn the raw eggs watery.

Boil the pasta,drain, return to the cooking pot and immediately add the eggs and the bacon, away from the heat. The residial heat of the pot and the pasta should be enough to set the raw eggs which should now stick nicely to the pasta without going "grainy". Mix gently and cover with a lid for a while. S&P and a pinch of dried oregano this time and a good sprinkle of cheese (I used grana padano). Mix, plate and add a little more cheese on top.

BTW, I love De Cecco pasta!





  








carbonara1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 8, 2013











  








carbonara2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 8, 2013








2. Pasta & pesto.

This is a picture from last year. Normally I serve this pasta without any other addition than the pesto, but this time I added poached cod.

If an ingredient for the pesto isn't available, I don't hesitate to use ruccola instead of basil, walnuts or pecans instead of pine nuts. I certainly prefer storebought good quality pasta for this, boiled just done, with a nice chew on it, almost rubbery.





  








pestoPastaKabeljauw1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 8, 2013


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I'm not impressed with De Cecco.  I prefer Barilla.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

I'm so willing to cook the famous _Timballo di Maccheroni_, as described by Lampedusa in Il Gattopardo. Looks amazing:

_Buone creanze a parte, però, l'aspetto di quei babelici pasticci era degno di evocare fremiti di ammirazione. L'oro brunito dell'involucro, la fraganza di zucchero e di cannella che ne emanava non erano che il preludio della sensazione di delizia che si sprigionava dall'interno quando il coltello squarciava la crosta: ne erompeva dapprima un vapore carico di aromi, si scorgevano poi i fegatini di pollo, gli ovetti duri, le sfilettature di prosciutto, di pollo e di tartufi impigliate nella massa untuosa, caldissima dei maccheroncini corti cui l'estratto di carne conferiva un prezioso color camoscio._

Sorry, i couldn't find an English version. I don't dare to translate it myself. Must be the _non plus ultra_ of pasta dishes! Here's a recipe with picks.


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

Ok, Chris, carbonara it is.





  








Carbonara0604_small.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 9, 2013








I render the bacon, remove. Add finely minced onions and sweat, and add dry white wine, reduce. Add pasta, and beat the parm with with the eggs before tempering with pasta water and the remaining heat. Toss with eggs and parsley, salt and pepper to taste, and then more parm to serve.

And I'll throw in some fettuccini with salmon, shrimp and peas in a (very) light cream sauce.





  








salmon.shrimp_fettuccini.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 9, 2013


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

ordo said:


> Spectacular recipe phatch. Let me PS the last pick to show its plenitude.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes. Spectacular indeed.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Thank you all for being patient with me in my replies (away)

@ FF: Your Lo Mein is our first entry into the Asian zone and we all can attest to the fact that it looks amazing, thank you for posting your mise, it really gives everyone a chance to see what goes into making that dish especially for those who have not had the opportunity to make it yet

Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Siduri : Alas your grandmother's Tordelli recipe. I hope everyone here is printing it out. It is not everyday that we get the pleasure of receiving a recipe that has been handed down through family. I can see that the amounts do make for a lot but I will scale it when I attempt to make it. Thank you for taking the time to prepare in writing and all the details of those recipes, I can see that it took time and effort and it is greatly appreciated.

Ti ringrazio ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Ordo: Your Fusilli in ragu alla bolognesa looks great and I enjoyed how your prepped your noodles. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Jay: Your Thai shrimp noodle dish is another winner. I am a fan of tamarind and I was happy to see it incorporated fresh like that, mise included. You cannot go wrong with a dish like that. It's a big /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Oh Phatch......Pho. Of all the soups out there, Pho has to be in the top 5 for a lot of folks. What a nice pictorial and presentation. I am sure everyone can attest to the fact that your technique for developing the dish was exceptional. It takes time to make this dish and you did a great job in layering the flavors. Well Done ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ KaiqueK : Chicken Coronation eh ? lol Nice looking dish and your penne in béchamel & ham looks like pure comfort. Tell me , at your work do they ever make those little fluffy pillows ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

@ Kgirl: 7 wonderful pasta dishes ! I have a soft spot for the orzo dish. You presented the *first* dish made with "SMALL" pasta and I liked the idea with the peppers. Thank you for that, You have been doing some fine cooking there , /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ KK : I know you made your dish, it is entered. I like how you incorporate clove into your sauce, gives a lovely flavor, thank you for sharing that. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ KaiqueK: The homemade tortelli stuffed with parm sounds delish, if you ever get a chance to make that again, would you be willing to submit some pics on the "How-to-make" ? I am sure there are many here (or in the days,weeks to come) that would really love to know your steps . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Chris: I see another couple of classic pasta dishes. I must drive 30 minutes to get Katenspec but it's so worth it. Not much fat on it but it has a lovely flavor. Thank you for sharing the tip on eggs with everyone. For those that are making it for the first time, they will appreciate that bit of knowledge. You enlighten us with your knowledge Chris and we thank you for sharing it. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif (great details)

@ Jake : Your Carbonara is gorgeous, and I like your fettuccini and salmon, two very good dishes. Thank you for sharing your talent, don't be shy eh, we are all looking forward to more . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ DC: Your dishes have personality, please tell me there are a few more surprises up your sleeve, we all love your creativity ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Ordo: When I watched that video, you know what came to mind ? Tell me I am crazy but calzone ! Maybe because the pastry was involved. That is a dish with a few steps involved. Thanks for sharing it.

I have not eaten supper yet, and I'm starving.........You are all inspiring and I thank you for the fantastic dishes that are being presented, just simply outstanding !!!!


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Phatch beat me to the pho, as my internet was playing up.

We made some at a cooking course in Vietnam early this year and I just thought I'll show some pictures of how they (traditionally) made the noodles for the soup.....





  








batter on bowl.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 10, 2013








The batter (slightly fermented rice batter) is poured on a cloth over a pot with boiling water





  








cooking the batter.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 10, 2013








covered and cooked for a very small time





  








lifting off rice pancake.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 10, 2013








Lifted off with a bamboo stick





  








oiling and slicing.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 10, 2013








and oiled and sliced.

A pretty finicky job, but nice to try at least once


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

jake t buds said:


> Ok, Chris, carbonara it is.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


All right Jake, you beat me on originality, color, presentation and I'm sure it tastes as good as it looks too. Thanks for sharing your recipe.


----------



## ed buchanan (May 29, 2006)

Very nice job, and Ms. Petals says it all very nicely.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Butzy: What a fantastic contribution to the thread. I would have loved to have been there with you for the hands on experience.

_"A pretty finicky job, but nice to try at least once "_

It is an art in itself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saw an interesting Blog about Corzetti , a Ligurian specialty, just curious if anyone has ever used the stamps ? Or has any history of it's use ?





  








corzetti%20stamps.jpg




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 10, 2013








http://theitaliandishblog.com/imported-20090913150324/2010/1/29/corzetti-italian-pasta-discs.html

*There are lots of Pastabilities out there ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif*


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Stuffed baked sea bass with colored pasta (boxed)





  








033.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 10, 2013







Squeeze of lemon & seasoned. Oven 350 F for 35 minutes





  








042.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 10, 2013












  








057.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 10, 2013







Plated. Fairly straightforward dish.


----------



## keithw (Jun 8, 2013)

I'm new here! Can I play? 





  








original.jpg




__
keithw


__
Jun 10, 2013












  








original.jpg




__
keithw


__
Jun 10, 2013








Tortellini with liquid egg yolk with truffles, served on a mushroom ragout.


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

@ petals : looks nice. Sauce?

@ Keith :  Of course you can play. Nifty tortellini. Technique?


----------



## keithw (Jun 8, 2013)

Thanks Jake  It's pretty simple - roll out two sheets of pasta. Use a piping bag and pipe two rings of a cheese mixture (made with ricotta and parmesan) on top of each other. Carefully place the egg yolk in the middle of the ring, add a dash of truffle oil and salt. Brush egg white on the pasta outside the ring, then lay the second sheet on top. Press to seal, making sure there are no trapped air bubbles, then cut with a ring mould. Boil for 90 seconds or until the pasta floats. 

The mushroom ragout was simply mushrooms fried in butter with truffle oil added at the end.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Welcome to Cheftalk Keith and you are ever so welcome to play along.

Thanks for sharing your dish with us, talk about rich in taste and aroma & homemade . Thank you for sharing the technique for those who wish to try it themselves. For a first time post you definetly deserve a /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Tell me there are more great surprises around the corner ?

As for my sauce ? Simple Tarragon tomato sauce with a goodly splash of Fleur du Cap, topped with capers.



*Here is a fairly Good Pasta Guide with names and descriptions:*

http://www.casavarenna.com/images/PASTA GUIDE.pdf


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

KeithW said:


> I'm new here! Can I play?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


NOOOOOOOOO! I was gonna do that! You beat me to it! Well it looks freakin beautiful of course hrmph! But seriously, nice job way to go, did you use real truffles?


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

KeithW said:


> Thanks Jake  It's pretty simple - roll out two sheets of pasta. Use a piping bag and pipe two rings of a cheese mixture (made with ricotta and parmesan) on top of each other. Carefully place the egg yolk in the middle of the ring, add a dash of truffle oil and salt. Brush egg white on the pasta outside the ring, then lay the second sheet on top. Press to seal, making sure there are no trapped air bubbles, then cut with a ring mould. Boil for 90 seconds or until the pasta floats.
> 
> The mushroom ragout was simply mushrooms fried in butter with truffle oil added at the end.


Oh My Gravy All Over !

Keith, I truly wish CT had smell-o-vision!

No doubt that when the pasta was broken open and that warm egg yolk hit the truffle oil it was heaven on a plate ...

that hits all of my fav spots on my tongue, salt, cheese, pasta, `shrooms, BUTTER, and then gilding the lily with the truffle oil, MAN-O-MAN


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

i honestly need to dedicate a full day at the restaurant just to make pasta with my chef ( so relaxing making homemade pasta ) XD





  








gravatinha com salmao e creme de leite.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 10, 2013








Anyway today i made a boxed pasta.

Farfalle with Salmon and a white creme sauce.

I melted butter in a pan , and added some onions let them cook till transparent and then added the salmon ( cut in cubes ) let the salmon cook through and then added the creme to the dish , mixed it together and then added the farfalle , sauteed real quick till pasta was hot S&P to taste. Served and plated ( i didnt have parsley at the time but it adds color to the dish).

Everyone loved it and the customers found it heavenly... even the kitchen staff couldnt believe it was so easy ( even the sous chef who i´m replacing thought it was amazing )


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

April 2013 004.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 10, 2013








Turkey Marsala with (Barilla brand) whole wheat spaghetti

comprised of turkey tenderloins dredged in Wondra, quick shallow fried in EVOO and butter,

sliced shallots sauteed with cremini (champignon) mushrooms and garlic, chicken broth and dry Marsala wine, swril in a nob of butter at the end ... YUM!


----------



## keithw (Jun 8, 2013)

Koukouvagia said:


> NOOOOOOOOO! I was gonna do that! You beat me to it! Well it looks freakin beautiful of course hrmph! But seriously, nice job way to go, did you use real truffles?


Yikes, I can't get the hang of the editor on Cheftalk! But yes, I did use real truffles. The black stuff on top of the tortellini is grated black truffle, which I did on my microplane. I do not have a truffle shaver and my knife skills aren't quite good enough to shave truffle i'm afraid! 


petalsandcoco said:


> For a first time post you definetly deserve a /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Tell me there are more great surprises around the corner ?


Plenty of surprises but not all good ones! I have my share of cooking disasters!  


kaneohegirlinaz said:


> Oh My Gravy All Over !
> 
> Keith, I truly wish CT had smell-o-vision!
> 
> ...


Thank you! I am not really convinced of the combination of cheese and truffles so I went light on the parmesan. The ricotta has a neutral creamy flavour so it didn't get in the way of the truffles too much.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

pasta1.jpg




__
teamfat


__
Jun 11, 2013








Well it didn't quite work out as planned. I need more practice making fresh pasta.

mjb.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

teamfat said:


> pasta1.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What happened sir? Did you used semolina? Coarse flour?


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Too much flour, or too little egg.  It was your basic unbleached all purpose flour, came out really dry and stiff.  Sent the wife out for pizza, wrapped the "dough" in plastic, stuck it in the fridge, will work on it a bit tomorrow.

mjb.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Add a little water or even olive oil. Pasta can be tweaked with many liquids that way.


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

I did the exact same thing with semolina flour!

Next day went back to it, added water, it was okay, really,

rolled out sheets and then cut them into tagliatelle,

delizioso,

dressed it in evoo and parm


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

KaiqueK:* " Everyone loved it and the customers found it heavenly... even the kitchen staff couldnt believe it was so easy ( even the sous chef who i´m replacing thought it was amazing )* "

Now there is a nice compliment ! It certainly looks tasty. Good for you and thank you for the great support with all your lovely pasta dishes. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Kgirl: Folks , we have our first post of whole wheat pasta ! Turkey Marsala , now that sounds like an interesting dish. I don't know what Wondra is , could you tell me about that ? A flour mixture ? You finished your dish with a touch of butter, nice. It looks very tasty Kgirl, he must of loved it ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Teamfat: So glad your giving it a try. In fact you get a /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif for trying to make it. I pulled out a cookbook this morning and thought you might find something useful in this recipe. The reason being that it is detailed.

It appears that you are trying to make *Pasta all'Uovo* (yellow egg pasta dough) I will post the steps as Marcella Hazan has in her book. This recipe will yield approximately 3/4 pound of fresh pasta, when rolled out and cut.

You would need about 1 cup unbleached flour

2 eggs, room temperature.

Pour out the flour onto the work surface, shape it into a mound, and scoop out a deep hollow in the center of the mound.
 Break the eggs into the hollow. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, for one or two minutes. Draw some of the flour down over the eggs. Mix the flour with the eggs, a little at a time, until they are no longer runny. Draw the sides of the mound together, and work the mixture of flour and eggs with your fingertips and the palms of your hands, until it is a well-amalgamated paste. If it is still exceptionally moist, work in a little additional flour. But don't overdo it.
Put the egg and flour mass aside for a moment, while you scrape off all bits of caked flour and crumbs from the work surface. Wash hands and dry them. Return the mass to the work surface, and begin kneading it. Push against it with the heel of your palm, fold it in half, turn it, press again hard, and continue folding , turning, and kneading for at least 8 minutes. - Do not skip the kneading time. Many of the problems that come up when stretching pasta can be traced to insufficiently kneaded dough. Even when making pasta by machine, the dough should be kneaded by hand.
*If you decide to use a food processor then MichaelIGA supplied a great video here for that.*

I don't know how much flour you used. The ratio I use is 3/4 cup flour to one egg. Everyone has their own recipe, so I guess when making it a few times you will get to see what works for you.

We look forward to your dish.


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> Anyway today i made a boxed pasta.
> 
> Farfalle with Salmon and a white creme sauce.


Good job!!


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

petalsandcoco said:


> @ Kgirl: Folks , we have our first post of whole wheat pasta ! Turkey Marsala , now that sounds like an interesting dish. I don't know what Wondra is , could you tell me about that ? A flour mixture ? You finished your dish with a touch of butter, nice. It looks very tasty Kgirl, he must of loved it ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif
















  








wondra.jpg




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 11, 2013








I have always had a can of this in my `fridge, it works very nicely in many applications


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Thanks for sharing the info , I have never seen it here.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

A friend of mine made an extraordinary goulash with mushrooms and spaetzles for lunch today.

Interesting twist: once the spaetzles were boiled, he toasted them in a Teflon pan until light brown. Amazing. No picks, sorry, but you get the idea.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Spaetzle browned in butter is good stuff.  There's a version with cheese and onions from that point but that's never come out right for me when I've tried it. Or maybe it came out right and I just wasn't impressed with it. Not sure which.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Ah, to the spaetzel - or galuska

Here's a recipe for a hybrid gnocchi/galuska. I developed this recipe for gnocchi di zucca (pumpkin or squash gnocchi) and galuska (my hungarian friend had given me a galuska tool - looks like if you took the side of a box grater with the big holes and detached it so it was just a flat plate with holes, and a sort of spatula to press them through, rubbing it back and forth. I refuse to roll gnocchi and cut and press over a fork and used to make this recipe as a "drop" gnocchi, scraping them from a spoon into the boiling water. Then i got the galuska maker and i use that.

