Pasta From Scratch, No Problemo!

When a good friend recently offered to have myself and my BFF, Jeanne, over for a lesson in pasta making from scratch I was all too eagerly asking what time and what I could bring. I've always wanted to have a go at making my own as I've heard many tales of success and woe over the years from various people who have dared walk the pasta from scratch plank before. When we arrived she had all of the ingredients ready to go along with our pasta rollers and recipes for us to take with us. We were going to be making traditional pasta as well as cavatelli. I took pictures as we went and the recipes are below. Naturally, sip a bottle of wine of your choice, the obvious being a good Italian red-- my recommended three would be a Chianti, Montepulciano, or Valpolicella, as you go for the complete experience.

 

The great surprise here? I actually found this easy to do...which may be the case for folks across the globe but I was going in prepared for challenge and I have to say the outcome was more like Tricia: 1, Pasta: 0. The hardest and most tedious part for me was rolling the cavatelli. Apparently there's a machine out there that does the shaping for you and I must say I will be putting that on my 'things to buy' list shortly.

Let's start with the pasta. The ingredients here are simple, 2 cups of flour, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/8 cup of oil (olive or vegetable is fine) will get you a pound of pasta. Start with a large clean work surface and make the flour and salt into a mound with a well in the middle. In that well you're going to pour in your oil (just a little) and crack your eggs into it. Grab a fork and start mixing the eggs, similar to how you would for scrambled eggs and as you go work some of the flour in from the sides of the well. It's okay if you see some egg start to run out the sides, just work the flour around it to keep it contained (Jeanne struggled a bit here, thankfully no one was hurt). Once you have the eggs and a good amount of the flour incorporated, drop the fork and use your hands to knead and work the dough into a ball. Get aggressive here, it takes a lot of beating up on this dough and it will feel dry but that's normal (if still really dry after a lot of working add a little water, just a splash).

 

Once you have it into a ball cover it with a bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes. If you're making cavatelli the same day, now would be a good time to get started on that. Cavatelli is similar in texture to gnocchi, so it goes best with a light marinara or similar as it's heavier than traditional pasta. As I mentioned, rolling these little suckers out so that they curl the way they're supposed to did not go well for me, so consider yourself warned.

You'll need one pound of full fat ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt and 4 cups of flour. You're going to drop your ricotta onto your work surface and then add the flour (start with 3 cups, you'll work the 4th cup in in just a bit)...work that together and then form a mound with a well as you did for the pasta. Drop your egg and milk into the middle and get to working it all together (use the same aggression as above!).

You'll notice this is much more wet than the pasta dough, so work in that 4th cup of flour as needed. Once you have your dough incorporated and formed into something that resembles a round shape, cut off pieces about the size of a piece of biscotti, and then roll those pieces into a snake that's about the size of a nickel in diameter. Use a butter knife to cut that snake into 1/2" long pieces that will be your cavatelli. This is when you want to use your fingers to flatten and roll that piece of dough until it curls onto itself, so that it looks like the picture below (actually, as these are ours and it was our first time your better reference might be to Google a pic...or just get that damn machine!) The wine came in really handy here. Once you've formed all of your dough, lay out the cavatelli on a flat surface to let them dry out some.

 

Now, back to the pasta! Uncover your ball and cut into pieces similar to what you did to make your cavatelli. These pieces are going to be run through your pasta roller, on the widest setting to start (different machines have different settings, so be sure to read your manual here). Run it through once, then fold it half and run it through again, then do that a third time. Now you're ready to run it through on a smaller setting (depending on what kind of pasta and how think you want it) just one time. As you run the dough through and lay them onto your work surface flour them just a little on the tops. Finally, run the pieces through a smaller setting (on my machine I started with setting 8, then 6, then 4 for my last) one time.

 

I wanted fettuccine, so I used the wider cut on the machine, ran the pieces through and voila! Fettuccine is made!

 

Another little neat trick that our friend taught us was that you can add some basil leaves or parsley (in the event you're making pasta for some soup or what have you) to a flat piece of the pasta dough, fold it in half and then run it through a smaller setting and the herb is embedded right into the pasta...pretty neat!

