Pasta roller

This past weekend, I picked up a manual pasta rolling machine.  My first attempt at linguine came out like little tree trunks.  Tonight, my second attempt came out a little better, although the pasta was still way too thick.  The sauce was a garlic bechamel, topped with grated romano, bacon and parsley.

I made a batch of dough over the weekend and froze part of it.  My plan is to make the dough on weekends and just defrost it later.  I’m hoping that eventually it will be as fast dry pasta.  It cooks in just a few minutes, so that would still leave time to roll the defrosted dough.

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Pasta, again…

The base is my staple pasta, radiatorre.  The sauce started with a bechamel (made with some more of my real buttermilk).  To that, I added some romano cheese and garlic.  I topped the finished product with my trinity (bacon bits, chevre and sun-dried tomatoes).

I really need to find some new tricks, because someday these are probably going to get old.  But not yet, it was fantastic!

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Alfredo, take 1

I have some heavy cream left over from a cheesecake that I took to work, so I decided to have a go at an alfredo sauce.  I seem to recall that I’ve done this before, but I have neither the recipe nor the recollection of how it turned out.

I checked my copy of the CIA’s Professional Chef and was surprised not to find alfredo.  Do they know something I don’t know?  I went to Google and used the first recipe it returned.  The resulting “sauce”was more like a paste.  I think the 3:2 ratio of cheese to cream was too high.  It tasted fine, but it was way too thick.  I have enough cream left, so I’m going to try it again, this time with a 1:1 ratio.

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Got the cooler

Well, I stopped at the store on the way home from work yesterday and picked up a cooler.  I put my carboy in it with some fresh bottles of ice and covered the whole thing with a blanket.  This morning, the must was at 55°, and the ice was not fully melted.  I didn’t change the  ice because I was afraid that it  might drop the temp below 50°.  It’s now bubbling once every 5 seconds (probably due to the lower temp).

On an unrelated note, last night I had a Stags’ Leap 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon with a Spanish Idiazabal cheese.  I typically chill my reds slightly in order to bring them down to cellar temp, as opposed to my room temp, which runs about 76° in the summer.  I guess I should say that I don’t normally care for CA cabs.  I find them to be overbearing and in-your-face.  Stags’ Leap is a famous producer, and it was only a half bottle, so I decided to give it a shot.  The cab was OK until it started to warm up.  At that point, all that was left was the heat of the alcohol (14.1%).  The cheese didn’t fare much better.  Like the wine, it was too much for me.  It reminded me a lot of aged Manchego, which is also too strong to eat on its own.  I’m glad the wine’s gone, and I’ll be cooking with the remainder of the cheese.

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Another salad

I started with a head of red lettuce and added a small box of grape tomatoes.  The dressing started with a two to one ratio of mayo and grated romano cheese.  I added some fish sauce, worcestershire sauce, bleu cheese and enough lemon juice to thin it out.  The salad also had a pouch of tuna, bacon bits and panko.

The salad was good but the tomatoes were too sweet and next time I’ll leave them out.

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Radiatorre with microwaved cheese sauce

I wanted mac’n’ cheese, but my favorite All-Clad that I always use to make the cheese sauce was dirty.  So I decided to try making the cheese sauce in the microwave.  It turned out identical to my regular sauce.

I put the butter in a glass pyrex dish and microwaved it in thirty second intervals until it was melted.  I then mixed in the flour and microwaved it in thirty second intervals, whisking after every interval.  Once the roux was ready, I added the milk and continued with the thirty second intervals, continuing to whisk the bechamel.  I cooked it until it was thick and bubbly, just like I would on the stove top.  I added the grated cheddar and whisked until it was fully incorporated.  The tricky part was when I had to add the radiatorre pasta.  Normally, I put the pasta in a clean bowl and pour the sauce on top.  Mixing the pasta into the bowl of sauce proved difficult, and I ended up losing a pieces.  Making the sauce in the bowl also left some sauce at the top of the bowl, which got a little dark under the broiler.

Overall it was a complete success, but I’m kind of a traditionalist, so this won’t become my SOP.

(No pic because everyone’s seen my mac’n’cheese)

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Not quite there risotto

I made risotto one night this week, and ended up with great tasting, albeit crunchy, dinner.

This time I decided to double the volume of liquid, and use a smaller pan, with less surface area.  I sauteed some garlic in butter and oil, and then added the rice.  I gave that a minute before starting to add the liquid.  A few minutes before it was done, I added a can of portabella mushrooms.  I finished it with some more butter and romano cheese.

Well, my forty minutes of effort was rewarded with a slightly salty risotto that was not quite done.  Next time, I’ll replace half the broth with water, which should reduce the salt.  I’m not sure exactly what to do about the texture.  I guess I could increase the liquid again, but I’m not sure how long I’m willing to stand at the stove.

Sorry for the pic, my phone didn’t want to focus on the risotto.

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Deconstructed mac’n’cheese & grilled cheese

The mac’n’cheese was deconstructed because I didn’t have enough clean pans to make normal mac’n’cheese.  I cooked the radiatorre pasta in my only clean pot.  When it was finished I transferred it to a bowl, then added some shredded sharp cheddar (I knew from past experience to use less than for regular mac’n’cheese), diced sun-dried tomatoes, bacon bits and some of the olive oil from the tomatoes.  The grilled cheese was made with some of the same cheese.

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Bacon, cheddar & mushroom blintzes

Last week I made butter which produces buttermilk as a byproduct.  I have not yet come up with a good use for it.  In the past, I’ve tried to use it to make ricotta, but it never worked out right.  I know that its not as acidic as cultured buttermilk, but it doesn’t work even if a augment the acidity with lemon juice.  I guess it could be the higher than normal butter fat.

Anyways…this time I discovered that it can be used to make mac’n’ cheese.  For something different, I decided to make blintzes with a cheese sauce, which would use up the last of the buttermilk.  The buttermilk made a crepe batter thicker than normal, I had to spread it with a spatula like when you make an omelette.  I sauteed some portobello mushrooms while I made the cheese sauce.  The cheese sauce ended up a little stringy, I think I used too much cheese.  Assembled them, threw in some bacon bits and called it lunch.  It was OK, but lacked a certain “je ne sais pas”.

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Consolation Mac’n’Cheese

OK, so home-made mac’n’cheese is never a “consolation” but it was not what I originally planned. Unfortunately, I was out of the NY-style sharp cheddar I normally use, I had to use some other sharp cheddar. Sides were peas and a Gala apple.

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