![]() |
Fresh Fettuccine with Roasted Tomatoes and Feta |
After publishing
my article on pasta sauces, it occurred to me that my target audience - namely
you - might not know how to make the
pasta itself, so here's a lesson. I'll also be showing you how to make
meatballs and potato pasta aka gnocchi.
My general rule
for making pasta from a box is: follow
on the directions on the package. Manufacturers have scores of experts and
testers that have worked their asses off to come up with the best way to
prepare their products.
But...
Just in case, I
will provide a few basic guidelines and instructions to make the perfect plate
of pasta.
First, use a large pot to boil your pasta
and fill it with A LOT of water,
leaving a few inches from the top of the pot so that it doesn't overflow when
you put the pasta in.
Second Rule for making pasta: salt your
water. Plain pasta
doesn't have much flavour, so a teaspoon or two of salt (or a pinch or three)
will provide it.
Third Rule: Bring the water to a boil before dumping in your pasta. This will get you the right texture.
Fourth: DON'T RINSE IT WHEN IT'S READY! Some people insist on rinsing pasta in
order to get rid of excess starch. You need that starch to allow your sauce to
stick.
While the pasta
is boiling, you can stir it around with a pasta spoon (that thing that looks
like serving spoon with teeth), or with tongs to separate the individual
strands. Some people will add oil to the water to keep the
pasta from sticking together, which is fine, but I don't recommend it because
the oil will also keep the sauce from sticking.
The level of doneness of pasta is really
up to the cook and the taster.
Chefs and snobs (occasionally the same people) will insist on pasta being al dente, meaning tender but still
slightly hard when bitten into. Others prefer a more tender pasta.
You're the cook
now, so make it how you like it.
Here are some
ways to test for doneness.
Carefully scoop
a strand or piece of pasta out every 5 minutes or so while it's boiling, let it
cool for a couple of seconds, and taste it. If it's tender enough for you,
drain it, toss or top with your sauce of choice, and serve.
Another way of
checking if the pasta is ready is to throw a strand or two it against a wall or
ceiling... if it sticks, it's probably ready, see the image below. This would
be a great way to get your kids involved in the cooking process, just remember
to clean off the wall or ceiling when you're done. This probably won't work
with heavy tubular pasta like rigatoni, you'll have to use the taste test to
check for doneness with those.
IF you
have the itch, make the pasta from scratch!
It's sounds
horribly complicated and difficult, but it isn't. It's actually surprisingly
easy, it just takes a little elbow grease, and a willingness to make a BIG mess.
Please note that if you don't like chewy pasta, stick with the dry store-bought
stuff, as homemade pasta often tends to be a bit tougher, even if you use a machine.
Here's
How You Do It
From the Pantry
1
1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour
From the Fridge
2 Eggs
From the Tap
A Tablespoon or two of water
Equipment
1 Mixing Bowl - Experts will make the
pasta on the counter top, but I do it in a bowl to try and keep the mess to a
minimum
Measuring cups
1 Rolling pin OR a wine bottle covered in
plastic wrap OR IF you have the funds and plan to make a lot of fresh pasta often,
you might want to invest in a pasta maker. You can get a mechanical one with a
crank mechanism for about 30 bucks.
1 Fork
Dump the flour
in a mound in the mixing bowl. See the image below.
Make a hole or
well in the middle of the mound of flour and carefully crack your eggs into it,
along with a tablespoon or two of water.
Beat the eggs
and water with a fork. See the image below.
Using two fingers,
stir the mix around slowly, in wider and wider circles, see the image below.
The dough will take the flour it needs from its surroundings as you mix.
One the dough
has formed into a ball, knead it in the bowl or on a cutting board or a
countertop covered with a little flour for at least ten minutes. This will be
tiring, but think of how toned your arms will get! No trip to the gym needed! The dough is ready when it's smooth and
elastic, and feels sort of like your earlobe when you pinch it between your
fingers.
The Silver Spoon (the latest edition released in 2011), considered the bible of Italian cooking, says that you should let the dough
rest for an hour. Having tried it meself, I can safely say I can't taste the
difference between pasta dough that has rested for a bit and dough that hasn't,
so it's up to you.
Once the dough
is ready, on a surface lightly covered with flour, roll the pasta out using
your rolling pin, wine bottle covered with plastic wrap, or pasta maker. Try to
get it into as thin a sheet as possible. See the image below. Once it's rolled
out, the possibilities are limitless!
Try rolling up
the pasta dough, slicing it, and then unrolling the dough. Drop the dough
strips into salted boiling water and just like that, you have fettuccini! See the images below. Once
the pasta floats to the top, it's ready. See the images below. You're now ready
to drain it and serve!
Another option
is to cut the pasta into rectangles, boil them as you would the homemade
fettuccini, and then use them instead of oven-ready noodles to make lasagna.
Bake it for 45 minutes at 350 F, and serve!
If ya wanna get fancy, try using the same filling for the lasagna
in manicotti! Simply cut the pasta into rectangles, boil them, put them on a
plate, and wait until the rectangles are cool enough to handle. Once they are,
simply put two or three tablespoons of cheese and spinach lasagna filling (see
Back To Work Blues) at the end of one sheet, roll the pasta to form a tube, and
then put in a baking pan greased with a little olive oil. Repeat until you've
filled the pan. Cover with your favorite tomato sauce, and some grated cheese
and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 F and
serve!
Meatballs
There are lot of
meatball jokes out there, mostly of lewd kind. That being said, meatballs are
an extremely versatile food. Not only can you serve them with pasta and sauce,
you could also put 'em on toothpicks and serve them as appetizers or snack
food, or use the mix as a base for meatloaf!
