Pasta-palooza!

I didn't know what to call this story. At first, I started with 'Pasta Night'. Then... 'Pass the night with pasta night'. Oh-gosh-no. I finally settled on the above title, but ultimately, I guess it doesn't matter what you call it... good friends, good food and having to work a little bit for good pasta, pays off in spades. When temperatures drop and it's too snowy to venture out, get a bunch of hungry friends over to make pasta, from scratch.

Provide some all-purpose flour, a few room temperature eggs, throw in some red wine for Dutch courage and good cheer and add some store-bought, but kick-ass, Antipasto (Thanks Jenna!) and you've got yourself a Pasta night. Many hands make light work. Get rolling!

MENU FOR THE NIGHT:

ANTIPASTO

Prosciutto di San Daniele

Spicy Soppressata

Burrata and Ricotta

A jar of French Acacia Honey

HOMEMADE PASTA LINGUINE with TRUFFLE CREAM CARBONARA

GLUTEN FREE PASTA with CLASSIC MEAT BOLOGNAISE SAUCE

ESCAROLE SALAD with ANCHOVY DRESSING

MILLE CREPE

HOW WE MADE OUR PASTA-

ONCE IT'S KNEADED FOR 10 to 15 MINUTES:

HOMEMADE PASTA LINGUINE with TRUFFLE CREAM CARBONARA

A traditional Carbonara does not normally contain heavy cream. This one does, with the addition of truffle oil, which seems to deepen the taste of the Carbonara and add a lovely fragrant aroma.

Dice a half inch round of Pancetta and fry slowly over Medium heat in a pan. Set aside. In a Medium saucepan, cook a half cup of Heavy Cream over Medium-Low heat with 2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic sliced. Add one heaped teaspoon of Ground Pepper and one teaspoon of Salt. When the cream is heated through and starts reducing and thickening, move the saucepan off the heat and let the Garlic steep. Pour the cream/garlic sauce into a pasta serving bowl and add the cooked Pancetta. Stir in one tablespoon of Black Truffle Oil and then slowly whisk 3 Egg Yolks into the cream. Add a half cup of finely grated Pecorino Cheese. Add hot cooked homemade linguine, that has been cooked in plenty of salted water and toss until all the pasta is coated. Season to taste. Once tossed you may need to add more Pecorino, Salt and Pepper. Serve immediately.

GLUTEN FREE PASTA RECIPE

This recipe is from Scott Parker, chef at Table Six, Denver. Emulated for us by chef Joel Holland.

Sift or push through a fine mesh strainer: 150 grams of Almond Flour, 150 grams of Potato starch, 200 grams Tapioca, 40 grams of Corn starch, 5 grams of Xanthum Gum, 5 grams of Rice flour, 2 teaspoons of Salt. Make a mound with the flour and carve out a well in the middle. Put 4 Egg Yolks plus 4 additional Eggs into the well and work the egg and flour together with your fingers until you have a smooth dough, adding several tablespoons of water as necessary. (You may need more than you think, to bind it) Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, until smooth, firm, and quite elastic. Don't skimp on the kneading or the dough will tear while you're rolling it out. This dough is delicate so it's best to use a rolling pin rather than a regular pasta machine.

DESSERT: MILLE CREPE. (Below) This is a french dessert made of several layers of vanilla pastry cream wedged between several crepes. Oh my!

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With thanks to:

Sarah Ellison Lewis

Jenna Crosby.

Great women to pasta night with.

4 Fat Ladies watch the 2 Fat Ladies. (Marathon)

Maggie Ruggiero's homemade wine

In the late 90's, the wonderful Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson hosted a very unique, off-the-cuff, and highly original cooking program. It was called the 2 Fat Ladies. These two, admittedly large women rode around on a motorbike (with a sidecar), cooked with plenty of lard, and could sometimes be seen taking to the fields with rifles, skirts hiked up, to hunt for wild animals. Jennifer was known also to chain smoke. (Sometimes in the middle of cooking).

To celebrate their marathon of episodes on New Year's Day, I invited my own very special 'fat ladies' over to eat, drink and be merry, fat ladies style. We cooked up an inspired menu (laden with pork) while we sat glued to the tele watching the programs, back to back.

THE TWO FAT LADIES 'TIPPLE' (aka. Maggie's homemade wine)

It's best if you make it a couple of days ahead to let flavors bloom. This recipe makes 5 bottles... the hardest thing is getting the labels off the bottles.... you’ll need 1 extra empty bottle.

