Farmer's Market Pasta

Do you ever hit a road block when you're trying to figure out what to make for dinner?  It happens to me on weeknights here and there, but it hardly ever happens when I know in advance that people are coming over.  In fact, I get really excited about the prospect of cooking for others and have so many recipes I want to make that I have to reign it in.  Yesterday, however, was totally different.  I must have flipped through 15 or so cookbooks, spent a good hour on Foodgawker, yet nothing grabbed me.  We finally decided to hit the Pasadena Farmer's Market and hoped inspiration would hit while we checked out the produce.

Pig's Head Bolognese

 

I’ve written about my addiction to cookbooks before, and I’m not lying- if I spy a beautiful, hard-covered cookbook filled with glossy photos of beautiful food, it’s virtually impossible to turn away without buying it.  Ditto if I see one online, especially if it’s won a James Beard Award or is highly recommended by a chef or food personality I admire.  So you can imagine how quickly I grabbed Il Viaggio Di Vetri: A Culinary Journey as it sat alone on the top shelf of the cookbooks section at Borders.  After all, it was written by Marc Vetri of Philadelphia's Vetri Ristorante, which Mario Batali called, “possibly one of the best Italian restaurants on the East Coast.”  Suzanne Goin once said “I do pretty much whatever Marc [Vetri] tells me to do.”  Yup, count me in.

I’ve never been fortunate enough to dine at one of Marc Vetri’s restaurants, but had heard he makes some of the best pasta in the United States.  After inviting my parents over for a family dinner, I started flipping through the pages, looking to see which fresh pasta I would try and recreate from Vetri’s many recipes.  However, one recipe in particular caught J’s eye, Pig’s Head Bolognese, and although it was one of the few pasta dishes in the book that called for dry, semolina pasta, I couldn’t deny the power of the pig and chose it being my journey into cooking a la Vetri.

Garganelli con ragù d'Anatra (garganelli with duck ragu)

As you can see, I finally got my camera battery and I am back in business!

This meal was awhile ago- it was to celebrate my mom’s birthday which was on Valentine’s Day. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but I’d always loved the ridges in garganelli pasta and wanted to try making it myself. I’ve made homemade pasta in the past, but never a tube-shaped pasta, and certainly not anything with ridges. After a quick email for advice to my friend (who is also the Executive Chef at Osteria Mozza and is patient enough to answer my nagging cooking questions!) I found that I could make the ridges by rolling squares of egg pasta around a quill on a gnocchi board. It was time consuming but relatively easy, and I found the whole process very relaxing.





I measured out pasta squares using a Post-it!

My quill was actually a pen, but don't worry, I washed it first!





Anyway, here’s the photographic evidence of the meal from start to finish:

Cave-aged Gruyère served with pear mostarda, an Italian condiment made from candied pear and mustard powder or essence. The sweet/hot jam is usually served with boiled or roasted meats but is good with salty cheese as well.

Frisée salad with navel oranges, toasted hazelnuts and Dijon-citrus vinaigrette. I love the combination of red onions with sweet oranges and spicy Dijon mustard.

Garganelli con ragù d'Anatra (garganelli with duck ragu). The tubes fell a little bit so next time I’ll let the pasta dry longer before freezing and boiling. I froze each batch after I made it so I could pile them in Ziploc bags without risking squishing them flat, and it worked. Overall, it was absolutely delicious and perfect with a generous grating of parmesan.

For dessert I made a simple toasted hazelnut cake that was moist and tender.

I got a chance to break out these little coffee cups that J and I purchased in Italy years ago…


Aren’t they cute?


Speaking of cute, here is Cory, caught in the act of licking the curtains, an odd habit. It’s something she has done since she was a kitten- she seems to like the roughness of the gauzy curtain on her tongue.

She grabs the curtain with one paw, holds it to her mouth:



Then licks it:


When I wear a sheer, gauzy shirt she’ll lick the sleeve too. Strange, but perfectly harmless, at least to her...it probably isn't so great for the curtains and clothes!



More coming soon! Thanks for your patience:).

A Good Place To Eat

My favorite kind of restaurant is one that is cozy and makes you feel at home.

Ones with soft, pretty lighting…………….

Ones that put a nice, crusty baguette on the table to start your meal……………….



A good salad is key in a good restaurant as well, you know, since every meal should have some green……………….



And if they let you get a peek into the kitchen to see the magic happen, it’s even better…………………



Family-style always makes me feel at home in any restaurant, and piles of Fusilli in Spare Rib Sauce never hurt anyone. The beautiful Italian platter it was served in was the icing on the cake.....



