Spiced Shrimp Tagliatelle

This quick and easy pasta dish always pleases.  I love how the addition of just a very small amount of an ingredient can change the whole feel of your dish.  With only a dash of chili, you get an entire new layer of flavor.  The small hit of buttter smooths out the whole dish and seems to bind everything together. 

Spiced Shrimp Tagliatelle

Ingredients

12 oz. tagliatelle, fresh or dried

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

3 gloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes

1 small onion, chopped

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

2 tsp butter

1/4 cup basil leaves, chiffonaded

salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain. 

2. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium high heat in large pan.  Season shrimp with salt and pepper and add to pan with garlic and chili.  Saute until pink and cooked through.  Remove shrimp and set aside. 

3. Add remaining olive oil to pan.  Add onion and cook for 2 minutes.  Pour in wine to deglaze pan, make sure to stir up any brown bits.  When wine is reduced by half, add tomatoes, butter, and return shrimp pan to warm.  Stir in pasta until evenly coated.  Remove from heat and stir through basil. 

You can make this with any kind of pasta, add more vegetables if you like...  it's super easy but still very tasty!

Rustic Tagliatelle

Every since my trip to Italy, I have really appreciated fresh, homemade pasta.  It obviously takes a bit more time, but if you do have a few extra minutes to prepare your meal, it is so worth it.  No matter how 'gourmet' it may be, I've never had a dried pasta that can match the flavor of homemade.  There's actually something a bit therapeutic about the process as well, the repetitive kneading and rolling as the dough becomes elastic and silky.  I actually had to pump up the AC for a bit - is that pathetic?

I just bought a new pasta machine but a few days before, I was being very impatient and insisted on fresh pasta.  It would be the perfect complement to my last picking of summer tomatoes.  I wanted a rich pasta so I added a couple of extra yolks.  Since I didnt have a machine, I chose to make tagliatelle as it is a wider noodle.  In hindsight, I would have rolled the dough a bit thinner, but my arms were getting tired...  In a light and rustic sauce, complemented by a freshly baked parmesan crisp, it was the perfect meal to show off all of these simple and fresh ingredients. 

When making fresh pasta, the ingredients that you choose are very important.  '00' flour is a soft, fine-grain, Italian wheat flour that will give the pasta that silky and elastic texture.  While not as important as the flour that you use, organic eggs give it that beautiful yellow color.  If your recipe includes olive oil, make sure to use plain, not extra virgin as that will be too strong.  Check out a my step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own pasta with minimal tools required!

Fresh Tagliatelle

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups 00 flour

2 large organic eggs plus 3 egg yolks

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp fine salt

semolina, for dusting

Directions

1. Sift flour with salt into a mound on your clean working surface.  Make a well in the middle ensure that the walls are high enough to contain your egg mixture.  Keep a small mound of flour to the side if any extra is needed.

2. Mix eggs, yolks, and oil and pour into well.

3. Using fingertips or a fork, gradually draw flour into egg mixture in a circular motion.  When mixture is starting to come together, use both hands to form in a ball and knead for 5 minutes until elastic and silky.  If dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour a couple tablespoons at a time. 

4. Form into ball and gently wrap in plastic wrap.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.

5. Divide dough into 4 pieces.  Dust workspace with semolina and cover remaining dough with a tea towel to prevent it from drying out.  Dust rolling pin with flour then roll dough out into a large rectangle at desired thickness.  Flip dough often and dust with semolina to prevent sticking.  Repeat with remaining 3 pieces.  Keep pasta covered with a tea towel while you are working. 

6. For tagliatelle, roll the dough and cut at 1 cm intervals with a sharp knife. 

To cook, add to salted boiling water for about 3 minutes or until al dente.  While still hot, toss with oil, butter, or pasta sauce.  To make my light and rustic sauce, sautee sliced onion, garlic, and chili flakes for a few minutes, add white wine, reduce by half, add tomatoes 1 minute, remove from heat and stir through arugula.  Season and add a splash of fresh lemon juice.  Top with a parmesan crisp or shaved parmesan.

Easy Lenten Meal!

No, it's not Friday, but in a moment of insanty, I chose to give up meat for Lent... this is not going to be an easy 40 days.  I almost always incorporate meat in my meals so this will force me to expand my horizons a bit and create some new meatless dishes that will still be satisfying.  Not that last night's dinner really 'expanded my horizons' but let me set the scene... can't eat meat, temperatures have cooled drastically for a couple days, slightly sore throat, fridge full of veggies, homemade chicken stock in the freezer... maybe you know where I'm going with this?

I absolutely love homemade soups and they are so easy!  I always make a big batch so we can enjoy some leftovers!  After a few easy steps, we had a hearty and healthy pot of soup to enjoy for a couple of days.  For this vegetable soup, I literally used all of the veggies that I could find in the fridge - celery, zucchini, green beans, cabbage, corn... there aren't too many standard veggies that won't fit the bill . I started the soup by sweating some onions and garlic, and stirred in the celery after a few minutes.  I then tossed in a big bowl of veggies, cooked for a few minutes, and covered with chicken stock.  After bringing to a simmer, I added a can of tomatoes (undrained), a can each of drained and rinsed red kidney beans and cannellini beans, threw in a couple bay leaves, seasoned, and simmered for about 30 minutes.  I had a few fresh tomatoes as well so I seeded, chopped, and threw those in last minute.         