*Pumpkin galuska-gnocchi*

*Ingredients:*


a nice dense squash like the kind used for ravioli (mantovana or mandolino) but butternut or acorn will do fine







flour
egg
parmigiano
butter
*Method:*

cut the squash in large chunks (sixths or eighths) and don;t peel. (It's hard and time consuming to peel these raw, easier to scrape out the flesh when cooked, with a spoon)
steam until tender in a pot with a steamer basket, with the skin down, piled one piece on top of the other, with space for the steam to pass between them.
let cool a little and scrape the pulp into the bowl of a mixer or just a large bowl
Using the paddle attachment, mix the pulp till it's sort of homogenous
add about the same amount of flour by volume - more will make them with more "bite" but less with more flavor. I go for bite, but the choice is yours.
add an egg and mix till incorporated. If you mix more they will have more bite.
Boil water in a deep frying pan, add salt and lower heat somewhat.
try dropping one teaspoon of the mixture in the water. If it holds together, and when it comes to float and you remove it and taste it, and the consistency is good and it hasn;t disintegrated into the water. If it disintegrates, add more flour.
When you got the consistency you like, either start dropping from the teaspoon till you have a whole layer of these gnocchi, let them cook till they float and remove with a slotted spoon. Continue with the rest of the dough. OR rub through a galuska maker. They will be smaller but nice too.
As you remove them to a low, large serving dish, put pieces of butter and generous amounts of parmigiano.
Serve
Pumpkins are out of season so i have no pictures to share.

With this method (either spoon or galuska maker), you save infinite amounts of time and need less flour in the dough so more flavor than if you roll and cut them.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*Pasta alla caprese con tocchi americani*

*(pasta capri style - that is, mozzarella and tomato - with some american touches)*

this recipe is my own invention, variation of the traditional pasta al caprese. Caprese is a mozzarella and tomato salad, just slices of one and the other overlapping with oil and salt and basil leaves.

It's pretty common to cut up the two ingredients in chunks and to cook short pasta (rigatoni, penne) and as soon as they;re drained, to mix with the cut up caprese, with oil and basil. You let it sit a minute and the mozzarella softens and half melts with the heat of the pasta and the pasta cools to tepid. It's not a pasta salad, you serve it warm. This is my variation making it richer. I love tomatoes and avocado and tuna together. I also often alternate slices of avocado with my caprese salad, between the mozarella and tomato. So i then came up with this dish

When i can get my husband to help me take the pictures off the camera i can show pictures, but i'm helpless with this sort of thing.

While not traditional, this is typical simple italian cooking, with all the characteristics of this cuisine, simplicity, the ingredients maintain their essential quality, the freshness and flavor is highlighted, it's not doctored up, not "sophisticated" in the Italian sense of being very natural and not too manipulated.

*ingredients:*

ripe, red, flavorful tomatoes (not canned in this case). If you have your own beefsteaks or others, they're good. This recipe is for the height of tomato season. I used "datterini" - that look like little red dates - sweet and tasty.
A ripe avocado
a can of dark meat tuna (the white stuff will taste like oakum (that fiber used in pipe joints in plumbing)). I get it in extra virgin oil, so in that case i use the oil. Otherwise if the oil is inferior, i drain it well and add my own good oil.
a handful of basil or mixed basil and parsley (fresh)
heavy salt (they have this large crystal salt which cuts into the leaves in a pestel) if you have it.
black peppercorns
extra v olive oil.
clove of garlic
a good fresh mozzarella (optional) (sometimes i leave it out - it;s still good)
pasta - penne, rigatoni, ditaloni, shells, other short thick pasta.
*method:*

Cut the tomatoes and avocado and mozzarella into cubes. Put in a big bowl and add the tuna. MIx and add a little salt and oil.
cut up the fresh herbs, squash the garlic, and put it all in the mortar with peppercorns and salt (no oil yet). Pound it all, squashing all the leaves, garlic and peppercorns well and grinding around the mortar with the pestle.
add the oil and keep mixing so the flavor gets into the oil. Set aside
Cook the pasta in a very large pot of boiling water with a handful of salt in it till al dente
Drain and immediately mix with the vegetable, tuna and mozzarella mixture
Leave it a minute and then pour the pesto over it, mix lightly and serve immediately.
Sometimes i add large grated parmigiano,

This is a great, easy, one-dish meal for summer. Not a lot of cooking, but with all the satisfaction of a cooked meal. Truly wonderful, summer's gift to both the cook (ease of preparation) and the eater (really tasty and satisfying).


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

300x225px-LL-dc29085b_900x900px-LL-e9b4eec2_DSC002




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 12, 2013








Macaroni Salad (it's Summer Time, we'll need a good mac salad for our picnics) that is from my quest to copycat Zippy's (a restaurant in Honolulu Hawaii)

I had submitted this as an article back some time ago (click the link)

This may look like a hot mess, but once it sits for at least an hour, MAN-O-MAN!! I want to tell you friends and neighbors, as we say in Hawaii

Broke da mouth good!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Absolutely fantastic recipes Siduri ! I really enjoy how you adapt a recipe and make it your own. 
You submitted a winter squash dish and a summer pasta dish with clear attention to details. I have not heard about that machine for gnocchi , I would like to look into it. Making them by hand can be long , especially for large quantities. Thumbs up !
I hope you get to post those pics.

Kgirl : great contribution , nothing spells a BBQ better than a fine looking macaroni salad like the one you posted. Thank you for posting the link , it's a good read. Thumbs up ! I hope many here get a chance to look at your site, it was enjoyable to read the other day.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

[h5]Olive oil and elbow grease, liberal quantities of each, coaxed something recognizable out of last night's blob of dough:[/h5]




  








pasta2.jpg




__
teamfat


__
Jun 12, 2013


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

Asparagus lasagna with freshly made pasta.

Asparagus sauteed in bacon fat.





  








asparagus_d1006_s.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 12, 2013








Layers : Thyme bechamel, fresh pasta, asparagus, thyme bechamel, fontina, parm, fresh pasta, repeat





  








layers1006_s.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 12, 2013








folded into a package, bechamel/fontina on top, parmesan and bread crumbs

Into the oven at 375 for I don't know how long. Until toasty and crisp. Maybe 25 min.





  








wrap1006_s.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 12, 2013








Served with toasted pine nuts, lemon peel, and a dusting of parmesan.





  








asparagus_lasagna1006_s.jpg




__
jake t buds


__
Jun 12, 2013


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

OH MY GRAVY ALL OVER MY NOODLES PLEASE!

Jake me boy-o, that looks/sounds tasty

I am _SO _nipping that one from ya'

That would make the best church supper-potluck-take-along 

definitely make you the big cheese at any social gathering, HA! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

jake t buds said:


> Asparagus lasagna with freshly made pasta.
> 
> Asparagus sauteed in bacon fat.
> 
> ...


oh god , hope u dont mind if i use this recipe , seems to be very interesting and delicious.

MIGHT I SAY.... ORGASMIC


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

petalsandcoco said:


> Absolutely fantastic recipes Siduri ! I really enjoy how you adapt a recipe and make it your own.
> You submitted a winter squash dish and a summer pasta dish with clear attention to details. I have not heard about that machine for gnocchi , I would like to look into it. Making them by hand can be long , especially for large quantities. Thumbs up !
> I hope you get to post those pics.


Petals, it's not a machine for gnocchi, though i believe they exist. I'm not a fan of gnocchi, they;re too soft for my taste. It would be a tool to make hungarian galuska (there's a little inverted ^ (pointing down instead of up) over the s, and pronounced galushka) or german Spaetzle. I looked on internet and it;s called a spaetzle plane.








this is a version similar to mine, but more sophisticated. Mine is rectangular and like one of those graters that is only one flat rectangular plane with a heavy wire extension that sits it over a pot. The more common one, supposedly an improvement, is this










But i find this much more annoying and time consuming to use, because it depends more on the weight of the dough falling through, while the one i have is shaped like this, but without the box on top, and instead has a spatula like the first one, and you can pull out the handle to make it fit any pot, and you actually smear it over the holes so you force it through and takes much less time. Otherwise you're running that box back and forth over the holes like crazy.

These bear little resemblance to gnocchi as you probably know them, the big , final-thumb-joint thickness and size, soft, potato things. They're small and sort of irregular This picture is from internet, but my gnocchi/galuska look like this but orangey yellow










If you like them bigger you can drop them by the teaspoonful into the water unceremoniously (no rolling out into cylinders, cutting and pressing against the tines of the fork). Personally, i prefer the messy look to the too-careful look of traditional gnocchi, because i don;t like my food overly manipulated and sculpted. And the formless masses of these galuska hold the butter better in the grooves and crannies. If you like you can use sage/garlic butter on them, but then you lose the flavor of the pumpkin which is very subtle in these gnocchi, unlike in ravioli. Interesting to me, is that in making traditional gnocchi, ratehr than drop them by tablespoonfuls into the water, you roll and cut them, but then because they;re so smooth they wouldn't hold the sauce, they have to be run over a the back of the fork to give some ridges to them. Well,then, if you just drop them they will be irregular and hold the sauce just fine! I call it women's liberation /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif (even in restaurants, it was always women in the back room rolling out dough and making gnocchi by hand, hour after hour) (you have nothing to lose but your tines!)


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

My compliments on your stunning asparagus lasagne, Jake.


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Must all pasta have egg in it?  What is the difference between egg noodles and pasta? Is the well method the best method or is it ok to use a food processor with good results?


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Teamfat: Well Done ! You managed to make some great looking pasta . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Tell us, how did it taste ? Did you serve it buttered or seasoned with a sauce ? Is it something you would make again ?

@ Jake: You have furnished us with a summertime looking lasagna with all the flavors that encompass it. Thank you for the pictorial , we can see that your pasta skills are honed. And may I say that your lasagna is the first lasagna entry in the pasta challenge and we thank you for that, just lovely. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Siduri: I must say that I enjoy both from time to time. When I read that it is called a 'spaetzle plane', I realized what you were talking about in the previous post. I own the second one (same idea of a grater ). The pic you posted of the gnocchi/galuska looks very rustic and that's a good thing. The point about it holding the sauce is important as traditional gnocchi doesn't really do that unless like you said, the ridges are marked/indented. While I can easily make the rustic style at home, I could not do it at work as they do enjoy presentation.

Your post has been quite informative. Thank you for including equipment in your discussion and also the technique that goes into making both types of gnocchi. It's important for anyone who falls upon this thread and is keen in making them, all the tips count (including the tines) /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif/img/vbsmilies/smilies/lever.gif

There is an interesting story I thought I would share from the local newspaper, The Gazette: A restaurant I frequent .

[h1]The 82-year-old gnocchi maker[/h1]

[h2]Every morning for more than 20 years, Luciano Lecas has set himself up in the Buonanotte kitchen to create his delicate specialty[/h2]

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/year+gnocchi+maker/5273870/story.html#ixzz2W0Ke7vkA










[h3]Luciano Lecas rolls fresh gnocchi that he cuts into small pieces or rolls and turns into gnocchi strudel stuffed with spinach and cheese.[/h3][h3]*Photograph by: *Pierre Obendrauf , The Gazette[/h3]

Come evening, Montreal's *Buonanotte* restaurant will be buzzing with beautiful people dining on duck breast tagliata with foie gras sauce or black cod sous-vide. By 10 p.m., the best-known supper club on the Main will be throbbing with glamour and bass-heavy dance music.

But at lunchtime, Luciano's old-fashioned gnocchi steal the show.

Luciano Lecas's potato gnocchi are light and airy, little pillows of delicate dough boiled just until tender and then coated in a silky Bolognese sauce. It is no wonder they are one of the most popular pasta dishes on the menu. Ever since the restaurant opened more than two decades ago, Lecas has been in charge of the lunchtime gnocchi at Buonanotte, which so happens to be owned by his son Massimo.

"Before we opened, he came to help us paint the bathrooms. And then he never left," jokes his son. "We change a lot of things on the menu. But never my Dad's gnocchi."

At 82, Lecas claims to be slowing down. But there's little evidence of that. He still comes in six mornings a week to get his gnocchi ready (and to make the barley soup that's another lunchtime staple at the restaurant).

He will have boiled and mashed the potatoes the day before to leave ample time for them to dry. (It's the secret, he says, to light and fluffy gnocchi.) By 10:30, he's at his post at the stainless steel counter, sprinkling flour onto the mound of potatoes, breaking an egg into the centre, adding the ingredients without measuring and then gently kneading the dough into a smooth two-foot-long log that he cuts into long ropes and divides into gnocchi.

By the time he heads home three or so hours later, he will have rolled and cut close to a thousand gnocchi.

Lecas isn't a trained chef, but he has been perfecting his gnocchi for more than 50 years. He watched his mother and grandmother make them for the family every Sunday back in his native Trieste, in northern Italy, near the border with Slovenia.

"When I was a boy, sometimes my parents and I would go to the local trattoria, where there would be much singing and drinking. At around 11 p.m., someone would say they had a craving for gnocchi," Lecas recalled. "My mother would go home and after a half-hour or so she would return with a platter of gnocchi for everyone."

When he was 16 years old, his mother died and Lecas and his father had to learn to make gnocchi for themselves. As a young man just immigrated to Montreal, he happened upon a restaurant run by a paesano from Trieste who had introduced gnocchi to Montreal. They assuaged his homesickness. Soon, he was making them himself and inviting friends for dinner to share them.

All these years later, gnocchi are his specialty. To stand by Lecas' side in a corner of the busy Buonanotte kitchen amid the clatter of pots and pans is to behold an old pro at work. The cuffs of his crisply pressed blue-and-white shirt rolled up, Lecas kneads and rolls, all the while recounting the history of an all-Italian classic.

While gnocchi have been eaten in one form or another in Italy since the 1300s, potato gnocchi made their debut in the 1600s after Christopher Columbus introduced the potato to Europe, Lecas explains. Exotic and new, they were an aristocratic delicacy.

In Venice, the doges would sprinkle them with equally exotic cinnamon and sugar and eat them for dessert. Before long potato gnocchi were a favourite all over Italy. But their popularity comes at a price, Lecas laments. Frozen and vacuum-packed, the machine-made facsimiles are often a gummy, leaden disappointment.

The only way to really appreciate potato gnocchi in Montreal, he says, is - not surprisingly - to come in for lunch at Buonanotte. Or make them yourself and eat them straightaway, with a simple tomato sauce, or a Bolognese meat ragu, or perhaps with pesto or the pan juices from a veal roast. In summer, he suggests dressing potato gnocchi with melted butter simmered briefly with a little fresh sage.

Lecas is lingering a little at the front of the restaurant after his gnocchi shift is up. He says he has no imminent plans to retire from gnocchi production. He loves the bustle of a restaurant kitchen, and besides "if I stay at home, what am I going to do?"

The only downside, he allows, is that sometimes he finds himself up in the middle of the night "counting gnocchi instead of sheep."

*Luciano's potato gnocchi*

Serves 4.

Here are Buonanotte's famous potato gnocchi. Luciano Lecas likes to serve them with a slow-cooked Bolognese sauce, a simple tomato sauce, or a simple melted butter and sage dressing.

Sometimes he serves them for dessert, with a little melted butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.

2 pounds (1 kilogram) unpeeled boiling potatoes (like russet or Idaho)

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) all purpose flour, plus extra for flouring the board and dusting the finished gnocchi

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Boil the potatoes in salted water. When thoroughly cooked, drain and transfer to a colander.

When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and puree them through a potato ricer or a food mill while still warm.

Spread the mashed potatoes out on an ungreased baking sheet, cover with a clean, dry dish cloth and let stand several hours or overnight.

On a well-floured work surface, spread out mashed potatoes and add flour and egg. With well-floured hands, knead gently into a smooth dough, being careful not to overwork.

The mixture should be soft, smooth and slightly sticky. (If the dough is a little too tacky, simply add a tablespoon or so extra flour.)

Shape the dough into a large foot-long log and then cut lengthwise into four or five ropes of about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.

Using the palms of your well-floured hands, gently roll each of the ropes into longer, thinner lengths (of an inch in diameter), moving your hands out from the middle toward the ends.

With a sharp knife, slicing on the diagonal, cut the ropes crosswise into individual gnocchi. Dust lightly with flour and set aside.

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Add gnocchi, no more than two dozen at a time, being careful not to crowd the pot. Cook for two or three minutes, until gnocchi float to the top. Wait eight to 10 seconds (but no longer) then lift them out of the boiling water using a slotted spoon. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl, tossing with a little sauce to keep them from sticking while you cook the rest. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

Serve immediately with meat sauce or sage butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

---

*The gnocchi maestro shares his secrets*

Luciano Lecas says his gnocchi-making talents come naturally, and from years of practice. The gnocchi maestro at Buonanotte restaurant shares his secrets:

- Use starchy, floury potatoes with low moisture and high starch content, like Idahos or russets. They retain less water during cooking.

