Tag: pasta

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Mushroom Lasagna

mushroom lasagna

Just this week we needed to put together a main for a dinner involving a moderate number of people. Say, about 12-16. We wanted it to be really tasty, pretty easy to put together, and we wanted a hot dish that would travel well. Hmm. In the past, we’ve had good luck with Mushroom Lasagna, so we’d bring it out for this group and see if it would go over well.

Right up front, you should know this is not a lasagna based on a red sauce. Instead, it uses a white sauce infused with a bit of nutmeg, which complements the mushroom flavor without washing it out (too many tomato sauces overpower the taste of mushrooms), making it taste vaguely as if a Swedish and an Italian chef collaborated, one making the sauce, the other the mushrooms and pasta, and neither had any idea what the other was doing. But, don’t let that put you off; the combination works, and works well. It has become one of our favorites.

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Potato Gnocchi

gnocchi in pesto-cream

Before we quick whipped up a batch of gnocchi, we checked on the Internet for a few tips about gnocchi. While we’ve made it before, it never hurts to see if there are some good ideas out there.

And, we found ideas that seemed break down into three categories: 1) gnocchi is really difficult; so difficult that many people are afraid even to try making it, or that they tried and it was a disaster so they won’t try again; 2) to make gnocchi, you need one of the following: grater, grinder, ricer, dicer, shredder, masher, or some other specialized device to mash the potatoes correctly; and, 3) some ritual involving the cooking method of the potatoes: baked, boiled, boiled in salted water, boiled after being halved, hopping on one foot while the potatoes cool, etc.

We’re going to address all three of these in our gnocchi. To resolve the fear of disaster, we suggest that you put on steel-toed boots, ear protection, and safety goggles. Just kidding! Remember they are nothing but small potato dumplings and try again; we’ll attempt to give you a few tips as we work through this recipe. Specialized equipment? Bah. People have been making gnocchi for hundreds of years. In all kinds of conditions and kitchens. In fact, go rent La Strada and watch the background and let us know if you think there were many ricers available when that movie was filmed. And, to show you that you can make great gnocchi without anything special, we are going to make gnocchi with a knife, fork, and bowl. Actually, the bowl is optional; you could just use your counter. And as far as cooking goes, we’ll just microwave the potatoes. Sure, Italian grandmothers wouldn’t have a microwave, but the cooking method isn’t important. Continue reading “Potato Gnocchi”

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Basic Pasta Dough

Cutting the pasta

Does home-made pasta seem difficult? We thought so too, but once we tried it we found out that, not only is it really easy, but it makes your pasta-based dinners even better. Now we make fresh pasta about once a week.

UPDATE (5/21/2017): We’ve learned a lot about making pasta over the years, including the exact ratio of flour to liquid: 5 parts flour (by weight) to 3 parts liquid (also by weight), plus a pinch of salt. So to make 8 ounces of perfect pasta dough you need 5 ounces flour (pretty much any kind) and 3 ounces of liquid (pretty much any kind). Now you might find some people who claim the ratio is 3 parts flour to 2 parts liquid. This ratio will result in a dough that is too soft and a bit sticky. Do not be fooled, we make pasta dough weekly and have tried many ratios before settling on the 5 to 3 ratio.

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