Lesson here? Well, there's a few. Most important is that homemade pasta is easy and can be done in a couple of hours at home. I froze mine as it will take me some time to go through a pound of pasta (especially considering I'm supposed to watch my gluten intake...whoops) so feel free to double or triple the recipe and do the same at home!

Bon appetito!

Trish

A Trip To Sao Paulo!

I recently took a trip south of the equator for my first time when I visited our office in Sao Paulo, Brazil for a week. I know Brazil for a lot of people who haven't been conjures up thoughts of super hot temps with super hot people that are scantily clad milling about in cafes and on beaches. Nothing was further from the truth on that front. Brazil is in the early part of their spring now gearing up for summer so temps while at times hot were mostly in the low 70s and there were a few cloudy days that threatened rain and felt even cooler. It should also be noted that there was nary a thong in sight with everyone bundled up on those cooler days, albeit a little over the top in my opinion (I'm a New Englander, I'm not bundling up in 72 degree weather!).

I absolutely loved my week there and I'll tell you why. The city offers a ton in the way of night life...there's so much to do all the time and in a city of that size it's going on 24/7. Now, I was a far cry from dancing on tables until 5 in the morning on any night, but it was interesting to hear the tales of those that have (without having their hangover). Our office there is super nice and the people in it even more so, it really made the experience that much more enjoyable. One person in the office in particular, Gabriel, was a walking, talking food blog and I happened to set up shop for the week right next to him. Yep, once he got started asking me what I'd tried so far and what I should try throughout the week I knew I sat next to the cool kid in class (at least in my fictional food and drink classroom in my head). He told me how serious Brazilians take their food and what I absolutely had to try that week. Surprisingly sushi and Italian food are very popular and are done very well in an abundance of restaurants in Sao Paulo. There are certain days of the week devoted to certain foods...for instance, Thursday is lasagna day and Wednesday is reserved for Feijoada, a stew of rice and beans with beef or pork that is very traditional down there.

Brazilians have the most delicious little way to start the day in the form of pao de queijo, which means cheese bread and that's exactly what it is, formed into a round a little smaller than a tennis ball. Anytime you combine cheese with bread you have my attention and these just topped the charts of "delicious cheesy things" I've had in my life. Wherever you could buy pao de queijo you would also find in the next tray in the case coxinha, a traditional Brazilian snack that intrigued me from the get go due to it's cone shape. Of course, my walking food blog knew of the absolute best place in the area to have coxinha so we headed over for lunch one day and had one of each of the shredded chicken filling and shredded chicken with cream cheese filling. You can top them with ketchup or hot sauce, I chose the latter and dug in. I know you're all thinking that I must have gained ten pounds by this point in my trip and well...you're probably right. Luckily the scene I referenced in the first paragraph was not playing out according to popular belief.

There's a lot of great buffets in Sao Paulo, and while buffet for a lot of people means dried out, overcooked food that's been sitting under heat lamps for the last hour, such is not the case here. Whether you want traditional local foods, Italian or sushi there is a bevy of fresh, expansive buffets with everything your heart desires. I gave in to the sushi at the request of Gabriel one day and it was one of the best things that had ever happened to me. I felt quite literally like a kid in a candy store choosing amongst the options of tempura, dumplings, sushi, sashimi, salads and miso soup. Everything was so colorful and plump. What's great about any meal anywhere in Sao Paulo is that you can wash it all down with your choice of fresh squeezed juice. You can get fresh juice anywhere in the city in the form of orange, passion fruit, watermelon, pineapple...you name it. Brazil is a hub for great produce grown right there so you have access to what we would consider tropical and exotic fruits at every turn.

We wrapped up the week by attending a local street farmer's market that has vendors serving up pastel, another "must" on my list from Gabriel. This is where I almost didn't get on my plane coming home. Pastel according to Gabriel is the result of Brazil's failed attempt at making spring rolls. What actually came out of it is a rectangular shaped pastry that is filled with any number of items and fried in oil in just a few minutes while you wait. I chose the beef and cheese, Gabriel the heart of palm. You can also get shredded beef, seafood and pizza filling. Pastel goes perfect with the traditional Brazilian drink garapa, which is sugarcane juice that's often served with lime or pineapple. We had ours with lime and it was amazing--sweet but with the lime to cut it it was exactly what I wanted on a hot day. You grab a seat where you can amongst the farmers shouting out the great bargains on their wares and chow down. After we finished and strolled through the market, I stopped at a table of spices and seasonings and proceeded to buy the man out of his offerings, wondering the whole time if I was actually going to get this through customs but excited at the culinary creations that were dancing through my head as I selected spice after spice from his array.