- Boil the potatoes until thoroughly tender. Some cooks boil the potatoes unpeeled to reduce water absorption and then peel them after cooking.

- For silky, lump-free texture, puree the potatoes using a food mill or a potato ricer the day before making the gnocchi. Spread them out on a baking sheet, covered with a clean dishcloth, and leave to dry overnight.

- To avoid gumminess, don't use too much flour.

- Keep work surface and hands well floured.

- Knead dough gently. Don't overwork the dough.

- Cook the gnocchi in a generous amount of salted water that has reached a rolling boil. Don't overcrowd the pot.

- Scoop them out with a slotted spoon eight to 10 seconds after they float to the top to prevent them from overcooking. Don't leave them in any longer or they will disintegrate.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/year+gnocchi+maker/5273870/story.html#ixzz2W0KJ93sB

Wonderful contributions everyone /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Koukouvagia said:


> Must all pasta have egg in it? What is the difference between egg noodles and pasta? Is the well method the best method or is it ok to use a food processor with good results?


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

Thank you all for your kind words!!


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

siduri said:


>


I've got one of these in plain stainless steel It works pretty well.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Just a note. Most Italians reserve home made pasta for special occasions like holidays or maybe a special sunday dinner. For their everyday suppers they almost always eat the dried industrial pasta. Just so you don't feel that it's not "real" pasta if it's industrial.

Also consider that Italians mostly live in cities and towns (small close towns where you can walk to a store no matter where you live) so the idea of home made anything is much less common than in traditional american culture.

Making bread at home only recently became popular. Stores in every neighborhood make fresh pasta (like noodles, fettuccine, ravioli) and there's always a pastry shop. (I remember Julia Child explaining that she gave a recipe for homemade sausages but French families don't make sausages because they get great sausages from the butcher).

And, pasta itself was, until something like 60 years ago, reserved for holidays and rich people. My mother in law (born in 1915) said that in her father's store, a poor family (meaning the majority) was in the store and the kids asked the mother to buy some pasta. She said "You know pasta is only for special occasions - we'll have it for christmas"

The staple was soup with bread in it.

And, look at how spaghetti is REALLY made in this historical documentary:


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Koukouvagia said:


> Must all pasta have egg in it? ... Is the well method the best method or is it ok to use a food processor with good results?


Miss KK, I posted a recipe from Lidia Bastianich, Malloreddus, that is made in the food processor with only three ingredients, water, semolina flour and saffron. They come out fantastic! They freeze beautifully, great for a crowd.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I usually use the food processor. But I'm not fan of manual kneading.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> Must all pasta have egg in it? What is the difference between egg noodles and pasta? Is the well method the best method or is it ok to use a food processor with good results?


A traditional pasta e fagioli dish in central italy is made with a plain water and flour noodle. I don;lt have the recipe though.

orecchiette too, served generally with a ragu or with broccoletti (broccoli rabe) with garlic, oil and pepperoncino (red hot pepper)


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Can an admin delete my double post please?


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

*Ricotta gnocchi*

For about one portion.

3 tbs of Ricotta

2 or 3 tbs of potato starch

3 or 4 tbs of grated parmigiano

1 egg

Pepper, nutmeg optional. I didn't use it.





  








WPJ40ic.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








 Mix well and refrigerate. Must be a paste, not a dough. The correct texture and density are crucial.





  








8erDSJJ.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








With the hands make Ø 1" balls. Careful!




  








QbidHpW.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013







Boil the gnocchi in simmering milk until the they float on the surface. Gently use a colander to pick them up. Reserve.





  








KTW8i5Z.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








Meanwhile prepare a butter and sage classic sauce (butter, garlic, sage, drops lemon juice and lemon zest).

Once the butter is infused, reserve the leaves so they will not burn latter.





  








w7QFtdF.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








Brown the gnocchi in hot butter for a minute.





  








PbqlNGY.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013












  








d1HXQPz.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








Plate. Pour the sage butter over the gnocchi and grate more parmigiano. An excellent primo piato.





  








TEScHRx.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 12, 2013








Amazing dishes everybody but short of time to comment.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

@ Teamfat: Well Done ! You managed to make some great looking pasta .







Tell us, how did it taste ? Did you serve it buttered or seasoned with a sauce ? Is it

something you would make again ?

Texture was a bit heavy, as I expected, flavor fine. Just did a quick alfredo style, with a sausage link and some sauteed mushrooms on the side. Of course I'll do it again!

mjb.


----------



## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

petalsandcoco said:


> Thanks for sharing the info , I have never seen it here.


Can't get Wondra Flour in Canada, you can find Robin Hood - Easy Blend flour, for some reason it's not on their website. It's the same stuff.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

phatch said:


> But I'm not fan of manual kneading.


I find it theraputic.

mjb.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks for that fantastic ricotta gnocchi tutorial, Ordo! And what a tasty looking result.

I have made potato gnocchi and a combo of potato/pumpkin gnocchi before but never using ricotta.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Yesterday I harvested a bag of... *nettles* while making a bicycletrip. Purpose is to make ravioli today, so patience, I have to see first how that will turn out. But, I already made this simple dish yesterday using De Cecco fusilli n°34, nettles, a little ham, a dash of cream and parmezan.

Nettles are very healthy and have a reputation of cleansing your body. In case you wondered; nettles taste like the best spinach you ever had. This might be somewhat balancing between gastronomy and witchcraft.





  








netelsPasta2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 13, 2013











  








netelsPasta3.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 13, 2013








The usable base made from nettles is nettle leaves boiled in chickenstock for 5-8 minutes, depending on how tender the leaves are (just collect only the top 3 inches from the nettles). Then I mixed them and put it all through a sieve. You now have some sort of nettle spinachy substance and a delicious liquid that can be used further as a soup or a sauce.

If you are the Lucky owner of a Thermomix, you can make the base in that machine to produce a very smooth substance.

Oh, it's a good idea to use rubber gloves while harvesting and picking the leaves from the stems. Wash the leaves thouroughly in cold water before proceeding.





  








netelsPasta1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 13, 2013


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

ordo said:


> *Ricotta gnocchi*
> 
> For about one portion.
> 
> ...


Wow, wow. This I gotta make! And I'm definitely not skipping the nutmeg! Although technically these are not gnocchi, they are Gnudi.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Ordo : Thank you for sharing your mise and the nice pictorial. When I scrolled down and saw them frying in the pan then plated, well it was like looking at 5 lovely pillows of pure goodness. In the paper yesterday there was a recipe posted for something a bit similar. When I have a chance I will post the recipe. Overall ? Great job. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Michael : I have never seen that either, interesting.

@ Chris : Points on harvesting the nettles while on a bike ride, how cool is that ! High in Vitamin A, C, Iron, Potassioum, Manganese, and Calcium. It is a very nice dish Chris and informative for those who have never eaten it before. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Did you say you were making homemade Ravioli ? .....

@ KK : Yes, also known as Gnudi, but as you know we love _Naked Gnocchi ._


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

Very nice Ordo.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Can i make a suggestion? 

Since these challenges in particular get VERY long, when you quote someone else's post and they have pictures, can you just run the cursor over it while holding the left button of the mouse down,  to highlight them, (they turn bluish) and then press delete?  I think you can also click on the picture so it shows a square around it and little squares around the corners and sides, and then click delete.   Then you get the words and not all the pictures.  Some of the posts have many pictures and take up practically the space of ten posts, which is fine because we want to see techniques.  But when we comment on them, maybe we can just cancel the pictures, or leave just one. 

thanks


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

ordo said:


> *Ricotta gnocchi *(...)


Stunning! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Nice, nice stuff, everyone!

Well, the presentation on my experiment here sucks a bit, since I almost never make sushi myself, thus my rolling skills are sorely lacking - and those are harder to roll and align than rice.... However, I still want to share it, because I like the concept:

Soba-zushi - a roll with buckwheat noodles instead of rice, filled with toasted sesame seeds, cucumber slices and daikon sprouts. Banno-Joyu for dipping. All shamelessly ripped from E. Andoh's excellent Washoku cookbook:





  








IMG_0947.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 13, 2013


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

that's a great idea siduri!

@ Gene, what a clever idea


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Yumminess 003.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 14, 2013








Chicken Parm with De Cecco Rigatoni, tossed in homemade marinara (and then just a splash more sauce) from san marzano (canned) tomatoes, some torn flat leaf parsley and extra grated parm (gilding the lily) DH has been waiting patiently for this,when we could eat 'white foods' again (tomorrow's homemade pizza, HA!)


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

*Homemade ravioli with nettles.*

I used the cooked nettles from my previous post in this thread.

- filling; ricotta, cooked nettles, egg, breadcrumbs, parmezan, s&p

- pasta; flour, eggs, cooked nettles, olive oil

- sauce; velouté made from the cooking liquid of the nettles, which is chickenstock that picked up that darkgreen color of the nettles.

I put some thyme flowers on top, blood sorrel and a little extra parmezan. Doesn't that look somewhat "gothic" ?

You could make this dish entirely with spinach, optional plus a combo of green herbs.





  








NetelRavioli7.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 14, 2013











  








NetelRavioli8.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 14, 2013


__
3











  








NetelRavioli9.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 14, 2013


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

Not nearly as original as a lot of the posts above:

I made a mushroom-bacon-spinach cream sauce with shop-bought pasta.

I hates spinach as a kid and this was one of the dishes that a room mate made when I was at varsity and I actually had to admit that I liked spinach 

The ingredients:





  








ingredients better.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 14, 2013








And yes, that's rape, not spinach, but every leaf vegetable seems to go by the name of spinach here

Oh, and the cream is not in the picture

I put a pot on the fire, threw in the rape stalks and when they were almost done I added the leaves.

Picked out the lot and put everything into my kitchen machine which worked for a minute and then decided to go on strike.

So had to chop the lot by hand.

The rape-water was used to cook the pasta





  








chopped rape.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 14, 2013








Below is the sauce of streaky bacon (i removed about 6 tablespoons of fat), mushroom, onion, garlic, rape and I couldn't resist a little chili.

Seasoned with some salt and black pepper





  








sauce mixture without cream.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 14, 2013








The finished product: It tasted pretty good 





  








dinner.jpg




__
butzy


__
Jun 14, 2013


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ GM:

*"Soba-zushi - a roll with buckwheat noodles instead of rice, filled with toasted sesame seeds, cucumber slices and daikon sprouts. Banno-Joyu for dipping. All shamelessly ripped from E. Andoh's excellent Washoku cookbook:"*

Fabulous concept on the Soba-Zushi ! Talk about thinking outside the box, and great creativity, this is what we all want to see. Keep it up GM, I surely hope you have something else brewing for us. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ K-girl:

*"Chicken Parm with De Cecco Rigatoni"*

A wonderful plate of pure love and comfort. I think that is our first post of rigatoni and it looks great. DH must of enjoyed it immensly and I also think he deserves your homemade pizza, please post that somewhere we can all appreciate it to. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Chris: A double dish , *Nettles and Ravioli* , looks rich and satisfying. Thank you for sharing your pics , especially the one using your palm to knead the pasta, great for sharing with those who have never made it before.

*"I put some thyme flowers on top, blood sorrel and a little extra parmezan. Doesn't that look somewhat "gothic" ?"*

Not at all, in fact it enhanced the beauty of your dish. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Butzy: " I made a _*mushroom-bacon-spinach cream sauce with shop-bought pasta "*_

Great job Butzy ! I know how hard it is to get foodstuff where you are and your contribution is very much appreciated. Thank you for sharing your mise and pictorial with us. I think the bacon paired with the chili must have given it very nice flavor. Nice use of the rape too . From the pictures, was that fettucini pasta ? Lovely looking dish ! Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

I have to tip my hat to all of you for giving your dishes that added cheese, daikon spouts, or sorrel , chili , nice touches.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

I will make petals comments mine just because i'm lazy. Wonderful pasta dishes everybody. Very nice challenge. Its truly a learning thread. Thanks great cooks!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

I made a dessert pasta dish and I guess I'm going to call this , Pasta alla Petals. I have been rolling pasta out very early this morning and my hands are still shaky (lines with squeeze bottle of sauces are not good), this will be served later on as a dessert for the clients, please bear with me. I'm hoping the idea is ok with you guys and please feel free to critique the dish. I did a sample run and here it is :





  








008.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Pasta made in food processor this time (lots to do this morning) with Frangelico, flour, semolina, eggs, icing sugar, vanilla, salt.





  








010.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Made stuffing. Ricotta, dried fruit, fresh lemon zest, sugar, vanilla.





  








014.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Used flower cutter





  








016.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Place stuffing, then cover with other one, make a white egg bath and brush around sides. Place in boiling water, when it floats , it's ready. Remove.





  








019.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Make sure you have on hand some dried out bread crumbs, mix that with cinnamon and brown sugar. Brush your pasta with egg wash.





  








020.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Don't worry about the lines on your pasta, no one will see it as it is covered.





  








022.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Prepare a pan with melted butter and gently drip the butter over the pasta so that the coating seals, 1-2 minutes, Remove.





  








033.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 14, 2013







Plated.


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

@petals. I am by far not the best at plating, but it feels like the sauces could be radiating from the center, mimicking the flower shape of the ravioli - with berries placed at the inside corners. Maybe I just like the symmetry of your star or flower. Absolutely OutStanding!!


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Petals, I'm intrigued! After Joey mentioned her dessert Lasagne, I've been trying to wrap my taste buds are what sweet pasta would taste like. By chance, did you cook any of the pasta, unstuffed to taste just that?


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Very nice petals.  If the term 'pasta' also involves rice flour there're some interesting sweet variations in Asian cuisine.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Not much baked pasta so I'll add some Stuffed Shells: ricotta, spinach mostly with the fairly regular seasonings





  








2013-06-13 17.23.45.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Plating was not going anywhere constructive so I just ate it.





  








2013-06-13 17.26.24.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

And because I can, some more asian style noodles from last week.

5 of these dried chinese egg noodle nests, they're pretty close to being a serving size and quite convenient. They also boil up quickly, abut 4-5 minutes at the boil.





  








2013-06-07 17.06.26.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Here they are draining.





  








2013-06-07 17.14.49.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








So, what to cook with them? Some sliced mushrooms I think.





  








2013-06-07 17.14.52.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Blanched some green beans in the noodle water for a couple of minutes. Green beans need some moist cooking time to achieve their best texture imho and blanching is easy when I'm boiling noodles as well.





  








2013-06-07 17.14.56.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Some sliced chinese style roast pork.





  








2013-06-07 17.14.59.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Cabbage is always good.





  








2013-06-07 17.15.02.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








A little onion and carrot. i cut the carrot with this peeler that also makes long julienne strips just for fun. You can see it there above and to the left of the bowl.





  








2013-06-07 17.15.04.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Into the wok with vegetables that will take some time to cook to crisp tender. I'll add some ginger after these have cooked a bit. That breaks with traditional technique, but it helps give the ginger more punch in the final dish. I want to take these noodles to a slightly sweeter finish so I'm not using the more pungent seasonings like garlic. Also not so much soy sauce.





  








2013-06-07 17.19.37.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








It's hard to take pix while stir frying as there's just no time. So now you'll see the mushrooms are added and cooked, the cabbage and pork are there too.





  








2013-06-07 17.21.52.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Now the noodles have been added and tossed to mix a bit. Some oyster sauce there on top to start building the final seasoning. I think I added a little dark soy as well. Both of these seasonings have sweetness to them.





  








2013-06-07 17.23.47.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








In a big bowl to serve family style.





  








2013-06-07 17.25.54.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013








Time to eat!





  








2013-06-07 17.28.06.jpg




__
phatch


__
Jun 14, 2013


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Beautiful, everyone - this challenge really takes off!

@Chris - love the blood sorrel! I planted some in my garden this year.

I have some more bones and stuff on preorder with my butcher... Can't do a challenge without using either bones or offal, I guess  This time, it's pork, for a proper tonkotsu ramen broth. Guess I am having a japanese phase at the moment.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

I agree with you GM, such nice dishes. It truly is a great learning thread with so many talented and gifted cooks.

@ Jake : Yes the fruit was finally plated closer to the pasta dish and sauce zig zag a lot better. I usually have more time to set up a prep plate but today I didn't, just too much going on, 8:51 and I just got in. My feet.....my feet.....

