Wedding and Honeymoon Spectacular: Homemade Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic and Olive Oil

Getting married is pretty awesome. Aside from the whole getting to spend the rest of your life with your favorite person, it also comes with tons of awesome kitchen gadgets for free!

Yeah, the wedding was kind of perfect.

Following a truly epic wedding featuring some of the best food and greatest dance moves of my life, Robin and I embarked on a perfect relaxing and delicious honeymoon in Napa. Sadly, we were forced to eventually return to work and the real world, but this weekend we decided to at least briefly relive the awesomeness by busting out our shiny new KitchenAid Pasta Maker and uncorking a bottle from our favorite winery of the trip- Silver Trident (Seriously, the food pairing, wine tasting, and people were so amazing that we joined the Wine Club).

Egg Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic, and Olive Oil
Recipe from Serious Eats
Time: 75 minutes
Servings: 4

Pasta
10 oz (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 whole large eggs
4 yolks from large eggs
1 tsp salt
Water, if necessary

Whole tomatoes
4-6 cloves garlic, whole
Basil, chopped
Olive Oil
Pecorino cheese, grated
Wine

I'm amazed that something so tasty could come from something so simple.

1. Get married and receive lots of cool wedding kitchen gifts like a pasta maker. 
2. Open a bottle of your tastiest red wine and get ready for some fun.
3. Roast the tomatoes and garlic in the oven at 425 F for 30-60 minutes until roasted to your liking.
4. I highly recommend reading the full Serious Eats article and the accompanying experimental pasta making article for a far better description of how everything should look than I will ever be able to give.
5. Pour flour into a large mound on a clean work surface. Make a large well in the center and fill it with the eggs, yolks, and salt. 
6. Beat the egg components together well with a fork. Then slowly combine with the flour until a sticky dough begins to form.
7. Use a bench knife to scrape excess dough and fold additional flour into the dough until a dry ball begins to form (2-5 minutes).
8. Knead the dough with the heel of your hand, rotating 45 degrees each time. Continue until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). If the dough is too wet, add extra flour 1 tsp at a time, or if it is too dry, lightly mist it with water.

   

   Our ball of pasta dough after Robin demonstrated her master kneading technique.

9. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.
10. Cut the dough into 4 quarters, keeping unused portions wrapped until they are ready.
11. Roll the dough out onto lightly floured parchment paper into an oblong shape ~1/2 inch thick.
12. Place the pasta maker on its widest setting and pass the dough through 3 times.

    

    Pasta Maker!

13. Fold the ends of the dough in so they meet, then fold the dough in half at the point where they touch. Roll back to 1/2 inch thick and pass through at the widest setting again 3 times.

    

    Pretend you're making the tastiest but least exciting origami
14. Repeat the folding step, pass through the next smaller setting 3 times, and repeat as necessary until you reach the desired thickness (we stopped at setting 4). If the dough gets holes in it, just repeat the folding and run it through the setting again.
15. Repeat with the remaining quarters. Be sure to cover the stretched out pasta with parchment paper to prevent it from drying out. 

    

    Robin made the perfect looking noodle up top, while I made the special, lovable one below...

16. Pass the dough through a pasta cutter if desired. This cut pasta is much trickier to catch. Lightly dust the pasta with flour and roll into nests.

    

    Nests!

17. Boil in salted water with a touch of olive oil for 60-90 seconds.
18. Drain the pasta and serve with the roasted tomatoes, garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, basil, and cheese.
19. Refill wine glass as needed.

The finished product. It somehow tasted even better than it looks.

Everything about this meal perfectly transported us back to the complete and total utter bliss of the honeymoon. Making pasta by itself is a whole lot of fun. While there may be a lot of steps, none of them are all that complicated, and the results speak for themselves. The egg-packed noodles were full of flavor on their own and had an amazing texture. Robin's decision to top them with simple roasted tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, and cheese (with Pecorino providing a nice bolder alternative to parmesan) instead of a complex sauce was truly inspired. The result was a light and refreshing dish that I could've spent the entire weekend eating. Our bottle of Silver Trident's Playing with Fire red blend was the perfect compliment to our pasta and made us even more excited for an anniversary to finally get here so we can travel back to Napa.

The perfect companion to our pasta- Silver Trident's Playing with Fire Red Wine Blend

Like I said, it was perfect. You can check at more at the amazing photographer's blog.

