Can I tell you a secret?  Sometimes I lack all confidence in the kitchen.  It’s true.  Sometimes a project will keep me up at night.  Sometimes the ingredient list will just baffle me.  Sometimes I hold my breath as I incorporate the ingredients, or I second guess myself and reread the recipe with every turn of my spatula.

It’s the absolute truth.  Sometimes I just need someone to hold my hand through a new recipe… or I at least need to be allowed to throw my hands up and call uncle at any point during the process.

I tell you all this so you know that when I stepped in the kitchen to make pasta this past weekend… well… I was totally intimidated.  I wasn’t sure I could pull this off.

I know… I know… everyone was telling me how easy it was.  Frankly, I was convinced they were liar liarpants.  For real.  Handmade pasta!?  Easy?  Not possible.

Well, let me be honest.  Pasta isn’t as entirely easy as everyone would have me believe.  That’s not to say it’s impossibly hard…. not at all.  For me, making pasta by hand just involves a little talking to myself, a big area where I could throw flour all around, a rolling pin and willingness for a good arm work out, and a few hours set aside for doughing… mostly just patting it, talking to it, and walking around the house showing it to whatever family member would pay attention to me.

The end result is beyond… BEYOND comforting.  The process was super satisfying, and really?  So Much Fun!  Pasta!  I made pasta!  Daaang!  I’m going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for this one.  Don’t mind me… I’ll be done in a minute.

Pasta is pretty straight forward.  Flour and eggs, mixed, rolled, cut and boiled.  But.  And there’s always a but.  What kind of flour do you use?  There’s 00 flour.  There’s semolina.  There’s all-purpose flour… and don’t even get me started on the combinations!  I used all-purpose flour because I wanted to experiment with a recipe that you could easily replicate at home.  We’re in this together, right?

There is one thing worth noting…. this one is a big deal.  Pay attention to egg size with this recipe from Mario Batali.  All of the baking recipes that I post call for large egg.  Large eggs are standard baking practice.  This recipe calls for extra-large eggs.  You’ll need that added moisture.  It’s important.

Here’s a snazzy step-by-step followed by the recipe and official instructions.  Yea?  Yea!

Six eggs and a dash of olive oil in a flour well.  Things are about to get good.

Whisk up the eggs and slowly bring in the flour.  Cool.  I’m totally playing with my food!

Coming together.  Getting there!

This might just be a ball of dough!  Almost!  Dang I’m good.  Confidence is growing.

I had a lot of the initial 5 cups of flour left over.  I decided that was ok.  I dumped the excess in the trash.  So there.

The sixth and final cup of flour got sprinkled on the counter and put to  work inside the pasta dough.

But I even had some of the last cup of flour left over!

Excess flour is fine fine fine!  Look how pretty this dough ball is!

After a 30 minute rest it’s time to roll this beast out.  Roll and roll and roll….

and roll and roll… until I just couldn’t roll anymore.  Then it’s time to slice.

Slice and slice and slice and slice.

What do you think?  Your turn?

Want a little YouTube courage?  I watched this video before I started my pasta adventure. It was nice to see a visual.

Homemade and Handmade Pasta

recipe from Mario Batali

serves 6

Print this Recipe!

5 to 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour
6 extra-large eggs
3/4 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Make pasta dough:

Put 5 cups flour in a 12-inch-wide mound on a work surface. Make a 6-inch-wide well in center (down to work surface) with fist. (The outer wall should be 1 1/2 to 2 inches high.)

Break eggs into well and add oil. Beat eggs and oil together with a fork, then gradually beat in flour from inner side of well wall, keeping wall intact while mixture is runny, until it comes together in a cohesive, kneadable mass (about two thirds of flour from mound will have been incorporated).

Knead dough with floured hands, incorporating just enough flour on work surface until dough no longer sticks to hands. (It will still be a little tacky; you will have flour left over.)

Set dough aside and scrape up and discard flour from work surface

Lightly reflour work surface using some of remaining cup flour and continue to knead dough, reflouring hands often, until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes more. (Dough should still be slightly tacky.)

Form dough into a ball, then dust well with flour and wrap in plastic wrap. Let dough rest 30 minutes at room temperature.

Rolling out the Pasta:

Here’s where the arm work out comes in.

