Thursday, January 31, 2013

Recipe for Pasta Dough

Pasta love!  I love making pasta for my family and my family loves to eat it.  Here is a basic dough recipe, which is how I started making my home-made pasta many years ago.

Pasta Dough
4-5 eggs
1 pound of all purpose flour

Make a flour shaped volcano on your counter.  Put 4 eggs into the hole and slowly mix the flour with the eggs.  (I like to start with my index finger in the center of the egg mixture to break the yolks and then gradually mix in the flour).  If you need to soften the dough, you can add another egg, a little water, or a little olive oil.  Continue to knead the dough until you have a soft smooth ball.  Wrap your ball in a towel and let rest a few minutes.

Ok, that's it! Now you can roll and cut your dough into pasta, or use an Atlas rolling machine to roll and cut. Here is a picture of the Atlas pasta machine that I use.  I still have it after 25 years and it is still working....unlike my electric pasta machines that gave up years ago.


If I had the money, I would consider getting another electric pasta machine, just for convenience, or a Kitchen Aid mixer and a pasta attachment.  Is there anything that Kitchen Aid mixer can't do? 

A few years ago, Avec Eric was on PBS making ravioli with Giovanna Carcasci, here is the link: Making Ravioli. The video was very helpful for demonstrating how to make pasta and ravioli and I highly recommend that you watch it.  Enjoy and have fun making pasta.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Yogurt and Cereal

In my bowl this morning...Yogurt and Cereal

Good morning :) I could eat this everyday, oh wait, I do...unless it's the weekend, or I am out of yogurt or we have Cinnamon Rolls in the house, (which I have a tendency to make disappear).  This is my goto quick fix breakfast. Update: I've recently switched my high content sugar infused vanilla yogurt with plain greek yogurt.    

Never before have I seen such beautiful fruits available all year round at such reasonable prices.  It is the middle of winter and the blackberries pictured above were bought at our local grocery store for $1/small carton. So gather up your favorite toppings and create a yogurt creation for breakfast, snack or layer it in a nice parfait glass and call it dessert. 
  
Thanks to the relentless TV commercials we have all heard the GI benefits of yogurt, but there is new research indicating that it is also good for lowering blood pressure. "...people eating low-fat yogurt every three days were 31 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than those that didn't." ~from Taste of Home Magazine, February/March 2013 issue, page 79






Thursday, January 17, 2013

Happy Rolls :)

Happy Rolls :)

Hubby: "What do you call them?"
Me: "I don't know yet, I just made up the recipe."
Hubby: "You should call them Happy Rolls, because they look like they have smiley faces on them."
Me: "Nice...I like Happy Rolls because I think your tummy is happy when you eat them."

Whatever you call these rolls they are very easy to make.  The rolls are just as delicious the day after you make them, and the recipe can be halved for 6 rolls.  This is a very delicious roll and is our new family favorite.  Team Happy Rolls with Jai Lai Herb Butter and everyone will be happy.

Happy Rolls :)

Mix 1 cup warm water with 2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast for bread machine and 1 teaspoon sugar.

In a bread machine add the following:
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sugar
water/yeast/sugar mixture

Set bread machine to dough cycle.  Remove after second mix, but before dough rises.  Cut dough in half, make a thick rope and then cut 6 balls from each half.  You should have about 12 balls.  Roll each ball into a 6inch rope and curl around your finger so it looks like a snail.  Place on greased baking pan and allow to rise until double.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Serve warm with Jai Lai Herb Butter, recipe below.
Dough in snail shape rising on greased baking pan
Baked rolls, yummy!

Anyone remember the Jai Lai Restaurant and their herb butter? Wow, this recipe brings back memories and is so mouth watering delicious :)

Jai Lai Restaurant Herb Butter
Printed in the Columbus Dispatch, submitted by H.A., from Hilliard
 
1 pound butter
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried chives
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Whip butter with lemon juice and garlic powder until smooth. Crush herbs very fine. Add to butter mixture. Chill overnight. Can be frozen.
PER TABLESPOON: 102 calories; 0 protein; 0 carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 11 g fat (7 g saturated); 30 mg cholesterol; 2 mg sodium


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

On a lazy Saturday afternoon while watching TV, the ladies at Bake, Decorate, Celebrate were making Chocolate Cookie Bowls with a Wilton cookie bowl pan.  Their dessert bowls looked yummy and it looked like lots of fun making them, so I hunted down the pan, then read the reviews.  Whoa...this pan got a public lashing.  Cooks were having a hard time making the bowls and complaining that the chocolate chip cookie recipe that came with the package was terrible.  Well, I ordered the pan anyway.

