laura k – Page 25 – The Kitchen Illiterate

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Because I seem to be on a roll of concocting very messy things in my kitchen, why should tonight be any different? At first glance, Butternut Squash Lasagna doesn’t seem like it should be the messiest project, but you just try grating slightly mushy butternut squash pieces, and then we can talk. Oh, the squash eventually got grated, but so did my fingers.

I realized as I was constructing my lasagna that in all my reading about pasta, and traditional Italian foods, I’d never really come across any information about lasagna. Was it, in fact, an Italian dish, or just another American concoction for the red-checkered tablecloth crowd? I decided to do a little research.

Continue reading Butternut Squash Lasagna

Artichoke Ravioli with Tuna Caper Cream sauce

Artichoke ravioli with Tuna Caper Cream Sauce

Friday night I got the chance to play executive chef a little bit, and order Mr. X around in the kitchen. Alright, I didn’t really order him around so much as tell him my idea and watch him expertly pull it off. And I mean expertly. This was a tasty dinner. I will do my very best to re-create his methods here, and hopefully, he will correct whatever I get wrong.

We made the artichoke ravioli last weekend. The filling for this was pretty damn simple, and aside from the minor problems I discovered earlier in the week (gummy pasta, not enough filling in each ravioli) they were lovely–light and lemony and almost summery. Which was nice, considering that it was something like 11 degrees here all weekend.

Continue reading Artichoke Ravioli with Tuna Caper Cream sauce

Roasted Vegetable Risotto, or: Risotto, Take Two

Roasted Vegetable Risotto

I figured that risotto was one of those foods with an undeserved reputation for being near impossible to get right. I thought that with some patience, and time, and attention to detail, I could definitely handle risotto. My first attempt proved that it was harder than I thought. That was several months ago, and while it was edible, even delicious, it was not really…right. It wasn’t creamy, the grains had too much bite, it wasn’t…heavenly.

After some research, and lengthy consultation with other risotto cookers, I decided to give it another go. My problems seem to have been that I cooked it much too quickly, at too high a temperature. I thought this time around, I’d go very, very basic. I still had about a pound of leftover roasted vegetables from Tuesday night’s chicken roasting, which would add a bit more interest to a basic risotto without affecting the actual risotto cooking process, thus giving me a chance to perfect my technique.

I think it still needs a bit more perfecting.

Continue reading Roasted Vegetable Risotto, or: Risotto, Take Two

Balsamic Portabello and Brie Ravioli with Roasted Tomatoes and Broccoli and Truffle Oil

Raviolis and Roasted Veg

Homemade ravioli: simultaneously easier and more difficult than I expected.

We assembled our ravioli on Monday night, and I was surprised at how (relatively) easy it was to make the dough, and get it into the right shapes, and put all the yummy stuff in, and keep all the yummy stuff from falling out. They looked so lovely, and tiny, and the dough was silky, and it was all so tactile and fun. And good smelling.

Last night we decided it was time to cook up one of the two batches we made, and while they were very, very good, something was not quite 100%, and we all know what a perfectionist I am. I am now determined to master the art of ravioli making.

Continue reading Balsamic Portabello and Brie Ravioli with Roasted Tomatoes and Broccoli and Truffle Oil

Salami Roasted Chicken

Chicken and veggies

I have roasted a fair number of chickens in the past year, and I’m always looking for something a little different from the traditional herbs-butter-lemon method. I think I have found it. I would never have thought of roasting chicken with another kind of meat in it (well, other than in a turducken kind of way) but as I perused my cookbooks, trying to find something new, I happened across Jamie Oliver’s “fantastic roast chicken” recipe.

Jamie Oliver does not use salami. He uses prosciutto, but I didn’t have prosciutto. I had salami, so I thought I’d just run with it. Add in a bag of pre-cut root vegetables from Trader Joe’s, a couple potatoes and carrots, and voila–a roast chicken dinner. With salami.

Continue reading Salami Roasted Chicken

Homemade Pasta, or The Messiest Cooking Project Ever

Fresh Fettuccini

Last night we decided to embark on the messiest cooking project I believe I’ve ever undertaken: making fresh homemade pasta. Of course, we couldn’t be satisfied with just one big batch of fettuccini or spagetti, oh no. We decided to make three kinds of pasta, fettuccini, and two kinds of ravioli. Yes, two. We were going to go all the way.

Mr. X was doubtful about making pasta without a food processor, but I refused to let lack of machinery stand in my way. After all, people made pasta without a food processor for hundreds of years. If their hands were good enough, then dammit, so were mine! As it turned out, the dough ended up just the right texture for rolling, and wasn’t very difficult at all. It was, however, very messy, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not always so good with messy. I soldiered through the gloppy flour-covered hands and squishy liquidy ravioli fillings, though, and we ended up with a pretty awesome dinner.

