Pasta - - Page 13

by gansie

The Big Easy

After walking around in the freezing cold celebrating BARACK OBAMA’s inauguration, I really didn’t feel like cooking much, but still wanted something warm and easy. And I certainly didn’t feel like fighting with squash for an hour, especially after such a lovefest filled day. I mentally scanned the pantry and remembered all of those boxes of pasta that we’ve stockpiled for nights just like this.

I also decided that I didn’t feel like taking out a cutting board, I didn’t feel like using a knife and I didn’t want to get another pot dirty. So here’s my no-cook, no-knife pasta dinner. Don’t worry, I didn’t say no fat.

by BS

Adventures in Cheesemaking

Anyone who has been following ES on twitter, or even just talked to me in real life these past few weeks, is aware that I’ve become obsessed with cheesemaking.

Well, in truth it’s been a more-talk, less-action kind of obsession, but I’ve decided I’m really into it ever since I saw a guy making fresh mozzarella at Fairway a few weeks back. He was shaping it in a metal bowl, then wrapping it up in plastic and it was warm when you bought it. This was one of those eye-opening, food-changing experiences for me, as I’d never really thought of cheese as something you could just make from milk as opposed to a food that grows on a magical cow-tree somewhere high on a hilltop in France or Italy.

So when I saw this super-simple recipe for ricotta in Bon Appetit (only three ingredients!), I had to try it. I picked up a cheesecloth at a local greenmarket (basically a glorified paper towel, it only costs a few bucks), and I was ready to cheese. Two words of warning:

1- Cheesemaking, like sausagemaking, is not for the faint of heart. With all the curdling and separating and whatnot, it gets a little gross-looking. I was doing this myself, so my photos are not highly stylized, but you’ll see how it really looks, warts and all.

2- It’s also not for those with heart problems. As with making ice cream, there’s the whole problem of realizing how much fat actually goes into making a tiny little slice of cheese. A half-gallon of milk only makes one-and-a-half cups of ricotta. Kinda intense.

If you’re still feeling brave, read on…

in Cheese / Recipe 16 comments

by Liza

Holy Moly, Skillet Meals by Bertolli!

As ES’s resident microwave expert, I’m constantly looking for shortcuts to make cooking faster because frankly, sometimes I come home after work and I just don’t want to devote 1 or 2 hours to prepping and cooking dinner.

So recently, we were sent some of Bertolli’s new Skillet Meals, and let me tell you, in complete seriousness, they are AWESOME!!! Located in the Frozen Food aisle (maybe my favorite aisle in the grocery store I’ll admit) the Bertolli Skillet Meal provides a complete meal for two, ranging from Shrimp Scampi Linguine to Chicken alla vodka and Farfelle to Italian Sausage and Rigatoni – and all you have to do is throw it in a Skillet for TEN MINUTES! And that’s it!! It’s ready! And I swear to you it’s soooo freaking good. I even got Vio into it (she says she CRAVES it now!!) and if she says it’s good, then believe me, it is!

I also love it because all of the meals contain vegetables, such as asparagus, tomatoes and zucchini – and the ingredient list contains no scary five syllable words that you’ve never heard of, it’s all straight forward, good ingredients. I would prefer if they offered a meal with whole wheat pasta, but for a frozen meal, this is TOPS! Plus on their website, they even provide wine pairings for each meal. Bertolli is definitely frozen food gone classy!

in Uncategorized 5 comments

by gansie

Vault of Forgotten Posts

Okay, so you might think I’m this super motivated person who cooks every night and then sits down and writes about it immediately after. And a lot of the time, that’s true. Freaking ES takes up like 200% of my free time, but of course I love every freaking minute of it.

Well, sometimes I do make something fabulous, or eat somewhere fabulous, take pics, but then never get around to writing about it. Well, here’s a wrap up of some food stories I just never bothered to tell you about. I mean, I guess I have to wipe the blog clean, or some other dumb end of year crap.

