Corned beef sandwiches.

What are a few of my favorite things to cook? Challah and Corned Beef! I thought it would be fun to pair the two together for a delicious dinner.

I cooked the corned beef according to the package directions. Each sandwich had two slices. The meat is so good that I didn't add any sauces to my sandwich, there was enough delicious moisture!

I have made this challah dough dozens of times. Normally I split the dough in two to make two loafs, or make one big loaf. This time I pulled out little pieces of the dough to make knots. I let these knots rise a bit before putting them in the oven. I made 6 knots this time, but there was enough dough to make 10-12 rolls.

I cooked these for 20 min at 350 degrees. I skipped the egg wash because I didn't want to waste the excess egg. A lot of the definition was lost when the rolls cooked up, but they had a shape that was perfect for mini corned beef sliders. Yum!

Pizza Pie

What is the secret to good bread machine pizza dough? Well it is adding garlic powder and other spices to the dough. This way, the dough has some good flavor if it is too thick in places on the pie. A 2lb loaf creates enough dough for 2 - 13 inch crusts.

I baked the crust in an oven prheated to 400 degrees F before adding the toppings. This time I used mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and caramelized onions. (Most of the time I add raw onions and peppers.) Making pizza is so easy and simple, that I try to always keep some dough in the fridge for a last minute meal.

The pizza was baked until the cheese started to bubble, about 10 minutes. Let it cool and then enjoy a yummy, yummy pizza!

Fauxagna

It is no secret that Keith and I really like Lasagna. It is easy, fun to make, and there are plenty of leftovers. Now that I have a pasta press, it seems silly to me to purchase dry lasagna noodles (I still have to write up my post on my first lasagna from scratch.) Instead, I decided to make a faux lasagna with layers of pasta.

I love caramelized onions, and putting some into baked pasta dishes gives them a wonderful sweet twist. In the pictures above, I am caramelizing two whole onions because I wanted to save some for another dish I would make later this week. I wish that I had used a little less butter, not because of taste but because of health and there was plenty of liquid.

Keith loves garlic bread, and sometimes I'll make it from scratch. Today, I decided to just make some fresh bread to dip in the leftover tomato sauce.

The Francesco Rinaldi Chunky Garden tomato sauce is my favorite. I have no idea why I love it so much, but it really holds up well with a lot of cheese, so it is perfect for baked pasta dishes.

I cooked the pasta for 8 minutes, not the 10-12 recommended on the package because I knew it would cook more in the oven. I layered sauce, noodles and the cheeses. I used whole milk ricotta cheese (yes, I am bad), shredded mozzarella, and some spices.

The caramelized onions were sprinkled on top under the final layer of mozzarella. I only cooked it at 350 for 10-15 minutes since I just wanted to warm things up and let the cheeses melt.

I think the fauxagna was a complete success. Keith had 3 helpings!

Pasta Workshop

Keith and I received a gift for a private cooking lesson from Artepicure last Christmas. We made sure to take advantage of this class before we moved away from the Boston area. The walk to the school was a little sketchy, but the classroom itself was full of character. The instructor and his wife live in the studio, and they have the most incredible collection of art... the walls are COMPLETELY covered with their collections.


The Class: Pasta Workshop
This class teaches the art of fresh pasta making. We will make potato gnocchi, filled ravioli and a hand formed pasta shape. This class will explain the science behind the choice of different flours, the proper cooking techniques for obtaining the best results, which sauces go with what shapes and the ease in which anyone, with a little understanding, can create beautiful artisan pasta at home.

My one disappointment with the class was that Keith and I did not prepare the sauces that went with pastas. But the meal we prepared was fantastic.

The best tip of the day was to use a food scale to measure the ingredients for pasta. The volume of flour can change a lot depending on humidity, but if you rely on the weight then you will get perfect pasta dough every time.

Two pasta doughs, one with egg (right) and the other without (left). The eggless dough was easier to kneed.

We made an egg pasta dough to create the butternut squash ravioli. (The instructor made the filling, but this is something that I've done myself before.) The big aid was how to fill and cut the ravioli easily (see pictures below.) When I made ravioli myself, I cut out circles and then folded them in half with the filling on the inside. I can see how I could make them much faster using this method. I also learned how great it is to use a pasta roller - rolling the dough out by hand is so hard!

I forgot to take a picture of the final dish, but the ravioli were served in a sage and browned butter sauce.

The second pasta we made was Orrechietti (translation - little ears). These were completely hand shaped. First, you roll out the dough into a snake, and then cut it with the pastry scraper into even pieces. You then press each piece down with your thumb to form the ear-shaped pasta.

I thought the flavor of the dough was great, but the texture of the shape was a bit reminiscent of spaghetti-o's (especially since it was served with a tomato sauce.) This would be a great shape to make with kids - it is a fun "craft" project.