@ K-girl : The pasta tastes like a ....I'm trying to think here....like a fortune cookie , yes, something similar to that. That alcohol has a unique taste and it also tastes like vanilla wafers.

@ Phatch: You have presented the first pasta dish made with shells and it looks great. Your second dish , Chinese egg noodle , looks absolutely terrific ! Was that cooked on a portable induction burner ? You have presented 2 fine dishes Phatch with a nice pictorial for future cooks, nicely done ! Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ GM: Japanese phase ? In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Oh Yeah" !


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

petalsandcoco said:


> _Réalisé avec un soupçon d'amour._


Et ça se voit, Pétale, ça se voit!! C'est magnifique!! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

All you guys' dishes look very tasty guys.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

phatch said:


> Plating was not going anywhere constructive so I just ate it.


Been there, done that. Spilled some on my T shirt.

mjb.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Phatch, love the stuffed shells! And what's wrong with the plating?


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

ordo said:


> *Ricotta gnocchi*
> 
> For about one portion.
> 
> ...


Going to try this tonight ordo. I've made ignudi, usually with spinach, but i never browned them in butter afterwards. Sounds very good. You got me hungry and i bought some really good sheep ricotta today to try it. You'll hear about it.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

ChrisBelgium said:


> Phatch, love the stuffed shells! And what's wrong with the plating?


The shells, being round don't want to stay in positions in which it's easier to make them attractive. It's not that's its bad for what it is, particularly for what amounts to being a serving of home-style casserole. But I was hoping to dress it up a bit.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

And yes petals, that's a portable Max Burton induction hob. I use it a lot. Great for boiling water for pasta and for stir frying and lots more as well.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

*Cavatelli with chard and tomatoes*

So here is my first contribution to this thread. I made some fresh cavatelli (or whichever of those around thirty names in use in the south of Italy you choose to call it). The sauce is just a simple southern classic - cherry tomatoes, garlic, chili and blanched greens (chard in my case). As I've run out of cheese, I went to choose fried breadcrumbs instead. So a true poverty dish, I would say. Only grano arso and barley flour substituting for some of the semolina are missing.

First, I made the dough with 150 grammes semolina. Then I divided it into four parts, rolled each into a snake, divided each snake into four parts and again rolled those into rather thin snakes (about the width of a pencil), which I divided into equal sections, each about 3 or 4 cm long, that is the length of two fingertips. By sticking several wooden skewers together, I made a simple tool to be used for creating ridges, so that the sauce clings better (something similar to the stuff that is used in Bologna to make ridged garganelli). To make a cavatello, you take one of those snake sections, put it on the ridge-tool, place two fingers on it, press slightly and pull towards yourself. It is really very easy to make and takes about two seconds to make one. Of course, a picture of the finished cavatelli included:





  








x.JPG




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 16, 2013








As for the sauce, not much to explain here really. Just heat some olive oil in a deep pan, add a few whole garlic cloves (the amount depends on how pungent your garlic is), a good handful or two of halved or quartered cherry tomatoes, some crushed chili and sea salt. Let it fry rather briskly for several minutes, until the tomatoes are completely collapsed. Discard the garlic. Boil the pasta together with about 3/4 lbs. sliced chard leaves and when almost done, remove it all from the pot and add it to the pan, together with some of that green cooking liquid. The pasta will finish cooking in the pan with the sauce, so bring it to a brisk boil and keep stirring it, separating the strands of chard to mix evenly with the other ingredients.

As for the breadcrumbs, given the fact that those breadcrumbs I can buy here are not exactly tasty, I dried a small baguette in the oven (140°C) and then processed it in a food processor until I got fresh breadcrumbs. These I then fried in some olive oil and sprinkled each serving of pasta with some of the breadcrumbs.

And I've included a picture of the finished dish, too:





  








P1040017.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 16, 2013


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Wonderul.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Yeah. Nice!


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So today work was pretty stressing but why not make a pasta dish...

So here we have Stuffed shells ( stuffed with chicken , tomatoes and herbs , baked with parmesan cheese and a quick bechamel ).

Baked in the oven at 180 degrees C , for 25 minutes . The herbs we used were parsley , basil , and some oregano.

They tasted great , but look kinda ugly XD





  








Stuffed shells.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 17, 2013








So me and my chef today were making some homemade pasta ( yet again ) lets see what we will make with them this week XD.

In my opinion they are just looking adorable XD





  








homemade pasta tortellin.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 17, 2013


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Ordo, the ricotta gnocchi came out really nicely and even my ricotta-hating (italian) husband liked them, couldn;t guess what was in them (it was the browning and the garlic/sage flavoring.

Lots of nice recipes everyone, too many to comment individually.

About plating the shells, phatch, for my taste, you did well - they shouldn't be plated. Plating things like pasta, i think, (and a whole history of italian cuisine is behind me on that) is counterproductive. You want the pasta to go from stove to table in the quickest time possible, and don;t want anyone fiddling with your pasta tying it in knots or laying it out in patterns or squirting decorations on the plate or losing parsley or parmigiano on the plate and not on the pasta where it belongs, or anything else!!/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

Who came up with this plating idea anyway? I think people should make food look good, but good as food, rather than good as an abstract painting or a sculpture of the pyramids! Does this bother anyone else?


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Slayertplsko said:


> ......*By sticking several wooden skewers together, I made a simple tool to be used for creating ridges*, so that the sauce clings better (something similar to the stuff that is used in Bologna to make ridged garganelli). To make a cavatello, you take one of those snake sections, put it on the ridge-tool, place two fingers on it, press slightly and pull towards yourself. It is really very easy to make and takes about two seconds to make one. ....
> ......As for the *breadcrumb*s, given the fact that those breadcrumbs I can buy here are not exactly tasty, I dried a small baguette in the oven (140°C) and then processed it in a food processor until I got fresh breadcrumbs. These I then fried in some olive oil and sprinkled each serving of pasta with some of the breadcrumbs....


Lovely recipe, Slayer and introducing a very interesting new technique to make those ridges in pasta, using wooden skewers. Have you any experience using the same technique in making potato gnocchi? Do you assemble those skewers in a particular way?

We haven't had fried breadcrumbs yet in this thread if I'm not mistaken. Don't our Italian friends call it "pangrattato"?

@Siduri; I kind of agree on going extreme in plating, but I'm all for a clean appetizing but simple presentation.


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> Ordo, the ricotta gnocchi came out really nicely and even my ricotta-hating (italian) husband liked them, couldn;t guess what was in them (it was the browning and the garlic/sage flavoring.
> 
> Lots of nice recipes everyone, too many to comment individually.
> 
> ...


I think you need to post some pictures that's what I think lol!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Siduri : Please tell us you took a pic of that ? I plan on making it myself in the near future. As for plating, nothing wrong with clean plating. My boss eats with his eyes and has always enjoyed a little attention to details from time to time, and why not ?

@ Phatch: There is nothing wrong with your plate, don't be so hard on yourself.

@ Slayer : I wholeheartedly agree with Chris on your technique and looking forward to the responses to his questions. Your dish looks terrific and I am thrilled that you introduced this technique to us. It is amazing what one can learn from the experience of others. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Thank you.

@ Chris _*" We haven't had fried breadcrumbs yet in this thread if I'm not mistaken. Don't our Italian friends call it "pangrattato"?"*_

My dessert pasta was topped with breadcrumbs /img/vbsmilies/smilies/surprised.gif but I agree with you, would love to see it pangrattato style. (some anchovies ?)

@ KaiqueK: Another nice to dish for us all ! And yes, your pasta (2nd pic) looks hands on adorable. How many did you make in the end ? Great job /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ FF : Ton support est toujours encouragent, merci beaucoup. J'enticipe la possibilite que tu puises faire un autre met eventuellement . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif (without accents)

We come here to learn and this has been nothing but an insightful, informative thread. And it just keeps getting better ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif

Made a chicken pasta salad :





  








002.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 17, 2013


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Thank you guys for your compliments!

@Chris and petalsandcoco: No special technique really. Just take some wooden skewers, cut them or break them into shorter pieces if too long, then line them next to each other to form a raft (you know, the primitive raft that is made of trunks tied to one another), and instead of tying them together, which is impossibly fussy, just stick them together using some gaffer tape or something of that sort. As for gnocchi, you don't need to do this. The tines of a fork work perfectly well since gnocchi are quite small. Here's the technique:






And you can also use a traditional woven basket for making pasta.

@Siduri: Yes, I agree.

Here, I've taken a picture of the tool:





  








P1040018.JPG




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 17, 2013


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks Slayer! So simple, so genious. And, I really hate using a fork for gnocchi; I will use your invention, no dought about that!


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I'll post pictures just as soon as i figure out how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer, and from the computer to the website.  I need a new tutorial every single time i need to do it.  I never much liked photography and hate fiddling around with technical stuff.  My husband has been busy, my kids are far away, so who can i ask?  (If there were a ten year old around here somewhere, they could certainly show me)


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

siduri said:


> ... hate fiddling around with technical stuff. ... (If there were a ten year old around here somewhere, they could certainly show me)


/img/vbsmilies/smilies/rollsmile.gif

LOL!

SO true siduri!

When our ten year old nephew was visiting last month, I took full advantage of him! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Food Photography could be an interesting addition to Cheftalk Forums. How to take picks, lighting, cameras, lenses, etc. How to download picks to computers. Softwares, tips, reviews. How to upload images to web sites or Cheftalk servers. There's a world about food picks.

Talking about picks and food, let me point to Chris Belgium contributions to this Challenge. I've been following all of his pasta recipes and both the recipes and the photographs are truly outstanding.


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

I guess I am doing a multi-part one again, since this might take some time.

First, we take the obligatory pig's feet:





  








IMG_0954.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 17, 2013








Bring them to the boil, then wash them and bring them to a boil again.

Add some pan seared leeks, onions, garlic and ginger:





  








IMG_0956.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 17, 2013








And, off to boil it some more. Remember, this is going to be tonkotsu broth, no fancy french fond to be pampered and skimmed and de-fatted and gently simmered. These bad boys are going to get the fear of God boiled into their very marrow....

More to come...


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Ok, now maybe i can post some pictures. No pictures of tordelli, since i haven't made them in 15 years. But here is the pasta caprese

The bowl contains starting at the red and going clockwise: tomatoes (the "datterini" on the cutting board are really sweet and tasty, but i didn;t have enough and had to use a paler type of large tomato or there wouldn;t have been enough, then tuna at the bottom, avocado next, gaeta olives next, and mozzarella di bufala in the middle. On the board are the ingredients for the pesto - purple and green basil, parsley, and garlic.





  








pasta caprese var 6.JPG




__
siduri


__
Jun 17, 2013












  








pasta caprese var 8.JPG




__
siduri


__
Jun 17, 2013








I cut up the pesto ingredients, and put in a mortar with whole peppercorns, large grain salt, and grind, then i add the oil and grind some more, to get the flavor into the oil





  








pasta caprese var 9.JPG




__
siduri


__
Jun 17, 2013








I didn;t have a whole lot of fresh herbs, the plants on the garden are still at the beginning and i didn;t want to strip them completely

Here's the final product:





  








pasta caprese var 10.JPG




__
siduri


__
Jun 17, 2013








And the picture of Ordo's ricotta gnocchi that i made with much success,





  








ignudi passati.JPG




__
siduri


__
Jun 17, 2013








thank you ordo

However, let me say that each picture was interminable to upload. I don;t know how you guys have the patience.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Great to see your pictures Siduri. We really were waiting for them, as KK suggested.

Slow upload could be the culprit of a slow internet conection. You can also try to upload your picks to image hosting web sites like Flickr.com, Tinypic.com or Imgur.com. Or even have an account with Imageshack.com or Imagevenue.com, etc.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Ordo, with all those terms (flikr (where's the vowels?) and imgur (what???) you might as well be talking in chinese for all i know. I'm not a fan of photography and not a fan of technological stuff, though i deal with it as best i can. I feel old enough to have gained the right to say i'm not going to bother learning to do that /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif. See, in MY day, you'd take pictures but nobody would expect you to develop them yourself unless you were a really hard core amateur or professional photographer. Now everyone is supposed to be able to do everything with their computer. I know how to do so many things other people can';t do, but fiddling around with settings and reducing pixels and "weight" of "things" that are nonexistent except in a virtual sense, is beyond me! How can pixels have weight? I have a stupid photobox program on my computer that was supposed to help doing this stuff, but it;s only a pain in the neck and i'm no closer to understanding it. Oh well.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Mi fai ridere, cara. Believe me: you don't want to be a Web illiterate. Once you grasp it you own it. It's quick, easy and marvelous. I'm making my own recipes album with picks et all.

Future: welcome!


----------



## eastshores (Oct 23, 2008)

ordo said:


> Food Photography could be an interesting addition to Cheftalk Forums. How to take picks, lighting, cameras, lenses, etc. How to download picks to computers. Softwares, tips, reviews. How to upload images to web sites or Cheftalk servers. There's a world about food picks.
> 
> Talking about picks and food, let me point to Chris Belgium contributions to this Challenge. I've been following all of his pasta recipes and both the recipes and the photographs are truly outstanding.


Ordo I did a couple articles on food photography for cheftalk, there's a link in my signature. I haven't added to them in quite a while because I wasn't sure what else there was to cover, but perhaps basics for working with digital photography would help some people?


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

eastshores said:


> Ordo I did a couple articles on food photography for cheftalk, there's a link in my signature. I haven't added to them in quite a while because I wasn't sure what else there was to cover, but perhaps basics for working with digital photography would help some people?


I remember. Very useful. I posted a thanks there.


----------



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I think a lot of it is file management. Getting pix from your phone especially. Then once you have a pic on your pc, using the editor to load it up or host it on the web and link to it.

On my android phone, I've really enjoyed using the Dropbox app for this. You can set it to automatically upload your photos when it's on wifi. Then on your PC, you just open your Dropbox folder and your pix are ready and waiting for posting.


----------



## eastshores (Oct 23, 2008)

Ah.. sorry Ordo, didn't recall that! Phatch, good points. Unfortunately each persons experience will vary based on their phones OS, their desktop OS, etc. Most modern phones should have some form of application that will "Sync" things from your PC to your phone and vice versa. iTunes does this for iPhone, Zune or now Windows Phone for Desktop does it for WinPhone7/8, I believe with Android, you can tell it to mount the phone as a USB drive, then you just have to know how to browse into the image folder (but I haven't used android in years). Dropbox is great if it is available for the phone.

Edit: petalsandcoco sorry for getting off topic!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ GM: Don't hold back now , boil down those bad boys and let's see what you got ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

@ Siduri: Pasta Caprese. I really enjoyed how you incorporated tomatoes on the vine- they have a nice sweet taste, two types of basil, and homemade pesto. A gorgeous summer dish. As for the ricotta gnocchi alla Ordo ? Stunning. Thank you for having the patience to upload those pics and show them to us. I know that pc technology can be somewhat difficult these days, yet you hung in there and mastered it and got it posted. Well Done. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Shores: You are so right, we need to have tips to make pics brighter. After all the hard work that goes into making these fine dishes, shouldn't we know a little more about it ? I am happy that these points have come up, we all could use the help. Thank you.

ps. I have icloud.....oh the power of technology, ever advancing.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Siduri, there's no way back now you posted pictures. May I say your 'Ordo's ricotta gnocchi' look great.

And speaking of which, Ordo, thanks for the compliment, but if there's one who makes pictures on a professional level, it's you! Keep them coming.


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Looks great Siduri, you'll get the hang of it.  Maybe you can email the pictures to yourself and then download them to your computer in a file.  That's what I do.  And I believe that foodnfoto also made an article on cheftalk about photography.

How do you like purple basil?  I'm thinking of getting a basil plant for the house and the purple ones look so pretty.  Do they equal in flavor to the regular basil?


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Koukouvagia said:


> Looks great Siduri, you'll get the hang of it. Maybe you can email the pictures to yourself and then download them to your computer in a file. That's what I do. And I believe that foodnfoto also made an article on cheftalk about photography.
> 
> How do you like purple basil? I'm thinking of getting a basil plant for the house and the purple ones look so pretty. Do they equal in flavor to the regular basil?


