Whole wheat pasta

Thanks again to Matt and Alisha for the pasta maker. I made my first batch this week and it turned out pretty good. Though making pasta may seem simple and only require a handful of ingredients, it's the technique that take a bit of time.

3.5 cups of whole wheat flour
2 TSP water
4 eggs
Pinch of salt

That may seem simple enough but it's not. You add all those ingredients to the mixing bowl but then you have to add water or flour based on how the dough comes together. I probably spent a good 15 minutes just making sure the dough was correct, a process that hopefully won't take me as long next time.

And that's just the star, after getting the dough right you need to cut it into smaller pieces and starting feeding it though the machine, considering one batch of dough is cut into six or seven pieces that all need to be separately it though the pasta maker it's time consuming. I easily spent more than an hour from start to finish on this alone.

You need to run each piece through the maker multiple times, one the first setting along you probably need to run it through about five times. It's less after that as you get the pasta thinner, but still a process. Again, having done it once I'm hoping it won't take me as long next time. I was making fettuccine this time and had it on the five setting for thinness, which was a bit too thin, next time I'll stop on five.

After you get the pasta to the desired thinness you have to swap out attachments and put the pasta cutter on. This was easy enough, though I did have some clumping when I had it sitting in the bowl. I did toss it with a little bit of flour but maybe a bowl wasn't the right conveyance for fresh pasta, maybe a platter would be better? If anybody has any advice I would welcome it.

Overall, it turned out ok. I didn't help that I overcooked the pasta slightly. The directions said two minutes but I probably could have yanked it after 90 seconds. I'm looking forward to making some stuffed pastas and some spinich pasta for lasagna.

I served this with some marinara that I made awhile back.

Excuses

So it's been awhile since a post and it may be a bit longer. I have a few posts to write up but haven't had time. The last deadline for the day job was brutal. I then took off for DC for the better part of a week and was then off to Cancun for my honeymoon.

Now I'm back in the office today but may be leaving on Saturday for Paris, France for six days. I should hear from the boss in a little bit on what he's deciding to do.

So that means no posts for awhile and there's so much to do. The fall/winter are two of my favorite times of the year to cook and I just don't know when I'm going to have time. I also have new toys to play with. I was the lucky recipient of a pasta maker, which I am still hoping to take for a whirl at some point this week

There's also some ice cream recipes, the dinner at Alinea and I'm sure half a dozen other that I'm forgetting about.

Oops

So I missed week one of the cooking challenge, which I thought might happen. Rory and I headed up to Michigan yesterday to see my grandfather, hit a couple of wineries and hang out with the family. we also hit an apple orchard where they had freshly made apple cider doughnuts (picture above). They were still warm when you brought them.

The secret ingredients were apples, basil and olives. In all honesty it's probably best that I missed this one, Rory can't stand olives. I would have most likely done something with pork and apples, it's a natural pairing and I actually did something earlier in the week with those two. My side would have involved the olives and basil and apples. Maybe a couscous? Or make a pesto with the basil and include the olives?

I'll admit, I'm having trouble figuring out where the olives belong. Then again, I could have done a roast chicken with an apple, basil and olive stuffing, though that does seem kinda weak.

But my question is, do all three ingredients have to be center stage? I'll be curious to see what wins.

Meanwhile, my deadline is almost over and I have a backlog of posts to write. Should be doing them soon.

Cooking challenge

So the Red Eye and Stephanie Izard are having a contest where someone can win the change to cook with her at the next Wandering Goat dinner.

The challenge is to cook a meal for four people with three secret ingredient within 24 hour of the ingredients being posted. While I have plans each of the next three Sundays, I'm going to see what I can whip up. I wonder if the ingredients will be seasonable or just weird.

Here's hoping I don't forget about.

Craving

I'm craving a burger. A big, juicy burger.

I'm thinking grilled onions and mushrooms, some bacon and good cheddar cheese topped with a fried egg maybe on a pretzel roll. Is this healthy? Not at all but I still might make it for lunch.

Table 52

I don't typically write about restaurant meals here, but I know a lot of people are interested in the dinner Rory and I had at Table 52 and figured it was easier to do a blog post.

Table 52 is Art Smith's first restaurant. I'm a Smith fan and when he opened the restaurant a little more than a year ago (I think) I wanted to check it out. Time passed and when I found a bunch of Visa gift cards I thought it would be a nice treat to go for a nice dinner. I made the reservation back in July for this past Sunday. I wanted to do a Sunday because it's the only night they do fried chicken.

Rory and I show up at the Gold Coast restaurant and are greeted by a very friendly member of the staff. The hostess sat us immediately and a server brought us two deviled eggs for the amuse bouche followed by a large goat cheese biscuit for us to split. The deviled egg was awesome, had a nice salty bite but was also creamy. There was a crunchy garnish as well that added a nice bite. The biscuit was still warm, light and tasty, the goat cheese was not overpowering and added a nice flavor.

For the entrees I ordered the fried chicken that came with au gratin potatoes. Rory order the hog chop with potato waffle. We also spilt a side of the three cheese macaroni and ordered a bottle of pinot noir, can't remember what but it was quite nice.

One of the reasons I don't write about the restaurants I visit is that I don't think I can do the food justice with my words. Because all I can say about the entrees at Table 52 is phenomenal.

The fried chicken was tender and moist and perfectly seasoned. I wonder if they brine or marinate beforehand but I've never had friend chicken like this before. The coating was perfect, not too heavy and not too light. The potatoes were also awesome, creamy and perfectly cooked. There was something in them that gave it a bit of tang but I couldn't figure out what it was.

Rory's hog chop was a new preparation that they had just put on the menu that evening. The large chop was obviously brined and was full of flavor and had a nice pepper bite at the end. It came with a apple puree where the sweetness nicely worked with the savory side of the chip. The potato waffles were also very good. What they did here is take some sort of potato puree and then put it in a waffle maker, which was genius.

Rory and I have gone out for a few really good meals but I had never seen her this excited afterward. She kept saying that she wanted to email Art Smith and tell him how much she loved the meal and how everything got better with each bite.

The three cheese macaroni was also exceptional. It came in a big bowl that has been put in the wood burning stove and has cheese melted all down the side. It was a nice creamy bit that was full of flavor.

For dessert we spilt the 12-layer chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. It too was exceptional.

And then Rory promptly rolled me out of the restaurant because I was stuffed and couldn't move.

Table 52 isn't cheap, though we went all out, at around $200 with tip for both if us. It would have been a lot cheaper if we didn't get the wine, but you're still looking at a good chunk of change, but I would highly recommend it for a special occasion.

Mmmmm, pork

So the last two times I've been to Dominck's I've noticed pork is on sale, or at least some pork is on sale for 99 cents a pound.

Last Friday I bought what was probably six or seven pounds of country ribs for and yesterday I bough a 4.5 pound pork shoulder roast. Now I know this isn't tenderloin and these cuts require a little bit more work, but it's worth it.

I took half the country ribs and froze them and with the other half I seared them and then cooked them in a basic tomato sauce: onions, garlic, oregano, thyme, red wine etc. Let them cook in the sauce for a few hours and then serve with some steamed brown rice.

I'm going to use a spice rub on the pork shoulder and slow cook it in the oven, probably 275-300 degrees for a few hours.

For $10 I'm getting four good meals, yeah, the cooking takes longer, but there's no reason it can't be done.