homemade spinach ravioli

for our first christmas together a few years ago, jordan gave me a beautiful, authentic fire-engine red pasta maker.  we have gotten a lot of good use out of it, but i never remember to document the hours-long event that is making a homemade pasta dinner. a pasta maker is a great investment...you can really tell the difference between pasta from a box and pasta from scratch.  if you put the time in, you will see that it is worth it.

each time we have made pasta, we have always used either the spaghetti or linguine settings.  this time, we wanted to make homemade ravioli instead.  the results were magnificent, and now i'll share the process with you all!

making the dough is not as hard as you think...you just need semolina flour, salt, a little water, some olive oil and a couple of eggs (the best recipes are the simplest ones!)  we always use semolina flour from bob's red mill because it has the best recipe for pasta dough that we've tried.

combine 1 1/2 cups of semolina and 1/2 tsp salt and place on a flat, clean, dry surface.  make a well in the center of the flour and add 2 beaten eggs, 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of olive oil to the well.  using a fork, gently begin to incorporate the flour into the well, starting around the edge of the well and making your way out.  once the dry and wet ingredients are incorporated, begin to knead the dough.

continue to knead for about 10 minutes or so, until the dough is elastic.  then set the dough aside after wrapping in saran wrap.  let rest for 20 minutes.  while the dough is resting, get to work on the ravioli filling.  we used frozen chopped spinach, cooked and drained well, combined with ricotta, garlic and salt.  easy and delicious.  combine to taste, and set aside.

once the dough is ready, roll it out flat and cut in half to begin to process through the pasta maker.

now comes the fun part!  first, roll each half of the dough through the widest setting on the pasta maker 10 times.  between each turn, sprinkle the dough with a little bit of flour, fold in thirds, then pass through with the open side facing downwards.

uno...

due...

tre!

once each half has been through 10 times, roll each half through again, changing the setting each roll from the widest to the thinnest.  (usually for cut pasta, we stop at the narrowest setting before cutting into the noodles.  however, since we were making ravioli, we wanted the dough to be a little thicker to be able to withstand the filling.  if you're in doubt, consult the instructions on your pasta maker.)

 since we didn't have a ravioli cutter (they do exist, however!) we used its bigger, more hulky cousin, a pizza wheel, to cut the dough into rectangles.

we put a little dab of the ricotta mixture in the center of each rectangle, then placed another rectangle on top.  using a fork we gently pressed the edges together to seal.

bring a very large pot of salted water to a gentle boil.  drop in about 5 ravioli at a time, and cook for less than a minute (they will float to the top when they're finished).  

look how precious they are!

 i was so pleased with how this little italian dinner came out.  we served ours with sauteed halved baby portobello mushrooms with red sauce, but i think it would be great with just a little drizzle of oil and some cheese on top too!

mangia!

califoodnia

hello, everyone!

i am FINALLY posting after over a month.  and happy 2nd anniversary, little blog!

2010 was a busy busy year for me, with lots of decisions, changes, and stresses that kept me from keeping up with my favorite little project.  it's fitting that i celebrate two years of blogging, and a new year of adventures, with a summary of some of the most delicious food i have ever tasted on my trip to california!

j and i hit the road with our dear friend, chris, and his trusty dog, blue, to explore the treasures amidst the golden state's beautiful landscapes.  while we were spendthrifts for most of the vacay (we paid for lodging for one night only, thanks to the kindness of friends, new and old), we weren't afraid to spend a little extra to fill our bellies.  what fun is traveling if you aren't down to sample the local fare?

and what wonderful sampling we did.