Unwrap the dough from the plastic wrap.  If the dough is sticky.. mine was… just dust it with flour.  Cut the dough in half, put half on the big clean counter where you’re going to roll the pasta out, and rewrap the other half so it doesn’t dry out.

Lightly dust your work surface with rice flour or a little bit of all-purpose flour.  Slowly and evenly begin to roll the dough out.  Flip and twist the dough on the counter top to ensure that it isn’t sticking.  If spots are sticking, lift the dough and lightly dust the surface with flour and continue rolling.

How thin do you need to roll the dough?  Thinner than you think, it’ll plump up when cooked.  I rolled mine thin enough so that I could vaguely see a magazine cover when placed under the dough.  It should be thin enough to see something under it.  Yea?

Once rolled out, take a pizza cutter and cut strips in your desired thickness.  I made fettuccine sized noodles, but you can go just thinner for linguine or fatter for pappardelle… or even fatter for lasagna noodles.  Just eyeball it if you have a steady hand.  You can do it!

Once sliced, I loosely piled up the fresh noodles with just a bit of flour so they didn’t stick.  I re-floured and fluffed them every once in a while just to make sure they didn’t stick.  Loosely cover the cut noodles with plastic wrap and begin to roll and cut out the other half of dough.

Don’t want to cook your pasta right away?  Want to store it?  Here’s how!

Cooking your Pasta:

Once all your pasta is rolled and sliced, bring 8 quarts of water to a boil.  Add 2 teaspoons of kosher salt to the boiling water and add half of the cut pasta.  Cook for 1 or 2 minutes until al dente.  Remove cooked pasta from boiling water with tongs, and drop in the other half of cut pasta to cook.  Drain all of the cooked pasta in a colander.  Do not rinse.

Sauce?  How about a big ol’ Bolognese?  Recipe coming soon!

Is it just me, or are there butterflies everywhere?  

Maybe it’s butterfly hatching season…. that’s a technical term: butterfly hatching.  Obviously.  

Exhibit A:  On a particularly rough day at work, a butterfly just about the size of my hand fluttered around me showing off its black, yellow and red wings.  Absolutely gorgeous.  

Exhibit B:  Just this morning a butterfly whizzed past my nose as I rode a bike through the Oakland hills.  High speed butterflying.  

I don’t even need an Exhibit C, I’m tellin’ you… there’s something in the air:  butterflies.  

So, all of this beautiful fluttering action has lead me to, well… look for a little meaning in all of it. 

I know… totally cheese ball, right?  It’s just that I feel something in the air.  Maybe it’s the change of season, or maybe it’s my sun sign doing God knows what to my moon sign.  Who knows?  I just feel a flood of change coming my way.  I think that’s what all these butterflies are trying to tell me.  Change is a’comin’, in more ways than I might already think.  That… or it’s just butterfly hatching season.  I don’t know.

In other news:  I have a fridge full of zucchini and I made zucchini pancakes.  

You probably know me well enough by now to understand my lengthy and well documented affection for pancakes.  

That being said… these pancakes aren’t the sweet breakfast treat that you might expect from me.  Think of them more like a potato pancake… the kind you might top with sour cream or apple sauce.  These are the zucchini version of potato pancakes.  They’re super easy to throw together and all sorts of fun to eat.  I topped mine with a bit of sour cream and sweet paprika.  Dinner, made so easy.  

Zucchini Pancakes

     makes about 18- 20 2-inch pancakes

     adapted from Stephanie Gallagher

     Print this Recipe

• 4 cups shredded zucchini (or a combination of shredded zucchini and shredded yellow squash)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• a few dashes of Tabasco
• 1/4 cup onions, finely diced and grilled
• 2 Tbsp. plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Grill diced onions in 2 teaspoons of olive oil until they are slightly browned and set aside.

Place zucchini and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt in a colander. Drain for ten minutes, pressing down with paper towels to push out all the excess water.  You can also place shredded zucchini in a very clean dish towel to squeeze out excess water after it has sit with the salt for 10 minutes.

Whisk the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt, Tabasco, and eggs together in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, garlic, grilled onions and zucchini. Mix until all the ingredients are well-combined.

Place the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, drop the zucchini mixture by rounded tablespoons. Flatten gently with a fork. Cook 2 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Flip and cook another two minutes. Remove to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Serve immediately.

