homemade

Goat Cheese Raviolis with Blistered Sugar Plum Tomatoes and Hefeweizen Marinara & How to Make Homemade Raviolis

21.05.2013 17 Comments

Homemade raviolis are a food lovers endeavor. It’s time consuming, physically trying, and a bit tedious. There are plenty of places that can sell you beautiful hand made raviolis, but you do it because you want to be there. In the kitchen, shoulders aching from kneading, hands covered with yolk and flour, feeling a connection to the Sicilian grandmothers who stood barefoot on unfinished wooden floors teaching the art to their eager but bored grandchildren.

It’s as much about the journey as it is about the cheese filled destination. I love homemade pasta, there is something meditative about the repetition of the process. I’m always glad for the time I spent, pushing myself closer to mastering the craft of pasta making. And the end product is a handsome reward for the labor.

I used the KitchenAid pasta rollers. I love these, and even though they are more than most people want to spend on what will probably be an occasional use item, it’s a worth while investment. I don’t use these often, but when I do, I’m so glad I have them. The set comes with three rollers: a pasta dough roller (to make sheets), a fettuccine cutter and a spaghetti cutter. Because they’re automatic (meaning you don’t have to use one hand to crank the roller) it makes feeding the pasta into the roller fantastically easy. The KitchenAid pasta roller and cutters are also very well made and should last a life time, long enough for you to pass down to your future eager but bored grandchildren.

How To Make Raviolis

On a flat surface add the flour. Make a well with walls that are about 1 inch thick, make sure the well is large enough to hold the eggs, milk and oil.

Add the yolks, egg, milk and oil. Break the yolks.

Using your fingers, or a fork, stir quickly. The motion will allow the liquid to pick up flour from the walls and will gradually become thicker. This will take about 10 minutes.

As the liquid becomes thicker, close to a paste consistency, start to push the flour walls up over and into the liquid pool. Continue to stir until the flour and liquid is mostly incorporated.

Pull the dough into a ball, it will be shaggy and seem a bit dry.

Knead on a flat surface with the heel of your hand, this will take a ten to fifteen minutes. Knead until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic. If you aren’t sure if the dough is done, keep kneading. This isn’t a dough that can be over worked, but too little kneading is a problem.

Put dough into a small bowl and cover tightly and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Cut into 4 sections. Place any dough sections you are not working with back in the bowl and cover.

One at a time, roll out the dough sections to about ¼ to ½ inch rectangle.

Attach the KitchenAid Pasta Roller attachment to your stand mixer.

Set the thickness to 1 (the thickest setting). Turn the KitchenAid stand mixer to a speed of 2.Feed the dough rectangle into the pasta roller narrowest side first.

Pass through two or three times. Narrow the thickness to a 3. Pass the dough sheet through two or three times, this should get easier and easier with each pass.

Narrow the thickness to a 5. Pass the dough sheet through two or three times, this should get easier and easier with each pass. You want the dough sheets to be so thin you can see through them.

Lay the sheets on a flat surface. It’s best to do this one at a time, moving through the steps as not to let the dough dry out, but for the purposes of photography and natural light, I broke that rule.

Place about 2-3 tsp of filling on the dough sheets about 1 ½ inches apart, in to rows.

Brush the dough with water around the balls of filling. Top with second sheet of pasta.

Press the pasta around the filling, sealing well.

Use a sharp knife or a pastry wheel to cut into squares.

Place on a plate, allow to sit for about 10 minutes.

Cook in a pot of lightly salted boiling water until raviolis float and are cooked through.

Drain, plate and top with sauce.

Goat Cheese Raviolis with Blistered Sugar Plum Tomatoes and Hefeweizen Marinara

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks room temperature
1 large egg room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon milk
3 ounces goat cheese
2 tbs chop fresh herbs, if desired

For The Marinara

1 lb sugar plum tomatoes or grape tomatoes
1 tbs olive oil
½ white onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup beer
5 large basil leaves chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 tbs tomato paste

