Casoncelli - The Pasta Dough

Jenifer and I have always said we wanted to make homemade pasta but always allowed the excuse of not having a pasta press keep us from actually doing it. For Thanksgiving we decided to change that and went out and bought a relatively inexpensive ($59) hand pasta press - Viola! We are now set to make pasta and it was sooo much easier than either of us thought it would be.

We sort of dove into the deep end for our Thanksgiving meal by choosing to make a filled pasta this first time. With that said, we followed Vetri's basic pasta dough recipe to the letter and it turned out great. The dough recipe was incredibly simple and cooked up as good as we could have hoped.

Simple Basic Dough - Vetri with our interpretation
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons semolina flour
9 large egg yolks
3-4 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon EVOO

Combine flours in mixer with paddle attachment. With the mixer running on medium (slow enough as to not make a mess of the flour - lesson learned) add the egg yolks, water and oil; mixing until the ingredients just stick together. Take the dough from the mixing bowl and kneed for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured working surface. When done the dough will be smooth and gently pull back into place when slightly stretched. Shape the dough into a 6-inch long log, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days (we made the dough the day before we needed it to make making the filled pasta more manageable).

When ready to use the dough cut it into six equal pieces and let them return to about room temperature. The dough is now ready to run through the pasta press into whatever shape desired.

Thanksgiving!

We had a small Thanksgiving at our house this year and always looking to try new recipes we chose to have an Italian meal - more in the future on our geographical cooking tendencies but we did use cooking (international night) to introduce our kids to different cultures around the word...

For some context on what we had for Thanksgiving - I used to travel fairly frequently to northern Italy to the Bergamo region and always had one of my all-time favorite dishes when I was there - Casoncelli. We always swore we would try and cook this meal if we could ever find a recipe we could use. A long story short - we never were able to find the recipe because we were spelling it so wrong! But, this fall we found a new cookbook titled il viaggio di vetri - a culinary journey by Marc Vitri. It just so happens he trained as a chef in the Bergamo region of Italy and has an outstanding recipe for Casoncelli - see we know how to spell it now!!

We pulled pretty much the entire menu for our Thanksgiving dinner from Vitri's cookbook. Our menu was

•     olives, cheeses, meats (Prosciutto and Italian Salami) and
      crackers for appetizers;
•     Casoncelli with crispy sage and pancetta - completely
      made from scratch;
•     Grilled zucchini with mint and orange;
•     Grilled rib-eye steak with fresh tomato salad;
•     Flourless chocolate cake, pumpkin pie and lemon bars for dessert.

... and, of course, a little vino!

We'll cover the recipes later but, needless to say, it turned out fantastic!

-- Ray

Last night we had...

1000 Things to do with a Grocery Store Salad Bar

This begins an on-going, multi-part feature about your grocery store's salad bar. We are fortunate to have an exceptional salad bar at our local store. It has tons of options and is usually pretty fresh. Plus they serve more than bagged iceberg lettuce, which is my biggest pet-peeve. (I don't stress about the cost, because taking into consideration the leftover waste from buying all those individual ingredients, I think we're money ahead. And besides, I'm not realistically going to buy a huge bag of sprouts for a homemade salad.)

So here we go. This is my favorite way to use the salad bar. This one is pretty basic. Look for more inventive ideas in the future.

Easy Weeknight Salad
Salad greens
Meat of your choice: chicken breast, skirt steak, shrimp or fish.
Ciabatta bread or bread of your choice from your store's bakery.
Homemade salad dressing (recipe below)
A nice red wine if you're so inclined.

From the salad bar, using the largest container, fill with your family's favorite ingredients. I stick to the freshest looking things and avoid anything processed or containing mayonnaise. Don't forget to go around to the other side to see what's there. I put grapes, cranberry raisins and strawberries on top, which are found on the backside. Also, now is the time to try things you wouldn't normally buy - garbanzo beans, sprouts, peas, etc. What's also fun, especially for younger kids is to have all green night where you only pick out green things for your salad. Or all red, etc. Since salad can get boring quickly, anything to make it more interesting is appreciated!

