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General Reference/Tutorial

Dinner, General Reference/Tutorial, Lunch, Pasta

Homemade Ramp Fettuccine, with Pancetta and Parmesan

Things to do with Ramps, Part 2: Make pasta. Yes, I’ve been on a bit of a pasta making kick these days anyway, but I figured that this wouold be a good experiment to see if the rampiness-flavor would shine though, even if you make pasta out of it. And I am happy to report that it does, almost to the point where it didn’t need any more dressing up, so I just rendered some panchetta and added some parm, and voila.

As always, my home made pasta directions are designed to use an old-fashioned hand-crank pasta machine. I don’t use my KitchenAid for this, but I am sure that you could. Just follow those directions staring with paragraph three.
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20. April 2015
General Reference/Tutorial

Ramp Chimichurri

Things to do with Ramps, Part 1: Two thinks that I love are Chimichurri (Sauce) and Ramps (German: Bärlauch). If you don’t know what chimichurri is, the short answer is that it is a green sauce made of herbs, garlic, some acid (i.e. lemon or lime juice or vinegar), chiles (fresh or dried) and olive oil. Typically the herbs are parsley, and sometimes cilantro/coriander and sometimes oregano. It originates from Argentina, when it is traditionally put on steak, but it certainly can be put on other things. You’ll see a few examples of that in the next few days here.

My other love is ramps, which are also called wild garlic, ramsons, bear’s garlic, wild leeks, wild onions, bear’s weed, etc. In German, it is called Bärlauch and is one of those “must eat” things in the Spring (they are only available for a few short weeks). Anyway, given that I have a bunch of ramps, and it is Spring, I decided to add some of these to my latest batch of chimichurri. Huge success.
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18. April 2015
Dinner, General Reference/Tutorial, Lunch, Pasta

Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccine, from Scratch

After the success (and deliciousness) of the Homemade Spinach Pasta that I made earlier this month, I decided to have another go at it and made this absolutely amazing Roasted Red Pepper Fettuccine. It is seriously delicious, if I do say so myself. Unlike dried pastas that should taste like roasted red peppers but never really does, these actually do in a nice mild, smokey kind of way. The dish on the right pairs the pasta with more sweet bell peppers and pan-seared sea scallops (no recipe). Positively delightful and wonderfully colorful.
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13. April 2015
Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial

How to Cook Bacon (my way)

Everyone has their own way of cooking bacon. In the pan, in the oven, even in the microwave. My method involves the oven, covering the pan with aluminum foil (for easier clean up), but also by placing the bacon on a wire rack placed on the prepared baking sheet. Why? Well, two reasons: 1. by raising the bacon away from the pan, there is better airflow, so the bacon crisps from the bottom as well, leaving the bacon nice and flat and 2. also because the bacon is raised from the pan, it causes less splatters (the reason bacon splatters is because the heated grease under the bacon doesn’t have any place to go with the bacon on top of it, so it eventually “pops” to have the air/grease escape, causing splatters. I don’t know that this is the “best” method, but it is the one that I use. Onwards:
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1. March 2015
General Reference/Tutorial

Spice Pear Preserves

I always wonder what to do with pears. They were on sale this week, being a typical winter fruit with a long(er) shelf-life, but then I ponder on what to do with them. This time I pondered nearly too long, so they were getting a little soft, which … turns out … is actually quite ideal for making preserves. Small batch.
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9. January 2015