My friends and I all love the TV series Bones and for the past few weeks we have used that as an excuse to get together on Monday nights, eat dinner, have a drink, and watch it together. These nights also give me an excuse to practice some of the recipes that I have been working on at school. Sooooo this last Monday I made fresh pasta and Alfredo sauce with apple crisp for dessert. Making fresh pasta is actually pretty easy even though it has a pretty high intimidation factor. Pasta was actually the very first thing I made at school this year! While it helps to have a pasta roller, it isn't 100% necessary. In fact, last week I made some yummy ravioli without one and I just used a rolling pin to roll out the pasta (a wine bottle works well too, if you don't have a rolling pin!)
Fresh Pasta (serves 4)
3 cups flour (you can use AP, semolina, or a mix of both)
3-4 egg yolks
1 T salt
1.5 T olive oil
cold water
Add flour, yolks, salt, and olive oil into a medium mixing bowl. Mix until all of the wet ingredients have been incorporated. Now, start adding small amounts of water into the bowl. Basically you just want the dough to come together without it being too wet! Don't worry if it gets too wet; you can just add some more flour. Once the dough has started to form a ball dump it out on to a flat floured surface and knead it for approximately 3 minutes (1-2 minutes longer if you used semolina flour). Now it is time to roll it out. Follow your roller's instructions or if you are using a rolling pin then roll out small portions as thin as you can. Cut into similar sized pieces. Let them dry for a bit by hanging them over some wooden spoons. Add them to salted boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes.
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Alfredo Sauce (serves 4)
1 pt. heavy cream
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 medium onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 Tsp Lemon zest
Saute onion and garlic until soft and almost translucent. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Allow the cream to simmer for 10-15 minutes, allowing it to reduce (this makes the sauce sweeter, creamier, and a tad thicker). Right before serving, add cheese and the seasonings to taste. For a fresh zing add lemon zest.
Now, I am a big fan of the fall season and being from New Hampshire that means apple everything. Normally I keep apple cider in the fridge at all times to make mulled cider or just to drink. One of my favorite desserts is Apple Crisp. It is super easy to make and it makes your house smell delicious!
Apple Crisp (makes a 9x9 pan)
4 apples (I normally choose granny smith but any will do, if they are smaller you might need 1-2 more)
1 c. rolled oats
4 T cold butter, diced
1/4 c. AP flour
1/4-1/2 c. brown sugar
cinnamon (the amount depends on how cinnamon-y you want your crisp)
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut the apples and place in the pan. Add the oats, butter, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon into a bowl and mix until combined. The butter might still be a little chunky since it was cold when you added it to the bowl. Spread this on top of the apples and bake until done. You want the top to be toasty and the apples to be cooked so it will probably take 30-45 minutes but I normally check it after about 25 minutes and keep an eye on it. Serve warm with some cream or vanilla ice cream.
None of these recipes are very time consuming and all of them can be made beforehand and reheated (with the pasta just wait to cook it until right before serving) so they are good for midweek meals. Keep an eye out, I will post some potato recipes soon, I just couldn't bring myself to cook any on Monday because I have been cutting, cooking, and eating so many potatoes at school for the past few weeks!
Happy cooking,
-c
Sounds yummy! I loved the pasta photo!
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