Sautéed Chicken and Pearl Onions tossed with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Fettuccine in a White Wine Butter Sauce.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Serves 2

Skill Level: Intermediate

Prep time about 30 minutes.

Pasta rest time at least 1 hour.

Cook Time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Thighs
• 1/3 Jar of roasted red bell peppers
• Basil (dry or fresh)
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 Tlbs Small diced leeks
• 1 cup perl onions
• ½ cup chicken stock
• ¼ cup white wine
• 4 Tbls butter, cut into slices, cold
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Extra virgin olive oil

Tools Needed:

• Food Processor
• Chefs knife
• Paring Knife
• Sauté pan
• Sautoir pot
• Pasta Machine, Hand Cranked or Electric
• Cutting Board

Note: For the pasta recipe, see http://goldenislescooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/roasted-red-bell-pepper-open-face.html

Note: You will have pasta leftover. It will keep, refrigerated for about 5 days, so you can make other dishes, such as the above salmon ravioli. 

Once you have made and rested your pasta, you can run it through your pasta machine to cut the fettuccine.

Note: Fist use the rollers, or a rolling pin, to make the pasta the desired thickness. Then switch to the cutter blades to slice the pasta noodles. 

Note: You can had cut the pasta. If you do, make it easy on yourself and make pappardelle, which is nothing more than 1" wide fettuccine.

You can lightly dust your cut pasta with some flour to ensure it doesn't stick to itself.

To debone the chicken thighs, cut along each side of the femur bone.

Cut around the hip joint to release the bone. Do the same for the tibia bone.

When both bones are released from the meat, pull them back together so that you can cut around the joint to remove the two bones all together.

Try not to cut into the cartilage, as it can make into the dish by accident, making for an unpleasant when bitten into.

Remove the skin and any cartilage that may be left behind.

Large dice the chicken. Then salt and pepper the meat.








In a small Sauteuse, commonly known as a sauté pan, on low heat, begin slow cooking your leaks in olive oil. Leave the garlic whole and pull them out at the end, just prior to serving.



In a Sautoir pan, brown your chicken, in olive oil then add the perl onions. Once the onions have sweated down, add the slow cooked garlic and leeks. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add your chicken stock. Reduce by ¾'s. Add the cold butter while constantly tossing the pasta. At the very end, when the butter is 100% incorporated, toss in most of the Parmesan, leaving some for a topping. 

Adjust the flavor of the pasta with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and Parmesan. 

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy.

How to make Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo sauce is one of the easiest things to make and the result is so superior to anything you can buy pre-made, there is just no excuse not to make it from scratch. Now, traditional Alfredo sauce is a mixture of butter and parmesan cheese. In the original process, cheese would be added to melted butter, then the pasta would be added, with perhaps a little of the starch water the pasta was cooked in. The pasta, butter and cheese are tossed together until the butter and cheese begin to emulsify. Then more cheese is added at the end, and it is served immediately.

The version I am making today is a more "Americanized" version of the dish, and it is the way the sauce is made in most upscale restaurants. It is a lot easier to get correct and tastes every bit as good.

If you want to make a chicken or seafood Alfredo, cook the meat or seafood in the Sautoir pan, prior to adding the garlic, then follow the recipe as normal. If your using delicate seafood, like scallops and shrimp, you may want to remove them before the sauce is finished, so they do not get over cooked.

Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Makes 4 Servings

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time 10 minutes, or less.

Ingredients:

• 1 pint  Heavy Cream (You will not use it all)
• 1 cup Chicken Stock
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
• ½ cup White Wine
• 4 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
• Pasta of your choice
• Kosher salt
• Pepper

Tools needed:

• 1 Medium/Large Sautoir Pan
• Chef's knife
• 1 Large Spoon

Mince your garlic.

Sauté the garlic, on low heat, adding a little salt.

Note: if you want chicken or seafood Alfredo, then sauté those items golden brown, on high heat, then remove them from the pan, reduce the heat, add the garlic and proceed as normal. 

When the garlic has been sweated, crank the heat on high and deglaze the pan with the white wine. Allow to reduce for a 3-4 minutes on the highest heat setting.

Add your chicken stock and again, allow to reduce for 3-4 minutes on high heat.

Add whatever type of pasta you like. I am using frozen beef ravioli I bought at Winn Dixie. Let pasta cook in the wine/chicken stock mixture for 3-4 minutes, on high heat.

