Pasta A Casa!

The quality of our lives changed dramatically in the fall of 2008, when JustAwesome took a pizza-making class with pizza guru, Mark Bello from PizzaACasa. Well, yesterday we took his pasta class. It was soooooo much fun. I can only imagine what our lives’ll be like now...

Here are some of the things we made:

Plucking the pasta chitarra (guitar)

Cacio e pepe ala chitarra

Ravioli

Pumpkin Pappardelle

with brown butter and crispy sage leaves

Holy Smokin’ Easy Soup!

JustAwesome asked me to make a pea soup today. From frozen peas. She said it was super easy and really good. I don’t love peas, honestly. I find them too sweet. But I trust her judgement—if she said it is really good, then it is really good.

It is sooooooooo freakin’ good.

Not pretty, but smokin’!

The most challenging part is reading the recipe, which is, oddly, in paragraph form. I don’t usually type recipes, but I can’t resist here.

The quickest and best soup you can make is to cook 3 cups of frozen peas in 2 cups of vegetable stock made with a good-quality bouillon cube. When the peas are tender, purée in the food processor or blender. Add some olive oil (preferably basil-infused) and season to taste. Serve Parmesan to sprinkle over.

And that’s it. She does go on to say that you can add ham or this or that but that is basically it.

I used Whole Foods’ 365 organic petite frozen peas and Pacific veggie broth. Immersion blender. Salt. Pepper. Then, instead of basil-infused olive oil, I used a Smoked Extra Virgin Olive Oil that we just picked up this weekend. Clearly the pièce de résistance. Holy smokes!

Great with the leftover gougères that we froze!

Mango Madness!

On our weekly shopping list it usually says, “fun fruit” in JustAwesome’s tight scribble. She writes this, I believe, because she loves me. I will never eat an apple or an orange for dessert, but I am usually super excited to have a pineapple, mango, pomegranate or even some grapes. (Especially frozen seedless champagne grapes. The best!) Sometimes they’re organic, sometimes they’re not. And, of course, they’re not local. I feel bad about that, I do, but I feel good about my shrinking waistline.

If there was a fire I’d grab: my pants, my girl, my dog and my mango slicer. I know that real cooks pooh-pooh unitask tools, but I am not a real cook and honestly, I doubt your mangos are as easy-to-prepare as mine. I’d go so far to say that you probably barely ever eat them. Because they’re such a drag to cut. Pooh-pooh on you, naysayers.

Easy to cut. Easy to clean. Fun fruit.

Mac & (cauliflower) Cheese

Macaroni and Cheesiflower? Yes, please.

JustAwesome found this Bittman recipe in the March issue of Runner’s World. I don’t like to eat low-fat this and spray-on that but I am still trying lose my freshman 15*. This macaroni and cheese with cauliflower is a great solution. The pureed cauliflower adds the creaminess—much less cheese is necessary—and really bulks it up. And bread crumbs, yum. It was warm and lovely. I felt warm and lovely.

Does it replace macaroni and cheese altogether? No, I don’t think so, but it was really good. I’m sure we’ll be making this one again and again. Thanks, Mark Bittman.

Pass the Bittman Macaroni and Cheesiflower, please!

*I’ve lose 16.5 pounds to date. Thanks, Weight Watchers!

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Happy Meals

I don’t like to “waste” meals.

Yesterday I took a quick trip to Ikea. I hadn’t eaten properly, it was getting late (and I was getting cranky), so I decided to eat the swedish meatballs that everyone is always raving about. EW!!! Gross! I could’ve had a lobster roll at the Red Hook Lobster Pound or even the one at Fairway. A wasted meal! (And wasted Weight Watchers PointsPlus values, as well. Good thing I only ate 1/3 of it!) Ikea didn’t even have what I wanted. A wasted meal and a wasted car rental!

Fairway, coincidently, was kind of gross, too. I wonder if Fairway Red Hook isn’t on the same level as the uptown ones. Or if things just ain’t what they used to be... Let’s just say, it was like no other market I’d want to go to again. A wasted trip!

Negativity ends now. The rest of the night was lovely: hanging out with JustAwesome, eating some baked pasta (a la Jamie O), drinking some delicious Nebbiola D’Alba. Ahhhh!

What seems to work for me—in terms of all around happiness plus healthy weight loss—has been preparing two or so dishes on Sunday to have during the week (or freeze for the future). Thing is, they have to be really tasty, they have to excite me. Otherwise, I won’t eat them—I’ll start thinking about going to this new ramen place or that favorite hand-pulled noodle joint. Not the best choices.

Last night’s baked pasta, for example, will also be tomorrow’s lunch. Tonight’s Indian feast (red lentil daal soup with mustard seeds, masala curry with cauliflower, peas, mushrooms & carrots, and a lemony basmati rice) will also be tomorrow’s dinner and probably lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of the soup will be frozen for another time. A future delight. A happy meal.

Red lentil soup, masala curry with cauliflower, peas,

mushroom & carrots, and lemon basmati rice

I haven’t tried all 650 recipes in Madhur Jaffrey’s book but I want to. Really easy and super tasty!

And no wasted meals. I love this stuff!

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World Nutella Day!

We smuggled home tons of gianduja (chocolate hazelnut spread, much like Nutella) when we went to Turin last year. We first learned about it through David Lebovitz’s most excellent blog. Today, on World Nutella Day 2011, he made his own. We ate ours with bread and blood oranges from NYC’s Eataly and longed for a visit to Italy. Mmmmm! Good morning, all. And Happy World Nutella Day!

National Crêpe Day. YAY!!

Yesterday was National Crêpe Day, as you probably already know. I don’t need much of an excuse.

Bittman’s recipe is really simple and really tasty. Buckwheat flour, some white flour, eggs & water. A tiny bit of butter or oil. They’re actually pretty low in PointsPlus values, if you care. Our main course pancakes were mushroom, onion and cheese (something in the cheddar family). Wine. Salad. Then a few sugar and lemon pancakes for dessert. Those are my favorite!

The filling possibilities are endless.

Two savory pancakes in one week. YAY!! My life rocks!

What should we do for Chinese New Year?

Gung Hay Fat Choy!