It's also a very cost effective way to make food last for a long time, which Andrew and I can appreciate while living on a law school budget.
On Sundays I notice that I tend to use every dish in my kitchen.. trying out all sorts of new dishes that I've researched, or trying to use some of the delicious produce that I just purchased at the Farmer's market the day before. I SHOULD have taken a picture of our sink, post meal... it wasn't pretty!!
Fortunately, Andrew and I made an agreement that he does the dishes since I cook... He should have known that marrying a chef (and being in law school!!!) this is a very very bad deal. His loss..
For those carbo-phobes out there, here are a couple of ways to make a traditional pasta dish so good for you:
1. Whole Wheat Flour
I substituted Semolina flour for Whole Wheat White flour... I understand that it's a faux pas among the Italians, but I won't tell if you don't.
2. Use lots of Vegetables
I used tons of delicious vegetables that I purchased the day before. This pasta was more of a stew with tons of vitamins and minerals. It's also very important to NOT cook the vegetables down too much.. This loses a lot of the important good stuff... Vitamin K, Vitamin C, etc.
For this dish- I used fresh Kale, Heirloom Cherry tomatoes, & Meyer Lemon slices/
You can also add carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.
3. Use HOMEMADE Bone Broth and a little Cream for the sauce
I'll save my rant on bone broth for another post... To keep it simple, it's awesome for you.
Using cream- let's get this straight... you need roughly 30% good fat in your diet in order to be sufficient in fatty acids. Just go ahead and put a little cream; it won't kill you.
For this sauce, I used full fat goat yogurt from my friends at the farmer's market.. You can also just use plain old cream.
Here's a recipe for the homemade pasta
Disclaimer: it's not pretty. I don't have a pasta machine, and you don't need one... you just need your hands and a fork and knife
Pasta Ingredients
4 cups Whole Wheat White flour (sifted to get the big wheat chunks out)
1 tbps Sea Salt (fine)
2 large eggs (Pastured)
1 lb full fat Ricotta
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
Directions for dough:
Make a "well" in a large bowl with the flour, dump all ingredients in the center and slowly work together. You may need a little more flour if the dough is too wet, or a little more cream if it's too dry.
Once well combined, place dough on a floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. (Hint: while in the frig- you can make your sauce or get your pot of water boiling)
Take dough out of frig; cut a chunk off the end and roll out flat like cookie dough (roughly 1/3" thick).
(after I finished my pasta for the evening, this is what's left... It's a LOT of dough!)
Cut this piece into 1/2"-3/4" thick slices. Take each slice and roll between your hands into little worms. Cut the little worms into 2-3" long pieces. Make a light indentation with each with your fork.
(told ya, not cute.. but who cares!!? It's covered in sauce, anyway)
Make enough pasta for you and your family.. You can cook it and refrigerate for a few days. You can also freeze the dough for a couple months.. This recipe makes a LOT of noodles. I usually freeze some dough for "clean out the frig" lasagna days.
To cook:
Well salted pot of boiling water.
Cook roughly 5 minutes; noodles will float to the top when done.
Ingredients for Northern Italian Sauce:
1/2 small onion, tiny diced (brunoise)
1/2 cups Dry white wine
2 tbsps raw honey
1 Large Meyer Lemon, sliced thinly
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsps Italian Seasoning (or mixture of basil, oregano, marjoram)
1 pinch hungarian paprika
1 pinch chili powder
2 Bay Leaves
2 cups Bone Broth (chicken/veal/beef)
sea salt, cracked pepper and garlic to taste
small handful of Capers
small handful of raisins
small handful of olives
large handful fresh kale
large handful cherry tomatoes
***please don't freak out if you don't have all of these ingredients. It's REALLY not a big deal. Any somewhat mediterranean spices/ingredients will work well.
Directions for Sauce:
Heat Medium Sauce Pan on high heat with a tiny bit of olive oil/butter/coconut oil (whatever is in your cabinet). Add onion and cook until caramelized. Add white wine, honey, lemon slices, fennel, coriander, italian spices, paprika, chili powder, and bay leaves. Cook until wine reduces by almost half. Reduce heat to medium, add bone broth and let simmer for 12 minutes or so.
Add capers, raisins, olives and cooked pasta; let cook until you're almost ready to eat (minimum 10 minutes)
2-3 minutes before serving, add kale and cherry tomatoes.
ENJOY your hearty, delicious, nutritious meal.
Finished Product
(I threw in some deer sausage that we had just because I wanted to... surely you don't have to add sausage if you don't want to!)
Here's the finished plate.. we'll call it rustic.
I served it with roasted chicken and a little freshly grated Romano cheese.
Looks good, right? Go ahead.. dig in!
xo
Celeste
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