Homemade lasagna: Part one - Noodles

When I was 8 or 9 my parents took my brother and I to have dinner with their friends, and it may have been the most influential meal I have ever had. Their friends were Italian, like legit Italian, and they made fresh pasta. When we got there mid afternoon they had already made the dough and we all rolled it out together. It seriously changed my life. I was, and still am, obsessed with fresh made pasta. It's not hard, no crazy ingredients, it is a little time consuming, but so so worth it.
Fresh pasta is kind of my signature dish. When it's someones birthday, fresh pasta. When we have a dinner party, fresh pasta. When it's a holiday, fresh pasta. Alfredo, creamy mushroom sauce, fresh tomato basil sauce, braised short rib ragu, but my favourite favourite thing to do with fresh noodles is lasagna.
Who doesn't like lasagna? I mean really it may be the perfect food. It has all the food groups, and it's mostly carbs and cheese! (I make myself feel better by adding spinach)

I make fresh pasta quite often so I got myself the attachment for my mixer. Is this recipe hard if you don't have a mixer for the dough or the (expensive as eff) attachment? Not at all. I have done it by hand many times, I've always used a machine (either hand crank or the attachment), but I have heard you can also use a rolling pin with great success. 

Making the dough is pretty simple. If you are doing it by hand you put all the flour on your counter and make a hole in the middle. Then I beat the eggs, water, olive oil, and salt together and pour it into the well. You then take your finger or the handle of a wooden spoon and start to mix the liquid, catching a little more of the flour each time you go around. Do this till the liquid is more of a paste, then start to knead your dough. When the dough is smooth you form it into a ball. 

With the mixer you use the dough hook. Put the flour in the bowl make a well, beat the wet ingredients and pour them into the well. Turn the mixer on.  When the dough is smooth, take it out and form it into a ball.
What ever method you choose, it is important to let the dough rest for at least 20 minutes to let the gluten form.
Before you start rolling you should think about where you are going to put your noodles. I take my broom handle, cover it in plastic, and put it up on two chairs.  The basic technique is you put the dough through the rollers at the highest setting a few times, folding the dough after each pass. Then you start turning up the rollers, going through once at each stage. I usually go to a 5 or 6 for pasta and lasagna. 

Fresh Pasta

1 1/2 cups Semolina flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

or

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

2-7 tbsp water

Happy cooking

Pancakes and Waffles

I posted the pancakes and waffles I made on fat tuesday but I didn't post the recipe, so here they are. They both come from "Joy of Cooking".
The pancake recipe is something I have made and tweaked for years. My mom and dad have a copy of "Joy of Cooking" that is a million years old, in 7 pieces, stained with grease and flour, tattered and torn, well loved. A few years back my man bought me a "write your own recipes" cookbook and it was the first recipe I put in. This is really the best pancake recipe ever; buttery, fluffy. Sometimes I add cinnamon and nutmeg, or vanilla into the batter.  If you don't like pancakes try these, they will convert you.
What's different about this recipe is the addition hot butter to the cold milk and eggs the butter solidifies and becomes little pieces of butter. At first I thought I had done something wrong because it looks like the milk separated. Like when you make biscuits you leave the butter in bigger pieces to make them flakier. Same effect here, plus little pockets of butter.
If you like your pancakes a little cakier, fluffier, use 2 eggs, 1 cup milk. If you like them a little thinner use only 1 egg and more milk. Wanna live life on the edge try 1 egg and 1 cup milk or 2 eggs and 1 1/4 cups milk. I like mine 1 egg, 1 1/4 cups milk.

Pancakes
1 1/2cups All purpose flour
1tsp salt
3tbsp sugar
1 3/4tsp baking powder
1 or 2 eggs
3tbsp melted butter
1-1 1/4cups milk

Sift dry ingredients
Combine the egg, milk, and butter.
Combine the wet and the dry.
Cook in an ungreased pan, on med heat.
On one side until bubbles start to form around the edges, then flip and cook for another few moments.

This is the belgian waffle recipe directly from the book. This was my first time making it, also my first experience with yeast waffles. They were pretty good. The smell was amazing the whole time I was making them. Something about yeast and butter just does it for me. They were perfect with syrup. They could have used a little spice in the batter and a little more sugar.

Belgian Waffles
3 cups warm milk (I microwaved it for 2 minutes)
1 envelope of active dry yeast
3/4 cup melted and cooled butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

3 egg whites

Whisk together milk and yeast, let stand for 5 minutes. 

Whisk in butter, sugar, yolks, vanilla and salt. 

Add in flour in 3 additions beating till smooth after every addition.

Cover with plastic wrap and rest till doubled, 1- 1 1/2 hours.

Stir to deflate.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks, fold into batter.

