Pappardelle with Mushroom Ragu Sauce

This is a recipe from Alice Waters' cookbook The Art of Simple food. I really admire what Ms. Waters has done to revolutionize the way Americans think about food, however, I would not recommend this cookbook to others. I don't like the format she uses to write her recipes and find that some of the recipes I've made from the book are bland and uninspired. You definitely have to know your way around the kitchen to "doctor" some of them up. Having said that I made this meal because it is homework for my cooking class, the Seasonal Table at COS with Debb Campbell.

I made this for our vegetarian Wednesday feast with the usual suspects and asked that they give their honest feedback on the dinner. I served the pappardelle with a homemade European peasant loaf, a simple green salad, some of Ethan's amazing homemade beer, and some cab sav. For dessert I made a pear sherbert. I did my best to not modify the recipes but when I did I make note. Please read the comments to see what everyone thought.

Fresh Pasta page 89

2 C flour (I assumed all purpose since she didn't specify)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks

In a bowl add the measured flour. Make a well and pour in the eggs. Mix with a fork, as though scrambling eggs, incorporating the flour bit by bit. When the flour becomes too stiff to mix with fork, finish the mixing by hand. Knead lightly on a floured surface. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Let rest at least an hour before serving.
* I kneaded the dough about 10 min even though she did not mention this. I've played buffet before, sort of speak, and KNOW that pasta has to be kneaded a while to make it pliable enough to pass through the pasta machine.*

Roll out by hand our by using a machine. Go to pappardelle section for further instructions.
*I actually just put the noodles into my dehydrator at 150 degrees for about 3 hours. I like a pasta with some bite and not so gummy.*


Mushroom Ragu sauce page 228

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced fine
1 large carrot, peeled and diced fine
2 celery stalks, diced fine
salt
6 thyme sprigs, leaves picked from the stems
6 parsley sprigs, leaves only, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 c diced tomatoes
2 Lbs mushrooms ( choose a mixture of 2 or 3 types such as chantrelles, black trumpets, hedgehogs, brown or white button)
Olive oil and a little butter
1/2 c cream or creme fraiche
1 c water or chicken broth

In a large, heavy skillet heat the 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add onion, carrot, celery, and salt. Cook over medium heat, until very tender. When cooked through, with no crunch but with little or no browning add the thyme, pasley, and bay leaf. Cook for 1 min. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 min. Set aside.

Carefully clean and slice the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are very dirty, it may be necessary to wash them. Prepare a skillet and cook each mushroom type of mushroom individually. As they cook, the mushrooms will give off liquid; let the juices boil away or tip of the juices and set them aside. Cook mushrooms until they are lightly browned. Turn the mushrooms over onto a cutting board and chop to the size of the cooked veges.

Combine the vege mix and mushrooms in a skillet and add the cream and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 min. Taste for salt and add as needed. Moisten with more liquid if too thick.

*I used dried mushrooms that I ordered through Oregon mushrooms. http://oregonmushrooms.rtrk.com/?scid=406053&kw=3733917
I reconstituted the chantrelle, black trumpet, and hedgehog mushrooms by adding 1 c of boiling water to 1 oz of dried mushrooms. I weighed the mushrooms to be sure everything was accurate. I kept them separate and put each in the fridge overnight. I saved the soaking liquid and substituted the broth with it, which gave the sauce a really intense mushroom flavor. I also added fresh criminis to make the 2 lbs. I chopped the mushrooms fine before I cooked them, so that saved me a step.*


Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce pages 266-267

1 recipe Fresh Pasta
2 to 3 oz Parmesan grated (about 1/2 c)
2 c Bolognese Sauce (sub was Mushroom Ragu as recommended in book)
2 to 3 Tbsp butter ( I used unsalted)
salt
1 Tbsp chopped parsley


Cut pasta into 3/4" wide noodles. Toss the noodles with extra flour and lay them out on plate or baking sheet, cover them with a towel, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a small saucepan warm the Mushroom Ragu sauce.

Cook the noodles in the boiling water for 3 or 4 min, until al dente. While the noodles are cooking, melt the butter in a large saute pan. Turn off the heat. Drain the noodles, reserving a small amount of the hot pasta water. Put the noodles into the warm pan with the butter and toss with two thirds of the parmesan and some salt.

Moisten with a bit of pasta water if needed. Divide the noodles among 4 pasta bowls or place on a warm platter. Spoon the sauce over the noodles. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and the parsley. Serve immediately.


Pear Sherbert page 375

6 to 8 ripe pears (about 3 lbs)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp sugar
1/3 c sugar
1 egg white

Place the lemon juice and 1 Tbsp of sugar in a bowl. Working with one pear at a time peel, quarter and core the pear; place into bowl and toss with lemon and sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining pears.

Add the remaining sugar and egg white to the pears. Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth. Taste and correct the seasoning with lemon juice or sugar. You should be able to taste both sweet and tart. Freeze right away in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
* I did not add the 1/3 c sugar because one of my guests is sensitive to sugar. Instead I added 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar to egg white to help stabilize it. I blended these two together first before adding the pears, and then I proceeded with the recipe.*


Assignment #1 done. :)

Blue Cheese dressing

I wanted to blog this just in case I lost the recipe. It was great on a salad, but I suppose would also be great with buffalo wings. In any case.....

1 Tbsp hot bacon fat (I omitted this for R)
1/2 c sour cream
3 Tbsp whole milk
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 scallion, chopped
2/3 c crumbled blue cheese

Whisk bacon fat, sour cream, milk, vinegar, salt, and pepper until smooth. Stir in the scallion and the blue cheese. Thin with additional milk if desired.

