Three Nights

Tonight, I made fresh fettuccine with alfredo sauce (which is just butter and parm-regg).

I followed the recipe from THE BOOK, which is "the renowned specialty of the Roman restauranteur Alfredo, known as the 'king of fettuccine', who invented this dish during the 1930's in his restaurant in Via della Scrofa."

I also made Stracciatella soup (which is a favorite ours): Fresh spinach, chicken stock, romano cheese and eggs. Yum Yum.

Last night, dinner was Veal Bolognese (which has nothing to do with any kind of meat sauce, as most of us Americans would think). It is: breaded, sauteed veal cutlets, topped with prosciutto and shaved parm-regg, a bit of broth in the pan and covered until the cheese melts.

No, I didn't eat any of it, but Michael liked it. Jesse ate his for lunch today on a roll. (Cauliflower with garlic, oil and Steve's hot pepper on the side).

Tomorrow night is chicken sausage with broccoli rabe and risotto on the side.

xo and no cooking on Friday and Saturday!

HOMEMADE lasagna !!!

My lasagna is always "homemade". I boil the macaroni, make the meat sauce, etc....However, this time I actually MADE THE PASTA. I used flour and eggs and olive oil and salt and kneaded and kneaded and kneaded until I had REAL pasta dough!

I cut the ball in 4 pieces then ran each piece through the hand cranked pasta machine (that you can't wash with water..hmmm..just wipe off..still trying to get it clean enough for me). I started on the thickest setting, then gradually went thinner. Then I put the sheets of pasta in boiling water for 3 minutes and began layering my lasagna. Michael took a photo of the lasagna.

It was a new experience and very cool and I am not afraid to make pasta anymore :)

Last night was beef in wine. A rib eye roast marinated in an entire bottle of Chianti Classico (I nearly cried pouring the whole bottle over a piece of meat) with onion, carrot, celery and garlic. It sat overnight in the fridge, I browned it in my favorite pot (a Le Creuset that Denise gave me). Meanwhile, I boiled the wine sauce (with veggies removed) until it was halved, poured that over the meat, let it cook to 140 degrees (rare). I deglazed the sauce, added rosemary and potato starch (as THE BOOK told me to) but not too much. And Voila, rare rib eye roast beef with Chianti sauce. Not bad cooking expeditions this week.

Tomorrow, Michael and I will be in the Atlantic Beach traffic court (I got a ticket for No Standing when Michael was flying a kite on the beach a few weeks ago, and I WAS SITTING IN THE CAR). The guy didn't see me, said I should have had the radio on (as if it were my fault he couldn't see me sitting in the front seat with my face in the sun!) Anyhoo, that means no cooking Wednesday night, but Thursday is Pork Shepherd's style. We'll see how that goes.

Keep dry :)

First Time Polenta

There's a first time for everything and last night was my first time making polenta. Michael has mentioned his curiosity with polenta at various times over the years and eventually I get around to everything, so last night was Polenta Night.

The recipe came from THE BOOK, of course, and as usual I played with it based on my culinary Americanism (or vice versa), however, it was a success.

Lenny liked it too. The Wisners get to be guinea pigs when I cook, hopefully, that turns out well for them :)

To the polenta I added parm-regg and hot Italian sausage, then baked it. The recipe says to bake "until golden brown" no time is given, mind you. Took about 45 minutes.

Tonight is pizza (I am not cooking and I LOVE pizza). Tomorrow is My Moon in Williamsburg with Dina and Dmitry. Sunday is Valentine's Day and anyone who knows me will not be surprised to hear that Michael and I are going to my favorite store FAIRWAY (in Red Hook) to go food shopping :).

Before that, however, we are checking out EGG (http://www.pigandegg.com/) in Williamsburg for breakfast.

Details to follow.....

Have a lovely Friday!