4 bottles Rosé  (bottles with corks are a nice touch but screw tops are fine)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/3 cups Lillet Blanc

1 ¼ cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries

Zest of 2 grapefruits, removed in long strips

Zest of 4 oranges, removed in long strips

METHOD: Remove labels from bottles. Stir together the wine, sugar, and Lillet in a pot. Divide zests and cranberries between 5 bottles. There's a cool trick with getting the zest in... just feed it in while turning the bottle... Bring wine mixture just to a simmer making sure sugar is dissolved. Funnel hot wine into the 5 bottles. Cool 1 hour then cork and chill at least 2 days.

Kept chilled, the wine will last a month.

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Maggie Ruggiero is a NY based food stylist. Her fabulous work can be seen at http://www.maggieruggiero.com/ She was Food Editor/Stylist at the now defunct Gourmet magazine and she is not at all fat.

Photograph by Andrew Purcell

Baby, it's cold outside.

Warm your inner cockles with recipes from the Seafood Pasta story that I art directed for Martha Stewart Living magazine. (February Issue) I'm still thinking about the lemony 'Crab Ravioli', which was sublime. It's on newsstands now, pick up a copy!

Photographed by Johnny Miller

Food concepted/styled by Christine Albano

Prop styling: Sarah Smart

Barcelona

Giving a friend tips on where she should eat in Barcelona made me stumble on some of my snaps. Best places to eat in Barcelona: Cal Pep, and Bar Pinotxo at La Bocqueria. Actually, I really want to be buried at La Bocqueria, that place is heaven. Photographs by David Malosh

Paella

Jamon Jamon, baby.

Celeriac Gratin: Perfect for a cosy Winter's Eve

Looks aren't everything. Twisted in form and sickly pale in color, the Celeriac would never win a beauty contest, but the mild aniseed aroma from it's fresh cut slices that are then transformed further by slow baking in a mixture of garlic infused cream, thyme, chicken stock, and parmesan elevate this ugly knob to lofty levels of tasty grandeur and provide a warm, comforting and delicious dish. Perfect for a cold wintery evening.

The celeriac; it's what's inside that counts.

Celeriac Gratin; warm and bubbly

CELERIAC GRATIN

Put 1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of chicken stock in a small saucepan with a big teaspoon of salt, a couple of grinds of pepper, 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme and 2 large cloves of raw garlic, sliced into a few pieces. Bring gently to the boil, then shut off the heat and let garlic and herbs steep in the cream for 10 minutes. Meanwhile thinly slice up one whole large celeriac (who's outer skin has been carefully trimmed off). Put a tablespoon of oil in a heavy based saucepan and turn up the heat to medium/high. Place one layer of the thin celeriac slices into the oil and let it gently fry. Meanwhile build up the whole pan layer by layer until the celeriac slices are all used up. The bottom layer will be turning golden brown at this point, so shut off the heat. Pour the infused heavy cream mixture over the celeriac slices till it just covers the top layer. Mix together a quarter cup of finely grated parmesan with 3 tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs and scatter over the top. Swirl some oil over the breadcrumb mixture and pop the entire pan in the oven at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Note: Using fresh breadcrumbs makes a huge difference. For the picture above, I ran out of fresh crumbs and had to use a can of processed breadcrumbs. This is Ok  but the dish will definitely taste better with fresh crumbs. (I find the processed crumbs are ground too finely, so they don't really give you the proper crunchy topping)

Serving suggestion: Serve with a slab of warm smoked ham and some slow roasted brussel sprouts.

Wine Pairing: Justin Chearno, wine guru at UVA WINES says "If I was having the gratin alone, I'd have a white wine like the Pabiot Pouilly Fume"  but if you do it with the smoked ham, I'd go with Philippe Faury, Syrah from the Northern Rhone region. The wine's texture is rich and silky, but there is the acidity that you need for the creamy gratin and the classic Syrah notes of smoky bacon that will made the smoked ham even pork-ier"

ENJOY!

Chicken

The chicken story that I art directed for Martha Stewart Living magazine, is on newsstands now. Pick up a issue! Photographed by John Kernick.

Food concepted and styled by Sarah Carey.

Prop styling: Tanya Graff.

Carrot Puree

The humble carrot is elevated to a velvety smooth and delicious puree with the help of 2 secrets… 

THE FIRST SECRET IS: Put 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter inside the water with the carrots, and then boil it down until it's reduced and the carrots are soft and tender.

