Fresh Pasta- Fettuccine

May 16, 2013 by 7 Comments

A photo post… the birth of fettuccine. This pasta recipe comes from F’s grandparents… It’s hand written on notebook paper that we keep in my recipe binder. Ok, that version does not have the Kitchenaid like you see here- we also have the hand crank pasta machine, which we still have in our cabinet just in case. Making pasta the old fashioned way is a workout!

making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini  making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini making fresh pasta homemade fettuccini

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Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

April 22, 2013 by 2 Comments

I attended another Caprial + John cooking class last week, this one centered on Modern Pot Pies. This was held again at their Chef’s Studio 2818 S.E. Pine, and included

  • Radicchio Salad with Black Pepper Fromage Blanc Dressing with toasted hazelnuts
  • Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato Crust
  • Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust
  • Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust
  • Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta

As usual, the class started with Cappy opening up various wines for the class- it is BYOB- so that us students could sip and swirl as they started teaching us the various courses that we would also be eating as our dinner. Recipes are already printed with our names for our places at the table so we can take notes as they cook and we drink.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

My favorite of the three pies was the Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese crust. The roasting of the vegetables just brought out a wonderful depth of flavor that I really liked and could make even for F and I (without the bacon). The vegetables in the recipe include onion, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, fennel but Cappy talked about how she loves to throw in swiss chard or kale too, and I love that idea.

The vegetables were already roasted when we arrived as that takes more time, so mainly John and Cappy talked about creating the ricotta crust on top- and I totally agree that the topping alone just thrown with pasta would be delicious. Putting pieces of the recipe on pasta was mentioned a few times- perhaps because they happened during the class to be on day 5 of a no carbs no alcohol diet in preparing to rest their stomach and livers for an upcoming trip to France.

She also made her own ricotta for this recipe using milk, cream, and white vinegar, and talked about her obsession (which will soon become mine) with being able to recreate a baked ricotta dish (just plain pressed ricotta- not ricotta cake) and finally tracking it down in some Australian recipe.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

At the same time, the pork for the Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust was cooking and the cauliflower steaming away in the background: they are definitely multi-taskers in the kitchen. John showed us his trick to very efficiently dice an onion which includes flattening one side and not cutting fully through when doing the first rows so everything holds together at first until you cut the rows the other way.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class dicing an onion

As John sauteed the pork and onions and added potatoes, Cappy talked to us about the panna cotta part of the Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta, specifically the combining of cream, sugar, gelatin, and buttermilk so that it would then have time to chill as we returned out attention back to the pies.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

Back with the Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower crust recipe workstream, John zested and squeezed lemons and prepared the mashed cauliflower crust with all its cheesyiness thanks to parmesan and goat cheese. We agreed we could enjoy that mashed cauliflower just as too.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

We finished the Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust assembly and put it in the oven.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust

Meanwhile, the pork was ready to be placed in the pan and topped with the cauliflower mixture, and also put in the oven.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

At this point the Bacon and Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Crust was almost ready, so Cappy quickly talked through the importance of soaking the radicchio while John prepared the dressing and talked through how to attempt to fix the dressing if it breaks. And then it was time to eat the salad and that first pie!
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Bacon and Herb Roasted Vegetable Pot Pie with Ricotta Cheese Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class

The Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust didn’t seem as seasoned as it should be. In order to make it for a meal for vegetarian F, I will probably take their other suggestion which is to just make the cheesy mashed cauliflower and fry those into cauliflower cakes!
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Pork and Lemon Pot Pie with Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Crust

While we were eating the pork and lemon pot pie with mashed cauliflower, John showed us how to create the mushroom leek mustard and garlic white wine (well, they actually used vermouth) cream sauce for the Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust. I don’t have a mandoline, so although I like the idea I’m not sure when I’ll execute this recipe.
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Braised Leek and Chicken Pot Pie with Crispy Potato crust

Everyone was close to drinking up every last drop of that Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta. Because it was not chilled overnight it was softer than a usual panna cotta, but all the flavors were there, and everyone liked how it wasn’t too sweet (thanks to the buttermilk) and was so light and refreshing. It’s a super simple dessert to make, although since F can’t have gelatin I wonder how agar will substitute in…
Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta  Caprial + John: Modern Pot Pie cooking class Buttermilk and Lime Curd Layered Panna Cotta

I always enjoy their classes and the little stories they tell and tricks and tips they offer that are outside what you would find in a recipe. They have classes once a week- check out their website to see the menus of their upcoming classes (they always create their own menu for the class), or see if you are interested in attending one of their monthly supper clubs!

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Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread

April 11, 2013 by 1 Comment

Pinterest, you are bad for my arteries. It was this photo thanks to Deseree Kazda of Life’s Ambrosia blog that sealed my fate for me. This recipe uses roasted garlic butter and brie to stuff the bread, but as Des pointed out, she also saw the Beantown Baker use butter and mushrooms and herbs, and Christy of the Girl Who Ate Everything blog used green onions and Monterey Jack cheese.

