Lake House Salad with Italian Balsamic Vinaigrette

Coppertone.   Burning coals.   Oreo cookies.

Smells like Memorial Day Weekend.

Lathered in lotions to kick start our summer tans, decked out in neon bathing suits, reading the latest issue of Glamour.    If I'm honest, throw in some big hair and way too long fingernails.   True children of the 80s.

First weekend of summer.

At the lake in New Hampshire, hanging out at the kitchen counter.  Feet freshly rinsed clean from sand.   Wrapped in towels to keep from soaking the furniture.

With the Indy 500 whizzing by in the background, we dangle our feet from stools and take breaks from the sun.    Hot dogs with mustard straight from the grill.    Salads doused in Italian dressing.   Oreos for dessert.   Oreos for a snack.   Oreos... just because we could.

Sweatshirts in the evening.   Cool lake air.   Baseball with our neighbors.  Rummy on the porch.   Movies on the couch.    Sleeping like little babies.

(These days, it's a little less about the oreos and a little more about the salads and the sunscreen.)   

What is it about holidays that bring back memories from our childhood?   What smells do you equate with summer? 

Lake House Salad
serves 6 - 8


Ingredients
Head of lettuce, rinsed, rough chopped
2 cups baby spinach
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup snow peas, chopped
6 - 8 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 large red onion, diced
1/2 cucumber, chopped

Preparation
Add everything to a large bowl and mix.   Toss with vinaigrette when ready to serve.

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Italian Balsamic Vinaigrette


Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons honey
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Add all ingredients to small bowl and whisk until combined.   Salt and pepper to taste.   Serve with Summer Salad or any other salad that you prefer!

Roasted Red Pepper and Avocado Whole Wheat Pasta

Lately, you've been seeing a lot of baking showing up here on the blog.   There's actually a bit of method to my madness.  

I have always been one who expresses my creativity in the kitchen.   Helps relieve stress.   My zen time.   My husband views it as the opposite, affectionately referring to me as the 'little tornado'.    

I was thinking that maybe there was some truth in this observation.  Perhaps my cooking could use a little more precision.   Hence, all of the baking as of late.    As you know, following the recipe is pretty critical to achieving the end results.   Definitely requires focus.

(A minor, but surmountable, challenge for me as I've never been one to follow directions or play by the rules.    That said, it has been a wonderful learning experience and well worth the effort.)

Today's recipe is getting back to my roots, one of those random creations that actually turned out quite well, and I might add, is full of lots of healthy nutrients which for me, is most important.   Plus it contains so many of my favorite ingredients... what's not to love?  

Before you cringe at the combination of red pepper, avocado and lemon, it is actually very good. The avocado adds creaminess and the roasted red pepper and lemon add extra depth and brightness.   Top that with a little feta cheese and green onion... makes for a very striking and vivid presentation.


Roasted Red Pepper and Avocado Whole Wheat Pasta

Ingredients
2 roasted red peppers*, sliced and seeds removed
1 medium sized ripe avocado, pitted and quartered
juice of one lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tomato, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
fat free feta cheese
sliced green onion
1 pound whole wheat pasta (your choice, I used penne)

Preparation
1.   Boil water in large pot.    Add whole wheat pasta and cook until al dente.   Drain, reserving one cup of pasta water and set aside.
2.   Add roasted red peppers, avocado and juice of lemon to food processor.    Process until creamy and any lumps removed.   Set aside.
3.  In large skillet, heat olive oil on medium heat and saute garlic until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.    Add diced tomato, cook another 1-2 minutes.  
4.  Add reserved pasta to large skillet and toss with tomato and garlic until warm and mixed.  
5.  Add roasted red pepper sauce to skillet and toss until heated.    Add additional pasta water if needed to thin sauce.
6.  Serve with fat free feta cheese and sliced green onion.

*I roasted my own red peppers, but I think this could also work well with drained roasted red peppers in a jar.

Healthy, colorful and hearty enough for a cool winter's evening.    Comfort food with a creative twist.

What's your cooking style?    Creative, throw stuff together type?   Baking queen?   A little bit of both?

Homemade Pasta

And here we are.

Just like that.    October.  

All right.   So my question for you today is, have you tried your hand at homemade pasta?  

The mixing of flour and eggs and kneading and rolling and cutting by hand type all while making a glorious mess in your kitchen kind of homemade pasta?  

I'd so love to hear how it turned out for you.   But first, my story.

I grew up with my mom making fresh pasta at our kitchen table.   It was one of those weekend event things, usually in preparation for a dinner party with similarly Italian loving friends.    Or sometimes it was just for her family, when she wanted to give us a little extra special love.     It was always appreciated and I have fond memories of her having fun doing it, looking forward to the process and results.    I know this love for making pasta was amplified by many return visits to Italy, where, of course, they've got this down.

So by now you know that while I was in Rome, I spent a day in a chef's kitchen learning some tricks of the trade.   The highlight, for me, was making the pasta from scratch.   Despite having watched my mom do it, I never attempted it.    Fear, I suppose.   I know, dumb reason.

Our results from that class were so fabulous.   You could just taste the love mixed up in our dishes, made all the more better by getting to share them with new friends.  

With this as background, I decided to try and recreate my experience at home.    I have to tell you, I had built it up in my head for a couple months and I was pretty excited.  I had visions of delicately tossing the pasta by hand, perfect strands of pale gold, ready to jump into that boiling water and turn into something fabulous.  I had high hopes.  

First, I'll share the recipe.  Seriously, two ingredients.   Sounds simple, right?  

