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!

Some things in the world are just too too easy.  Peanut butter is one of those things.

I suppose those easy things work to compliment the tasks in life that are far too complicated for their own good.  These complicated tasks include, but are not limited to, matching your socks fresh out of the dryer, finding your other slipper in a closet full of shoes, and emptying your vacuum bag and finding replacements of the same size and shape… seriously, why is that so hard!?

Where these little bits of life are difficult, some things, like homemade peanut butter, are easy peasy.  Thank goodness for the little things.

This recipe is so easy that I almost feel bad typing it out for you.  In essence, if you throw shelled peanuts into a food processor, with or without a pinch of salt, whirl it up for several minutes, you’ll have the magic of peanut butter in your kitchen.  It’s really that easy, and you skip all the dirty hydrogenated oils that sometimes complicate our food.

Peanut butter…. make it.

Homemade Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

Print this recipe!

makes just over 1 cup of peanut butter

1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts (you can also used roasted unsalted peanuts, or roasted and salted peanuts, adjusting the salt to taste)

pinch of salt

Place shelled peanuts in the bowl of a food processor with blade.  Make sure the lid is on tight and turn on the food processor.  Nuts will move from course to finely ground then begin to form a paste.  Feel free to stop the food processor once the paste begins to form to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Turn on food processor again until the peanuts resemble a thick, but mostly smooth, and shiny (from the peanut oil) peanut butter.  This took me about 4 minutes of food processing

Store in an airtight container in the fridge.  Place in a warm water bath or in a low microwave for 30-45 seconds to soften and spread.  Delicious!

Sometimes what I need from the world manifests itself in the strangest ways.

Truth be told, I think I might need a hug. I know… that phrase has tinges of lame and needy all over it. I could easily go find a hug, that’s not the issue. I’m looking for a very specific hug.

I need to kind of hug that I imagine comes from the husband I don’t yet have. The kind of hug that you can completely relax into. The kind of hug where you are exactly who you are without any self conscious discomfort. The kind of hug that I imagine comes with familiar husband neck smells, synchronized breathing, and maybe a whisper in the ear. The kind of hug that softens everything in the world- that’s the kind of hug I need.

Since I don’t exactly have that soul changing hug at my everyday disposal, I decided to take to get in my kitchen and make myself exactly what my soul wanted to eat. Ironically enough, my soul didn’t wax on about chocolate, or pudding or fresh doughnuts. All my insides wanted was a big, fresh, home-crafted Caesar Salad.

Funny how that works.

If you’ve never made a homemade Caesar Salad, consider this your formal invitation. There is something unbelievably satisfying about grinding garlic and anchovies into a paste, then working the dressing into the most luscious salad topper with egg yolks and olive oil. It’s lovely. It feels like the salt of the earth, like I imagine those husband hugs.

Oh! This salad is perfect with homemade pizza. Now that’s good lovin’.

The Perfect Caesar Salad

from Martha Stewart

Print this recipe!

If you don’t like the idea of using egg yolks for this dressing, feel free to substitute one tablespoon of mayonnaise. Don’t skip out on the anchovies as much as you think you might dislike them. They add so much flavor and depth, you’ll miss if you leave them out. I skipped the fresh croutons, mostly because I didn’t have any bread on hand. I’ve included the crouton portion of your recipe for your tummy. Enjoy!

• 6 slices (1-inch) ciabatta or another crusty white bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
• Coarse salt (to taste)
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 4 to 5 anchovies
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and dried thoroughly and torn into 2-inch pieces
• Grated Parmesan cheese (to taste)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-size bowl, toss bread cubes with remaining crouton ingredients. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, toast croutons until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. In a large wooden bowl, using a wooden spoon, mash halved garlic cloves to a fine paste. Stir in egg yolks and Dijon mustard. Add anchovies, and grind to a paste. Add lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Slowly stir in olive oil until dressing is creamy
3. Add lettuce to bowl, and toss to coat leaves thoroughly with dressing and grated Parmesan. Sprinkle croutons over salad, and serve topped with Parmesan shavings.

This endeavour was in no way glamorous.  If nothing else, these Homemade Twinkies highlighted my ability to make something from nothing.  I knew I wanted to make Twinkies, which if you aren’t familiar with, are white cake like treats with a light marshmallow-ish cream center.   Amazon sells do-it-yourself-Twinkie-pans, but sometimes I prefer the uphill battle.

So when the need for a Homemade Twinkie strikes, I get out my roll of foil and spice bottle, and I make my own pan.  Well, I’m being generous in calling it a pan.  I essentially made foil boats for cake batter.  I know.  Kinda madness.  I didn’t dream this notion on my own- thank you YouTube.

I’m almost embarrassed to share this with you….  they were so tasty, but the road getting there wasn’t so glamorous.  Sometimes these things happen in my kitchen.

So there’s kind of a lot of things going on with these Twinkies.  I’m making foil cake pans, cake batter, and filling.  If you’re feeling the spirit and want to make these little gems,  I have a step by step picture making extravaganza below.  But also, jump on over here and watch Todd Wilbur’s masterful work with the homemade Twinkie.  He’ll show you how to make the foil cake pans and how to properly fill them.  Just thought you might appreciate the video example.

After much thought and foil folding.  I’ve decided that next time I want Homemade Twinkies.  I’m just going to buy the pan.  Really.

Twinkie Cake

adapted from Gourmet Cookbook

Print this recipe!

makes about 12 Twinkies

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1  teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1 cup milk

Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition.  Beat in vanilla and almond extract.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just incorporated.

Spray prepared Twinkie tins with nonstick spray and divide the batter between the cups.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just slightly golden and a pick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely before filling with marshmallow cream.

Twinkie Cream

recipe from Todd Wilbur

2 teaspoons very hot water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups marshmallow cream (one 7-ounce jar)

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the salt and the how water in a small bowl and mix until the salt is dissolved.  Let the mixture cool.

Combine the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Add the salt solution to the filling and beat to combine.

Scoop into a pastry bag with a small tip and pipe into cooled Twinkie cakes.  Flip them over so the browned bottoms of the cakes are on top, and the filling side is on the bottom.  Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and give them to all your friends!

Take a 12 to 14-inch piece of foil and fold it in half.

Cut that in half.

Center a round spice jar on the foil.

First fold the foil up around the top and bottom of the spice jar, and then fold the side up. Now we’re cookin’.

Remove the spice jar.  And continue the process until you’ve made 12 Tinkie boats.

Give the foil a spray with nonstick cooking spray and fill with cake batter- about 3/4-inch deep with batter.

Once baked, remove from the foil and cool completely.  Poke 3 holes in each cake to make room for the marshmallow filling.

Put marshmallow filling in a pastry bag with tip and pipe into the Twinkie cakes.  Filling may puff out of the cakes, or split the cakes slightly.  Don’t worry, the cakes will be wrapped in plastic wrap and all the goodness with be contained.

Yum.