There are so many kinds of basil Koukou that are all very different. There's a very large, raggedy bumpy leaf kind here that i think is too strong and sharp, there's smaller pointy kinds, etc etc. I buy two kinds of plants, the regular 1 inch leaf not too bumpy green kind (standard here) and the purple kind, because the purple kind last pretty much to the gates of winter before going to seed. The others barely last through august. I like both, have not noticed a significant change in taste.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

*Penne rigate with fresh mini artichokes braised in tomato juice*. It sounds much more complicated than it is. Of course, you need fresh artichokes. I found mini artichokes in an etnic shop but they are never to be found in regular shops. You need to cut off the upper part to almost half of the bulb, then peel with a sharp knife until the outer dark leaves are all gone. Then quarter and remove the very small beard if any and plunge asap in water with lemon juice to prevent them from going black. They are not boiled but braised. So, panfried them first with a chopped clove of garlic, then add just a few tbsp of tomato juice (*), cover but leave a large opening and add more tomato juice until the artichokes are completely soft which means certainly not al dente; the whole braising process takes 40 minutes or more. Add some lemon juice to balance. The tomato juice has now thickened nicely and the artichokes are braised perfectly. Add parsley, add the boiled penne. Served with grana padano, a drizzle of best olive oil and a good grind of pepper.

(*) *Tomato juice*; I used these mini vine tomatoes grown in greenhouses which are even already very tasty! Add the tomatoes to a pan without any fat or oil but a few tbsp of water. Bring to a boil, add a few branches of fresh basil. When completely soft, push through a sieve.





  








penneArtichocTomaat1A.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 19, 2013











  








penneArtichocTomaat1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 17, 2013












  








penneArtichocTomaat3.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 17, 2013











  








penneArtichocTomaat4.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 17, 2013


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

ordo said:


> *Ricotta gnocchi*
> 
> For about one portion.
> 
> ...


Ordo, those looks delicious.

I made a similar pasta ..gnudi, but to be honest it wasn't the greatest recipe, which is why I barely put any effort into plating it.










didn't have parsley, so I used a cilantro for garnish. I'd like to find another recipe and attempt it again. I like the concept of gnudi's.

Loving everyone's pasta dishes.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

_*"Penne rigate with fresh mini artichokes braised in tomato juice"*_

How fortunate are you to get mini artichokes ! Getting your hands on a supplier here is almost like looking for kryptonite.

What a wonderful dish Chris and I enjoyed the fact that you braised them.



_* "and plunge asap in water with lemon juice to prevent them from going black."*_



Good tip for those who have never prepped them. One could also use vinegar.

*"Tomato juice; I used these mini vine tomatoes grown in greenhouses which are even already very tasty! Add the tomatoes to a pan without any fat or oil but a few tbsp of water. Bring to a boil, add a few branches of fresh basil. When completely soft, push through a sieve."*

Great, letting the juice speak for itself. Nice finish on the pasta. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Pollo: That looks like 2-3 mouthfuls of bliss. Stop being so hard on yourself, it's a terrific dish and we just _LOVE _gnudi. Is that a marinara sauce ? Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Looking forward to more of your creativity.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Chris: lovely, lovely. Can you share with us details about your camera and setup?

Pollopicu: nudi di ricotta are difficult indeed. They imply a delicate equilibirum of ingredients.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I generally make ignudi with ricotta and spinach - blanch and seriously drain and squeeze spinach, chop it up well, mix with ricotta, an egg, a couple of handsful of grated parmigiano, salt, pepper and nutmeg.  I do it all by eye.  The ricotta should also be well drained,and fr that you can put it in a strainer for a while.  But i'm not usually all that fussy.  I add a couple of tbsp flour if they seem too "loose" and then make cylinders, roll in flour and then cook in a large frying pan with simmering water.  When they float they're done.  Then i just put butter and parmigiano on top.  I never measured anything, just did it all by eye.  They always worked. 

They';re quite delicate, or feel to be so, but when they go in the water they firm up. 

I was thinking of how they would hold up rolled in egg and breadcrumb and fried.  In the days when i was home more and the kids were living home, i used to use the same to stuff zucchine blossoms and then roll in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fry.  You don't really taste much of the blossoms in that case so really they were just an edible and not very distracting casing.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

ordo said:


> .... Can you share with us details about your camera and setup?


Of course. I use a Panasonic Lumix GF1 - 12 megapix "micro four thirds" system camera with possibility of changing lenses. Since a few months I have a Lumix lens made by Leica that is fact is a too large "four thirds" lens (bought from e-bay since it's no longer available). I have to use an adapter but all settings work with it.

I always use the kitchen lighting under the cabinets, even in daytime, which is a simple 50 cm long TL light. I never use a flash, only the available light.

Most picture settings for food are f5.6 at 1/30 sec taken from freehand. I give myself only a few seconds per picture. People never have to wait for their food while I'm taking pictures.

Later on I adjust the "levels" in Photoshop CS3 if necessary (almost always) and many times I use the "smart sharpening" feature, adding just a touch of sharpeness.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

petalsandcoco said:


> How fortunate are you to get mini artichokes ! Getting your hands on a supplier here is almost like looking for kryptonite.
> What a wonderful dish Chris and I enjoyed the fact that you braised them.
> 
> 
> ...


I know that articholes aren't available everywhere and they can be quite expensive.

I thought about using cauliflower instead, somewhat like Sidure did in her post nr. 30. I'm gonna try cauliflower as an alternative for sure.

This dish is one of the best improvisations I ever tried. Using tomato juice as a braising liquid leads to a surprisingly special result. I forgot to mention you have to season but I guess readers assume they have to.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

ah, mini artichokes, so easy to find in every market here. eat your hearts out

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif


----------



## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

As they are here in California


siduri said:


> ah, mini artichokes, so easy to find in every market here. eat your hearts out
> 
> /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Pete: I'd love to try your cooking.

_*Gnocchi di Ricotta*_

Recipe from Chef Michele Forgione (published in the Gazette June 12)

Makes for a very light gnocchi. Make dough the night before.

1 ½ pounds ricotta

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp grated nutmeg

2/3 to ¾ cup flour (adjust as needed )

In a bowl, mix all ingredients until the consistency of a very soft, but not too sticky dough. Wrap and refrigerate overnight (24 hours is best)

Divide the dough into four equal pieces and, on a heavily floured surface, roll each into a long log shape, about 2 cm in diameter (about the size of a nickel)

Cut each log into 2-cm pices, and place on a floured dish towel. Toss the gnocchi well in the flour and let stand at room temperature about 30 minutes (they can also be frozen flat on a sheet pan and then when frozen, pile into Ziploc bags)

Prepare a large pot of salted boiling water, drop in the gnocchi, and cook for 2-3 minutes (count 30 seconds more for frozen) or until the gnocchi rise to the surface. Scoop them out of the water with slotted spoon , Done.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks, Petals


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So today i made something simple and easy...

*Pene alla pana e salsicchia *

In other words , penne rigate with a sausage and tomato cream sauce.





  








Pene alla pana e salsicchia.JPG




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 21, 2013


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

@Petals & Ordo; Ordo, your ricotta gnocchi contain potato starch while Petals recipe suggests flour. What would be the difference in the end result?


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

If the dough is not overworked, they will both turn out as light dumplings.

I have never cooked mine in a milk bath , for me this is a new technique that I would like to try.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Kaike Kuisine: nice, substantious penne.

Chris: I guess both will work. May be it's a proportions problem. Both will act as " thickening, stiffening or gluing agent" (Wiki). I failed with flour couple of times. This is key:

_Wrap and refrigerate overnight (24 hours is best)._

I put mine in the freezer for 20' or so, to hurry the process, but the fridge is better (more even temperature).


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Ordo: I agree. Don't over manipulate and allow to rest.

@ KaiqueK: I have a think for cream sauces and your dish looks like something I would eat anytime of the day. It's also a hearty meal and you did another very nice dish , well done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Slayer: I was going through my cooking paraphernalia at the crack of dawn when I stumbled upon my sushi mat, and I thought about you and Chris. Here is a pic off google of what I am talking about :





  








Bamboo sushi mat.png




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 21, 2013







The price tag was still on the bag , $ 1.10 All you would need to do is remove a thread or two. Just a thought.


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

pasta 005.JPG




__
kaneohegirlinaz


__
Jun 22, 2013








Barilla (boxed) Whole Wheat Penne 

Chicken Italian Sausage (we're still on our diet)

Broccoli Rabe or Rapini (first time trying this)

With some minced garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil and a final flourish of grated cheese

Delizioso /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif

DH LOVED IT! 

(even though there wasn't any red sauce, I was shocked)


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

K-girl: Oh yeah, rapini with pasta, nice combo. Chicken Italian sausage ? I have never had it but it sounds great and if DH loved it, then you can be sure we will. Nice going /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## butzy (Jan 8, 2010)

I'm loving all these dishes!!!!

I got a feeling that some of you have only been eating pasta this month /img/vbsmilies/smilies/chef.gif


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

KaiqueKuisine said:


> So today i made something simple and easy...
> 
> *Pene alla pana e salsicchia *
> 
> ...


Salsiccia, my friend, is the sausage of the Gods themselves.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

So another weekend of pasta making is here. First, I made a Slovak classic - pirohy (you may be familiar with the Polish form of the word - pierogi). As you probably are already familiar with at least one Polish version, I didn't take any photos of the process. I made two kinds - bryndzové pirohy, the savoury version, and blueberry pirohy, the sweet version.

First the dough. Boil about 500 grammes of potatoes, then peel and grate (or mash). Add some salt, one egg and about 170 grammes of coarsely-ground flour (or a bit less of regular flour). Work it just a bit, you can't knead it thoroughly anyway. Roll it not too thin, cut out circles with a glass (about 3 inches in diameter), place some filling in the centre of each circle and turn it over, pressing with your fingers at the edges. You may also make indentations with a fork. Boil them for about five minutes, then mix with melted butter immediately.

Savoury filling. This one uses bryndza, some boiled and mashed potatoes and some chopped chives or dill (just mix it all up). Be sure to add enough salt. Bryndza is traditional Slovak sheep's milk cheese that is pressed, milled, salted and then aged for about a week or so. Ideally it should contain only sheep's milk (no cow's milk) and be made from raw milk. This way it contains all the beneficial yeasts and bacteria (about 100 strains). However, this traditional form is difficult to get and supermarkets usually sell only that low quality with half cow's milk cheese or even more (sometimes there's hardly any sheep's milk in it). Luckily, it's easy to make at home and several people who raise sheep still make it and sell it. Unlike the store-bought one, the traditional one has a beautiful fresh fragrance.

Sweet filling: I just mixed some strained preserved blueberries with some breadcrumbs and sugar. Other sweet fillings include jams (traditionally plum, but also strawberry or any other jam) or dried fruit, especially reconstituted dried pears mixed with sugar and cinnamon, and tvaroh with vanilla sugar, which is another traditional cheese and is to my knowledge the same as Polish twaróg, German Quark and Austrian Topfen.

To serve:

Savoury fillings are generally served with fried bacon, fried onion (sliced) and may be sprinkled with chopped chives or dill and sour cream. Sweet fillings can be served either with butter-fried breadcrumbs and sugar (with melted butter) or freshly-milled poppy seeds with sugar and melted butter. I went with the latter.

I served the savoury ones with žinčica, cooked sheep's milk whey.





  








20130621_185541_resized.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 22, 2013












  








20130621_192222_resized.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 22, 2013


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Ok, so I have been busy the last days - finally, here comes the update on the ramen:

The feet had the fear of god boiled into them, releasing all their flavour in a nice, cloudy broth:





  








IMG_0980.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








Meanwhile, because there can not be enough pork, some belly is marinaded in soy and sake with some kombu, ginger and shiitake:





  








IMG_0962.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








Then rolled:





  








IMG_0964.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








And grilled:





  








IMG_0968.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








Beans are sprouted:





  








IMG_0975.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








And the ramen themselves are prepared:





  








IMG_0979.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013








And finally, served in the broth, seasoned with soy sauce, miso and sake, garnished with the pork belly and sprouts:





  








IMG_0984.JPG




__
genemachine


__
Jun 22, 2013


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Slayer, Gene: two spectacular and innovative additions to the challenge.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Excellent pictures, Gene! Excellent!

*Potato gnocchi with mushrooms and pine nuts*

Let me tell you that this was an intense mushroom experience. First, here is what we need: potatoes, flour, mushrooms, butter, garlic, sage, rosemary, pine nuts, parmesan. And here's a picture of the ingredients:

(will be uploaded shortly)

To get a mushroom experience that goes beyond oyster mushrooms and white buttons, I decided to go with wild mushrooms and was lucky to get them for a good price at the marketplace - all of it for 3€, but I had much more than is shown here, as there wasn't enough space to put them all in the picture. I've taken the picture for those who are not familiar with the wild species I used. So in the front we've got golden chanterelles, which are quite well known, then to the right, those that look a bit like porcini are a mixture of hazel boletes (Leccinum pseudoscabrum) and birch boletes (Leccinum scabrum), both being more intense in flavour than porcini as porcini gain their true character only when dried (but then what a character it is!), and finally in the background a rare species called lumpy bracket (Polyporus umbellatus), which is a sort of a mushroom version of cauliflower and is just amazing.

Well, yes, I think everyone knows how to make gnocchi. As for the sauce, very simple. To prepare the mushrooms, slice the caps of boletes and cut their stems in halves or quarters, cut the chanterelles to smaller pieces (unless small) and separate the lumpy bracket into florets, much like you would a cauliflower. To cook them, first, since chanterelles have a tendency towards toughness, put them in a pan on low heat and cover, letting them stew in their own juices, which will tenderise them a bit. Now add the rest of the mushrooms, a good knob of butter, a few cloves of garlic, chopped, salt, pepper and sweat them uncovered for a couple of minutes. Finally, add some chopped rosemary and sage, cook a bit more, stirring, and off the heat with it. Meanwhile, toast some pine nuts. Strain the cooked gnocchi, add some butter and stir, add some parmesan, wait for it to melt (thanks, Siduri, a great piece of advice!), then add the mushrooms and the pine nuts, mix it all together and serve immediately with some more grated parmesan.





  








gnocchi.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 22, 2013








A note on the mushrooms. It doesn't matter what species you have, just get a nice mixture of flavourful wild mushrooms.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

GeneMachine said:


> IMG_0984.JPG
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just wonderful... 


GeneMachine said:


> Salsiccia, my friend, is the sausage of the Gods themselves.


I know right XD one of my top guilty pleasures...


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

I can't with my soul, Slayer, sorry.

Here's your excellent _Potato gnocchi with mushrooms and pine nuts:_





  








Fkwwkq2.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 22, 2013


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

Wow! Thanks a lot for editing the photo. As I don't have a camera at the moment, I'm making these with a mobile phone and, well, it's not great to say at least. Also, I know next to nothing about photography. So thanks again.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ : Slayer : Let me thank you for posting three very nice European dishes; the* Bryndzové Pirohy *, the * Blueberry Pirohy* and the *Potato Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Pine Nuts.*

They sell store bought sheep cheese here but it is not the same at all if it were made fresh on a farm . In fact they are two separate distinct flavors, one being more salty than the other. When I go to the lavender farm, there is a family that has a little farm/store where they make and sell their own foodstuffs and anyone wishing to purchase quality cheese made with sheep milk know exactly where to find it, 4 generations .

Like Ordo, you too have cooked your dish in milk, something I will try.

Your sweet dish looks looks good and very filling (pun intended) . Topfen ? How can you go wrong with a dish like that ?

The gnocchi and wild mushroom dish looks absolutely outstanding. I'm so glad that you incorporated such a special variety of mushrooms as it must of lent to a wonderful aroma and flavor. *Thank you ALL for sharing the prep and info on your dishes as it better helps us to appreciate all the effort. I have a tremendous appreciation for this thread and for all the members who are contributing to it as it opens the door for the world to see how pasta and dough variations , streaming in and out of kitchens can come together and share valuable knowledge that they might have never known till now. As for all the techniques & recipes involved ? Well it is the gold lining of the thread. Your all a testament to your own talents ! * The enhanced photo (thanks to Ordo) is simply fantastic ! 3 very nice dishes, Well Done. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ GM: Well the time has finally arrived and you delivered the perfect little package. Nice work GM ! I have always said , "It's all in the broth/stock". And I have to say you have points for making that ramen dish from scratch; Stock / Marinated pork belly then grilled / Beans that have sprouted / homemade ramen noodles / garnished and plated . What can we say but a bowl of heavenly goodness. Your full of little surprises and we love them. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

ps. For anyone interested in watching David Chang - Science and Cooking (His lecture on Microbes, Misos, and olives which I just finished watching this afternoon) you might find it interesting.


