In the kitchen: homemade pasta dough.

For Christmas this year, Andrew's parents bought us a KitchenAid stand mixer. After receiving the grinder attachment from my mom and the pasta attachment from my aunt and uncle, we have everything we could possibly need to make pasta and ragù from scratch, and not to mention the best and most generous family. 

Making pasta is something special. It's time consuming and takes some practice to get it right, but the results are so worth it in the end. It's definitely not an everyday activity (we're still big fans of Trader Joe's 99-cent rigatoni for those days time just gets away from us), but when you have a free Saturday afternoon, it's absolutely perfect. There's nothing quite as satisfying as enjoying a bowl of homemade pasta and a ragù that's been cooking away for several hours on the stove. 

We used the Sussman brothers' recipes from This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life for both the pasta dough and ragù. My favorite time of year to cook from their book is during the fall, and we've had so much fun doing so in the past. Seriously, go buy this cookbook.  

Basic Pasta Dough, via The Sussman Brothers. 
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1 c. semolina flour

2 c. all-purpose flour

4 large egg yolks

3 large eggs

Water

Combine the flours in the bowl of the stand mixer. Make a well in the center and add the yolks, whole eggs, and 2 Tbsp. water. 

With a fork, whisk the eggs lightly to blend, then begin mixing all the ingredients together by hand, drawing in flour gradually from the sides. Add a bit more water to help the dough come together into a ball, but not more than another tablespoon; you'll still want it to feel somewhat dry. 

Using the dough hook attachment, knead the dough on medium-low speed for about 10-15 minutes until it becomes stretchy and elastic. If you don't have a mixer, you can, of course, do this by hand, but note it'll take quite a bit more time to knead the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it sit at room temp for at least 1 hour, and up to 12, before shaping. 

After the dough has rested, it's up to you to decide what kind of pasta to make! We love bucatini, but the pasta attachment has other shapes I can't wait to try, including fusilli. Or, you can roll out the pasta using a machine to make ravioli or lasagna sheets. And once it's shaped, fresh pasta only takes 3 minutes to cook: just wait for it to float to the top of a salted pot of boiling water and it's ready! Combine with a ragù, top with tomatoes and basil, or just add olive oil, some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Make sure to have a glass of wine, too: salute! 

Happy Taco Day!

Apparently October 4th is National Taco Day. We played along, and made fish tacos for dinner, following the Sussman brothers' cookbook. Super easy, delicious, and fast! We topped them with a jalapeno coleslaw, a yogurt and lemon sauce, and tomatillo salsa, all homemade (and, coincidentally, all adapted from the Sussmans!).

Have a wonderful dinner, make some tacos!

Summer, meet fall.

The Sussman brothers succeed, yet again (see our past meals using This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life here and here)! Tonight for dinner, we made roasted corn soup with tomato using this recipe. It was a perfect blend of summer and fall flavors. Some comments:

1) Use low-sodium chicken broth, as in the lowest you can find. That way you can adjust the seasonings without the soup tasting over-salted. Plus, it's just better for you. Period. 

2) If you like spice, feel free to add cayenne, chili, or jalapenos. We added some red pepper after blending because we're big fans of spicy flavors. Some of the comments on the recipe site suggested the amounts of chili powder were overpowering, but we definitely didn't think so. It's really all about what you want to do to your soup! 

3) Immersion blenders are essential tools in any kitchen. Making soup is ten times easier with one because you don't have to transfer it from pot to blender. 

What are you up to this weekend? We are going to explore a farmer's market near our apartment, watch Chelsea FC (go Blues!), and enjoy some gorgeous weather on the lake.

Have a wonderful weekend!

MN Mondays: a visit home.

This weekend, we decided to head back to the Twin Cities to see our families. One of the beauties of this move is that we actually didn't move that far away. Driving time from Milwaukee to the Cities is about five and a half hours (or five, thanks to our new WI plates that allow us to blend in with the other WI drivers...). 

It was a weekend filled with family. Lots of cooking, eating, drinking, walks on the bridge (that skyline view will get me every time), and time spent with those we miss most. It was too short of a trip, because there is no way to do everything or see everyone we wanted to. 

On Friday night, we had our parents over to dinner at my mom's house. It was starting to look and feel like fall, much more so than in Shorewood, but we wanted to do one more summer cookout session before the seasons really turn. We grilled brats and vegetables outside and had homemade potato salad and char-grilled green beans on the side. All simple, fresh, and so summery. 

