Spaghetti all'Amatriciana

It was another "Cooking with Michael" day at Quail Hollow. Michael Chiarello is one of my favorite Food Network stars. He creates a menu on each show and uses ingredients easily found in a regular grocery store. In It's All Here, Michael creates a wonderful meal with pantry items. I decide to check out the recipes and prepare his Spaghetti all'Amatriciana and Whole Leaf Caesar Salad for our dinner. Now I'm sure my pantry is quite different from Michael's, but surprisingly, I had most of the ingredients. The tomato puree was in the freezer from last year's harvest and the parsley and basil were from our garden. I did buy the pancetta and put it in the freezer to harden so it could be easily sliced. There was even a box of bucatini from a trip to the Dekalb Farmer's Market.

This menu was a success. Kenny's comment was "Wow!" which translates to "you can make this again." I will definitely do this again, but next time I am going to use fresh pasta so it will soak up the goodness of the sauce.

Spaghetti all'Amatriciana
adapted from Michael Chiarello

1/3 pound pancetta, partially frozen
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup tomato puree
3/4 pound bucatini
Freshly grated Parmesan

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat.

Cut the pancetta into thin slices across the grain. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook for about minutes, but not crisp. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the red pepper, parsley, basil and vinegar and cook until the vinegar evaporates. Add the tomato puree and a ladle of pasta water. Simmer briefly to blend.

Add the pasta to the boiling water while preparing the sauce and cook about 8 minutes or until al dente. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to coat. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan. Yield; 4 servings.

Cooking with Michael and Friends

I love to cook and the Food Network is the inspiration for many of my meals. I have always wanted to take one episode and try to recreate it. This week I did it! The plan was to use Michael Chiarello's Let the Sunshine In episode and prepare the menu in my kitchen. Susan and I shopped for the ingredients locally with much success. The only thing missing was watercress. Dale joined us in the kitchen and we created an absolutely delicious meal.

I started the day before preparing the Frozen Ruby Reds. One word of caution, make sure you are going to be around for several hours so you can rake the frozen juice every hour or so. I made the mistake of leaving and called Kenny to do the raking. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough and I had to scrape out the ice crystals and put them in another container while the juice that was frozen solid thawed on the counter. After a while I was able to "rake" the juice and get the snow cone-like crystals.

After our shopping trip, we began the preparation. Susan started preparing the fruit for the Triple Orange Dessert Soup while I worked on the Lemon Braised Artichokes over Pasta. It took Susan quite some time to peel and section the oranges, grapefruit and tangerines. My task was to clean and quarter the artichokes. Thanks, Alessandra, for showing me how to prepare fresh artichokes in your Italian kitchen. This was a fairly simple and quick prep. I used fresh thyme from the garden for the braising. Once braised, they were set aside while Dale and I worked on the salad.
With the help of a mandoline, the fennel, carrots and onion were thinly sliced. Since we couldn't find any good watercress, we used spinach. The salad becomes better after sitting for a while so the vegetables can soak up the dressing. Kenny arrived in time to oversee the preparation of the Chicken with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce. The roasted lemons were amazing. By now, the kitchen was full of wonderful smells. The chicken and potatoes were browned and baked for 15 minutes.

Next time we will add to the baking time. The potatoes were still a little crunchy. During the baking, Kenny got started on mixing the drinks. We rimmed the glasses with salt and enjoyed the frozen drinks while the chicken and potatoes baked and the pasta was cooked.

Once the chicken and potatoes were baked, we made the sauce and finished the pasta. We decided to use only half of the lemon juice. The food smelled and looked wonderful. Everyone's favorite was the pasta – it could easily be served as the main dish with a salad and bread for a delicious meal. The Triple Orange Dessert Soup was much like our ambrosia without the coconut. It was a light finish to a meal that was all about citrus. Thanks to Michael, we had a wonderful meal and a great time in the kitchen!

Making Fresh Pasta - Part 2

I love my pasta maker! Follow along and I'll give step-by-step directions on the process. Begin with 2 cups of all purpose flour on a large wooden cutting board. Create a well in the middle of the flour and add 2 eggs. Using a fork, break the eggs and begin working the flour into the eggs.

Continue to add the flour until the dough comes together and you can knead it.

Begin kneading the dough, adding flour as needed. You want a soft dough that is not sticky. Knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. This is a very important step! Once the dough has rested, cut it into 4 sections. Shape the dough into a rectangle. Using the largest setting on the pasta maker, roll the dough through the maker 3 times. Reduce the setting one notch at a time and roll the dough. Since I wanted thin fettucine, I used the smallest setting before cutting the fettucine. Half of the dough is enough for 2 servings. I like to lightly dust the cut pasta with flour to keep it from sticking together. Cook in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. It is that easy! I saved the remaining dough in an airtight container for tomorrow. I'm planning to add chopped fresh basil to the dough and use with a tomato sauce. I'll let you know how it goes.

Making Fresh Pasta

My latest kitchen tool is a pasta maker. One of my goals for retirement was to make fresh pasta. I have watched many a chef make pasta and it seemed so easy. And it is! I followed the recipe that came with the pasta maker - 2 cups flour and 2 eggs. After letting the dough rest, I divided it into 4 pieces. The hardest part was finding a place to mount the pasta maker. Running the dough through the machine was quite simple. The first batch was for experimenting with the machine. It took a few tries before I realized that the larger number, 6, on the pasta maker was the narrowest setting. So for the second batch, I used the largest setting, 1, and worked down to 6. With the fettucine cutting attachment, I made some wonderful strands of pasta. I lightly floured the dough to keep it from sticking together while I started the water boiling and made the sauce.

With no plan for the sauce, I looked to the garden for inspiration and found 2 of my favorite ingredients, fresh tomatoes and basil.

Garden Fresh Tomatoes and Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup white wine

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

Fresh pasta

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add garlic and onions and cook until onions are tender. Add wine and tomatoes and cook on medium high for 5 minutes. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 3 minutes or until al dente. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, and stir in basil and mozzarella. Simmer until the mozzarella begins to melt.

Pour into a serving bowl and top with grated Parmesan and garnish with basil. Serves 2.