----------



## bughut (Aug 18, 2007)

IMG_0195.JPG




__
bughut


__
Jun 22, 2013












  








IMG_0196.JPG




__
bughut


__
Jun 22, 2013








Not exactly pretty, but this was a French/Italian/German tummy buster. Penne with bolognese and another penne with a spicy tomato sauce...Bolognese on the bottom then a thick layer of Raclette cheese, then the penne with spicy tomato sauce and another thick layer of Raclette. The cheese did a drippy melty thing, just how you'd like all the way through





  








IMG_0199.jpg




__
bughut


__
Jun 23, 2013








Served with Rocket salad and white asparagus. I forgot to pic it before it was eaten.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

lol i guess the asparagus was amazing XD. 

Well today we made homemade tagliatelle once again , so lets see what concoction i have for tomx XD.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

@ Petals: Thanks for your compliments. I actually didn't cook the pirohy in milk, I merely served them with žinčica, which is a traditional Slovak drink made by boiling the whey that is left after making sheep's cheese, which results in more cheese curds forming. This ricotta is, however, not removed, but left in the whey. Before drinking, you have to shake the bottle to distribute the cheese curds evenly. The drink is like a thick milk with some very creamy bits of cheese, if well made (if not well made, it's just whey with hard curds, not very appetizing, so the key is not to overcook). And it tastes of fresh sheep's cheese. In the past, sheep were raised only by Vlachs high in the hills of (what now is) Slovakia. They would (I guess) live rather isolated lives, and the dairy they would make would be just this:

1, the basic fresh sheep's milk cheese, pressed into blocks.

2, this cheese then used for several other kinds:

a) bryndza, by milling, salting and aging

b) oštiepok, by submerging into hot water (or whey?), letting it melt and then shaping sort of a mozzarella, which would be pressed in some form, to create a kind of a cheese sculpture and this would then be smoked

3, the whey wouldn't be thrown away, but would be boiled and drunk, providing valuable proteins

So it seemed logical to me to serve sheep's cheese-filled pirohy with a drink that is a byproduct of the cheese making process.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Slayer, Ordo, Gene & les autres: thanks for all the inspiring ideas!


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

I just wanted to say that I really like what Gene made, that ramen soup, especially since everything was made from scratch.

Anyway, I made two simple cream sauces. Even though I'm not a big fan of cream sauces, I decided to contribute some.

*Garganelli with roasted peppers and peas*

So first, I made garganelli. The dough was two eggs, some parmesan, some nutmeg, a splash of milk and flour (regular wheat flour). I'm sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them.

The sauce: Roast a red pepper until thoroughly charred, then skin and seed it. Melt some butter in a small pan, add some chopped boiled ham and brown it, then add some peas, salt and pepper, cover the pan and let them steam. Now add the finely chopped red pepper, sauté a little bit and add some cream, which you will reduce a bit to a cream sauce. Mix the cooked garganelli with parmesan, add the sauce and mix. Serve with extra parmesan.





  








garganelli.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 23, 2013








I just noticed some of the sauce got spilt.

*Pappardelle with courgettes*

As I had a courgette and didn't know what to do with it, I used some of the dough for pappardelle. For the sauce I sliced the courgette rather thinly, fried the slices in oil, which I then discarded and added a knob of butter to it, returned the courgettes to the pan, added some salt and pepper, and added some cream, which I quickly reduced and mixed an egg yolk at the last minute into the sauce. This was mixed with the pappardelle, parmesan and chopped parsley.





  








courgette.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 23, 2013


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks a lot, Slayer - you are doing some beautiful work here, too!

Say, that oštiepok - is that specifically Slovakian? I grew up in Bavaria, close to the Czech border - northern part, think Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Sokolov. After the border fell, my father made friends with some Czech guys who started to commute across the border to work here, and they gave us a very similar cheese. Smoked, stringy - fits your description.


----------



## french fries (Sep 5, 2008)

> Originally Posted by *GeneMachine*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Gene! That looks freaking fantastic. Wow. Thank you for sharing!


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

GeneMachine said:


> Thanks a lot, Slayer - you are doing some beautiful work here, too!
> 
> Say, that oštiepok - is that specifically Slovakian? I grew up in Bavaria, close to the Czech border - northern part, think Cheb, Karlovy Vary, Sokolov. After the border fell, my father made friends with some Czech guys who started to commute across the border to work here, and they gave us a very similar cheese. Smoked, stringy - fits your description.


There are two kinds of oštiepok - one is Polish (oszczypek) and one Slovak.





  








Oscypki.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 23, 2013








I don't know which version it is (and whether there really is a difference) but this is what it looks like. It may have different patterns printed and may be less pointed, more oval in shape.

If you say stringy, the cheese dough, after being melted in hot water, can also be formed into a different cheese, parenica, that fits your description better. It is also often smoked.





  








slovakia_parenica_shutterstock.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 23, 2013








This one is typically Slovak and neither is Czech, but both can be bought in Czech Republic, too. This cheese is, however, eaten by tearing it into (even very thin and light) strings.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Bughut : Thank you for posting those 2 very nice dishes : *Penne with Bolognese* , *Penne with a spicy tomato sauce*...Bolognese with a thick layer of Raclette cheese. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Well Done.

I'm crazy about raclette, using the table top grill. We serve it with potatoes, pickled onions & gherkins, good bread and wine, simple but oh so good - gosh you put me in the mood.

@ Slayer :

*Garganelli with roasted peppers and peas *and *Pappardelle with courgettes*. Pasta with a vegetable sauce is very nice. I like the egg yolk addition to the sauce, makes it richer. Two very fine entries that speak comfort. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

It's always a good day at CT when you learn something new. I'm looking at the ribbons of cheese and do I have ideas for plating that . Thank you for sharing.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

*Fried pasta*

Poor people pasta. The simplest i know. A grandma recipe.

Use fresh pasta, the thinnest the better. My grandmother used fresh angel hair.





  








kvwN74d.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 24, 2013








Stir fry in olive oil until light brown. You really need to move the pan or it will burn unevenly.





  








DwHM4hy.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 24, 2013








Add some stock (or even water). Not too much. You want this pasta very much al dente.





  








yJ8FHrn.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 24, 2013








Let the stock reduce completely. Serve with just parmesan. No butter, no olive oil.





  








2y2nElY.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 24, 2013


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Ordo: Another nice entry *Fried Pasta* ! FWIW there is no such thing as poor people pasta. Some of the best dishes I've tasted/made had limited ingredients. Greats pics especially the one with the steam evaporating in the air. Well Done ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

@petals: thanks, and well, i have several "poor people" dishes in my recipes book, from the bachelor years of my life, ha, ha! Specially i remember the "Paella Pobre" (Poor Paella) which has 3 ingredientes: rice, one Knorr cube and a can of sardines. I may post that recipe one day!


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

@Ordo - love the poor man's or peasant's cuisine - So many great ideas coming out of thrift!

@Slayer - Parenica it was, then, or something very similar to it. Now I need to find (or make) some


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

@Gene: It's very easy to make provided you have access to that basic Slovak sheep's cheese. Failing that, an access to sheep's milk would help. Failing even that, it can be made with cow's milk, too, and that's what is usually sold in Slovak supermarkets. And then you need a smoker 

Here's a video that details how it's all made:

http://deafnation.com/joelbarish/world-tour/slovakia-handmade-cheese-from-slovak-sheep/


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

Made this in school today. Trilli with puttanesca, orecchiette with arugula pesto and alfredo. Has been 15+ years since i made my own pasta - a bit rusty needless to say





  








pasta.jpg




__
missyd


__
Jun 25, 2013


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

*Tortiglioni pasta, Gorgonzola and Swiss chard.*

This dish dates from januari. I used an almost 50 cm long chard. First cut off the green. Then I blanched the greens for a few minutes and cooled asap, like spinach. In the same cooking water, added the stalks cut in chunks and cooked until done. In that same cooking water: boil the pasta.

Sauce; bring whole milk to a boil. Make a slurry of a little cold milk and corn starch and add to the boiling milk + s&p and nutmegg. I did this to prevent the cheese in the sauce to split. After a while, lower the fire and add gorgonzola a bit at a time. Keep stirring until all cheese is in. Use as much cheese and keep tasting until you feel that's it. Add chard stalks and pasta.

In an oven dish; half of the pasta/chard stalk mixture, then the greens, then the rest of the pasta mixture, breadcrumb + panko to finish. In the oven to bake. Let "gratiner" under your oven grill; that's why I consider this more a wintery dish, to be eaten bodywarmingly hot.





  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013











  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013











  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta3.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013












  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta4.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013











  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta5.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013











  








snijbietGorgonzolaSausPasta7.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 25, 2013


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Missy: nice assorted pasta!

Chris: spectacular. Panko and pasta, a great idea to make the gratin.

BTW: I ordered a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens. $109 included shipping to Argentina.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ MissyD: WoW ! Three very nice pasta dishes: *Trilli with Puttanesca*, *Orecchiette with Arugula Pesto* and * Alfredo*

What type of pasta was made for the Alfredo sauce ? For someone who has not made (homemade) in 15 years, I think you did a fabulous job. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Well Done.

@ Chris: *Tortiglioni pasta, Gorgonzola and Swiss chard*, very nicely done. I like how you incorporated a few techniques; Blanch & Roux and made a gratin. I think this is our first entry with Gorgonzola. I agree on the point of adding the cheese to "taste" as no palate is the same.

Never heard this expression before :_ " to be eaten bodywarmingly hot ", _we'll take it ! Overall ? Very Nice Dish /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

@Slayer Thanks for that link. Sheep's milk? Check! Smoker? Check! I guess I need to venture into cheesemaking for a bit....


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I've been away (still am) and haven't checked the site for a while. So many interesting dishes. The "poor people's pasta" reminds me of a dish everyone seems to love here (I'm not a big fan of frittata, but it's a typical leftover cheap dish and many people's idea of comfort food here)

*Frittata di pasta*

This works best with spaghetti. You make a little extra and don't put sauce on them. I've done it with pasta that's really left over (which has sauce) but the tomato tends to burn and give a taste that i particularly don't like.)

Next day, you take a frying pan and heat some olive oil (a good coating, with a little thickness to it so when you tilt the pan there is a small puddle) and add the mass of cold tangled sticky spaghetti. You don't need to untangle them.

Let them fry at moderate heat till they begin to get brown and sort of crusty (nut brown, not dark). You can separate them a little so they cover the bottom of the frying pan, but yhou don't need to completely separate them. They fry in one mass, not as strands.

Add a couple of eggs beaten with salt and pepper per person and add to the pasta. Lift around the edges so the liquid egg seeps around and under the egg that's hardened, and gets between all the pasta strands.

Cook that side till slightly browned in spots and turn over, using a pot cover or a large plate (put cover on pan, turn both together, and then slide back on the pan.

Cook that side till done.

that's it. simple. Not competition food, but an interesting dish


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*Bucatini all'Amatriciana*

My husband claims the best amatriciana he had was in berlin, in an italian place that brings specialty ingredients from italy. He's had it in a few places in Amatrice and said this was even better. Since nobody gave a recipe for this favorite, here is mine (unless i missed someone's)

Guanciale - a nice piece about an inch wide

olive oil

Onions

salt

Black pepper

Good tomatoes, either really ripe in season or canned

pecorino romano

cut up the guanciale in small cubes and fry slowly in oil until a little browned. Remove half of them.

add an onion sliced thinly or chopped and fry very slowly till transparent and not browned, with salt and black pepper.

Add the tomato and cook 10 t0 n15 minutes till the tomatoes no longer taste raw

cook the bucatini and as soon as they're done drain and mix with the sauce.

Add the guanciale that you set aside

add the pecorino and serve.

I used to do it with pancetta but guanciale is much better


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Well its been awhile since i have made homemade gnocchi so here was have it ...

*Gnocchi with chicken ragu*





  








gnochi 1.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








gnochi with chicken ragu.jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








enjoy XD


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

petalsandcoco said:


> @ MissyD: WoW ! Three very nice pasta dishes: *Trilli with Puttanesca*, *Orecchiette with Arugula Pesto* and * Alfredo*
> 
> What type of pasta was made for the Alfredo sauce ? For someone who has not made (homemade) in 15 years, I think you did a fabulous job. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif Well Done.


Hi petals - sorry i can't even remember what the name of the 3rd pasta was (wasnt feeling good yesterday and had to leave class this morning before i could ask)

ill try to find out tomorrow if im well enough to make it


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I've really gotta step in here and making something soon, I'm running out of time!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Sirduri: Another two fine dishes. *Frittata di Pasta *is used alot in kitchens, it is not complicated and comforts the soul. The other dish , *Bucatini all'Amatriciana* is a very nice one too. What is the flavor profile of the guanciale ? Thank you for the posts and recipe & details. Great info. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

Wherever you are , I hope you are getting a chance to relax. Have a great day Siduri.

@ KaiqueK : Looks to me like most of the bases are loaded and you just hit another ball ! Now who doesn't like *Gnocchi with Chicken Ragu ? *(almost like chicken and dumplings)

Nice pics, Well Done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ KK: It's June 26 and we are nearing the end of yet another terrific challenge. Maybe someone is going to pull something out of the hat ? Who knows ?


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

Incredible pasta creations everyone! Just WOW!

Here is one I made. Not sure what it is. I used spaetzle recipe for the "pasta"

Scungilli On Spaetzle

dcarch





  








scungillispaetzle3.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 26, 2013












  








Scungillispaetzle2b.jpg




__
dcarch


__
Jun 26, 2013


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

DC: Now that's is some superfine plating. *Scungilli On Spaetzle *, I have never thought of snails & pasta. This idea is like France meets Germany.

I never knew that Spaetzle means " little sparrow ".

Is that endive or onion encircling the dish ? What type of sauce did you use for plating ? Well Done DC ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Lol at least i got to practice my pasta making skills at the restaurant this month XD


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

Koukouvagia said:


> I've really gotta step in here and making something soon, I'm running out of time!


I know the feeling! We'll see if anything happens in my kitchen this week.

mjb.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

teamfat said:


> I know the feeling! We'll see if anything happens in my kitchen this week.
> 
> mjb.


im so bored i have pasta resting in the kitchen right now -_-


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

So i made pasta once again , this time ill demonstrate it step by step...

Warning: this is a long one XD

So i usually go for every 1 egg about 100 grams of flour.

I make a little _volcano_ if you will and place the egg in the center , slowly mix the egg with the flour using a fork pushing the egg with the flour while continously pulling more flour to the center.

After all the flour has been pulled in , I work the dough with my hands till i get a good constistency going , no air bubbles and also a good texture. Let rest for 30 minutes





  








pasta making 1 (1).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (2).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (3).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








I like using a rolling pin some times , so here i used a rolling pin to get the desired thickness of the dough.

I was almost able to see the marmory of my table behind the dough.





  








pasta making 1 (4).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (6).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (5).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








I cut the ugly edges off the dough , rolled it , and then rolled the edges i cut off as well. Used a bit of flour to keep it from sticking





  








pasta making 1 (7).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








Then i cut.... i wanted tagliatelli so i got in a good cut using my knife.





  








pasta making 1 (8).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








Spread out the pasta using my finger tips and once again using flour....





  








pasta making 1 (9).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








I let one portion of the pasta hang and dry on the back of a chair for 30 minutes....





  








pasta making 1 (10).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








The other portion i made a little nest , wrapped and froze it in the freezer to use another day





  








pasta making 1 (11).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








Now its time to get cooking...

Had some sugo so started heating that up , once the water was extremely hot and boiling i added the tagliatelli that had dried for 30 minutes.

The sauce also had a touch of S&P a bit of oregano as well and tomatoes. I also cooked and shredded chicken but i was too busy to get a picture.

Usually when boiling pasta I have it boiling with a good bit of salt , cuz i usually scoop some of that water with the pasta when adding it to the sugo to give it some flavor. In this case the sugo was seasoned so didnt exaggerate on the pasta water. The pasta cooked for around 5-6 minutes till al dente.





  








pasta making 1 (12).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (13).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 26, 2013








And here we have it plated....

*Tagliatelle al Pollo (My way)*

Tagliatelle with sugo topped with shredded parm , and grilled & shredded chicken. Finished off with a bit of oregano on top.

Was able to get amazing lighting by the oven so got a good picture XD.





  








pasta making 1 (14).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 27, 2013











  








pasta making 1 (15).jpg




__
kaiquekuisine


__
Jun 27, 2013








Well hope you guys liked and enjoyed that one.

Wasnt so long after all , just alot of pics XD

Overall it was very tasty , and it was the first time i had made decent pasta at home , unlike the dishes i make at work.