Instructions

On a flat surface add the flour. Make a well with walls that are about 1 inch thick, make sure the well is large enough to hold the eggs, milk and oil.
Add the yolks, egg, milk and oil. Break the yolks.
Using your fingers, stir quickly. The motion will allow the liquid to pick up flour from the walls and will gradually become thicker. This will take about 10 minutes.
As the liquid becomes thicker, close to a paste consistency, start to push the flour walls up over and into the liquid pool. Continue to stir until the flour and liquid is mostly incorporated.
Pull the dough into a ball, it will be shaggy and seem a bit dry.
Knead on a flat surface with the heel of your hand, this will take a ten to fifteen minutes. Knead until the dough is smooth and slightly elastic. If you aren’t sure if the dough is done, keep kneading. This isn’t a dough that can be over worked, but too little kneading is a problem.
Put dough into a small bowl and cover tightly and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Cut into 4 sections. Place any dough sections you are not working with back in the bowl and cover.
One at a time, roll out the dough sections to about ¼ to ½ inch rectangle.
Attach the KitchenAid Pasta Roller attachment to your stand mixer.
Set the thickness to 1 (the thickest setting).
Turn the KitchenAid stand mixer to a speed of 2.
Feed the dough rectangle into the pasta roller narrowest side first.
Pass through two or three times.
Narrow the thickness to a 3. Pass the dough sheet through two or three times, this should get easier and easier with each pass.
Narrow the thickness to a 5. Pass the dough sheet through two or three times, this should get easier and easier with each pass. You want the dough sheets to be so thin you can see through them.
Lay the sheets on a flat surface.
Place about 2-3 tsp of goat cheese on the dough sheets about 1 ½ inches apart, in to rows.
Brush the dough with water around the balls of goat cheese (sprinkle with fresh herbs, if desired). Top with second sheet of pasta.
Press the pasta around the filling, sealing well. Use a sharp knife or a pastry wheel to cut into squares.
Place on a plate, allow to sit for about 10 minutes.
Cook in a pot of lightly salted boiling water until raviolis float and are cooked through.
Drain, plate and top with sauce.

Make the sauce:

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, cook the onions until soft about five minutes.
Add the tomatoes, cook until soft and the skin has blistered. Add the garlic, cook for about 30 seconds.
Add the beer and cook until the beer has mostly evaporated, about ten minutes.
Add the remaining basil, oregano, salt and pepper, stir, remove from heat.
Add to a food processor along with the tomato paste, process until smooth.

Pasta Cavatelli: Homemade Pasta Without A Pasta Roller

10.01.2013 41 Comments

I love hearing other peoples Culinary Bucket Lists. It’s always a really interesting mix of classic recipes, mastering techniques, and difficult dishes. I love that, it shows range.

But seriously people, start crossing some of this stuff off. You can do it. Just jump right in, and do it.

This is a great recipe for everyone that has "Make Pasta From Scratch" on your list because you don’t need any fancy equiptment. Just some flour, water and a knife.

You’ve go this.

I’m going to be honest with you, this is a bit labor intensive. But you can finally draw that satisfying line though the item that’s been taunting you on your bucket list for years. You can finally say things like, "This one time, while I was making pasta from scratch…" and "Well, when I make my pasta…"

It’ll be fun.

Homemade Cavatelli Pasta

2 cups All Purpose flour

1 cup Semolina flour

½ tsp salt

1 cup warm water

1. Add both kinds of flour and salt to a flat surface, mix to combine.

2. Make a well in the middle and add the water.

3. Stir the liquid and the flour together until combined. Then knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

4. Cut into 4 pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

5. One at at time, take a piece of dough and form into a long log about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter.

6. Cut off about 1/4 inch slice and place in front of you. It should be about the size of a dime.

7. Place a bench knife (I use this one, I love it), or the dull side of a butter knife, on the far side of the dough circle, pull towards you smearing the dough against the counter. The dough should curl up over the knife.

8. It should look like a little canoe.

10. Place on a baking sheet that has been lightly dusted with flour until ready to use. Basically, if you mound them on top of each other, they’ll stick.

11. Cook immediately in lightly salted water until al dente or allow to dry and store in an air tight container.

Look at you, you homemade pasta maker.

I’m so impressed with your mad skills.

Homemade Beer Marinara From Scratch

14.06.2012 12 Comments

The first time I made marinara was a complete accident.

Just a few months after I nearly accidentally graduated college, I got a job working with teenage gang members in South Central Los Angeles. You are free to laugh at the idea of a very white girl, who grew up on a farm in Eastern Washington, working in South Central. With gang kids.