Oh and speaking of cake, what meal would be complete without a sweet treat at the end? And if the sweet treat is an airy and impossibly light cheesecake, well then you really couldn’t ask for anything more, could you?





Let’s take another look at the fluffy cheesecake, made light by folding beaten egg whites into the mixture, the chef told me.....



And once the meal is done, a good restaurant lets you sit and enjoy the moment for a bit longer, no? I mean, no one wants to be rushed………..


Which is why, more times than not, the best meals are enjoyed at home……..or, in this case, my parents’ home! When the chef is your father, and you're with family in a beautiful home with lots of good food and wine, why would you want to go anyplace else?



Thanks Mom and Papa!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Sometimes, a photo can just jump out, grab you by the stomach and make your taste buds go bonkers. As a food blogger who reads TONS of food blogs, I’m constantly exposing myself to these types of photos. It’s a dangerous thing, but like any drug, the more I’m exposed to it the more I want. Gorgeous food photos are as addictive as crack- not that I know firsthand how addictive crack is…..but I watch Intervention so I have a good idea….! (Ok, that was meant to be a joke). Foodgawker exists for a reason- people love to see photos of delcious food.

Well, looky here at a perfect example of food porn/crack photo:



The minute I saw the gorgeous cover of January’s Gourmet Magazine, all plans to make gnocchi for supper went out the window and I knew I had to have spaghetti and meatballs. I mean, would you just LOOK at this?? How can anyone resist, especially with the chill outside (the Los Angeles chill, which I know you’re all laughing at but 45 F is bone chilling to us wimps)? I grabbed two containers of homemade marinara out of the freezer and dashed off to the store to buy everything I needed.

I did tweak the recipe a bit- instead of using veal, pork and beef I just used beef and turkey. Otherwise I was pretty faithful, cutting the recipe in half because the original recipe makes enough to feed a small army. It’s a classic recipe, and although I’d made similar versions in the past I had never added lemon zest to any meatball until this one.

I formed the meat into ¼ cup balls………



Browned them in a hot pan……………



Then drained the fat and poured my marinara into the same pan, loading it up with the browned meatballs and letting them simmer for 20 minutes………



OY, how good did the house smell?!?!?! SO GOOD!

I boiled up some whole wheat spaghetti and tossed it with some of the marinara that had been stewing with the meatballs, then topped the pile of pasta with a few of them and finished it all off with a grating of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano and basil.



It was everything I’d hoped for and more. The meatballs were tender, juicy and flavorful, and the lemon zest really added something special. Eaten with some crusty bread, a salad and a glass of red, it was the perfect supper on a cold evening.



Happy Holidays everyone!

Dinner At Home With Friends........

Don’t get too excited by the excellent quality of these photos- they were not taken by me nor do they signal the beginning of any Gorgeous Photography Era of Tuna Toast. I wish I had an eye for beauty and composition but unfortunately I did not inherit my father’s sense for photography. These were all taken by my good friend and honorary little bro, Dylan, of the blog Eat, Drink & Be Merry and his beautiful lady, Jeni, of Oishii Eats.

Cory, creeping downstairs to join the party


We’d been wanting to get together with Dylan and Jeni for awhile and finally got the chance to last week when they came over to our house for dinner. I made oxtail ravioli while Dylan snapped away at my cat, Cory and our house. I wish I could shoot half as well as he and Jeni, and hope one day to learn how to see the world as they seem to see it. It's amazing how lovely everything looks in well-composed photographs, isn't it? We had lots of food, wine and great conversation and I think even the usually prissy Cory had a grand ol’ time.

Here’s the night as told by the amazing photography of Dylan and Jeni- enjoy!

Me, cooking away in the kitchen. Yes, I do realize that the bar needs to be cleared off so we can actually use it as a bar!

The food:

A little Prosciutto di Parma to nibble on...

My favorite pate from Nicole's Gourmet Imports in South Pasadena

The ravioli ready for their hot water bath...

J sprinkles a classic gremolata (parsley, lemon zest and minced garlic) onto his ravioli

Oxtail ravioli served up.

A simple green salad always rounds out a meal at our house

The people:

Cory, sitting next to J's beloved upright bass which he hasn't named yet

Dylan and Jeni, in the one slightly unfocused and fuzzy photo because, you guessed it, I took it!

J and I, sitting in our backyard

After awhile we noticed that Cory wasn't anywhere downstairs, so I took Dylan and Jeni up to our bedroom to show them Cory's hideout....



...under the covers of our bed!



It was a wonderful night with good food, friends and now these lovely photographs - thanks Dylan and Jeni!