SAN DIEGO

azucar
4820 newport avenue

cafe au lait and a coco y piña scone.

want awesome coffee, beautiful baristas, and scrumptious scones?  hit up azucar, a local cuban bakery, and all your sugar and caffeine filled fantasies will come true.  in the morning, the small space that houses the bakery is filled with this beautiful light that reflects off the key-lime-mousse colored walls and white tables and chairs...a light that draws you directly to the glass case housing the most carefully crafted, glistening scones, quiches and cookies you've ever seen, tasted or smelled.  i had a latté with a coco y piña scone; the boys wet their whistles with azucar's signature quiche and black coffee.  and the mojito-lime cookie?  criminally delicious.

third corner
2265 bacon st, ocean beach

chris was excited to take us to the restaurant where he works.  third corner completely changed my expectations about wine bars.  i used to work in one in my hometown, and, as i found out, it was a very "east coast" kind of place.  third corner was different.  the rooms were laid out like you were in someone's home...the home of someone who has a hell of a lot of wine.  there were shelves of wine amidst the tables, and the diners are invited to peruse the thousands of wines available and select the perfect bottle to bring back to the table to enjoy with the meal.  chris suggested we try pétalos, a spanish wine, and a white bordeaux.  bottles in hand, we took a seat in a cozy room, where the walls were splashed with teal accents, in oversized couches surrounding a rustic, low-to-the-ground wood table.

i liked it already.

we started with the humboldt fog baked goat cheese, served with wild mushrooms and toasted brioche.  the cheese literally melted in your mouth, and its texture was almost like a brie, which was pleasantly unexpected.  we ordered the house salad and the goat cheese salad.  i preferred the former and ended up eating most of it myself, as i loved the basil vinaigrette over the too-sweet strawberry dressing accompanying the goat cheese salad.  sharing is great among friends, especially when it comes to entrees.  i ordered the pan-seared scallops, which were prepared with tomatoes, nicoise olives, green beans and roasted potatoes in a white wine and lemon sauce...however, jordan's salmon entree made me wish i had ordered what he was enjoying.  luckily, he was willing to swap, and we both ended up enjoying the other's dinner more than the dinner we picked for ourselves.  the salmon was perfectly tender, surrounded by a killer tomato fennel confit and a heavenly little puff of mashed potatoes. and for dessert?  wine, of course.  we stayed until midnight.


the blue parrot bar and grill
4993 niagra ave

$2 fish tacos?  yes please.  go for happy hour, get some beers, chips and guac, and tacos and you've had a great time (and it'll still be early when you're done!)  careful...if you're a spice-phobe, the blackened fish tacos are KILLER spicy.  but oh-so-rico.

SANTA BARBARA

sojourner cafe
132 e. canon perdido

the mediterranean nut burger

after a long day driving, trying to avoid classic california traffic, what sojourners we were.  we stumbled upon this cozy, veg-friendly spot after reading a good review in the lonely planet.  the staff was totally friendly; the charismatic host seated the three of us right away, and our super cute, so-cal waitress was patient with our many questions and ready with the right answer every time.  jordan tried the restaurant's specialty, the mediterranean nut burger, a totally earthy, all veggie patty that was crafted to taste like veggies, not like a burger.  each night sojourner features a special ravioli, which i tried.  the night we went it was spinach, artichoke and feta.  drizzled with a simple red sauce, it was hard to beat.  dessert was coffee ice cream, and it was just perfect.

BIG SUR

big sur river inn and general store

our second night in big sur, after a day of hard hiking, we made it to the inn just in time to replenish our bodies with a delicious made to order burrito.  get there before 7 pm...although the general store stays open until 9, the burrito bar housed in the back closes 2 hours before.  in big sur, untamed wilderness outnumbers the amount of five star places to eat, but for a group of hungry hikers, a seven buck burrito really hit the spot.

SAN FRANCISCO

the plant
3 locations around sf

the classic plant burger...hold the aioli

we headed to the "café organic" for lunch on our first day in sf.  i was blown away by the clean food featured on their menu.  all local, all organic, suitable for carnivores with consciences and vegans alike, and they even serve kombucha on tap!  if you go, you must get the plant burger, their signature patty made from lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews and bulgur wheat.  although it was too early for us to drink, they do serve organic beer and wine to quench the thirsty hippie.  leave it to us to find the least healthy thing on the menu for dessert...house made coconut macaroons!!

there was definitely some butter in those bad boys.  mmmmmmmm.