Continue reading Homemade Pasta, or The Messiest Cooking Project Ever

Sugar High Friday: Scharffen Berger and Sourdough

Scharffen Berger Sourdough

I have been missing San Francisco like crazy lately. More than usual, in a fierce, more yearning kind of way. What, you wonder, could that possibly have to do with Sugar High Friday?

I’ve never before entered any of the many food blogger contests, and it seems unusual, even to me, that my first would be one centered around sweets, seeing as I’m not such a sweets kind of person. But when I saw this month’s theme, Chocolate by Brand, I instantly thought of Sharffen Berger, and San Francisco, and that sense of longing that comes upon whenever I think of San Francisco this time generated something like an idea.

When I was in college one of my favorite indulgences was dunking buttery pieces of sourdough toast into hot chocolate. It sounds weird, I know, but holy crap it tastes awesome. The butter and the chocolate are a perfect complement, and set off by the tang of the sourdough bread….uhhnnnhhh, you don’t even know.

So my idea? Capturing San Francisco and that awesome combination into a sweet and savory snack. What do people think of when they think of San Francisco (besides its total awesomeness)? Sourdough bread and chocolate.

Of course, most people would think of Ghirardelli, the quintessential San Francisco chocolatier for over 150 years. Ghirardelli Square is a constant attraction for tourists, and everyone knows: San Francisco chocolate = Ghirardelli. But the thing is, Ghirardelli isn’t just San Francisco now, its pervasive. You can get Ghirardelli in any grocery store anywhere in the country. Nothing about it anymore speaks to me of San Francisco. But Scharffen Berger?

Scharffen Berger doesn’t have quite the illustrious history of Ghirardelli, but, like many things, its relative anonymity gives it a special kind of lustre. Of course, its anonymity may be short lived, but its tastiness I’m sure will not be. This is some pretty superb chocolate.

But combined with sourdough? All I can say is don’t judge until you’ve tried.

Continue reading Sugar High Friday: Scharffen Berger and Sourdough

Whatever’s in the Pantry Pasta, or Cannellini Broccolini Pasta

Cannellini Broccolini Pasta

It has been a bit of a rough week for the kitchen. Around about Tuesday I realized that I was completely broke, AND had a nearly bare pantry. And the combination of winter, evening darkness, and a job I don’t exactly love put me in the mood to do nothing much but sit on the couch, reading Harry Potter and drinking hot toddies. But tonight I knew I would have to figure out the sustenance question eventually, and cobble together some kind of meal from the random remnants on hand.

I actually love this kind of ramshackle cooking. I’ve devised some pretty interesting meals based solely on what was at hand. I’ve also experienced some dinner disasters, but we dont’ need to speak of those. I will just say, stay away from any beet-garbanzo-spaghetti-feta combinations.

So what was in the pantry tonight? I still have those anchovies. In fact I’m beginning to suspect that they are reproducing, alone at night in the refrigerator, because it doesn’t appear I ever have fewer anchovies. I have a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of cannellini beans. I have some slightly bedgraggled looking broccolini, and I think, yes, that this might make a meal. Of some sort.

Continue reading Whatever’s in the Pantry Pasta, or Cannellini Broccolini Pasta

The Dogwood Cafe

The Dogwood

The Dogwood Cafe is a JP staple, and I’ve been eating here since I moved to Boston, amost three years ago. I crave the broccoli cheddar poppers, their brick oven pizzas are creative, and almost never disappoint, and they offer Anchor Steam on tap. So why do I so rarely even remember that it’s there when trying to think of a place to eat dinner?

I honestly have no answer to that, other than, perhaps, location: The Dogwood is at the very end of the Orange Line, at Forest Hills, on the Washington Street/Hyde Park Ave side of the station–a place I very rarely am. It should be more often remembered, though, and I’m glad I thought of it last Saturday night.

Continue reading The Dogwood Cafe

Gnocchi with Mushroom Sausage Ragu

I bought pre-made gnocchi at Trader Joe’s last week, and had been wondering all weekend what to do with it. This ragu is, yet again, bastardized from another recipe, this one from Martha Stewart’s Everday Food. Say what you will about Martha, I do have a bit of a weakness for this magazine. And this was a great partner for the gnocchi–rich and really full of flavor, and thick enough to coat the gnocchi, but not too heavy or creamy or fatty.

It took a bit longer than most things I cook, but wasn’t difficult at all, and was well worth the extra time. I’m curious how different it would taste made as the original recipe suggests, without the wine, and with bacon instead of sausage. I also feel like it’s a bit of a cop out, to write about gnocchi when using the packaged kind, but I’m not quite ready to make my own gnocchi. Regardless, this ragu would probably also be awesome with any other kind of pasta, or even over chicken or steak or something (probably not so much over fish, though).

Continue reading Gnocchi with Mushroom Sausage Ragu