Ill give it a *8.5/10* considering i could have cut the pasta better , but it really was an amazing dish XD


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

*Spaghetti alla puttanesca *or in a free-style translation; spaghetti alla Sisters of Love /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif ...also a true classic, I mean the dish.

Not everyones taste since it has anchovis, garlic and olives in it, so yesterday I made this for me, myself and I... no problem as it is so easy to make. I would gladly share a dish like this with Monica Bellucci. I even thought of Brazilian Adriana Lima, but I would probably faint when she looks at me with her bedroom eyes.

You start by sweating onion and garlic on low fire for at least 5 minutes, then add a pinch of chili flakes and anchovis that you've slightly crushed with a fork or so. The anchovis will almost melt away on low fire. When that has happened, add tomato, olives, oregano and capres. Boil spaghetti and add to the sauce. No cheese.

Note on the capres; I used capres on vinegar instead of salted ones which are hard to find over here. Leave them on a piece of paper towel that will absorb most of the vinegar. All the sudden capres taste like capres again.

Also, use a lot of garlic!





  








puttanesca1.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 27, 2013











  








puttanesca2.jpg




__
chrisbelgium


__
Jun 27, 2013








@ Kaique; your tagliatelle al pollo sounds delicious!


----------



## dcarch (Jun 28, 2010)

petalsandcoco said:


> DC: Now that's is some superfine plating. *Scungilli On Spaetzle *, I have never thought of snails & pasta. This idea is like France meets Germany.
> 
> I never knew that Spaetzle means " little sparrow ".
> 
> Is that endive or onion encircling the dish ? What type of sauce did you use for plating ? Well Done DC ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


Thanks Petals.

That is fennel (anise) and the sauce is fennel/garlic/cream puree.

dcarch


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ KaiqueK: That is some mighty fine pasta making there. Thank you for the pictorial. Making it at home for yourself to enjoy is a far different feeling then for making for public consumption. And its not because there is less effort or skill. There is an internal pleasure that comes for cooking and tasting one's own product and finding satisfaction. *Tagliatelle al Pollo (My way) *? Well Done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Chris: You made me laugh......good sense of humour.

With a dish like that , eating alone or with someone else , never be cheap with the garlic as once its cooked its sweetens up. And if one is going to eat *Spaghetti alla puttanesca, *making sure that the anchovies, capers and chili are included count alot as this is what makes it taste so good. The olive gives it that added decorative look. We like your mise and dish, very nicely done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ DC : Fennel is one of those veggies I can eat any which way but I have never made a sauce with it. Great idea for plating with fish ,thank you for the idea.

I have been making cold soups and wouldn't fennel make for a good cold soup with cream and stock ?


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

@ Chris: At last, someone made puttanesca.

I made my last Slovak contribution to this thread, only Italian ones will follow from now on.

*Halušky with tvaroh, bacon and dill*

Two new techniques will be introduced - one to make pasta and one to make cheese.

First, we need the cheese called tvaroh. To my knowledge, it's the same thing as German Quark, Austrian Topfen and Polish twaróg. You need about 1 litre of raw cow's milk, which should produce just over 200 grammes cheese. First, leave the milk covered at room temperature for about 48 hours, or until it separates - I mean creamy, jelly-like curds separating from the whey, not cream from milk. By this time, it will be quite sour, but soured raw milk has a more complex aroma that any culture you can add to it will produce. It should look something like this:





  








mlieko.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Now that your milk is soured and has separated, heat it slowly to somewhere between 50°C and 60°C, cover the pot, turn off the heat and let it stand like this for about one hour. By this time, firmer curds will have separated from the whey and now it's time to strain it through a cheese cloth. Five minutes of stirring should do, but you can leave it straining for about an hour. That's it. No salt is added. This cheese will keep only a few days. It should look something like this:





  








tvaroh.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Some 600 or 700 ml whey should remain. Don't throw it away!





  








whey.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








So halušky are Slovak pasta dumplings made with grated raw potatoes, flour, and some water and salt. So grate about 100g potatoes for per person (that's actually for quite a large serving), add 80g coarsely-ground flour (you can use regular flour, but I can't give you any tried and tested proportions in that case) and some salt and put all of this in a bowl. Now add a splash of water and start mixing the contents of the bowl until you get gluten strands forming, adding as much water as is necessary, but not more since if the dough is too wet and runny the dumplings will fall apart during cooking. When you have gluten strands formed, spoon all the dough on a wooden chopping board. Holding it in one hand, bring it above a pot of boiling salted water and with a spoon or a knife push-throw small (gnocchi-sized) lumps of dough into the water. After two or three minutes, they should be done. Just taste and if you can't taste any raw potato, they're done. Like this:





  








cesto.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Meanwhile, fry some bacon cubes. For instance from a beautiful piece like this one:





  








bacon.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Finally, mix the dumplings with the cheese, the fried bacon, add some butter and chopped fresh dill to taste. Don't forget to add enough salt as the cheese wasn't salted during its manufacture. So this is it:





  








halusky2.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013












  








halusky.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Halušky can be made with other things, too. Bacon and bryndza is another classic as is bacon and sauerkraut (stew the sauerkraut with chopped onion fried in lard and some crushed caraway, salt and pepper). The technique for making halušky is the same as for making nokedli, which are in Hungary often served with paprikás. These are, however, made with regular flour, milk or sour cream, and a few eggs.

As for the whey, it can be used for many purposes. To feed pigs, to make soups, breads, in strudel dough, pancakes etc.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Some outstanding pasta we can see and learn here.

*Fusilli al forno*

Cream, milk, bacon, mozzarella, parmigiano.





  








fCQr1gd.jpg




__
ordo


__
Jun 27, 2013


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

ChrisBelgium said:


> *Spaghetti alla puttanesca *or in a free-style translation; spaghetti alla Sisters of Love /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smoking.gif ...also a true classic, I mean the dish.
> 
> Not everyones taste since it has anchovis, garlic and olives in it, so yesterday I made this for me, myself and I... no problem as it is so easy to make. I would gladly share a dish like this with Monica Bellucci. I even thought of Brazilian Adriana Lima, but I would probably faint when she looks at me with her bedroom eyes.
> 
> ...


Love your well organized mise en place pictures. That pasta looks fantastic.


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

Thanks all for the nice comments.

@ordo; what's the secret of that crust on your oven dish?

BTW, stunning picture of the fusilli! And, ...your new f1.8 lens, that's a fantastic price.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Slayer: Fantastic contribution about making the *Halušky. *I thoroughly enjoyed your preparation of the cheese, in was done in great detail and I am sure that many here upon reading it will find it fascinating to say the least, especially if they have never seen it before. I also like the "All Purpose whey".

Thank you Slayer for all the info on that dish. Well Done ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Ordo: Anything baked is wonderul ! Great looking *Fusilli al forno*. Too bad we are not there to try it ! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif Once again friends, another great pasta dish to add to the list. Well Done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

Here is a dish I made : Stuffed shells with crab au gratin (lightly) plated on two tones of sauce.





  








006.JPG




__
petalsandcoco


__
Jun 27, 2013


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

oh those stuffed shells look divine!


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

@ Pollopicu: Agreed. Chris' mise en place pictures look great. I have made just one so far and forgot about parmesan! And still haven't posted it due to technical issues. But will...sometime.

@ Petals: Thanks a lot. One more cheese is (hopefully) coming by the end of the week. It will be slightly more complex. Gene seems to be into making the Slovak parenica, that smoked sheep's milk pasta filata. I hope he'll post pictures of it when he'll be making it. Especially since he's so good at taking pictures! I'm also planning an even more complex goat's cheese this summer, but I'm not going to release any more details for now. If I, however, finally venture into making it, it's going to be interesting, too. Perhaps we could start a cheese making thread? Who knows? We'll see... Anyway, you've got some really nice dish there. Would you mind giving us some more detail about how it's made?

So here's one more dish for today.

*Strascinati with red and yellow peppers*

This is one of my favourite Italian pasta dishes. I absolutely adore its simplicity and the interplay of flavours. It's another southern Italian dish and is actually one of my warhorses./img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

So first, make some durum wheat pasta. I made eight-fingered strascinati:





  








20130727_184847.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








The sauce is very simple. With a small sharp knife peel some red and yellow peppers, the meaty ones, and cut them into squares. Now fry some whole garlic cloves in olive oil, discard them as they turn golden, add the peppers with some salt and sauté at medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until they begin to caramelise slightly, then off the heat. Boil the pasta, drain it, put it in a bowl and sprinkle with parmesan. As it is melting, add some torn basil leaves and as soon as it's melted add the peppers. Toss it all and serve with some more parmesan.





  








strascinati.jpg




__
slayertplsko


__
Jun 27, 2013








Note: Some recipes call for the addition of crushed pepper, but I felt the heat would interfere with the delicate balance of flavours.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Slayer, your pasta looks appetizingly inviting.


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

petalsandcoco said:


> @ DC : Fennel is one of those veggies I can eat any which way but I have never made a sauce with it. Great idea for plating with fish ,thank you for the idea.
> 
> I have been making cold soups and wouldn't fennel make for a good cold soup with cream and stock ?


If by some miracle I ever get a chance to choose the challenge, fennel is on my short list of options.

mjb.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

I was hoping to make it in here before the end of the challenge.

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't made pasta since cooking school. Never worked in a place where I had to make it from scratch. I thought what better time to make it than today.

*pappardelle with osso buco ragu*










this is my ghetto pasta drying rack...for now.










I hand rolled it so it came out a bit on the thick side but still very tasty.




























btw I used Thomas Kellers' pasta recipe, which was quite simple, and delicious as well.


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Pollopicu said:


> I was hoping to make it in here before the end of the challenge.
> 
> I'm ashamed to admit I haven't made pasta since cooking school. Never worked in a place where I had to make it from scratch. I thought what better time to make it than today.
> 
> ...


I liked it !! XD

Lol i see we are both improving ways to dry pasta .

The end result seems real homie and tasty.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Yes, it is! lol I made sure I sanitized the hanger though. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif


----------



## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Not my invention and hardly the artful creation some of these are, but this is such a simple and delicious dish I thought I'd share - and it takes little time to put together.

spaghetti cooked al dente and finished in:

olive oil

sliced garlic

peperoncino

salt & pepper to taste

capers

2 15oz cans cherry tomatoes

after the pasta goes in add torn fresh basil

plate and top with bread crumbs and more basil.





  








IMG_20130627_182441_zps873e667f.jpg




__
mike9


__
Jun 27, 2013








This would be great with squid, or octopus as well - neither of which I have on hand.


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

made gluten free tortolloni stuffed with lobster and leek. delicious! had to roll the pasta by hand because it kept on falling apart in the pasta sheeter. couldnt get it as thin as i would have liked but was still super yummy. proud of myself for being able to pull this off in class (some people had a huge problem with doing their regular pasta)





  








GF lobster.jpg




__
missyd


__
Jun 28, 2013


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Slayer : *Strascinati with Red and Yellow Peppers. *I did a bit of research on your noodle. It said from La Cucina Italiana :

*strah-shee-NAH-tee*

*"A specialty of Basilicata, where pasta tends to be made only of flour and water without the addition of eggs, strascinati means 'dragged,' perhaps a reference to the manner in which the pasta is shaped. After flour, lard, and water are mixed into a dough, squares of pasta are dragged across a grooved wooden board called cavarola, pressing grooves onto one side of the dough. The grooves then catch the sauce with which the pasta is tossed after it is boiled."*

I know I learned something new here , maybe others too ? I don't know ? But what a nice pasta dish to make and the sauce with fresh basil like that, well the dish looks very inviting. I'll bring the Chianti ok ? Well Done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

@ Teamfat: It may be fennel one day ....../img/vbsmilies/smilies/surprised.gif

@ Pollo: Your *Pappardelle with Osso Buco Ragu *is Verrrryyy nice. I love to see pasta hanging to dry, there is something artsy about it. I have made this dish myself and its not a quick fix but involves time and we all agree that it was a labor of love and we can taste it from here.

Terrific plating as always, Well done /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif ps. Hubby must of loved it !

Mike: If every dish I ate at the end of the day was simple and delicious, I would call that "A Home Run !" and you today have made just that. Since you have not given your dish a name, please allow me to call it *"Pasta alla Mike"* Such home goodness deserves a good name. Overall ? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

Love the dishes with capers .


----------



## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I forgot to add I rough shredded some stale bread into large crumbs then browned them in olive oil.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks, Petals. He sure did!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Mike: Bonus points for using stale bread - texture- yes , we like that !

@ MissyD : G*luten Free Tortolloni Stuffed with Lobster and Leek ! WOW. *For all our gluten free folks , this one is just wonderful with a seafood to boot ! You get extra points for rolling it by hand when the others used the sheeter ok ? Clean plating, Well Done ! Thank you for making our first gluten free pasta. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

thanks petals /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

also made some gluten free gnocchi that i was going to toss w/ rabbit sugo but forgot all about it lol. oops. only have one not-so-good pic of the gnocchi in progress. wasnt able to use the gnocchi board (crumbling) so i just used to fork to imprint them instead. going to re-attempt them tomorrow hopefully with better results





  








GF gnocchi.jpg




__
missyd


__
Jun 28, 2013


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

Mike9 said:


> I forgot to add I rough shredded some stale bread into large crumbs then browned them in olive oil.


I read somewhere that browned bread crumbs, although fine ones, were a common pasta garnish for poor Italian peasants if they could not afford parmesan.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

GeneMachine said:


> I read somewhere that browned bread crumbs, although fine ones, were a common pasta garnish for poor Italian peasants if they could not afford parmesan.


I always thought that was a northern european thing, breadcrumbs on noodles - never encountered it in italy, never heard of it. Will have to check on some italian websites, i'm intrigued.

The strascinati look really good, and one of the few kinds of home made pasta i might like, since no egg, not soft, but i imagine nice and chewy, like orecchiette. I've ever seen them. I did get a big bag of orecchette from the pugliese family of my son's girlfriend, and they were really nice.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

siduri said:


> I always thought that was a northern european thing, breadcrumbs on noodles - never encountered it in italy, never heard of it. Will have to check on some italian websites, i'm intrigued.
> 
> The strascinati look really good, and one of the few kinds of home made pasta i might like, since no egg, not soft, but i imagine nice and chewy, like orecchiette. I've ever seen them. I did get a big bag of orecchette from the pugliese family of my son's girlfriend, and they were really nice.


Rick Stein had a TV programme called Mediterranean Escapes and one of the places he visited was Puglia, where he was served orecchiette with rapini and cherry tomatoes (he called them pomodori eterni), sprinkled with fried breadcrumbs (I think it's called mollica in the southern regions) and the guy who cooked it explained, upon being asked about the absence of parmesan, that that was because first, parmesan belongs to the culture of northern Italy and second, many people were so poor in the past that they couldn't afford to buy cheese nor to raise sheep, so breadcrumbs are used instead. It is also called for in a few pasta dishes in Simeti's Sicilian Food.

Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the northern egg pasta either, with the exception of stuffed pasta, of course. And tagliatelle and lasagne with ragu must be from homemade egg pasta too. But otherwise, not a big fan. I much prefer that chewy semolina pasta. I do prefer though to make my own as decent boxed pasta is very expensive here. Unlike egg dough, semolina dough is much easier to work with, in fact, it never sticks. Plus, I don't have to roll the dough, which I thoroughly dislike as I'm no good at it, the southern semolina shapes are made differently (think maccarruni, busiati or any of those of strascinati family). However, how someone can make orecchiette is beyond me. I have tried it, but it's impossibly hard to make despite the fact that it looks quite easy.

Yes, breadcrumbs are also commonly sprinkled on dumplings here in Slovakia, in Czech Republic, Austria and elsewhere. Also, sweet pirohy are served either with poppy seeds, like I did here, or with breadcrumbs toasted and mixed with melted butter and sugar.

By the way, is it true that you can't buy poppy seeds in Italy? Is it illegal?


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

@Slayer; it's the first time I hear about strascinati. I believe your pasta dish is what pasta is all about since forever; pasta is always first violin adding just a little sauce. One of the more original posts if you ask me, and handmade.

@Pollopicu and MissyD; first of all, pappardelle is my top choice pasta. I love your osso buco ragú. It made me think of a wintery dish that both MissyD (post 227) and you remembered me off, which is pappardelle with rabbit ragú. I hope you still post the rabbit dish, MissyD.

@Petals; Your stuffed shells with crab is another example of how creative you can get with pasta. Too small picture though. Hahaha!


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ Chris: just tap on the photo if you have an iPad or run you your cursor over it , it will enlarge the pic.

