Goat Cheese and Chive Ravioli, in a Butter and Sage Sauce

On Monday night, because (as usual) we had leftover ingredients lying around, we decided to use up the goat cheese and make ravioli.  Here’s how it went down….

First, I mixed up the pasta dough.  I started with the basic recipe that came with the KitchenAid stand mixer roller attachments, halved, but made some adjustments of my own based on past experiences with it:

• 1-3/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• water (the recipe calls for a tablespoon, but the exact amount you will need will always vary depending on humidity and how packed the flour was.  I probably used about 2 tablespoons this time total; you have to go by how the dough looks – see below)
• chopped dried chives (I’m guessing about a tablespoon’s worth; I didn’t measure)

Into the bowl it all went and was mixed using the regular paddle attachment until it came together into a dough ball (this is the part where you have to add water a teeny bit at a time until it comes together, but if it gets too sticky, you add a little more flour, and so on and so forth until you get the right consistency – able to be formed into a ball, but not sticky).

Next, I switched out the paddle attachment for the dough hook, and kneaded the dough for about two minutes, after which I kneaded by hand it for another two minutes.

I wrapped the dough ball in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge, mostly because the recipe I was basing off of said to, but I don’t think this step is truly necessary if you are in a hurry (it’s not like this is pie dough and contains butter that needs to re-harden or anything.  As long as it’s made to the right consistency to begin with, I think you could skip the fridge and start rolling and cutting right away).  All in all, last night’s dough ball probably only spent about 10 minutes in the fridge while I was waiting for Hubby to be ready to make the sauce (that was his half of the responsibility for last night’s dinner festivities).

As for that sauce, I initially was going to simply use the sauce that I had made a few weeks ago and froze, but Hubby found a Butter and Sage Sauce recipe by Mario Batali, so that’s what we ended up deciding on.  The sauce had four simple ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 sage leaves (Hubby substituted about a tablespoon of dried sage leaves instead)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Hubby put the sauce together according to Mario’s recipe, except he added the cheese right away instead of waiting for the pasta to be tossed in.  This way the sauce would be waiting for me, all done, as soon as the pasta was cooked.  He also decided after he was done that it might not be enough sauce, so he went back and doubled the recipe.

While he was doing all of this, I was rolling out pasta dough and turning it into raviolis.

First, I divided the dough into four sections and made sure they
had enough flour on the outside to not stick to the rollers.

Next, I started rolling each piece through the machine,
according to the machine's instructions....

 

....until it was as thin as I wanted it.

Next, I cut each strip of flat dough in half, inserted bits of goat cheese
on the bottom layer, wet the seams with water, and covered it with the top layer.

 

Then I cut them into individual ravioli and trimmed off the excess.



The leftover pieces of dough, which you can see here being cut off and piled
up in the corner of the cookie sheet, were brought back to the rollers
and made into more flat sections/more ravioli.  Nothing got wasted.

We ended up with twelve BIG ravioli.  Just look at those chives peeking through:

Finally, it was time to cook the pasta and toss it in the sauce.

....and.....Presto!  One delicious dinner:

I know you are probably thinking that this is awfully time consuming for a weeknight dinner, but really it’s not.  When making homemade pasta, especially with an electric mixer, you can have your dough mixed and in the fridge in less than 10 minutes.  And while you are waiting for your water to boil is when you do your rolling and cutting.  So, really, other than the extra 10 minutes to make the dough, you are looking at the same amount of time as if you cooked a box of pasta, except this time, you are doing something productive while waiting for the water to boil other than watching the pot – you are rolling and cutting pasta.  I have decided, though, that I would like to invest in some ravioli molds, maybe something like this, in order to be able to make them more uniformly sized and shaped next time.

We are nothing at all without her.

Today, Julia Child would have been 100 years old.

Without her....food TV would not exist, none of us could be foodies or even know what that means, and the American culinary landscape would be barren.

We owe it all to her and her robust personality.  She is a gastronomic legend.

All across Boston and Cambridge especially, tributes to Julia are happening.  Her favorite store, Savenor's, is serving birthday cake, there is a symposium being held at the Harvard Radcliffe Schlesinger Library, and more. 