osha
5 locations around sf

with a lack of comestible asian food in the small wonder, we were instantly delighted when our san franciscan hosts, lisa and nick, suggested we have dinner at osha, a local restaurant with five branches throughout the city.  we arrived while their happy hour was still happening and enjoyed delicious $5 small plates (think scallops with lime, garlic, fresh chili, cilantro and ginger sauce; fresh spring rolls; mango prawns)...nothing terribly fancy, but for five bucks and hungry tourists, perfect appetizers.  little did we know we also happened to be there on a "merry monday", where the restaurant offers half price bottles of wine until close!  we were very merry indeed....especially when our entrees arrived.

i ordered pad see ew (pron. "you");  a stir-fried noodle dish with garlic, broccoli, and egg in a black bean sauce, there was nothing "ew" about it.  in fact, the whole thing was devoured and i was seriously considering licking my plate clean long after the last noodle was eaten.  jordan ordered a magnificent sea bass, cooked in an individual clay pot, simmering in a lemongrass sauce.  the flavors were light and harmonious, and the fish was cooked to perfection.

la boulange

displaying my membership in the clean plate club

we enjoyed breakfast here two days in a row because it was just THAT good.  the cafe au lait makes you want to hug someone, and the "la combo" gets you a delicious meal for only seven dollars (despite its fast-foody name on the menu).  choose half a tartine (there are 5 or 6 to choose from, and they all sounded unreal) and greens or soup.  on day 1 i enjoyed a portobello mushroom, goat cheese and red pepper tartine, fresh greens with a hint of olive oil and pepper, and fruit.  day 2 i tried their house made granola over a bowl of yogurt and fruit drizzled with honey.  they say sf is the most european city in the united states, and with places like la boulange, i believe it.

luna park
694 valencia st. (@ 18th)

sparkling rosé at the bar

during our last day in SF, we were hoofing it all over town, trying to see as much as possible before the trip home the next day.  our feet were hurting and our mouths were thirsty, so we popped into this real hidden gem in the very eclectic mission neighborhood.  the place was filled with beautiful san franciscans enjoying an afternoon cocktail sitting at cozy tables surrounded by lush curtains hanging from the high ceilings.  we took a seat at the long bar and the super-hip bar tender came to us right away.  since the place almost begged for me to, i ordered a glass of sparkling rosé.  it was perfect.  chris ordered the goat cheese fondue for us to share, which came in a little ramekin suspended over a tea light to keep the fondue warm.  smoky charred baguette and tart green apple slices were the perfect accompaniments to the warm, smooth cheese.  a great find for sure.

unwind on union

875 union st (between octavia and laguna)

after an exhausting day, and gearing up for an exhausting night, we popped into unwind in search of a drink and a quick bite to eat.  i was sad we didn't have time to linger over our meal in the totally cool layout of this new restaurant, because i absolutely loved it.  the owner was friendly, not because he was required to be, but because he wanted to be (and believe me, i can tell the difference).  he knew the menu like the back of his hand, and commended our selections.  i ordered the fish tacos; the dish came with three, and i devoured every last bit.  the fresh tomatillo salsa was outstanding.  chris, the recently-converted carnivore, was delighted with his mac-and-cheese sprinkled with smoked bacon and the ingenious lobster corn dog.  and the kicker?  a neato pyrex cube of filled with gummi bears at the host station on the way out.

california certainly knows how to cook and to eat.  here's a few more snaps from some memorable meals throughout the trip...

3 a.m. fries at mad dogs in santa barbara

jordan and chris enjoying their azucar breakfast

chris's macaroon face

the best coffee in san francisco is worth waiting for.

mini doughnuts!

one more week

until i become a normal, functioning part of society again.  grad school SUCKS.  but in a weird way, i kind of like it.

but, to be completely frank, i haven't really cooked much of anything (with the exception of some deeelicious thanksgiving dishes) for about a month.  it's really quite terrible.  i've made meals here and there, just to remind myself i still know how to cook, but the majority of my dinners over the past couple of weeks have been out in restaurants.