Note: Your pasta, whichever you choose should be prepared "al dente" ahead of time. You may even cook your pasta the day before and keep refrigerated until needed. 

Cover the pasta with heavy whipping cream and let reduce on high heat.

Note: Just barely cover the pasta in the cream. You DO NOT want the pasta to be swimming in cream, simply covered.

Using a spoon, check the nape of the sauce.

Note: a sauce which is "nape" will coat the back of a spoon, and a line drawn trough the sauce will remain clear even as the spoon is turned around.

When the sauce has reached a thin nape, it is time to add the cheese, about ⅔ of a cup, reserving the last ⅓ as a topping to garnish the dish.

Note: Whenever your making any kind of sauce, or gravy, checking the nape is the way to make sure you have the perfect thickness every time.

Once you add the cheese, the sauce is susceptible to burning, so reduce the heat a bit. Stir constantly to fully incorporate the cheese.

Note: The cheese will thicken the sauce considerately, so be careful how much longer you cook the sauce, as you may over thicken the sauce, making it pasty on the pasta.

Note: You want to wait until the sauce is nearly complete before adding the cheese. AVOID adding the cheese early.





Check the nape again. You should have a nice thick nape now, but it should still be fluid, not pasty.



Note: The trick is to remove the pasta from the heat before the sauce has reached the desired thickness. As the pasta cools, and sits for a minute or two, it will continue to thicken, so if you brought the pasta all the way to the desired thickness in the pan, it will over thicken itself by the time you serve it. 

Serve immediately.

Garnish with some more parmesan cheese and parsley.

Enjoy!

How to make Meatballs - Part 2 - Sauce, Spaghetti, and Parmesan-Garlic Bread

Now that we have our meatballs made, it is time to make the sauce. Since we spent so much time making the meatballs from scratch, it would be sacrilegious to put them in bottled spaghetti sauce, so I recommend making the sauce yourself. You don't have to start from fresh tomatoes to prepare a sauce far superior to the factory made stuff, because you can put an ingredient in your sauce a factory simply can't, and that ingredient is love, which some argue is the most important of all. So lets get started and plate this baby up, I'm starving.




Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Serves 4

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 45 minutes.

Cook Time about 3 hours.

Ingredients: 

• Condensed crushed tomatoes
• Red wine, Chianti would be preferable, but Merlot or Pino will do fine. (Note: the better the wine you use, the better the sauce. A good rule of thumb is, "If you won't drink it, don't cook with it." I used a bottle of cheap grocery store cooking wine. It was given to me and I preach "Use whatever is on hand" so I used used the wine I had on hand. With grocery store "cooking wine", salt has been added, so it really limits the amount of wine you can add to a given dish and you CANNOT reduce it that much, as it will become too salty.)
• 1 cup small diced carrots
• ¾ cup small diced yellow onion
• 4-6 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 tlb Dried basil
• ½ tlb Dried oregano
• Dried parsley
• 1 tsp sugar
• Parmesan cheese
• ½ loaf Italian bread
• Melted or Clarified Butter (I will show how to make clarified butter in a future post)
• Olive Oil
• Vegetable oil
• 1 Box of spaghetti
• Kosher salt
• Pepper (Note: preferably fresh cracked from a mill)

Tools Needed:

• 1 Stock pot
• 1 Sautoir Pan
• Wooden Spatula
• Chef's Knife
• Immersion blender or food processor
• Pan, Tray, or Cookie Sheet

Small dice your carrots and onions, then mince the garlic, pruning it as we did in Meatball Recipe - Part 1.

Put a few table spoons of olive oil in a Sautoir Pan, heat and add the carrots, seasoning them with salt and pepper. 

Cook the carrots on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the onions and season them with salt and pepper.

Sweat the onions, with the carrots, for about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Note: Each time you season, you just add enough salt and pepper for the new ingredient. You are not seasoning the whole mixture each time. You should practice this seasoning method on all foods you cook, as natural foods do not come pre-seasoned from the market. 

Cook for another 5-7 minutes on medium-low heat.

Note: during this process, you want to be stirring the carrots, onions, and garlic around so they do not burn or over brown on any given side.

Deglaze the pan with about ½ cup of red wine and reduce for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 ½ cups of condensed crushed tomatoes, the basil, the oregano, and the sugar. Lightly season the tomatoes with salt and pepper.