Happy Birthday to you, Julia!!  You are our hero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

My own little episode of "Chopped" -- Dessert style

After dinner tonight (a marinated and grilled London broil with fresh potato salad, corn on the cob and steamed green beans), I decided that it was time to use up a small bunch of ranier cherries that were going to be trash before the next few days were over.

I had been thinking all day that maybe they should become some sort of dessert, so I looked around the kitchen to see what else was on hand, and played my own little game of Chopped.  This is what happened (all within a matter of about 20-30 minutes, the customary allotted time on the show)....

First, I got my oven warming to 350-degrees, because I knew that I'd be using a couple of cupcake cups of yellow cake batter than we had in the freezer.

As those were thawing out, I picked out the cherries with any kind of rot or mold, then pitted and chopped up the rest and threw them into a small sauce pot along with some juice and zest from the lemon that I had used to make a glass of lemonade with dinner.

Next, I added what I estimate to be about a quarter to a half cup of white grape juice from the fridge (bought for a rib recipe but always comes way too much in the bottle than we need for it) and maybe 5 or 6 teaspoons of sugar.

 
I tossed the cupcakes into the oven, set the timer for 20 minutes, and then came back to the cherry mixture which I brought to a boil and then turned it down to simmer.

At this point, I began thinking: "What else does this dish need?"  Chocolate sauce, duh.  Or....chocolate filling!  Back to the cabinet I went and grabbed a Hershey bar (leftover from a S'mores adventure).  I broke it up into a measuring cup and added a couple tablespoons of milk.  I set this aside and waited for the cupcakes and cherry sauce to be done.

This is where it all comes together.  I popped the chocolate into the microwave for 15 seconds, then stirred it to make sure it was all melted.  It turned out a little thin, so I plopped in a spoonful of cornstarch and put it back into the microwave for another 30 seconds (until it boiled).  Another few stirs and it was nice and thick like a ganache.

Time for plating!!!  I used my pastry bag with a wide tip to pipe the chocolate into the center of the now unwrapped cupcakes, piped some onto the plate, and spooned the cherry sauce both onto the plate and on top of the cupcake.  Presto:

It was gooooood!  And husband approved.  :)

A Saucy Experiment

I have been meaning for a while now to try making tomato sauce from scratch.  I mean, really from scratch....no canned tomatoes, no processed/packaged tomato paste....but actually starting with fresh, whole, raw fruit.

Well, yesterday, I did it.  Completely without a recipe and without even researching beforehand.  I invented this all on my own, and Hubby and I both think it's pretty darn good!

I started with about 4½-5 pounds of tomatoes.  I bought the most affordable ones there were at our market, because, well, this was an experiment after all and I didn't want to waste too much money if it turned out to be a total fail.

Preheating the oven to 400-degrees, I chopped them up and piled them into our largest enameled cast iron dutch oven.

I decided to mash them up a bit before popping them into the oven.  In hindsight, I doubt this step was necessary, but since I did it, I am recounting it here.

3 hours later, this is what they looked like:

Next, I put the pan on top of the stove and started the process of simmering and stirring every 10-15 minutes.  But first, I whipped out the stick blender and pureed it all.  At this point, I also added about a half cup of vegetable stock (also homemade from scratch - we keep it in the freezer in ice cube size portions), because I wanted to loosen up the consistency a bit.

After a little while, it was time to add spices.  I went with about 10 cloves of fresh garlic (minced), dried oregano, dried basil, salt, black pepper, a small amount of red pepper flakes, and a teaspoon of sugar.

After about another hour and a half of simmering and stirring, basically until I felt the garlic was cooked and starting to dissolve, I decided it was done.  I gave it one more ride on the stick blender, and this was the final result:

(before the final blending)

(after the final blending)

Finally, we "packaged" it into old salsa jars that we had saved, and into the freezer they went.  These are just the right size for a meal for just the two of us.  :)

Now, I know that there are other ways to make sauce from total scratch, such as pureeing the tomatoes while raw and/or doing all of the cooking on the stove top (skipping the oven completely).  This was just the way I chose to experiment, and it turned out quite well.  I am sure I will try other methods in the future, but one thing is for sure....we will never (well, at least very rarely) buy prepared tomato sauce or canned tomatoes again.  :)

As for the cost, this turned out to be approximately $5.00 for what amounts to about a jar and a half's worth of store-bought sauce....so it's a little more pricey, but we think well worth it.