THE SECOND SECRET IS: Don't tip out the water when the carrots are finished cooking. Instead, put the entire contents into a food processor and puree until smooth. Season with good quality sea salt and pepper and a teaspoon of maple syrup (optional) Serve. (with anything!) OTHER USES: CHEATS TOMATO SAUCE: I also like to stir this carrot puree liberally into just regular old tomato sauce and poured over spaghetti. Grate cheese over the top. A good way to sneak in another veggie to small unsuspecting mouths. SAVORY CARROT 'CAKES': Fold the carrot puree into leftover risotto (rice, chicken stock, onions, parmesan, white wine), throw in an egg for binding, form into cakes and fry in a heavy based frying pan, turning once until the cakes are browned on both sides. Great for kids dinner or thrown cold into the lunch box the next day.

leftover ham

Kids love these ham dumplings in cheesy garlic sauce and they're a great idea for using up leftover Holiday Ham

EASY HAM AND ONION DUMPLINGS in CHEESEY GARLIC SAUCE: Put some leftover Ham and Onions finely diced inside store bought wonton wrappers. Get a small cup of water and dip your finger in it. Trace around the edge of  the wrapper so it's wet and will stick. Fold. Put some oil in a regular pan and fry the dumplings for 3 minutes till browned. Add about a half cup of water and put the lid on for another 5 minutes to steam. Meanwhile slice 2 cloves of garlic and place in about a cup of milk. Bring slowly to boil, and reduce to simmer. Keep warm so the garlic infuses into the milk. Make a roux from a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of regular all purpose flour. Add the garlic infused milk and a stir until you get a thick white sauce. Add handful of finely grated parmesan to the sauce and stir again. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve poured over the dumplings. Fresh Parsley optional.

Store bought wonton wrappers > Put diced ham and onion in the middle > Fold

Make infused garlic milk, add to a roux > Add parmesan to the roux > Fry then steam the dumplings 

Folded dumplings: Looks hard but it's super easy, dip your finger in the water and trace around the outside of the filling. Then make 3 quick folds each side.

Ham and Onion Dumplings in Cheesy Garlic Sauce

Dumplings!

The best thing on a snowy December afternoon. The fiery Szechuan Pork Dumplings w/Roasted Chilli Soy, from Szechuan Gourmet... cheap, ($4.99) and ridicuously hot, slurpy and delicious.

http://szechuangourmetnyc.com/

21 W 39th St # 1 New York, NY 10018 (212) 921-0233

Plum Pudding

We still hang the pudding high for 2 weeks. When my Grandmother did this it was to keep it away from the farm animals. 

PLUM PUDDING: My grandmother was a wonderful cook, unfortunately her mother died when she was 14, so at that age she was taken out of school and had to learn how to cook and take care of all of her four brothers, one sister and her father. She always had something coming out of the oven, something going into the oven, and something she was preparing that would go into the oven a bit later. My mother reports that her kitchen always smelled beautiful, especially in winter when all the doors were closed.

This is her classic plum pudding. It won first prize at the Leeton show in 1935. (Leeton is a small town in the Riverina area of New South Wales. It's known for it's canned fruit) My mother grew up there on a sheep and wheat farm, her uncles all had fruit orchards. We make her pudding as she made it, we boil her pudding for 3 hours then hang it high up on the end of a broom stick for 2 weeks. The height was important because that is what kept it away from the animals.

The pudding needs to be tied really tightly or else when you boil it, water will get in, and it will spoil. 

Stuffed with original sixpences and threepence coins, that my mother kept from 1935 from her mother. 

We serve the pudding with home made thick caramel sauce and rich vanilla ice-cream

The 2 year old Dried Fruit Mince-Cooked!

Due to either negligence, or absentmindedness (or possibly a combination of both) I ended up leaving the dried fruit mixture soaking in alcohol, on my kitchen counter for... (cough) ...over 2 years. My mum, who showed up twice during this 2 year period, stuck an educated finger in it, pronounced it 'good but dry', and poured another bottle of plonk into it then left it well enough alone.

The finished product: Today we finally cooked up the 2 year old mince into mini rolls. Almost like 'Aussie style' sausage rolls but made out of the fruit mince. How do they taste? Surprisingly good! Especially dipped in hot brandied custard. 

Merry little mince pies. One missing because we ate one. (We'll report back if we end up in hospital!) Merry Christmas to all!

Raw Romanesco Cauliflower Salad

Raw Romanesco Cauliflower Salad

The Romanesco Cauliflower; it looks a bit like an underwater sea urchin from a Sponge Bob episode, but it's just a relative of good old white cauliflower.

I love the Romanesco Cauliflower! It has a really grassy flavor and because of it's bright green color, I like to cheat with it, and use it to represent the 'Greens' in a Winter dinner menu.

