Resolution Recap 2012 Sides: Potatoes Part 1

I made 10 new side dish recipes in 2012 and all but two rated highly yum**. The two that didn’t rate that high were still *pretty good. Six of the recipes were based on potatoes. That must relate to my remote Irish heritage but also has a lot to do with the fact that I have two cookbooks specific to potato recipes. The first three potato recipes fall into the “eat as separate” potatoes versus mashed up or layered dishes.

 

Parmesan Roasted Potatoes* came from Potatoes (Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library) by Diane Rossen Worthington. This recipe gives you fairly crispy potatoes without having to fry them.  

 

(Serves: 4)

 

• 3 lb baking potatoes, unpeeled and well-scrubbed
• Salt to taste plus 1 tsp
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
• ½ cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

 

Preheat an oven to 405 F. Oil a roasting pan with olive oil. Cut each potato into 1½ inch cubes. Fill a large pot three-fourths full with water and bring to boil over high heat. Add salt to taste and the potatoes and boil for 5 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with a kitchen towel. In a large bowl stir together the olive oil, the 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Add the potato cubes and toss to coat evenly. Spread potatoes in the prepared pan. Roast, turning every few minutes to prevent sticking, until tender and golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Transfer to serving dish. Add parmesan cheese and parsley and toss to coat evening. Serve immediately.

 

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Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes** came from the Culinary Arts website.  We first had this dish as a side for roasted turkey and used both thyme and sage to give it a thanksgiving flavor. 

 

(Prep Time: 5 min, Cook Time: 25 min, Serves: 4)

 

• 1 pound fingerling potatoes
• 1 bundle fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme or sage
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt, to taste

 

Preheat oven to 425°F . Pluck the little leaves off of the stems of your fresh herbs until you have about a tablespoon of them. If you're using rosemary, make sure the leaves don't have any of the woody stem attached. If you're using sage, give the leaves a quick chop so that they're not too big. Wash and pat dry the potatoes and place them in a mixing bowl. Drizzle them with the olive oil, then toss them so they're fully coated with the oil. Sprinkle generously with the Kosher salt and toss again to distribute the salt evenly. Don't be afraid of using too much salt — potatoes and salt are made for each other. Think French fries! Finally, add the fresh herbs and toss once again. The fingerlings should now be fully coated with the oil-salt-herb mixture. Transfer the potatoes to a roasting pan and roast until a knife slides easily into one of the largest potatoes — 20 to 25 minutes — flipping them every 10 minutes or so to ensure the tops don't burn. Garnish with a sprig of your fresh herb and serve.

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Spicy Sweet Potato Fries** came from Food Network Magazine.  I love the smell of these cooking and they have just the right combination of sweet and heat.

 

(Prep Time: 10 min, Cook Time: 30 min, Serves: 4)

 

Toss 2 pounds sweet potatoes (cut into wedges) with 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons each brown sugar and salt, 1/4 teaspoon each cumin and chili powder, and a pinch of cayenne. Roast cut-side down on a baking sheet in a 425 oven until crisp, 30 minutes, turning once.

 

Homemade Pasta

I have only ever tried one homemade fresh pasta recipe and found it to be easy, consistent, and tasty so I have never bothered to experiment with other recipes (from Pasta: Italian, Asian, American...and More : Food and Wine Books - editor Judith Hill).  However, I have modified the recipe to make use of my KitchenAid mixer instead of kneading it all by hand or using a food processor (the two options in the book).  The first half dozen or so times I made the recipe I did do the full by hand kneading method and while a decent workout it really is not that hard.  But since I like to make large batches of pasta at a time for freezing I find that using the KitchenAid greatly speeds things up and allows me to focus more on pasta shapes versus kneading dough. 

I have made both the 2 egg and 3 egg versions with success.  I have used store bought large eggs in this recipe as well as farm fresh extra-large eggs.  I always use Pillsbury all-purpose flour (bleached not unbleached just because it is what I keep in  my pantry) and have never experimented with anything else.  Only one time have I had an issue with the egg to flour ratio being off and I think it was because I ended up with eggs that were closer in size to medium eggs not large.  I simply added in a another egg and then more flour until I reached the correct texture.