Journeyman: Our Tasting Menu Experience

On Friday night, to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary, Hubby and I went to Journeyman restaurant in Somerville, literally just a stone's throw from where I grew up.  I remember when all you could find down this sometimes creepy alleyway was a couple of mechanics' garages, a greasy pizza/sub joint, and an abandoned lot (in which as kids we used to play before it was rebuilt it into a proper playground).  Nowadays, there is without a doubt a food find in this up and coming and, well....yuppie area of what was once a veritable working class section of the city.

Hubby had picked out seven possible restaurants (7th anniversary) and told me to chose a number.  What came out of the proverbial hat was this wonderful tasting menu experience.  You can read all about the philosophy of this restaurant at the link above....but basically they are very much into locally sourced ingredients, working with whatever's in season, and supporting smaller-scale vendors.

There are a lot of pictures in this post, so rather than bore you with paragraphs of text in between, I will let them speak for themselves via their captions (the only problem being that we can't remember everything that was on each plate -- so I will just do my best to re-cap).  Needless to say, it was all fantastic -- there was not one item that wasn't awesome and of which we didn't lap up every morsel.

On with it....

  

We decided to get the seven course dinner (fitting for the anniversary).  He got the "meat eater" version, and I got the vegetarian version, so that we could try as many dishes as possible.

Here you can see basically the entire restaurant (except for the open kitchen which is off to the right of this shot), and in the background is the greenhouse window in which grow many of the greens and herbs that are used in the cooking.

The amuse-bouche: Egg Foam with Shiitake mushrooms and some herbage.

Homemade bread, and (I'd be willing to bet churned in-house) butter with (hard to see in this photo) a sprinkle of sea salt on top.

Locally brewed beer infused with flavor from a local chocolate company.  OMG yes!

Salad course: There were so many things on this plate that I had never eaten before.  But the most notable was that little yellowish flower near the top.  I don't remember what the waitress said it was, but it had so much flavor (similar to arugula).

My soup course: Cold Pea Soup with a Milk Foam, Mint, and some sort of cookie-ish thing on top.

Hubby's soup course: Razor Clams, Pea Puree, Fennel, Bluefish Roe.

Mine: Asparagus Two Ways (steamed, raw), with some Century Egg, Soft Tofu and two sauces (a garlicky one, and a soy one).

Hubby's: Salmon, Peas, Rhubarb.



Mine: Five-Minute Egg, Smoke, Spring Vegetables, Shortbread crumble, Lavender Flowers, and an incredibly delicious creamy sauce (this was my favorite dish all night).

Hubby's: Bluefish, Black Bean, Rhubarb.

Hubby's: Smoked Foie Gras, Brioche Waffles, and a rhubarb sauce.

Mine: Risotto with Ramps and Morel Mushrooms.

Hubby's: Veal, Sweetbreads fried in Amaranth Flour, Polenta, Onion, Leeks, Almonds.

Mine: Chevre Ravioli, Spinach, Leeks.

A surprise cheese course that they offered to us before dessert.  We chose the sheep's milk one from Italy.  It came with honeycomb and pickled rhubarb.

Another pre-official-dessert surprise: Almond crema with rhubarb sorbet.

Hubby's Dessert: Baba Au Rhum (rum soaked pound cake) with milk chocolate ice cream, dark chocolate tobacco infused ganache, chocolate sorbet, and taza/almond crumbles.

My dessert: The same Baba Au Rhum, except this time on a caramel bed with grapefruit absinthe almond sorbet, coffee infused cream, and taza/almond crumbles.

Surprise finale: Rhubarb Jellies, Salted Caramels, Shortbread Cookies with Almonds, and Lime-something Macarons (all homemade, of course)

  

Who would have thought that down this little alleyway, where all you used to be able to find was the back doors and trash bins of restaurants and other businesses, could be such an incredible place to eat!  Mmmmmm.