The Cooking Streak: Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna

Momentum seemed to be building as my cooking streak hit 3 days last night, but if I was going to make it 4 straight, I was gonna need help. With my kitchen in shambles from the nonstop bombardment of pumpkin cheesecake muffins, veggie stroganoff, and my Indian extravaganza, I required a new workspace (maybe I should just move whenever the pots and pans pile up). Naturally, I decided to take over the kitchen of Kevin, the man who I used to take advantage of count on to keep my kitchen clean. But the great cooking streak bandwagon wasn't done yet. We also got a hand from new friend to the blog, Michaela, who is as renowned for her skill of stealing her sister's mandolin as she is for her gluten-allergy.

Could the three of us work together to create the perfect noodle-free lasagna, or would Kevin's shiny new kitchen be reduced to a pile of rubble?

Spinach and Zucchini Lasagna
Adapted from Primavera Kitchen
Servings 8-10
Time: 90 minutes

Is there anything Kevin can't do?

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes w/ juice
4 baby carrots, shredded
Red Chili flakes to taste
Oregano to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped fennel
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
3 cups spinach
15 oz. ricotta
1 large egg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 medium zucchini sliced 1/8" thick
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

If your'e lazy, just dip garlic bread repeatedly in this sauce.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Saute the onions and mushroom in olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent (6-8 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, shredded carrots, oregano, red chili flakes, salt and pepper.
5. Cover and bring to a low simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the fennel and let cook for an additional 5 minutes. 
6. Remove from heat and add basil and spinach, incorporating well.
7. Mix the ricotta, Parmesan and egg together in a medium bowl.
8. Coat the bottom of a 9x12 casserole dish with the sauce.
9. Layer 5-6 zucchini slices to cover.
10. Make another layer of the ricotta cheese mix and mozzarella.
11. Repeat until you run out of room.
12. Top with sauce and mozzarella.
13. Bake 50 minutes covered (turning once) and 10 minutes uncovered. You want a delicate balance between the noodles being malleable but not mushy and the cheese not being burnt. 
14. Let cool for 10 minutes before eating.

Sadly, the foil took away a large chunk of cheese in the middle. This cheese still somehow managed to make its way into my stomach.

A lot of work may have gone into this lasagna, but it was absolutely worth it. The sauce was spot on with the perfect blend of Italian spices, that heat from the chili flakes, and the wonderful substance provided by the spinach and mushrooms. Zucchini was a superb noodle substitute (plus the term "zoodle" is pretty fun to say), but the real star (as it should be) was all of the glorious cheese. The ricotta/Parmesan combo was as satisfying as anything you'll find this side of manicotti, and the mozzarella provided all the gooey, stretchy cheese fun your clogged heart desires. This dish may not have gone a long way toward my goal of turning 30 in the best shape of my life, but it at least made sure I'll be a lot more satisfied when I do.

And now the stages of lasagna making!

1) The layering stage- a time of so much hope and promise.

2) The assembled stage- when you realize you still have over an hour before you eat and get sad.

3) The longing stage- note: be careful not to burn yourself on the oven.

4) The fall apart stage- because screw you, Pinterest, that's why!

The Great Pasta Throwdown of 2012

There can be only one!

Saturday night, Kevin and I began the journey to accomplishing my life's goal of winning Cupcake Wars by competing in my first ever cooking competition. The pressure was running high, as I didn't want to disappoint my myriad fans (read: my mom and the 3 others). Would Kevin and I emerge victorious from the Pasta Throwdown or would we retreat to our house with our tails tucked between our legs? 

For our entry, we went with the popular blog post Sausage & Mushroom Cannelloni (with zucchini!). We knew this was a winner, so we confidently walked into the kitchen stadium that is Jake and Pauline's ridiculous kitchen of my dreams and prepared to take on some of the fiercest foes ever. If we were going to have any chance, we were going to have to come up with a spectacular sauce to bring our delicacy to life.

Kevin's Special Pasta Sauce
Servings: Enough for 16 cannellonies

Olive Oil
1 Onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, mushroom
12-16 cremini mushroom, destemmed and sliced
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced
Jalapeno, minced and seeded
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Oregano to taste
Fresh basil to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
24 Campari tomatoes, quartered

1. Sauté the onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini and jalapenos in olive oil until tender, stirring frequently.
2. Stir in the salt, pepper, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes and cook for an additional minute.
3. Add in the campari tomatoes and simmer over medium heat to reduce. 
4. If desired, brown any meats then toss in to the already reduced sauce.