@ Slayer: your post was very interesting, curious about the poppy seeds ( is it because of opium or is that an old wives tale )


----------



## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I think it's a Sicilian thing.  An old GF's grand parents came over and Grandma Tornello always had "saw dust" to put on the pasta.  I've been doing it for near 40 yrs. so it's well established in our house.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Slayertplsko said:


> Rick Stein had a TV programme called Mediterranean Escapes and one of the places he visited was Puglia, where he was served orecchiette with rapini and cherry tomatoes (he called them pomodori eterni), sprinkled with fried breadcrumbs (I think it's called mollica in the southern regions) and the guy who cooked it explained, upon being asked about the absence of parmesan, that that was because first, parmesan belongs to the culture of northern Italy and second, many people were so poor in the past that they couldn't afford to buy cheese nor to raise sheep, so breadcrumbs are used instead. It is also called for in a few pasta dishes in Simeti's Sicilian Food.
> 
> Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the northern egg pasta either, with the exception of stuffed pasta, of course. And tagliatelle and lasagne with ragu must be from homemade egg pasta too. But otherwise, not a big fan. I much prefer that chewy semolina pasta. I do prefer though to make my own as decent boxed pasta is very expensive here. Unlike egg dough, semolina dough is much easier to work with, in fact, it never sticks. Plus, I don't have to roll the dough, which I thoroughly dislike as I'm no good at it, the southern semolina shapes are made differently (think maccarruni, busiati or any of those of strascinati family). However, how someone can make orecchiette is beyond me. I have tried it, but it's impossibly hard to make despite the fact that it looks quite easy.
> 
> ...


Very interesting slayer. Italy is very regional and though rome is the capital (and so you'd think would be more cosmopolitan than it is) it's very provincial in these things, so i really don;t know much about pugliese cooking. You can go to a fancy pugliese restaurant and pay un braccio e una gamba (an arm and a leg/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif) but you don't otherwise get many "foreign" dishes here. (By the way, did you guys know that it's common for Sicilians to speak of Italy as "The Continent"!?! I found that hilarious. I've been to puglia and the cuisine is amazing and really varied (as opposed to roman cuisine) and probably had breadcrumbs on my pasta, i don;t remember, having been awed by the immense variety of antipasti of all kinds - interesting and complex Meze type dishes. The table was filled with them. What struck me is that they used a lot of vegetables in their pasta dishes, even those with tomato sauce. And made unusual combinations, like beans and seafood and leafy greens in the same dish.

Some notes: mollica is the soft crumb of the bread. Pan grattato is breadcrumbs (the dry grated kind). Mollica is used, usually of stale bread soaked in water, for stuffing vegetables, along with garlic, parsley, anchovies, olives, part of the vegetable itself, etc. or for panzanella (bread salad).

I have a medieval cookbook of italian and french medieval cooking written by some italian and french historians (really interesting - called "La Tavola nel Medioevo") and they describe making bucatini by rolling pasta dough around long wires then sliding the wire out, one by one!


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*marco polo and pasta*

I mentioned this medieval cookbook in my last post and it reminded me of something about pasta and marco polo. Supposedly he brought pasta from china.

Wrong.

These historians/cooks found recipes for lasagne in a medieval cookbook prior to Marco Polo's time.

But then again, asking who invented pasta is like asking who invented bread. .

People had flour. People had water. They mixed them. They baked them. They let them sit around all day or more and THEN baked them. They boiled them.

I can supply the lasagne recipe (which were simply sheets of pasta cut randomly in squares, boiled and dusted with spices and eaten with a toothpick) if anyone's interested.


----------



## slayertplsko (Aug 19, 2010)

@ Chris: About strascinati. The Encyclopedia of Pasta applies this name to any of those varieties made in Campania, Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata (and probably elsewhere) which are made by pinching off small lumps of dough and rolling them by hand into cylinders of variables diameters which are then cut into short lengths of variable sizes and drawn across a wooden board or other utensil (like what I made for those cavatelli or a woven basket) with fingers or a special tool called sferre or other tools (knife). The cavatelli I made earlier also fall into this category as do Sardinian malloreddus, cecatelli, orecchiette and others. They can be made with different flours (usually semolina, but EoP also mentions grano arso, whole wheat, barley, and semolone, which is unknown to me - in various proportions). There are also different types based on how many fingers are used (one, two, three, four, eight or a tool) and whether they are drawn across a wooden board (=smooth) or something not so smooth (=ridged). Perhaps dozens of names - some being contradictory - for various kinds of these little gems exist, so it's impossible to make any sense of the Babel. They are served both in legume soups and broths and as pastasciutta with different local sauces. In short, any of those homemade short pasta shapes with indentations after fingers can be called strascinati.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

MissyD said:


> thanks petals /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
> 
> also made some gluten free gnocchi that i was going to toss w/ rabbit sugo but forgot all about it lol. oops. only have one not-so-good pic of the gnocchi in progress. wasnt able to use the gnocchi board (crumbling) so i just used to fork to imprint them instead. going to re-attempt them tomorrow hopefully with better results
> 
> ...


I need to pull my chair closer to you because I would like to make gluten-free pasta as well. Many here will gasp when they read that i only had a small bite of my own Pappardelle, because white flour wreaks havoc on my digestive system. My husband can eat it till the cows come home so he was able to hog it all up. It did not go to waste.

Thanks, Chris!


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

@Slayer - Yes, yes... that must have been it. I have seen that Rick Stein programme, too, I guess I got it from there!

Regarding the northern egg pasta - I love the southern tyrolean / alto adige - style "Schlutzkrapfen". Along the lines of tortellini, but made with rye flour and filled with topfen and spinach. If I find some time on the weekend, I'll make some as my last entry for this month. Drenched in molten, browned butter.... Ohhh yes.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

*Chicken Tetrazzini*

i just remembered one of my favorite american dishes using pasta, Chicken Tetrazzini - named after the soprano of the early 20th century, whose voice was delicate and light and natural and expressive.

It's a very American dish, since i've never encountered chicken with pasta in Italy (there may be a couple of recipes somewhere, but this use of chicken everywhere, on pizza, on pasta, is distinctly american, as is the creaminess of the dish. I absolutely love it.

This recipe is the only recipe i ever used from the new york times cookbook (clairborne). I have several cookbooks i bought because they're famous and i've only ever made one thing from them. Anyway.

*ingredients*

*about 5 pounds chicken (i use all thighs but you can use the whole thing)*
*1 onion*
*2 celery stalks*
*1 carrot*
*salt*
*1 bay leaf*
*water*
*butter* (calls for 7 1/2 tbsp - how can that half tablespoon make any difference??? i just eyeball it)
*1/4 cup flour *
*tabasco sauce (i don;t have any, it's good anyway)*
*1/2 pound mushrooms*
*1 egg yolk*
*1 tbsp dry sherry *
*a little cream *
*spaghetti (calls for half pound, seems too little to me)*
*handful parmigiano grated*
*method:*

cook the chicken in simmering water (just enough to cover) with onion, celery, carrot, salt, bay, until chicken is tender. supposedly 3 to 4 hours, but I don't get chickens that will tolerate that long a cooking.
remove chicken and let cool while you reduce the broth,
then remove the meat from the bones, discarding bones and skin
skim off any fat on the broth.
Slice the mushrooms and cook quickly in butter in a large frying pan until a little browned
In a sauce pan put about 4 tb butter to melt, add flour and salt, and stir, cooking for a few minutes, and then remove from heat. .
Take about 2 cups of the broth that's been reducing all this time and add the hot broth all at once, whisking it well to make a veloute, like you'd make bechamel. add tabasco if you want
beat the egg yolk with a fork in a small bowl and add a few tbsp hot veloute while mixing and then put back into the veloute and stir, adding sherry, cream, chicken pieces and mushrooms. Cook stirring until heated but don;t boil.
cook the spaghetti in abundant boiling water with a handful of salt added.
Mix the two together in a deep but wide serving dish, like for lasagne, and sprinkle with parmigiano. Broil a few minutes to melt the cheese.
It looks like more than it is, and i can get it made pretty quickly, esp if i have some leftover broth and some leftover chicken.

pretty old-school. Really nice, comforting.

Put on a youtube of Luisa Tetrazzini and enjoy it


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

@Siduri - The regional nature of Italian cuisine is exactly what makes me come back again and again. Lately, I mostly just make it to alto adige and trentino, since I have friends there and know some incredible wine makers. However, my most memorable trip to Italy from a culinary point of view was a trip to the maremma, in late summer, early autumn. Porcini, porcini everywhere, wild boar charcuterie, pappardelle with rabbit ragu - and if you got fed up with that, drive half an hour to the coast and have fresh seafood. If I should manage to live a decent life, I hope for an afterlife like that


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

I think petals is gonna have a hard time deciding a challenge winner this month XD so many dishes to choose from


----------



## jake t buds (May 27, 2013)

So this seems like the appropriate thread to ask the question : Torn vs sliced basil. Just looks or discernible difference in taste?

No pics but one of my favorite pasta dishes, from Michael Chiarello :

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...ive-oil-garlic-and-zucchini-recipe/index.html


----------



## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I feel tearing has less of a crush effect and doesn't leave essence on the board like a chiffonade can.  Like I never slice my romaine for salad - I slice the rib out then tear the leaves after washing and spinning.


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Dear Cheftalk Friends,

I just wanted to take a moment and thank all of you for the generous support you have given this thread. The information that was shared here was phenomenal and your recipes and techniques are a testament to the passion you have inside yourselves.

Every dish here is a winning dish, but one dish has been chosen, it is *Ordo's Gnocchi Ricotta*.

As with all the other previous challenges (The April Gelatin Challenge and The May Offal Challenge ) , this challenge remains open as well for any who wish to submit further entries.

Please join me in welcoming our winner , Ordo in supporting his new July Challenge in the next day or so.

We just can't wait to see his Trailer, his theme song, and his Challenge. The torch has been officially passed , and he has accepted with a generous spirit.

Congrats Ordo, Well Done !


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Yep my bets were either on ChrisBelgiums macaroni , ordos pho , or his gnocchi XD all came out stellar.


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Congrats, Ordo!! I'm one of your biggest fans here on CT /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

Petals, thanks for starting this challenge, it was fun being part of it, and seeing everyone's amazing pasta dishes as well. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Pollopicu said:


> Congrats, Ordo!! I'm one of your biggest fans here on CT /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif
> 
> Petals, thanks for starting this challenge, it was fun being part of it, and seeing everyone's amazing pasta dishes as well. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/licklips.gif


Lol at least i had an excuse to make pasta in the restaurant during a full month XD


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Same here but at home. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif I'm going to definitely make some for work once I get my pasta machine....and a proper drying rack. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif


----------



## kaiquekuisine (Apr 11, 2013)

Pollopicu said:


> Same here but at home. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/tongue.gif I'm going to definitely make some for work once I get my pasta machine....and a proper drying rack. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif


Haha , oh u and me both....


----------



## teamfat (Nov 5, 2007)

This challenge has been quite a ride, SO many good dishes presented, so many approaches.  Good job to everyone and especially to Petals for the work put into riding herd on it.

Job well done, everybody!

mjb.


----------



## michaelga (Jan 30, 2012)

Congrats to Ordo!

and many thanks to Petals for being so attendant!

Great stuff all... great stuff indeed - there isn't anything in this thread that I wouldn't sit down to and relish!

(very awesome cooking, and spectacular results all around - even the humble dishes are amazing)


----------



## chrisbelgium (Oct 2, 2010)

¡Enhorabuena Ordo! Congratulations!

No dought your dish should be the winner of this challenge. And indeed, bravo to Petals for leading this thread to such a success!

I enjoyed so much participating and I'm already looking forward to the next challenge.


----------



## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Congratulations ordo! Complimenti! They were indeed great. 

And Petals, you were a wonderful moderator of this challenge, making everyone feel their contributions counted.  No small job!


----------



## genemachine (Sep 26, 2012)

A great challenge and a well-deserved victory! Congratulations to all!


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

MAIKA'I (my-kă-ee, very good) everyone! 

So many Mahalos (thanks) to Petals, what a fabulous luna (head mistress) maybe that's _why_ she's such a great chef. Great leaders make great chefs.


----------



## durangojo (Jul 30, 2007)

Congratulations to all .....you are all winners in my book. I don't know how petals was able to make a decision....must have been tough. Thank you everyone.....your are not only talented,but you are fun as well. Madam chairwoman Petals, BRAVO! (Bet you're ready for a nice martini) 

joey


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

ok here is my menu development dish i did yesterday - 2 different types of gnocchi (both are gluten free)

potato gnocchi in a cream sauce and deep fried artichoke gnocchi with a roasted red pepper puree.





  








menu development artichoke gnocchi.jpg




__
missyd


__
Jun 29, 2013


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

MissyD that looks BEE~UUU~TIFUL!


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

thanks kaneohegirlinaz


----------



## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

MissyD, k~girl is so much easier, isn't it? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

ROCK ON SIS, ROCK ON!!


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

lol totally is.  didnt think about that until after i had already did it


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

siduri said:


> I always thought that was a northern european thing, breadcrumbs on noodles - never encountered it in italy, never heard of it. Will have to check on some italian websites, i'm intrigued.
> 
> The strascinati look really good, and one of the few kinds of home made pasta i might like, since no egg, not soft, but i imagine nice and chewy, like orecchiette. I've ever seen them. I did get a big bag of orecchette from the pugliese family of my son's girlfriend, and they were really nice.


I thought pangrattata was a ridiculous thing when I first read a pasta recipe that included it..... I ate my words and every last crispy breadcrumb on my plate once I tasted it though. Don't knock it till you try it, it adds an unexpected texture to a silky pasta dish.


----------



## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

Congrats Ordo, that ricotta gnocchi dish is on my to-do list!! I wish I could have participated in this challenge but work has been a real challenge for me. I did think about this challenge yesterday as I was looking for a quick bite to eat and settled on one of my favorite little italian spots and had this wonderful fusili with sausage and a creamy tomato sauce.





  








Fusili alla nona.jpg




__
koukouvagia


__
Jun 30, 2013


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

@ MissyD: Very nice plating of your gnocchi, gluten free 2 ways ? Nice Job ! There are members here that look for gluten free dishes, if or when you have a chance , could you post a recipe ?

Something tells me that your class is only seeing the tip of the iceburg of talent with you, I wish you all the success in the world. We love your work and we support you 100 %

@ KK: The fusili with sausage and creamy tomato sauce is comfort in a bowl. It's always a good thing when you find a place that knows how to cook really good pasta dishes. I go to a restaurant on St. Laurence called ' Buonanotte ' and they really know how to make good Italian food especially Pasta Pescatore.


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

Great pasta. Lovely fusilli KK. Here's MissyD innovative presentation. Beautiful.





  








Miisy.jpeg




__
ordo


__
Jul 1, 2013


----------



## goldilocks (May 21, 2013)

WOW! I love this thread, your food all looks amazing. I haven't eaten all day, my stomach is growing like a bear right now!!

I was so proud of my adventures this weekend I had to post this here,. I wont repeat everything I said, but this is the link to the thread.

I made Lobster Ravioli with Lobster Sauce, and I had never made my own pasta before http://www.cheftalk.com/t/76406/ravioli#post_433711

Hopefully now I have the pasta bug I can participate in this kind of thread more often /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif


----------



## ordo (Mar 19, 2009)

I remember those lobster ravioli, Goldi. First try! Nothing less than amazing.


----------



## goldilocks (May 21, 2013)

Thanks Ordo, I have a big grin on my face now /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif


----------



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Goldi : Fantastic addition to the "Pasta Challenge". Those pictures say it all and thank you posting your mise and final product, absolutely amazing ravioli , it must of tasted out of this world. For a first attempt, we applaud you . /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

Leave it to Ordo to beautify your gnocchi, great job !


----------



## pollopicu (Jan 24, 2013)

Goldi, great job for a first-timer. Not too shaby at all!


----------



## missyd (Nov 26, 2012)

petalsandcoco said:


> @ MissyD: Very nice plating of your gnocchi, gluten free 2 ways ? Nice Job ! There are members here that look for gluten free dishes, if or when you have a chance , could you post a recipe ?
> 
> Something tells me that your class is only seeing the tip of the iceburg of talent with you, I wish you all the success in the world. We love your work and we support you 100 %


thanks so much petals - coming from you that is a huge compliment.

i will try to post recipes tomorrow - i forgot my note book at school over the weekend where i wrote it down and can't remember the ratios off the top of my head


----------