Fried Eggplant and Fresh Tomato Sauce

Back in the summer, I bought tons of eggplants (can this be a plural word?) and tons of tomatoes. Now, we know that 80P doesn’t eat raw tomatoes, and he just started to get into eggplant, so I had to find a way to incorporate both veggies into one dish. Yes, frying would be the way to go. Now, I don’t remember the recipe, but this was my first attempt at breading and frying eggplant. It actually didn’t work out perfectly, as I cut the eggplant too thick and had to finish them off in the oven. The sauce was awesome though. I can’t remember what secret tricks I put in it (no sugar, belmontmedina!), but it turned out really well. I normally don’t like tomato sauce, but I was surely a fan of my version.

Keep reading for gansie’s vault of forgotten posts

in Veggie 4 comments

by gansie

If You Can’t Joke About Spousal Abuse…

Yes, that is a direct quote from my dear boyfriend, 80P. His sense of humor gets the best of him sometimes. Now, this actually did start with something food related. Let me relay this ES email chain:

from: Brittania
to: BS, gansie, 80P
subject: this is amazing!

Man allegedly attacks girlfriend over macaroni [Boston.com]

from: BS
to: Brittania, gansie, 80P
subject: RE: this is amazing!

I wish they said what he wanted. i hope it was hazelnut-ricotta ravioli.

from: 80P
to: Brittania, gansie, BS
subject: RE: this is amazing!

rumor has it he then beat some eggs

from: BS
to: Brittania, gansie, 80P
subject: RE: this is amazing!

oh man. that is a rough pun even for us, 80P

from: 80P
to: RE: Brittania, gansie, BS
subject: this is amazing!

you’re just pissed you didn’t beat me to it

— — —

Now, everyone, check out this completely sexist vintage Heinz ad. Um, I hope this asshole didn’t get any inspiration from the fucked up ad copy. And I knew there was a reason I didn’t like ketchup.

Obvs, the email chain was a joke. Donate here to help women in need.

Photo: flickr user jpellgen

in Personal 2 comments

by gansie

Let’s Add a Soggy, Flavorless Vegtable

I’ve made a few pasta salads in my day, but this one, well, it just doesn’t even make sense.

When I first started cooking, I threw in EVERY SINGLE SPICE I owned into a dip or a dry rub or a marinade. Then I went through a stage of simplicity: salt, pepper, garlic and maybe one other weapon. Now the pendulum has swung back and I’m sticking crazy shit together again. I guess it’s an ES trend.

The ingredient list: whole wheat fusilli, olive oil, dijon mustard, garlic, onion, cucumber, serrano chili, parm cheese, queso fresco, cumin, pine nuts, salt and pepper. With leftovers, I added in wilted swiss chard.

This is what happens when I buy way too many vegetables at the farmers market. I end up throwing cucumbers — which is great to use as an alternative to chips for a dip, but suck in most other instances because they’re so watery and plain — in with freaking pasta.

in Veggie 3 comments

by gansie

Banning Ricotta, Sorry Giada

I’ve made a whole bunch of pasta salads in the past few years, each of them slightly different. Some with a pesto flare, others dressed in extra virgin, dijon and lots of veggies. And many variations in between, although never including mayo.

This most recent pasta salad was during my friend Julie’s wedding weekend, where one of the nights was dedicated to a grill session in her HUGE backyard. I also realized I sucked at badminton, but that’s another story, just ask 80.

Earlier in the day I stopped by a farmers market in Jersey and picked up squash and zucchini to be grilled for the pasta salad. (Okay, now I was chatting with someone about this but we never found the conclusion, I’m hoping someone out there can help – zucchini is a squash, right? And if so, why don’t the yellow squashes have their own name. There are tons of other squashes with proper names – butternut, spaghetti, acorn…Why not the yellow squash?)

Okay, so I have the veggie, but I still haven’t decided on the sauce for the salad. I automatically think to use feta, but decide to go to the grocery store and see what hits me. I’m in the dairy aisle picking up sour cream for DAD GANSIE (my mom accidentally heated up his container in the microwave) and I stumble upon ricotta. I’m not super familiar with the cheese, expect for in lasagnas, and every time I watch Giada’s show. I dial up my chef-on-call, BS, and ask if he thinks ricotta will work in my dish. We all know BS is game for anything, and without hesitation, he said to try it.

Now, the rest of the post is not meant to knock BS or anything, because he surely didn’t know about the massacre that I would soon create with the cheese he just gave the go-ahead.

in Cheese / Veggie 9 comments

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