Cook according to waffle iron instructions.

They are delicious and easy, go try them tonight.

Tiramisu

If there is one thing I like better than cooking, it's baking. I love sweets. I love chocolate. I love cake. I love ice cream. Dessert junkie!
Tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts. What's not to like? Coffee, whipped cream, cookies, mascarpone, little booze, chocolate, yes. It is so simple, but its simplicity makes it easy to mess up. Something like dry cookies or fake whipped cream can ruin it. Like this in not the time to cheap out with some cool whip.
When I make it I start by making a zabaglione, 6 egg yolks, 2 cups sugar, in a double boiler and whisk like your life depends on it. It will get light and glossy. When you have achieved the desired consistency take it of the heat.
Then it's time to incorporate the mascarpone. I like to put it in a bowl and add a little of the zabaglione to the cheese to loosen it up, mix until incorporated. Then another addition of zabaglione, this time folding, not until completely incorporated. Then the final addition, again folding, same thing, it doesn't need to be smooth.

Last my favourite thing in the whole wide world. Whipped cream! Whip the cream to just over soft peaks. Then again with 3 additions add the whipped cream to the mascarpone, zabaglione mixture. The first just mix in to thin it out. The next fold until almost all incorporated. The last fold until it is nice and smooth.
Now here is where I get a little crazy. Usually I just make the traditional coffee, and chocolate tiramisu. This time, however, I had some fresh strawberries in my fridge. I am always looking for alternatives to chocolate desserts for my allergic to chocolate man, and this seemed like a great opportunity. So I started with the same cream and split it in half.
For the tiramisu assembly you need some coffee, usually espresso, but just use regular coffee. If I have it, add a little bit of instant espresso or instant coffee to the brewed coffee. Also add a little booze. Coffee liquor if you have it, if not, rum, vodka, irish cream, whatever (irish cream was a big hit last time I made it). You should also let the coffee cool. If you dip your cookies in hot coffee they will fall apart very quickly. Speaking of cookies, that is the next ingredient. Regular lady fingers, or savoiardi cookies.
Put a little of the cream on the bottom of the dish, then start dunking the cookies. Arrange them nicely so you have one even layer of cookies. Then more cream, a dusting of cocoa powder, then more dipped cookies, and the final layer of cream. Dust liberally with cocoa powder. And thats all she wrote. Let it set up for at least a few hours. I usually make it a day in advance.

Now the strawberry variation. First I took some strawberries and put them in a pot with a little orange juice and sugar. I let them cook until there was a good amount of juice. Then I strained out the juice and let it cool. I kept pressing the boiled solids through the sieve and added them to the cream.  Then I diced 10 or so strawberries and added to the cream as well. Then the same basic layering process. A little cream in the bottom of the dish, then dip the cookies. Arrange them so there is an even layer of cookies, top with cream, another layer of cookies, then the last layer of cream. If you were not concerned about a chocolate allergy, I feel like a few dustings of cocoa powder wouldn't hurt.
This strawberry variation was sooo damn good. Strawberry shortcake, meets cheesecake, meets tiramisu. So so damn good.
The original is equally good. It is just what you want tiramisu to be. Cool, boozy, creamy, moist, rich, and delicious. It really is just perfect and so easy. Don't be scared, go make some tonight.

Fat Tuesday

Pancakes, paczki, bacon and sausages. Whats not to like. I added waffles to the mix this year. First Mère brought over some paczki, I just recently found out that paczkis aren't something everyone does. For those of you who don't know, paczkis (poon-ch-kees) are a lot like a jelly donut. Some times with powered sugar on the outside, sometimes with glaze. Filled with whatever you can think of. The big difference is that paczki is made with butter, eggs, and milk. They are a polish tradition. They are generally made on fat tuesday, to use up these items before lent.
Grayson liked it, Xavier as usual was not really a fan.
Pancakes or waffles are always a hit around here. Put in bacon and Xavier is hooked. I have a pancake recipe I use from an ancient edition of "The Joy of Cooking" at my parents house. I finally got my own edition and my waffle recipe comes from there too.
The waffles started with milk and yeast which is really new to me. They also had butter and eggs in them. When they were cooking they made the house smell so so good.

 

Happy Fat Tuesday

Roast Vegetables: The Essentials

Something very special happens when you roast a vegetable. Giving veggies a little bit of browning releases some of the natural sugars and make every vegetable better. It's such an easy thing to do. Almost the same amount of prep and cooking time as if you were steaming or boiling, and the flavour is so much better.
Meet my nemesis. The Brussel Sprout. I love most vegetables,  but there is something about these that just turn me off. Since roasting makes every veggie better I thought why not.
First wash your veggies. I wash every fruit and vegetable, even if I am not eating the skin, even if I am peeling the skin off. I'm a bit anal about it. I get quite annoyed if someone hands me an unwashed orange. Wash your veggies. Then I cut off a little of the stem, peeled off a few outer layers, and quartered them. Generally I only cut them in half, but these were massive.