I found some whole wheat pasta in the pantry so I decied to add it to the vegetable soup to make it a bit more filling .  I like to cook my pasta separately and add to each serving as I HATE mushy pasta in soup.  I threw in a few leaves of spinach just before serving so they would wilt slightly but maintain the shape and flavor. 

The point of this story is that you don't need a recipe.  Play around, use what you have, be creative.  I also find it very important to taste as you go.  As my stock was homemade, I added a bit more salt than I probably would have if I had used store bought stock that already contains quite a bit of sodium. 

I am looking forward to enjoying some delicious and healthy vegetarian meals over the next month or so.  Feel free to share your favorites!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Chinese New Year, also called Lunar New Year as it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar, fell on February 14th this year.  2010 is the Year of the Tiger.  The Tiger, the third sign in the Chinese Zodiac cycle, is a sign of bravery. It is thought to keep away the 3 main tragedies of a household - fire, theives, and ghosts.  Let's hope!

In honor of the New Year, I made a lunch creating my recipe based off Chinese symbolism in the ingredients.  I was actually inspired by a noodle recipe on Martha Stewart's Chinese New Year episode.  My recipe ended up quite different than what I saw, but turned out quite tasty nonetheless!  I used long uncut noodles as they represent longevity in life and added chicken which symbolizes health and prosperity.  I served the noodles on a square plate and topped with rings of fresh green onion as circles represent heaven and squares represent earth.  If you are looking forward to a healthy and prosperous 2010, try my recipe below!

Long-Life Noodles with Wok-fried Chicken and Vegetables

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into pieces

2 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, julienned
1 leek, julienned
6 stalks green onion, julienned
1/2 cup shiitake mushroom caps pieces
1 1/2 tbsp Shao Hsing wine
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp chicken broth
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 8 oz package chinese long-life noodles, cooked

Directions


1. Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in wok over high heat.  Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes until browned.  Transfer to bowl.

2. Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to wok. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add celery, leeks, 2 tbsp broth, mushrooms, and wine and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl with chicken.

3. To empty wok, add remaining broth, oyster sauce, sugar, and salt.  Bring to simmer and add noodles and cook, tossing until liquid is mostly absorbed. Return chicken vegetable mixture to pan, toss with noodles, and cook for 2 minutes.  Serve immediately.

I also followed another tradition by cleaning  house which is thought to sweep away ill-fortune making way for good luck.  I was just trying to take advantage of my fiance being out of town on business. 

Colorful Cacciatorre

Chicken Cacciatore is a classic Italian dish with many variations.  Cacciatore means "hunter" in Italian and when referring to cuisine, "alla cacciatora" is a meal prepared "hunter-style" with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, herbs, bell pepper, and wine.

After picking up an array of colorful bell peppers at the market, I decided to make my own colorful version of this basic dish.  Served over whole wheat pasta, it was both healthy and delicious.  Thank goodness I made enough for leftovers for lunch today!

Colorful Cacciatore

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, cut into 3 pieces each

1 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1/2 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 yellow bell pepper sliced into strips
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp capers
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp basil, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, dredge the chicken pieces in the flour to coat.

2. In a large heavy saute pan, heat 2 tbsp oil over a medium-high. Cook the chicken pieces about 3-4 minutes on each side to brown.  Remove from pan.

3. Add remaining tbsp of oil and onion.  Cook for about 3 minutes.  Add bell peppers and garlic and cook until peppers soften.

4. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by at least half. Add the tomatoes with their juice, capers, oregano, chili and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.  Return the chicken pieces to the pan and turn them to coat in the sauce. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. 

5. Transfer the chicken to a platter, spoon sauce on top and sprinkle with basil.  Serve over pasta if desired.

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." Federico Fellini

Spoken like a true Italian! This quote takes on a whole new meaning after my recent visit to Italy. Honestly, I never really appreciated pasta; it was just something to fill me up that went along with the sauce. However, I now realize that the pasta should be the base of the dish and with the addition of just a few fresh ingredients and some good quality olive oil, you can have a mouth watering result.




A typicaly italian meal will consist of L'antipasto, Il Primo, Il Secondo, and Il Dolce, possibly complemented by a choice or two from Il Contorno. Needless to say, this is a LOT of food, and I can prove it by the extra squeeze in my jeans!

Most items in Il Primo, 'the first course', are pasta dishes. This is one of my favorites from Da Vincenzo in Positano. Simply made with some homemade rigatoni, sauteed eggplant and tomatoes, and topped off with goat's cheese and fresh basil. The ridges in the perfectly cooked pasta soaked up the delicious combination of tomato sauce and local olive.

Since returning to Australia, I've been obsessing over the idea of making pasta scratch. I still need to pick up a few items to make this task possible, but it will happen! Since there is a bit more work involved for this dish, I feel the need to hold off until my audience is a bit larger. Not that my fiance (feels very strange to type that) isn't worth the extra work!

Has anyone ever tried making pasta from scratch? Any tips?