Life is all about balance, right?  Balance and beans.  Ok… maybe not that last part.

While I’ll be the first person in line to pick at those brownies fresh out of the oven, I also know that I have to fill my belly with foods that make my body feel strong.  Because I think food is just downright dreamy, I like to take the time to make something special for my body.  Why?  I figure if my body is happy, then my brain is pretty stoked and my heart feels pretty rad… and that trickles out to every part of my life.

Can I tell you a secret?  I gave up working out for the new year.  That’s right… I gave it up completely.  I had absolutely no interest at all in even glancing at my running shoes.  About two months in, I went to slip on my favorite jeans.  Um…  they were tight… and they hadn’t just come out of the dryer.  What did I expect?  Seriously…

Well, I’m back at it.  I’m taking my running shoes out for a spin every once in a while, and my body is all smiles.  Incedentially, my body also wants to celebrate its new found activity with French fries… but that’s a whole other battle we can talk about later.

This Borlotti Stew over Creamy Polenta feels exactly as good as getting out of the shower after a long run and sliding under the electric blanket for the night.  It’s one big bowl of good-for-you comfort.

It’s a small way to celebrate real food being really good for you.  I dunno… I think there’s something really special, and necessary about taking care of your body with a whole, happy meal.

Borlotti Beans in Tomato Sauce with Creamy Parmesan Polenta

Print this recipe!

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 medium fennel bulb trimmed and chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 teaspoons fresh oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

salt

1 small carrot peeled and shredded

1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes or plum tomatoes

pepper

3 cups cooked and drained Borlotti beans (more about how to soak and cook those suckers here)

For Parmesan Polenta

1 cup polenta

3 cups cold water

2 cups whole milk  (if you don’t want to use whole, just use whatever you have on hand)

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a small, heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter.  Add onions, fennel, garlic, 2 teaspoons oregano and red pepper flakes, plus a pinch of salt and pepper.  Saute for 10 minutes.

Add shredded carrot and saute for 2-3 minutes more.

Add tomatoes and stir to break up.  Add another pinch of salt.

Reduce heat to super low (a very very low simmer) and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes begin to separate from oil, about 2 hours.  I cooked my tomatoes for about an hour and a half before I couldn’t wait any longer and dove in.

Add the rest of the oregano, plus more salt and pepper to taste.  Add Borlotti beans and stir to combine.

Now make the Polenta

Place 1 cup of dried polenta in a medium sized bowl.  Top with one cup cold water.  Set aside.

In a medium sized sauce pan bring 2 cups of whole milk and remaining 2 cups of water to a boil.  Once boiling, add salt.  Slowly whisk the polenta and water mixture into the boiling milk mixture.  Turn flame down to medium low.  The time the polenta takes to cook will depend on weather you’re using fine grain or course polenta.  My fine grain polenta took just minutes to thicken.  However long it takes, stir occasionally until you’re reached a desired thickness.

Turn of flame and add grated parmesan cheese.  Stir to incorporate.

Serve Borlotti with tomato sauce over warm polenta and top with extra Parmesan if you’re feelin’ frisky.

On any given day my diet is consistently composed of scrambled eggs (seriously the perfect food), some variety of baked goods fresh from the oven, cheese (lots of cheese) and tea (I drink so much I run out of mugs).

Have I mentioned that I love scrambled eggs?  I’m convinced that the perfect way to eat them is in tortillas, standing in the sunny spot in my kitchen flipping through cookbooks.

But this post obviously is not about my love for the egg.

There are days that I decide to slow down, take a deep breath and make myself something other than scrambled eggs for dinner.  On those days I go for my no frills, yet somehow impressive Hungarian Paprika Chicken dish.  It’s flavored with sweet Hungarian Paprika, onions, tomatoes, and the added creaminess of a touch of sour cream.  Served it over a bed of buttery egg noodles, and the world is instantly coming up roses.

Everyone should have a no fail chicken recipe in their back pocket.  This is mine.  From my stove top to yours.

As a note, I think the big red tin of Hungarian Paprika is the only way to go with this chicken.  You should be able to find it in your local grocery stores,  it’s not a fancy pants thing.

Go say hello to the boys at Foodproof for my recipe.  It’s a winner, I cross my heart.   Print this recipe!