So it’s up to you what you want to stuff your bread with! I love all of Des’ and Christy’s recipes, which tend to be very comforting, so consider adding them to your RSS feed- they are on mine (I used to be on Google Reader but with the sad news of its impending demise recently am trying out Feedly).

Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread

Ingredients (serves 4):

  • 1 large boule of some sort. The original recipe calls for sourdough, but I went with Pearl Bakery Italian country bread Paesano.
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1 tablespoon and then 7 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  • pinch of salt
  • a few grounds of freshly ground black pepper
  • 8 ounces of brie cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
  2. First, let’s roast the garlic in the skin. Cut 1/4 inch of the top of the bulb of garlic to expose all the cloves. Place the garlic with the cut side up in a piece of aluminum foil, and put one tablespoon of butter on top, right on those cloves, in such a way it will melt and get each clove. Yum already right? Alternately you can use olive oil for this instead of butter, but why have one little sliver of a tablespoon of butter left? Oh, I guess you could just use all olive oil as a substitute for butter in this recipe. Well, I didn’t.
  3. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the garlic and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Twist the aluminum foil to close it to finish your little present, and roast the garlic for 1 hour. The cloves should be soft and golden and squishy. Set aside to cool.
  4. Slice the bread vertically and horizontally into squares, but do not cut all the way through as you want the bottom of the loaf to hold all these pieces together (sort of like one of those blooming onions of the 80s and 90s…). You will probably want to do the cuts in rows first, making each row about an inch or less apart, and then turn it and cut the other way. Place the bread on a sheet of foil that is large enough to later wrap the whole bread.
    Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread
  5. Dice the brie- the size may vary depending on your bread and how you sliced it- you want each piece of brie to fit in between every cut of bread. It’s up to you whether you want to carefully trim off the white outer layer first- that skin is edible, but it does have a chewiness to it, so not everyone likes it. The people I was sharing this with I have noticed always leave the outer layer behind (I eat it all) so I did trim it off for this recipe. Dip your knife in hot water so the cheese doesn’t stick to it.
  6. Set the oven to 350 degrees F and using a teaspoon, scoop out the soft garlic cloves. Melt the 7 tablespoons of butter in a small pan with the garlic. If you want to add any herbs, you can do so now. Combine well with a quick stir in that pan
  7. Pour this garlic butter YES ALL OVER all the bread, making sure the bread gets down into the doughy inside spaces you cut access to. I used a silicon pastry brush I have to actually spread the liquid gold garlic butter in all the crevices. Seriously, I can just eat this now, but let’s finish this with the cheese like the recipe intends…
    Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread
  8. Press the brie in between each cut. Wrap up the bread and bake for 15 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes- the cheese should get bubbly!
    Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread

Finally, we can eat this! If you’d like, you can drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on top, or serve it as a dip on the side for the bread. You want to let it cool down for about 10 minutes before you serve so the cheese can get oozy and calm down from the bubbling and your guests don’t burn their fingers and tongues.

Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread Roasted Garlic and Brie Stuffed Bread

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Easter Strata: A Recipe for Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata

April 1, 2013 by 3 Comments

This was an egg-cellent Easter hearty brunch dish layered with a seedy bread (I used Fressen Artisan Jogger bread with Unbleached White Flour, Yeast, Sea Salt, Pumpkin Seed, Flaxseed, Sesame Seed, and Sunflower Seed), an Italian seasoned colorful mix of sweet baby bell peppers in a cheerful variety of colors,  savory Swiss Emmenthaler cheese, and bacon. As with any strata, the key to this recipe is to let it sit overnight. This makes it great for any brunch, be it a holiday or anyday, as you just have to pop it in the oven in the morning.

The seasoning for the baby bell peppers is similar to one for marinating bell peppers Italian style- the only difference was I was using less bell pepper (but the seasoning could then help the bread/strata), I diced instead of cutting into slices, and I didn’t use any vinegar along with the garlic, basil, and parsley. Otherwise, you could easily just stop at step 1.

To make this strata a little more health friendly, I used egg whites and skim milk. You can also substitute turkey or veggie bacon: I like to bake mine in the oven. Don’t forget to use towels to soak up any extra (though I confess I always pour leftover bacon fat after removing the bacon from the pan into a Corningware container for cooking use later…). To keep it crispy, I added it at the end, but if you want to use other meats, such as diced ham, turkey, sausage etc. you can do so by adding it into the strata at the same step as the sauteed veggies.