monday night, for example, i made what is seeming to become a weekly trip to the local moroccan spot, where the owners are friendly and know us because we come in so much.  this is great for several reasons: they (and we) pretty much know what we want to eat as soon as we sit down.  this is also great because the time before i went, in a bout of stress-induced absentmindedness, i left behind my water bottle.  they saved it for me and promptly brought it over to me with our delicious fattouch salad (something that is on the top of my to-cook list once the semester ends...in one week!!!)  the only reason it's not great is that i want to COOK MY OWN FOOD for a change.

so, in short, i'll be back in action next wednesday, in much better spirits and much more motivated to cook.

autumn earth dinner

when life gives you sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, apples, raisins, quinoa, goat cheese and broccoli...
make this!

preheat oven to 450.
wash all veggies.  peel potatoes and carrots.  roughly chop all veggies and apples.
in a roasting pan, put carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes and onion.  coat with a light layer of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for 10-15 minutes.

while veggies are roasting, cook 2 cups quinoa according to the method you prefer.  during the last 3 minutes of cooking, toss in some raisins so they get plump.


after the veggies have roasted 10-15 minutes, remove the pan and add the roughly chopped garlic.  roast for another 10 minutes.

remove pan from oven, mix in the raw apples, quinoa and raisins in the same pan, and season to taste with additional salt, pepper, and cinnamon.

plate and add a little smathering of goat cheese*, if you feel so inclined.  drizzle with a little lemon juice, and enjoy autumn's bounty.


*optional.

happy 100th post!!

one hundred is kind of a big deal.  willard scott honors century-old folks every morning on the "today" show. the best cards for graduation gifts are the kind that are tall and skinny with a pocket that fits a crisp $100 bill.  you can stack 100 pennies on a countertop at walgreens and buy yourself a #2 pencil.  so, naturally, a 100th blog post is a pretty good thing, too.

some exciting things are on the horizon from this milestone forward...here's what's coming up very very soon:

restaurant reviews!

as my spare time is waning, so is my desire to prepare elaborate meals every night of the week.  because of this, jordan and i have been patronizing some new restaurants and have found some real gems so far!  be on the lookout for picks and pans...but probably mostly picks, because i am nice.

sexy pictures!

but not the kind you might be thinking of.  christmakkuh is going to come early this year, as i'm about to take the plunge into digital slr camera land.  that means no more blurry cell phone food pictures, but high quality photos that will make you almost try to take a bite out of your computer screen.

new (other) blog!

my tumblr blog is up and running!  its theme is a little bit different, but it lets me get my blogging ya-yas out when i'm too exhausted to cook.  be sure to check it out:  threethanks.tumblr.com

so, happy 100th post, blog!  and thanks to all of you for reading!  i'm always happy to discover friends new and old who take the time to read what i write...it makes it worthwhile.

xoxo,

mtr.

weekend debriefing...

what a beautiful, perfectly autumn weekend we had!  the sky was blue and crisp and the leaves around here are just starting to turn firey colors.  i just love fall.

however, with the combination of being a grad student with approaching deadlines, and having a sick roommate/boyfriend with a mutant strep infection, i was left with little time to actually go outside and enjoy the weather.  but i got the chance to do the next best thing...cook!  a lot!

here is a glimpse of the adventures i had in our little purple kitchen this weekend:

get-well-soon soup.
i made this on friday.  we ate it for dinner that night, lunch on saturday, dinner on sunday, and lunch today.  needless to say, i made a lot.  and it was delicious.

the best part of this soup was that it was all organic.  most of the vegetables i used came from this week's CSA box.  perfection!

so baaaasically, i sauteed an onion, some garlic, carrots and celery with some olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.  i added peeled diced potatoes, a generous amount of black pepper and herbs de provence, and continued to cook until the onions were soft.

then i poured in 2 quarts of vegetable stock and a large can of diced tomatoes.  brought everything to a boil, then added some frozen corn, salt, red pepper, more black pepper and herbs de provence and let it simmer until the potatoes were soft.  also i added just about a tablespoon of butter to the soup, just 'cause.