Grill or saute the meat or fish to your tastes. (Tofu for the vegetarian, of course.) We usually grill a bunch of whatever meat we're using. After it's cooled, we slice it and freeze the leftovers for another salad.

Salad Dressing
Since I don't like store-bought dressings, homemade is my only option! This is my current favorite for winter. In the summer, omit the mustard and garlic. Mix all the ingredients in a 2 Cup measuring cup.

Lemons, Juice of two
Olive Oil, about twice the amount of lemon juice.
Dijon Mustard, about 1 Tbsp.
Garlic, one clove crushed and minced.
Salt and pepper to taste

In a pretty bowl, layer your salad greens with meat on top. Add dressing to taste and don't for get the bread! Enjoy!

Last Night we had Ground Beef Tacos

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of them. But, they were pretty standard stuff. this is my go-to meal when I just can't think about food. It's fast. It's simple. Everyone loves them.

Simple Ground Beef Tacos
1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained (This leaves enough for leftover nachos the next day for lunch)
Homemade seasoning (recipe to follow)
Shells of your choice. We like fajita shells or small thin corn hard shells
Shredded cheese of your favorite variety (don't be afraid to try something unusual like Monteray Jack)
Store-bought Taco Sauce (If you are in the mood, make homemade)
1 can Black Beans

To your cooked ground beef, add the spices and about 2/3 C. of water. Simmer until the water absorbs, about 5-10 minutes. In another sauce pan, warm up the beans.

When the meat and beans are ready, build the tacos in any way you want. The vegetarian kid makes cheese nachos or rummages around the fridge for something else. Some nights he's just on his own!

Taco Seasoning Spice
(I honestly don't remember where I got this recipe, but it's taped inside my spice cabinet, I use it that much!)
2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
3 Tsp. Cumin
1Tsp. Salt
2 Tsp. Black Pepper
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/2 Tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 Tsp. Oregano
1/2 Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes (or to taste)

In a small plastic container, combine all the ingredients and shake to mix. The "official" recipe says to use 3 Tbsp. per pound of ground beef, but I use all this for 1 1/2-2 pounds. There's no need to make up a bunch and keep it on hand, since it's so easy to make as you need it. I keep the container in the spice cabinet with "Taco Spices" written on top so it's always ready to go!

This is the doubled recipe, but I don't double the salt. With all these flavors, it's not necessary to use too much salt. If you double this recipe, you'll have to experiment with how much salt is too much for your tastes.

Last night we had Pizza

Pizza Part III - The Sauce
This is really the only recipe I know by heart and I've never written it down before! This is a versatile Italian sauce that we use for everything from Spaghetti and Meatballs to Parmesan Chicken to Pizza.


Italian Sauce
3 large 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 large 28-oz cans diced tomatoes (I like the petite diced)
(Or any combination of the above. This is is really personal preference on how chunky or thick you want your sauce.)
1 15 oz. size can of tomato sauce
1 Cup wine (I use white, but any wine you like will do.)
2-3 cloves crushed Garlic
Olive Oil
Hot pepper flakes
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Black Pepper

In a large pot, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Some is about 3 tablespoons. Add the garlic and swirl around in the pot. It will brown fast at this heat, so don't take your eyes off it. Once you can smell it and it starts to brown, add some hot pepper flakes to your taste. I add about 1 teaspoon. Once the garlic is brown, but not burned, add the tomatoes, sauce and wine. Be careful when adding the tomatoes, as tomatoes pop easily. Stir in the wine, black pepper and oregano to taste. I usually put in about 2 capfuls of Oregano and about the same of pepper. If you have dried parsley flakes, throw them in, too. (Note that I don't add salt. It doesn't need it in most applications. If you want salt, add it in now.)


Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will be. Once done, remove from heat and add Basil - about 1-2 capfuls. It is ready to use on spaghetti now.

To freeze, let come to room temperature and fill with 2-2 1/2 C. of sauce per container. Large yogurt or cottage cheese containers are the perfect size for one serving for a family of 5.

Pizza Sauce
Brown onions in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add about 1/2 to 2/3 C. sauce per pizza and about 1 teaspoon salt per 2 cups. Cook until it's reduced down to a fairly thick consistency, about 45 minutes. (This is personal preference, although we find a thicker sauce keeps the crust from getting soggy.) Let cool completely to room temperature before using on the pizza dough.

Last night we had Pizza - Building the perfect beast ...

Ok - so I get to build the pizza. Kinda like the crust our technique has evolved over time. We have always wanted to have that "wood fired" look and taste so we obviously chose to use a pizza stone. Now by any sane perspective this should be easy - right? Not for us, we didn't recognize the need for a good pizza paddle until late in the game - I think you'll find this a recurring theme for us..

So for our first several attempts at using the pizza stone we would turn the oven on high (550 degrees F - it's gotta be hot you know) and let the oven with the stone in it really soak in the heat (1+ hours). We then took the stone out of the oven (carefully of course), placed it on hot pads, and then built the pizza on the hot stone. Now after a couple of times doing this we finally realized we were pulling a 550 degree piece of stone out of the oven and if anything happened we would either scorch our wood floors (best case) or really hurt someone (worst case)! Made a pretty good crust like we wanted but definitely not a good way to make pizza.

That's where the pizza paddle comes in - you build the pizza on the paddle (putting a little corn meal and flour to make sure it slides off) and then slide the pizza onto the stone in the oven!! What a concept - and it's a whole lot safer...

Pizza really is easy. For toppings we think simpler is better. Last night we had margarita pizza. Only three ingredients on these: a light coating of pizza sauce (homemade of course - but Jenifer gets all the credit for the great sauce she makes and, I will let her write up the recipe), chopped fresh basil (which we can now buy at the grocery store although this past summer we grew 7 plants in the garden and made tons of pesto, etc. - but that's another topic) and cheese spread over the top (we use a blend of mozzarella, 7-cheese blend and parmesan) - we did learn that if you put the basil on top of the cheese it dries out and is not near as good.

We also made a sausage pizza and a white pizza with grilled chicken - I'll cover those next time around. But, here is what we ended up with - and it was absolutely delicious!

Last night we had Pizza

Pizza Part I - Crust
It's only fitting for us to start with pizza. We have been in search of the perfect pizza since we were married almost 16 years ago. It's been more miss than hit over the years, but finally, we are to the point where we are happy with our pizza and it turns out consistent every time.

We make almost everything by scratch staring with the crust. We like really thin crust, which has been hard to do. I used to make the dough fairly wet and let Ray work in more flour as he was rolling it out. This just worked so-so and was frustrating for him. But just this past summer we discovered the way to thin crust is through a dry dough. (Remember, we have no training - it's all trial, error and patience for us!)

By reducing the water in my standard recipe, I think we've attained the perfect pizza dough.

Jenifer's Pizza Crust
yield: 2 pizzas
3 C. bread flour
1 Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tsp. quick rise yeast
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
3/4 C. hot water

In the bowl of the mixer, sift the dry ingredients (including the yeast). Make a well in the center and add the olive oil and water. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. It will be really dry at this point. Knead a few times in the bowl until a ball forms. If it is too dry, add a tablespoon or so of hot water until a ball forms. Using the mixer and the dough hook, knead the dough on medium for about 4 minutes. If the ball falls apart when you first start kneading, add more hot water a tablespoon at a time.

Once the ball is kneaded, spray the bowl with Pam and place the dough in it. Cover with a damp towel on the counter for about an hour. Punch the dough down and it's ready to use. One ball makes two pizzas.

You can freeze any leftover dough for an incredibly long time. To use after freezing, just thaw it in refrigerator.