My first attempt at making the chocolate chip bowls with the Wilton recipe was so bad I am embarrassed to post a picture here.  If you need a good laugh today, you can see it on my facebook page

The final recipe and batch #3 is a community recipe written with the help of Ileen Cummings, Robin Wilson, Nathan Andre, and Sue Hale Hayes. Thanks again for all of your input and help.  You can visit Robin's cookie recipe and blog at Rustic Flavor.   

I am not sure why Wilton continues to publish the terrible chocolate chip cookie recipe, because as you can see from the picture above, the bowls are really cute with a good recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

Our bowl recipe is a cross between a soft cookie and pie crust, perfect for holding a bowl shape.

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 stick butter
1 1/2 teaspoon molasses
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 + teaspoon baking soda (just a wee bit more than a 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, frozen (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet)

Cream the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, molasses.  Whip your egg then add it to the butter/sugar and mix. Add 1 1/2 cup flour and mix.  If you dough is very sticky add another 1/4 cup of flour and chill dough for at least 10 minutes.

Lightly spray your pan with butter spray and then wipe it off.  The pan should be oily feeling but not slathered with spray.

Roll out your chilled dough on a floured surface and cut in 4 1/2 inch diameter circles. (I used a lid that I dipped in flour).  Place dough on the backside of the pan and lightly firm up around the pan with your fingers.  Do not pull the dough down the sides, it will spread as it bakes.

Cook in a 350 degree preheated oven for 9-11 minutes.  Remember the cookie bowls will continue to bake on the pan after they are removed from the oven, so under-bake them.

If saving your bowls for later use, store with a slice of white bread, it will help keep them moist.

Lessons learned:
Whip your egg right before you add it to your dough to introduce air, but don't whip it and let it sit around because it will deflate.
Molasses is acidic and reacts with the baking soda, which adds more air.
If butter is too firm, your dough will not get fluffy.

Extra special thanks to Robin Wilson for suggesting I freeze my chips to help bind them to the dough...it works! 

For more baking science fun, check out http://www.culinate.com/articles/features/baking_chemistry

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Chorizo Black Bean Soup

Chorizo and Black Bean Soup

Mmmmm....a hearty bean soup, a favorite of my dear hubby and perfect for a cold winter day.  Chorizo Black Bean Soup takes extra preparation time, but it is worth every pot licking minute, lol.  We like our chorizo drained of grease, (see picture below), then added to the soup base to help bring out it's flavor.  The original recipe calls for frying the chorizo until crispy, reserving it, then adding it to your bowl right before you top with avocado cream. 

Chorizo Black Bean Soup is a modified recipe from Rachael Ray, 2007.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound cured chorizo, casing removed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
3 cans black beans (14 ounces each), drained
3/4 to 1 quart chicken stock depending on desired thickness
2 ripe avocados
1/2 cup regular or low fat sour cream
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup cilantro (about a handful), chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan over medium high heat add the olive oil and cook the chorizo, about 4-5 minutes.  Remove the chorizo from the pan and drain the grease.

Add the onion, garlic, paprika, serrano and jalapeno peppers, salt and pepper (to taste) to the pan and cook until the onions are tender, about 5-6 minutes.  Add the chorizo, black beans, cilantro and chicken stock to the pan and bring the liquids up to a bubble.

Ladle a couple of scoops of the soup into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  Return the pureed soup to the pot and keep warm.

After pureeing the beans, rinse the food processor bowl out and return it to the base.  Remove the pit from the avodados and scoop them out into the bowl along with the sour cream, lime zest and juice and process until smooth.

Serve the soup topped with some avocado cream.



Ew!  This is what is leftover on the paper towel lined plate after the chorizo is drained.