Pasta and Bread

I am very happy that it is Friday night. What a week.

I am typing this as I am wearing a knee brace. It might be a sprain or it might be a torn muscle. Stay tuned...

This dinner was all about comfort food. My favorite homemade pasta recipe, thankfully already made and in the freezer. The zucchini was thinly sliced and sauteed in olive oil and butter. I saved a cup of the pasta water and put the cooked pasta in the pan with the zucchini. Added more butter and parmesan cheese. Slowly stirring the pasta to mix and adding the pasta water as needed. It is basically the Fettucini Alfredo recipe I make with sauteed zucchini added.

The bread was a gift from Mary Capazzo. Her husband is Mario of Mario's BEST Breads.  This was perfect for dinner. The crust was crunchy and the bread was absolutely delicious.

Comfort Food - Fettuccine Alfredo

Homemade Fettuccine. There is something about having that for dinner makes me feel warm and fuzzy. It is true comfort food for me.

The recipe I use for the pasta is from Tide and Thyme. I made a batch on Sunday and was able to freeze enough for 2 nights dinner.

The Fettuccini Alfredo recipe is from an Epicurious.com post from 2003. It was the "true" Italian recipe. NO CREAM! Just butter, cheese, and pasta water.

Ingredients-

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Dried egg fettuccine

1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup) 

Method-

Melt butter in a large saute pan.

Cook fettuccine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.

Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, then drain fettuccine in a colander.

Immediately toss the fettuccine with butter and salt in the sauté pan, then slowly add 3/4 cup cheese, tossing constantly and adding enough of the cooking water to keep pasta moist.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Spinach and Egg Fettuccine Alfredo

The pasta recipe I use is from Tide and Thyme. This recipe never fails me. Today I split the recipe in 1/2 and made 1/2 egg pasta and the other half spinach pasta. For the spinach pasta, I just microwaved 1/2 of a package of frozen chopped spinach. I squeezed out all of the water that I possibly could. I mixed the spinach in with the flour before adding the egg, olive oil, and water. Next time I might not add all the water to the spinach dough. I probably could have gotten a little more of the water out of the microwaved spinach.

The Alfredo sauce is from Epicurious.

Ingredients-
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
Dried egg fettuccine
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)

Method-Melt butter in a large saute pan.
Cook fettuccine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, then drain fettuccine in a colander.
Immediately toss the fettuccine with butter and salt in the sauté pan, then slowly add 3/4 cup cheese, tossing constantly and adding enough of cooking water to keep pasta moist.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Dinner was delicious and light. The bread was an olive and rosemary bread I made last weekend. I took it out of the freezer earlier today and heated it up for dinner.

Fettuccine Alfredo

There is delicious food and then there is homemade pasta. It is the best thing ever. Nothing compares to it. Mixing the dough by hand, making the well in the center of the flour to mix in the eggs, and the kneading the dough. Letting the dough rest. Than rolling out and cutting the dough. I do not know of any better way to say, "I love you."

The pasta recipe I use is from Tide and Thyme. It yields about 1 pound fresh pasta. I made half of the pasta for dinner tonight and the other half is in the freezer!

Ingredients-

1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surfaces
1½ cups semolina flour
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon water, plus more as needed

Method-

Combine the flours and salt in a bowl or on a work surface, creating a well in the center.  Crack the eggs into the well.  Using a mixer or by hand, slowly mix, incorporating the flour into the egg mixture a little bit at a time.  Once you have a dry, shaggy dough, mix in the olive oil and water and knead by hand until the dough is fairly smooth and homogeneous.  Divide the dough into four portions and cover with a damp towel.  Let rest for 20 minutes.  At this point, proceed with thinning and cutting as desired, depending on equipment available.

To cook, cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water for 3-5 minutes or until al dente.  Drain well and serve immediately.

I wanted to make something easy for dinner. This recipe is our favorite and only recipe we use for Fettuccine Alfredo. I was going to try a different recipe but it called for heavy cream. I stuck to our old favorite and I am so glad I did.

My rendition of Fettuccine Alfredo, from Epicurious.

Ingredients-
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
Dried egg fettuccine
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)

Method-
Melt butter in a large saute pan.
Cook fettuccine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, then drain fettuccine in a colander.
Immediately toss the fettuccine with butter and salt in the saute pan, then slowly add 3/4 cup cheese, tossing constantly and adding enough of cooking water to keep pasta moist.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.


Today I received an email from my sister letting me know that our Mom's Cousin Elsie had passed away. She was 93 years old. I cried when I read the email. She was my Mom's favorite cousin, or at least I am pretty sure she was. The two of them would get together and just laugh. They were so silly together.  It is nice to think the two of them are giggling up in heaven.

My sister told me a story about Elsie's parents. Elsie's mom, my Great Aunt Josie, took a trip to Florida, by train, with my grand parents. When the train got to New York the four of them got out and went to eat at Mamma Leone's restaurant in Manhattan's Theater District. It was THE place to eat Italian food in NYC. We are talking about the early 1960's. Well my great Aunt Josie did not like her dinner. So she took out an Eggplant Parmigiana sandwich that she had packed in her pocketbook. So today's lesson is you never know when you just may need to have an Eggplant Parmigiana sandwich in your purse.

Fettuccine Alfredo

I wanted something simple tonight. I had homemade Fettuccine in the freezer. I used the Alfredo sauce recipe from Epicurouis. It is amazing how light this dinner is. You think of Fettuccine Alfredo and you think of a lot of cream and cheese. Well, there is no cream in this recipe. This is the traditional Roman recipe and they don't use cream.

My rendition of Fettuccine Alfredo, from Epicurious.

Ingredients-
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
Dried egg fettuccine
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)

Method-
Melt butter in a large saute pan.
Cook fettuccine in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water, then drain fettuccine in a colander.
Immediately toss the fettuccine with butter and salt in the sauté pan, then slowly add 3/4 cup cheese, tossing constantly and adding enough of cooking water to keep pasta moist.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day.

Fettucine With My Favorite Things

Dinner started out being just Fettucine Alfredo. Then I went to the store and saw Broccolini and decided to add veggies to the mix. Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Red Bell Pepper and the Broccolini were sauteed along with some diced Pancetta (I did say my favorite things). I used the recipe for Fettucine Alfredo from La Cucina for the sauce. I added a little of the pasta water at the end. It was a nice looking dish and quite good.