Then I foil and parchment my baking tray, add oil and salt and pepper right onto the parchment. When I put the sprouts on the tray I tried to put on of the cut sides down. Then I put more oil, salt and pepper, and a little glug of balsamic vinegar.
When you roast other veggies you can feel free to add any spices you like. Cumin goes really well with carrots, maybe a little honey too, some butter in addition to the oil. How about some cauliflower with some basil, oregano, and parmesan. Celery (yes celery) with some za'atar spice. Douse beets with oil salt and pepper, wrap in foil and roast. The possibilities are endless.
I set my oven to 350ºF (the universal oven temp) and stuck those awful little gems in. How long do they cook. As long as they need to. Half an hour maybe. Check them and see how they are. I tried to let them roast on one side until they developed quite good colour. Depending on how done you like your veggies, you could take them out at this point. They will be cooked but still al dente. If you like them a little more done stir them up and put them back in for a little bit. I put them back in. The outside leaves got brown and crunchy. The inside was tender, not mushy. The balsamic got sticky and sweet.
Now like I said I do not like brussel sprouts. They tasted much different roasted then they do boiled. Instead of tasting like farts, they were nutty, sweet, salty, and sour. They tasted just slightly like sauerkraut. Still not my favourite,  but these were pretty darn good.
So do you have a vegetable you hate? Try roasting it. It's easy and really delicious.

Canned Tomatoes

This was the subject of an instagram post a little while ago, and my stuffed peppers made me think of it. 

I always just assumed that canned whole tomatoes were not whole when you got to them. The ones I used were always squished, the flesh was mushy, but I thought that was just how it was.  I don't even favour a certain brand, just whatever is on sale. They are always mush. Until Aylmer tomatoes went on sale. 
This is a side by side comparison with Primo which in my opinion is one of the better brands. 
You can already see that the juice is a different colour. You can also see some tomato bits floating in the juice.

These are the Primo tomatoes. (I cut one before I remembered what I was doing) The tomatoes look deflated, most of them are split open, there are skins, some are blown open. 

These are the Aylmer tomatoes. Wow, right?! I don't know what they do to the tomatoes to make them stay so awesome. They are shinny and smooth, they aren't torn open, no skins. 

hmmm

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers hold a special place in my heart. I love dishes with really spiced ground meat; meat pie, cabbage rolls, kafta and stuffed peppers. I don't know what it is about the combination of cloves, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper that is just magical. 
This is the same filling I use for cabbage rolls. It is so good. As you can see I don't waste the extra filling. It's so good you don't even need the pepper, you can eat it all on its own:). 
This time I used ground chicken, because that's what was in the freezer. You can use any type of ground meat you want, beef, turkey, pork, lamb (ground lamb, plus curry and raisins.mmmm) 

I started by browning an onion and a few cloves of garlic in some olive oil. Then I took a can of whole tomatoes, and crushed them with my hand. I put a few into the bottom of the baking dish and the rest into the pan along with the remaining juice. Salt and pepper, then let it cook down a little.
The I added the meat to the pan. I find it easier to get ground meat to a good texture if there is a bit of liquid in the pan, so add the meat before all the tomato juice is gone. (add water if needed) I cooked it till it was done. If you were using a more fatty type of meat you should brown it an drain it first.
I added 1/2 cup of washed rice. It could have easily filled 4 peppers. When I put the rice in I thought for sure it wouldn't be enough, but it was don't worry. And 1 1/2cup of water.
Now spices! I don't measure in real life, I add and add until it tastes right. If I had to make a conservative guess at how much I put in; 1tsp ground cloves, 1tsp ground allspice, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 2tsp ground cinnamon, 1tsp ground pepper. 
Let the rice cook. Not until is is 100% done, not too hard tho. Stir the rice often. 
You have to taste and see what you think. This might be enough spice for you. It may not be enough. Does it need more salt?Adjust it, make it your own. 
Then clean your peppers. I like to bake the lid with the peppers for presentation but you don't need them. I try to cut them close to the stem. Clean out all the seeds and pith. Then stuff 'em.
When I had them all stuffed and in the pan I added any extra filing around the peppers for support and snacking. 
I drizzled some oil on top, covered the pan with foil, and I baked them at 350ºF for an hour-hour and a half. Until your house smells awesome.
I need to eat mine with a little sour cream. You don't have to, but if you really want your stuffed pepper experience to be something special, go for it. 
Easy, delicious, satisfying, home cooked treat. Try it out.




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