Hand-Made Whole-Wheat Noodles

You can buy whole wheat noodles, and they are perfectly acceptable noodles, but in my opinion there is no noodle better than a thick home made noodle in a delicious home made sauce.
This noodle recipe is my personal adaptation of the noodle my mother taught me, that her mother taught her, and so on and so forth. It's a good, simple recipe. The noodles can be rolled out with a rolling pin and sliced with a sharp knife, and for the many years before I had a pasta roller of my own I did that, but I'm glad I have a pasta roller. Many people have never eaten fresh home made noodles, so a noodle party always goes down well.

Whole Wheat Noodles
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose or bread flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/4 cup water or milk
1 tsp olive oil (optional)

Mix the flours and salt together in a small bowl, make a well in the center and break in the egg, add the olive oil and half of the milk. With a fork, whisk the liquids together until the egg is well beaten. Gradually incorporate more and more of the flour until you have a stiff, dry, but not floury, dough, gradually adding the rest of the milk if needed. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it a few times to make a smooth ball. Return to the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit, preferably for at least an hour.
When you are ready for your noodles, set up your pasta roller, set a large pot of water to boil on the stove, and with your hands press the noodle dough out into a rectangle. Feed it through the roller at the widest setting a few times, you may need to fold the dough over on itself and roll it through again a few times for the dough to start behaving itself.
Cut the dough in half to make more manageable lengths, and roll it through a few more settings until you reach your desired noodle thickness. At this point, it is perfect for Lazagna, just lay it across your pan on the desired layer and trim it to size.
If you want noodle-noodles, cut the dough in half again, so you have four quarters of approximately equal length, and run it through the slicer attachment. If you don't have a pasta roller, lightly flour the pieces, fold them in thirds, and slice thinly with a knife. They won't be perfectly even, but will still be delicious.
Dump the noodles into a pot of boiling water and, after a few seconds, stir them gently with a wooden spoon to separate them. Let the water come back to a rolling boil, and let boil until your particular noodles are done. They will cook much faster than dry noodles, so check them often.
Drain them and serve them the way you like best. Maybe with pesto, a creamy roasted pepper sauce, or a tomato sauce?

Yay picture recycling! Noodles with Creamy Pepper Sauce

Variations:
If you are throwing a noodle party, or just making a huge batch of noodles, it's fun to vary the colors and flavors of the different batches. A few of the easiest are spinach or tomato noodles, to make them, put all the liquids in the recipe in a blender or food processor along with a few leaves of baby spinach or a spoonful of tomato paste. Blend well, then use in the recipe as usual.

How to have a Noodle Party:
Do make your sauces ahead of time- make at least two different kinds.
Do make your doughs up ahead of time - make lots, count on each batch of dough serving 2.
Do prepare toppings ahead of time - sauteed mushrooms, grated cheeses, meatballs, etc...
Do give your guests the option to help roll the dough. Pasta rollers are fun.
Do cook the noodles in batches - encouraging people to have many smaller servings instead of one big one, trying different sauces and toppings and noodle flavors.
Do Not expect the noodles to be sufficient entertainment for most groups. Plan on having other activities going on at the same time.

A good texture of noodle dough

Knead the dough and let sit

a helper is good for rolling the dough

The noodles can rest while the water boils

Noodles in water. Stir to unstick them.

Boiling noodles

-I have been trying recently to stick to a Sunday/Wednesday blog update schedule, but I just had to break out of the pattern for this recipe. In order to show proper reverence to the FSM, this recipe is published on Friday, zer holy day.
Touch us with your noodly appendage, that our bellies may be filled with your delicious pasta,
RAmen
-Zay
 (P.S. There will be no update on Sunday. It's my birthday and I will be away camping.)

Pesto & Pesto Ricotta

Pesto is something that everyone should make and eat. I was not exposed to it until I went to College, and then I was unimpressed by underseasoned salads utilizing old pesto... and then I went and worked for Bianca for a summer, and made more fresh delicious pesto than you can shake a stick at. It's been love ever since.
All you need to make yourself a pretty good supply of pesto is a single plant. Trim it back a few times, encourage it to grow into a bush, and you have all the pesto two people can eat all summer, with a little left over to freeze for winter... though the frozen is never quite as good as fresh.