The original recipe calls for sourdough, but I continue to feed my addiction and love of the Bavarian bread from the artisan bakery, Fressen Bakery. Here’s a glance of their various baked bread that they offer at the Portland Farmers Market on Saturday…

Fressen Bakery at Portland Farmers Market Fressen Bakery at Portland Farmers Market

Ingredients (serves 8):

  • 1 cup of chopped onion
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 cups of red, orange and yellow sweet baby bell peppers, seeds removed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 clove of minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped basil
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
  • 6 slices of 1 inch thick slices of bread
  • 4 tablespoons of softened butter
  • 2 1/2 cups, or 10 ounces, of shredded cheese (I used Swiss Emmenthaler, but you can choose cheddar or what you’d like)
  • 6 eggs (I used egg whites only)
  • 2 cups of milk (I used skim)
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon of dijon mustard
  • 1 cup of cooked and crumbled/chopped bacon (this is equivalent to about 5 slices)

Directions:

  1. Saute the chopped onion with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil  on medium high heat in a pan until translucent and caramelized. Add the sweet bell peppers and saute for an additional 4-5 minutes, or until the peppers begin to soften. Turn down the heat to low, and add the garlic. Saute for 2 minutes more. Turn off the heat and add the basil and parsley, toss to combine.
    Baby Bell Peppers done Italian Style Baby Bell Peppers done Italian Style
  2. Butter the bread with the 1/4 cup of softened butter and then cut the bread into cubes.
    Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata Fressen Jogger bread Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata Fressen Jogger Bread
  3. Grease a 13×9 inch 4 quart baking dish. Place the bread inside, and then distribute the chopped onion pepper mixture, and then top with some of the cheese- about 1 3/4 cup of the cheese.
    Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata recipe Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata recipe
  4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, cumin, and mustard together. Pour over the bread mixture in the baking dish. Cover and refrigerate the mixture overnight.
    Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata recipe
  5. When ready, remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake (uncovered) for 45 minutes.
    Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata recipe
  6. Uncover the dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese and the crumbled bacon. Bake 10-15 minutes longer- a knife inserted into the center should come out clean. Let stand at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata recipe

Besides the strata, friends brought ham that she glazed with brown sugar honey and mustard mixture, and I also made a Dill and lemon butter carrot dish and some Crispy Smashed Potatoes using red potatoes (and I always like to keep the skin on)  for our Easter meal.
Baby Bell Peppers and Swiss Strata, Ham, Easter dinner, Smashed Potatoes, Dill and Lemon Carrots

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Watercress Sandwiches

March 30, 2013 by 1 Comment

I am a big fan of watercress- it has the round leaves of spinach and comes in nice bite size pieces so you don’t have to cut the leaves beforehand, and the leaves and stems are tender. The taste has the spicy pepperiness like arugula but not as mustardly or with a bitter undertone- more like a hint of wasabi. It is perfectly a mix of both worlds. I was surprised when browsing the PSU Portland Farmers Market on opening day that I saw that one of the stands already had watercress, and I was excited to have this still healthy alternative to all the kale in the market.

I use watercress wherever I might use spinach or arugula, usually slightly wilted on top to finish off a dish. Watercress Sandwiches are one thing I do use these greens for that I do not use spinach or arugula. I have also made watercress and orange soup before, and look forward to making this watercress cauliflower soup from Martha Stewart with my next batch of watercress.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of watercress, plus more for garnish (I used another 1/2 cup)
  • 1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 4 ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, or tofu cream cheese
  • 2 tablespoons chives, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
  • Sliced bread, or baguettes or crackers, etc as your vehicle… The original recipe calls for 8 slices of regular white bread which you remove the crust and then cut into quarters to make tea sandwiches. I used thick artisan bread and made open face sandwiches instead.

Directions:

  1. Finely chop 1 cup of the watercress and parsley together. I admit the original recipe is 1/2 cup, but I wanted more watercress flavor. Then blend these with butter, lemon juice, cream cheese, chives, and ground pepper. Blend until the mixture is smooth.
    Watercress Sandwiches
  2. Let the mixture alone to develop the flavors for 30 minutes at room temperature, or chill overnight and let come to room temperature later.
    Watercress Sandwiches
  3. Spread the watercress cheese mixture on the bread too make into sandwiches. Use the other 1/2 cup of watercress atop the watercress cheese spread bread (I took this photo after topping the right side, but I topped the other side too).
    Watercress Sandwiches

Easy yum! Obviously I made an open face sandwich because I was using thick Fressen Artisan Jogger bread (with Unbleached White Flour, Yeast, Sea Salt, Pumpkin Seed, Flaxseed, Sesame Seed, and Sunflower Seed) and I wanted to extend every bite of the thick seedy bread with watercress. If you are going to close the sandwiches, for aesthetic purposes consider making sure some of the leaves are along the edges so it can be seen when you close the them. Slice diagonally into quarters, and you can add any extra little springs for garnish on top of the sandwiches too if you’d like.

For some English fanciness, serve these on sandwiches that are cut into small bite size pieces with no crusts, on a platter with egg salad sandwiches and cucumber and dill cream cheese sandwiches, and some tea.

You can also put these on baguettes or crackers for your vehicle of this watercress cheese goodness to your mouth.

Watercress Sandwiches

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