I know you're probably thinking "where's the wine in this post?" and well...that was the one thing Brazil couldn't offer much of. Locally made I mean. Of course there's a fantastic wine selection at restaurants across the city, and certainly wines from Argentina and Chile are prominent, but Brazil while great at many things, isn't known for their wine production. Lucky for them the pao de queijo made up for it!

Until next time Sao Paulo!

Trish

PS--Dave turned 30 while I was gone...you see he didn't do his Aviation post he was supposed to. My guess is he probably had too many and forgot everything.

What to Drink with Brunch

Here at Grapes With Dinner we are "brunch people".  Okay, it could also be said that
we're breakfast, lunch, dinner people, and anything in between people, but we really
do enjoy us a good brunch.  Brunch should also no longer be quarantined to Sundays
in our opinion, either.  Friday, Saturday, any given Monday holiday, this wonderful
hybrid meal should be enjoyed as often as possible, particularly as it offers the
loop hole on the "you shouldn't drink before noon" rule.

If you find yourself wanting to break out of the standard brunch cocktail rut, an
Aperol Spritz may be just what you need.  In my "real job" I am part of a task force
surrounding new initiatives and have counterparts based in both London and Tokyo
that I collaborate with on the regular for these projects.  It makes the "what did
you do this past weekend?" question much more interesting to say the least.  As a
matter of fact, this post was inspired by said London colleague who was off on a
long weekend to Tuscany with her boyfriend recently.  While I heart New England and
all of it's rustic charm, a long weekend in, say Maine, doesn't quite have the same
ring as a weekend in the heart of food and wine country.  She sent me pics of some
of the food and drinks they had while there and it reminded me of the classic Aperol
Spritz.  I had had it a few times before but not recently and I almost let myself
forget how good (and easy to make) it is!  Shame
on me!

For those that don't know, Aperol is an Italian apertif similar in taste but with
about half of the alcohol content of Campari.  An apertif by definition is a drink
served before dinner as a means to stimulate appetites.  With its' bitter orange and
rhubarb ingredients we feel the flavor profile of Aperol makes for a wonderful mixer
to balance out the sweet of something else that can be enjoyed right through the
meal as well!  You don't need a lot to make a drink so a bottle will last you (i.e.
you shouldn't find yourself coming home from a long day of work and sticking a straw
in the bottle to start sucking it down, it ain't that kind of party folks).

I made myself this concoction last weekend as I was enjoying my solo brunch at home
while writing.  I loosely scrambled up two eggs with local cheddar and herbs and
toasted some brioche to go with.  Herbs in eggs are the easiest way to jazz up the
ordinary and is an often overlooked step when cooking at home.  I usually have some
basil and rosemary at the very least on hand, but this day I had some leftover flat
leaf parsley and oregano from stock I made the day before, so I threw that in there
as well.  Combined with the GOOD local cheddar it was heaven.  Yes people, do
yourself a favor and understand the difference between quality, local cheddar and
the not so great stuff you get in those resealable store packages.  It tastes
better, it melts better and frankly you don't need to use as much, so you can
reconcile your budget conscious left side with that if price is an issue.

Here goes the recipe, for you to make at home or tell your bartender about at your
next brunch spot.

3 parts Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine)
2 parts Aperol
1 part club soda or seltzer (I used a Mandarin seltzer with mine, lovely)
Serve over ice and garnish with a big old orange slice

Cheers!

Trish  (stay tuned for Dave's big 30th birthday post this week!)

It's Called Genever, And It's Fantastic

Never ones to be deterred by the questionable or fear the unknown, Dave and I set out to attend a Genever tasting a couple of weeks back.  As always, Eno Fine Wines in Providence and the Providence Wine Academy partnered up to put on an intimate little event in a show of appreciation for their loyal patrons.

To show you how much I knew about Genever, I googled it prior to the tasting and thought I was attending a sampling of gins.  Turns out I wasn't TOO far off, but certainly not close to the mark.