Pesto
2 cups basil leaves, well packed, stems removed
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (approximately)
2 Tbsp fresh grated parmesan
2 Tbsp pine nuts
2 tsp garlic
1/8 tsp each salt and black pepper

In it's simplest incarnation, simply process everything together in a food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides once or twice if necessary. I, however, prefer a slightly 'chunky' pesto, so I leave out a Tbsp each of the parmesan and pine nuts, chop them with a knife, and stir them in later. If you prefer a thin, oily pesto (good for dipping bread in), just add more olive oil. Adding more olive oil is usually necessary if you are trying to use a blender instead of a food processor.
I have actually made pesto without having access to a blender or food processor of any kind. It involved a lot of very very fine dicing with a sharp chef's knife. It turned out decent, but was better for dipping bread than for seasoning pasta... but it can be done!

To use Pesto, you can toss it with warm pasta, spread it on a pizza instead of tomato sauce, toss it with fresh boiled baby potatoes, spread it on crackers, put it on sandwiches (pesto-chicken-mozzarella anyone?), and my favorite: make pesto ricotta.

Pesto and Ricotta, about to become One

Pesto Ricotta
some pesto
about twice to three times as much ricotta

mix together well.

Pesto Ricotta

Pesto Ricotta on a Lasagna

I decided to make pesto ricotta the first time a few summers back when I suddenly realized I didn't have enough pesto to go with the pasta dinner I was making. It turned out better than I could have hoped, and has become a staple when I am making pasta dishes. I like it best when you can get a mouthful of warm tomato sauce and noodles with a little cold, creamy pesto ricotta in with it. The contrast is key.
I also like pesto ricotta on pizza. I usually dot a pizza with generous tablespoonfuls, then top and bake as I normally would.

Anyway, with summer approaching I think this is a timely reminder.
Plant your Basil! Make your Pesto! Eat Delicious Food!
-Zay

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Last summer, at work, I was introduced to this Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, and it was love at first taste. We would serve it with mushroom ravioli, but it works equally well on plain pasta, and upon thinking about it, would probably be very good on steamed cauliflower or other fresh vegetables.

The way the recipe is written makes a very thick sauce. To serve, whisk a little of the sauce into a little boiling milk on the stove, bring it back to a boil, and pour it over whatever you are serving. If you thin it more, you could even use it for a very rich soup... just thinking about a warm bowl with some gnocchi floating in it is making me hungry.

I copied (and scaled down) the recipe from work months ago, but never had the peppers to make the recipe until recently, when I bought a 2# bag of mini sweet peppers. I'm not usually a huge fan of peppers, but the sweet flavorfulness of these peppers has really won me over. 

Pepper Sauce over Home Made Noodles with Lemon Broccoli

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

1 1/4 cup milk

1 or 2 red bell peppers (or 4-8 mini sweet peppers)

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp grated parmesan

Roast the peppers over a flame, turning, until lightly blistered and blackened on the outside. Set on a cutting board and let cool, then remove the seeds and puree in a food processor until very smooth. 

In a small pot, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook briefly, stirring constantly. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil. Add pepper puree and return to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper and parmesan.

To serve, bring a little milk to a boil in a saucepan on the stove. Whisk in pepper sauce until the desired consistency is reached and bring back to a boil. Pour over warm pasta.

This sauce stores well in the fridge, so don't worry if you have more than you will use in one meal. 

Roasted Peppers

Thinning the Sauce

Enjoy!

-Zay



Tomato Sauce From Scratch

In my quest to not eat refined sugars, I have become a compulsive food-labels reader. In my readings, I have discovered that there are almost no pasta sauces without added sugar. This doesn't bother me because I prefer home made sauce anyway. This is the basic sauce I use for everything, pizza, lasagna, spaghetti, you name it. You can easily change it up by adding mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, chicken, eggplant, or whatever you like best in your sauce.
Last night I had it over home made whole wheat noodles, with chicken and sweet peppers.

Tomato Sauce
1 large clove garlic, diced
1/2 small onion, chopped small
about 1 tsp olive oil
1 bay leaf, optional
dried or fresh oregano, to taste
basil, to taste (preferably fresh, use dried in an emergency)
about 5 medium tomatoes, chopped, or 1 can petite diced tomatoes, or a combination.
Salt, to taste

in a small pot, saute the onions and garlic with the olive oil until they are softened and fragrant. Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, and oregano. If you are using dry basil, add that. Simmer over very low heat until the sauce is reduced to your liking. Adjust salt and add the chopped basil if you are using fresh, and remove from the heat immediately.

And that's it folks. You can run it through a blender if you prefer smooth sauce, you can add anything you want to it. For pizza, I usually cook it longer for a dryer sauce than I use for pasta, but it's up to you what you like.

I was out of fresh basil