SUNDAY NIGHT DINNER MENU:

ROASTED CHICKEN with WINTER CITRUS Chicken roasted with Lemons, Grapefruit, Maple cured Bacon, and Thyme Butter

SWEET BUTTERY CARROT PUREE

RAW ROMANESCO CAULIFLOWER SALAD

TURNIP AND RUTABAGO GRATIN

Recipe: RAW ROMANESCO CAULIFLOWER SALAD: In a mortar put 4 fresh garlic cloves coarsely chopped. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Then add 4 hard cooked egg yolks, (the yolks only) to the mortar and pestle and pound until smooth. Stir in 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of sherry or red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Transfer this mixture to a small bowl and whisk in half a cup of extra virgin olive oil. Taste. You might need to add a little more salt. Grind over some freshly ground pepper. Set aside. It should be wickedly stingingly pungent.

In another  salad bowl, slice into quarter-inch slices one local market Romanesco cauliflower, (or you can use any cauliflower you like... the yellow, purple or white cauliflower, or even a mixture of a few gives a nice colored dish) You need about 4 cups total of super thin slices and florets.

Pour the dressing over the top in small batches, mix and taste, add more accordingly, until the level of flavor is where you want it to be. It will be thick and sauce-ike. Scatter over 2 tablespoons of capers, a half cup scattering of chopped parsley leaves and the leftover finely diced 4 egg whites on top. Mix thoroughly.

I serve this as a side dish for my Roasted Chicken with Winter Citrus and a Sweet Buttery Carrot Puree. But you can do it with lamb, or even pork. The crispness of the raw vegetable balances out a heavy, perhaps even fatty meat dish, well.

If you have leftover salad: Mix the raw Romanesco Cauliflower salad with a beaten raw egg, some diced cooked potato, and top with crumbled feta and bake. Serve as a side with plump and juicy pork sausages and hot apple sauce. Yum.

St Nicholas Day Feast

The invitation read to "Please bring wine, a clean sock, (that would be returned at the end of the evening) and the option to wear something blue, violet or turquoise..."

MENU:  Cooked and concepted by Food stylist Adrienne Anderson http://adrienne-anderson.net/

Cocktail: Polecat (Tea-infused peach syrup, bourbon, peche lambic) Spiced Nuts (Pecan and almonds toasted with cumin, cayenne, ginger) Roasted Poblano Cream Soup Oysters (Roast bluepoints with shallot, cream, greens with mignonette) Smoked Cheddar Tamales Pernil-style Pork Rib Roast Red Cabbage sauteed with Apples and Fennel Pumpkin Farce  (Kabocha with Cornbread Stuffing) Plate of Pickled Baby Beets Passionfruit Fool Juniper flan  (Cream caramel with Juniper berries)

Smoked Cheddar Tamale, opened.

Stuffed Quail Eggs, Spiced nuts and our socks, hanging by the 'fireside' ie. An array of bright candles.

Red Cabbage with Apples and Fennel

One of the guests, who just finished touring with a band, made a neat guitar out of the final chop

Smoked Cheddar Tamale. The cook made a nod to her Texas roots with her choice of menu.

Clever and bright idea. Use a kettle to heat up soup and then pour it elegantly and easily tableside

Pumpkin Farce, the kobucha is stuffed with a cornbread mixture.

Oysters, roasted on the half shell with shallots, cream, greens and mignonette

The outtakes

Sometimes the most interesting shot is the one taken randomly on a photo shoot, when no one is looking.

Leftover lamb

An unusual twist for leftover lamb, the potato chip 'butty'- is a wonderfully low-brow roll. I love the crunch and comfort of a potato chip sandwich, perhaps the moral equivalent of deep-fried Snickers bar at a Seaside Fair.

Grill some slices of a peasant bread in a cast iron grill pan, (I used a spelt sourdough bread made at Roman's restaurant and sold at Marlow and Daughters on weekends) in a little bit of garlic oil. Slather one side with Dijon mustard. Open a packet of English Tyrrell's butter and mint potato chips (mint goes so well with lamb!) and place them onto the bread + add some leftover lamb + and drizzle over a rich and garlic anchovy parsley dressing. Crunchy, pungently garlic, drippy and ridiculously delicious. It's a 2 napkin lunch! (Seaside Fair optional)

Serve with a pale ale.

Stuff the potato chips (Mint and Butter flavored) inside the Lamb sandwich and drizzle heavily with a garlic, anchovy and parsley dressing

Aw, shucks.