finally, i brought another pot of water to a boil and added half a package of egg noodles.  they cooked for about 3 1/2 minutes, then i strained them and added them to the soup.  served up with some saltine crackers with a little bit of butter (a favorite comfort food of mine introduced to me by my grandmother), this was the perfect remedy to a fever and a sore throat.


amaretto chocolate chip cookies.
i made them this afternoon using semi-sweet chocolate chips this time instead of milk chocolate like i did here.  also, i omitted the hazelnuts, but i added amaretto again for two reasons: 1) we don't have vanilla in the house and i needed a substitution 2) i used amaretto before and it was DELICIOUS.  if it ain't broke...

i needed to halve the recipe, as we only had one egg left (when the recipe calls for 2).  additionally, i broke both my legs and couldn't walk to the store to get more eggs.  (the preceding statement is a lie...but in all honesty, i just didn't feel like going allllll thhhheee waayyyyyyy to the store.  plus, i didn't want to make a recipe that yielded 4 dozen cookies, because then i would have ended up eating all 4 dozen cookies mostly by myself.  not ok.)
results:  the cookies were really really good!  and math is hard because i had to not only halve the recipe, but i had to figure out how to measure out 3/8 cup of sugar when i only had a 1/3 measuring cup.


puff pancake (FAIL.  miserable fail.  sad.)
i tried to re-create a breakfast dish i had made once before.  here, actually.  unfortunately, i think it might have been too long since the last time i made it, because i ended up dumping the entire greasy, burned mess into the garbage can.
it was upsetting.  i don't want to talk about it right now.


all was not lost, however, with the invention of tonight's dinner...
pan-seared rockfish with red pepper coulis and coconut rice.

yougetinmymouthrightnow

this afternoon jordan was voluntarily ambulatory for the first time in almost a week!  to celebrate, we went to a local orchard to get pumpkins and apple cider, then the fish market to pick up something for dinner because he had an appetite!

we got about a pound of rockfish (filet, not whole).  using some really beautiful purple, green and red peppers we had in our CSA box, jordan made a coulis with them, adding plenty of garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar and sugar.  we added some halved grape tomatoes, some corn and a little bit of water to make the sauce less chunky and more, well, saucy.

in a pot i combined 4 cups of coconut milk with 2 cups of jasmine rice.  then i cooked it how i would withe regular rice.  i was not disappointed with the results.

next, i rinsed the filet then dredged it in some flour mixed with salt, pepper and paprika.  jordan heated up some oil in the cast iron skillet and seared the filet until the outside was crispy and the inside was flaky.

i served my filet on a bed of the coconut rice with the coulis spread over the top of the fish.  it was absolutely delightful!

boy oh boy.  after all this cooking and eating, it is going to be a chore to drag myself to classes next week.  why do anything else when there is always food to be prepared and enjoyed?

matzo ball whaaaaa? *updated*

jordan is on the verge of death with some mystery illness.  actually, he's probably going to be okay, although i wasn't so sure last night while he was sweating to death and yelling out frequently in some kind of fever-induced, hallucinatory nonsense language.

i thought i would make him some matzo ball soup today, but since i am both a vegetarian and a shikseh, i have no idea how to go about it.

i googled some recipes, and most of them sounded pretty similar, except for this one:

a 4-6 pound hen?  how do i prepare it?  should it be a live hen?  what do i do about feathers?  do hens bite?  any specific color?  does pathmark sell hens, or just chicken?  the recipe did not answer any of my questions.

maybe i'll just get some take-out soup.

*update*

so, after i initially published this post, i thought i ought to fact-check a bit.  i stand corrected.  it turns out that "chicken" is just a blanket term for your general, feathered clucker.  "hens" are lady chickens, and "roosters" are guy chickens.  i feel like i should have known that growing up in poultry country, but it is refreshing to find out that i don't know everything.

ALSO...did you know that a castrated rooster is called a "capon", and that it is necessary to castrate animals like pigs and chickens because the meat tastes spoiled from the pheromones from non-castrated animals?  gross.  weird.  

vegetables don't need to be castrated.  just sayin'.