We've already shared the appetizer recipes with you and several courses followed. We had ravioli, then spaghetti and meatballs and homemade Italian bread, then salad and dessert. It was not a meal for the faint of heart!
Ravioli
Mushroom Pasta Dough
We apologize in advance for the long-winded explanation. This is just what is on the website verbatim. Ignore if you've done this before!
1½ cups All purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup Semolina flour, sifted
1 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1 tsp Olive Oil
¼ cup of dried porcini mushrooms
Boil about a half a cup of water in a sauce pan and pour it over the dried porcini mushrooms. Cover and let them sit for about 30 minutes.
Drain the mushrooms (save the water if you're going to make a porcini sauce or to add water to the dough if it's too dry) and place them in a food processor. Blend until smooth with no large lumps.
Add the eggs and Olive Oil to the processor and pulse to blend but don't make it frothy.
Pour that mixture into the well you've formed in the pile of flour and mix with a fork until blended enough to get your hands in there. You're going to knead the dough to the right consistency. Usually about 10 minutes and then set in a bowl covered to sit for about an hour.
Filling - this one is out of Kristin's head:
garlic
onion
asparagus
sweet red pepper
fried in a bit of bacon grease
and a bit of red wine (reduced to mushy consistency)
add whipped 2% cottage cheese with a splash of buttermilk till it looks right...and yes, it definitely tasted right!
Spaghetti (thank goodness for KitchenAid mixers!)
Ingredients
2 cups semolina flour
2 cups all-purpose flour ( I prefer bread flour for higher gluten)
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold water
Directions
Combine the semolina flour, all purpose flour, and salt in a large bowl. Using a fork, mix these ingredients together, then using a sifter, sift into another bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs & beat well with a fork.
Add extra-virgin olive oil to the eggs and mix with a fork.
Add the cold water to the egg & olive oil mixture, and mix with a fork.
Pour the liquid ingredients into your mixer bowl and attach the flat beater.
Add half of the sifted flour mixture, turn to speed 2 and mix 20 seconds. Add the rest of the sifted flour mixture and mix an additional 20 seconds.
Exchange flat beater for the dough hook. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 2 to 3 minutes, until a dough ball is formed.
Page 2 of 3Perfect Homemade Pasta or Spaghetti for Kitchenaid Mixers (cont.)
Directions
Remove dough from bowl and hand-knead for 2 to 3 minutes. NOTE: Good pasta dough should be elastic and pliable, but FIRM (not soft like bread dough). It should not stick to your fingers or fall apart. To test for the correct consistency, pinch a small amount of dough together after kneading for 2 to 3 minutes -- if the dough stays together without sticking to your fingers or falling apart, it should work well. If too soft, add more flour by dusting the top of the dough and knead some more, continuing to dust the dough with flour until achieving the right consistency. If too dry, wet your hands and knead some more, continuing to wet your hands a little at a time & knead until the right consistency. (Achieving the right consistency isn't hard at all -- I got it just right the very first time I tried this recipe).
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour (this step is important).
Remove dough from refrigerator and let it rest for 15 minutes. Using your hands, roll dough into a log, about 12 inches long.
Cut log into 8 slices, then flatten each piece slightly. Spread slices out so they aren't touching and cover with plastic wrap.
Using the widest setting (1 on the Kitchenaid), turn mixer to speed 2 and taking one piece of the flattened dough, feed through rollers. Fold dough in half & roll again. Repeat 3 more times, lightly dusting the sheet of pasta in between each rolling if it feels the slightest bit sticky.
Move adjustment knob to setting 2 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once.
Move adjustment knob to setting 3 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once.
Continue to increase roller setting until desired dough thickness is reached: 3 for Thick "kluski" type egg noodles; 4 for standard egg noodles; 4 or 5 for lasagna noodles, fettuccine, spaghetti, and ravioli; 6 or 7 for tortellini, thin fettuccine, and linguine fini; 7 or 8 for VERY thin "angel-hair" type pasta/capellini or VERY fine linguine.
Separate sheets once desired thickness is achieved with a thin towel or piece of plastic wrap dusted with flour, so the dough doesn't dry out too much.
To cut the noodles, exchange the Pasta Roller Sheet attachment for the cutter attachment of choice, either the fettucine cutter for wider noodles or the spaghetti cutter for spaghetti or linguine. Run each sheet through the cutter. NOTE: Each sheet can be cut in half or thirds before putting through the cutter to prevent "too long" of strips. I prefer to use the longer sheets, rather than cutting them in half or thirds, as this reduces the time it takes to cut each sheet & hang to dry.
After cutting each sheet, hang to dry on a pasta rack. Dry for a minimum of 10 minutes. If you don't have a pasta rack, plastic hangers work great! IMPORTANT: Flour the pasta rack or the plastic hangers before placing pasta on them. ALSO, separate the strips of pasta as best you can, so they aren't touching. This way they won't dry sticking together. If you want to dry the pasta for later use, dry for several hours and then store in airtight plastic bags (i.e. Ziploc Freezer or Storage Bags).
When ready to cook, boil your water and add salt. For the 1.5 pounds of pasta, I use 2 teaspoons of salt. Oil in the water is not necessary.
Fresh pasta will cook faster than commercially bought pasta -- about 4 to 5 minutes in vigorously boiling water for el dente.
Meatballs
2 lbs lean ground beef (you can raise your own cow, just like K&V if you want to go the extra mile)
1/2 c. parmesan
1/2 c. italian breadcrumbs
2 eggs
some extra basil and oregano
splash of red wine
Mix all together and adjust seasoning as necessary. Brown in saucepan before adding to sauce.
Homemade Canned Pasta Sauce
Sorry, it's a trade secret. I made this sauce with Kris in September and she won't even tell me what the exact portions are in it!
Italian Bread
Good ol' Emeril and his Basic Italian Bread recipe from The Food Network. Bam!
Fennel, Watercress and Endive Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts
This is another recipe from Epicurious.com. What a wonderful website! It calls for reduced balsalmic vinegar in the recipe. We used the already reduced Sua Maesta vinegar that Rob bought me for Christmas. It's, simply, heavenly. Also, for some reason three grocery stores in Kingston didn't have watercress so I used arugula instead with no issues. It still cleansed the palate and tasted great!
Cannoli
Shells:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of butter, melted
3/4 cup Marsala wine
egg white
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying
Filling:
1 15oz container of Ricotta cheese (small adjustment, we used cottage cheese since the stores were closed!)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips
confectioners sugar for dusting
1. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. Add the melted butter and marsala wine. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until well mixed.
2. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
3. Roll out the dough until very thin. cut dough into 4-inch rounds, and roll again until very thin.
4. Roll each piece tightly around a cannoli tube. Seal with egg white.
5. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep 3.5 quart pot to 350 degrees.
6. Place the dough forms in the hot oil and fry until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Place on paper towels to drain. Cool and gently twist tube to remove shell from form.
7. In a large mixing bowl whip sugar, vanilla and ricotta together until smooth, then stir in the chocolate chips.
8. Spoon filling into a pastry bag with a large round tip. Pipe the ricotta cream into the pastry shells, dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately.
Sorry, no photo...we were well into the third movie by then!
In any case, the film and the food was superb. Thank you to Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Robert Duvall and to our wonderful gourmet club!
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