Note: If you don't have "condensed crushed tomatoes" and your using regular "crushed tomatoes", you will have to add 3 ½ cups and reduce (simmer) the sauce for about an hour, or until you have about 2 ½ cups remaining, before moving to the next step.

Add one cup of chicken stock and 12 meatballs to the tomato sauce.

Note: Recipe for meatballs can be found here:

http://goldenislescooks.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-to-make-meatballs-part-1.html

Cover and simmer on low heat for between 2-3 hours. The longer you let them cook, the better they are.

About every 10-15 minutes, check to see that you have your heat in the sweet spot for a slow simmer. Once there, check every 20-30 minutes, and give the sauce and stir. 

Note: if your sauce does become to thick to soon, simply thin down with a little water. Don't add to much, or you'll be 'back at square one' with reducing the sauce.

Since I used a bulk sized can of condensed crushed tomatoes, I thought I'd show how to deal with it once you've opened such a large can.

Place 2 ½ cups of condensed crushed tomatoes in appropriately sized freezer bags, removing as much air as possible, and freeze until needed.

Note: I freeze 2 ½ cups, because most recipes I'll be making will use about that amount. So you will choose a portion size that matches your personal needs.

When the sauce is just about done, carefully remove the meatballs and use an immersion blender to puree the sauce smooth. Then return the meatballs and continue cooking.


Note: At this point, it is a good idea to preheat your oven to 350 degrees for the bread and put a stock pot full of water on the stove on high heat.

In a stock pot, bring 2 quarts of water to a hard rolling boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt.

Measure out your pasta.

1 ¾ inches in diameter is 4 servings, or 8.1 oz.

Note: I am making only 3 servings of spaghetti, as my wife prefers angel hair for her pasta. About 2 oz of angel hair makes a single serving.

Note: While learning to portion out pasta, you can select an amount of pasta, place the pasta perpendicular to a sheet of paper and trace around it. Then see how many portions the diameter you traced made for your family. Keep the paper and the next time you make pasta, you can compare and adjust the amount accordingly. In just a bit, you could have a paper with portion templates to feed any number of people hanging on your fridge. Very handy.

Drop pasta in boiling water.

Immediately stir to make sure the pasta doesn't stick together.








When the pasta is done, pour into a strainer and add oil and mix well, as to coat all the pasta.

Note: Use vegetable oil, as olive oil will sour the pasta faster if you plan to keep it a few days. 

Note: DO NOT run cold water over the pasta, as the pasta is still hot and will absorb water. If you do this you run the risk of over cooking your pasta.








Place pasta on a cookie sheet to cool.

Note: To see why the pasta has been twisted into nests for cooling, refer to "How to Cook Pasta" in the table of contents or click the following link: http://goldenislescooks.blogspot.com/search/label/How%20to%20Cook%20Pasta

Now for the bread.

Half the loaf of bread lengthwise and liberally brush on melted or clarified butter.

Cover the bread with garlic salt, parmesan cheese, and parsley. Place on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden and crispy.

When the bread and pasta is ready, cut into 2 inch wide strips.














When the pasta and bread is ready, your meatballs are ready, I mean they should be, they've been cooking nearly 3 hours at this point, it is time to plate the meal.

Serve any way you like.

Enjoy!

How to make Meatballs - Part 1

Spaghetti Meatballs, one of those dishes that is not only Italian in origin, but now, is American as apple pie. Meatballs are an easy recipe to make with the family. Kids will love lend a hand on this one. So what makes a meatball good? Well, the secret is a mixture of meats, ⅔rds of the mix is beef, 1/6th pork, and 1/6th is veal, that are more coarsely ground. You can ask your butcher to do this for you, or you can actually use whole cuts of meat, placed into a food processor and pulsed into the desired constancy. Veal is a bit expensive, so I tend to leave that ingredient out and I like to substitute "Bacon Ends and Pieces" (because the thicknesses of the bacon is far grater than you can usually get, so you can cut larger lardons) for the pork, because, well, it's BACON. The other secret is the bread crumbs, which actually, and this sounds bad, absorbs the fat and retains it within the meat. This sounds bad for your waist, and it is, but it is also what keeps the meatballs moist and makes them taste so good. Well, anyway, here is my take on the classic dish.


Note: It is important to realize that these recipes are merely guidelines to follow. They'll taste great as they are, but I encourage you to play with them and make the recipes your own.

Note: It is good practice to read the entire recipe, while paying particular attention to the "Notes", before you try to make the dish, as there are often subtleties that can be easily overlooked, which sometimes, can make all the difference in the world for the outcome. 

