I have one piece of kitchen equipment that I don't use often enough. This would be my pasta machine.
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There she is, in all her glory!! She was a birthday gift from Nonna the same year that Hubs proposed. It was a good day. |
As much as I scoff at
Giada De Laurentiis' macrocephalic bobblehead and overuse of cleavage as a way to increase male viewership, I have to admit that the woman has some good recipes. I received a copy of her book, "Everyday Pasta", as a gift some years ago, and have been meaning to try her
shortrib ragù recipe. I had Jess and Kyle over for "cat orientation" prior to my holiday visit to Windsor, and
used them as guinea pigs treated them to a scrumptious dinner as a thank you for looking after the fur babies.
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Mmm. Beef shortribs. In all honesty, this marks the first time I've cooked with them. Shameful, I know. |
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The ragù. I LOVE that the beef simmers in this for TWO HOURS before being removed, shredded, and returned to the pot. My kitchen smelled like a mamoni's fantasy world. The recipe can be found here. I also find it hilarious that this food writer (whom I've never met) also compares Giada to a dashboard ornament. Glad I'm not the only one!! |
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On to the pasta. Thanks to my wonderful aunt Lisa, I got Nonna's recipe: "2 1/2 cups of cake and pastry flour for 5 eggs or 4 eggs and 2 half eggshells full of water. Add more flour as needed, probably about another cup or so. 5 eggs should be good for 5 or 6 servings but those are big servings. I think it's about 1 1/2 pounds of pasta" |
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Rollin'. In the future, I think I'll make these one setting thicker. They were just a liiiittle too thin to stand up to chunky meaty sauce! |
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So pretty :) |
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Finished product, topped with shaved pecorino romano. Heavenly. |
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I also made parmesan popovers (they're in the blue bowl in the background), but I honestly didn't prefer them. Kyle seemed to like them, so I gave him the leftovers. |
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Get that fork in there!! Delish. |
Overall I was very pleased with the results (minus the popovers... I'm not even going to link you to the recipe). Hubs, again, was jealous that he missed a good meat dish... lucky for him, I had enough ragù left over to freeze for another night. It's just waiting for his arrival in this fair (and freezing!) city!
Thinking that an early April snowstorm might be a good excuse to serve up the leftovers,
-Honeybee
too freakin' funny. I totally agree on the bobblehead/cleavage comments. I do like her recipes though, and i'll take her over Paula or Sandra any day of the week :).
ReplyDeleteReally? Paula Deen? I sort of like her. Sure, I'll die of a massive coronary if I eat her recipes, but she seems like a warm Southern grandma that I'd like to hug.
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