timpano

simple ceasar dressing

I made this last night in a hurry and it came out really nice. Obviously you can dress a salad with it but... I would suggest drizzling it over a piece of roasted meat such as veal or over some seared fish. You could also use it as a simple sauce for some fresh noodles with... I dunno... shrimp, red chili and mint or toss it with cooked veggies like haricot vert, rapini, chard, brussels sprouts, the list goes on. Here is the recipe...

2 oz lemon juice
1 clove of garlic (smashed into paste)
2 red anchovy (sliced)
1 tsp minced shallot
.5 tsp dijon
a little salt and fresh ground black pepper
5 oz olive oil

Simply place all the ingredients in a container with a tight fitting lid and shake the s**t out of it. Don't worry about the anchovy pieces being to big, they will break up when you shake the dressing.

ragù bolognese

What you will need:
(first to prepare the meat)
8 oz pork shoulder
8 oz beef round or chuck
the peel of 1 orange
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp pepper corns
1 tsp coriander seed
4 bay leaves
1 dried red chili seeded

(you will use these next)
2 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion sliced
3 T tomato paste
2 cups beef or chicken stock
1 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

This is simple... just run the first eleven ingredients through your meat grinder with the large die plate. If you don't have a grinder grind the spices in a food processor and mix with pre-ground meat. Next heat up a large sauce pan and add the olive oil and the meat mixture. Cook this on medium heat until the meat is nicely browned. Now remove the meat and add the onion. Sweat the onion until soft then add the tomato paste, keeping the pan on medium heat and stirring, cook until it just starts to brown. Stir in your stock and water until all the tomato paste is incorporated. Now let it reduce on low heat until the liquid part of the ragù will coat the back of a spoon, season with salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy.

Toss the ragù with fresh pasta and flat parsley, basil or whatever herbs you like. Top the dish with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and some freshly grated parmesan.

fettucini carbonara

Ingredients
for the sauce:
(you'll use these ingredients first)
4 oz bacon cut into .5 inch cubes
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot sliced thin
4 cloves garlic sliced thin
a lot of fresh ground black pepper
salt

(you'll use these ingredients second)
1 oz stock
a splash of the pasta water
1 oz cream

(you'll use these ingredients last)
. 5 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 T or so fresh parsley
12 oz fresh pasta
3 egg yolks
1 oz shredded parmesan

For pasta, use my past dough recipe.


Cooking steps
This one is really tasty and easy. Before you start making the sauce get the pasta water boiling. Make sure the water is salty like sea water and add some olive oil to it... just a splash.

First crank up the heat on a large saute pan. Then add the olive oil and bacon.... turn the heat to low after the bacon gets a little color on it. Let the bacon brown very slow turning it occasionally. Once the bacon is fully browned and crisp add the shallots and garlic. At this point you should also start cooking the noodles. Let the shallots and garlic sweat a bit then add the pepper and salt. Now that the veg is soft, add the stock, cream and a splash of the pasta water. Reduce the liquid in the pan by half and remove from the heat.



When the noodles are almost done return the sauce to heat adding the parsley and peas. Once the noodles are cooked to your desired tenderness drain them and toss them in the pan with the sauce. last add the parmesan and egg yolks one at a time as you stir the pasta. Finally plate it and grate some parmesan on top.

pasta dough

For the dough
500 g tipo 00 flour
18 medium egg yolks
1 oz olive oil
a splash of milk

This is easy... just put the all the ingredients except the milk in your mixer and turn on low. Let it mix about 5 minutes. At this point the dough should still look dry, a bit like bread crumbs, but moist enough that if you grab a bit and squeeze it will stick together. Now add a splash of milk and watch the dough as it mixes... it shouldn't look dry anymore. If it does add a few more drops of milk. Your pasta dough should be in a few big pieces, very firm, not sticky and a golden yellow color. Now you can roll it into whatever you want or wrap it in pastic and store in the cooler up to 3 days. I find it easier to roll after it has rested for at least 45 minutes and is room temp.