Home made Feta

Well, here is the recipe for homemade feta. Although I had originally wanted to do a taste and texture comparison between raw and conventional milk, I decided that I didn't need to know. I love that we use raw milk and the cheese came out superb. The salty and briny flavor of this feta is balanced by the silky texture of the cheese. It's quite wonderful. The nice thing about this recipe is that you use milk vs. goat's milk which keeps the cost down once you've gotten your supplies. Hope you will try it and give me some updates, especially if you're using conventional milk. We'll set up a taste test and see how they are different. As always, only use pasteurized milk not ultra-pasteurized. I would not recommend making cheese with raw milk unless you are 100% confident with your farmer and do not assume any liability should things go south. Enjoy.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/make-homemade-cheese-feta.aspx

Spicy Dill Quick Pickles

I really love pickles and made some this weekend with the help of food and wine. They are delicious and very easy to make.

Spicy Dill Quick Pickles

*For each 1 qt jar, use 12 oz of veges*
Before pickling do:
Asparagus - blanch 1 min and cool
Broccoli stems - peel and cut into sticks
Carrots - cut into sticks; blanch 2 min and cool
Cauliflower florets - blanch 1 min and cool
Green beans - steam 2 min and cool Cucumbers - quarter or thinly slice

*12 oz Veges (see above)*
3 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 c distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
2 Tbsp coriander seeds
6 large garlic cloves, halved
4 to 6 long red or green hot chilies, halved lengthwise
16 dill sprigs

Pack veges into 2 clean 1 qt glass jars; also add 3 of the cloves to each, 1 Tbsp of the coriander seeds, 8 sprigs of dill, and tuck 2 to 3 of the halved chilies in between the veges. In a separate jar combine the salt, sugar, and vinegar. Shake until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Add 2 c water and pour the brine over the veges. Add enough water to keep the veges submerged. Close the jars and refrigerate overnight or for up to 1 month.

Home Made Corn Meal

I wanted to make homemade corn meal for a while. I thought it would be simple enough and decided to do it without doing any online research. It's easy enough to make using some pretty basic supplies.

I started out by scraping the kernels from about 8 ears. I also scraped the pulp and put them onto my dehydrating trays. I dehydrated the kernels overnight at 105 degrees. The kernels seemed pretty dry so I processed them in the food processor only to find that there was still a lot of moisture. That's when I went online.

So, ideally you should dry the kernels still on the cob. Round 1 goes to the internet, oops. Then once the kernels are dried it's best to use a grain mill to grind the corn into meal. The grinders are not expensive (I found a nicely reviewed one on Amazon for about $ 30), but I had already started down this path. I decided to continue taking the crazy train.

I lined my dehydrator panel with some parchment paper so I wouldn't lose any kernels and dehydrated them again at 105 degrees overnight again. SUCCESS! I ground the corn once again using my blender this time because it seems to do a better job than the processor. I got a nice meal that I used to make polenta for dinner. It made about 1 and 3/4 c of meal. I could also have used it to make cornbread, but I didn't. I still don't like polenta, but it was really rewarding to know that I was able to do it. I may break down and buy the grain mill (yeah another gadget) knowing that I'll actually use it.

I just wanted to share because it made me feel accomplished. I think I'll just skip to step #2 next time and just started with mashed corn kernels. If you buy the corn I can always make you some meal.

Polenta
1 Tbsp coarse salt
2 bay leaves
1 2/3 c coarse cornmeal (white or yellow; best if homemade)
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Put 7 cups of cold water, salt, and bay leaves into a medium heavy bottomed pan. Stir in cornmeal.

Bring to a boil over high heat, then add oil. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until polenta thickens and pulls away from the bottom and sides of pot, 30 to 40 min. Season with salt and pepper and remove the bay leaves.

Sauteed Vege Beerocks

Made these with a hamburger bun recipe and some left over sauteed veges. You can use whatever veges you would like. I think the most important part of this recipe is the bread.

Veges that I sauteed for my beerocks included:
baby zucchini
baby yellow squash
red onion
crimini mushrooms
yams
chard

I sauteed the above veges until they were tender with a bit of a crunch and placed them in a bowl while I cooked the rest to my liking. I sauteed them in olive oil and salt. Once done set aside.
Beerock dough (aka hamburger buns)

¾ - 1 C. warm water
2 Tbs. butter, softened
1 large egg
3 ½ C. AP flour
¼ C. sugar
1 ¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbs. instant yeast

Mix and knead all ingredients to make a soft, smooth dough. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer.

Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1 -1 ½ hours.

Forming the Beerocks
Once you deflate the dough separate it into 8 equal pieces, roll into a ball and flatten. Place your mixture inside and pinch the sides of the dough together. Cupping your hands make it into a ball and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and allow to rise 1 hour.

Brush the tops with butter and bake in 375 degree oven for 20 min. Remove from heat and cool on a rack.

Serve and enjoy.

Extra Tangy Sourdough Bread

1 c "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 c lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
5 c all purpose flour

Pour the starter into a large mixing bowl and add the water with 3 c of flour. Beat vigorously. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest at cool room temp. (68 to 70 degrees) for 4 hours.

Then refrigerate overnight, or about 12 hours.

Add the remaining ingredients, kneading to form a smooth, soft dough. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, adn let it rise for about 5 hours.

Divide the dough in half and shape into 2 loaves ( I shape mine into rounds). Place onto a baking sheet, cover, and let it rise till doubled 2 to 3 hours.

Slash the tops and bake in pre-heated oven of 425 degrees for 30 min or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.