I sat on one side of a light oak dining table in a small Group Home, a transitional respite for kids who had been released from jail but who were still on probation, to talk with Dominick. He was from a rough area of Compton, and had found his way to the seat across from me via a GTA charge and a hot temper. But to me, he was a baby faced 14-year-old who secretly liked Whitney Houston. This was our first meeting, and part of my job was to compile a list of his "Triggers." Anything that made him angry enough to lash out, to do something that could land his ass back in jail. We both had the same goal: get him back home. Most kids, in my short 4 months of experience all had a very similar trigger. This usually centered around someone "talking shit" about them, their mom, or their crew. Maybe a handful of other miscellaneous and understandable offenses.

When I asked Dominick what triggered him, what drove him to a rage that welled up in him a feeling of violence that once caused him to send a chair on a journey through a class room window, his face fell flat.

"What?" I was so curious, "What makes you that mad?"

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice, "When those mother fuckin' girls make human pyramids."

I laughed so hard I felt bad about it. His young face broke open into a sweet smile, "Jackie, I’m not gonna lie.." He started to giggle, "Pisses me the fuck off, I have no idea why. I want to push those chicks right over."

Fair enough. My job was to teach him how to deal with his anger, no matter what triggered it.

He wanted to learn how to cook, and he wanted to make Spaghetti. He thought that cooking might help him channel his anger. We didn’t have any sauce, but his group home staff had just come into ownership of 10 pounds of tomatoes, so we made do.

Because of Dominick, and his human pyramid hating ways, I will always love a good, homemade, can free, marinara.

Homemade Beer Marinara From Scratch

3 lbs tomatoes

1 large head of garlic

1 tbs olive oil, plus 2 additional tbs, divided

1 large white onion, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

16 ounces wheat beer (Golden Road Hefeweizen is a great choice)

1/3 cup chopped basil leaves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400.

Rub the head of garlic until about half of the papery white skin comes off. Cut a small amount of the tip off the head of the garlic, just enough to expose all of the cloves. Place on a small piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with about 1 tbs of olive oil. Fold the foil tightly around the garlic, place on a baking sheet. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and place them on the baking sheet along with the garlic packet.

Roast the tomatoes and the garlic at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and the skin starts to peel back from the flesh. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

The skin of the tomatoes should be very easy to remove at this point, peel the skin off the tomatoes and discard. Place a fine mesh sieve or strainer over a bowl. Scoop the seeds into the strainer and place the remaining part of the peeled and seeded tomato into a bowl, repeat until all of the tomatoes have been seeded. Allow the seeds to continue to drain while you make the rest of the sauce.

In a pot over medium high heat, add 2 tbs olive oil. Add the onions and carrots, sauté until carrots are soft and onions are translucent. Add the beer, seeded and peeled tomatoes and whatever juice has accumulated in the bowl beneath the tomato seeds. Discard the seeds. Remove the head of garlic from the foil packet and squeeze the soft head until the cloves comes out and into the sauce. Add the salt, pepper and basil.

Reduce heat to maintain a low simmer, allow to cook and reduce until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

If you want a smoother sauce, add to a food processor and process until smooth.

Use this with my Homemade Beer Ricotta to make a beer infused Lasagna or stuffed Rigatoni.

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Homemade Buffalo Wing Sauce

27.01.2012 60 Comments

There are food and activity parings that strongly associate in our minds, food that will always be linked to a specific occasion. Crab cakes remind me of weddings, Ritz Crackers and Cheddar Cheese squares are paired with trips to the river, Chicken Salad Sandwiches are for bridal/baby showers and Buffalo sauce is for sports watchin'. Can you even hear that word and not want to put on a team jersey?

How To: Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie From Scratch

17.10.2011 29 Comments

I took Tater to the pumpkin patch. A huge gigantic pumpkin patch that had the size and personality of a country fair.

She approched the task of picking out her very first pumpkin with abnormal amount of seriousness. After wandering the rows of pumpkins, she decide on a small pie pumpkin, perfect for her little fingers to carry. once the perfect little pumpkin had been picked out, she wouldn’t let it out of her sight.

When she climbed to the top of a super high hay stack, she took it with her.

When she meet a goat at the petting zoo that she decide was just a "Doggie" she had it with her.

And she let that doggie know that it was not HIS pumpkin, it was hers.

And when we walked to lunch, she carried it.

And still, that little pumpkin is in her outside toy box, surviving relatively well. I didn’t make pie out of it, settle down. I just wish she hadn’t chosen to fall in love with something so perishable.