Genever is wildly popular and the spirit of choice in  Holland and Belgium and according to the distillers who were our gracious educators that evening big on the scene in the United States prior to the prohibition.  This was going to be one big lesson for us and we were ready to drink!  (LEARN...I meant learn).

Representatives were on site from Bols and Diep 9 (400 and 100 year old distilleries, respectively), presenting this mysterious beverage and they informed us that Genever (pronounced ge-knee-ver), much to my chagrin, is NOT gin but a malt wine based spirit that is distilled up to three times and incorporates botanicals in the process.  For the laymen when you hear the word 'malt' involved in alcohol you want to be thinking barley, wheat, rye and corn.  Not necessarily in that order or even all together, but you know it's born of one or more if it's malted, whatever it is.

Both Diep 9 and Bols brought a range of young and old Genevers, and the tastes and profiles of the two could not be more different.  The younger Genevers definitely reminded me of gin, as they're married with a juniper malt wine then distilled with the botanicals.  I was confused at first if I should be drinking this straight or looking for a mixer of sorts, but you can do either.  We tasted all of these straight and the Dutch and Belgians apparently always enjoy them that way, and when in Holland...  Some were much lighter than others and Dave and I personally enjoyed the younger Genevers, specifically the Diep 9 Young Grain which was clear, clean and smooth and easily enjoyed neat or on the rocks.  Of course feel free to dress it up a little with some St. Germaine or fresh fruit juice if the mood strikes you.

The Bols Aged Genever won our vote in the older category, where law states it needs to be more than 15% malt wine and aged a minimum of one year to be called 'old'.  This particular one was aged 18 months in brand new charred French oak barrels.  It should be noted you can only call a Genever 'young' or 'old' in Belgium and Holland and these were more reminiscent of a scotch whiskey to us, likely due to the aging in the charred barrel.  I wish I could only be referred to as 'old' in Belgium and Holland, then I wouldn't feel the need to drink so much Genever to forget about my age.  Anyway, I digress.  Given the vast difference between the young and old, you'll want to take that into consideration depending upon your tastes and preferences.

Another fun fact about Bols is that each bottle is hand crafted from clay found only along a certain river bank in Germany (I apologize for not remembering the name of the river, at this point I had been Genever'ed).  Each bottle is a little different due to the human element involved in manufacturing.

Unless you have an upcoming trip to Holland or Belgium in the mix, you won't be able to run into any store and pick this up...thankfully our friends down at Eno at Westminster Street in Providence carry Genever and will be more than happy to undo the confusion we've likely just caused you.

Until next time,
Dave and Trish

Pork, It's What's For Lunch...and Dinner...and Leftovers

On Monday mornings, I often regale my coworkers with tales of my culinary excursions from the weekend, much to their pure joy I'm sure.  As I am a single and live alone (hopefully there's no serial killers following Grapes With Dinner) I'm usually bringing leftovers in for anyone who wants to sample.  This particular Monday I decided that samples wouldn't cut it and that the perfect cure for a case of the Mondays was some pulled pork sandwiches for the house.

Slow cooker pulled pork is one of the best things going if you ask me...nothing like set it and forget it cooking that brings accolades of your mastery to boost one's ego.  My BFF, Jeanne, makes a honey of pulled pork in the slow cooker and I use a little of what she's done over the years along with my own touches, recipe below.

What to pair it with you ask?  Good question...pulled pork is tricky.  I say throw caution to the wind, go forward without abandon and drink whatever the hell you want (I mean that's what you should really always do anyway, life is short my friends).  I would choose a bourbon or a beer myself, but if you're stuck on wine go with a light crisp white that's maybe a little effervescent like a Vino Verdhe (Portugese and delicious while extremely easy on the wallet, it's a no lose situation).

Pulled Pork:

5 lb boneless pork butt shoulder

1 and 1/2 tsp paprika

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

A couple big scoops of brown sugar

Some ketchup...sometimes I use this, sometimes I don't depending on if I have enough...just squeeze in a few healthy globs of it

Cook it all on low in the slow cooker for 8 hours or on high for 4 and fork shred it when it's done.  Serve this on soft rolls (potato or hamburger is my usual go to bun)

Amongst the above mentioned coworkers is one individual that recently took a disappointing spin on the dance floor with some country pork ribs.  Although this particular colleague likes to poke fun at my lack of participation in the world of technology (I'm a bit of a purist) being the nice person I am I wanted to include Dave's tried and true recipe for ribs in this post.