2 Egg Recipe (approximately the equivalent of 1/2 lb of dry pasta)

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 extra-large eggs

3 Egg Recipe (approximately the equivalent of 3/4 lb of dry pasta)

• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 extra-large eggs

Using KitchenAid to make dough
Using mixing paddle, speed 2 on KitchenAid, mix the egg and flour together for 30 seconds (just long enough to moisten all the flour with the egg).  Switch to the dough hook and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes.  Knead the dough by hand on lightly floured surface for another 2 minutes.  Unlike biscuit making you really want to work this dough, kneading fully and firmly until the dough is nice and smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic for 20 minutes.  (Technically if you are rolling by machine you can proceed without letting the dough rest but I find it is worth letting it rest even when you roll by machine).

I use the pasta roller attachment for the KitchenAid and usually roll out to setting 5 following the instructions for this accessory (involves repeated folding of small sections of dough and rolling at setting 1 several times before rolling out to desired thinness).  If you are using an attachment to cut the pasta you can proceed directly to that step but if you are hand cutting the pasta it is best to let the pasta sheets dry for 10-15 minutes before cutting.  You can cook immediately or let rest in the fridge for an hour or so or freeze for one month.  If storing even for a short period of time be sure to dust the fresh cut pasta with flour to keep it from all sticking together.  How thin you roll the dough and what size you cut the pasta will determine cooking time.  For lasagna sheets rolled fairly thin I boil for 4 minutes, for angel hair I boil 2 to 3 minutes.

Making dough by hand
If you are making the dough by hand dump your flour on the counter top and make a well in the center.  Crack the eggs inside the well and using a fork (or fingers) gradually begin to pull the flour into the eggs.  Once it starts to pull together as dough, begin kneading by hand and knead for 10 minutes until you form a smooth, elastic dough.  Add in more flour if sticky or either more egg or a little water if dough is too dry.  If rolling by hand then wrap the dough in plastic for 30 minutes.  Otherwise I would still wrap the dough for at least 20 minutes and then proceed with machine rolling.

From Google Image Files

I have rolled it out by hand and that is by far the hardest part if you chose to do it all by hand. There is a very specific technique for rolling, turning, and stretching the dough out that is awkward at first but can be done.  I highly recommend having a cookbook with photos or watching a video on how to do this.  You will need a long skinny rolling pin; a regular rolling pin is not sufficient.  Work with small amounts of dough, keeping the portion you are not working wrapped in plastic.

Again, I recommend watching a video or consulting with a book that has photos in it.  To give you a general idea of the steps I will describe them briefly here. Roll dough with back and forth motion several times and then rotate a quarter turn, repeat process until dough is 1/4 inch thick.  Wrap top quarter of dough over rolling pin, holding securely against the pin and with other hand hold bottom of dough (on counter top) as you stretch the dough away from you (from the section wrapped on rolling pin). 

From Google Image Files

Rotate dough a quarter turn and repeat stretching process a total of 8 times.  Roll the dough out again starting from the middle of the dough rolling outward, rotating several times.  Repeat stretching process again this time with 1/3 of the dough wrapped around the rolling pin and placing both hands on the pin so that your palms are on top of dough and thumbs are touching.  With palms, press down as you slide your hands away from each other stretching the dough out along the rolling pin.  The cookbook describes this as more of a jiggling than stretching motion. Repeat and at same time as you stretch or slide the dough outwards, also roll the pin towards you bit by bit.   Keep sliding and rolling the dough until completely wrapped around the rolling pin.  Unroll, turn dough a quarter turn and repeat.  Continue this process until dough is 1/16 inch thick.  You want the dough to almost be translucent when you are done.

From Google Image Files

Resolution Recap 2012: Pasta Series 3

The final three recipes I tried in 2012 were all yum (**).  Two of the recipes came from one of my favorite cookbooks Pasta: Italian, Asian, American...and More : Food & Wine Books (editor Judith Hill).  I have made at least 10 recipes from this book and all have been wonderful.  And when I make fresh pasta I always use the recipe from this book.

