Archive for the 'Pasta' Category

(Chronologically Listed)

Spaghetti & Fontina-Stuffed Veal Meatballs

Lately, my pasta dishes have kind of obviously been focused on comfort-food, and this is no different. Today, we have another classic dish, with a little twist to make it something special: spaghetti and fontina-stuffed veal meatballs.

Spaghetti & Fontina-Stuffed Veal Meatballs

I decided to make my own tomato sauce, but I struggled with it. When I say struggled, I don’t mean that making the sauce was hard–far from it! The real difficulty was resisting my temptation to over-complicate things and throw in all sorts of herbs and spices. I decided for once to give the classic Italian cooking mantras a chance and to let the tomatoes speak for themselves, hoping they wouldn’t let me down. As it turns out, the tomatoes heard my prayers and they came through! I didn’t have any great fresh tomatoes, but I did try a recommendation for a better brand of canned San Marzano tomatoes, which was certainly a bit pricier than other canned tomatoes I was used to, but…
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Posted by mike on March 21st, 2008 under Italian, Main course, Mediterranean, Pasta, Sauce, Veal | 30 Comments »

Lasagna Bolognese

I love pasta, but there’s a special place in my heart for lasagna. This is one of those pasta dishes that takes time and effort, but the end result is amazing and definitely up there among the best of pasta-centric comfort-foods. With a little extra attention paid to the noodles, the sauce, and the cheese, lasagna is a force to be reckoned with.

Lasagna Bolognese

I approached this dish more with the intent of clearing out leftovers. You know, something simple that would come out reasonably well with little effort while freeing up space in the fridge and leaving no waste. But then I thought, well, I’d still like to play with my pasta maker, so maybe I could make my own noodles? And then, well, if I have these nice veal leftovers, I shouldn’t just use some jarred sauce, since that just doesn’t seem right. And how would it look on the web site? And after a series of little tweaks…
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Posted by mike on March 6th, 2008 under Italian, Main course, Pasta, Pork, Veal | 18 Comments »

Beef Stroganoff

Sometimes, you come across a dish, and it just sounds so….archaic. You can’t help but think that this is what people used to eat before they had things like spice, taste, or technique. This, of course, is based on nothing in particular, and you know this, but the stigma remains. But then you think of the dish again. And again. And somehow, through sheer repetition, you become intrigued, until soon, you can’t help but want a taste yourself. For me, that was beef stroganoff, and let’s just say I’m glad I came around.

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff really did not interest me at first. I mean, beef in bland noodles with sour cream being the bulk of the sauce? Doesn’t sound super exciting. Kind of like cafeteria food really (maybe that’s a part of the stigma for me?). Of course, I like beef, pasta, and creamy things, so eventually, after seeing a few tempting preparations of the dish, it got stuck in my head…
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Posted by mike on February 28th, 2008 under Beef, Main course, Pasta | 13 Comments »

Egg Noodles

This is by no means a glamorous post–it was actually something I was writing up for another post, but I wrote so much that it just seemed way too long to call it one single post and expect you to actually read the whole thing. So instead, some times, its good to take a moment to focus on some of the basics. Today: how to make something as simple as pasta noodles. In this particular case, egg noodles.

Cut the noodles and let dry

When you think about it, pasta is one of those items taken for granted quite often. You buy a box for cheap, boil for a few minutes, and you’re all set without even having to really give it a second thought. While home-made isn’t quite as convenient (I mean, come on, you’re up against a maximum of 10 minutes!), it can be fun, a learning experience, and, as always, taste better than store bought. I employed my KitchenAid for this task with the…
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Posted by mike on February 26th, 2008 under Pasta | 19 Comments »

Macaroni & Cheese, Cheese, …and more Cheese

Macaroni and cheese, like many “common” sounding dishes, has been misrepresented on many an occasion, whether it be powdered stuff from a box or some slop from a cafeteria. But if you show it just a little bit of love, it will love you back with some incredibly rich flavors.

Macaroni & Cheese

So despite the many bad macaroni experiences we’ve all had, mac & cheese should not be banned from your kitchen as if it were gruel. This is not that undesirable junk that shows up on your plate at some backdoor BBQ you’d rather not be at–this is the good stuff! Plus, preparing this is actually quite simple and lends itself to experimentation. The end result is a fantastic dish with a variety of flavors going on.

If you look around for macaroni and cheese recipes, there’s really not a lot of consistency when it comes to what kind of cheese you should use–all cheddar, fontina, asiago, american (no!), etc. And…
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Posted by mike on January 31st, 2008 under Main course, Pasta, Side dish | 16 Comments »

Trio of Ravioli–veal, mushrooms, and goat cheese

I was very excited about making pasta from scratch and had grand visions for making ravioli. But what kind of filling should I make? Beef? Chicken? Veal? Cheese? I kept tossing ideas around and decided to be reasonable and just choose: I’d make three different fillings (veal & olive, mascarpone mushroom, and herb & lemon goat cheese). Decisiveness is one of my strong points.

Ravioli

So knowing that the fillings would be the slow part, I hurried to work, preparing far too much of each, telling myself no problem, I’ll just freeze the excess ravioli and have an easy back-up dinner for weeks to come. I was in a good mood and in no real hurry at all–I was hungry, but the fillings were coming along great and making/stuffing the pasta would be a really quick process. There was nothing to worry about. I could just snap my fingers, and dinner would be ready. So I casually pour the flour in…
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Posted by mike on January 19th, 2008 under Italian, Main course, Mediterranean, Pasta, Veal | 18 Comments »
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