Enjoy Brian!

Dave's Slow Roasted Country Ribs:

2 racks of pork baby back ribs

Kosher or Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Paprika

Chili Powder

Mix about a teaspoon of each spice with a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Rub the ribs all over with this mixture and let sit while you preheat your oven to 250. Place the ribs on a lightly oiled sheet pan and roast in the oven for about 2 hours, you want them to be tender but not totally falling off the bone. From there remove the ribs and brush with bbq sauce. Turn the broiler on in your oven and broil the ribs until they caramelize a little and the sauce sticks to them a bit. Watch these carefully as you don't want to burn them, just give them a little color and that won't take long. 

Before serving, brush again with BBQ sauce and then serve more sauce (and lots of napkins) on the side. 

There are so many BBQ sauce recipes out there but here’s an old one that we like very much and is so easy your pet pot belly pig could make it (assuming he wouldn't know what it would be used for).

½ cup cider vinegar

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

 1 tbsp dry mustard

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 tbsp paprika

Tsp salt

Tsp: cayenne

1 cup ketchup

2 minced garlic cloves

½ a medium onion minced

Sautee onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes. Stir the remaining ingredients into the pot and cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes until thickened nicely. As Porky Pig would say himself, that's all folks!

Again...beer, bourbon, wine...your grandmother's brandy...whatever knocks your socks off, it's a free for all.

Sending our regards to Porky,

Dave and Trish

Want Some Squash Soup, Pumpkin?

Today was one of those perfect fall days that was equal parts productive and relaxing.  Actually, that's a blatant lie.  Dave is off on Long Island probably tasting his 32nd wine as I write this and I spent my morning running errands, cleaning and getting ready for a wine tasting I worked this afternoon.  Finally, I am at home with the candles lit and settling in to catch my faithful blog followers up while I sip a glass of Nero D'Avola.  Ain't no better way to spend a Saturday night if you ask me.

A couple of weeks ago Dave's best friend Alexis was celebrating her birthday along with about 60 guests at her family's seaside country abode.  Dave and his brilliant mind decided he wanted to make a whole lot of something and put it in a big pumpkin!  There was going to be quite a few vegan guests at this event, so a soup of squash and root vegetables that skipped on the animal product but not on the flavor seemed to be the perfect solution.  Enter the recipe below and the festive presentation and you've got yourself an edible party favor folks!

Surprisingly, this pumpkin was relatively easy to carve given it's size (keep in mind we had to have enough soup for 60) and after a few capacity tests using water we were ready to go.  Please note, we did NOT travel with the soup in the pumpkin...use tupperware to transport and just pour into your pumpkin upon arrival at your destination.  Naturally, we almost had no pumpkin to host our soup as Dave was loading it into the car and it nearly slid off the trunk...yes, I know...he needs to stick only to the cooking.

Regardless, it was hit and so we've decided to share it with all of you.  See below for the Curried Squash and Root Vegetable Soup a la Dave!  If you are not vegan then feel free to throw in your fair share of cream and butter to this and make it REALLY creamy!

Pick up your favorite Chardonnay or Pinot Noir for this, sit back and enjoy the rave reviews from your friends on your festive and creative presentation!

2 Large sweet Potatoes

2 medium Butternut Squash

2 onions

3 carrots

4 parsnips

½ cup orange juice

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 qt vegetable or chicken stock

Cream (optional)

Salt to taste and parsley to garnish

Optional Topping:  Crème Fraiche and toasted pumpkin seed oil

Place everything in a big pot. If there is not enough liquid to totally cover the vegetables add some water. Bring the entire conundrum to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 40 minutes or so. Then use an immersion blender (or regular blender or food processor) to make it allllll creamy and smooth. Season with salt to taste and add a dash of cream and/or butter if you like. 

To serve it in a big pumpkin, just cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop everything out. Then you just pour the soup in, and put the top back on. If you have any pumpkin meat or pumpkin puree, you can add this to the soup as well when you add the other vegetables.

Bravo Dave, bravo!

Cheers!