Fresh Pasta

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 cups all purpose flour, sifted first
4 eggs

Steps

On a cooking sheet, silpat type object or some other surface that is clean and can get a little dirty in the process, dump your flour into a small pile in the center.    Turn your pile of flour into a small volcano type object by making a deep hole in the center.   Be careful to leave a layer of flour at the bottom.

My Sad Looking Volcano

Crack eggs into the well in the flour.    With a fork, very gradually whisk those eggs into the flour.    Be patient with this process.   It is really meant to go slow with a very gradual taking of flour from the sides of your 'volcano' into the egg mixture.    Eventually you will get to a point where it the flour is incorporated and dough like mixture begins to form.     Keep going until you have everything incorporated.  I used my hands at the end to get everything in there.   It is also not an exact science, so you'll have to use a little personal judgment as to when to stop.   Don't let things become too dry (this is where practice and experience helps).

So now you have dough.

Dust a little more flour on your working surface and on a rolling pin and start rolling out the dough.    You can also do this in a pasta machine if you have one.   After you roll it out, fold it over and start rolling again.    Keep repeating this process until you achieve the right level of pliability (you will get a feel for this as you go).   When 'ready', begin rolling out your dough until very thin, almost transparent.   I found this almost impossible, so my advice is just to keep going and get it as thin as you can without tearing it.  

Do as I say, not as I do.   I wouldn't exactly call this transparent.  

When ready, you can begin cutting your dough into thin pasta resembling shapes.   I prepared for this by dusting my work surface with a little cornmeal and the top of the pasta sheet with a little cornmeal.   This will help prevent things from sticking.   Roll your dough very gently until you have something that looks like a jelly roll.    From here, you can begin slicing the ends off, each slice producing a new strand of pasta.    Cut as thin as you possibly can.   Once you have all of your slices, gently open them up and toss them lightly with cornmeal again and lay them out on a surface to rest.   Let them 'dry' for a couple of hours in the open air if you can.  

Comparing this to our version from class up above makes me giggle. 

Now you are ready to make the pasta.     Get some water boiling in a large pot.    Add your pasta to the boiling water.    Stir in a tablespoon of salt.   Stir often to prevent from sticking.   Taste your pasta after 3 or 4 minutes to see if it is done (it should be!)    Drain your pasta and use as you see fit!


Okay, having made this, I am now truly convinced that pasta making is an art that requires skill, practice and lots of love to perfect.  I now also understand why my mom got so into it.   She too wanted to reach that level of culinary achievement.  

She also had a pasta maker which I truly believe is necessary for my novice self.  I just do not possess the arm strength to roll out the dough to the perfect thinness.   I really did try.   And tried.   And tried.   It just didn't happen.   Our pasta was 'thick' and 'chewy' (not in a good al dente way).  

It wasn't perfect, but it was made with lots of love and determination, and this found its way into the end product.    Kind of like life, I think.    You get out of it what you put into it.  

And guess who's getting a pasta maker as a wedding gift?   Yup, so next time I'm here pontificating about homemade pasta, we may have a slightly different story.   Practice makes perfect, but I think strong arms, or a little machinery, will help.     I am very much looking forward to my next trial.

I'd love to hear your stories.   Successful attempts?   Not so successful?   The real question is... did you have fun with the process? 

Ciao.

Grilled Pizza with Italian Sausage

Grilled pizza is kind of like the epitome of summer for me.    It is easy, colorful and fresh.    What's not to love?   The preparation is actually also an incredibly fun social activity if you get others involved.     Perfect for informal evening parties or family gatherings on the deck.

This is one of those foods that brings back deep memories of growing up in New Hampshire.   My mother went through a grilled pizza phase for a couple of summers.  Once you get the basics down, this is a perfect food for experimenting with and it is so flexible since everyone can choose their own toppings.    I remember those summer evenings like they were yesterday.   So much fun.  While summer in New England isn't long, those perfect summer days and nights are truly memorable.

One other note on this, if you've been following me around since Italy, you'll also know that I am a huge fan of super thin crispy pizza, the kind that can only be achieved in ovens heated to a gazillion degrees.   I have found that while not exactly the same, I can achieve a similar effect on the grill.   Super high temps help crisp the dough and prepare for toppings and it imparts a lovely smokiness that adds so much flavor and depth.

I found this recipe on Epicurious.com.   One of my favorite sites for browsing (aka time wasting).  If you search for grilled pizza, you'll find a bunch of recipes, but I'd start with this one because it is so amazingly fantastic.    It is honestly not hard, even though the instructions look super long.     I'd also encourage you to make this exactly as noted.  I have a tendency to change things around, but this recipe is seriously perfect as is.    Oh, and the fresh rosemary in here is outstanding, it really makes a difference.

Grilled Pizza with Spicy Italian Sausage

I will confess to one small variation.   We substituted mild for spicy sausage.   I love spicy.   John doesn't.   I've learned to compromise when needed!

Oops, actually two.  I used cherry tomatoes since we had those available.

John and I made this together.  I made the dough and prepped all the fun and colorful ingredients.   He was in charge of the grilling activity.   Everything came together just beautifully.

It is a gorgeous dish to look at with all of the color and contrast.     The flavors are also a perfect balance of sweet, smoky, fresh and tangy.    We looked at each other after the first bite and literally almost did a happy dance in the kitchen.  

Love, love, love this recipe.    Definitely a summer keeper, although next time we'll invite friends over for a fun evening.   Lots of versatility with wine pairing too.   This would be perfect with a crisp pinot grigio or lightly sweet rose or even a chianti to pick up the smokiness in the sausage.  

Bon Appetit!