For dessert, we made another recipe out of the Sussman brothers' cookbook - the s'mores! The original recipe called for bourbon, but we made them with rum instead. Considering neither Andrew nor I really love marshmallows, we were both pretty impressed by these! We had a good time making them (I was really excited to use my mom's stand mixer; we don't have one, but want one badly!). The recipe was easy to follow, and it was so fun to see how the marshmallows, which started out as pure liquid, puffed up to become these lovely, pillowy, gooey squares!  

 I'm posting the recipe we used below, as adapted from the Sussmans' This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life. 

S'mores with maple-rum marshmallows.

From This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life (available at Williams-Sonoma - check it out!) 

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Powdered sugar for dusting

2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup rum, plus 3 Tbsp

1/4 cup maple syrup (get the good kind - trust me!) 

1 1/2 cups extra-fine sugar

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy  cream 

Graham crackers, halved. 

Line the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper. Coat lightly with cooking spray and dust with some powdered sugar. 

Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a small bowl; sprinkle in the gelatin and stir to dissolve.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the rum, maple syrup, and sugar; bring to a boil. Continue to cook and stir often, until the temperature reads 240 degrees F on a candy or frying thermometer. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the dissolved gelatin and remaining rum. Beat until stiff peaks form, about 10-13 minutes. Note - it will take much longer if you use a hand mixer! 

Scrape the marshmallows into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Let cool at room temperature until firm, about 4 hours.

Once the mixture has hardened, remove the marshmallow from the pan and take off the parchment lining. Cut into even squares, and toss with powdered sugar in a bowl to coat. 

Put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until just boiling, then pour over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. 

Assemble the s'mores: graham cracker + marshmallow + chocolate + graham cracker. Serve and enjoy! 

So tasty! If making this with little ones, obviously omit the rum or bourbon. 

Making s'mores, we just had to have a bonfire. We tried heating the marshmallows over the fire, but because they were basically made out of sugar only, and didn't have any of the "other" processed ingredients like the marshmallows you buy at the store, they just melted instead of turning nice and golden. Oh well, they were perfectly delicious as they were. It was a beautiful night for a fire - chilly, with a definite feel of fall coming on. Andrew, my sister, and I sat around the fire on our patio with a few pyvos (as Andrew says, "beer" just sounds better in Ukrainian!). All in all, a great night. 

It was a lovely weekend home, and it has inspired a new series on the blog: MN Mondays! MN Mondays will be all about the land of 10,000 lakes. What are your favorite things about MN? What do you love to do in Minnesota in the fall? I'll share some of mine if you tell me yours!

I'm off to finish dinner for tonight - stay tuned for more on gnocchi and oxtail ragu! YUM!

Going vegetarian...for tonight.

For dinner tonight, our dishes were all vegetarian. Now, this is by no means an everyday occurrence, as some of our absolute all-time favorite dishes involve meat (and lots of it). Our families know from experience that most of our hosted family dinners center around pork shoulder or some other sort of slow-roasted meat. We didn't consciously decide that we were going to "be vegetarians" tonight, but it just so happened that every recipe that stood out to us called for vegetables, not meat. 

On the menu: 

Broccoli and leek pie, from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty.

Apple and ginger chutney, from Max and Eli Sussman's This is a Cookbook: Recipes for Real Life (we first saw this new cookbook highlighted on Smith and Ratliff and can't wait to try out more recipes!). 

Zucchini and hazelnut salad, also from Ottolenghi. 

All so fresh, flavorful, and (relatively) healthy...except for that pie, which definitely wasn't healthy, but it tasted so, so good. And honestly, we didn't miss the meat at all. There are some all-veg dishes that taste fine, but leave you wanting something heartier. All three tonight were completely satisfying. We've felt that way about most of the dishes we've tried in Plenty, a really great book that proves vegetarian cooking can be exciting and creative (the eggplant croquettes are a personal favorite). And I can't wait to try more of the Sussman brothers' recipes after flipping through their book; I'm especially looking forward to the s'mores with maple-bourbon marshmallows...maybe this weekend?!? 

What are your thoughts on vegetarian cooking? Love it? Hate it? Give Plenty a try - we promise you won't be disappointed! 

~N.