The first recipe from the cookbook is Ziti with Sausage, Peppers, and Ricotta**.  The red peppers slowly cook down making a wonderful base for a pasta sauce and the ricotta gives it a nice creamy texture. I have done this recipe with ground Italian sausage as well as removing the meat from Italian sausage links.  And I substitute Italian seasoning, or just basil and oregano, instead of marjoram.  Recipe is taken directly from the cookbook:

• 3/4 pound mild or hot Italian sausage
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into thin slices
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 3/4 cups canned tomatoes with their juice (14 1/2 oz. can), chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound ziti
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

 

Remove the sausage meat from its casing. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Cook the sausage, breaking it up, until brown, about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and discard all but 1 tablespoon fat. Reduce the heat to moderately low. Add the bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are soft, about 15 minutes. Add the sausage, tomatoes, marjoram, salt and pepper. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, over moderately high heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the ziti until just done, about 13 minutes. Drain. Toss with the tomato mixture, ricotta and parsley.

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The second recipe from the cookbook is Penne with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes and Sausage** and is very similar to the recipe above but different enough to also try.  The main difference between the recipes is that in this recipe you are roasting the peppers instead of sauteing them down and there is no dairy. 

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound mild or hot Italian sausage, cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch slices
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 1/2 cups canned tomatoes (28-ounce can), drained and chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound penne
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Roast the peppers over an open flame, or broil 4 inches from the heat, turning with tongs as each side blisters and blackens, about 10 minutes in all. When cool enough to handle, pull off the skin. Remove the stems, seeds, and ribs. Cut the peppers into 1/2-inch dice. Reserve any liquid from the peppers. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and salt. Cook over moderately high heat for about 15 minutes. Stir in the roasted peppers with any juice. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the penne until just done, about 13 minutes. Drain. Return the pasta to the hot pot. Add the sausage mixture with the black pepper and toss. Serve with parmesan.
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The final pasta recipe from 2012 came from Martha Stewart magazine Spinach Mac and Cheese**. This recipe more than meets my requirements for mac and cheese: creamy and good flavor and as a bonus it has additional flavor and pleasing texture through the addition of spinach. 

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup minced yellow onion
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk, room temperature
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 bunches curly- or flat-leaf spinach (about 1 3/4 pounds total), trimmed, washed, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick strips
• 5 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (2 cups)
• 3/4 pound elbow macaroni, cooked according to package instruction

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add onion and cook until translucent, 6 minutes. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden and has a slightly nutty aroma, about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, add 2 cups milk. Add remaining 2 cups milk, raise heat to medium-high, and whisk until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Cook, whisking constantly, until sauce comes to a boil, 8 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, 13 to 15 minutes. Add spinach and cook, stirring constantly, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted, about 2 minutes. Add cooked macaroni and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Resolution Recap 2012: Pasta Series 2

Next in the pasta series are the two recipes from 2012 that rated pretty good (*) and my first attempt to make pesto.

Four Cheese Pasta with Peas and Ham* from Food Network magazine has a wonderful taste but was a tad grainy in texture.  By creating the custard for this type of recipe you end up with a very rich sauce.  I think next time I make this I will keep the flavor profile but start with a basic white sauce using butter, flour, and milk instead of the egg and evaporated milk approach.

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces penne
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 large eggs, plus 1 egg white
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (1 scant cup)
• 3 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
• 3 ounces fontina cheese, grated (1 scant cup)
• 3 ounces deli ham, in 1 piece, diced
• 1 ounce parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until very al dente, about 8 minutes, adding the peas in the last 2 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, egg white, evaporated milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Drain the pasta and peas; wipe the pot dry and return the pasta and peas to the pot. Add the butter and stir to coat. Add the cheddar, mozzarella, fontina and the egg mixture. Place the pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, 8 to 10 minutes, adding the ham halfway through cooking (don't let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble). Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the parmesan.

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Three Cheese Macaroni* came from Martha Stewart magazine.  This recipe uses the concept I mention above of creating a basic white sauce in which to make the cheese sauce.  The flavors were good but I have had better and am still searching for just the right combination of cheeses.