First question that needs to be answers when talking about scratch pumpkin pie making is:

What pumpkins can be used? Can you make pie out of those Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins you buy your kids at the grocery store? What is a PIE pumpkin?

First, you can eat any variety of pumpkin, all are squash and all are edible (DO NOT confuse pie pumpkins with gourds, those are not edible) but not all pumpkins were made to be eaten as pie, so the variety you use will affect your results.

Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins have been breed for decades for qualities that have nothing to do with taste. Although still technically edible, the flavors are not taken into account when breeding. Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins are now breed for thick skin that can hold up to carving, as well as a heartiness to survive after being carved, and set outside with a candle stuck in it’s guts.

A pie pumpkin is small, like the one that tater picked out, too small to carve. They are also know as Sugar Pie, Northern Pie or New England Sugar. Most grocery stores will sell pie pumpkins towards the end of October, through November, just ask your produce guy.

Usually, one pumpkin is enough to make a pie.

Preheat your oven to 400.

First, remove the stem. Use a butter knife that you don’t care about too much (it may get bent) and run it around the edge of the stem to loosen it up then pry it off with the butter knife.

Then cut it in half down the middle, right through where that stem used to be.

Then scoop out all the guts, seeds and strings.

Then put the pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking sheet covered in tin foil. Make sure the baking dish has sides, the pumpkin may leak while roasting. Cover with foil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until a fork slides into the skin of your pumpkin easily.

Scoop out the inside flesh of the pumpkin with a spoon.

If your pumpkin flesh is watery, place on a stack of 5-8 paper towels, top with more paper towels and allow to drain for about 5 minutes. For a smoother texture, puree in a food processor for about 3 minutes.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie With Bourbon Whipped Cream

Ingredients

For The Crust:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
5 tbs butter cold, cut into cubes
1/4 cup shortening
2 tbs vodka
2 tbs cold water
For The Filling:
2 cups pumpkin puree (homemade as above)
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
½ tsp ginger
1 teaspoon salt

For The Whipped Cream:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs good quality Bourbon

Instructions

Combine 1 cup of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.
Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute, then move to a bowl
Add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon. Form the dough into a disk. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours.
While the dough is chilling, add all the filling ingredients to a stand mixer, and mix on high until combined (you can also use a hand mixer if you’d like). Place in the refrigerator to chill until ready to use.
Once the dough has chilled, add to a well floured surface,
flour the top and roll to an even thickness. Then fold in half, then in half again to make a triangle.
Transfer to your pie pan. If rips or tears appear, just push them back together with your fingers.
Push the edges into shape with your fingers.
Pour your filling into the prepared crust.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until the pie is set. This means that when you gently shake the oven rack that your pie is on, the center doesn’t giggle. The edges will appear to have a dry look, while the center will still look wet. This isn’t a situation where a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. If that is the situation, you have seriously overcooked your pie.

For the whipped cream:

Put all the whipped cream ingredients in a stand mixer and beat on high until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes.

How To Make Homemade Paper Lanterns

23.03.2011 23 Comments

I started making these a few weeks ago for my daughters upcoming birthday party and I’m at a loss for what to call them. Paper Orbs? Lanterns? Balls??? Whatever name they end up taking, they are really easy to make and turned out pretty darn cute. I hope to have some great pictures of them to share after my daughters party, I made 15 to hang from the patio awning. Here is my step by step DIY:

To start, the materials you will need are

2 pieces of 12×12 scrapbook paper, 2 brads (long ones), a hole punch and a paper cutter

Cut each piece of paper into about 10 strips each, for a total of 20 strips (these can also be made with using only 10 strips, like on my Baby Shower post). I just pushed the page flush with the edge of the paper cutter to begin with, making each strip about 3 cm wide and I ended up with about 10 evenly sized strips

Then, punch a hole in both ends of each strip

Stack up the 20 strips and put a brad through the holes on each end

To open the thing (orb? lantern? ball?) place it in a "C" shape and gently pull each strip out, in order, until they are all evenly spaced

Then attach at string to the brand, making a loop and tying it again above the brad so that it hangs level to the ground

You can add a flame-less candle (please, no actual fire, just LED’s) if you are going to use them for evening outdoor parties. It is pretty cold and rainy right now so the idea of evening parties on my patio makes me happy enough to add them just for the hope that it will happen soon!