Note: I split the recipe because of prep time. I if you do the whole dish from start to finish, your going to be in the kitchen all day. Since the meatballs can be made and stored, I suggest you make them ahead of time, to make the meal easier and faster to prepare.

Note: Traditional meatballs would be made with 1 pound of ground beef, ¼ pound of ground pork, and ¼ pound of ground veal. I substituted lardons of thick cut bacon for the pork and omitted the veal by adding a little more beef.

Makes about 25 golf ball sized meatballs.

Skill Level: Beginner

Prep time about 30 minutes.

Cook Time about 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ pound ground beef
• ¼ pound thick cut bacon or bacon ends and pieces, chopped
• 2 eggs
• Parmesan cheese (Fresh or the "green can stuff")
• 6-8 whole cloves of garlic
• 1 tld Dried basil
• ½ tlb Dried oregano
• 1 Dash cinnamon
• 3 slices fresh bread
• Bread crumbs (Plain)
• ¼ cup milk (Whole is best, but any kind will do)
• Vegetable Oil 
• Kosher salt
• Pepper (Note: preferably fresh cracked from a mill)

Tools Needed:

• Large Stock Pot
• 1 Sautoir Pan
• Wooden Spatula
• Chef's Knife
• Food processor
• Small Ice Cream Scoop
• Pan, Tray, or Cookie Sheet
• Small Ziploc Bag
• Aluminium Foil
• Parchment or Wax Paper
• Plastic Wrap

Before we chop the garlic, we are going to prune the clove. By pruning, I mean we are going to remove the core of the clove, which can add a bitter flavor to your dish. Use the face of your chefs knife to slightly crush the garlic clove. Pull the clove in two with your fingers. If you didn't over crush the clove, the core should be obvious and easily removed.

Note: Sometimes the core can have a greenish tip on one end and it will always be a slightly different color than the rest of the clove. 

Mince Garlic

Cut the crusts off the white bread.

Large dice the bread and place in a food processor.

Process the fresh bread in to crumbs.

Place all ingredients, except for the vegetable oil and the store bought bread crumbs and mix thoroughly by hand. Then begin adding the store bought bread crumbs until the mixture is just barely tacky to the touch. DO NOT add so much bread crumbs that the mixture becomes dry to the touch.

To portion the meatballs, use a small ice cream scoop. Choose a scoop that will produce the desired sized meatballs. I am using a 1 ounce ice cream scoop, which makes meatballs about the size of golf balls.

Every 3rd to 4th meatball scooped out, dip your ice cream scoop in water. This keeps the mixture from sticking to and caking onto the scoop.

Now, with moist hands, form each scooped out meatball into a perfect sphere. Rinse off meat residue from your hands every 3rd to 4th meatball, for the same reasons as the ice cream scoop. 

This recipe made 25 meatballs exactly.

In a Sautoir Pan, add oil until approximately ¼ inch deep. Heat oil, then add the meatballs in batches. DO NOT OVERLOAD the pan. It took me 3 separate batches to brown 25 meatballs. Brown the meatballs evenly all the way round.

Place the meatballs on paper towels to cool.

Note: The meatballs are not fully cooked at this point (THEY 'RE STILL RAW IN THE MIDDLE SO DO NOT EAT ONE) but they are ready to be finished in the sauce or to be stored for later use.

In my next post, we'll finish the meatballs in the sauce, so for now, let's talk about how to store your meatballs longterm for later use.

When completely cool, place in a appropriate sized freezer bag, force out as much air as possible and close.

Note: This method works for most every item you may want to freeze longterm. There are some exceptions which I'll cover in a future post.

Wrap the meatballs in the freezer bag in piece parchment or wax paper.

Now wrap in aluminum foil and a final layer of plastic wrap with a label and date. Place in the freezer.

Note: I placed my label on a standard sheet of paper between the plastic wrap and the aluminum foil, so you see, you don't need real labels or masking tape and a Sharpie to label your food, as you can use anything on hand.

Note: The layering of the different materials insulates the food item, causing it to freeze much more slowly. This 'controlled freeze' significantly reduces the effects of freezer burn. Additionally, the layers also reduce flavor transference from one food item to another while in storage. 

In Meatballs - Part 2, I'll show you how to make the tomato sauce that we'll finish cooking the meatballs in and we'll make the spaghetti and plate it up nice and pretty with some garlic bread.