Homemade Pasta and Croissants

I haven't blogged all weekend long because I was busy making homemade dough for pasta and croissants. I started the dough for the croissants on Friday. Saturday afternoon I made the dough for the pasta, and I baked off a test batch of croissants Saturday evening. Sunday we had a big family party where I served the homemade pasta and croissants. Here was our Sunday dinner menu:

Course 1 - sauteed cauliflower with red pepper flakes and Pecorino Romano

Course 2 - roasted red pepper and tomato bisque, served with rosemary olive oil bread

Course 3 - mixed greens with balsamic vinegar

Course 4 - shrimp pesto flat pasta

Course 5 - strawberry cream cheese and chocolate croissants

Course 6 - Zoka espresso

The most time consuming task of preparing this meal was making the dough for both the croissants and pasta. Making the croissant dough requires a lot of rest and chilling time over 24 hours but does not require as much hard labor as the pasta dough.

 




Layers of croissant dough before rolling out



Croissant Dough - After forming the dough in a mixing bowl, I allowed it to rest and chill. Then I took room temperature butter and a little flour and mixed together. I formed a 6X6" square of butter and then chilled it. After chilling both dough and butter, the butter is place on the rolled out dough and the edges of the dough folded over. The dough is rolled out, folded like a letter, rolled out again, folded like a letter again, and then chilled. This is repeated to created the layers of the croissant as seen in the picture. After the dough rests overnight it's rolled out to 1/8" thickness and cut into single servings. I filled the croissants with either 60% dark chocolate or a mixture of strawberry jam and a sweetened cream cheese (cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg). The croissants were rolled or folded up, brushed with egg wash (I forgot this step when making the test batch and you can see the difference.), and baked at 425*F for about 20 minutes.     

Test batch without egg wash

 

 

Strawberry Cream Cheese
Croissant



Thin rectangles of pasta



Pasta Dough - The dough was simple to make and contained a few ingredients, primarily flour and tons of egg yolks. The hardest part was rolling out the dough, which is probably why they invented machines to do this part. I was rolling dough for almost 2 hours to make enough pasta for the 12 people at our dinner party. You must roll out the dough so thinly you can almost see through it. I cut my pasta into large rectangles about 2X4" and then boiled them for 2-3 minutes.

 

Pesto Sauce



Pesto Sauce - I made pesto sauce in the food processor by adding 6 c. fresh basil leaves, 1.5 c. olive oil, black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1.5 c. Pecorino Romano cheese. (Note: These measurements have already been tripled so as to make enough for 12 servings of pasta.)

Shrimp pesto pasta and mixed green salad



 I also cooked up some shrimp in the pesto mixture and topped the pasta with the shrimp pesto sauce. I served the pasta with mixed greens and grape tomatoes tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 







Cheesy Risotto and Lemon Pomegranate Scones

As the week progressed and my refrigerator became barer, it became increasingly difficult to put together dishes for lunch and dinner. However, yesterday I was successful at creating an excellent lunch of mixed greens with cheesy risotto. The cheesy risotto was prepared by first sauteing onions and garlic in a little olive oil and butter. While the onions and garlic were cooking, I added a cup of Italian style rice to the rice cooker. (Yes, you can make a risotto style dish in the rice cooker. The rice cooker is a lifesaver when you have a needy toddler attached to your hip and don't want to risk burning the two of you by stirring rice continuously over a hot stove for an hour.) I then added 3 cups of homemade chicken broth that I keep in the freezer and defrost when needed. Lastly, I stirred in the caramelized onions and garlic along with a cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. After the rice cooker gave its signature "beep, beep, beep" (i.e. "I'm done!") signal, I plated the risotto, grated a little more cheese on top, and served it with a side of mixed greens drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Later that afternoon while my son was napping, I managed to test out a variation of my scone recipe. This time I added lemon zest and pomegranates to the batter. The taste was amazing (almost all 5 scones were devoured by the time we went to bed), but I'm still working on the texture. Although I used less heavy cream this time, the scones still did not crumble like I had hoped, so next time I will try baking them at a lower temperature. Here is the recipe I have been playing around with for those of you that are interested (they are still better than any scone you can buy). I cut this recipe in half and it still makes 5 small scones.

3 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. heavy cream (less if using fruit with high water content)

2 c. fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.

I have been baking them at 350*F for about 30 minutes, but may try reducing the heat and cooking longer to see how that might affect the texture.

Isn't it amazing how so few ingredients can taste so good!!!

America's Obesity Problem Solved

I was taking a walk around the block this afternoon with my son and dog and peered into a neighbors open garage. Amongst all the rubbish, as clear as day, was a huge, OLD, yet still functioning refrigerator. That's when I had an epiphany and realized I can easily solve our nation's epidemic with obesity. All we need to do is downsize our refrigerators! For God's sake, unless you're feeding a family of 10 or more, I think one refrigerator would suffice. Agree?

Now you might be wondering what evidence do I have that would support this theory, and I'll leave you with a few simple points to ponder:

1) French Women Don't Get Fat

2) The size of a European refrigerator

Enough said! America's Obesity Problem Solved.

VS.

Inspiration from Thailand

For lunch today I made a Thai inspired fish and rice dish. I started by chopping onions, celery, and sweet peppers (I was too lazy to peel the garlic today) and added these vegetables to a hot wok with sesame and olive oil. I sprinkled a little salt to the veggies and let them slow cook on medium low while I prepped the fish.

I rinsed the tilapia in cold water and seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh lemon juice, ground ginger, Thai fish sauce, red pepper flakes, and crushed peanuts.

(I would have preferred to use a lime if I had one. The rest of the lemon slice was added to the cooking veggies.)

I then placed the tilapia over the cooking veggies and let slow cook. Just before the fish was done, I sprinkled chopped fresh cilantro on top. I plated the fish and veggie mixture over brown rice and topped with more red pepper flakes, crushed peanuts, and fresh cilantro.

Sensory Stimulation: Simply Color

Sensory Stimulation: Color and Memories

 If you haven't noticed the color of my blog page is the most beautiful shade of brown. This is the same color of most of my clothing and the primary color of my wedding decor. It is also the color of dark chocolate and a perfectly pulled espresso. I dedicate the color of my page to these wonderful pleasures.

Crackers or Cookies

I found an unopened box of crackers in my kitchen cabinet the other day that I bought a few months ago to set out with cheese if we ever had unexpected guests come over. They are Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers, and although they have slightly over 4 ingredients (I don't have the box anymore, but I believe there are only 6 or 7 ingredients), they are an excellent substitute for cookies. They are twice as thick as a normal cracker and also crumble when you bite into them. They have a touch of sweetness but aren't too sweet. Mason loves them and I'm sure any child wouldn't know the difference between these crackers and cookies, unless of course you feed your child a lot of sugar loaded food.

I know this is a processed food, but I purchased them prior to making my new year's resolution; and I think these are a good option if you want a quick child friendly snack and find yourself in the cookie/cracker isle at the grocery store.