My 'Thanksgiving Tradition' is to get up, steel myself with Brooklyn Gorilla "Blendimentosis" coffee and shuck 48 oysters. It's kind of a mini marathon. Half way through I inevitably want to throw in the towel, stop, give up. It's like a 'luck' thing for me. If I'm can get through it, it will mean a very good year ahead.

The lip on the Malpeque oysters from Prince Edward Island are really high, so I had to wedge my cloth really low to get the knife in but there was not one 'bad un' which will mean for a very good year ahead. 2011, here I come!

http://gorillacoffee.com/

Easy Roast Lamb (Baaa none)

1. Invite 8 people over. 2. Go to your local butcher and buy a 6 pound leg of lamb, bone in. 3. Place it on the kitchen counter for 1 and a half hours. (The key is start cooking the lamb when it's really at room temperature) 4. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 5. Make up a thick paste of Dijon, extra virgin olive oil, finely ground sea salt, pepper and finely chopped rosemary and rub all over the lamb. 6. Roast the lamb at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. 7. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and roast for one more hour. Lamb will be Medium Rare to Rare. If you like your lamb a little more Medium, leave it in for another 20 minutes. Take out and rest lamb under foil. Easy.

I love my lamb served with homemade Mint Sauce or Jelly. The store bought super-martian green imported ones from jolly old England sort of freak me out, but they'll do in a pinch.

I also like my lamb with a thinly slice RAW CAULIFLOWER SALAD with dijon, egg whites and capers, a sweet BUTTERED CARROT PUREE and a creamy, cheesy TURNIP GRATIN.

Shout out to food stylist Simon Andrews

http://www.simonandrewscooks.com/

who texted the suggested cooking times, lamb was perfect!

Beet semifreddo

Photographed by Andrew Purcell http://picturesandpancakes.com

3 local products I love, right now.

I like this milder salsa, because for me, at least, when it's too spicy you don't end up tasting any of the flavor. This has tomatillo's, crushed tomatoes, lime juice, garlic, spices and sesame seeds, and a wonderful mild tang of cumin. 

http://www.bksalsa.com/the-goods/staten-island/

What to say? Heaven in a jar.... 

http://marlowanddaughters.com/

Mmmm... pan fry garlic and fresh cut kale with plenty of salt and pepper and top on toasted crostini with a nice dollop of this incredible ricotta. Heaven! (...and thanks to stylist Heather Chontos for this inspiration)

http://www.salvatorebklyn.com/

http://www.heatherchontos.com/

Beet Semifreddo

BEET SEMIFREDDO : I love the color of beets. Rouge-stained finger tips deliver a rich beet "cream". Earthy; A perfect Fall dessert.

Juice 5 medium beets, you'll need a little over a cup. Then, put the beet juice in a saucepan on medium heat and reduce until it's half its size. (This took me about 22 minutes). Pick up half a lemon and add a hefty squeeze of it's juice. Pour the mixture into a small plastic container and put in the fridge to cool. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan put a third of a cup of white sugar and third of a cup of water. (This won't look like very much) then stir slowly until sugar dissolves and then bring to a boil. You want to leave this boil for 3 whole minutes. While you wait for it to boil, put 5 large egg yolks at room temperatue in an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until slightly swelled and pale. Back at the stove, when your sugar mixture has boiled for the 3 minutes, take it off the heat and add it to the beaten egg yolks in a slow steady stream on a medium high speed until the mixtures gets really pale and doubles in volume. This will be about 5 minutes. Fold this mixture into a plastic tupperware container suitable for freezing. Add one and a quarter cup of chilled heavy cream now to the mixer and beat until stiff peaks form. Add the heavy cream  to the plastic container as well, and then fold in the beet juice, slowly and efficiently till blended. Put in the freezer. It will need to be there at least 3 hours. I left mine there overnight.

CANDIED BEETS: Scrape the seeds from one vanilla pod into a heavy medium saucepan, then add the pod, 4 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar. Cook over medium heat till sugar is dissolved. Add 3 medium, peeled, beets and let liquid boil down until really thick, syrupy and caramelized. This will take one and a half hours, or even longer.  It shouldn't be runny. Take the beets out with a slotted spoon and thinly dice, into very small quarter-inch segments. Don't make the beets too large. It needs to be a super fine dice. Place the beets back in the thick candied syrup, toss well, and refridgerate.

ASSEMBLE: Place semifreddo in a small jelly jar and top with candied beets.

This was inspired from a recipe by Jean Marie and Juliette Baudic for "Beet Parfaits" that appeared in Gourmet magazine (RIP!) October 2007.