• Coarse salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups whole milk, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• 8 ounces white cheddar, shredded (3 cups)
• 4 ounces Monterey Jack, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 ounce Parmesan, grated (1/4 cup)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook macaroni according to package instructions. Drain. In pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden and has a nutty aroma, about 4 minutes. Whisking constantly, slowly add milk. Cook, whisking along bottom of pot, until boiling, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat and gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon butter, mustard, Old Bay, and cheeses. Stir until cheeses are melted and sauce is smooth; season with salt. Add macaroni to sauce and stir to combine.

 

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The Pesto recipe I tried came from the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan and is specifically the version of the recipe using a food processor.  Want to read a lot of blogs? Just run a Google search on this book and "pesto by food processor" and you can read lots of blog reviews of the recipe.  This is a definite YUM (**) recipe and was very easy to make but it does differ from other pesto recipes by including butter.  The hardest part was actually finding the pine nuts in my grocery store (found in the fruit and vegetable section of the store where they have fresh nuts).  I was able to use basil from my own herb garden and I did make this ahead and freeze it according to the recipe tips.  I served the pesto over homemade gnocchi - adventures in making I will share in a future post.  Below is the recipe and comments taken directly from the cookbook.
 

• 2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine before putting into the processor
• salt

Soak and wash the basil in cold water, gently pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Put basil, olive oil, pine nuts, chopped garlic and an ample pinch of salt in the processor bowl and process to a uniform creamy consistency. If freezing stop here, proceed with rest of recipe after thawing.

• 1/2 cup freshly graded parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 1/2 lbs pasta

Transfer the contents from the food processor to a bowl and mix in the two grated cheese by hand.  It is worth the slight effort to do it by hand to obtain the notably superior texture it produces.  When the cheese has been evenly amalgamated with the other ingredients mix in the softened butter distributing it uniformly into the sauce.  When spooning pesto over pasta dilute it slightly with a tablespoon or two of pasta water. 

 

Resolution Recap 2012: Pasta Series 1

I love pasta. And it is apparent considering that I try more pasta recipes than any other type of food.  Pasta is such a big deal to me that more than once I have been asked if I am of Italian decent (I am not).  I tried 10 new pasta recipes in 2012, four of which were just OK, two were pretty good (*) and the rest were YUM (**).

I'll just briefly mention the OK recipes in this post and as always provide the link to the recipe for those that might find these recipes to be more appealing to their tastes than they were to mine.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage, Leeks, and Fontina came from Cooking Light magazine.  I did not use whole wheat pasta but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.  This was my first time using Savoy Cabbage which I actually really liked (I used a good portion of that head of cabbage in my jalapeno cole slaw recipe and it was a huge hit). What I disliked about this pasta recipe is that I had problems getting the cheese to incorporate into the dish so the textures were a bit off for me.  Brad really liked it but I didn't think it was tasty enough to justify the work involved.

Broken Lasagna with Zucchini Tomato Sauce came from Food Network magazine.  I thought this would be a great way to use zucchini when all the gardeners start passing along large quantities of this prolific veggie.  And I also thought it would be a great way to use up leftover lasagna pasta, especially those broken pieces in every box.  My main issue with this recipe is that I simply do not care for sauce recipes that leave cherry tomatoes basically whole in the final dish.  But I actually kept this recipe in my files to try again.  I think the flavors make it worth trying to tweak the sauce and I probably will repeat with diced tomatoes.

Chicken Spinach Pasta Casserole was another just okay recipe and in fact I cannot even recall where I got the recipe or enough details to be able to search for it online.

The final okay recipe for me Macaroni Au Gratin came from the book Chefs of the Triangle: Their Lives, Recipes and Restaurants by Ann Prospero. This is a really neat book about the local chefs in this area and most of the segments in the book provide some recipes from the chefs. I attempted to make Ashley Christensen's recipe from Poole's Diner having never actually eaten at this restaurant but having enjoyed her food at two other of her restaurants.  To be clear, this is not the recipe for the fantastic custard version of mac and cheese she serves at Beasley's (oh to have that recipe!).  The flavors of this dish were very good but it has that somewhat grainy texture that old fashioned mac and cheese recipes have.  Many people love this type of dish but I prefer creamier versions and in particular am not a fan of crunchy textures such as toasted breadcrumbs or broiled cheese on top of my mac and cheese.