Yields about 16
meatballs, about an inch in diameter.
Here's
how you do it
Ingredients
From the Fridge or Freezer
1 pound of ground beef - if you're taking
it from the freezer, defrost it first - As I've mentioned before, I prefer lean
or medium meat not extra lean in my cooking, because I find the fat makes the
meat moist
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon of Pesto
3 Tablespoons of Grated Parmesan or Romano
Cheese
From
the Pantry
Salt and Pepper - Say 1/2 a Teaspoon each
5 Tablespoons of Italian Style, Flavored
Breadcrumbs
Hot Pepper Flakes - Optional - If you're
making this for kids, you may want to leave this ingredient out, as they tend
to cry at anything spicy
1 Teaspoon of Tomato Paste (optional) - I
use this as a binding agent if the meatballs don't seem to be holding together
as well as usual
Vegetable oil - about a teaspoon to
grease your baking dish
Equipment
1 Mixing Bowl
Measuring Spoons
1 Kitchen Scale (to measure out your
meat)
Rubber gloves - If you don't want your
hands dirty
1 Baking Dish
Preheat the oven
to 350 F.
Mix the
ingredients in the bowl with your hands until just combined. DO NOT
OVERMIX OR THE MEATBALLS WILL BE TOUGH! Form them into 1 inch balls and
you're ready to go!
Regarding how to
cook meatballs, a lot of the recipes I've seen call for pan frying them in a
little oil. Having tried it myself, I prefer to bake my meatballs in the oven. I
find frying messy, painful - as I've been splattered with hot grease while doing
it - and the meatballs don't hold their shape unless you continuously roll them
around in the pan while frying, failure to do so will result in sliders or mini
hamburgers instead.
To make my
meatballs, I put them in a lightly greased baking dish (or non stick one) about
an inch or two apart and bake them in the oven at 350 F for about 20 minutes.
Let em cool for
a couple of minutes, and you're ready to go!
IF
you're feeling REALLY lazy...
Take some
Italian Sausage, remove it from the casings, form it into balls, and bake them
the same way you would regular meatballs.
Gnocchi
I put this
recipe last because it's a bit tricky, time consuming, and extremely messy.
Gnocchi is a kind of pasta made from potatoes, but the finished product is a
lot more like dumplings than pasta. If done right, the gnocchi will be tender
and delicious. If done wrong, you'll end up with chewy balls of mashed potato,
so read carefully, Grasshopper.
Here's
How You Do It
Ingredients
From the Pantry
About 6 medium sized potatoes - or from
the Fridge 2 Cups leftover mashed potatoes
A cup or two of flour
From the Fridge
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese
2 Eggs
Equipment
1 Potato Masher - experts will insist on
using a potato ricer to make gnocchi, because it results in a more even mash,
but I say that if you work hard enough, you don't need it. However, if you like
extremely smooth mashed potatoes, and/or love gnocchi and plan to make it
often, you can get potato ricer in the dollar store for a couple of bucks, or a
fancy one in a kitchen supply store for about 20.
1 Pot
1
Slotted Spoon
1 Fork or Wooden Spoon
1 Mixing Bowl
1 Potato Peeler
1 Knife and Cutting Board
1 Slotted Spoon
1 Strainer
Rinse the
potatoes to get rid of excess dirt, peel them, and cut them into small pieces.
Boil them until they're so tender when you pull a piece out with a slotted
spoon, a piece mashes easily with a fork.
Drain them in your
trusty strainer, dump them back in the pot, and mash the heck out of them,
trying to get them as smooth as possible. This will take at least 5 minutes and
a little elbow grease. Don't worry if there's still a lump or two. The gnocchi
will be fine.
Let the mash
cool for a bit (say 10 minutes or until the mash is cool enough to handle) and
then measure 2 cups of it and dump it in your mixing bowl. If there's any
leftovers, save 'em for a rainy day, as mashed potatoes are an excellent
accompaniment to almost any savory dish like meatloaf, chicken, or even fish.
Clean your pot,
fill it with lots of fresh water, and a teaspoon or two of salt and put it on
to boil.
Add 2 eggs and
the cheese to your mixing bowl with the mashed potatoes and mix it all with a
fork or wooden spoon until it's well combined. See the image below.
Now add your
flour, a little at a time, until the mixture forms into a dough. See the image
below.
Cover your hands
a little flour and either mix in the bowl or on a work surface lightly covered
with flour. Knead it with your hands, adding a little flour if needed. The
dough should be soft but not falling apart - just firm enough to work with.
Cut sections of
the dough off and roll them into strips or cylinders on a cutting board lightly covered with flour. Cut pieces about 2
centimeters wide off the strips, the images below. You can now, if you wish,
lightly press them with a fork, thus giving the gnocchi its signature shape, or
boil as is.
CAREFULLY, WITHOUT BURNING YOURSELF, drop the gnocchi into the boiling
water. Once they float, they're ready! See the image below.
You can now
scoop them out with your trusty slotted spoon, toss them in a little sauce or
top with some cheese, and serve!
Summertime's a
coming and with it, all sorts nasty things like bugs, seasonal allergies, and fat
guys in speedos. In the overwhelming heat, it makes perfect sense to wear light
clothing that shows as much skin as legally possible, but as the media and social
media continue to promote an ideal as repulsive as it is unrealistic, in the
next entries I'm going to provide recipes for things that will make you feel
good about yourself in your own body.
So keep reading!
-Samantha R. Gold
Questions? Comments? Requests?
Bring it on!
I can be reached at: for.the.culinarily.challenged@gmail.com
Trolls will be unceremoniously
deleted and dismissed.
No comments:
Post a Comment