Last (but not least), we made gnocchi. This was the dish that we were anticipating the most, since Keith loves gnocchi so much (I love them, too.)

This was the star of the day. These gnocchi just melted in your mouth. They were served in a creamy pesto sauce (just heavy cream and pesto and bam!) I have never tasted gnocchi this fresh in my life. This is a great kind of pasta to make at home, because the equipment that you need is minimal (just a potato ricer). Sure, having a gnocchi board would be great, but you can score them with a fork or just leave them unscored. This dough is so fast to make, I can see myself making gnocchi frequently (which will make Keith very happy!)

Immediately after the class, I went home and added some of the tools from this workshop to our registry (food scale, gnocchi board, pastry wheel and pastry scraper.) After this lesson Keith was also on board for the KitchenAid Pasta Roller Attachment)


Class Notes (I am afraid that I am going to loose the sheet that came with the class, so I am making note of the proportions for each of the pasta doughs here. )

• Egg Pasta Dough
• 9 oz all-purpose flour (2 cups spooned and leveled)
  
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
• 2 large eggs
• 1-3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• Pasta Dough
• 12 ounces all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 6+ ounces cold water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• Gnocchi
  
• 1.5 lbs russet potatoes (We learned that the most common error in gnocchi preparation was the wrong choice of potatoes.)
• 3.5 ounces unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  

Homemade Pizza

When I make pizza dough, I like to add some Italian spices to help give it some more flavor. I haven't replicated a pizzeria salty crust, but I do make a crust that is good whether you are going for a more classic pizza (like tonight) or fancier with caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella and drizzled balsamic reduction.

Tonight's toppings

Half of the 2lb dough went into tonight's pizza, and the rest into the fridge for another night. I pre-baked the crust at 400 degrees F for a few minutes to crisp up before adding the sauce and other toppings.

The bread maker is my hero, the bread maker is my hero!

Making pizza dough in the bread maker is so simple and easy, that it is never worth buying a frozen pizza ever again. Now that Keith and I are married, we have a lot of awesome appliances. In fact, we have three different ways to make dough (Cuisinart Bread Maker, KitchenAid Mixer and Cuisinart Food Processor).

The bread maker will always be my preferred method for breads (although I never use it to bake the bread.) What are the most valuable features? The heating and kneading cycles to allow the dough to rise... and the delay timer. Since none of the ingredients in pizza dough are perishable, you can set up the dough as you get ready in the morning (which takes about 2 minutes) and set the delay timer so it will be ready when you get home.

I almost forgot to take a picture of my meatless "supreme" pizza!

Bisquick Biscuits

A while ago I made my own batch of bisquick, which actually was really good. This is something that I will do more in the future, but in the period before my defense I decided to buy a batch of real bisquick so that I would be able to have biscuits whenever I wanted.

This biscuits are so easy, just mix and milk, and they are delicious and fresh. These aren't close to buttery southern biscuits, but they serve a different craving.

Sometimes I'll add chocolate chips to them. This time I added a little bit of salt and honey to a single batch. Since there are no raw eggs, I add these ingredients to taste to the dough.

What a yummy and easy breakfast!

Buttery Soft Pretzel

I will eat soft pretzels whenever I have the chance. My first attempt to make these delicious, doughy snack was mediocre, so I have been searching for a great recipe.

My search is over! This Buttery Soft Pretzel recipe has everything you could want in a soft pretzel. They taste buttery, but there is no butter at all in the recipe. And the sweetness makes my taste buds dance.

The recipe is very simple. The only downside is the amount of time you have to wait for the dough to be ready! However, when push comes to shove, I can handle a 2 hour wait to have delicious pretzels. I hope that you'll enjoy them as much as I have.

Raisin Challah

I love having a bread machine. I use it frequently whenever I want French Bread, or pizza dough... but the big bread winner is my Challah recipe. As a child, I grew up on raisin challah... but with yellow raisins!

This bread my grandmother would get for every holiday occasion, and I never found anything close to it anywhere else. So as soon as the bread machine came into our lives, I knew I needed a good Challah recipe. After some trial and error, I found a recipe that I've fallen in love with.

Raisin Challah Recipe. I always use yellow raisins.

Setting up the dough in the bread machine.

The dough is ready to be braided. I do not separate the dough in half as the recipe recommends, but I braid all of the dough into one loaf.

It's funny, but I think that depending on the humidity, the dough will come out more or less sticky each time. Who knows!

Before (above) and after (below) the egg wash.

The bread comes out moist, sweet and tastes just like the bread from my childhood. It is definitely comfort food!

I'm sick of the remaining egg wash going to waste, so I decided to use it in... Corn Bread! Stay tuned for the next ChemEats post to find out how it came out.