This One's for the Book!

Squash...check. Artichoke hearts...check. Ingredients to make pasta dough...check!

Ready, set...create! Okay, I didn't go shopping, I didn't have a plan, but I went into my kitchen tonight to prepare something delicious! What I created was a lovely ravioli, filled with acorn squash, onion, bacon and sage. As a sauce, I made a lemon-artichoke pesto sauce, and topped it all off with a savory artichoke and tomato salad for a bit of brightness and color. This one's goin' into the book!

I took ideas from a bunch of different recipes to pull this one together, and the flavors were really spot on! My first goal was to get the pasta dough made, since I would need to let it sit for 30 minutes. I used my favorite recipe for pasta dough, from Stir by Barbara Lynch. All it requires is 2 cups of flour (I use the Perfect Pasta blend, from King Arthur Flour), 2 large eggs, 4 large egg yolks and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Once that was made, and resting, I cut up another one of my acorn squash, and set it to boil on the stove in some water.

Once the squash was cooked, I pureed it in my food processor, and then poured the puree into a bowl with softened onions, bacon and sage, seasoned with some salt and pepper, and...Voila, our ravioli filling is done!

While these things were cooking and resting, I also prepared my pesto. I had some marinated artichoke hearts from the antipasto bar at Whole Foods, as well as some Parmesan, pine nuts, and lemon. I also used the oil that the artichokes were marinating in to emulsify the mixture. What I got was a bright, tasty pesto sauce with no basil whatsoever! Now that's what I call imagination!

As I rolled out my pasta dough, I made my raviolis by scooping a bit of "stuffing" onto each strip of dough, and folding it over. I have this amazing Ravioli Stamp that made the job much easier too! It definitely took less time than I thought it would, and fresh pasta dough is better than wonton wrappers any day! (However, in a pinch, wonton wrappers work well for quick ravioli.)

Do you see those little red dots? Each ravioli is brushed with a bit of egg yolk mixed with paprika, as well. Once I cooked the ravioli, and drained it, I added them back to the pot and tossed them with the Lemon-Artichoke pesto. I topped the dish with some extra artichokes and Kumato tomato for color and freshness. 

This was a really heartwarming meal full of delicate flavors that melded together nicely for a very hearty dish! I'm keeping this one in my back pocket, for sure!

Enter King Arthur's Esteemed Court

While I was galavanting around the snowy state of Vermont this weekend, I managed a quick visit to the King Arthur Flour Baker's Store. I've spoken about the necessity of good all-purpose flour, and King Arthur's flour is some of the best, but they don't stop there...no sir!

Not only does this wonderful place carry all sorts of flour (wheat, white, durum, pastry, etc) but they have tons of different boxed mixes, ingredients, bakeware, and gadgets too. And if that wasn't enough, they also have a bakery and cafe, where you can order lunch, or have a coffee and just wrap yourself in the wonderful aromas coming from the kitchen! Because of the recent arrival of the Breadman,  I wanted to pick up a few bread mixes. I also needed to replenish my supply of Perfect Pasta flour, as well as the flour we use to make pizza dough.

Because they offer a 15% discount if you purchase five or more mixes at one time, I opted to take the deal. I decided on French Herb,  Brown Sugar Cinnamon,  Semolina Herb and Cheese, Six Grain, and Brioche. I figured this was a good start, and who knows when I'll get to the store again. Not to say that I won't be making my own concoctions for dough as well, but it's nice to be able to throw a mix in there and just let it go on a busy evening. I don't normally recommend boxed anything, but the mixes from King Arthur Flour really taste so delicious, and you know from the their seal that it's a quality product (and...they're all natural!).

Look at all my goodies!

Aside from the store, there is also a separate building where the company holds all sorts of baking classes. If you are in the area, stop in and get a schedule. You can also find the schedule, along with all sorts of other wonderful information online at www.kingarthurflour.com. I definitely suggest signing up for their catalog as well...or just browse online. If you can get your friends in on an order, you'll save on shipping!

The Trial Run

Hello there, and Happy Valentine's Day Eve! We got home from a great weekend with our friends in Vermont this afternoon, and I decided it would be a great night to try out my new toy - remember the one I wrote about a week or two ago? That's right, my KitchenAid Pasta Press!!! I'm making the Macaroni and Cheese dish from my Current Menu, and thought fresh, homemade pasta would make it even yummier! I didn't take pictures of the whole process for the recipe, but I thought it would be fun to focus on the pasta-making. But just to make you all hungry, here's the finished product first!

I'm not going to knock dried, boxed pasta, but...fresh pasta is SOOOO much better! If you try them both, you will find it very difficult to go back to the dried stuff, I think! The only ingredients you need to make pasta are flour (white, wheat, whatever you want), eggs, and water. So, you really can't say it's too expensive, that's for sure! However it IS time-consuming, and there are most definitely nights that I would much rather open a box and pour it into some boiling water, than go through all the effort of making the dough and rolling it out, etc, but...I won't enjoy my dinner as much, that's for sure!

From Flickr - by *Grant*

Up until recently, the only pastas I made from scratch were the long noodles, since I only had the roller and cutter for those. I've made ravioli, and I've even tried my hand at gnocchi - but those don't really call for a machine. It's the shaped pastas I was after, and my brand new toy solves this dilemma beautifully! This press can make bucatini, small macaroni, large macaroni, fusilli and rigatoni. For the macaroni and cheese recipe, I opted for the large macaroni shape, but decided to leave each piece a little longer, which resembles a ziti, more than an elbow. That's okay with me, because I love how the ziti gets filled in with the delicious sauce as you mix!

The recipes I use to make my pasta dough vary, and I enjoy trying new ones now and then as well. You never know when you might find that perfect recipe. Today, I opted for the recipe that comes with my King Arthur Flour Perfect Pasta Blend. This mixture contains the best combination of all-purpose, semolina and durum flours. It includes a recipe for the dough itself as well. When I want to make regular pasta, I almost always use this blend, but you can use just all-purpose flour to obtain the same effect. If you want to make wheat pasta, just use wheat flour. You might find that you need to alter the amount of flour you use on your work surface, or the amount of water you add, to obtain the correct consistency however, because wheat flour's properties differ slightly. Play with the recipe you are using until you find what works for you!

So, I added 3 cups of my Perfect Pasta Blend to my food processor, and pulsed a few times to even out the flour. I then added 4 eggs as the food processor was going, until the dough resembled the consistency of cornmeal. I then poured just about 3 tablespoons of water in and kept pulsing. Once it looked pretty well combined, I dumped my mixture out onto a floured work surface and kneaded it until it was a nice smooth ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add some flour, if it's too crumbly, add some water...work this way until you have the aforementioned smooth ball of dough. Now it's time to let it rest for 30 minutes.

Okay - 30 minutes later! The dough will look the same, you aren't looking for a rise, or anything like that, so don't think you have to wait longer...30 minutes is long enough. I attached my new pasta press to my KitchenAid Stand Mixer and began to feed the dough into the chute. Right away, macaroni started to come out at a pretty quick pace, so I stood by and waited to cut when they were the length I was looking for. With a bowl to catch the cut noodles, the process went pretty quickly and was a lot less labor-intensive then rolling out the dough and then cutting the noodles with another roller.

I'm so excited to have homemade shaped pasta now! This opens up all sorts of possibilities and I think that making pasta for the week ahead is going to become a regular weekend activity. I will try letting each piece dry on baking sheets and then storing them in the fridge in a tupperware container, ready for an easy weeknight meal when I come home late from the gym! This purchase was totally worth it and you'll be hearing lots more about it in the coming weeks! :)