Store bought sauce may be quick and easy, but nothing beats the results you get from a little extra effort. This tomato and basil packed sauce really brings everything together and makes sure that every bite of cannelloni is as amazing as possible. 

But enough of the boring recipes. It's time for the throwdown!!

The All-Star Cheftestants:

Sandy

Reigning throwdown champion Sandy (who won a taco throwdown with her heart-shaped seafood filled tortillas) once again showed the world what presentation points are for with her ridiculous dinnssert to start the evening. The wonderfully unique dish consisted of bow tie pasta tossed with strawberry, mandarin oranges and basil then glazed with lemon poppy seed dressing served in an adorable yet powerful dark chocolate cayenne bowl garnished with shrimp (and love). It was clear from this intricate course that we were not going to win the throwdown lying down. 

Dinnssert is served (and crazy good).

Just in case you were wondering how one makes chocolate bowls.

Alice

For the second course, the judges were treated to an unbelievable crab ravioli topped with corn. This resplendent dish got my pick for taste winner of the night and quickly had Kevin and I shaking in our metaphorical boots. The dish was some inspired combination of Italian cooking and a crab and corn chowder for the perfect storm of deliciousness.

Garnishing with a basil leaf! Who would ever do that?

Steve

Photobomb!

Resident foodie extraordinaire Steve presented a ninja like dish. What at first seemed like a standard tomato and basil pasta dish quickly proved to be anything but ordinary. From perfectly cooked noodles to one of the most flavorful sauces ever, this entry exceeded at every level. But what really brought it over the top was the mini caprese skewers serving as the world's ultimate garnish. Also of note, Steve entered the competition that afternoon after another cheftestant bowed out. Despite short notice, he delivered one hell of an entry to cement the notion that none of our competition could be taken lightly in this war of flavors.

It should be noted that the pasta isn't actually skewered too, so therefore this is cheating.

The Heartthrobs

I've never seen a picture more accurately capture our majestic bromance.

The ultimate bad boys of the kitchen (I have a goatee, so I technically qualify for boy band bad boy status) came together to serve up a revamped version of one of the signature dishes of this blog: Sausage and Mushroom Cannelloni. We heard about the competition right after kicking off Easter with this splendid foray into Italian cooking, so we were extremely eager to bring it into the thunderdome. Aside from some homemade sauce mentioned above, the only real change we made from the previous recipe was to add fennel to the sausage for some extra pop to the dish. Our homemade noodles were the star of the plate and perfectly encapsulated the inner cheesy goodness to complete a hearty meal that we were incredibly happy with. The third time was definitely the charm as this was the best this has ever come out.

Ok, we might garnish with a basil leaf. But there are two of them, so it's therefore prettier and more garnished.

The Judges Table

Our fantastic judges consisted of esteemed food critics Mimi, Princeton, Auris and Isabel. They were faced with the toughest task ever-resisting my many charms to fairly critique the food. Somehow, they managed to overcome the law of diminishing returns and fight off stuffed bellies to render a verdict...

The Champion

I'm not saying it was rigged, but IT DEFINITELY WAS RIGGED! (If you have any evidence of PastaGate, please call our toll-free hotline 1-800-TK4EVAS

After all the hard work everyone put in to a night of fantastic eats, it was finally time for a champion to be crowned. Following careful deliberation based on taste, technique, plating and creativity, the judges decided on the following order:

4th: Alice's Crab and Corn Ravioli

3rd: Sandy's Insane Dinnssert

2nd: Kevin and My Cannellonis

1st: Steve's Spaghetti de Awesomeo

Sure we were a little disappointed that we didn't win, but ceding the title of champion to any of these stellar courses was easy to live with. Everyone truly brought their "A" game for one hard fought competition we were so proud to be a part of. Just wait until there's a baking challenge. Just wait.

I offer my sincere and heartfelt congrats to Steve.

The Hosts

I would like to end things with a very big thanks to our awesome hosts Jake and Pauline. Everybody had a great time invading their house, but now I feel sad whenever I use my kitchen that is vastly inferior to their behemoth.